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Watch, Watched, Watching: There are 17,000 new TV shows to watch and I have the weekend


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49 minutes ago, DunderMifflin said:

I'd still give Jobs movies and The Facebook guy movie a pass over the McDonalds guy because what they built is still relatively new on the scene so it's at least somewhat current culturally relevant. 

As you hinted to, over the course of my entire life I've seen scores of documentaries and NatGeo type shows that chronicle the McDonalds empire in a much better way than a movie can.

I did watch Social Network recently, i liked it when it was released but I think the only thing that still holds it up today are the pretty good acting performances 

Yeah, Social Network was more of a drama and had much better structure as far as a traditional plot than either Steve Jobs or The Founder. Since we're on the topic of dramas about powerful American men, if you haven't seen P.T. Anderson's There Will Be Blood and The Master.I highly recommend those films. Especially TWBB.

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I watched the pilot of the Young Pope on HBO. The first episode didn't really grab me. It felt like someone wanted to recreate Game of Thrones in the Vatican but with a much smaller scale and with Tony Soprano like dream sequences. That might be an unfair viewing of it for only 1 episode but it didn't capture me at all like Westworld or True Detective's pilots did.

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On 26/01/2017 at 6:52 PM, Veltigar said:

I went to see La La Land today. It was okay I guess. Over the past two weaks, I had lowered my expectations after reading a couple of reviews, but I was still underwhelmed. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely not a bad film, but I was expecting the film to have a much greater impact on me. The story failed to establish an emotional connection with me, which made the experience quite shallow. 

The best thing about it was the instrumental music. At times I wondered whether it really counted as freeform jazz (but I'm not very knowledgeable on that front), but at least it was great to hear. The movie was also technically very impressive, although some of the quick trucking shots (or pans, I wasn't sure I have to admit) gave me a little headache. I also though the ending was pretty great, but it did have some uncomforable echos of John Cairney's films (and Cairney did it better).   

As for criticisms, the most obvious one is that the songs didn't really do it for me. I disliked the showy opening on the bridge and I didn't really care about any of them really. In fact, I have a hard time even remembering a snippet of the songs and that doesn't bode well for the staying power of this film. I often found the songs distracting from the actual story, which I was sort of interested in (I don't think Gosling and Stone had amazing chemistry, but I disagree with people who say they have none). The whole story was also quite shallow and as I feared it was a typical 'LA is so great, don't you just love Hollywood' kind of film. I read this interesting article in the New Yorker were the critic pointed out that neither Stone nor Gosling seem to have much of a life going on or at least the film doesn't seem to care about their life aside from bringing them from point A to point B. It's a fascinating read, eventhough I failed to do justice to the argument of the article here. 

I think they had plenty of chemistry, but I think that is partly because they are fine (comedic, empathetic) actors. Also, are you referring to the actors or the characters here?

I don't find the film or the characters empty. It tells the story of two aspiring performers who are willing to be very single-minded to get what they want - fame, recognition, artistic freedom.

 

The film is also a great commentary on the incompatibility of two incredibly compatible people BECAUSE they are so focussed on their individual goals, i.e. their relationship cannot survive their career ambitions. This makes us feel sad because we expect there to be a happy ending, yet when you think about, it's completely unrealistic for there to be one when they are pulling in different directions like that.[/spoiler]

I'm not a huge fangirl for the film but I think it is more complex than people give it credit for. Anyone who thinks it's just a singing, dancing homage to Hollywood is...taking a bit of a shallow reading of it?

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8 hours ago, PetyrPunkinhead said:

Yeah, Social Network was more of a drama and had much better structure as far as a traditional plot than either Steve Jobs or The Founder. Since we're on the topic of dramas about powerful American men, if you haven't seen P.T. Anderson's There Will Be Blood and The Master.I highly recommend those films. Especially TWBB.

TWBB was fantastic, I never knew it was based on anyone real though.

Never seen The Master, I have an irrational annoyance towards Jaq (sp?) Phoenix for some reason.

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Watched the new Resident Evil movie this weekend. Have only seen the original, never watched any sequel and I remember why. I basically went to the movie because I had nothing else I wanted to do and it was a crap weather weekend. Bad movie of course.

Watched The Nice Guys on HBO Saturday. Was a decent enough movie with some actors I like to watch. I thought the daughter did really well in her role. I don't plan to watch it again but it was entertaining enough.

 

Watched some episodes of a show called Building off the grid. Some of it's pretty entertaining, just seeing people building a home/cabin by hand with friends. Something I would love to do but since I am fat, lazy, and have limited skills won't ever happen, BUT, I still like seeing it!

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52 minutes ago, dbunting said:

The Nice Guys on HBO Saturday. Was a decent enough movie with some actors I like to watch. I thought the daughter did really well in her role. I don't plan to watch it again but it was entertaining enough.

You would watch a sequel though, with all the same people involved :) 

4 hours ago, DunderMifflin said:

Never seen The Master, I have an irrational annoyance towards Jaq (sp?) Phoenix for some reason.

Definitely try to get over that just this once :) The Master is brilliant. I think I slightly prefer There Will Be Blood, but it's undoubtedly a great film.

5 hours ago, Isis said:

I think they had plenty of chemistry, but I think that is partly because they are fine (comedic, empathetic) actors. Also, are you referring to the actors or the characters here?

