Hot Takes

One of the moments where the movie really lost me.



I like parts. Darkman himself is a pretty neat character visually, and I like the different "masks".

I wouldn't say so. It feels fairly derivative of Robocop and Batman.

Time hasn't caught up with Darkman.



It's still one of the "early" superhero movies and the first to be blended with the horror genre - WAY before Spawn, Blade, Hellboy, Constantine and the upcoming Doctor Strange.

Love it or not, it's one of the pioneering movies of the genre and Sam Raimi has his place alongside Richard Donner and Tim Burton.



THE SHADOW!

The Highlander director got the job instead.

The superhero movies from the early 2000's have a lot more personality. I'm watching Hulk on one of the HBO channels, and while the movie has its faults, it also stands-out. And you can say the same thing about Singer's X-Men, Raimi's Spider-Man, Blade II and even Daredevil to some extent. These days, it's completely different. Either you get a cookie cutter Marvel movie or a wannabe Nolan film.

... maybe.

The plot has been ripped off by sitcoms for so many years that it has lost a bit of its charm.

I haven't seen Mockingjay Part 1 but I haven't heard good things.

Call me crazy but I think the Hunger Games is one of the biggest botched opportunities in film history.  There is a good premise at the center of the series but it's squandered at ever level by dumb teenagery YA bullshit.  The first movie, while far from perfect, is easily the best of the three and actually does have some power because it realizes how disturbing its premise should be and actually critiques society in a way that isn't completely superficial. The second movie gets way too much credit for being more of a traditional action movie and the way it sets up a second hunger games tournament feels like a really lame means of re-treading the first movie and the fact that the tournament is being played by "returning champions" completely robs it of whatever power the first movie had from being about children unwillingly thrown into a violent situation.  Also the ending of that movie is dumb and doesn't hold up to scrutiny.  The third movie at least goes off formula but everything else about it is infuriating.  It takes this character, who's supposed to be this icon of resistance and paragon of female strength and spends a whole movie with her pouting about her fucking boyfriend instead of actually helping this revolution she's sparked.  Somebody needs to teach these teenagers that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world, there was a time when people understood that but now, apparently not so much.  People on the internet complain about romantic sub-plots too much but this lame love triangle really is a huge cancer at the center of all this, it didn't make sense from the beginning and its gotten worse and worse as the series went on.  The only thing worse than a bad movie is a bad movie that you can so easily picture being turned into something worthwhile with a handful simple modifications and that's what makes these movies so infuriating.

Call me crazy, but Traffic sucks.

I remember before the Matrix sequels, there was an online rumor that Neo was Ted from Bill and Ted. The last movie would end with Keanu Reeves waking up, staring at the camera and saying, "woah." Many years later, rumors like this still exist. The latest one is, of course, that Jar Jar Binks is in The Force Awakens and he's the main villain. PG Cooper hates that rumor. But call me crazy... one of these days... a major blockbuster should do something insane like that. I mean... why not? It would be really funny and it would take a lot of balls. Like... you know what I would love to see? Remember in Skyfall, the old guy who was supposed to be Sean Connery? Why not try that again, but with Timothy Dalton. Like... you know how Spectre ended with James Bond retiring? What if in the next movie, plot twist, Bond's father is still alive and it's Dalton. And Bond has to rescue him and it plays out like Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. That would be hilarious - especially if they intentionally make it funny. We see the two most serious Bond's going for laughs. Most people will hate, especially PhantomKnight , but so what? You can fuck around every now and then. That's why I like Diamonds Are Forever. They said, "fuck it" and just had fun. At the end of the day, these are just dumb summer movies and holiday movies. They can loosen up a bit. So IF Jar Jar Binks is in The Force Awakens, I'll be the first one laughing and applauding.