Watch, Watched, Watching: November Rain

[Luzifer's right hand]

19 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

Season 3 will likely be its last. They reduced the number of episodes to 8 I believe.

That sucks but if they know in advance they can at least end it properly

Spoiler

 Genocide?  

 

 

[Mexal]

3 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

I watched The Banshees of Insherin. Strong performances all around, especially Collin Farrell and Kerry Condon. Not sure how I feel about the story - a really sad tale about human nature, it seems, with a few interjections of Irish humor. It's not my favorite movie of the year, that's for sure.

Yea, I agree. I liked it well enough and the performances were universally great across the board but... I don't know, didn't hit me the way I thought it would. 

[dog-days]

Saturday I watched The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents. I'd had a bit of a shaky day (drank too much at the work Christmas party; somehow got home on my own but have no memory of doing so) and needed something light and joyful to take my mind off it, and this was just the thing. The reviewers have given it three stars, which sounds about right. It's probably too faithful to the book, not in the sense that it keeps too much to the characters and tone, but in that it misses out on opportunities for visual/adaptational innovation. Hugh Laurie is fine as Maurice, but I can think of other actors with more interesting voices whom I'd have preferred in the role. Himesh Patel is very sweet as Keith, and Emilia Clarke is pleasantly irritating as Malicia. If it's the kind of thing you like, you'll like it; if it's not, you won't. 

Sunday I saw The Batman (the recent one with Robert Pattison). It was alright, if also quite plodding in terms of dialogue and characterisation, and more serious than I generally like my superhero films to be. Don't think I'll recall anything about it once it floats out of my short-term memory. 

Also saw the first episode of His Dark Materials's third series. Ruth Wilson's charisma does seem to drench the whole thing; even scenes she isn't in seem somehow elevated because they're part of the same show. The CGI for the angels and other creatures seems to be straining somewhat, and the writing in this first episode felt as if it could have set things up and introduced the new characters better. Still, really psyched for the remaining episodes. Also,  I have to stop looking at Father MacPhail (Will Keen) and thinking 'Why is Lyra's father plotting to kill her?' 

I went to a carol service on Sunday evening, already looking forward to HDM. There was a cheerful Irish nun on the front row who helpfully shouted out updates on the football results to the vicar. I did manage not to wonder what branch of the Magisterium she'd be in, if there was a Magisterium. (She'd almost certainly have been one of the nice nuns from Godstow Priory in Belle Sauvage.) 

Edited December 19, 2022 by dog-days

[SpaceChampion]

On 12/18/2022 at 2:35 PM, Corvinus85 said:

Season 3 will likely be its last. They reduced the number of episodes to 8 I believe.

But the same time they reduced season 3 to 8 episodes, they stretched season 2 to 16 episodes.  Looks like contract shenanigans to me, probably to avoid paying them contractually obligated raises for later seasons.

[Spockydog]

His Dark Materials. Just watched the episode where Lyra (spoiler for EP4)

Spoiler

abandons Pan to almost certain death in order to go in search of dead Roger.

It was a terrible thing to do. Is she this awful and selfish in the books?

Edited December 20, 2022 by Spockydog

[HexMachina]

I enjoyed the first episode of S3 of HDM. Something is very wrong with me though because all I kept thinking was that I'd like to engage in some preemptive absolution with Father Gomez 

[dog-days]

6 hours ago, Spockydog said:

His Dark Materials. Just watched the episode where Lyra (spoiler for EP4)

  Reveal hidden contents

abandons Pan to almost certain death in order to go in search of dead Roger.

It was a terrible thing to do. Is she this awful and selfish in the books?

It's a long long while since I read The Amber Spyglass, but I don't remember interpreting <spoiler> as a selfish act. It tortures her as well, and isn't done for her own benefit. 

[Heartofice]

7 hours ago, Spockydog said:

His Dark Materials. Just watched the episode where Lyra (spoiler for EP4)

  Reveal hidden contents

abandons Pan to almost certain death in order to go in search of dead Roger.

It was a terrible thing to do. Is she this awful and selfish in the books?

It does become an important element of the Book of Dust books 

[polishgenius]

I haven't seen the show but I can see how it would be difficult to portray her inner turmoil on screen and without that insight it may well seem selfish.

 

Spoiler

To whit, if I recall, she does it because she feels responsible for Roger's death, and thinks risking everything for the chance of saving him is the only thing she can do and be a good person.

Bear in mind (not sure how insistent the show is on this point) that Pan is, to a great extent, a part of her- in her mind, and in the mythos of the world, it's to a point not selfishness, it's self-sacrifice. Compared to leaving a friend who isn't part of her, anyway, which is what she feels the guilt over with Roger.

