Movie/TV recommendations

[brkl]

I just saw the Ghost Rider sequel. I went in expecting a dumb, boring action movie with hopefully some good Nicolas Cage moments (like the first Ghost Rider), but if you are able to enjoy schlocky action at all it's very entertaining. It's one of the better action movies I've seen in quite a while. It doesn't take itself seriously, the script is actually quite fun and it's pretty well directed. The cinematography is not standard dull Hollywood action, but actually has some inventive shots. The CGI and animation is fun too, surprisingly considering that it wasn't great in the first film.

It has a shot of Ghost Rider pissing fire. It's not tied to any action scene or anything, it's just there for shits and giggles it seems. Then they refer to it and show it again later.

Nicolas Cage coldcocks Satan. Admittedly not as enjoyable as Nicolas Cage coldcocking a woman.

The biggest criticism I have for the film is that the female lead is just pointless and boring, but there's no romantic sub-plot, thank God. Oh, and Idris Elba is made to speak with a dumb accent, which is too bad considering how awesome his actual accent is. But it's a really fun film, and not even in a so bad it's good way, but in a silly but good fantasy action movie with a light touch way.

[Nachimir]

Vampire's Kiss was pretty incredible and weird. I do wonder how many yuppies watched it in the 80s and actually empathised with Nick Cage's character. The scene near the end,

where he's become psychotic and the setting jumps between the street and his therapist's office

, was really nicely done.

I have some misgivings: If the film is seen as being about mental illness, then it reinforces some appalling stereotypes about mentally ill people. If it's about white privilege, then it's kind of excellent. Partway through the film, I was thinking

"If he was black or female, there's no way it would have gone this far"

.

Anyway, I was not disappointed; it's chock full of quality Nick Cage losing his shit.

[elmuerte]

Saw Indie Games: The Movie: The Documentary: The Download

What a depressing documentary. It sucked away all my ambition to be an indie gamedev, or at least for a walled garden. Phil "Freddy" Fish had a fun couple of years.

[Twig]

It actually kind of motivated me when I saw it at GDC, although I don't really know why, because it is definitely depressing.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Depressing? How so? (I haven't seen.)

[Orv]

Depressing? How so? (I haven't seen.)

Making indie games is not always parties and fun times, is the impression I got from it. Sometimes you talk to Microsoft for seventy hours to get your shit on their shit. Or stay up three days in a row trying to fix a game destroying bug, but everyone hates you anyway because you're not doing what they want and the internet is a shitty place.

[ThunderPeel2001]

So the central theme was "be nice to indie developers"?

[Orv]

So the central theme was "be nice to indie developers"?

I can't speak to their intended theme, but what I took away from it was the story of some guys making a labour of love and doing what they want to do and how that isn't always an easy life, but they got through it and this cool stuff came out the other side. I wouldn't say there were any, eh, scolding overtones? I just mentioned the internet being shit because of the typical response a small dev team gets when they don't do things to the internet's satisfaction. It doesn't feature particularly prominently in this.

[Lu]

Honestly though, I think the bigger problem Phil Fish has is that he lets it bother him. True, there are a lot of internet assholes, but he actively engages them. I don't think that's ever worked out for anyone. To me, and this is just the vibe I got, he came across as somewhat self-destructive, in an ego related way.

I really liked the film. It'll probably mean different things to different people, but to me it was a story about the personal motivation to put yourself through something like that, stemming from a deep love of video games. That and making them is hard. I was incredibly moved by Edmund McMillen's bit at the end, the bit where he speaks for the hypothetical kid "Hey, 2 guys made this, maybe I can make something too." Those 2 have earned all the success they got and I am so incredibly glad for them.

[Gwardinen]

Honestly though, I think the bigger problem Phil Fish has is that he lets it bother him. True, there are a lot of internet assholes, but he actively engages them. I don't think that's ever worked out for anyone. To me, and this is just the vibe I got, he came across as somewhat self-destructive, in an ego related way.

Yeah that was kind of the vibe I got when the whole Japanese incident went down at GDC too. Phil Fish seems to have somewhat of a fragile ego and will both engage and lash out very easily. Doesn't make him a bad person but it does make him somewhat unsuited to be the sole face of a product.

[Twig]

So the central theme was "be nice to indie developers"?

I think it's more, "Jesus Christ this shit is hard and takes a lot of hard work and dealing with hard people and also it's hard." Not to trivialize the movie or anything, because I quite liked it. It is a movie I would like to show my family, because I just don't think they GET why it is I want to make video games. If the movie does nothing else, it explains that quite well - mostly through Team Meat's comments once their game is finished.

