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Post by klawrencio79 on Nov 14, 2020 21:53:08 GMT
I watched To The Lake (2019), an 8 episode Russian series about a non-zombie apocalypse featuring a deadly virus that kills people within 2-3 days, and that pits survivors against each other as they try to reach safety in whatever manner they can. You pitch me a show/movie like that, I'm all in. Even if it's not great, I'll stick it out for as long as possible because I am a sucker for apocalypse type stuff. Hell, I lasted 5ish season on The Walking Dead and that shit was awful from S1E3. So To The Lake....isn't very good. It features a bunch of completely unlikeable, uninteresting characters. Whenever an interesting character does pop up, they're quickly jettisoned from the story as they were nothing more than thinly-veiled plot devices. There are three main issues: The first one is the aforementioned characterizations. Basically nobody here is likable. The main characters consist of a man, his recent ex-wife and his new girlfriend, his son, and his girlfriend's son and how they have to move along as a group, in spite of their tension. Every time something interesting happens between them, like when the two women are forced through circumstance to respect each other or work together, it instantly evaporates into "you fucked my husband, you whore!" or "you're a bitch, it's why he left you" type of idiocy and any progress is disbanded. There are literally millions of people dying everywhere, including their own family members, they're being hunted by armed militias, they have limited supplies and little hope of survival, yet all they can do is fight over their man. Nice writing there, fellas.
The second problem is that nobody, and I mean nobody, acts with any sense of urgency. In an early episode, our heroes fight off a group of armed crazies and a few of them escape, vowing to return shortly with more of their friends. So in that interim period, our heroes gather their belongings, pack the car and prepare to leave. They pack slowly, have inane conversations about where they should go, and what they should do, they literally stand around, staring off into space wondering about what's going on, all the while wasting precious seconds before the villains return. Luckily, the villains don't really return, or they get sidetracked and kill someone else? There was a fake-out somewhere in there with a bunch of false-deaths, I don't remember. Anyway, if people are dying everywhere and other people are trying to kill my family and steal my shit, I'm out of there, post haste.
The third problem is bullshit plot devices. Ugh. So one of the characters is a young boy who is largely absent from the story, he's just kinda there as a prop. Then, randomly, for no reason whatsoever while the group is stopped, he gets out of the car and runs into the woods. Nobody is chasing him, nothing is happening, he just.....gets out and runs away. As our heroes are traveling in multiple cars, nobody realizes he's gone for a few hours, and then they spend the rest of the episode looking for him, establishing another group of survivors with a cast of interesting characters that are around for all of 2-3 scenes before vanishing into thin air. An entire episode with a glorified side quest to retrieve the boy because they needed to fill 8 episodes.
Every time something good did happen, and there were a few moments, it would be fleeting at best. Just enough to keep me engaged and wanting to see it through, but not enough to recommend this to anyone else. The threat that is immediately established - the virus - isn't really defined by any measure. It's presented as this "will kill anyone in the area" type of pathogen, yet characters consistently come into contact with the infected, with dead bodies, spend hours (and even days) in houses where infected have died or are presently dying, and yet they're fine. One of the characters even holds an infected family member in his arms. For a while. As she's vomiting blood all over the place. And he's fine. Terrible plotting, insultingly thin and misguided characters, a dissatisfying conclusion. Hard pass. One good thing, however, is Maryana Spivak, who plays the ex-wife. She is absolutely gorgeous and even though her character is a batshit succubus, it somehow makes her even hotter.
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Post by masterofallgoons on Nov 14, 2020 22:55:19 GMT
I watched To The Lake (2019), an 8 episode Russian series about a non-zombie apocalypse featuring a deadly virus that kills people within 2-3 days, and that pits survivors against each other as they try to reach safety in whatever manner they can. You pitch me a show/movie like that, I'm all in. Even if it's not great, I'll stick it out for as long as possible because I am a sucker for apocalypse type stuff. Hell, I lasted 5ish season on The Walking Dead and that shit was awful from S1E3. So To The Lake....isn't very good. It features a bunch of completely unlikeable, uninteresting characters. Whenever an interesting character does pop up, they're quickly jettisoned from the story as they were nothing more than thinly-veiled plot devices. There are three main issues: The first one is the aforementioned characterizations. Basically nobody here is likable. The main characters consist of a man, his recent ex-wife and his new girlfriend, his son, and his girlfriend's son and how they have to move along as a group, in spite of their tension. Every time something interesting happens between them, like when the two women are forced through circumstance to respect each other or work together, it instantly evaporates into "you fucked my husband, you whore!" or "you're a bitch, it's why he left you" type of idiocy and any progress is disbanded. There are literally millions of people dying everywhere, including their own family members, they're being hunted by armed militias, they have limited supplies and little hope of survival, yet all they can do is fight over their man. Nice writing there, fellas.
