Lafleurs Guy
Guuuuuuuy!
- Jul 20, 2007
- 79,711
- 51,605
It's been a very uneven season. There's a good story in there somewhere but the execution is off.
OT: Let's talk about movies (and TV shows)... Part IX
- Thread starter Lafleurs Guy
- Start date
- Status
DangerDave
Mete's Shot
Exactly. Sure it was hollow and formulaic but so are most movies. The difference is that it was not really a superhero movie. Sure there were a bunch of pretty nice action scenes but the movie was really a buddy comedy set in space.
I've gotten tired of the superhero movies recently (though I still watch them) but I like the direction Marvel has been taking recently. More emphasis on the humor and less on plot. Let's face it, superhero's are pretty wacky characters so why not exploit that rather than make them super serious. That is why I think I will enjoy Antman and not BVS or Suicide Squad.
Redux91
I do Three bullets.
BenchBrawl
Registered User
- Jul 26, 2010
- 31,069
- 14,038
Am I the only one who stopped watching TV series? I remember back when The Sopranos were on air I couldn't get enough and then towards the end of the run a "TV series Boom" happened and we had so many good shows to choose from.I don't know how much time I "wasted" listening to countless shows but eventually, with no real reason except time management I stopped watching series without consciously taking the decision to stop.I'm sure there's countless excellent shows out there but they are too time-consuming for me as of now.I went back to watching movies and be done with it after 2 hours.
This was especially true of shows like House because each season had 24 episodes and they were all of the same.At the end it's basically a one-trick pony, where House is a none-conformist and confront people about their conformism, and get away with it because he's a medical genius.Obviously this one trick was very well made, so what I did was stop listening to the actual in-episode case and just fast forward to any scene with House hoping to catch a neat moment.
This was especially true of shows like House because each season had 24 episodes and they were all of the same.At the end it's basically a one-trick pony, where House is a none-conformist and confront people about their conformism, and get away with it because he's a medical genius.Obviously this one trick was very well made, so what I did was stop listening to the actual in-episode case and just fast forward to any scene with House hoping to catch a neat moment.
It you start with The Sopranos and end with House you're definitely not going to be satisfied.
Habs 4 Life
No Excuses
Just started season 3 of Breaking Bad last night, I like the show but some episodes are dam draggy. Anyways it's starting to get interesting
I envy you my friend! Watching it for the first time was just amazing. I have now watched it twice and my opinion of this show hasn't diminished even slightly. If anything, I learned to appreciate it even more
True Detective finally picking up with the shoot out scene and then last night's orgy house. I was a bit worried they were going to have a bunch of kung fu crap but it was just the right amount and realistic cop wise in the tactics they used to subdue and escape.
For the first time all season I have a good feeling going forward like some **** is about to pop off!
Oh, also started watching Louie (binge watched a bunch) and it's a good show. A lot of awkward humour which is really hit or miss, but overall I'm quite enjoying it.
For the first time all season I have a good feeling going forward like some **** is about to pop off!
Oh, also started watching Louie (binge watched a bunch) and it's a good show. A lot of awkward humour which is really hit or miss, but overall I'm quite enjoying it.
DAChampion
Registered User
- May 28, 2011
- 30,222
- 21,698
Ex Machina is my favourite 2015 movie.
The last twenty minutes is brilliant commentary.
poetryinmotion
Registered User
- Jul 12, 2011
- 5,876
- 159
I cannot say enough good things about Louie, probably the best show on TV. Simply brilliant.
Just watched "It Follows"
Excellent horror movie. Really good. With this and the recent "Babadook" I have really restored my faith in the horror genre. It follows isn't just cheap thrills, it's a good story, so original one of those movies where I wish I hadn't watched it so I could watch it again for the first time.
SPOILER (more of a synopsis but mild spoilers I suppose)
Story is about a 'monster' that follows the person who has the affliction for lack of a better word, there is only one 'monster' and it can only go after one person at a time. It can only walk, not run drive etc but it is ALWAYS following you no matter what. So you can drive a couple hours and it may subsequently take a day or two to make it to you, but it is always coming for you. And when it get's you man, game over.
Excellent horror movie. Really good. With this and the recent "Babadook" I have really restored my faith in the horror genre. It follows isn't just cheap thrills, it's a good story, so original one of those movies where I wish I hadn't watched it so I could watch it again for the first time.
SPOILER (more of a synopsis but mild spoilers I suppose)
Story is about a 'monster' that follows the person who has the affliction for lack of a better word, there is only one 'monster' and it can only go after one person at a time. It can only walk, not run drive etc but it is ALWAYS following you no matter what. So you can drive a couple hours and it may subsequently take a day or two to make it to you, but it is always coming for you. And when it get's you man, game over.
