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

[Isis]

3 hours ago, RumHam said:

@Isis They removed that type of formatting with the last update. You have to highlight the text and click the eye symbol that's at the top of the editor along with the bold, italics, underline, etc.

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Yeah, the "oceanic six" stuff was all real. Only the "flash-sideways" stuff was not real life. It was basically where their "souls" or whatever killed time until they were ready to truly move on. Presumably time works differently in the afterlife so no one had to wait around for the last of them to die.

 

Thanks for the assist. I guessed I had missed something in an update. Have fixed it now.

Spoiler

Yeah, it's the time question that was bugging me the most. I know that Jack's father says 'there is no now here' when Jack asks 'why is everyone here now?' But I was still thinking (so linear of me!): oh, but what if the last one of them dies like 60 years after the first one? But you think they just lived their life (as normal lol) and after they died they could all be in the same place together. Ok.

 

[Isis]

3 hours ago, DMC said:

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I've always thought Christian explained all of this pretty clearly in the finale - which was obviously Lindelof and Cuse trying to head off these questions by having Jack ask them:

The flash-sideways timeline is an afterlife reality that the survivors "created" to find one another before moving on to..full afterlife, I guess...which based on the finale imagery, as well as Charlie's description of seeing Claire when he was suffocating in the flash-sideways timeline, appears to just be your standard straight-up heaven. 

When Juliet dies, she says she has something very important to tell Sawyer, and then Miles later tells him she wanted to say "it worked."  The clear implication is that Faraday's attempt to change the future/past so the Oceanic flight never crashed did "work" in creating that place for all of them to find each other.  (Note when Juliet dies and starts speaking nonsense to Sawyer, what she's actually saying is the conversation she has with Sawyer in the flash-sideways timeline when they "find" each other.)

As for Desmond, yeah, the reasoning basically can be chalked up to he's special - as he clearly is emphasized throughout the series as unique, especially after imploding the hatch (which arguably is when he acquired his time and perhaps universe-bending abilities).

Finally, on Richard aging - when he and Miles are rowing to Hydra Island to try and blow up the plane, Miles finds a grey hair on Richard's head.  Richard then smiles and says something to the effect of "I just realized I want to live."  I've always interpreted that as Richard started aging once Jacob died, but he'll start from whatever age he was when Jacob gave him his gift, so he's still probably at least got a good 40 years or so left.

 

Thanks. I'm so frazzled from work-stress/covid nonsense I can't even remember if I had made sense of/peace with all this in previous viewings and just 'forgot' about it, or if I just didn't engage with it 100% or what.

[Zorral]

https://deadline.com/2022/03/michael-hirst-series-mania-1234984090/

This is something we really don't need.

By the way, for those unfamiliar with New Mexico history -- Billy the Kid was a psychopathic, non-bright, pipsqueak. Nothing heroic or charming or even attractive at all.

[Ran]

I've watched three Oscar nominated films in the last few days. Two of them are literary adaptations: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi's Drive My Car, adapting Haruki Murakami's short story of the same name (plus folding in elements of two others), and Gulliermo del Toro's Nightmare Alley, adapting the 1946 novel of the same name by William Lindsay Gersham (first adapted in a 1947 version starring Tyrone Power).

Of the two, Drive My Car was the most affecting. Hamaguchi's direction style is minimalist, and everything moves at a very deliberate pace. It is, it must be said, a long film; but it moved so adroitly from scene to scene, and each scene meant something to the broader story, that it kept me engaged. It's a story about loss, more than anything, and how one deals with it, especially when it leaves a sense of something being incomplete and unresolvable. The use of Chekov's Uncle Vanya throughout the film is, perhaps, a little over-obvious, but it all really comes together into something very beautiful. Hat's off to Hidetoshi Nishijima for his performance, full of gravitas and weariness, which is so central to the film. Also to the direction and cinematography in general, which just lets the camera rest in a way that reminds me a little bit of Ozu.

