The Netflix/Hulu/Prime Thread

[behndy]

when i waa kicken i read something that called the literary device that movies IGNORE The One Big Lie. they used Supes for example, "if in your story being on Earth under a different type of sun lets you fly and be ridiculously strong and etc, okay. but if it's Earth, then that is the One Big Lie the reader will accept. things may follow logically from that Lie, but everything else must remain the same.".

it bugs the asses off of me.

and beyond the stupid invulnerability of EVERYone in a fight scene, beyond the Let's Knock Him Out I Guess That Means He's Just Pain Sleeping For A Few Hours Not Dead From Trauma Of Permanently Brain Damaged For Being Rendered Unconscious For So Long..... most fight scenes are just garbage now.

fucking quick cuts and zooms. can barely tell what's going on, zero concept of space or location, totally disengaging. the fuck do you spend time teaching people that can't fight how to look like they can fight then zoom forever? pull back. show what's happening. pick a camera angle for more than 2 seconds.

the beginning of the end for well shot Big Movie fight scenes was that enjoyably horrible Jet Li movie The One.

IT'S FUCKING JET LI. SHOW WHAT'S HAPPENING. HE DOESN'T NEED TREATMENT TO LOOK IMPRESSIVE. IT'S NOT LIAM NEESON'S ANCIENT CREEKY ASS.

..... or something.

[calfzilla]

when i waa kicken i read something that called the literary device that movies IGNORE The One Big Lie. they used Supes for example, "if in your story being on Earth under a different type of sun lets you fly and be ridiculously strong and etc, okay. but if it's Earth, then that is the One Big Lie the reader will accept. things may follow logically from that Lie, but everything else must remain the same.".

it bugs the asses off of me.

and beyond the stupid invulnerability of EVERYone in a fight scene, beyond the Let's Knock Him Out I Guess That Means He's Just Pain Sleeping For A Few Hours Not Dead From Trauma Of Permanently Brain Damaged For Being Rendered Unconscious For So Long..... most fight scenes are just garbage now.

fucking quick cuts and zooms. can barely tell what's going on, zero concept of space or location, totally disengaging. the fuck do you spend time teaching people that can't fight how to look like they can fight then zoom forever? pull back. show what's happening. pick a camera angle for more than 2 seconds.

the beginning of the end for well shot Big Movie fight scenes was that enjoyably horrible Jet Li movie The One.

IT'S FUCKING JET LI. SHOW WHAT'S HAPPENING. HE DOESN'T NEED TREATMENT TO LOOK IMPRESSIVE. IT'S NOT LIAM NEESON'S ANCIENT CREEKY ASS.

..... or something.

They actually had to slow down the film for Kiss of the Dragon because Jet Li was moving a little too quickly to really pick up all the movements... fun fact for the day.

[Kacey Y]

I wish I could remember what channel/video it was, but I remember watching one on Youtube once that was essentially why most blockbuster fight scenes are confusing and unsatisfying. Their observation was that they usually cut the shot right as the punch is about to land, but having a very loud impact sound overlap, so that you hear the punch, but never really feel it's impact in a visceral way and every hit sort of speeds up the momentum of the scene (editing wise). As opposed to letting the hit land, the other character react, then cutting to another angle of them flying back or something. Some exceptions being the more stunt performer driven action suspense movies like John Wick or a Tony Jaa movie, where they just film the scene in a wide shot and pan around the action.

[BetterOffShred]

Omg as I was reading that Corey Y I was thinking "yeah man but not Tony Jaa movies .." and then you said it.

Some of the shots in the protector are so fucking brutal. You know they basically just took the stunt actor aside and said "look man, this is going to fucking hurt, but you're all paid up so let's get this done "

His movies are awesome.

[behndy]

lol. because Thailand probabbbbbly does noooot have to deal with NEAR the stunt people protections that the US does.

and thank GOODNESS.

Tony Jaa stuff is awesome, the grrL from Chocolate is amazeballs, both thr Raids are pure angry ANGRY deliciousness.

so. much. BETTER.

