Whatcha Been Watching?

[nickturner13]

In honour of both Carrie Fisher and anticipation of going to watch Rogue One soon, I'm currently watching the original Star Wars trilogy... with a twist, I got a copy of the "Despecialized Edition" which is a fan-made project where someone has gone to great lengths to make a full HD experience similar to the initial releases in the 70's/80's, before Lucas spent years messing about adding CGI, changing the "Han shot first" bit, and all that malarkey.

Nice to watch it as it was originally intended.

[Todinho]

So I watched all the 3 Ip man movies back to back and it's funny how those movies progress,with each passing movie Ip man is less of a martial artist and more of a superhero it's also funny that with each passing movie they get less nationalistic,I mean the first one is really nationalistic especially because it's set during WW2 but by the third one the evil foreigners are kinda like there for formality and they aint that prominent, also the Donnie Yen v Mike Tyson fight was way better then I thought it was gonna be,also watching the 3 movies compose a surprisingly effective character story.

[Alex79]

Watched the first episode of Westworld. Interesting enough to try the next one.

I'm on episode 9 of Firefly and need to get a move on because it's leaving Netflix on Jan 5th!

[Todinho]

Havent been playing much lately but I have been watching a bunch of movies so here's a quick rundown:

13 Assassins: From the title it must sound like a 7 samurai rip-off,and it kinda is, but it's a pretty great japanese samurai flick some really impressive action and choreography.

Mongol: This is a russian movie about the rise of genghis khan,as someone who knows much of the history this is not very accurate but it does the job well enough I've certainly seen worse, as for the movie itself I expected this to be a movie like say 300 or LotR but it's alot closer to a religious movie in which genghis khan is the symbol XD it's kinda of odd,interesting nonetheless also props for them to have the entire movie in mongolian and having mongolian actors,if this was Hollywood they'd probably have Orlando Bloom play a part and the entire thing would be in english with an accent.

Jungle Book(2016): Im a huge fan of the animation,when I was a kid I would watch it in loop and sing along to every song, so I wanted to like this movie but I just couldnt the kid they got for Mogli just didnt convince me at any point,the songs felt outta place with the more realistic style and while the CG is pretty good the animals dont have the same impact as in the cartoon. In the end I just felt negativily about the whole thing.

007 Spectre: So this was the most 007 movie the 007 movies of Daniel Craig have ever been I really liked it,it's pretty long and I feel they could remove much of it and lose nothing and the whole romance at the end is a bit forced but other then that it's what you'd want outta a 007 movies: conspiracy, over the top action and some pretty good performances. I think I still prefer Skyfall because I think the script is better but this is a close second.

Her: This was a long time coming that I've been wanting to see this and well I wasnt disappointed, it's this really melancholic and subtle movie about a guy falling in love with an AI but it's all very down to earth and beliavable,I have the weirdest problem with it though, I hate how it looks I dont quite know what it is about it something about the color palette and how people dress also the ending was fitting but a bit flat not gonna lie.

Terminator Genysis: Yep this was as bad as people said,not only does the plot makes no sense whatsoever but the action is really flat and not really exciting, and this is Terminator! Even T3 which is mostly garbage had great action scenes, what probably bothered me the most were the characters and the actors,Im sorry but Emila Clarck cant hope to replace Linda hamilton as Sarah Connor that they attempted it's comical,the same goes for the guy who plays Kyle Reese and so on. The only one I think it's ok it's the guy the got for John Connor and even him is ruined by the movie being stupid, also Arnold is just sad at this movie,he's reduced to an exposition machine that ocasionally makes references to the old movies and jokes about being old...yeah it's as bad as it sounds.

Crimson Peak: The latest Guillermo Del Toro movie also been meaning to see it and it wasnt what I expected, like the movie itself says it's not a ghost story rather it's a story with ghosts in it,I ended up really liking the characters way more then I thought especially the main character, it's part horror part romance part suspense and somehow it all works,good watch.

Oldboy(2013): The only thing I saw of the korean original was the famous one-shot hallway fight scene so I cant compare the two but boy is this movie a horrible peversion of the original I mean I really dislike this movie, just compare the hallway scenes in both movies and you will see how bad this version is and that's all you need to see.

Ex-Machina: Another one I've been meaning to see and it was really good,the movie has been hyped up a bit for me so it didnt really blew me away but I still really liked it,it's a really clever movie and tackles the whole AI thing pretty well(though kinda of pales in comparison to WestWorld not gonna lie) I totally called the ending though.

