Gilmour Is God
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Marco Polo season 1
Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Curb Your Enthusiasm.
What are we watching now?
- Thread starter JiveTurkey
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State of Epicicity
Shredder
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Unbreakable (2000): Man, M. Night Shyamalan was pure magic for a while. One of many consistently wonderful things about his early films are that the acting is fantastic across the board. Really I love everything he did until The Last Airbender. I don't know how he moved forward with kids who could not emote at all and had no inner emotion going either. I'm not saying children should be good actors; they should be kids. But I am saying that there are incredible performances by kid actors out there, and you should keep auditioning until you find a kid who inherently can act before you finish casting. Some great performances by kids: The Champ, I Am Sam, and all of M. Night Shyamalan's movies before The Last Airbender!
Anyway, Unbreakable to me just feels magical, truly filled with wonder. And made with a level of sophistication and originality you almost never see in film. Seeing it in 2024 it was as thrilling to me as when it was first released.
Now I'm really interested to see Split and Glass, because I felt very dark turn in Shyamalan after The Last Airbender, and I couldn't stand The Happening either. That was dark, but with emotionless acting with no character or personality. Just automatons regurgitating lines. But James McAvoy and Samuel L Jackson are consistently good, interesting, and compelling actors, so I'm curious of they can save his films from any bad actors he may put in their way.
I guess that's the point with M. Night Shyamalan: I used to be able to trust he would never let a bad acting performance go under his watch, but he stopped with that, and after a certain point there were a ton of bad acting performances under his watch.
He has an obsession with being critically acclaimed, but he gave up on consistent quality acting at a certain point. Both are huge problems for a director. I hope he was able to move on and get back to making incredible film again.
I saw the Visit soon after it was released, and that was easily the scariest film I've ever seen. I could barely make it to the end, so I felt his mastery as a director, even though I thought the kids were just okay as actors.
So I have cautious optimism about his work now, but I cannot shake the complete magic of his early films. He used to be able to reach a level of wonder that surpassed even stuff like E.T. And Close Encounters of The Third Kind. So you never know what he's capable of deep into his artistic career.
Anyway, Unbreakable to me just feels magical, truly filled with wonder. And made with a level of sophistication and originality you almost never see in film. Seeing it in 2024 it was as thrilling to me as when it was first released.
Now I'm really interested to see Split and Glass, because I felt very dark turn in Shyamalan after The Last Airbender, and I couldn't stand The Happening either. That was dark, but with emotionless acting with no character or personality. Just automatons regurgitating lines. But James McAvoy and Samuel L Jackson are consistently good, interesting, and compelling actors, so I'm curious of they can save his films from any bad actors he may put in their way.
I guess that's the point with M. Night Shyamalan: I used to be able to trust he would never let a bad acting performance go under his watch, but he stopped with that, and after a certain point there were a ton of bad acting performances under his watch.
He has an obsession with being critically acclaimed, but he gave up on consistent quality acting at a certain point. Both are huge problems for a director. I hope he was able to move on and get back to making incredible film again.
I saw the Visit soon after it was released, and that was easily the scariest film I've ever seen. I could barely make it to the end, so I felt his mastery as a director, even though I thought the kids were just okay as actors.
So I have cautious optimism about his work now, but I cannot shake the complete magic of his early films. He used to be able to reach a level of wonder that surpassed even stuff like E.T. And Close Encounters of The Third Kind. So you never know what he's capable of deep into his artistic career.
JiveTurkey
Goatlord
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I like Split. I like the idea of that trilogy WAAAAAAAAAY more than I like the trilogy. It's all good because of the cast and my faith in M Night, generally speaking; but the comic book vibe for me is too much in a direction I don't care for.
