Wa Wa Watching Nothing

[polishgenius]

He definitely isn't the best ever freekick taker- that's Juninho Pernambucano. 
 

(compilation just because)

[Veltigar]

I have hit a bit of a dry spell in terms of TV/Film watching. There is just not a lot that manages to keep my interest. There are like three TV-shows I have started, but which I haven't finished yet, and with the exception of The Creator it has been a while since something decent came out in the theatre.

The Creator I saw this week and I really liked it. Visually it was outstanding, as I have come to expect from Edwards. He's one of the most striking film makers active today in that regard. I also though the acting was pretty solid. I'm still not entirely convinced of Denzel's son, but he showed some promise here, unlike in Tenet.

What I differ from with most reviewers is in my perception of the story. It's true that you can watch this film and see it as a sort of Frankenstein's monster, cobbled together from clearly identifiable parts of other films, and it's quite fun to spot them. My friends and I saw at least the following links:

Spoiler

Logan (although old warrior protecting a small girl is of course not new), both Blade Runners, The Two Towers, Gladiator, Aliens

But I also thought there were quite a few interesting things about the story, which I'll list in the spoilers below and for which I think this film doesn't get enough credit for:

Spoiler

Unlike most films, it chooses to put an optimistic spin on AI, which I think is a good counterbalance to all the evil AI films out of there. I think the societies of New Asia as they are depicted in this film are quite unrealistic, but at least someone is trying to balance the ledger a bit.

I think it's also very interesting to see how multiracial this film's cast was, and how rare it is to have a mainstream headlined by a African-American man, with his love interest being Asian, the main mentor figure being Asian and the primary antagonists all being white (with the further added twist that the most effective antagonist was an older white woman).

I also cannot really think of another blockbuster that so openly casts the American state and people as the primary antagonists, while elevating another part of the globe as a better moral centre (in this case the Republics of New Asia). The Americans in this film do a lot of villainous stuff, so I'm perhaps being a bit kind in just describing them as antagonists. Anyways, this film shows that geopolitically we live in a new era and that we have come a long way from Bill Pullman's US President rallying the globe against an Alien invasion just by giving a cool speech and being American in Independence Day.

In fact, I joked to my friends that I'm pretty sure that Gareth Edwards is a member of the CCP, as the film literally ends with the greatest symbol of American military might falling out of the sky while a bunch of Asians waving red flags rush forward to throw a party on their victory over the American Empire. It was about as subtle as a sledge hammer to the face XD

 

s

 

[RhaenysBee]

So the flu season finally caught up with me too. Movie rundown from the past 36 hours of camomile tea, nose spray and echinacea drops. 

The Last Letter from Your Lover (Netflix) is the most redundant movie you will ever see. It is so dragged out, there’s so much plot it leaves no breathing room for either character or atmosphere, the jumping around between the 60s and present day ruin both vibes, we don’t spend enough time with really any of the characters to really draw them out and understand them and thus care, the present day plot always pretends to be solving some mystery about the past but never ends up doing so because the movie simply chooses to go on with other time line story as well and spoil itself. One of the most bland and lackluster will-they-won’t-they rides, lacking in every possible area. 

The Crooked House - I have a feeling that Agatha Christie is just not my cup of tea. The Kenneth Branagh Poirot adaptations bored the life out of me as well, but I blamed the direction and the all star cast. Well The Crooked House, with a less A list cast, and with Julian Fellows who I absolutely adore because Downton Abbey has a special place in my heart, also bored the life out of me. Sure the last 15 minutes was interestingish, but it dragged on way too much, it failed on the atmosphere front and neither of the leads managed to carry the movie. Oh well. 

Spencer - this was brilliant. There was an atmosphere, a pleasant visual world and five times the tension for fifth the plot of either of the above mentioned two. It’s really just two hours of Kristen Stewart acting out inner turmoil with award worth skill, humility and dedication. It was absolutely beautiful. By far my favorite of the sick day movie marathon. 

The Wonder is, if anything, cinematographic masterpiece, I felt like I was stuck in a gothic Victorian painting. The raw, dreary, unforgiving visual world was for me in line with the story but not the ridiculous horror sounds they added, that’s an entirely different genre and feel for me which took away from the depth and layers of the themes the story and the visuals conveyed. While it had a rather well built plot and solid storytelling, the movie still only worked because Florence Pugh carried it. 

I tried to watch The Last Duel, lost me with the first scene, wanted to give it a chance anyway, lasted 10 minutes altogether. Hire cheaper actors and pretend to listen to experts who you hopefully consulted  about historical accuracy. 

