Film and Episodic Content Discussion Thread

Discussion in 'Random Thoughts' started by purr1n, Jan 8, 2020.

  1. Pharmaboy

    Pharmaboy Friend

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    Never managed to see the original SOLARIS, though I did see the American remake w/George Clooney & Natasha McElhone. That introduced me to Tarkovsky's perfect future-warp story. The original SOLARIS (1972) was clearly influential and ahead of its time.

    Count me as a fan.
     
  2. crenca

    crenca Friend

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    Nah, just the first intro post will be intro - the rest will be:

     
  3. rott

    rott Secretly hates other millenials - Friend

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    I agree Season 4 of Westworld was better than 3 but don't think approached the bar set by the first 2 seasons. Interesting premise/arc, but I still felt kind of underwhelmed on the whole.
     
  4. shotgunshane

    shotgunshane Floridian Falcon

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    Well, I meant 4 was so bad it makes 3, which wasn’t all that good, seem better. The first 2 seasons were enjoyable and had some interesting characters. But 4 was needlessly over the top confusing and all the characters were really flat. They did nothing to make me care about any of them, except for maybe Aaron Paul’s character at certain times.
     
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  5. rott

    rott Secretly hates other millenials - Friend

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    Ha, I need to read more carefully.

    I have a feeling that watching with large gaps between seasons (rather than binging continuously) plays some part in my disappointment, but also that the storyline just isn't up to par of the novelty and complexity of S1-S2.
     
  6. roughroad

    roughroad formerly mephisto56

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    I know this was commented on a few pages back, but here's my take. I watched The Gray Man on Netflix a couple of nights ago. I had read Netflix spent $200 million on it. IMO, they did not spend their money too wisely. It was a mediocre action flick that was overly dependent on CGI, many characters with little backstory, and the big bad guy Lloyd who looked like a caricature of Freddy Mercury. I read a few of Greaney's books in this series and this take of The Gray Man was a far cry of the book. Maybe Greaney needed some extra cash.
     
  7. Pharmaboy

    Pharmaboy Friend

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  8. wbass

    wbass Friend

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    I was surprised how bad and slipshod it was, for the amount of money and people involved.
     
  9. crenca

    crenca Friend

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    Watched the first two episodes of Amazon's LOTR: Rings of Power, the third coming out this Friday I believe. I suppose I'm one of the 'fanbois' and 'die hards' who are so far disappointed, actually having read the Hobbit countless times (I read it to my children about once a year), and the LOTR I can't remember exactly, at least 4 times.

    Jacksons LOTR (but not his Hobbit) managed to pull off the trick of relating much of the spirit of Tolkien's LOTR while de-Christianizing it and reducing 1200 pages of excruciating detail to 3 full length movies. Jacksons LOTR also has its own spirit which does not take away from Tolkien's narrative (at least not too much) and is quite compelling in its own right.

    Amazon's take so far, while visually arresting, is so far not pulling me in. Too early I think to declare it "bad", but I'm worried. Then there are the distractions, such as the "It's a Rainbow World/Tribe/Family" casting decisions and the narrative jumping around in a unconvincing and jolting way. I can look past these sorts of things for a good story, but right now the story is not allowing me.

    I'll give it one or two more episodes before bailing.
     
  10. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    Scanned the thread but perhaps missed a mention, but started watching the "old" Ray Donovan series featuring Liev Schreiber. Just finished the first season and despite the first few episodes being a bit compressed/too tightly composed (which is sort of understandable given the series premiered pre-streaming studio hijinks) but I'm enjoying it so far. I'm now left wondering how they stretch this conceit into 7 seasons...
     
  11. Pharmaboy

    Pharmaboy Friend

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    I only had intermittent access to that show but LOVED it. Liev Schrieber & Eddie Marsan were quite amazing in it.

    A couple years back I was all set to be introduced to Liev (his kids were students of a friend of mine who taught music in NYC), but I got sick & couldn't make it. Broke my heart. I've watched him nail part after part for years. Ever see the remake of THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE w/him, Denzel and Meryl Streep? Liev's scenes with Meryl made my skin crawl (that's praise, given the material).
     
  12. roughroad

    roughroad formerly mephisto56

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    I'm rewatching a guilty pleasure of mine that my son told me causes him to die a little silent death every time he sees me watch it. That being, True Blood. I actually bought the entire series some years back and enjoyed it. It has vampires in it for cryin' out loud. And they can be the nasty kind too. I guess my son doesn't like all the romantic stuff. I'll let you in on another secret: Anna Paquin being the star of the show doesn't hurt either.
     
  13. Pharmaboy

    Pharmaboy Friend

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    Just saw a new horror/suspense film, PEARL, and was blown away by the performance of Mia Goth. I'd seen her name in credits but never actually saw her in anything. Well, that's going to change starting now: hers is a sensational performance, one few actors would have courage to do, based on the extreme darkness of the role. Goth's long, strange, and increasingly uncomfortable vignetting scene that ends the movie (with her face vanishing in the enlarging vignette--an old school camera trick) was riveting. I can't imagine how an actor can do a scene like this.

    As the movie started out I was struck by the facial beauty of Mia Goth. This is not a typical face, not one you've seen before. Then as the film went on, that face became more and more terrifying, until by the end she was quasi-gargoyle in some scenes. This is an actor who's not concerned with "looking pretty" for the camera.

    The move was very stylish, in some ways a throwback to elegant horror films of the past like PSYCHO, the original CAT PEOPLE, and CURSE OF THE DEMON. Though it's bloody, this is anything but a slasher film. It's a psychological thriller in which the viewer becomes increasingly aware of the main character's insanity and dreads each new manifestation of it.