Also, granted, at the GDC panel, the creators of the film admitted that they picked the best stories out of all the people they filmed, and decided to focus on Team Meat, Phil Fish, and Jonathan Blow because they made for a better movie. So, basically, this is the extreme end of Shit, and it's not always as... melodramatic as the movie might make it seem.

[elmuerte]

Both Phil Fish and Tommy Refenes (the other half of team meat) were quite fragile throughout the whole documentary. But also Ed McMillan and Jonathan Blow told about moments where their lifes turned to shit and having life and sanity hang on a thread. Because basically, they were pouring their life into that game, which would make them or break them. Tommy tried to be tough saying that he's making the game for himself early on in the documentary. But later on it becomes clear that the success of the game (both getting it out of the door, and people enjoying it) becomes determined for their happiness.

But Phil Fish really has a hard time throughout the development: family issues, love life issues, financial issues, potential legal issues

[vimes]

My take on it is that it's a honest exploration of 3 creative minds bent on the Video game medium - as in: they can't even imagine expressing themselves in any other way. Since they are like that, they put everything on the line to achieve their creative vision and so end up being shipwrecked because of what's at stake for them financially and emotionnaly. In that way, it supports a very romantic vision of creation/expression since it shows only the most struggling and suffering aspects of indie dev, but what the hell, that's probably fair. The doc still manages to remain fascinating because Team Meat, Fish and Blowhave very different expectations of what their creation should deliver. I'm glad I funded it.

As for Phil Fish, I have the feeling - probably amplified by the directorial choice made during the PAX segment - that he cannot help but make everything about his project over-dramatic and that, whether it's justified or not [the possible lawsuit vs. the number of Likes]. It felt like that kind of adversity participated in structuring and fueling his creative process

[toblix]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsPHXVnt27g

[Scipio]

[media=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsPHXVnt27g[/media]

I saw this earlier this year on the dvds found it fairly fucking shameless, though I was watching it in a drunken haze and nodded off a few times.

[toblix]

Shameless? How?

[Scipio]

I found that some of the base plot and character development to have some super odd class issues that were then steam rolled over by the film, not only not explained, but I felt the film seemingly never saw them as problems. Again, saw it when I was drunk and sleepy so I'm happy to be told the film needs a re-watch.

Edit. Ehh, maybe shamelss isn't the right word. I think that the film did some very cliche things that many other films do (primarily ones that get labeled award bait) to get an emotional reaction, but in service of telling a story that needed a slower and more careful eye.

[toblix]

Oh, no, I just saw the trailer, and thought it looked like a film that might be good. Obviously the trailer pushes the heart-warming™ aspect of it, but for some reason I expect it to be good almost simply because it's French, and I've enjoyed all French films I've seen.

[AteBit]

Looking forward to this new HBO series...

[miffy495]

Looking forward to this new HBO series...

It sort of bothers me that this show has the same name as a favourite series of mine, Canadian deadpan satire show "The Newsroom", which ran in 1996/97, and then again in 2004. Also, they had a TV movie. Here's a clip from the 1997 season where the news director (played by series creator and lead writer Ken Finkleman) is trying to put together an opening montage for a story on a potential meltdown at a nuclear plant in Ajax, just outside Toronto (when they mention OJ, keep in mind, 1997) :

[media=]

[Orv]

Boy, Book of Eli sure is a simultaneously great and terrible movie.

[Scipio]

The Hughes brothers made one of my favourite films ever, so I sort of feel like I owe it to them to find the good stuff it everything they make. What parts of it fell on the great side for you?

[Orv]

- The apocalypse premise. It's never made clear whether it's the war or the destruction of the ozone that causes the major depopulation, but the fact that it's not "a lot of fucking nukes" is nice. EDIT: Unless, I just realized, when they mean "the sun came down" they just mean "a lot of fucking nukes" and then that's out the window.

- The cinematography, especially of the initial melee fight scene.

- Some of the detail put into the world/fiction.

Cannibals hands shake because they've eaten too much human meat. Bibles were burned because religion was the cause of the war (or was presumed to be.)

- Gary Oldman

- Denzel Washington

- The fact that it's so contained, relatively speaking. I guess that's partly due to him being so close to the end of his journey here anyway, but it all takes place in a very condensed area and manner.

- The idea that they would choose Alkatraz to rebuild humanity from.

Of course,

Eli being blind ruined almost all of it

.

[toblix]

SPOILER

[Orv]

SPOILER

Don't know what you're talking about 'blix.