The reverse of that post I’ve made a week ago…

Rules: pick one movie or series and explain why you actually enjoyed it despite the criticism.

For me: The JJ Abrams Star Trek movies, by far the best ST stuff ever made, I couldn’t take seriously the original universe with the dated effects and stiff acting, same goes for NG… These movies did ST actually great looking and much more believable, not just the effects.

      • Cenzorrll@lemmy.world
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        The joke in my friend group was that Waterworld was Dances with Wolves on water. The Postman was Waterworld on land. Dances with Wolves was the Postman with Native Americans. Toss in whichever parallel you feel works best to not actually say the movie you’re putting on.

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      DRY LAND!!!

      I dont understand the hate other than cosner was the guy to hate in that era.

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      Solid Film. Quirky characters. Everyone seems to be having fun.

      It inspired me to buy a kayak a few years back to have my Autistic Fish Man Summer.

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      Pretty sure when I went to WB world or whatever as a kid they had one of those 15min live shows of it. Jestskis and a few explosions. Surly it can’t be thst unpopular.

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      It’s a fine movie, but people really don’t like being reminded of climate change or other environment issues. Same thing with Avatar. If you cast an environmentalist as a villain though, people seem to like it.

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      That was the first that came to mind, but I didn’t know it was very hated, just thought it bombed at the box office opening weekend because it was in competition with another movie that was way more popular.

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    For me: The JJ Abrams Star Trek movies, by far the best ST stuff ever made, I couldn’t take seriously the original universe with the dated effects and stiff acting, same goes for NG… These movies did ST actually great looking and much more believable, not just the effects.

    Just kidding… but not really.

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        Maybe I do understand why people like Star Trek, but I just don’t like that myself?

      • Platypus@lemmings.worldOP
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        Dude if in universe they talk about hyper advanced races or warlords without mercy or AI and all the have is actors in shitty make up or awful “martial arts” and sword fighting, then the new movies are better by default. It’s about immersion

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          I say this purely tongue in cheek.

          Enjoy your polished turd. But don’t look directly at it. It will blind you with lens flare.

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            Funny thing, I didn’t even really notice the lense flares until people started complaining about it… I guess when you live with something like that all the time (thanks, astigmatism), seeing it on screen just doesn’t have the same effect on you

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          Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone with this confusing of an opinion. And I’ve met Trump supporters that love Star Trek.

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              You… You are aware just how much tech and effects have progressed in the last sixty years… Right? What they were doing was groundbreaking for the time, pretty much every time.

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                It was not great even for it’s time. It was passable and I’m also talking about the movie version of those old series with Kirk and Picard. Star wars came like what… A couple of years after? And looked much better, the next gen movies came after the old trilogy and still couldn’t look better…

                The final results are what matter. With sci-fi, the special effects are a primordial part. Also I’m not just talking about effects. Old material was acted like a radio play or theatre… Not a fan. That slowly changed with next generation but still wasn’t enough.

                JJ Abrams movies are “ST if it was actually on our world”. And the actors are EXCELLENT, even the haters admit all of them did excellent evocations of the old actors, some of them actually felt like the same actor but younger, which wasn’t necessary since that could alienate the viewer but whatever, it worked.

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                  I don’t have any strong feelings about Star Trek. But I know enough to treat it as a piece of philosophy. It was never about the most advanced visual effects possible (although some of the effects and makeup are quite impressive imo). Star Trek was an investigation into what it means to be human, and the morality behind that. If there was cool tech stuff, that was bonus.

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                  It’s hard to compare the two (original series vs. JJ Abrams), being across such vast differences in time (relative to the progress of technology and style in filmmaking) but its impossible if you’re just going to outright denounce all the qualities the original had for its time.

                  Star wars came like what… A couple of years after? And looked much better

                  Star Trek (1966-1969)

                  Star Wars (1977)

                  You do the math.

                  It was not great even for it’s time. It was passable… With sci-fi, the special effects are a primordial part.

