Watch, Watched, Watching: Hunting Minds

[Nictarion]

2 hours ago, GallowKnight said:

The second season of Yellowstone just ended and I don't think I'll stick around for season 3. The show looks great and has good cinematography, plus the acting is mostly good. But the writing is just on the level of a trashy soap-opera, and there is genuinely only one character on the show that I actually like and care about. Honestly this show has really lowered my appreciation for Tyler Sheridan's work.

I also recently watched the first season of Banshee. I really liked Warrior and have heard some good things about Jonathan Topper's previous show so I figured I'd give it a shot. And it really didn't click for me. I though it started out pretty strong, but then it just got worse in the second half of the season. There's some really good stuff in there but the story is hopelessly cliche and I really don't care about the main a characters at all. Both Hood and Carrie are pretty boring, but Kai Proctor is probably my biggest problem, he is a character type that I have seen done a lot better in many other places. I'm still not sure if I'm giving it another chance.

I also rewatched Green Room. Now I really liked it a lot the first time I saw it, but I think I liked it even more this time around. It is tense, thigh, atmospheric, violent and really fucking brutal when it wants to be. And the performances a top-notch throughout, especially from the late Anton Yelchin.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s hurt my opinion of Sheridan overall, as I absolutely love his Frontier trilogy, but yes, Yellowstone has been a disappointment compared to his movies. I do think S2 has been much better than S1, but that’s a low bar. Maybe it’s because there’s not much else to watch weekly during the summer, but I’ve been staying with it. I like Costner, the music, the locations, etc. Crazy to think the writing is the weakest element. 

As for Banshee, if you’re not into it after an entire season it just might not be for you. I personally loved it right from the start. Anthony Starr is a hell of an actor (as we’ve seen in The Boys) and the fight scenes are among the best I’ve ever seen tv or movies. Also, Job and Rebecca  For very different reasons.

[GallowKnight]

7 hours ago, Nictarion said:

I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s hurt my opinion of Sheridan overall, as I absolutely love his Frontier trilogy, but yes, Yellowstone has been a disappointment compared to his movies. I do think S2 has been much better than S1, but that’s a low bar. Maybe it’s because there’s not much else to watch weekly during the summer, but I’ve been staying with it. I like Costner, the music, the locations, etc. Crazy to think the writing is the weakest element. 

As for Banshee, if you’re not into it after an entire season it just might not be for you. I personally loved it right from the start. Anthony Starr is a hell of an actor (as we’ve seen in The Boys) and the fight scenes are among the best I’ve ever seen tv or movies. Also, Job and Rebecca  For very different reasons.

Yeah season 2 was definitely better than season 1, but that's hardly an achievement. Had the show just been more about thee actual cowboy side of things instead if the family drama and all the killing, I would have liked it a whole lot better. I read this big interview with Sheridan right before Yellowstone premiered and to me he kinda came off like a bit of an asshole, so I already had a somewhat soured impression (plus I don't like Sicario all that much).

As for Banshee, I do like Job a lot too. Rebecca mostly feels like an excuse to get some T&A into the show, at least in the first season.

[The Mother of The Others]

The Best Movie Ever title just changed hands and now belongs to Fathom with Raquel Welch from 1967.    It's an indefatigable Hair Show co-starring boats, planes, bulls, parachutes, perverts, bikinis, theft, murder, groping, foreign accents, not knowing who's who, nuclear annihilation, driving with the top down, wetness, and outfits with matching earrings.   Tres bon!

[Nictarion]

Went and saw the director’s cut of Midsommar. It has 24 minutes that we’re cut from the original theatrical release. A couple totally new scenes, and also some extended ones. Nothing that was a real big loss to the normal version, but I did like what he put back in. Apparently the blu ray release isn’t going to have both, so I’m glad they re-released it in theaters. Gave me an excuse to go see this gorgeous film again, and on the big screen. 

