The Sword and Laser discussion
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What else are you watching?
Started American Born Chinese. I swear I see Michelle Yeoh everywhere.Can't wait for Good Omens season 2 next week.
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In everything, all at once.
Tassie Dave wrote: "Silvana wrote: "I swear I see Michelle Yeoh everywhere."In everything, all at once."
✅
John (Nevets) wrote: "Will be curious on your thoughts as you go through this as well. I think you will be happier with the general direction of this vs the end of Rebels...."I've watched 8 episodes now, which is half of the first season. I posted some thoughts in the Bad Batch topic. I'm enjoying it so far and the kid, who irritated me a little in the beginning, is really fitting in now.
And I don't want to leave the impression that I didn't like the later Rebels episodes. I liked them, just not as much as Season 2 and 3. With the wolves and Vector Graphics Land, it just started feeling not very Star Wars-y at times.
Watched Ep 2 of Secret Invasion. Not particularly impressed. Getting real sick of "Homeless" Nick Fury and constant references to his being weak and old.ST: Strange New Worlds: Is this the season of focus episodes? Now Uhura. It was...okay. TBH I didn't like the first part of the Spock episode last week but by god they pulled it out in style. The actor playing Spock is just incredible. He sold the transition and the transformation back so well that I was saying "Oh, he's got his real ears back, that's why he is acting more like his usual self." Nope John, that's the actor's skill shining through.
As for this week, kinda obvious for anyone who saw (view spoiler) Or maybe (view spoiler)
Anyhoo, I quibble, this is the worst of the season so far but they've all be quite watchable. Even with the "Jim Carey" Kirk who was great a few eps back but out of place here.
Now up to Ep 5 of Secret Invasion. It's short so we'll finish it. Makes good binge watching when there's nothing else on. Dull and underinteresting. Olivia Colman is the best reason to watch and is in too few scenes. Don Cheadle turns in a solid performance. This Nick Fury is so unprepossessing it's a puzzle why Samuel Jackson didn't fight for a better script.
Watched They Cloned Tyrone on Netflix. Based on the trailer I didn’t expect so much social commentary and existential angst, but it’s quite good. Jamie Foxx has become the MVP of Netflix in my opinion. I’ve watched Project Power three times.
We haven't talked much about Star Wars Visions season two, which appeared on Disney+ recently without much fanfare. I thought the first season of Visions was hit or miss, but "The Sith" - episode 1 of season 2 - was one of the best animated shorts I have ever watched. It's by El Guiri Studio, which is a new studio formed by some experienced studio folks from Pixar and other studios. Beautiful art style. Well worth your 15 minutes.
The steampunk band Abney Park recently released a fine cover of the 'Serenity' theme from Firefly.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34alO...
Kickstarter supporters of theirs will also have seen a live version of this during their recent live stream concert.
RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "We haven't talked much about Star Wars Visions season two, which appeared on Disney+ recently without much fanfare. I thought the first season of Visions was hit or miss, but "The Sith" - episode 1..."I only watched the Aardman one and was underwhelmed. The animation was fine but the story was mid, as the kids say.
Edit: just watched The Sith. Very cool animation, clearly inspired by Into the Spider-Verse.
I finished watching Season One of The Last of Us on Max. The show is based on the video game about a plague that kills off most of the population of the earth. All nine episodes are great, but Episode three is incredible. Looking forward to seeing season 2, which will adapt the game expansion.I’m watching Season Two of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Paramount Plus. The series follows the adventures of Captain Pike of the Enterprise before Captain Kirk takes command. Watched the seven available episodes of ten total for the season. Each week has had a great and different type of story. Very impressed with this season.
Also watching Season Three of The Witcher on Netflix. This is the last season starring Henry Cavill as Geralt. Geralt will be played by Liam Hemsworth in Season Four. Should be interesting.
Shows coming up that I want to watch are Ahsoka Season One on Disney Plus (August 23) and The Wheel of Time Season Two (September 1) on Amazon Prime Video.
Saw the last ep of Secret Invasion. Rotten Tomatoes has it at an audience rating of 11%. Yes, out of 100. My thought was, "why so high?"As I said elsewhere, 40 years back I bought a Steranko reprint with Nick Fury plus a Romance comic he did. And that's the last time that Nick Fury and Romance worked well together.
I could go on about the depressing sets, poor "deconstruction" of Fury's image, the gagworthy ending, but nah. I'm done. It's over. Thankfully.
