Whatcha Been Watching?

[JaySevenZero]

The Gamechangers felt like a half-assed, cynical ploy by the BBC to spike its viewing figures in an attempt to lure an audience that would rather watch Netflix or YouTube than most of the output by this increasingly crusty and irrelevant corporation.

[Todinho]

Speaking of Half-assed I just finnished watching Psycho-Pass season 2 and well...I mean it's not really bad but it just lacks the punch of season 1 and I expected this since the main writer of season1(Urobochi the same writer of Fate Zero) wasnt involved so it wasnt a surprise when the quality went down,but I at least hoped that more of the universe would get fleshed out but we didnt get that either,the main character is still cool I guess I like her but I prefer her arc in season 1 alot more,for a gaming comparison this feels alot like Bioshock 2 only without the gameplay improvements,it brings some interesting ideas but they are either poorly done or not taken far enough and to be honest despite being only 11 episodes long it felt kinda boring and dragged on.

On a happier note Im liking Food Wars alot,it's a shonnen show like Naruto and bleach but it's about cooking! And people orgasm when they eat a super good meal,and people decide everything with cook-offs in a way not too different from the academy in Kill-la-kill also there's a male character that only has an appron for clothes!
It's a weird show alot of fun though =D

[Beck]

I've been watching a lot of Anime lately, so far I've watched Attack on Titan which I really like. Hopefully the second season will be here shortly. I've also just finished watching Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood this week, I'd recommend it if you haven't already seen it. Can anyone suggest another anime to watch?

If you're on Netflix. there are several series worth checking out if you haven't already. Gurren Lagann and Kill La Kill, both directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi, who was the animation director on another personal favourite of mine, FLCL. Both of these shows appear, on the surface at least, to be ridiculously over-the-top, but they have a surprising depth to their characters and in the case of Gurren, actually had me choked up at one point - definitely worth watching.

Another suggestion is Knights of Sidonia, with its impressive computer-generated animation and the characters and story created by the manga artist Tsutomu Nihei (Biomega), not to mention one of my favourite tracks to open an anime with its season one theme tune - this one has become particular favourite in our household. Season 2 was recently added to Netflix and we binged on the 12 episodes in just one weekend.

Thanks for the recommendation Jay, I finished Gurren Lagann last night. I really enjoyed it, it was over the top bat shit crazy but it was quick paced and didn't require a lot of thought. I'd be interested to hear where you choked up?

Spoiler: show

When I look back it was obvious what would happen to Kamina but it totally caught me off guard at the time. The show built up the impression that the characters were untouchable and that kamina especially would be able to get through everything with just determenation but his death came as a complete shock.

I' will be starting Kill La Kill this weekend

[JaySevenZero]

It was precisely the scene you mentioned.

If you haven't watched Knights, I'd recommend that before Kill. Mainly because Knights is a little more serious in its tone and offers an interesting contrast between the off the wall insanity of both Gurren and Kill.

[Beck]

Yeah I had a lump in my throat for that part too =/

Awesome, I'll start with Knights

[Todinho]

So i've rewatching Death Note lately and it got me thinking on the discussion on the MGS thread reguarding women portrayals in the series and all that,because Death Note is a show that the female characters a much less sexualized or objectified(Im sorry I find it honestly hard to distinguish the 2) then Metal gear but I think the their portrayal in Death Note is way way worse then in any Metal gear game,and that's was what I was trying to get at when I was saying that the more sexualized aspects of certain characters in those game dont bother me most of the time because they are still good characters at the end of the day like Paz,Naomi etc. While in Death Note despite they not being sexualized their portrayal bothers me alot more because it's really bad and there's not a single female character in that show with substance which really bothers me.

But yeah other then that It still is a great show,something that I never realized it before though is that I really like the dynamic in the police force,it's something I never quite realized until now but it's one of the things I like most about it along with the tension of the chess game of the 2 main characters and series portrayal of a serial killer,I always love visiting old things and finding more stuff to like XD.

[arry_g]

Twin Peaks; bizarre, intriguing, fun, creepy and sad all at once. Damned if I know if this a soap opera, a drama, a comedy or what though!

[Bakers_12]

Twin Peaks; bizarre, intriguing, fun, creepy and sad all at once. Damned if I know if this a soap opera, a drama, a comedy or what though!

It's all of them things and more!