Locke: Last movie I saw and probably my favorite of all of these I listed,which is gonna sound really weird because this movie consists exclusively of Tom hardy driving a car for 2 hours and talking on the phone about his life problems...yeah I thought I'd be bored outta my mind but nope I was engaged at every second of it. It's not even like it's some amazingly moving story or anything it's just really engaging I dont know XD. So yeah I kinda love this movie and Im not sure why.

[Joshihatsumitsu]

Havent been playing much lately but I have been watching a bunch of movies so here's a quick rundown:

13 Assassins: From the title it must sound like a 7 samurai rip-off,and it kinda is, but it's a pretty great japanese samurai flick some really impressive action and choreography.

That is a good little Takashi Miike film... such a workhorse of a film maker.

Terminator Genysis: Yep this was as bad as people said,not only does the plot makes no sense whatsoever but the action is really flat and not really exciting, and this is Terminator! Even T3 which is mostly garbage had great action scenes, what probably bothered me the most were the characters and the actors,Im sorry but Emila Clarck cant hope to replace Linda hamilton as Sarah Connor that they attempted it's comical,the same goes for the guy who plays Kyle Reese and so on. The only one I think it's ok it's the guy the got for John Connor and even him is ruined by the movie being stupid, also Arnold is just sad at this movie,he's reduced to an exposition machine that ocasionally makes references to the old movies and jokes about being old...yeah it's as bad as it sounds.

My only question for Terminator Genysis is: it's still gotta be better than Salvation? Right?

[Todinho]

My only question for Terminator Genysis is: it's still gotta be better than Salvation? Right?

Ok real talk I had erased that movie from my mind until you brought it up XD, well I can certainlly remember more of Genysis but then again I just saw it and maybe it's better for a bad movie to be forgetable then it being so bad it sticks in your mind as being sad.

[Joshihatsumitsu]

My only question for Terminator Genysis is: it's still gotta be better than Salvation? Right?

Ok real talk I had erased that movie from my mind until you brought it up XD, well I can certainlly remember more of Genysis but then again I just saw it and maybe it's better for a bad movie to be forgetable then it being so bad it sticks in your mind as being sad.

If Terminator Genysis turns up on free to air TV, I'll check it...

Rewatching Aliens the other day made me appreciate James Cameron's talent for direction on very big budget films, and how much I still love Terminator 2.

[Todinho]

Been rewatching House,no particular reason too I just felt like it ,House was one of the first US tv shows that I watched along with 24 and LOST and it was one I never really knew what the internet consensus was,I personally always liked the show for being a Sherlock Holmes series disguised(not really it's pretty blatant actually)as a Medical show I also really liked the greater expanded cast that interact with House. Im nearing the end of season 1 and so far it's still pretty much the show I liked when i started watching,I mean yeah each episode is pretty formulaic and it can drag at times but I love Hugh Laurie's portrayal he's just fun watch whenever he's on screen and he ends up being alot more relatable then any incarnation of Holmes I've seen at least,the rest of the cast though I think takes a few seasons to be actually interesting and one of the reasons I stopped watching was that the cast continuously got worse after season 5,I dont know if I'll watch the whole thing even if it's all on Netflix but so far it has been enjoyable.

[Alex79]

I started watching Rick and Morty on Netflix. It's quite good in a cartoonish sort of way.

[Alex79]

Just watched John Wick. It was pretty good in an enjoyable no-brainer action flick kind of way. They might as well have just called it Hotline Miami: The Movie though!

[Joshihatsumitsu]

Just watched John Wick. It was pretty good in an enjoyable no-brainer action flick kind of way. They might as well have just called it Hotline Miami: The Movie though!

I remember seeing John Wick at the cinema, and I remember it because it was a first date, and I could tell that it wasn't going anywhere, and figured "I've been on other dates where I've had to sit through some terrible movies... I'm gonna decide this time"! And so we sat through John Wick, and hey, I had a good time!

Memories...

[chrysalice]

Saw a preview of Lego Batman today... A lot of fun, really high, solid gag rate. Preferred it to the Lego Movie, and while there was a lot of references to older Batman stuff, I never felt left behind or like I was missing out because I'm not a comic book geek. Definitely recommend it.

