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Watched, Watch, Watching : Save the Wiseguys fundraiser


TheLastWolf

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50 minutes ago, mormont said:
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He knows. But he doesn't realise she has the mask and has set him up with it until it's too late. He underestimates her, as do all the other characters. That's the point.

Oh, that's one of the best things about the film. It makes the trappers as alien to the (English speaking) viewer as they are to the Comanche characters, if not quite as alien as the Predator. The European characters in this film are 'othered' to the viewer by the decision not to subtitle them or have them speak in English, in the process shifting our perspective and avoiding any risk of losing the immersion we have with the Comanche. It's genius.

Yeah the problem was with my expectations, I expected it to switch or something so it was taking me out of the moment.

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On 8/7/2022 at 10:04 AM, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

 

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The pistol she gets from the French fur trader* is the same pistol grandpa-predator gives to Danny Glover at the end of Predator 2. Meaning, at some point, a predator encounters that tribe or one of their descendants at collects the pistol in some viscral, action-packed way. 

I'm critical of films that rely too heavily or clumsily on meaningless easter eggs as story telling devices, but that was a good one. 

*I don't know if the Commanche ever made it that far north, but based on the "Northern Great Plains" setting and the presence of the French, it's strongly implied the setting is modern day southern Manitoba. Maybe the Pembina valley or Whiteshell provincial park. I don't know where filming took place. 

 

In regards to your hidden comment

Spoiler

One consistent thing across all the Predator movies is their efforts not to leave a trace, ranging from the use of small tactical nukes, to destroying their ships, or just collecting their dead.   So I assumed the ship that dropped off the Predator in Prey, returned for his body and came after the Commanche to recover his head.    Naru seems to suspect this as the last thing she says is they should move their camp.  

 

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I watched Belfast (2021). Ciarán Hinds perhaps was the best thing. All the actors were top notch at delivering the character they were to deliver: Caitríona Balfe as the nervy (as they might have said in 1969), high stuong, tough minded wife and mom, Judi Dench, the little kid, Buddy, who is the stand-in for Branaugh's eye -- all the kid actors -- they all work very well.  The thorough mix of generations all living together on this one street in Belfast that year, all of them thoroughly familiar with each other and their larger families too -- Buddy's dad  (Jamie Dornan)knows one of the protestant 'organizers' so well, he could tell him to his face, that he wasn't thinking about politics or the people, but was nothing but a jumped up thug looking for his chance to bully and grift, made this film work.

 

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I watched Bullet Train today and I'm not happy about it. This is the worst 2022 film I have seen so far and I actually wish I hadn't supported it. If you haven't seen it yet, than I would recommend you wait until it hits streaming platforms, and that for two reasons. Firstly, it is not worth the price of admission and secondly, your enjoyment of the movie probably improves if you watch it while doing laundry or any other stupid but necessary menial chore.

It would probably feel like less of a waste that way, even though that is exactly what this movie is. A waste of time, a waste of money and above all a waste of talent. How someone manages to make such a bad film with such an amazing cast is just beyond me. With the exception of the Mexican guy (who is some singer apparently), everyone in this movie is a professional and has (frequently) given great performances in other films. This movie though, manages to provoke even Michael Shannon into giving a bad performance. I didn't know the guy had it in him but this movie proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that even the best thespians are fallible.

The directing is an absolute clusterfuck. If I didn't know David Leitch has made a few passable films in the past, I would have guessed that they had gotten some scientifically illiterate Weeaboo with a severe case of ADHD to direct this film. There are way too many characters, none of them make a lick of sense, the plot ceaselessly and pointlessly skips around. They are also really weird about he mechanics and use of bullet trains. I almost think you'd get more of a feel for how those work by watching Snow Piercer.

The fights are also incredibly lame. There is none of the kinetic energy of John Wick in here, just some confused whimpers that echo it. The third act decides to completely ignore the laws of physics, but it doesn't do anything interesting with it. It just feels like a scene someone wanted to stick into one of the latter Fast & the Furious sequels but was told not to because it wasn't cool enough.

The best thing about the film were some musical choices (but the Japanese covers of famous pop songs were not as numerous as I would have liked) and the cameos (there is a certain actor in here who is quickly becoming the new king of cameos after the death of Stan Lee). Everything else is a raging garbage fire. 

