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

[polishgenius]

45 minutes ago, Mr. Chatywin et al. said:

Look how long Lance beat the doping tests, and in general there's a common rumor that NBA players are typically using banned substances

 

tbf, EPO was for a long time impossible to detect and is still a lot easier to hide than 'roids. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, JGP said:

 It's not. I was dying and almost turned it off but stayed for the laughs.

The Point Break remake was offensive as someone who really likes the original. The latter is fun dumb cheese with a lot of soul. The new one is just so empty and captures nothing what made the early 90's one so great. And it's terrible. 0 out of 10 film.

1 hour ago, Ran said:

Not seen the Point Break remake, but lets be honest, Bigelow's Point Break is a much better film than the original Road House. The latter is a cult classic, for good reasons, but it certainly could be remade in a way that could yield a better film (but one that will have to lose some of its essence in the process; see below). But the thing that makes the "cult" part of it -- the sheer over-the-top 80s-ness, the "I-don't-give-a-fuck"-ness of it, the Swayze-ness of it -- that stuff can't really be replicated.

That's why neither films really work as remakes. They were just from a different time so you can't make them with the same energy, and in both instances you're probably not going to cast someone who can live up to Swayze. I'm not claiming he's a great actor, but somehow he was great for many of his roles. In both these instances they should have probably just changed the titles and given the characters new names. That alone would make them more palatable. 

Edited March 21 by Mr. Chatywin et al.

[Which Tyler]

1 minute ago, Mr. Chatywin et al. said:

The Point Break remake was offensive as someone who really likes the original. The latter is fun dumb cheese with a lot of soul. The new one is just so empty and captures nothing what made the early 90's one so great. And it's terrible. 0 out of 10 film.

 

[polishgenius]

Point Break: a worthwhile remake of The Fast and The Furious

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

I really need to give Hot Fuzz a second watch. Found it kind of meh when I saw it in the theater. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Just now, polishgenius said:

Point Break: a worthwhile remake of The Fast and The Furious

 

 

[BigFatCoward]

31 minutes ago, Mr. Chatywin et al. said:

I really need to give Hot Fuzz a second watch. Found it kind of meh when I saw it in the theater. 

Freak. I used to be driven like Sgt Angel, now my attitude is a lot more Danny. 

Edited March 21 by BigFatCoward

[BigFatCoward]

1 hour ago, polishgenius said:

 

tbf, EPO was for a long time impossible to detect and is still a lot easier to hide than 'roids. 

Let's not forget lance did get popped and was given a retrospective, very suspicious, get out of jail free card at the start of his run. Cheating cunt. 

[Ran]

22 minutes ago, Mr. Chatywin et al. said:

you're probably not going to cast someone who can live up to Swayze. I'm not claiming he's a great actor, but somehow he was great for many of his roles. In both these instances they should have probably just changed the titles and given the characters new names. That alone would make them more palatable. 

Maybe. I agree on Swayze, in roles like Dalton, Johnny Castle, and especially Bhodi he just exuded something ... hard to quantify. 

That said, Gyllenhaal doesn't even try. He gives an odd-ball performance, of a piece with the general oddness and off-kilter nature of the film. Where Swayze's Dalton was a warrior-philosopher, Gylenhaal's Dalton is something very different, a version of Dalton seen in a fun house mirror, the zen turned into weird cheerfulness, the warrior turned into equal parts comic and brutal. 

[Zorral]

2 hours ago, Ran said:

But the thing that makes the "cult" part of it -- the sheer over-the-top 80s-ness, the "I-don't-give-a-fuck"-ness of it, the Swayze-ness of it -- that stuff can't really be replicated.

In ways similar to Johnny Guitar -- including utterly weird geography in terms of where locations are in relationship to each other.  In that film it's like you open the backdoor of the saloon -- and you're in the mine. It's just ... weird.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

20 minutes ago, Ran said:

Maybe. I agree on Swayze, in roles like Dalton, Johnny Castle, and especially Bhodi he just exuded something ... hard to quantify. 

That said, Gyllenhaal doesn't even try. He gives an odd-ball performance, of a piece with the general oddness and off-kilter nature of the film. Where Swayze's Dalton was a warrior-philosopher, Gylenhaal's Dalton is something very different, a version of Dalton seen in a fun house mirror, the zen turned into weird cheerfulness, the warrior turned into equal parts comic and brutal. 

Swayze is hard to quantify in his best roles. He just gives off a vibe many actors can't match who are decent and attractive. 

Gyllenhaal is so hit or miss for me. He's carried a lot of movies really well, but in others felt lifeless. He clearly put in the physical work to look like the character he was trying to bring to life, but by all accounts (haven't seen the movie, probably never will) it's just not good and he's not good in it. 

It's funny that The Fast and the Furious was brought up in relation to Point Break. That's how you remake a movie without actually remaking it. 

[JGP]

1 hour ago, Mr. Chatywin et al. said:

It's funny that The Fast and the Furious was brought up in relation to Point Break. That's how you remake a movie without actually remaking it. 

This offends me frankly, and before you start polishgenius you can fuck right off. :p

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, JGP said:

This offends me frankly, and before you start polishgenius you can fuck right off. :p

Why? The movies are almost exactly the same outside of the kidnapped GF and the hero and antihero becoming friends instead of the latter dying. 

[Which Tyler]

11 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

Freak. I used to be driven like Sgt Angel, now my attitude is a lot more Danny. 

I'm sorry, but you'll always be Sgt Maaka in my head-canon

[BigFatCoward]

27 minutes ago, Which Tyler said:

I'm sorry, but you'll always be Sgt Maaka in my head-canon

As much weird shit happens in NW london as Welllington paranormal. 

[Darryk]

Finished The Gentlemen and damn that was quality.

[Heartofice]

30 minutes ago, Darryk said:

Finished The Gentlemen and damn that was quality.

Me too. Very much enjoyed it, it had all the great points and less of the bad points of a Guy Ritchie production. Sometimes it veered too much into Ritchi-isms, and I didn't think the last episode was very good. But overall I think it was a lot of fun and managed to get the balance right.

[Iskaral Pust]

Agreed, I watched The Gentlemen last week, starting with a flight to London.  There’s too much Ritchie unnatural arch dialogue but it’s overall an enjoyable watch.  Good to see Daniel Ings land a role like this after he was so good in Lovesick (fka Scrotal Recall).  It felt like this was Theo James’ audition for Bond, just like Layer Cake was for Daniel Craig.

Oppenheimer was very good, and Cillian Murphy was excellent, but I disliked the post-war McCarthyist politicking as the primary conflict, or the gratuitous sex scenes.  It felt like the director couldn’t make enough drama from a literal apocalypse and ever-present threat of planetary extinction.

Belfast was really enjoyable, albeit romantic and twee — it had to be told through the eyes of a child to carry off that tone.  Very well made film.

[Mexal]

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

Why? The movies are almost exactly the same outside of the kidnapped GF and the hero and antihero becoming friends instead of the latter dying. 

Tend to agree.

[RhaenysBee]

I finished Yellowstone and aside from some small scale structuring issues and a couple abandoned side plots, it was freaking phenomenal and my most favorite tv experience ever since the 2022 Buffy binge. I love love love love everything about this show and I even appreciate and respect the parts I didnt love. If I still knew how that it works, I would now exchange my board avatar for Beth, because it’s been a while I had a new crazy blondie avatar. Also no other tv show ever had me have three simultaneous tv crushes on the characters. I think the max had always been two. 

Edited March 22 by RhaenysBee