Tomi on 23/5/2022 at 18:54
I've been watching X-Files during the last couple of months. I'm currently halfway through season 7, and I don't think I ever made it this far the first time around. At least at that point I wasn't watching the show regularly anymore. Some of the episodes haven't aged well at all, especially the ones that rely a lot on CGI effects, but apart from a couple of truly terrible episodes and some mediocre ones here and there, I'm enjoying it. The main story arc has become quite a mess, and I can see how the quality of the show is starting to dip as it gets closer to its end, but there are still some great moments in it. I like it how simple it actually is, and how the show doesn't take itself too seriously - in fact the comedy episodes are some of my favourites!
Also, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully have got to be up there with the coolest fictional characters in tv history. :cool:
rachel on 8/6/2022 at 19:43
Top Gun: Maverick
Oh boy, that was a ride, and a fun one. Of course, I had to see it because, hello, it's got planes in it so that was a given, but I will admit I was intrigued by the number of positive reviews before I went. And I can say, this is absolutely the most unlikely case of a sequel being better than the original that I could ever have expected. The story's tighter, the action scenes are spectacular, the characters are well developed and distinctive enough from each other... I would also say that it's definitely one of these movies where it's really worth watching it in theaters if you can because the editing and photography are top notch.
The main draw of course is that the planes are real, and it's really the actors in them (with the exception of the F-14 obviously). The enemy is unnamed, and probably the same "rogue nation" as in the first one, a mix of Soviet Russia (they have Mi-35 helos and the latest Sukhoi Su-57 fighters) and Iran (they also somehow have obsolete F-14s...). The flight scenes are visceral, and you can see the Gs pile up on the actors' faces in a way no CGI could reproduce. They used real F/A-18s and the actors had to learn to manage their own camera setup for flight scenes! The main action set piece is pretty much the Death Star run on Earth and it's TENSE. It really works, to the extent you completely forget they're pretty much starting a war as the "rogue country" hasn't attacked the US at any point. But then again, they did that in the first one too...
Story-wise, you really have to give it up to Cruise for managing to play the same character convincingly some 35 years after the first film... But the emotional weight and really for me what made the story work, is Val Kilmer's cameo, reprising his role as Tom "Iceman" Kazansky. The character's only there for two scenes and it's really heartbreaking to see his ordeal knowing his illness isn't an act (his few spoken lines are actually computer generated). I was glad to read after that unlike his character, Kilmer seems to have recovered for now. This is the pivotal moment of the movie, the moment Mav finally learns to let go. The central conflict, once you understand where everyone's coming from, is grounded and mostly believable, if you get past how old everyone is.
They lay it thick with the nostalgia bit, with an opening that's a complete remake of the original with updated planes, and a whole lot of subtle (and not-so-subtle) nods to the first movie. Spotting those is a lot of fun.
On the disappointing side, it's a shame that Jennifer Connelly is so underutilized as Penny, Mav's love interest. It feels like there was a whole lot of backstory or moments that stayed on the cutting room floor. She's such a fine actress and she and Cruise have the right sort of chemistry together for it to work, but she's just in the background.
As Cruise said, TGM is a love letter to aviation. It's also a recruitment piece for naval aviation, we can't ignore that, but it's interesting because it doesn't shy away from showing that, while being a fighter pilot is neat, it's also fraught with danger, and not just from enemy fire: equipment failure, bird strikes, blackouts, these folks take off knowing there's a chance they won't come back. But it's all worth it, because cloud dancing is the only thing that counts.
As an aviation nerd, will definitely see it again. 4.5/5
[video=youtube_share;giXco2jaZ_4]https://youtu.be/giXco2jaZ_4[/video]
Aja on 15/6/2022 at 16:43
They finally did it; Strange New Worlds is actually good Star Trek! I was watching one episode where the crew contracted a disease that made them crave light exposure, and one crew member was going crazy and about to throw themselves into the warp core to get the maximum amount of light, and a warm feeling washed over me and I felt sleepy and relaxed and everything was right in the world for that moment.
I've also been watching Succession, which is about a rich family fighting each other for control of their multibillion-dollar business. It's part character study, part political drama, and part soap opera, but it what it does best is these long build-ups to big theatrical climaxes where the family patriarch and head of the company shouts down and humiliates his children as they grovel for his approval. It's super sharp and well acted and sometimes I feel like a need a shower after watching it. Highly recommended.
rachel on 20/6/2022 at 08:35
Yesterday's yield: a double feature
Tenet: Finally saw it after I noticed it had landed on HBOMax. Went into it without knowing anything more than it being about a cop and some kind of time travel... I liked it a lot, and that feeling was from the get go, not from analyzing it afterwards, and it makes it probably my favorite Nolan flick after Inception. I liked the twist on time travel and the way it goes about narration, reminded me of Memento in several ways. (It also completely ruins one of my WIPs called Tempus Fugit that had very similar time travel elements with a cop investigating crimes then traveling in time and realizing it was him doing it, leading to interesting confrontations, thank you so much Nolan for showing me I'm not that original...) It's well thought and runs on other proven time travel tropes that tie everything together neatly, and of course being a Nolan movie the cinematography and SFX are exceptional.
