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redhorsejacket

@ redhorsejacket @lemmy.world

Posts
20
Comments
791
Joined
3 yr. ago

  • Featured

    Weekly thread - What movies have you watched this week? 29/04/2026

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  • Oh, as a connoisseur of garbage, The Cannon Group is near and dear to my heart haha. Of course, being more immersed in the Charles Bronson, Chuck Norris, JCVD-type Cannon output, it was refreshing to see their logo on a real "film".

    I long for a successor to their throne, even if I have to concede that their model barely functioned while they existed, let alone its viability in today's environment lol. Ebert hit the nail on the head in 87: "no other production organization in the world today—certainly not any of the seven Hollywood majors—has taken more chances with serious, marginal films than Cannon."

  • Featured

    Weekly thread - What movies have you watched this week? 29/04/2026

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  • Watched that for the first time over the winter. It was enjoyable enough, but I think some of the themes went over my head, and I have a hard time reconciling Voight and Roberts' Oscar noms with their performances. Not bad per se, but hard to imagine either were among the best of 1985.

    I'm guessing that it probably hit different at the time, if my assumptions about the film's Cold War allegories are correct.

  • Featured

    Weekly thread - What movies have you watched this week? 29/04/2026

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  • The Lair of the White Worm (1988) dir. Ken Russell. Starring Amanda Donohoe, Hugh Grant, and Peter Capaldi. A very loose adaptation of the 1911 Bram Stoker novel of the same name, which can be reductively summarized as "What if Dracula, but snakes?".

    This was a total unknown for me. Purchased the movie out of a bargain bin at Walmart based on the cover art alone. Did no research on it beyond learning it was a Stoker adaptation, and that it was a surreal horror-comedy with some psychosexual elements. Considering how much I enjoyed Coppola's adaptation of Stoker's more famous novel when I finally got around to watching it, that was enough to get me in the door.

    In fact, I had such a good time discovering what this movie was, I'm hesitant to talk about all of the things I loved about it. So, I'll leave it at this: if you like Coppola's Dracula and you like Rocky Horror Picture Show, there's a better than good chance you'll like this. I absolutely loved it. 4.5/5

  • Weekly thread - What movies have you watched this week? 22/04/2026

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  • Underwater (2020) with Kristen Stewart. What can I say? I'm a product of my triply landlocked environment, and I find the ocean in general to be primally terrifying, let alone whatever antidiluvian secrets may be mired in the sea floor. Like The Descent (2005), I found myself relaxing as the scares became more about what was stalking the characters than the hostility of the environment, but it's an enjoyable enough creature feature in the back half. Also, while I was initially unsure of the practically en medias res opening and the occasionally jarring edits which scream of scenes deleted (apparently this movie languished on the shelf for three years before getting unceremoniously dumped in January), it's nice to see a big budget studio picture with a 90 minute runtime. There's kind of a twist towards the end which I can imagine will be divisive, but I was on board with it, and I don't want to spoil it if anyone is unaware. One thing I will spoil, in the name of selling the movie, is that there are two really gnarly deaths in this (which surprised me given the PG-13 rating), and one of them belongs to TJ Miller. 3.5/5

  • Michael review – cliched Jackson biopic is bland, bowdlerised … and bad

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  • Unfortunately, I bet it'll clear a billion.

  • Official Discussion - Lee Cronin's The Mummy [SPOILERS]

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  • Didn't start enjoying this until they finally gave up all pretense of being a "Serious Horror Movie" and leaned into the zaniness.

    Call me a prude, but I don't think you get to have a scene where a goopy evil entity forces it's way inside of an abducted 8 year old girl, AND a scene where said girl headbutts her abuelita so hard her dentures fly out. One or the other, movie, never both.

  • Massive Attack x Tom Waits - Boots on the Ground

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  • Hahaha I had the exact same thought. Gonna be taking my next break out in my car so I can listen to this on somewhat more appropriate speakers.

  • Weekly thread - What movies have you watched this week? 15/04/2026

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  • This week I dabbled in two legacy revivals of 80s sword and sorcery properties which approach the genre from radically different perspectives.

