Watch Watched Watching: May The Fourth be with you!

[HexMachina]

17 hours ago, kairparavel said:

I am a few episodes into the first season of Pose, and the category is Excellence in Writing and Performance. 

Certainly. Season 3 is currently airing so you should be able to watch the entire series. I was disappointed to realise we didn't get the third season along with the U.S over here. I may need to do some VPN tinkering.

[williamjm]

I recently watched The French Connection which is a film I'd heard a lot about but never seen before. The car chase is probably the most famous part of the film and I think one thing that makes it work so well is that it feels grounded in reality, the car doesn't effortlessly glide through tiny gaps but instead hits things and almost end in disaster multiple times but Doyle remains determined to keep going. It does seem to fit with the overall theme of the film that the detectives are so committed to their case that they'll do anything to solve it, it's not a film with any heroes in it.

I also watched A Royal Affair. I must admit my knowledge of 18th Century Danish history is somewhat lacking so I wasn't familiar with the events behind the film, I think at times it is one of those stories that could get accused of being implausible if it didn't actually happen. I thought Alicia Vikander and Mads Mikkelsen were good in the lead roles, particularly the latter as the royal physician who ends up effectively in sole control of the government and takes the opportunity to bring the Enlightenment to Denmark, earning the enmity of the nobility and church. I also thought Mikkel Boe Følsgaard did a good job of making the troubled Christian VII a somewhat sympathetic character, he might be an awful King but it's not really his fault he's so unsuited to it. The film is also oddly topical with Struensee early in the film struggling to persuade the royal court to back a smallpox vaccination campaign.

[polishgenius]

21 minutes ago, williamjm said:

that it feels grounded in reality, the car doesn't effortlessly glide through tiny gaps but instead hits things and almost end in disaster multiple times but Doyle remains determined to keep going.

 

That's because what they did is shoot the main take on an uncleared street and just blasted down it at, reportedly, 90mph, hoping a combination of crew members blocking traffic and the police light they put on top would get any spectators and passing cars out the way. At least one of the collisions was unplanned (legend has it it was a random driver on his way to work, but that doesn't seem backed up by quotes or anything and other versions have it as a stunt driver that was meant to be a near miss).

[Zorral]

I'd be more interested in Halston if there were a lot more scenes of them making the clothes.  The scene in which he just rips a length of fabric with his hands, and voila, there is the structure of a fabulous gown for Liza, and the one where he cuts a hole in the middle of a beautifully pattern dyed length -- and there ya go.  I like that stuff.

Halston gets the shoes right (which WW84 most certainly does NOT).  Also the luggage.

But the diva trantrums, posturings and drugs etc. seem so mild in These Times, particularly the legacies of crack and opioid addictions, Epstein revelations and the jerkwaddies infesting D.C., and the tantrums and divahood displays there.

 

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

On 5/15/2021 at 4:32 PM, polishgenius said:

That's because what they did is shoot the main take on an uncleared street and just blasted down it at, reportedly, 90mph, hoping a combination of crew members blocking traffic and the police light they put on top would get any spectators and passing cars out the way. At least one of the collisions was unplanned (legend has it it was a random driver on his way to work, but that doesn't seem backed up by quotes or anything and other versions have it as a stunt driver that was meant to be a near miss).

 

On 5/15/2021 at 4:01 PM, williamjm said:

I recently watched The French Connection which is a film I'd heard a lot about but never seen before. The car chase is probably the most famous part of the film and I think one thing that makes it work so well is that it feels grounded in reality, the car doesn't effortlessly glide through tiny gaps but instead hits things and almost end in disaster multiple times but Doyle remains determined to keep going. It does seem to fit with the overall theme of the film that the detectives are so committed to their case that they'll do anything to solve it, it's not a film with any heroes in it.

There were a few happy accidents that were caught on film in that one.

And remember: If you want to really slow down, two feet on the brake pedal. Although in their defense, There were some early '70's American sedans with un-boosted, 4-wheel drum brakes. I test drove one once. Power brakes and front discs didn't really become universal standard equipment until a little later.

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

The Sons of Sam: A really good documentary series if one views it with a skeptical eye. Great first episode. Lots of cool archival footage. Interesting story.

It's the story of journalist Maury Terry and his investigation into the Son of Sam murders. His thinking got, ah, 'conspiratorial', and he spent most of his adult life on this. He starts with the theory that there was more than one murderer (which was actually somewhat compelling) and cantilevers that out to include an international occult conspiracy, Satanism, and murders all over the country, including the Manson Family crimes.

My problem with it is that it needed to be more critical of its central thesis. It provides some clues but it doesn't go far enough I think. 

