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Watch, Watched, Watching: We Need This!


Ramsay B.

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24 minutes ago, Heartofice said:

I often have a bit of an issue when watching him, because he just looks like Leonardo DiCaprio the whole time and all I see is some guy acting. But here he does a really good job, he looks withered and battered emotionally. It was a role I think he was suited to, and I don't think that often.

The problem of DiCaprio is that he has never been able to beat his trully stellar performance in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, through his entire career.

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19 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

*mumbles something at you* 

*I love you Velt, you are the reason for my existence. The sun who never sets, a hero for the ages."

15 hours ago, Zorral said:

Saw that.  Ha!  Definitely taking it as a trekkie fantasy not for real, coz do not want Hardy -- not that it matters really to me or anyone else.

Re Skyfall -- it had one of the very best theme songs - singers, whatever else one says about it.  So good, I actually watched this one in a theater, after not watching a single Bond since whenever.  Since I've caught up on most of the Bonds.  But streaming, not in a theater.  They seemed to work well for me during the coming on of the darkest days of unknowing last winter.  Both Brosnan and Craig worked for me, whereas Connery just doesn't.  Like CR and QoS (which has still got to be the worst title ever) very much, as back-to-backers.

 

The song is by far the best thing about the film, I'll agree with that. Still prefer Goldeneye and Goldfinger though :) 

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On 9/19/2020 at 8:54 AM, Tywin et al. said:

Let me know what you think, I might watch it right now. I've got two hours to kill before I need to shower and dress up for my grandfather's Bday party, odd as it may be in these trying times.



Unrelated, Tom Hardy appears to be the next Bond. The Bond thread is locked as far as I can tell, and I don't have a witty title in mind so I'll just start the conversation here. Thoughts? I love it.

Long work hours. I fell asleep halfway through the first watch.  I had to watch the last half.  Decent film but pales in comparison to the novel. The characters in the novel were truly dark and depraved, especially Carl and Sandy.

One detail of the novel I wish was included in the film:

Spoiler

Theodore convincing Roy to kill Helen because of his hatred and jealousy of her.  Roy is slightly sympathetic in the novel because he decides to find Lenora before being picked up and murdered by Carl and Sandy.  Theodore was a real weaselly shit in the novel.

I did appreciate Donald Ray Pollock narrating the film.

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1 hour ago, Astromech said:

Long work hours. I fell asleep halfway through the first watch.  I had to watch the last half.  Decent film but pales in comparison to the novel. The characters in the novel were truly dark and depraved, especially Carl and Sandy.

One detail of the novel I wish was included in the film:

  Hide contents

Theodore convincing Roy to kill Helen because of his hatred and jealousy of her.  Roy is slightly sympathetic in the novel because he decides to find Lenora before being picked up and murdered by Carl and Sandy.  Theodore was a real weaselly shit in the novel.

I did appreciate Donald Ray Pollock narrating the film.

I haven't read the book, so I have no attachment to it, and I also fell asleep halfway through it. :P

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Watched Da 5 Bloods, Spike Lee's latest, a Netflix release. It's lesser Lee, really, with some very flabby bits in the writing and direction of the performances, particularly in the early going. It felt like they had little time to rehearse and limited time to film, so maybe it was a lot of one-and-done scenes which were just accepted as "good enough".  Which is a shame, because the talents they brought to the film -- especially Delory Lindo and Clarke Peters, as well as the late Chadwick Boseman (RIP)  and Jonathan Majors -- could have really done more if the material and direction was up to it.

It's not a bad film, just an over-stuffed and sometimes incoherent one. Many of the stylistic choices -- having the actors portray themselves 50 years earlier in the Vietnam sequences rather than having younger actors, changing between boxy 1.33:1 for the flashbacks and ultrawide 2.39:1  for present day action, some of the over-the-top violence -- worked very well, showing that on that level Lee still has it. Intercutting with flashbacks to "Hanoi Hannah", as well as archival footage, was also very good and to the point. It had a lot to say, perhaps too much for a single film. Best moment in the whole thing was probably Delroy Lindo's soliloquy in the jungle. Very powerful, very Lee, worth an acting nomination by itself, IMO.

