Let's just turn this into the Robocop 1987 Appreciation Thread.

No need to see this movie. I guarantee that nothing in it can come close to matching the scene in the original where Murphy walks through his old house and sees a broken "World's Best Husband" mug sitting alone on the empty kitchen counter.

478

(58 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Kyle Monroe wrote:

SPOILER Show
The whole darknet thing is pretty silly.

Spoiler Chapter 16 Show
Oh, I forgot to even mention the animated talking alien bird that uses
Skype. What was the point of that plotline anyway?

479

(44 replies, posted in Off Topic)

It's weird that I had such a different experience from you guys, and twice to boot. I mean, I guess I'm not surprised. It's a kid's movie, after all.

480

(58 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Alright, I finished season 2. Here are my thoughts.

  Show
This show suuuuuuuuuuuuucks. For a long time it had me fooled, though. It was slickly produced, the writing appeared to be half-decent, and the acting was fantastic. But no. House of Cards sucks, and it has always sucked. And season 2 has only made that clearer.

When you finished the last episode, did you notice how this season was identical to season 1? I did. The rhythm of the narrative was exactly the same. Peter became Doug, and the Vice-Presidency became the Presidency. At least in season 1 it was clear that Frank had a plan to become the VP. He becomes President through a convoluted, coincidental, and difficult to swallow series of events. In season 1 he had to work for it. In season 2, it falls into his lap. Are we supposed to be happy for him? If so, sorry, no dice. Walter White was a monster, but at least he was an emotionally compelling monster whose crimes always came back to bite him. Frank Underwood is a monster who gets away with everything, and the show goes out of its way to make sure that there's no possibility of his evil deeds becoming known. Hell, we spend half the season watching Lucas get oh so close, before getting locked up, never to be seen again. But maybe we're not supposed to pump our fists when he wins. The final shot of the season is fantastic. Even in victory, he's still ready to pounce, and you feel like he's about to reach through the screen and tear your throat out. He's a figure to be feared for sure. If this is the case, then the show is trying to make a point about how this is a morally bankrupt world and the good people all fail because they have honor. Game of Thrones does that too, but a lot more intelligently. And at least GoT has characters who are fun to be around. This grim vision of America isn't nearly as interesting as the show thinks it is, because it's so cartoonish and ridiculous. Raymond Tusk is a mustache-twirling baddie of the highest order. He crushes a bird in his fist because it wouldn't stop squawking. He's supposed to be Frank's only match, but the two don't face off all that much overall. He's just there to be evil, and so that we'll have someone to compare Frank to who can make Frank look better.

And don't even get me started on the ending of Chapter 24, because it's the exact moment when this show crossed over into Shitsylvania. Not only is it totally out of character for all three of the people involved, but it has NO BEARING WHATSOEVER on the rest of the season. It's just there to be shocking. Speaking of which, Zoe's death was another shock value scene that was ultimately meaningless. It gave the whole season a sense of dread, and I was genuinely on the edge of my seat at certain moments. Too bad nothing ever actually happened. I felt so cheated at the end. There was nothing surprising about this season after Zoe fell onto those tracks, even though that pretended to herald lots more surprises to come. Frank becomes President. So? He's practically a superhero, is this supposed to be surprising in the least? And like I said, it's the exact same thing that happened last season. Oh, and by the way, what was up with all the dropped subplots? It's like a totally different writing staff took over for this season, and they wanted to correct the things they all hated about season 1. The woman who's suing Claire? Gone after one episode, never mentioned again. Zoe? Dead and forgotten by everyone except Lucas. Lucas? Away in prison for a long time, never mentioned again after he gets locked up. Hell, Peter Russo's extremely suspicious "suicide?" No one cares anymore. But apparently they really liked Rachel Posner for some reason I can't possibly fathom, so we spend an inordinate amount of time with her in a plot that has no bearing on anything else that happens. Funny thing is, though, I actually enjoyed her subplot best of all. It wasn't exactly original, but at least it was recognizably human. Everyone else on this show is a robot or a sociopath. Or both.

This was just so boring, looking back. Frank had been built up so much last season. I wanted him to face some real, genuine stakes in this one. I wanted characters who were real matches for him, and who had the means and the will to take him down. Watching Frank's political gamesmanship isn't interesting at all if he keeps winning. It's like playing a video game after you've unlocked invincibility and unlimited ammo. Sure, it's fun at first to have a crazy, unrealistic amount of power. But without any challenge, it gets old real fast. After the triumph of the Underwoods in season 1, you'd expect that it would all come crumbling down in season 2. Like, oh, I don't know, a FUCKING HOUSE OF CARDS.

481

(58 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Nine episodes deep, and I'll say this about that thing that happens in the first episode. It gives the whole season a sense of dread, and a tension that the first season sorely lacked. The power plays in season 1 were engaging in their own way, but every season 2 episode after the first is terrifying because if they can do THAT, they can do anything.

By the way, anyone else notice that the Feng storyline is lifted straight from The Dark Knight?

482

(44 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Eddie wrote:

Eh, it's kinda anecdotal and not really based on actual Data.  The theater I saw it in was mixed evenly between kids and hipsters, and the kids were enjoying it just as much, singing "Everything is awesome," on the way out.

That's funny, in both of my showings the kids were totally not into it. My little sister was scared during the climax and didn't like the movie overall, and the kid who sat behind me the second time around said, "Mom can we go NOW?" when the credits rolled.

483

(58 replies, posted in Off Topic)

bullet3 wrote:

I strongly disagree so far. The show has been strong for being super grounded for the most part up to this point.