The Visit was awesome. I wouldn't say it's the scariest thing I have seen. But it was just excellent all around. Great script, great pacing and great story arc while working in the "found footage" style and doing it in non-irritating way (which is super difficult for that sub-genre, imo). M Night's idols are very evident in his work and that is one thing for me that has always attracted me to his films. I can see the love in them; even when the film sucks
JiveTurkey
Goatlord
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On a completely different tip; I have been watching a bunch of standup. Whether it be specials on Netflix or clips on YT. One that I discovered from Kill Tony is Casey Rocket. Hard to describe. ADHD comedian, doing weirdo bits that trying to describe to others really does it no justice. Super hilarious if you like weirdo comedians 
laxu
Rock Star
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The best Unbreakable on Netflix is Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt!
The problem with pretty much every M.Night Shyamalalaland film is that they start out strong...then can't keep up. There's a lot of good ideas in them, but they all fall apart by the 3rd act as if they had a cool premise, good execution for first act and then winged the rest of it.
The problem with pretty much every M.Night Shyamalalaland film is that they start out strong...then can't keep up. There's a lot of good ideas in them, but they all fall apart by the 3rd act as if they had a cool premise, good execution for first act and then winged the rest of it.
JiveTurkey
Goatlord
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I honestly have always admired his ambition and intentions so much that even some of the turdiest of turds he has done have still impressed me in one way or another.The best Unbreakable on Netflix is Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt!
The problem with pretty much every M.Night Shyamalalaland film is that they start out strong...then can't keep up. There's a lot of good ideas in them, but they all fall apart by the 3rd act as if they had a cool premise, good execution for first act and then winged the rest of it.
State of Epicicity
Shredder
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I saw Split then Glass back to back. James McAvoy is truly impressive; I haven't been completely blown away by an actor's performance in this way in a very long time. This made me respect the hell out of him.
I thought Split was good because of McAvoy, who was great. But Glass was too much of a comic book movie, and I just don't care about that. Those always feel like merchandising setups more than anything genuine. To me Unbreakable was a family drama, with truly great acting across the board, and it made it transcendent.
Split was a modern horror movie, with a lot of perfect looking shots and hot girls. Anya Taylor-Joy was not bad. I think modern horror generally sucks though, and other than McAvoy, this film was forgettable.
Glass was bad. The psychiatrist was such a focal point, and a truly terrible actor. She was trying to imitate a statue or something. No facial expression, very awkward positions standing or sitting. It was painful to watch. The brilliance of McAvoy was reduced, as my wife said, to a parlor trick. Just crap.
I'm starting to think Shyamalan it's actually a shitty director of actors, that, like Coppola, it was zeitgeist that paired him with great actors for a while, but he is just a guy who cannot make lemonade out of lemons. I read about his silver spoon upbringing, and that explains a lot. The moment he encounters criticism on his professional life, he skulks off like a child and starts making darker and darker films without any of his defining wonder and magic.
And the criticism of The Last Airbender was completely warranted. Fuck that guy and his elitist mentality. I might be done with his films.
I thought Split was good because of McAvoy, who was great. But Glass was too much of a comic book movie, and I just don't care about that. Those always feel like merchandising setups more than anything genuine. To me Unbreakable was a family drama, with truly great acting across the board, and it made it transcendent.
Split was a modern horror movie, with a lot of perfect looking shots and hot girls. Anya Taylor-Joy was not bad. I think modern horror generally sucks though, and other than McAvoy, this film was forgettable.
Glass was bad. The psychiatrist was such a focal point, and a truly terrible actor. She was trying to imitate a statue or something. No facial expression, very awkward positions standing or sitting. It was painful to watch. The brilliance of McAvoy was reduced, as my wife said, to a parlor trick. Just crap.
I'm starting to think Shyamalan it's actually a shitty director of actors, that, like Coppola, it was zeitgeist that paired him with great actors for a while, but he is just a guy who cannot make lemonade out of lemons. I read about his silver spoon upbringing, and that explains a lot. The moment he encounters criticism on his professional life, he skulks off like a child and starts making darker and darker films without any of his defining wonder and magic.
And the criticism of The Last Airbender was completely warranted. Fuck that guy and his elitist mentality. I might be done with his films.