The second problem is that nobody, and I mean nobody, acts with any sense of urgency. In an early episode, our heroes fight off a group of armed crazies and a few of them escape, vowing to return shortly with more of their friends. So in that interim period, our heroes gather their belongings, pack the car and prepare to leave. They pack slowly, have inane conversations about where they should go, and what they should do, they literally stand around, staring off into space wondering about what's going on, all the while wasting precious seconds before the villains return. Luckily, the villains don't really return, or they get sidetracked and kill someone else? There was a fake-out somewhere in there with a bunch of false-deaths, I don't remember. Anyway, if people are dying everywhere and other people are trying to kill my family and steal my shit, I'm out of there, post haste.
The third problem is bullshit plot devices. Ugh. So one of the characters is a young boy who is largely absent from the story, he's just kinda there as a prop. Then, randomly, for no reason whatsoever while the group is stopped, he gets out of the car and runs into the woods. Nobody is chasing him, nothing is happening, he just.....gets out and runs away. As our heroes are traveling in multiple cars, nobody realizes he's gone for a few hours, and then they spend the rest of the episode looking for him, establishing another group of survivors with a cast of interesting characters that are around for all of 2-3 scenes before vanishing into thin air. An entire episode with a glorified side quest to retrieve the boy because they needed to fill 8 episodes.
Every time something good did happen, and there were a few moments, it would be fleeting at best. Just enough to keep me engaged and wanting to see it through, but not enough to recommend this to anyone else. The threat that is immediately established - the virus - isn't really defined by any measure. It's presented as this "will kill anyone in the area" type of pathogen, yet characters consistently come into contact with the infected, with dead bodies, spend hours (and even days) in houses where infected have died or are presently dying, and yet they're fine. One of the characters even holds an infected family member in his arms. For a while. As she's vomiting blood all over the place. And he's fine. Terrible plotting, insultingly thin and misguided characters, a dissatisfying conclusion. Hard pass. One good thing, however, is Maryana Spivak, who plays the ex-wife. She is absolutely gorgeous and even though her character is a batshit succubus, it somehow makes her even hotter. Sounds a little bit like The Stand... at least a little like the beginning of The Stand. That show is coming soon. I can't imagine I'll be compelled to sign up for CBS All Access, but I am curious.
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Post by Jep Gambardella on Nov 15, 2020 3:00:06 GMT
I watched To The Lake (2019), an 8 episode Russian series about a non-zombie apocalypse featuring a deadly virus that kills people within 2-3 days, and that pits survivors against each other as they try to reach safety in whatever manner they can. You pitch me a show/movie like that, I'm all in. Even if it's not great, I'll stick it out for as long as possible because I am a sucker for apocalypse type stuff. Hell, I lasted 5ish season on The Walking Dead and that shit was awful from S1E3. So To The Lake....isn't very good. It features a bunch of completely unlikeable, uninteresting characters. Whenever an interesting character does pop up, they're quickly jettisoned from the story as they were nothing more than thinly-veiled plot devices.
Good to know. I am always on the market for TV shows from different countries, so I had put it on my Netflix list, but now I won't bother with it. It's not like I don't have dozens of other options of things to watch.
