Watch, Watched, Watching: Watching Severance and working for Lumon

[dbunting]

Still had 2 more free tickets that expire in February so I went and watched Land of Bad.   The title just still irritates me...

War movie set in the Philippines, both Russian and Muslim bad guys.  It telegraphed itself in the first 15 min, told you basically what the hero was going to go through. It has Liam Hemsworth and Russell Crowe in it for star power. Russell playing a role that he is way way too old for, and they explain it away, he still does a decent job in the role. If you have an expiring free ticket, go see it, if not you aren't missing anything.

Also finished True Detective Night Country.   IDK it just never grabbed me, there were events that should've but I was just never into it. I should go back and watch S1 since it was the only one of these that I was actually truly into. S2 sucked ass, S3 was ok, S4 meh.

Has anyone watched Slow Horses?  Spy show set in England. I started watching an episode last night but was just too tired and shut it off. Wondering if it's worth the investment.

[Corvinus85]

I watched 4 movies over the weekend:

Re-watched Oppenheimer for the first time since its release. Great movie, I actually improved my already high opinion of it. There is one shot, though, that essentially fails the Trinity detonation scene which Nolan shouldn't have put it as it dispels the illusion of a nuclear blast.

Re-watch Dune Part 1 ahead of its sequel. Also a great movie.

Next Goal Wins is a Taika Waititi comedy based on the real life events about American Samoa's national soccer football team. It was amusing, but not one of Waititi's best.

And I've added another Oscar nominee to my list, The Holdovers. A good film with strong performances. Paul Giamatti was excellent. To paraphrase a line from Oppenheimer, the chances of Giamatti stealing the Oscar from Murphy are near zero. He definitely shouldn't, though. Other than that, not really sure why this movie garnered a best pic nomination. It's a competently done movie, but the subject has been done plenty of times, and this time in a less relatable medium. It had a crisp script, yet its runtime is a bit too long for what it was.

Edited February 20 by Corvinus85

[Derfel Cadarn]

1 hour ago, dbunting said:

Still had 2 more free tickets that expire in February so I went and watched Land of Bad.   The title just still irritates me...

War movie set in the Philippines, both Russian and Muslim bad guys.  It telegraphed itself in the first 15 min, told you basically what the hero was going to go through. It has Liam Hemsworth and Russell Crowe in it for star power. Russell playing a role that he is way way too old for, and they explain it away, he still does a decent job in the role. If you have an expiring free ticket, go see it, if not you aren't missing anything.

Also finished True Detective Night Country.   IDK it just never grabbed me, there were events that should've but I was just never into it. I should go back and watch S1 since it was the only one of these that I was actually truly into. S2 sucked ass, S3 was ok, S4 meh.

Has anyone watched Slow Horses?  Spy show set in England. I started watching an episode last night but was just too tired and shut it off. Wondering if it's worth the investment.

Slow Horses is great. Season 4 drops sometime this year

[3CityApache]

27 minutes ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

Slow Horses is great. Season 4 drops sometime this year

Yup, Gary Oldman is incredible as Lamb. And it's a very faithful adaptation so far.

[Veltigar]

23 hours ago, Ran said:

  Reveal hidden contents

My recollection is that by defeating Arawn, the age of magic had come to an end, and everyone with magical blood in their veins would need to depart back to the Summer Country where the Sons of Don originated from.

It's probably true that some hints of this could have been dropped earlier, but maybe there were and I don't recall it. Obviously, he took inspiration from Tolkien here, with the end of the Third Age and the departure of the Elves to the West.

 

You are spot on there, both about the turn of events and the inspiration, but I felt like it was not really set up properly.

Spoiler

We learn that the Sons of Don are from the land of Eternal Summer in the first book, but it's never described as a Valinor stand in. I assumed that it was like the Lloyd Alexander version of Spain or Portugal, a bit like Prydain itself is strongly influenced by Wales and its mythology.

It's also never indicated that the Sons of Don are specifically in Prydain to vanquish evil and then depart. Perhaps it's too much to ask, but a bit of a backstory on Don (e.g. he was a king in the Land of Eternal Summer who did something bad and who came to Prydain as penance or perhaps some people from Prydain came to beg help to Don in the land 

Anyways, not a major gripe, but something that could have been set up better. 

 

22 hours ago, SpaceChampion said:

The movie is a mishmash of the first two books, The Book of Three, and The Black Cauldron.   But you would know that by now.  There is a book of short stories set in Prydain too, The Foundling and Other Tales, but I wouldn't say it's a must-read.

