I’ve recently played Resident Evil 6 for the 1st time after playing Resident Evil 4 (an absolute masterpiece) & Resident 5 (a pretty good game). I was already aware of the hate this game got over the years. But after experiencing it, it’s only bad in an artificial way. Like yeah, it’s nothing like the classic games and it’s too much in the action category.
Otherwise, as someone who loves action games, it’s a pretty fun game. Especially in Mercenaries Mode, where it’s fun to mow down body-horror themed enemies. As a Resident Evil game, it’s pretty bad. But…as an action third person shooter with splatter punks, it’s quite well executed
(2002) Time Machine with Guy Pierce and Jeremy Irons
Wasn’t a big hit when it came out and it’ll never be as iconic as the George Pal Time Machine from the 60’s. But the 2003 adaptation has the coolest looking time machine to come around in a while (at the time it was the most expensive prop ever built.)
Critics shit on it for not having the cataclysmic event that destroys humanity be global warming. While I’m all for talking about global warming I can kind of understand why they didn’t use that and why they didn’t reuse the 60’s disaster of nuclear war.
spoiler
In the 2002 film humans destroy the moon while nuking underground living spaces to build a low gravity retirement community for the elderly.
But to be fair to the writers their choice to destroying humanity was original, kind of a tongue-in-cheek joke about the elderly crisis we’re currently entering into and the plan is in fact an idea that has been discussed before.
Aside from that the film is pretty solid. In the book by HG Wells and the 60’s film the Time Traveller (doesn’t even have a name) has zero motivation aside from achieving a new scientific advancement. Thats cool and all but modern audiences, having had several successful time travel stories since Wells time, do need a better eureka moment than that. The 2002 film provides a good and believable motivation.
spoiler
His girlfriend is killed while he proposes to her. His first time traveling event is going back in time to save her, only to have fate killed her in some other cruel way. So instead of repeating the event he goes forward in hopes someone in the future will figure out how he can change the past.
The film also features a believable super-distant future where the human species splits, just like in the original stories. Samantha Mumba is a member of the tribe of humans that live above ground and are technologically ignorant, thought not exactly like the child-like race we see in the 60’s version. They do maintain that there are no old people and why that is.
spoiler
Morlocks are eating them up before they get old and the meat gets all tough and stringy.
Samantha Mumba did a great job in her role and while I don’t normally discuss a persons race the fact her father was Zambian and her mother Irish did kind of lean into what a future race of people could look like. She has a distinct look which played to the role.
Orlando Jones makes a couple appearances as a sort of AI librarian. It’s nice to see him in the odd movie role.
Jeremy Irons is the head morlock, the race of humans that stayed underground, and doesn’t disappoint, although his character is more of a cameo.
spoiler
He is the one who eventually explains that the issue with changing the past is a temporal paradox since Guy Pierce wouldn’t have built the machine if his lover hadn’t die, thus she must die because without the machine he couldn’t have went back to save her. Then to save his new future girlfriend the 2 fight to the death and he uses the time machine to sort of blow up all the other morlocks.
The film also had a good soundtrack and special effects that features the classic “years passing in seconds” stuff that was iconic from the 60’s film.
But ultimately the film is mostly forgotten to audiences.
I really like the 90s Romeo and Juliet, set in present day with the lines unchanged (mostly). I’m alone in this, I think.
It’s sick.
“Fetch me my sword” grabs a gun named sword. Plus it has the best Mercutio.
I quite enjoy The Big Bang Theory. It’s not great art, but it’s relaxing and not taxing.
Torment: Tides of Numenera
A lot of people give this game bad rep because its (in)direct ancestor was amazing Planescape Torment, the game with one of the best stories ever made. Sure Planescape was amazing, with all its bizarre characters and places, deep thoughts provoking story, vast amounts of book like conversations, that’s all true.
But Numenera was ringing the exact same bell for me.
I get some of the hate it’s not real Planescape, but that’s because of licensing reason and we can’t do shit about that. But world of Numenera was amazing replacement! It’s just as bizarre, just as strange, just as different, I loved it!
