*

Offline honk

  • *
  • Posts: 3347
  • resident goose
    • View Profile
Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1840 on: September 26, 2017, 03:45:31 PM »
And now, first impressions of various HOT ORIGINAL CONTENT things sampled on Netflix...

Designated Survivor
Self-serious show in which Kiefer Sutherland becomes @POTUS after a devastating terrorist attack. I was not interested enough by the first episode to continue. It all seems very bland. Kiefer's performance almost made me want to watch more, but I just don't care.


I played Major Scott Cameron, who briefed the president on the Nuclear Football and the made a jibe towards him. You watched the best episode, obv.

No, sir. It's not like the movies. It doesn't work that way.
ur retartet but u donut even no it and i walnut tell u y

Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1841 on: September 27, 2017, 03:13:41 AM »
star trek: discovery

excluding the folks who cosplay at conventions and collect memorabilia and stuff, i'm as big a star trek fan as you're likely to find, and i was pleasantly surprised.  i hear it's getting mixed reviews, but i think it's a refreshing reboot so far.

my only complaint is the klingons.  they should've gone back to the chinaman-style klingons from tos.
I have visited from prestigious research institutions of the highest caliber, to which only our administrator holds with confidence.

Rama Set

Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1842 on: September 27, 2017, 01:58:17 PM »
star trek: discovery

excluding the folks who cosplay at conventions and collect memorabilia and stuff, i'm as big a star trek fan as you're likely to find, and i was pleasantly surprised.  i hear it's getting mixed reviews, but i think it's a refreshing reboot so far.

my only complaint is the klingons.  they should've gone back to the chinaman-style klingons from tos.

I like the focus on uniting them and their spiritual heart.  Is it meant to be a reboot?  Are they wiping away the Picard timeline?  I hope not.

Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1843 on: October 04, 2017, 01:16:49 AM »
I like the focus on uniting them and their spiritual heart.  Is it meant to be a reboot?  Are they wiping away the Picard timeline?  I hope not.

reboot may not be the best word, but they're definitely doing some retconning.  i really don't love what they're doing with the klingons.  it's just super hard for me to imagine these klingons working with star fleet as they'll do in the "future."  worf is basically impossible imo.

contains episode 3 spoilers:
i'm also not totally in love with this whole space-spore-ftl-drive thing.  for one, they already toyed with the insta-travel idea in tng with the iconians.  for another, it feels a little star-wars-ish for me.

but overall i still really dig it.  new star trek makes me happy.
I have visited from prestigious research institutions of the highest caliber, to which only our administrator holds with confidence.

*

Offline Ghost Spaghetti

  • *
  • Posts: 908
  • Don't look in that mirror. It's absolutely furious
    • View Profile
Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1844 on: October 05, 2017, 08:30:31 AM »
I wa really not expecting to like Discovery, the trailers made it look awful, there has been a tonne of negative press about it, even rumours that it was already 'cancelled' before it was broadcast, but I've enjoyed it so far.

*

Offline Foxbox

  • *
  • Posts: 956
  • We live inside a dream.
    • View Profile
Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1845 on: October 06, 2017, 07:55:48 PM »
It (Andrés Muschietti, 2017)

I was pretty excited for this, and even with that it blew my expectations out of the water. Weirdly, the movie really isn't that scary, per se (though the atmosphere is amazingly dark and suspenseful), it feels like more of a supernatural thriller. And that's not a bad thing at all. The movie is bizarrely beautiful, the cinematography absolutely stunning and the music lending to the remorselessly twisted menace of its world. I loved it, and Bill Skarsgård was fantastic as Pennywise despite my worries. I'm excited for chapter two.

Also the last movie I expected to make me cry.

A little late to see It, but I pretty much agree with all of this. Though, I also have to add that most of the child actors were pretty fantastic. I felt the friendship and love between the Losers so much, and I think that's very important for this story. Definitely one of my favorite aspects of this adaptation, and I cried as well. Also super excited for chapter two.




It Comes at Night (Trey Edward Shults, 2017)


The Double (Richard Ayoade, 2014)



Been meaning to watch these films, so I shall soon.




Blade Runner 2049 (Denis Villeneuve)

I will have to write more about this later, but I fuufgkfuduukkking loved this!!! Incredible.






