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Watch, Watched, Watching: The cancellations continue


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5 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

I don't think I've even heard of it.

I remember renting Dracula: Dead and Loving it and being very disappointed to be honest. Repossessed isn't up to Naked Gun quality at all, but it still had a few good moments. Worth checking out as a reasonable Exorcist parody.

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     . . . Last week we got tipped to a Korean streaming site that allows free access to Nirvana in Fire (2015), the Chinese series with which so many viewers in the US and Asia have passionately fallen in love. There are many fan sites and fan writing so the title may be a familiar one.  One does not need to sign-up for the paid service without commercial interruptions. As I haven't interest in the full service, I'll put up with the short commercials.

The English subtitles are good, the viewing quality is outstanding. Evidently the showrunners had an unlimited budget for production, locations and wardrobe, cameras and editing. The capital city is a huge, lavish set, which is shared with other productions. What we get on the screen is beautiful as well as graceful, so much so, it hovers at Too Much, at any moment about to fall into an overly styled realm of rococo preciosity -- at least to my USian eyes. However, the actors save the screen every time. They are not mannered or styled, or precious.  At least so far. Nirvana in Fire's first season has 54 episodes; The sequel season has 54 episodes, but I don't know if that's included on this service with the first.

Back in 2018, Strange Horizons provided the best description of Nirvana in Fire that I, at least, know of in English, written by Erin Horáková.

Quote

Nirvana in Fire participates in several generic categories, aligning itself with historical fiction, fantasy, political fiction, family sagas, romance, the cop show, drama, and comedy. I get a strong sense that it’s positioning itself largely against Asian genres I’m not very familiar with: the umbrella categories of C-drama, most obviously, but as SF, Nirvana in Fire works something like a super-heroic wuxia. I saw a weakly translated fanfic reimagining the story as shenmo, which is both a fascinating idea and an illustration of how various international definitions of the fantastic may not neatly map onto one another.

There are many parallels with this period epic series from China and the ones from Turkey, such as The Magnificent Century and Ertugrul: Resurrection (which I fell in love with about the time West Coastie amigos were falling for Nirvana in Fire (worst title in English evah? -- well, since The Quantum of Solace? :D). What the Turks have got that the Chinese showrunners don't, though, are the horses, the very best horses, and the riders who all demonstrate good communication skills with horses, with the horses letting them know when they get it wrong.  Among the parallels are beautiful fabrics and costumes, the toxic atmosphere of imperial palaces, treachery, loyalty, lots of fighting, and -- length.  First season of Nirvana in Fire is 54 episodes.

This will be my dependable go-to to carry me through the long darks of the coming months.  (It's begun here: the governor has shut down everything in the state at 10 PM starting Friday, and limiting gatherings in public to 10 people and 6 (non-family) in private settings

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13 hours ago, Heartofice said:

I remember renting Dracula: Dead and Loving it and being very disappointed to be honest. Repossessed isn't up to Naked Gun quality at all, but it still had a few good moments. Worth checking out as a reasonable Exorcist parody.

Swore I responded to this, but guess not. 

I actually need to rewatch The Exorcist. I believe I only watched it as a kid, then rented it twice later and fell asleep to it. 

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I watched Bone Tomahawk, starring Kurt Russell and a bunch of other well known actors. I've never heard of it, indie film, blending western with horror. It reminded me a bit of The 13th Warrior but western. It had a slow pace, and some really, really fucked up moments, but strong performances and I appreciated all the little moments, giving the movie a strong dose of realism.

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27 minutes ago, Corvinus85 said:

I watched Bone Tomahawk, starring Kurt Russell and a bunch of other well known actors. I've never heard of it, indie film, blending western with horror. It reminded me a bit of The 13th Warrior but western. It had a slow pace, and some really, really fucked up moments, but strong performances and I appreciated all the little moments, giving the movie a strong dose of realism.

That scene though... :o

I’m a fan of the director (S. Craig Zahler). He also did Brawl In Cell Block 99, and Dragged Across Concrete. All his movies are brutal as hell. 

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I found Bone Tomehawk a wee bit over-rated, but I had been hearing nothing but outlandish levels of praise for it, so this is not an indictment of the film so much of fan hype. But it is good. I thought Matthew Fox was particularly good, but of course it's really Kurt Russell's movie.

