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What Have You Watched Recently?


Susano

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17 hours ago, Pariah said:

I feel like Star Trek: Discovery is largely an attempt by the franchise to appease the long-neglected Life Science and Sociology majors in the fan base.

I don't imagine that magic mushrooms that extend across space, time, and into other dimensions (including, apparently, the afterlife!) and let an aircraft carrier-sized spaceship teleport wherever/whenever instantaneously by pumping their spores into a booth with the engineer strapped into an electric chair are going to be winning over that much of the Life Science crowd either. The revelers at Burning Man, maybe...

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On 1/23/2021 at 3:36 PM, archer said:

 

The storyline wandered all over the place to the point that I wasn't completely sure if there actually was a storyline or not.

 

 

One other thing that really bothered me about the show: it was obviously set hundreds of years in the future. Almost no one alive had any idea what the world used to be like and there apparently weren't surviving written records and very few surviving buildings.

 

But there were a scattering of modern cars which looked like they were less than 20 years old. Original body, original matched tires.

 

Make up your mind: is it set 20 years in the future or hundreds of years in the future?

 

I can see your point.

But I didn't really see the storyline as wandering aimlessly at all, more of a lot of information that had not been revealed.  And in the end it all came together for me. 

 

As for time setting, I took it as a deliberate decision to not specify a time, or even place it on our Earth.   I personaly decided that it was based in an alternate existence. 

 

YMMV, but I really liked the wuxia feel to it and was really disappointed that it ended. 

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11 minutes ago, Spence said:

 

I can see your point.

But I didn't really see the storyline as wandering aimlessly at all, more of a lot of information that had not been revealed.  And in the end it all came together for me. 

 

As for time setting, I took it as a deliberate decision to not specify a time, or even place it on our Earth.   I personaly decided that it was based in an alternate existence. 

 

YMMV, but I really liked the wuxia feel to it and was really disappointed that it ended. 

 

It was fun. I really liked the head butterfly lady and the fat guy who's been on other shows that I've liked. The swordplay was awesome and not realistic (but in a very entertaining manner).

 

I have a very real and huge problem retaining information from entertainment shows. I do a lot better when I binge watch rather than watching one episode a week for a while then waiting a year to start watching one episode a week again...which is exactly how I watched the show.

 

I might have a different opinion on how tightly everything hangs together if I went back and binge watched it. Lots of loose ends coming together and plotlines resolving themselves at long last doesn't work well for an audience member who doesn't remember if that character has ever appeared in a previous episode and if his memory if somehow jogged, doesn't remember which plotlines the character was involved in.

 

I got a lot of the broad stuff like the power struggle between the drug lords, Sonny's son, the lost city thing. But I'm sure a lot of the other stuff completely escaped me...because it escaped me.

 

I guess I was trying to say that a lot of what happened didn't seem to move any of the major plotlines forward and didn't seem to move any of the minor plotlines which I managed to remember forward any either.

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25 minutes ago, archer said:

I guess I was trying to say that a lot of what happened didn't seem to move any of the major plotlines forward and didn't seem to move any of the minor plotlines which I managed to remember forward any either.

 

I can get that.  Because of my schedule and travel at the time I wound up binging it after all, so I didn't have the issue of forgetting stuff. 

 

But I  can totally see people not groking it.

 

It is like WandaVision.  So many people here are all agog over it and best I can say is I pity all the soon to be unemployed people working on it.

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1 hour ago, archer said:

 

OMG, don't tell me that all the seasons are like the first season....

 

It's worse. 

It gets really unhinged down the line.

 

For me the show stopper was that first fiasco with a supposed officer (that had held the XO billet for 7 years!?!?!?!?) that wigs out like a 13 year old throwing a tantrum and demands that the captain of a Federation starship open fire on a (at that time) alien race that was completely unknown to them except as a name.  No attempt at any logical reasons (raised by Vulcan's??) just basically shouting shoot shoot shoot. 

 

Her comportment was not that of a senior officer or even that of a wet behind the ears officer cadet as she literally calls out her CO in front of the crew.  After being taken aside she still rants on until the CO tells her no, final no.  Get a grip.

 

She then proceed to try and end run her CO with the Admiral using the same utter lack of actual reasons, just kill kill kill kill...  And of course the Admiral say nope.  All this adolescent tantrums throwing would have pretty much ended her career track, but then she commits armed mutiny disabling her CO. Proceeds to try order the crew to kill kill kill, but they hesitate as any well trained crew would after watching the earlier performance plus having zero reasons to break every rule of engagement and initiate hostilities with an unknown race.   

