Mike Read
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Yeah...well. I never did see the movie, but I wasn't really that interested to be honest. Without even knowing the plot and all the LOTR plagiarism, I was pretty certain from what I did know that it was just another fantasy flick trying to ride on the coat tails of LOTR and Harry Potter. The old saying goes that there are only really a handful of stories, and everything else is just a variation on those - but surely you can at least do something to make an age old tale your own. Mac & Me, anyone?
@NEORaven667 Actually it's probably one of Archfiend's fans, or Archfiend himself, so expect a video from him on Youtube disparaging the censorship of comments on Cinemassacre. It strikes me as the kind of desperation he'd sink to.
@Boris Carloff Well he's right. The problem is that alien turtles who are masters in the art of ninjutsu is just such a cliche now. I mean, how many movies have carried that plot? Too many to mention here.
The first Transformers was passable. I appreciated the fact that there was no attempt to completely reinvent the Transformers in any way - they were pretty much the way they were in the cartoon. Autobots and Decepticons, Cybertron, humans caught in the middle - it was all there. The direction and script were woeful, but as a fan of the cartoon my only concern was the Transformers and how they translated to live-action, and they did so pretty well. Unfortunately by the time the third film came out I was so exhausted by trying to figure out what the fuck was going on that I didn't even care anymore - "Sam had a fragment of the allspark in his trouser pockets for the last two years? Are you fucking shitting me?!?" Michael Bay's consistent disregard for logic and logistics just makes his films frustrating to watch. A brief example - in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Sam runs away from Decepticons who were probing his memories, fleeing from an industrial looking area with warehouses and processing plants. Two scenes later he's in a forested area with snow-capped mountains in the background. What happened to the industrial area? The camera pans in every conceivable direction and you don't see this production plant anywhere! NOWHERE!?!? Where did it go!?!?!....ahem. I digress. The idea of Michael Bay bringing the Turtles to the big screen for yet another pointless reboot leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. I'm not even okay with the idea of the reboot, regardless of who does it. What's wrong with the original TMNT live action movie? Even the CG update a few years back was...satisfactory. It wasn't great, but it was a suitable rebooting of the franchise, much in the same way Sherlock Holmes was - not playing your key villain card early -- Sam was on foot!! There was no way he could have made it THAT far from the industrial area in the amount of time that had passed!! What does Bay think we are? Stupid?!?...sorry. The sad thing is that Bay has such clout that whatever he has his heart set on doing will be done. It's coming, and there's nothing to do but brace yourself. Fucking forest mere yards away from - okay, I'm done.
This reminds me so much of a film called The Borrower. After Alien Nation, it seems every director with half a budget decided to do a movie involving intergalactic fugitives and/or refugees who invariably draw the attention of earth-based police forces - with one renegade cop who doesn't play by the rules! This stuff just writes itself! *scribble scribble*
This was the only Sho Kosugi ninja movie I didn't get a chance to see. Back in those days, Revenge of the Ninja was rockin, and my friends and I would watch that until the tape practically melted. Having seen it just recently, I don't know what we were thinking, but it's still campy good fun and has some cool ninja gags. Pray for Death was another one we watched constantly. Ninja III, unfortunately, never saw the light of day at our local rental store. Thanks for the review, Mike, it actually makes me want to dust off my old copies of Enter the Ninja and Revenge of the Ninja.
@Devil_Rising I don't believe I mentioned "Grade A" at all. Computer effects are cheaper in a lot of cases than practical effects. When you're doing a film on a budget - cost is the most important factor.
@Mike/Cinemassacre Although a heap of extra work, the title cards just seemed like part of the review to me. It took the game elements and lampooned them, which is why they worked so well at the beginning. Personally, I'd love to see those title cards in future AVGN videos, if nowhere else. Your work is great and I can normally spot something new in each one every time I rewatch an old review. Having said that, I'm not the one on the end of a brush (or pen, or whatever, I'm no artist) for hours.
I'm guessing that whatever effects can be accomplished for less will be the ones you guys will go with. I'm not trying to imply you're cheap, but you would want to stretch your budget as far as you possibly can. Practical over CG shouldn't really enter into the equation. Thanks for the update, lads. Things seem to be progressing pretty much how one would expect. Might sound odd, but what was the movie (or whatever it was) paused on the TV screen? My curiosity is obscure, yes, but I must have it appeased.
bubbasmith81 Oh geez. Tell me you're not Archfiend trying to slip your anti-AVGN propaganda in - please. Because I'm guessing that's pretty much what's going on here.
Villarreal I assume (and it's just that - an assumption) that mail services would offer some kind of flat rate for certain types of mail - 1000 envelopes for $500 (or whatever). Businesses tend to do it that way, particularly for mass mail outs.
bubbasmith81 I grow tired of the ArchFiend and his passe 'hating on everyone'. You're edgy and speak your mind - yeah, we get it. Now disappear into the abyss of know-nothing know-it-alls who've also overstayed their baffling welcome.
If possible, it'd be great to some behind the scenes stuff once the principle shoot is underway. I'd really love to see James shooting the first scene. Obviously you don't want to give too much away, but just little teasers like that and insights into the production once you really get into the meat of it would be great to see. I'm certain you'd have someone on the production who wouldn't mind grabbing a camera and shooting 30 seconds here or there. Just a thought.
monkeykage Actually you're not the 1st on the internet to make a complete twat of himself. Not by a long shot.
Not much consolation, but he has been immortalised in the annuls of horror movie history. His image, along with images like the Bates Motel, Bela Lugosi as Dracula and Lon Chaney's unmasking from The Phantom of the Opera, will be instantly recognised as one of the most iconic horror images. A sad loss, nonetheless.
Mister Buckethead If by regulated you mean that companies should attempt to sell their content cheaper online as downloadable albums, movies, etc - then absolutely. I agree stuff is ludicrously overpriced nowadays, and that's not helping stem the tide of piracy. So if the solution exists in companies embracing internet downloads at a fraction of store shelf prices - that's a great compromise.
The Thing: Yes, definitely one of the greatest remakes in history - horror or otherwise. Dawn of the Dead: Not so much. To just flagrantly disregard the original, yet utilise its name is unforgivable. I'm surprised you didn't have Invaders From Mars, despite showing it at the beginning. A great remake of a B-Grade classic.
THB306 I totally agree. The government here has done nothing but fuck up areas of commerce that they have no business involving themselves in. But the internet is powerful, and has many heavyweights in its ranks, so I'm confident if it gets too out of hand, the powerbrokers of the internet will take back control.
THB306 I thought you were gonna say 'copyright'.
THB306 Showing examples of material for the purposes of reviews would still fall under the fair use act - in my opinion anyway. As I said, you're talking about games that are decades old (in most cases) and no longer even in print. The games aren't being distributed, James doesn't claim any ownership of the content and the games being reviewed are original copies that are, more often than not, shown in the context of the show. If anything, AVGN generates renewed interest in forgotten consoles and games. There's always the chance (slim though it may be) that Nintendo will attempt to strike some kind of royalty deal with ScrewAttack, but even if that did happen, that's their right. The show is making money on the back of Nintendo games. If it were truly being done out of passion for classic gaming (which I sincerely believe it is) then having to hand over a small percentage of revenue generated to the maker of the games shouldn't be an issue. Again, the above is purely hypothetical.