"Rock Em Sock Em Robots" Review
er..."Real Steel," whatever it's called. Max Force joins us.
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The Cinema Snob: "Rock Em Sock Em Robots" Review
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I actually went to the premiere of Real Steel, and LOVED it. It's probably one of the best movies I've seen this year, and I can't wait to hear your thoughts on it.
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Boy, I would have loved see your reaction when they tore the thing apart.
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You guys are forgetting about the terrible kid actor in "Over The Top".
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I'm not surprised about this... I mean, the trailer says everything about this movie.
Speaking of bad films... Brad, you know that you have to suffer next weekend. Not one, but two remakes of beloved 80's movies are hitting the screens...
Are you planning on seeing The Thing or Footloose?
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I hope it's The Thing after hearing him mention it a couple times on Radiodrome, usually accompanied by the phrase, "RAMONA *beep*ING FLOWERS?!" It could be his version of Jake's Smurfs review even though Brad was pretty pissed off in the Transformers 3 review.
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Its a good thing that the new Thing movie is a prequel then. Seriously how hard of a concept is this get past people? Its the Norwegian team discovering the alien. And getting killed as we saw in the original movie when the Americans went to the campsite.
And if you want to get technical throwing the word "remake" around technically "John Carpenter's The Thing" is a remake of the movie "The Thing from Another World" from the released in 1951. Carpenter was a fan of the original which is why he made his movie (which was also a more faithful adaptation of the original short story). And the people in charge of the new Thing are fans of Carpenter's movie which is why they were inspired to tell the story that wasn't told from the original.
Now I'm not saying its going to be instantly good but at least understand the difference. Its a completely different story with one similar connection, the alien creature known as the Thing. Are they going to be similar yeah those are core elements that come with the subject matter. It would be called Nightmare on Elm St. 2 a remake because Freddie enters dreams and people die.
As for Footloose, yeah that's going to be bad there is no reason to modernize it when that story idea as already been modernized several times.
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I thought "The Thing" was based on "At the Mountains of Madness" by HP Lovecraft. Is Gulliermo Del Toro still doing his version, or did they shitcan it because of this remake?
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"The Thing" is based on "Who Goes There" by John W. Campbell Jr
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Brad... your wife was wearing a pinkie pie T-shirt and now is wearing a Sailor Moon T-shirt.
Your life is wonderful my friend. It's all bad movies, booze, awesome weird foods, and being a star.
You do have to put up with Jake and watch TM films though... but I think it's worth it.
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I remember when I saw the trailer. The whole thing looked like the stereotypical "martial-arts competition" movie, where it's all about having a fighting spirit, doing your best, improving yourself, etc., but that the fighters are basically a bunch of robots being controlled by children.
The entire premise of this movie is basically as shallow as the fucking "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots" toy! It's like if you had a child randomly and repeatedly pushing plunger buttons, and that every time the child wins a game match, you'd go "Great job kid! You must've had the real fighting spirit to win!".
Even if I could afford to go see a movie, I still wouldn't watch this one. It would bother me that some of the characters keep trying to put value into something that's just not there. And I bet that if the robots would've been shown to develop their own free-will, then the movie would've gotten even worse. The children are supposed to be in control and use their "fighting spirit" to win a bunch of robot-fighting matches, and you're going to tell me that it was the robots' "fighting spirit" winning the matches all along? Now that's just fucking bullshit!
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So, it is just as I feared. Maybe I'll watch Real Steel when it's on DVD.
I think if this was really a Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots movie, it would be shallower than Real Steal but more entertaining.
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Heiya Brad!
I know it's kind of an off-topic, but...could you review the "Flinstones Porn"? It really exists.
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Betty-on-Wilma action... *drools*
Eh... what were we talking about again? Oh yeah, One must fall 2097 - The movie, because that's the feel I got from the trailer.
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Real Steal isn't trying to be original in not calling itself Rock Em Sock Em Robots.
Its actually a rip off of the real Rock Em Sock Em robots movie which is coming out like next year.
So yeah. Even less creativity.
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Hugh Jackman was on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, either Wednesday or Thursday, and said that "Real Steel" is set in the year 2020. Thanks for the review, you confirmed my suspicions that this movie sucks.
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Oh Jesus, they're making a sequel. Why god why? It's like everything these days. Mediocre franchise that no cared about gets 18 sequels. Two worlds two anyone?