Everything Everywhere All At Once: Also went in blind, only knowing it was a comedy with multiverse stuff and it had Michelle Yeoh in it. This thing is absolutely bonkers, I loved it. It's fresh, full of inventiveness and so well written, it's hilarious and it's emotional, and it's also so profoundly human at its core, putting its characters first and letting them deal with the increasing absurdities of the premise. It's a breath of fresh air and what cinema always aspired to be: a mirror, a dream, a glimpse of magic, a window through which we watch reflections of ourselves do what we can't... Pure joy.
It's funny that I ended up seeing both of those on the same day because they're so diametrically opposed, and somewhat complementary, visions of sci-fi. Both deal with EOTWAWKI but one is frantically world-spanning, serious and heavy with big speeches and moral conflicts and secret organizations, while the other remains centered around a single family that doesn't quite know how it got into this mess but just rolls with it. One deals with humanity as a whole, more a concept that needs to be saved than actual people (Kat and her son excepted, I suppose, giving the Protagonist a moral anchor of sorts), while the other deals with the human, bending genres to play with more intimate themes so universal that anyone can relate: the greener grass just beyond one's grasp, the roads not taken, regrets, and love. And, for some reason, hot dogs.
Yesterday was a very good day.
henke on 21/6/2022 at 05:01
I've been watching The Simpsons for the last 1,5 year and I am now on season 22 and I CAN'T TAKE IT ANY MORE! It's of course been a steady decline in quality. Season 20 was surprisingly good tho(that's the one where they switched to widescreen halfway through), and there still pops up a good episode here and there. But I really need to take a break from the show. I might appreciate it more if I come back in half a year.
So I started watching Family Guy again. Still good in season 17!
[video=youtube;Og-vN7oWdlE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og-vN7oWdlE[/video]
henke on 27/6/2022 at 13:08
I watched Tetsuo: The Iron Man. I am a changed man. There's no going back. :|
It's kinda like Eraserhead but more industrial and perverted. Looks amazing. The stark black and white melds things together until you're not quite sure if what you're seeing is flesh or metal. The whole movie is on youtube btw. I'm not gonna link to it.
henke on 25/7/2022 at 17:52
Neon Genesis Evangelion. You guys SEEN this shit? It's wild. I can't remember another anime that's got of to such a bang of a start. Those first 2 episodes? Amazing. After that it slows down a bit for some character development, but ep 6 was a real banger too. I've made it to ep 9 I think. They only made 1 season of this, which is something I like about anime shows. They don't just go on forever. They got a story to tell and wrap it up in 1 season, tho I know there's a couple movies as well.
ANYWAY, last episode there was this Angel (big monster) that can split in half like an amiboae, so Shinji and Asuka has to fight it in PERFECT SYNC so they spend the whole episode playing DDR n shit to practice being in sync and it all culminates in this scene:
[video=youtube;j_0aBLn-FUI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_0aBLn-FUI[/video]
Crazy shit. I totally get what the big whoop was all about now. This is a good show!
I've also been watching Mythic Quest. Game-dev-studio-comedy by It's Always Sunny's Rob McElhenney. I'm on season 2. It's pretty uneven, but there's a few real standout episodes along the way. I really liked both flashback episodes, and the Personality Tests episode was like something outta Community. Loved it!
mxleader on 26/7/2022 at 02:10
I've been bouncing back and forth between the latest season of The Boys and The Umbrella Academy but am struggling to get into either this season.
Yakoob on 26/7/2022 at 20:33
Quote Posted by mxleader
The Umbrella Academy.
I am enjoying this season, as I did the previous ones. I am not really into superhero shows, but this one is so much more than that. There's just something about the whole style of it that just feels so unique and quirky, and the characters (despite being shitheads) really draw you in.
The whole arc of 5 is really interesting (I'm a sucker for overengineered burocractic bullshit), and he plays the perfect smarmy asshole. That whole thing alone is probably enough for me to keep going tbh. Klaus is also a great "comic relief" / "wild card" with some surprising depth (like the whole war experience). Following the old due with headphones was also very intriguing and I enjoyed the plot twist (less so the things that happen after
with teaching Viktor the new skills etc.)
I will admit that other characters I care less about, I think Vanya/Viktor is pretty boring and overdoes the sulking, and there's literally not a single thing about Diego that intrigues me (but at least Lila's antics somewhat make up for it). Luther has grown into a bit of a lovable dofus, nothing particularly innovative, but he has great screen presence.
Tho I can't say any new characters are particularly memorable this time (I miss Hazel, Cha cha and the Handler). The Sparrows in this season also fall a bit flat and don't seem particularly fleshed out. The new Ben feels really forced (especially the way he talks, is that natural? It feels like he's over-stressing every single sentence he says?) and he's trying too hard to be the douche vying for power. But I like the new twist on their dad and
being drugged with pills by his "better" children - I think that was a solid "alternate timeline" twist. .
Overall, I think it's a mix of some new good ideas, some mediocre/bad elements, but the charm and style of the show and 5's time-related hijinks are keeping me going.