Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
March 28, 2024, 04:33:41 PM

Login with username, password and session length

Search:     Advanced search
we're back, baby
*
Home Help Search Login Register
f13.net  |  f13.net General Forums  |  General Discussion  |  Movies  |  Topic: Bright 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Pages: 1 [2] 3 Go Down Print
Author Topic: Bright  (Read 23745 times)
Wasted
Terracotta Army
Posts: 848


Reply #35 on: December 24, 2017, 10:05:28 PM

I thought it was pretty good too.  Not fantastic or anything, the plot was pretty simple and obvious but it was enjoyable enough. 
Threash
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9165


Reply #36 on: December 25, 2017, 11:45:24 AM

I wanna know what the nine races that united to fight the Dark Lord were, we only saw six if you count faeries as one. Seven if you assume dwarves are a thing for sure, which probably.

I am the .00000001428%
Hoax
Terracotta Army
Posts: 8110

l33t kiddie


Reply #37 on: December 25, 2017, 06:31:36 PM

We need more things that attempt to do Shadowrun, this was a good time.

A nation consists of its laws. A nation does not consist of its situation at a given time. If an individual's morals are situational, then that individual is without morals. If a nation's laws are situational, that nation has no laws, and soon isn't a nation.
-William Gibson
MediumHigh
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1982


Reply #38 on: December 25, 2017, 06:59:19 PM

My only complaint is that they could have used more disposable actors. Not sure who plays the Orc but Will Smith character could have been subbed out for someone like Terry Cruz or Idris Eliba who are far more willing to work with a studio for multiple sequels or a tv show than Will Smith.
Zetor
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3269


WWW
Reply #39 on: December 25, 2017, 10:33:53 PM

I wanna know what the nine races that united to fight the Dark Lord were, we only saw six if you count faeries as one. Seven if you assume dwarves are a thing for sure, which probably.
I saw a dragon flying over the city in one of the shots, unless you counted that already.

This was pretty fun in a popcorn movie kind of way... and yeah, it reminded me of Shadowrun (without the cyberware) the entire time. I could definitely see physical adept types rolling (and/or burning) edge mostly to pull off stupid stuff that'd only work in SR, spellcasters fucking up drain rolls, etc etc.

For critics / people who don't know anything about SR or similar settings, though, I can see why they say it sucks. Pacing felt all over the place, the elf chick's character was way inconsistent throughout the entire movie, a lot of the things that happen feel like dumb action movie tropes even if they are not intended to be, and opening up with "TRIGGER WARNING ENTERTAINMENT" right off the bat followed up by Will Smith opening a laptop with the Joe Rogan Experience running in the background only to go "Fairy Lives Don't Matter" in the follow-up scene probably didn't make a first good impression...
« Last Edit: December 25, 2017, 10:36:12 PM by Zetor »

schild
Administrator
Posts: 60345


WWW
Reply #40 on: December 26, 2017, 07:25:48 AM

I have not yet watched it but your description of the opening is some r/fellowkids shit
Lakov_Sanite
Terracotta Army
Posts: 7590


Reply #41 on: December 26, 2017, 07:33:43 AM

I wanna know what the nine races that united to fight the Dark Lord were, we only saw six if you count faeries as one. Seven if you assume dwarves are a thing for sure, which probably.
I saw a dragon flying over the city in one of the shots, unless you counted that already.

This was pretty fun in a popcorn movie kind of way... and yeah, it reminded me of Shadowrun (without the cyberware) the entire time. I could definitely see physical adept types rolling (and/or burning) edge mostly to pull off stupid stuff that'd only work in SR, spellcasters fucking up drain rolls, etc etc.

For critics / people who don't know anything about SR or similar settings, though, I can see why they say it sucks. Pacing felt all over the place, the elf chick's character was way inconsistent throughout the entire movie, a lot of the things that happen feel like dumb action movie tropes even if they are not intended to be, and opening up with "TRIGGER WARNING ENTERTAINMENT" right off the bat followed up by Will Smith opening a laptop with the Joe Rogan Experience running in the background only to go "Fairy Lives Don't Matter" in the follow-up scene probably didn't make a first good impression...

My wife actually gets mad at me for how racist I am against elves.

~a horrific, dark simulacrum that glares balefully at us, with evil intent.
Threash
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9165


Reply #42 on: December 26, 2017, 08:07:44 AM

I wanna know what the nine races that united to fight the Dark Lord were, we only saw six if you count faeries as one. Seven if you assume dwarves are a thing for sure, which probably.
I saw a dragon flying over the city in one of the shots, unless you counted that already.


I forgot they were intelligent creatures and not animals in Shadowrun. That's humans, elves, orcs, dwarves, faeries, centaurs, reptilians and dragons.

