Watched, Watch, Watching: Pink Bombs

[Corvinus85]

3 minutes ago, Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II said:

I’m with you , Andor was to boring for me to finish. And I ain’t gonna pretend to like it cause everyone is desperate to love it cause the bar has sunk so low. 

Andor can't even see the bar from its high place.

[Kalbear]

1 hour ago, Corvinus85 said:

Andor can't even see the bar from its high place.

I can see that if someone's watching a dubbed version of it it might not go as well, but yeah. Oy. 

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

On 8/7/2023 at 4:51 AM, polishgenius said:

While I understand what you're saying, it amused me that one of your examples is an IP 35 years older than Star Wars.

In literature; yes. As a cinematic or streaming IP; no. 

[Raja]

No one is asking anyone to pretend to like something

absolute parody

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

55 minutes ago, Raja said:

No one is asking anyone to pretend to like something

absolute parody

Well if I don’t, I get roundly insulted on this forum for not liking Andor. 

[Argonath Diver]

I've hardly had time to enjoy my projection screen or Oculus for movies or TV in ages. Getting off work at 1am or later five or six nights a week cuts in to my movie time, alas. 

Anyways last night I finally put on Spider-Man Across the Multiverse up on my big home screen. I consider the first film the best comic book ever - apologies to the Nolan fans, love those too but Into The Spider-Verse made me feel like a kid reading my old comics under a flashlight in the 80s.

The sequel wasn't a 10/10 as I think that one was, but it was such a joy regardless. Just a gorgeous sight to watch on a huge screen. I have been uninterested in just about anything MCU related post Endgame, and I wish pretty much every comic book movie abandoned real life actors and ugly CGI and just filmed their stuff the way this film (and the new TMNT and the bizarrely terrific Puss in Boots 2 do). 

I had completely forgotten hearing about the, um, structure of the film. As in, it's an unannounced Part 1 that ends with a shameless "See you next year!". Left me with a sore taste in my mouth. But if I'd known it was simply half a film, I would say it was absolutely spectacular, and would think any pre-teen would love it the way I loved Star Wars and Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones. Far more fun than any of the Phase Whatever of the MCU.

[Cas Stark]

Can't find anything engaging. 

Rewatched The Tudors on AP.  I still love it, despite it's soapyness.  I wonder if, given it's incredible amount of gratuitous sex and female nudity, it could even be made today.  Young Henry Cavill, Natalie Dormer and 'no I will not have red hair or look fat' J. Rhys Meyers, who should not have worked, but did.

[A True Kaniggit]

At the end of A Knight’s Tale. 
 

And do you know who are jerks? Those peasants who went from throwing rottien vegetables at William, to cheering for him in the space of a few minutes. 
 

Screw those peasants. 

[Ran]

Finished Soderbergh's limited series on MAX, Full Circle, headlined by Claire Danes and Timothy Olyphant, and incluing CCH Pounder, Dennis Quaid, Zazie Beetz, Jim Gaffigan, and more. It's a wheels-within-wheels crime thriller involving a kidnapping, a 20-year-old Guyanese property development scheme, insurance fraud, and a pony-tailed celebrity chef. It's shot in a run-and-gun style that's reminiscent of Soderbergh's past experiments filming on phones, but in fact he apparently used RED cameras on this. Unfortunately the script isn't very strong and some of the performances feel like Soderbergh decided to bring it in under budget by allowing no rehearals. It's very rare to see Danes or Olyphant appear in a bad scene, but... well, they appeared in several. I'm not sure I would recommend it, unless you're a Soderbergh completist. 

And then I watched last year's Cannes jury prize winner, the Polish film EO directed by Jerzy Skolimowski, whose technique is as fresh and impeccable as anyone's while being 83-years-old when he directed it. It's.... gosh, it's a beautiful, beautiful film, visually. But oh, it makes the heart ache. It's a so-much-homage-that-it's-semi-remake of Bresson's Au Hasard Balthazar, but with a change in focus. In essence, it's the story of the eponymous Eo, a donkey beloved by the circus performer Kasandra who is taken away from her when laws are changed to protect animals from being used in such performances. Little Eo's life goes downhill from there, shuffled from one place to another, each a little bit worse than the one before it, until just before the end when someone kind and wealthy takes him in.... The film is very much about how we treat animals, and nature.