                  What are you comparing it to? The progress in filmmaking during that time was ridiculous. The steadicam hadn’t even been invented yet so shots were much more static. For the time, people were blown away by the sets and effects.

                  Also I’m not just talking about effects. Old material was acted like a radio play or theatre… Not a fan.

                  All the acting and direction in every show and movie at that time was stilted and stiff and yes, very akin to a play. That was the time of Adam West Batman. You don’t have to be a fan. But your statements about it not being good for its time are… Ignorant? At best.

                  JJ Abrams movies are “ST if it was actually on our world”.

                  You’re delusional is you think “actually in our world” is measured by the visual effects technology and the progress of film/TV acting and direction of the time. Connection with the real world is quite literally what set Star Trek apart and made it change the course of sci fi film and television. It took real world politics and social issues and made them part of a sci fi story.

                  But if epic CGI space battles and intrusive lens flare from non-existent lights is your definition of reality, there’s not much else we can say.

          • Platypus@lemmings.worldOP
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            No is not. These aren’t books, it’s an audio visual media. Seeing Kirk in a bad looking cardboard looking set pretending to be another planet with soap opera acting won’t sell the idea

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    Me and about a dozen other people thought John Carter was great. To me, it was just a fun sci-fi/fantasy movie. Never undestood the hate.

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    Green Lantern. I went in expecting cartoony quips and got what I expected. Everyone calls it a stupid movie like they went in expecting Shakespeare and found the Muppets. I went in expecting a live action comic book, and yeah that’s pretty much what I got. Fun show, watched it a few times now.

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      No matter how nice you are about Green Lantern, Ryan Reynolds still won’t call you. Don’t ask how I know, it’s a touchy subject.

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        I know why he’s mad, it was a box office disaster. Nothing can fix that short of a time machine.

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      I would 100% watch Muppets doing Shakespeare. That’s basically what the comedies were in those days anyway.

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    SOLO - I know everyone hated on this film, but we get a space western mixed with a heist movie. Woody Harrelson and Donald Glover are icing on the cake. Plus we get a robot uprising. 5 bags of popcorn and throw in a couple of those Darth Vader cups.

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      I did not enjoy the sequels, but Solo? Yeah, that is a solid fun time. I even have a Solo T-shirt that I still wear on occasion.

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      I don’t think this is really a hot take. I know quite a few star wars fans and most of them (including me) love Solo, even those who can’t stand any of the other new movies.

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      It’s easily the best Star Wars movie in the last 30 years. Its only major faults are some bits of bad cinematography and a bit of cringey fan service.

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        That’s Rogue One.

        I did like Solo, but can’t but feel it would have been better had the main character not been Han Solo, because nobody was really going to live up to Harrison Ford in the originals.

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          Its easily Roque One, Theres just no competition movie wise. In general its Andor, that show was just peak Star Wars

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          Nah, Rogue One is as bad as the other sequels. The main character is about as interesting as a wet dish rag. Several of the side characters are annoying. Zombie Tarkin. There’s no story arc or characters that are worth caring about and the entire plot is just a thin excuse to have cringey fan service and CG action scenes.

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      For some reason I was thinking you were talking about that Mario Van Peebles movie

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    Wild Wild West has a 16% on Rotten Tomatoes but I genuinely enjoy that film. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen also at 16% and also a movie I enjoyed

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      No way ! WWW is a treasured childhood memory of mine, this rotten tomato guy can suck ass

    • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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      League of Extraordinary Gentlemen aka How audiences unjustly bullied Sean Connery out of acting.

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        Wait, really? That was an excellent movie. I wanted them to build a franchise around it

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          Indeed.

          Sean Connery’s agent had scored him the roles of Gandalf for Lord of the Rings and Morpheus in The Matrix, but turned them down due to feeling the plot was too complicated for audiences to follow. After both of these became money-printing machines, he picked League of Extraordinary Gentlemen despite still having problems with the script believing it would be as big as the other two films and that he wasn’t going to miss out on a solid payday three times in a row…

          League of Extraordinary Gentlemen would go on to be a box office bomb, and Sean Connery felt he was too “out of touch” with modern audiences to be an actor.

