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Cam Bert

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Posts posted by Cam Bert

  1. Posted

    I'm guessing a lot of us are MST3K fans, so I thought I would ask what everyone's feelings about the MST3K Kickstarter campaign.

     

    At first I was very confused and now still rather conflicted. I mean I thought if we wanted to hear some MST3K style riffing we had either Rifftrax of Cinematic Titanic to choose from and those were good options. On a quick side note speaking of movie riffing, I would love to hear a Benson movie interruption someday. Anyway, I was fine with those two options but did miss the fact they were with more modern movies and not with some cheesy old B-movies which was part of the charm of the show. So this seems to fill that as they seem to want to do older B-movies. Then the writing and casting issue comes up and odd that it's in a thread where Community has just come up. If anybody saw all of Community but especially the Yahoo season or any show that comes back after cancellation, you'll know some of the magic is gone. Whether or not that is because the whole original cast is gone or not all the writers are back or what there is just a difference and it's noticeable if you are a fan. The writers are important and that time away they need to find a rhythm again to get back to where they were, but as not all the original writers are back this could mean a whole need voice to the show. Also regardless where you fall on the Joel vs Mike debate, the show needs Mike. He was one of the main writers since the beginning and his voice(not his literal voice) needs to be part of the show to truly make it MST3K. It just seems like a lot of trying to capture lightning in a bottle again and I wish them luck and probably will check them out but still a little guarded. Also, seeing as Jonah Ray was in the kickstarter video, wonder what involvement he'll have if any with the regular show.

    • Like 1

  2. Posted

    I'm glad I'm not alone in waiting forever to see Rambo. You guys have sold me on the first one, and next weekend I have an extra day off so I think I know what I'll be doing... that's right playing Fallout 4! Oh, and watching Rambo. Maybe when I can get some friends together I'll watch the sequels.

     

    Also, Cameron H., Okinawa is kinda like Hawaii. Sure, it's part of the country but the citizenry sees it like some vacation resort and the way of life is a little different with unique language and customs. Overall the accuracy is about 100%. Oops, missed a decimal there. 10.0%. Yep, that's better. I remember once being told that Mister Baseball was the most accurate western depiction of Japan in a movie. Since I have not seen that movie since I was ten or so, I can't be sure of that. Maybe I'll rewatch that too.

     

    Also, fun fact, Karate Kid is called "Best Kid" in Japan.

    • Like 4

  3. Posted

    What do you guys got?

     

    There are some I'm not ashamed to admit. I've not seen a lot of the classics of French New Wave cinema or most of Bergman's work. I feel like I should watch them but in no rush to go out and see them. They are the kind of thing that people throw around though and I would like to have seen them to claim a better understanding and film and technique and things like that. It always reminds me off when I saw Citizen Kane. I got it but didn't get it. I understood why it was important how it originated many story telling techniques and ways of shooting and what not. There are some amazing sequences in it, but at the end of the day I was like "Why is this the greatest film of all time? Why is this always the default number one?" In a historic context for what it did and started I get, but if just looked at as a film removing all that I don't see how it is that much better than other "classics".

     

    That said there are two films that I feel great shame in never have seeing, mostly because of my age and what a place they hold in pop culture, are The Karate Kid or Rambo. Here's the weird part, I have seen every other Karate Kid but the first one. Why? Well saw 2 because living in Japan I was curious how it was portrayed and The Next Karate Kid, I saw at a sleepover growing up. As far as Rambo goes I have never seen any of them. Just never had any desire to see them. The most I ever saw of one was the parody in UHF and Hot Shots Part Deux. I think I get the idea and I'm good with that.

    • Like 2

  4. Posted

    I had to google that name to be honest. Another fact that might get me kick off the forums: I've never watched Ghostbusters

     

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    I want you to watch it and tell us, mainly me, what you think. I am probably the most bias person on this movie. My parents taped it off TV when I was young and I watched it daily for like two years starting when I was in kindergarten. They never had to get a babysitter because they'd just put the tape on which also had Never Ending Story and Princess Bride on it as well and I would be still and motionless for six hours.

    • Like 5

  5. Posted

    It always reminds me of the OCP logo from Robocop.

     

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    Maybe the production designer on Robocop worked with Canon and some point and hated them and his time there. When he was handed the script for Robocop he saw he needed to create a logo for a company called OCP who through shitty management are seen as the bad guys and was like "I think I have my inspiration."

    • Like 3

  6. Posted

    So what did you guys think? What's the most underrated episode of HDTGM?

    It's a bit hard to say because some of the old ones I remember really liking I think are now considered classics or looked back upon often. So thinking of which ones I loved that I don't hear people talk about that much I would have to say... hmmm... The Odd Life of Timothy Green makes me laugh when they all basically confessed they liked the movie. I also remember laughing a lot to LOL and Color of Night. I would say those would be my "underrated" ones.

