[rooster]

I finished The Fall.

What an unfulfilling, frustrating, and depressing end.
I loved it.

[George]

Doctor Strange (Scott Derrickson, 2016)

This is good.  It's pretty much a standard capeshit origin story, and it sticks to the traditional Marvel formula, but if you're a fan of what they've been doing so far, then there's plenty more of what you've come to enjoy here.  The one area where it truly stands out from its peers are the visuals, which are every bit as cool and unique as Steve Ditko's psychedelic artwork from the comics.  The love interest feels largely superfluous, despite Rachel McAdams doing the best she can with the role, and the villain isn't all that great either, despite Mads Mikkelsen doing the best he can with the role.  I wasn't a fan of the humor in this movie - it felt very forced, cringey at times, and in general just not very funny.  On a related note, while I mostly liked Benedildo Cucumberpatch's portrayal of the titular hero, I felt his character was way too similar to Tony Stark's, especially at the beginning of the movie.  I don't just mean as the archetype of the arrogant jerk who loses everything and learns to become a better person.  They essentially have the same snarky sense of humor, same deadpan delivery, same patter-style manner of speech, and the same personality.  Even their voices sound alike.  I can't imagine that I'm the only person who noticed this.

Those flaws aside, however, this is still Marvel doing what they do best and giving us a fun capeshit romp.  They just don't reinvent the genre with it.

[xasop]

Alfred Jodocus Kwak (Herman van Veen, 1989-1991)

Dit kinderprogramma is een verhaal over een weeseend die Alfred Jodocus Kwak heet. Hij is opgevoed door een mol omdat zijn ouders vroeg in de serie doodgereden zijn, wat is de oorzaak van wat spanning met zijn medeleerlingen bij seizoen 1. Alfred Jodocus Kwak is een nogal ongewoon kinderprogramma door de verschillende thema's en personages die het bestudeert, waaronder een kwade kraai gebaseerd op Adolf Hitler (die "Dolf" heet).

Het programma wisselt een beetje van aflevering tot aflevering. Er zijn wat verhaalbogen, sommige met reizen naar andere landen die op echte landen zijn gebaseerd, anderen met buitenaardse wezens of reusachtige schildpadden. Meestal was het heel interessant, zelfs als een volwassene.

Uiteraard was het echte doel om mijn Nederlands te verbeteren, en dat viel wel mee. Nu kan ik veel beter luisteren in het Nederlands, al moet ik nog oefenen met spreken.

Samenvattend kan ik dit programma aanbevelen aan iedereen. Het was heel veel beter dan ik had verwacht, vooral van een kinderprogramma.

[garygreen]

been watching westwood.  the concept is p cool i think, but hbo's execution in this case leaves at least a little to be desired.  definitely worth watching if you've got hbo, though.

And of course they have to throw in the dumbest shit for "shock value" or something. There's an orgy scene that looks like a 14 year old kid thought it up for no reason. The orgy scene from Conan the Barbarian was better and made more sense.

seriously.  i can't imagine why anyone would want to fuck covered in a bunch of gold paint and glitter. 

There is one character I like cause he finally pointed out how his loser friend wants to do nothing but visit Westworld to have sex (which seems like a huge waste of money imo). He also pointed out that whoever created Westworld must not have a very good opinion of people.
I mean seriously, "enter this theme park and do whatever you want!" and most people want to kill indiscriminately and have sex? How boring and stupid. You can have sex without paying $40,000.

yeah they've done a poor job of making this park sound appealing.  although having played gta online, i get the feeling that that's exactly how 60% of the players would play the game.

[rooster]

been watching westwood.  the concept is p cool i think, but hbo's execution in this case leaves at least a little to be desired.  definitely worth watching if you've got hbo, though.

I'm glad someone agrees with me on execution.

yeah they've done a poor job of making this park sound appealing.  although having played gta online, i get the feeling that that's exactly how 60% of the players would play the game.

