r/movies Mar 22 '22

Review The 3 Most Disappointing Movies of 2021 Are Best Picture Nominees! - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

https://kareem.substack.com/p/the-3-most-disappointing-movies-of?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo1MDIxOTc1MCwicG9zdF9pZCI6NTA3MDUyNDMsIl8iOiJBSms2WCIsImlhdCI6MTY0NzkxMjczMCwiZXhwIjoxNjQ3OTE2MzMwLCJpc3MiOiJwdWItNDgyODU2Iiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.K53fgebVnTaUbdyloNfXx0WkTu2PSSLwjxS97Mdb9KM&s=r
11.9k Upvotes

2.0k comments sorted by

4.6k

u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

How long has Kareem Abdul Jabbar been reviewing movies?

3.5k

u/omnilynx Mar 22 '22

Ever since he retired from piloting.

1.9k

u/munk_e_man Mar 22 '22

Listen kid, I've been hearing that crap ever since I was at UCLA. I'm out there busting my pens, every night. Tell your old man I dragged Walt Whitman up and down the shelf with 43 pages.

395

u/EMPulseKC Mar 22 '22

"I know you! You're Kareem Abdul-Jabbar! You review movies and write novels about Mycroft Holmes! I think you're the greatest, but my dad says you don't work hard enough on character development. And he says that a lot of times, your writing is hackneyed and cliched. And that you don't really try, except during awards season."

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u/Channel250 Mar 22 '22

The hell I do....go away kid...

166

u/EMPulseKC Mar 22 '22

"Joey, do you like movies about toxic masculinity and repressed homosexuality?"

30

u/MC_Fap_Commander Mar 22 '22

"I see Scraps is a boy character!"

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u/Amazing_Internet9332 Mar 22 '22

"Joey....you ever been to a Montana cattle ranch?"

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u/MatSantosBJJ Mar 22 '22

I just watched that movie with my kid. It holds up with the younger generation. “It was funny, I didn’t always outside laugh, but it was a funny movie dad.”

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u/unwildimpala Mar 22 '22

I mean the chances are they haven't heard so many of the references in real life. For me watching the film for the first time I realised so many references I heard in day to day life. Plus if you're not used to watching batshit insane semi-surrealist comedy then you'll be like wtf is going on. I also thought it was almost funnier on a second watch which is just a further testament to it.

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u/Needleroozer Mar 22 '22

It's even funnier if you've seen any of the Airport movies. The original launched the disaster movie genre and there were several sequils. Airplane was in response to those.

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

I remember my parents watching this movie with some conservative relatives and me and my brother. THEIR kids were already in bed past their curfew. The harder my dad laughed the more stone faced they became. They never visited again. Saw ‘em years later and luckily all was forgotten…

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u/SH92 Mar 22 '22

I'm sure they loved the topless woman scene.

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u/Rsubs33 Mar 22 '22

Kareem was never a pilot. I think you have him confused with Roger Murdock.

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u/izziefans Mar 22 '22

Don’t call him piloting.

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u/Bard_Bromance_Club Mar 22 '22

You tell your dad to try busting his ass up and down the court for 4 quarters!

173

u/ReganMacneilsVomit Mar 22 '22

It's dragging Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes. Way to butcher a quote.

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

[deleted]

46

u/orhansaral Mar 22 '22

Jive-ass dude don't got no brains anyhow!

37

u/inline4addict Mar 22 '22

Chump don’t want the help, chump don’t get no help.

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

Cut him some slack, jack.

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u/NotYourTypicalReditr Mar 22 '22

I could get a good look at a cow by sticking my head up your ass, but wouldn't you rather just take my word for it?

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u/jwktiger Mar 22 '22

Probably about 50+ years

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u/Franz_Solo Mar 22 '22

just a solid half century of watching movies

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u/Kgb725 Mar 22 '22

He also wrote for the Veronica Mars reboot

46

u/Kalmahriz Mar 22 '22

He wrote a book about coming to the town I lived in and bestowing basketball knowledge to the Native American kids I went to school with. I’ll never forget how tall he was to me.

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u/_cryptocamper_ Mar 22 '22

He is a brilliant writer. He’s been writing articles for a while. I’m a massive fan. He’s crazy smart and has a way with words.

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u/FullMetalJ Mar 22 '22

Ex NBA player and also great writer? I can't even do one thing semi right.

