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Movie/TV recommendations

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I saw Se7en yesterday, for the first time, so yeah, but there was a scene in which Morgan Freeman explicitly questions certain methods of obtaining information. I thought that was pretty insightful considering how most movies approach the subject.

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I just watched a few minutes of Forbrydelsen, and I think I made the right call in watching the American version. Mostly it's that I can't really read into how people deliver their lines the same way in the Danish version, but the actors also feel a bit bland (perhaps too familiar to me) compared to the American version. I was surprised though that at least some of the musical cues I really like come from the original.

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I didn't say they hacked them, I said they tapped them--as in, using the government-mandated backdoors that exist or are in legislation to exist in every land line, cell phone, security camera system, and ISP (among other things).

You really think they were using cameras people had just hooked up to a wireless network for anyone to use? Who does that? Who has their cell phone camera (as specifically mentioned in the film) connected to a network for anyone to use? Really?

Dude, you're totally reading into this what you want to read into this. You claimed that this example was especially "glaring", but it's something you've decided upon.

You can't get fussy and then say, "who has their phone connected for anyone to use", either. The whole idea is patently ludicrous. 99% of the those cameras would be showing close-ups of pocket lint or ceilings. I mean, how often on a daily basis do you hold your phone up to face level when you're not taking a photo? Nevermind the fact that mobile phone video quality is pretty turd, generally speaking. But that's all nothing to the biggest absurdity of all: The idea that everyone's phone could be streaming video over 3G(!).

Considering that this was your "one problem" with the film, I'd have thought you'd be happy to have it explained away.

I know Whedon's politics; I don't think they're particularly relevant.

They're relevant because you explicitly stated that the film used the threat as an excuse for the government to expand its power. Why would a writer who totally agrees with you, put something like that in his film and not have any negative repercussions? It doesn't make sense.

Finally, it's unarguably unclear. If you've decided that everyone in that universe has "government mandated backdoors" in their phones, it's something you've decided upon. It wasn't the filmmakers saying, "this is totally cool because the threat justifies it".

Edited by ThunderPeel2001

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I heard terrible things about the US The Killing, mostly through avclub.com.

I watched Forbrydelsen seasons 1 and 2. The first one was pretty cool at first for its downbeat, Danish vibe, but dragged on way too long with, as JamesM says, far too many silly sub-24 twists. The second season was pretty much a carbon copy of the first but more outlandish. I wouldn't really recommend it overall for the amount of effort it takes.

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I actually pretty well liked The Killing season 1, I managed to get pretty engrossed and watch most of the episodes on Netflix in a day.

But so far I've seen about 4 episodes of season 2 (which I had to download illegally since there is no streaming site that offers them and I don't have cable), and the major issue is that I have to wait weekly and remember the details from episode to episode, so I'll probably wait until the finale and watch them all to catch up. So far, it's been harder to follow that season 1 in a nonsense way and it has gotten more outlandish. Feels like a show I wouldn't like now, but maybe it'll pick up again. I'm really sick of the politician's plot line. All he does is whine in bed now.

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What happened at the end of the very latest episode didn't strike me as credible, otherwise I haven't had problems with Season 2. We'll see how they handle it.

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I really dislike the Killing. It's one giant red herring where most of what happens ends up being meaningless. The characters do stupid stuff just to create drama and mystery. I like crime stories where each step in solving it is meaningful and is a piece of a larger puzzle, but with the Killing you'll spend a few episodes on one story thread only for it to have absolutely no impact on the resolution of the story. I watched the first episode of season 2 and stopped.

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Watching Smallville seriously for the first time (ever only caught bits and pieces of episodes even while it was actively on), not sure how I feel about this.

I almost feel like I should just skip straight to the later seasons where it's less "Oh man, my hormones!" and more "Oh man, giant laser gun from space!"

We'll see.

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Community is getting renewed for a fourth season. Excellent; I loved the first two seasons, and can't wait to get into the third.

There's some worrying things in there, though:

In the meantime, in case you need something to freak out about, this Deadline report on the renewal suggests there exists a possibility Dan Harmon will no longer be the series' showrunner. With executive producers Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan exiting for their deal with Fox, that would leave a big vacuum on the show (unless Harmon stepped down as showrunner but continued to be the series' head writer somehow)

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Was really disappointed with the 3rd series. Stopped watching it after ep 14 or so.

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Was really disappointed with the 3rd series. Stopped watching it after ep 14 or so.

Yeah, it's not as good as series past. That being said, the most recent episode was pretty good.

