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Watch Watched Watching: Danny Ocean's Star Wars with Groundhog Zombies and Aliens at the Edge of 28 Days later than Tomorrow


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3 hours ago, Ranivaka said:

Just finished watching Quo Vadis, Aida?, a searing, harrowing historical drama about the infamous Srebrenica Massacre during the Bosnian War. Very taut piece of writing and direction from Jasmila Žbanić, which was in contention at the Venice Film Festival, was an Oscar nominee, and won the International Film prize at the Spirit Awards.

The film is anchored by Jasna Đuričić’s steely, desperate performance as the eponymous Aida, who is working as a tranlator for the Dutch UN peacekeeping force who has to deal withnthe fact that her sons and husband are among the refugees and aren’t being allowed into the “safety” of the UN base.. The real horror of what happened was the failure of the UN, NATO, the a Dutch government, and the peacekeepers on the ground to act. Repeatedly ignored ultimatums without reprisal led to increasingly outrageuos actions from the Serbian forces commanded by Ratko Mladić (played by Boris Isaković as a man full of a self-aggrandizing bluster that fails to obscure his ruthlessness), and failures at all levels left Dutchbat standing idly by as atrocities happened unser their very noses.

It’s a powerful film about genocide and about the failure of international institutions. Very recommended.

You might find this 1997 film of interest too -- Welcome to Sarajevo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_to_Sarajevo

 

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I watched Operation Finale on Netflix, a film about the Mossad operation to kidnap Adolf Eichmann from Argentina and bring him to justice. While I knew what the outcome was I didn't know any of the details of the operation so it was interesting to see its portrayal of what happened. I thought it told the story efficiently and Oscar Isaac and Ben Kingsley were good in the lead roles, but it did remind me a lot of Munich at times and I think in comparison it did feel a bit uninspired in terms of the film-making.

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Went to see A Quiet Place II today. So happy to be able to see films in the movie theatre again, although it is a tad sad that there were only two of us there. I'm not sure whether it's the contrast with the last film I saw in theatre (Vin Diesel's Bloodshot IIRC) or whether CoVID has just made me soft but I thought that this was a really excellent sequel.

Going in, I had heard a lot of good things about it, but usually my expectations for a sequel are quite low. This was however quite a pleasant surprise. I liked the old characters just as much as before, but I also really enjoyed the new characters. I appreciated the action and the story, particularly I was a big fan of the writer's approach of not adding any lore about the monsters' background into the picture. Unlike other genre movie sequels I can think of (John Wick is the example that comes to mind), this film understands that adding in more details about what the monsters are and what drove them to earth can only hurt the film's appeal.

They only make one mistake against this which is 

Spoiler

introducing the rule that the monsters cannot swim, which makes them vastly less threatening given the fact that there are so many islands and boats out there.

I also thought that the film made clever use of jump scares. It didn't shove them in your face the entire time, but when they did happen they were effective. All in all, A Quieter Place (the title in my heart) was worth going to see at the movies and I would definitely go and watch a third film in this franchise is the original director keeps standing behind it.

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39 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Sad? SAD?!?!? 

My two best movie going experiences were when there were just two of us in the theater.....

Crowded theaters are great for event movies like Endgame.  For horror movies obviously an empty theater is superior.

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44 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Sad? SAD?!?!? 

My two best movie going experiences were when there were just two of us in the theater.....

I'd like to be going to the theatre for many more years, so I'd like them to not go bankrupt :P

And perhaps more to the point, A Quiet Place definitely benefits from a larger (though respectful) crowd even though it is a horror film. The total silence during the first one was quite something to behold and added to the experience.

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29 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

I mean, I was talking about getting laid in one theater and hot boxing another, but sure.

If you'd see the theatres we have to go to, you'd probably keep your pants on just to avoid a disease :P

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On 6/22/2021 at 8:07 AM, Heartofice said:

Another show I’m enjoying is Black Summer. Feel it’s a zombie show they really flew under the radar with its first season. It deals with what living in a zombie apocalypse is like in a way that really makes Walking Dead look pedestrian ( not hard). First episode of season two was different. It seems brave enough to tell a story in a different way, and allow scenes to just go on and on. Might not be for everyone but I have such a dislike for all things Walkikg Dead related these days that I’m happy to jump onto team Black Summer 

I tried watching the first episode of this show two or three times and the main character is just so irritating (like nails down a blackboard) that I couldn't bear to watch any more. Perhaps I will give it a final try in the summer when I am more relaxed.

Yesterday I finished watching S3 of Thirteen Reasons Why. This season definitely had its moments - and it asked some interesting questions about redemption and change, whether 'bad people' who damage others are always going to be bad or whether they are allowed the opportunity to change and grow and move forwards. At the very least I think that shows that things are rarely black and white. The biggest theme of this show seems to be that everyone is struggling/having a hard time/being damaged by something. 

This season spent A LOT of time showing us that poor old Bryce was the product of a toxic family, that he had no role models, wasn't loved etc - he was portrayed as a almost a victim in the first three quarters of the season. But then towards the end (i.e. the part of the timeline immediately before his murder) he is shown as being very much like his old self, making threats, punishing people who take 'his things' etc. So I'm a bit confused as to the tone there. He's undergone all this development and thought about his behaviours and wants to change ...but he's actually still the same horrible person who deserves to be murdered? That just felt a bit wonky.

