Watch, Watched, Watching: It's Award Season

[DMC]

3 hours ago, Heartofice said:

Which made me think, has anyone with so little talent ever been so over promoted?

Agreed on Gervais, never understood the appeal.  Always a bad sign when one of the main features of a comedian is laughing at his own jokes.  Especially when his laugh is so obnoxious.

6 hours ago, TheLastWolf said:

So far, so good. Barring the fantastic pilot (Scorsese and excesses, wah) everything feels content to be just good enough, nice and easy. The writing and performances and technical team all same, content to make us more than interested but I'm not getting any whoa payoffs like The Sopranos did early on.

Yeah Boardwalk is no Sopranos.  Solid yet unspectacular about sums it up.  I really liked the first two seasons but actually stopped watching after that while it was coming out.  Eventually finished it up and it was..just fine.

[BigFatCoward]

Gervais is good at the golden globes though. He genuinely seems to not give a shit who he upsets.

[Heartofice]

His Golden Globes speeches are probably the only other highlight of his entire career, and it’s not like they were especially witty or well done, more that it’s satisfying to see someone say what everyone else is thinking to the Hollywood bigwigs

[horangi]

Finished up Reacher Season 2.  The last two episodes do a good job further cementing the protagonist as the bad guy, were it not for the Scooby Doo villains he's put up against who seem to have all the character of a wave of baddies of the NES Contra video game.  In addition it leans into the plot holes of a lot of heist shows where the value of the prize isn't worth the cost of securing it.  The baddies are trying to get away with $65 million dollars.  The Super Puma helicopter they are using retails at $22 million by itself.  Are you telling me that a VP at Not-GE Aerospace is going to go through all the risks for whatever share of $65 million he ends up getting after expenses?  Hell just get a deal to ship the missiles legally to Saudi Arabia and sell your stock options after the firm's price goes up. 

[Veltigar]

I went to see Fighter, India's answer to Top Gun. Boys and girls, if you thought the American original was already too militaristic for your taste, you'll definitely lose your marbles over this one. The film feels like what would happen if Bollywood's answer to James Wong saw Top Gun Maverick and then asked India's answer to Joseph Goebbels to write the screenplay.

I can't remember the last time I have seen such a nakedly jingoistic and spiteful film. It's not quite the original Birth of a Nation, but I do think it comes close to what it must have felt like to watch Triump des Willens back in 1935. This film is brash, loud and pretty awesome to see. 

My friends and I had a blast, and so did the rest of the audience, which were pretty much all Indian expats. The dance numbers were slick, the humour was pretty good, and the jet action was nicely done. It also had a surprisingly "original" plot, in the sense that I was expecting a pretty straight Maverick rip-off, but it really was its own thing (except for the actor playing the main character's CO who looks like a plastic surgeon took Tom Skerrit from Top Gun and gave him an Indian make over).

Which of course makes sense, because the American Top Gun films don't really have a clear antagonist. Maverick struggles against himself, his past choices, and the strictures of military life but the actual bogies he fights at the end are always an afterthought. The originals even refuse to identify them.

This is not the case for Indian Top Gun. As a matter of fact, it has a clear idea of who the enemy is, and it wants you to know its Pakistan, the Kashmiri independence movement, and to be frank, Muslims in general. It also wants you to know that "India" (between quotation marks, because it's clear that they want you to equate India to Hindus) is absolutely not to blame for any of the conflicts and can claim the moral high ground without any blushing. Oh, and of course that the Indian Government and especially Prime Minister Modi are awesome.

It was an interesting film to see, especially since the audience I saw it with was comprised mostly of Indian expats and members of the Indian diaspora. I liked the action and songs, but frankly, I'm a bit worried that a major ally of the west is creating this kind of propaganda film.

2 hours ago, horangi said:

Finished up Reacher Season 2.  The last two episodes do a good job further cementing the protagonist as the bad guy, were it not for the Scooby Doo villains he's put up against who seem to have all the character of a wave of baddies of the NES Contra video game.  In addition it leans into the plot holes of a lot of heist shows where the value of the prize isn't worth the cost of securing it.  The baddies are trying to get away with $65 million dollars.  The Super Puma helicopter they are using retails at $22 million by itself.  Are you telling me that a VP at Not-GE Aerospace is going to go through all the risks for whatever share of $65 million he ends up getting after expenses?  Hell just get a deal to ship the missiles legally to Saudi Arabia and sell your stock options after the firm's price goes up. 

