ysbreker

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So in other superhero movie news, DC unveiled what Jared Leto will look like as The Joker for Suicide Squad and I guess his origin is that he falls into a vat of Marilyn Manson CDs in this one because jesus christ.

 

Bwahaha. I actually laughed out loud at this, so I think you may be the better Joker here.

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I'm not sure whether I'm the one off base with my reaction or whether everyone else just had much higher expectations.

 

Absolutely, I expected quite a bit after Winter Soldier. Also, I really assumed Whedon would have the ensemble super hero thing down pat. That even he flubs it, shows perhaps how unbearable this 'genre' is.

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Without having watched it, I imagine that some of it just comes from the ensemble thing not being all that fun even in the comics. When I'm reading the Avengers comics, it feels just like answering fan service questions like "what would it be like if Rogue absorbed all of the superheroes powers?" or "who would win in a fight, Thor or Ares?" instead of actually telling a deep and interesting plot. Ultron in particular is one of those enemies in which his defeat always seems a little farfetched. I guess it's no surprise that Ultron literally always survives every encounter with the Avengers, whether that means being banished to another dimension or hiding in another AI for years or whatever.

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Caught one time Thumbs sponsor Ex-Machina this weekend, and wound up enjoying it quite a bit. Nicely paced, quiet science fiction movie with two really great performances by Alicia Vikander and Oscar Issac, and a solid visual/sonic design. I was a little worried that ending was going to turn into

basic nerd wish fulfillment, which I guess for any nerd would provide a moment of saccharine sweetness, but would have festered quickly. I really liked the extended ending, with what looked to me like Ava's total ambivalence at the crosswalk. Interesting that she even went there as telling Caleb about it seemed like it might have been a lie to gain his trust. I took it as she didn't have a fully formed morality inside the cage, and while she might have been deceiving Caleb to get out, it wasn't all there. When she does get out she finds the other robot's masks, the mute woman, and the "corpses" of the previous robots does it turn ala "Mary in the black & white room."

 

Also, I think he did a nice job on the gender commentary, both explicit (the tech bro) and implicit (the nice guyTM).

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So in other superhero movie news, DC unveiled what Jared Leto will look like as The Joker for Suicide Squad and I guess his origin is that he falls into a vat of Marilyn Manson CDs in this one because jesus christ.

Maybe they confused Suicide Squad with Suicide Girls?

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Literally both these things happen, so yeah, you may well enjoy it a lot later down the line.

Haha that's good to hear. How long do I have to wait, though?!

 

 

edit: oops two posts in a row ban me from these forums now

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Haha that's good to hear. How long do I have to wait, though?!

 

 

edit: oops two posts in a row ban me from these forums now

 

Third buddy appears in season four and becomes main cast in five. Becoming more comfortable with its own cheesiness is a more gradual process. You just end up having more and more "fluff" episodes that are either funny or outright silly. Later on they become so meta that you have sequences referencing CSI, Knight Rider and even an episode in which the actors play themselves in the real world from the characters' perspective. Frankly I think the non-plot-relevant episodes of Supernatural are probably better than the plot episodes.

 

 

Absolutely, I expected quite a bit after Winter Soldier. Also, I really assumed Whedon would have the ensemble super hero thing down pat. That even he flubs it, shows perhaps how unbearable this 'genre' is.

 

That's fair, Winter Soldier was surprisingly good. But that's just it, for me it was a surprise. The Avengers was great and I was shocked, and then Thor 2 sucked and I immediately reverted back to thinking it was a one-off. That Winter Soldier ended up being good was genuinely surprising to me once again, and at that point I retained my scepticism. This is not unlike how when Iron Man came out and was good I was surprised, but then when Iron Man 2 came out and was not nearly as good I was not. The good Marvel films are the exception in my mind, not the rule.

 

All that said, I still think most of the films are decent. They are technically well made and are enjoyable as thrill rides. The acting is usually not bad, and the plot, while almost never anything to write home about (hell the plot in the Avengers is kind of flat if you actually just read it), generally provides enough excuses for the action scenes you want and resolves itself thereafter.

 

The superhero films that I actually expect good things out of at this point are the X-Men films. X2 was a little shaky at times and X-Men: The Last Stand was outright bad for much of its running time, but since the reboot I've enjoyed both First Class and Days of Future Past. As a result, my expectations have flipped and if the next film is bad I will be surprised, rather than the opposite.