Loved the Prydain Chronicles as a kid and reread multiple times.  I would take breaks from Lord of the Rings to reread.  I understand there was development on a movie or tv series about 5 years ago but no news on that since.

Westmark is excellent.  I'd call it a secondary world with alternate history like G G Kay's post-Fionavar novels, except aimed at teens.

 

I read that on the IMDB trivia list as well, but in general I thought it borrowed far more from The Book of Three. I ordered the short story collection. It will take a while to reach me, but I'm curious.

Not sure whether I'll check out the Westmark books. Alternate history isn't really my thing.

2 hours ago, dbunting said:

I am current on Masters of the Air now. The most recent episode finally had me feeling something, caring a little about the characters.

  Reveal hidden contents

Hate to say it but now that they killed off every pilot and crew member maybe I will enjoy watching the next ones. I think my biggest issue w the show was the actors, just couldn't stand them. They all felt like they were pretending to be 1940's humans and good acting shouldn't feel like that.

 

That's pretty crazy as a spoiler I must say. I wasn't planning to watch any further, but that's a very bold move. And probably the best use of the actors who were indeed a bit anachronistic.

[Corvinus85]

2 hours ago, dbunting said:

I am current on Masters of the Air now. The most recent episode finally had me feeling something, caring a little about the characters.

  Reveal hidden contents

Hate to say it but now that they killed off every pilot and crew member maybe I will enjoy watching the next ones. I think my biggest issue w the show was the actors, just couldn't stand them. They all felt like they were pretending to be 1940's humans and good acting shouldn't feel like that.

 

But they didn't

Spoiler

Bucky and Buck are still alive. They've hidden Buck's fate for now, but the title sequence spoils that he's still alive, and likely a POW. Bucky may join him considering where he parachuted. 

Crosby has been the show's narrator and obviously he won't die. They did kill off almost all the new characters introduced in episode 4.

 

[SpaceChampion]

40 minutes ago, Veltigar said:

Not sure whether I'll check out the Westmark books. Alternate history isn't really my thing.

It's not exactly alternate history in terms of specific events retold.  It's more a flavor of the times (vaguely pre to post French revolution, with a Prussian neighbor that seeks to take advantage, and eventually English style parliamentary politics).  Secret identities, spies, con men, resistance militias...  It's fun.

Edited February 20 by SpaceChampion

[Isis]

Already booked my ticket for the Dune sequel. We rewatched the first one on TV but I'd have quite liked to see it on a big screen again. Who am I kidding? I know I will end up going to see them both at the IMAX on the inevitable two-part showing.

I had a day off last week (pre-testing postive for covid the following day) and decided to watch Atonement as an acquaintance recently pointed out that it was on iplayer. I was sure I had never seen it yet I spent the first half an hour feeling sure that I must have watched it and forgotten it. But I think that must have been a consequence of having read the book and having seen so much imagery from the film. I've sworn off reading any more McEwan novels but this is such a gloriously bleak story on every level. It's so intentionally depressing, you have to admire it. Great cast as well. Glad I finally saw it. Will probably never do so again.

On the flip side I also watched Portrait of a Lady on Fire which was amazing and deserves to be watched many times. It's filmed with an artist's gaze (obviously!) and it holds your eye and your attention the entire time. Just luminously beautiful. However... 

Spoiler

I could have done with the final shot being a tad shorter. I didn't time it or anything but it went into 'ridiculously long' territory.

 

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

5 hours ago, dbunting said:

Also finished True Detective Night Country.   IDK it just never grabbed me, there were events that should've but I was just never into it. I should go back and watch S1 since it was the only one of these that I was actually truly into. S2 sucked ass, S3 was ok, S4 meh.

I sometimes wonder if S1 was over glorified because it had such a good hook. The first half is amazing, but the second half, just okay. 

Also, S2 isn't as bad as people say IMO, it's just that they crammed way too much shit into a miniseries. S3 never even caught my attention. It seemed boring so I gave up quickly. Been meaning to really give S4 a shot though. 

3 hours ago, 3CityApache said:

Yup, Gary Oldman is incredible

You could have just written that. I think there's a fair argument to be made he might be the best actor of his generation. Think about all the amazing roles he's played, and even if he's in a movie that's not good, I would never say it's his fault. Plus he's a chameleon. When you see Leo or Pitt you know it's them. So often Oldman disappears and then you're like fuck, that was him? 

