Watch some TV/Movies and talk about it here.

[HexMachina]

6 hours ago, Dragon in the North said:

As PetyrPunkinhead said, it's definitely not a war story. It's more about the characters, which I was totally fine with and found enjoyable. It has flaws, but it was still  one of my favorite movies this summer, and I highly recommend it.

The trailers were somewhat misleading on that front, I agree. Watching them you'd think it was a war movie. But this franchise has for the previous two films been all about the central character, so not entirely surprising. I saw it today and enjoyed it, though it wasn't my favourite of the trilogy.

1 hour ago, Martini Sigil said:

Rainy day.... went to see Planet of the Apes... not bad... I mean... its a one-bit franchise.... humans suck, apes are nicer than we are.... but Woody Harrelson was terrific... and there was a nice call back to the original 1968 movie

Hmm, I actually thought Harrelson was a miscast, and didn't think his character was very well thought out.

[Howdyphillip]

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a surprisingly good movie.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a cinematic experience that could be called a masterpiece.

War for the Planet of the Apes is a mediocre movie. When compared to the other two, it doesn't hold up at all, but it isn't a bad flick. The score (Giacchino's best), cinematography, acting (Keep Daniel Day Lewis, Andy Serkis is the best actor on the planet.), and special effects were all amazing. The story was below average and never really settled on what it was trying to achieve. 

[PetyrPunkinhead]

8 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Hmm, I actually thought Harrelson was a miscast, and didn't think his character was very well thought out.

None of them seemed very well thought out. I find it surprising so many people here are saying they actually liked the film. There were some good moments, but overall it was a boring story with boring characters. Maybe it'd been worth it if there was a payoff in the third act but there really wasn't. 

3 hours ago, Howdyphillip said:

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a surprisingly good movie...

War for the Planet of the Apes is a mediocre movie. When compared to the other two, it doesn't hold up at all . . . The story was below average and never really settled on what it was trying to achieve. 

Agreed.

[Isis]

Have begun a rewatch of the original Twin Peaks. I'd forgotten how slow it is. The trouble is that I'm so tired lately that I find it a real effort to watch something so drawn out. This is going to take some time. 

 

[Nictarion]

4 hours ago, Isis said:

Have begun a rewatch of the original Twin Peaks. I'd forgotten how slow it is. The trouble is that I'm so tired lately that I find it a real effort to watch something so drawn out. This is going to take some time. 

 

Just skip the entire middle portion of S2. 

[Isis]

47 minutes ago, Nictarion said:

Just skip the entire middle portion of S2. 

Ha. I just want to be sure to give it the benefit of the doubt. If I have to watch it more slowly to appreciate it fully then I will. 

[Iskaral Pust]

My wife just got hooked on Quantico.  S1 starts with a lot of energy and a time-shifted story, a bit similar to Lost and Heroes for pacing and narrative structure, but without the supernatural.  Unfortunately it devolved pretty quickly into almost a high school drama: lots of romantic angst storylines within a closed group and some improbably immature emotional issues.  I'm hoping she can watch the rest without me. 

[l2 0 5 5]

Finished 13 Reasons Why last night.

Thought it was a good show that kept me up too late into the night most often. Couldn't turn it off. Typical annoying high school people but the mystery of what everyone did to contribute to Hannah's suicide was interesting. I think most people on the tapes, individually, didn't do anything too heinous. Yeah, Alex made a stupid list, but Hannah wasn't the only one on there. I think Zach is good at heart, but doesn't have the guts to pull away from the crowd. Tyler with camera was a creepy bastard, he just wasn't good at handling his own insecurities. Courtney was a coward. Justin had his moments where I hated him and then when I felt bad for him. Jessica was annoying mostly, but once again felt bad for her. Really felt bad when I realized that Jeff was the other student that died. I didn't even put it together that he was only in flashbacks, and never in the present. Marcus was a piece of shit because he was pretty good at putting on the good guy face and then being a complete shit bag. Bryce was the ultimate piece of shit. Not sure if Hannah didn't make a tape for him in the hopes that he never knew about the tapes and couldn't destroy them because of how bad he looked on them? 

