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Messages - Shorty McNostril

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1
As is Riri Williams.

That trailer is just stunning. Holy hell talk about emotion. The music, the passion. Just superb.

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Movies & TV / Re: SPOILER ALERT: MCU Thread (Spider Eye & Hawk Man)
« on: January 01, 2022, 04:39:33 PM »
Adrock summed up my thoughts very nicely too. But I'd add two small nitpicks I found:

1. JJ didn't have the clever wit and snark that he had in the Raimi movies. He was a far more matter of fact, no nonsense reporting. Technically this is a different JJ so I can understand it as per the lore, but it's still disappointing.

2. I would have liked Tobey and Andrew's Spider-Man outfits to have been differentiated a bit. They are very similar and when in motion it's somewhat difficult to pick out who was who. Obviously they were going for full nostalgia with their original outfits but adding a dash of colour, or maybe even another classic design on one of them would have been nice.

Aside from that it was a wonderful time and probably the best quality Marvel offering this year. The patrons at our theatre viewing were cheering and applauding when the other Peters arrived and at when Andrew saved MJ (best moment in the movie in my opinion). Having said that I enjoyed Eternals more (I don't know why but I did).

Also, congrats to Jon Watts for being the first director to complete a trilogy for the MCU.

3
As much as I just adore the movie I'm not blind to the issues. It certainly does have them. But I just loved it so much that they didn't bother me in the slightest.

Introducing ten new characters as well as a whole new side of the MCU is certainly a big ask, and you're quite right that they probably should have done it across two movies or a series. But given they chose to use one movie I think they did it about as well as they possibly could have under the circumstances. And for me it worked beautifully. Maybe I'm just a tiny niche of whom this movie really ..... spoke(?) to. I don't know, but whatever the case, I think the faults are well and truly outweighed by the praise.

I can certainly say that I very much look forward to the sequel and dearly hope Ms Zhao is once again holding the reins. If this is what she can put together with the scope it had I cannot wait to see what she can do with something tighter.

4
I'm glad you liked it! I was considering going to see it this weekend. I missed F9, so my last movie experience was Black Widow. I'd been feeling a little down lately, but my mood has been on an upswing, so I'd like to carry that momentum with a good viewing experience. Might go tomorrow.

Unfortunately it's not hard to beat Black Widow. Bottom tier MCU in my opinion. In fact it's the first MCU movie that I didn't bother finishing my rewatch after home release. I'll shelve that with Guardians 2 in the movies I have no interest in ever watching again.

Eternals seems to be very divisive, at least among critics. I've very curious to see what the consensus is here. On another forum I frequent my post singing its praises was bookended by two other posters hating it. I for the life of me can't wrap my mind around it but it's definitely out there. Hopefully you enjoy it as I did.


5
Wow it's been quiet in here.

Seen Eternals twice and I just love it. I think it's now my favourite MCU movie. And Makkari has just become my favourite hero.

I am far from a movie reviewer but I'll try to put some words to my thoughts.

It looked beautiful. Some great looking shots, costumes were beautiful, CGI was pretty damn good. The Deviants also looked great.

The soundtrack was excellent. I might be partial here because I adore Mr Djawadi's work and it definitely had his feel to it. And it fit beautifully.

I enjoyed the story a lot. It was well told. Some parts were quite heavy on the exposition but given the subject matter, a whole new element to the universe and new characters I don't see how they could have avoided it. No complaints from me given the circumstances.

What I was not expecting were just how good the fight scenes were. Holy hell. Some were extremely tense and damn they were choreographed and acted wonderfully. And you could really feel the blows being traded. Especially with two standouts being Makkari and Gilgamesh. Each member had their time to shine and were utilised well.

Two post credit scenes to watch. Neither of them meant anything to me because I know absolutely nothing of the source material but bring it on. I dearly hope there's a sequel. I am very seriously considering going back for another viewing.

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Movies & TV / Re: Rate the last movie you've seen
« on: November 05, 2021, 02:35:47 AM »
Eternal: One million out of ten. Seen it twice already and just love it. I also have a new favourite Marvel hero. Makkari ftw. I dearly hope to see her again.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Metroid Dread
« on: October 10, 2021, 03:52:22 AM »
Interesting. Shows how different people have different views on such things. Sure they were hard, but I found I was progressing sufficiently through subsequent encounters that it kept the frustration at bay.

In terms of the flappy bird attack I assume you mean the stage two attack when he swoops across the screen into the wall.? If so, curl up into a morph ball and he'll go right over the top of you.  I had a great time in that final fight. Yes he hits like a tank but he telegraphs attacks well enough for you to evade as needed. But naturally you'll likely die a fair bit as you suss out the moveset.
No, it's the attack where he.....

