Whatcha Been Watching?

This is the place where you can conflab about all the other stuff besides videogames
Todinho

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Todinho »

I watched the Castlevania Netflix series and by "series" I mean 4 episodes and to be honest it feels alot more like a 2h pilot episode then a 4 episode season 1, I did like it though, the animation is pretty good and I really like how the whole show looks I also really like the characterization of Trevor Belmont and Dracula but when it comes to story well there isnt much really and yeah it's based on castlevania but there are seeds and you can tell they have things in place but they just couldnt expand on it due to budget constraints I assume, I hope enough people watch so there's an actual season next and they fully develop what they started here.
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Flabyo
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Flabyo »

The second season is 8 episodes long and is currently in production (I subscribe to Warren Ellis' weekly email newsletter and he says what little he's allowed to say about this project on it from time to time).
Todinho

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Todinho »

Good, speaking of anime I rewatched the entire first season of Attack on Titan in preparation to watch season 2 that just finnished, and boy do I love this series, honestly the first 5 episodes of Attack on Titan or some of my favorite in anime period it's just amazing how it sets the tone, world and characters so perfectly.

I know alot of people just see the show as an ott action series but to me it always was a fantasy version of Battlestar Galatica with giant zombies and boy is it compelling, I know alot of people say it's too depressing but I dont really get them to me this show is incredibly uplifting, it's the whole Rocky thing "It's not how hard you hit but how hard you get hit and keep going" and time and time again the leads in the show get beaten down but they keep going that's inspiring it's the opposite of that anime trope of the protagoninsts that win it all through willpower or similar nonsense, here there's not asspull every victory is earned there's sacrifice they all mean something, that's very well reflected in the characters especially my favorite character Jean the selfish coward turned hero, it's so good! Gonna start season 2 now and I hear people complaining that it's too political and there's not enough action and Im 100% fine with it as long as it's interesting my all down to get into the politics of this world because that's something we didnt see much in season 1.
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ThirdDrawing
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by ThirdDrawing »

deacon05oc wrote: July 9th, 2017, 2:59 pm Everyone is seeing Spider-Man Homecoming and I probably won't get to it for another week or so. Therefore I'm watching the excellent Spectacular Spider-Man series.
I....actually didn't really enjoy it. There are things they did with Spider-Man and the costume that I really, really didn't like that I can't really explain without giving some spoilers for the movie.
kintaris

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by kintaris »

I'm currently trying my best to enjoy the Pokemon Sun & Moon anime series. My wife and I got rather smitten with the XY & Z seasons, partly because I related very much to Clemont/Citron. It was also just very wholesome and easy to watch, and the recurring Pokemon were given some amusing and touching complexity in their personalities.

Not so in Sun & Moon so far, sadly. Having just returned from Japan I saw that one current trend amongst many kid-friendly anime is to go totally manic and hyperactive, and it's true here. This combined with a lot of language based-puns (looking at you Samson Oak) makes the series much more impenetrable for those watching the dub. Generally I think the localisation team are struggling more than usual to convey meaning and tone - there are whole sequences that seem overly harsh or nonsensical. It's also all incredibly shrill - the new Pokemon spend a lot of time shrieking maniacally at each other, and each seems to have a one-note personality. The same can be said for the new school kids.

The biggest problem for me is Team Rocket. James' voice actor appears to have given up making any effort at all, and their Pokemon are just terrifying. James' poisonous octopus thing (forget the name) attacks him like a facehugger every time he starts a battle because it's in love with him. Jesse's Mimikyu refuses to do anything it's told because it's obsessed with murdering Pikachu - not to mention that it sends Meowth into an abyssal void between life and death within the first few episodes. Then we have Bewear. The gang no longer blast off into space. Instead they are recaptured by a banshee-like pink teddy bear, imprisoned in a tree hollow and force-fed a sticky resin for unknown reasons. Add in the new over-the-top facial gurning whenever someone's angry or in pain and it all becomes a bit nightmarish.

I'll keep going, as I'm playing through Moon alongside it - but I can't recommend it so far!
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by KSubzero1000 »

So, Resident Evil: Vendetta (feat. Captain America & John Wick), then.

Uncanny animations, wooden dialogue, horrendous writing, asinine plot, embarrassing gender politics, and uninspired monster design. Not to mention utterly unbelievable action scenes lacking any semblance of gravitas.

