Films and TV - What are you watching?

PureElegance

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Cerceaux wrote:
^I meant like (highlight quote to read spoilers)
The weird time travel element, the war/prince/turniphead, the Madam Suliman stuff, it was just too much going on at once and took the focus away from Sophie and her curse.
But if it wasn't for the Suliman stuff then a lot of the things wouldn't have happened! At least I'm glad it all happened because that gave the excuse for Sophie to visit and give that great speech and for Howl to grab life by the horns and fight for what he believes in *sniff* XDD (totally exaggerating here XD) I see what you mean though, but at the same time I'm glad it's at least there (especially TH). Still not sure about Madame Suliman though. It's as if she was supposed to be an antagonist, but she never really came out as such, only for a few scenes. But other than that it was more focused on Sophie's curse. I don't think it took away THAT much from the main plot, but I see what you're saying. During the scene where Sophie goes, "Find me in the future!" I didn't understand it at first either, I thought it was random, but I had to think about it and realize that since she said that the rest of the movie's events occurred, so that's why I'm glad they at least included some of the things you mentioned.

It's not bad to have a multilayered plot, but it got really jumbled. And the thing with the war is, it's not well-developed, it's just like...there. The first time I watched the movie I didn't even realize what the cause was; it was only on a second viewing that I heard the one line uttered by a background character near the beginning about the kidnapped prince being what started the conflict. I guess for something that does play such a large role in the second half of the film, the conflict should have been fleshed out a little better, but instead it's this watered-down "silly humans with their guns and bombs, when will they ever learn?" thing.
I amended my earlier post because I know what you mean. I think because I've seen it so many times now that it's become obvious that there's a war and all that, but I remember first noticing that one line and saying, "Oh, so that's how you find out about the prince/war...Geez, is that how we're supposed to find out?" But that was a while ago. I don't think it's AS preachy or watered down as you say, but I remember being "What? Why's Howl doing this?" at first. The parts that I thought were somewhat preachy though didn't ruin the entire movie for me or affect how I feel about it, and as you said, most of it was excellent and beautiful. The rest of it in my opinion makes up for its shortcomings. At the same time I do enjoy having to guess at what things mean and thinking about the plot. For example, I thought a lot about Calcifer's relationship with Howl because it was so odd and you never truly find out what their contract was. Maybe that could be seen as something jumbled and weird, but I enjoyed coming to my own conclusions. I think I came to my own conclusions about a lot of things in that movie, especially in regards to Madame Suliman, why Markle is there, the prince situation, the origins of Calcifer, and why the castle is moving in the first place... It's a lot of fun for me at least!

Best part is the stair scene, oh man. Who knew two fat old ladies and a dog climbing a staircase could be so entertaining? ::meev::
I totally relate to the Witch though ::meev:: I feel like that every time I go up the subway stairs or something XD (Escalators are awesome.)

Oh but Gaston is SUCH a villain dude. xD I agree he's a little more interesting than some of the Disney villains because he's more like a closed-minded jerk than some evil sorcerer cackling at his own evil, but he's definitely the "bad guy" in that movie.
I donno, the more I think about him and see the movie lately, the more I pity him. He's definitely the "bad guy," but at first you only thought about him as a jerk, the usual stuck up jerk you meet in life who thinks he can do whatever he wants. He was funny and c'mon, everyone loves the song "Gaston." That isn't the standard villain song by any means. If anything Beast was the main antagonist during the beginning/middle since he had a temper/a negative attitude since childhood, was holding Belle in the castle and was getting all, "HAVE DINNER WITH ME!!!! YOU DON'T WANT TO? FINE, THEN STAAARRRRRRVEEEEEE ::zetsubou::" and that's why she ran away in the first half. Maybe since we already knew that Beast and Belle would end up together it made us see Gaston as the obstacle. (I'm really glad Beast and Belle ended up together though~ "Something There" has to be the sweetest song ever!)
 

PureElegance

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Back from movie night, we saw "Painted Skin" a 2008 Chinese action/romance movie based on a story from Pu Songling's "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" (which I read a while ago) and it has to do with the supernatural, like ghosts and fox demons. Of course the setting is beautiful and it has a great ensemble. I've always liked a motley group of people going on a mission XD

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I had already seen most of it with my dad some time ago, but I didn't remember the ending. I totally recommend this! Today we were practically clinging to each other and yelling, "NOOO!!!!" or "WHAT!!!" or completely silent at some points. You get really frustrated, or at least I did. It was really... touching. Sad even though it's also funny and action-packed. You think that it's going to be scary or really weird, but when it comes down to it, it's really about basic human emotions and personal dilemmas! But the demon element was really well-done.

