About to screen Antz (1998), to ascertain whether it's worth analyzing for approximately 45 hours.

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Hi I'll be watching this and commenting. #Antz2019

Hi I'll also be watching this and commenting. #Antz2019 here we go.

Good menu screen, I'm encouraged #Antz2019

Clearly not much effort was put into this Blu-ray, so good sign from the start.

Good typography in the opening credits #Antz2019

Woody Allen-ant being wholly nude is immediately repulsive #Antz2019

Lots of good ant jokes, though. This therapy scene includes humor likely only interpreted by adults.

Always enjoy movies about the operation of cities, and the urban design of Antz colony is nice #Antz2019

A technical marvel to simulate this many antz. #Antz2019

Character design is odd, with basically bipedal characters, with legs duplicated. Like, they're only technically six-legged #Antz2019

The wall and floor texture is very flat and unappealing, like an early 3D video game. #Antz2019

Playing the part of Azteca, Jennifer Lopez (also: found the existence of this wikia: https://antz.fandom.com/wiki/Azteca)

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Good ant politics and intrigue. I like that we're getting deep into their treaties with the termite colony. #Antz2019

Main driving plot element seems to be about land acquisition. Yet another #GeorgistMovie

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It's unclear why the military antz are particularly bad, compared to workers, when in fact the life of a worker is clearly slavery

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Princess' reaction to being informed they've declared war: "boy, talk about a rough day". #Antz2019

I feel no emotional connection with any character, and I somehow love this

Love this movie

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Fun ant-like music happening now in the bar scene. #Antz2019

Classic Antz scene, in which Woody Allen complains out of drinking beer out of an aphid's anus

#ClassicMovieLines

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Good world-building. We've thus far learned about their societal structure, their treaties with the neighboring termite colony, a declaration of war, and "Insectopia". #Antz2019

The music thus far all sounds like Goron music from Ocarina of Time. #Antz2019

It's fascinating how the world only parses when viewed through 1970s-style singles culture, which has no relation to how the antz live

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All the Antz are on the exact same animation timer in this dance. #Antz2019

Just went through a perfunctory Pulp Fiction/batusi reference, one of most wearying things to go through in the 1990s

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Hell yeah, perfect treat for the kids: Woody Allen singing a Lerner/Loewe showtune

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The bartender seems like a great but under-explored character. Hope we see more of him. #Antz2019

I enjoyed the rows and rows of aphids, anuses ready to be sucked. What a pleasant world

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Can a worker effectively impersonate a soldier, and vice versa? We're about to find out. #Antz2019

Weird world in which the soldier antz are more masculine than the co-ed worker antz, and are constantly horny and undersexed. Good dynamic.

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Impersonating a soldier ant seems untenable, insofar as there is strict colorism determining which ant serves what role

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Princess Bala thinks the general is complimenting her when he says "it's beautiful" but he's actually complimenting how orderly the soldiers are. What a moment. #Antz2019

I will never get used to how flat and disgusting their noses are

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The antz appear to be entering battle with some flying creatures. What are these flying creatures and where did they come from? #Antz2019

Invading the termite colony that they've signed a peace treaty with seems incredibly unwise. I feel the queen has made a poor decision here. #Antz2019

I think this is serving well in the capacity of an Earful movie, insofar as it jumps from plot point to plot point with briskness. A lot happens in any five minutes

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The war scenes are repulsive

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Soldier ants seem well-adapted to worker ant work. #Antz2019

Worker antz seem not-well-adapted to soldier ant work. #Antz2019

Yeah, it seems like they should lay off the war stuff and allocate the soldier antz to construction work

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It's unclear why they even need new land, are they not able to thrive as a society within the confines of their existing colony?

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The main ant holding the decapitated head of his friend soldier ant is extremely disturbing. Fun movie for the kids. #Antz2019

It's a good bit.

It's strange why they chose to racially-code the ant played by a black actor, and give him the name of a Caribbean island

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Good banner: "WELCOME HOME TROOP" as the one ant returns from the battle. #Antz2019

I still don't understand the logic of the suicide mission, why was this worth doing if everyone dies?