12 hours ago, TheLastWolf said:

I'm somewhat convinced :D

B)

 

 

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32 minutes ago, Veltigar said:

I watched Bullet Train today and I'm not happy about it. This is the worst 2022 film I have seen so far and I actually wish I hadn't supported it. If you haven't seen it yet, than I would recommend you wait until it hits streaming platforms, and that for two reasons. Firstly, it is not worth the price of admission and secondly, your enjoyment of the movie probably improves if you watch it while doing laundry or any other stupid but necessary menial chore.

It would probably feel like less of a waste that way, even though that is exactly what this movie is. A waste of time, a waste of money and above all a waste of talent. How someone manages to make such a bad film with such an amazing cast is just beyond me. With the exception of the Mexican guy (who is some singer apparently), everyone in this movie is a professional and has (frequently) given great performances in other films. This movie though, manages to provoke even Michael Shannon into giving a bad performance. I didn't know the guy had it in him but this movie proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that even the best thespians are fallible.

The directing is an absolute clusterfuck. If I didn't know David Leitch has made a few passable films in the past, I would have guessed that they had gotten some scientifically illiterate Weeaboo with a severe case of ADHD to direct this film. There are way too many characters, none of them make a lick of sense, the plot ceaselessly and pointlessly skips around. They are also really weird about he mechanics and use of bullet trains. I almost think you'd get more of a feel for how those work by watching Snow Piercer.

The fights are also incredibly lame. There is none of the kinetic energy of John Wick in here, just some confused whimpers that echo it. The third act decides to completely ignore the laws of physics, but it doesn't do anything interesting with it. It just feels like a scene someone wanted to stick into one of the latter Fast & the Furious sequels but was told not to because it wasn't cool enough.

The best thing about the film were some musical choices (but the Japanese covers of famous pop songs were not as numerous as I would have liked) and the cameos (there is a certain actor in here who is quickly becoming the new king of cameos after the death of Stan Lee). Everything else is a raging garbage fire. 

B)

 

 

Glad to read this, I was considering going to see this and now I'll wait.

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12 hours ago, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

Disney's Robin Hood is one I've seen a bunch of times. 

I think The Good Dinosaur is underrated

 

I've had to watch this so many times. But it's very much a lion king rip off. 

I can no longer watch tangled since someone showed me tangled porn. 

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9 hours ago, dbunting said:

Glad to read this, I was considering going to see this and now I'll wait.

Reading this actually makes me feel somewhat better. At least my sacrifice was not in vain ;) 

I usually never book tickets before reviews come in, but since the restrictions of adult life give me less spare time and reservations for seats open up earlier and earlier I sometimes take chances. Those handsomely payed off for Top Gun 2 and Thor: Love & Thunder but with Bullet Train my run of good fortune came to an end.

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So Only Murders in the Building is a bit of a disappointment.

I really thought I'd found a gem after watching that first episode. It has Steve Martin and Martin Short who I think are two of the most underrated and sneered at comedic talents from the past decades. They have done some of my favourite things; Steve Martin did  The Man with Two Brains and The Jerk, Martin Short created Jiminy Glick who I think is a genius character, plus Innerspace was a favourite movie of mine when I was growing up.

And then Selena Gomez is more than just an annoying child star all grown, she did Spring Breakers which I really like.

The first episode of OMITB is very promising, I found myself eager for more and felt myself being sucked in really quickly. But the show very quickly loses much of what made it good and falls into a much lazier rhythm as the season plays out.

My main issue is that what I liked so much about that first episode; that this was a show about 3 sad lonely people with depressing lives, who use this podcast as a way of escaping their lives and troubles, tended to forget all that and turn into a 'caper' which is entirely interested in trying to be funny and pushing the story forward. 

Later on, the show almost has a gun to the audiences' head and shouting 'DO YOU LIKE THESE CHARACTERS NOW?! DO YOU LOVE THEM?! YOU FUCKING LOVE THEM RIGHT???!!!'... and no, I don't love them. I don't like them very much.. was I meant to? Martin Short's character is occasionally amusing, but the show just has them throwing quips at each other and never really delving into who any of them are once they are introduced. It's like the writers thought if they did the heavy lifting of introducing the characters early on they could then just get on with throwing plot points out instead. 