And yet, it definitely made me grin from ear to ear due to its shameless amount of fan-service. Guess I'm a total sucker for this ridiculous universe! Definitely my favourite garbage movie of the last couple of years.


As a side note, I really do wonder who the target audience of these movies is supposed to be. Most RE fans aren't exactly addicted to the intricate lore and deep characterizations, and I don't imagine that most uninitiated movie buffs would find a lot to appreciate here, even if they managed to track them down.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Alex79 »

Almost at the end of The Leftovers. It's been great.
Todinho

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Todinho »

So finnally finnished Attack on Titan Season 2, and in short 0/10 not enough Jean.

Joking aside it was really good but I get some of the complaints from the people that said nothing happened on the beginning, on one hand that`s completelly not true and those people are crazy because S1 ends at 11 and S2 starts at 12 and nearlly every episode throws you a new mystery while answering another in fact the more answers you get the more questions you get XD, on the other hand the first half of the season focuses alot on the side characters like potato girl and most of the action and character development is with them so that can feel a little bit slow especially, and that`s my only real complaint with this season, because they use my most hated narrative device way too much which is the flashback so you`re often in the middle of the action or plot and then we have to stop for 10 minutes to tell someones life story, now Attack on titan still does this better then 99% of other animes but it`s still abit annoying.

The second half of the season however is stellar and really kicks into gear for anyone feeling impatient, amazing action and twists upon twists and it ends way stronger then S1 I feel, and Im really looking foward for the next season and really hope they dont make us wait another 4 years for the next one. Now Im gonna mention something I dont usually do when talking about anime but I have to say direction of this anime is second to none I dont think I`ve ever seen an anime this well directed, I`ve seen better animated shows but the direction here is amazing, how they use music build tension and drama it puts right there if the characters it makes you feel despair and elation when they do, hardly any show has had this viceral reaction on me to the point of making me get up from my chair and scream at screen or audibly sheer like I was in a football game, which is also the reason why Im just gonna read the manga after the anime is done because I really want my first exposure to the big momments be in anime form, I half regret reading the Asoiaf because a lost that for the show and I had that on season 1 but afterwards just knew everything and I just kept complaining about how different from the source it was and I know they deviated quite abit from the manga in season 2 so Im just gonna read that after the show is done I just hope I dont get spoiled because one of the major reveals this season was spoiled to me by a goddamn ost video on youtube.

But everyone should watch this show it`s easilly one of the best animes to be made in the last 10 years.
kintaris

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by kintaris »

In order to combat the relentless horribleness of the world I have been watching lots of Shirokuma Cafe (Polar Bear Cafe). It's about a polar bear that runs a cafe, and a panda that works as a panda at the zoo. There's a penguin, too.

It's amazing.
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ratsoalbion
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by ratsoalbion »

:o
Where do I find that?
kintaris

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by kintaris »

ratsoalbion wrote: July 27th, 2017, 11:54 am :o
Where do I find that?
It's on Crunchyroll if you can put up with the ads! It's sub rather than dub due to a lot of visual gags relying on the original Japanese pronunciation. On the plus side, it's proving an excellent tool to strengthen my Japanese!
Joshihatsumitsu

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Joshihatsumitsu »

Oh man... now I want to watch this Shirokuma Cafe...

But instead I watched the relatively recent live-action Ghost in the Shell. And if I were to sum up the experience without any spoilers, I'd say it's a very "inelegant" movie.

And by inelegant I mean the main problem is the script. There is a lot of very clunky exposition (and full credit to the cast for doing the best they can with the material), and to quote one Stuart Wellington of the Flophouse Podcast, there is plenty of dialogue that "is for the idiots in the audience". It's a movie that shows and tells when it doesn't really need to.

And as for the accusation of whitewashing with casting, it's kinda hard to disagree with that. Again, without spoiling anything, there is a little bit of shoehorning of certain elements into the script to address that, but again, inelegant. Could have just cast an all Japanese cast.

I don't want to be too negative, because it isn't a movie without merit. Its hard for me to be objective: I have the original movie, manga, seasons 1 and 2 of Stand Alone Complex... I'm pretty invested in the fiction. I would say it's worth a watch, though it is not the best gateway to this universe.
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macstat
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by macstat »

I also watched GitS recently. I agree that they dropped the ball script, but I disagree with the other point.