    Deathstalker (2025), directed by Steven Kostanski, is an irreverent comedy held together by campy gore and creature effects. It's basically, "What if Army of Darkness had the tone and gore of Evil Dead 2, and the budget of Evil Dead 1?". That last point is key. While I knew this was a low-budget offering, I thought that meant 10-20 million. Therefore, I was initially harder on the movie than I think it deserved. I kept thinking that the whole thing felt like an ambitious series of YouTube shorts more than a feature film. Turns out, the director did indeed come from a YouTube background (though, it should be noted, he has several features under his belt at this point), but I was way off about the budget. Rather than $10,000,000, the production budget was closer to $100,000, raised primarily on Kickstarter. Once I discovered that, I recalibrated my expectations and started to have a real good time with what was on offer.

    The following evening, I spun up Red Sonja (2025), directed by MJ Bassett. Maybe it's because I had just finished lowering the bar for Deathstalker, but I found myself really, really digging it. While still "low budget" the productions had about $17 million to play with, so it's feels more like a "real" movie than Deathstalker. To some, that will make the concessions to budget stand out all the more (such as several characters having their voices seemingly dubbed over non-English performances, or some ropey CGI), but, like Deathstalker, I felt like I saw every dollar of the budget on screen.

    Strong recommendation for this double feature. Deathstalker appeals to my inner teenage boy, sitting atop a stack of Fangorias, and Red Sonja...also frankly appeals to that teenaged boy (hang a lampshade on it all you like movie, you're still dressing the main character in a chainmail bikini), but there's also a femininity brought to story by the chief creatives which I found refreshing in this genre.

  • Weekly thread - What movies have you watched this week? 15/04/2026

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  • Fun! Police Story and Wheels on Meals are probably the Jackie movies I've seen the most, and are excellent entry points to his pre-Hollywood work. Out of curiosity, did you watch the og Drunken Master from the 70s, or the sequel from 94?

  • Did a small Cleric today

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  • By Grabthar's Hammer, you shall be avenged!

  • Dan Simmons on AI in 1989 (Hyperion) (No spoilers)

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  • looks over at the copy of The Terror that I've just started

    Uh-oh

  • Being Difficult

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  • Sorry, best I can do is this Anthrobussy.

  • [OC] Nolzur's Orc Adventurer #2

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  • Thank you! I'm happy with how the shades of red turned out. I thought about adding an orangey edge highlight to some of the folds, but ultimately decided it would be a little much.

    I hope to one day break away from the template of "mostly brown with a shot of a primary color", but thats a battle for later.

  • Tabletop Miniatures @lemmy.world
    redhorsejacket @lemmy.world
    OC

    Nolzur's Orc Adventurer #2

  • The first new Heroes of Might and Magic strategy game in over 10 years will launch this month

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  • I tend to agree with you about the art style. While I know HoMM3 is the fan-favorite, HoMM2 was my jam growing up, and it's distinctive "80s-fantasy-paperback-cover" style is firmly embedded in my mind as the essence of HoMM. While that definitely speaks more to my nostalgia than any rational critique, I do find the current direction to be lacking in character. It's all fine, but it could belong to any modern fantasy IP.

    My hangups about the art notwithstanding, the game seems to be rock solid. I spent 6+ hours in the demo in a single sitting. When I came to my senses, it was well into the wee hours of the morning. If that's not the hallmark of a good HoMM experience, idk what else would be. Additionally, the actual game map tends to look pretty good, and there are graphical touches that I quite enjoy (like different troop variants having entirely different models, rather than simple pallete swaps). Finally, as a HoMM3 fan, you might even enjoy certain aspects more. When I wrote about this a few months back, someone in the comments mentioned that they felt like there was a fair amount of HoMM3 DNA in the art (which, as a HoMM2 head, I wouldn't have clocked).

    All of which is to say, give the demo a shot if you haven't. While my bugaboos with the art style never entirely went away, they were easily relegated to the background by the rest of the game's strengths.

  • The first new Heroes of Might and Magic strategy game in over 10 years will launch this month

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  • They've got a demo available! Worth checking out if you want to whet your appetite.