There is an episode where they meet fans of the podcast, who are these fawning sycophants who believe everyone on the podcast is amazing and they are so lucky to even be able to be in the same room as them. At times it felt like the writers of the show felt that was how viewers of the show should be.. a bunch of fawning sycophants who will love whatever they are served. 

Of course it also has a 'Sex in the City' smug New York aura that I find very off-putting. Is being rich and bored and living in an incredibly expensive NY apartment meant to be relatable? Hard to feel sympathy for people like this and not just kind of hate them a bit. 

It just made me think of those stand up comedians who are really funny, until they become successful and happy, because then they have nothing to write about. This feels like successful rich Hollywood types writing about what they know.. which is wealth and comfort, working in 'the arts'  and making sure nobody dislikes you. 

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7 hours ago, Heartofice said:

I really thought I'd found a gem after watching that first episode. It has Steve Martin and Martin Short who I think are two of the most underrated and sneered at comedic talents from the past decades.

This is an odd statement - I've always understood them to be two of the most respected comedic actors literally my entire lifetime.  If anything I've always thought Short was overrated.

Anyway, I recently watched the first 2-3 episodes of the second season with my parents (wasn't worried about picking up on the plot).  It was...ok.  Very funny at times but not something worth watching dozens of episodes.  The guest stars were quite impressive.

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10 minutes ago, DMC said:

This is an odd statement - I've always understood them to be two of the most respected comedic actors literally my entire lifetime.  If anything I've always thought Short was overrated.

 

 

That hasn't been my experience. Martin was beloved and then he did a lot of shitty movies and was a bit of a running joke. There was the Dennis Pennis thing where he asked him 'how come you're not funny any more'. Which was kind of heartbreaking and he admitted it was the prank that went too far.

Was Short ever highly respected? I never thought he was. I mean his movie career was not all that good, he was in quite a few turkeys and then just some bit parts later on. I dunno, it's probably different in the US where he's more visible, here in the UK my impression was that he wasn't that respected. 
 

 

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I mean... I don't watch OMITB for socio-economic realism/ relatability. Plus, last season's murderer was

Spoiler

a batshit crazy woman who murdered because she was a batshit crazy woman. Puh-lease. (The actress is great, though.)

It's just a funny, quirky little show that doesn't take itself all that seriously, although it does have some touching moments. I also love the insane speculations regarding the case(s). The reddit is worth a glance. (That's a sentence I never thought I would write!)

I'm not from NYC, but I don't find it smug at all. I'm not too crazy about Selena though, and I think she does come off as smug sometimes.

The podcaster adoration thing (as well as superfans etc) are a parody of something very real. Before I watched this show, I had no idea how popular True Crime podcasts are. It's quite scary.

Are there some clunky lines once in a while that make me roll my eyes? Sure.

Btw, they are still 3 lonely, mostly dysfunctional people with mostly depressing lives... (except for being relatively rich, ofc)

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10 hours ago, Mindwalker said:

t's just a funny, quirky little show that doesn't take itself all that seriously, although it does have some touching moments. I also love the insane speculations regarding the case(s). The reddit is worth a glance. (That's a sentence I never thought I would write!)

I guess it depends on your expectations. This show was talked about quite highly, but for me it's a pretty average, not especially inspired show that I guess is harmless. It's not top quality tv, and I think for me that is a bit of an issue because I don't have time in my life to watch middling harmless average tv, not in a world of a million streaming shows some of which are absolutely golden. 

My issue with OMITB isn't that its harmless fun, it's that it seemed to promise to be something a bit better, but very quickly stopped doing all the interesting things and fell back on some pretty standard caper comedy that wasn't pushing any envelopes. Thats probably fine for some people, it's not for me. 

That is probably why I don't like a lot of stuff (which actually isn't true, I have a list of very good shows from this year) or appear to, because I'm pretty critical when things fail to live up to their promise, that is the most disappointing thing for me.

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I am going to be a bit of a contrarian, but I watched Prey yesterday and do not understand why everyone is so besotted with this film. I hear it praised here and elsewhere as the best film in the franchise since the original, but I myself would most definitely rate Predator 2 and Predators higher (the latter being one of the most criminally underrated films of the past decade alongside Edge of Tomorrow). 

There are a lot of ideas in it that I like, but - like this film's animal CGI - I think the execution is rather poor. There is a much more interesting film lurking underneath the surface and it saddens me that they weren't able to tease it out of the Home Alone: Predator Season movie they ended up delivering.