[ratsoalbion]

That's good to hear. I enjoyed The Lego movie and hoped that this one would at least match it for laughs.

[ianw78]

Finished watching "Vikings" not long ago... thoroughly enjoyed it!

[chrysalice]

I... was kind of disappointed by John Wick 2, and increasingly so the more I think about it. The first one I loved because of the world they built, the stuff with the coins and the hotels and the rules... This one felt like it had less over all, and in its place just ramped up the violence and blood to pretty nasty levels. I think it's a better film story wise, but in every other respect I prefer the first.

But I am in complete disagreement with everyone else I've spoken to about it so it may just be me

[ianw78]

I... was kind of disappointed by John Wick 2, and increasingly so the more I think about it. The first one I loved because of the world they built, the stuff with the coins and the hotels and the rules... This one felt like it had less over all, and in its place just ramped up the violence and blood to pretty nasty levels. I think it's a better film story wise, but in every other respect I prefer the first.

But I am in complete disagreement with everyone else I've spoken to about it so it may just be me

Not seen it yet but planning to, quite enjoyed the first so will see what I make of it.

[Todinho]

Saw 2 movies today, 1 of the was John Wick, the original one, and I thought it was ok I kinda didnt really get all the hype around it, a solid action flick the deus ex machina in it kinda bothered me when you're trying to make this guy the ultimate badass that has to saved all the time.

The second movie I saw however was very different,it was Arrival and I love this movie to bits! Straight up this is probably the best sci-fi movie to come outta Hollywood in a long time,the thing I love the most is how it's 80% Amy Adams trying to talk to some aliens and it's done very well, the whole proccess is great to watch,while Im at her performance is great Oscar worthy for sure. I also love how the movie deals with language,it gives it the same importance and talks about in a similar way that MGSV does but in this case the movie is much more focused around it and showing you clearly what the mean by it so it does a better job.

Another thing that made me really happy about it,is that this movie is the anti-Interstellar,every thing that movie fucks up this one gets it right! That's all I can without spoiling it but the twists make sense,the story is simple but clever and by the end you understand everything,Im really glad I watched it and I certainly recommend it to anyone that wants a good sci-fi movie go see it!

[Todinho]

Started watching sense8 and while I like the premise there are two things that are bothering me,first one is that the show has a pretty clear pro diversity message with LGBT character and all which is fine the problem is that it sometimes it comes on too strong to the point of being cringy,I get that this is a subject close to the Wachasowskis but at times it seems Im watching a sermon not a scene. The other thing, and this one is really bothering me, is that this is supposed to be a show with and international cast that takes place all around the world and well it sure would help if everybody didnt speak fucking english! I mean is it really gonna break your show if your american audience have to read a few subtitles during the show? Most of the characters already are in places that speak english,is it too much to ask for the Koreans to speak Korean,the German speak German and Mexicans to speak spannish? For fucks sake LOST was over 10 years ago and in the that show the characters spoke their language in their home country,The Koreans spoke Korean,the Mexicans spoke spannish and the Iraqui spoke arabic! Here they all speak english with an accent and this annoys the hell outta me especially when it`s a series that is supposed to be all about diversity...

[Alex79]

I couldn't get to sleep last night and was looking for something to watch on my phone in bed, and found F Is For Family on Netflix. It was alright, but is there a rule now that all animated sit-coms have to to be about a family headed by a irritated dad? Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, Cleveland Show, King Of The Hill, Bob's Burgers, I mean come on guys, come up with something new!?

[Joshihatsumitsu]

I couldn't get to sleep last night and was looking for something to watch on my phone in bed, and found F Is For Family on Netflix. It was alright, but is there a rule now that all animated sit-coms have to to be about a family headed by a irritated dad? Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, Cleveland Show, King Of The Hill, Bob's Burgers, I mean come on guys, come up with something new!?

At the risk of sounding like the old man I long to be, most of those shows have not, and some never, been good for a long time. For context, I am 36 and grew up through the best years of the Simpsons, and went from tolerating the slow decline, to tuning out completely with the sharp descent into mediocrity. To go from loving that show to utter indifference is a feeling many fans probably have.

Of course, this is all a matter of personal taste, and I'm not going to belittle anyone else's preferences. The things I liked as a teenager are not necessarily the same things I like now, and that's a natural progression I think most of us go through.

I'm struggling to think of an animated show I do like at the moment as well... thank god gaming is a delightful distraction.