november tv thread [ im not even going to bother with an october one ]

[betcheckbet]

Wow just watched Barbarian. Went in completely blind so definitely had some great twists. As a horror fan absolutely loved it and one of the best horrors in last few years.

If Jordan Peele and Eli Roth ever made a movie together it would be this.

[gauchojake]

'the english' is on prime tonight i think and it looks... good? emily blunt western, heavy on atmospherics im told.

yellowstone sunday....

speaking of which yet another fucking taylor sheridan project is dropping.. some weird and probably shitty stalone tv piece 'tulsa king'. also sunday.

The English is pretty solid. Good characters but at times a little hard to follow.

Started watching 1899 on NF last night. Decent so far

[gauchojake]

The English can SMD

[sonatine]

lmao o no

[sonatine]

watched All Quiet On The Western Front and its exactly as bleak and violent and horrific as youd expect is also without a doubt art.

[gauchojake]

Yeah that was rough

[sonatine]

guys oh my god andor is _so good_.

[gauchojake]

Andor is pretty solid. Not your typical star wars nonsense. Plus it's 12 solid episodes. Can't hate on that

[sonatine]

btw the anvil pounder guy is the head sardaukar from dune. which is nice.

[sonatine]

im taking a moment out of my life to point out that andor was a fucking triumph and the boba fett series was not.

[gauchojake]

100%

[gimmick]

Guessing this is where Andor things go? 6 episodes in and it's easily the best Star Wars thing since the original trilogy.

I don't think it's too slow paced or not enough a Star Wars thing so far. From other "criticism" of the show I've heard, I also don't think it's just good by comparison within the franchise.

So far it's just good/solid show that actually enriches the entire world it's set in. There's no need for everything to be epic/galactic or one up whatever came before. That's not a sustainable model for a franchise. So far it's the most adult thing in the Star Wars universe, but it's still within pg-13. You could say it lacks action, general slow pacing and things that toddlers like, but I'm not convinced that's something the franchise needs. The "fans" for the most part haven't been 12 since the 70s-90s. You can make moves to hook another generation, but it does seem like a good idea to give something for the previous generations. Also taking potshots at every single "hero" of the original trilogy is just fucking retarded.

I like Evan McGregor. I have no idea what he did in the second trilogy. Same thing with Samuel L. Jackson. Oh and the little girl from Leon. I don't know if I've watched the latest movies. If I did, it was so bland, I've completely erased them from my memory. All I "know" about them is that they fucked over Luke and Han Solo to uplift a Mary Sue no one cares about.

Need to finish Andor in another batch.

[sonatine]

i enthusiastically shill andor to friends of mine my age who enjoy good scifi like bladerunner and do not give the first timid fuck about star wars beyond their initial exposure in the 80s or whatever.

[gimmick]

Wednesday was ok. Shit plot and bad dialogue, but decent if you like Tim Burton aesthetic. I think he got 4 EPs.

[gimmick]

The Sci-Fi thingie with Hit-Girl was ok. Fairly sure it's not a nice thing to say, but she didn't age well? I have no idea how that's possible, but wouldn't mind a backstory. Has she had work done in her 20s, standard Hollywood things, living or just genes?

I can't exactly say what the show is a poor mans version of.

Fairly sure I watched more things in November, but none of it was memorable.

[sonatine]

will dip a toe

[gimmick]

I think I filled most of the excess time in November with random YouTube videos. Like someone reacting to something I kinda like...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3DA...bvMxHeQcJ-KH8K

...I prefer the whitest woman ever telling my random tidbits about things I don't really care about while being overtly orgasmic about it or black people that are easily excitable and for the sake of reacting pretend they have never heard anything that was made before 2010...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYWmkwlHk6o

...I only remember clips with the white lady because of racism and/or that I still follow her. Nightwish does cinematic things that cinema apparently stopped doing 15ish years ago. They are currently Finns with a Dutch singer and a Scottish guy doing the pipes. London Philharmonic Orchestra have been doing their backing tracks for 10+ years. Puddles and Haley are known for some random talent show like Americas Greatest Whatever. I don't really like anything original they've done, but they have decent covers. Also extremely competent (technique and decision making). I prefer their version of Mad World over the original, just like I prefer Cash's version of Hurt.

[sonatine]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBiNkb5e8oY

[gimmick]

There's about 5 Nightwish songs I like, but I think they're a decent example of things you need to hit to make things work related to music/cinema.