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Third buddy appears in season four and becomes main cast in five. Becoming more comfortable with its own cheesiness is a more gradual process. You just end up having more and more "fluff" episodes that are either funny or outright silly. Later on they become so meta that you have sequences referencing CSI, Knight Rider and even an episode in which the actors play themselves in the real world from the characters' perspective. Frankly I think the non-plot-relevant episodes of Supernatural are probably better than the plot episodes.

That's the kind of junk I love in these shows. Like Warehouse 13 was superb when it came to that (and also similarly not all that great when it was focusing on The Big Plot). Basically any popular Syfy TV show from the past ten years besides BSG and I guess SG:U. Anyway...

 

Season five is so far away! But I'll keep watching for now.

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Gwardinen, I agree about the X-Men films! I also really liked The Wolverine, that is a swell, small-scale character piece - as far as one of these darn superhero films can have them.

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Cosigning the X-Men love. Caught that time travel one two weeks and remembered that I really liked the first couple movies. The whole mutant metaphor thing is very potent and super engaging for me, much moreso than the good/duty/honor whatever of most superhero flicks.

 

Also I watched last years Godzilla movie and woof, that was a clunker. The main guy's name was Ford Brody, which is the only detail I remember about the character only because it's so insanely generic. It could have been taken from that MST3K bit with Butch Deadlift and all that. Give me more monster battles, you dumb movie!

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Ex Machina really mindfucked me for a few days, I haven't been that unsettled in years. Also, quite possibly the second most beautifully shot filmmaking I've ever seen, after Planet Earth. Really something.

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Yeah so Ex Machina was fucking great.

Ex Machina really mindfucked me for a few days, I haven't been that unsettled in years. Also, quite possibly the second most beautifully shot filmmaking I've ever seen, after Planet Earth. Really something.

 

Yeah, it's a really exceptional movie, not least for how it takes viewers' tendencies to anticipate the direction a movie is headed and runs with it. It's good to know that Alex Garland has a good third act in him, especially after the beautiful but disappointing script that is Sunshine.

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I don't know how I feel about Last Week Tonight. I really liked the first season, but the second season, now that we've got enough of it to judge, seems to be convinced of its own importance, and the chutzpah of the first season has mostly given way to the same three or four faintly ridiculous codas to stories that aren't brave or outrageous or even particularly insightful.

 

The one exception is the Edward Snowden interview, but I still didn't much care for it. Oliver, surprisingly, doesn't seem to be that good an interviewer. He did a series of interviews for The Daily Show on Australia's gun control legislation that were top-notch, but they're much more focused on getting the talking heads to give them good material to splice in.

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Yeah, it's a really exceptional movie, not least for how it takes viewers' tendencies to anticipate the direction a movie is headed and runs with it. It's good to know that Alex Garland has a good third act in him, especially after the beautiful but disappointing script that is Sunshine.

I suppose I'm in the minority where I don't think I would have liked that movie as much had the third act not played out like that. Although looking around a bit it seems like a lot of people have changed their tune on Sunshine, not sure how recently though. There's a certain amount of tense fear that Garland tends to inject in all of his scripts and I love that. Plus it injected all the highs and lows I expect from a Danny Boyle movie.

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So in other superhero movie news, DC unveiled what Jared Leto will look like as The Joker for Suicide Squad and I guess his origin is that he falls into a vat of Marilyn Manson CDs in this one because jesus christ.

 

Bwahaha. I actually laughed out loud at this, so I think you may be the better Joker here.

 

When you're synchronising with the excellent Sean O'Neil, you know your snark skills are mighty.

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I suppose I'm in the minority where I don't think I would have liked that movie as much had the third act not played out like that. Although looking around a bit it seems like a lot of people have changed their tune on Sunshine, not sure how recently though. There's a certain amount of tense fear that Garland tends to inject in all of his scripts and I love that. Plus it injected all the highs and lows I expect from a Danny Boyle movie.

 

Oh, I think if it ended the other way it would have been momentarily satisfying/sweet but the kind of thing that festers overnight. At least with me. Also, it would have undermined everything else the movie was saying about gender/masculinity. 

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Did a bit of a Lynch deep dive this year, having only previously seen Mulholland Drive and Twin Peaks.

So yesterday I watched Inland Empire and I don't even know how to begin making sense of it.  Maybe it's David Lynch's Breakfast of Champions or Dark Tower?  Kind of a self homage?  There's one shot leading down a hallway into a bedroom that is so Lost Highway.  I really don't know.  But what I do know is there's a scene in a hallway toward the end that is absolutely terrifying. 