John (Taloni) wrote: "Saw the last ep of Secret Invasion. Rotten Tomatoes has it at an audience rating of 11%. Yes, out of 100. My thought was, "why so high?"I'm done. It's over. Thankfully."
So I was right? Huh.
I was telling my wife about how terrible the first episode was and how Fallen did the “could be anyone” paranoia stuff so much better. She said, “We should rewatch that!” So we did. Just finished a few minutes ago, and it’s still great.
If you don’t have a copy, it’s available to rent from the usual places, but Tubi (in the US) has it for free with ads. I highly recommend it.
Bonus: best use of Rolling Stones music since The Big Chill.
Trike wrote: "John (Taloni) wrote: "Saw the last ep of Secret Invasion. Rotten Tomatoes has it at an audience rating of 11%. Yes, out of 100. My thought was, "why so high?"I'm done. It's over. Thankfully."
So..."
Which Fallen is this exactly ?
Jennifer wrote: "Which Fallen is this exactly ?"1998, Denzel Washington, John Goodman, Donald Sutherland, Embeth Davidtz. Written by Nicholas Kazan, directed by Gregory Hoblit.
Watched the first couple of episodes of Foundation S2. It was...not great. I like what they are doing with the (view spoiler) But it is just chock full of
Trike wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "Which Fallen is this exactly ?"1998, Denzel Washington, John Goodman, Donald Sutherland, Embeth Davidtz. Written by Nicholas Kazan, directed by Gregory Hoblit."
OH yeah, thats a good movie !
Oaken wrote: "Watched the first couple of episodes of Foundation S2. It was...not great."Yes; this is not Foundation, this is almost feels like another story that someone thought was similar to Foundation and so retro-fitted it in a pseudo-Foundation universe. The first season was fine, with reasonable changes to make it more visual and overcome Asimov's women-blindness, however now having (view spoiler) is nonsensical and completely non-canon with the book. Also giving characters (view spoiler) leads to a completely different story.
A more interesting, contemporary take on the story might have been to more closely focus on the need to disguise technology and facts as religion in order to sell them to a skeptical post-truth universe and thus quietly guide people through a period of scientific regression - something that is painfully familiar at the minute.
I've watched The Diplomat 3 times now on Netflix and I really want Season 2 immediately. I am quite enamored with Keri Russell.
Daniel wrote: "I've watched The Diplomat 3 times now on Netflix and I really want Season 2 immediately. I am quite enamored with Keri Russell."I enjoyed that series too, and hope the a second series is made, although I know that is a dice roll these days.
One minor nitpick was that I found its depiction of the British political class to be very "twee" and very "tweed", and in light of recent incumbents of those posts far too competent.
On the other hand the American actors and characters got to be far more "fun".
And an "out of the blue" cliffhanger at the end. So yes another series to find out what happens next would be very nice thank you kindly dear lovely Gods of Netflix. :-)
Watched Good Omens s2 last night. It’s even better than the first season, primarily because it’s 95% focused on Crowley and Aziraphale. I’m of two minds about the ending, but it does leave open the possibility for a third season.
More than leaves open the possibility, it was written with a third season in mind. Neil G. said he and Terry plotted out another book but didn't get the time to write it. S3 is that plot. Neil wrote S2 as a bridge between S1 and where they need S3 to start. After that he said it's done.Of course with arbitrary Netflix decision-making they need S2 to be wildly popular to make sure that happens. I think he said its dependent on how many people watch the entire season in the first 28 days or something. Netflix rates shows that people binge-watch very highly.
And yes, it was very good! At only 6 shows we finished it in two nights.
Oaken wrote: "Of course with arbitrary Netflix decision-making"Good news is that it’s on Amazon, and their streaming is a side business. If they sell enough socks we’ll get season 3.
Went and saw Barbie on the weekend. It was fantastic... (great multiversal 2nd world "fantasy", golem walk among us)..If you enjoyed Everything Everywhere all at once you will probably like (love) Barbie as well.
So, Good Omens. (Sigh, I'll spoiler protect and cut this post to shreds. Read only if you've seen it all.) Good in parts, dullsville others. About the only good part of the Job episode was seeing Tennant's father in law, Peter Davison, aka Dr. #5, as Job, and his adopted son as Job's kid. The theology was grade school level. So much has been written about Job, this was farcically simple. Oh, and the first episode: (view spoiler)Bad continuity, bad theology, retcons everywhere.As for the finale: Weirdly preachy and then unpreachy. (view spoiler)
And for the big (view spoiler) he stood up for what was right no matter the cost.
