Took the kids to Avatar and I’m gonna give it like a 7/10. It’s not bad. It’s pretty cliche. It’s pretty much the same as the last one, which was the same as the first one, so expect more of that. I think the story besides being the same thing over and over is still good and the special effects / visuals really are what deliver here. They’re pretty cool / good.
I feel like if these movies were 2 hrs instead of 3, and maybe a little less Avatar character cat hissing at enemies, it’d be much better. That said my kids enjoyed it.
There’s definitely a significant amount of cat hissing scenes.
It’s almost like they literally just don’t bother to edit these movies. You also absolutely know the entire story without really having to watch the movie haha
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Ive tried to get through The Smashing Machine three times and turn it off because it is quite boring. For some reason the trailer lured me in but then i realize idgaf about MMA.
No review/score yet but will most likelt be low.
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Took the kids to Avatar and I’m gonna give it like a 7/10. It’s not bad. It’s pretty cliche. It’s pretty much the same as the last one, which was the same as the first one, so expect more of that. I think the story besides being the same thing over and over is still good and the special effects / visuals really are what deliver here. They’re pretty cool / good.
I feel like if these movies were 2 hrs instead of 3, and maybe a little less Avatar character cat hissing at enemies, it’d be much better. That said my kids enjoyed it.
There’s definitely a significant amount of cat hissing scenes.
It’s almost like they literally just don’t bother to edit these movies. You also absolutely know the entire story without really having to watch the movie haha
I thought the ash lady and the Colonel team up spiced things up this time.
The angelic Oona Chaplin playing the bad chick was unexpected. And she did great.
Seeing a rogue clan that was hungry for power including arming themselves with the tech of the sky people was an interesting wrinkle.
Also Spider was much more tolerable, whereas I couldn't stand him in the last movie. It could have just been him wearing a mask all the time though.
I think it received the worst review scores, but for me it was the most fun. And fun isn't something I'd associated with this series up to this point.
And yes... still about an hour too long.
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Movies in general are too long these days. I understand that long running times are sometimes necessary for grand scale movies such as LOTR but do we really need 169 minute John Wick movies? The first one was perfect at 101 minutes.
I long for 90 minute movies that don't outlast their welcome.
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Imo 1:30-1:50 is the sweet spot for comedy, drama and horror.
Large scale fantasy movies that require heavy exposition and world building and avengers style movies that have character crossovers warrant the 2-3 hour runtime to cover everything they need to.
But most things running 2-3+ hours now is too much. A lot of movies have points where they lose steam and begin to feel drawn out and some that even throw in what feels like an unnecessary fourth act and we need to get back to editing movies down to that classic, tried and true runtime of 90 minutes and change.
Most just aren't compelling enough to justify the marathon, but a good movie with a lean runtime can make for an enticing rewatch candidate and a staple of people's collections.
Last edited by TrentCrimmIndependent; 01-05-2026 at 02:23 PM.
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Movies in general are too long these days. I understand that long running times are sometimes necessary for grand scale movies such as LOTR but do we really need 169 minute John Wick movies? The first one was perfect at 101 minutes.
I long for 90 minute movies that don't outlast their welcome.
Editing is one of the most under-rated skills in film making. So much bloat that can just be cut. TV is even worse b/c streaming has it has unshackled creators from the standard TV lengths (which overall is a good thing but has led to a lot of shows being way longer than they need to be).
Separately I finally got around to watching F1. What an absolute blast.
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If the content and form are good I'm generally not overly fussed about runtime. LOTR is a good example...most LOTR fans couldn't care less how long they are because they are amazeballs.
But yes, if you've got a pointless 40 minute segment that isn't moving the story along then that becomes tedious. But I dont watch a whole ton of movies in theaters anymore so I can always pause it, get a drink, do whatever, take a break and then come back.
Is this the point where I rail away at modern generations shockingly short attention span? If something or someone doesnt explode every 10 minutes then its '1/10...would not bang?'
Its why TikTok videos are so short...
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I watched Valerian and the City of 1000 planets, and while I enjoyed it I was blown away by how amazing the movie looked. It's a 10 year old film and it looks light-years better than anything I watched in 2025. Did we peak in terms of CGI and special effects 10 years ago?
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Editing is one of the most under-rated skills in film making. So much bloat that can just be cut. TV is even worse b/c streaming has it has unshackled creators from the standard TV lengths (which overall is a good thing but has led to a lot of shows being way longer than they need to be).
Separately I finally got around to watching F1. What an absolute blast.
A lot of TV shows are too long because streamers are asking for it. They measure engagement in minutes and so they want long episodes.
It's incredibly stupid, as everything being too slow and repetitious has lead to people watching their phones while waiting for the show to move on, or just putting it on the background, which has lead to streamers demanding for shows to be more "second screen friendly", meaning they need to constantly tell the viewer what's going on, making them even more tedious if you try to actually watch all the way through.
The death of episodic shows is also making this worse. A season if Friends, if you remove the credits, was a bit over 500 minutes split into 24 episodes, and most episodes introduced some new storylines to be resolved within the episode.
