doxrus

This is the parking area of Virtual Light - the secretive, high security headquarters of a super villain bent on ruling the world. Did someone ride their bike there?

More things I take issue with: 1) Would you trust your life in cyberspace to a dog, putting his slobber and teeth marks over a vital computer disc? 2) The filmmaker want us to believe this dystopia is filthy (for the poor, anyway), but I'm not buying it. Even the seemingly grimy street scenes look like a slightly messy theme park. The kids have very theatrically placed smudges on their cheeks, and their subway car-home looks pretty clean to me. 3) Our hosts mentioned the ripoffs of Indiana Jones, Stars Wars and other films. The street scenes are so blatantly stolen from Blade Runner. 4) During the escape from Virtual Light HQ, Trace's weak punches have no effect on a guard. Yet he somehow has the strength, with no leverage (he's being held in the air by the guard) to rip a video monitor off the wall and smash it over the guy's head. 5) One of the "camera-lasers" controlled by Jobe, cuts through a very thick table, but only puts a slice through Trace's shirt and barely scratches his arm. 6) Note that the headsets for the virtual world demo are called "Eye Phones" 7) One more line of stupid dialogue: I don't remember who said it, but when the team plans to fight back against Jobe, someone says, "We've got to make him angry enough to destroy himself." What? Why would he do that? This is your plan?

So much to unpack in the movie. For starters, here are some dumbass lines of dialogue: 1) When Peter first sees Dr. Trace, he says, "You're alive! I thought you were dead," obviously expecting some kind of explanation. But Trace just says, "No time for that." How long would it take him to tell Peter how he survived? 2) Walker to Senator Greenspan: "My lap is your lap, Senator." 3) When Jobe begins wreaking havoc, one news report concludes with "Few see an end to the continuing chaos." Hey, tell us about the ones who do!! 4) When his guards begin bailing on him, Walker tries to stop them, with "Stay here! You can't go anywhere!" Huh? What does that mean? Strangely, these lines are looped, by what sounds like a different actor, with an accent, no less. 5) When Jobe presents his vision of utopia, he says, "Live in Eden. Without hunger. Without famine. Without temptation." Well, I guess if there was no hunger, you'd pretty much not have a famine problem. And no temptation? Are people really yearning for that? Is that all this wondrous cyber world has to offer?

This film was written and produced by two two-time Oscar nominees! Pen Densham and John Watson were nominated for their doc short, DON'T MESS WITH BILL (about an 84-year-old self defense teacher), and a live action short, LIFE TIMES NINE. The next film they produced? BACKDRAFT!

Why does Gnorm do the ancient comedy gesture of "hands on cheeks" (meaning "Oh my god!") after he tries to touch Sam's butt? "Blind Screaming Giant" = great name for a band.

I have to admit there is one shot that I found rather moving - when Gnorm goes to the beach and sees the ocean for the first time. But completely out of place tonally with the rest of the film.

This is yet another HDTGM film in which people are far too blase about seeing an alien/monster/creature, and here, treating him like a "freak" human, but not immediately contacting all media outlets, government and private science institutions, etc.

Perhaps the most revolting image in HDTGM film history?

I watched the censored TV version on YouTube, so missed the strip club scene and the extended Gnorm gnude scene.

So much to unpack in this film: 1) It utilizes the racist trope of "ethnic" people who utilize or connect with occult forces: The Romanian grandmother who applies the curse; the Black street psychic ("Fixer") who shows Kaz his true nature; and Latinx Sonia, who has visions of the Mangler's attack on her sister. 2) Denny is rather infantilized. She has dolls on her bed, wears bear-footed slippers, and has a skirt with big appliqued Scottish terriers and fire hydrants. 3) Denny's position is a metaphor for domestic violence: even when she finds out that her Kaz turns into a monster when aroused, she thinks things will still work out, and that she can "fix" him. He later complains that she's trying to change him, a common male grievance. 4) Phil's fake monster hand just seems to be a clunky attempt at a red herring - that he's the Mangler but a "regular" man who disguises his crimes as those from a monster. There's no diegetic need for him to use that hand when kidnapping Denny, it's just for the audience. This is all soon dropped when we find he's an actual monster. 5) Yes, there is a castle in Central Park - Belvedere Castle, of course not as large or elaborate as Phil's. But how is there a Monster Castle in the middle of Central Park that no one has noticed?

He didn't know his own monster strength, and threw it long, past the water.

My first thought on seeing Signor's hair coat was Buffalo Bill's "skin suit" in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (the book was released three years after this film!) Add to that the creepy "hair" hallway entrance to the child slave labor factory, and you have one deeply unsettling, scarifying "children's" film. Wearing body parts of your kidnapped victims?

Can I just say - no offense to Tall, Jason and Diane - but some times I find reading this message board funnier than the show!

Why does Connie's pube hair vanish at some point? Did I miss something? Did he command it not only to stop growing, but to recede? If Signor was selling all those brushes, were artists everywhere creating magical paintings, too? That would flood the market, and make Signor's paintings worthless. If the homeless ghosts felt so grateful to Michael for his largesse and gave him the formula, why did they give him "a scare" to make him bald in the first place? Is the Dad mentally ill, or just a bizarre parent? When Michael first becomes bald, Dad tries to comfort him as if he were a two- or three-year-old: instead of just saying, "Don't worry, it will grow back" (as you would to a 12-year-old), he has Michael feel the stubble on his face to explain how hair grows back? And what is with Dad's hair? It's not even a comb-over, it's just an tangled, unruly mess. Perhaps a symbol of his completely messed up life? Jason said both of Signor's brothers spoke with French accents. Though it's terrible, the Doctor's accent sounded German to me. Is that supposed to be some kind of a joke: three brothers who live in the same city speak with different accents? Signor's child slave labor factory reminded me of THE 5,000 FINGERS OF DR. T. (1953)

But they're just one family, with a closely guarded tradition that even Pistachio was unaware of. It's a conundrum: they're involved in international events, yet their numbers are small - the film presents Fabbrizio as the only working member of the clan. Not exactly a global network. And if they've worked around the world for centuries, you'd think they'd have lost their accents. Also, if you're a super secret spy family, why not blend in to your surroundings, rather than stand out in this way?