Poll of the Day > GeekHouse of Horror LXXII

(+) Yeah! (+)

Last Starfighter sequel is gaining steam. Been rumors of this for a while. Don't have high hopes for it but I'd watch it for sure

https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-last-starfighter-2-sequel-update

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Far-Queue posted...

Last Starfighter sequel is gaining steam. Been rumors of this for a while. Don't have high hopes for it but I'd watch it for sure

Depends on how it's handled.

My heart was filled with absolute dread when they did the Tron sequel 27 years after the original, but I actually wound up enjoying it. So it's possible to not completely fuck up sequels or remakes long after the original.

The real problem is that most studios/directors seem to either not give much of a shit about the original they're building off of, or outright dislike the original and are trying to "fix" it, which in turn ruins everything about it that was appealing in the first place. Or conversely, you get scripts that feel written by committee and which exist solely to pander to multiple demographics in the hope of drawing more viewers, which in turn makes things feel generic and formulaic, and kills off most of the charm that turned the original into a cult favorite in the first place.

Last Starfighter was a bit quirky, but wasn't as weird or niche as something like Buckaroo Banzai, The Last Dragon, or Big Trouble in Little China - and it was a kids' film - so I could see it being adapted to modern sensibilities fairly easily

The only thing that really makes me sad is that you can't have cameos from Centauri or Grig, because their actors are dead (and it feels like it would suck if you just had someone else recast into the role). Though Alex is still alive, and it could be pretty cool to have the heroic starfighter of the last generation become the recruiter and mentor figure to the new generation.

Oh, the other thing that makes me sad is that the movie would by definition have to be about kids TODAY, and they all suck. They'd be all memes and Fortnite and I'll probably spend most of the movie trying to hate them all to death and rooting for the villains.
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

They'd be all memes and Fortnite and I'll probably spend most of the movie trying to hate them all to death and rooting for the villains.

Holy hell I hope not

This article says they've got the Rogue One writer attached which is one of the better recent Star Wars imho so that gives me a little hope.

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Twitch has sent out thousands of warnings to its streamers about the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) and potential violations. Kind of crazy how, in one example, "The Super Metroid Home screen theme" violates the act. It's just kind of crazy, but I'm not a full time streamer so it doesn't effect me, but it's kind of a bummer.

https://www.polygon.com/2020/10/20/21525587/twitch-dmca-takedown-notice-content

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Pretty much the same sort of shit that happens with YouTube all the time. Sadly.
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Also, stop reading Polygon, Wave. You're better than that.
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

Also, stop reading Polygon, Wave. You're better than that.

Kotaku is worse.
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Revelation34 posted...

Kotaku is worse.

Gee, that's probably the nicest thing I've ever heard anybody say about Polygon!

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Revelation34 posted...

Kotaku is worse.

I agree!
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

Funny to see Chuck Nice mentioned in that article, though. I remember listening to him on the radio like 20 years ago, but I haven't really heard from or thought about him in years.

He's usually the co-host on NDT's podcast fwiw.

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ParanoidObsessive posted...

The real problem is that most studios/directors seem to either not give much of a shit about the original they're building off of, or outright dislike the original and are trying to "fix" it, which in turn ruins everything about it that was appealing in the first place. Or conversely, you get scripts that feel written by committee and which exist solely to pander to multiple demographics in the hope of drawing more viewers, which in turn makes things feel generic and formulaic, and kills off most of the charm that turned the original into a cult favorite in the first place.

Bill and Ted Face The Music, in a nutshell.

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Be that as it may, I'm still hoping for both Gremlins 3 and a Gremlins reboot.

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Gremlins is dumb unless we're using practical effects, and unless you're tapping Raimi to direct it, you're going to get a sad, disappointing CG mess.

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WhiskeyDisk posted...

Bill and Ted Face The Music, in a nutshell.

I thought that one was well received

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WhiskeyDisk posted...

Bill and Ted Face The Music, in a nutshell.

The irony there is that the studio had almost nothing to do with it. That's a case where the original writers and original actors made the exact movie they wanted to make. It's just not necessarily the movie the entire audience might have wanted.
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WhiskeyDisk posted...

Gremlins is dumb unless we're using practical effects, and unless you're tapping Raimi to direct it, you're going to get a sad, disappointing CG mess.

Why Raimi?


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Zeus posted...

Why Raimi?

He likes to go with practical effects whenever possible.

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Gremlins does seem right up his wheelhouse

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Joe Dante is still alive and working. If anyone was going to do Gremlins 3, I feel like it's a moral obligation that he be the one to do it.

