Justice League: The Snyder Cut
After the theatrical version of Justice League flopped on release, fans held out hope for the mythical “Snyder Cut” – that is, Zack Snyder’s original vision of the film.
Then, one day it actually happened.
Well, it was a sit-through, but not in a good way. Hard to classify whether to call this release a movie or a miniseries, given its chapter-based format, and it shows in the overall pacing.
To its credit, it did help expand on elements that we missing from the original – especially in regards to Cyborg’s character. This was a long watch at over 4 hours filled with Zack Snyder’s favorite fetish: slow-mo. There’s also less color, giving off as many desaturated greys as much as possible. In spite of its length, it is at the very least a consistent movie unlike the “Whedon Cut”, which suffered from out-of-place Marvel humor.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch
After the final and incredible series finale of clone wars, Lucas animation has taken up its next task with its spinoff The Bad Batch, an elite squad of genetically modified clones tasked with the most expendable missions.
As incredible as the animation and setting are, the series fell flat when it comes to its characters. They all have the personalities of dated 80s action heroes. There is too much filler particularly in the middle, aside from their leader Hunter the rest of the clones don’t get much in terms of development. And I can’t emphasize this enough, we don’t need kids in our action shows (cough Omega).
Dune
This entry to the list may draw some hate from the nerd community (our editor included!) but Dune is one of those films I was very curious about but disappointed by the uneven pacing.
This is one of the consequences of splitting the book while not knowing the right place to stop. While the first half was relatively solid, the second was drawn out at a slow pace, making it feel longer than it should be. Slow burns are good at the beginning but when you start doing that after a major climax which should’ve been the base attack, it really kills the viewing experience. It does look great, but it only feels great for so long.
EDITOR’S NOTE: As one of those nerdy “book readers”, I was very happy with this film. It presents the politics and technology of Dune *much* better than the book itself did… And y’all haven’t even gotten to the weird stuff yet 😀
– Dirk Hortensius, Editor @ Crude-Mirror.com
Anne Boleyn
Not only do we have yet another Tudor drama (for the thousandth time), but they make the idiotic idea to race swap this very historical queen for the sake of diversity points. I’ve stated this before and I will say it again, you can’t just swap a historical figure’s race without any regard for accuracy.
There’s nothing “groundbreaking” about it just make another Ann Boleyn show (SPOILER ALERT: there’s lots of them) and if you just give the main character a different race you’re not being original – that’s blatant tokenism. This is a period drama that is supposed to be taken straight and that’s the problem. This is a how not to play the diversity card in a historical film, however, if you want a more coherent argument about this here is my other article explaining exactly why. If you want a much better example of this formula, go watch Hamilton.
On top of that, it does look like something cheap and quickly filmed, because it was unimpressive sets and close shots. Making it look like it was filmed in just one location and reusing the same sets. If there’s so little effort in making it look good, that is a bad omen for any show.
America: The Motion Picture
On paper this sounds awesome, combining the modern twist of Hamilton with the full satire of Team America: World Police. Instead what we got a series of randomness that is neither funny nor clever. Just turn the founding fathers into frat boys and that’s it, there is little to no connection. There isn’t even really a plot to speak of just the founding fathers acting like ninja turtles. An admittedly cool concept is wasted on this unwatchable dud.
Music
Remember Simple Jack from Tropic Thunder?
Imagine making an entire movie out of it – except this is made to be an actual drama like Gilbert Grape meets A Star is Born. Well, that’s what singer/director Sia made as a vehicle for her protégé Maddie Ziegler, and given that Ziegler won the Razzie for worst supporting actress, it’s safe to say she failed spectacularly.
For a film that is supposed to be about nonverbal autism, it seems to get everything wrong. The worst offender was its depiction of prone restraints to calm an autistic person during a tantrum. A form of restraint that has killed people in the past and yet Sia saw it fit to depict this in the movie as a positive thing that is downright dangerous.
I wouldn’t even recommend epileptic people to see it, as a lot of the music videos have over flashy lights and rapid editing. The music isn’t too bad but given that their supposed projection of the autistic character’s mind destroys whatever good effort put in.
I feel so sorry for Maddie Ziegler who allegedly broke down on set several times fear that her performance would offend people but Sia kept forcing her to continue. The fact that someone would use mental disabilities just to prop up their music is disgusting