Ah right yes I'm with you. [_Use the blink/dash move to go through the gaps. Makes it a lot easier than relying on the natural flow of the bounce_]

_________

(I don't know if there's a way to only quote a portion of a post without the whole thing coming across and having to delete stuff in this tiny little reply window)

@Adrock.
I got the first real boss down on the first attempt. It was most definitely the only boss I got down first attempt. All the others took many attempts. However that did bring to mind another issue I found with the game:

Those eyeball brain things that give you the omega beam to take out EMMIs. There needs to be more clear feedback to the player that you're actually damaging it when you shoot it. I remember the first time I killed one I found myself trying to damage other things in the room, and deflect projectiles at it because I wasn't sure if my shooting the thing was doing anything. Maybe show the metal shell sustaining damage, denting or something.

Regarding the point about having difficulty finding how to proceed through the game - again I never had this problem. In fact I think the level design is just top notch in terms of guiding people where they need to go. Even in the EMMI zones where you're rushing through you still largely end up where you need to go to progress.

By all the above I'm certainly not trying to imply that I'm a better player and what not. Maybe I just got lucky. Or maybe this type of game is just my jam. I am quite sensitive to repetition and frustration in games now. It's an extremely rare game that I will play above normal difficulty, and I'm not above playing something on easy mode. But for whatever reason this particular game didn't labour on me like a lot do. (Luckily for me because there is no easy mode in this game lol). I was looking forward to each boss encounter because each time I went in I was learning more and therefore more comfortable with the fights. And consequently every few more attempts I'd progress a little further in the encounter which kept the frustration at bay.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Metroid Dread
« on: October 09, 2021, 11:49:03 PM »
Interesting. Shows how different people have different views on such things. Sure they were hard, but I found I was progressing sufficiently through subsequent encounters that it kept the frustration at bay.

In terms of the flappy bird attack I assume you mean the stage two attack when he swoops across the screen into the wall.? If so, curl up into a morph ball and he'll go right over the top of you.  I had a great time in that final fight. Yes he hits like a tank but he telegraphs attacks well enough for you to evade as needed. But naturally you'll likely die a fair bit as you suss out the moveset.

9
Nintendo Gaming / Re: Metroid Dread
« on: October 09, 2021, 04:30:02 PM »
Just wrapped up the story. Had a wonderful time. Definitely the most story heavy of the whole series. Overall I thought the story was quite solid but a little bit cliched in a couple of points. Some of the writing felt a bit basic in a couple of parts but these complaints are fairly nitpicky. Was a great experience and a worthy entry to the series.

Nintendo said that this entry wraps up the metroid storyline.

Mega spoilers in the following passage

If that's what they've said then I guess it has but to be honest the ending was a bit ambiguous in that respect. Samus herself is a metroid now so by definition that storyline can never be wrapped up. Unless that final X somehow purged her system of it but if that's what happened then it wasn't well demonstrated. Maybe they're leaving a small thread there in case they want to come back to it and retcon one day?

Boss and miniboss fights are great fun. Really interesting mechanics and the parry cutscenes are so cool. Nice variety. But they nailed them in terms of fairness and difficulty. Not once did I find myself getting frustrated and when I died it was all me. But they are balanced excellently so you can feel like you're progressing and learning the fights quickly enough that you don't get frustrated. It also spawns you nice and close to the encounter so you don't have to progress all the way from the last save point.

I think the EMMIs are really nicely done. They have a very bizarre movement which makes them a little creepy and that beep is quite unnerving which builds the tension of these things. I only managed a handful of successful parries against them. The timing isn't constant which is good.

One minor nitpick I do have though when it comes to bosses is why Kraid was in this game. There was no reason for him to be there. No mention of why or how. You just stumble upon him tied up in the basement. I think it was just hamfisted fan service. Would have rathered him not be there, or they could have given us a reason why he was. We don't see him dead so I guess they haven't ruled him out of future appearances but it was just so weird. Thankfully there was no unexplained Ridley appearance. No Space Pirates at all either.

Tomorrow I'll go through and try to pick up all the items. Speaking of which for anyone far enough through the game and has the speed boost. I don't know if I'm missing something, but there are several areas where expansions or paths are hidden behind speed boost blocks that require the shine spark to access. The problem is that there are no flat sections of terrain close enough to these areas so you can get the spark there before it times out. I'm just wondering if there's a mechanic I missed that allows you to charge it up with a shorter run, or a means of keeping the charge longer before it dissipates.