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From a quick glance at the AVClub scores, it seems on par with season 1. I can't in good conscience watch it illegally, though I'm dying for more of it.

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But the Law & Order one was the best thing they've made!

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But the Law & Order one was the best thing they've made!

Only episode I've made time to watch, not because I hated anything, I'm just really terrible at keeping up with shows. Heard of it's greatness so I made sure to watch.

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But the Law & Order one was the best thing they've made!

So wrong. Paintball episode(s).

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So wrong. Paintball episode(s).

Modern Warfare -> Lupine Urology -> A fistful of paintballs(i think that's the title?)

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But the Law & Order one was the best thing they've made!

I'm sure it was great. I just got sick of the characters.

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Modern Warfare -> Lupine Urology -> A fistful of paintballs(i think that's the title?)

I really didn't think the Law & Order episode was that great. It was good, but...

But yeah, Modern Warfare is the best episode.

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I thought The Avengers was really forgettable. Some nice action and everything with Hulk was excellent, but just a mess of a plot. My girlfriend asked me how the film was the next day, and it took me a few seconds to remember I had seen a film.

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So I watched Cabin in the Woods again... Still holds up on second viewing (and you can see how it all fits together, too), but this time the ending bugged me more than ever...

I think the writers were going for a "any society that survives on the blood of innocents doesn't deserve to exist", but the ending was just needlessly misanthropic. For the first time ever, someone is given a choice: He could save everyone, or he could kill everyone. That changes everything.

It also opens up possibilities within the narrative. They could change the system so that volunteers existed. Or, if they wanted the big ending, they could have made it so that it was too late: He'd uncovered the truth, but now there was nothing he could do... He'd destroyed the world.

Or maybe he makes the supreme sacrifice, and the rest of the characters wait to see if he was successful -- only to discover it was too late.

The final image of the film would have been more enjoyable if there was some incredulity behind it, too. Like if the characters just didn't automatically buy into the "ancients" story, and decided to call their bluff.

Regardless of what they could have done, the path they chose just surely made the lead character as selfish, and as bad, as the system he was taking down? And why in the hell does the girl support his choice? Don't any of the characters have families??

Then again, this was partially from the same writer who brought us the hideously self-absorbed and obnoxious characters in Cloverfield, so maybe it's just how he is real life? (Yikes.)

Another note: Drew Greenberg is a great director! It was brilliantly made, especially for a debut.

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Nothing about that film seemed remotely real to me (no shit), so whilst bizarre, I didn't find the characters' choices at the end particularly jarring. I guess I didn't get as clear a sense of the moralizing as you did; to me it seemed more like writers contrivance a deliberately engineered to make people like me squirm at the prospect of forced ultimate self-sacrifice. I'm probably just less perceptive, though.

Anyway, all of this isn't to say that I didn't think the guy was a tit for ending the world just because he was a bit fed up with it; it just didn't undermine the integrity of the film for me or anything. I quite enjoyed the absurd escalation, really. I think the characters' resigned apathy juxtaposes that quite nicely.

Rather than all of that, what bothered me most about Cabin in the Woods was the supposedly witty dialogue right at the beginning. I can't stand that stuff. It made me want them all to die. Perhaps that was the point.

Edited by JamesM

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Nothing about that film seemed remotely real to me (no shit), so whilst bizarre, I didn't find the characters' choices at the end particularly jarring. I guess I didn't get as clear a sense of the moralizing as you did; to me it seemed more like writers contrivance a deliberately engineered to make people like me squirm at the prospect of forced ultimate self-sacrifice. I'm probably just less perceptive, though.

Anyway, all of this isn't to say that I didn't think the guy was a tit for ending the world just because he was a bit fed up with it; it just didn't undermine the integrity of the film for me or anything. I quite enjoyed the absurd escalation, really. I think the characters' resigned apathy juxtaposes that quite nicely.

I think this is why it only really bugged me on second viewing: I paid more attention to the characters because I knew how the film was going to end. Ultimately the "escalation" wasn't enough to keep me entertained the second time around. As I say, when you're paying attention to the characters (and really, that's the most important aspect to any story), it kind of falls flat in the final scene.

I did find an interesting interpretation, though:

"The entire film is a metaphor. Horror movies follow the same formula most of the time wherein the 5 stereotypical archetypes are killed off for one reason or another. The Ancient Ones represent we, the audience, who demand horror films to be this way. If that formula isn't carried out correctly, we get angry and eventually the horror genre will die out if things aren't changed."

It's bad story-telling to throw your characters under a bus so the writer can make his point, though, and I'm sure Goddard and Whedon are aware of that.

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