 Few Recent Watches - A Friend Is Very Into Scifi
#5143 posted by Tronyn on 2013/05/31 11:27:49
New Star Trek: err, not bad, not as good as the last one, the Sherlock guy is awesome, but the Spock thing is getting old, and what's with the franchise-friendly refusal to kill characters? Pisses me off.
Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan: Well, it's weird watching something from this long ago, but even if the costume designers were ridiculous (Khan's cleavage) the writers were braver.
Deep Space Nine: Watched only a few episodes so far, but despite the fact that I find all "humanoid" makeup cheesy as hell (I'd almost rather them just take the superman approach of having the aliens look human on the one hand, or the extremely inhuman aliens on the other), the politics and intrigue and etc seems pretty promising.
On an unrelated note, I also saw Angel Heart for the first time. Hard to believe that's Mickey Rourke, though his performance is awesome, plus Robert DeNiro as Satan and the actress who plays Epiphany Proudfoot is ridiculously hot, even if the end is somewhat predictable the imagery and atmosphere is super creepy. Remind me not to sell my soul.
 Err
#5144 posted by Tronyn on 2013/05/31 11:28:57
I meant Babylon Five, not Deep Space Nine - lol - and I even asked him, "I thought Babylon Five was a Star Trek version" and he was like "No, you're thinking of Deep Space Nine."
 TV Shows / Humanoid Makeup Aliens
I had hoped we were past this crap, but the new Sci-Fi channel show "Defiance" is the same plastic-makeup shit all over again. It's basically a cross of Firefly (cowboy / frontier setting) and Alien Nation (crappy rest).
God damn shame. Also what's with all the post-apocalyptic shows lately? Walking Dead, Revolution, Defiance, Jericho are basically the same show with a different back story. I love post-apocalyptic stories, but unfortunately, Walking Dead is the only decent one among them.
Also, who is watching and drooling over Hannibal? The most surprising thing to me is that Mads Mikkelsen doesn't completely obliterate the rest of the cast - they have a great ensemble of actors in the show. The stories are good, VERY gory and dark, and it has great dialogue. Also it's created by Bryan Fuller, whose previous shows were all fantastic, if short lived.
 Yep Angel Heart Is Very Underrated IMHO
#5146 posted by nitin on 2013/05/31 16:02:26
great atmosphere.
Sleepy, son Hannibal is recommended? I love Mikkelsen but wasnt sure about this one.
 Nitin
It is much better than I expected, but then I have only seen Silence of the Lambs some 15 years ago and I have never read the books. But as I said, everything about that show is really well done: characters, dialogue, visuals, acting, ensemble, story arc, and the weekly stories.
The only mildly distracting thing for me is Mads Mikkelsen's accent, which is heavier than I expected. I keep waiting for them to explain it somehow, but they don't. Maybe it's something that I'm supposed to know from the books. I always assumed Hannibal Lecter was American.
 Aha
So, he's from Lithuania. Alright then, but still, the Finnish language is, AFAIK, unlike any other language in Europe except for Hungarian, so it's not very believable.
 Moonrise Kingdom
#5149 posted by mwh on 2013/05/31 23:24:54
Wow that was quite an odd movie. Liked it though.
#5150 posted by Spirit on 2013/06/01 10:57:23
High Fidelity
Jack Black is an obnoxious cunt. Weird movie with character development that makes no sense (I can see how it is explained in a book), weird random jumping from thought to thought, I still wanted to find out how it ended and the ending was both nice and stupidly random. Can't recommend, no idea why it is so praised.
 Jack Black Is An Obnoxious Cunt.
#5151 posted by ijed on 2013/06/03 20:55:03
Yes he is.
 Agreed.
That cunt0r!
 Nitin
#5153 posted by Drew on 2013/06/29 08:07:59
you seen Kill List?
Watched that and then Rubber.
Really happy with both films, actually, but kind of wish I'd watched them in the opposite order!
 Drew
#5154 posted by nitin on 2013/06/29 11:50:34
have had Kill List for 6 mths or so, havent got to it yet.
 Do Your Best
#5155 posted by Drew on 2013/06/29 18:37:58
to go in without any context or hype, if possible
#5156 posted by Spirit on 2013/06/29 20:34:41
Gangster Squad (2013)
Boring and stupid. Skip by all means.
Hansel and Gretel, Witchhunters
Stupid and weird. Started great but later witches seemed like a mixture of lesbian goths and anorexic male metal groupies with makeup. Terrible acting too. Weird mixture of serious and silly. Not bad if you are looking for a silly movie with no pretense. Whenever they used the word "fucking" I cringed.
 Hannibal (TV Show)
#5157 posted by Jago on 2013/06/30 00:40:15
Do watch it. It's goddamn amazing. Mads does an astounding job playing Hannibal.
 Some Stuff I Have Watched
#5158 posted by nitin on 2013/06/30 02:20:40
The Shadow Line - brilliant UK neo noir crime miniseries. It has very distinctive style which some have found off putting, but I watched the whole thing in a day.
Friday Night Lights Season 1 - whoa, this should not be as good as it is. Generally well written for the most poart, great characters and terrific acting.
The Good Wife Season 1 - only saw this because someone I really trust said to. And like FNL, it is also much better than it has any right to be. Some of the week to week legal drama stuff is not that great but the acting and characters are phenomenal and the season arc storytelling is pretty good.
Hands Over the City (1963) - watch this and then watch some of the Berlusconi coverage from now. I would make a case that this movie demonstrates that italian politics is actually in mind bogglingly better shape than 50 years ago.
Silver Linings Playbook - good film with good acting, but massively overrated and overpraised.
A Separation - amazing iranian movie which is surprisingly not really about a divorce in Iran (although that is a mjor plot point) but about how truth is a matter of perspective.
 Yeah Thats Nearly As Cool As Dexter...
#5159 posted by mfx on 2013/06/30 02:21:17
 Also
#5160 posted by nitin on 2013/06/30 02:21:28
should be watching Man of Steel on Tuesday night, anyone seen that?
 Yup Nitin
#5161 posted by mfx on 2013/06/30 02:24:06
...but that was rather disappointing, beside the usual hollywood cgi machine.
 Yes
#5162 posted by Drew on 2013/06/30 08:14:41
the first 40 minutes is fairly strong, pretty affecting. The film moves ably between the present day man drifting, trying to hide his abilities out of a sense of duty for his adoptive father, and his childhood as he grapples with what he is capable of. Costner and the kid who plays young kal do great.
Then it gets pretty ham fisted, and the tiresome latter half slogs toward its inevitable happy ending.
Kind of similar to my feelings about the Matrix 1, actually, which maybe makes sense considering the matrix-like plot elements and general blase ultraviolent cgi'd progression (and fishburne).
 Nitin / FNL
Agreed! When I first watched that show I couldn't believe how good it was, given the setting. But it is. Even the somewhat cheesy game moments are touching, and also the games are very well filmed.
Also, Minka Kelly.
 Insidious
Was fun to watch. I delves in and out of different genres at times so its not pure horror.
 Sleepy
#5165 posted by nitin on 2013/06/30 11:36:54
Minka Kelly is hot but that voice...
 And I Cant Believe People
#5166 posted by nitin on 2013/06/30 11:37:53
actually like Insidious.
 Yeah, But...
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