 

Remember that, when all this happens the Federation knows about Klingons by name and rumor only.

 

The is the character they bring back as a Starfleet officer.  At best she had a psychological break and would never  be able to return to an officer track, at worse she is mutineer and literally no senior officer could trust her, not to mention no more junior officer would trust her either. 

 

All movies and shows require the person watching to suspend belief to some degree.  

 

Think of it this way.

 

Fictional TV series

Episode 1

Bob the grade school teacher is discovered to be the evil little girl murder rapist. He is caught red handed and convicted in episode 1.

Episode 2

Bob the rapist is let out of jail because he is a great teacher and made the principle of BlahBlah Junior High and told he is also in charge of security and running the cameras and such.  Have fun Bob. 

 

I don't know about you, but that would be way too far for me to suspend belief. 

 

A actual mutineer being let back into a service is about the same likelihood.  Mutiny isn't just stealing PDF books or calling someone names, it is the ultimate show stopper with no recourse for a service.  

 

It also shows the shear idiocy and moronic stupidity of the Hollywood bubble and just how out of touch they are.

 

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Baby Driver. I'd been hearing good things about it. I wish there'd been more driving scenes, but I was pleased to see a deaf character and sign language conversations. I wish I'd known about that part before my wife died. as a former interpreter, this would have been a great movie for us to watch together.

 

 

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Let's see . . .

 

Queen's Gambit (Netflix series): Very well-acted, one level removed from reality. Main actress is very good, to the point I actually want to watch that horrible-looking New Mutants movie to see her as Magik in it. It has been criticized for minimizing drug addiction, and those complaints have merit. It has female empowerment as a core theme, but is very shallow in exploring that theme.  As a modern, if somewhat twisted, fairy tale, it's OK.

 

Snowpiercer (Movie): Saw a Snowpiercer series pop up on one of my streaming services, so finally got around to watching the movie on Netflix. Was pretty good. Solid performances. Technically SF, based on the premise, but probably better not to think of it as such.

 

Sweet Home (K-Drama, Netflix): Pretty decent monster apocalypse show. Effects were better than I'd expected. Ending set up a second season, will be interesting to see if it gets one.

 

Seventh Son (B-Movie, Netflix): This is one of those movies where you know a lot of aging A-listers and younger ones, all really just needed a pay day. It fully deserved its 12% critic Tomatometer, and I think Alicia Vikander got it the 34% audience score. It was very reminiscent of an 80's fantasy movie, but without the heart.

 

In the Shadow of the Moon (Netflix): Time travel murder mystery thing. Not great, but not terrible. Decent B-movie.

 

Alice In Borderland (J-drama, Netflix): Based on a manga. People are mysteriously transported to an empty Tokyo, and forced to participate in sadistic games. Pretty decent. Some good performances. Hopefully, it will get a second season.

 

 

 

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On 1/29/2021 at 5:31 PM, Pattern Ghost said:

Queen's Gambit (Netflix series): Very well-acted, one level removed from reality. Main actress is very good, to the point I actually want to watch that horrible-looking New Mutants movie to see her as Magik in it. It has been criticized for minimizing drug addiction, and those complaints have merit. It has female empowerment as a core theme, but is very shallow in exploring that theme.  As a modern, if somewhat twisted, fairy tale, it's OK.

 

Arrrggghhhhhh......

Why did you have to do that.

Now I'll have to watch that movie. 

 

On 1/29/2021 at 5:31 PM, Pattern Ghost said:

 

Alice In Borderland (J-drama, Netflix): Based on a manga. People are mysteriously transported to an empty Tokyo, and forced to participate in sadistic games. Pretty decent. Some good performances. Hopefully, it will get a second season.

 

It was decent.  I know i watched a anime that was really similar, not Gantz, but I cannot remember the name.

 

On 1/29/2021 at 7:01 PM, Bazza said:

Fate: The Winx Saga

Any good?

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On 1/29/2021 at 8:25 PM, Pariah said:

Okay, WandaVision just took a decidedly dark turn.

Maybe I'll try again later when I can binge the full season.  I had already moved on because the first two episodes were a lot of meh.  I expected the cast to need time to fully take on the parts, but there was literally nothing about the show that was interesting. 

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15 minutes ago, Spence said:

 

Arrrggghhhhhh......

Why did you have to do that.

Now I'll have to watch that movie. 

 

 

It was decent.  I know i watched a anime that was really similar, not Gantz, but I cannot remember the name.