I get some of the hate of “shallow” characters which is somehow true for some random NPCs, but that’s in every game. But your companions were all interesting with interesting motives and background.
I don’t get the hate of mechanics and combat. I honestly prefer its game mechanics to d&d, because we’ve already seen it million times and this was new. And it works well. And combat? Lol. That’s the last thing this game is about so I don’t mind it’s not perfect. And honestly, combat in “the original” sucked even more.
All in all I did not expect much thanks to reviews but I was very pleasantly surprised. I highly recommend the game for all patient gamers out there.
Scrubs s9 and the Star Wars prequels.
The Last of Us 2. I get the hate but I LOVE playing as Abby. Christ almighty is it a fun game. Dark, but fun.
Spider-Man 3 (Tobey Maquire). It’s not the objectively best movie of the trilogy, but it’s the one I had the most fun watching
For games, I’d have to say Ultima. Most people who played the games before this one hate it and say that it deviated from the series too far, but I just love the post apocalyptic setting. It is so dark, and the game music by Nenad Vugrinec is really great.
Sure, it has it’s flaws. Massive, massive flaws. And so many. Movement, and especially jumping, is a big mess. And the game makes you jump a lot. Onto moving platforms, too. So that was massively frustrating. But despite that and the fact that the game was never really finished, it is still really really good.
I really enjoy the original live action Super Mario Bros movie from the early 90s. The production was an absolute mess from beginning to end, but somehow, an actually watchable movie came out of it, and the story is actually somewhat entertaining, even if it has nothing to do with the actual games.
Lol the “deevolution” ray that turns a dude into a monke. 😂
That movie was bizarre and wild. I like it too. I firmly file it under “Task failed successfully.” Lol
I have to say I enjoy that movie a lot too. I’m not denying that it’s a terrible movie, but it’s terrible in a very watchable and enjoyable way.
It was silly like a cartoon. It was deeply flawed on nearly every critical metric but it made us laugh, with it or at it.
In my opinion, I will state that co-op RE5 is my favorite way to judge compatibility with someone. I know it sounds silly but playing Army of Two is kind of the same. I played RE5 with my ex-fiance, we beat the game on the highest difficulty, got all the achievements, and she wasn’t a gamer–actually didn’t touch video games until we were together. Now the person I last dated was a gamer, yet I don’t why we struggled so much. So in a way, I had to tolerate that we couldn’t work together.
You know, the fact that you wrote ex fiance actually kinda goes against your point
If a sociopath checks all the boxes for ‘normal’ except for understanding that other people have their own thoughts and feelings, they’re still a sociopath.
Not saying their ex-wife is a sociopath, just saying that you usually need multiple litmus tests (colloquial) before you can determine a greater truth about someone.
Heh. When you’re with someone for six years. Things change. At a certain point you have to discuss the direction in life you want to take.
I was fine with Waterworld.
It’s mad max on the water, what’s not to love? Now postman on the other hand…
Waterworld, Sahara, and John Carter are all amazing movies that BOMBED… but by what metric? Tons of money in production and/or inept expensive marketing and it didn’t make it back.
That’s all. It wasn’t a “market success.” But I’m glad they’re a part of culture.
Sahara is the Uncharted movie we deserved. I wish we got more Clive Cussler movies. One of my favorite films.
John Carter is the reason I will never properly pronounce “Virginia” again.
Waterworld’s stunt show is incredible and the world building was awesome.
Yes, which reminds me of another hated movie I love: The Cable Guy aka Cabo Goobla:
“Dry land is not a myth. I’ve seen it.” Kevin Costner. Waterworld. I don’t know what the big fuss is about. I saw that movie nine times. It rules!
- Chip Douglas
So much so that I’m always surprised when they get the quote wrong in Waterworld itself! 😅
Iirc most of the press was just “this cost waaaaay too much to make” rather than “its a bad movie”
Thanks for reminding me I still need to actually watch it, though. And ive got a few hours to kill.
