red snow Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 "Gerald's game" on Netflix was a genuinely good movie in its own right. I often look at netflix films as B-movies and while this is a b-movie it's got a great script, direction and acting. It has as much right on the big screen as the "saw" films or even "it" While "it" has more spectacle, I found the grounded nature of this film to be far more disturbing. I guess people forget that what King's best at are those things that can actually happen rather than the far out crazy shit. And "what if your partner had a heart-attack while you were cuffed to the bed in the middle of nowhere" is a simple yet effective premise. The film is intense for the majority of the film which must be due to strong direction as most of it is set in one room. It also helps that Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood are on excellent form. I think I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed "it". It had similar levels of scares although I don't recall "Gerald's game" resorting to jump-scares. There are some jumpy moments but it's not due to sudden changes in sound effects. More a reveal by a surpise cut or something lingering in the background. Oh and there's a "Dark Tower" reference that made me smile. Still haven't seen that film yet but I'll take it as a reference to the books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted October 1, 2017 Share Posted October 1, 2017 I watched Kingsman : The Golden Circle. It was fun, but I wouldn't say it was as good as the first film. I think it's a film where the trailer gave away the two most interesting plot developments, I think it would have been more fun if it was a surprise. It was also maybe a bit too focused on bringing back characters from the original who perhaps didn't need to be here. Taron Edgerton still does a great job in the lead role, but the rest of the case has become so large it's a bit unwieldy and many of the other actors struggle to make an impression. The whole 'tear the Kingsman down so Eggsy is robbed of his support structure' plot was a bit unimaginative and because it was shown in the trailer there's not much impact to it. The Statesmen are fine as an American equivalent but including them does mean that they have to spend a lot of time introducing an organisation that are ultimately a bit peripheral to the main plot. I think it's a shame they killed off Roxy early on as well, I thought the first film had done a good job of introducing a female agent who was Eggsy's equal and they'd managed to avoid going down the obvious route of making her the love interest. The other big reveal spoiled by the trailer was Colin Firth's return. I did really like his character in the first film, but in the end I'm not sure his presence improved the sequel. Bringing back Charlie as well was an odd choice, his character served a purpose in the first film but they might as well have invented a new character. The Statesmen characters were fine but a bit underused, Channing Tatum seemed to spend half the film in the bed, I did like Jeff Bridges and Pedro Pascal. One thing the trailer managed to avoid spoiling was the Elton John cameo, which started out as amusingly random but the joke got increasingly laboured each time he came back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted October 2, 2017 Author Share Posted October 2, 2017 Watching the season 8 premiere of Bob's Burgers. They have a bunch of different fan artists illustrating this one, the style changes every 3-30 seconds. It's fucking terrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetyrPunkinhead Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 3 hours ago, williamjm said: I watched Kingsman : The Golden Circle. It was fun, but I wouldn't say it was as good as the first film. I think it's a film where the trailer gave away the two most interesting plot developments, I think it would have been more fun if it was a surprise. It was also maybe a bit too focused on bringing back characters from the original who perhaps didn't need to be here. Taron Edgerton still does a great job in the lead role, but the rest of the case has become so large it's a bit unwieldy and many of the other actors struggle to make an impression. Hide contents The whole 'tear the Kingsman down so Eggsy is robbed of his support structure' plot was a bit unimaginative and because it was shown in the trailer there's not much impact to it. The Statesmen are fine as an American equivalent but including them does mean that they have to spend a lot of time introducing an organisation that are ultimately a bit peripheral to the main plot. I think it's a shame they killed off Roxy early on as well, I thought the first film had done a good job of introducing a female agent who was Eggsy's equal and they'd managed to avoid going down the obvious route of making her the love interest. The other big reveal spoiled by the trailer was Colin Firth's return. I did really like his character in the first film, but in the end I'm not sure his presence improved the sequel. Bringing back Charlie as well was an odd choice, his character served a purpose in the first film but they might as well have invented a new character. The Statesmen characters were fine but a bit underused, Channing Tatum seemed to spend half the film in the bed, I did like Jeff Bridges and Pedro Pascal. One thing the trailer managed to avoid spoiling was the Elton John cameo, which started out as amusingly random but the joke got increasingly laboured each time he came back. Agreed about the trailer being too spoilery. Don't agree about... Sir Elton cameo becoming too laboured. The slo-mo jump kick on stage in full costume was a great payoff. On 9/30/2017 at 5:23 PM, red snow said: "Gerald's game" on Netflix was a genuinely good movie in its own right. I often look at netflix films as B-movies and while this is a b-movie it's got a great script, direction and acting. It has as much right on the big screen as the "saw" films or even "it" While "it" has more spectacle, I found the grounded nature of this film to be far more disturbing. I guess people forget that what King's best at are those things that can actually happen rather than the far out crazy shit... Other than the premise, I remember little from reading the book back when it was first published in paperback ages ago. But the trailer looked interesting enough, so I added it to my Netflix queue. King really is experiencing a resurgence. I know there's a show called Castle Rock based on his characters coming out on Hulu in 2018 I believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briantw Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 Almost through the first season of FX's Snowfall. Really digging it. Seems like a nice period companion piece to The Americans. Wildly different settings and premises, but same time period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramsay B. Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 I watched the first episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. It was great and I was laughing at the opening scene. I've missed it. About to watch Master and Commander for the first time. Been on a Russell Crowe kick lately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Antony Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 Curb was solid. Not as good as old Curb but any new Curb is a blessing. Vice Principals on the other hand was a fucking riot. Such a great show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astromech Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 Season 2 of The Tunnel. The crimes and villains are all a bit outlandish, a bit like Bond villains. What keeps me watching the series is the chemistry between Stephen Dillane's Karl and Clemence Poesy's Elise. I love these two on screen together. Finished Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's documentary The Vietnam War. It was even better than I was expecting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jace, Extat Posted October 4, 2017 Share Posted October 4, 2017 Straight trippin' watching the House pilot. Gettin' fucked up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Week Posted October 4, 2017 Share Posted October 4, 2017 On 10/1/2017 at 6:22 PM, RedEyedGhost said: Watching the season 8 premiere of Bob's Burgers. They have a bunch of different fan artists illustrating this one, the style changes every 3-30 seconds. It's fucking terrible. So fucking terrible. The episode would have been fine if not for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhole Eunuchsbane Posted October 4, 2017 Share Posted October 4, 2017 On 10/2/2017 at 2:59 PM, Astromech said: Finished Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's documentary The Vietnam War. It was even better than I was expecting. Seconded. Absolutely amazing. Riveting even. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mother Cocanuts Posted October 4, 2017 Share Posted October 4, 2017 I thought it was good. Though I was disappointed that either no drew a "Home Movies" style Belcher Family or the creator didn't select it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted October 4, 2017 Share Posted October 4, 2017 I watched the Turkish film Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, by Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Despite its title and isolated outpost crime story setting, it isn't any kind of modern Western, but a very low-key, slow-burn character piece. Found it fascinating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isis Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 I have failed so badly with watching films this year but a nasty virus left me housebound for a couple of days so I squeezed a couple in. First, because it leapt out at me when I opened Netflix Gerald's Game ('tis the season for spooky stories after all). I thought it wasn't bad. I mean, bits of the story are pretty cliched but Carla Gugino does a decent job of lifting the main character off the page. It also sounds like (I haven't read this book) the story has been adapted in a way which streamlines it somewhat (the flashbacks). Final verdict: alright if you like that sort of thing. Secondly, I watched the adaptation of I Capture the Castle (I've read this one) and enjoyed it well enough. It's about the family of a previously successful writer who moves them to this decaying castle where they struggle to eke out an existence until a rich American family arrives on the scene. I'd forgotten that even though it focuses mainly on two young girls it's not a child's story or a '...they all lived happily ever after' affair. Some good performances. I do find it really hard to have any sympathy for the character played for Bill Nighy though, he just seems unremittingly awful. So I would recommend this one if you've read the book or just enjoy period pieces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theda Baratheon Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 Blade Runner 2049 was excellent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramsay B. Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 1 hour ago, Theda Baratheon said: Blade Runner 2049 was excellent Good to hear that from you. I have to wait until Wednesday but I'm pretty excited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theda Baratheon Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 47 minutes ago, Ramsay B. said: Good to hear that from you. I have to wait until Wednesday but I'm pretty excited. I might watch it again tomorrow I want to form a coherent review Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 I watched The Infiltrator. I thought it was a good film, I was vaguely aware of the downfall of BCCI, but didn't really know about the details of the story. I thought Brian Cranston was (unsurprisingly) very good in the lead role. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jace, Extat Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 Watching SNL and a trailer for the Justice League movie just came on. It looks... horrible. God, could it actually be worse than the Martha debacle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetyrPunkinhead Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 Battle of the Sexes was disappointingly formulaic and "on the nose." Stone and Carell are great performers and Bill Pullman does a great job at basically embodying male sexism, but I cannot really recommend seeing it in a theater. My gf and I only kept ourselves entertained by MST3K-ing it throughout in a theater that was empty except for us. Saw HBO's documentary on Steven Spielberg tonight and it was great. It was over an hour into it before they even mention Indiana Jones and I didn't even notice. Highly recommended for any film buff or cinephile. On 10/2/2017 at 5:28 AM, Ramsay B. said: I watched the first episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. It was great and I was laughing at the opening scene. I've missed it. About to watch Master and Commander for the first time. Been on a Russell Crowe kick lately. He foisted me! Not the best CYE ever, but still pretty, prettyyyyy, pretty good. On 10/2/2017 at 7:06 AM, Mark Antony said: Curb was solid. Not as good as old Curb but any new Curb is a blessing. Vice Principals on the other hand was a fucking riot. Such a great show. I never got around to finishing S1 of Vice Principals, I need to do that and jump on S2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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