ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
Jeff:Also the source of one of my favorite movie lines ever: "You can't fight in here, this is the War Room!"
BeoNut since '75
Groan! Why pun-ish us so?
I saw that movie on cable before I cut the cord, another tween movie with great effects and mediocre everything else, at least that's what this old fart thought. To a tween? Who knows, it was no Hunger Games though.
Hard to sleep with a subwoofer in the next room isn't it?
Yeah, the "you'll have to answer to the Coca Cola company" is a classic. Col. Bat Guano, heh. I also loved "Gee I wish we had one of those doomsday machines too!"
I had a Dr. Strangelove themed party once, and bought a bottle of Everclear (pure alcohol) and a gallon of distilled water and put it out with the other drinks. No one partook, even though two of the guests were ex-B52 navigator/bombardiers.
Jeff
I'm afraid I'm recovering from the BeoVirus.
Jeff:Hard to sleep with a subwoofer in the next room isn't it?
elephant: Jeff: Hard to sleep with a subwoofer in the next room isn't it? No I was knackered ! But now I am here at 4am wide awake
Jeff: Hard to sleep with a subwoofer in the next room isn't it?
No I was knackered !
But now I am here at 4am wide awake
Ah, alcohol, is there anything it can't do?
Like I always say, beer, helping ugly people hook up since the days of the Egyptians.
Currently watching a Netflix Box-Set entitled 'The Dome' - which is a TV drama based on a Stephen King novel, apparently.
My wife chose it on a recommendation from a friend and it's gone from poor, to average, to very good, and has currently swerved back to poor at the beginning of Season 2.
I will forever recommend Prison Break, Walking Dead and Breaking Bad as the best box-sets ever though. Personal taste though, obviously.
Lee
Lee, The Walking Dead is filmed just up the road from where I live. The town of Hamilton (think that was the name) is actually the town of Senoia. One reason I started watching it is that it was filmed near here. When Rick said "We'll head down to Newnan and then head west" I knew where he was talking about!
A very good show on Netflix is back for the 2nd season, "Glitch" is a very odd and unsettling and well done story about a small town in Australia where, suddenly one night, a group of dead people come back to life, and the problems with that and trying to figure out why. The dead aren't all from the same time, but come from the same cemetery, some are over 100 years dead, others just a couple of years.
Watched a great Christmas movie, very strange and different. "Strange Exports: A Christmas Movie." A Finnish film about people who dig up the real Santa, who apparently according to Finnish legend had evil elves who would kidnap bad children and bring them to Santa, who would eat them bones and all. Very odd, dark humor, and strange. Closest thing I can think of to it is the film "Troll Hunter." Same kind of odd vibe and such, but a great film, both are.
I meant “Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale.”
I've found two excellent movies lately.
First, an indie movie called "Ink." Surreal and charming story, dealing with the Storytellers, who come to you in the night to spread good dreams to encourage people, and the Incubus, who come to spread nightmares and tear people down. A "wanderer" steals the soul of a little girl to trade to the Incubus so they will accept him. Happy ending, and astonishingly creative visuals.
Second, a collection of experimental films by Neill Blomkamp, the director of "District 9" and "Chappie" called "Oats Studio: Volume 1." Some amazingly surreal and thought provoking things, and some stuff not as serious. The first three vignettes entitled "Rakka" stars Sigourney Weaver and is about Earth after an alien invasion. It's very seldom you find aliens in a film that look alien, ditto for their technology, but he pulls it off. The vignette "Firebase" set in the Vietnam War is very surreal and unsettling, and the final vignette "Zygote" is set in an arctic mining operation and brings to mind a superior monster version of John Carpenter's "The Thing." The production values and effects on most of these are as good or better than any large budget film.
This, but, what is it then? Click to enlarge!
Jacques
"The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs" which is a film by the Coen brothers, a collection of six very unique and fascinating stories set in the US Old West. The first one is quite funny, the second one is humorous as well, the rest, well, they're fascinating, some are quite dark, like the vignette "Meal Ticket." That's about the darkest one. Brilliant film, incredible scenery, unique stories.
chartz: This, but, what is it then? Click to enlarge!
Anybody?
Have no idea what that's from, but it's a nice Beo collection. From that angle the actor looks like Billy Bob Thornton. So, what's it from?
That’s him, yes, in Fargo season one.
chartz: That’s him, yes, in Fargo season one.