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Post by FrankSobotka1514 on Nov 15, 2020 4:35:52 GMT
Literally just finished. Loved it. That last episode was great. One thing I liked is that they didn’t make Borgov like some Ivan Drago dude. Just the right amount of episode and good acting all around. Yeah man, I'm with you. The ending went in a different direction than I expected and I found it to be very sweet and satisfying. Really, a lot of the characters accomplished that for me. Alma - you expect her to basically just use Beth completely to improve upon her life and while you could argue she does that to a degree, she does love her and respects her passions. In the end, her absence was really felt, both for the character and the audience. Benny - you expect him to be some sort of shitbag hustler, and he kinda is in some ways, but he completely respects Beth and ends up making her a better player, basically at his own expense. I read somewhere (and I can't find it now for whatever reason), about how every character in the show represents a piece on the board. Benny is the bishop. He teaches her, bestows wisdom upon her but is chaste in a weird way and really holds out from giving her carnal affection despite her wanting it. Harry - after their brief interlude ends, he still supports her and ends up helping her in the end. Just a beautifully told, wonderfully shot and crisply acted story. I'm glad you enjoyed it! I think I’d have to say that my favorite character was Beltik. Spoilers to follow for those who haven’t seen it. In the beginning he’s presented as this world beating chess master but he’s really a big fish in a small pond. When he reappears a few episodes later I was rooting for this guy. I wanted Beth to let him help her. I wanted them to get married and have chess playing babies. He seemed so decent and real. Alas it wasn’t meant to be. But in the final episode he’s firmly in the friend zone by mutual consent and it’s perfect. Her winning is his happy ending. All the main characters were great. I wish they fleshed out Alma’s husband a bit more. My only nitpick, and it’s slight, was Jolene showing up at the exact right time to be with Beth, to help her and to tell her about Mr. Shaibel. It was a little too perfect but I still liked her character.
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Post by masterofallgoons on Nov 15, 2020 12:51:43 GMT
For some fucking reason the wife and I decide to watch two different versions of Cats yesterday. The movie version from last year is one of the truly bizarre oddities in all of cinema. We saw it in the theater when that was still an option and it was stunningly bad in so many ways. Watching it again yesterday didn't help it make any more sense or illuminate why such awful decisions were made or how anyone could have thought any of this was a good idea.
But it's kind of a must see. Seeing huge stars and very talented performers submit to this level of absurdity and embarrassment is a pretty rare experience, and seeing an entire movie based around a fundamentally incorrect and awful visual effect is quite jarring. It looks like it was very expensive and yet everything about looks and feels misguided. It's the great big budget movie disaster of our time.
Then just to compare we watched the filmed version of the play from 1998. I'd seen the show when I was a kid but remembered almost nothing about it. Even if you've never been into such things we've all heard 'Memories' and that sort main theme tune, but I had no familiarity with the show otherwise except from the movie.
As suspected, the movie was a poor adaptation. It shifted some things around, miscast some characters, made major interpretations not based on much of anything, changed a lot of the songs, excised some songs, misrepresnted some of the songs, added expository dialogue and really bad jokes between some of the songs when the show had no spoken dialogue, etc.
The show is significantly better than the movie. And yet it's still an incomprehensible bunch of nonsense. It's basically half musical and half ballet, except that both of those forms intend to tell a story with songs and with dance respectively, and this show doesn't aim to tell a story that makes any sense at all. Some of the songs are are actually good and some of the dance is impressive, but what a bunch of fucking nonsense. And those costumes and makeup are insane.
I don't really believe people when they flatly say 'I don't like musicals.' No matter who you are I think there's a show, a concept album, a juke box musical, or something for you. Creating a narrative through song or a series of songs is fundamental story telling and there's a version for everyone. But if you 'don't like musicals' this show is probably your worst nightmare.
And then the movie is a waking nightmare for everyone whose even seen a trailer.
I'm sure nobody else on this board gives a shit at all about this topic, but there it is anyway.
We had to cleanse ourselves after and watch a good musical and Chicago was available on HBOmax. I hadn't seen it in a long time, and I think it's quite good.
And I very much enjoyed looking at Catherine Zeta Jones.
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Post by tristramshandy on Nov 15, 2020 17:43:52 GMT
I don't really believe people when they flatly say 'I don't like musicals.' No matter who you are I think there's a show, a concept album, a juke box musical, or something for you. Creating a narrative through song or a series of songs is fundamental story telling and there's a version for everyone. But if you 'don't like musicals' this show is probably your worst nightmare. Does a Simpsons song count? Because that is all I've got. No scene has ever felt more true to me than when the Droogs are beating up the couple while singing "Singing in the Rain" in A Clockwork Orange. Because when I watched that musical for a college class, I wanted to beat people up. I can't stand the hokeyness of musicals - - in grates on every single nerve that I have.