Though considering he didn't even want to do 2 (which is why the tone of the film was so radically different, and was basically a parody of the entire concept of sequels and Hollywood in general), I have absolutely no idea what sort of tone or concept 3 would even have if he did it. It would probably be insane.
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

Joe Dante is still alive and working. If anyone was going to do Gremlins 3, I feel like it's a moral obligation that he be the one to do it.

Though considering he didn't even want to do 2 (which is why the tone of the film was so radically different, and was basically a parody of the entire concept of sequels and Hollywood in general), I have absolutely no idea what sort of tone or concept 3 would even have if he did it. It would probably be insane.

tbh, given how fun 2 was, I imagine 3 would be even more hilarious. Plus the other thing with Gremlins 2 was that he was asked to make it more family-friendly.

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The only way to do a proper Gremlins 3 is to make it straight horror, which striking a balance between the horror elements of the original and the camp, but that tone is almost impossible to balance, and thus won't work.

The other option with Gremlins 3 is to just go insane. High concept crazy horror, camp, madcap, balls to the walls, Evil Dead inspired Raimi goodness. That won't happen either.

Therefore, don't reboot Gremlins and don't make a sequel. Just leave it alone. Leave Gremlins alone. The first is near perfect 80's nostalgia, and the sequel is a mockumentary of horror films. They're both perfect in their own way.

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Go the New Nightmare route. Make Gremlins 3 be about a film crew trying to make Gremlins 3, and then it turns out the Gremlins are actually real after all and then suddenly Gremlins.
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The Wave Master posted...

The other option with Gremlins 3 is to just go insane. High concept crazy horror, camp, madcap, balls to the walls, Evil Dead inspired Raimi goodness. That won't happen either.

What the heck is up with this topic and its weird Raimi love? >_> The guy executive produced some shows I liked, but wouldn't call great (and H:TLJ very notably used CGI that aged horrendously). He directed some goofy Spider-Man films which, even at the time, had a lot of elements that bugged me. I was never much a fan of his Evil Dead stuff, although the tv show kinda felt like an improvement on the films (granted, I only watched the first season and never went back). Honestly, Raimi directing Gremlins feels like Feig directing Ghostbusters.


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Zeus posted...

and H:TLJ very notably used CGI that aged horrendously

To be fair to them, that was pretty much inevitable for any show filmed in the mid 90s on a syndicated TV budget.

It's like criticizing early Doctor Who or original series Star Trek for not living up to modern standards. While technically true, it's also kind of ignorant.

(And to be brutally honest, I'd vastly prefer watching early Trek and Who complete with their wonky special effects rather than watching the hot liquid feces both of those franchises are turning out today with much better effects and much higher budgets. The look of a given show is arguably one of the least important things about it to me, compared to story, characters, and overall setting.)



Zeus posted...

I was never much a fan of his Evil Dead stuff

I never really fell in love with Evil Dead when it first came out and was sort of turning into a cult success, but I loved Army of Darkness, even as a kid. And in retrospect, the Evil Dead films have impressive and interesting elements of their own, in a low-budget horror sort of way.

I liked Hercules (less so Xena, especially in later seasons, but early on it was interesting), but as you pointed out, his influence on those was actually somewhat limited.

That being said, I'd also toss Darkman and Oz the Great and Powerful into the pile of movies he made that I like. I get why a lot of people might not, but they both had elements that appealed to me enough to win me over.

And I really enjoyed Spider-Man 1 and 2 (Tobey Maguire's casting is about the only thing I'm kind of meh about), especially when you consider they were deliberately trying to capture the tone/feel of early 1960s Spider-Man as opposed to the later evolutions of the character. But I also admit that I was never really much of a Spider-Man fan in general (though I did enjoy Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends as a kid), so it wasn't like I was holding his films to a high standard.

Though if you're that bleh on Raimi, you're probably not going to like the next Doctor Strange movie either, because he's directing it.
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Can't wait. Get Whedon to do a Spider-Man movie and I can die happy.

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Metalsonic66 posted...

Can't wait. Get Whedon to do a Spider-Man movie and I can die happy.

So he can kill Mary Jane?
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Preferably Gwen, but they could kill Mary Jane instead like the 90s series sorta did.

Or Captain Stacy. Or Jean DeWolfe. Or Harry Osborn.

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Metalsonic66 posted...

Preferably Gwen, but they could kill Mary Jane instead like the 90s series sorta did.