          There is good news though, if you want more from the franchise you’re in luck. As the movie itself was based off of a comic book which has pretty much the same plot.

          The only difference is the movie added “Tom Sawyer” to the group, he isn’t in the comic book and had been requested by executives so that there was a token American in the group, fearing audiences wouldn’t be able to relate without a member from the good ol’ US of A.

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            Tom did seem kind of tacked on there, rather than fitting with the rest. But of course the executives were right, my American pride liked the symbolism of the ending

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      Fun fact. Will Smith passed up playing Neo in the Matrix for WWW. I think we got the better deal but it’s fun to picture it.

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      Yeah, I wasn’t that excited about the idea of sequel in the first place, mostly because I didn’t think there was much point to one. So when I saw Resurrections I was actually pleasantly surprised, and genuinely enjoyed the different tone and lamposting of the dumbness of unnecessary sequels.

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      The parts where its clear they were forced to make the video game movie or someone else would is great. The rest is… not good imo. Neo uses the force push every 30 seconds and solves all of his problems.

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      I don’t hate Tank Girl for what it is but for what it could have been. Like that was the greatest casting imaginable for Tank Girl in any era of film and the soundtrack was magical at the time. It had so much potential but got lost due to budget and film industry input

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      both awesome movies. don’t trust “experts”, siskel and ebert rated Tommy Boy the worst comedy they’d ever seen. fuck them lol

    • inb4_FoundTheVegan@lemmy.world
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      I made the mistake of watching dude wheres my car again recently. I enjoyed it as a kid, but the way that trans charcter was done really upset me. I entirely forgot she existed in the movie, but a cis actress who was dubbed with a cis man voice was used to trick the main charcters into making out and then played as gross out humor. Her whole storyline was just flat out upsetting stereotypes.

      The tattoo scene is still a total gem, but the rest of it aged so poorly.

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        The 90s in general were pretty bad for portrayal of trans and lgb+ characters. Remember Ace Ventura, first one?

        I agree, though, close minded people ruin everything.

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          Pet detective was my favorite movie growing up, now I try to forget it exists. Most movies haven’t aged well in terms of casual bigotry of all flavors. Yet they still hold value, some more than others. It’s just important to remember they were products of their time. Which makes them good measuring sticks for how audiences have changed. Sometimes the real joke is what I used to find funny as a kid.

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            Tbh, some of these scenes were pretty mind boggling to me even as a kid. Never understood what people have against different bodies.

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      Sometimes you just have to turn off expectations towards the story and accept that a movie is worth watching because it is pretty. I first learned this lesson with Speed Racer, but Valorian is another big title for me that falls into this category.

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      I don’t think that’s a particularly hot take. Pretty much everyone thinks that it was good with the minor exception of for a the actors.

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    You asked for one, but I’ve got two hills to die on, sorry.

    1. Solo: A Star Wars Story was a lot of fun and I thought it was a solid entry. I didn’t really like the Sequels or Prequels, but Rogue One and Solo both stuck out as good titles to me.

    2. Lightyear was a good movie. I really enjoyed it and didn’t really understand why it got so much flak.

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      Solo is a great movie. I know it tried a little too hard to answer every question ever about Solo’s backstory, but apart from a clunk here and there, it’s exactly what the idea of “A Star Wars Story” should have been. I would have signed up for more.

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    Lady in the Water by M. Night. I think its an amazingly crafted fairy tale.

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      I cannot remember a single thing about the movie except that I recall loving the way in which the story was told but hating the story itself.

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      The marketing really fucked up the movie. I also really liked it but I watched after looking up what it was actually about

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    I don’t think Red One deserved the hate it got. I know everyone is getting tired of Marvel and the Rock, but I thought applying a Christmas theme to the tropes was actually refreshing.

    Like not a great movie, but way more watchable than the last few Capeshit flicks I’ve seen.

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      The Rock decided that Republicans buy too much of his shitty tequila to risk taking a stand against things like Actual Fascism right around the same time I got fucking exhausted of seeing him everywhere. I’m done with that meathead.