Edited October 15, 2023 by RhaenysBee

[dog-days]

1 hour ago, RhaenysBee said:

The Crooked House - I have a feeling that Agatha Christie is just not my cup of tea. The Kenneth Branagh Poirot adaptations bored the life out of me as well, but I blamed the direction and the all star cast. Well The Crooked House, with a less A list cast, and with Julian Fellows who I absolutely adore because Downton Abbey has a special place in my heart, also bored the life out of me. Sure the last 15 minutes was interestingish, but it dragged on way too much, it failed on the atmosphere front and neither of the leads managed to carry the movie. Oh well. 

Hope the worst is over soon!

The Branagh Poirot adaptations bore the life out of everyone, and I'm not just saying that because I think he's overrated. (Boarders: don't tell me to watch his Shakespeare films. I've seen them. They aren't appalling, but they aren't good either. Plus I generally think actor/director deals with the director also playing the lead are a terrible idea. Exception: Coriolanus with Ralph Fiennes.) 

Re: Christie. I've never read the books, but I've liked some of the film/TV treatments. In particular And then there were none featuring Tywin Lannister. Also quite liked the Malkovich Poirot. I've got a bit of a thing for the 'retired detective/general/assassin comes out of retirement and aces it' trope; see also McKellan's Mr Holmes. 

Edited October 15, 2023 by dog-days

[dog-days]

Russell T Davies says he wants to write 'a darker LGBT drama'. Given how harrowing the last episodes of It's a Sin were, I'm a bit scared at the prospect. 

[RhaenysBee]

1 hour ago, dog-days said:

Hope the worst is over soon!

The Branagh Poirot adaptations bore the life out of everyone, and I'm not just saying that because I think he's overrated. (Boarders: don't tell me to watch his Shakespeare films. I've seen them. They aren't appalling, but they aren't good either. Plus I generally think actor/director deals with the director also playing the lead are a terrible idea. Exception: Coriolanus with Ralph Fiennes.) 

Re: Christie. I've never read the books, but I've liked some of the film/TV treatments. In particular And then there were none featuring Tywin Lannister. Also quite liked the Malkovich Poirot. I've got a bit of a thing for the 'retired detective/general/assassin comes out of retirement and aces it' trope; see also McKellan's Mr Holmes. 

Well, it’s reassuring to hear that it’s a general sentiment rather than the peculiarity of my taste in movies. Though I’m sure that plays a part too.

And Then There Were None was okay because Charles Dance carried it, but never tickled me in any other way. I love a good detective story but so much depends on editing and cast. I watched BBC’s Sherlock about four times and never got bored. I also loved See How They Run - maybe because it was a creative twist on your average Agatha Christie whodunnit that bores me so much. 
 

anyway, instead of The Last Duel, I watched The Electric Life of Louis Wain and spent about 25-33% of the runtime ugly crying. And then another good 15 minutes after the movie was over, because I kid you not, I just cannot stop crying. What has this movie done to me? And why didn’t I stick with Jodie Comer and her 14th century French bulldog? 

[Veltigar]

I binged the second half of Harley Quinn's latest season yesterday. This was one of the three stalled tv shows, but since I watch this with a friend and the agenda's just hadn't aligned yet, I had faith that I would be able to catch up.

Still love this series and think it is incredibly underrated. The MVP is clearly Bane, who steals every single scene he's in. Commissioner Gordon is a close second. I hope it returns pretty soon, since I feel like it ended on a bit of a cliff hanger and I would like to see that resolved.

[Isis]

On 10/13/2023 at 11:11 AM, Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II said:

Started watching Fall of the house of Usher and it’s every bit as good as Midnight Mass and Flannigans other shows, highly recommended! This one has more humour also, it’s kinda like a horror version of Succession 

I've been seeing mixed reviews from horror authors on this one. Will have to find out for myself.

I watched the original Halloween this weekend (for the first time). It's only one year younger than me I think lol. I've seen some of them already. I know - it's all a bit weird. I would like to watch all of them this month actually.

Also watched Color out of Space, which frankly cemented for me, once and for all, that cosmic horror really doesn't do much for me, per se. It was fine? But I just didn't care about anyone or anything in it - it's just a boring concept.

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

30 minutes ago, Isis said:

I've been seeing mixed reviews from horror authors on this one. Will have to find out for myself.

I watched the original Halloween this weekend (for the first time). It's only one year younger than me I think lol. I've seen some of them already. I know - it's all a bit weird. I would like to watch all of them this month actually.

Also watched Color out of Space, which frankly cemented for me, once and for all, that cosmic horror really doesn't do much for me, per se. It was fine? But I just didn't care about anyone or anything in it - it's just a boring concept.