However, the ending did seem a little bit 'neat' and convenient. 

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On Black Summer, I’d stick with it. I remember that first episode took me a few attempts to get into as well. It’s interesting that the first 15 minutes does seem quite conventional, not dissimilar to Fear the Walking dead. 
 

Aftet the first 15 mins, it flips into a different story and you get a sense of the way the show tells its narratives. There also isn’t so much a central character to the show, which isn’t apparent if you just dip in. The story tends to jump around and just drop into events and then back out. It’s unusual 

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Finished up the two seasons of Dirty John.  Both stories reminded me of old lifetime movies my mom would watch, but with high production quality.  My wife and I enjoyed the first season more than the 2nd.  On to Devs tonight and save the new Loki episode for when my new center speaker and sub come tomorrow.

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On 6/23/2021 at 8:42 AM, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

I think thats part of the problem for me. At some point Star Wars transitioned from "What new shit can we introduce into this universe" to nostalgia, callbacks, easter eggs, and cameos. 

If they ever do a Knights of the Old Republic trilogy; something set at the dawn of the republic or the Jedi civil war, I'd be in. Something set in the SW universe but is completely removed from the Skywalker saga. The KOTR cinematics continue to blow me away. 

Speaking of Jeff Bridges, all the Big Lebowski talk made me think of another film of his that needs more attention: Arlington Road.  Excellent film.  Terrifying. 

Finally some love for that film. Arlington Road is a masterpiece. So much suspense and what an ending. It's probably the most grown up film I own and I usually rewatch it every year or so.

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Last night I saw a movie. A great movie, or should I say a terrible great movie, and I think you all need to see it too.

Tammy and the T-Rex is free on Showtime and a few other streaming services. Do yourself a favor and give it a whirl. 

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19 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Last night I saw a movie. A great movie, or should I say a terrible great movie, and I think you all need to see it too.

Tammy and the T-Rex is free on Showtime and a few other streaming services. Do yourself a favor and give it a whirl. 

Based on the wikipedia article this movie sounds amazing. 

Quote

Stewart Raffill says he was approached by a man who owned theatres in South America who had an animatronic T Rex which was going to a park in Texas. "The eyes worked. The arms moved. The head moved. He had it for two weeks before it was going to be shipped to Texas and he came to me and said, “We can make a movie with it!” I said, “What’s the story?” and he said, “I don’t have a story, but we have to start filming within the month!” and so I wrote the story in a week."[2]

 

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5 minutes ago, RumHam said:

Based on the wikipedia article this movie sounds amazing. 

 

The funniest part is you see the  animatronic T-Rex with little baby arms and then randomly it will be off screen and it's arms grow to be like 10 feet long and he fights people with them.

Also, Denise Richards does a strip tease for Paul Walker's brain in a fishbowl. The movie is fucking bonkers. 

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So getting the vaccine completely incapacitated me for three days (again), and I had the chance to watch a few things. 

I finished See. After a strong start it slowly started edging towards plain average. And when I say plain average, I still mean a solid 7/10, because I’m too strict. I still very much enjoy the quality characterization and world building. But the plot and the storytelling got a little wonky here and there. 

Spoiler

I do love 
-how they incorporate plastic waste into the world building. I wonder if this was something Jason Momoa pushed or just a happy coincidence, either way, it’s a beautiful statement

-that Maghra wasn’t a prop after all, as I had thought in the beginning, and got her own past and story, and I really really appreciate that the is a strong female character without being a “stRonG feMaLe cHarAcTer” trope. 
- the choreography is still excellent and creative, as are most characters

I really didn’t like 

- Boots and the level of plot device he is. I get that they attempted to weave this into his character and sometimes it even worked, but often it was just way too convenient. 
- the entire cave bit. These people are blind, how does the sinister darkness of the cave impact them psychologically so much? I thought the endeavor would be a chance for Haniwa to get a slap on her superiority complex and appreciate the incredible skill of the unsighted characters a tad more. Instead it’s just a weird back story for Boots, some fighting and a chance for Jason Momoa to do an unrealistic wall climbing scene. And it kept them from being found. But you know, it added nothing to the story. 
- the Jerlamarel plot was wrapped up way too soon and way too fast. Yes, everybody got the inkling that the guy is kind of an arse. Still, the Baba Voss vs Jerlemarel epic one on one combat scene with the fateful and epic climax of Voss blinding him was way too premature and a tad bit unearned on both sides. It should have been explored far longer and deeper how fucked up Jerlamarel was and Jason Momoa should have had at least one failed attempt to even the scores before he did. It was rushed and it took away valuable story from the characters just so we can move on to a bigger and badder villain next season? Eh… I mean I know the guy will stay around and cause a bit more trouble, but it’ll have a difficult time to impact the story or the characters as all the impact this persona could induce was used up in the 1 hour runtime of the season finale. 

I also watched Pride and Prejudice and I finally understand the hype. 

And that induced a bit of a Keira Knightly marathon and I also watched Atonement, which I didn’t like. Im so sorry, I know the cinematography and the acting is sublime but and the story has unlimited potential but the plot was so all over the place and the characters were so underdeveloped, I just couldn’t for the life of me love it. 

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