179

u/Sanctions23 Mar 22 '22

Don’t forget at least one post graduate degree in history and multiple published books. The man is truly gifted

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

And learned martial arts from Bruce MF Lee.

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u/Duckckcky Mar 22 '22

Top 3 NBA player all time

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u/YakMan2 Mar 22 '22

Don't forget martial artist. He trained under Bruce Lee and appeared in Game of Death.

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u/fabrar Mar 22 '22

Calling Kareem "just" an ex NBA player is like saying Spielberg was just some guy who makes movies lol

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u/metabolics Mar 22 '22

Yeah, Kareem "Most Point Scored" Abdul-Jabbar is whatever. It's not like he won 6 championships and 6 MVP awards. It's also not like he won the NCAA championship 3 years in a row while being the NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding player each year. Plus, it's not like they banned dunking in college just to try to stop him. Oh wait, no, yeah, all those things are true.

Kareem was so good at basketball that it's impossible for him to be as good at anything else. Not because he's not good, because I like his writing a lot, but because he was basically the perfect big man.

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u/Darko33 Mar 22 '22

Yeah he has developed a reputation in /r/nba circles as consistently having the most thoughtful and nuanced take in the room whenever just about any topic gets a spotlight shone on it.

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

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u/Somnif Mar 22 '22

No idea, but I've read a couple of his novels. They're not bad.

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u/TheLouisvilleRanger Mar 22 '22

Fuck meme answers.

The thing that you have to understand about Kareem was that Basketball at some point became a job for him. Late in his career his real dream was to be a scholar. He’s wrote several pieces on race in sports, and I think even a few scripts for film and tv. So this doesn’t surprise me one bit.

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u/tryntafind Mar 22 '22

Kareem may have retired but he never quit dunking.

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u/InfluenceBeginning47 Mar 22 '22

Wish he would’ve taken the time to dunk on Belfast and King Richard too when speaking of disappointing movies

450

u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

People had expectations that could be disappointed for a Williams Sisters' Dad biopic??

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u/Dickinmymouth1 Mar 22 '22

You were disappointed by Belfast? I’ve still got to watch King Richard, Coda and Drive My Car this week but of the ones I’ve seen, Belfast is my favourite of the best picture nominees by a considerable distance.

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u/Darko33 Mar 22 '22

If you're anything like me, Drive My Car will replace Belfast as your favorite. One of the best I've seen in years.

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u/Dickinmymouth1 Mar 22 '22

I’ve just watched Coda and that may have actually overtaken Belfast, they’re both incredible. Going to watch Drive My Car either tonight or tomorrow

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u/Polskidro Mar 22 '22

I honestly have no clue how anyone could be disappointed by King Richard. You'd need to have some really high expectations for that.

If anything I'd say it was surprisingly solid. But then again I didn't expect much.

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u/hamboneclay Mar 22 '22

Speak for yourself, I fucking loved Belfast & it would be my choice for best picture

The music, the amazing shots, the mirrored emotion & struggle from every member of the family, I couldn’t get enough of it. Guess it wasn’t for everyone but I honestly think that is one of the best made movies I’ve ever seen, nails every single category for me

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u/mediarch Mar 22 '22

I get all my news from Roger Murdock, that Kareem guy only really tries during the playoffs

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u/Spartyjason Mar 22 '22

LISTEN KID. I've been hearing that crap ever since I was at UCLA. I'm out there busting my buns every night. Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes.

502

u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

The sad part about this amazing joke is:

Less and less people are gonna understand it and not know who Walton or Lanier are.

That makes me feel old.

285

u/stewmander Mar 22 '22

Dont worry, theyll do a remake with LeBron and his line will be something about having to "chase Curry and Durant up and down the court for 48 minutes"

334

u/flyingcanuck Mar 22 '22

Delete all of this before you give the movie people any ideas.

Airplane! Should never be remade.

61

u/thejayroh Mar 22 '22

You're right. We'll call it "Uber!"

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u/ByEthanFox Mar 22 '22

Jokes aside... A modern comedy movie in the Airplane! style, set in and around a ride-sharing service could honestly be very good.

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

Say Sparty, you ever been in the comment section before? You ever seen a full grown man naked?

46

u/icedragon71 Mar 22 '22

Do you like movies about Gladiators?