There's some really poetic imagery and moments, in particular a really striking image of Eo on a bridge in front of a dam with water roaring out of the spillways... that we then see the water is actually moving backwards. Why? I'm not sure what Skolimowski was saying htere, it's enigmatic. I think maybe it's the idea that there is a timelessness to the way animals like Eo perceive existence. Then there are various vignettes of the people Eo encounters, culminating in an encounter with a young priest and his step-mother, the Countess (who is a bit of stunt casting, one of Europe's most well-known actresses). I'm not sure that last one is entirely successful, but I need to consider it more.

Spoiler

Anyways, it ends not unlike Bresson's Au Hasard Balthazar, as it inevitably must. I can't say I have a heart of stone; it was very affecting and it sat with me a long time after finishing it.

If you love equines very much, maybe give this a pass.

[Isis]

14 hours ago, A True Kaniggit said:

At the end of A Knight’s Tale. 
 

And do you know who are jerks? Those peasants who went from throwing rottien vegetables at William, to cheering for him in the space of a few minutes. 
 

Screw those peasants. 

Extremely realistic and relevant in 2023 tbh. The things people support and cheer for these days is mind-boggling, stuff which I am sure they would change their mind over if the wind blew from anoter direction.

We are watching another super long horror documentary on Shudder, this one is about 1980's films. I think it's about four or five hours long. Love to hear Chris Jericho talking about 1980's horror films. Plus that make up/effects guy who's name I always blank on, who had a cameo in Dusk til Dawn. Tom something...Savini (had to look it up). Really cool hearing him talk about inventing effects for films and how particular stories/scenes were dictacted by what it was actually possible to do on screen at that time. #nostalgia

EDIT: I was interested in watching Full Circle, but I bet it isn't available on any channel I have. 

Edited August 13, 2023 by Isis

[Mindwalker]

I enjoyed the first two seasons of The Other Two as a fun little satire on showbusiness. Couldn't really get into the third season because it leant too much into the ott/ farcfical side of things.

With next to none new offerings - seriously, what is OFMD taking so long? It's not a US show! - I checked out more (mostly British) mystery shows.

A new-ish one, Karen Pirie, I'd recommend as solid Val McDermid fare with relatable leads. One season so far, with 3 episodes.

No Offence - I might not have been convinced after the first episode, but it starred Elaine Cassidy from Fingersmith (the original Handmaid), so I gave it a chance and it became really quite addictive. Two seasons of a wild ride, with humor and snark. Can't seem to quite get into the third and final one... seems a bit rushed and different.

(Will third seasons now become a thing for me as opposed to second seasons?!)

A Touch Of Cloth - sounded like a fun satirical/ spoofy mystery show on paper. To my delight, it starred one of my favorite actresses, Suranne Jones, and John Hannah. Oh boy. I thought I'd watch Suranne in anything, but it was so silly I quit after 15 or 20 minutes.

Tried Annika. Marine murders. Pleasant enough but not a very interesting case. I suspect that the detective's personal life will probably take up a lot more space than I'd like. I'll give it a pass.

Also, I might be the only person in the world who doesn't love The Brokenwood Mysteries. I will probably never know who killed that old farmer as I stopped mid-first episode. It might just be because I don't like the lead, or the brand of Country music playing a lot of the time.

 

Edited August 13, 2023 by Mindwalker

[williamjm]

I watched They Cloned Tyrone, which I thought was a fun film.

I saw a comparison somewhere of it to They Live and I can definitely see some similarity. At times a bit of Dark City as well, and not just because of Kiefer Sutherland.

On 8/8/2023 at 6:53 AM, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

There are some anachronisms there. ‘70’s and 80’s cars and fashions and early 2000’s cell phones, etc. it’s difficult to pin down a time period.

There's also Yo-yo wanting to invest in blockchain.

 

 

[Zorral]

I swear Oliphant got botoxxed by the later episodes of City Primeval.  Not to mention how gross putting into the viewers' faces several times per episode Boyd Holbrook's jiggling bits inside those tighty whiteys that aren't tight enough to tie the bits down.  Of course, they've done the same to John Corbett in And Just Like That.

What a mess Primeval is.  So is the SATC spin-off, for that matter, scene of cringe after scene of cringe.  All those responsible from showrunners to actors should be massively embarrassed.

[dog-days]

Watched Good Omens 2 last week. 

