Watch, Watched, Watching: Festival Time!

[briantw]

Halloween Ends was a giant piece of shit.  The music was great.  Everything else was terrible.

[Nictarion]

43 minutes ago, briantw said:

Halloween Ends was a giant piece of shit.  The music was great.  Everything else was terrible.

That seems to be the consensus. We decided to see Smile tonight instead, which was pretty good. 

[RumHam]

1 hour ago, briantw said:

Halloween Ends was a giant piece of shit.  The music was great.  Everything else was terrible.

A really baffling piece of shit. 

Spoiler

I don't understand why they'd introduce a new killer for what's supposedly the last movie and sideline Meyers. 

 

[Veltigar]

I didn't have much time this week, but I did manage to watch both the latest episode of Rick and Morty as well as the latest House of the Dragon episode. Rick and Morty was a good episode, but not a remarkable one. Still, I would be very happy to have more shows that have this as a baseline.

House of the Dragon this week was spectacular in my opinion. The best episode of the season. I'm still amazed just how much superior this is to any season of GoT and I hope that they will be able to stick to this level. It's so refreshing to see a fantasy series focus on the characters and invest time and resources in these little moments and set pieces that do not end in a giant pile of VFX nonsense.

I absolutely adored (show spoilers)

Spoiler

both the dinner scene and Viserys walk towards the throne. Paddy will be missed, because for me he was the heart of the show for this first batch of episodes. The character is barely recognizable from its book counterpart, but is all the better for it (and Matt Smith's Daemon, while much closer to his book version, must surely count as one of the greatest embodiments of a fantasy character ever).

Whether apocryphal or not, whoever decided to include the falling crown into the scene was at least in that moment brilliant. It's hard to describe it in the form of a distinct theory, but for me it is these type of small moments that separate great writing from dross. It did so much for both characters involved and there relationship that I am impressed.

The dinner on the other hand was an important scene for me, because I feel that in general, people are not gathered around the table enough in fiction. GRRM does it in the books, but looses himself in the description of the dishes, but it's such a natural setting for characters to engage with one another. If your writing works, you can there really feel the intimacy between characters. 

I just hope that they won't lose themselves entirely in VFX shlokfests in the next seasons. We'll definitely get way more action and the narrative will be more easy to follow without the constant time jumps, but I hope they'll keep on adding these character touches throughout the series. 

They do seem to have simplified the story somewhat (book and show spoilers)

Spoiler

in the sense that Rhaenyra is getting the Tyrion treatment and is a lot more sympathetic than her book character at the moment. I am fairly confident that this won't be the case forever (I believe they'll use the traumatic losses she's about to suffer as a catalyst), but at the moment I do think their approach works.

 

On 10/14/2022 at 5:47 AM, dbunting said:

Can't say that I agree with a lot of that. IMO, and only my opinion, HOTD has spent 8 episodes doing character development. They gave us the back story for why the coming war happens, why certain people act how they do etc. 

I agree with you in any case. It's a very mature approach for the writers to take and rather refreshing that they were able to convince HBO that viewers would be able to keep their focus for that amount of character work and throughout all those time jumps.

On that front, I think the "prequel problem" is a sobriquet that should be solely reserved for RoP and The Fantastic Beast And I Don't Care Where to Find Them films. Those are boring retreads, but HotD actually does some really interesting stuff which no normal producer would ever allow anyone to do (especially with such a massive budget) if it was not already an established piece of IP. 

I think all of us would like more original high quality content, but sadly enough that's not how the movie and TV business work nowadays. IP is king. Films and series like Cruella, Better Call Saul and (so far) House of the Dragon (and based on what I hear, Andor) proof however that we shouldn't have to settle for blandness even within an IP dominated industry. Let's hope that this insight will dawn on many people in the industry.

Edited October 15, 2022 by Veltigar

[Tywin et al.]

7 hours ago, RumHam said:

A really baffling piece of shit. 

  Reveal hidden contents

I don't understand why they'd introduce a new killer for what's supposedly the last movie and sideline Meyers. 

 

This seems to capture the interweb's complaints:

Spoiler

 

 

[Cas Stark]

11 hours ago, RumHam said:

A really baffling piece of shit. 

  Hide contents

I don't understand why they'd introduce a new killer for what's supposedly the last movie and sideline Meyers. 

 

For the next reboot.  Why else?

