24 Comments
Aug 3, 2023Liked by Keith Phipps, Scott Tobias

You can keep your "Barbenheimer". I'm here for Passage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Passages.

(I'm still working on the name.)

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I tried and couldn't make it work.

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founding
Aug 3, 2023·edited Aug 3, 2023Liked by Scott Tobias

and watching both is just a tad longer than Oppenheimer!

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I know! I love how these movies just sweep through and get things done. Not that I resented Oppenheimer's running time, but efficiency was as plus for both films.

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Aug 3, 2023Liked by Scott Tobias

As anxious as I am to see Passages, I have no idea when I’m going to be able to since all the art house theaters within driving distance are showing the same set of movies I can see at the AMC just down the road. Kind of dispiriting.

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That is dispiriting indeed. And whatever faint hope that the film could show up at a major chain may be dashed by the decision to reject the MPA rating. (Though it ultimately doesn't matter, since chains reject NC-17 films anyway.)

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Finally got to see this -- at an AMC, no less. Definitely worth the wait.

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Man, that is such a tricky problem. I love that Utah's one arthouse multiplex is packing in the crowds for Oppenheimer and Barbie for a couple weeks, but I hope they're not missing out on some films that won't get played at all elsewhere.

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Wait 30-60 days and fire up that MUBI trial if you're not already a member.

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I knew something would get me eventually. If this is it, so be it.

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If The Five Devils is anything to go by that released in theaters 3/24 and premiered on the site 5/14.

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This very dumb comment, but every time me see abbreviation USWMT, me sing "US Women Ninja Turtles" and it fits theme song perfectly.

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Hear me out: Megan Rapinoe as genderswapped Casey Jones. Tell me that wouldn't rule.

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This is going to sound stupid, but it’s so weird to hear the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have the voices of actual teenagers lol. I think that 80’s cartoon was actually presenting us with 20-Somethings Mutant Ninja Turtles

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I might be more excited about TMNT than anything else this summer. Credit to the trailer, which was a live-wire conduit to my childhood self. Throw in that Tribe/Lou Reed bass lick, and I'm basically a cartoon animal following a pie smell.

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Just curious, if I were to pair Passages with a Pialat film for viewing, is there a specific one you’d suggest? Saw some comparisons to his work. (I binged the Pialat films on Criterion Channel early into pandemic lockdown, but they have mostly melted off my brain in the time since.)

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The one I thought about specifically was WE WON’T GROW OLD TOGETHER.

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Aug 3, 2023Liked by Scott Tobias

How might TMNT play for a 6 year old who enjoyed Mario Bros but also has 0 familiarity with the characters? Rogen’s involvement gives me pause and I can’t quite tell from the marketing.

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Like gangbusters, I think. He’ll miss a bunch of references but if he dug the Spider-Verse movies, this should work for him. (Not sure about the adult content, however. I can’t recall how clean it is on that front.)

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As someone who grew up on the original iterations of the Ninja Turtles—I was born in 1982, meaning I was 5 when the cartoon started and 8 when the first movie came out—I find it genuinely endearing that they're still putting out solid kids' entertainment four decades later. I can imagine it would be neat (and more than a little surreal) to have a kid watch and enjoy an extension of the thing that was created when I was their age.

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I’m sure I’m not the only one who went through a version of this with Marvel. “Well, son, originally Thanos wanted to kill a bunch of people because he was in love with Death but she wouldn’t even speak to him. So he thought he’d try to impress her!” I’ve done some version of this an embarrassing number of times.

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Aug 4, 2023Liked by Scott Tobias

I caught a preview screening of TMNT: Mutant Mayhem last weekend and absolutely loved it! I was a big fan of the original animated TV show, and discovered the comics after that, but I've been disappointed with all the movie versions until now. This was so fun, perfect scratchy animation style that fits with the original indie comic books, super funny (especially Jackie Chan), and finally shows them as actual teenagers.

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Word. Getting excited about seeing this one again with the kids.

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I did not know until a couple of a days ago that there's a new TMNT movie (let alone that it's animation, which is the most suited genre for these characters), and now my Mutant Turtle-loving heart, which was OBSESSED with the series that ran during the 80s and 90s, is overflowing with joy. And learning that they actually didn't mess it up is just fantastic news.

Passages has been on my radar ever since the first reviews came out.

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