I said above that most of the people on the tapes didn't do anything too sinister, individually, but when you look at all of their actions holistically, and consider that Hannah had to deal with that stuff within a year or so time period, it all adds up, and would be more than a lot of people could handle. When it comes down to it, everyone on the tapes had their own inner demons to deal with; whether it be the over the top military/policeman dad like for Jess and Alex, or Tyler whom was always picked on, or Zach who was the jock, but didn't exactly have a jock mentality but was afraid to show people that, or Justin who has a shit family life at home, or Courtney, who was afraid to come out... They all had their insecurities, but chose to make Hannah their whipping post for it.

Also, the bathtub scene when she kills herself was one of the most graphic scenes I've seen in recent memory. Obviously gonna be a second season, which I will gladly watch.

[Talleyrand]

Planet of the Apes was such a let down. It's fine not being the war movie the trailers and the name kind of you know, implied but if you're going to do a pivot at least do the pivot well.

Spoiler

Instead there was just a stay in the world's most incompetent prison/work camp. These guys are meant to be Special Forces and made it through the apocalypse but apparently children and apes can just sneak into the camp and run around willy nilly. There seems to be a single guard on duty at the end who thinks it'd be a great idea to go alone into the pen full of Apes with the gate keys on him.

The final interaction with Woody Harrelson was about the only bit in the latter 3rd I actually enjoyed. 

It wasn't atrociously bad just such a let down after the great showings of Rise and Dawn.

Also do the writers of this series have something against Gorillas? 

[Ramsay B.]

9 hours ago, Isis said:

Have begun a rewatch of the original Twin Peaks. I'd forgotten how slow it is. The trouble is that I'm so tired lately that I find it a real effort to watch something so drawn out. This is going to take some time. 

I just decided to skip season 2 after seeing that it's 22 episodes and hearing it's kind of a drawn out mess from peeps here. I might just watch the finale of s2 and then start the return.

[red snow]

Just seen War for the planet of the Apes. Excellent film and beats the other summer action films hands down. Not sure why films featuring chimps on horseback seem to have the most nuanced films in terms of villains etc in modern blockbusters but this one continued the trend. It's a dark film and continues further down the spiral of "dawn" with everyone making choices that make sense yet lead to more suffering. The CGI is breathtaking - I completely bought into the apes and they genuinely emote. It's weird how I cared more about various ape characters dying than anyone from rogue one or the magnificent 7 and many of the apes barely spoke.

I also like the self-confidence in these films and how you can just read the subtitles because apes communicate primarily by sign-language.

They also have developments that help explain why apes and humans wind up the way they do in the future seen in the original films.

Only two minor complaints -

the human security is ridiculously poor to the point of it being distracting.

. The other is that there's an alarming lack of females human or ape. In terms of the Apes there only seems to be two and their roles are relegated to being babysitters so any hopes of sexism dying with humankind isn't looking good. Not sure they can use the excuse of it being in the Apes nature either. Pretty sure female oranguatans are the more social of the sexes and I know female Gorillas have their own power structure too. I guess Silverback Gorillas would be more involved in protecting the group and maybe males would be more involved in war-like things but then you'd expect the females to have more agency in running non-military aspects of life.

Minor complaints though as the film is otherwise great and shows films don't just have to be superheros/robots fighting bad guys. I hope they consider other sequels and I'm really looking forward to Matt Reeve's take on Batman

[Annara Snow]

5 hours ago, Ramsay B. said:

I just decided to skip season 2 after seeing that it's 22 episodes and hearing it's kind of a drawn out mess from peeps here. I might just watch the finale of s2 and then start the return.

That's a terrible decision. The first 9 episodes of season 2 are great, and the crucial part of the show as this is when Laura's murder is solved. Episodes 2.7 and 2.9 are among the best in TV history, IMO.

Now episodes 10-21 - you can skip those. Actually, you should. It's all downhill after they solve the case, and the show gets really, really bad.

[Ramsay B.]

4 hours ago, Annara Snow said:

That's a terrible decision. The first 9 episodes of season 2 are great, and the crucial part of the show as this is when Laura's murder is solved. Episodes 2.7 and 2.9 are among the best in TV history, IMO.

Now episodes 10-21 - you can skip those. Actually, you should. It's all downhill after they solve the case, and the show gets really, really bad.

I should've mentioned that it's technically a rewatch since I saw it when it first aired. Obviously that was many years ago but I remember the main stuff for the most part, and watched the movie a few weeks back. I actually may do what you just suggested and stop after episode 9.