Thank you, I'm so glad that I'm not the only one who can't get over the villains poor financial understanding 

[Which Tyler]

3 hours ago, Heartofice said:

His Golden Globes speeches are probably the only other highlight of his entire career, and it’s not like they were especially witty or well done, more that it’s satisfying to see someone say what everyone else is thinking to the Hollywood bigwigs

I liked After Life, but that's about it.

[DireWolfSpirit]

Started watching a new Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg production.

Stars the dude that played Elvis (Butler) and Barry Keoghan is a lead actor as well.

Spielberg-Hanks WWII series 'Masters of the Air' gets ...

 

Oct 5, 2023 — Based on Donald L. Miller's book of the same name, “Masters of the Air” follows American bomber pilots of the Eighth Air Force's 100th Bomb ...

Edited January 27 by DireWolfSpirit

[IlyaP]

2 hours ago, Veltigar said:

I went to see Fighter, India's answer to Top Gun. Boys and girls, if you thought the American original was already too militaristic for your taste, you'll definitely lose your marbles over this one. The film feels like what would happen if Bollywood's answer to James Wong saw Top Gun Maverick and then asked India's answer to Joseph Goebbels to write the screenplay.

Just watching the 3 minute trailer for this movie is exhausting. 

[Heartofice]

Couple of other things I watched;

No Hard Feelings. Jennifer Lawrence gets paid to sleep with a younger guy. It’s a comedy.  Now I’ve seen some pretty negative reactions to this movie, a lot of it centred around a sense of disgust by the general premise. I liked the film however, I don’t have any issues with the story at all, in fact for the most part it was reasonably well handled. Lawrence is self assured enough to make it work and she does a good job.

I sense peoples issues will be with the casting of the young guy. He is meant to be 19 and she is 32. I have no issue at all with that age gap, he’s an adult at that point. The guy who plays him however looks YOUNG, and that is giving it an ick factor. Also he just wasn’t great, a much more likeable or comedic actor would have elevated it massively. 
 

The movie also gives me serious ‘Parasite’ vibes. As if they saw that Korean movie and wanted to touch the same themes, but less clever. I guess that’s why Lawrence is in this as it seems very much not the sort of thing she would be seen to be doing with her  career. Overall it was good though.

Also watched Sisu. Which I was very much enjoying until it made the fatal error of giving the silent main protagonist a fucking backstory, via a horrible piece of expository dialogue. Honestly why do that? Why do I need it spelt out to me who this old geezer who can murder Nazis single handed is? Why do movies feel the need to fill in all the blanks! So infuriating.

Edited January 28 by Heartofice

[Nictarion]

3 hours ago, Which Tyler said:

I liked After Life, but that's about it.

I loved Life’s Too Short. I’ve rewatched it a few times and it absolutely cracks me up. 

[DireWolfSpirit]

DEAD RECKONING!

I'm Going In

[Zorral]

4 hours ago, Veltigar said:

This is not the case for Indian Top Gun. As a matter of fact, it has a clear idea of who the enemy is, and it wants you to know its Pakistan, the Kashmiri independence movement, and to be frank, Muslims in general. It also wants you to know that "India" (between quotation marks, because it's clear that they want you to equate India to Hindus) is absolutely not to blame for any of the conflicts and can claim the moral high ground without any blushing. Oh, and of course that the Indian Government and especially Prime Minister Modi are awesome.

Quote

My friends and I had a blast, and so did the rest of the audience, which were pretty much all Indian expats.

"India's answer to Joseph Goebbels to write the screenplay.

 

Edited January 28 by Zorral

[TheLastWolf]

6 hours ago, Veltigar said:

but frankly, I'm a bit worried that a major ally of the west is creating this kind of propaganda film.

Well, we are worried that all the major allies the west makes these days are either fascist or en route to being one.

Speaking of propaganda, Battleship Potemkin is a masterclass in editing. And the BnW cinematography uses gorgeous smoke and shadows, decades ahead of it's time. Kino fist huh

[Argonath Diver]

I also managed to finish season 2 of Reacher and I don't regret it. The first season was ludicrous, sure, but boy was this one something for the books. Nothing made any damn sense after, oh, episode 3 or so. Who cares? Big guy is big, self-righteous and beats people up and kills them and walks away. It's bafflingly dumb. I laughed throughout and am on board for season 3. 

I guess it's far easier to film in a modern setting and more impacting to current younger audiences, but I definitely could feel the 80s and 90s vibe to the plot and everything makes much more sense (okay, vaguely more sense) if the setting were prior to the internet, smart phones, and perhaps a 2000s-and-on realization that a brazen murderous lawless sociopath shouldn't get away with killing dozens of people because he felt like they deserved it.