[Astromech]

The first two episodes of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. It looks fantastic, visually a feast. I love how the expanded world-building from the original film. Good story so far. Obvious similarities to the film, but that's a plus for me. I didn't realize Mark Hamill is voice acting the Scientist and Simon Pegg is Chamberlain. Actually there are a number of familiar names voice-acting. Of course the puppetry is a highlight for me.

[briantw]

On 8/29/2019 at 9:03 PM, Nictarion said:

Anthony Starr is a hell of an actor (as we’ve seen in The Boys) 

Holy shit...didn't even realize he was Homelander and I watched all eight episodes of The Boys.

[Martini Sigil]

We've been on a helluva binge roll lately.... The Boys, Mindhunter, Das Boot, Wu Assassins, Traitors, Good Omens, and now Carnival Row....  All of them either good or excellent.... 

[red snow]

3 hours ago, briantw said:

Holy shit...didn't even realize he was Homelander and I watched all eight episodes of The Boys.

You're not the only one. It was episode 5 when i was asking "when is the banshee guy appearing he's supposed to be a lead" only to be told he was homelander. Good acting and distracted by the costume is my only excuse. It's obvious in hindsight

[briantw]

25 minutes ago, red snow said:

You're not the only one. It was episode 5 when i was asking "when is the banshee guy appearing he's supposed to be a lead" only to be told he was homelander. Good acting and distracted by the costume is my only excuse. It's obvious in hindsight

I think it was the blond hair that threw me off.

[DireWolfSpirit]

Have watched several episodes of the Columbian rainforest set Green Frontier. 

The jungle scenery keeps me interested. Its about a woman detective that comes in from Bogota to investigate several slayings deep in amazonian territory. A bit of mysticism and indigenous forest peoples, loggers and big city cop vs rural cop interactions all entwined around the mystery where she is trying unravel who is responsible for the murders.

[dbunting]

I am a few episodes into Carnival Row on Amazon. I think I like it but not entirely sure yet.  One thing that stuck with me through Ep 3 was a feeling of deja vu. The lead male and female really reminded me of GOT, hell even the set where most of the episode happened reminded me of GOT.  Watching them I kept getting Jon and Ygritte in my head and it was taking me out of the scenes.

[Jen'ari]

On 8/30/2019 at 2:03 AM, Nictarion said:

I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s hurt my opinion of Sheridan overall, as I absolutely love his Frontier trilogy, but yes, Yellowstone has been a disappointment compared to his movies. I do think S2 has been much better than S1, but that’s a low bar. Maybe it’s because there’s not much else to watch weekly during the summer, but I’ve been staying with it. I like Costner, the music, the locations, etc. Crazy to think the writing is the weakest element. 

As for Banshee, if you’re not into it after an entire season it just might not be for you. I personally loved it right from the start. Anthony Starr is a hell of an actor (as we’ve seen in The Boys) and the fight scenes are among the best I’ve ever seen tv or movies. Also, Job and Rebecca  For very different reasons.

I quite enjoyed Banshee, I did think the fight scenes were excessive at times though, no one could get up and walk away from some of the stuff they endured.

Is Carnival Row the Victorian show with Orlando Bloom and Cara Delivigne?, I might give it a try.

[Veltigar]

Rewatched Fury Road the other day... Man, that film remains amazing. Great acting, brilliant directing and completely unrelenting action. The film is almost perfect as there is only one shot 

Spoiler

the one right after Nux crashes the war rig and the guitar almost pops out of the screen.

that I think is bad. I also love the fact that I keep on reading new things into it. At first glance I just appreciated the action, then I saw the feminist credentials of the story and this time around I was completely blown away by the tenderness on display between Furiosa and Max. It's such an understated love story (I hesitate to even give it that moniker, because it almost feels as if that does reduce their relationship), but I adore the way they work together. 

On top of that film, I also finally managed to see The Shape of Water and Green Book. Green Book was better than expected. A bit exploitative and certainly not a movie that I would give so many awards to in 2019, but Viggo and Mahershala Ali are so good that you can forgive them a lot of things. 