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Post by screamingtreefrogs on Nov 15, 2020 21:09:32 GMT
The Magnificent Seven - remake (2016) is on AMC right now Never saw the original Let's give this one a whirl
** Plot sounds like a ripoff to 'Young Guns'
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Post by masterofallgoons on Nov 16, 2020 13:12:30 GMT
The Magnificent Seven - remake (2016) is on AMC right now Never saw the original Let's give this one a whirl
** Plot sounds like a ripoff to 'Young Guns'
It's meant to be a ripoff of The Seven Samurai. I doubt the original film was meant to ripoff a lame teen movie from the future.
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Post by klawrencio79 on Nov 16, 2020 16:55:24 GMT
Sometimes, I just want a mindless action movie. One that requires no thought, is just all spectacle and entertaining enough with fun characters and set pieces. So Saturday night, after a brutal day of working with a rather shitty client, I figured Mile 22 (2018) would be a good choice. WRONG! The movie involves a team of super soldiers, or something(?), it's not exactly clear who they are or what they do, but they are tasked with transporting a key witness who has a MacGuffin variation 22 miles (hey now!) from their base to an air field. At least, I think it was their base, it was really just an office building. Sort of. I don't know, who cares? Peter Berg certainly doesn't care. So Mark Wahlberg is the de facto team leader and his character has this supposed condition whereby his brain is overactive? They kinda yadda yadda over it and have him snap a rubber band on his wrist every 15 seconds to showcase I don't even know what, but the movie thinks that he's a super genius that can see literally every angle of every situation and he can see instantly cut through complicated scenarios and boil them down into simplistic terms. In reality, he's just a fucking asshole. He just goes around constantly berating everyone, including his team's computer experts who are diligently trying to crack some code but instead of letting them do their job, he's just verbally assaulting them about, I dunno, 9/11? I forget. It made no sense.
Later in the movie, when they're in the process of transporting the witness, he's yelling at the guy about god knows what and the entire team is focused on Wahlberg instead of, ya know, the army of dudes encircling their motorcade on motorcycles. They don't notice this happening until it's too late because their super genius leader is too smart to shut the fuck up and focus on the task at hand for 5 seconds.
Ugh, so fucking stupid. The film thinks that because characters are in the background joshing as to whether Wahlberg is bipolar or manic, then that makes this whole thing snappy and witty. It's not. It's just annoying and REALLY obnoxious. Also, you can't really be a super genius when your condition gets your entire team killed and ultimately, lets the bad guys win.
The biggest miss here, however, is what they do with Iko Uwais, the star of The Raid films. Those movies are filled with long-takes, clear-as-day action that show Uwais taking on a handful of guys at once and it's exhilarating. Here, there are a few scenes where I believe this is happening, but for the most part everything is so over-edited and so poorly shot and staged that you have no real idea what's going on. There's one scene early on between him and two would-be assassins that's effective but beyond that, it's very poorly done by Peter Berg. You have a guy who excels in these close-range hand-to-hand combat scenes and you choose to edit it as if Liam Neeson is starring in it.
Lauren Cohan, who I can't stand, is actually pretty good in this, even though her character is under-written and she isn't given a lot to do besides argue with her ex-husband and call Wahlberg a dick from time to time.
John Malkovich is also in this and he's awful. He looks awful, he sounds awful, his character is a cardboard cutout.
Really, the whole movie makes no sense. Who are our heroes? Who are the bad guys? Who are these endless streams of people that keep attacking our heroes in different ways, like waves in a video game?
Peter Berg, what the fuck are you doing? You're occasionally better than this.
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Nov 16, 2020 17:48:12 GMT
Sometimes, I just want a mindless action movie. One that requires no thought, is just all spectacle and entertaining enough with fun characters and set pieces. So Saturday night, after a brutal day of working with a rather shitty client, I figured Mile 22 (2018) would be a good choice. WRONG! The movie involves a team of super soldiers, or something(?), it's not exactly clear who they are or what they do, but they are tasked with transporting a key witness who has a MacGuffin variation 22 miles (hey now!) from their base to an air field. At least, I think it was their base, it was really just an office building. Sort of. I don't know, who cares? Peter Berg certainly doesn't care. So Mark Wahlberg is the de facto team leader and his character has this supposed condition whereby his brain is overactive? They kinda yadda yadda over it and have him snap a rubber band on his wrist every 15 seconds to showcase I don't even know what, but the movie thinks that he's a super genius that can see literally every angle of every situation and he can see instantly cut through complicated scenarios and boil them down into simplistic terms. Instead, he's just a fucking asshole. He just goes around constantly berating everyone, including his team's computer experts who are diligently trying to crack some code but instead of letting them do their job, he's just verbally assaulting them about, I dunno, 9/11? I forget. It made no sense.