Maybe that's a fair percentage. But maybe they would be less likely to play that way when looking at a almost human character.
My friend made an interesting point the other day on this topic, he suggested the people who could afford the park are likely to be assholes. This is going off the assumption that very successful people are sociopaths.

[garygreen]

been watching westwood.  the concept is p cool i think, but hbo's execution in this case leaves at least a little to be desired.  definitely worth watching if you've got hbo, though.

I'm glad someone agrees with me on execution.

last week's episode was almost unforgivably poorly executed.  you probably already know which scene i'm thinking of: i feel like if a potentially psychotic robot threatened me with a knife and was like "hey use that ipad to make me smarter and faster and stronger," then i would maybe do the exact opposite of that.  this whole section of the plot is super unbelievable to me.

i still dig the show though because jeffrey wright.  and also because i'm apparently a complete sucker for lazily contrived mysteries (see: LOST).

[rooster]

last week's episode was almost unforgivably poorly executed.  you probably already know which scene i'm thinking of: i feel like if a potentially psychotic robot threatened me with a knife and was like "hey use that ipad to make me smarter and faster and stronger," then i would maybe do the exact opposite of that.  this whole section of the plot is super unbelievable to me.

i still dig the show though because jeffrey wright.  and also because i'm apparently a complete sucker for lazily contrived mysteries (see: LOST).

I absolutely hate her story-line. Her and those two surgeons make my eyes roll right out of my head.

But the data uplink thing and the old unregistered robots were pretty cool. Anthony Hopkins is really starting to creep me out. Overall I thought it was one of the better episodes because things actually happened. And I'm starting to enjoy Ed Harris and James Marsden's plot. Teddy is the only robot that I like so far.

[Rushy]

I remember hearing about Westworld on NPR. I don't have HBO, but it sounds kind of like this: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/humans/s01/

Similar themes and story. Not HBO budget level, but still well made.

[xasop]

Turks fruit (Paul Verhoeven, 1973)

So it turns out art films are a terrible way to learn a language because everyone is too busy being an edgetacular fedoramaster to bother matching up their body language to their words. Blanko and Crudblud would love it.

[Crudblud]

Turks fruit (Paul Verhoeven, 1973)

So it turns out art films are a terrible way to learn a language because everyone is too busy being an edgetacular fedoramaster to bother matching up their body language to their words. Blanko and Crudblud would love it.

>me
>watching paul verhoeven films
>enjoying paul verhoeven films

dude lmao

[garygreen]

I absolutely hate her story-line. Her and those two surgeons make my eyes roll right out of my head.

But the data uplink thing and the old unregistered robots were pretty cool. Anthony Hopkins is really starting to creep me out. Overall I thought it was one of the better episodes because things actually happened. And I'm starting to enjoy Ed Harris and James Marsden's plot. Teddy is the only robot that I like so far.

i did really enjoy the scene with hopkins and wright in the house.  i pretty much love all the human characters and hate all the robots, but i feel like that will change as the writers start to develop some depth to the robots.  teddy is already starting to grow on me.  ed harris is very one-dimensional right now, i guess, but he's just so visually perfect for the role.

I remember hearing about Westworld on NPR. I don't have HBO, but it sounds kind of like this: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/humans/s01/

Similar themes and story. Not HBO budget level, but still well made.

it's worth watching if you get a chance.  that said, hbo could probably run a show called omg who's that guy?!?!, and i'd watch every season they released.

[George]

last week's episode was almost unforgivably poorly executed.  you probably already know which scene i'm thinking of: i feel like if a potentially psychotic robot threatened me with a knife and was like "hey use that ipad to make me smarter and faster and stronger," then i would maybe do the exact opposite of that.  this whole section of the plot is super unbelievable to me.

That was head-slappingly confusing.  The whole time I was just asking, why?  Why are you doing this?  Okay, I can understand the Asian guy, who was obviously charmed by her, but the other one clearly wanted no part in it.  He's a fully-grown man wearing a protective rubber suit up against a naked woman armed with nothing more than a scalpel.  In a crowded building.  Why didn't he yell for help?  Why didn't he turn around and walk away?  Why didn't he do literally anything except exactly what she wanted?