SPOILER Show
The murder in this episode is a great wtf moment for the audience, but totally shatters the believability of this series, and plays like something out of 24 or a far goofier show. I don't buy for a second that Underwood personally kills someone in that public of a fashion. It feels contrived as all hell, there would be a million cameras around, and someone as public as him would never risk it (like that disguise is fooling anyone). It's total bullshit frankly, and the susbsequent episode starting to delve into the "darknet" feels like something out a 90s hacker movie and doesn't belong in this show.

Kinda disappointed so far.

  Show
I'm with you on the hacker stuff. So fucking cheesy and awful. Zoe's death is different, though. I think it's a good move. A big problem I had with season 1 is that Frank had no one who measured up to him. He did everything right and never faltered. Killing Zoe was a split second decision, and even though he turned her around so that it would look like she tripped, it'll almost certainly come back to bite him. His relationship with Zoe was always a dangerous one, and his handling of her in this instance left loose ends (Lucas) that he has no way of knowing about. I'm okay with this move, providing that the murder plays a large role later on in the season. Also, it's an awesomely shocking move to kill off the third most important character on the show in the first episode of the new season.

Also, for the record,

Season 1 spoiler Show
I think that the death of Peter Russo was way, way dumber. Leaving him in the passenger's seat, really? And there were no security cameras that saw them driving through the garage? So stupid.

484

(58 replies, posted in Off Topic)

First episode is far, far better than anything in season 1. The writing has improved tremendously.

  Show
Also, how about that final shot, huh? Really wonder what you guys think. The show has always had kind of a complicated relationship with its audience by its very nature, but that was pretty blatant.

485

(991 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Donald Glover as the 11th Doctor is perfect. All of these are pretty perfect, actually. I remember seeing a similar thing a while back, but it was a faux-history of female Doctors.

486

(199 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Gotta say, the most disappointing thing about the show at this point is the case itself. It started out intriguing, but the stuff with the biker gang in the most recent episode felt so recycled.

487

(25 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Oh I'm totally with you there. The Michael Phillips episodes have consistently been my favorites in the past few years.

488

(25 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Aw, Filmspotting's great. I certainly wouldn't call it "pretentious." Though admittedly it's not as good as it was in its prime. I'm not a huge fan of Josh Larsen, though. Agree with you there. I personally prefer Filmspotting SVU right now. Singer and Willmore have great chemistry.

The Dissolve is a lot of fun. It's the podcast for the site of the same name, which has some of the smartest film writing out there today imo. The podcast is really smart as well, but still lighthearted and funny.

489

(25 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Huh. I used to listen to a lot more podcasts. Hard to keep up with so many, though. This is what I've got at the moment.

http://i.imgur.com/eJPKINv.png

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(44 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Zarban wrote:

This movie is NOT a movie about storytelling and it is NOT about all our relationships to all authority figures.

It's a perfectly good movie. It's just not the meaning of life.

I don't know how you can say that when Hulk just laid it all out there. It's pretty clearly a movie about creativity and the way we build narratives. That is exactly its purpose.

It's not like he invented scenes that aren't in the movie to make his argument. Everything he says is supported by something in the film. And it's not like he's the only person saying it. So it's kind of pointless to say that he's "reading too much into it." Talking about movies is why we're all on this forum, and this movie has plenty of stuff to discuss. If you didn't see any of that meat, then fine. But a lot of other people did, and they saw the same movie as you. Since it's a good movie, it's worth it to hear them out. If this was a terrible movie, that'd be a different story. But aren't good movies worth reading into? Sorry, I hope this post doesn't sound mean or anything. It's not my intention.

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(44 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Zarban wrote:

He's reading way too much into it and giving the storytellers way too much credit for rehashing old tropes. They infiltrate the villain's lair by pretending to belong there? Ingenious! The father has lost sight of the things that really matter in life? My god, that's never been done on film before!

He is so not reading too much into it. It's all there on screen. Yeah, the film uses tropes. And? It uses them in a creative, smart way that fits into the unique context of this story.

492

(38 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Jimmy B wrote:
Doctor Submarine wrote:

Remember guys, Upworthy-style headlines for this game.

I have no idea what that means.

I envy you, because apparently you don't have relatives sharing shit like this in your facebook feed all the time.

493

(44 replies, posted in Off Topic)

I know that Film Crit Hulk isn't worshipped as a god by you guys like he is sometimes on Twitter, and I have my issues with him, but wow if he doesn't nail it here. He took the words right out of my mouth.

http://badassdigest.com/2014/02/11/film … ego-movie/

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(38 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Remember guys, Upworthy-style headlines for this game.

Terminator 2

Think All Robots Are Worthless Murderers? Meet The Selfless Hero Who Will Change Your Mind.

Dave wrote:

I don't know that mine craft counts as gaming any more than a community Lego set does.

If we're gonna get into the "what is a game" discussion, I'll be on the panel.

496

(3 replies, posted in Movie Stuff)

That's exactly what I got out of it, yeah. I'd also add that this ties into the whole thing about "The Special" and how the prophecy is total bullshit. The film is saying that no one is inherently more special than anyone else (the conformity from the beginning), which really means that everyone is capable of being just as special as everyone else. All it really takes to be exceptional is to believe that you are, and even though it's not true, it can propel you towards greatness.

What a brilliant, brilliant film.

497

(38 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Robocop

This Honest Police Officer Was Brutally Murdered. What Happened Next Will Inspire You.

498

(38 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Alternately, a Buzzfeed format tagline.

Schindler's List

283,680 Images (Played One After Another In Rapid Succession) That Show The Horrors Of The Holocaust

499

(38 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Her

I Thought A Man Could Never Love A Phone. This Heartfelt Duet Between Them Changed My Mind And Made Me Cry.

500

(38 replies, posted in Off Topic)

The Fugitive

This Man Was Accused Of A Crime He Didn't Commit. What Happened Next Will Change Your View Of The Justice System.