I don't think Terry was a fraud exactly. I think he was genuinely sincere about his investigation and his book; The Ultimate Evil. However, he was extremely conspiratorial in his thinking and his work led to him (literally) sharing the stage with some real crackpots. All this did a lot to contribute to the satanic panic of the 1980's, wasted a lot of time and energy, and materially hurt people. The West Memphis Three for example. Gods know who else.

He was also the first person to score an on-camera interview with Berkowitz after he was incarcerated. Berkowitz played him like a fiddle.

I really hope they follow this up with a documentary on the Satanism/occult hysteria of the late 20th century. Get an interview with Geraldo and ask him some tough questions. Clown.

Car horns and loudspeakers have been blaring outside for the last 30 minutes. I live near my local legislature. I think it's a pro-Palestine demo.

[Corvinus85]

I've just watched Greenland. It's better than I expected it to be. For survival in the middle of apocalypse movies, it is really decent. The director/producers used the budget well, as it combined epic moments and CGI heavy moments with much smaller and minimalistic scenes. The premise works, too, better than with other such movies. There were no ridiculous stunts that the actors had to perform, no breaking of physics laws, it had the right amount of grit and showing the bad sides of humanity without going too much in that direction, allowing for moments where the good side of humanity shined.

[mormont]

Last night's viewing was Ma followed by Shazam and maybe just me, but the two were weirdly comparable. Like, in both films the directors seemed much more at ease developing relationships between characters and showing family scenes than with the action climax, which in both cases felt weirdly rather flat. (Shazam was a bit better at the latter, but still, it didn't grip me.) Also, both films have some good ideas but real script problems: both felt a bit underdeveloped in the writing.

Shazam does the thing DC do pretty well, in coming up with new ideas for the characters that make total sense but haven't been done before - the group home background really works for Billy, Mary and the rest. But then, having Billy's long lost mother turn out to be a total loser who just never looked for him was a really weird story beat that doesn't work. There's almost no differentiation among the Seven Sins and Sivana, after a fairly good start, just becomes a generic villain only there to beat on Billy. Mark Strong could've taken the last half of the film off: no acting is required, just CGI him in. There are some pretty good gags though.

Also, Asher Angel really reminds me of Maisie Williams.

[Veltigar]

I watched an eclectic array of stuff yesterday. I began the night with Kung Pao: Enter the Fist. For some reason I had never heard about this film, but it was great. It floored me a couple of times and the whole idea of digitally inserting modern actors in old films for comedic purposes is well ahead of its time. Some of the stuff in there is a bit dated (it's unbelievable how many Matrix parodies the early 2000s gave us. Not sure how they'll age), but I think it really is an excellent comedy. Very hard to rate however, I'm still not sure whether this is funny like a good comedy or funny like The Room.

Next, I went for The Man Who Laughs. Between this and La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc which I saw last week, 1928 was an excellent year for film. Conrad Veidt is such a great actor and the entire supporting cast is worthy of praise. I can't even fathom how painful the prostheses must have been that contorted his face in that eternal Glasgow smile, but it's a look that puts the otherwise very handsome Veidt so far in the uncanny valley that he's scarier than a lot of horror monsters. No wonder that his appearance was later swiped to serve as the look for the Joker, which is probably this films most enduring legacy.

The story is based on a book by Victor Hugo, so there's a good chance that it's one of those rare films that end up overshadowing the book they were based on. Hugo was too verbose for his own good and his lifelong obsession with depressing people probably is on full display as I see that the book ending is a lot bleaker. The film has a lot more enjoyable take on events and I love how they set this relatively simple love story in such a gloomy atmosphere. The world on display in this film just feels slightly off, you feel that something is wrong with it, even though you cannot put your finger on it. Finally, there is also a dog with a relatively unexpected name in the movie. I get why the philosopher owner chose that name for the dog and the canine actor did a wonderful job, but that name made the title cards really a source of unintentional comedy. If anyone feels like seeing a great film and simultaneously testing whether there is still a 10-year-old boy lurking within, then this is definitely the movie for you.

After that my luck ran out however. After hearing about the relatively positive reception the new Mortal Kombat film received I decided to check it out. Safe to say I would have rather watched the 1995 version again, at least that one was so horrifically bad it was funny. The latest Mortal Kombat is just so thoroughly average we shall all forget it existed by the time they reboot it or turn it into a sequel. The effects were bad, the acting wooden and the story was absolutely horrific. I don't understand why they introduced that lame-ass white boy main character who isn't even in the game. Like, I don't play Mortal Kombat, but if you have such a back catologue to pull from you'd expect they'd only bring in a new character if they had a really good idea for their storyline. 