« Last Edit: October 07, 2017, 03:47:42 PM by Foxbox »

*

Offline honk

  • *
  • Posts: 3347
  • resident goose
    • View Profile
Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1846 on: October 11, 2017, 03:34:56 AM »
capeshit capeshit I watch nothing but capeshit

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (James Gunn, 2017)

This will probably end up sounding a lot more critical than I mean it to be, so to be clear, this is not a bad movie. It's a fun ride with likable characters and sparkling visuals. But it's definitely a step down from the first one, and I think the main problem is that the sense of irreverence that Gunn brought to that movie doesn't quite work here. What felt sly and subversive there just feels crude and immature here, like a teenager loudly yelling swear words in public. The heavier subject matter here needed a more sincere approach. This is illustrated best by what I consider to be the single worst joke in the MCU - the random "lol it's David Hasselhoff" gag directly after Ego admits that he murdered Peter's mother. It ruins the weight of the moment, and isn't even funny. A lot of the jokes here stuck out due to their lameness, in fact. There's a lot of lowbrow toilet humor, yelling about "turds," and the "It's not ripe," running gag made me groan with how bad it was. Also, Baby Groot wasn't funny, and came across as a walking toy commercial whenever he was onscreen. Again, the movie is good, but it could have been a lot stronger.

Wonder Woman (Patty Jenkins, 2017)

Yes, it's a good DCEU movie. An astonishing concept. It's a cool setting, Gal Gadot can in fact act, the romance at the center of the film is charming, and it all looks great. I'm in agreement with pretty much everyone else that its biggest flaw is the last-minute arrival of Ares for the tacked-on mandatory DBZ-style boss battle, although this one is at least considerably more restrained and shorter than prior DCEU climaxes.

Baby Driver (Edgar Wright, 2017)

This was disappointing. The action scenes are fantastic, as Wright's always are, the eclectic soundtrack is lively and fun, and the supporting cast are great. But the two leads, along with their relationship, are woefully, fatally dull and bland. I didn't care about either of them. And what's especially sad about that is that at the start of the movie, the protagonist seemed promising. I liked the goofy weirdo who danced through the streets while getting coffee, made mixtapes of random snatches of conversation, and didn't care what insults were hurled his way. Wright should have leaned into his eccentricity more, maybe had that be how he charms his love interest - but instead, that mostly fades away before too long and we're left with a boring guy who doesn't have much to say for himself and constantly wears sunglasses so we can't even see his whole face. Not that Ansel Elgort would have brought a lot of subtle acting to the role had he been free to emote. My impression of him after this movie is that he's a mediocre and distinctly uncharismatic actor.

Another problem is that the last act of the film is far too eventful. The climax goes on for too long. We're led to believe that everything is coming to a head during the final heist - but wait, now there's a tense scene at the diner, this must be it - oh, wait, now we're at the parking garage, time for one more dramatic final battle. It's exhausting from the viewer's perspective. Wright obviously understands the concepts of pacing and narrative momentum, so I don't know what happened. And just to criticize the story itself for a moment, it doesn't ring true to me that Doc helps Baby out at the end because he has a soft spot for people in love, when he literally used Baby's new relationship to coerce him into resuming working for him earlier in the movie. Wright's movies are justifiably acclaimed for their attention to detail, and an oversight like this really sticks out.
« Last Edit: July 19, 2018, 02:28:06 AM by honk »
ur retartet but u donut even no it and i walnut tell u y

*

Offline Lord Dave

  • *
  • Posts: 7653
  • Grumpy old man.
    • View Profile
Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1847 on: October 11, 2017, 05:03:55 AM »
Wonder woman.
It's Captain America 1.  Even has a dumbass in a plane he controls sacrafice himself even though he doesn't need to.


I enjoyed it but yeah, totally cap.
If you are going to DebOOonK an expert then you have to at least provide a source with credentials of equal or greater relevance. Even then, it merely shows that some experts disagree with each other.

*

Offline Snupes

  • Planar Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 1957
  • Counting wolves in your paranoiac intervals
    • View Profile
Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1848 on: October 11, 2017, 06:05:56 PM »
Just finished watching the first episode of season 4 of The Flash, its long-awaited return, and holy shit did they continue their train of fuckups.

It started out well, watching the now-Flashless team adjust to life with a few new heroes helming everything was pretty fun. But Goddamn that didn't last long. Right away a fucking robot samurai shows up and is like "gimme flash or i'll kill everyone" and everyone's like "uhh wally go fight him as flash" and Wally gets his ass kicked and the robot samurai is like "you have until nightfall to bring me flash" and then either the middle of the day or the next day they confront him again and Iris gets herself kidnapped because everyone in this show is retarded.