Nightmare Alley is a very different beast, a noir film (I refuse to call it "neo-noir" just because it was made in 2021) about a Depression-era Okie who falls into the life of a carny and has aspirations for more. As with all of Del Toro's work, the cinematography and production values are impeccable, and the performances -- especially Bradley Cooper as Stan -- are excellent. This is right up my alley, so to speak...

And yet. It's very polished. Maybe too much so. The craft of it is constantly calling attention to itself. I fear Del Toro's increasing self-assurance also means he's increasingly wanting to just use every trick in the book, to the detriment of the film. There was something occasionally magical about The Shape of Water, its love of cinema and fantasy, but this one lacks that.

And finally, the third film: Paul Thomas Anderson's Licorice Pizza. I love (most of) this movie. Impeccable production values and cinematography, yes... but all to place you there in early 1970's southern California, into the life of confident, go-get'em 15-year-old actor Gary Valentine (very charmingly played by Cooper Hoffman, son of the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman) as he falls head-over-heels for a rather rootless young woman a decade his senior (played by Haim pop rock band sibling Alana Haim). The soundtrack is, naturally, terrific. Terrific cameo by Bradley Cooper as the coked-up Jon Peters. 

The only flaw to me comes in the last third or so, when Alana's story turns towards volunteering for a political campaign for mayor, which as an individual thing is perfectly good but I'm not entirely sure that the elements of it flow naturally together with what had come before. I can see what the script is trying to achieve but it felt a stretch just a little too far.

That said, it's just beautiful, and definitely was the film of the three that pulled at the heart-strings the most. OTOH, Drive My Car really stuck with me and I've been thinking off and on about the film's message and meaning -- Licorice Pizza is more straightforward in this regard.

Just have to see Belfast and CODA (though from what I hear about it I probably won't bother.) Based on what I've seen so far this year, though, I think my personal favorite film of the year is Licorice Pizza, but Drive My Car is a very close second (and may resonate more with those voters who saw it), but realistically I think it might be the very good (but rather intellectually cool, for me) Power of the Dog that will take the Best Picture award.

 

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

29 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Having watched a few current seasons of ITV and BBC shows, I see why the right is so up in arms over the BBC, at least.  As matter-of-course w/o any comment we have primaries who aren't white / male.  We have supporting regulars who aren't either. We even have differently abled -- which I began to see in the later Veras, adapted from the Ann Cleeves book series.  It's quite nice to see the variety of people who live in the UK reflected on the screen in which their non-whiteness and cultures aren't used as a plot, i.e. a problem to be solved.  So often, even for well meaning efforts, as with women in roles where screens generally didn't place them in ye good old golden days, they were still viewed as "a problem."

I dunno. Personally I think a lot of the higher profile clowns are cynically manufacturing a culture war issue to get clicks/views/votes. No one can be that outraged about everything all the time.

This is "the war on Christmas" by another name. They'd have nothing to talk about otherwise. The problem is that there's no shortage of idiots that get suckered by this stuff. 

[Zorral]

3 hours ago, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

No one can be that outraged about everything all the time.

Well, you know, for some reason They think We won't know what They are really outraged by: female characters who aren't under 23, wearing hardly anything except extreme stilettos, who weigh 80 lbs. Forced to look at people who don't look like that is an outrage I tell ya! This bringing down Civilization!

[sologdin]

just watched fury road for the first time and now have an insatiable desire to drive at maximum speed everywhere.

 

Nightmare Alley, adapting the 1946 novel

it's a decent film but purists of the novel may be annoyed with it. agreed regarding the new PTA--it's marvelous.

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

Bridgerton S1 E6:

DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYUM!!! 

Also: 

Nicola Coughlan, the actor who plays Penelope is 35 years old according to her Wiki page. She's supposed to be 17 in the show. I swear she looks 12.

Golda Rosheuvel rocks as Queen Charlotte. Those wigs are beyond epic. That scene at Daphne and Simon's wedding reception where the queen is eaves dropping on the conversation about Lady Whistledown had me laughing. Lady Danbury and Eloise are in sharp focus in the foreground having their argument and Queen Charlotte is in soft focus in the background. As soon as "Lady Whistledown" is name dropped, you see this blurry, bejeweled, brunette skyscraper slowly rotate to face them. Brilliant, subtle physical comedy and well shot. I love it. 