This morning I started binging Castlevania after the positive reception on here and because I wanted to take a break from Justified. I am just about to start the third season and I must admit I'm hooked. I'm not a big consumer of anime style shows, but when they get it right, they do so spectacularly. The voice actors are great, the action is nice and I really enjoy the world building. Never played the games before but the idea of forge masters for instance is really memorable. I did think the first season was more memorable than the second season however, just because I feel like they rushed through the story a little bit. Curious to see how it will go from where I left off.

 

[kairparavel]

2 hours ago, Veltigar said:

I don't understand why they introduced that lame-ass white boy main character who isn't even in the game

Lewis Tan is the lame-ass white boy? 

The movie was garbage, but I never saw the original nor played the video game so I don't suffer from nostalgia on it.

[Veltigar]

7 minutes ago, kairparavel said:

Lewis Tan is the lame-ass white boy? 

He looks pretty white to me and the fact that they shoehorn him in as the lead character also suggests he's white given Hollywood's track record on that front, but Wikipedia does indeed teach me he identifies as half-Chinese. Let this be a lesson in how relative these american racial identities are to people from the outside.

11 minutes ago, kairparavel said:

Lewis Tan is the lame-ass white boy? 

The movie was garbage, but I never saw the original nor played the video game so I don't suffer from nostalgia on it.

Never played the game either and saw the original as an adult only. The 1995 film is a lot worse than Mortal Kombat 2021, but it punches far above its weight because it fails in such a hilarious way. Kind of like The Room, Troll 2 or Samurai Cop. That is almost a genre of films on its own. The 2021 version is more competently made, but it is so bland and generic as to be worse overall.

[Zorral]

Watched some more of Halston.  One cannot miss the Versailles show, but there wasn't enough of that. Instead endless scenes of the guy moaning and tantruming.  It is so boring.  At least the way it's being done, which means most of the screen time. It's kinda hilarious to see Liza Minnelli portrayed as the secure, non self-destructive, sober, non-diva one in contrast to him!

Halston is not that interesting in himself, outside his real, spectacular talent for fashion and creating some brilliant clothes.  I have a friend who worked for 'his' organization in the early 1980's, when she was just a kid, one of the seamstresses.  She was entirely in awe of him as a creator, but thought he was a business idiot.  "He really needed a manager, but his genius wouldn't allow for that as an idea." She loved working for him though.

[Cas Stark]

Still watching Halston.  It's one of those 'not sure what is wrong with it' shows.  It's okay, but it feels like a huge missed opportunity, very paint by numbers, it muddles along with the various external signposts in his life but doesn't give much insight.  Halston does all kinds of stuff, but we don't get much of a sense of 'why' he is doing it, who he is.   

[Nictarion]

I watched a couple movies last night. First one was Those Who Wish Me Dead. Action/thriller directed by Taylor Sheridan. It was ok. Bit generic, and certainly nothing too memorable. Definitely closer to Yellowstone quality than anything from his Frontier Trilogy. Not sure Angelina Jolie was the best choice for the lead role. I didn’t really connect with her character like I did Emily Blunt’s in Sicario or Elizabeth Olsen’s in Wind River. It’s worth watching once though. 

The other one was Saint Maud. Horror/drama from A24. I liked this one much more. Pretty intense and disturbing stuff. It’s about a religious fanatic nurse who had a mental breakdown after a work related trauma. Definitely recommend it if you like slow burn psychological type horror. Impressive feature debut from the director Rose Glass. 

[Mindwalker]

I enjoyed the first two seasons of Anne with an E, but am really struggling to get through the third and final season. It's not the themes, but the pacing and the execution... some scenes others deem iconic made me cringe. No idea if the showrunners, directors  or writers changed after s2 or even s1, but something did.

Anyway, the cinematography is great and so are most of the actors. (And now I'm trying to get hold of the Downton Abbey movie only because Geraldine James is in it... )

I think I may try Succession next.

[SpaceChampion]

Anyone watch Cruel Summer?  Is it any good?  Looks from the trailer like a 13 Reasons Why type sad teen show.

[Zorral]

3 hours ago, Mindwalker said:

I enjoyed the first two seasons of Anne with an E, but am really struggling to get through the third and final season. It's not the themes, but the pacing and the execution... some scenes others deem iconic made me cringe. No idea if the showrunners, directors  or writers changed after s2 or even s1, but something did.

Anyway, the cinematography is great and so are most of the actors. (And now I'm trying to get hold of the Downton Abbey movie only because Geraldine James is in it... )

I think I may try Succession next.

I hated Anne With An E so much I didn't even go to the first ep of the third season.