I am the .00000001428%
Samwise
Moderator
Posts: 19212

sentient yeast infection


WWW
Reply #43 on: December 27, 2017, 12:24:14 PM

I'm not very familiar with Shadowrun and I enjoyed Bright quite a bit.  The orc dude totally stole the show -- I was expecting a more Worf-esque gruff warrior-race cliche.

"I have not actually recommended many games, and I'll go on the record here saying my track record is probably best in the industry." - schild
Ironwood
Terracotta Army
Posts: 28240


Reply #44 on: December 27, 2017, 01:34:34 PM

Critics can go fuck.  I tuned in for Alien Nation on the Sword Coast and that's exactly what I got.  I have no idea what kind of thing you'd be expecting to be disappointed with this.  It was exactly as advertised and worked just as you'd expect.  Oddly, wife loved it more than I did (though it DID have a lot of TFP I guess) but I enjoyed it just fine.

Would like to see more.  Know ultimately that this is not going to happen.


"Mr Soft Owl has Seen Some Shit." - Sun Tzu
MediumHigh
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1982


Reply #45 on: December 27, 2017, 01:41:32 PM

Bright 2 has been green lit.  DRILLING AND MANLINESS
kaid
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3113


Reply #46 on: December 27, 2017, 01:43:47 PM

I really enjoyed it. Also unlike shadowrun its not magic suddenly coming back it is magic was always there although it is less common now than it was it seems. So 2000 years ago basically the 9 races took out sauron or his equivalent and people are still pissed at orks to this day because they followed him. So kinda middle earth after 2k years and then run a training day type movie in that setting.

It worked pretty well and will smith seemed to be a lot more natural in this role than in a bunch of his most recent ones it is more back to him doing his thing which is pretty fun to watch. I am glad to see this got an immediate sequel  approval.
Ironwood
Terracotta Army
Posts: 28240


Reply #47 on: December 27, 2017, 02:15:30 PM

Just to be clear 'sequel' was not what I had in mind.

There was sooo much backstory that needed a wee bit of a poke and a prod and 'sequel' is unlikely to scratch that itch.  I also desperately need to know how Centaur Trooper goes to the bathroom.

"Mr Soft Owl has Seen Some Shit." - Sun Tzu
jgsugden
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3888


Reply #48 on: December 27, 2017, 02:40:59 PM

....I also desperately need to know how Centaur Trooper goes to the bathroom.
Your welcome.

2020 will be the year I gave up all hope.
rattran
Moderator
Posts: 4257

Unreasonable


Reply #49 on: December 27, 2017, 03:29:30 PM

....I also desperately need to know how Centaur Trooper goes to the bathroom.
Your welcome.

You're
satael
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2431


Reply #50 on: December 28, 2017, 04:13:34 AM

Enjoyed the movie for what it was, a direct-to-video-netflix movie and the setting was interesting enough to make me look forward to the sequel they announced.
Phildo
Contributor
Posts: 5872


Reply #51 on: December 28, 2017, 06:35:17 AM

Did anyone else feel like this was a total mess and they tried to cram too much into it?  Mixing the gritty cop drama with epic fantasy prophesies was a bit too much for a first dive into the world.
MediumHigh
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1982


Reply #52 on: December 28, 2017, 06:43:26 AM

Did anyone else feel like this was a total mess and they tried to cram too much into it?  Mixing the gritty cop drama with epic fantasy prophesies was a bit too much for a first dive into the world.

No.
Sky
Terracotta Army
Posts: 32117

I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.


Reply #53 on: December 28, 2017, 06:45:35 AM

There's no build-up or 10-minute prologue that explains shit.
The entire opening section is a lore dump. Anyway, I was initially turned off by the ORCS ARE BLACK PEOPLE, heavy-handed handling of racism. It was just so clunky and really, magic is a pretty stupid setting in LA. The reveal that Will was a bright came WAY too early and the movie was basically 'when does he grab the wand and win the movie?'

I did stick with it and it moved along well enough that I overall enjoyed it. Skeptical anything further without Weeyow Smiff will be any good.

And really, Will is getting a bit old for his Fresh Prince antics, he does try to change it up a bit, but it'd be nice to see a more mature version if he has it in him.

5/10 worth the popcorn
jgsugden
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3888


Reply #54 on: December 28, 2017, 07:33:23 AM

....I also desperately need to know how Centaur Trooper goes to the bathroom.
Your welcome.

You're
Yes. Deal with the shitty autocorrect.