Forgot to mention that I finished We Are Who We Are. Like I said, it's a show for Guadagnino fans, but the final episode was interesting in some departures (most of the cast does not appear) and in some choices (there's a sort of magical realism moment... or is it?) 

Watched the first three episodes of Blood of Zeus, the Greek mythology-tinged animated show on Netflix. It's very much in the Castlevania vein. Enjoying it so far, but it's not setting the world on fire.

Funnily enough, when I started it I wondered when Netflix would branch out into other genres for their original animated fare, and I was thinking that they should see about animating some of Garth Ennis's WWII comics... and then I saw this thing called The Liberator crop up. Not yet through the first episode, but it's really interesting to see this sort of rotoscoped animation (although they call it Trioscope as it's not quite as fully animated). The story itself, so far, feels like an old shoe -- familiar and comfortable but rather shabby. Lots of the usual cliches. But I'm interested enough to keep going, and see what they do with this technique.

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Finished season 2 of Boardwalk Empire.  Buscemi and Pitt did a great job all season.  I seem to recall season 3 not being very good, but 4 and 5 being better?  Might be because of the shorter episode count of the final two seasons, or it might be that I'm misremembering - I'll know soon.

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8 hours ago, RedEyedGhost said:

Finished season 2 of Boardwalk Empire.  Buscemi and Pitt did a great job all season.  I seem to recall season 3 not being very good, but 4 and 5 being better?  Might be because of the shorter episode count of the final two seasons, or it might be that I'm misremembering - I'll know soon.

I loved season 3. Particularly because of Bobby Cannavale. It was definitely better than S5. 

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So I had a movie night with a friend. We first watched The Mandalorian's latest episode, Prospect and The Other Guys. The Mandalorian was pretty good this week. Prospect on the other hand was a bit of a mess. The dialogue is nice, actors great and I liked the world but the story is a bit of a mess to be very kind to it

Spoiler

I have no clue how that red painted dude came to be in that cage in the end, how he escaped and what the fuck his deal was

It also bothers me that I didn't know exactly what they were mining for. Was it some kind of drug or gemstone or rocket fuel? What could that mineral be used for?

Luckily, The Other Guys was better than I remembered it. Especially those opening sequences with the Rock and Samuel L. Jackson. Overall a very strong effort that didn't veer too much into Ferrel territory. He's good in moderation but he frequently overdoes it.

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I watched The Lodge. Psychological horror movie by the same directors that did Goodnight Mommy. This one was even more disturbing. Really strong performance from Riley Keough. I love movies with a snowy setting, and this used it to full effect. Pretty unsettling stuff, and it will definitely leave you feeling terrible afterwards, but I thought it was quite good. 

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4 hours ago, Veltigar said:

So I had a movie night with a friend. We first watched The Mandalorian's latest episode, Prospect and The Other Guys. The Mandalorian was pretty good this week. Prospect on the other hand was a bit of a mess. The dialogue is nice, actors great and I liked the world but the story is a bit of a mess to be very kind to it

  Reveal hidden contents

I have no clue how that red painted dude came to be in that cage in the end, how he escaped and what the fuck his deal was

It also bothers me that I didn't know exactly what they were mining for. Was it some kind of drug or gemstone or rocket fuel? What could that mineral be used for?

Luckily, The Other Guys was better than I remembered it. Especially those opening sequences with the Rock and Samuel L. Jackson. Overall a very strong effort that didn't veer too much into Ferrel territory. He's good in moderation but he frequently overdoes it.

Aim for the bushes! 

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6 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Aim for the bushes! 

:lol:

My friend had never seen the film and while he watched that scene

Spoiler

you could see him check out, like what a shitty film is this that these guys can't even get hurt by that and then the fall keeps on going just a little too long for a save and they smack the pavement :lmao:He was shocked and completely committed afterwards

 

6 hours ago, RumHam said:

I hate Whalberg but that movie is funny as hell. "There wasn't an awning or anything." Keaton is great in it. 

You hate the head of the funky bunch? :o why? Keaton was great indeed.

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