It was actually deeper than I thought, especially when it came to Xiao Wei's character. When you actually think about what the characters did you're like, "Woah. Would I have done the same?" For example, I remember my dad asked me if I would've done the same as the wife Peirong did XD

The ending was great and really touching too and I keep listening to the theme song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExznK45j4LA

There's a sequel that came out just last year (but without Donnie Yen), and I heard it's actually really good and like the first movie it took China over by storm. It looks like Xiao Wei's character is developed more and she was called, "the most beautiful scarred woman ever seen," wow!
 

flowersofnight

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flowersofnight wrote:
Just heard about this documentary which I want to see:
Ikland
About some people who go and film the Ik tribe made famous in "The Mountain People". I'll pick it up next time I have enough stuff in my Amazon cart ::kisaki::
I watched this and... it sucked! A bunch of supercilious, paternalistic, privileged young white people went out into the outback of Uganda to visit the Ik tribe, and made me hate them at pretty much every step of the way. The Lord's Resistance Army (of "Kony 2012" fame) shows up at one point and I was actually rooting for them ::meev::
When they finally reached the Ik village, they recruited the locals into performing a "tribal-ized" version of Dickens' "Christmas Carol" ::kozi:: As if these people have nothing better to do than act in your plays? Good Lord.
The general upshot was that the Ik aren't the total monsters depicted in "The Mountain People" and they're pretty much regular tribal people, but the whole thing could have been done in a less infuriating way.
 

PureElegance

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OMG I'm watching Hey Arnold episodes (instead of doing work). I just saw the episodes "Curly Snaps," "Phoebe Skips," "Oskar Can't Read" and now I'm watching "Rhonda Goes Broke" and I keep cracking up.

It has some amazing lines:

"So my father said, 'Cost is no object and you'll need a scarf when we go to Aspen anyway,' and he bought me the most expensive one right on the spot."
"Well, if you're going to be seen hanging out with me, you at least need a three day rotation for your footwear."

Gerald: Well we're not ALL made of money like you.
Rhonda: I know~

"It won't be so bad, princess. When your father and I first got married, he had to sell one of his yachts to finance our multi-continent honeymoon. We made it through that crisis and we'll weather this one too *sobs*"
"I have an image to maintain. I *lead* by example."
"Um, I don't really have a 'job' per se, I dabble in international finance."
"I'm surprised that you're still going to Aspen, Rhonda. Because the Word at the country club is that your family's completely broke. My father's thinking of buying your house and turning it into low-income condominium units."
"Now, princess, you must buck up. After all, your mother and I are making do. Why just yesterday, we played tennis at a public court."
"What's the point of eating when you're POOR?"

Oh man, how did they make up these lines so well? ::meev:: The ending is the best, it's so realistic XD Now for "Olga Gets Engaged," when Olga announces she's dropping out of college and is planning to get married to a struggling actor named Doug. Helga uses this to her advantage and she's brilliant. Her parents are horrified at Olga's decision.

Olga's mother: DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I MADE!

I like this part:

Olga's father: You played left tackle for Green Bay, huh?
Doug: They're the toughest, strongest guys around, next to retail salesmen.
Father: Salesmen? Oh c'mon you're just greasing my [something].
Doug: No, sir, the proudest moment of my life won't be from my football days, Bob. It'll be the day I'm named appliance salesman of the year. One day, I hope to make as much money as an actor to start my own major appliance chain.
 

Cerceaux

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Helga's family is so messed up. Like I didn't pick up on it as much as a kid, but her mom is totally an alcoholic. ::coffee::
 

PureElegance

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Cerceaux wrote:
Helga's family is so messed up. Like I didn't pick up on it as much as a kid, but her mom is totally an alcoholic. ::coffee::
Yeah, her family is so weird! Not only how the parents are, but how they treat Helga. I remember they'd make her go alone to kindergarten instead of walking with her. She fell in love with Arnold because as she was walking by herself in the rain to school he offered her his umbrella. No wonder Helga turned out to be such a meanie, but inside she was good. She was great in "Olga Gets Engaged" even though at first she was intent on being evil. That letter she wrote at the end, wow, she's a great writer. There was another episode, when Olga gets her first B or something (God, it's awful, I know). Olga and Helga's relationship is really interesting.