2020 will be the year I gave up all hope.
Threash
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9165


Reply #55 on: December 28, 2017, 10:32:52 AM

Did anyone else feel like this was a total mess and they tried to cram too much into it?  Mixing the gritty cop drama with epic fantasy prophesies was a bit too much for a first dive into the world.

Super hard no.

I am the .00000001428%
Samwise
Moderator
Posts: 19212

sentient yeast infection


WWW
Reply #56 on: December 28, 2017, 11:06:05 AM

I appreciated that it mostly just threw us into the world and let us wonder some things.  We got exposition for the plot-critical parts: Dark Lord is bad.  Some people are Brights but you need to risk your life to find out.  Wands are really powerful.  That's all you need.

I was initially turned off by the ORCS ARE BLACK PEOPLE, heavy-handed handling of racism.

I've seen a lot of criticism along these lines, which starts from the assumption that ORCS ARE BLACK PEOPLE and then doesn't like what the movie did with that imagined premise.  My reading of it is that the intent wasn't for orcs to directly correspond to black people.  There are more parallels with, say, Japanese-Americans after WWII.  I think the movie was honestly trying to imagine what the racial tensions would look like if you took a D&D-esque world and tried to apply modern sensibilities to it, and not make the fantasy races map to human races.

"I have not actually recommended many games, and I'll go on the record here saying my track record is probably best in the industry." - schild
Reg
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5270


Reply #57 on: December 28, 2017, 12:09:34 PM

When you're sharing the world with 8 other kinds of people who are literally not human, racism within the human species stops making sense. Why would anyone hate blacks when there are all these damned smug, pointy eared elves to sneer at?
Samwise
Moderator
Posts: 19212

sentient yeast infection


WWW
Reply #58 on: December 28, 2017, 12:15:17 PM


"I have not actually recommended many games, and I'll go on the record here saying my track record is probably best in the industry." - schild
Ironwood
Terracotta Army
Posts: 28240


Reply #59 on: December 28, 2017, 12:34:22 PM


And really, Will is getting a bit old for his Fresh Prince antics, he does try to change it up a bit, but it'd be nice to see a more mature version if he has it in him.


He's tried it.  It's best when he doesn't.

"Mr Soft Owl has Seen Some Shit." - Sun Tzu
jgsugden
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3888


Reply #60 on: December 28, 2017, 02:04:59 PM

I didn't feel like it was a direct 'Orcs = X'  analogy.  They blended ideas. 

I have not finished it (called away with 20 minutes to go), but it doesn't feel that special.  It reminds me of District 9, for better and worse. 

2020 will be the year I gave up all hope.
luckton
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5947


Reply #61 on: December 29, 2017, 01:43:43 PM

Nielsen ratings guesstimate that 11 million people watched this so far. Let's assume each of them is a paying subscriber. This movie just paid for itself with at least $30M profit.

In other news, for those that desire more backstory, Netflix's got you covered. https://youtu.be/PRRoAZcwQMY

"Those lights, combined with the polygamous Nazi mushrooms, will mess you up."

"Tuning me out doesn't magically change the design or implementation of said design. Though, that'd be neat if it did." -schild
Trippy
Administrator
Posts: 23612


Reply #62 on: December 29, 2017, 03:11:01 PM

Nielsen ratings guesstimate that 11 million people watched this so far. Let's assume each of them is a paying subscriber. This movie just paid for itself with at least $30M profit.
You are assuming that Bright has increased the Lifetime Value (LTV) of those 11 million subscribers by a full month’s subscription cost. That’s extremely unlikely.
Samwise
Moderator
Posts: 19212

sentient yeast infection


WWW
Reply #63 on: December 29, 2017, 03:37:46 PM

I'm curious how you calculate the actual value of a piece of programming on Netflix.  Take the percentage of time the user spent streaming that program vs everything else they streamed that month, and multiply that by their monthly subscription price?

"I have not actually recommended many games, and I'll go on the record here saying my track record is probably best in the industry." - schild
MahrinSkel
Terracotta Army
Posts: 10857

When she crossed over, she was just a ship. But when she came back... she was bullshit!


Reply #64 on: December 29, 2017, 04:06:56 PM

I'm curious how you calculate the actual value of a piece of programming on Netflix.  Take the percentage of time the user spent streaming that program vs everything else they streamed that month, and multiply that by their monthly subscription price?
I suspect that it is considered a UA (User Aquisition) spend, they look at the number of people who start or reactivate accounts and watch the show right after. They probably look for any positive impact on subscriber retention, but that would be harder to separate.

It also gives them more leverage when negotiating for content, I expect.