Now you have an eight episode Netflix series typically running about 400 minutes, with the number of storylines often being around maybe 4-5. That's a movie length for every single storyline.
Similar YouTube videos are now commonly over 1 hours because their algorithm now favors length, whether or not the amount of actual content justifies it.
Some of the same people who complain about two and half hour movies plow through a TV series with a season clocking in at over 9 hours. After 5 seasons you're quite possibly in 60 hour territory.
I'll take a well written and executed film every time over the meandering and bloated TV series. It's a rant I've gone off on before but I've been reminded how annoying that type of writing can be while catching up with Stranger Things.
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I watched Valerian and the City of 1000 planets, and while I enjoyed it I was blown away by how amazing the movie looked. It's a 10 year old film and it looks light-years better than anything I watched in 2025. Did we peak in terms of CGI and special effects 10 years ago?
It all depends on how much time, effort and money goes into the CGI to determine whether it looks good or not. The Matrix (1999) looks better than most movies made today still.
Some of the same people who complain about two and half hour movies plow through a TV series with a season clocking in at over 9 hours. After 5 seasons you're quite possibly in 60 hour territory.
I'll take a well written and executed film every time over the meandering and bloated TV series. It's a rant I've gone off on before but I've been reminded how annoying that type of writing can be while catching up with Stranger Things.
I am with you. I find a lot of "prestige tv" to be more like a bloated 10 hour movie. No thanks. But it is funny when people turn their noses up a 2 hour 20 movie but will binge a TV show in 2 evenings.
On the flip side it does feel like a lot of movies are bloated now. The new Jurassic Park is 2 hours and 13 minutes. They misunderstood the assignment. They are making a high budget B movie, shorten that up. Just watched Sisu 2, it was 89 minutes. They get it.
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Editing is one of the most under-rated skills in film making. So much bloat that can just be cut. TV is even worse b/c streaming has it has unshackled creators from the standard TV lengths (which overall is a good thing but has led to a lot of shows being way longer than they need to be).
Separately I finally got around to watching F1. What an absolute blast.
Vince Gilligan really is a great creator of TV content. However he is first to come to mind to benefit from better editing. I really like his stuff but man he pushed me to the brink of pulling the plug on Better Call Saul and now the same thing with Pluribus. Really why make it so hard for fans to enjoy your work? When I hear "slow build" to characterize any new show, it's an immediate indication of a good show let down by too much "useless filler".
Editing is one of the most under-rated skills in film making. So much bloat that can just be cut. TV is even worse b/c streaming has it has unshackled creators from the standard TV lengths (which overall is a good thing but has led to a lot of shows being way longer than they need to be).
Separately I finally got around to watching F1. What an absolute blast.
My bro told me to watch the new Avatar since he loves every movie. Waych lord of the rings at least monthly and he worked on Avatar. I told him I had heard it was way too long. He daid the crew agreed but it was predicated to be an amusement park ride. Didnt have the heart to tell him i have zero intention of ever watching it.
I think it depends on the movie and who its made for, and these days seem to be made for the extreme fanboys not general audiences. The lotr ultra nerds love the slog.
If there was a seven hour Fury Road i would watch the fata out of that.
I've caught up on a bunch of movies lately. A lot of these definitely could have had 20 minutes cut from them although some could have been longer.
Black Bag: I really enjoyed this spy thriller that has some Le Carre vibes with a bit of Mr. and Mrs. Smith to it. Fassbender and Blanchett give great performances and there are some fun twists and turns. I also liked that when I started to get frustrated that the issues could be solved with a conversation, the characters actually had a conversation. This could have been longer and would have liked more world building and set up for the reveals. 9/10
Companion: For some reason I was expecting more of a horror movie but it's a sci-fi crime thriller. There are some cool concepts and interesting twists but it barely touches on what could have been interesting philosophical themes. Ex Machina did it better, but still enjoyable. 7/10
Drop: An interesting use of technology with a woman blackmailed via air drop messages, but the execution is too silly to take seriously. The bad guys plan is over complicated and it was unbelievable the man didn't end the horrible date after all the red flags. There are some enjoyable twists and the lead character, played by Meghann Fahy, was well developed. 6/10
F1: Will get the criticism out of the way first. The story has been done before, the romance is unnecessary, it's not realistic, and the whole thing is one big ad filled with ads. That said this is just an awesome fun movie that is a fast paced adrenaline rush. Was one of my most fun recent movie experiences and I wish I saw it in theaters. 9/10
Heads of State: A throwback to older buddy action comedies. The story is over the top but there are some laughs and good action scenes. Elba as the serious British PM and Cena as the goofy US president work really well together. The plot was surprisingly relevant but I did find the twist super obvious. 7/10
How To Train Your Dragon: It's tough to review remake of an original good movie. Did wish they tried a few new things but it's pretty much an unnecessary shot for shot remake. Will say the live action does allow for some beautiful cinematography although it does have a few night time scenes that show up better in the animated version. 7/10
More reviews to come!
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