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I think that if the filmmakers are smart enough not to take these movies seriously and just go all out silly, it wouldn't be that bad. Not happening though.
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Hey screw you Two Worlds 2 was great, and has some of the best fantasy graphics I've seen. First one was rough as all hell but they gave it another shot and definitely did it right this time around. More amazingly is how they fit a game THIS huge with this graphical quality into 3GB of HDD space.
On topic a bit tho Real Steel was everything it was expected to be, and I found it quite entertaining.
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Brad, Jillian, and company, you know I love you, but I gotta say this or my head will explode.
*Deep breath*
In 1956, Richard Matheson, one of the grandmasters of science fiction, wrote a story called "Steel" set in a future where boxing was outlawed, and robot boxing took its place. It was well-received, and was adapted into an episode of "The Twilight Zone," considered one of the most heartfelt, powerful episodes of the series.
In 1964, Marvin Glass & Associates released "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots," a child's game which has become so embedded in the popular consciousness that an intelligent short story by one of the greatest science fiction authors of the 20th Century can never be taken seriously again.
And so we have the infuriating situation that a great story by a great author can't be adapted, because people will automatically associate it with a bloody children's toy. It could've been the most original, best acted and most magnificently directed science fiction film in years, but it wouldn't matter, because all people think when they see this is Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots.
Why should we care, Brad? I'll give you a reason: Richard Matheson is an ICON. He practically invented the entire Zombie Apocalypse GENRE in "I Am Legend." His horror stories have been a massive influence on Stephen King. He's written some of the greatest episodes of "Star Trek" and "The Twilight Zone." He is the man who gave us Stephen Spielberg's "Duel," "Hell House," "The Night Strangler," "The Incredible Shrinking Man," the Roger Corman Poe movies, "The Enemy Within," "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," "Button Button," and who knows how many others.
THAT'S why you should care. Richard Matheson doesn't deserve to have his work dismissed as "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots: The Movie." Given your dismissal of the film, it sounds like the film is more at fault, but given how haphazard Matheson adaptations have been, I'd say Levy has utterly failed, at least for you guys. All the stuff you're talking about - a realistic view of robot fighting, and whatnot - was right there in the source material.
That's not to say I'm defending the film without watching it, but it's like complaining about "I Am Legend" being a "Night of the Living Dead" knockoff. If the film really is as bad as you say, then that just rubs salt in the wound. You might not go into this film expecting anything other than robot fighting, but I was certainly expecting more.
Besides, if this was really meant to be "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots: The Movie," don't you think they'd just CALL it "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots: The Movie"? It isn't as if Mattel is frightened of milking its product. Or suing people for making a film vaguely similar to one of their toys. But they don't have a leg to stand on, since the story came out 10 years earlier.
*exhales*
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You do have a point about the title being called Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots if they felt like it. After all, they are making Battleship the Movie. I remember that episode of the Twilight Zone. See the episode. I can't spoil it no matter how much I want to.
Also, Brad, if you throw in some black magic or voodoo or something that Champ reversal story would be a pretty good adaptation of Dorian Grey. You could do it as one of your low budget films. Throw in a scene after the boxer picks up a hooker where a doctor is trying to figure out how the dying kid got syphilis.
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Amen, my good sir! I totally agree!
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I know right. It's almost like I mentioned that near the end of this review.
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Okay okay
*Deep Breath*
Brad and the rest of them address this in the video. Oops.
*exhales*
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The reason I did that big spiel is not because I didn't feel Brad addressed it (that's why I specifically said "why should you care," in direct reference to Brad's "who cares?"), but because I'm a Richard Matheson fan who thinks he deserves more than yet another terrible adaptation of his work that completely misses the point. If anything, this just makes the film even worse. I've already resigned myself to the fact that they're NEVER going to get "I Am Legend" right despite no less than FOUR bloody adaptations which miss the point of the very title, but Matheson has a ton of great work which would make fantastic films.
"Steel" by Richard Matheson could make an excellent basis for a thought-provoking, intelligent film that also has robots beating the cogs out of each other. Consider the recent controversies regarding concussions in football, pro wrestling and elsewhere: it doesn't seem that unlikely that boxing would be outlawed in the future. Then look at advances in robotics from Japan. Thus, the idea of robot boxing taking off is not really that unbelievable, and is in fact very timely, like a lot of great science fiction. The human element of a boxer rendered obsolete by new laws living vicariously through managing an android is classic angst, and the possibility of an android gaining sentience similarly heady - at what point does it cease to be a tool, and become a slave?