[MechaGodzilla]

most fight scenes are just garbage now.

I mostly agree but this is why I was so impressed with the first John Wick. There's a really drawn-out corridor shot (when he fights a bunch of guys in his house) and it's goddamn kubrickian.

[behndy]

for sure. there are exceptions.

lol. and then like. oooo! bright spot! and look HOW MUCH MONEY IT MADE. THE SEQUEL WILL KEEP THE GOOD PARTS AND MAKE NEW AWESOME BITS AND EXPAND AND OTHER PEOPLE WILL REALIZE WHAT WORKED AND WOOOO NEW ERA OF 'MURICAN ACTION FLICKS-oh. oh no. i guess just horrible shittiness again. that's cool. you know. one step forward, twelve fucking back.

WHATEVER.

....... i did not enjoy the sequel.

[MrNovember]

Daredevil just picked up again. Mild spoilers:

SPOILER : show

on the topic of cool fight scenes, I just watched the episode where the Punisher ends up in prison and just destroys a bunch of inmates. That was a really cool fight scene. It actually felt incredibly desperate and wild. And then not long after Punisher and Fisk punch eachother so hard, so many times, and neither of them are really even bleeding after...

[Kacey Y]

I think that's a natural consequence of budget creep coming with success. Someone wants to make something with a clear vision, but no one wants to finance it because it's too specific and not broadly appealing. So they make it a more low budget, independent type of production, which naturally causes the things they're exceptionally good at and interested in to get the spotlight and other things to be less developed or high quality. Then the finished product gets attention for the extremely well done niche focus aspect, which gets the project and creators a good reputation and then people want to invest money in the next project. So naturally more attention has to be paid to making the next thing more well rounded, broadly appealing and less niche, because other people's money is on the line and they're concerned about their investment. So the people with the strong vision are focusing on pleasing more people, keeping more plates in the air so to speak, trying to give more of their attention to the aspects they didn't really care about that much before and they lose the laser focus of that specific vision the first thing had. So the next thing is less interesting and special and gets written off as not as good as the previous. More of the same, but less interesting, raw/visceral/exciting and/or original.

John Carpenter is an interesting study in this effect.

[Kacey Y]

Daredevil just picked up again. Mild spoilers:

SPOILER : show

on the topic of cool fight scenes, I just watched the episode where the Punisher ends up in prison and just destroys a bunch of inmates. That was a really cool fight scene. It actually felt incredibly desperate and wild. And then not long after Punisher and Fisk punch eachother so hard, so many times, and neither of them are really even bleeding after...

The Punisher series definitely does not suffer from that. There is some brutal fist fights and torture in that, where people's faces just get turned into a swollen, bloody mess.

[BetterOffShred]

Yeah man the Punisher did face hamburger correctly, but the heal times were still dubious. By far the most representative of the actual damage sustained by a face through blows though from our current discussion

[Kacey Y]

Action based tv shows, even when serialized, are pretty terrible about heal times for major injuries. Typically the best you'll get is a character severely injured in a hospital bed at the end of an episode ("they're going to make it", relieved sigh) and then they're recouping in the hospital bed for the next episode and then maybe in the next they have some bruises, a butterfly bandage on a split eyebrow and their arm in a sling. That would be going far for most shows. At least in Daredevil they halfheartedly tried to lampshade it by making a plot device where he meditated to engage some kind of advanced super healing (that's not part of his specific powers) and even that was a pretty big stretch, considering how messed up he got in some episodes. I would have thought they would avoid that for Netflix based series, since they know that they're going to be binge watched. So when someone gets majorly injured every few episodes and immediately recovers, it gets kind of glaring.

[BetterOffShred]

The Flash is like "yeah.. he runs fast .. AND heals fast!.. but doesn't age fast.." still a fun show

[jrfox92]

Anyone see the trailer for Avatar 2 The Titan?

[calfzilla]

But did the Punisher really heal up? Throughout all the comics, he was just patched up (which is probably why they made him a Frankenstein's monster style creature for a little bit) but never really at full strength. His grittiness is just a part of his character.