MasterDecoy
Who took my beer?
finally gotten around to seeing fury
t'was good. im not gonna nerd myself into a an argument about the tiger fight (so much wrong with that one) and the fight against the hundreds of SS (were marching, pazerfausts everywhere, fight starts, where'd the panzerfausts go?), so instead ill just say that fury has a solid, god-given plot armor. both scenes were heart pounding so they worked and ultimately, that's all that (should) matter to me
now what really irked me about it: none of the character were nice, likable or even decent human being, i think i murmured '****ing animals' more than once - too many times to remember, might as well have named the movie 'rapist vs. nazis' and that would have been slightly more appropriate. in fact, just by that movie, you'd think the us army was filled with maniacs although that did lead to some black humor
"what are you waiting for? shoot them"
looks at a bunch of dead nazies on the ground through his periscope
"they're dead already..."
"what, are you a doctor? how do you know?"
i get that ayer wanted something realistic, gritty and all that, but come on, there has to be a middle ground between Patton-level of sanitized violent and a cartoon-like level of violence, he opted for the latter.
i feel like ayer could have used fury in a more claustrophobic way, sometimes he did, but more often than not he didn't which was a shame i thought because this is something das boot did very well.
things i've learned: i always assumed that white phosphorous was illegal to use on human but no, turns out it wasn't back then and still isn't today and to be fair, in my eyes, that was another notch in the villain column for these guys
anyways, nit-picking aside, good film, good enough plot, great acting, very well made film
t'was good. im not gonna nerd myself into a an argument about the tiger fight (so much wrong with that one) and the fight against the hundreds of SS (were marching, pazerfausts everywhere, fight starts, where'd the panzerfausts go?), so instead ill just say that fury has a solid, god-given plot armor. both scenes were heart pounding so they worked and ultimately, that's all that (should) matter to me
now what really irked me about it: none of the character were nice, likable or even decent human being, i think i murmured '****ing animals' more than once - too many times to remember, might as well have named the movie 'rapist vs. nazis' and that would have been slightly more appropriate. in fact, just by that movie, you'd think the us army was filled with maniacs although that did lead to some black humor
"what are you waiting for? shoot them"
looks at a bunch of dead nazies on the ground through his periscope
"they're dead already..."
"what, are you a doctor? how do you know?"
i get that ayer wanted something realistic, gritty and all that, but come on, there has to be a middle ground between Patton-level of sanitized violent and a cartoon-like level of violence, he opted for the latter.
i feel like ayer could have used fury in a more claustrophobic way, sometimes he did, but more often than not he didn't which was a shame i thought because this is something das boot did very well.
things i've learned: i always assumed that white phosphorous was illegal to use on human but no, turns out it wasn't back then and still isn't today and to be fair, in my eyes, that was another notch in the villain column for these guys
anyways, nit-picking aside, good film, good enough plot, great acting, very well made film
Lafleurs Guy
Guuuuuuuy!
- Jul 20, 2007
- 79,711
- 51,605
Sweeney
Registered User
3 books in one season, should have made more seasons, Didnt read them but the end of the series must be like the end of the trilogy
DAChampion
Registered User
- May 28, 2011
- 30,222
- 21,698
I finished Godfather part 3. In my older age (31) I can now see why it's much less appreciated. The script is much less tight, I think half of al pacino's dialogue was exposition, and in general it seemed thinner on plot in spite of having an approximately equal run time.
Pacino had a few good moments though like "just when I think I'm out they pull me back in", and the end scenes involving the daughter.
I liked Andy Garcia's portrayal too which I think most people did. He came off as Sonny's son.
There's a part of the plot that didn't make sense. If immobilliare is the world's largest landlord with 6 billion in aasets, how can they buy a controlling interest for 600 million?
As ECW pointed out the plot is repetitive. It's the third movie with a nefarious Don, and the third one that closes with all of the enemies successfully killed off.
Pacino had a few good moments though like "just when I think I'm out they pull me back in", and the end scenes involving the daughter.
I liked Andy Garcia's portrayal too which I think most people did. He came off as Sonny's son.
There's a part of the plot that didn't make sense. If immobilliare is the world's largest landlord with 6 billion in aasets, how can they buy a controlling interest for 600 million?
As ECW pointed out the plot is repetitive. It's the third movie with a nefarious Don, and the third one that closes with all of the enemies successfully killed off.
MasterDecoy
Who took my beer?