THAT'S the sort of film "Real Steel" should've been, not a schlocky Boy & His Robot affair, and THAT'S why I'm so infuriated by this whole affair. It wasn't a criticism of Brad et al (though poor wording on my part probably gave that impression) so much as a criticism of the film industry in general.
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I strongly agree. Matheson is legend.
But, "Real Steel" is not an adaptation of "Steel." There, I said it.
They can claim it is, but this is CLEARLY a "Rock Em Sock Em Robots" movie, that they couldn't get the license to use the name.
You HONESTLY think a fuck like Shawn Levy knows who Richard Matheson is? No, some executive realized they couldn't get the "Rock Em Sock Em" license, so just arbitrarily claimed it was an adaptation of "Steel." No one involved in making this movie knows about "Steel."
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This is a very good and true post. I do enjoy Mr. Matheson's output.
That being said, it is clear that this film, for all it claims, is not an adaptation of "Steel."
This movie IS "Rock Em Sock Em Robots: The Movie," but I am assuming that unlike Transformers and G.I. Joe, they couldn't get the official license.
If there was an adaptation of "Steel," it would be awesome, and would not just be dismissed as "Rock Em Sock Em Robots: The Movie." Whereas this movie is clearly nothing but that. If the film was good, people would like it.
So I am going to agree wth you in general, but not believe this actually is an adaptation of "Steel."
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You guys forget not every kids watched every single movie you guys listed during this video. So, they may find this enjoyable and join this be Matinee film for them.
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Kids like "The Smurfs" movie. And playing with their own poop. I'm kinda glad Brad doesn't have the taste of a child.
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This movie was forgettable. I did like the robot fights and Hugh Jackman though.
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The guy from Lost whose name you were thinking of is Kevin Durand. A shame he was wasted here.
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Geez, Lloyd was manhandled by Max Force!
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But first manhandled by Jillian....
You know the boys want to trade places with Lloyd now.
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Realockem Steelockem: Watch the dramaction unfold.
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Ok, this is one I'll disagree with ya'll on for now.
Yes ya'll got the fact is was based on a short story, but it was also a Twilight Zone episode http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYTcKk4gwyA
Now if this movie had the same ending as the TZ episode ya'll'd might've liked it more! Jackson's character would've died!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpcfsFVQ3ho&NR=1
I do agree though the director I do hate.
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Also, if ya'll if ya'll find this interesting... THEY"RE MAKING AN ACTUAL ROCK'EM SOCK'EM ROBOT MOVIE!!!
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You have no idea how glad I am that I'm not the only one who thought "Rock Em Sock Em Robots" when they saw this.
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oh man, I am so jealous of Jillian, Brad
I wish I had a weeaboo wife
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Okay, after watching this review, I'm going off on a rant here:
First off, I personally enjoyed Real Steel because it did do something different to the robot and boxing genres by blending both of them together and create a movie about a complex relationship between down-his-luck former boxer father and his ll year old son, and their robot. The main themes are being human, the struggles of the everyday man and redemption. To me, labeling the movie as "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots", and judging the movie on face value, wihthout thinking about the characters and messages that are present in the film really show how shallow and ignorant about the moviegoer (and reviewer) is. People these days don't want to sit down and think when watching a movie anymore, and that's very sad to me. I think you guys are being too harsh on this movie, and were just nitpicking on the minor flaws and forced yourselves to hate it because of the movie's premise. Real Steel is not a perfect, but I had a still great experience.
So yeah, I disagree with Brad and company on this one, but I still love you guys. ^^
Thank you.
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"Jake secretly likes all the bad movies he's forced to go see."
...Oh dear. Jake will be none to happy to hear that. Brace yourselves people! -starts working on barricade-
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Just thought Jillian would like to know her voice acting in the best answering machine ever sketch was wonderful
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This smells from a far distance as shit. So everybody gets what they deserve. If people are gonna pay for shit they will deliver. And the title could be a easy porn. That is the only interesting thing about it.