[Todinho]

So i went on a bit of a Batman Bingue and watched 3 of the DC animated movies(technically 4) that were released about him,I watched Under the Red Hood a while ago and thought it was pretty good so this time I watched Batman Year One,Assalt on Arkham and The Dark Knight Returns part 1&2(why they released this in two parts I dont know)

Here`s the thing Frank Miller may be batshit insane nowadays but back in the day he made the best Batman stories IMO and those are Year One and Dark Knight Returns so I was pretty excited and worried about these two films and for the most part they are pretty solid the animation lacks the grit and grime that the comics had but I guess that was to be expected animation nowadays seens that it needs to be mass produced so the animation here ends being really similar to Under the Red Hood,it`s the same problem I have with US 3D animation movies they all started to look the same,besides that some of the voice acting is a bit off Batman in year one sounds really bad for example,but to make up for it they got Bryan Crasnton to play Gordon in Year One which was an excellent choice since he`s as much of a main character in that story, not only that but they got Peter Weller to play Batman on Dark Knight Returns which was another perfect choice for the old and tired vigilante. One thing I never had thought before but watching this movie really got me thinking was how similar Dark knight returns and Robocop are similar the newscasts,the gangs(hell the visor of the mutants is the Robocop visor)the overt critique of Reagan...yeah it`s kinda of funny actually especially since they came really close to one another XD.
Other then that though the story is that of the comics to the panel so there`s very little to complain in that sense and it was really great seeing some scenes in motion and it kinda got me excited to Batman vs Superman just to see more of that on the big screen. But yeah these two are certainly worth watch if you like the comics they are based off but I wouldnt recommend them over the comics.

The Assault on Arkham on the other hand was a big pile of meh...it was like a Suicide squad movie fighting a Batman movie for screen time and it all ends up being really flat none of the characters are likeable,other then Harley maybe, and the story is a big pile of nothing that gets annoying when it starts to try and do fan service of the Arkham games.

[DomsBeard]

Dark Knight Returns made me way more excited for Batman V Superman too. I hope Affleck has watched/read it several times. I seem to be in the minority that thinks Affleck will be a superb Batman. Will take a good one to beat Keaton but quietly confident.

[Todinho]

Yeah I usually dont like Ben Afflek as an actor but I liked what I seen from him in the trailers I think he has done his homework I dont think he'll be amazing in the role but he'll definitly better the Bale's version for sure.

[deacon05oc]

In the midst of my Bond marathon leading up to Spectre on Nov 6. Now up to Dalton's first The Living Daylights. One of my top 5 in the series.

[seansthomas]

In the midst of my Bond marathon leading up to Spectre on Nov 6. Now up to Dalton's first The Living Daylights. One of my top 5 in the series.

"Stop getting Bond wrong!"

Not really. One of my favourites too. Always enjoyed Dalton's outings.

[seansthomas]

I watched Tomorrowland on a plane home yesterday. Really interesting movie from Brad Bird who did Iron Giant, The Incredibles and that good Mission Impossible film.

Its kinda a family film but has a Buffy / Dr Who vibe to it, eg. kinda adult, cerebral and violent at times. But the plot hangs together and there are some stupidly creative moments in it. Great central message at its heart too.

Reminded me of Back to the future or Explorers back in my youth where its a magical ride that's incredibly different from most Hollywood blockbusters. Well worth a watch with your kids (or on your own if you're like me).

[DomsBeard]

Just watched Spectre. Very poor.

Daniel Craig potentially could be a fantastic Bond but both of the Mendes films have been poor Bond films. This followed a poor film in general in Quantum Of Solace. So basically Casino Royale is the only decent Craig Bond film.

I appreciated Skyfall as a good film but a not very good James Bond film. Been a big Bond film all my life. If Sci Fi didn't exist Bond would be by far and away my favourite film series.

Spectre is just a crap mess. The opening section got my hopes up however:

Spoiler: show

He says to the girl he's just popping out. I was immediately thinking YES! at the end of this amazing action scene he will get back into that room in some crazy way and get the girl as that what James Bond would do. But no he just flies off making the whole opening 5 minutes of walking around pretty pointless

Just two daft little things could have made the film a James Bond film:

Exhibit A:

Spoiler: show

After fighting Bautista who interrupted dinner and kicking him off the train she says "what now?". I was thinking ''James Bond would say Dessert". But no cut to sex scene

Exhibit B

Spoiler: show

How absolutely amazing would it have been if the twice hinted at 009 was in a brief cameo and it was Idris Elba?. Missed opportunity there

Many issues I had with the film

Spoiler: show

Bautista one of the most forgettable enemies ever.