My major problem with the film is that there are way to many improbabilities and contrivances for the story to make sense. While I usually appreciate films that go against the grain and opt for a taut runtime, I feel like they ended up creating a lot of plot holes

Spoiler

 such as why were the French interested in the Predator? Why were they even there in the first place? How on earth did they think a net was going to be a good idea to hold him?

and short cuts

Spoiler

 most egregiously the magical flower that lowers your bodily temperature enough without impairing your skills to fight. How convenient.

for the characters to take. That's really poor writing and genre fiction really has evolved past this in my opinion. 

All this came together in the final climax, where the main character's Mary Stueish tendencies really were placed front and center. I commend them for deciding to foreground a Native American woman in a movie like this, but really they could have served that character better. Not just by having her act on plans that actually make sense, but also by doing more with her reasons for going after the Feral Predator in the first place.

She get's the typical Mary Stu motivation of wanting to do something "because everyone else says she cannot" but they then don't really explain the cultural significance of the ritual hunt she is on, nor do they draw interesting parallels between her and the predator.

I also feel like the film has some weird tonal inconsistencies, particularly when it comes to the secondary antagonists

Spoiler

I don't know what the French have ever done to Hollywood, but they get a shit deal for all the inspiration they have provided the US and its film makers over the years. They are basically treated as a joke here, which is really lazy and totally ahistorical as the French (and their fighting prowess) were kind of a big deal in this particular time period. I get that they aren't a threat to the Predator, but that doesn't mean that the whole omelette du fromage thing the movie goes for is warranted.

Aside from those major issues, there is also an amalgamation of smaller things that irk me. The poor animal CGI is already mentioned, the constantly varying number of secondary antagonists is another one, the historical anachronisms in a film that is supposedly very authentic (e.g. trappers in that period didn't leave carcasses splayed about like that in this period, that really is something that came much later) and of course the Predator's constant need to bare-knuckle fight everything (which irritates me because I feel like his power levels vary across installments), all of those add up to a rather underwhelming experience.

To summarize, I think that a streaming only release was the right choice for this movie.

 

 

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38 minutes ago, Veltigar said:

I am going to be a bit of a contrarian, but I watched Prey yesterday and do not understand why everyone is so besotted with this film. I hear it praised here and elsewhere as the best film in the franchise since the original, but I myself would most definitely rate Predator 2 and Predators higher (the latter being one of the most criminally underrated films of the past decade alongside Edge of Tomorrow). 

 

 

Also, Predator 2 is a bad movie, though one that's fun to enjoy. Predators was just a god awful movie. And who calls Edge of Tomorrow criminally underrated? I've literally only heard people say glowing things about it.

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I realise that this is a bit of a niche post...

I started watching a BBC3 show at the weekend (feeling lazy, just wanting to watch something unchallenging), it's called  Glow Up (you can join in on iplayer if you like) and it is a competition to find a make up artist to win a job as a pro for a year. There were apparently thousands of people trying to get on the show but it started with ten contestants.

Has anyone watched any of this? I gave it a go because I like watching people put on make up and they do various diffrent make up challenges. It is largely giving me what I wanted BUT as a tutor and assessor I have to say that some of the feedback is a total mess. There are two regular judges each week - both huge stars in their profession seemingly - but the woman (Val Garland) is just awful at giving constructive feedback. She's like a poor man's Leslie Phillips - her idea of high praise is saying "DING DONG!!" as a kind of mic drop. When she gives negative feedback that is also done badly. URGH. I just did a quick gogle and I see that Glow Up is being referred to as her show. :huh:

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If you watched Prey  and thought to yourself 'this lead character is such a Mary Stu!' you need to

a. Remind yourself that it's Mary Sue. Gary Stu is the masculinised version of Mary Sue which is the term that came first because omnicompetent men are unremarkable, indeed a staple, in modern Western fiction.

b. Remind yourself that the term isn't applicable to any female lead character who shows any degree of competence at all. In Prey, Naru eventually defeats the Predator - but only after encountering severe difficulties and failings, and relying on the help of other characters to even get as far as the climactic confrontation. The story doesn't view her as flawless or perfect at all. She is significantly less competent, really, than other protagonists in the series, who all happen to be male but weirdly don't get derided for being too competent.

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