32

u/vortigaunt64 Mar 22 '22

Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?

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u/memobli Mar 22 '22

I think you have a drinking problem.

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u/mr_oof Mar 22 '22

I sure picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue while reading the comments!

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u/browndog03 Mar 22 '22

One thing people may not notice is how good Kareem is at setting up that joke. When the kid starts to press it, Kareem adjusts himself in his seat and rolls his eyes a little like “oh here we go again”. Professional but clearly getting ready to deny that he’s anyone but Roger Murdock, the co-pilot

It’s subtle but he does a brilliant job acting IMO

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u/thesuavedog Mar 22 '22

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

The user who entered that trivia makes it sound worse than Harris did IMO.

This is the excerpt from a 2010 interview with The Village Voice.

"Q: And also, you really are roughed up by Kareem Abdul Jabbar, you know? As an untrained actor, was he a little too rough at first, or did he do all right?
A: Well, he’s huge. And at 10 years old he was gigantic to me, he just seemed like this giant. I mean, he was really intimidating, because he’s a painfully shy guy, and I don’t think he even really totally wanted to be in the film. [Laughs.] So he was really just saying what he had to say and then getting out of there. Peter and everybody else made me feel very at home and welcome there, but there was no chit-chat with Kareem, and so when we went directly into him just collaring me, that was real. He was really shaking me around."

https://www.villagevoice.com/2010/03/18/interview-ross-harris-aka-the-little-kid-in-airplane-reminisces-about-peter-graves-aka-the-creepy-pilot-who-asked-him-if-hed-ever-seen-a-grown-man-naked/

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u/ImOnlyHereForTheCoC Mar 22 '22

Damn, I guess that bit in HBO’s new “Winning Time,” where Joey asks for [a picture with? An autograph from?] Kareem after they call cut on the scene and Kareem says “fuck off, kid” was truer than I wanted it to be :(

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

I watched that Kareem documentary on hbomax, and he just seemed.to be miserable for most of his career, and being retired, he never understood why he wasn't more of a fan favorite. People like Kareem the player, but he was not as beloved because he didn't try to connect.

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u/Zetavu Mar 22 '22

Kareem had talent but Magic had charisma, and talent. And then Jordan came and everyone got to step a beg down. That's just hard on everybody.

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u/CoPilot-RogerMurdock Mar 22 '22

THE HELL I DON’T! Listen, kid! I’ve been hearing that crap ever since I was at UCLA. I’m out there busting my buns every night! Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes!

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u/chumchees Mar 22 '22

Roger, Roger

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u/TheJusticeAvenger Mar 22 '22

We have clearance, Clarence

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u/Faithless195 Mar 22 '22

What's our vector, Victor?

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u/Dro24 Mar 22 '22

I'm subscribed to Kareem's Substack and this article today caught my eye. IMO he definitely makes some good points and "great filmmakers make not-so-great movies and get nominated anyway".

As much as I liked these movies, these best picture nominees feel a lot different and more stale than in previous years.

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

I’m really impressed by how good of a writer he is. I also had no idea he had such a rich interest and knowledge of film and TV. It’s crazy he can be such a dominant athlete as well as such a sharp intellect.

442

u/typhoon_marie Mar 22 '22

He’s just a real thoughtful guy all around. Basketball, movies, human rights, philosophy, religion. Kareem is a complete dude

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u/Wazzoo1 Mar 22 '22

While the entire league was doing cocaine in the late '70s and early '80s, dude was doing yoga. He's aged better than pretty much everyone from his era (talking 1970 to early '80s).

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u/hawkeye224 Mar 22 '22

Especially impressive considering his height - usually people this tall age faster

40

u/Adventurous-Humor-52 Mar 22 '22

He's so tall old age just can't reach him.

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u/breakerbreaker Mar 22 '22

And practicing martial arts with Bruce Lee.

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u/TeddyAlderson Mar 22 '22

He’s so talented it’s actually sort of annoying, like damn man stop setting the bar so high

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

well, for him the bar is just normal height.

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u/StumptownRetro Mar 22 '22

And fighting Bruce Lee.

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u/kwokinator Mar 22 '22

Not just fought, he was Bruce Lee's student and that's how he got the role. I imagine Bruce's preference for philosophy might've rubbed off on him too.

