death tribble Posted April 8, 2018 Report Share Posted April 8, 2018 Agents of Shield and the agents are now on future Earth. Ordeal by innocence episode 2. And the family are accusing each other of the murder. And a police inspector tries to kill the witness who can exonerate Jack's name but dies in the attempt. Also a history of The Bullet Club under 'Finn Balor', A J Styles and Kenny Omega Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armory Posted April 8, 2018 Report Share Posted April 8, 2018 Finally watching Six Feet Under. Halfway through Season 2. It's as good as I've always heard it was. Neat to see Dexter handling dead bodies without having killed them first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death tribble Posted April 10, 2018 Report Share Posted April 10, 2018 Agent Carter Season 1 including the bloopers. Nice again to see British actors getting work. The end has a nice twist with an old foe turning up unexpectedly. The sexism of the era may be a bit heavy handed. The Russian angle was very neatly underplayed as the Red Scare had yet to really take off. Also NCIS season 14 episode 1. No Micheal Weatherly now. Nice way to start the introduction of the new team. And Gotham Season 4 episode 1. And the villains are taking on the full mantles. I will need to go back and watch season 3 to fully appreciate this. But so far so good. And Alexander Siddig ios in it which is no bad thing. tkdguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ternaugh Posted April 14, 2018 Report Share Posted April 14, 2018 I made it through about 15 minutes of Netflix's new version of Lost in Space, before deciding that I wanted to watch something else. There's very little tension in the Robinsons being in a life or death situation 10 minutes in, when you know that there's 9 more full episodes after this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Shadow Posted April 15, 2018 Report Share Posted April 15, 2018 Just finished watching Quantum of Solace again. Although it wasn't as bad as some people make it out to be, it wasn't that good either. RDU Neil 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death tribble Posted April 16, 2018 Report Share Posted April 16, 2018 Wrestlemania 27 and its additions including the Hall of Fame ceremony. From Impact Rosemary vs Taya Valkyrie. The former put the latter through a table with a piledriver. Impressive. Agents of Shield and the agents are on the ruined earth now being pursued by the Kree who have unleashed doggies on the station. Ordeal by Innocence and the murderer is revealed but all the kids, the husband, the secretary and the housekeeper all had motive to kill Rachel Argyle. They changed the murderer from the published text. It makes sense but. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted April 19, 2018 Report Share Posted April 19, 2018 Just got home from Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs. I went to see it because of the artistry of the production style (mostly stop-motion animation), but then when I left the auditorium something rteally hit me hard: This is a "children's movie" about genocide. I appreciate Anderson taking this kind of creative risk in times like these. Even though it took a while for the full horror of its premise to sink in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ternaugh Posted April 21, 2018 Report Share Posted April 21, 2018 The Running Man - Set in the dystopian future of 2017, the authoritarian government engages in "fake news" and "reality" entertainment to control the population. The most popular show, "The Running Man", is a reality show where those accused of crimes by the state can play for their lives, and the possibility of a trial by jury, or even an acquittal. Stars two future state governors, and features dance choreography by Paula Abdul. --streamed on Amazon Prime. Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker - pretty much what it says on the tin, features Mark Hamill as the voice of the Joker, in addition to the normal cast of the TV series. --streamed on Amazon Prime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death tribble Posted April 22, 2018 Report Share Posted April 22, 2018 Mad Max : Fury Road. I wish I had seen this earlier or at the cinema. None of us will ever be as cool as having our own rock concert follow us into battle cool. Jeffrywith1e, RDU Neil and L. Marcus 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Walsh Posted April 23, 2018 Report Share Posted April 23, 2018 I, Tonya. Good stuff. But what a group! A dummy hires someone dumber, who hires two people even dumber... RDU Neil 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDU Neil Posted April 23, 2018 Report Share Posted April 23, 2018 Binge watched the final season of Bosch on HBO. If you enjoy top quality acting, drama, excellent plotting, and great character development, I recommend it. A very excellent police procedural. I'm also more than half way through Swiss Family Robinson, as something going on in the background while I clean the house and do laundry, etc. It is basically the kind of show that would have been must see family TV in some earlier era, so while more diverse and better special effects, the writing feels like something from the late '70s. Isle of Dogs was both genius, and tone deaf in some ways. Really enjoyed it, absolutely beautiful craftsmanship, but in this day and age, you got to wonder about the cultural representation bit. And Quantum of Solace is my second favorite Bond, after Casino Royale, in that it is basically the second half of that movie. It has the most brutal killing by Bond ever portrayed on film, and manages the exotic, remote set-piece final battle in a way that felt almost believable. What it lacked was any real interpersonal connections whatsoever, being a highly internal revenge flick that only makes sense, emotionally, if you have just watched Casino Royale. The villain basically being a faceless organization of the super-rich, also kept them from being emotionally engaging... with the cathartic moment at the end being again tied to events in Casino. Watch them back to back, and it is an excellent, bleak, violent revenge chapter. slikmar and Michael Hopcroft 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
