Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1560 on: April 08, 2016, 06:04:16 AM »
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Season 1, 2005)

I didn't expect to enjoy this half as much as I am. It's not completely puerile, immature and stupid...I mean, it is all those things, but it's all those things done in a tight, funny, well-written fashion. Even though the show has more hits than misses for me, I love the pace. It reminds me of Police Squad!, in that even if a joke falls flat, the show drags you along too quickly to let you linger on it and moves right on to the next joke. That said, they're not "jokes" in the traditional sitcom sense of one-liners and pauses. It's very much an organic thing and most of the comedy comes from scenarios, actions and conversation.

Basically it's really good and I can't stop watching. There's not much backstory to bother with (yet), so so far I'd recommend checking out the episode S01E07 "Charlie Got Molested" and/or S01E05 "Gun Fever". So far.

Fantastic news. It gets a lot better after season 1, too. The real fun doesn't start until Frank (Danny DeVito) shows up.
Yeah, season 1 is worst season confirmed.
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Offline Blanko

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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1561 on: April 09, 2016, 06:30:25 PM »
The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick, 1998)

Masterpiece. 10/10

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Offline Snupes

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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1562 on: April 09, 2016, 08:27:56 PM »
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Season 1, 2005)

I didn't expect to enjoy this half as much as I am. It's not completely puerile, immature and stupid...I mean, it is all those things, but it's all those things done in a tight, funny, well-written fashion. Even though the show has more hits than misses for me, I love the pace. It reminds me of Police Squad!, in that even if a joke falls flat, the show drags you along too quickly to let you linger on it and moves right on to the next joke. That said, they're not "jokes" in the traditional sitcom sense of one-liners and pauses. It's very much an organic thing and most of the comedy comes from scenarios, actions and conversation.

Basically it's really good and I can't stop watching. There's not much backstory to bother with (yet), so so far I'd recommend checking out the episode S01E07 "Charlie Got Molested" and/or S01E05 "Gun Fever". So far.

Fantastic news. It gets a lot better after season 1, too. The real fun doesn't start until Frank (Danny DeVito) shows up.
Yeah, season 1 is worst season confirmed.

Really? So far I find Danny DeVito's character detracts from the show. Granted, I'm only a few episodes into season two so maybe that'll change.
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Offline Dionysios

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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1563 on: April 11, 2016, 11:08:15 AM »
'Conspiracy' (2001)
(HBO movie)

'The Wannsee Conference' (1984)
(German with English subtitles)



Just watched both of these about a week ago. I recall when the one made for HBO aired although I didn't bother to see it at the time, and I was right because the American remake is inferior. The dialog of the 1984 version with a German cast is taken verbatim from the actual record of this conference discovered in 1947. It is therefore much more interesting and informative. I thought reading subtitles well worth the substantial difference of content quality over the American version.

Reading holocaust denial literature a few years ago, I became aware that they make much of the fact that no written mandate from Hitler apparently exists for gassing of Jews. A scene in the German version deftly mentions that he did indeed explicitly mention it as a possibility way back in 1925 in Mein Kampf.

At any rate, the Wannsee Conference was the official go ahead for the gassing of Jews, and the full record of it exists. I got a copy through Amazon myself. The SS had begun gassing on a small scale at Chelmno prior to this conference which was held to announce it and coordinate with the departments of the German government. The fact that Hitler apparently didn't issue a written order (other than a passage in Mein Kampf) was for deniability which was the same reason he didn't visit the much more numerous labor concentration camps either.

It was at the Los Angeles Holocaust museum recently that I realized that the death camps (which numbered only six total) were considered Top Secret by the Nazis which corroborated in my opinion the fact that they were also responsible for the Katyn Forest massacre of Poles - the Nazis being the ones who "discovered" it. The western press just chooses to repeat Goebbels propaganda about the latter.

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Offline Snupes

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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1564 on: April 11, 2016, 08:32:10 PM »
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Season 2, 2006)

The introduction of Danny DeVito's character was grating and made me really apprehensive about the future of the show, because I couldn't find him to be anything but annoying and not particularly enjoyable to watch. Fortunately, by episode 4 or so he'd integrated into the show well enough that he just felt like another character rather than a featured guest star.

I'm actually not sure if I like season two as much as the first. The middle of the season definitely had some of my absolute favourite moments, but overall the show seems like it's going less for clever, measured humour and more for "haha crazy bad stuff is happening isn't that hilarious lmao", coasting on shock factor and using the same tropes over and over (everyone talking over each other was funny at first, but I barely even register it now because it's become rarely worth listening to what each individual is saying), it just feels like the writing's gotten lazier. Things were hectic and unexpected in season one and the beginning of season two, but by the second half I've been seeing punchlines coming a mile away and the show just falls into the trappings of a sitcom like The Big Bang Theory or something else incredibly sterilized. Using obvious hard cuts for punchlines, the classic "person says a thing, wait two beats, other person changes topic nonchalantly", thinking outrageous situations are inherently funny without needing to add a joke to it...I dunno.

