Watch, Watched, Watching: We Need This!

[A True Kaniggit]

5 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

I did not find SP on Hulu. HBO Max has the rights to stream all of it, but I did not see it there either earlier today. Maybe that old southparkstudios site is still active.

I’m looking in Max right now.

It says the special will become available later tonight.

Edit: Oh. @RumHam already said that. 

Oh well.

Edit 2: Looks like it just dropped. 

[Aemon Stark]

On 9/30/2020 at 3:15 PM, Heartofice said:

After it's awards gains I have begun watching Schitt's Creek. If it didn't win an Emmy I almost certainly would have dismissed this as a bland US Canadian sitcom, unremarkable and low brow. I hadn't paid attention to who was behind it. 

But I'm through the first season and I've really enjoyed it. Daniel and Eugene Levy have a fantastic grasp of comic timing and pacing, and it really shows. I don't know if the quality will nosedive but it's fun enough that I won't be too bothered.

Ahem. And it's a bit slow and deliberate in the first season and becomes just so wonderful (complete with Franklin the Turtle all grown up in a major role). 

[Gigei]

On 9/30/2020 at 3:29 AM, Ran said:

Finished Brave New World. I don't think it ended particularly strongly, sadly, as it took some wild, overdramatic turns to try and lead to a 2nd season which I'm not sure will happen. I did really appreciate the production values, particularly the costuming that I think came up with some remarkable "futuristic" clothing (there's a couple of red outfits featured in the final episode that are just gorgeous) while not overdoing it.

  Hide contents

The late game with Mustapha Mond and the backstory they introduced seemed too cliche and expected. Interestingly, read an interview with Grant Morrison, who indicated that Peacock/Sky were bringing in people to pitch ideas for a BNW series, as they had the rights... and it seems they won the pitch contest, to a point, but then the showrunner was brought on and he retooled some things. The interesting part of the interview is that Morrison said their take was focused on the utopia, that it was too typical for these sort of dystopic pictures to end with the rising up of the proletariat ... and yet he says this as the end of the season is, basically, just that. Which suggests that's a detail from the showrunner which he wasn't too keen on. I'm guessing he's not to actively involved going forward... if there is a going forward.

 

I watched only one Brave New World episode. I was very impressed and excited at first because it looked high budget and they really nailed that "cold, quiet, but soulless perfection" dystopian feel but after a while I just got bored.

Nonetheless, some great cast:

• Sen Mitsuji (Henry)
• Jessica Brown Findlay (Lenina)
• Harry Lloyd (Bernard)

I will probably pick it up again when I'm in the mood for a more thoughtful, slower-paced TV show.

[Luzifer's right hand]

I watched Downsizing. A pretty weird movie. I enjoyed it in a way but it felt like they stuffed it with too many ideas. 

I guess they cast Matt Damon because he and Tom Cruise are the default actors for SF movie main roles.

[Nictarion]

25 minutes ago, Luzifer's right hand said:

I watched Downsizing. A pretty weird movie. I enjoyed it in a way but it felt like they stuffed it with too many ideas. 

I guess they cast Matt Damon because he and Tom Cruise are the default actors for SF movie main roles.

The setup was interesting, but the second half of that movie is just terrible. I was highly disappointed, as I’m usually a big Alexander Payne fan. 

[Luzifer's right hand]

4 minutes ago, Nictarion said:

The setup was interesting, but the second half of that movie is just terrible. I was highly disappointed, as I’m usually a big Alexander Payne fan. 

I can't say that I'm a fan and had to google his name but I saw Nebraska during my independent cinema phase a few year and enjoyed it a lot.

[SpaceChampion]

First season of Raised By Wolves done.

Spoiler

I don't know if I'm on board for season 2.  Too many elements starting to look like Riddley Scott Prometheus-verse.  He directed the first two episodes, and EP for the whole series.   I'm not sure there's much here other than mystery and religious claims turning out to be alien influence, or ancient astronaut whatever   Now a giant, floating serpent of Eden.

It's compelling at times to watch but sometimes I do other things.  I like the Mother and Father characters.  All the kids are mostly annoying.  Ragnar Lothbrok fits right in, but I'm not interested in all the Mithraic religion -- and does no one notice they're not orbiting Sol anymore??  Sol has no power here, dummies.

Didn't notice any RBW thread so going to post this here:

NYT interview with Riddley Scott explaining the ending...

Reddit AMA thread

[Astromech]

I caught the s2 premiere of Warrior. Jonathan Tropper  just makes fun shows. The stakes are raised for s2. New characters, new problems and a ton of well-choreographed fighting. 

[HexMachina]

I found out they were remaking the Witches film (based on the Roald Dahl novel) so obviously had to go back and rewatch the original. It was always deliciously creepy to watch as a child. The lady with the snake always terrified me. 

Needless to say the remake looks overly whimsical and light for this material but the original still entertains me a lot.

I was also curious to see the film is premiering on HBO Max I think? Not sure how that works internationally.

 

ETA: I doubt they would use the same kind of prosthetics and what not used in the original and instead we will get some "cutesy-gross" cgi to make Anne Hathaway the disgusting looking Grand High Witch.

