Saddam Hussein

Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1060 on: January 24, 2015, 05:35:01 AM »
I finished Twin Peaks.  I was going to write a few paragraphs on my overall impression of the show, but the last episode irritated me.  What the hell was up with that?  I feel like Lynch just slapped me.

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Offline Crudblud

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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1061 on: January 24, 2015, 12:01:01 PM »
I finished Twin Peaks.  I was going to write a few paragraphs on my overall impression of the show, but the last episode irritated me.  What the hell was up with that?  I feel like Lynch just slapped me.
I wonder how they're going to handle that ending in the new season. Not just because a crazy amount of stuff could happen in the 25 year gap, but also because Frank Silva is dead. They're going to have a lot of trouble getting around being unable to show BOB unless they use stock footage, which would look awfully cheap but might actually work well in a Lynchian kind of way.

Ghost of V

Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1062 on: January 24, 2015, 05:49:58 PM »
I finished Twin Peaks.  I was going to write a few paragraphs on my overall impression of the show, but the last episode irritated me.  What the hell was up with that?  I feel like Lynch just slapped me.
I wonder how they're going to handle that ending in the new season. Not just because a crazy amount of stuff could happen in the 25 year gap, but also because Frank Silva is dead. They're going to have a lot of trouble getting around being unable to show BOB unless they use stock footage, which would look awfully cheap but might actually work well in a Lynchian kind of way.

There's so much we don't know about BOB and the Black Lodge that they could get someone else entirely to represent BOB. I don't think that's completely ridiculous.

Laura Palmer's "I will see you again in 25 years" quote is interesting. I wonder if they're doing this on purpose. I've read that Kyle is back, but I hope it's just not in the form of his old Black Lodge-self. I could see Lynch pulling some crap like that.
« Last Edit: January 24, 2015, 05:58:09 PM by Vauxhall »

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Offline Crudblud

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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1063 on: January 24, 2015, 08:30:12 PM »
I finished Twin Peaks.  I was going to write a few paragraphs on my overall impression of the show, but the last episode irritated me.  What the hell was up with that?  I feel like Lynch just slapped me.
I wonder how they're going to handle that ending in the new season. Not just because a crazy amount of stuff could happen in the 25 year gap, but also because Frank Silva is dead. They're going to have a lot of trouble getting around being unable to show BOB unless they use stock footage, which would look awfully cheap but might actually work well in a Lynchian kind of way.

There's so much we don't know about BOB and the Black Lodge that they could get someone else entirely to represent BOB. I don't think that's completely ridiculous.

Laura Palmer's "I will see you again in 25 years" quote is interesting. I wonder if they're doing this on purpose. I've read that Kyle is back, but I hope it's just not in the form of his old Black Lodge-self. I could see Lynch pulling some crap like that.

I dunno, Silva's portrayal is so iconic that I don't think fans would go for someone else playing BOB, at the same time they can't really shrug their shoulders and say "oh, that guy? He just went away." It's a tricky situation. Maybe if BOB just becomes some invisible force that is suggested but never actually shown it could work, but it would be difficult to convincingly change the character from a physical being who appears to his victims to a malevolent spirit operating entirely from the shadows. Bottom line is they're going to have to pull off something amazing.

As for Cooper, I doubt they would get Kyle back just to have him sit around drinking viscous black coffee in an armchair and talk backwards. He might be introduced in the Black Lodge but find a way out, maybe 25 years is some kind of sentence he's serving there. Of course, this is all speculation and may turn out to be totally wrong, which is more than likely given that Lynch is, well... Lynch.

Also, "see you in 25 years" probably didn't mean anything at the time, but they've obviously planned the new season to play into that line. What it means and what they're going to do with it I don't know, but I'm really excited to find out.

Ghost of V

Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1064 on: January 24, 2015, 08:45:46 PM »
At first I was skeptical, but after rewatching Twin Peaks I'm very excited about the new series as well. I hope we see more of Phillip Jeffries, played by David Bowie of course. His small part in the movie is one of the most intriguing parts of the series for me. What the hell was going on there?