I was being sarcastic since he always kills somebody somewhat important. Though they shouldn't have killed Gwen in the comics either. She was a much better character than Mary Jane.
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I ship Spider-Man X Black Cat myself

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ParanoidObsessive posted...

To be fair to them, that was pretty much inevitable for any show filmed in the mid 90s on a syndicated TV budget.

To be fair to the 90s, it looked worse than most shows' CGI. In fact, a large part of the show's gimmick -- particularly later on -- was how goofy it made things look. It kinda tried more to be serious in the early going before flanderizing much of the cast.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

It's like criticizing early Doctor Who or original series Star Trek for not living up to modern standards. While technically true, it's also kind of ignorant.

Doctor Who was goofy even for its time, though; that would be like suggesting that the Adam West Batman was a serious show. And while ST's effects haven't aged as badly as some other shows.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

(And to be brutally honest, I'd vastly prefer watching early Trek and Who complete with their wonky special effects rather than watching the hot liquid feces both of those franchises are turning out today with much better effects and much higher budgets. The look of a given show is arguably one of the least important things about it to me, compared to story, characters, and overall setting.)

idk, the early seasons of the Whoboot were pretty good. The show just started to take a bit of a nosedive after Matt Smith took over (which largely wasn't his fault) and then later went off the rails.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

but I loved Army of Darkness, even as a kid.

I always had very mixed feelings on AoD. The setting was neat, though.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Though if you're that bleh on Raimi, you're probably not going to like the next Doctor Strange movie either, because he's directing it.

Multiverse of Madness describes my feelings about that choice. In general, that movie is probably going to turn into a shitshow given its development history. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if the name and everything else changes by the end. (And while the villain wasn't revealed, I'm not sure if it's more or less likely what we'll see Shuma-Gorath if Raimi is directing. After all, if there's one thing I know about Raimi, it's that he's into tentacles.)

Revelation34 posted...

I was being sarcastic since he always kills somebody somewhat important. Though they shouldn't have killed Gwen in the comics either. She was a much better character than Mary Jane.

iirc, comics Gwen was kinda bland. It's only been the later cartoons, movies, and the Ultimates comics that gave her a lot of personality.

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Yeah Gwen was very flat in the original comics but more recent adaptations made her more likable while still distinct from MJ

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Metalsonic66 posted...

Can't wait. Get Whedon to do a Spider-Man movie and I can die happy.

Considering his entire MO, it feels like the much more likely scenario is that he'd wind up doing Spider-Girl first.

Or potentially more likely, Ms. Marvel. Though they might want to go full social justice on that one and get an ethnic female director in as well to complete the diversity bingo card.
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I mean Peter is a supporting character in the Spider-Girl comics so I'm okay with that too

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ParanoidObsessive posted...

Considering his entire MO, it feels like the much more likely scenario is that he'd wind up doing Spider-Girl first.

Or potentially more likely, Ms. Marvel. Though they might want to go full social justice on that one and get an ethnic female director in as well to complete the diversity bingo card.

It would still arguably be a better gambit than giving that project to Jar Jar Abrams or Ruin Johnson.

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WhiskeyDisk posted...

It would still arguably be a better gambit than giving that project to Jar Jar Abrams or Ruin Johnson.

I just threw up in my mouth a little.



Though to be fair, in both of those cases I don't think the problem was the director. The problem was a complete and utter lack of direction from anyone above the director.

For Marvel, as long as Feige is still at the helm of the ship - and he isn't too overwhelmed by getting punted both Star Wars and Marvel TV as well - it feels like he'd be able to keep even the most insane or "aggressively auteur" of directors in line, and force them to make sure their shit makes sense and integrates well into the overarching universe. If he was willing to push back against Edgar Wright hard enough to boot him off his own movie, I can't see him letting other directors run out of control.

The problem is that Star Wars just has Kathleen Kennedy at the helm, and she seems completely unwilling or incapable of controlling anyone.
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

Considering his entire MO, it feels like the much more likely scenario is that he'd wind up doing Spider-Girl first.

Or potentially more likely, Ms. Marvel. Though they might want to go full social justice on that one and get an ethnic female director in as well to complete the diversity bingo card.

After which it could get a nod for the Oscars' silly diversity-required best picture (because apparently "quality" is no longer the standard by which we judge films)

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ParanoidObsessive posted...

it feels like he'd be able to keep even the most insane or "aggressively auteur" of directors in line, and force them to make sure their shit makes sense and integrates well into the overarching universe.