Try to blame me. 

 

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

1 hour ago, Zorral said:

Well, you know, for some reason They think We won't know what They are really outraged by: female characters who aren't under 23, wearing hardly anything except extreme stilettos, who weigh 80 lbs. Forced to look at people who don't look like that is an outrage I tell ya! This bringing down Civilization!

Except Gina Corano. Apparently she needs to protected at all costs.

[Zorral]

1 hour ago, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

She's supposed to be 17 in the show. I swear she looks 12.

A F2F interview w/ her I read, says her complexion is even better than that in RL.  The interviewer saw photos of some of her close older relatives and they look the same.  This is that greatly praised Irish peaches and cream. strawberries and cream, etc. family genetic thing I've seen praised over decades in Brit writing.  (Evidently men don't have it though, so -- UnFair?)

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

5 hours ago, sologdin said:

just watched fury road for the first time and now have an insatiable desire to drive at maximum speed everywhere.

Leaving the theater after seeing that film masterpiece, motoring back to my apartment in my Toyota Yaris hatchback was hugely anticlimactic. "Why can't you have two superchargers connected in series?!?", I might have said to no one in particular. 

2 hours ago, Zorral said:

A F2F interview w/ her I read, says her complexion is even better than that in RL.  The interviewer saw photos of some of her close older relatives and they look the same.  This is that greatly praised Irish peaches and cream. strawberries and cream, etc. family genetic thing I've seen praised over decades in Brit writing.  (Evidently men don't have it though, so -- UnFair?)

She's also quite wee. The google describes her height as 5'1". I think that's a tad optimistic. That or some of her co-stars are taller than average. 

I also asked the google to explain "Irish peaches and cream" and it only showed me pictures of dessert. 

[Zorral]

Maybe it's from an older generation? It was a typical compliment for describing a young lady, to say she had a "peaches and cream" or "strawberries and cream" complexion, like  describing a young lady as an "English rose".  Maybe they're not in use now?  I spend so much time with narratives out of previous centuries -- and spent so much time with my Great-grandparents and their circles, when I was of impressionable age, such things have always been a part of my rhetorical arsenal too.  But if you google just 'peaches and cream complexion' leaving out Irish, you get lots and lots and lots, including images.

 

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

Now I'm watching Derry Girls clips on youtube. I'm going down the Nicola Coughlan rabbit hole. Oh, good! it's available for streaming on Canadian Netflix. Two seasons. Pray for me. 

[Zorral]

I'm not gonna pray for you one little bit -- it's fun and funny! I watched Derry Girls on Netflix too, after @Veltigar praised the show.  

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

A teen comedy that takes place in Northern Ireland during the troubles. Wow.

 

[Veltigar]

1 hour ago, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

A teen comedy that takes place in Northern Ireland during the troubles. Wow.

 

It's so low-key, but also just so damn good. I love the pairing of the priest and Sister Michael 

The third and final season is arriving soon (and the trailer looks amazing):

 

2 hours ago, Zorral said:

I'm not gonna pray for you one little bit -- it's fun and funny! I watched Derry Girls on Netflix too, after @Veltigar praised the show.  

Championing this series here is still one of the achievements I'm most proud of in all my board years  It's rare when you discover a gem like this and great to be able to share it  

[Zorral]

1 hour ago, Veltigar said:

It's rare when you discover a gem like this and great to be able to share it  

It sure is!  Thank you.   

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

I just finished season 1 of Derry Girls. That is one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. There were episodes where I was chuckling from start to finish. That whole thing with Erin's diary had me in stitches. Also the episode with the resurrected dog. 

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

Finished season 2 of Derry Girls. 

"K.D. Lang" Exactly the kind of compliment grandad would make "to be friendly". Halfway reminded me of a Paul Hogan anecdote my father once quoted to a group of Australian Air Force personnel. My 20 year old niece, who's also a big fan of the show, had to look up "K.D. Lang".

"Keyser Söze" Dying. I was fucking dying. 

[Zorral]

Shall I admit to having attended K.D. Lang concerts?