Ben X

Cyberpunk gamejam: http://www.punkcyb.org/

I finally watched Welcome To The Dollhouse and it's really funny but also a real gut-punch. Meanwhile, I watched the Paul Feig comedy Spy and it's pretty bad. I'm surprised it got such a favourable reaction. My tweets on it: Later:

Okay, double-post then! Watched it again, stiiiill love it. Immediately, the introduction of Brad Bird and Michael Giacchino into the mix feels like a revitalisation for Pixar - to me, this movie has a notably more sophisticated, adult feel. The story starts off pretty slowly but soon snaps into gear and is very well constructed. Visually it looks great. They also do a really clever thing where in the opening sequence set years earlier, the textures are a lot simpler. Works on a metaphorical level but also uses Pixar's technological history to emphasise time settings. It's also good to see some exaggerated human character design - Mr Incredible, his boss, the teacher etc. Some aren't as interesting, notably the two female adult characters - they fall into that female face design template that has been brought up elsewhere on these forums, which a lot of 3D animated films default to. And it's a shame that a lot of the incidental non-super characters all have bland, un-designed faces. It works for the henchmen but not so much for cops, office workers etc. I'd read it as a stylistic choice to set the heroes apart if it weren't for contradictions such as the boss, teacher etc. It's a particular letdown in comparison to The Iron Giant, where every background character has really interesting, individual design. Couldn't they have let the interns loose on this? Also, there's not a lot of skin texture going on, so all the characters look the same age despite some crow's feet or extra weight - it kind of works with this film but it has become the standard look for human characters in every 3D film which was a shame (I think this is why Rango got a lot of attention despite not being the best film - it dared put some dirty, complex textures on its characters). But generally, the cinematography and direction are fantastic. There's almost an Inverse Star Trek Rule pattern happening here for me: Toy Story A Bug's Life Monsters Inc. Toy Story 2 Finding Nemo The Incredibles However, I think I'm going to be pretty down on the rest of the films from here, so maybe it's a Fibonacci sequence or something!

This is a very strangely phrased question; what does it even mean? Which country is the most likely to destroy what peace we currently have? So, what, it's the most likely to start World War 3? Or most likely to push all countries not currently in conflict into conflict? Or which country is the biggest obstacle to a potential, unprecedented world peace? Or does it just mean which country is being the biggest asshole?

Well, it seems like a lot of people are being personally hurt by this thread. Anyone else think it should be locked?

Yes, can we lock this thread please?

pls don't necropost thx

The kid in Nemo reminded me of Sid from Toy Story, not only because she's joyfully destructive but also because of the 'protagonist lands amongst a group of characters who initially seem scary but turn out to be nice and living in fear of the kid from whom they help the protagonist escape'. I haven't watched The Incredibles again yet, but I've seen it many times and love it.

I'd like to hear an extended dance version of the current theme - it really feels like some phat beats are about to kick in towards the end.

I like Cracked but I can't bear their videos, especially these sub-Tarantino smugfests. Do they actually make any good points in this one? I couldn't get more than a minute in.

Yeah, it's a premonitory Kingdom Hearts reference.

Holy shit, thanks Dewar. My Nvidia update manager is borked and I was on the verge of finally downloading the latest myself. Lucky that one Nvidia botch job saved me from another... EDIT: that page just started 404ing seconds after I posted this...

It's Axl Rose - otherwise the anagram doesn't work.

Exactly!

A pessimist might say that it sounds like stunt hiring and telling the fans what they want to hear...

Fan-edit of that trailer (basically cuts as much annoying crap as possible):

Boy, maxwellyoung really dropped the ball with this thread. Funnily enough, I've just finally got around to starting my re-watch and have just finished season 2. I forgot how many of my memories of the show are in these two seasons - I'm not sure I got much further than this originally, although I definitely went to see the movie. I'm enjoying all the arc stuff, especially because it breaks the MOTW mould of 'weird thing happens, Mulder and Scully arrive, Mulder nails it immediately, Scully scoffs, they investigate pretty passively until it kind of burns itself out'. I'd also forgotten how much shit Scully sees really early on and yet stays almost pathologically sceptical. Hopefully season 3 will shake things up a bit, as promised. Humbug is still a fantastic episode. I've started listening to the X-Files Files podcast (as linked to by someone else on these forums somewhere) and it's very entertaining. It's hosted by one of the actors from Silicon Valley and normally has a guest on, sometimes show-related.

Just saw this from a season 23 (2012) episode. The Simpsons rags on LOST 8 years after it started (and 2 after it finished), and all they can come up with is "it turns out they were in purgatory like we all guessed" (no it didn't) and "they never answered anything!" (yes they did). Then they have the gall to call it pretentious and repetitive! What next, The Simpsons, are you going to call out Martin Scorsese for using obvious symbolism (even though that's not what he was doing)? I remember when The Simpsons celebrated other shows like Twin Peaks, rather than making nasty and unfunny digs at other artists doing much better work.

Unfunny, irritating characters, and Eddie Murphy's Haunted Mansion looking ghosts. Not promising.

Now watch the Nicolas Cage remake!

Double-post! I just watched Finding Nemo and my reaction to it was similar as on first viewing: pretty boring. Not particularly imaginative series of sequences where a fish meets another fish and either runs away from it or is given directions by it. Also, Beyond The Sea sang by Robbie Williams, ugh. I don't have much to say about this one, so I'll be interested to see what the Nemo fans like about it.

Ha, yes, you're right about the shark animation! Oh, that's an interesting point about.the puns. That's a pretty big aspect of Pixar movies (all family movies?) - the balance they have to strike in aiming for child, family and adult audiences. I'd say that, sticking with "odorent" as the example, these jokes are going to go over 5 year olds' heads - they're probably there for the slapstick. I'm nitpicking a bit because 8 year olds would probably get it, but I think that shows the spread of humour they're going for, and if you want to believe the rhetoric that the movies are for adults and kids, there's got to be stuff in there for both, right? I enjoy the variety it lends the film's comedy, and also the way that they're doing stuff simultaneously, like the way that they're observing human locker-room behaviour at the same time, something only adults are likely to appreciate.

I think we should delete this thread and start over tbh.

Ohhhh, never heard of that, thanks!