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KotH is off Netflix/not on American Netflix? We had 11 seasons of it when I was finishing college. It was my working at home companion for months.

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Yeah, it was on for a while, but was taken down in the fall of 2013. I know because me & my boyfriend watched a ton of it while it was still up, but didn't manage to get all the way through it.

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They finally released the DVDs this month! I now don't need to worry about Netflix for my KotH fix.

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I tried to pick up a couple new comedy shows recently, but I just can't roll with the dark or cynical nature that comes along with them.
I watched a couple episodes of The Last Man On Earth. There's one person left, and he unravels after a couple years. It's an interesting premise! I thought him living in a huge house with a bunch of stolen museum pieces is fun, and I think him using guns to open doors is fun. Issues of loneliness, alcoholism and chronic masturbating are bound to come up, but it felt like that was their fall-back. To write a fiction where the last man on Earth regresses so easily to a vapid gross lazy teenager felt really sad to me. I thought it was wasted potential to do something fun or interesting.

and when the one woman turns up to SPOIL ALL THE FUN AND BE ANNOYING, I just stopped trying to like the show at all. Cliche husband-and-wife gags by episode 2, are you kidding me?

 

Secondly, I just downloaded the first episode of UNBREAKABLE, a comedy show with another interesting premise. It has a positive style, and definitely more ambition than that last one, so I liked it enough that I'll watch a couple more episodes. This premise, though, stars a group of cult survivors who've been in a fallout-shelter for decades, thinking the apocalypse had happened. They exit the shelter and integrate themselves into the modern world. Jokes happen.
These characters are really upbeat... because they are victims of intense trauma. I find this notion terrifying, so I can't really ease into the jokes about a whacky LA lifestyle.

 

I just discovered Silicon Valley and have been digging the crap out of it. It's just so accurate. It could be a bit sharper/nastier but goddamn hilarious.

 

Yeah I really agree that they nailed the start-up culture. Every episode is a case of "I've been to this business party" or "I've met that dude".
I thought it was aggressive enough, but as I've said before I don't have a high tolerance for these dark comedy shows.

 

I actually came here to write a comment about seeing Avengers 2 last night, but hey look, in a nutshell: It's really fun.

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Secondly, I just downloaded the first episode of UNBREAKABLE, a comedy show with another interesting premise. It has a positive style, and definitely more ambition than that last one, so I liked it enough that I'll watch a couple more episodes. This premise, though, stars a group of cult survivors who've been in a fallout-shelter for decades, thinking the apocalypse had happened. They exit the shelter and integrate themselves into the modern world. Jokes happen.

These characters are really upbeat... because they are victims of intense trauma. I find this notion terrifying, so I can't really ease into the jokes about a whacky LA lifestyle.

 

I found the first few episodes of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt enjoyable purely because of the incandescent joy that emanates from Ellie Kemper. (She was also the only part of Bridesmaids that I enjoyed.) I also lost interest fairly quickly.

 

My weekly television habits are as follows: The Mindy Project, New Girl, Brooklyn Nine-Nine & Sailor Moon episodes on Hulu.

 

Other than that, Parks & Rec is a gem. I thought season 7 was very weak though. 30 Rock is amazing.

Now that I think about it, the majority of comedies I watch/love are woman led shows.

I know a lot of people love Broad City. It just didn't click with me.

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Other than that, Parks & Rec is a gem. I thought season 7 was very weak though. 30 Rock is amazing.

Now that I think about it, the majority of comedies I watch/love are woman led shows.

I know a lot of people love Broad City. It just didn't click with me.

Have you watched Welcome To Sweden? I think it's fantastic, but it got buried amid NBC's flight from comedy.

 

It's stars Greg Poehler (Amy's brother) and I think was produced by Amy Poehler. It also guest-stars Amy Poehler and Aubrey Plaza playing "Amy Poehler" and "Aubrey Plaza", who are basically just Leslie Knope and April. It's a little different in tone from Poehler's other stuff, but I think it still has the same rapid-fire pacing and the same essential optimism.

 

It's funded in part by a Swedish interest (TV station or tourism board or something), so they already got another season.

 

"I love your normal face."

 

Looks like it's all available on NBC.com:

http://www.nbc.com/welcome-to-sweden/episodes

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Also, Sweden is awesome. I need to finish that series, I watched a few episodes then I forgot about it.

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