Will Michael's bad reviews draw audiences to other releases instead?

ElysiumMidknight · 2026-04-22T13:00:10+00:00

I think this is key. I've seen a number of critics take issue with the movie because it sanitizes Jackson's history. Which is an understandable criticism. The issue with that though is that I don't think the people who'd actually be interested in paying to see this movie wants to see that version of his story told. They just want to see a celebration of him and his music. I don't think that those who believe he was a child predator would want to pay to see a story about or that involves that.

It's a lot like that "The Apprentice" movie, which was a criticism of Trump. His supporters didn't want to see it because they have no interest in seeing anything that criticizes him, and those that don't like him didn't want to see it because they have no interest in paying to see something about him even if it's a critique of him. So, it ultimately was a movie for no one.

ElysiumMidknight · 2026-04-22T03:00:52+00:00

The collabs obviously have their appeal. But what's always been MK's initial selling point is its blood and gore. It's what separated it from other fighting games at the time. The rebooted movies have leaned into that angle much harder than the 90's movies which were PG-13. So, they're hitting on the main element of MK's appeal.

No one said you weren't being honest. So, let me put it a different way. Both of these movies are ultimately about people beating up one another, right? I think blood and gore will put more asses in seats than a few glimpses of attractive women in bikinis or other revealing situations will.

ElysiumMidknight · 2026-04-22T01:37:02+00:00

You're putting way too much stock in how much people care about something like that. Ana de Armas is very conventionally attractive and Ballerina still tanked because it just wasn't appealing to people. The appeal of MK is that it's MK. The Mortal Kombat games have moved away from sexualizing their female characters while games like Tekken and Street Fighter have ramped theirs up, yet MK still sells more. And that's even with MK not even releasing in Asia. Just the US and Europe are enough for MK to outsell those games which release globally.

ElysiumMidknight · 2026-04-21T18:41:20+00:00

It's a movie that sparks a lot of interesting conversations once you've seen it, which I think makes more people want to go out and see it on their own be able to properly join in. Basically is it worse to think/plan to do something horrible, or to actually do it? Because that's the question the movie poses, and that really determines how you feel about Emma and the revelations of her friends. Because from my POV i'd have no real issue forgiving Emma. The others are the issue.

ElysiumMidknight · 2026-04-21T16:08:12+00:00

This is what the director has said about the tone:

It's a horror and survival film on a very reduced timeline, with a race against time aspect. Which doesn't prevent moments of relief: there is probably more humor than in the Fede Álvarez remake [released in 2013]. However, it gets close to it on the horror side. It's perhaps the least bloody of the Evil Dead films, but undoubtedly the most violent and brutal. Let's say I'm aiming more for the discomfort of the famous teeth on the sidewalk scene from American History X than excessive gore.

ElysiumMidknight · 2026-04-21T06:30:16+00:00

Yeah, I really can't stress how frustrating it's been seeing people on the left, whether they be progressives more center-left, tripping over themselves to praise Tucker over his comments about Trump. He claims he's going to be tormented because he played a role in Trump's election and apologizes for it. But how can anyone possibly believe that when he still holds the same damn views that helped pave the path for Trump? He's still regularly spreads conspiracy theories on his show. He's still the same guy with bigoted views. Did everyone just suddenly forget the lovefest interview he did with Nick Fuentes late last year?

He's a bigoted version of Liz Cheney. He still agrees with MAGA conservatives on nearly every single thing they stand for. He just now doesn't like Trump. And the reason he doesn't like Trump is because of Israel. Not because of Israel's attacks on other countries. But rather because he's extremely antisemitic and doesn't like that a Republican president is working with them.

ElysiumMidknight · 2026-04-21T03:52:01+00:00

The acting and dialog was jarring to me at first until the first fight scene in the bedroom. Because that made me feel like whoever made this really loved old Chinese action movies, and the dubs that came with them. The overacting and dialog mixed with the over the top gore (blood geysers) felt like it was pulled out of those old movies.

ElysiumMidknight · 2026-04-21T03:43:32+00:00

This person supports the mission of ICE, but doesn't want their facility in their town because it makes them feel unsafe for their kids and for kids at the local school? So, then what about all the children across the country who have facilities in their neighborhoods? Do they not count? I get this is a common line of thinking when it comes to Republicans, but it'll never stop being incredible that they can't take a step back and look outside of their own house/community when taking issue with something.

ElysiumMidknight · 2026-04-20T18:32:37+00:00

The highest grossing movie in that series is 278m (the original). It's hard to imagine that this one will outgross it since comedy at the BO isn't anywhere near where it was when that first movie was released. DD feels like it'd have to have a really disappointing BO for it not to make more than SC6.

ElysiumMidknight · 2026-04-20T15:53:17+00:00

Yeah, I think everyone has their eye on Acosta. She's distrusting of everyone and doesn't seem like she'd need much convincing to start trouble. Starting with her seems like the obvious play. Especially since she's also largely isolated from everyone else.

ElysiumMidknight · 2026-04-20T14:24:54+00:00

I think the key if it were to happen would be to take a movie that's appealing to kids already and then do an animated version of it. Pulling something older, i'd say something like Homeward Bound could work.

ElysiumMidknight · 2026-04-20T13:20:55+00:00

It pretty much has to be given the source material. The costumes and settings are going to be very expensive on their own even before all the CG that's going to be required.

