Whatcha Been Watching?

This is the place where you can conflab about all the other stuff besides videogames
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Simonsloth
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Simonsloth »

Arthur Christmas is fantastic. I love it. There’s a little bit of something for everyone in it.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Alex79 »

I watched the first series of Peaky Blinders. Never interested me but I thought I'd give it a try. It might be popcorn fodder, but I enjoyed it a lot.
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by duskvstweak »

Jojo Rabbit - Fine but less of a comedy than it might appear. I think Taika Waititi, with this is Hunt for the Wilderpeople, is in slowly morphing into Wes Anderson. The dramedy of all, at least. I still enjoyed the movie, but it's also a bit more conventional than his previous film.

Also, at home, I've been playing Red Dead Redemption, so I started watching Ken Burns' the West, and we watched The Hostiles. I saw it has middling reviews, but I thought it was pretty good. Standard western troupes, but I don't watch the genre enough to get burnt out by all that.

Rewatch-wise, I've been going through Home Movies again. Always such a great show, love taking out my DVDs, and I really think Coach Mcguirk is H. Jon Benjamin best character.
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by duskvstweak »

ThirdMan wrote: November 12th, 2019, 1:21 pm Downtown Abbey (Now TV)

52 episodes of unchecked snobbery.

I've never watched the show, but my wife did and gave me play by plays throughout. We went to the movie together and I actually really liked it.
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countstex
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by countstex »

One of the things I'm loving about The Madalorian is its happiness to just have long minutes without anyone saying anything.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Alex79 »

ThirdMan wrote: November 20th, 2019, 1:30 pm Christian Bale is engaging and charismatic but his English accent is awful and his dialogue is peppered with "pork pies" and "cups of tea".
His natural speaking voice is a bizarre almost exaggerated cockney type affair, always throws me when I see him interviewed!
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Alex79 »

ThirdMan wrote: November 20th, 2019, 8:06 pm
Alex79uk wrote: November 20th, 2019, 7:32 pm His natural speaking voice is a bizarre almost exaggerated cockney type affair, always throws me when I see him interviewed!


Here's a good example of it at 1:24, although as Kermode and Mayo point out it seems to be accurate enough for the real life Ken Miles. However it drifts around quite a bit throughout. The biggest problem is the dialogue which accentuates his oddball Englishman routine
I only watched the clip of him speaking in the film (as in I didn't watch the conversation around it) but that's definitely a Midlands accent, not quite black country but Birmingham/Coventry, I'd say.
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by KSubzero1000 »

The Irishman

Good film overall, with a handful of great scenes and some interesting meta-commentary, but not the sort of stone-cold classic it draws so much inspiration from. A bit too long for its own good and there is only so much that CGI effects can do in terms of convincingly de-aging a bunch of septuagenarians (the body language uncanny valley is massive at times, unfortunately). I doubt I'll look back as fondly on this one as I do on the rest of Scorsese's gangster film portfolio. Time will tell.
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

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clippa wrote: December 2nd, 2019, 9:17 am It felt like an opportunity to explore and go deeper and it just felt like a slowed down, inferior medley of his gangsta repertoire.
I would have to agree with that, but I also want to underline how much I enjoyed certain elements. Pesci in particular is phenomenal, playing a much more posed and nuanced character than what he's known for. I also loved certain scenes, like the prison dialogue between Hoffa and Tony Pro.

But yeah. Goodfellas is a classic because of how well-rounded it is. Every scene matters, the pacing is great, the acting is unforgettable. The Irishman lacks this sort of polish and clarity, unfortunately.


EDIT: Oh, and the music! I saw it yesterday and it barely left any impression on me. Lots of re-use of the same basic tune, I thought.
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Alex79 »

I think I'm going to start this tonight. Much as I loathe the fact, it'll have to be watched over a couple of evenings.
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by duskvstweak »

I'm watching the Irishman this weekend. A friend wanted to see it theaters but the plan fell through, so I guess I'm Netflixing it.

The wife and I saw Frozen 2. I've cooled on the first one (HA) but she still loves it. I didn't like the sequel at all and she was very disappointed. One decent song but the whole movies feels like a traditional direct-to-dvd sequel made big. Bummer for people who cared, more of a time waste for those who don't.
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Alex79 »

I didn't realise it had made a comeback!
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by duskvstweak »

Just saw the Irishman over the weekend at a pretty fancy theater. Hope that makes Scorsese happy...

Anyway. I liked the movie, but I think the moments where I was enthralled were few and far between. I recognize the skill and the high art of it all, but that's a lot of Pacino.