I was recently shown this hilarious Simpsons skit, but someone had to explain it to me haha.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qause0z-9tM
Context
The arcade game is desperately trying to make back the movie’s budget, so it’s an extortionate quarter-muncher. Lol
Just watched it for the second time last month educating the youth of today. Deserves a sequel more than Moana did.
And The Postman.
But I tend to like post-apocalyptic movies anyway.
The idea of The Postman was really neat. I remember it was a very slow paced epic though. A lot of Costner movies are kinda…contemplative that way. Kinda chill I guess? Haha his Robin Hood was like that too.
I watched that movie when I was a kid and genuinely liked it. (I do still have really broad taste, the question can be answered for me with “most media, apparently”)
It has a special place in my heart as one of a few dozen vhs we had that I could watch with no restrictions. (One of the banned movies was A clear and Present Danger, and I still don’t know why because I can’t stay awake through it because its boring. Another was Pulp Fiction. Maybe the first was a ruse!)
Is it a good movie? Idk. But smeat is still funny to me in ways that probably would have hit the same if I’d watched it today for the first time, so…
The Stunt show at Universal Studios was really cool tho
I like the Super Mario Bros movie, I don’t care how loosely connected it is to the games.
I’d watch Bob Hoskins read the phone book.
The old Super Mario Bros movie is a fantastic B scifi movie, it’s just a terrible Mario Bros movie. I still love it!
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There was actually a deleted scene originally in the movie where an executive from Nintendo met with Mario and Luigi to buy the rights to their story and that the movie was actually what happened and the games are the ones that changed things, which I’ve always thought was a fun tongue in cheek nod at the source material (or lack thereof).
I know a lot of films and TV pilots start as a writers original idea, sometimes even a great idea, but for one reason or another never get picked up. Or even worse it does get picked up. But in both cases someone says, “This won’t sell, can you make it Super Mario themed?”
The writer, creative as they are and just happy to get work, then mashes the two together.
I think a film featuring a parallel New York ruled by evolved dinosaurs and deevolution guns is a wild but potentially interesting film. What it has to do with Mario… I have no idea.
There’s so many movies / shows that feel like “They just pulled a generic plot off the shelf and branded it with this popular franchise.”
I think that’s why Paramount Halo was painful. :(
Different entertainment genre, but Nickelback.
Although I’m reasonably certain that 99% of people who hate on NB would sing along if it came on the radio.
We sing along because it was forced on us 😭 a few songs are ok I guess, they’re like the junk food of music, small doses.
The big problem, at least to me, is that they were massively overplayed on the radio and I grew tired of hearing the same song over and over again.
Now hearing them again after a long break, I can recognize that they made some decent - not great, but still decent songs.
That’s how I feel about Adele. Rolling in the Deep might even be objectively good but it GRATES on me because you’d hear it EVERYWHERE. ALL THE TIME.
I think a lot of decent artists are foisted upon the public so forcefully they become loathed.
For me it’s sweet child o mine. It’s a classic song, but I’ve heard and played it myself so many times that I can’t stand it anymore. I always skip it when I can
I have a friend, whom I typically respect, who surprised me with that hot take one day. He had similar things to say about Creed and Taylor Swift.
Hes also been known to cheat at DnD, though. I love the guy but…
This makes D&D very unfun. You don’t win DnD. You enjoy DnD with friends.
Yeah, as the DM i was very much tempted to call him on it a few times, but i figured it would do more harm than good. So I tried to get creative, which mostly worked.
You’re a good DM
Aww thanks <3
We’re all here to have fun after all.
It’s the ultimate “pop” rock. It really works for a lot of people but anyone who doesn’t like formulaic music designed with the broadest appeal will absolutely dislike it.
I am not ashamed to admit that I have their first album, and it’s a solid one with quite a few solid tracks on it. However, I always hated that song, which by far became the most popular one.
I don’t know much about their later stuff, though.
