So if you fancy a schmaltzy US tv show then I would highly recommend This Is Us.

The first 2 seasons are on Amazon Prime. Probably one of the best pilots I have ever seen, I was invested in the characters by the end of it and binge watched

Today, I watched The Red Turtle, an excellent dialogue-free French-Dutch-Studio Ghibli animated film about a man being shipwrecked on a deserted(?) island, together with an old childhood friend at my side and his cat sleeping on my lap.

I could think of worse ways to pass the time.

duskvstweak wrote: February 2nd, 2019, 8:08 pm

ThirdMan wrote: February 1st, 2019, 10:36 amBatman - How has it taken me until 2018 to watch this, the original big budget Bat flick? Nicholson's Joker is, for me, the definitive live-action portrayal (Mark Hamill's is still the finest across the entire franchise). Ledger's was a superb, contemporary villain, but Nicholson and Burton draw long and deep from the source material.

This does blow my mind. Do you still need to watch the three that followed?

ONE that followed.

One.

I've been watching a whole lot of stupid lately, and I'm cut it down to one post:

The Good - XXX: Return of Xander Cage: This is how you do dumb right. For all of it's 1 hour and 47 minute run time it never slows down and it's never boring. Sure, it's incredibly stupid, but I was never bored. If you like big dumb movies, watch this one.

The Bad - Rampage: Strangely, also run's 1 hour and 47 minutes, but very dull. My expectations were right where they needed to be before going into this, i.e. low, and it never really got above that. It does have a very over-qualified cast, and Dwayne Johnson is also welcome onscreen, but I wanted this movie to go all out and be dumb.

The Ugly - Polar: Christ... if anyone is familiar with the deluge of bad straight to VHS/DVD movies that came out in the 90's, heavily inspired by Tarantino, minus the talent/vision/cohesion, imagine that... but released in 2019. This run's just shy of 2 hours, and for the life of me I can't figure out why. It has a whole lot of attitude, dude, and trying so very, very hard, and falling so very, very flat. Dull.

Conclusion: Stupid is fine, boring is not.

Finally picking up tv series again and s3 of better call saul is great.

It's not a spin off of BB in my mind. Its an essential prologue.

JaySevenZero wrote: February 2nd, 2019, 10:51 am

hamster_with_9lives wrote: January 31st, 2019, 12:53 pm I am waiting for Alita: Battle Angel. Really want it to appear in cinemas even sooner than possible.

Me too! Been an avid reader since the English language version first appeared and still have the first dozen monthly comics that were released by Viz media back in the day, along with every single collected volume right through to the latest Mars Chronicles volumes.

Given that this has been a passion project for Cameron since the late 90's, I'm kinda hopeful they've done it justice and based on the previews and trailers it seems they nailed so much of it with Polygon saying it's the best manga adaptation to date (although there's not much in the way of competition).

I am going to watch it tomorrow and my friends who've already done that say it's fantastic. They haven't read the manga and that gives me huge hope and makes me feel nervous at the same time. The only thing - they recommend visiting 3D sessions only.

I watched Alita last night and really quite enjoyed it. It makes a few changes with its story compared to that of the manga but overall sticks very closely to the source material.

I wasn't sure whether someone unfamiliar with the material would enjoy it as much but seeing that it currently sits with a 93% approval on Rotten Tomatoes it appears those who endeavour have enjoyed the experience.

JaySevenZero wrote: February 15th, 2019, 2:52 pm I watched Alita last night and really quite enjoyed it. It makes a few changes with its story compared to that of the manga but overall sticks very closely to the source material.

I wasn't sure whether someone unfamiliar with the material would enjoy it as much but seeing that it currently sits with a 93% approval on Rotten Tomatoes it appears those who endeavour have enjoyed the experience.

I've never read the manga or anything and I did enjoy the movie! I thought it was cool and that it felt like a real, live action anime. I had a good time.

Excellent!

Did somebody watch The Magicians from Netflix here? My friends say it is cool but contains some disgusting things. Should I watch it if I'm too sensitive?