The Shape of Water was a more complicated story. When it first came out, I had such exalted expectations of it seeing how much the trailer reminded me of El Labyrinto del Fauno in an emotional sense. If circumstances had allowed me to see it in theatre, I think I would have been unfairly disappointed. Now that I have seen it with deflated expectations, I really enjoyed it. In contrast with the aformentioned El Labyrinto del Fauno, the story here is much, much weaker in my opinion. It lacks depth in many ways, although it does have similarly tantalizing mythological overtures 

Spoiler

What are everyone's opinion on the creature and on Sally Hawkins relation to it? Any theories on whether it is an alien, God or whatever? And is Sally also a creature? I read the following on IMDB: 'Elisa was left as a foundling baby by a river, is mute like the Amphibian Man, prefers to express her sexuality in water, and lives in a home with scale-print wallpaper. All these point to the fact that the marks on her neck were never scars, but are undeveloped gills, suggesting that she is descended from someone like the Amphibian Man.'

 

For me however, I prefer it if she was simply what she appeared to be and the Amphibian Man's love and magic turned the scars into gills. 

The acting and directing however is great. I particularly loved Michael Shannon, he's such an underrated actor I feel and I'm glad his intensity is finally getting its due in high-profile films like this. I can't believe the first role I remember him in was Pearl Harbor 

[SpaceChampion]

1 hour ago, Veltigar said:

Rewatched Fury Road the other day... Man, that film remains amazing. Great acting, brilliant directing and completely unrelenting action. The film is almost perfect as there is only one shot 

  Reveal hidden contents

the one right after Nux crashes the war rig and the guitar almost pops out of the screen.

that I think is bad. I also love the fact that I keep on reading new things into it. At first glance I just appreciated the action, then I saw the feminist credentials of the story and this time around I was completely blown away by the tenderness on display between Furiosa and Max. It's such an understated love story (I hesitate to even give it that moniker, because it almost feels as if that does reduce their relationship), but I adore the way they work together.

It is undoubtedly feminist but definitely a platonic relationship.  The beauty of the relationship between Max and Furiosa is the arc it goes through.  First they attack each other, then they grudgingly cooperate, then they come to trust each other and then they sacrifice for each other.  Barely a word is spoken between them.  The message would have been undermined if they had said much, because it is nothing but their actions and behavior that cause them to change their minds about each other.  The irony is the message can be summarized as "WITNESS ME!!"   Look at whom I really am!  A man and a woman can trust, respect, be vulnerable and grow willing to sacrifice themselves for each other without either trying to influence the other, without either trying to manipulate, cajole, argue or convince each other in any way?  That's far most feminist than "Woohoo! Girl Power!"   WITNESS ME!!

[A True Kaniggit]

2 hours ago, Veltigar said:

Rewatched Fury Road the other day... Man, that film remains amazing. Great acting, brilliant directing and completely unrelenting action. The film is almost perfect as there is only one shot 

  Reveal hidden contents

the one right after Nux crashes the war rig and the guitar almost pops out of the screen.

that I think is bad. I also love the fact that I keep on reading new things into it. At first glance I just appreciated the action, then I saw the feminist credentials of the story and this time around I was completely blown away by the tenderness on display between Furiosa and Max. It's such an understated love story (I hesitate to even give it that moniker, because it almost feels as if that does reduce their relationship), but I adore the way they work together. 

Soooo... you’re telling me I better watch it again starting right now?

Whatever you say boss. 

[Zorral]

9 hours ago, dbunting said:

I am a few episodes into Carnival Row on Amazon. I think I like it but not entirely sure yet.  One thing that stuck with me through Ep 3 was a feeling of deja vu. The lead male and female really reminded me of GOT, hell even the set where most of the episode happened reminded me of GOT.  Watching them I kept getting Jon and Ygritte in my head and it was taking me out of the scenes.