Bond leaves him alive after the snow chase

Dullest car chase I've ever seen

Monica Bellucci waste of time also, existed for a quick shag and a plot mover much like the girl in Skyfall

Christoph Waltz, superb entrance but after the reveal dull uninspiring

I could go on but the main point is Mendes leave Bond alone!.

[JaySevenZero]

I watched Tomorrowland on a plane home yesterday. Really interesting movie from Brad Bird who did Iron Giant, The Incredibles and that good Mission Impossible film.

Its kinda a family film but has a Buffy / Dr Who vibe to it, eg. kinda adult, cerebral and violent at times. But the plot hangs together and there are some stupidly creative moments in it. Great central message at its heart too.

Reminded me of Back to the future or Explorers back in my youth where its a magical ride that's incredibly different from most Hollywood blockbusters. Well worth a watch with your kids (or on your own if you're like me).

I agree, as a fan of the director in both his animated and live action features I though that this had a familiar feel to it to that of The Iron Giant and was not disappointed by it.

[Electric Crocosaurus]

I'm going to chip in with some non-spoilers thoughts on Spectre, which like Domsbeard I also didn't like. I disagree on Skyfall though, which I thought was a fantastic Bond film. The idea of a Bond film is incredibly broad anyway; Moonraker inarguably has all the cinematic Bond elements but is godawful, while my favourite is From Russia with Love which is very faithful to the book but features few gadgets.

Spectre just couldn't decide what it wanted to be. On the one hand it's a fairly entertaining Moore-style spy thriller, with plenty of exotic locations and larger than life characters. On the other hand, they try to go for the same level of introspection found in Skyfall and it isn't nearly as well written here. Worse still, there are too many moments where the audience is just told that someone is 'a terrible badguy' or 'a broken character' without giving them a reason to believe it. Craig's Bond has been put through the the wringer far worse in each of his three previous films, so it just doesn't work when he has a relatively straightforward journey in this one. Add to that a few too many subplots that don't go anywhere, and a very underwhelming final act, and you have a film that is arguably worse than Quantum of Solace (which at least had a tonal consistency to it even if it was a little dull).

Also, if you haven't done so already it's worth reading the script and e-mail leaks relating to Spectre from last Christmas once you've seen the film. They give a fascinating look behind the curtain at movie development, and a lot of their comments mirror my thoughts on the film. It turns out that sometimes movie executives do know what they're doing; who knew?

[Todinho]

So the Warcraft movie trailer is out:



Im not impressed and other then the orcs CG that looks really good I really dont see anything worthwhile in this trailer but I guess Im in the minority WoW fans seem to love it from what I've seen but I guess this just shows the difference betewen old Blizzard fans and newer fans,I dont know if Im being too "elistist" by saying this but it's pretty telling that the new fans dont know anything about the lore that's going in this movie. Another thing that came out was the CG trailer for the next expansion of WoW Legion and man that hurt to watch,it's a similar cutscene to the start of Warcraft 3 but the franchise changed so much now that it's virtually another thing entirely

[Combine Hunter]

I think my issue isn't that the Orcs look bad, it's more that they look like they should be in a fully animated CG movie, rather than a live action one. I like the idea that no one is really the bad guy, and it's just a miscommunication between two different cultures. This is something fantasy films rarely explore. I think all my issues are to do with aesthetic. The whole thing looks too fake and "plastic" to me. Whereas the Lord of the Rings trilogy was so great, because the fantasy was grounded by a world you could believe was real.

[Beck]

I went to see Spectre this weekend and didn't enjoy it. I'm not a fan off the old bond films at all, I grew up wth the Pierce Brosnan films which were dire and the ones before that just don't do it for me. I was really impressed with Casino Royale, it was modern and thrilling, perhaps not what a traditonal bond film should be but it works for me. I didn't think Quantum of Solace is great but it is watchable, Skyfall was much better so I was looking forward to spectre. What a load of shit, it's literally like watching a filler WoW quest. Run here, do that, run here do that. Why did he do that? Why can he find the bad guys base from google maps? What's with the drilling not having the said effect? Why leave people half alive? How can you take out a helicopter like that? I can't tell if the production team had planned to link all the films before or after but either way they did a poor job of it. The film felt rushed, the plot was thin and not well explained, the bad guy character development was poor. Both myself and my missus really struggled to follow the thin plot.

Also, what a waste of a good car.