  • Marvel brainstorming

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  • I'm not saying it's a brilliant name. Im arguing it is an inconsequential detail that does not matter in the context of the story, and it should be treated as such. You called it "possibly the stupidest artistic choice in cinematic history". I guess I just find that to be at least as ridiculous as "unobtanium", if not moreso.

  • Marvel brainstorming

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  • I agree with you in all of the particulars of your argument, but am ultimately unphased by the use of the term. Cameron stopped one step short of calling it MacGuffinite, and I can understand why that would annoy some people. However, within the context of Avatar, it just doesn't bother me.

    If I wanted to conjure an in-universe reason for it, I can do so without straining my credulity too much. Aerospace engineers in the 50s develop a term for a hypothetical wonder material that they can't get their hands on: unobtanium. Fast forward hundreds of years, and a material is discovered on Pandora which possesses qualities which were previously only thought of as theoretically possible. Perhaps jokingly, perhaps sincerely, the new wonder material is called unobtanium, referencing the fact it is no longer hypothetical, but it's still damn hard to get a hold of.

    Now, I recognize that 1) none of that is explained in the movie, so it's just head canon, and 2) as you say, calling a material you are actively mining 'unobtanium' is stupid. However, I don't think it's any more or less stupid than your suggested alternative courses of action given the context of the plot.

    If unobtanium had ANY relevance to the story beyond "this is the source of conflict", I'd wish for more juice there. But Cameron is nothing if not a functional screenwriter. No matter how much lipstick you put on the pig, the sole purpose of the scene is to telegraph the third act conflict (and allegorize the Iraq War, to some extent, but he does more with that elsewhere). The screenplay spends only bare minimum amount of time covering that detail before speeding along to more relevant thematic matters.

    So, I agree that it's a dumb contrivance that is clunky. However, it's just so irrelevant that I don't care. Call it whatever you want to, the name, like the material itself, is completely inconsequential. Frankly, I'm actually warming to the idea of calling it MacGuffinite. Put a line in that it was named after the first marine to die on Pandora or some such bs. Have your cake and eat it too, a plausible in-universe name, and a tell to not think about it so much.

  • Marvel brainstorming

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  • Well, I'll start by disagreeing with the premise that an "objectively poor" artistic choice exists, at least in this context. There are choices that work for you and choices that don't, but neither are objective. The name unobtanium was chosen because it represents a hypothetical substance that is everything that Cameron needed it to be to tell his story in a single word. He's practically telling the audience, "look, guys, don't think about it that hard, I'm speeding through the set-up because I know everyone is here to look at pretty shit in 3d".

    In another story, one where the specific properties of unobtanium were in any way relevant (beyond being valuable), that sort of handwavey shorthand might perturb me. However, as it stands within the context of the film, it's fine. It's functional screenwriting, and that, to me, is a hallmark of Cameron's style.

    Also, I'm not suggesting unobtanium was a placeholder for Cameron. I'm saying that it doesn't necessarily strain my credulity to believe that, if scientists are pre-conditioned to refer to a hypothetical wonder material as unobtanium, and then they actually discover a wonder material, they might continue referring to it as such. Or, if not scientists, at least corporate ghouls like Ribisi who probably can't pronounce the "official" name, if one exists.

  • Marvel brainstorming

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  • Per the internet, so grain of salt and all, unobtanium predates Avatar by some time, typically used as a brainstorming device. You know how a physics problem might say "assume a frictionless environment" or something of that nature, in order to focus on a specific point or phenomena? Unobtanium is sort of like that. Picture a bunch of aerospace engineers in the mid-50s, talking about how they're gonna put a person in space. They're throwing all their spaghetti against the wall, hoping some of it will stick. One guy stands up and says, according to his calculations, if they can get the mass of the launch vehicle down to X, he's confident they can do the thing. Unfortunately, material science being what it is at the time, there is nothing that would be light, strong, cheap, and workable enough to fashion such a vehicle, but the math all checks out. These engineers jokingly start referring to the hypothetical material that would satisfy all their needs as "unobtanium", while they search for practical solutions.