There was so little retained of the sheer charm that made the books classic reading for kids and YAs and adults too, particularly Anne's imaginative powers that transformed her real world geography into her own kingdoms, which, in the books we see from inside Anne's own vision, but in the series, no. I was so disappointed.

[dog-days]

12 hours ago, Mindwalker said:

I enjoyed the first two seasons of Anne with an E, but am really struggling to get through the third and final season. It's not the themes, but the pacing and the execution... some scenes others deem iconic made me cringe. No idea if the showrunners, directors  or writers changed after s2 or even s1, but something did.

Anyway, the cinematography is great and so are most of the actors. (And now I'm trying to get hold of the Downton Abbey movie only because Geraldine James is in it... )

I think I may try Succession next.

Geraldine James is fantastic. I first saw her on VHS as Sarah Layton in The Jewel in the Crown. 

[Veltigar]

Finished season 3 of Castlevania. Could have done without the animated sex scenes, but I guess this sort of animation almost demands it. 

Spoiler

I miss Dracula as a villain. Carmilla and her fluffy council are a bit too on the nose for me. The Judge was a great villain, but I feel like they pulled the twist that he was a child murderer out of thin air in the last two episodes. Jason Isaacs is a great voice actor though and his villains are always brilliant so perhaps the casting was the clue?

If I were to rank the plotlines this season I would rank them like this:

1. Isaak
2. Belmond and company
3. Hector
4. Alucard

 

All in all, I keep loving the voice acting, visuals and certain aspects of the world building. The plots are getting thinner though, so perhaps it is for the best that this ends after season 4.

[RhaenysBee]

I watched Defending Jacob. And it was quite good for the first 7 episodes. They had a strong cast with convincing acting - except for Jacob himself, but that worked perfectly well for the story. And yes there were some plot holes to save time/for convenience, but ultimately the story was working because the characters were likable and imperfect, I cared about what happens to them, and the ambiguity of the crime was sustained quite cleverly, as each side operated from a strong bias. 

And then... the last episode happened. I can honestly say, I have no idea what the intention was. The subversion of expectations (which is such a two edged blade and productions need to stop being so caught up in it, because you can 100% write a beautiful, intelligent and meaningful story without subverting any damn expectations) happened, then it “dishappened”. Then something else was subverted, and that subversion was also subverted. And by the end there was virtually no resolution or answers to anything in any way, all threads were left open.

Maybe this is a structure that some people enjoy. I personally hate when a film or a series has no conclusion. This is not classic literature and it is not about the meaning of life that one wishes to contemplate for days on. It’s a crime story with a dash of sloppy psychology and I have neither the motivation nor the reason to think more about who did what and why, after the story failed to draw this up in nearly 8 hours of runtime. 

The specifics - because this series pissed me off by the end. 

Spoiler

Let’s get past general plot holes like the issue of money, this Matt kid’s convenient disappearance, the journalist and the article that was dropped and never mentioned again. The kids’ love triangle/rectangle that ended up having no relevance in the story, the mum’s shit “friends”. Or that any professional would dump a giant report on parents with no medical/psychology education to “figure it out and call if they have a question”. (For crying out loud you can’t even dump a personality test on someone without a proper talk-through session because misinterpretation can cause severe damage.)

on what the f grounds was Christ Evans being interrogated by the mean DA throughout the series? We never found out what was the reason for that. Is that related to the “accident”? To his job? To the crime case? I don’t know. 
did his creepy child survive the crash after all, is he really recovering? Was the accident really an accident? And does repeating this five times prove that it was? Is the mum not under police surveillance? Is she not questioned? Why? Why not? Does she remember what happened? Does she not? This was at some point insinuated but it was also insinuated that she’s dead or she left Chris Evans or their creepy child is dead. 

Was the murder case ever reopened in light of recent events? Why not? What really happened to the girl in Mexico? And what really happened to the creepy child’s shirt?  Who determined that Leopnard committed suicide and how? Who double checked that? How did the police NOT identify Lincoln as the same car that followed the Butlers... No..wait... the Barbers(!) around for weeks? If Chris Evans put two and two together in 10 minutes based on a hunch, HOW did nobody else even question the utterly ridiculous convenience of this? 

How does a mother descend to attempted suicide and murder in the matter of weeks, after she lived for months with the suspicion that her child might have been involved in the murder of another child. Please, film, explain the psychology of this to me, because it is far from obvious or self-explanatory that someone would descend in weeks to throwing their only child’s baby book into a trash bag because they are not sure if he’s done something nasty. Like how many years and how many rounds of uncertainty, attempts and tantrums and pleading and suffering and conflict and public humiliation and ostracism do you need to hit that kind of desperation and detachment? It just doesn’t make any sense. 

And we never found out who the hell killed that Ben kid after all. Seriously...