 

Any good?


Yes. I enjoyed it. Hope there is a season 2. 

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The New Mutants

 

Movie review: The New Mutants (2020): Yet another comic book movie finally hits the books after being in development for a long while. Was it worth the wait? Yes and no. In fairness, my expectations for this were pretty low and it did exceed what I expected to see. There are some excellent casting decisions (Illyana, Rahne, and Sam primarily) in this one and as a "popcorn flick" it basically delivers. That said...I have my issues. Those hoping this might tie into the MCU will be disappointed as it is clearly tied to the Fox X-Men films. There's also way too little exposition in the film. The end result is that this feels like episode one of a show we'll never see any other episodes of rather than a film. Illyana as a character has a ton of backstory before she makes any sense and the movie doesn't really provide any. There's also a great deal of liberty taken with the characters and some of them don't feel like the characters they're supposed to be representing. There's also a lot of plot holes. For example, Illyana can teleport at will, but they put her in solitary confinement like that would matter. Not terrible and it's a decent watch, but I doubt I'd go back to it again. I would like to see some of the characters as cast back and better defined in a future MCU project.

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15 hours ago, Spence said:

Maybe I'll try again later when I can binge the full season.  I had already moved on because the first two episodes were a lot of meh.  I expected the cast to need time to fully take on the parts, but there was literally nothing about the show that was interesting. 

 

WandaVision episode 3 gives us several indications that something is very wrong, and episode 4 is the Big Reveal.

 

 

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9 minutes ago, mattingly said:

 

WandaVision episode 3 gives us several indications that something is very wrong, and episode 4 is the Big Reveal.

 

Hmm.

I know everyone keeps on about "anytime now it will be utterly fantastically wonderful" but we've all seen new shows trying to find their footing and even if the cast is temporarily struggling with the roles.  But even those are somehow interesting and usually you can see the humor or story it is aiming for.  So far WandaVision has been meh.  Utterly lacking in humor or interesting anything.  If the show has planned itself around the audience having for knowledge of some obscure run of comics they should have run a banner with "read these first". 

 

And yes I know here comes the gaspers "its not obscure it's one of the most mostest stupendous comics arcs ever!".  But if it was the bestest ever then everyone would know what is going on without having to read forums to find out. 

 

In the end a show needs to stand on its own merit from episode 1, and so far to me.  And this is just my opinion.  It has completely failed to hold my attention at all. While it is true I have only managed to get through 2 episodes, they took multiple starts and many rewinds to get through.  

 

I'm not saying it is bad, I'm saying it is completely meh.  Being bad is still achieving something.  Maybe I'll try again try again when I can binge the entire season.  Right now it is just entirely forgettable as a show.

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Watched the anime Redo of Healer to see what the controversy all over YouTube was about.

 

First off each episode is TV-MA and clearly labeled as that at the start. Secondly, the MC tells you near the start that this is a revenge fantasy so bad things happen to characters.

 

Our MC is a healer who can heal most any wound almost instantly including amputated limbs. The draw back: MC feels and experiences every instant of the lives of the healed as if the MC was the healed and the memories linger with the MC. 

 

The MC is horrified after the first use of the power and doesn't want to have these experiences. The ruling family asks MC to think about it for a few days as this is a power that can is extremely useful. But before MC can answer, they launch a successful plot to hook the MC with  physically and mentally  addictive drugs and throw MC into a dungeon for several months. MC is forced to heal to get drugs at the whims of the captors and subjected to every type of abuse.

 

Finally, the adventurers begin the campaign against the great evil plaguing the kingdom. MC is forced along behind the party on a leash and in chains. All along MC has been building up resistance to the drugs and getting their mind back. And MC discovers the hidden benefit to the healing power as their mind clears: MC retains all the skills and knowledge of the healed.  So at the climatic moment, MC breaks their bonds and, using the fighting skills of everyone healed, swoops in to defeat the big bad, grab the omni-powerful artifact and transport themselves mentally back in time to the beginning of the story and start over. MC starts the process of becoming drug resistant early and is able to escape after just a week or so abuse and using all the skills and powers acquired previously and retained , starts the campaign of revenge.

 

This is an extremely edgy show. If Goblin Slayer pushed beyond your limits, stay out of this one. The characters the MC takes revenge on are deserving of everything done to them as it's mostly eye for an eye stuff. But the MC has been warped to be just as big a villain.  Will watch a couple more to see MC's interactions with those who didn't abuse them before passing final judgement.

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