[dbunting]

11 hours ago, Heartofice said:

Couple of other things I watched;

No Hard Feelings. Jennifer Lawrence gets paid to sleep with a younger guy. It’s a comedy.  Now I’ve seen some pretty negative reactions to this movie, a lot of it centred around a sense of disgust by the general premise. I liked the film however, I don’t have any issues with the story at all, in fact for the most part it was reasonably well handled. Lawrence is self assured enough to make it work and she does a good job.

I sense peoples issues will be with the casting of the young guy. He is meant to be 19 and she is 32. I have no issue at all with that age gap, he’s an adult at that point. The guy who plays him however looks YOUNG, and that is giving it an ick factor. Also he just wasn’t great, a much more likeable or comedic actor would have elevated it massively. 

I liked her in this, she didn't hold back. Seems to be who she is as a person. The movie, eh, was ok at best but she was good in it.

17 hours ago, horangi said:

Finished up Reacher Season 2.  The last two episodes do a good job further cementing the protagonist as the bad guy, were it not for the Scooby Doo villains he's put up against who seem to have all the character of a wave of baddies of the NES Contra video game.  In addition it leans into the plot holes of a lot of heist shows where the value of the prize isn't worth the cost of securing it.  The baddies are trying to get away with $65 million dollars.  The Super Puma helicopter they are using retails at $22 million by itself.  Are you telling me that a VP at Not-GE Aerospace is going to go through all the risks for whatever share of $65 million he ends up getting after expenses?  Hell just get a deal to ship the missiles legally to Saudi Arabia and sell your stock options after the firm's price goes up. 

Stop using logic to ruin Reacher for me!!!  I wanna shut my brain off and just enjoy!

[Veltigar]

11 hours ago, Zorral said:

Quotes taken out of context

 

Sigh, I shouldn't respond to this lazy attempt at trolling, but I cannot help myself. You know it is perfectly possible to enjoy a piece of entertainment on a spectacle level, while still understanding how fucked up the ideological underpinnings of said piece of entertainment is right? Which is what my review is explicitly saying, but thank you for just lazily cherry picking some quotations. Always insightful to see a contribution like this.

13 hours ago, IlyaP said:

Just watching the 3 minute trailer for this movie is exhausting. 

I didn't see a full trailer before hand (the teaser trailer is much better imo), but I just looked it up and it's a terrible trailer. It spoils a lot of the best action and dance shots in the film, as well as some plot points. 

9 hours ago, TheLastWolf said:

Well, we are worried that all the major allies the west makes these days are either fascist or en route to being one.

I'm not sure who is included in your 'we', but I sadly have to admit that I share your worries. Realpolitik is one thing, but condoning/facilitating democratic backsliding is quite another. It doesn't seem like a solid foundation to resist the challenge of illiberal systems on the long term.

9 hours ago, TheLastWolf said:

Speaking of propaganda, Battleship Potemkin is a masterclass in editing. And the BnW cinematography uses gorgeous smoke and shadows, decades ahead of it's time. Kino fist huh

I enjoyed the action and dancing in Fighter, but it certainly is not in the same league as Potemkin in terms of innovation. Still, it's an interesting show of Indian political sensibilities anno 2024. 

[TheLastWolf]

1 hour ago, Veltigar said:

I'm not sure who is included in your 'we', but I sadly have to admit that I share your worries.

Those of us who care, anywhere in the world 

1 hour ago, Veltigar said:

Still, it's an interesting show of Indian political sensibilities anno 2024. 

It's all but sealed, the election 

[Zorral]

3 hours ago, Veltigar said:

You know it is perfectly possible to enjoy a piece of entertainment on a spectacle level, while still understanding how fucked up the ideological underpinnings of said piece of entertainment is right?

Actually, no I don't.

No this wasn't trolling on my part, but I did have suspicions it was on yours. 

Myself, just don't get how people can love something when it is advocating hate and horror, unless, of course nazis and WWII.

 

Edited January 28 by Zorral

[Heartofice]

8 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Actually, no I don't.

No this wasn't trolling on my part, but I did have suspicions it was on yours. 

Myself, just don't get how people can love something when it is advocating hate and horror, unless, of course nazis and WWII.

 

Sometimes it’s possible to enjoy a peice of entertainment even if the ideological underpinnings are abhorrent.

Case in point, I quite liked Barbie.

[Kalbear]

2 hours ago, Heartofice said:

Sometimes it’s possible to enjoy a peice of entertainment even if the ideological underpinnings are abhorrent.

Case in point, I quite liked Barbie.

Yes, bigotry and naked jingoism is exactly as abhorrent as feminism