[3CityApache]

I've watched High Water on Netflix, a 6-episodes mini series based on a great flood in Wrocław in July 1997, and it was a weird experience to watch a  fictional, but rather faithful version of something i lived through back then. I didn't live in Wrocław, but I was there that summer and I remember non functional railway station (Wrocław Nadodrze), because there was water about 2 meters deep in the underground passage between platforms.

The series itself is very solid, I planned to watch just the first episode with my daughters and we ended up binge watching the whole thing in one go. 

There are a few shortcuts and not that much character development, few things are not that believable, but minor issues don't change the fact it is a really watchable show. Recommend. 

Edited October 15, 2022 by 3CityApache

[RumHam]

I watched The Watcher on netflix because I loved that article about the story. I mostly liked it but I didn't realize at first it was a Ryan Murphy thing. It was an interesting enough story without all the bullshit they made up for the show. If they were going to do that I'd have preferred if they went full horror with it and called it "inspired by the true story." Some of the plot twists are weird as hell too. 

[SpaceChampion]

Latest Atlanta episode was hilarious.  I wondered for a moment if it was going to be a series finale, especially since the opening minutes seemed to echo the pilot episode, if I remember correctly.

I think I laughed more thinking about the episode afterwards than during it.

Spoiler

The shooter might have been a call back to a guy mentioned in Season 1, Episode 4 when a bartender told Paper Boi a guy was looking for him.  The description of him and the vehicle matched.

Paper Boi's old video:
 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited October 15, 2022 by SpaceChampion

[Veltigar]

I watched Triangle of Sadness yesterday. The Golden Palm winner of this year. It was a weird experience. I liked it a lot, mainly due to an incredibly entertaining second act (the film is split in three distinct chapters) but I do wonder whether it was an exceptionally weak year in Cannes, because it's not a great movie in my opinion.

It's entertaining enough for a night and I am definitely not sad that I spent money on it, but for this film to win the Golden Palm? Kind of weird.

[Tywin et al.]

I watched a pair of B horror films last night. My Best Friend's Exorcism recently dropped on Prime. The film is flawed, but the young actresses crushed it most of the time and overall it's a fast thriller. The two leads are going to get a lot of work going forward. 47 Meters down: Uncaged is a surprisingly fun shark movie, given its limitations. The acting here is meh at best, the sharks look dumb, the attacks are silly, but despite all that the tension is high throughout the film just like the original. I'd recommend both if you like the genre and you don't have to pay for them. 

[Tyria]

Watched the latest season of The Sinner. It was ok, but I was so distracted by where it was filmed. I know people in big cities are used to seeing familiar sites when they watch a show filmed there, but seeing Lunenburg, NS, as a stand in for an island in Maine was weird. Pretty sure Portland was Halifax.

I get why they used it. Nova Scotia and Maine look similar, coastline, lobster fisheries, etc. At first I was like maybe that isn't the the UNESCO Old Town, and is actually Maine. But then when they got to the cliffs, I was like, yeah, that's The Ovens. Super cool place (even though there is no way in heck you are walking on a path from the town to there. Prolly take a day or so).

It is a beautiful place (not an island. Pretty sure that ferry was one from Metro Transit in the city that goes across the harbour). I've been to some of those restaurants, and pretty neat to see The Knot. Awesome food, and we usually stop on the way back from my mum's as it's the halfway point back to the city. 

Anyhoo, as to the show, still depressing as always, but good. But yeah, I was so distracted by seeing Lunenburg/The Ovens. If you're ever in this corner of the world, highly recommend (show's ok too )

[Zorral]

Tonight in the US, Masterpiece Theater - PBS puts up the first episode of Magpie Murders, adapted from a novel by Anthony Horowitz -- he who was responsible for Foyle's War, Midsomer Murders, The Alex Rider series (both the books and the television adaptations) and much more.  I liked the novel, quite quirky, quite a bit.  The adaptation centers a favorite Leslie Manville as the editor in the novel -- it's a who done it, within a who done it, within a who done it.  It already ran in the UK.

On Britbox this week is the final episode of the final season of Shetland, the series adapted from Ann Cleeves's Jimmy Perez series, set on the Shetland Islands.  The quality has been consistently excellent.  Just in case -- Ann Cleeves is the author of the Vera Stanhope series, which has been a most successful television series as well.  The scenery in all these is splendid.

This fall, as well as enjoying very much Rings of Power, I've been enjoying the series, Agatha Christie's Marple (2004-2013), with two different Marples, Geraldine McEwen, and Julia McKenzie, which is not the same as as the Miss Marple (1984-1992) series, starring Joan Hickson.  Plus of course, every Brit television actor that has ever come to prominence, and many who didn't, in all of them, as well as in the Poirot series.