[red snow]

12 hours ago, Talleyrand said:

Planet of the Apes was such a let down. It's fine not being the war movie the trailers and the name kind of you know, implied but if you're going to do a pivot at least do the pivot well.

  Hide contents

Instead there was just a stay in the world's most incompetent prison/work camp. These guys are meant to be Special Forces and made it through the apocalypse but apparently children and apes can just sneak into the camp and run around willy nilly. There seems to be a single guard on duty at the end who thinks it'd be a great idea to go alone into the pen full of Apes with the gate keys on him.

The final interaction with Woody Harrelson was about the only bit in the latter 3rd I actually enjoyed. 

It wasn't atrociously bad just such a let down after the great showings of Rise and Dawn.

Also do the writers of this series have something against Gorillas? 

I can totally see how that aspect of the film could ruin it for you. I gave it a pass because I enjoyed the rest of it so much but it was utterly ridiculous. As for the Gorillas

if you ain't a black one, you're a bad one. Either way you're going to die

[Isis]

11 hours ago, Ramsay B. said:

I just decided to skip season 2 after seeing that it's 22 episodes and hearing it's kind of a drawn out mess from peeps here. I might just watch the finale of s2 and then start the return.

We've finished S1. Once you get into the rhythm of it it doesn't feel that slow. Now, I honestly cannot recall whether I ever watched S2 before. I feel sure that I must have and yet I don't seem to remember anything about it. Oh well. I've started so I'll finish.

[red snow]

39 minutes ago, Isis said:

We've finished S1. Once you get into the rhythm of it it doesn't feel that slow. Now, I honestly cannot recall whether I ever watched S2 before. I feel sure that I must have and yet I don't seem to remember anything about it. Oh well. I've started so I'll finish.

HAving just watched both seasons for the first time I do agree with the sentiment that the show nosedives after the resolution of Laura's murder (and Lynch's departure as a director). However, for completists, it's a necessary chore. It gets a little better with a new villain but there's a stretch of episodes where the silly b-plots become the main drive of the show and they are all pointless. New characters are introduced only for them to disappear as suddenly (WTF was Billy Zane all about) and there's a really dated "miss Twin Peaks" storyline. But the finale is excellent.

So I'd still watch all of it but just brace yourself for some terrible episodes. S2 would have been much better with only 13 episodes and some serious cutting away of fat.

[PetyrPunkinhead]

14 hours ago, Talleyrand said:

Planet of the Apes was such a let down. It's fine not being the war movie the trailers and the name kind of you know, implied but if you're going to do a pivot at least do the pivot well.

  Reveal hidden contents

Instead there was just a stay in the world's most incompetent prison/work camp. These guys are meant to be Special Forces and made it through the apocalypse but apparently children and apes can just sneak into the camp and run around willy nilly. There seems to be a single guard on duty at the end who thinks it'd be a great idea to go alone into the pen full of Apes with the gate keys on him.

The final interaction with Woody Harrelson was about the only bit in the latter 3rd I actually enjoyed. 

It wasn't atrociously bad just such a let down after the great showings of Rise and Dawn.

Also do the writers of this series have something against Gorillas? 

Yes, the crazy incompetence of those "guards" was such a movie cliche. smh

Glad I'm not the only one here who was disappointed with this film though. Seems like most people in this thread write for Rotten Tomatoes. 95% Fresh, Caesar's hairless chimp arse!

[Ramsay B.]

I saw War for the Planet of the Apes and I was pretty disappointed like many here. Besides some eye-rolling moments, some of which were just mentioned above, it was plain boring at times. It started off good and then after like 45 minutes it gets stuck in the mud until the end.  

[PetyrPunkinhead]

Caught the comedy Masterminds on Netflix. It has a solid comedic cast, but I'm not sure I can recommend it. I got bored with it midway and got up to do the dishes and sat back in time for the third act to get underway. Despite being based on a real bank heist, it is mostly an absurdist comedy that sets up at least three overly long scenes where the punchline is just a "gross-out" moment. It did have some good lines peppered throughout and at least one moment where I genuinely laughed out loud. I'd give it a 6.5/10.

[l2 0 5 5]

Started Big Little Lies. Seems like your typical affluent ritzy Northern Cali neighborhood where the injustice gets brought to light. Hopefully there's something that distinguishes it. It's HBO, so that's a start.