Acts, pacing, contrast, buildup and stage presence/charisma. I'm least sure about the last part. Dunno how necessary it's for recorded media, because there's so many examples of bands that are so much better live than on records. But I still think there's some transient value. For film stars a vague concept of charisma I do think can carry movies/shows.

Writing is obv important also, but I didn't mention it with NW since I've never thought they were anything more than mediocre with lyrics. That plays into things that I think make things good. It's just a threshold. You need the relevant components scoring enough to hit certain breakpoints. You can lack in certain elements as longs as you do enough things right to make up for it.

Then there's the thing that appears to matter today with films/movies. Female empowerment. Pretending there's no difference between genders is just retarded. Turning female leads into slightly more appealing men is retarded. The target audience that's asking for it barely exists.

With Nightwish's lead singer you have a fairly clean Valkyrie archetype. She's pretty fucking hot, has a massive range, is very competent and you really couldn't genderbend her without losing something in the process. She is capable of doing sirenesque things to her audience and nothing she does is masculine. How you express power can easily be done from a female angle with barely any masculine overlap. Similarly there are "feminine" traits that have their masculine counterparts that aren't effeminate. The expressions simple differ. Not that it's binary, but I just don't see the need to make girls do the things just like the boys do, when they already have ways to accomplish goals that are more common for their gender.

Random example of male "softness"...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo8ncK_5kzc

...it's really just a white guy with a guitar where you don't assume he get's pegged/cucked by his girlfriend...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrNeTjVvRdA

...and then the old lady that may or may not have fucked more women in Hollywood than Weinstein.

[gimmick]

Oh yea and the first Nightwish clip was from the Nordic heavy metal mecca Buenos Aires Argentina. Still not that convinced about the whole idea of representation.

There might be some weight to it, but far as I know most people just want to see and hear good shit. Consumption of entertainment seems to be one of the few things where merit has the most weight.

Representation seems like just an odd hill to die on. In a bizarro timeline where there's exactly two ways of thinking that's just feeding ammo to the "other" side. So far what I've seen from media, is that it's just color washing the past and diminishing the accomplishments of people that actually did something towards progress.

Like it's one thing to pretend that present time has race/gender/class equality, but to stretch that shit to the past is just counterproductive. Fairly sure saying that everything else is wrongthink has become a right wing bullet point. Origin of that being crimethink from Orwell, a life long socialist. We already gave all the Matric crap to the right, a tranny transformation story.

However performative the "left's" battles are, they need to stop sucking at this game. You own the fucking media. Start working that soft influence. Once the excess capital dries can we get some talent working on things? I'm not too fond of this random combination on nepotism and incompetence. Just fuck off with this performative faggotry and start getting some results.

I'm too old and lazy to do anything productive. Just give me my escapism back and I'm fine.

[gimmick]

Guess I'm just throwing all my contractually obliged posts today for the last two months.

The last NW clip is a decent example of male softness/vulnerability that's done right. You're aiming for the vibe that gets women wet, not crying while wanking yourself to sleep vibe. The former has decent appeal with both genders while the latter works with a miniscule proportion of the population.

Not saying you can't do effeminate/gay/bi characters well that work with everyone. Say David Bowie or Omar from the Wire. Bowie got bitches wet and men looked up to Omar. That's about all I think about identity politics in general. It's just not that important.

You can look up or down on people regardless of external factors you either share or don't share with them. Actions and how you carry yourself matter more, just like they always did. No one besides narcissists aspires to be who they are. How is it progressive to focus on external features instead of character? What kind of a arc is riches to riches? It's not really a test of character when you start off omnipotent and finish just as omnipotent. That's basic narcissistic self fellation.

Trading Places that's based on an old fable did the double and fucked in so many other ways that made it a classic for the ages. It had rags to riches and riches to rags. Proper fucking acts and a diverse cast that worked. Blackface, inappropriate cultural appropriation, casual mention of negroes and Jamie Lee Curtis's tits. Jamie Lee Curtis was sporting an a-cup, playing a hooker and still came out as a very strong female character.

If I had point with the last paragraph, it would be that things Hollywood thinks need to be "sanitized" today, just aren't that important and most of them don't have the effect they think they have. You just don't get extra points for theme, cleanliness or retarded buzz words when it comes to entertainment with the audience. In an insular funding space you might get funding for ticking certain boxes, but when the excess capital dries out, all you're left with is the bottom line. They're right that there's only two colors. It's not black and white. It's not blue or red. It's always red and black. Only when there's too much money floating around can you pretend there's something else.