 

Edited October 16, 2022 by Zorral

[Underfoot]

On 10/15/2022 at 4:41 PM, RumHam said:

I watched The Watcher on netflix because I loved that article about the story. I mostly liked it but I didn't realize at first it was a Ryan Murphy thing. It was an interesting enough story without all the bullshit they made up for the show. If they were going to do that I'd have preferred if they went full horror with it and called it "inspired by the true story." Some of the plot twists are weird as hell too. 

Is this worth seeing through to the end? I was in the mood for something sorta halloween-y but not too scary, and I love Naomi Watts so I watched the first two episodes. I very much want to know what is going on but am not sure I am up foractually finding out how the story ends, because I'm finding most of the characters insufferable. Should I just spoil myself and read up on the ending, or stick with it? 

[Ramsay B.]

7 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

I watched a pair of B horror films last night. My Best Friend's Exorcism recently dropped on Prime. The film is flawed, but the young actresses crushed it most of the time and overall it's a fast thriller. The two leads are going to get a lot of work going forward.

Forgot they made this a movie. I read the book a few years back and enjoyed it. Might have to check it out now.

Watched the new Hellraiser. It was decent. Not great but not horrible. About exactly what’d you expect. Haven’t seen the original in at least 20 years and didn’t really remember the plot so I couldn’t compare the two.

[Nictarion]

13 minutes ago, Ramsay B. said:

Watched the new Hellraiser. It was decent. Not great but not horrible. About exactly what’d you expect. Haven’t seen the original in at least 20 years and didn’t really remember the plot so I couldn’t compare the two.

I thought it was pretty solid. And it got the lunatics online all worked up (A fEMaLe pINhEaD?!?!), so that’s a bonus. I liked The Night House and The Ritual as well. David Bruckner also made one of the best V/H/S segments with Amateur Night.

I’ll definitely check out anything he does going forward. 

Edited October 17, 2022 by Nictarion

[Ramsay B.]

9 minutes ago, Nictarion said:

I thought it was pretty solid. And it got the lunatics online all worked up (A fEMaLe pINhEaD?!?!), so that’s a bonus. I also liked The Night House and The Ritual as well. And David Bruckner made one of the best V/H/S segments with Amateur Night.

I’ll definitely check out anything he does going forward. 

Agreed. Also enjoyed all 3 of those, especially The Night House. 

Kinda related but I saw V/H/S 94 recently. Didn’t really care for it at all. Kept finding myself on my phone.

[RumHam]

1 hour ago, Underfoot said:

Is this worth seeing through to the end? I was in the mood for something sorta halloween-y but not too scary, and I love Naomi Watts so I watched the first two episodes. I very much want to know what is going on but am not sure I am up foractually finding out how the story ends, because I'm finding most of the characters insufferable. Should I just spoil myself and read up on the ending, or stick with it? 

It's not too long with just seven episodes. The ending of the real life story and the show are fairly unsatisfying. I'd just read the article if you're not enjoying the show. 

[DireWolfSpirit]

The entire season of HotD has been super entertaining for me.

Also been watching new episodes of "Handmaids Tale" (Elizabeth Moss) and "Alaska Daily" (Hillarly Swank) as they've been released weely.

[Isis]

Not doing very well with the spooky season. 

Who Invited Them is a 'modern horror' film, which I imagine working well as a short story. Is there are genre for when you're watching people behave so horribly that you feel really awkward to witness it? The antagonist in this is (I think) the dude who was one of the leads in Hemlock Grove. It's hard to say too much without spoiling it, but it's basically about a husband and wife who throw a house warming party and someone gatecrashes the party. The husband is a huge arsehole and you cannot help but wish for him to get some sort of comeuppance.

Late Phases is a quiet, dark little werewolf film. Bleak, even. I'll be honest, I was expecting more from this one, like another couple of levels of story to make it feel more engaging. The story is set in a weird retirement village. You can sort of see where it is going from the start. But worth a watch if you like a werewolf or two.

Finally we watched that three and a half hour long folk horror doc on Shudder (sorry, I can't think what it is called). WOW. If you enjoy this genre then you should definitely watch this one. Overall it makes the point that folk is not just British - it's from everywhere. Except the US, because their folk horror is just different flavours of Christianity lol (that's in the words of the doc btw).