Speaking of Jonathan Majors, also saw the latest episode of Lovecraft Country. I can understand the controversy over it. I feel like the writers took a big gamble with a choice they made regarding Tic's past, without really thinking through how to contextualize it. Thematically, everything fits, and the performances were fine,  but... I don't know. And I question the historicity of that moment.

Spoiler

I know the Korean War was messy. I know that commanders in the field were told that North Korean fighters were infilitrating refugee groups to get behind the US lines, and ordered soldiers to fire on said groups. These were war crimes. BUT the point blank execution of Korean nurses to force a confession seems ahistorical to anything I've read about the American role in Korea, and seems like they're simply transposing the worst atrocities of Vietnam to the Korean setting. The South Korean government certainly committed crimes of this sort in their effort to purge communists, and the UN forces -- American included -- generally stood by and did not interfere, but what's depicted on the screen is quite a leap beyond that.

They could have gotten a similar effect for Tic by having him be a part of the No Gun Ri Bridge massacre, a very well-documented American war crime.

 

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3 hours ago, Ran said:

Speaking of Jonathan Majors, also saw the latest episode of Lovecraft Country. I can understand the controversy over it. I feel like the writers took a big gamble with a choice they made regarding Tic's past, without really thinking through how to contextualize it. Thematically, everything fits, and the performances were fine,  but... I don't know. And I question the historicity of that moment.

  Hide contents

I know the Korean War was messy. I know that commanders in the field were told that North Korean fighters were infilitrating refugee groups to get behind the US lines, and ordered soldiers to fire on said groups. These were war crimes. BUT the point blank execution of Korean nurses to force a confession seems ahistorical to anything I've read about the American role in Korea, and seems like they're simply transposing the worst atrocities of Vietnam to the Korean setting. The South Korean government certainly committed crimes of this sort in their effort to purge communists, and the UN forces -- American included -- generally stood by and did not interfere, but what's depicted on the screen is quite a leap beyond that.

They could have gotten a similar effect for Tic by having him be a part of the No Gun Ri Bridge massacre, a very well-documented American war crime.

 

I didn't even question it, I just assume stuff like that happens in any war and most of the time isn't documented. People are terrible, and when you group a bunch of them together and train them to kill a dehumanized enemy they get at worse. Reading about all the war crimes we know about from our last two wars is enough to turn my stomach. You've got to figure there's so much more we'll never hear about...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmudiyah_rape_and_killings is one that has stayed with me since I learned about it. Beyond awful. 

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1 minute ago, RumHam said:

I didn't even question it, I just assume stuff like that happens in any war and most of the time isn't documented.

I think that's actually wrong. Accounts come out from survivors, veterans, etc., almost inevitably come out in time. No Gun Ri became public knowledge (but not widely, and denied) a decade after the fact. Individual cases may be lost, yes, but general trends appear when things happen enough. It could be a failure of my reading, but I've just never heard of anything suggesting the behavior depicted in Lovecraft Country has any sort of historical attestation for the Korean War, vis-a-vis US soldiers (South Korean soldiers, yes). 

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1 hour ago, RumHam said:

I didn't even question it, I just assume stuff like that happens in any war and most of the time isn't documented. People are terrible, and when you group a bunch of them together and train them to kill a dehumanized enemy they get at worse. Reading about all the war crimes we know about from our last two wars is enough to turn my stomach. You've got to figure there's so much more we'll never hear about...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmudiyah_rape_and_killings is one that has stayed with me since I learned about it. Beyond awful. 

 

1 hour ago, Ran said:

I think that's actually wrong. Accounts come out from survivors, veterans, etc., almost inevitably come out in time. No Gun Ri became public knowledge (but not widely, and denied) a decade after the fact. Individual cases may be lost, yes, but general trends appear when things happen enough. It could be a failure of my reading, but I've just never heard of anything suggesting the behavior depicted in Lovecraft Country has any sort of historical attestation for the Korean War, vis-a-vis US soldiers (South Korean soldiers, yes). 