I agree about Silva. It's a shame that he's dead. AIDs, was it? Regardless, they're going to have to figure out a way to do something about BOB. The most likely scenario is that they will replace BOB with an equally malevolent entity.
« Last Edit: January 24, 2015, 08:48:12 PM by Vauxhall »

Saddam Hussein

Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1065 on: January 26, 2015, 03:53:18 AM »
Okay, time to say some stuff.  The general consensus on the quality of Twin Peaks over time seems to be that the first season is the best, and then it steadily declines throughout the second season, especially after Laura Palmer's killer is revealed.  I agree that the first season is superior to the second, but I actually think that the show improved after they wrapped up Laura's story.  It's strange that Lynch and Frost were originally planning to never (or at least not until the final episode) reveal Laura's killer, because the fact is that the mystery surrounding her doesn't have all that much story to it.  It's fairly complex, sure, but enough to span a show's entire lifespan?  No way.  The first few episodes of the second season demonstrate how limited that plot was the most.  Like, Donna meets this weird guy who knew Laura, finds out that she left a super-secret second diary with him, and then she has to figure out how to steal it?  Come on, there's adding new dimensions to a story, and then there's just spinning your wheels.

Anyway, the best part of the show isn't the story at all, but the delightfully eccentric and colorful cast of characters.  Almost all of them, with just a few exceptions, are great, but Kyle MacLachlan as our hero, Dale Cooper, is the best.  On paper, a character like this simply shouldn't work.  An inch to the left or right, and he'd either be an implausible Mary Sue or a ridiculous clown that nobody could take seriously, but through a combination of writing and acting, they hit just the right balance with him.  His quirky personality makes him genuinely likable, and his virtuosity makes him genuinely admirable.  And it's nice to know that a show doesn't actually need to have an angsty broody mcbroodwalking douchebag for a protagonist to be great.

Now I'm going to baw about a few characters.  Nadine sucked.  She was annoying and unfunny, her storyline made no sense, she took time away from better characters, and her bizarre super-strength was never once explained.  Leo was also terrible.  He goes from being a one-note douchebag to a one-note retard...and that's about it.  The Log Lady's log had more personality than him, and arguably more acting talent than the guy who played him.  Finally, Josie was a disappointment, largely because she started out being interesting, but it soon became clear that the writers had no idea what to do with her, and all the plot threads connected to her just seemed to fizzle out.  I still don't know whether she was supposed to be an antagonist or a victim, and frankly, I don't think the writers do either.

tl;dr: The show was great, my nitpicks aside.  If you haven't already, watch it.

Ghost of V

Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1066 on: January 26, 2015, 05:52:08 AM »
You mentioned terrible characters. I thought Nadine was pretty terrible but also endearing. James, on the other hand, was awful. At least to me. I feel like they tried too hard to keep him relevant. The whole side story about him getting roped into a murderous love triangle was completely unnecessary and didn't tie into the plot in any way whatsoever. Maybe I just hated the actor, but I feel like the show could have been better if they phased him out completely after the reveal of Laura Palmer's killer.
« Last Edit: January 26, 2015, 06:10:40 AM by Vauxhall »

Offline Blanko

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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1067 on: January 29, 2015, 03:43:33 AM »
I haven't been writing reviews for a while so I'll just recap with r8s on films I've seen since probably my last review, excluding the two 2014 ones.

Wild Strawberries (Ingmar Bergman, 1957)

A fun road trip film with great dialogue. It just werks. 8/10

Persona (Ingmar Bergman, 1966)

It's a great psychological drama with a stunning performance from Bibi Andersson. I really have to see it again before tackling any actual interpretation of it. 9/10

Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders, 1984)

It's just a well made film with compelling characters and performances, and its last 30 or so minutes are really engaging despite its disregard of the typical preach of "show, don't tell". 8/10

12 Monkeys (Terry Gilliam, 1995)

Gilliam's direction has a quality to it that's hard not to appreciate, and it's refreshing to see a time travel film that keeps it relatively straightforward. 8/10

The Holy Mountain (Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1973)

All of this symbolism, oh god. It's a really nice film visually and I enjoyed watching it, but I didn't get much else out of it. Another one I should probably see again. 7/10