And speaking of by God...I have a sneaking suspicion that Crowley has been doing God's work all this time. THAT is the ineffable plan. Whether he knows it or not.
Iain wrote: "Went and saw Barbie on the weekend. It was fantastic... (great multiversal 2nd world "fantasy", golem walk among us)..If you enjoyed Everything Everywhere all at once you will probably like (love..."
I thought it was such fun. It is really something to watch.
John (Taloni) wrote: "So, Good Omens. (Sigh, I'll spoiler protect and cut this post to shreds. Read only if you've seen it all.) Good in parts, dullsville others. About the only good part of the Job episode was seeing T..."I don’t think that Crowley was necessarily filling in for anyone else. The stuff he was doing was off in a different corner of the universe, and he wasn’t the designer. He was just excited to kick off the star-making nebula to see what it would become in a few million years. That’s why he was annoyed when Aziraphale told him everything was going to be destroyed in 6,000 years just because God had plans for humans. He was grousing that it was all a waste to shut it down so soon, that it should be its own thing, and not just be “some fancy wallpaper to twinkle” as he says. “It’s meant to inspire people with the illimitable majesty of creation,” Aziraphale says. “You can’t even see most of this from Earth!” Crowley exclaims.
I’m not bothered that they changed some minor bits of Christian theology. The Church did that itself, when picking and choosing which books got into the Bible. There’s no such thing as the “true story” when it comes to this stuff - there were stories deliberately left out of the Bible that are older and were believed by more people than the ones allowed in. Because people have been told a thing since they were kids doesn’t make that thing true. At the end of the day it’s all made up.
This is why Genesis chapter 1 and Genesis chapter 2 tell two different origin stories: they come from different areas where the oral histories diverged. At this late date it’s impossible to tell which one came first and which one was altered, nevermind determining if the alterations were just a factor of the story shifting over time or a conscious decision on someone’s part. I suspect the latter, but there’s no way to know for sure until we invent time travel.
There’s an identical issue with Native American religions. Because they were told and retold long before they were written down, the stories shifted. So the origin stories are similar but still different. That’s why the tales of the Arapaho are different from the Algonquin: time and distance caused the stories to shift. Christianity isn’t immune from this.
As for Crowley and Aziraphale’s relationship, I’m also a little bothered by this, but not a lot. (view spoiler)
Finished Secret Invasion tonight. I think I liked it a little more than some others here. The story could have used some more fleshing out and the whole situation with Rhodey and the president was a mess but Nick Fury having a love life didn't bother me and yes it was different than the story line in the comics but so was Civil War and most of the other movies.I'd put it near the bottom of the series so far but above Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
Watched Dragon Prince season 5 on Netflix tonight. Excellent as always but holy cliffhangers, Batman! It better get renewed.
Just watched the Sturgill Simpson video album on Netflix. No idea what the hell I just saw but some of it was incomprehensible, some of it was interesting, and some was bizarrely compelling.It’s partially anime, some kind of mash-up between Mad Max, Un Chien Andalou, and Razor Blades, with a dash of Bollywood. Which makes a strange kind of sense, given that his music is cynical country-flavored synthrock.
Here is “Sing Along” https://youtu.be/SpSMoBp8awM?si=rkeOd... and “A Good Look” https://youtu.be/8qX02AW48bM?si=1FQnV... to give an idea of what it’s like.
Phil wrote: "...I'd put it near the bottom of the series so far but above Falcon and the Winter Soldier."I haven't watched any Secret Invasion at all, although I definitely plan to...someday. I don't get all the Falcon and Winter Soldier hate though. I thought that series was absolutely okay, maybe even a little better than mediocre. It was Hawkeye and Ms. Marvel that I loathed. Best series was definitely Loki though. And She Hulk hahahaha. :)
Both here and elsewhere I've seen folks rate the various Marvel TV series, and just about everyone's lists are very different. I find this interesting. I also think that is maybe a bit of a good thing. Not that they have so many tv series out in such a short time span, but that they really are approaching each one differently.I don't think there are any I hated, but there were ones I preferred over other ones. And I think F&WS would be in the bottom half, but I'd probably watch a second season if one ever came out. I watched the first episode of Secret Invasion, and will probably watch the rest, but I don't feel any rush to get to it.
John (Nevets) wrote: "Both here and elsewhere I've seen folks rate the various Marvel TV series, and just about everyone's lists are very different. I find this interesting. I also think that is maybe a bit of a good thing..."I agree completely. That's why I laughed when I said She-Hulk was one of my favorites, because it seems like everyone hates it but I loved it. I laughed myself silly every episode, even the last one. My daughter on the other hand loved Hawkeye which I could barely watch.
RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "I don't get all the Falcon and Winter Soldier hate though. I thought that series was absolutely okay, maybe even a little better than mediocre. It was Hawkeye and Ms. Marvel that I loathed.."That’s interesting, because my list is pretty much the opposite. Hawkeye is easily #1, with Ms. Marvel, Loki or WandaVision being #2 depending on my mood. WandaVision was great until the finale, so I go back and forth on it. Hawkeye is the truest to the comics, but it also seamlessly incorporates the MCU story, which is impressive. The abrupt change in story direction for Falcon and Winter Soldier really hurt it, and it was too preachy for me.
Right at this moment I’d rank them
Hawkeye
Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
Ms. Marvel
Loki
WandaVision
Werewolf By Night
She-Hulk
Moon Knight
What If
A wet willy
Stubbing my toe
A punch in the face
Secret Invasion
I also rewatched Conan the Barbarian last night. 1982 really was the best year for movies ever, but boy Arnold sure couldn’t act. That movie is so great, though, and so boldly different from everything else.After that I rewatched The Scorpion King, which was better than I remembered. And The Rock actually can act, so once I got over the guitar-heavy soundtrack after the sonic awesomeness that is the Poledouris score for Conan, I quite enjoyed it for what it was: a simple riff on the same story, with Mathayus subbed in for Conan.
Just watched a miserable episode of Star Trek Strange New Worlds where the various characters break into song when they get emotional. Awful!! I’ve seen other episodes that involve singing on Star Trek series. One was on Picard season 2. Why do they do this? 🤣
I really liked the latest episode of Star Trek Strange New Worlds. I thought it was really well done and most of the actors can actually sing.I also just finished the latest episode of Harley Quinn on Max. So much fun!
Haaa, I'm about to watch it. I have a high tolerance for camp, but from clips I've seen today, that may be exceeded! More in not too long.
Trike wrote: "I also rewatched Conan the Barbarian last night. 1982 really was the best year for movies ever, but boy Arnold sure couldn’t act. That movie is so great, though, and so boldly different from everyt..."I have recently watched Conan as well. Its a favorite. My mom took us to see in the theater . :) I think its a great story. I get Arnold was not the best acting , but I think he is an excellent Conan.
I finished up with Good Omens 2 On Prime TV and loved it.
The title of this list from the Guardian says it all. Yes it says for children but lets face it we are all big kids!
There are a lot of great fantasy and sci fi picks here and any list which includes The Princess Bride gets my vote
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023...
John wrote: "The title of this list from the Guardian says it all. Yes it says for children but lets face it we are all big kids!
There are a lot of great fantasy and sci fi picks here and any list which in..."
That's a pretty solid list. Lots of great stuff. They're not all kids movies but none would be bad for them to watch.
Solid list. Puzzling lack of Secret of NIMH but you can't have everything.
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There is heavy, obvious use of auto-tune. I wouldn't be surprised if there are other audio filters as well. I'd like to hear the raw unedited audio. You might not be so complimentary 😉
Jason Derulo and Ke$ha also sound like passable singers with all the added audio music filters 😜
Tassie Dave wrote: "Chris K. wrote: "I really liked the latest episode of Star Trek Strange New Worlds. I thought it was really well done and most of the actors can actually sing."There is heavy, obvious use of auto..."
Celia Rose Gooding, Rebecca Romijn and Christina Chong are all singers and they sang the most. Celia Rose Gooding was nominated for a 2020 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical.
So, yes, I'd be willing to hear the raw unedited audio. 😀
Mod
I'm just saying their were some obvious tweaks and a bit of auto-tune to smooth out what, possibly, could have been some not so great singing from the not as good singers.
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Books mentioned in this topic
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (other topics)The Thursday Murder Club (other topics)
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For He Can Creep (other topics)
The Shadow Rising (other topics)
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George R.R. Martin (other topics)Robert Jordan (other topics)
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The art style is similar to The Clone Wars, but much more refined, which makes me happy ..."
Will be curious on your thoughts as you go through this as well. I think you will be happier with the general direction of this vs the end of Rebels. But like both that and Clone Wars, it gets into some pretty haeavy issues.
Resistance on the other hand was not as well received by most. I still enjoyed it, but felt it was geared towards a younger audience, instead of being as all ages as the other series. Unless you really feel like being a completionist, if it doesn't grab you in the first few episodes, it probably wont grow on you much.