    There are overt influences here from the likes of THE WIZARD OF OZ, REPULSION, and CAT PEOPLE. But this film stands out on its own thanks to writer/director Ti West and writing by Mia Goth. These are major talents.
     
  14. ColtMrFire

    ColtMrFire Writes better fan fics than you

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    I'll be checking out Pearl soon. I liked X, the first film in the trilogy.

    I was able to catch Barbarian today and quite liked it. Aside from the absurd explanation for the villain's super powers, it's a well made, tense and disturbing horror flick, with a fantastic turn by Justin Long.

    I have been trying to give Cobra Kai a shot, but cannot get past the eye rolling teen soap opera nonsense. I liked the first season as a comedic take on the original, "where are they now?" fan fiction, but the young actors and storylines aren't compelling enough for me to stick around, so I've given up midway through season 2.
     
  15. Pharmaboy

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    BARBARIAN is next on my list.

    I always liked Justin Long, particularly in the very innovative first JEEPERS CREEPERS and a solid buddy-movie turn with Bruce Willis in LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD. He and his brother have a podcast, and I keep forgetting to download and try it.

    As for COBRA KAI, I pretty much hated THE KARATE KID so was obviously not the audience demographic for this thing (talk about beating an idea to death).

    "And in other news" (about beating ideas to death), recently watched Sly Stallone's umpteenth film about kicking people's asses--SAMARITAN (on Prime). Yawn. I'm a fan of his from way back, but he doesn't exactly have the option other actors do of fading into character roles as he ages...so we get dumb stuff like this.

    Actually, I'm OK with a lot of dumb stuff, so maybe I should shut up beyond saying that my favorite of Stallone's "OK, I'm an old dude--deal with it" films (by far) is BULLET IN THE HEAD. I mean, the title alone is worth the price of admission....
     
  16. ColtMrFire

    ColtMrFire Writes better fan fics than you

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    Did I call it or did I call it?

    [​IMG]
     
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  17. netforce

    netforce MOT: Headphones.com

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    Few things been watching lately or been trying to lately. Probably was most excited for House of the Dragon and its been alright so far. I understand they got a lot of world building they need to do before getting to the action but liking it so far.

    She-Hulk I was having a decent time with at least in the beginning but I find myself losing interest more and more every week. Will try to watch a little more but I feel like it might be a show I end up dropping

    Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, holy moly what a great show. I am big into anime and like Studio Trigger works in the past but if I am being frank, the writing never seemed top notch or was just overly campy. Edgerunners was super well animated, captured the essence of the Cyberpunk universe so well and the writing/characters were great. Glad I gave this show a shot and will probably play the game again as a result.


    Movies wise, saw See How They Run last night, thoroughly mid of a movie and a whodunit. Love Sam Rockwell but this was probably the most calm and collected of a role I remember him in.

    Beast was fun, Idris Elba punched a lion, action flick at the end of summer. Pretty forgettable in the long run.
     
  18. Pharmaboy

    Pharmaboy Friend

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    Just saw BARBARIAN. Read a number of very positive reviews about this one; it's doing solid box office in its third week; and getting excellent word of mouth. All 3 are somewhat unusual for the horror genre.

    I liked two of the leads--I want to see more of Georgina Campbell, and I'd pay to watch Bill Skarsgard read the phone directory--and the 3rd, the normally very likeable Justin Long, is badly miscast. But no alarm bills went off in my head for the casting here.

    The film was also very stylish, with any number of unexpected plot twists and unnerving camera shots.

    But the longer I watched, the less I liked this film. I had 2 basic issues with it:
    1. That this very smart, aware young woman would opt into terrible danger a number of times, even in the face of some really grim stuff waiting for her around various corners in dungeons. The more it happened, the more I stopped suspending disbelief
    2. And the "monster," the bad thing drive the whole plot, never made a lick of sense to me. Nothing about that character resonated with me, and this robbed it of much of its menace. I was especially put off by the whole maternal vs homicidal thing: one minute it's trying to feed you by bottle with a disturbingly grotesque nipple, and the next it's beating someone's brains out.
    There was a 2nd bad thing character dropped in the Reagan era, apparently to support and deepen the horror of the first. But this character explained very little and his demise, when it came, also made zero sense.

    So a film that started out with appealing leads, lots of style and a real aura of menace just went off the rails for me. I was disappointed.

    I'd love to see comments by others. Maybe I missed something others will pick up...
     
  19. Kernel Kurtz

    Kernel Kurtz Friend

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  20. Boops

    Boops Friend

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    Watched the first three episodes of Andor last night and I like it. Tony Gilroy seems to have figured out something: pretend you're not writing a Star Wars thingy and can't rely on nostalgia and fandom to prop up your story. Instead write a story about what happens between human* characters with relatable motivations and emotions that happens to be set in the Star Wars universe.

    I'm finding this series gripping in a way the others have fallen flat. I want to watch the next episode because I want to see what these people do next and what happens to them. Not just to see [insert fan fave character] show up; or see someone do a cool Jedi thing; or (worst of all) get a backstory info-dump on some stupid thing/place/person that was mentioned once in the original trilogy.

    Still looks a little cheap and tv-ish at times, but it doesn't really matter because the story is good per the above. The costuming is really excellent. Not sure who is designing all of these clothes and making them, but they are doing so much good work. Also, props to the wall of gloves. Just a very cool visual idea.

    Not sure if this series is going to go off the rails, but I am down with this so far.

    *"human" meaning "real-seeming", not "not an alien"
     

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