    • Like 1

  7. Posted

    If I may continue the Jason Aaron and Kieron Gillen love-fest from earlier, FUCK YES, they are two of my favorite writers right now. From Aaron's Star Wars, Southern Bastards, his Weirdworld 'Secret Wars' tie-in to Gillen's Darth Vader, Wicker and Divine, and Phonogram, they get it done both with the Big Properties and the indies

    I forgot about Weirdworld. That was so good. Fantastic art too. One of the few good Secret Wars tie-ins.

  10. Posted

    Also, again this is a bit early in the week to side track into comics, but Paul is totally right about the new Star Wars comics. Star Wars and Darth Vader have been consistently great since they started. Then again pretty much everything by Jason Aaron and Kieron Gillen is solid so it's not that big of a shock.

    • Like 4

  12. Posted

    Most of this movie has really airtight logic. But the death of Tom the crooked lawyer at the end made no sense. He was in the sauna to have sex with the blonde grocery delivery girl and his face just fell apart. There was no mechanism for his death whatsoever.

    It's very fast and I could be wrong but I believe a piece of wood from the wall went through the back of his head and out his face. It happens so fast, but afterwards we see his lady friend being attacked by wooden planks coming off the wall, so I just assumed same thing happened to him.

    • Like 7

  13. Posted

    Just another quick note to highlight one of my favourite things that made me laugh every time it popped up.

     

    So the gym spa is having a Mardi Gras party on February 2nd which they say numerous times that it's a Mardi Gras party, yet all their signage in the gym just says "Starbody Party" Wait, I'm sorry it doesn't even say that. They have a picture of a star next to a silhouette of a person then "Party." Is this some sort of jab at their clientele? Like they are so dumb they can't even read the name of the gym they belong to. Or were Michael's three favourite things meaningless sex, south western motifs, and wingdings font?

    • Like 1

  14. Posted

    Oh boy. I think if you had a 24 hour long podcast you could not cover everything in this movie. After weeks of movies just called the same here in Japan, boy is this one a doozy. That means time for a return of

     

    "How Did This Get Named?"(in Japan)

    So while the packaging on this film in Japan contains the English title of "Witch Bitch" the Japanese name was プラデューム：悪夢の閃光魔宮 (Paradyuumu: Akumu no Senkoumakyuu) which would translate to a very rough:

     

    "Pladoom: Nightmare of the Radiant Evil Temple".

     

    The name is bonkers but the packaging give some clues. Makyuu is an evil temple, for example that's what Temple of Doom is translated as in Japanese, and senkou meanings shining or glinting. In the description of the movie they note the glitzy high tech gym (they don't call it a spa and this is where the radiant part comes in) is turned into a temple of evil when the ghost tries to merge worlds which I assume they mean the spirit and corporeal. That explains the clunky second half. The Pladoom part? No idea. Not a word in Japanese or English. "Pura" can be used as a shorted prefix for plastic or plus but "Plastic Doom" makes no sense either. I think they just had no idea what was going on either.

    • Like 5

  15. Posted

    After doing this I have two thoughts. Either my music tastes are very eclectic or I need to trim down my music

     

    1. Straight, No Chaser - Thelonious Monk

    2.天体観測 - BUMP OF CHICKEN

    3. Mongoloid - DEVO

    4. Plug in Baby - Muse

    5. Tomorrow Never Knows - Mr. Children

     

    Almost made the cut: The Boss - James Brown, Kids With Guns -Gorillaz, Bust a Move - Young MC

    • Like 6

  16. Posted

    As a white person growing up in rural Prairie Canada, I will admit to enjoying Nickelback. My caveat is that I only enjoy their upbeat party music. Their really earnest stuff, like If Anyone Cared, can burn in a dumpster fire.

    My Dad and his whole side of the family are Prairie folk. While my mom's side were BC lumberjacks. I have a weird background.

    • Like 4

  17. Posted

    So I posed this question at work today. This speaks to cultural differences but the Japanese staff seemed to think that there is no one song or band that is universally embarrassing but rather some music should be embarrassing for types of people to listen to.Rather than have a band like say Nickleback that just everyone hates, it's more like "Well it's okay if you're a white kid who doesn't have internet or radio growing up in Northern Alberta."

     

    That said the one Japanese artist who I whole heartily unironically love that people deem I should not admit to liking is きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ or Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. Her songs always have happy catchy little rhythms and highly repetitive so they just get stuck in your head. Also her videos are shows are always so visually arresting. While this is not my favourite of hers but this is the most fitting because it is Halloween soon and all. Enjoy!

     

    • Like 4

  18. Posted

    Cameron H's question is a little hard for me to answer as I'm not really big into current music and living in Japan for the last 10 years or so I'm more familiar with stuff here that a lot of stuff back in North America. However, back in the day as a straight middle schooler it was very embarrassing to admit to loving Aqua. I still will hear some of their songs and it still seems fun to me. Also I do enjoy Billy Joel and I know that gets controversial in some circles. As for songs? Hmm...I generally do really like What's Up? by 4 Non Blondes and Eddie Murphy's classic Party All the Time. So mind wormy.