Some other miscellaneous comments:

SAMUS SPEAKS! Unfortunately not in english but even those couple of lines was really cool. And her almighty yell at the end. I was hoping we might have got a post credit scene with her speaking somewhere but sadly it wasn't to be.

Nice to see Adam Malkavich's brain computer thing was in there too. But one wonders at what point Raven Beak hijacked it. Was he controlling it from the very beginning, or did it happen somewhere throughout the adventure? It was definitely the real Adam at some point because he asked her his usual question of "Any objections, Lady?". I was hoping we might get a little more from the Adam story. Hopefully that will be expanded on later. That might be a nice palate cleanser before embarking on a new Metroid storyline actually. Maybe do a prequel with Adam in it and their relationship building. (I know Other M had some of this in it but it seems that Nintendo are pretending that doesn't exist so hopefully we'll get some more).

I'm most pleased they took her bird suit away. That thing was hideous.

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I reckon the marketing team for most Reynolds movies have the best job in the world. Especially Deadpool where you can do whatever the hell you want and it somehow still works.

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Movies & TV / Re: Rate the last movie you've seen
« on: August 21, 2021, 06:30:00 PM »
I too loved Free Guy. You definitely get more out of it if you know how the gaming industry works, but there were great nods and easter eggs all the way through, and yes that climax was wonderful BnM, yes the Avengers theme did play when the shield appeared, as did the Star Wars theme when the lightsabre appeared. A shame it was Fallen Order lightsabre and not a real one because dude didn't seem to care at all.

Realistically though I think it's Ryan's best work. Enjoyed it far more than both the Deadpool movies. But it's more Ryan Reynolds. If you like Ryan you'll have a fun time with this even if you know nothing about video games.

Looking forward to a home release so I can see it with subtitles.

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I have only ever watched one Fast and Furious movie. That was the fourth one. And on that cursed day I swore a vow to the universe that I would never watch this franchise ever again. I just hated it. I mean, I don't expect exact realism when you're going for a dumb movie like this, but at the same time I expect the directors and producers to at least have the slightest idea how a car works, and the physics therein. Nope, not for me.

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I have zero interest in The Suicide Squad. I 'm just not a fan of James Gunn's style. I did like the first GotG because it came out of nowhere, but the shtick didn't work twice in my opinion. I have never watched GotG2 since the first viewing and I quite likely never will. Suicide Squad trailers just looked like it was just another GotG with different characters but with more blood and swearing. Pass.

12
Disney really need to stop with this terrible practice of releasing half the movie in clips and trailers before hand. I just watch the trailers. That's it.

I am super hyped for Shang-Chi. Before this movie was announced I'd never heard of him but it's by far my most anticipated project this year. Less than two weeks to go. And to answer a previous question, I'll be there on opening night. Marvel movies must be seen in theatres for me. None of this home streaming nonsense for my first viewing thanks very much.

My interest in Eternals has really heightened after seeing the final trailer. The first looks didn't have me terribly excited  (outside of being a Marvel movie of course) but the latest one where we've seen some action have really helped.


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Movies & TV / Re: SPOILER ALERT: MCU Thread (Livin' La Vida Loki)
« on: August 21, 2021, 06:12:54 PM »
I've enjoyed What If far more than I expected to. Definitely more than Loki, and up there with F&WS and WV in terms of enjoyment. It's just wonderful seeing how much fun they're having with the show. Not to mention the animation is beautiful, and the fight scenes (especially in the first episode) were .....brilliant.

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Movies & TV / Re: SPOILER ALERT: MCU Thread (Livin' La Vida Loki)
« on: July 29, 2021, 06:15:10 PM »
It was how episode two concluded. Sylvie rigged all the bombs she'd been stealing off the TVA teams to travel through to all different points in time and detonate. It resulted in the time graph going bananas. This just seemed to be completely dropped, rather we follow Loki through the portal chasing Sylvie and watched them bicker and sing on a train for half an hour. Felt like a whole episode's worth of content or more was just left out. You'd think that blowing all those timelines would have been quite a significant (and very interesting) event.

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Movies & TV / Re: SPOILER ALERT: MCU Thread (Livin' La Vida Loki)
« on: July 28, 2021, 04:01:44 AM »
Especially knowing that the show will continue another season at least, I kinda wish we got more. More episodes of Loki and Mobius playing cop/detectives for a while. Maybe make that all of S1 and then the twist at the end of S1 is the full reveal that things are a farce at the TVA or some such thing, then let Loki go on the run a while and lead into the showdown at the void at the end of S2. This would give enough time for Loki to stew on his "Prime Life" and experience similar parallel character developments to Prime.