Hopefully it improves, and I still enjoyed the season, but the show's gotten incredibly formulaic and predictable already. We'll see if season three fixes that.
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Offline Crudblud

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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1565 on: April 12, 2016, 01:33:00 PM »
Throne of Blood (Akira Kurosawa)

Kurosawa's classic adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Not much to say that hasn't already been said, a classic tale of ambition, deception, treachery, and paranoia, shot beautifully by one of Japan's greatest directors, and with a fantastic lead performance by his frequent collaborator Toshiro Mifune, to say nothing of the disturbingly cold Asaji (the film's take on Lady Macbeth) played by Isuzu Yamada. It's par for the course as far as Kurosawa's jidaigeki films go, which is to say that it's packed full of meaningful spectacle, psychological imagery, and is brilliantly staged and shot throughout.

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Offline juner

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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1566 on: April 16, 2016, 02:50:56 AM »
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Season 2, 2006)

How far along are you now?

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Offline Snupes

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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1567 on: April 19, 2016, 06:37:09 AM »
Three episodes into season three. It's definitely lost a lot of steam for me. All of the jokes already feel worn out because they're either just differently-dressed repeats of earlier jokes, or rely on shock value. Which they don't have because the show's already taught me to expect the worst, so it's just incredibly predictable. I can see the outcome of everything by a mile away and it's just become a slog. The first season had me in tears, the second season got a good number of laughs, but I think I've laughed only once or twice so far this season. It's just so repetitive now.

I'm probably going to keep watching, if only because I seriously loved the show at first and I want to see that flame rekindled, but, eh, it's dampened substantially so far.
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Offline rooster

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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1568 on: April 19, 2016, 12:45:39 PM »
I've also started It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season one.

I've watched three episodes so far and I can't say I'm impressed. They're all just assholes which doesn't do it for me. And Charlie yells way too much.


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Offline Snupes

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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1569 on: April 19, 2016, 05:00:28 PM »
I suggest try to finish season one, it wasn't until the last few episodes I really started to enjoy it. However, I will say, part of the reason I liked it is because everyone is an piece of shit and has very few redeeming traits. It was an interesting change of pace for a sitcom.
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Offline Roundy

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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1570 on: April 19, 2016, 06:12:48 PM »
Sunny is pretty much all shock value and most of the humor is derived from how awful these people are so if those kinds of things don't appeal to you, you won't like this show. It's basically Seinfeld on meth.
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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1571 on: April 20, 2016, 07:42:02 PM »
'Escape From Sobibor'
(1987 movie with Rutger Hauer of Blade Runner)



True story of a mass escape from one of the six Nazi death camps which in real life was shut down and razed to the ground only two weeks afterwards by order of Heinrich Himmler in an effort to give the lie to the escapees' testimony.

Loved the fact that the escape was a team effort on the part of both Russian and western Jews.

Also noticed that aside from a dozen or so German SS officers at the top of the camp's hierarchy, all the armed guards were Ukrainian fascists.

Just got the book 'Escape From Sobibor' by Richard Rashke which the movie is based upon and which is also the most comprehensive history of this escape as he interviewed dozens of the escapees in writing the book.
http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Sobibor-Revised-Updated-Edition/dp/1480458511

It was during a guided tour at the scale model of this death camp built by one of the escapees at the Los Angeles holocaust museum recently that I fully realized that the whole death camp program was Top Secret in an effort to keep this attempted annihilation of millions hidden from public knowledge. The Nazis tried to destroy all the death camps to eliminate any evidence of what they did explaining it away with lies such as they're living in the USSR or Israel under assumed names, but the guide mentioned that the death camp at Majdanek survives intact as an unaltered testimonial to this day thanks to the Soviet army who arrived before the camp could be demolished. Therefore, I located an purchased the informative English language guide to Majdanek death camp published in Poland.

This desire not to be publicly recognized as guilty explains the secrecy and also why the death camps were chosen to be exclusively in Poland rather than Germany perchance they could blame the Jewish holocaust on the Soviets like they successfully did with the Katyn forest massacre of Poles.

I see a lot of this kind of propaganda of massive lies, blaming enemies for one's own crimes, etc in NASA and American policies.

I might mention I'm interested in Rashke's other book on John Demjanjuk and america's Cold War soft spot for Nazism which thankfully lack the thoughtless and unnecessary anti-Arab and anti-communist bias that are characteristic of John Loftus's otherwise worthwhile books on Nazism and American government.

« Last Edit: April 20, 2016, 10:29:48 PM by Dionysios »

Offline Dionysios

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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1572 on: April 27, 2016, 03:13:49 AM »
'Fidel' (2002)



I'd say this is a rather historically accurate movie as far as I can tell including its somewhat less than glorious depiction of Fidel Castro's domestic efforts from the late 1960's onwards.

It's pretty much not critical of Che Guevara which I'd say is correct. It depicts some tension between them, and it is a fact that Che Guevara was openly denounced the Soviet Union which had turned its back on old school Marxism in the 1950's embracing capitalism. Fidel Castro, however, was a conformist to the new Soviet revisionism, and the movie accurately shows this. Not to deprive him of credit where it's due, but Fidel proved to be less of a truly stalwart revolutionary than Che Guevara.