Bryson
#EugeneMolson
- Jun 25, 2008
- 7,113
- 4,321
Finally started watching True Detective andso far it's friggin fantastic. I love smart shows. It plays out like one long movie. I dig the theme music. Also listening to the part where Matthew McConaughey is talking about the 4th dimension couldn't help but remind me of Intersellar. I wonder if that was intentional lol.
Redux91
I do Three bullets.
agreed, he mentions something kind of true, how all the enemies get killed again in the climax... yet.. not without a heavy heavy price
watching pacino screaming like that still haunts me today lol
DAChampion
Registered User
- May 28, 2011
- 30,222
- 21,698
The Hunting Ground (2015), documentary on campus sex assault culture
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Director: Kirby Dick
Producer: Amy Ziering
Runtime: 90 minutes
The creators of The Hunting Ground (Kirby Dick, Amy Ziering), a documentary on campus rape culture in the USA, made it due to the reaction to their previous documentary, The Invisible Wall, about rape in the military. They were originally planning a documentary on an unrelated topic (the food industry I think), but at so many of their screenings for the invisible wall they had women talk about their college experiences, and that forced their creative hand by forcing their hearts.
The Hunting Ground is a multi-faceted exploration of campus rape culture. There are the testimonials... I think they must have had three dozen women (and a few men, and a few parents of victims) discuss their experiences to various levels of depth, experiences of rape at various universities, and at various levels. There were three or four academics continuously interviewed, discussing several issues such as the reasons for underreporting, and the difficulty of studying the issue. We learn, for example, that it's extremely hard to study male rape victims, because the rate of reporting among male victims is incredibly low and thus it's nearly impossible to get a robust sample. There is the barrage of statistics, for several universities the researchers behind the film compiled the number of reported rape cases and the number of punishments, typically the fraction of time that the accused is found guilty is around ~2%. I think at Stanford there were ~200 rape accusations one year, and 0 led to disciplinary action. At another university, the accused were convicted, and expelled following graduation (seriously). There were other ludicrous punishments, one perpetrator paid a $25 fine, another was sentenced to 50 hours of community work ... at a victim's shelter.
I learned an interesting statistic, it's estimated that 8% of men commit 90% of *****. I remember looking up that number a while back and not finding it, not knowing what the number. That means it's 1 in 12 men responsible for the issue, approximately. The number is uncomfortably higher than I would have guessed.
Finally, we follow a group of activists, half a dozen women or so, who have decided to speak up about the issue, to collect information, and to act as a resource to women across the country. They have a map of the USA where they add a stamp for every case they interact with, they have a wall of newspaper clippings, but most interestingly they are answering skype calls from women across the country, it seems the skype calls never stop coming in.
Returning to the victims, there were so many of them, it was an exhausting deluge, which I think is the point. A range of experiences from being drugged, to being overpowered, the most consistent narrative through it all was that campus police/security/staff always wanted the issue swept under the rug. There's a challenging interview with a male police officer who resigned from the force because he was tired of not being allowed to do his job.
A significant discussion is that of college football. There was a rape accusation made against a college football player. The police officer who got the report, a detective, was also an alumni of Florida State and he worked for events involving the football team. I may not remember all the details since I was so emotional, but ... the police did not test the victim's rape kit for a year. This is a victim that was covered with bruises and semen. They never went after the security cameras of the area that had footage of where the victim said she was. They never asked for a DNA sample, which could have been matched to the semen stains. All they did, was warn her not to file charges as it could prove a nightmare for her.
It did in fact prove a nightmare. The football player she accused was Jameis Winston, a football star at Florida State University who has since won a Heisman, a national championship. During her ordeal he would go from being just a football player, then she would find out he was recruited as the top high school athlete in the country, then Florida State would win a championship. We see men and women alike from Florida State say she's a dumb **** looking for attention. They're clearly just happy that their college is winning a national title, and angry that anybody would dare spoil their moment of glory. What a nightmare it must have been for her ... she still managed to be a lot more composed than some of the other survivors interviewed.
In a discussion after the film, one women asked me (since I lived in the USA), how the world would have reacted if it jad been the quarterback who had made the rape accusation. I said I honestly have no idea, but my suspicion is that as the quarterback, he is a commodity and his purpose is to make money for other people. He needs to smile and ****. I think he'd be blasted if he were to claim to be a victim, but again I can't be sure. We do know that in Canada, hockey players who were victims of paedophilia took years and years of effort to get justice. I should have mentioned that but I had forgotten it at the time.
I recommend not discussing the issue of Jameis Winston with NFL fans, very likely they'll ask you for "proof". Never mind that only ~4% of rape allegations are false as estimated by studies, never mind that this particular woman had her life devastated by pursuing an allegation against a man she otherwise didn't know and had no interest in, and never mind that the police chose not to do an investigation and the detective who told her to f'ck off was a fan of FSU football. "Where's the proof?"