Captain Marvel sends her regards.

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Zeus posted...

because apparently "quality" is no longer the standard by which we judge films

Come on now, let's be fair. The Academy hasn't given a shit about quality since before anyone in this topic was born.
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I'm watching Cats.

I nearly died at dialysis yesterday, but this might be worse.

I miss Phantom.

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The trailers for it looked horrific. Plus I heard that they decided to it as more of a straight adaptation instead of trying to work more story into it and cut back on a few musical numbers.

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I am open to the idea of a Last Starfighter sequel. Loved the original as a kid.

And I wonder if Whedon will come anywhere near superhero movies again after being slagged for the Justice League debacle. (Granted, I like that movie, as I have said here before, but ... I am not going to pretend that it is great, and I am still crossing my fingers for the Snyder Cut.)

As far as Peter Parker shipping goes, since that is a subject here, I miss him being married to the '90s version of Mary Jane, back before Marvel decided comic book M.J. had to look like Kirsten Dunst.

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Nintendo is up to their Limited edition marketing **** again. This time with the original Fire Emblem. They're localizing the first ever Fire Emblem game for the Switch and releasing it digitally, but only for like 3 moths. They're not even going with a physical release thid time.

I'm really starting to hate Nintendo
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https://www.ign.com/articles/fire-emblem-shadow-dragon-the-blade-of-light-the-first-fire-emblem-game-coming-to-nintendo-switch-in-december-2020


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Speaking as a fan of the series: If you have played any of the Fire Emblem games, including the remake of the original on DS, the first Fire Emblem is almost unplayable by modern standards. Good to see it as a novelty release, but I would have been happy with it staying in Japan.

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I_Abibde posted...

As far as Peter Parker shipping goes, since that is a subject here, I miss him being married to the '90s version of Mary Jane, back before Marvel decided comic book M.J. had to look like Kirsten Dunst.

Still better than McFarlane giving her generic 80s hair

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I_Abibde posted...

And I wonder if Whedon will come anywhere near superhero movies again after being slagged for the Justice League debacle. (Granted, I like that movie, as I have said here before, but ... I am not going to pretend that it is great, and I am still crossing my fingers for the Snyder Cut.)

The problem is that Whedon almost certainly isn't responsible for that movie being the pile of shit it was. It's almost a given that he was handed a huge bowl of feces, and no matter how hard he polished it, it was still a giant turd.

It's why I've been shaking my head so hard at people demanding the original cut - it's going to be terrible, because most of the aspects of the DC/Justice League movies that have been terrible were Snyder's ideas in the first place. He's pretty much the #1 everything's sucked Man of Steel, and the only movies that have really succeeded on any creative level were all the ones he had the least involvement in.

A lot of people are going to be extremely disappointed when they finally get what they asked for. And then they're going to have to start flailing for all new excuses to defend it.
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PO, you're speaking to an audience that sat thru the Rey saga.

Whether it was good it not is pretty irrelevant at this point if we all pay to see it.

The studios are hemhoraging money right now any anything they can do to claw back dollars on existing footage is a net plus in their eyes.

I'm surprised the 28 hour cut of Bridesmaids isn't being teased by now.


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Hey, I'm not questioning why the studio would release it to double-dip on profits. I understand that completely.

I'm asking why the audience is insane enough to ask for it in the first place. It's rampant masochism!
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From what I remember, the Superman Vs Batman movie, with the Snyder cut, is apparently a lot better and made more sense. Never watched the original or the directors cut, because I don't care about superhero movies though.

A "directors cut" would mean the executives and everyone, can give things that they need more airtime and gives plot threads an easier time pulling through. That doesn't mean it's good, though.
It's likely people seeing a diamond in the rough.

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shadowsword87 posted...

From what I remember, the Superman Vs Batman movie, with the Snyder cut, is apparently a lot better and made more sense. Never watched the original or the directors cut, because I don't care about superhero movies though.

A "directors cut" would mean the executives and everyone, can give things that they need more airtime and gives plot threads an easier time pulling through. That doesn't mean it's good, though.
It's likely people seeing a diamond in the rough.

How many people would pay to see the 85% completed Chris Farley cut of Shrek? That lives in a vault next to the Nic Cage Man Of Steel, and The Day the Clown Cried...

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WhiskeyDisk posted...

How many people would pay to see the 85% completed Chris Farley cut of Shrek? That lives in a vault next to the Nic Cage Man Of Steel, and The Day the Clown Cried...

I would. Chris Farley was great.
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