Also something about removing the British and German settings kind of removes some of the atmosphere

[polishgenius]

I watched Enola Holmes, that's a lot of fun.

[Aemon Stark]

52 minutes ago, HelenaExMachina said:

I found out they were remaking the Witches film (based on the Roald Dahl novel) so obviously had to go back and rewatch the original. It was always deliciously creepy to watch as a child. The lady with the snake always terrified me. 

Needless to say the remake looks overly whimsical and light for this material but the original still entertains me a lot.

I was also curious to see the film is premiering on HBO Max I think? Not sure how that works internationally.

 

ETA: I doubt they would use the same kind of prosthetics and what not used in the original and instead we will get some "cutesy-gross" cgi to make Anne Hathaway the disgusting looking Grand High Witch.

Also something about removing the British and German Norwegian settings kind of removes some of the atmosphere

I don't get the purpose of a remake of such a classic movie. Hard to replicate Dahl's sensibility too. 

[Zorral]

New series up on Netflix, described as epic:

https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/oktoberfest-beer-blood-builds-on-the-ambitious-legacy-of-dark

 

[Nictarion]

I watched Terrence Malick’s WWII film A Hidden Life tonight. I liked it overall, but it’s definitely a typical Malick slow burn. At almost 3 hours I kind of wish I would have split it into two sittings, but it didn’t really drag that often. It was of course full of tons of gorgeous nature shots as usual with his films. Not sure if it was really shot in the Austrian mountains or not but it looked great. Good score, too. The lead actor was familiar to me from the basement scene of Inglorious Basterds  

[TheLastWolf]

I watched Eyelids yesterday all night. Really great and very long. Binged watched actually. 

[RumHam]

Watched the directors cut of Alien. I've read that Scott actually prefers the original version and only made a second cut because fox was determined to include alternate versions for all four alien films in the QUADRILOGY box set. 

I really like that HBO max provides alternate versions of movies. 

[BigFatCoward]

9 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

I found out they were remaking the Witches film (based on the Roald Dahl novel) so obviously had to go back and rewatch the original. It was always deliciously creepy to watch as a child. The lady with the snake always terrified me. 

 

Trailer for the new one looks terrible. If they are going to remake any of his work, do a musical version of Matilda. 

[polishgenius]

10 hours ago, polishgenius said:

I watched Enola Holmes, that's a lot of fun.

To elaborate on this coz I went to sleep immediately after finishing it, Enola Holmes is a sunny, witty, not subtle in its themes but sometimes subtle in its filmic-senduppery jaunt that comes of somewhat like Pirates of the Caribbean meets Lemony Snicket. Lots of talking to the camera, lots of snarking, very theatrical presentation and indeed acting. There's an awkwardly inserted sequel... it's not even a hook really, just a 'pause here there'll be more stuff' setup, but other than that, it's a lot of fun and worth a watch, even though it won't blow too many minds.

[john]

12 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

I doubt they would use the same kind of prosthetics and what not used in the original and instead we will get some "cutesy-gross" cgi to make Anne Hathaway the disgusting looking Grand High Witch.

From the trailer it looks like a rather good looking grand high witch, although still bald.

All will be forgiven if they fix the fundamental flaw of the original film that has the mouse turned back into a little boy. No he’s supposed to live out his life as a mouse and die at the same time as his beloved grandma.

[Ran]

Back to watching Studio Ghibli films, but this time I tried one of the non-Miyazaki ones. Only Yesterday was released in 1991 and was the biggest domestic box office film that year in Japan, but it seems it only got an English dub a few years ago, with Daisy Ridley and Dev Patel as the main leads. It's an interesting film, directed and written by Ghibli-cofounder Isao Takahata, based on a manga. There's a very different aesthetic from the Miyazki films I've seen, a naturalistic realism that is less lush and magical than the way Miyazaki chooses to show quotidian life. It's basically an adult-oriented film, and was seen as particularly aimed at women with a bit of romance and a lot about the experience of growing up as a young girl in Japan in the 60s and a young, working woman in the 80s, and then pivots to touch on the collapse of rural life as Tokyo and other big cities attracted all the young people away from traditional agricultural living.

There's a nice aesthetic choice in showing the 60s era -- all represented as reminiscences by Takeo, the main character -- with the colors being a bit more faded, the character designs a bit simpler, backgrounds often washed out and sometimes not even completed. 

Also, a tip: you have to watch through the credits, both because the story continues to its conclusion there, and because of the Japanese cover of "The Rose" by Miyako Harumi is quite lovely:

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

5 hours ago, RumHam said:

Watched the directors cut of Alien. I've read that Scott actually prefers the original version and only made a second cut because fox was determined to include alternate versions for all four alien films in the QUADRILOGY box set. 

I really like that HBO max provides alternate versions of movies. 

Alien was a film I was raised on. Ripley is my mom's favorite character of all-time across film and lit (mine is Dantes from The Count of Monte Cristo). IIRC, doesn't the director's cut include a few peaks of the alien before shit really goes down that weren't in the original release?