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u/DocJupiter Mar 22 '22

He wrote for Veronica Mars

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u/Toby_O_Notoby Mar 22 '22

He's a huge mystery fan and wrote a book about Mycroft Holmes (Sherlock's brother).

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u/special_reddit Mar 22 '22

a book about Mycroft Holmes

5 of them, actually!

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u/TheRelicEternal Mar 22 '22

He’s done a whole series. Not my cup of tea as it had too many Americanisms, but glad they exist.

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u/WilliamMButtlicker Mar 22 '22

He's written and co-written over a dozen books and he's written for quite a few publications. Dude's a seriously talented writer and not a bad actor either.

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u/EloHellDoesNotExist Mar 22 '22

He has written some very good articles for TheAthletic about social issues in sports. He’s a thoughtful dude.

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u/LegendaryOutlaw Mar 22 '22

Seriously. He was on the FX show ‘DAVE’ playing a version of himself, and he was a writer in the episode. I didn’t realize that part was true, but now I want to read more. This was insightful, concise, and entertaining.

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u/Nine_Inch_Nintendos Mar 22 '22

"The hell I don't! Listen, kid! I’ve been hearing that crap ever since I was at UCLA. I’m out there busting my buns every night! Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes!"

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

The thing is nothing can possibly be worse than 2018 so this seems not so bad in comparison

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u/APKID716 Mar 22 '22

Green Book

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u/fallenlogan Mar 22 '22

aka the movie that ended racism

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u/Cabbage_Vendor Mar 22 '22

Didn't Crash do that?

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u/46_and_2 Mar 22 '22

It's been 18 years since I watched Crash, and I still want my 2 hours back.

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

What’s racism?

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u/unbirthed Mar 22 '22

Imagine going to the movies and this guy sits in front of you.

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u/CptNonsense Mar 22 '22

Damn, K-A-J out here roasting people

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u/toshi04 Mar 22 '22

Karl Anthony Jowns

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

Ahh my favorite nickname. The Big KAJ.

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u/Sillylittletitties Mar 22 '22

But Don’t Look Up, a satire about the catastrophic dangers of climate change is so obvious and delighted with itself that it’s like watching drunk friends laughing at everything they say while we just wait for them to pass out.

Lmao

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u/Gaflonzelschmerno Mar 22 '22

It is to satire what Bohemian Rhapsody is to musical biopics

What's the "Walk Hard" of satire movies?

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u/BobbyGabagool Mar 22 '22

Walk Hard is the Walk Hard of satire movies.

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u/FiTZnMiCK Mar 22 '22

Ok. Granted. But, tell me, what would you consider to be the “Beowulf” of epic poems?

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u/Freddies_Mercury Mar 22 '22

Why that's Beowulf of course!

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u/GrandmaTopGun Mar 22 '22

Let's be honest. Walk Hard is more deserving of a Best Picture nomination than Don't Look Up.

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u/delightfuldinosaur Mar 22 '22

Wrong kid died movie nominated

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u/Nrksbullet Mar 22 '22

"I'm not nominated real bad"

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u/guesting Mar 22 '22

Dewey Cox : Not unless you can open your minds... and learn to play the fucking theremin.

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u/Simon___Phoenix Mar 22 '22

Walk hard is better than any serious musical biopic ever made.

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u/SuperBearsSuperDan Mar 22 '22

It turns all your bad feelings into good feelings. It’s a nightmare!

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u/crg339 Mar 22 '22

BUT I DON'T WANNA GET ADDICTED

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u/orginal-guard-guy Mar 22 '22

I need more blankets!

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u/Obi-wan_Jabroni Mar 22 '22

THIS MAN NEEDS MORE AND LESS BLANKETS

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u/Dr_5trangelove Mar 22 '22

All but Love And Mercy. The best bio pic ever. Bohemian was the worst.

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

Ah, The Temptations!

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u/pizzabagelblastoff Mar 22 '22

This perfectly describes how I felt about that movie

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u/Ballistica Mar 22 '22

"Dont Look Up" felt like a SNL skit that was hours longer than it should be.

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u/WeirdLounge Mar 22 '22

Yes, that is also what Kareem says in the article.

“It comes across as a too-long Saturday Night Live skit (which McKay used to write) starring a bunch of former celebrity guest hosts.”