Running parallel to all of that, my roomie and I had a bet going on on at what point during the episode they'd bring back Barry, since we all know they don't have the guts to wait more than one episode. She guessed 20 minutes in, I guessed as a end-of-episode save-the-day-wow thing, and holy shit we were both right. He comes back as a babbling child where it's shown nothing can snap him out of it, then suddenly "iris is kidnapped" and he snaps out of it and is magically normal again. This show sucks.

So, yeah, they keep almost doing something interesting and then dropping it minutes later to get the show back to its status quo. I went in hopeful but came out just making fun of the show again. Oh well.

Oh yeah, and The Master is the villain. Until it turns out he's actually Cisco from the future and also he's a speedster now, I'm sure.
There are cigarettes in joints. You don't smoke it by itself.

*

Offline Snupes

  • Planar Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 1957
  • Counting wolves in your paranoiac intervals
    • View Profile
Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1849 on: October 24, 2017, 12:35:11 AM »
Relevant update, just watched episode 2. Holy shit, that was good. I didn't know that was possible anymore with this show. It wasn't nonstop sulking and depression and misery and angst and brow furrowing. There was genuine comedy, there was chemistry, there was a self-contained premise. There was some stupid logic but enough to handle. It was goofy. Holy shite. I really hope that wasn't a one-off deal.
There are cigarettes in joints. You don't smoke it by itself.

Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1850 on: November 05, 2017, 12:06:09 AM »
watched 2/3 of passengers last night.  i'll write up some thoughts on it when i finish, but for the moment i'm kinda surprised at how much hate this movie got.  i think it's pretty good so far.  it's a really fun "what would i do/how would i handle this" watch.

now to be sure, i'd have directed this movie way differently.  but that's not really a criticism of the film.  my only real beef with it is the manufactured tension in the climax.  it goes on for way too long.

i'd have shot this movie from aurora's point of view.  she wakes up, has no idea what's going on, and suddenly this mysterious guy shows up and the story goes from there.  she doesn't know what his motives are, if he's telling the truth about anything, what he's been up to all alone on the ship for so long, etc.  then maybe she gets some clues that he's lying to her about stuff, maximum tension ensues.  could've been a sweet thriller-ish scifi flick.

« Last Edit: November 05, 2017, 02:39:12 AM by garygreen »
I have visited from prestigious research institutions of the highest caliber, to which only our administrator holds with confidence.

*

Offline nickrulercreator

  • *
  • Posts: 279
  • It's round. That much is true.
    • View Profile
Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1851 on: November 05, 2017, 12:21:52 AM »
Rewatched Interstellar for the bajillionth time. Still such a good movie

MURRRRPH

Also the first 4 Saw movies, Jaws (again), Cast Away (again), and Apollo 13 (for like the 20th time). Oh and Anchorman.
This end should point toward the ground if you want to go to space. If it starts pointing toward space you are having a bad problem and you will not go to space today.

*

Offline Lord Dave

  • *
  • Posts: 7653
  • Grumpy old man.
    • View Profile
Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1852 on: November 05, 2017, 06:25:09 AM »
Transformers 5 - Last Knight


Normal Michael Bay shit.  Incomprehencible action sequences, a plot thats paper thin, a villian with so little screen time she qualifies as a plot device, and more shitting over its own lore.


The 2 1/2 hour movie felt like half the transition shots were cut yet there are no deleted scenes.  Characters are ignored or forgotten about, new transformers are everywhere for no reason except plot device, and yeah... typical Transformers movie.
If you are going to DebOOonK an expert then you have to at least provide a source with credentials of equal or greater relevance. Even then, it merely shows that some experts disagree with each other.

*

Offline xasop

  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 9776
  • Professional computer somebody
    • View Profile
Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1853 on: November 05, 2017, 09:49:33 AM »
watched 2/3 of passengers last night.  i'll write up some thoughts on it when i finish, but for the moment i'm kinda surprised at how much hate this movie got.  i think it's pretty good so far.  it's a really fun "what would i do/how would i handle this" watch.

now to be sure, i'd have directed this movie way differently.  but that's not really a criticism of the film.  my only real beef with it is the manufactured tension in the climax.  it goes on for way too long.

i'd have shot this movie from aurora's point of view.  she wakes up, has no idea what's going on, and suddenly this mysterious guy shows up and the story goes from there.  she doesn't know what his motives are, if he's telling the truth about anything, what he's been up to all alone on the ship for so long, etc.  then maybe she gets some clues that he's lying to her about stuff, maximum tension ensues.  could've been a sweet thriller-ish scifi flick.