Never watched the series, is it good? I know I quite enjoyed the Coen Brothers movie of the same name. I see it's an anthology crime series.
FWIW, I also really enjoyed the anthology series "True Detective," most especially the first season.
I've been watching a Netflix series, "The Last Kingdom," about the Danes vs. the Saxons in England, set about 100 years after the period where the show "Vikings" is set. Quite good.
Yes it is very a good series, extremely well played.
Thanks for the tips!
Have got Fargo in my queue. Enjoying “Lucifer” on Netflix lately, the devil escaped Hell and move to Los Angeles and opened a nightclub named Lux. He starts helping a police detective because he likes seeing the right people punished.
Also just finished the first run thru of Black Mirror, “Bandersnatch.” Stunning, wildly creative, and incredibly paranoid schizophrenic worth of PKDick at his best.
Hi and Happy New Year!
I’ll add those to my shortlist, thanks! I’ve just bought a new 50 inch including Netflix access. Not B&O though, too dear...
chartz: Hi and Happy New Year! I’ll add those to my shortlist, thanks! I’ve just bought a new 50 inch including Netflix access. Not B&O though, too dear...
Hope you enjoy the new TV. Big is always good! I’m still using a 6 year old 65 inch Panasonic plasma that has an amazing picture. When it finally dies I’ll go bigger, but my living room is barn sized so it can handle a bigger set. Hopefully it’ll be like the old Panasonic plasma 42 inch I have downstairs which is still going strong after 12 years
I’m about halfway through a documentary on Netflix called “Sad Hill Unearthed” which is about fans of the movie “The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly” who are restoring the cemetery set where the final gun duel took place. Interesting what lengths the fans are going through to do this
Lately I've been working through a Canadian comedy series, "Corner Gas," which is quite funny. It was apparently the top rated Canadian made show ever on Canadian TV, and often had walk ons by various Canadian politicians, including former and then current Prime Minister. Takes place in a tiny town called Dog River. In one episode the guys are getting their garage band back together, they're wailing away when the old father storms in and says shut up, he can hear them all the way across town. The son replies "You can hear us two blocks away...cooool!"
Watched on Amazon. Also on Amazon is a pretty good movie called "Wild Bill" about Wild Bill Hickok, starring Jeff Bridges. Wildly inaccurate, especially regarding his death in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, but still manages to be an enjoyable and interesting movie, with some surreal flashbacks. Bridges does a great job.
Finally, watched "Polar" on Netflix. Really off the wall violent and explicit film in a kind of buzz cut Tarantino like style starring Mads Mikkelsen as a retired assassin. The "company" he works for invests for their retirement but if their retired assassins die the company is the beneficiary, so since he's owed 8 million dollars the company does its usual, kill off the assassins after they retire and get the money back. Doesn't work well with him. Interesting film, but not for the squeamish.
Watch this on BBC iPlayer if you can. Go find yourself a VPN service if you can't. Or, buy the DVD. Absolutely incredible film...
Here's the trailer...
THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD
Absolutely riveting to watch. Genius by Peter Jackson.
Jeff: Finally, watched "Polar" on Netflix. Really off the wall violent and explicit film in a kind of buzz cut Tarantino like style starring Mads Mikkelsen as a retired assassin.
Finally, watched "Polar" on Netflix. Really off the wall violent and explicit film in a kind of buzz cut Tarantino like style starring Mads Mikkelsen as a retired assassin.
I thought this was terrible! Received quite a few 1-star reviews in the UK. The first half of the film reminded me of an awful Kill Bill attempt, with the last half a low-budget Keanu Reeves John Wick!
Took me a while to get over the jump/buzz cut style of "Polar" in the beginning, I don't like that style (it was used a lot in a movie called "Spun" by the same director) but I stuck it out because I enjoy Mads Mikkelsen's performances. I enjoyed it though it's far from perfect.
Lee, I'll keep on the lookout for that. I know the recent movie "Spitfire" about the plane with lots of interviews with surviving pilots from the Battle Of Britain and even women ferry pilots was fascinating, and a wonderful tribute to the Greatest Generation.
Dom
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Finally got around to watching "Ex Machina" and what a subtle, wonderfully thought provoking movie that was. So rare in this era of shallow, CGI laden action films. One of the best things I've seen in a long time.