Later in the movie, when they're in the process of transporting the witness, he's yelling at the guy about god knows what and the entire team is focused on Wahlberg instead of, ya know, the army of dudes encircling their motorcade on motorcycles. They don't notice this happening until it's too late because their super genius leader is too smart to shut the fuck up and focus on the task at hand for 5 seconds.
Ugh, so fucking stupid. The film thinks that because characters are in the background as to whether Wahlberg is bipolar or manic, then that makes this whole thing snappy and witty. It's not. It's just annoying and REALLY obnoxious. Also, you can't really be a super genius when your condition gets your entire team killed and ultimately, let's the bad guys win.
The biggest miss here, however, is what they do with Iko Uwais, the star of The Raid films. Those movies are filled with long-takes, clear-as-day action that show Uwais taking on a handful of guys at once and it's exhilarating. Here, there are a few scenes where I believe this is happening, but for the most part everything is so over-edited and so poorly shot and staged that you have no real idea what's going on. There's one scene early on between him and two would-be assassins that's effective but beyond that, it's very poorly done by Peter Berg. You have a guy who excels in these close-range hand-to-hand combat scenes and you choose to edit it as if Liam Neeson is starring in it.
Lauren Cohan, who I can't stand, is actually pretty good in this, even though her character is under-written and she isn't given a lot to do besides argue with her ex-husband and call Wahlberg a dick from time to time.
John Malkovich is also in this and he's awful. He looks awful, he sounds awful, his character is a cardboard cutout.
Peter Berg, what the fuck are you doing? You're occasionally better than this. Agreed 100% with all of this, and the worst part is I paid to see this in the theater! They made Wahlberg into an unlikeable asshole, and not in a 'cooler than the room' anti-hero way, he's just a dick for no reason. In another movie he's a side character who is the first or second to be killed, here that character is the lead? Another thing that stuck out to me (and I know this board is not Rousey friendly in general) is they cast Ronda Rousey just to randomly kill her off before she does anything of note, then have a knock down, drag out fight featuring the other female member of the team? Surely she's the better actress, but maybe have the epic h2h set piece with the friggin' MMA fighter? What the hell were they thinking?
Terrible writing and performances all around, and a twist that was either too obvious or so obvious you didn't want it to happen at all. Was it supposed to be political commentary or did it just seem that way to me? It just felt like 2018 was not the right time for a movie about elite US units being outfoxed by Russians. Just a bad flick. No redeeming qualities whatsoever, the one action scene that sticks out in my mind is the fight scene with the chick, which should've featured the other actress. Had I known you were considering it, I would've warned you to avoid it like the plague.
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Post by klawrencio79 on Nov 16, 2020 17:55:03 GMT
Sometimes, I just want a mindless action movie. One that requires no thought, is just all spectacle and entertaining enough with fun characters and set pieces. So Saturday night, after a brutal day of working with a rather shitty client, I figured Mile 22 (2018) would be a good choice. WRONG! The movie involves a team of super soldiers, or something(?), it's not exactly clear who they are or what they do, but they are tasked with transporting a key witness who has a MacGuffin variation 22 miles (hey now!) from their base to an air field. At least, I think it was their base, it was really just an office building. Sort of. I don't know, who cares? Peter Berg certainly doesn't care. So Mark Wahlberg is the de facto team leader and his character has this supposed condition whereby his brain is overactive? They kinda yadda yadda over it and have him snap a rubber band on his wrist every 15 seconds to showcase I don't even know what, but the movie thinks that he's a super genius that can see literally every angle of every situation and he can see instantly cut through complicated scenarios and boil them down into simplistic terms. Instead, he's just a fucking asshole. He just goes around constantly berating everyone, including his team's computer experts who are diligently trying to crack some code but instead of letting them do their job, he's just verbally assaulting them about, I dunno, 9/11? I forget. It made no sense.
