I don’t think this is an outrageous statement. I’ve had the same experience for a few films. And the fact it happened watching Hamnet is not that surprising to be honest. I watched and really enjoyed it by the end but it got better and better as it went on so I can totally get why it was a slog at the start.
I’ve been on a tear, going through all of the scifi and monster movies that MGM+ has. In fact, I’m watching Fire in the Sky right now, and though it started off slow, like a Legend of Boggy Creek ripoff fit for MST3K, the spaceship part is impressive.
Some of the additional movies they’re showing that I’ve seen include The Core, Night of the Comet, and Strange Invaders. Some of these have impressive casts and big special effects budgets, but mostly their stories are pretty silly. But they’re still fun to watch.
One nice feature of MGM+ is the option they have to show the cast list, or who’s in the current scene. I’ve used that to answer “Is that who I think it is?”, which very helpful on these obscure films.
I’ve seen Dogtown and Z-Boys and haven’t seen Lords of Dogtown, so I can’t compare them. But Dogtown and Z-Boys was excellent, and I’m not even a skateboarder.
Project Hail Mary on Netflix. Pretty much a one-man space opera. If you’re looking for science, this isn’t it. But it’s harmless.
I don’t think the idea is to check them out. It’s more to alert you to a scam. Here, I will try to do what Maserschmidt would not: briefly summarize their business model.
In a nutshell, Asylum’s business model consists of seeing what major blockbusters or brand-name movies are coming out in 12 months, coming up with a title and promotional materials that look sort of like the brand name movie’s advertising, shitting out a script practically overnight, hiring a bunch of F-list actors, and throwing together a movie that is ready to be released VOD just before the brand name movie would be likely to do the same.
Their hope is that people will confuse their knock-off for the brand name and not realize it until they’ve already eaten the cost of the rental.
Their budgets are also insanely low, as low as $250,000 for an entire film. They goes as high as $2 million.
They have to shoot and finish the movie super quickly and the effects in the films are atrocious, like worse than initial animatics would normally be.
I don’t get the profit in all of this. No one, pretty much, buys them. I guess they get some kind of streaming deal somehow.
Thank you for the warning about asylum.
I noticed immediately the dialog in Predator Wastelands is very stilted and unnatural.
There was supposed to be a village oppressed by a warlord. We only see 5 villagers.
The director is listed as Ryan Ebert. Is that a swipe at the movie critic?
I’ll watch out and avoid these movies in the future.
Have you watched Robot Jox yet? Written and Directed by Stuart Gordon.
I originally saw a tape rental in the 90’s. It’s surprisingly good for a low budget sci fi.
Huge robots are piloted by people. The robots fight each other.
I’ve seen it twice since subscribing to MGM+.
Robot Wars is also from Stuart Gordon and fairly good. Same giant Robots.
Featuring B movie queen Barbara Crampton in the Robot’s uh, cockpit. Available with Prime.
I usually watch both in the same night.
Prime, not Netflix, in case anyone else was looking for it.
You know, it’s kind of funny that (as far as I I know) that in thirty years of churning out low budget films, Asylum hasn’t managed to produce a single hidden gem, cult classic, or surprise hit. Even Roger Corman managed to make a few good films, and gave a bunch of talented people the opportunity to prove themselves and move up.
Asylum isn’t fun like Troma movies. Troma makes low budget trash, but keeps a very fun spirit during the whole thing, so the movies are usually quite enjoyable despite their, well, trashiness.
Asylum has no soul or spirit behind them.
And, yes, it is almost impressive how they can’t create even one accidentally good movie.
I’m willing to bet, as a percentage of the budget, they rake in more profit than the films they are ripping off. The SyFi channel (and Roger Corman long before them) proved there’s a market for these cheapies.
Sharknado slander noted but rejected.
Another vote for this film. I’ve never skateboarded (hard to do on a farm) but watching this film I feel I missed something.
I do feel bad for the people whose pools were ruined, though. Durn kids!
The Tempe (AZ) historical museum had a feature on Arizona’s version of Dogtown. CA may have been the first (at least, they’ll gladly tell you that!) but Tempe had some good skateboarders, and a good photographer documenting it.
Hamnet is one of those movies that gets better as it goes along, though personally I had no trouble with the early parts of it, either. You might have noted that it has an 86% critics’ rating on RT and a 93% audience rating and was a Best Picture Oscar nominee. I would have continued watching just based on that, but perhaps the whole story line just wasn’t for you, which is fine. We all have different tastes. But I thoroughly enjoyed it.
My two favourite nominees for Actress in a Supporting Role were Jesse Buckley in Hamnet and Renate Reinsve in Sentimental Value. I would have been happy with either one winning the Oscar, and as it turned out, Jesse Buckley clinched it.
U-571: A decent WWII submarine movie on NFLX.
Is anyone familiar with this current release on HBO/Max?
Ads depict an enraged father vowing to find his missing daughter. Vowing to shove something up the persons butt.
I saw the ad again today and can’t figure out the movie title.
I went to Max and looked through the top 10 releases and the action films. Nothing seemed to focus on a father searching for his daughter.
It reminds me of the Mel Gibson movie with a similar plot. But this is advertisied as a new release.
I plan to Watch Ruthless on Prime tonight. But thats a high school coach tracking down human traffickers that snatched a high school student.
Man On Fire, starring Denzel Washington? He wasn’t her father, but he was looking for a little girl, and he did shove something up a bad guy’s butt.
Could be the movie being advertised.
Either way Man on Fire is one I want to watch.
I agree, that’s a fun movie (despite Bon Jovi’s acting skills), but holy shit does it get savaged by history purists. As I understand it, pretty much the only thing in the movie that is actually true is that the United States does, in fact, have a navy.