Watched Netflix's "Velvet Buzzsaw" and found it an interesting if ultimately predictable film, a nice watch but not great. Really did cynically savage the art world though.
Also watched Netflix's "The Autopsy Of Jane Doe." Very creepy horror thing, well done, even if the ending was kind of predictable.
I've also been through Netflix "Black Mirror - Bandersnatch" multiple times now. Very paranoid schizophrenic story, where you make decisions which change how the story progresses and ends. Some decisions make no difference to speak of (choosing a breakfast cereal at the beginning only seems to affect which commercial shows up on a TV set in the background much later), some make major differences. The story line is very Philip K ***, paranoid schizophrenic, and the way the show is presented, how the decisions affect things, what can and can't change, just magnifies that aspect of it. Should be a warning that if you do suffer from schizophrenia you shouldn't watch it.
Jeff:Some decisions make no difference to speak of (choosing a breakfast cereal at the beginning only seems to affect which commercial shows up on a TV set in the background much later), some make major differences.
That's because the first choices given to the audience are just here to get them used with the interface and train them to "choose", so they dont have impact on the scenario.
True. A bit later in there's a choice of music while he's on the bus, which affects what he tells the other programmer he listens to. Still early on, maybe, what, the 2nd decision? As far as I can tell it doesn't affect the music the other programmer recommends. I don't think which record he chooses in the shop to buy changes anything either. But the decision to go to the therapist or follow the programmer on the street makes a huge difference.
I enjoyed it, thought it was brilliant, but sadly it won't play on my Apple TV 4, I had to go through it on my iPad and on my PC.
And I'm wondering when the other new season episodes are going to drop. With what China's doing with social media scores and how they affect their citizens ability to do everything in their lives makes the episode "Nosedive" remarkably prescient.
Just a heads up for anyone in the US or Canada, The Criterion Collection is having a 50% off sale for the next 24 hours on all in stock DVDs and BluRays. I'm stocking up on some classic Japanese cinema, prices are very good.
Criterion Collection Sale
I stumbled on a really great anthology series on Netflix, "Love, Death, + Robots." 18 different animated shorts covering a wide variety of stories, from funny to horrific. One is called "When The Yogurt Took Over" which is about an intelligent strain of yogurt that took over the earth, quite amusing. Another one actually got me to buy the book of short stories it's in, "Beyond The Aquila RIft." In it Earth ships use this huge collection of abandoned alien devices to travel faster than light, they create jump points where the ships can go through. One ship jumps, has an error in navigation, and winds up, well, somewhere far away with no chance of return, and it gets worse from there but it gets a real hook into you.
Great little series, worth the time.
Jeff:I stumbled on a really great anthology series on Netflix, "Love, Death, + Robots." 18 different animated shorts covering a wide variety of stories, from funny to horrific. One is called "When The Yogurt Took Over" which is about an intelligent strain of yogurt that took over the earth, quite amusing. Another one actually got me to buy the book of short stories it's in, "Beyond The Aquila RIft." In it Earth ships use this huge collection of abandoned alien devices to travel faster than light, they create jump points where the ships can go through. One ship jumps, has an error in navigation, and winds up, well, somewhere far away with no chance of return, and it gets worse from there but it gets a real hook into you. Great little series, worth the time. Jeff I'm afraid I'm recovering from the BeoVirus.
I'll be interested in what you think, especially about "Beyond The Aquila Rift." It, and one called "Zima Blue." In reading about the series I discovered both are by the same author, Alastair Reynolds. Both very thought provoking to me, and I just bought the book of short stories these are included in. I found the "Beyond The Aquila Rift" interesting, it explains more about the tech involved, and the ending is even more unsettling.
I think you'll like "Zima Blue" as well, thought provoking in a different way. I found all of the shorts to be worthwhile, some I think are better than others but overall a very high standard for them all. Is kind of similar to Black Mirror, not for the people who need a simple story or a happy ending.
I liked the looped story as well. I thought the character at the apartment party she went to, with the horns and latex and such, was freaky and more than a little scary.
So many possibilities with "Beyond The Aquila Rift" and the ending. It's the kind of story I enjoy, no simple, pat, frankly stupid spoon fed endings tying things up, leaves you wondering and thinking and letting your own imagination run with it.