That's funny, because I kept thinking, "Thank goodness!  There's nothing here like GOT, though there's a lot like other works, such as Ripper Street.  Also, like Ripper Street (which I liked a lot, at least until the final season, I think), this is adult, not ya (not that GOT was exactly YA, except that the sex was so much adolescent male gaze bs)".

I've nearly finished ep 4.  Ep 1 was somewhat of a slog -- the pilot, obviously, as the intro to it is not the same as the intro for the following episodes.

This is way of saying, I guess, that so far I'm liking this more with each episode, particularly with three, which takes place ahead of where the action begins in the pilot and fills in a whole lot of background.  The setting, the costumes and so on, felt like such a good amalgam of the sorts of late 19th, early 20th C colonialist wars as in Afghanistan, World War I and so on, and then the WWII era which created millions of refugees, globally, beginning well previous to the "official" declarations of war.  The reviewers snarked about this colonialist and refugee theme as a stupid story line. But can one deal with a more adult sensibility and still have fantasy than with these themes of global refugees and immigration crises, created by not a single major power, but all of them?  Anyway, I'm finding this a really interesting story line.

Also I like Bloom a lot in his role.  He's so weathered, he could play Aragorn now!  There's no Legolas there, and that's good.  I do kind of wish though

Spoiler

he wasn't a secret fae whose wings had been surgically removed when a tiny child.  I don't know that this actually deepens his character, for there are many people who are active in trying to better the conditions of refugees and immigrants, who have sympathy, who work actively to help, who are just people, you know?

Well, I'll see if I'll continue to like it.

Whereas from the git go Dark Crystal was lacking in interest.  Everybody looks alike, except for the EviLe Skeksis, who are most horribly unattractive and gross.  Which kind of bothers me too.  I couldn't even finish the first episode.  But then I never saw the movie, and am not generally a fan of muppets, puppets, or even anime, so my opinion about this doesn't matter!

 

[ithanos]

Been catching up on several small screen recommendations from this board. Life is too short to be wasted on ordinary TV. The paradox of choice is mitigated when filtered through threads such as this. Thanks board!   
 

As for the big screen, Bong Joon Ho's Parasite has been out in this neck of the global woods for several weeks - but only in select cinemas. So I made the journey into town to catch a session. And it was brilliant! So much to like, with dark humour, class commentary and fine performances from the cast - particularly from Kang-ho Song and Yeo-jeong Jo. I'm glad it lost its predictability after the 1st act.

But the highlight for me had to be the direction & cinematography - simply stunning. Pretty darn close to a masterpiece. Is it his best work? Maybe, though my favourite Bong Joon Ho film still has to be Memories of Murder. I highly recommend, before watching Parasite, first checking out this breakdown of Bong Joon Ho's ensemble staging by the now retired youtube channel Every Frame a Painting. You'll come out after watching Parasite and thinking back to this with the realization your attention has been just been directed by a master. 

 

[Mexal]

I loved Parasite. Felt it was brilliant on so many levels. Highly highly recommend.

[HexMachina]

9 hours ago, Bittersweet Distractor said:

I quite enjoyed Banshee, I did think the fight scenes were excessive at times though, no one could get up and walk away from some of the stuff they endured.

Is Carnival Row the Victorian show with Orlando Bloom and Cara Delivigne?, I might give it a try.

Thats the one. Its tempting and when i do my next Prime freebie i might give it a try.

6 hours ago, Veltigar said:

Rewatched Fury Road the other day... Man, that film remains amazing. Great acting, brilliant directing and completely unrelenting action. The film is almost perfect as there is only one shot 

  Hide contents

the one right after Nux crashes the war rig and the guitar almost pops out of the screen.

that I think is bad. I also love the fact that I keep on reading new things into it. At first glance I just appreciated the action, then I saw the feminist credentials of the story and this time around I was completely blown away by the tenderness on display between Furiosa and Max. It's such an understated love story (I hesitate to even give it that moniker, because it almost feels as if that does reduce their relationship), but I adore the way they work together. 