About her parents, I remember there was an episode where Helga entered the Spelling Bee. Her father, who thinks Olga is the most amazing thing ever, wants Helga to be Olga v.2 and is really pressuring Helga to do amazing, but in a bad way. He keeps repeating the story about Olga getting the word "qualm" right and winning the competition. So Helga makes it to the final round and gets the word "qualm" and she makes the decision to get it wrong on purpose. I still remember the way she said it, "Q-U-A-L umm.... hmm..." while her father is dying in his seat. She finally goes, "X?"

I don't know if you remember the episode where Helga and her mother go on a road trip, but it was actually really nice. Helga finds out a lot about her mother's past and her hobbies, simple things that she never bothered to find out before. I think it was the first time she ever thought of her mom as cool and as a human being other than "mom". Make sure to spend time with your parents!

I think I appreciate these episodes a lot more now than before XD
 

Sumire_hitsugi

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Watched Silent Hill: Revelation twice over the weekend, and yeah, it was terrible as I knew it would be lol. I liked the set and monster designs, but the story was a big clusterfuck imo. Terrible writing, felt there was a few wasted characters, and events seemed short to take in the situation. Oh and Dark Alessa looked like a panda, ffs! ::meev::

If they should make another SH movie (please don't), then it could be kinda interesting if it picked off from Revelation's ending of another story starting, a.k.a SH Downpour.
 

PureElegance

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Last night I saw with friends the Chinese movie, "A World Without Thieves" starring Andy Lau and other people. It was really, really good and not like what I expected. If you read a one line synopsis about it it'll sound corny, but it's really not like that at all. It's about thieves, Buddhism, innocence, the afterlife, love, etc. It's a mix of melodramatic romance, drama, and action. The ending was just...UGH! Highly recommended :D

I'm watching more Hey Arnold episodes... Rhonda's my new favorite character.
Rhonda.jpg


I saw "Polishing Rhonda" and now I just saw "Rhonda's Glasses."
Best line from Polishing Rhonda: "*reading her report* Pushy? Self-obsessed? Materialistic? Madame, this is an outrage. There must be some mistake!"
I wonder what it would've been like to go to a "Young Sophisticates Academy" XD

I can relate somewhat to Rhonda's horror at getting glasses because I was kind of upset at getting them as well when I was little.

Rhonda's Mom: They’re crooked, why are all these frames crooked, every single one?
Rhonda: Mother, what if my ears are crooked?
Mom: Oh, bite your tongue, you wretched girl. Buckley dear, we got some truly dreadful news today, I’m still reeling. Our perfect little Rhonda needs [Whispers] glasses. Take them off, Rhonda, you’re upsetting me.
Rhonda: I wanna talk to Daddy.
Rhonda: [weeping uncontrollably] I hate my life, Daddy, why does everything happen to me? I’m so unlucky.

::meev::

I remember crying one day because Charlie called me a four eyes and I felt so bad, and I told my mom about it. She came to school and took him to the side and told him that if he ever did that again he'd totally get it XD Oh mom ::gaku::
 

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Now watching Black Mirror, the seasons are really short (3 chapters) but oh boy, this is really interesting! I guess it's like a cristicism to new technologies or something like that, but who cares XD
 

Iskanderia

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Yeah, I heard Black Mirror was really good and I've been meaning to watch it but because it's British, I have to torrent it rather just stream it on Netflix Instant or Hulu or whatever and it's kind of a pain.

I know what the basic plot of the first episode is and it sounds hilariously awesome. I need to see it even if I already know how it ends because it's so just so outrageous. You would never see something like that on a US show.


Two weeks until the season 3 premier of Game of Thrones. I can't wait to see the internet explode this season. I'm re-watching season 2 in anticipation.
 

Koji

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You should totally check at least the 1st season, imo the 2nd season was weaker but interesting nonetheless. Oh I searched hulu for it the other day with a friend and they don't have it here in Japan yet lol

I must be the only weird person in the world who hasn't seen Game of Thrones yet, I need a solid reason to watch it, really XDDD
 

faith

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You know, I tried and I just couldn't get into it. I saw the first episode. That whole fantasy setting with knights and kings running around looking dirty just never apealed to me.

I saw Sinister. Usually horror movies will give me at least one night of sleeping with my back to the wall, but not this one. And the whole waiting until night time and then having something creepy happen was just a little....overused. Just a little.

I can think of a hundred ways they could have made it creepier.
 