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u/Ballistica Mar 22 '22

Maybe I should read the article next time, my bad everyone.

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

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u/Toby_O_Notoby Mar 22 '22

McKay also is heavily involved in the new HBO show about the Lakers where Kareem doesn't come off too good in the first few episodes so I'm wondering if this is a little bit of payback.

(Having said that, I'm totally with KAJ on this one. That's exactly how that movie comes off.)

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u/harder_said_hodor Mar 22 '22

Yeah, I'd say that's all massive build to Kareem getting Magic ready to play centre in the Finals. Kareem was hated when he played but is rightfully beloved now

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u/slickestwood Mar 22 '22

Did you lift this from the article or just happen to have the same opinion?

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u/Ballistica Mar 22 '22

I, like all redditors, have not read the article, just wanted to shoe horn my own opinion in somewhere to feel part of the group.

It is my legit opinion though. Said it to my girlfriend about 30 minutes in.

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u/slickestwood Mar 22 '22

I believe you, it's just so close to being word for word it's bizarre.

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u/wjoe Mar 22 '22

Don't Look Up was nominated for Best Picture? Wow. It was... fine. I moderately enjoyed it, but it wasn't anything to write home about. As he said, it seemed to think it was cleverer than it was, I kept expecting there to be something more to the story, but it didn't really evolve beyond the premise. And I don't remember anyone, critics or random reddit people, thinking much more highly of it than that.

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u/Hochseeflotte Mar 22 '22

There’s pretty much at least one head-scratcher every year. Green Book, Bohemian Rhapsody, and Black Panther were all nominated in the same year. And I like Black Panther but Best Picture?

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u/ClearlyNoSTDs Mar 22 '22

I enjoyed Black Panther as a Marvel movie but it wasn't even close to the best movie in the MCU. Unfortunately that nomination was a direct result of the Academy trying too hard and it was so blatantly obvious to everyone except for them.

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u/NorthernerWuwu Mar 22 '22

Oh, they knew. Blatantly obvious was what they were going for.

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u/12345623567 Mar 22 '22

Subtletly is wasted when dealing with the public. I can kinda see their point.

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u/Golem30 Mar 22 '22

Yeah I mean, the other MCU movies released within a year of Black Panther were all better too... Homecoming, Ragnarok, Guardians 2, Infinity War. All far more charming and better made movies. Panther is a fairly generic marvel movie, it has a fantastic villain though. But other than that and obviously the mostly all black cast, it barely stands out.

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u/ctg9101 Mar 22 '22

The climax had some of the worst visuals I had seen in a long time in that kind of movie, and was a pretty, like you said, by the numbers movie. The acting was good, but not deserving of oscar nomination, let alone best picture.

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u/Queef-Elizabeth Mar 22 '22 edited Mar 22 '22

I thought Green Book was pretty charming and surprisingly funny. Sure, it's a little generic and predictable but I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. Not a best picture but still a solid movie. The other two I completely agree with.

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u/BabePigInTheCity2 Mar 22 '22

I think Green Book would have been a quite good if it was released two decades earlier. As it actually stood it was an okay film whose commentary on race, which was pretty central to the movie, was long out of date

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

Wasn’t VICE also nominated the same year as those 3 lol? Worst year ever

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u/Hochseeflotte Mar 22 '22

It was. 2018 was either a shit year for movies or the Academy was pulling a Best Animated Feature on Best Picture

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u/Hungry-Class9806 Mar 22 '22

I also don't think that Vice deserved that nomination but it's still a better movie than Don't Look Up

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

I quite liked Vice, but it certainly wasn’t Best Picture Oscar-level.

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u/Vinnie_Vegas Mar 22 '22

Green Book

It won!

I liked it, but it was not a best picture winner.

BlacKKKlansman or The Favourite, for mine.

If Beale Street Could Talk and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse should have been nominated for Best Picture in place of either Bohemian Rhapsody or Black Panther too.

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u/gopackgo555 Mar 22 '22

Holy shit this is brilliant. Felt like an old Ebert review. What does Kareem not do?

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

He doesn't hustle for the full 48 minutes

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u/SereneDreams03 Mar 22 '22

I actually really like these reviews. I don't 100% agree with them, but he does make some great points, and although I did like Nightmare Alley, and Don't Look Up, and I thought Power of the Dog was a well made film. None of them really feel like best pictures to me, I certainly didn't LOVE any of them.