Later in the movie, when they're in the process of transporting the witness, he's yelling at the guy about god knows what and the entire team is focused on Wahlberg instead of, ya know, the army of dudes encircling their motorcade on motorcycles. They don't notice this happening until it's too late because their super genius leader is too smart to shut the fuck up and focus on the task at hand for 5 seconds.
Ugh, so fucking stupid. The film thinks that because characters are in the background as to whether Wahlberg is bipolar or manic, then that makes this whole thing snappy and witty. It's not. It's just annoying and REALLY obnoxious. Also, you can't really be a super genius when your condition gets your entire team killed and ultimately, let's the bad guys win.
The biggest miss here, however, is what they do with Iko Uwais, the star of The Raid films. Those movies are filled with long-takes, clear-as-day action that show Uwais taking on a handful of guys at once and it's exhilarating. Here, there are a few scenes where I believe this is happening, but for the most part everything is so over-edited and so poorly shot and staged that you have no real idea what's going on. There's one scene early on between him and two would-be assassins that's effective but beyond that, it's very poorly done by Peter Berg. You have a guy who excels in these close-range hand-to-hand combat scenes and you choose to edit it as if Liam Neeson is starring in it.
Lauren Cohan, who I can't stand, is actually pretty good in this, even though her character is under-written and she isn't given a lot to do besides argue with her ex-husband and call Wahlberg a dick from time to time.
John Malkovich is also in this and he's awful. He looks awful, he sounds awful, his character is a cardboard cutout.
Peter Berg, what the fuck are you doing? You're occasionally better than this. Agreed 100% with all of this, and the worst part is I paid to see this in the theater! They made Wahlberg into an unlikeable asshole, and not in a 'cooler than the room' anti-hero way, he's just a dick for no reason. In another movie he's a side character who is the first or second to be killed, here that character is the lead? Another thing that stuck out to me (and I know this board is not Rousey friendly in general) is they cast Ronda Rousey just to randomly kill her off before she does anything of note, then have a knock down, drag out fight featuring the other female member of the team? Surely she's the better actress, but maybe have the epic h2h set piece with the friggin' MMA fighter? What the hell were they thinking?
Terrible writing and performances all around, and a twist that was either too obvious or so obvious you didn't want it to happen at all. Was it supposed to be political commentary or did it just seem that way to me? It just felt like 2018 was not the right time for a movie about elite US units being outfoxed by Russians. Just a bad flick. No redeeming qualities whatsoever, the one action scene that sticks out in my mind is the fight scene with the chick, which should've featured the other actress. Had I known you were considering it, I would've warned you to avoid it like the plague. , I totally forgot she was in it! It's true, she should have had a fight scene. Instead, she tackles some dude early in the movie, and then there's a "running gag" (in that it is referenced twice), where people give her cupcakes for her birthday. She then dies because her team leader is a loud-mouthed douchebag.
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Post by Jep Gambardella on Nov 16, 2020 18:33:40 GMT
Sometimes, I just want a mindless action movie. One that requires no thought, is just all spectacle and entertaining enough with fun characters and set pieces. So Saturday night, after a brutal day of working with a rather shitty client, I figured Mile 22 (2018) would be a good choice. WRONG!
Like Rey, I also had the misfortune of paying to watch this one in theatres when it came out. Two years later I can no longer elaborate on why but I distinctively remember hating it.