[Mexal]

1 hour ago, Isis said:

On the flip side I also watched Portrait of a Lady on Fire which was amazing and deserves to be watched many times. It's filmed with an artist's gaze (obviously!) and it holds your eye and your attention the entire time. Just luminously beautiful. However... 

  Hide contents

I could have done with the final shot being a tad shorter. I didn't time it or anything but it went into 'ridiculously long' territory.

One of my all time favorites. Thans @Ran

[Ran]

@Mexal 

You are welcome!

@Isis

I feel like the ending of the film is inspired by the ending of Call Me By Your Name, with a similar long focus on a love-lorn protagonist, dealing with their emotions:

The difference lies in the camera in Guadagnino's film making us the sole observer, while Sciamma's camera makes us voyeurs alongside Marianne, who secretly watches Héloïse's grief. Of course, Guadagnino lets the credits play over the scene, so it's not quite the same and maybe feels less long because of it (but it's actually a bit longer).

But yeah, gorgeous, beautiful film, which rocketed up into the Sight and Sound top 200 (maybe a bit early for it, but to me it's such an undeniable masterpiece, absolutely one of the great films of the 21st century, that I don't mind it too much).

Edited February 20 by Ran

[Paxter]

I really liked the latest instalment of True Detective. Felt like more of a true successor to S1 than the other seasons. Good pace, thematically interesting, and some strong performances in there. 

IMDB disagrees with me though. Looks like easily the worst user ratings of any season of the show (even S2!)

Edited February 20 by Paxter

[dbunting]

2 hours ago, Mr. Chatywin et al. said:

 Also, S2 isn't as bad as people say IMO, it's just that they crammed way too much shit into a miniseries. S3 never even caught my attention. It seemed boring so I gave up quickly. Been meaning to really give S4 a shot though. 

 

The hell you say?!?! I remember laughing at the lines and especially Vince Vaughn.

[IFR]

4 hours ago, Paxter said:

I really liked the latest instalment of True Detective. Felt like more of a true successor to S1 than the other seasons. Good pace, thematically interesting, and some strong performances in there. 

IMDB disagrees with me though. Looks like easily the worst user ratings of any season of the show (even S2!)

I like imdb as a general guide to shows that I may end up liking, because there are so many shows out there, and a filter is helpful. Beyond that, who cares what others think as long as you like it?

I think The Witch and Hereditary are absolutely fantastic movies, but they have fairly low ratings on imdb.

[WarGalley]

On 2/19/2024 at 7:08 PM, l2 0 5 5 said:

Making my way through The Shield again. For some reason I stopped watching it like ten years ago when I first started it. Made it through like five seasons. In season 3 now. It's hold up pretty well. 

Still the best series finale I’ve ever seen. Avoid spoilers.

[TheLastWolf]

2 hours ago, IFR said:

I like imdb as a general guide to shows that I may end up liking, because there are so many shows out there, and a filter is helpful. Beyond that, who cares what others think as long as you like it?

I think The Witch and Hereditary are absolutely fantastic movies, but they have fairly low ratings on imdb.

Letterboxd is way better

[3CityApache]

3 hours ago, WarGalley said:

Still the best series finale I’ve ever seen. Avoid spoilers.

One of the best for sure, but Six Feet Under's better.

[Veltigar]

I introduced some people to Edge of Tomorrow yesterday. Naturally they loved it, it's still amazing to me how few people have seen this absolute gem of a film. One of Tom Cruise's best roles, and the best role I have ever seen Emily Blunt in. The film has a perfect balance of action, humour, and drama.

Looking up the film to read the trivia again, I was delighted to read about Tom Cruise's new deal with Warner Bros and the enthusiasm of everyone from Emily Blunt to Doug Liman to make a sequel. I hope it materializes  

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

15 hours ago, dbunting said:

The hell you say?!?! I remember laughing at the lines and especially Vince Vaughn.

Idk, I thought he nailed what they were going for. It just wasn't done well by the writers. I'm not putting that on Vince (and his story was the weakest part).

[dbunting]

So I watched a few episodes S1 Slow Horses and so far it's been pretty good. It's always a little strange watching a law enforcement type show set in England as an American. I'm so used to everyone having a gun that when the one guy had one and no one else did it feels off.

Also, is this set up a real thing in England, a lower level of MI6 for people who washed out? I had to rely on IMDB to tell me why Olivia Cooke looked so familiar, perhaps if she was wearing green I would've recognized her sooner!