On top of that film, I also finally managed to see The Shape of Water and Green Book. Green Book was better than expected. A bit exploitative and certainly not a movie that I would give so many awards to in 2019, but Viggo and Mahershala Ali are so good that you can forgive them a lot of things. 

The Shape of Water was a more complicated story. When it first came out, I had such exalted expectations of it seeing how much the trailer reminded me of El Labyrinto del Fauno in an emotional sense. If circumstances had allowed me to see it in theatre, I think I would have been unfairly disappointed. Now that I have seen it with deflated expectations, I really enjoyed it. In contrast with the aformentioned El Labyrinto del Fauno, the story here is much, much weaker in my opinion. It lacks depth in many ways, although it does have similarly tantalizing mythological overtures 

  Hide contents

What are everyone's opinion on the creature and on Sally Hawkins relation to it? Any theories on whether it is an alien, God or whatever? And is Sally also a creature? I read the following on IMDB: 'Elisa was left as a foundling baby by a river, is mute like the Amphibian Man, prefers to express her sexuality in water, and lives in a home with scale-print wallpaper. All these point to the fact that the marks on her neck were never scars, but are undeveloped gills, suggesting that she is descended from someone like the Amphibian Man.'

 

For me however, I prefer it if she was simply what she appeared to be and the Amphibian Man's love and magic turned the scars into gills. 

The acting and directing however is great. I particularly loved Michael Shannon, he's such an underrated actor I feel and I'm glad his intensity is finally getting its due in high-profile films like this. I can't believe the first role I remember him in was Pearl Harbor 

 

5 hours ago, SpaceChampion said:

It is undoubtedly feminist but definitely a platonic relationship.  The beauty of the relationship between Max and Furiosa is the arc it goes through.  First they attack each other, then they grudgingly cooperate, then they come to trust each other and then they sacrifice for each other.  Barely a word is spoken between them.  The message would have been undermined if they had said much, because it is nothing but their actions and behavior that cause them to change their minds about each other.  The irony is the message can be summarized as "WITNESS ME!!"   Look at whom I really am!  A man and a woman can trust, respect, be vulnerable and grow willing to sacrifice themselves for each other without either trying to influence the other, without either trying to manipulate, cajole, argue or convince each other in any way?  That's far most feminist than "Woohoo! Girl Power!"   WITNESS ME!!

Well, now i need to watch Fury Road again. Hardship, i know...

[Zorral]

Quote

It is undoubtedly feminist but definitely a platonic relationship.  The beauty of the relationship between Max and Furiosa is the arc it goes through.  First they attack each other, then they grudgingly cooperate, then they come to trust each other and then they sacrifice for each other.  Barely a word is spoken between them.  The message would have been undermined if they had said much, because it is nothing but their actions and behavior that cause them to change their minds about each other.  The irony is the message can be summarized as "WITNESS ME!!"   Look at whom I really am!  A man and a woman can trust, respect, be vulnerable and grow willing to sacrifice themselves for each other without either trying to influence the other, without either trying to manipulate, cajole, argue or convince each other in any way?  That's far most feminist than "Woohoo! Girl Power!"   WITNESS ME!!

I read a piece this morning that says the Rom Con genre is being revived, not as CIS gender- oy-girl-fall-in-love, but as people becoming truly friends, of whatever gender, including meeting cute, initially disliking each other, learning to trust and care for each other through honesty and experience. 

~~~~~~~

In the meantime though, here's an interesting take on the new Dark Crystal and the Skeksie villains:

https://www.vox.com/2019/9/1/20838991/skeksis-are-the-best-part-of-the-dark-crystal-age-of-resistance

Quote

The Skeksis are meant to represent an allegorical form of pure selfishness. But their traits — their love of food, fashion, and manipulation, for example — are distinctly earthly. They’re as ridiculously easy to love as they are to hate, which may be why they garner so much power. The Skeksis are, at core, supremacists, but their particular brand of supremacy isn’t based on ideology, not really. They just want everything for themselves. And that makes them surprisingly difficult to thwart.