Watch, Watching, Watched -- Until the Sun Comes Up

[Raja]

Saw Power of the Dog, I think it was good, but not great. I wish there was more subtelty to cumberbatch's ( and several of the other actors) performance & the writing, but I think some of the that comes from the direction which they received. I think Campion's direction is generally good but with the actors, I feel like they could all have toned down the performance just a little - I think that's a weak point of her direction.

I don't think it was near to being oscar worthy in my books, but I can see why it got all those nominations.

[Week]

1 hour ago, Spockydog said:

And wot abot all us male pattern baldness victims? Who's slapping people to protect our honour, eh? Pffft. 

Has there been similar policing and bodily control over balding men's hair as black women's hair? 

Eta-- to be clear, not to defend the reaction at all or clutch pearls at the joke. There has been plenty of energy expended on the topic and most of it completely nonsensical (on all sides).

[Ran]

1 hour ago, JEORDHl said:

It was a surprisingly moving film, even if boosted perhaps by more or less centering a segment of society I'd not given a lot of thought to. We all loved it. There's a scene between Frank and Ruby toward the end that felt like the emotional rosette of the film, quite poignant.  

I had reconsidered and was part way through the film when you posted. Just finished. You're right, very moving, and that moment you speak of really worked.

I remember when the trailers used to tell us, "The feel  good movie of the year!", and CODA feels like it wins that title. And Troy Kotsur's win for Best Supporting Actor makes a whole lot more sense to me -- all three of Ruby's family were well-cast, but something about him was just perfection.

Worthy enough to be among the ten nominees, but not what I personally would have picked to win by any measure. Still, very good at pulling at the heartstrings.

[Veltigar]

I can't believe The Last Boyscout and The Last King of Scotland weren't bandied about now that we are randomly throwing movie titles around 

4 hours ago, Nictarion said:

Because it is a very good film.

And The Last Kingdom absolutely dropped off in the final couple seasons. I still enjoyed it overall, but I don’t see how anyone could argue otherwise. 

It's such a shame, because I loved season one. Watched it on the BBC when it came out, plugged it here and then read all the books that were out (and later read all the ones published during the course of the series). What strikes me the most in those two episodes of season 5 I have seen are the following two things:

1. The casting of this show is horrible. Compare all the great casting choices in that marvelous first season with the unmemorable bunch of Twilight rejects we have now and it is hard to care about anyone. 
2. The writing is so incredibly dumb. Any piece of television necessarily does some wonky stuff due to timing constraints (e.g. the constant teleporting between distant locations), but the good ones at least put thought into not making it glaringly obvious when stuff like that happens. The writers on that last season simply do not care. Gone are the wonderful battles in this series, gone are antagonists whose motives make sense and whose threats are scary because they are not wildly incompetent. It feels like they just shot a very poor first draft in those two episodes. I simply cannot understand how it comes that the cheapest thing of the entire production (i.e. the writing) is always the thing that causes so many problems.

[Ran]

@Veltigar

Yeah, interesting omissions. But the biggest omission of them all...

 

[briantw]

2 hours ago, Spockydog said:

And wot abot all us male pattern baldness victims? Who's slapping people to protect our honour, eh? Pffft. 

Maybe we'll get a good episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm out of all of this and it will have been worth it.

[Zorral]

3 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

umm, lets not compare the two. And this goes to show that people will vilify any movie/show that touches on things they care about and be perfectly fine with others, no matter how mediocre they may be.

 

I was teasing Veltigar -- that we value these two works in entirely opposite ways, is  funny (at least I think so!) and I assume both of us take that difference of opinion as amusing, while we both have rational reasons (in our own minds, anyway) for our attitude. So this isn't a matter calling for an Argument To The Death!   

[Zorral]

By the way you all seem to be missing an element in this fracas, that film Chris Rock made, in which he claims a special understanding of African American women and the issues the world has made of their hair.  Its was shockingly insensitive, to say the least, that he then, of all people were making mean jokes about a black woman and her hair.

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

[JGP]

It was pointed out, but a timely reminder is always welcome. 

[RhaenysBee]

Finished Bridgerton. Oh boy. There was a momentum, when it seemed like the show was going somewhere, and then it fell flat on its… back. It wasn’t terrible but it botched a big opportunity. There were interesting storylines and some great character moments. But there were some huge problems with the main story and cohesion in general. 

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

 

[Isis]

Finished Spencer this evening and i thought it was fantastic. Definitely looked like an Oscar-worthy performance from here. 