    Fast forward 60 years, and Cameron is writing his Pocahontas in Space movie. He needs a name for his MacGuffin, but, being a MacGuffin, it's entirely irrelevant to the plot outside of the fact that the characters are destined to fight over it. So, he decides to call it unobtanium, since that's pre-existing shorthand for "rare material that does everything you need it to", and that's literally all this material needs to be for the plot.

    It's still silly, sure, but no more or less silly than mechs fighting giant blue people that fuck via ponytail sounding.

  • Dogs @lemmy.world
    redhorsejacket @lemmy.world

    this is my buddy, Yoshi. he's a v. good boy.

  • Music @lemmy.world
    redhorsejacket @lemmy.world

    Brad Arnold, 3 Doors Down founder and lead singer, dies at 47

    www.cbsnews.com /news/brad-arnold-3-doors-down-founder-and-lead-singer-dies-at-47/
  • Cooking @lemmy.world
    redhorsejacket @lemmy.world

    today I baked biscuits from scratch for breakfast

  • Turn-Based Strategy Games @piefed.world
    redhorsejacket @lemmy.world

    First Impressions: Heroes of Might and Magic: The Olden Era is an excellent franchise revival, with an unfortunate art style that belies its quality.

  • Games @lemmy.world
    redhorsejacket @lemmy.world

    Movie Duels [Star Wars: Jedi Academy mod] Update No. 7 Released

  • Games @lemmy.world
    redhorsejacket @lemmy.world

    First Impressions: Heroes of Might and Magic: The Olden Era is an excellent franchise revival, with an unfortunate art style that belies its quality.

  • Music @lemmy.world
    redhorsejacket @lemmy.world

    Testing Elmo's Music Knowledge | Track Star*

  • Music @lemmy.world
    redhorsejacket @lemmy.world

    (Live @ Hellfest 2002) Coheed and Cambria - Everything Evil

  • Music @lemmy.world
    redhorsejacket @lemmy.world

    Fishbone - Racist Piece Of Shit (Live on KEXP)

  • No Stupid Questions @lemmy.world
    redhorsejacket @lemmy.world

    whatever happened to in-store coffee grinders?

  • Music @lemmy.world
    redhorsejacket @lemmy.world

    The Tragedy of "Stomp Clap Hey"

    defector.com /the-tragedy-of-stomp-clap-hey
  • Full movies on YouTube @lemm.ee
    redhorsejacket @lemmy.world

    Hard Boiled (1992) - 1080p Theatrical Cut Subs

  • Warframe @dormi.zone
    redhorsejacket @lemmy.world

    what's your Warframe facepalm?

  • Possum Lodge Skunk Works @sh.itjust.works
    redhorsejacket @lemmy.world

    uparmored technical circa 2024, chequamegon bay, WI

  • Movies @lemmy.world
    redhorsejacket @lemmy.world

    Criterion and Janus Films Sell to Indian Paintbrush Founder Steven Rales

    variety.com /2024/film/news/criterion-janus-films-sell-indian-paintbrush-steven-rales-1236011122/
  • Home Video (VHS, DVD, Blu-ray, 4k) @feddit.uk
    redhorsejacket @lemmy.world

    Criterion and Janus Films Sell to Indian Paintbrush Founder Steven Rales

    variety.com /2024/film/news/criterion-janus-films-sell-indian-paintbrush-steven-rales-1236011122/
  • rpg @ttrpg.network
    redhorsejacket @lemmy.world

    New RPG Roundup: 20+ Book Warhammer RPG Humble Bundle From Cubicle 7 And More

    www.belloflostsouls.net /2023/11/new-rpg-roundup-20-book-warhammer-rpg-humble-bundle-from-cubicle-7-and-more.html
  • Games @lemmy.world
    redhorsejacket @lemmy.world

    Total War Warhammer 3 devs will remove Steam users starting boycotts

    www.pcgamesn.com /total-war-warhammer-3/steam-boycott-ban
  • Strategy Games @sopuli.xyz
    redhorsejacket @lemmy.world

    Steam Strategy Sale