It had a good cast, and it really didn't have to be all-Asian. I would even argue that doing it that way would alienate this production from a western audience, and Asian style of portraying emotions and doing cinematography often don't translate well when you consider average viewer in America or Europe.

I really liked the art style, it looked soo good. But unfortunately, they decided not to dwell on the main subject of GitS which is transhumanism, which is a shame. Instead, the movie focused on Hollywood style with little substance, threw some questions but never really tried to send any message or to provoke any thought, which made it look shallow in comparison to the original.

Still, I would recommend it, its good movie, great if you like visuals (both effects and design).
kintaris

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by kintaris »

I started Glow on Netflix this evening. A very strong start that had me laughing aloud, and refreshing to see a narrative like this tightly wrapped in half-hour episodes instead of the usual pondering 45-60 minutes of many other shows. Alison Brie is almost unrecognisable from her Community days.

I also watched Blame!, a Netflix-produced anime based on the manga (which I only have passing knowledge of). Taken as a standalone story as I believe it was intended, Blame! was an enjoyable watch with a decent dub and some arresting visuals. Well worth the 90 minutes.
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Craig
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Craig »

kintaris wrote: July 27th, 2017, 1:30 pm
ratsoalbion wrote: July 27th, 2017, 11:54 am :o
Where do I find that?
It's on Crunchyroll if you can put up with the ads! It's sub rather than dub due to a lot of visual gags relying on the original Japanese pronunciation. On the plus side, it's proving an excellent tool to strengthen my Japanese!
Just been watching this myself - it's utterly charming!

If you want to use it to help your Japanese, there's a site called Animelon, which puts on live subtitles in either hiragana, kanji, romaji or the english translation and you can click on words you don't understand for the definition. It even has the script in a dialogue box next to the video.
kintaris

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by kintaris »

Craig wrote: July 30th, 2017, 5:39 am If you want to use it to help your Japanese, there's a site called Animelon, which puts on live subtitles in either hiragana, kanji, romaji or the english translation and you can click on words you don't understand for the definition. It even has the script in a dialogue box next to the video.
Wow, that sounds great! Thanks!
Joshihatsumitsu

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Joshihatsumitsu »

macstat wrote: July 28th, 2017, 8:07 amIt had a good cast, and it really didn't have to be all-Asian. I would even argue that doing it that way would alienate this production from a western audience, and Asian style of portraying emotions and doing cinematography often don't translate well when you consider average viewer in America or Europe.
Very good point. When they're pumping money into a movie like that they would want to turn a profit. Plus aiming for the PG rating opens the movie up to a wider audience.

And yeah, whether this was going to be the greatest movie in the world, god awful, or something in between, I would have still made some effort to watch this, if only to make up my own mind. Curiosity is a good enough reason to see anything!
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SludgeWizard
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by SludgeWizard »

Wet Hot American Summer: 10 Years Later was just released on Netlflix (US, not sure about other regions), and if it's half as good as the movie or First Day of Camp I'll probably blow through the whole thing this weekend.
kintaris

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by kintaris »

SludgeWizard wrote: August 4th, 2017, 10:07 pm Wet Hot American Summer: 10 Years Later was just released on Netlflix (US, not sure about other regions), and if it's half as good as the movie or First Day of Camp I'll probably blow through the whole thing this weekend.
UK as well, but I'm too busy bingeing Glow right now to pay it any attention. I love a show full of well-drawn, complex selfish bastards trying hard not to be bastards (normally failing, making their few triumphs all the more satisfying), and Glow fits that mould very well. What is it about the eighties setting that never quite gets old?
Joshihatsumitsu

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Joshihatsumitsu »

In the year of 2017, I finally made the minimal effort of getting around to seeing "The Fly II" from 1989. I ignored it for the longest time, mainly because of reviews, availability and a snobbishness towards certain movies.

And I can say that time has been a little kind to this sequel. It's by no means a long lost classic, but it was much better than I was expecting it to be.

I would say that if you have a particular affection towards 1980's practical special effects (not cheap, shitty modern CGI), you will definitely get something out of this. It's wonderfully gruesome!

Also, parts of this movie, especially external shots, were shot on location at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. I know this because I looked at some of Brutalist architecture, was drawn to it, and had to find out for myself. If you decide that "The Fly II" is not for you, I would still recommend this link to admire some of the architecture of Simon Fraser University.
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