I have an idea for a story for this. How about if someone grabbed a heap of those pruning bombs/time bombs and set them all to travel to different points in time and detonate? They could have buddy copped around to explore and fixed that. I have a feeling I might have drawn inspiration from that idea from somewhere.....can't recall where though
/s

Quote
I'm still in the #LokiLives camp for Prime Loki. Nothing shown in the show is a shoe-in for his life being over, just implied. And with all the other smoke and mirrors the MCU D+ shows and this one in particular have been throwing around I think that is still in the cards. They've teased the possibility with Classic Loki sharing the survivor story. The series could very well conclude with TVA Loki warning Prime Loki or taking his place to die at Thanos' hands or some other switch-a-roo so that story hasn't wrapped yet.

I was actually fully expecting Loki Prime to be the main man pulling the TVA strings. Would have been a very interesting twist if they could satisfactorily explain how he lived through the events of Infinity War.

However I think this Loki is done. I was actually happy when he was bumped off in Infinity War. I'm just getting tired of him. I was hoping he'd get killed off again at the end of this series.

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Movies & TV / Re: SPOILER ALERT: MCU Thread (Livin' La Vida Loki)
« on: July 26, 2021, 05:38:23 PM »
>I refuse to accept that this Loki had such a turn around in something like a week.

I think we're supposed to believe that this Loki watching Prime Loki's life play out, which included his role in the death of his mother and Ragnarok, combined with making a "real" connection to another (another?) person in Sylvie, he manag  change similar to how Prime Loki did.

Yeah I acknowledge that, but still not enough for me. Don't get me wrong, I would certainly expect some change and growth, but nowhere near the extent we saw here. If anything I would believe Loki would be all for watching the anarchy from "the others" if Mr Remains was killed. The resulting chaos would be right in his wheelhouse.


Also, I was under the impression Loki was at the TVA for an indiscriminate amount of time. Since time flows differently there, Variant Loki could have been there for a week, a few months etc.

Yeah I did think of that, but no effort at all was made to really drive that point home. The closest they came was when they sent him to go a few rounds with Lady Sif, but the episode doesn't indicate he was down there for long at all since all that passed in the TVA world were a couple of conversations before they went and pulled him out. At the very least I guess they could have just done a Spongebob and put some text on the screen at some point saying "An indeterminate amount of time later....." to at least indicate that events aren't taking place as quickly as it seems.

Also the show ending without a resolution to that series was allegedly a last minute tweak that was not in the original plan.

If this is true it wouldn't at all surprise me. I'd love to know what the ending was supposed to be.

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Movies & TV / Re: SPOILER ALERT: MCU Thread (Livin' La Vida Loki)
« on: July 24, 2021, 07:28:10 PM »
I was quite underwhelmed with Loki and rank it a distant third of the three series thus far, the finale of which was the worst episode in my opinion.

A couple of standout points which didn't work for me:

1. I refuse to accept that this Loki had such a turn around in something like a week. Remember this Loki a few days prior was invading to subjugate earth. He drilled out someone's eye mercilessly. He tried to kill his brother. Loki is the god of mischief. He has been spending countless centuries causing chaos and reveling in it. It's his life purpose. And in a week we're suppose to believe that he has completely repudiated his deeply entrenched life purpose and was willing to sacrifice himself for the betterment of humanity? Not buying it. If this was Loki prime (who died in Infinity War) then I would be on board, but not this one.

2. On average the writing was excellent. So why did they ruin the episodes with combat? The choreography was awful. Once again coming back to the theme, this is Loki. He is the God of Mischief. These conflicts could have been resolved by wit and cunning which would allow the writers more opportunities to get clever. Instead we have cheap fisticuffs which looked terrible. When Loki and Sylvie were standing on guard when Mr Remains' door was opening I was laughing because of how bad it looked. Especially since Loki uses daggers, not a machete or whatever that thing was.

3. It felt completely flat and unsatisfying. It certainly left things very exciting for the remainder of phase four, but provided absolutely no resolution to the series. I was gobsmacked when the end credits came up. I thought we were only half way through the episode. Marvel have traditionally been quite good at making each project have it's own standalone resolution but leaving further story tendrils for future projects. Not the case here.

This point is a bit different, but I was also disappointed in the fact that the end of episode two with the time bombs just stopped. That was a really interesting premise and we never saw it again, rather just Loki and Sylvie arguing with each other for half an hour.

I still enjoyed it and very much look forward to what it now means for the MCU.