[BigFatCoward]

2 hours ago, Week said:

Has there been similar policing and bodily control over balding men's hair as black women's hair? 

 

I'm aware of far more issues where balding men are mocked and humiliated than black womens hair, what are you referring to? Genuinely I don't even know what you are talking about  'control over black women's hair' is a term I've never heard before. 

[Cas Stark]

“Jada, I love you – I can’t wait for GI Jane 2”.  This is all he said.  Seems pretty mild, not some horrible, next level disrespectful, abusive comment designed to humiliate her.  It doesn't even specifically mention her hair, and probably a good half of the audience has never heard of GI Jane and wouldn't even have understood the joke.  

[Conflicting Thought]

11 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

I'm aware of far more issues where balding men are mocked and humiliated than black womens hair, what are you referring to? Genuinely I don't even know what you are talking about  'control over black women's hair' is a term I've never heard before. 

really? i have heard a lot of black women talking about this, and really black people in general,  for example in work enviroments or in schools it happens all the time that dreads or black natural hair is seen as dirty or less professional etc. like there is a lot of history and info on this topic, maybe a quick google search?

and perhaps there is a reason why balding MEN (and generally white men) issues are more visible?

edited to add that i find will smith's reaction to be wrong.

[Relic]

15 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

I'm aware of far more issues where balding men are mocked and humiliated than black womens hair, what are you referring to? Genuinely I don't even know what you are talking about  'control over black women's hair' is a term I've never heard before. 

 

Just because you never heard of it doesn't mean it's not a thing. Curly hair shaming definitely happened. 

However, that has nothing to do with Rock's "joke". 

I'm surprised at ppl defending Smith here, and wonder why those people think male on male violence is acceptable. The idea that it is somehow masculine to assault comedian for making a shitty joke about your wife is fucking insane. 

. 

[aceluby]

2 minutes ago, Cas Stark said:

“Jada, I love you – I can’t wait for GI Jane 2”.  This is all he said.  Seems pretty mild, not some horrible, next level disrespectful, abusive comment designed to humiliate her.  It doesn't even specifically mention her hair, and probably a good half of the audience has never heard of GI Jane and wouldn't even have understood the joke.  

I am honestly surprised that anyone would defend assault for this.  This is Kanye West levels of pompous arrogance mixed with misogynistic violence from a bygone era.  It should not be defended.

[DMC]

17 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

I'm aware of far more issues where balding men are mocked and humiliated than black womens hair

I think Smith's actions are clearly inexcusable (as does he apparently, considering he apologized) but c'mon, you can't see how losing one's hair may lead to more humiliation, insecurity and sensitivity about it for a woman - any woman - than a man?

[JGP]

1 minute ago, Relic said:

Just because you never heard of it doesn't mean it's not a thing. Curly hair shaming definitely happened. 

However, that has nothing to do with Rock's "joke". 

I'm surprised at ppl defending Smith here, and wonder why those people think male on male violence is acceptable. 

Defending... I don't know, bro. Understanding? Absolutely. 

Of note, and I shouldn't have to say it because it's so on the nose it should be evident, but the vast majority of outrage over The Slap is white, which suggests some things. Jump into Black twitter, Mike, and/or check out what they're saying in intracommunal spaces. It's enlightening. 

Insofar as male on male violence, you know how I feel about that.

Dude One wants to run his mouth, that's fine. But mean it, understand that words too can be violent, and that Dude Two may not react the way you expect for a variety of reasons.

I agree with Ran that some form or warning should've been given [my go to was always, 'Are we going to have a problem here?'] but honestly, and this will be taking the current threadjack to the extreme-- but collectively we might not even be having arguments about cAnCeL cUlTuRe if more people had got busted in the mouth for saying grossly insensitive and/or hateful shit.       

[Relic]

4 minutes ago, JEORDHl said:

Defending... I don't know, bro. Understanding? Absolutely. 

Of note, and I shouldn't have to say it because it's so on the nose it should be evident, but the vast majority of outrage over The Slap is white, which suggests some things. Jump into Black twitter, Mike, and/or check out what they're saying in intracommunal spaces. It's enlightening. 

Insofar as male on male violence, you know how I feel about that.

Dude One wants to run his mouth, that's fine. But mean it, understand that words too can be violent, and that Dude Two may not react the way you expect for a variety of reasons.

 

Bro, it's a comedian at the oscars (puke) doing his job. Its not some drunk asshole in a bar being gross (which is how I got into my last, and hopefully final, fight)