Nickelback, Daughtry, i don’t get what the hate tbh.
I don’t mind their one song. But that’s the thing, they only have one song. (They all sound the same.)
How I Met Your Mother. There’s a ton of hate, and it’s well deserved. Ted is annoying, Lily’s selfish, and Barney could never be a character on national TV now. It tapers off around season 5-6 and then fails in season 9.
However, it had a profound effect on me. I grew up in rural nowhere, Midwest USA, in a town with 2 bars and a gas station. Watching the group go out in the city going to bars and growing up there made me really connect, and made me feel a bit less isolated. I finally did move out and to a different city, and HIMYM did give me the hope to someday be like that, and now I am. I still re-watch every few years. It definitely hasn’t aged well, but it’s nostalgic for me.
I’m with you, I love that show. I liked friends too. I love trashy TV, it’s like frozen pizza, hits the spot.
I think sitcoms are an art form, people compare them to high price dramas and they aren’t. Sitcoms are your “friends” after a long day if work that you can count on to be reliable and low pressure. You watch them not for a good story necessarily, but to unwind after a day. Sadly I think that’s been lost over the last few years.
This is kind of how I feel about Friends too. It gets hated on for very valid reasons. But I will always remember being a teen watching the episode where Rachel and Monica have 1 condom left in the apartment and compete over who gets it. Then Monica goes to tell Chandler (I think?) that they can’t have sex because Rachel won the condom. He whines a bit, but she holds her ground. It’s one of the earliest pieces of media I remember watching that emphasized the importance of safe sex.
Sex and the city for me. They’re rich assholes. They’re also outspoken, assertive, strong. They taught a lot to teen me, a nerdy people-pleaser. They were the ones who made me realize I could just say no to men, and that having standards was a good thing.
Richard!
I’ve always interpreted that show with Marshall as the main character. He goes through the most growth and also has the most altruistic intentions throughout. I see it as a demonstration that your friends and loved ones can be holding you back. Marshall deserved better than that friend group and he rarely if ever sacrifices his morals for the others.
Lily especially in this watchthrough I’m noticing how much she does manipulate him. Season 2 leaving of course just destroys him, and then she comes back and just expects to be taken back like it’s nothing. Then expects the wedding and everything right after, wanting everything to move on like she didn’t just destroy all trust with him. The really sad thing is she left to see if she could be a painter while he never prevented her from doing that while being together, as Ted said there are so many ones in NYC why SF? She wanted to go off and be single, and he took her back way too easily.
Then getting mad that he talks to his parents, or that he dreamed of maybe living somewhere else, or the credit card debt, or then being mad that he became a corporate lawyer to pay off her credit card debt. I feel bad for the guy
Thank you! I genuinely believe that Lily is the least agreeable character in the show. Everyone else’s vices are brazen and loud, but she manages to sneak around and not get noticed because of how cute her demeanor is.
I like her character for this, gives her more dimension and imperfect characters are more interesting to me.
I loved watching that show, but the premise is a bit off. “Hey kids, let me tell you about all the chicks I banged before your mom.”
Iirc Ted mosby (the real guy, not his character) asked if they were still doing that original ending.
To this day it still ranks up there with one of the worst final seasons ever for me.
It’s no scrubs
I enjoy Gods of Egypt, even have the Bluray. It’s a dogshit movie but good junk food entertainment. Kinda gives me The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vibes which is another crap movie I like.
Not sure why, I think I’m just a sucker for ancient Egyptian themes even when they’re butchered to the point of being insulting.
I love those pulpy swing-for-the-fences ideas too. Sometimes people forget not everything has to be high cinema or literature.
Sometimes we just want some imaginative adventure that takes us away from the mundane drudgery.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vibes which is another crap movie
Awwww man, I really liked that movie. I wanted to see more on their take of captain nemo
Captain Nemo is an absolute bad ass in that movie.
If some mad hatter gives Stephen Norrington a bag of money to direct again I’d watch a sequel lol.
