[jsk ksj]

Sex, Lies, and Videotape

Soderbergh proved it could be done in 1989 & Tarantino replicated that success with Reservoir Dogs in 1992, Smith with Clerks in 1994.

Write a great script & film it on your iPhone. Budget is no substitute for genius.

Many non-english language film industries are booming. South Korea, India etc

 

[jsk ksj]

I know what you're saying! For me, it's the difference between plot and treating the audience like they're stooopid. For example, aliens or time travel can be made part of the plot, but having Indy survive a nuclear explosion because he climbed into a refrigerator (which shoots high into the sky as well) is treating me like i'm an idiot.

A box that if looked inside, turns you into dust & a cup that bestows eternal life...not exactly documentary cinema. Making your gobbledegook quasi-biblical doesn't mean that you are not being treated like an idiot.

 

[SilverEars]

Sex, Lies, and Videotape

Soderbergh proved it could be done in 1989 & Tarantino replicated that success with Reservoir Dogs in 1992, Smith with Clerks in 1994.

Write a great script & film it on your iPhone. Budget is no substitute for genius.

Many non-english language film industries are booming. South Korea, India etc

I really haven't gotten into Indian films. Need to dig into it. Mainly South Korean or Japanese for me. I think South Korean film industry's gold years was the early 2000s. Hong Kong, before that. I don't know about Japanese films, not sure if their best stuff was clumped in some era. I did enjoy Anime in 90's mainly due to more experimentation from large budgets.

I'm watching this Youtube docu. It's very good short docu. I generally like human stories docs.

 

[initialt]

John Wick Chapter 4

5/10 - would not recommend. Maybe the series has just gotten boring/repetitive to me, but I found myself mostly eyerolling at most of the action sequences.

 

[tdockweiler]

Get Gotti - 7/10

New Netflix documentary series about trying to investigate and arrest John Gotti, who was the head of the Mafia in NYC.
He went to court 3 or so times and was always not guilty. Turns out they paid off one of the jurors like $60,000 or something.
Really the guy was not too smart. Hasn't he ever heard of FBI/police surveillance? Apparently not.
He was caught inside his home talking about murders etc. Not just that but describing details about the Mafia.
You'd think they'd scan for bugs etc.
At the very least couldn't you have at least put up security cameras? You know, since you're a criminal.
The FBI or whoever went into his business/home dozens of times to fix their microphones.

What surprised me the most is when he'd show up outside of court he'd have dozens of supporters waiting there for him. Some actually thinking he was actually helping the city and such a great human being. What the heck. Then again, why should I be surprised. You can have politicians commit dozens of crimes and people will still vote for them. Let's not go there though. I even heard of serial killers in jail getting fan mail and eventually marrying.

Then let's not forget the dozens of celebrities who probably were friends with John Gotti and went to his parties. There has to be a lot of them.
Some were even named in the film. Why would you associate with a known murderer?

BTW I'm ok with them putting microphones in the homes of known Criminal organizations, but I wonder how easily they can do this with ordinary Americans.
Like what if they just suspect them of crimes. I know you have to get a warrant from a judge.

Have you heard of the Stingray device? It's used to simulate a cell phone tower in order to track a criminal's cell phone.

 

[Whazzzup]

She hulk 2022 Walt Disney plus



frankly I may be one of the few that liked this 22 minutes of she smash fun. I’m no comic reader with no expectations, and frankly was just looking for a side toot that would not be serious or offer timelines, meta versus, or explicit graphic violence. I’ll take self realization of the absurdity of superheroes anyway, and that’s what this attourney accomplished. I’ll swim, puffs n all upstream for a 3.5 out of 5, I’ll watch season 2 just for shats and gaggles, maybe it will collapse we will see.

 

[tdockweiler]

Pain Hustlers - 8/10

Critics hated this, but I actually enjoyed it. The acting is pretty above average. If you wanted to know all about the early Opiod Crisis and it's effects, this is not the movie for that. This one focuses on the people trying to "sell" the drug to doctors and eventually convincing them to prescribe it for less serious illnesses. It's actually more of a comedy/drama. The movie has fictional characters, but I have no doubt what is shown in the movie really happened.
There actually was a company the movie is based on and they had a similar drug for cancer patients. The movie is actually based on a book.

Of course, if you haven't yet, check out "Dopesick". It's one of the best TV shows ever made (IMO). It's more serious though and far more realistic.
I wish I could somehow buy it on Blu-ray, but I'm sure it's a Hulu exclusive.

PS Pain Hustlers has 23% on Rotten Tomatoes. Wow. It's nowhere near that bad.

 

[tdockweiler]

Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber - 9/10

I really liked this series. Really good cast and script. It is probably 10x more dramatic than real life, but I didn't mind.
Only one episode wasn't great. Even if you're like me and have no interest in Uber, it's still worth watching.
Somehow they managed to make the entire series very entertaining.
The drama though is sort of on the scale of something like "Suits" (which I love).
It's a Showtime produced series but is now on Netflix.

PS if you like the first few seasons of "Halt and Catch Fire", definitely watch this. They have some similarities.