There was a mini-series on the old Sci-Fi channel called "The Lost Room" that was like that, no easy or simplistic ending. In it, this cop gets involved with the Lost Room. Turns out that in 1960 the end room on this small strip motel in Arizona disappeared. Not just like there's a hole where it used to be, the universe blinked and it was gone, like it had never existed. No one remembered it, not even the hotel owner. Over time people became aware of it because all the items in the room, things like combs, watch, clock, radio, a coin, etc. became "objects." They were indestructible, and they had odd effects on reality. The hotel key would open any door, and take you to the lost room, and if you imagined a door when you left it took you to that door, or one at random if you didn't imagine and think of one. The watch would hard boil an egg instantly, the umbrella made people think they knew you. There are cults surrounding this, one which thinks the objects are dangerous and should all be locked up away from people and from each other. Another thinks if they collect them all it will let them talk to god, another thinks if they figure out the right combination of objects to use together they can control the universe (these folks actually came close to shattering the universe). At the end, none of the big questions was resolved, it obviously was setup for a series but didn't make it which is too bad.
Glad you're enjoying the series!
Marilyn Monroe & Tom Ewell in The Seven Year Itch. What a wonderful classic, and what better way to watch it than on another classic: the Avant 32 RF. Almost as sexy
Been a long time since I've seen that, might be past time to look it up again. The difference in decor is always fascinating in movies of this era.
Jeff:I'll be interested in what you think,
I've been watching them all yesterday. I've found them aesthetically and graphically very beautiful and very well mastered.But the plots and stories left me a little bit "hungry". Some stories ends up and I was like "Really? Where is part 2!"
Some episodes shares the very same plot (my mind is not in my body, Intelligence is not where you believe it is in but in a yogurt/cat/garbage or people VS monsters invasion shootout). I think it would be interesting if the show was presented like exercises of style around 2 or 3 scenarios to show different graphical treatment of the same story. But that was not the case.Maybe they are some connexions between episodes i didn't see. Maybe…
"Shapeshifter" for example: I can't see what it tries to say to us. Same for the one with Dracula
If you never heard about it, I would recommend you to watch the "Animatrix" short series. Short films deviating from the Matrix Universe, each one with its own graphical style and very well written. Far far better that the two movie sequels.
To me that's clearly the model "Love, Death & Robots" tried to reach but without success.
I understand, the stories are all very well made in a a wide variety of animation styles, but the individual stories are uneven in writing. I enjoyed all of them, some more than others. This is kind of typical of anthology type things, whether done all at once or assembled from individual films. I have a copy of the "Animatrix" on DVD, a good assembly of films on one theme, but there too they are uneven.
Several of the Love, Death, Plus Robots films could have been much longer, especially the "Zima Blue" one. It's from a short story by Alastair Reynolds, the same author who wrote "Beyond The Aquila Rift." If nothing else this series made me discover his writing which I'm enjoying a great deal. There is a fair amount of philosophy and observation about people in the story that doesn't all make it into the short on "Zima Blue." The story is richer and a bit more complex, but given the time limits I think they did a good job with it. As an example, I'm not sure when it was written, but it could be making a point about people and their addiction to cell phones. The woman who comes to interview Zima Blue is told no recording devices or even a pen and paper allowed. So, she has to leave her little hovering assistant behind, a small metallic hummingbird type thing that is there to allow her to look things up and remembers things for her. He spends a fair amount of time talking with her about the nature of memory and experience, which didn't make it into the short film.I did think some elements of the animation art/style was reminiscent of Peter Chung's work.
As much of a collection of good shorts this series is also an excuse to show what modern animation can do, much of this was done using high end video game software.
Jeff:As much of a collection of good shorts this series is also an excuse to show what modern animation can do
Can't agree more on that! I think you nailed it. And in that, the quality of the material the stories where inspired by make all the intention quite honorable.
Now, generally speaking, i would do to this show the same complaint i have to the whole Netflix production: a lot of money for VFX, sets, talents but a constant need to artificially over complicate a basically simple plot with (hollow) intellectual strings to make it look deep, all this leading to fuzzy productions with too much characters with too much links between them or either too much arcs. To me "Annihilation", "The Cloverfield Paradox", "Mute", "Spectral", "Bright", "Titan" and in a certain way "Altered Carbon" (which I liked) share all the same flaw that is something is missing.
Anyway, I still liked Love, Death, Plus Robots though and I watched it after reading this forum, so thank you.