31

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Neon Maniac
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31

Post by Neon Maniac »

I watched Zombie's 31 last night. I don't think I knew this existed until about a week ago. For the most part, I liked it. I understand that a lot of people don't, but whatever. I think people were maybe expecting a big movie like the reject movies and were disappointed in this. I also don't know if this was a theatrical movie, which may make a difference.

For me, it was a decent streaming horror movie, obvs low budget and small. Definitely no worse than movies like Haunt or Terrifier. The ending pissed me off, but what can you do? For what it was, I thought it was entertaining.
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Re: 31

Post by Alien Redrum »

From my review:
I wrote:Like I said, 31 is bringing nothing new to the table. You've seen this film or a variation of it numerous times, and better. Battle Royale tells a similar story, but brings the novelty of kids to the mix. Surviving the Game (1994) is probably not nearly as good as I remember it, but I do remember its stellar cast that includes Rutger Hauer, Ice-T, Gary Busey, and Charles Dutton. That one has a bunch of rich folks hunting a homeless man (Ice-T). I could easily think of more, those two are just from the top of my head, but most of these "man-hunt-man" films can find their roots in Richard Connell's The Most Dangerous Game, a short story about a rich man who finds himself on an island owned by a big game hunter. As you probably already figured out, the wealthy man literally ends up on a run for his life.
And
I wrote:I didn't hate 31. I didn't...not like it. It's just so vanilla. Sure, the gorehounds are in for a treat, and I've always loved Zombie's films for their visual appeal and this is no different, but after watching it, you just kind of say to yourself, "Okay...so what was the point of that?"

This is fun to watch once for that check-your-brain-at-the-door type of entertainment, but nothing in it is going to stick with you for the long haul. I expect more from Rob Zombie.
And, TBH, I forgot most of it. It's a forgettable film but fun on some level.
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Re: 31

Post by Neon Maniac »

Alien Redrum wrote: Thu Nov 05, 2020 3:38 pm
This is fun to watch once for that check-your-brain-at-the-door type of entertainment, but nothing in it is going to stick with you for the long haul. I expect more from Rob Zombie.

And, TBH, I forgot most of it. It's a forgettable film but fun on some level.
This is totally not to be taken personally by you, and I'm using "you" in the general sense, but I am commenting on your comments there.

That right there is the problem. There's nothing wrong with the movie. The movie is fine. It was well made. The cast did well. It was edited well. It looked good and all the practical effects worked. But all the fanbois "expected more". This is one of the major reasons why I stopped reading reviews. I give a shit about what the filmmaker did, not what the reviewer "expected" or wanted.

Nobody cares about what another viewer "expected". Do Siegfried and Roy stop the show because someone in the audience "expected more"? Or do they keep performing for the 99% of the audience that was interested in seeing what was being offered as is? Again, why should my enjoyment hinge on what a reviewer expected or wanted?

How about watching a movie with an open mind and seeing what you get, instead of being a pretentious idiot child who goes in demanding one thing and bawling your little eyes out when you get something else? Critics are like Trump going into a 5 star restaurant with a 2 start Michelin chef and crying because their cheeseburgers aren't like McDonalds

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Re: 31

Post by Alien Redrum »

Neon Maniac wrote: Thu Nov 05, 2020 6:35 pm Nobody cares about what another viewer "expected".
I could not disagree with this part more. You don't care about what another viewer 'expected'. And that's totally cool. I get that and can relate to it. However, I definitely care what some reviewers expected. 100%. There are reviewers whose opinions greatly line up with my own, and they might have the same expectations as myself, so what they expected and what they got are important to me as far as an opinion.

People who do read reviews have to care by default on some level about the reviewer's expectations, otherwise, like you, they would just stop reading reviews because they don't care at all.

I definitely don't take offense to any of it because, ironically, like a reviewer, it's your opinion and nothing more. We all have them.
How about watching a movie with an open mind and seeing what you get, instead of being a pretentious idiot child who goes in demanding one thing and bawling your little eyes out when you get something else? Critics are like Trump going into a 5 star restaurant with a 2 start Michelin chef and crying because their cheeseburgers aren't like McDonalds
:lol:

To be fair, you have to watch Zombie films with an open mind. He shows either moments of greatness (Devil's Rejects) or flat out kaka (Halloween).

If you're a big fan of someone's work, you do have expectations (general you here, not you specifically). Like I LOVE Michael Mann and I LOVE Miami Vice, so my expectations of the film version were quite high. And that movie is kaka. I still re-watch it on occasion because there's something about it that draws me, but overall, it did not reach my expectations. And if I were to have read a review of the film from someone who likes Mann's work lined up with mine, I do want to know their expectations.
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Re: 31

Post by Neon Maniac »

I pretty much disagree with EVERYTHING you're saying there. So much that it would take me so long to tear it all apart and show you that your position is weak, I'm not even going to bother.

What you're saying there is, "I'm a sheep who can't think for himself when it comes to entertainment and so my enjoyment is 100% based on what other people think of something, because all I'm going to do is follow the herd and like/dislike everything based on that. I have no opinion of my own, I'm dull like that."

It honestly scares me that you base your beliefs on some Rando's "expectations". Because that's exactly what I'm talking about. What you're telling me there is literally this: Rando Reviewer expected a dynamite, 3 ring circus of a movie that was balls out and non-stop amazing. But the movie wasn't that, so I think it sucks because I have no viewpoints of my own and instead of watching what a filmmaker did, I'm going to cry because of what some Rando Reviewer thought the filmmaker was GOING TO DO.
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Re: 31

Post by Alien Redrum »

:lol:

Pretty much.
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Re: 31

Post by Neon Maniac »

So honestly then, why would anyone want to read your reviews? And really I mean any reviews that have that same philosophy. This is totally a supermallet position you're taking. And this is why I stopped reading and writing reviews.

A reviewer's expectations are shit. This goes for anything being reviewed. Instead of being blown away by a movie, that philosophy only rewards a movie for being exactly the same as other movies, and fully limits it in scope and imagination because it relies on staying within the confines of scope and imagination of a reviewer who has no imagination.

Remember talking about the people on Twitter who love movies like Terrifier and want to keep seeing F13 or Halloween being done over and over? That's the kettle, Mr. Pot.
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Re: 31

Post by Alien Redrum »

You say all that like I care. :lol:

I don't. I'm okay with disagreeing with you. I don't have to prove anything. :lol:
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Re: 31

Post by Neon Maniac »

Alien Redrum wrote: Thu Nov 05, 2020 10:23 pm You say all that like I care. :lol:

I don't. I'm okay with disagreeing with you. I don't have to prove anything. :lol:
No, I'm still mainly not saying that about you, just in general. I'm beginning to understand why I'm seeing what's essentially the same movie made over and over again.
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