henke on 30/5/2023 at 09:22
Well ya convinced me, Sulph! I like that Betty Gilpin. The humor is indeed nothing like Big Bang, but it does often have too much Whedonspeak for my liking. Just characters making dumb quips to undercut any tension. But sometimes it works. I'm 2 eps in and so far I'd say it's OK.
Sulphur on 30/5/2023 at 10:51
Hurray! I dunno about Whedonisms (I watched enough Firefly and Buffy to conclude that I was hugely ambivalent about both), but I don't mind the quippage baked into the more stupid characters' back-and-forth, because that's who they are. I was pretty much in at that point because everything seemed to be teetering towards a pretty bonkers ride, and so it was. Maybe it's not for everyone, but unless you're a hardcore Catholic doing a sign of the cross every time you see that they made ol' J.C. an Indian-Guyanese man, I don't think so.
I should also mention I saw the new Evil Dead (Rise), which was definitely swinging far more into the horror bracket of horror-comedy than, say, Evil Dead 2's determined swing into the rightward side of that bracket. It's still pretty funny, and in some pitch-black ways that are also just extremely mean, but yanno, it's Evil Dead. To take it seriously is to mistake a horse's front for its behind, or something. It's a pretty nice entry into the franchise, but with that different flavour a new director brings. There's a bit of Silent Hill 4, a bit of oldschool ED, and just enough character to its protagonist to make you want to root for her and the kids.
But, you know, probably don't root too hard. It is Evil Dead, after all.
henke on 2/6/2023 at 10:24
Mrs. Davis ep 3 was good.
Also, since re-watching old comedy shows is just kinda my comfort zone I'm watching King of the Hill again.
Enjoy this clip of Boomhauer elucidating on the meaning of life.
[video=youtube;BYbEuVv5aYM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYbEuVv5aYM[/video]
henke on 3/6/2023 at 16:34
OM NOM CHIBARI
OM NOM CHIBARI
I'm drinking wine and watching that dang ol' Indy and the temple of Doom, know what I'm saying.
Sulphur on 3/6/2023 at 17:36
I remember being too astounded at Temple of Doom's lazy stupidity to be offended by its depiction of India, which is some weird conception of a far-off continent rotated through ancient colonial stereotypes and a few parallel dimensions. I wonder if someone had given George Lucas an extra spicy vindaloo, and the resulting fever dream was responsible for the script. I mean, I wish we ate monkey brains and live snakes, but our fare tends to be far more pedestrian, and our cults certainly aren't led by anyone nearly as charismatic as Amrish Puri. Anyhoo, Sri Lanka's Kandy was a great call, and was a gorgeous locale for that shoot. I know, 'cause I've been there.
henke on 3/6/2023 at 19:39
Awwww man you don't eat monkey brains or eyeball soup? Way to shatter the illusion, Sulph.
Temple of Doom was the first Indiana Jones movie I saw and it had a pretty huge impact on me. I love the way it keeps ratcheting up the stakes in its action scenes. The bit where they get off the mine cart only to discover that there's a tidal wave of water rushing after them, to then run out and dangle off the side of the cliff while huge spikes shoot out of the wall (?) is the imagery that accompanies the word ADVENTURE in the encyclopedia of my mind. What a bonkers movie.
Cipheron on 3/6/2023 at 20:00
Quote Posted by Sulphur
I mean, I wish we ate monkey brains and live snakes
The monkey brains thing was a commonly believed urban legend back when that movie came out, but it was usually something about the Chinese, which probably fits with cultural tension over Chinese immigration. Lucas' film adopting that to India is probably broad "Orientalism" that definitely wouldn't fly these days.
the more common and shocking version you'd read about back then was the live monkey brains eaten with a special table or board with a hole in it, for the monkey's head. I remember reading that in a magazine back in the day, but it was stated as if it was fact. So the version in the movie actually seemed like a toned-down version of something that people already believed.
(
https://web.archive.org/web/20130813160434/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2002/08/08/issues/debunking-strange-asian-myths-part-ii/#.UgpZHx_P3PkQ)
The myth even made it's way into China apparently, but it's attributed to those pesky non-ethnic Chinese, so also seems like it spread due to tension around immigrants:
(
https://forums.egullet.org/topic/70763-in-search-of-a-monkey-table/)
Quote:
In China, the story was that you could eat them in Yunnan province. This backs up the usual aspect of this story - it's always some weird, foreign 'others' who eat this stuff. For those who don't know, China has 50-odd 'minority nationalities' (the number changes from time to time depending on who is counting, and how they've decided to categorize 'minority nationality'), and by far the greatest number are in Yunnan province - the area down south bordering onto Vietnam, Laos, Burma, etc. For a lot of Chinese from other regions, this is the place around which you centralize your fantasies about what 'exotic other people' do, whether it's bathing nude in public in the rivers, or eating monkey brains...
Sulphur on 4/6/2023 at 03:29
Sounds about right, given Indians have other, not complimentary urban legends about the Chinese. It's hilarious that Lucas's version of Orientalism expands to Darkest India, given a lot of Indians harbour an almost naked antipathy towards the Chinese - I'd say it's karma of a sort, but that'd be a bit like having my snake and eating it too. Those links are a good traceback of the legend, thank you.
@henke - oh for sure, beyond the broad 80s insensitive bullshit and the sins already recounted, Temple of Doom was a very fine action adventure film, one of the best in terms of sheer craft.
Cipheron on 4/6/2023 at 04:23
Quote Posted by henke
The bit where they get off the mine cart only to discover that there's a tidal wave of water rushing after them
The water was done in miniature, but because of that they had to cut the water with chemicals that reduce the surface tension. That cuts the droplet size an makes it look more realistically scaled. That, plus you film it with a super high frame rate, then slow it down when you composite it.
I saw a video about it that compared it to a similar era film that didn't get that right, so a flood of water that's supposed to look huge looks like someone knocked a glass of water over. i.e. you see globs of water the size of bowling balls splashing around.