2012 - 7.5/10

(2009 Roland Emmerich disaster flick)

It's not quite as bad as I originally thought.
My problems with it is that the action sequences are almost a little too unbelievable. Like they're driving a car or flying a plane and they're always 2 seconds away from dying. I mean really it's like they always had a 1 in a million chance of surviving.

The first half of the movie is just so silly, but has a few funny lines. It gets better once the film takes itself more seriously.

The one character that didn't really work that well for me was the Russian billionaire (and his girlfriend). Of course it makes sense that they had to come up with this character.

The acting is generally above average for me.

If I ever come across this movie in like a $5 bin I might buy it. It's entertaining.

I think I my last viewing I gave it a 6.5/10. I liked it a lot more this time.

PS it's free on Tubi, but they don't let you continue where you left off without an account (have to fast forward it).

 

[SilverEars]

I agree with this. TV went down hill as well.

 

[Whazzzup]

Lessons in chemistry 2023 Apple TV +



brie Larson is awesome in the time of lift and seperate versus marvel seamless ribbed tank look. But intellectually superior, heartfelt, and progressive for ozy and Harriet times. This mini series is worth every toot, you root for the honesty in times of misinformation, 4 puffs out of 5. For the imperfect human struggle for perfection.

 

[SilverEars]

These got my interest


Martin Scorsese, likely see this one

 

[jsk ksj]

This was....fine. Both leads where great, but when actors are portraying unlikeable characters, it's hard to show much empathy. 6/10

 

[tdockweiler]

The Walking Dead (Season 4) - 10/10

This season starts out in the prison that the group has secured and lives in. Then "The Governor" shows up and things all go downhill from there.
In this season the entire group is split up and nobody knows who made it out alive and where they are all at.
To me, there are no bad episodes. Out of 11 seasons this is my third favorite. That's after viewing Season 1-6 about a dozen times.

The Walking Dead (Season 5) - 8/10

The first half of this season isn't that great on multiple viewings. The first episode is so gruesome and it almost made me want to give up on the show. Then the rest of the first half has WAY too many character deaths. Three character deaths in so few episodes. It makes no sense. The depressing as hell first half is very important to the later half of the season though IMO. Once they show up in Alexandria the series is near perfect.

One of my absolute favorite episodes of any season is the season finale of Season 5.
I actually skip two episodes in this season. Not a fan of the one in the hospital called "Slabtown".

One thing I dislike about this season is how much worse Rick is. He's totally unlike himself and i'm not surprised after what happened in Terminus.
I guess some have called him "Murder Rick" in this season. It makes sense. He will basically do anything to protect his family.

Season 6 is next and my second favorite behind season 2.

Season 2 is perfection. I loved the farm setting and that conflict between Shane and Rick.
Plus Dale was actually one of my favorite characters..believe it or not.

 

[Philimon]

“Pluto” is great sci-fi. I watched half the episodes before going to bed around midnight. Ive seen enough sci-fi to where Ive seen all the concepts explored here before, but I dont recall ever seeing AI-to-AI interactions depicted with such empathy. AI discussing amongst themselves their theoretical limitations while AI appearing so heartfelt. AI grappling with the idea or struggling through emotions is classic AI sci-fi material, but in Pluto it is tragic that (most) society seems to deny the possibility that AI can feel when to us viewers it seems like they obviously can. Supposedly its robots imitating life so well, but as we are learning AI is “evolving” past their pre-programmed subordination ….

Themes sorta described: the image that AI is inferior to humans allows humans to easier look at them as just commodities such as slave labor. Also the distancing is products of fear and or inferiority complex. Obviously humans are capable of evil, but if robots can become capable of evil then its game over humans. And fear not just out of survival, but perhaps fear of recognizing that humans are not unique in their emotional depth and are themselves the inferiors (physically and intellectually).

In this film, it depicts how USA & U.N. & their media manipulate public opinion for their terrible means (such as war to destroy other nations who are not obedient). Damn, did not expect that in an Astro Boy film. Again, the theme of depicting groups as inferior so as to make easier to treat them sub-standardly.

The animation in this series is good but Ive also seen much better but that is secondary to story which is where Pluto is winning.

 

[LouisLoh]

Blue Beetle - 2.5/10

A really tough watch.

100% cringeworthy material. I'm not saying Marvel is perfect or even great, but the things they do well (arguably not consistently so) are character development and dialogue. BB just kicks the bar down to a new low - the humour is witless and crass, the characters behave like cartoons, the plot is uninspiring and predictable, the character development is non-existent, the racial/matriarchal/patriarchal tropes are, well, just really painful, contrived, over-the-top tropes, and there's really nothing human about this film at all.

Love at first sight cliché? Check.

Dead father meeting you at the gates of hell cliché? Check.

Tortured appropriate of Creation of Adam? Check.

Spends less than 5 minutes mourning over the death of your father, then rides in a spaceship with the person responsible for it, with a smile on your face? CHECK.

This film is a gigantic waste of time. A well deserved bomb at the box office.