    • Like 4

  19. Posted

    I'm so confused about who is who in the new Star Wars? I thought Kylo Ren was Mr Grumpypants from Girls? I'm a fan of the original three, but this shit is getting out of hand...

    Poe Dameron the X-Wing pilot was Llewyn Davis and Kylo Ren was "uh oh!" guy from Llewyn Davis(also grumpypants from girls). Finn once Attacked the Block, Captain Phasma is Brienne of Tarth, the new head of the Empire is General Hux and he's the unloved programmer from Ex Machina, female 12 Years a Slave is a pirate named Maz Kanata and Rey is that new girl who nobody really knows much about. Hope that clears things up a bit.

    • Like 3

  20. Posted

     

    I like it, but how about this?

     

    The movie opens with Kylo Ren chasing a mysterious hooded figure. Cornered, this figure lays his hand on his R2 unit and records the message, "Leia Organa Solo, you're my only hope." He then sends the droid away, his fate is uncertain. Leia gets this message, and since she is tied up with Republic stuff, she can't go after him. Han volunteers to go find him but she's "got a bad feeling about this." Han teams up with Rey and Finn and goes after Luke. It turns out Kylo Ren is Han and Leia's son who has a hard on for Star Wars Collectibles--specifically anything Darth Vader related. He wasn't trying to kill Luke, he was trying to get a ultra-rare action figure. Han tries to reason with him, but he is struck down (since there's no way Ford is coming back to do another one). Finn and Rey escape with Chewie. The last shot of the movie is them entering a temple on a strange planet and out of the shadows steps Luke Skywalker.

     

    End of movie.

    I like it and the Indian Jones nod at the end. Is the figure he's trying to get the double telescoping light saber Darth Vader?

     

    Also, how disappointed are CBB fans going to be when not once is BB-8 ever referred to as "ball droid" and never says his classic catchphrase?

    • Like 2

  21. Posted

    I have been mulling over some more Earwolf Avenger choices but I still want to think on those a bit more. In the mean time my two cents on Episode VII Luke.

     

    The only things we know for a fact is that a Luke like figure puts a robotic hand on R2D2 and he is missing from the poster. The Luke like figure probably is Luke. The background surroundings to that scene look similar to the background in the scene where Kylo Ren is coming out of a shuttle with some troopers. So those two scenes are probably connected. I think that the scenes in question are connected and happening at the beginning of the movie. Kylo Ren is hunting down Luke, finds him hiding on a planet, they fight and Ren and wins. This establishes the threat and skill of Ren early in the film as seals his place as a new Darth Vader like character. However, much like Obi Wan, Luke is able to appear again as a sort of "force ghost" to guide the new Jedi whether that be Rey or Finn or both. This would explain his absence from the poster because if he's a ghost most of the time that would be a big spoiler on the poster, and it could explain the scene of Leia crying. This also echos A New Hope with Luke becoming like Obi Wan in that film. Too old to fight, but still guides and trains the new Jedi.

    • Like 1

  22. Posted

    My picks for HDTGM Avengers:

     

    Jason Mantzoukas = Beast. Hirsute, very intelligent, fun loving attitude and acerbic wit.

     

    June Diane Raphael = Squirrel Girl! For her love of animals and caring of the little things. Also secretly the most badass

     

    Paul Scheer = Wonder Man. Talented actor, and best friends with Beast! I agree with fellow Cameron though. Want to say Cap because of the leadership but just doesn't seem right.

    • Like 5

  23. Posted

    Shit, man, I'm sorry you've had a rough week. Just remember, whenever you're feeling low, there's at least one guy out there who's always got your back...

     

     

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    Not only is that sweet it's also my favourite bad JVCD movie

     

    How has Sudden Death not been covered yet? It's worth it for this scene alone

     

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    • Like 5

  25. Posted

    The second thing I wanted to bring up has to do with the male stripping scene. I know they talked about Travolta conducting the interview within a closet, but was anyone else asking themselves, "Why is he interviewing someone at a strip club?" Unless your article is on either stripping or strip clubs, that doesn't seem very conducive and would be terribly distracting. It's not like at this point in the movie the article's deadline is an issue either; could Travolta and Newman honestly not come up with a better time and place to do the interview? "Oh Adam, I'd love to be interviewed for Rolling Stone! I know the perfect place we can meet--you might want to bring some extra cash with you though..."

    The sad thing is I thought about that while watching the film, and then answered it in my own head and just accepted that as an implicit fact. Since Adam fell in love with Jessie, he wouldn't be writing about her in the piece. He still needs a main subject for his piece though. Seeing as Linda and Sally lived together and frequented the gym why not make the piece a profile on them. Also it's a good juxtaposition in a way to see one woman, Sally, who found love at the gym and another, Linda, still looking for it. While interviewing Linda was part of the reason for going to the strip club it also provided him with information about Sally and her boyfriend. Killing two birds with one stone kind of deal. I'm not a journalist nor have I ever written an article about anything, so I might be off base on all of that.

    • Like 1
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