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Oh, and Jillian, it's called Yunicking the Rules. There was a NASCAR racer named Henry "Smokey" Yunick who was renowned for using loopholes in the rules to cheat without breaking the rules such as a five foot long fuel line to give him extra fuel. He did this because the gas tanks all have a regulation regarding size but fuel lines didn't. The two headed robot, someone simply looked at the rules regarding the head and noticed it said nothing about how many the robot could have. I haven't seen the movie yet but if this is an AI scenario and not a strictly remote controlled one then the reason everyone doesn't try that is probably the fact that it would be a programming nightmare. Even in a remote controlled situation you have the issue of commands interfering with each other.
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Dude, I had to stop the review. Your wife is annoying the holy hell out of me. Leave her out of this shit in the future, please! I love your movie reviews, but Jillian's voice makes me want to swallow a hand grenade.
She also kept interrupting Max. Max hardly gets to say a thing. Use some psychology if you must include her, and don't seat her dead center. It makes her think she's the focus, and she doesn't shut up.
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Or you could simply not watch ones with Jillian in them.
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Wait! Better idea! How about you bugger off....
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Don't listen to him, Jillian. You are awesome.
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Wow, I saw this movie yesterday, I'm surprised at how much I've already forgotten from it.
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Also..."Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon" T-Shirt? Seriously? Niiiiiiice~! <3
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They couldn't call it Rock'em Sock'em Robots, because they don't own the rights to Rock'em Sock'em Robots.
That's because Mattel is preparing and actual Rock'em Sock'em Robots movie:
http://www.worstpreviews.com/headline.php?id=18116
http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/rock-em-sock-em-robots-movie-to-battle-real-steel
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Ha! It's the late '90s all over again.
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You say that as if they had any interest whatsoever in calling it "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots," and as if the film hasn't been in development since at least 2005, and possibly 2003.
Mattel is probably doing Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots because of the success of Transformers and the development of Monopoly & Battleships. Real Steel has been in development hell for several years. There is no reason to assume there's any correlation between the two films save the basic idea of robot boxers.
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Bull boxing and children for sale? That is fantastic! I was hoping for a WTF movie.
I'm not sure if I'll go to see these films anymore. It might not be worth buying a ticket to ride a train you know is going to wreak. The ride might be fun but you walkaway feeling horrible.
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Watched the film and just couldn't get past the dollar amounts they use throughout it. I can't think of one reason they're using the dollar value from the 1930s in this movie.
Other then that the only thing that really pushed me out of the film was the straight copy ending. Though the reason for it made a good deal of sense if you think of the robots as portable electronics.
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Oh jeez, I saw this on Friday as a last minute decision with one of my friends just to get out of the rain and... it was painful. At least we were able to sit in a corner and laugh at it though. That helped lessen the pain. Just... just a little bit.
Also aaa I just noticed Jillian's Sailor Moon shirt! I was contemplating getting that one but I went for the white one instead.
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Even though I like Brad I usually have completely opposite taste in movies from him. I think I would find Real Steel mediocre. Weak enough to be forgettable but not actually horrible.
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Dude I don't know what everybody is so pissed about, I thought the movie was great. I'm thoroughly surprised y'all hated on it so much, I figured if there was gonna be a great cheesy movie this year, THIS would be it and you guys would dig it for that. Also I see so many sheep in the comments here, it is nowhere near as bad as people make it out to be. It's like the reviews for Cowboys and Aliens all over again man.
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Brad, Next you will have to see TIN TIN the movie. Oh gods, I barely remember that series even as a kid of the nineties. All I remember is the dog, and the kid. That is what I challenge you to do.
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I don't know, it 'is' very cliche, but I don't think it's cliche to that kind of serious fault you say it is. I mean, I enjoyed it and found it funny that it 'was' packed with such over acting and so forth. I personally like how cheesy and over the top this film gets in certain places. Part of it is how serious everyone was acting and it didn't appear half @ssed. Not to mention all of the fighting felt completly brutal and the effects for most of the time were completly belivable. I mean, I found it to be an awesomely camp movie.
Still, I cant tell you that your wrong because it's not like it's 'not' any of those things you said... except bad obviously.
I think it's going to be like that "Adventure Time" show, some people (like me) are going to despise it's exsistance, hate it's guts and wonder why people actually 'enjoy' the show, and others who love it to death.
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Jillian has the best shirts ever, Sailor Moon is awesome.
You guys dont let her talk either, I noticed she seems to get cut off a lot when shes in reviews with more people than just Brad.
Brad, your too over zealous about wanting to rip apart bad movies, let your wife have a chance to talk!