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Main character ant growling provocatively at the princess in his formal introduction is a bit much. #Antz2019

The suicide mission was a ploy by the general to destroy the troops loyal to the queen so he can stage a coup. Is it that hard to detect, @bufordsharkley? #Antz2019

I've been busy tweeting, sorry

There's a lot going on, in a normal movie the princess slumming in the bar would be the main storyline, instead of like the C-tier story

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99% chance there's going to be a Star Wars joke as they fall down the trash chute. #Antz2019

It feels like a trash chute of this size would not be located within the royal chambers #Antz2019

Need good trash capacity in the chambers. /cc @marcchambers #Antz2019

I still don't feel an emotional connection to anybody, and really don't think I'd be affected if they ended up dying suddenly (as they just nearly did)

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Several ants just died gruesomely to a magnifying glass. Kids love it. #Antz2019

"I was going to allow you to become part of one of my most erotic fantasies"

#ClassicMovieLines

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I don't understand if the royalty cavorting with normal workers is even feasible, or if biological differences make their coupling impossible

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Hell yeah, general strike

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_ant#Reproduction #Antz2019

They do the water globule thing just like A Bug's Life. I guess this was on the list of "possible with CG" things at the time.

It's dazzling

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Just like all of the antz' facial animations. #Antz2019

It's kind of sad that the antz have such dreams and ambitions, and yet are incapable of doing anything but building tunnels. Like, any sort of other productive activity seems impossible

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The antz are now singing a modified version of "Give Peace a Chance". Beautiful. #Antz2019

So much going on simultaneously: a labor revolt, a peace protest, and a reconfiguring of its royal order. A lot happening here

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A day off must be a very significant reward to be enough to calm the antz' revolt. #Antz2019

Everything feels like a tech demo, I don't feel like I'm living in any of these spaces

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"There's some kind of force field." The antz know what a force field is but not what plastic wrap on a sandwich is. #Antz2019

The wasps are WASPs! Wow! #Antz2019

Some genuinely good bits here

One of the wasps just died, and we just moved on

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I don't understand the timeframe of Insectopia, does it refer to a series of picnics which are constantly occurring, or this one picnic?

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Insectopia is more of a concept. A metaphor. Pay attention. #Antz2019

Lot of hijinx happening in the aboveworld which I just don't care about at all. The societal stuff is so much more intriguing

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Ant torture/interrogation happening. More fun for the kidz. #Antz2019

They can't even make a penny look convincing. It looks like paper. #Antz2019

Insofar as the antz don't care about individualism, it's weird that they spend so much time commending individual war heroes and gossiping about their feats

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I genuinely love the film grain effect we get throughout, it makes the crude CGI so much palatable

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OK, so Insectopia is a real place. An ant theme park in a trash pile. Nice montage. #Antz2019

This cover of "I Can See Clearly Now" is saccharine, weird they didn't just license the original

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"And he just died in my arms like that"

#ClassicMovieLines

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We learn that antz have middle names. Zee's middle name is "Marion". Huge. #Antz2019

I believe it's just 'Z' (confirmed by Antz Wikia).

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CHRISTOPHER WALKEN IS ON SET. #Antz2019

A grieving wasp having just lost his wife is now offering Z ("Zee") a ride back home. Impressive. #Antz2019

I feel like the miserable lives of these insects makes them seem unimportant, but the depth of their grieving makes them relatable and complex

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Poor security on the window of this jail cell

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The plan of the military antz is to drown the entire colony. Not sure how this is going to redound to their benefit. Mass death is usually bad

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I think they have it all figured out. #Antz2019

Great characters in this movie https://antz.fandom.com/wiki/Boy

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"Wait a minute, that guy owes me money". #ClassicMovieLines #Antz2019

I feel like we should have seen the worker antz enjoy their day off

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The dirt formed a very tight seal, until a single pickaxe pierced it and the water flowed in. #Antz2019

It's hard to care about the destruction of this disgusting beige city

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Remind me, do they need the princess just because she's biologically gifted at reproducing?

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Yeah, they need a queen. Just male soldier ants would not make a sustainable colony. #Antz2019

So all the worker antz are just dead weight? Seems unlikely

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I hope Z wakes up

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Good, he woke up

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Z woke up and it's a miracle. #Antz2019

"You da ant!"

#ClassicMovieLines

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Is this movie ending? I feel like it's barely started

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And it's over! A quick one, folks. Quick and breezy. That's what you get when CGI is incredibly expensive. #Antz2019

I don't hate Antz, it just feels rather tidy and unwilling to explore any thread very much

But at least there's a lot of threads

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It’s certainly not a movie for children. It’s far too visually disturbing, dialogue-heavy, and depressing. #Antz2019