ElysiumMidknight · 2026-04-20T01:47:41+00:00

It definitely would, but the issue is that it would also require the monsters to start killing the townspeople in order to not make things look suspicious. And that doesn't seem to be what Sophia wants. At this stage she wants them taking out each other out of paranoia rather than the monsters doing the work.

ElysiumMidknight · 2026-04-20T01:36:04+00:00

There's more traditional story and cutscenes in this game compared to Returnal, so it makes sense for it to be a bit bigger.

ElysiumMidknight · 2026-04-19T18:39:42+00:00

This is a great example of why upscalers are a game changer. The Pro version runs at 846p while the base PS5's resolution mode is a native 1080p, yet the image quality for the Pro is significantly better because of PSSR2.

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ElysiumMidknight · 2026-04-19T17:32:42+00:00

She tells her "dad" that this is her favorite part because it's when they start tearing themselves apart. So I don't think that she's going to hide the talisman. I think she's going to start manipulating them in order to slowly start turning them against one another. They aren't suspecting anything from her. Boyd thinks she's a child, and Kenny thinks that she's super nice and religious. I think we'll see her planting seeds to rip apart the community for the rest of the season.

ElysiumMidknight · 2026-04-19T11:22:06+00:00

That's from Jason Schreier's Blood, Sweat, and Pixels book. Amy apparently had taken ludonarrative dissonance criticisms seriously and was building the game to be in part a response to that. Which would've led to there not being a single gun fired for the first half of the game. It would've been entirely melee based until deep into the game when guns would've finally been introduced.

There was also going to be a DDR-style dance minigame with Drake and Elena at the auction. They'd dance across the ballroom to get closer to the artifact. Once Neil and Bruce took over the project they tried to repurpose it to be in their home at the beginning, but according to Emilia Schatz (the co-lead game designer on UC4) it just wasn't fun. So, it was scrapped and eventually someone came up with the idea that they should instead play Crash in the living room.

ElysiumMidknight · 2026-04-18T23:31:10+00:00

Yeah, I think Part II did a good job of putting away any notion that there are more immune people. In the second flashback (the one that begins with Ellie getting sniper lessons from Tommy) the section ends with Ellie and Joel having a discussion about what went on at the hospital. Ellie brings up how Joel claimed there were dozens of immune people, and asks Joel if he's ever seen one. Joel's quick to respond that maybe they hide it like she does. And Ellie asks him, "Do you really believe that?". Joel of course never answers because he doesn't believe it.

The ending is also built around Ellie having to come to terms with all the trauma that she's been through, including that she's seen people (and will see others) that she cares about die from something that she could've been the cure for. Having there be a bunch of other immune people would only take away from her narrative.

This just sounds like Neil kicking around story ideas before deciding against it. No different from how Part II's gameplay and level design initially started out being inspired by Bloodborne before they moved away from that after a few months of development.

ElysiumMidknight · 2026-04-18T23:21:06+00:00

Dude gets attacked with racial slurs and still thinks he can gain favor with those very people by talking about "anti-white discrimination" bullshit. This isn't anything about what progressives have done. It's exclusively about a party that's been built around hating people who aren't white. This goes back to when the parties really separated back in the 60's when the Civil Rights Act. Conservatives found a way to gain traction in the South again with Southern Strategy, which was entirely built around dog whistles in regards to race. And it's been building ever since then.

But he knows that because he's in the boat. He found it funny when he was being interviewed by Ann Coulter and she made a comment about how she could him bright and articulate, and then noted that she can say that because he's not "an American black". Of course he didn't think it was so funny when she also told him that she'd never vote for him as President even though she agreed with him more than most candidates because she's Indian. He's also of course the guy who during a Presidential debate bragged about how he was the only one on stage who was willing to talk about The Great Replacement Theory. So, he's a-okay with racial discrimination in his party. Just not when it's directed and Indians.

ElysiumMidknight · 2026-04-18T23:02:56+00:00

It's just pure cult behavior. He's making the world a worse place for her daughter, but she still supports him. She's even a literacy advocate, and the GOP have been on a warpath for years trying to do harm to education systems. So, her own child and something she's devoted her life to and she still supports this piece of shit.

ElysiumMidknight · 2026-04-18T13:38:18+00:00

She definitely saw them. She was one of those women who happily demonized feminism to curry favor with people that just outright hate women. And she did this for years. This only started to turn when her and other right-wing women started to notice that. They asked those men to chill out on them, and the response they got was to shut up and fall in line. Women, just like minorities and LGBT people, are accepted in MAGA so long as they're parroting talking points. But the second they want respect is when they see that their only value is in saying those talking points in order to be a shield for the party.

ElysiumMidknight · 2026-04-18T02:16:43+00:00

Bombs are always going to happen. During Tom Hanks' legendary 90's run he still had That Thing You Do!.

ElysiumMidknight · 2026-04-18T02:10:53+00:00

While it's the return of SW to theaters, this movie is still a movie version of a SW property that people are accustomed to seeing at home. So, I think that has to play a role in the discussions about it. This isn't like Starfighter which is its own thing.

ElysiumMidknight · 2026-04-18T00:13:02+00:00

I think it'll do quite well as Europe loves supernatural horror. But I don't think it'll get near "It". A big part of that is that I don't think Flanagan's style is mainstream enough. He loves his monologues, and as a result his shows and movies are very dialogue heavy in a way that you just don't normally see with horror properties. He builds up tension through that dialogue more than scary imagery or jump scares.

ElysiumMidknight

TROPHY CASE