--Dave

--Signature Unclear
MediumHigh
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1982


Reply #65 on: December 29, 2017, 05:51:33 PM

I like how this movie reminds me I can still have fun watching something relatively cheesy.
HaemishM
Staff Emeritus
Posts: 42628

the Confederate flag underneath the stone in my class ring


WWW
Reply #66 on: December 29, 2017, 07:55:19 PM

I'm curious how you calculate the actual value of a piece of programming on Netflix.  Take the percentage of time the user spent streaming that program vs everything else they streamed that month, and multiply that by their monthly subscription price?

I imagine it's very similar to how HBO evaluates their original programming costs. I don't know what that is but something like what Dave mentions sounds like a reasonable metric.

01101010
Terracotta Army
Posts: 12002

You call it an accident. I call it justice.


Reply #67 on: December 29, 2017, 08:20:57 PM

What a mismash of a bunch of cop partner movies (parts of Training Day, Bad Boys, Lethal Weapon, iRobot), only mix in a bit of the fantasy realm in a real world setting. Wife and I enjoyed it but after it was over, there wasn't a whole lot of thinking about it. Perfect one time use movie.

Does any one know where the love of God goes...When the waves turn the minutes to hours? -G. Lightfoot
ezrast
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2125


WWW
Reply #68 on: December 30, 2017, 03:48:05 PM

Did anyone else feel like this was a total mess
Yes.
Quote
and they tried to cram too much into it?
Quite the opposite. It was a cop movie with no interesting criminals, a high fantasy tale with no quest, and a Shadowrun homage with no corporate intrigue. Just Will Smith bumbling from fight scene to fight scene, his two macguffins (elf girl wasn't a real character) doing macguffiny things as often as necessary to keep the movie moving, and his partner getting whiplash from trying to play foil to a guy who changes his mind on whether he's playing a good cop or a bad cop every couple minutes.

Why do the Inferni think bringing back the Dark Lord is a great idea? What were the police chief and her pals going to accomplish by taking the wand, which both is incredibly illegal and kills almost anyone it touches? For that matter, if all of the known wands are locked down by the government, and touching one is almost guaranteed to kill you, how can there possibly be enough known Brights to comment on the racial makeup of the Bright population? Do elves regularly blow up their kids pushing them to qualify for Bright School? Are LA cops trained in anti-elf-ninja techniques, or did the Inferni just get way dumber after killing Poison's gang? Why did Tikka spend half the movie pretending not to speak English? etc, etc.

Throw in the uninspiring fight scenes and the heavy-handed race relations stuff, and my girlfriend and I were left pretty cold. Also, having no fairies after the opening scene felt like a Chekhov violation.
Hoax
Terracotta Army
Posts: 8110

l33t kiddie


Reply #69 on: December 30, 2017, 10:13:05 PM

I'm always left cold by rants like that. Why don't some people just stick to non fiction?

1. Because dark evil lords have a tendency to offer power, this is like the oldest fantasy trope ever? Or these elves' families worked for him and are now outcast from bougie elf society? if you can't make up a plausible reason to want to bring back the long dead big bad you just aren't even trying

2. It grants wishes? The one dickhead with the stache literally spelled out the extent of their stupid plan, get rich, get bitches etc.

3. Presumably aforementioned gov't spends a good deal of resources knowing things like that? Or its just known oral history? humans have almost never been mages but can be elf mages are much more common in the legends etc.

4. Yeah because there is no way the elves might have some kind of test prior to the blowing up risk thing for magical aptitude. I'd watch a show about bright HS though.

5. First good point, they were literal murder machines until plot armor. Some actual good writing would have had LAPD have some useful tricks but they couldn't do that after the SWAT squad got dismantled on the steps so it was just plot armor not even the classic clever use of their hubris against them.

6. idk or care about the english, trust issues?

I mean I'm not defending this really hard, just these stupid nitpick lists are so common online these days and they are so low effort most of the time, like this one. You don't want to imagine anything ever to fill in holes? You do you but sharing how you spent your time not enjoying something and then listing your flimsy quibbles doesn't make you seem smart.

The fight scene to fight scene stuff, the plot armor point, that nobody but Will Smith was much of a character are all valid critiques of what was a low budget action movie that was better than those because 1. Will Smith instead of John Cena as the lead & 2. Shadowrun setting instead of SWAT/Delta Force/Mercenaries etc.


A nation consists of its laws. A nation does not consist of its situation at a given time. If an individual's morals are situational, then that individual is without morals. If a nation's laws are situational, that nation has no laws, and soon isn't a nation.
-William Gibson
Pages: 1 [2] 3 Go Up Print 
f13.net  |  f13.net General Forums  |  General Discussion  |  Movies  |  Topic: Bright  
Jump to:  

Powered by SMF 1.1.10 | SMF © 2006-2009, Simple Machines LLC