ysbreker

Movie/TV recommendations

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High-Rise is a roller coaster slow ride through a world where the Internet and personal computers were never invented, but there's a big surplus of concrete and real estate and everybody has a brain tumor.

There's a really funny scene 2/3 in, but it may require watching some of the garbage that comes before to make it work. It's not bad on the whole, but not too good either. It's an experience, I guess.

Speaking of Wheatley, he's remaking Wages of Fear. 

 

I didn't know how to feel about it at first, but now, I'm really excited to see it.

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I hear that Wheatley finally learned how to use a tripod for High-Rise? That's exciting. His last couple movies only showed a vague awareness of what cameras were and how they operated.

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The camerawork was quite ok as far as I could tell, but at some point I stopped paying attention to it.

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I saw Green Room over the weekend! It was brutal. Really good at just being tense as fuck and making the kills and injuries really hurt. Super good. Super grueling. I'm kind of jaded in terms of movie violence but oh man this thing really hits hard.

 

Saw this last night. Jesus Christ y'all.

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So this isn't a recommendation, since I'm sure everyone and their grandma has seen it already, but I've just started watching Curb Your Enthusiasm. I haven't laughed this hard at a TV show in years!

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So this isn't a recommendation, since I'm sure everyone and their grandma has seen it already, but I've just started watching Curb Your Enthusiasm. I haven't laughed this hard at a TV show in years!

 

Did you start at the start? In my opinion it gets steadily better all the way up to season six, so you're in for a treat.

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Yeah, I didn't enjoy season 1 that much, but they start to get more inventive with story structure and it really picks up.

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I've started with season one. The episodes range from ok to brilliant. So if it gets better, that's fantastic.

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High-Rise is a roller coaster slow ride through a world where the Internet and personal computers were never invented, but there's a big surplus of concrete and real estate and everybody has a brain tumor.

There's a really funny scene 2/3 in, but it may require watching some of the garbage that comes before to make it work. It's not bad on the whole, but not too good either. It's an experience, I guess.

 

It's set in the (late, I think, given that it has a Thatcher speech) 1970s. Albeit a really weird version thereof. It's pretty fucked up. I think I'm glad I saw it, but I have no idea if I would recommend it.

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I'm now going through the movies shown on the FilmStruck sizzle reel (among others). Lady Snowblood is pretty cool -- a Japanese revenge flick full of beautiful fake blood and a bit* of mutilation. Probably was an inspiration for Kill Bill.

 

* on the 4th minute an arm is cut off.

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I think it matters that Elliot takes it seriously, and that shakes out a few different ways. 

 

Also, I don't think anybody is really watching it, but I'm loving 12 Monkeys. It has the same hallmarks of the "kind of hokey at first" but overachieving shows that wind up being personal favorites. (Terminator: TSCC, Continuum, Fringe)

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How does 12 Monkeys feel compared to the movie? I don't really mean "Is it better?" or anything. Does it seem similar in tone or did they go a different way?

 

I finally saw Whiplash I'm not sure I really wanted to but I've had it for ages and the 'net went out for a few hours.

I want to say it's a great movie but at the same time I don't. Something about it was satisfying though. Cathartic I guess. In another world I could or have been like that kid. I've certainly had people be like that teacher before. There was something satisfying seeing the whole process. Rather than just being a part of it and wondering why I'm left feeling confused and shattered. Hah. heavy I guess.

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I saw Captain America: Civil War over the weekend.  Overall I liked it.  The action scenes are well done and the character conflicts are interesting and believable.  The main plot is rather thin.  The plot device that drives the Avengers and friends to fight each other was fine and made sense, but the non-action plot that happened around that felt pretty weak to me.  Also I'm again disappointed with the use of Black Widow.  Still, in the end I'd say it was a good addition to the MCU.

 

Specific plot details below

I didn't care for the "bad guy" at all.  I just didn't find him believable.  I get that he's mad and wants revenge, but I don't buy that he can replace the psychologist who's supposed to talk to Bucky without anyone noticing until he wants them to.  It seemed like he was able to accomplish what he did not because he's that good, but because everyone else is that incompetent.

 

Also I was really annoyed how Black Widow basically just vanishes after the big fight.  They mention that she was taken into custody along with the rest of Team Cap but you don't see her in jail.  You'd think after she switches sides SOMEBODY would want to talk to her about it.

 

One really weird thing while waiting in line for the movie: a considerable number of people were wearing either Iron Man or Captain America shirts.  I saw people legitimately into the whole #TeamCap/#TeamStark thing.  One guy walked by and said "Go Team Iron Man" and someone else actually boo'd him.  It was both amusing and depressing to see.

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I think it matters that Elliot takes it seriously, and that shakes out a few different ways. 

 

Also, I don't think anybody is really watching it, but I'm loving 12 Monkeys. It has the same hallmarks of the "kind of hokey at first" but overachieving shows that wind up being personal favorites. (Terminator: TSCC, Continuum, Fringe)

 

I love all of those personal favorites and I was vaguely interested in 12 Monkeys, thanks for this. Definitely going to check it out ASAP.

 

Did you ever watch that last season of Continuum? I was kind of afraid that it had completely gone off the rails with the indeterminate moratorium and the total insane cliffhanger of the previous season.

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How does 12 Monkeys feel compared to the movie? I don't really mean "Is it better?" or anything. Does it seem similar in tone or did they go a different way?