What I like about Flanagan is he comes up with a unique new story each time but they’re all the same emotional horror genre, if you liked his previous stuff you’ll really like this too but don’t expect too many ‘big scares’ as his stuff is more emotion than visceral horror and yes this one has some great monologues as well  . It’s superb on the atmosphere as usual though.

Edited October 16, 2023 by Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II

[Darryk]

Big Mike Flanagan fan, started watching House of Usher. First episode didn't really grab me, hopefully it gets better.

[Slurktan]

On 10/14/2023 at 4:09 PM, Veltigar said:

The Creator I saw this week and I really liked it. Visually it was outstanding, as I have come to expect from Edwards. He's one of the most striking film makers active today in that regard. I also though the acting was pretty solid. I'm still not entirely convinced of Denzel's son, but he showed some promise here, unlike in Tenet.

What I differ from with most reviewers is in my perception of the story. It's true that you can watch this film and see it as a sort of Frankenstein's monster, cobbled together from clearly identifiable parts of other films, and it's quite fun to spot them. My friends and I saw at least the following links:

  Reveal hidden contents

Logan (although old warrior protecting a small girl is of course not new), both Blade Runners, The Two Towers, Gladiator, Aliens

But I also thought there were quite a few interesting things about the story, which I'll list in the spoilers below and for which I think this film doesn't get enough credit for:

  Reveal hidden contents

Unlike most films, it chooses to put an optimistic spin on AI, which I think is a good counterbalance to all the evil AI films out of there. I think the societies of New Asia as they are depicted in this film are quite unrealistic, but at least someone is trying to balance the ledger a bit.

I think it's also very interesting to see how multiracial this film's cast was, and how rare it is to have a mainstream headlined by a African-American man, with his love interest being Asian, the main mentor figure being Asian and the primary antagonists all being white (with the further added twist that the most effective antagonist was an older white woman).

I also cannot really think of another blockbuster that so openly casts the American state and people as the primary antagonists, while elevating another part of the globe as a better moral centre (in this case the Republics of New Asia). The Americans in this film do a lot of villainous stuff, so I'm perhaps being a bit kind in just describing them as antagonists. Anyways, this film shows that geopolitically we live in a new era and that we have come a long way from Bill Pullman's US President rallying the globe against an Alien invasion just by giving a cool speech and being American in Independence Day.

In fact, I joked to my friends that I'm pretty sure that Gareth Edwards is a member of the CCP, as the film literally ends with the greatest symbol of American military might falling out of the sky while a bunch of Asians waving red flags rush forward to throw a party on their victory over the American Empire. It was about as subtle as a sledge hammer to the face XD

 

s

 

I  really liked the created  as well.  Fascinating that a movie a third of the budget as the latest marvel/DC/Star wars monstrosities looks so much better.

As for the movie, I don't think it is quite as positive to the AI as you think it is. 

Spoiler

We are shown through out the movie that the AI acts like humans over and over, whether crying out in fear, being emotionally tricked,etc etc.  It is to show the AI isn't just robots, they are alive.  However then it's revealed that the AI nuked LA because of a coding failure. However that doesn't make any sense if the AI is alive as it has been portrayed to be.  So logically then the AI did nuke LA on purpose and is using propaganda on its own people in order to drum up feelings against the Americans. 

Also as per all these years of the forest moon of Endor should have been rendered lifeless by the Death 
Stars destruction, shouldn't SE Asia or at lease Vietnam be destroyed at the end of this?

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

2 hours ago, Isis said:

I watched the original Halloween this weekend (for the first time). It's only one year younger than me I think lol. I've seen some of them already. I know - it's all a bit weird. I would like to watch all of them this month actually.

This may be an unpopular take, but I think Halloween and most of the series isn't very good. Halloween 3, which is the only one without Meyers, is pretty funny though. That's why I prefer the Friday the 13th movies. They're so dumb you can't help but laugh through most of them.

[Slurktan]

52 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

This may be an unpopular take, but I think Halloween and most of the series isn't very good. Halloween 3, which is the only one without Meyers, is pretty funny though. That's why I prefer the Friday the 13th movies. They're so dumb you can't help but laugh through most of them.

Plus Crispin Glover Dancing

[Zorral]

23 hours ago, dog-days said:

The Branagh Poirot adaptations bore the life out of everyone,

I don't know about everyone, but I sure don't like them.  I won't be seeing the Venice one at all.

However, what are really and truly just plain awful, which have filed off Christie all together, are those dreadful things like the Malkovich ABC Murders, made by Sarah Phelps, who seems to think she's made Christie, New! Improved! Better!  They are not only boring, they are charmless and ugly.

 

[GallowKnight]

1 hour ago, Slurktan said:

Plus Crispin Glover Dancing

The best Friday the 13th movie.