"V" Posted April 23, 2018 Report Share Posted April 23, 2018 I know I am probably very late to the party on this one but I recently binge-watched Peaky Blinders series 1 through 4. Utterly brilliant. Compelling storytelling and a superb soundtrack, with cinematography that I swear was so good you could freezeframe at any point and talk about just why everything in the shot was perfectly composed. For those not in the know - it's a drama series about a family of illegal bookmakers and their rise through the underworld set immediately after World War I, and it is tremendous. RDU Neil and Armory 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starlord Posted April 23, 2018 Report Share Posted April 23, 2018 Peaky Blinders is fantastic. The best show on Netflix now that House of Cards lost Spacey. "V" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDU Neil Posted April 23, 2018 Report Share Posted April 23, 2018 Agreed... Peaky Blinders is one of the best things on TV in the past five years. "V" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slikmar Posted April 23, 2018 Report Share Posted April 23, 2018 4 hours ago, RDU Neil said: And Quantum of Solace is my second favorite Bond, after Casino Royale, in that it is basically the second half of that movie. It has the most brutal killing by Bond ever portrayed on film, and manages the exotic, remote set-piece final battle in a way that felt almost believable. What it lacked was any real interpersonal connections whatsoever, being a highly internal revenge flick that only makes sense, emotionally, if you have just watched Casino Royale. The villain basically being a faceless organization of the super-rich, also kept them from being emotionally engaging... with the cathartic moment at the end being again tied to events in Casino. Watch them back to back, and it is an excellent, bleak, violent revenge chapter. That lack of any real interpersonal connection is the point of Quantum of Solace. Completely different then the short story, obviously, the title came from the story teller's description of the smallest part of affection and the lack of any real caring. RDU Neil 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ternaugh Posted May 1, 2018 Report Share Posted May 1, 2018 Black Lightning - It's refreshing to get an older superhero who is trying to protect his family and his community. The story telling is very good (it feels more like a Netflix Marvel production than a CW show), and there's not really much filler in the first season's 13 episodes. Thankfully, it's been renewed for another season. All episodes now available on Netflix. Armory and RDU Neil 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zslane Posted May 1, 2018 Report Share Posted May 1, 2018 Netflix's Lost in Space - I really enjoyed this series, except for one thing: Dr. Smith. I hated that character. And not in a fun "love to hate" kind of way. The character was just so awful that she nearly ruined the show for me. It is a testament to how good the rest of the cast is and how good the writing is that I enjoyed the show despite her. I've just started watching Black Lightning--out of curiosity more than anything else--and I can only conclude that genetically inherited superpowers in this universe are more like a disease (which can afflict someone at any point in their lives) rather than an expression of biological maturation (which would manifest powers around puberty). Starlord and BoloOfEarth 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDU Neil Posted May 1, 2018 Report Share Posted May 1, 2018 My wife and I started watching the original Avatar: The Last Airbender over the weekend. Only three seasons, we got through one and a half, seeing what all the fuss is about. Very high quality kids show, clearly created by people who love wuxia and martial arts. I probably wouldn't watch it all if it was just up to me... it is pretty juvenile... but I can recognize high quality animation, characters, and story telling, even if I'm not the target audience. Interestingly, it is only available if you can find a service that streams Nickelodeon. And the format is still 2007 era, SD. Supposedly the entire series (and the sequel Legend of Korra) are being released in June on remastered Blu-Ray... so that should look really nice, and maybe they will start to show up on more easily accessible streaming services like Netflix or Amazon. Jeffrywith1e 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starlord Posted May 1, 2018 Report Share Posted May 1, 2018 3 hours ago, zslane said: Netflix's Lost in Space - I really enjoyed this series, except for one thing: Dr. Smith. I hated that character. And not in a fun "love to hate" kind of way. The character was just so awful that she nearly ruined the show for me. It is a testament to how good the rest of the cast is and how good the writing is that I enjoyed the show despite her. I really liked the show as well. I didn't mind her character, but some of her reasoning and planning was so convoluted it took away from the story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted May 2, 2018 Report Share Posted May 2, 2018 On 