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      I did not know anyone really hated that movie, watched it and recommended it to some people. Yeah, the rock not doing it great, but it was a solid film imo, it was an interesting and funny twist on winter mythos. Not great, not worthy of a sequal, but solid.

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        Same; I’ve heard nothing but good things about it. My cousin raved about it for so long on Christmas that I downloaded a copy and streamed it from my phone to my aunt’s TV. Everyone loved it.

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    I like all the Terminator movies. All of them. Time travel, killer robots, Arnold; I know it’s wrong but I can’t help myself.

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      I can see liking everything up to Salvation, but the last two movies are mostly just lazy cash grabs.

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        I actually enjoyed Dark Fate well enough. It made some ballsy decisions and at least made a modicum of sense.

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          Dark Fate was awesome, “The Return of Sarah Connor” and all that; I like that they’re talking about divergent timelines leading to the same destination - humanity destroying itself through tech. I’ll admit that Salvation wasn’t great, but if you give me a choice between no Terminators in a movie and Terminators in a movie I’ll take the first almost every time.

          I just want to see Terminator vs Predator.

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            I felt like the problem with Dark Fate was less that the film itself was in any particular way flawed and more that the universe doesn’t really have any more good stories in it.

            There are many rich and fertile fictional universes where you can imagine new places and politics and technologies ad infinitum to tell new and exciting stories. There are character universes where you can dig deep into the families and relationships. But Terminator, fundamentally, is just “modern day world” with a very specific doomsday arc. The only story to tell that deserves to be called part of the Terminator universe is the story of thwarting that doomsday. And once you’ve done so perfectly via Terminator 2: Judgment Day, there’s literally no point in sticking around.

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      I don’t get the hate for it. It’s weird, tense, spooky and exciting with good looking scenes and interesting characters. It’s not a perfect film by any stretch but I goddamn love a psychopathic robot any day.

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        I don’t like the thesis of the movie. It had everything going for it, but the script. Ridley Scott seems to not like scientists seeing as how every scientist dies an ironic death.

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          I didn’t know it had a thesis. If it did, it’d probably be about retribution against the people who give technology to humanity and the dangers of having that technology. Like the myth of Prometheus.

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      I will give massive props to Riddley for taking a big risk and pushing into a new direction. I suspect massive meddling by the studios. Prometheus had a lot of interesting concepts that just never got a chance to be fleshed out fully. My guess Covenant was going to be the response to that but something happened between the two movies because Covenant is completely divorced thematically and story wise from Prometheus. I’m sorry Riddley never got a chance to live out this interesting new universe.

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      I notice that a big percentage of “hated” movies tie in with existing fan-bases. New movies in existing franchises, book adaptations, etc. Guess people go in with certain expectations and hate it when those are not met.

      I didn’t know Prometheus was supposed to tie in with the Alien series (which I loved), so I had no expectations related to that. I enjoyed the movie and I was surprised at the end to see what looked like a Xenomorph.

      That being said, I also have my share of movies I hated because they didn’t live up to my expectations from the books. I love the Harry Potter movies, but I was disappointed by how much they left out. I couldn’t watch The Expanse past the first couple of episodes because of how much was changed. And then there’s Foundation, which so ridiculously misses the mark that I’m able to enjoy as a series that just happens to share a title and some character names with the books, but is otherwise an unrelated story.

    • Entertainmeonly
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      I didn’t know people hated this movie. I think it’s better than the new sand movie we got.

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        I walked out after part 1 saying, “What did I learn in that movie that I didn’t learn in the first half of the other one?” I mean, the new one is nicer to look at, but the first 2 parts already out cover the 84 version in like 3x the run time!

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          Having read the books I feel like the 84 version was great for the first half and then they said “ah fuck we’re out of time” and just cobbled together the second half

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      The Lynch movie is what the characters will always look like in my head. I liked the Syfy miniseries too (which I watched shortly after reading the books). And I also like the new movies.