I do enjoy the show overall, although I agree with a lot of what rooster and garygreen have said.  One more criticism I'd add is an issue that a lot of Nolan projects suffer from - an excessive and largely unearned sense of self-importance.  I have no problem with it taking a more serious tone than the 1973 movie, but right from the very first minute, the show immediately begins doing its best to convince us that this a Very Important Show with Very Important Things to Say.  You'd swear that these people were running a Holocaust memorial rather than a goofy theme park, for all the gravitas-laden dialogue, the grave solemnity with which most of the characters speak, and the ominous music framing it all.

[rooster]

You'd swear that these people were running a Holocaust memorial rather than a goofy theme park, for all the gravitas-laden dialogue, the grave solemnity with which most of the characters speak, and the ominous music framing it all.

It's a billion dollar corporation run by programmers discussing the morality of consciousness and with the responsibility of people's lives in their hands. Anthony Hopkins and Jeffrey Wright don't seem like they'd be particularly chill bosses.
Even Disneyland/world takes everything super seriously. You should read some former employee experiences.

And I don't mind the music since it's modern stuff re-done with a creepy Western vibe. It is a show about consciousness, morality, excess, and freedom afterall. Not a comedy.

I do agree with you completely about the surgeons and Maeve though. I mean, they're apart for most of the day - they easily could have pretended to go along with her plan and then immediately reported her once she was back up in Westworld. I wouldn't say the Asian is particularly charmed by her though. He seems more curious and compassionate about the robots in general.

[mollete]

I don't often actually go to the theater to watch new releases, but I went to see Arrival and it was quite good. It's about a first contact scenario from the perspective of a linguist that's been given the task of finding out how to communicate with the aliens. The language nerd in me appreciated the details of her efforts, but it's not really all that technical if that's not your thing. The main thing about the film that stood out was that it was a sci-fi film that was very character/emotion-based and less focused on having cool futuristic effects.

I also intend to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them sometime in the near future.

EDIT: Arrival also has a bit ~twiiiist~ that's cool

[garygreen]

just finished season 1 of turn: washington's spies.  i like spy stuff, so i dig it.  plus, every episode gives me a patriotism boner.

[rooster]

just finished season 1 of turn: washington's spies.  i like spy stuff, so i dig it.  plus, every episode gives me a patriotism boner.

I liked that show too.

Production was good, acting was good, decent enough plot, not too slow, etc.

[garygreen]

just finished season 1 of turn: washington's spies.  i like spy stuff, so i dig it.  plus, every episode gives me a patriotism boner.

I liked that show too.

Production was good, acting was good, decent enough plot, not too slow, etc.

i also got caught up on westworld.  really enjoyed the latest episode.  lots of juicy puzzle pieces.  bernarnold and multiple timelines confirmed!

also i think i agree with the man-in-black-is-william theory.  i can't decide, though, if i think he's a guest or a host.

[George]

To the surprise of absolutely no one, it turns out that the Man in Black is William.  Also, I have to say that the breakout scene was horrendously, catastrophically bad.  Plot armor!  Bottomless magazines!  Dozens of security personnel apparently just refusing to fire back!

[Rama Set]

Well it looks like Luke Cage snapped Marvel's winning streak.  What a crap show.

[Ghost Spaghetti]

Well it looks like Luke Cage snapped Marvel's winning streak.  What a crap show.

I liked it until Diamondback became the main antagonist. I enjoyed the battle of public image being played out with Luke, Cottonmouth and the Councilwoman. Once they realised Luke couldn't be hurt conventionally, the attempt to destroy him by hurting people close to him and his image in the eyes of Harlem was a really interesting take on the superhero v big bad story.

Then they found magic superbullets and it descended back into a punch-em-up.