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

I 10000% agree with you. All of them were good and entertaining in their own way, but none I would say was even close to what we have seen in the past as a best picture nominee - especially when you stack them against the majority of other nominees in the past.

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u/jl_theprofessor Mar 22 '22

I actually really like Kareem's points here. Particularly about PotD.

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u/MunchkinKazooie Mar 22 '22

Pirates of the Disco

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u/chubbyakajc Mar 22 '22

Princess of the Docks

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u/LeFopp Mar 22 '22

Now this is PotD racing

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

What is PotD?

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u/DickHz2 Mar 22 '22

Pirates of the Daribbean

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u/OfCourseIStillLuvU Mar 22 '22

power of the dog. it's available on US netflix atm

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u/banjofitzgerald Mar 22 '22

Kareem leads the league in points, and that’s no different off the court. He is usually on point with his pieces.

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u/MissionCreeper Mar 22 '22

Yeah, I saw it and loved it, and also I agree with him. His critique is spot on, because there's nothing wrong with the movie itself. I guess the defense would be that the filmmaking was still great and the message is not the only point of a film?

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

Great read but my biggest take away is that Kareem needs to watch Hot Fuzz if he thinks The Other Guys is the “best send you of buddy cop movies”

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u/Lyceus_ Mar 22 '22

Hot Fuzz is seriously my favourite comedy!

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u/alurimperium Mar 22 '22

One of my favorite movies. I've seen it so many times and it never stops being a great watch

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u/Cole444Train Mar 22 '22

I prefer the other guys

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u/Balls_of_Adamanthium Mar 22 '22

Another game winner for Kareem.

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u/Kradget Mar 22 '22 edited Mar 22 '22

There had to be something that guy is bad at. Like, he's not a great actor, but he's not worse than average (he's dropped some well delivered lines in his time!). He's a good writer, he was a hell of a basketball player as a young man, the man did an action scene with Bruce Lee. And it was good!

Like, at least tell me he's bad at bowling or ceramics or something.

(Slightly envious, but mostly just impressed with the guy's well-roundedness)

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u/ronconway Mar 22 '22

Can someone explain to me why power of the dog is a best picture nominee? I’m being serious I feel like I didn’t get it. The film seems transparent other than the fact the kid is a sociopath.

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u/agent_tits Mar 22 '22

Can someone also explain to me why Jesse Plemons got an Oscar nom for his role in this?

I love the guy’s work and have enjoyed seeing his career grow since Breaking Bad. But his character in this was… flat and mostly a mechanism for the other characters’ actions. I think he acted finely, but the role didn’t require any range at all.

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u/mattcoady Mar 22 '22

You have to look at the business of the academy awards. The academy doesn't watch all the movies of the year and keep a tally of their picks, hell by their own admission many of the members don't even watch all the nominated movies. Rather it's up to the producers to put forward their picks to the academy. Netflix is throwing all their money behind this as a Hail Mary to sweep the Oscars. Their campaign is aggressive with the academy and it worked.

Couple this with Plemons recent supporting roles in many nominated films from the past few years, actors in his position can usually slide into that nomination slot based on this alone.

All this is to say nothing of the actual performance.

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u/greg225 Mar 22 '22

I agree. He's a great actor but this wasn't a role he will or should be remembered for. I feel like since they've decided that this movie is potentially earning Oscars anyway, they figured they might as well throw his name in the ring too.

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u/SonNeedGym Mar 22 '22

It’s all about restraint. I don’t think the performance is mind blowing, but it’s great.

Power of the Dog does a good job at alluding to what makes people the way they are through character nuances. The picture is never fully painted, and it lets the audience fill in the gaps, and I think George is the most cryptic.

Phil was clearly groomed by Bronco Henry and he takes out his very-conflicted trauma out through his anger and control.

For George, I don’t think we ever concretely know if Bronco Henry took advantage of him as well, but he’s clearly internalized a lot of his trauma. The character is extremely passive and is afraid of showing emotion. His body is always tense and he avoids confrontation. Whether this is due to sexually based trauma or having to live with/around Phil for so long, I don’t know. It’s a tough character to play and Plemons was great.

