brkl

After a big Windows update (Fall Creator's Update or something like that) I can't play Youtube videos properly on Chrome anymore. Slow buffering, choppy playback, ramping etc. I have to use Edge (ugh). Of course, when playing Youtube videos on Edge, Youtube shows helpful hints that you should be using Chrome. It's annoying and I can't find anyone else who had this problem and solved it.

I didn't notice anything apart from the space scene obviously. I thought Carrie Fisher stole every scene she was in.

I thought this was OK, but began with a very bad sequence and in general would be better if about half an hour of action we've seen before anyway was cut. I thought the broad strokes were acceptable and despite many faults I bought into the Kylo/Rey stuff again. Very low lows but some highs as well.

I've spent a couple of days in the Valley of the Kings. That place has a very otherworldly feel to it. I hope I'll be able to get some of that experience again. Trailer looks great.

After a while, I'm starting to feel a bit torn about the series. The manner in which it ends makes me feel like it wasn't really about anything other than reveling in the weirdness of the killers. I did like watching the show a whole lot, but I thought it was going to have something more to say.

I think Holden is well portrayed. He's not likable or genuine, but I've known people who act like him. He's out of touch with his own motivations and good at lying to himself and others.

We saw Mudbound on Netflix and I thought it was terrific. The sense of place is very strong and the way it portrays intertwined lives was very interesting to me. Characters felt more lifelike than in any film I've seen in a while. We also saw Raising Arizona and it's a good dose of Cage (how have I missed it until now?) but not the Coens' best work.

We finished this a week or so ago. I thought it started very boring and never got great, while there was some stuff I liked. The first season started with some pretty thrilling scenes, while now I don't know if they even tried to go for horror. Overall it was pretty pointless, just never made a good argument for existing and I was actually more annoyed by the references than the first season. I mean, I wasn't at all the first time and now all I could think of was ET, Aliens etc. I don't know why I thought this series would have totally different characters and stories each season. I must have dreamed it.

I wonder if the reason I'm so cool on Marvel movies is that they exhausted Hulk with poor movies before the MCU. He was always my favourite.

I would dispute a few of those, but the point stands. There's a bit of sleight of hand involved in distracting the viewer from that stuff. I think 2049 has bad logic in stuff that the viewer is supposed to think about and try to figure out, not just ancillary stuff.

This is a vocabulary discussion, not grammar.

I need a new prescription for my glasses.

I'll say you're technically right as I used the term as a slight bit of hyperbole to make a point. However, I don't completely agree as that leaves a loophole for aspiring retconners: new meaning can be inserted into a work about anything that hasn't been said outright or shown, which muddles the original meaning of the work. Compare the The Hobbit in its original form to Jackson's films, which take great pains to connect events from Lord of the Rings to Hobbit, while the scale and tone of the original book are discarded. I think the Blade Runner sequel treats the original in a similar way, except to a lesser and more subtle extent. I'll post a defense of my use of the word in the movie's thread.

Oh, I meant myself I am. Dan didn't approve of my use of the word 'retcon', but here's why I think it applies:

Agreed on K. The film doesn't tell us.

Ok, I'll put up my thoughts before catching up on the thread. I was disappointed by the movie, although it offers really lovely visuals and soundscapes and a bunch of scenes that are very good. The film doesn't earn it very long running time; it's slack and has a ton of expository dialogue. Ideas that would have been conveyed through a couple of visual scenes seconds in length in Blade Runner are pre-chewed with five minutes of dialogue. Several of the principal characters are wafer-thin and spend their scenes posturing to the camera. The plot is on one hand a very sappy continuation of Blade Runner and on the other hand deals with power struggle on a scale which IMO just doesn't belong in Blade Runner.

Yeah, I never actually played games with the trackball, except maybe Portal.

Hah, oh yeah. Leia was only on screen for a split second and still managed to look off. IMO it's pretty crass to replace dead actors who were excellent in their parts with Madame Tussaud's replicants who are a distraction for their entire screen time. So, I went ahead and actually watched the trailer we are supposed to be talking about. *cough* I'm not feeling it. I think I've seen all these scenes before.

Yes, I did, but First Class just felt like same old stuff to me. Haven't seen the other too. That said, I'd like to see some directorial vision in superhero movies. They all feel the same right now. We haven't seen anything like Ang Lee's Hulk, for example, which of course is deeply flawed and an hour too long, but has personality. I agree this discussion should be split to another thread, although I don't have much more to say about superhero movies. They are the strongest vein in the mine of barely passable blockbuster movies that is being mined right now. You can't even try to have a new idea and risk losing continuity in the franchise. Everyone is following Peter Jackson's footprints. About five years ago, a Finnish film production company took a detective franchise with two quite liked films and decided to churn out six more movies in one eight month shoot. Those were some forward-thinking people. Of course they are unwatchable, but I'm sure they made money.

I think it's important to make things that are not only polished but also feel fresh. I watched Deadpool, but it's pretty impossible to get interested in a marvel movie. I liked episode 7,although I admit the plot is a rehash. Rogue One came too soon afterwards, so I felt suspicious and just didn't go see it. Then I was surprised by how much I liked it when I saw it a couple of days ago. But there's this nagging sense of emptiness.

That's amazing. Probably my brain will latch on to that every time from now on. Oh, well. Yeah, the saxophone doesn't help the romance scene. Without it, you could accept is as pretty dark. Deckard isn't really portrayed as a wonderful guy anyway. But having the saxophone blaring really undermines any interpretation you might want to make. It's supposed to be sexy, I guess. Ugh.

I've watched a bunch of 80s horror (I'm too scared to watch newer horror films) and that shadow world business felt new to me. I agree the plot won't surprise anyone.

Hah, I had a weird experience on watching the original for the tenth time and suddenly being surprised by all the replicant exposition Deckard the expert gets explained to him. Then there's the, uh, romance scene which was always really uncomfortable. I have to keep in mind the original always had rough corners when I see the new one on Sunday.