That part I found unrealistic (but I wouldn't be surprised if I'm wrong) was that

Spoiler

the victims were trained medical nurses from a hospital where they treated wounded soldiers. These kind of tactics always breed hatred, so to do it on people that are critical to your efforts smacks of plain stupidity to me.

 

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17 minutes ago, Corvinus85 said:

 

That part I found unrealistic (but I wouldn't be surprised if I'm wrong) was that

  Hide contents

the victims were trained medical nurses from a hospital where they treated wounded soldiers. These kind of tactics always breed hatred, so to do it on people that are critical to your efforts smacks of plain stupidity to me.

 

Agreed. Like what if the first nurse they shot was the spy? They they'd just kill them all? Maybe it could have worked better if Tic explained at some point that like they lost half their unit due to the spy and were super pissed and this was not how things would normally have been handled. 

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Currently running through Succession. Loving the hell out of this show. Everyone is a piece of shit in some way. Kendall is my favorite based on how accidentally funny he is through his seriousness. The Thanksgiving episode was my favorite so far. Couple eps left in S1. 

After this gonna finally start Deadwood. Shamefully admitting through my years as a faithful HBO (now HBO Max) servant, I've never watched this show. I know, I know.... Besides that, I think the only other big HBO show I've never watched is Six Feet Under. 

For fun, I'll rank my top 5 HBO dramas knowing it's not yet complete.

1.  Taxicab Confessions The Sopranos

2. Real Sex  The Wire

3. Entourage    Boardwalk Empire

4. Pornucopia  Game of Thrones

5. Cathouse  Rome

I know Deadwood is gonna be up there just based on every opinion I've ever heard about it.  Also need to watch The Leftovers. 

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Finished up The Defenders.  Wish all of the Marvel shows on Netflix were this tight.

Watched The Devil All the Time the other day, enjoyed that quite a bit.  Watched Enola Holmes tonight... that was a movie.  Watched Project Power last night, and that was also a movie.

Started rewatching 12 Monkeys.  Halfway through episode 3, and wow, I really forgot how quickly they move the plot here.  Looking forward to it getting more and more bonkers.

 

On 9/19/2020 at 11:02 PM, Nictarion said:

Caught The Invisible Man reboot on HBO tonight. Liked it a lot. Very tense. Elizabeth Moss was great. 

Watched that Sunday evening and it was great.  Would have been even better if it were about 15 minutes shorter.  Elizabeth Moss did a wonderful job slowly descending into madness.

 

On 9/20/2020 at 3:06 AM, polishgenius said:

I do share HoI's concern that Hardy's become a parody of himself in the last few years. 

I really hope those rumors are false, because this is exactly how I feel about Hardy too.  

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16 hours ago, Ran said:

Speaking of Jonathan Majors, also saw the latest episode of Lovecraft Country. I can understand the controversy over it. I feel like the writers took a big gamble with a choice they made regarding Tic's past, without really thinking through how to contextualize it. Thematically, everything fits, and the performances were fine,  but... I don't know. And I question the historicity of that moment.

  Hide contents

I know the Korean War was messy. I know that commanders in the field were told that North Korean fighters were infilitrating refugee groups to get behind the US lines, and ordered soldiers to fire on said groups. These were war crimes. BUT the point blank execution of Korean nurses to force a confession seems ahistorical to anything I've read about the American role in Korea, and seems like they're simply transposing the worst atrocities of Vietnam to the Korean setting. The South Korean government certainly committed crimes of this sort in their effort to purge communists, and the UN forces -- American included -- generally stood by and did not interfere, but what's depicted on the screen is quite a leap beyond that.

They could have gotten a similar effect for Tic by having him be a part of the No Gun Ri Bridge massacre, a very well-documented American war crime.

 

I was pleasantly surprised by the episode and would rate it as "very good" on an entertainment level. What you describe in spoiler tags and what @Corvinus85 also describes in his comment alongside a bit of a disappointing resolution is what kept it from being truly excellent.

Still, a major step up for this show even if it might not be historically correct. It now has a "good-to-bad" ratio of 2/6 which is sad given its potential but better than what it had before.  

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