I've been meaning to watch Trailer Park Boys for years and watched the first episode on my lunch break today. Seemed OK, will stick with it.

Also, been watching Cowboy Bebop, another series I've been meaning to get in to forever. Three episodes in and enjoying it so far.

DomsBeard wrote: January 31st, 2019, 1:27 pm I am finding Punisher season 2 very, very slow going (I am 4 episodes in).

A month down the line and 9 episodes in. I would highly recommend skipping this season entirely. Season 1 was fantastic, there has been nothing of interest at all in season 2. Dull characters, they literally park a story arc for 3 episodes in a trailer. I could go on but yeah avoid!

ThirdMan wrote: February 18th, 2019, 11:52 pm That brings to mind Asghar Farhgadi's A Separation and The Salesman. Those films, along with Babak Anvari's Under the Shadow, really challenged my preconceptions about daily life in Iran. It's a powerful feeling to peer into another country, another culture, and yet see your own life staring back at you.

I think you would enjoy The Insult, then.

We started watching Line Of Duty, because we only watch British police dramas, apparently. Its good. Really good.

Yes, only the free version though. I find it useful just when I hear of a film Im interested in to add to my watch list. Outside of that functionality I'm not really aware of what it can do, although I know people says it's great.

Alex79uk wrote: February 20th, 2019, 5:08 pm We started watching Line Of Duty, because we only watch British police dramas, apparently. Its good. Really good.

Yes it is very very good. Ironically I usually avoid British Police dramas but this is top drawer.

DomsBeard wrote: February 22nd, 2019, 10:22 am

Alex79uk wrote: February 20th, 2019, 5:08 pm We started watching Line Of Duty, because we only watch British police dramas, apparently. Its good. Really good.

Yes it is very very good. Ironically I usually avoid British Police dramas but this is top drawer.

Haha yeah same here, it's just we've watched Luther and this back to back. I usually say all Britain makes is police dramas and reality shows, but there are a few good ones if you sift through.

Alex79uk wrote: February 22nd, 2019, 11:12 am

DomsBeard wrote: February 22nd, 2019, 10:22 am

Alex79uk wrote: February 20th, 2019, 5:08 pm We started watching Line Of Duty, because we only watch British police dramas, apparently. Its good. Really good.

Yes it is very very good. Ironically I usually avoid British Police dramas but this is top drawer.

Haha yeah same here, it's just we've watched Luther and this back to back. I usually say all Britain makes is police dramas and reality shows, but there are a few good ones if you sift through.

You forgot period dramas!

I watched Grizzly Man, a Werner Herzog documentary about Timothy Treadwell, a failed actor / wildlife activist / general weirdo who went to live among wild grizzly bears in a remote Alaskan region until he and his girlfriend met their... ursine fates.

Most of the film is composed of the man's own video footage, interspersed by interviews of friends and various professionals as well as occasional bits of narration by Herzog himself. It paints a picture of a rather maladjusted but well-intentioned individual who dedicated his life to something much bigger than himself. Who spent a staggering 35,000 hours living with awe-inspiring creatures he probably didn't understand nearly as well as he thought. It's equal parts admirable and tragic.

What took me by surprise was how... off some of the other characters felt at times. Almost like they're weird actors reading off a script, even though they're not. The coroner in particular is straight out of a Coen brothers movie.


Anyway, worth a watch.


EDIT: Well apparently, Herzog was shot with an air rifle during a BBC interview while promoting this film, so my working theory is that the man simply exudes psychotropic pheromones that turn regular folks into Kinski-level loons. It's the only explanation that makes sense.

Mark Kermode (famously caustic British movie critic) was the chap doing the interview at the time, he talks about it in one of his books.

They were up in the hills near the Hollywood sign, and the director wanted to try and get that into the back of the shot at some point, but the only place they could stand to do that was on someone’s private property, who took offence to someone being there and shot at them.

Mark talks about how Herzog insisted on carrying on with the interview even though he was quite clearly wounded enough to need stitches.