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Watch, Watched, Watching: The San Diego Sneak Preview Version


RedEyedGhost

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Took a break from Luc Cage which is just not as compelling as the other Netflix Marvel shows. I'll finish it just to keep up with the plot but I'm disappointed overall.

I watched the first episode of Westworld (streaming for free) and wow. This is about to be my new favorite show. It's a perfect example of taking an unoriginal premise and doing it creatively in splendid fashion. I keep re-watching the scene where Paint It Black is playing. They even managed to take an old song (one for which I'm not even a diehard fan) and make it into a completely awesome modern one. And the acting in the 'Meet my Maker" scene... fantastic. I love how the

robots are becoming naturally human and monstrous due to the trauma we as humans put them through. Creatures learning and evolving out of our behavior. Couldn't help but think of Microsoft's AI twitter account that turned into a Nazi after being published to the world. We are sadistic people.

. I don't generally like the horror genre but I am definitely curious to see how dark they take this show. And did they really plan out a full 5 seasons? I'm in for the ride. I hope my expectations aren't too high.

I think I'm going to pay for HBO Now just so I can watch all of it and keep up with the conversation.

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Went to see The Girl on the Train last night. I thought they did an alright job of the adaptation. The timeline felt shortened, which is kind of understandable - weeks in the book, felt like days in the film. They also cut a couple of character interactions, which again makes sense for a streamlined narrative. I actually think they did a good job with the storyline with the therapist in the film, that was nicely done. A couple of things I have issues with though are that I felt the ex-husband wasn't nuanced enough as a character - largely because we don't see a lot of him early on. I also thought that Luke Evans was a bit wasted. He did such a great job in High Rise I was really looking forward to seeing him in another 'grey' role.

In summary: maybe the whole thing suffers because they are trying to get so many viewpoints into a relatively short film, while maintaining the interest of the audience and not getting people confused. In the book it was told predominantly from the POV of the girl on the train initially, it was only later that we saw other viewpoints. Oh, and the other thing that was even a little confusing for me in the film, was the timeline, so they kept putting up titles that said 'six months earlier' or whatever. It might have been an idea for them to distinguish these different time periods by weather/climate/clothing or colour grading or something as people who haven't read the book might not pay that much attention and I feel it could be clearer.

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Finished the second season of Star Wars: Rebels. It's alright overall, and the finale was excellent.

Also watched a bunch of movies:
-rewatched A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back and I've decided that ESB is indeed my favorite Star Wars movie - I was on the fence about that for a long time.
-watched Side Effects, which was okay. I got distracted a lot while watching so it might be on me that it didn't affect me that much.
-rewatched Fight Club. The second half isn't as good to me as the first but still a great movie.
-watched 21 Jump Street. Funnier than I expected, I enjoyed this one.
-rewatched Whiplash and it was as strong as the first time. God bless JK Simmons.

 

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Just watched Documentary Now!'s Stop Making Sense parody. They nailed everything about it. The look, the songs, the outfits, everything was perfect. They even went into a little Tom Waits riff for a second that was also spot on.

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On 10/11/2016 at 1:31 PM, dbunting said:

Isn't the documentary the one that they showed on The Big Bang Theory? His son and Will Wheaton interviewed Sheldon in the episode for it?

 

Yup, it's the same doc. They even show clips of the Big Bang episode in the doc as well as briefly interview co-creator Bill Prady and Jim Parsons.

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I watched Robert Redford's All is Lost last night... well, not all, but certainly 105 minutes was lost.

 

On 10/11/2016 at 0:25 AM, briantw said:

Does anyone ever find it odd that like no one on TV owns a dog?

Yeah... <sighs longingly> Just another way that TVland is a magic, unattainable place.

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On 12/10/2016 at 2:54 AM, WarGalley said:

Took a break from Luc Cage which is just not as compelling as the other Netflix Marvel shows. I'll finish it just to keep up with the plot but I'm disappointed overall.

I watched the first episode of Westworld (streaming for free) and wow. This is about to be my new favorite show. It's a perfect example of taking an unoriginal premise and doing it creatively in splendid fashion. I keep re-watching the scene where Paint It Black is playing. They even managed to take an old song (one for which I'm not even a diehard fan) and make it into a completely awesome modern one. And the acting in the 'Meet my Maker" scene... fantastic. I love how the

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robots are becoming naturally human and monstrous due to the trauma we as humans put them through. Creatures learning and evolving out of our behavior. Couldn't help but think of Microsoft's AI twitter account that turned into a Nazi after being published to the world. We are sadistic people.

. I don't generally like the horror genre but I am definitely curious to see how dark they take this show. And did they really plan out a full 5 seasons? I'm in for the ride. I hope my expectations aren't too high.

I think I'm going to pay for HBO Now just so I can watch all of it and keep up with the conversation.

Westworld is fantastic already! Meet My Maker scene is one of the best piece of TV acting I've seen in a LONG time! 

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I watched Bridge of Spies, which I thought was a good film. If I had one criticism it is that's mostly predictable (even if I didn't know much about the details of the historical events), but despite that it does manage to make some of the scenes very tense even if it's fairly obvious what the outcome is going to be. I thought both Hanks and Rylance did good jobs, Rylance in particular makes a bit impact for a character who barely had any dialogue.

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Saw the final installment of The Hunger Games last night. Thank goodness I didn't bother with this at the cinema. It was just boring. They messed up by splitting it into two films; it just dragged and by the end I just wasn't that bothered what happened to anyone. Also, what's up with the saccharine happy ending? 

ETA this afternoon we finally watched It Follows. I have avoided horror films in general in the past few years but people kept on about how great this film was was so I quizzed a few people about how scary they thought it was and whether or not I'd be traumatised by watching it. On balance I decided to give it a try... Overall I felt it wasn't amazing or anything. I guess if you knew nothing about it going in you might think more highly of it. But I think it suffered from being a little over hyped.

One thing it had going for it was that it felt a bit like it could have been from the 70s or 80s. If nobody had used a mobile phone or similar bit of electronic kit then it could have sold itself as a proper retro film. That stillness and the oppressive soundtrack is obviously reminiscent of Friday 13th or Halloween without being a gory slasher. 

It remains to be seen whether it'll give me nightmares or not - as it did contain moderate to severe peril.

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Spent almost three hours watching HyperNormalisation today as I'm at home sick. It's a documentary on, essentially, post-fact society and 'perception management'. If nothing else it serves as a history primer for wtf has happened to the world in the last 40 years. I think everyone should watch it, even if it feels like a horror film at times. 

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