Just watched this, p. much agree.

I also found the actual "there I fixed it" moment was very simplistic and straightforward for how much tension there was built up before it. I'd much rather they started finding clues and investigating the problem themselves for a while, rather than having a random crew member wake up and be like "yeah this isn't supposed to happen". They go from "shit there's a problem" to "oh no there's a hole in the ship" way too fast.

That said, I probably wouldn't recommend it very highly. There are plenty of better space films. The main nice thing about this one is the atmosphere rather than the plot itself, but as garygreen says, the sustained tension makes even that a little overbearing.

On the whole, my biggest problem is that the trailer is an outright lie about the film's contents. If you're interested in the basic premise of people waking up prematurely on a century-long space voyage, then watch it, but don't believe anything more than that from the trailer.
« Last Edit: November 05, 2017, 10:54:39 AM by Parsifal »
when you try to mock anyone while also running the flat earth society. Lol

*

Offline rooster

  • *
  • Posts: 4139
    • View Profile
Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1854 on: November 07, 2017, 02:50:33 PM »
Passengers was shit.

The climax was boring. The acting wasn't good. It was way too long for what it was.
I would have preferred it if it were darker and creepier, but for the theme and story - it was relatively safe and shallow.

*

Offline Snupes

  • Planar Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 1957
  • Counting wolves in your paranoiac intervals
    • View Profile
Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1855 on: November 12, 2017, 11:42:32 PM »
Thor: Ragnarok (Taika Waititi, 2017)

Holy shite. I think this is my favourite Marvel movie. Its gorgeous cinematography, infectious soundtrack (courtesy of Mark Mothersbaugh), perfectly-timed comedy, satisfying action, fantastic characterization (and characters more lovable than usual), and amazing villainous performance by Cate Blanchett; they all add up to I think the greatest movie Marvel has put out yet. There aren't really any scenes or lines that feel like filler, nothing lingers too long. I don't know how much of it is Taika Waititi (who also directed one of the funniest movies I've ever seen, What We Do in the Shadows, but the pacing of everything in the movie is just perfect.

I'm sure Saddam is gonna come and tell me to stop liking it so much, but, yeah, I'm pretty comfortable saying it's my fav of the MCU so far, even though I never thought that would be the case. I'm still hopeful Captain Marvel will top it, 'cause I love her, but it'd take a lot to do so.
There are cigarettes in joints. You don't smoke it by itself.

Rama Set

Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1856 on: November 12, 2017, 11:47:29 PM »
Yeah Ragnarok was great. Let’s also make sure we mention Jeff Goldblum’s demented Grandmaster and Korg, who were both hilarious.

I still liked Winter Soldier better myself, but this is a top-five I think.

*

Offline Snupes

  • Planar Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 1957
  • Counting wolves in your paranoiac intervals
    • View Profile
Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1857 on: November 13, 2017, 12:53:31 AM »
Oh, yeah, I don't know how I didn't mention Goldblum. He was amazing and one of the best parts of the film. Pure, unadulterated Goldbluming.

There are cigarettes in joints. You don't smoke it by itself.

*

Offline Ghost Spaghetti

  • *
  • Posts: 908
  • Don't look in that mirror. It's absolutely furious
    • View Profile
Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1858 on: November 13, 2017, 01:40:52 PM »
Just finished Stranger Things 2

Despite all the Stephen King references, the property this season most reminded me of was Alien in that the first season focussed on one monster in dark, unsettling locations, drilling down on the paranoia and fear, and Season 2 went the Aliens route of upping the action, expanding the cast, and even introducing more monsters and [spoilers]a Queen[/spoilers].

Despite the short season length, ST2 starts off on a slow burn but builds brilliantly to an incredibly tense last couple of episodes. Very much enjoyed it.

That said, it wasn't perfect. The episode with Eleven in Chicago felt really out-of-place.

*

Offline xasop

  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 9776
  • Professional computer somebody
    • View Profile
Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1859 on: November 18, 2017, 11:26:28 PM »
Nineteen Eighty-Four (Michael Radford, 1984)

Tripe. Just a cut-down rendering of the novel which adds nothing new and removes a lot of the character to fit. Read the book instead.
when you try to mock anyone while also running the flat earth society. Lol