Pros:

• Warm and broadly optimistic 
• Some of my favourite credits ever
• Great costuming and some very good performances (Jon Hamm and Michael Sheen)
• Often mildly amusing; sometimes really funny
• Enjoyed the commentary on Job. 
  Spoiler

  Aziraphale: Are we sure that Sitis wants to give birth four more times?
  Michael: Seven more times.
  Aziraphale: But she’s already got three children.
  Michael: Yeah, but, those ones will be dead. Keep up.
  Aziraphale: We’re not bringing the old ones back?
  Gabriel: Well, of course not. But we’re giving them new ones.

• When I watch TV from the USA, I often get unnerved by how intensely slim and beautiful anyone is if they're a lead character. Or a supporting character. Or a minor character. Or an extra in one scene. It was nice seeing a load of fairly 'normal' looking people in most of the roles

Cons: 

• Didn't have enough plot. I've read on a fan's blog that the original idea for a sequel would have started with the end of Good Omens 2 
  Spoiler

  Aziraphale going back to heaven and leaving Crowley

  and that does explain rather a lot
• Could have done with a well-developed b-plot to run parallel to Crowley and Aziraphale (instead there were lots of threads that mostly related very closely to C&A; I like the characters but there was just too much of them) 
• I thought John Finnemore was trying too hard to channel Terry Pratchett (e.g. the writing in the zombie plot seemed quite close to Reaper Man). It might have been better for the show if he'd decided to write more as himself. I read a lot of fanfiction in my very misspent teenage years, and the better examples tended to happen when the writer had their own voice and was interested in the source text, but was also confident about doing their own thing. 
• Seemed to be edging a bit too close to pure fan-service at times for my tastes. 

I was about to complain that they recast Beelzebub with a younger actress in view of plot developments. But then I looked it up, and Shelley Conn is actually slightly older than Anna Maxwell Martin.

Spoiler

Also, I assumed that Jon Hamm was about thirty years older than Shelley Conn, but actually there's only a five-year difference. All the cardigans aged him a bit!

Also saw Oppenheimer. It was okay, but biopics aren't my genre. I prefer more of the Copenhagen (Michael Frayn) approach. Was impressed by Robert Downey jr. as Strauss since I had no idea it was him till I looked up the cast online afterwards. And slightly embarrassed. I'm not normally that bad – I spotted Hughie from The Boys and Kenneth Branagh. That said, I couldn't tell Oppenheimer's dark-haired love interests apart. 

Edited August 13, 2023 by dog-days

[Relic]

2 hours ago, Zorral said:

I swear Oliphant got botoxxed by the later episodes of City Primeval.  Not to mention how gross putting into the viewers' faces several times per episode Boyd Holbrook's jiggling bits inside those tighty whiteys that aren't tight enough to tie the bits down.  Of course, they've done the same to John Corbett in And Just Like That.

What a mess Primeval is.  So is the SATC spin-off, for that matter, scene of cringe after scene of cringe.  All those responsible from showrunners to actors should be massively embarrassed.

I'd love to say you are wrong but...can't. Turned it off halfway thru ep 4 and haven't wanted to watch it since. Shame. 

[Argonath Diver]

Yep, Raylan's charm couldn't keep me interested when I found every other character repellant or uninteresting. I stopped in the 3rd ep. Though I now want to re-binge the original.

[Nictarion]

Yeah, this new Justified hasn’t been very good at all. I starting looking at my phone during the scene with the lawyer and her ex in the latest episode. Which is obviously never a good sign. 

I’ll probably stick with it though since it’s Summer and I’m not watching much else right now (besides a couple half hour comedies), but it’s definitely been a disappointment so far. 

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

I just saw Talk To Me, scariest shit I’ve seen in a while ! Them Australians know how to do horror right. 

[dbunting]

16 hours ago, Argonath Diver said:

Yep, Raylan's charm couldn't keep me interested when I found every other character repellant or uninteresting. I stopped in the 3rd ep. Though I now want to re-binge the original.

This is what I have been doing, watched most of the first 4 seasons now. On S5 and my interest has slowed some.

Primeval is missing a few things. A good villain, a real reason for Raylan to actually be there, and most importantly Raylan being himself and killing someone.

[BigFatCoward]

My daughter is bang into the how to train your dragons franchise. Being the school holidays I've finally sat down and watched them with her.

And I have to say they are quality. Excellent voice cast, though Blanchett sounds weird for some reason.