The Hunting Ground passes through Columbia University, where we hear from the now famous woman who is carrying her mattress around, and we also hear of the vigilantes who put up the names of male rape victims on bathroom stalls all over campus. This has been widely discussed in the news. What I had not seen before were the interviews. One guy admitted he knew several of the men who were accused, and he said the vigilantes were idiots. We see another man interviewed who says that just because a woman says no and there's sex doesn't mean it's rape. I'm disturbed that such a horrifyingly stupid interview has not been broadly humiliated in the national media sphere. We immortalize into shame much more trivial acts, like Star Wars kid.
Through this discussion, I'm reminded of that underdeveloped tribe from I forget which part of the world, possibly near the Amazon. The women of the tribe, when they feel wronged by a man, develop songs about that man to humiliate him. I'm no anthropologist but I think they're doing this because they have no other recourse. Women at Columbia are doing exactly the same thing by writing out predators' names on bathroom stalls. Ten thousand years of cultural evolution, but it's more or less the same social organization going on.
I think I see this as a failure, honestly, but the movie was presenting these women banding together to be activists as a success, there was even triumphant music two thirds of the way through setting the mood for their achievements raising awareness. I guess all modern and particularly documentaries need to close with a feeling of good, to find a victory somewhere, and thus to declare victory.
I had vaguely heard of The Hunting Ground from glancing at a few reviews, I knew it dealt with campus rape culture in the USA, an issue that's been in the news in recent years due to the work of activists. I assumed I would never get to watch it since it's hard to get the smaller movies in Canberra, when I saw that it was playing at the Palace Electric I jumped at the chance to go see it. I went to a screening where approximately 15% of the people in attendance were male.
It was a really difficult ninety minutes, and it felt closer to one hundred and fifty. I had tears in my eyes for around half of it, and I often became so angry that my mind would wander, and then I'd find myself having missed the past thirty seconds of important dialogue. I want to watch it again, with subtitles and a rewind button, to properly and more fully digest it.
However, even with this first viewing, I think it was the best film I've seen this year. I recommend you all go see it. It doesn't have any aliens or CGI robots and it's not funded by Marvel Studios unfortunately, so if you're interested in seeing it you'll have to make the effort to seek it out. But please do.
Grade: A
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Director: Kirby Dick
Producer: Amy Ziering
Runtime: 90 minutes
The creators of The Hunting Ground (Kirby Dick, Amy Ziering), a documentary on campus rape culture in the USA, made it due to the reaction to their previous documentary, The Invisible Wall, about rape in the military. They were originally planning a documentary on an unrelated topic (the food industry I think), but at so many of their screenings for the invisible wall they had women talk about their college experiences, and that forced their creative hand by forcing their hearts.
The Hunting Ground is a multi-faceted exploration of campus rape culture. There are the testimonials... I think they must have had three dozen women (and a few men, and a few parents of victims) discuss their experiences to various levels of depth, experiences of rape at various universities, and at various levels. There were three or four academics continuously interviewed, discussing several issues such as the reasons for underreporting, and the difficulty of studying the issue. We learn, for example, that it's extremely hard to study male rape victims, because the rate of reporting among male victims is incredibly low and thus it's nearly impossible to get a robust sample. There is the barrage of statistics, for several universities the researchers behind the film compiled the number of reported rape cases and the number of punishments, typically the fraction of time that the accused is found guilty is around ~2%. I think at Stanford there were ~200 rape accusations one year, and 0 led to disciplinary action. At another university, the accused were convicted, and expelled following graduation (seriously). There were other ludicrous punishments, one perpetrator paid a $25 fine, another was sentenced to 50 hours of community work ... at a victim's shelter.
I learned an interesting statistic, it's estimated that 8% of men commit 90% of *****. I remember looking up that number a while back and not finding it, not knowing what the number. That means it's 1 in 12 men responsible for the issue, approximately. The number is uncomfortably higher than I would have guessed.
Finally, we follow a group of activists, half a dozen women or so, who have decided to speak up about the issue, to collect information, and to act as a resource to women across the country. They have a map of the USA where they add a stamp for every case they interact with, they have a wall of newspaper clippings, but most interestingly they are answering skype calls from women across the country, it seems the skype calls never stop coming in.
Returning to the victims, there were so many of them, it was an exhausting deluge, which I think is the point. A range of experiences from being drugged, to being overpowered, the most consistent narrative through it all was that campus police/security/staff always wanted the issue swept under the rug. There's a challenging interview with a male police officer who resigned from the force because he was tired of not being allowed to do his job.