[Maithanet]

I just watched Ender's Game for the first time.  This was perhaps my favorite book for much of my adolescence, although many of the things that made it great at the time don't really resonate with me anymore.  I had low expectations for the movie, but I wanted to check it out since OSC isn't really in the news/relevant anymore. 

Overall, the movie was very ok.  The effects held up quite well for a 10 year old film.  The child actors did a servicable job.  The plot mostly made sense whether you read the books or not, which is a good thing. 

But it had a lot of flaws too.  I have absolutely no idea WTF they were thinking with the casting of Bonzo.  In the books, he is 4 years older than Ender and described as tall, physically fit and strong.  Ender is described as small even for his age, so the idea of a small 10 year old fighting a post-adolescent 14 year old is an extreme mismatch.  So they cast a kid who is...tiny.  Like maybe 6 inches shorter than Asa Butterfield with a slim build.  WHY would you make this mistake?  This isn't like complaining about Galadrial being not beautiful enough, you just need got get an actor who is not unusually tiny to play a guy who is supposed to be imposing.  Extremely irritating.  

And the general viewpoint of the film was really muddled.  Any Ender's Game film is going to struggle with the fact that we don't have an internal monologue, and much of the novel is inside Ender's head.  They present the post-invasion future as being proto-fascist (cavalier with the lives of children, strong indoctrination at a young age, etc).  But they also mostly want to present Harrison Ford's Graff as a good guy making hard choices.  The result is that I'm not really sure what it was trying to say at the end, whether it was a tragedy that Ender killed the Buggers or the only choice humanity had.  Plus it's really disappointing that they didn't even try and hide the fact that it wasn't really a game, as that reveal was pretty essential in the books.  They don't even make it a particularly big moment for Ender.  Graff tells him it was real and he runs off, that's basically it.  Very underwhelming.

Does anyone else remember this movie? 

[Veltigar]

2 hours ago, Slurktan said:

I  really liked the created  as well.  Fascinating that a movie a third of the budget as the latest marvel/DC/Star wars monstrosities looks so much better.

As for the movie, I don't think it is quite as positive to the AI as you think it is. 

  Hide contents

We are shown through out the movie that the AI acts like humans over and over, whether crying out in fear, being emotionally tricked,etc etc.  It is to show the AI isn't just robots, they are alive.  However then it's revealed that the AI nuked LA because of a coding failure. However that doesn't make any sense if the AI is alive as it has been portrayed to be.  So logically then the AI did nuke LA on purpose and is using propaganda on its own people in order to drum up feelings against the Americans. 

 

I'd like to challenge the bit you wrote in the spoilers bit, since that is not how I remember/interpret events in the film:

Spoiler

I agree with the first part, that the film clearly implies that the AI have become fully sentient and are thus full equals to mankind. What I disagree with however, is the bolded part in your original reply. The way I remember Ken Watanabe's dialogue is (paraphrasing here):

Quote

A human coding error caused the LA nuke to go off and that the U.S. government unfairly placed the blame on AI"

Now you could read that in the way you do, but I think you're jumping to conclusions. In the film, they only say that a human coding error made the strike go off and that AI was blamed for it, not that a human coding error caused AI to fire the nuke after which it got blamed for the human's mistake. 

Given the fact that the AI characters consistently seem to make better ethical and moral judgements than the humans, I think I'm rather doubtful that there is some grand conspiracy on their side. That would go against the message and themes of the film.

Furthermore, I would also like to point out that there clearly is no general AI at work here. All the simulants and robots do not seem to be manifestations of the same entity (like in iRobot). Instead, each of them is fully human equivalent on their own account. They all have their own unique personalities. 

 

I do agree that the

Spoiler

orbiting station coming down w

ould probably cause quite a bit of damage, but rule of cool I guess.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

2 hours ago, Slurktan said:

Plus Crispin Glover Dancing

A close friend from college showed me this one night and it's haunted my dreams since:

 

[JGP]

First two episodes of Lessons in Chemistry were quite enjoyable. Brie Larson showing the range between trauma guard and the walls coming down, and Pullman really selling his character too. Haven't read the book it's based on, so the end of the second episode got me good.

Edited October 16, 2023 by JGP

[dbunting]

6 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

This may be an unpopular take, but I think Halloween and most of the series isn't very good. Halloween 3, which is the only one without Meyers, is pretty funny though. That's why I prefer the Friday the 13th movies. They're so dumb you can't help but laugh through most of them.

As a kid I liked Halloween 1-2, somewhat liked part three but that damn song haunts me every year. Gets stuck in my head for weeks, if you know, you know.

Friday the 13th was the same. Parts 1-2 pretty good for horror, but that's it.