Jillian you should also speak up and be like "Shut up for 2 seconds so I can talk."
But then in the second half she kinda took over the whole thing lol, I love watching everyone play off each other in these unscripted reviews.
Ok, now on to the movie, Im pretty sad to hear how lame this movie is. Hollywood, JUST HAVE THE ROBOTS FIGHT! Literally no one gives a fuck about the stupid humans. I also like how theres so much that didnt make any sense in the movie. All I know is, if I had control over a giant robot, I sure as hell wouldnt be using it for god damn boxing matches. What a waste of a concept, what a waste of a movie.
Also, who is this Max Force guy.
Also, Jillian should have her own review show.
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It's a group of film geek friends freely talking about a movie. People are going to get cut off; it's going to happen. Also, Max Force was cut off a lot more than Jillian was, but they all got their points made.
Max Force by the way is David Gobble. He was the star of Brad's movie "Cheap" where he played a porn producer named Max Force. He was also in "Freak Out" and "Midnight Heat."
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Fighting evil by moonlight
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Man , usually I enjoy your reviews , but you sounded like an asshole in this one.
everyone is entitled to their opinion , but you ended up becoming so unlikeable in this review even worse then the kid in the movie.
also , NEVER bring back that Max Fuckface dude to your reviews ever again!
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Aw, what's wrong? Uncle Brad hate on something you liked?
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Hey! That was my idea to wear a Rock em Sockem robots T-shirt to this movie when I saw one at Target!
I did see the movie this weekend and had a good time. I will admit it is full of cliche's and you could see most of the plot points coming from a mile away, but I enjoyed it for what it is.
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You liked Cowboy and Aliens which was filled with cliche's and bland characters but Reel Steel was crap? Really?
Reel Steel was at least fun yeah it was Over the Top with Robots but I liked that cliched film too. I expected nothing more and what can I say I liked the robot designs to unlike Bayformers.
Oh wait I guess the CGI was too much and it didn't have enough practical effects "Thank you very much".
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A movie isn't bad simply because it's cliched. A movie can be totally recycled and cliche ridden and still generate emotional and a lot of fun. I didn't find this movie fun. I found the emotions fake and the characters completely unlikable. Also, I don't like CGI, but I've NEVER disliked a movie just because it had CGI in it. In fact, I thought the CGI in "Real Steel" wasn't too bad.
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I just saw a commercial for a Real Steel toy game that is EXACTLY LIKE Rock Em' Sock Em' that is fucking awesome.
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Sailor Moon shirt! Yay!
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according to hughe jakmen on the daily sho it is only 8 years in the future... so... yeah
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I totally get everything you said, but I dunno, something about it just clicked with me. Hell even a small handful of the scenes seemed competently directed, didn't even completely feel like a Levy film.
Also ha, nice topical reference from Jilian at the end, kudos
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I have two words in response to this movie: Robot Jox.
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I think you guys were a bit off base here. This movie was actually sort of good, IMHO of course. I mean it wasn't great, perfect, or anything but it had entertainment value to it. I enjoyed it and there was some "value" to it. Credit to it for the fighting scenes making sense, as opposed to the Transformer movies. Sure the movie was a mix of Rocky and other "redeeming washed up sports figure" movies. But, it was enjoyable for me for what it was.
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Honestly I thought this was a complete ripoff of Over the Top, but at least Sylvester Stallone was likable.
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I gotta say... Lloyd is a MUCH bigger cat than I would have thought just seeing him prowling around in the background of the Snob videos.
But I digress...
I haven't seen this nor do I have any plans to and, based on what you guys said, I'm probably better off for it. I mean what's next, "Kerplunk!" the movie?
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Though I can respectfully disagree with y'all...Jillian's shirt is made of win! Moonies unite! <3
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This was based on a Richard Matheson story? Really? Holy shit, how have I not read this story.
BRB, pulling out all my books again to find this one.
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Even though I agree with everything you guys said, and my buddy and I were cracking jokes and predicting everything that was going to happen...I can't say I hated it. Yeah it was cliche beyond belief, but the robot fights were well done and I actually think Jackman really pulled off the complete cockhead character he was playing.
I did really hate the kid though...Seriously no kid is dumb or smug enough to challenge the champ outright like he did
Also, did anyone else notice the "Xbox 720" ad in the background of the final fight?
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So this is essentially "Teleroboxer: The Movie".
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Unbelievable! beautiful article very informative
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