A significant discussion is that of college football. There was a rape accusation made against a college football player. The police officer who got the report, a detective, was also an alumni of Florida State and he worked for events involving the football team. I may not remember all the details since I was so emotional, but ... the police did not test the victim's rape kit for a year. This is a victim that was covered with bruises and semen. They never went after the security cameras of the area that had footage of where the victim said she was. They never asked for a DNA sample, which could have been matched to the semen stains. All they did, was warn her not to file charges as it could prove a nightmare for her.
It did in fact prove a nightmare. The football player she accused was Jameis Winston, a football star at Florida State University who has since won a Heisman, a national championship. During her ordeal he would go from being just a football player, then she would find out he was recruited as the top high school athlete in the country, then Florida State would win a championship. We see men and women alike from Florida State say she's a dumb **** looking for attention. They're clearly just happy that their college is winning a national title, and angry that anybody would dare spoil their moment of glory. What a nightmare it must have been for her ... she still managed to be a lot more composed than some of the other survivors interviewed.
In a discussion after the film, one women asked me (since I lived in the USA), how the world would have reacted if it jad been the quarterback who had made the rape accusation. I said I honestly have no idea, but my suspicion is that as the quarterback, he is a commodity and his purpose is to make money for other people. He needs to smile and ****. I think he'd be blasted if he were to claim to be a victim, but again I can't be sure. We do know that in Canada, hockey players who were victims of paedophilia took years and years of effort to get justice. I should have mentioned that but I had forgotten it at the time.
I recommend not discussing the issue of Jameis Winston with NFL fans, very likely they'll ask you for "proof". Never mind that only ~4% of rape allegations are false as estimated by studies, never mind that this particular woman had her life devastated by pursuing an allegation against a man she otherwise didn't know and had no interest in, and never mind that the police chose not to do an investigation and the detective who told her to f'ck off was a fan of FSU football. "Where's the proof?"
The Hunting Ground passes through Columbia University, where we hear from the now famous woman who is carrying her mattress around, and we also hear of the vigilantes who put up the names of male rape victims on bathroom stalls all over campus. This has been widely discussed in the news. What I had not seen before were the interviews. One guy admitted he knew several of the men who were accused, and he said the vigilantes were idiots. We see another man interviewed who says that just because a woman says no and there's sex doesn't mean it's rape. I'm disturbed that such a horrifyingly stupid interview has not been broadly humiliated in the national media sphere. We immortalize into shame much more trivial acts, like Star Wars kid.
Through this discussion, I'm reminded of that underdeveloped tribe from I forget which part of the world, possibly near the Amazon. The women of the tribe, when they feel wronged by a man, develop songs about that man to humiliate him. I'm no anthropologist but I think they're doing this because they have no other recourse. Women at Columbia are doing exactly the same thing by writing out predators' names on bathroom stalls. Ten thousand years of cultural evolution, but it's more or less the same social organization going on.
I think I see this as a failure, honestly, but the movie was presenting these women banding together to be activists as a success, there was even triumphant music two thirds of the way through setting the mood for their achievements raising awareness. I guess all modern and particularly documentaries need to close with a feeling of good, to find a victory somewhere, and thus to declare victory.
I had vaguely heard of The Hunting Ground from glancing at a few reviews, I knew it dealt with campus rape culture in the USA, an issue that's been in the news in recent years due to the work of activists. I assumed I would never get to watch it since it's hard to get the smaller movies in Canberra, when I saw that it was playing at the Palace Electric I jumped at the chance to go see it. I went to a screening where approximately 15% of the people in attendance were male.
It was a really difficult ninety minutes, and it felt closer to one hundred and fifty. I had tears in my eyes for around half of it, and I often became so angry that my mind would wander, and then I'd find myself having missed the past thirty seconds of important dialogue. I want to watch it again, with subtitles and a rewind button, to properly and more fully digest it.
However, even with this first viewing, I think it was the best film I've seen this year. I recommend you all go see it. It doesn't have any aliens or CGI robots and it's not funded by Marvel Studios unfortunately, so if you're interested in seeing it you'll have to make the effort to seek it out. But please do.
Grade: A
Redux91
I do Three bullets.
Another solid episode of true detective last night.. was really cool to see what frank (vince vaughn ) does best finally.. he was impressive
Totally saw that ending coming lol.. felt too much like Leo in the departed Lol
Hope next weeks finale caps it all off nicely.. still doesn't match season 1s brilliance tho
Totally saw that ending coming lol.. felt too much like Leo in the departed Lol
Hope next weeks finale caps it all off nicely.. still doesn't match season 1s brilliance tho
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