The Big Lebowski (Ethan and Joel Coen, 1998)

Pretty funny and surprisingly clever, but not really impressive. 7/10

Chungking Express (Wong Kar-wai, 1994)

Endearing little slice-of-life with two separate stories set in Hong Kong. It just werks. 9/10

Fallen Angels (Wong Kar-wai, 1995)

Essentially a companion piece to Chungking Express. Follows a very cimilar concept, but it's a bit more hit or miss. I didn't find it to be quite as realized as its predecessor, but if you enjoyed Chungking Express, then this is worth checking out as well. 7/10

Being John Malkovich (Spike Jonze, 1999), Adaptation. (Spike Jonze, 2002), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)

I'm rating these ones together because they're all written by Charlie Kaufman, who wrote and directed Synecdoche, New York which I watched and reviewed earlier and loved the shit out of. These are all stellar films and deserve a solid 9/10, and the directors Kaufman chose to collaborate with did a great job with executing his vision. I think Synecdoche is still the most realized of Kaufman's works and my personal favourite, but it's safe to say that Kaufman has proven to be one of my favourite screenwriters. Since I gave them all the same rating, I'll just recap the films in order of personal preference: Synecdoche > Eternal Sunshine > Adaptation > Being John Malkovich

The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)

It's Enter the Void all over again. Really, almost all of my criticisms of it are applicable to this one as well. Great cinematography, but the story is just as obnoxiously self-indulgent and just about as non-existent. It's just two hours of shots of suburban life in the 50s mixed with some nice but unnecessary visuals of the evolution of life and the universe. 5/10

A Serious Man (Ethan and Joel Coen, 2009)

Despite its dark subject matters, this film still managed to be really funny. The Coen bros did a mighty fine job of extracting humor from tragic situations, just carefully enough to never cross over to tonally inappropriate. It's also worth noting that this film looks really good visually, which was an unexpected but pleasant surprise. 9/10
« Last Edit: January 29, 2015, 03:46:53 AM by Blanko »

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Offline spoon

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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1068 on: January 29, 2015, 07:01:51 AM »
I watched the first episode of Twin Peaks the other day. I can't get over the soundtrack.
inb4 Blanko spoons a literally pizza

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Offline Crudblud

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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1069 on: January 30, 2015, 07:29:44 PM »
Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson)

I have to say I'm disappointed to see just how much of the source material isn't in here. It really affects the pacing, and the story isn't helped much by it either, especially not when the characters have a tendency to mumble their way through their lines. I understand budgetary constraints will have affected Anderson's choices in terms of what had to be cut, but it seems like most of my favourite parts aren't in there. Of course this is all from one viewing (in the cinema, which I find distracting), and I do intend to see it a bunch of times before making my mind up, but right now it's a middling film for me. There is the possibility that Pynchon, as many have long thought, doesn't translate well to film, or maybe Anderson has just bitten off more than he can chew here.

Also a couple of people walked out halfway through, which I've never seen before, so that was kind of amusing.

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Offline xasop

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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1070 on: February 01, 2015, 03:22:58 PM »
Apocalypse Now Redux (Francis Ford Coppola)

I watched this mainly because I wanted to get the jokes in the OpenBSD 5.6 release artwork, which uses this film as its theme. It was a pretty good film, though it dragged on quite a lot (I'm going to watch the original cut at some point, and hopefully that will be better paced). I didn't know what to expect, and for some reason I had gotten the impression that it would be more action-oriented, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

I'll definitely be watching it again at some point, as I'm sure there are lots of things I didn't pick up on the first time (partly because I started watching it quite late, so I was pretty tired by the end).
when you try to mock anyone while also running the flat earth society. Lol

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Offline Crudblud

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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1071 on: February 02, 2015, 12:25:38 AM »
Human Nature (Michel Gondry)

An often overlooked Charlie Kaufman-penned behavioural comedy which is certainly original, but not among his strongest work. Or, to clarify, it's great for the first 70 minutes or so, then it starts to double back on itself a few too many times and just tips the balance in the wrong direction. It does have many moments of the Kaufman-esque wonder that anyone who is familiar with his writing will recognise instantly, and it is as imaginative as anything else he's done, but it seems to me that it outsmarts even itself in the end and cannot quite hold the delicate tonal balance it reaches for. Whether this is down to Kaufman's script or Gondry's direction is debatable, it could be said that the latter is to blame for the endgame tonal issues, or that the former at the last moment becomes constricted by attempting to reach the logical conclusion after perhaps making too many passes beforehand, but I think in essence it is earnest in its intentions and overall a fine and inventive piece of filmmaking.