Iskanderia

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Part of what makes the book series Game of Thrones is based on so popular is that it's not your average fantasy series. It subverts the major tropes of the genre left and right and it's what is called "low fantasy," which basically just means that it doesn't have a lot of magic or silly creatures in it. Lord of the Rings it ain't.

With most good shows I would recommend that someone watch at least two or three episodes before deciding it is definitely not for them because it's hard to really get a good sense of what a show is trying to be by just watching the pilot (also pilots tend to not be great and often aren't representative of the usual quality of a show). Also, how can you "get in to" a show in the space of a single episode?

However, in your case, Faith, if the very setting is downright unappealing to you, then it's probably a lost cause and it's never going to be for you, no matter how many episodes you watch.

The gritty, realistic approach to fantasy and medieval imagery appeals to me in the biggest way, but hey, to each his own. I would like to point out though that the show has legions of fans with no previous interest in fantasy at all. It's pretty much the Battlestar Galactica of fantasy (a show that people who had never even watched a single episode of Star Trek lost their minds over).
 

Wandering_Fox

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faith wrote:
I saw Sinister. Usually horror movies will give me at least one night of sleeping with my back to the wall, but not this one. And the whole waiting until night time and then having something creepy happen was just a little....overused. Just a little.

I can think of a hundred ways they could have made it creepier.
But wasn't it fun? Not scary in the least, but it was just so much fun! And I liked the ending~~ I really appreciated that the deaths in the videos looked very realistic, especially the hanging tree and the pool chairs~
 

faith

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So I'm watching Silent Hill 2 which is so far annoying....

But I went over to a friend's house and saw Fish Story yesterday and it was highly recommended.. I don't know why Japanese movies don't get more attention - when they suck they suck, but when they're good they're really good. Much better than Cloud Atlas would have been, which we would have seen if it hadn't been sold out. Things work in funny ways.
 

PureElegance

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I don't know if anyone's seen this movie named "Red Dawn":
Red_dawn.jpg

The Soviets and Cubans with their commie allies have occupied the Land of Freedom, and a group of high school students is our only hope.

Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen are so young here XD Not sure if I'd totally recommend this movie though, but I love how it's described as "like a Republican wet dream manifested into a surrealistic Orwellian nightmare". ::meev:: The ending was so patriotic. GO 'MURICA. ::foot::

I also saw the movie "Beastly" which is a modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast, and I thought it was OK/sweet. Vanessa Hudgens from High School Musical is our Belle here. I was bothered by how... contrived (?) Kyle's plan for Lindy to come to his apartment was. It had the same basic storyline, handsome rich young man with a dark heart gets cursed by a girl (...Mary Kate Oleson), he has all these marks all over his face as well as gashes, so he spends his time in his gigantic apartment with Neil Patrick Harris as his blind tutor and a Jamaican maid. His father doesn't actually love him and abandons him there, avoiding him, that part was kind of sad. Kyle needs to break the spell by having someone say "I love you" to him.

Lindy is a girl who likes reading, donating to the homeless, roses, and she's been saving up for years to go to Macchu Pichu. Yeah. Their first real conversation together was cute because of how awkward it was, he kept trying to hide his face away from her and was kind of nerdy and fidgety. She was trying so hard to get him to open up, haha. When she finally saw him she went, "I've seen worse :P" and he was relieved, d'awwwwww XD I think that was the best scene! XD

I wish there was a better, modern way to retell the story though. I felt like "Beastly" had potential to be something great, but it fell short of it. It's not an amazing movie, but it's nice, cute, and not bad.

I also saw most of "Abduction" with Taylor Lautner and I donno that was really weird.
 

Iskanderia

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Jesus Christ, of course I've seen Red Dawn. It's Red Dawn. ::ash::.
 

Sumire_hitsugi

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Lol on the 2012 Red Dawn. Haven't seen it, but there are a lot of copies of it whenever I go to the rental store. I suspect it's because the movie's "setting" is Spokane, WA (which is my hometown) and I guess most people here in town watch it for that detail, but the movie setting is such an obvious lie. :roll:
Well, most of the reviews say the movie sucks so I probably won't bother.

Finished up watching Spice & Wolf seasons I and II. I liked it in that it wasn't full of stupid moe crap most anime seems dependent on. The situations were centered around old world economics and the ups and downs of peddling, which was interesting even though most of it flew over my head ahaha. I'd really like to read the novels now since there are more stories that extend beyond the shows and about half of them are translated and available in the US.

Oh and I finally saw Cabin In The Woods and omg, that was such a cool movie! It was such a fresh take on horror, loved it!
 
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