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Post by masterofallgoons on Nov 16, 2020 20:11:17 GMT
I don't really believe people when they flatly say 'I don't like musicals.' No matter who you are I think there's a show, a concept album, a juke box musical, or something for you. Creating a narrative through song or a series of songs is fundamental story telling and there's a version for everyone. But if you 'don't like musicals' this show is probably your worst nightmare. Does a Simpsons song count? Because that is all I've got. No scene has ever felt more true to me than when the Droogs are beating up the couple while singing "Singing in the Rain" in A Clockwork Orange. Because when I watched that musical for a college class, I wanted to beat people up. I can't stand the hokeyness of musicals - - in grates on every single nerve that I have. Sure it does. There are some great musical moments in The Simpsons. Some direct parodies and others just sort of general parodies. Or how about the many musical parodies in South Park? Or the South Park movie which is a full blown movie musical, and undeniably hilarious. Or Trey Parker and Matt Stone's greatest achievement, the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, which is a thought provoking and well told story and by far the funniest thing I've ever seen. Or what about the caveats that people often make, like when you ask someone who doesn't like musicals if they saw The Lion King as a kid and nearly invariably the response was is that they loved those Disney movies from their youth, which are all musicals. Or the musicals that aren't hokey. It may not be great, a lot of it may not even work, but how about The Wall? That's an interesting attempt at trying to do a musical in very different way. Or even any sort of concept album, like something like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (avoid that movie), or any myriad of other concept albums. They are going after a similar thing. The only thing really separating most of them from a traditional musical is not having actors performing those songs. I hear ya on the hokiness. When a musical is not working for me it can be extremely annoying, but when it really works it's about as satisfying a viewing experience as I can have. And a lot of shows are not 'hokey.' Some are ultra dramatic. Others embrace that hokey element. Other make fun of it. Like I can kind of see how you felt that way about Singing in the Rain, but that movie is so tongue in cheek and constantly makes fun of itself. Or something like Little Shop of Horror which makes a traditional but doo-wop inspired musical out of a trashy Roger Corman monster movie and populates it with some of the best comedy actors around. It's constantly making fun of everything that it is the whole way. There's also a big difference between seeing something on screen and seeing music performed live. Most movie adaptations don't do much for their source. But if you stick to the 'I hate all musicals' thing, please watch Cats. I think your reaction would be absolutely hilarious.
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Post by klawrencio79 on Nov 16, 2020 20:14:41 GMT
Does a Simpsons song count? Because that is all I've got. No scene has ever felt more true to me than when the Droogs are beating up the couple while singing "Singing in the Rain" in A Clockwork Orange. Because when I watched that musical for a college class, I wanted to beat people up. I can't stand the hokeyness of musicals - - in grates on every single nerve that I have. Sure it does. There are some great musical moments in The Simpsons. Some direct parodies and others just sort of general parodies. Or how about the many musical parodies in South Park? Or the South Park movie which is a full blown movie musical, and undeniably hilarious. Or Trey Parker and Matt Stone's greatest achievement, the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, which is a thought provoking and well told story and by far the funniest thing I've ever seen. Or what about the caveats that people often make, like when you ask someone who doesn't like musicals if they saw The Lion King as a kid and nearly invariably the response was is that they loved those Disney movies from their youth, which are all musicals. Or the musicals that aren't hokey. It may not be great, a lot of it may not even work, but how about The Wall? That's an interesting attempt at trying to do a musical in very different way. Or even any sort of concept album, like something like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (avoid that movie), or any myriad of other concept albums. They are going after a similar thing. The only thing really separating most of them from a traditional musical is not having actors performing those songs. I hear ya on the hokiness. When a musical is not working for me it can be extremely annoying, but when it really works it's about as satisfying a viewing experience as I can have. And a lot of shows are not 'hokey.' Some are ultra dramatic. Others embrace that hokey element. Other make fun of it. Like I can kind of see how you felt that way about Singing in the Rain, but that movie is so tongue in cheek and constantly makes fun of itself. Or something like Little Shop of Horror which makes a traditional but doo-wop inspired musical out of a trashy Roger Corman monster movie and populates it with some of the best comedy actors around. It's constantly making fun of everything that it is the whole way. There's also a big difference between seeing something on screen and seeing music performed live. Most movie adaptations don't do much for their source. But if you stick to the 'I hate all musicals' thing, please watch Cats. I think your reaction would be absolutely hilarious. I used to be in the "I hate musicals" camp when I was younger, but then my dad took me to see Tommy on Broadway and it was awesome. You're totally right, things like South Park and Simpsons are great examples of this. As far as movies, I love things like Nightmare Before Christmas, Sweeney Todd, and La La Land. Hell, you can argue that Baby Driver is a musical.