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Movies & TV / Re: SPOILER ALERT: MCU Thread (Livin' La Vida Loki)
« on: June 12, 2021, 08:32:40 PM »
I'm hoping for the opposite.

While I did enjoy the Loki character I think it's time for him (at least this portrayal) to be retired. I was pleased when Thanos bumped him off in Endgame. After all he is a mass murderer and I think he got off far too lightly for leading a murderous army and trying to subjugate a planet. What I did like is that the show didn't handwave this to get the most milkage of the fanbase. They brought it up front and centre and discussed it.

Having said that I am still hoping this is his last appearance in the MCU. The fact he is reportedly not in Love and Thunder lends a bit of credence to this (still won't be surprised if he turns up though). I think he's had his run and would like more time in another villain in future projects.

Am still watching this show with great interest though. Still promises to tell a very interesting story and will contribute with some significant world building.

19
I have absolutely zero in interest in the movie.

All I got from it when watching was Guardians, but with more blood and expletives. I guess that was his pitch to WB. I personally feel that GotG is by far the weakest in the Marvel stable. GotG 2 remains the only MCU movie I have never rewatched and have no desire to ever do so. Applying that same template to DC characters (majority of which I've never heard of) holds no draw to me at all.

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Damn - episode 5 is a cracker.

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I thought the trailer was awful. Looks like another GoTG movie (which is not good for me because I hated GotG2) - with more blood and swearing. Personally I have zero interest in this. Hard pass.

I just think I'm not a fit for Gunn's work.

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Movies & TV / Re: Rate the last movie you've seen
« on: March 24, 2021, 04:55:29 PM »
Yeah that pretty well summed up my thoughts on Uprising too broodwars.

Not having the proper theme song was just sacrilege. I think the opening to the original movie was one of the best movie openings I've ever seen - the theme song cranking whilst loading up a Jaeger. Yeah it was a dumb movie, but it knew it was dumb and embraced it and consequently we were given one of the best scenes ever depicted in cinema - that being a ship used as a bludgeoning weapon. I don't know who thought of that but they need to be knighted immediately.

Anyway - speaking of monster movies
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Saw Godzilla vs Kong last night. Holy hell it was just magnificent. They have finally listened to the viewers and realised that viewers watch these movies for monster battles, not human family drama. Not only is there plenty of monster fighting but it doesn't cut away every two seconds, you can see what's happening and there is some really creative combat. Godzilla can move now. I assume the previous two movies kept him a slow, lumbering tank for CGI or technical reasons or something but they've completely changed that. He moves damn quick and is far more agile.

I also found it unexpectedly emotional in some portions. Not sure if that was just me but an element to Kong is revealed in this one that hit very close to home. Won't reveal it here.

There is also some jaw dropping cinematography. Go and watch it on the biggest screen you find.

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Cinema for me thanks. Having the home release is certainly a nice option but I prefer the atmosphere at the cinema. Watching Endgame on opening night was one of the best experiences of my life.

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The other thing that has to be said is Joss Whedon got that movie down to 2 hours.

This is something that I feel is going unsaid. We have to remember that Whedon was instructed by WB to have it under two hours and the tone has to be lighter. Whedon did a phenomenal job under those constraints. True - the movie wasn't great but it was an impossible job. There was no way to make a coherent story that introduced several new characters in that time frame. He was in a no win situation but he still jumped in and did it. The finished product is far closer to Snyder's "vision" than the Snyder fanboys would ever admit.

Whedon has handled it like a champ. He's been maligned to hell, watching the internet ragging on his work and blaming him for everything and he's said absolutely nothing to defend himself despite having damn good reasons. Now he's been vindicated. Snyder should be publicly thanking him and sending him a carton of his choice. I think it's very safe to say that had Snyder stayed on and worked under those same constraints the theatrical release would have been far, far worse.

I would also like to add that I say the above as completely separate to all the nonsense going on about him lately (although now I'm less inclined to believe it) - rather focusing on the product he created four years ago exclusively.

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I don't think the overall story was bad, just boring.  What I want to know is does the additional hour + flesh out the characters and make it interesting.  And are the fight scenes better?

There's no question it's a better movie. As Perm mentioned it's got a lot more in it, more context, story and motivation. It feels more meaningful. But when all is said and done it's the same movie. The plot is the same. The story beats are identical. The resolution is the same. Despite the extra meat to the characters though I still didn't give a damn about them.

The fight scenes are generally better - but he bogged them down with so much pointless slow motion. The exception to that is the battle with the Amazons on Themyscira at the start. It was woefully bad. It looked like a schoolyard brawl - or even worse, and Arrowverse fight scene. Thankfully they improved after that.

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