But even with all that, yes, it does have consequences, and isn't meant to be seen as a purely heroic act.

[Relic]

Anyone see The English? Really good, three episodes in. 

[WarGalley]

3 hours ago, Relic said:

Anyone see The English? Really good, three episodes in. 

I finished it a couple of weeks ago. I thought it was alright. It has quite a few quirky characters and sometimes almost a Django Unchained like feel. The landscape scenes are absolutely beautiful and there are plenty of them throughout the series. The editing was sometimes a little choppy. The ending was a little too Disney-ish and didn't quite make logical sense why some character's did what they did. Rafe Spall as Melmont was a solid character. Overall grade for me was a B.

Edited December 20, 2022 by WarGalley

[Spockydog]

Finished His Dark Materials tonight.

Overall, I enjoyed it. Though it was far from perfect. Some of the acting was, shall we say, less than stellar, and I include the two young leads in this criticism. I'd go as far and say they were both pretty poor. I'm not feeling this Silvertongue thing at all.

McAvoy was outstanding, though, as was Ruth Wilson.

The big battle was slightly anticlimactic. Thought the ending was beautiful and heart-breaking, if a bit long.

7/10.

Will probably read the books now.

 

Edited December 21, 2022 by Spockydog

[Quijote Light]

3 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

Finished His Dark Materials tonight.

Overall, I enjoyed it. Though it was far from perfect. Some of the acting was, shall we say, less than stellar, and I include the two young leads in this criticism. I'd go as far and say they were both pretty poor. I'm not feeling this Silvertongue thing at all.

McAvoy was outstanding, as was Ruth Wilson.

The big battle was slightly anticlimactic. Thought the ending was beautiful and heart-breaking, if a bit long.

7/10.

Will probably read the books now.

 

If you like audiobooks at all, you should check out the ones for the series as an alternative. I just listened to them recently, and they’re very good. Full cast, and I believe Pullman himself is the narrator. 

[Corvinus85]

1 hour ago, Spockydog said:

Finished His Dark Materials tonight.

Overall, I enjoyed it. Though it was far from perfect. Some of the acting was, shall we say, less than stellar, and I include the two young leads in this criticism. I'd go as far and say they were both pretty poor. I'm not feeling this Silvertongue thing at all.

McAvoy was outstanding, though, as was Ruth Wilson.

The big battle was slightly anticlimactic. Thought the ending was beautiful and heart-breaking, if a bit long.

7/10.

Will probably read the books now.

 

Is it over? Only 6 episodes? I've watched one so far.

[Corvinus85]

On 12/17/2022 at 11:03 PM, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

I watched Black Adam.

 

I, too, have watched Black Adam. 

[Spockydog]

12 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

Is it over? Only 6 episodes? I've watched one so far.

Aye, it's over. There are eight episodes, though the showrunners initially planned on doing more. Nine seasons in fact.

As an aside, I hope Bad Wolf's casting director for The Winter King has done a better job. There were some very poor performances in this show.

[3CityApache]

7 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

Aye, it's over. There are eight episodes, though the showrunners initially planned on doing more. Nine seasons in fact.

As an aside, I hope Bad Wolf's casting director for The Winter King has done a better job. There were some very poor performances in this show.

I'm confused. Are episodes 7 and 8 not supposed to premiere on December 26th?

Also, HDM showrunners initially planned 9 seasons?? Or you meant 9 episodes per season?

Edited December 21, 2022 by 3CityApache

[Spockydog]

3 minutes ago, 3CityApache said:

I'm confused. Are episodes 7 and 8 not supposed to premiere on December 26th?

Also, HDM showrunners initially planned 9 seasons?? Or you meant 9 episodes per season?

All eight episodes dropped on the UK's iPlayer over the weekend.

And it was nine seasons. As well as saying she wanted the third book to be spread over two seasons, Jane Tranter said:

"Honestly, I would have told it across nine seasons if I could have done. There are so many stories that we weren’t able to do."

 

[3CityApache]

5 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

All eight episodes dropped on the UK's iPlayer over the weekend.

And it was nine seasons. As well as saying she wanted the third book to be spread over two seasons, Jane Tranter said:

"Honestly, I would have told it across nine seasons if I could have done. There are so many stories that we weren’t able to do."

 

Oh, ok. It's still December 26th on HBO Max.

And it doesn't struck me as "planned", per se. More like a wishful thinking. She would love to do much more if she could, but she knew from the start it wasn't really possible.

[williamjm]

I watched Enola Holmes 2, which I thought was enjoyable and I think maybe the mystery worked better than in the first film. I thought tying the mystery into historical events worked well.