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Post by tristramshandy on Nov 16, 2020 20:51:50 GMT
Does a Simpsons song count? Because that is all I've got. No scene has ever felt more true to me than when the Droogs are beating up the couple while singing "Singing in the Rain" in A Clockwork Orange. Because when I watched that musical for a college class, I wanted to beat people up. I can't stand the hokeyness of musicals - - in grates on every single nerve that I have. Sure it does. There are some great musical moments in The Simpsons. Some direct parodies and others just sort of general parodies. Or how about the many musical parodies in South Park? Or the South Park movie which is a full blown movie musical, and undeniably hilarious. Or Trey Parker and Matt Stone's greatest achievement, the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, which is a thought provoking and well told story and by far the funniest thing I've ever seen. Or what about the caveats that people often make, like when you ask someone who doesn't like musicals if they saw The Lion King as a kid and nearly invariably the response was is that they loved those Disney movies from their youth, which are all musicals. Or the musicals that aren't hokey. It may not be great, a lot of it may not even work, but how about The Wall? That's an interesting attempt at trying to do a musical in very different way. Or even any sort of concept album, like something like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (avoid that movie), or any myriad of other concept albums. They are going after a similar thing. The only thing really separating most of them from a traditional musical is not having actors performing those songs. I hear ya on the hokiness. When a musical is not working for me it can be extremely annoying, but when it really works it's about as satisfying a viewing experience as I can have. And a lot of shows are not 'hokey.' Some are ultra dramatic. Others embrace that hokey element. Other make fun of it. Like I can kind of see how you felt that way about Singing in the Rain, but that movie is so tongue in cheek and constantly makes fun of itself. Or something like Little Shop of Horror which makes a traditional but doo-wop inspired musical out of a trashy Roger Corman monster movie and populates it with some of the best comedy actors around. It's constantly making fun of everything that it is the whole way. There's also a big difference between seeing something on screen and seeing music performed live. Most movie adaptations don't do much for their source. But if you stick to the 'I hate all musicals' thing, please watch Cats. I think your reaction would be absolutely hilarious. Book of Mormon (which I haven't seen) and The Wall (which I have) are good examples to think of a wider conceptualization of musicals. Which then made me think of some of the musical elements of Monty Python movies that I love. And if you were going to really broaden the definition, the "Wise Up" sequence of Magnolia. So if we move out to the fringes of musicals, I'll say that you got me. Well argued.
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Post by tristramshandy on Nov 16, 2020 20:53:19 GMT
Does a Simpsons song count? Because that is all I've got. No scene has ever felt more true to me than when the Droogs are beating up the couple while singing "Singing in the Rain" in A Clockwork Orange. Because when I watched that musical for a college class, I wanted to beat people up. I can't stand the hokeyness of musicals - - in grates on every single nerve that I have. But if you stick to the 'I hate all musicals' thing, please watch Cats. I think your reaction would be absolutely hilarious. There is a perverse want to actually see it. I would have to be with the right people and in the right mood, but it could be super fun in those circumstances.
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Post by screamingtreefrogs on Nov 18, 2020 12:44:10 GMT
Going to Binge the greatest show of All-Time
It's been awhile -
Breaking Bad
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Post by Jep Gambardella on Nov 18, 2020 14:30:40 GMT
Going to Binge the greatest show of All-Time It's been awhile - Breaking Bad
Good one. I would love to watch it all over again from the beginning, but with so many other shows that I haven't watched, I can't find the time to watch old favourites.
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Post by screamingtreefrogs on Nov 18, 2020 15:01:08 GMT
Going to Binge the greatest show of All-Time It's been awhile - Breaking Bad
Good one. I would love to watch it all over again from the beginning, but with so many other shows that I haven't watched, I can't find the time to watch old favourites.
I get it.
I just can't seem to find any new shows to fall in love with.
I'm on Season 1 Episode 3 already - show never loses it's charm
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Post by klawrencio79 on Nov 18, 2020 15:05:07 GMT
But if you stick to the 'I hate all musicals' thing, please watch Cats. I think your reaction would be absolutely hilarious. There is a perverse want to actually see it. I would have to be with the right people and in the right mood, but it could be super fun in those circumstances. I often feel that way about movies that get ripped to shreds. That's why I went to see Battlefield Earth in theaters. Oh yeah! I feel like taking acid and watching Cats would be something of a crossroads moment in one's life. If I find myself with a full day of nothing at all to do and my wife isn't around, I'll take this journey and report back with my findings.
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