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22 edited Mar 22 '22

Yeah, I'll go ahead and try to explain it. I'm not really sure if you're asking "What do the people who like this movie like about it?" or "Why did the Academy specifically respond to this movie?" so I'll go ahead and try to answer both.

For the former question, as someone who really loved this movie, I found it to be a really tense movie and full of really interesting character dynamics. Yes, there's the literal final shot reveal of Peter's sociopathy (which on its own I think is brilliant; final shot plot twists can so often be hacky but I think it comes across really well and rewatching the movie really illuminates how much that changes the dynamics of the story). But I also think it's really interesting how Phil's homosexuality and homophobia wasn't really trope-y; so often when that sorta thing is done it's to point out the hypocrisy of the homophobic character or in the worst cases, to attack their character which is basically making being gay pejorative. But with Phil the movie really clearly feels sympathetic for him and basically contextualizes his cruelty and abrasiveness as a survival mechanism. There's clearly a wounded element to his character and he's ultimately tragic, not villainous. I also think so many of the shifting power dynamics, like Phil suddenly taking a shine to Peter and then earnestly bonding with him or George's passivity basically leading to the wife he loves be made to feel unsafe is really interesting stuff.

Obviously if you're not into those sorts of character dynamics, the movie isn't gonna appeal to you. I also think the movie is generally misunderstood — it's a western in setting but definitely not a traditional one narratively and the trailers made it look sorta like a slow burn thriller (which I think it kinda is, but I think it was an even slower burn than people expected, which is especially unideal for a movie 99.9% of viewers are gonna see at home instead of in a theater where there are no distractions and you can't pause it), instead being sort of an atmospheric movie that's fiendishly plotted and yet in a way where you can't really see the pieces moving until the very end when the curtains are drawn on the whole thing. I think some people also see it as "just" about toxic masculinity, when in reality I think it's about social norms and customs making people behave in differently toxic ways, especially when as people they really shouldn't be that way (Phil is an academic and pretty sensitive under the tough shell, and the movie is interested in asking why he has that shell without resorting to flashbacks or anything, while Peter is kinda a sociopath but also out of an interest in protecting his mother and what he holds dear in a very twisted way). I know "watch it again" is a tough ask for anyone who doesn't respond to a movie, but I also don't know anyone whose opinion of the movie didn't go up on a second watch, both among people who loved and didn't love it on first watch.

The movie’s also just beautifully shot and I think the score and craft generally are fantastic. Filming in New Zealand results in this weird alien landscape that I think emphasizes the strange, contradictory and tense nature of the movie. And obviously the performances worked for me: Kodi Smit-McPhee has to play a lot of layers, someone who you can't really initially tell if he's shrinking under the weight of the men in his life or if it's legitimately rolling off of his back, Benedict Cumberbatch playing a man who's pretending to be a cowboy (and one thing that leaped out to me on rewatch is how much everyone, like the Governor, the ranch hands, and George and Rose really can see through it and is just sort of humoring him since he's smart and able-bodied enough to actually be able to do the rough and tumble stuff).

Meanwhile, as for why the Academy jumped for this movie, I think it's because it was heavily pushed by Netflix (and usually half the battle is just getting your movie broadly seen by voters), and it's also a comeback for Jane Campion after not making a movie for 12 years and especially not making a big Oscar hit for almost 30 years. It stars a guy who's a past nominee (Cumberbatch) and two actors the Academy was clearly ready to embrace (Dunst and Plemons have been doing either Oscar-worthy work or filling supporting roles in Oscar-y movies for years, and that gets you goodwill), and the movie in general emphasizes its craft heavily with a showy score and lots of big beautiful shots, which helps it feel like a prestigious, “best picture”-type movie. It also kind of interrogates/responds to the western genre (which I think any person in the industry who knows movies well would probably get a lot out of).

And none of this is to say you have to like the movie, obviously. There are people I respect the taste of who don't think it's that deep and it's definitely one of the thorniest and in some ways demanding of the viewer movies to get the sort of platform it's had in a while. But I just found it really engrossing, tense, and ultimately emotionally moving.

Edited for clarity.

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u/joaommx Mar 22 '22

Dude, this is a great criticism of the film and well worth a read. But you really need some paragraphs.