JiveTurkey
Goatlord
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JiveTurkey
Goatlord
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They have a female bassist right now, iirc? Incubus had something special on those first few albums up through Morning View. They lost me after that. And that's ok. Watching this stream again has me
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Not really sure why they try and pretend their greatest output doesn't exist and keep it off of streaming platforms 
JiveTurkey
Goatlord
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Not really sure why they try and pretend their greatest output doesn't exist and keep it off of streaming platforms
You were hooked on first view of that cover weren't you
JiveTurkey
Goatlord
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The wife and I saw them on Morning View tour when we first got together. I have a special place for them and that time. The concert was spectacular in every way. As out of body lovely experience you are ever going to get with a band that got unfairly lumped in with the nu metal era.
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JiveTurkey
Goatlord
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Watched a flew flicks over the weekend.
1. Ghostbusters Frozen Empire. Ugh. Any of the charm and nostalgia drummed up by the last film was firmly missing in this one. Not a fan. Not as bad as that 2016 thing but certainly not good.
2. Revenge Of The Nerds. First time for our 26 year old. He crapped his pants laughing most of the time. So much formative humor for me.
3. Godzilla Minus One. Bit more thoughtful than I imagined but very, very good. Glad I sat down and watched it.
1. Ghostbusters Frozen Empire. Ugh. Any of the charm and nostalgia drummed up by the last film was firmly missing in this one. Not a fan. Not as bad as that 2016 thing but certainly not good.
2. Revenge Of The Nerds. First time for our 26 year old. He crapped his pants laughing most of the time. So much formative humor for me.
3. Godzilla Minus One. Bit more thoughtful than I imagined but very, very good. Glad I sat down and watched it.
norminal
Rock Star
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2. Revenge Of The Nerds. First time for our 26 year old. He crapped his pants laughing most of the time. So much formative humor for me.
State of Epicicity
Shredder
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I've always wanted to see this. I'm eagerly awaiting it's arrival to one of my subscriptions!
State of Epicicity
Shredder
- Messages
- 1,203
We saw Maestro last night. I now have a ton of respect for Bradley Cooper; I feel like he's a worker. Many years ago I saw the Leonard Bernstein Omnibus programs, and they were very cool. I remember him having this odd an interesting cadence to his speech, just an interesting way about him, and I feel like Cooper worked his ass off to get that feel just right. I though Carey Mulligan was equally incredible. I had seen her in Inside Llewyn Davis and Wall Street 2, and I did not like her at all, but then I saw She Said, and I fucking loved her. But pretty much every woman in that film was incredible. But she really was incredible in Maestro too, and completely different. I now have her on my radar as in interesting and compelling actor who might just surprise you.
Overall I think the film had a kind of haphazard feel to it, that it was almost a series of vignettes that were meant to gloss through moments in Bernstein's life, and it felt a little hollow to me because it felt like it was not cohesive. I still think Cooper is truly a great director; I just felt like the writing could've come from a stronger vantage point. I don't have the best words for what I'm thinking, but I feel like the film excelled in acting and directing, but fell short in writing.
Huge caveat: I think the dialogue mixing was bad. I think the film had too much dynamic range. The dialogue was mixed so low that you really had to turn it up to get what they were saying, especially with Cooper's and Mulligan's interesting speech rhythms and cadences, but then music would come in and blast your head off, so we ended up watching it with subtitles.
Overall I think the film had a kind of haphazard feel to it, that it was almost a series of vignettes that were meant to gloss through moments in Bernstein's life, and it felt a little hollow to me because it felt like it was not cohesive. I still think Cooper is truly a great director; I just felt like the writing could've come from a stronger vantage point. I don't have the best words for what I'm thinking, but I feel like the film excelled in acting and directing, but fell short in writing.
Huge caveat: I think the dialogue mixing was bad. I think the film had too much dynamic range. The dialogue was mixed so low that you really had to turn it up to get what they were saying, especially with Cooper's and Mulligan's interesting speech rhythms and cadences, but then music would come in and blast your head off, so we ended up watching it with subtitles.
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