 

I honestly don't remember! I saw the movie so long ago.I think tonally it has some resemblances, and the movie is frequently referenced in easter eggy ways. It's not totally dark, and they do a neat thing in the first season where they they weave these cool knots. Earlier episodes will have elements that sometimes seem unusual, but events in later episodes (where Cole might go to a an earlier time) provide new context. 

 

 

Did you ever watch that last season of Continuum? I was kind of afraid that it had completely gone off the rails with the indeterminate moratorium and the total insane cliffhanger of the previous season.

 

Yeah! I think it went a little off the rails with "the traveler" stuff and didn't have enough time to fully realize him/his invaders, but I really liked the way they continually realigned the Liber8 people, and I think the last episode nailed it. Given how the future was potentially going to play out, I like that it had a sort of down ending with positive implications. 

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I would like to know whether it plays the time travel stuff straight, which is the sense I got from what marketing I saw. The movie left it open whether Cole was sane or not.

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i guess you can ALWAYS pull the sanity rug out from under somebody, but it's played super straight, including "rules" about what happens when things from different times come into contact. it figures heavily into the first episode. 

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SecretAsianMan, I had an absolute blast playing up the whol #TeamCap versus #TeamIronMan angle in the weeks running up the film. I even wrote a blogpost about it (in Dutch, HAH, take that!!). Wore a Cap shirt in the cinema. It's a fun way to interact with each other during the movie. Granted, you can take it too far (by taking it too seriously), but if you play it right it makes for great sport.

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Just got the new Ran Blu-Ray and watched it. Good movie with a solid horse count! And looks gorgeous in newly restored form -- a previous Blu-Ray rip I had glanced at was butt-ugly compared to this.

 

 

(note: the trailer doesn't quite look as good as the Blu-Ray, though)

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i guess you can ALWAYS pull the sanity rug out from under somebody, but it's played super straight, including "rules" about what happens when things from different times come into contact. it figures heavily into the first episode. 

 

Yeah. 12 Monkeys the series is very much an exploration of the idea behind the movie as straight time travel thriller sort of thing. Some interestingly creepy bits (Manhunter alum Tom Noonan features in a significant role, for example), but it's not the very surreal, nightmarish take of the movie. (And it doesn't even attempt to ape Gilliam's signature style.) Though, FWIW, I think the movie does come to a fairly definitive conclusion re: Cole's sanity.

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Just got the new Ran Blu-Ray and watched it. Good movie with a solid horse count! And looks gorgeous in newly restored form -- a previous Blu-Ray rip I had glanced at was butt-ugly compared to this.

(note: the trailer doesn't quite look as good as the Blu-Ray, though)

Oh, wow. I've returned an old Ran Bluray because the rip was awful. I need this.

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Yeah. 12 Monkeys the series is very much an exploration of the idea behind the movie as straight time travel thriller sort of thing. Some interestingly creepy bits (Manhunter alum Tom Noonan features in a significant role, for example), but it's not the very surreal, nightmarish take of the movie. (And it doesn't even attempt to ape Gilliam's signature style.) Though, FWIW, I think the movie does come to a fairly definitive conclusion re: Cole's sanity.

I don't think it's for me. I wonder what Gilliam thinks of it.

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Oh, wow. I've returned an old Ran Bluray because the rip was awful. I need this.

If you're picky about colors there's some controversy over this so check the reviews. I didn't find anything odd, but I don't know what it's supposed to look like anyway.

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SecretAsianMan, I had an absolute blast playing up the whol #TeamCap versus #TeamIronMan angle in the weeks running up the film. I even wrote a blogpost about it (in Dutch, HAH, take that!!). Wore a Cap shirt in the cinema. It's a fun way to interact with each other during the movie. Granted, you can take it too far (by taking it too seriously), but if you play it right it makes for great sport.

 

I'm sure there's some fun to be had but I found it very surreal that people were taking the marketing gimmick so seriously.

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So, I feel like I only come on here to whine about something I don't like that I have watched so before I do that I thought I would recommend:

Hush - It is a home invasion film with the main twist being that the victim is deaf. Really tightly scripted, great performances and they do some good stuff with the sound near the end.

Sisters - I can't wholeheartedly recommend this film but Amy Poehler and Tina Fey are just so damn likeable that I still enjoyed it.Maya Rudolph gets a thankless role in that film.

Joy Ride - Such a weird film, directed by John Dahl (Red Rock West, The Last Seduction) and written by JJ Abrams, it is pretty standard horror/thriller. The acting is solid and the pacing is spot on. You end up enjoying the quiet periods more than anything else. There are two huge plot holes in the film but otherwise it falls into the Jeepers Creepers category of solid, entertaining schlock.

 

So, I just watched Civil War. I ended up really enjoying it with only the Black Panther coming off as a bit bland with very little script to work with. The problem is that I ended up thinking about it a whole hell of a lot today and the main thesis of the film is really unpleasant.

 

This film is supposed to be about how the normal humans want to put a leash on the metahumans to stop them just fighting crime willy-nilly and causing unintended loss of life with scant regard for the danger they put people in. The conclusion of the film seems to be that it is fine that Captain America doesn't sign the accord but the reality is that everything that happens in the film could have been stopped by intervention from the UN.

 

Zemo's main plan relies on Cap saving Bucky rather than letting him die, relies on them rushing to Siberia unprepared and revealing that Bucky killed Iron Man's parents. It is kind of ridiculous that Cap doesn't see any of this and turn himself in.

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