Well, since I don't know Stone and Gosling personally, I'm talking about the characters ;) 

6 hours ago, Isis said:

 

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The film is also a great commentary on the incompatibility of two incredibly compatible people BECAUSE they are so focussed on their individual goals, i.e. their relationship cannot survive their career ambitions. This makes us feel sad because we expect there to be a happy ending, yet when you think about, it's completely unrealistic for there to be one when they are pulling in different directions like that.[/spoiler]

I'm not a huge fangirl for the film but I think it is more complex than people give it credit for. Anyone who thinks it's just a singing, dancing homage to Hollywood is...taking a bit of a shallow reading of it?

You can't read what isn't there I'd say ;) 

 

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US viewers can now watch all the UK tv shows from BBC and ITV via BritBox, an ad-free subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service, in the U.S. during Q1, 2017.

http://www.britbox.com/

Quote

Welcome to BritBox, the most comprehensive streaming collection of British TV ever available in the U.S. including exclusive premieres, hidden gems and everyday British favourites.

Direct from the UK’s top networks, BBC & ITV, BritBox is your key to shows never before available outside the UK and loads of popular programmes the day after they air abroad.

 

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Anybody watched IBoy on Netflix with Maisie Williams? Caught the first 15 minutes before I had to head out. Looked promising.

 

Britbox looks cool. I usually get my britfix from PBS and Youtube. BBC America just plays Star Trek: TNG all day. I wonder how much more stuff britbox will have. Like is it only current tv? I'd love to see some Benny Hill and AbFab on there.

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I saw The Last Samurai again the other day. I swear every time I watch this it gets better. This might be one of the most underrated films of the previous decade. Everything about it is just terrific, there is no other word for it really. Historically it's definitely bullshit and there is certainly a whif of orientalism about the whole story, but somehow the film is able to transcend those limitations.

Anyway, The Last Samurai has an embarrasment of riches on offer. It has a brilliant cast, many of whom give (close to) career best performances in this film. The Last Samurai also has an immensly beautiful score, great action scenes and it's directed magnificently overall. What I like most though, is that it's damn smart. Epics like this are rarely as thoughtful as The Last Samurai is. Has there ever been a greater mentor figure than Katsumoto?

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On 1/31/2017 at 0:04 AM, DunderMifflin said:

.Britbox looks cool. I usually get my britfix from PBS and Youtube. BBC America just plays Star Trek: TNG all day. I wonder how much more stuff britbox will have. Like is it only current tv? I'd love to see some Benny Hill and AbFab on there.

Some of the shows are listed here - http://thebritishtvplace.com/2016/12/the-british-are-coming-with-britbox-giving-brit-tv-fans-more-uk-shows-to-stream-in-the-us/

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Finally finished watching Victoria yesterday. Wish I had seen it at the cinema as I think it would be easier to appreciate there. I don't really think I was able to give it my full attention on a smaller screen (plus I was at home sick from work so that didn't help my attention span). It does seem quite slow to begin with (I get that it is meant to happen in real time)... It doesn't help that all of the shouty male youths at the start are my idea of hell and I just wanted them to shut up and go away - Victoria seems to be enjoying their company (which is fine for her) but in that situation I would be thinking 'shut your face and leave me alone'. That part seems to drag on foreverrrrr. It's a great achievement to get the film to work in a single takr - that finished version was only the third take. very clever AND it works, there is good chemistry between Victoria and the guy she is falling for. But I just didn't love it. My loss, I guess.

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I'm a few years late to the party but have just got hooked on Attack on Titan. All the aspects that people love/hate about action anime and great animation and music. Hopefully they will sub the second season quickly when it comes out in April.

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I saw The Drop yesterday. Quite liked it. Little bit of a predictable storyline. Fine performance from Hardy. Gandolfini phoned it in really, seemed like a less defined Tony Soprano. But, the cutest puppy though!

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Watched Young Adult - a weird, quiet little film with a great performance from Charlize Theron as a truly awful person whom it is actually hard to dislike.

Also watched Network, which I think I must have seen bits of before but never seen in its entitety. I wonder how shocking it was at the time? It's aged well enough and it is still quite horrifying 40-odd years on. It was very interesting to see this after watching Christine last week (in case you've not heard of it it's about a news reporter who commits suicide on air in the 1970's - true story). So Faye Dunaway was a very worthy Oscar winner for best actress for her role as Diana, an intensely awful head of programming at a TV network. At times I couldn't help but get distracted by how yellow her teeth were (70's peachy lipstick tones were not helpful) however, it was a totally convincing portrait of narcissism and vapidity.

What really surprised me though was that the actress playing the wife of the TV exec whom Diana has an affair with won an Oscar for best supporting actress! She was only in three or four scenes! Must have been a really dry year for supporting actress roles that year (1976), eh? Oh, but what about Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver or Carrie's terrifying mother in Carrie? Honestly? Weird choice.

Still, Network is a very relevant 'satire' on television and popular culture. I say 'satire' because, well, it's fiction but when you look at what people will do to get on live TV now and look at what is happening in politics today - all kinds of horrifying 'unbelievable' things are genuinely happening before your eyes and you wish it was a fucking satire but it's reality.

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Hacksaw Ridge has to be one of the worst war movies I've ever seen. I just had to say that. It was almost laugh out loud funny at times, so full of corny cliche, poor writing and flat amateurish direction.

That a movie that is somehow trying to hold up pacifism as a virtue yet delights in brutal violence at the same time shows that Gibson has been out of the direction game too long. 

 

Will probably win an oscar for something though 

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