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Offline xasop

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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1072 on: February 02, 2015, 12:04:36 PM »
Seinfeld

Watched all nine seasons back-to-back. When it's good, it's really good, but there are also lengthy runs of a dozen bad episodes where it just did nothing for me (I recall the first half of season 5 being a bit of a snooze). Overall, I enjoyed it more than most sitcoms, primarily because it doesn't take itself too seriously. In fact, it quite often makes fun of itself, especially with regard to the in-universe sitcom Jerry (a parody of itself, where the fictional Jerry character in the show makes a show about himself).

It ended just at the right moment, at least; I found that season 9 was substantially weaker than any previous ones, and the subtlety that made the early seasons so great had all but evaporated.
when you try to mock anyone while also running the flat earth society. Lol

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Offline xasop

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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1073 on: February 08, 2015, 12:54:21 PM »
12 Monkeys (Terry Gilliam)

Caution: Spoilers!

This is the second Gilliam film I've watched (after Brazil), and while it doesn't quite capture the same exquisite oxymoron of humour and tragedy that made its elder brother so memorable, it stands quite well on its own. Unmistakeably a Gilliam, it is driven by a harsh contrast between two realities very similar to that found in Brazil, albeit this time coming closer to sci-fi and farther from dystopic satire. Indeed, the majority of the film is set in what was its own contemporary period (the 1990s), and while the dystopic future in which the framing narrative is set is a major driving force for the plot, very little is actually shown of that world.

Ultimately, and what makes this and Brazil both masterpieces in my opinion, Gilliam keeps the film interesting by his use of constant ambiguity. Right from the beginning, not enough information can be discerned in order to provide a firm sense of narrative. As the film progresses, conflicting pieces of information are given to the viewer; is the protagonist really a time traveller, or is he simply insane? This ambiguity is enhanced later in the film, when Cole himself appears to finally believe that he is insane, just as his psychiatrist (and, later, lover) begins to believe his story.

The film ends on a somewhat less ambiguous note than Brazil, with the most obvious conclusion being that Cole is indeed from the future, but there is still sufficient uncertainty to provoke speculation after viewing. And that's really the best I could hope for.
when you try to mock anyone while also running the flat earth society. Lol

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Offline Pete Svarrior

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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1074 on: February 08, 2015, 02:36:52 PM »
Caution: Spoilers!
>not using the spoiler tag
Read the FAQ before asking your question - chances are we already addressed it.
Follow the Flat Earth Society on Twitter and Facebook!

If we are not speculating then we must assume

Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1075 on: February 09, 2015, 10:40:05 AM »
>spoiling a movie nearly older than me

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Offline juner

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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1076 on: February 09, 2015, 04:36:43 PM »
Jupiter Ascending

It wasn't good. I think that about sums it up.

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Offline rooster

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Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1077 on: February 09, 2015, 05:07:48 PM »
Jupiter Ascending

It wasn't good. I think that about sums it up.
Yes, but did Sean Bean die?

Rama Set

Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1078 on: February 09, 2015, 05:54:58 PM »
Jupiter Ascending

It wasn't good. I think that about sums it up.
Yes, but did Sean Bean die?

Of course he did.  It is built in to his contracts now.

Ghost of V

Re: Just Watched
« Reply #1079 on: February 10, 2015, 07:25:13 AM »
I've been binge watching History Channel's Ancient Aliens series. Really brilliant stuff. Watching them leap through hoops and play mental gymnastics with literal strawmen is quality entertainment.

I feel like this show will become a cult classic in time.