Saddam Hussein

Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1573 on: April 29, 2016, 04:13:49 AM »
Deadpool (Tim Miller, 2016)

Not a capeshit classic by any stretch of the imagination, but decent enough entertainment.  The modest budget hurts it at times, judging by the minimal action (comparatively speaking) and effects that look a little dated, but the cast give it their all, and the title character's running commentary is generally pretty funny.  The one criticism I do have of the humor is that because so many of the jokes are, well, jokes even within the context of the story, when they don't land, they absolutely backfire.  Most good comedies, I would argue, try to avoid this.  The humor frequently comes from the story itself, or the characters communicating with one another.  That way, if something doesn't make you laugh - say, a line where Alice insults Bob - it won't detract from your enjoyment of the show/movie.  You'll simply focus on the fact that Alice has insulted Bob instead.  The story is still progressing, the characters are still communicating, etc.  But here, most of the comedy comes from Deadpool simply telling jokes, whether to the audience or to other characters.  They don't advance the story or develop anyone's character, their sole purpose is to make us laugh.  And most of them do, like I said.  But when they fall flat, they really fall fucking flat, because nothing else is achieved by them.  We have nothing to focus on but how shitty the joke we just heard was.  The "brown pants" joke is probably the worst part of the movie.  They spend so much time delivering it, too!  It's like thirty or forty seconds of buildup to the punchline of an incredibly old joke that most people have no doubt already heard.

John Wick (Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, 2014)

Keanu Reeves gets mad and kills fucking everyone.  That's pretty much this movie.  I mean, there's a story, but who cares about that when Keanu is busy finding new and creative ways to score headshots?  Anyway, this is great.  A lot of style, a lot of awesome action, and Keanu does in fact turn in a pretty good performance.  Bonus points for Michael Nyqvist chewing the scenery vigorously as the villain.

Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1574 on: April 29, 2016, 04:44:04 AM »
It's basically Seinfeld I Love Lucy on meth.

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Offline xasop

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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1575 on: April 30, 2016, 05:02:12 PM »
Lexx (Paul Donovan, Lex Gigeroff and Jeffrey Hirschfield, 1997-2002)

Well, this was certainly a mixed bag. The overall premise is that a group of misfits manage to steal a living insect ship called the Lexx from a supremely evil dude, and fly around trying to find a new home.

Season 1, which consisted of four movie-length episodes, was simply fantastic. It toed the line between funny and bizarre with remarkable precision, keeping me amused and engaged at the same time. I'd rank it among the best sci-fi I've seen, though for more reasons shared with Red Dwarf than with Stargate.

Season 2 shifted format to conventional episodes. For the most part, it maintained the absurdist comedy I enjoyed about the first season, though as usual for an American-style let's-cram-20-episodes-into-a-season shindig, some episodes just felt like filler. The standalone episodes definitely worked better than the Mantrid story arc; long-running narrative just doesn't seem to be this show's strong suit.

And then we come to season 3, where it all begins to fall apart. After one of the two universes was destroyed and the Lexx ran out of stored energy at the end of season 2, the protagonists have to go into cryostasis for 4000 years while they drift to a planet where Lexx can eat. After that, they spend an entire season visiting various people on a pair of planets called Fire and Water, which it becomes evident are supposed to be depictions of Hell and Heaven long before that gets explicitly revealed. There's the occasional amusing episode, such as the one where they encounter a city on Fire populated entirely by bureaucrats, but nothing really approaches what I came to expect from the previous seasons.

Season 4 left me wanting more of season 3. After blowing up Fire and Water, they discover Earth orbiting the same star directly opposite, and all the evil spirits from Fire manage to escape and make their way onto Earth. As a result, the entire season focuses on Earth, with evil aliens infiltrating the government and causing chaos. I think it's meant to be funny, but most of the time it just comes across as tacky. There is one good episode, where the protagonists spend some time in a rural Ohio town among a parody of American hicks, but the rest of it varies from tolerable to dull.

The finale was slightly better than average for season 4, but not nearly enough to redeem it.

I can strongly recommend season 1, and if you like that, then season 2 is worth a watch too. Skip the rest.
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Online Lord Dave

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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1576 on: May 01, 2016, 09:11:04 PM »
Saw Captain America: Civil War.


Meh.
The conviction will get overturned on appeal.

Saddam Hussein

Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1577 on: May 01, 2016, 09:12:06 PM »
butt butt butt the critics love it:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/captain_america_civil_war/

You're not allowed dislike it!

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Online Lord Dave

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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1578 on: May 01, 2016, 09:15:41 PM »
butt butt butt the critics love it:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/captain_america_civil_war/

You're not allowed dislike it!

I didn't dislike it but I wasn't as entertained.
It was a middle part, nothing more.
The conviction will get overturned on appeal.

Saddam Hussein

Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1579 on: May 01, 2016, 09:32:40 PM »
I will tell you how wrong you are when it finally comes out over here and I get to see it.  Assuming that I like it, which I'm pretty sure I will.

capeshit capeshit capeshit