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PaperclipPerfector  8mo ago (text post)   2939 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for September 8, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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So I finally saw Top Gun: Maverick. I kind of loved it.

What can I say, it had characters that looked and acted recognizably human, with comprehensible motivations, and a story that mostly made sense, that wasn't just a CG cartoon. It's a low bar to cross, but few movies seem to these days.

It felt like a movie made by someone who only wanted to entertain an audience. Like at every point they said "what would look cool or be fun?" and you think that the movie doing a "pass the torch to the younger generation" but nope, Tom Cruise is like "I will save the day" and does (with good help, satisfying like when Han Solo rescues Luke in A New Hope). Great sound, great jet footage.

It felt like a movie made by someone who only wanted to entertain an audience.

I mean, I'm ok with that? Yes please? I keep thinking about what the alternative is, and it's basically just culture warring. So yeah, I'll take a single minded obsession with being cool or fun any day.

Reading the trivia on IMDB about the film was hilarious though. Like the beach football scene. There were two bits of trivia with that which cracked me up. The first was that they kept it a mystery when they would shoot the scene, so the actors all stayed on a good diet and kept hitting the gym to be beach body ready for it. The second is that after they finally filmed it, and it was one the last scenes to be filmed, everyone binged and went nuts. Then Tom Cruise decided the footage wasn't good enough, the actors didn't do enough macho flexing, they weren't buff enough, and they had to do it again. So back everyone goes to the gym to get beach body ready again for the second take.

I should have clarified, it was refreshing to watch a movie that wanted me to have fun, and not preach to me or annoy me. I am glad it wanted to entertain, and wish more movies had that as their sole aim

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