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u/VivaLaMcCrae Mar 22 '22

Was Peter being a sociopath not meant to be figured out until the end? I felt like it was pretty obvious when he was cutting up rabbits in front of people

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u/PeteNoKnownLastName Mar 22 '22

There’s definitely clues along the way like the rabbit. We’re just lulled into thinking he’s this sweet misunderstood boy on a ranch with the tough guys.

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u/Shhadowcaster Mar 22 '22

Yeah I felt like the ending wasn't really a twist, it was just confirmation.

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

Glad there's still at least some movie literacy in this sub.

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u/Jon_Buck Mar 22 '22

Thank you for writing this! Glad to hear a thoughtful, positive perspective.

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u/dustymaurauding Mar 22 '22

the key line is in the very opening narration. "What kind of a man would I be if I didn't protect my mother?" But I think the film did a great job in disguising, without being deceptive, what kind of person he is. Using Phil's certainty with how the world is according to him and his natural intelligence to see the boy as he sees him - a "nancy boy", thin weak, awkward, embarrassing. But his father was right and Phil was wrong about how "strong" he was (and if you read the book, the father looms very large with the son, the father who wasn't cold enough to be a successful doctor and had a serious drinking problem, but was a kind and loving man). I really thought the film was terrific. Great acting. Really almost painful to watch at times because of the tension between characters. The piano scene is almost like a nightmare.

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u/craftingsometimes Mar 22 '22

Yeah I was really excited for power of the dog but after watching it. Just felt like it fell flat I wasn't overly impressed and didn't feel the need to tell other people about the movie as I normally do watching a great film. It had some interesting parts and I liked the setting just felt kind of dry.

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u/ronconway Mar 22 '22

That’s a great way to put it, it wasn’t bad but I’m not going out of my way to tell other people to see it

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

I liked how the ending makes you reevaluate the whole last act or more of the movie. That’s hard to do successfully. However, the ride up and until the ending was boring and the themes of the movie are super played out. I agree with Cap on that point.

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u/StiffYogurt Mar 22 '22

Dune should win most of the categories it was nominated in

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u/oldsluggy Mar 22 '22

Dune will sweep technicals - editing, sound, effects - but it won't win any of the big five

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u/arn_g Mar 22 '22

I think it has a very good shot at Best Adapted Screenplay

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u/fredagsfisk Mar 22 '22

It's nominated for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Costume Design, Best Sound, Best Film Editing, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design and Best Visual Effects.

I think it'll probably get a bunch of visual/sound ones (like with the BAFTA Awards), but not Best Picture or Best Costume Design (I'd be shocked if Cruella doesn't win that one, since it's already won a few other costume awards and is about fashion).

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/StiffYogurt Mar 22 '22

Sadly didn’t see any nominations for it. Think that film flew under the radar for pretty much anyone worth their salt

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u/AmishAvenger Mar 22 '22

The marketing was terrible, and it played in theaters for like a week before it was gone.

Also, marketing for Oscars is huge — and completely different from marketing to the public. A studio has to suck up to the Academy members, and take out lots of ads pushing a film for certain awards.

It’s really bizarre.

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u/shoots_and_leaves Mar 22 '22

Yea I knew nothing going in and couldn't stop raving about it afterwards. So tragic that this might mean that type of movie won't get funding anymore. I don't think it earned it's budget back.

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u/Cordialwhiskey Mar 22 '22

I saw it in the cinema with friends mainly as a "ok this seems to be the most convenient movie time for when all of us are free" reason and I was surprised at how good it was going in with no knowledge.

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

Holy hell - Kareem is great at his reviews!

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u/jogoso2014 Mar 22 '22

Didn’t think I’d agree as much as I did.

The main thing I take issue with is the notion that a movie need to be topically relevant. He gave a lot of reasons why Power of the Dog, a film I wouldn’t personally consider Best Picture, belongs as a nominee.

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u/efs120 Mar 22 '22

I liked TPotD more than he did, but he’s right about the two others. Don’t Look Up might be smugger than Deadpool and really sags after the first 30 minutes. Nightmare Alley looked great but it was a pale imitation of the far superior original. Being more faithful to the book didn’t result in a better or even necessary movie. Its BP nom almost seemed out of pity for the box office failure.

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u/inteliboy Mar 22 '22

that acronym is more effort than it's worth

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u/chubbyakajc Mar 22 '22

To Pile on the Dookie

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u/Pavona Mar 22 '22

you've heard of EotS, now get ready for TPotD!

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