4/23/2018 at 6:05 AM, RDU Neil said: Isle of Dogs was both genius, and tone deaf in some ways. Really enjoyed it, absolutely beautiful craftsmanship, but in this day and age, you got to wonder about the cultural representation bit. That does raise troubling questions. For example, should white directors such as Steven Spielberg have been able to make films about the black experience like The Color Purple? Could he do it today? Could Letters from Iwo Jima be made today? Throw in popular entertainment and it gets even trickier. The most recent Tarzan film is apparently about the genocides of the Belgian Congo (15 million people killed by the Belgians). Is this a circumstance into which to insert the blatantly racist character of Tarzan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zslane Posted May 2, 2018 Report Share Posted May 2, 2018 It is probably safest for Hollywood to either abandon iconic properties of the past that carry the heavy weight of racist overtones, or reimagine them entirely. If they do the latter, then they need to ask themselves if it is worth it to make them "topical" by addressing issues currently in the crosshairs of SJWs, or play it safe and sanitize the storyline in order to appeal to the broadest possible audience, even at the expense of making it largely unrecognizable to those familiar with the original. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDU Neil Posted May 2, 2018 Report Share Posted May 2, 2018 17 minutes ago, Michael Hopcroft said: That does raise troubling questions. For example, should white directors such as Steven Spielberg have been able to make films about the black experience like The Color Purple? Could he do it today? Could Letters from Iwo Jima be made today? Throw in popular entertainment and it gets even trickier. The most recent Tarzan film is apparently about the genocides of the Belgian Congo (15 million people killed by the Belgians). Is this a circumstance into which to insert the blatantly racist character of Tarzan? Is Color Purple racist? No, but the issue today would be whether or not the writers, actors, researchers, etc. that were engaged to make the film were representative, had input, and would benefit/profit from the movie. Source material of one culture being utilized and profited upon, primarily by the traditional white creators, is now frowned upon. I'd say something more like Dances With Wolves would be something that wouldn't get made today, despite being very much a movie intended to be on the side of the Native Americans, it was still a white savior, white story, using a minority's plight to provide the heroic arc for a white man. Tarzan, a classic trope of colonialism and white saviorism is pretty tough to swallow these days, even if the movie was well made and a great action film (it was neither... ugh). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDU Neil Posted May 2, 2018 Report Share Posted May 2, 2018 As for Isle of Dogs, it comes down to whether or not Wes Anderson worked with Japanese writers, actors, artists, etc., in order to be positive in his representation and again, the culture in question benefits, not just the white creator... or did he just use the broad brushstrokes of Japanese culture as his pallet, doing his own thing with the trapping of another culture... which is cultural appropriation. I don't know which it was, but it smacks of the latter. (Mainly because there was no requirement in the story for it to take place in Japan or have aspects of Japanese epic story telling in it, except that he seemed to like the aesthetic. It is that aspect... appropriating an aesthetic outside of its cultural norms, for use by a colonial culture (Katy Perry wearing Native America head dress, or white women with bindis just 'cause they are pretty) that really makes for cultural appropriation... and Isle of Dogs kinda felt that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted May 2, 2018 Report Share Posted May 2, 2018 Kunichi Nomura, who played the ruthless Mayor Kobayashi, had a role in the screenplay as well. How large and important a role is unclear. I wonder if the film has even been released in Japan, and what the Japanese critical reaction would be,. The sushi-making scene, for example, was clearly unnecessary, as was the "white savior" exchange student so central to the human plot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted May 2, 2018 Report Share Posted May 2, 2018 12 hours ago, RDU Neil said: Is Color Purple racist? No, but the issue today would be whether or not the writers, actors, researchers, etc. that were engaged to make the film were representative, had input, and would benefit/profit from the movie. Source material of one culture being utilized and profited upon, primarily by the traditional white creators, is now frowned upon. I'd say something more like Dances With Wolves would be something that wouldn't get made today, despite being very much a movie intended to be on the side of the Native Americans, it was still a white savior, white story, using a minority's plight to provide the heroic arc for a white man. Tarzan, a classic trope of colonialism and white saviorism is pretty tough to swallow these days, even if the movie was well made and a great action film (it was neither... ugh). 12 hours ago, RDU Neil said: Tarzan, a classic trope of colonialism and white saviorism is pretty tough to swallow these days, even if the movie was well made and a great action film (it was neither... ugh). That would ideally be the last Tarzan film. It's well past time to send him out to pasture at Greystoke Manor. Sadly, it won't be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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