The de-aging effect (oh, hey, who helped perfect that tech?) worked best with De Niro, I thought. I also think De Niro put in an amazing performance I wasn't entirely sure he still had in him. That phone call scene...
Spoiler: show
It took me a while to say I liked the movie because the ending really put me in a low place. One of my biggest fears is ending up like De Niro's character; old, alone and waiting for a phone call that never comes. It's only added by how oblivious he seems to the wrong he's done. It's one of those last twenty minutes that made go home and start thinking about what's important and I hate it.
I wonder how rewatchable the movie is? I could put in Goodfellas right now but it would take some convincing to get me to commit to another viewing of the Irishman.
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

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I've watched the first half of The Irishman on Netflix, and I've got to admit, I'm not loving it.

I'm a big fan of the genre, love the cast, but honestly...? I'm actually struggling to follow it. It seems to be one random scene after another. I understand DeNiro in the chair at the old people's home is the framing device for the movie, but I can't tell what's happening in the time line. We see DeNiro and Pesci driving and looking at a gas station, and it flashes back to when they first met, but I can't tell what else is flashback and what's present, or at least on the same timeline as that car journey. I'm not stupid, I generally enjoy non-linear storytelling, but I can't make head nor tail of this.

Also, nothing is happening. I know Goodfellas didn't really have a storyline as such, it was more 'here are some gangsters lives' or the rise and fall of Ray Liotta's character, but in The Irishman it just seems like a series of unconnected events.

I don't know, maybe it's me, maybe I'm not watching it properly or have missed something, but at the moment I can't help feeling a little disappointed with it so far.
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

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Alex79uk wrote: December 13th, 2019, 1:00 pm I've watched the first half of The Irishman on Netflix, and I've got to admit, I'm not loving it.

I'm a big fan of the genre, love the cast, but honestly...? I'm actually struggling to follow it. It seems to be one random scene after another. I understand DeNiro in the chair at the old people's home is the framing device for the movie, but I can't tell what's happening in the time line. We see DeNiro and Pesci driving and looking at a gas station, and it flashes back to when they first met, but I can't tell what else is flashback and what's present, or at least on the same timeline as that car journey. I'm not stupid, I generally enjoy non-linear storytelling, but I can't make head nor tail of this.

Also, nothing is happening. I know Goodfellas didn't really have a storyline as such, it was more 'here are some gangsters lives' or the rise and fall of Ray Liotta's character, but in The Irishman it just seems like a series of unconnected events.

I don't know, maybe it's me, maybe I'm not watching it properly or have missed something, but at the moment I can't help feeling a little disappointed with it so far.
I think it's best to withhold judgement until you've finished the film, you might be disappointed all the same but I doubt you would argue some of the things you are saying here by the time it's over.
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Caligulas Horse »

IIRC The timelines are:

De Niro telling the story in the Old folks home

De Niro and Pesci driving to the wedding

Everything leading up to that car ride (completely linear)
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

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Watched Casino (finally) and thought it was very entertaining and I spent sometime after just thinking of how wrong the choices the two characters made were. But, I also spent a good portion of the film NOT looking at the screen when I saw a hammer or baseball bat.

Also, for some reason, I watched Rounders last night? I enjoyed it? I don't really know it's reputation but, yeah, a fun film.
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Stanshall »

Elf

Home Alone

Pissed.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Alex79 »

Die Hard last night with my eldest.

Die Hard 2 tonight.

He's never seen them before.
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by KSubzero1000 »

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

Watched this for the first time and really enjoyed it. With the intense focus on popcorn action sci-fi these days, it's easy to forget how calm and thought-provoking classic sci-fi can be (and the same can be said about thrillers as well, btw). A humanoid alien and his robotic companion arrive on Earth, carrying a benevolent yet bittersweet message for Humanity. Fascinating premise, great pacing, solid acting, satisfying conclusion. The special effects are obviously rather rudimentary, with Gort in particular bringing the movie down with every scene he's in. But it's a classic for a reason, I can see why it has become so influential. Definitely worth watching.


The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)

Watching both of these in quick succession, it's interesting to compare and contrast the themes of each movie. While the original came out during the Cold War and is centered around a very clear message about the danger of nuclear proliferation and Man's belligerent nature, the remake focuses instead on an ecological message which is arguably even more fitting (!) but a lot less gracefully handled. The casting is a bit hit-and-miss: Reeves is a perfect fit for the character and Connelly is usually the best part of anything she's in, but Cleese seems like a stunt more than anything and celebrity children shouldn't be shoe-horned into roles they aren't qualified for. There are too many pointless action scenes and the third act pretty much falls apart completely in both plot and characterization. But at least Benson has more of a purpose this time around and despite its numerous flaws, the remake still tries its best to follow into the pre-established pop-philosophical footsteps of the original and to give the audience something to chew on. I don't think it's nearly as atrocious as a lot of critics made it out to be.
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