What about Obi Wan had the higher ground? Still too early??
1 Like
More people who like animation should watch Kippo. Itās absolutely delightfulāgood beats, good energy, and stellar character design. Dave in particular is now one of my favorite animated charactersāso many excellent gags drawn right out of his core design and an entertaining performance as a character on top of it. 
2 Likes
Watched a couple of episodes of High Score on Netflix, about the history of video games. Very interesting stuff.
1 Like
We watched the Mars docu drama series. Last night we got to episode 4 season 2 which ran in December 2018 originally. I need to say this because it is called Contagion.
If I have ever seen prophecy, it is this. It is uncanny.
As in the whole series they mix earth documentary with some fictional Mars colony and in the documentary they talk about possible epidemics and pandemics andā¦ I wasnāt even watching at first (building my Leaving Earth insert at the time) but for this episode I was glued to the screen.
We saw all this comingā¦ and it still happened.
1 Like
Weāve been very lucky, so far the rapid mortality of Ebola made it so self-restrictive, and the low (statistically) mortality of COVID-19 has been āsort ofā kind to us. But the epidemiology as a science has been expecting a big plague for a while now. The world population has multiplied by 5 in about 4-5 generations, and that was going to lead to struggle for resources or plague. Even Dan Brown has been jumping on that wagon, I think Inferno was published less than 10 years ago?
1 Like
Has anyone seen Tenet??? I feel like Iām going to explode not being able to talk about it 
Non-Spoiler Review (that Iāll spoiler block anyway for any sensitive eyes)
Itās the most unapologetically Nolan film yet, and for that itās both his best and worst film. Maybe that sounds bit too melodramatic, but I really canāt decide where to place it in a ranking of his career.
Non-Narrative spoiler review that kinda spoils tone Donāt read if you want to enter completely blind
Itās like Inception, Memento, Dark Knight, the Prestige, Dunkirk, Interstellar, AND Insomnia, all in a single movie! Incredible achievement. Probably could make connections to Following if I tried hard enough.
More detailed slight vague spoiler review that avoids describing anything narrative directly but alludes a bit too closely to some parts of the film
Everything you love about Nolan is there x100. Amazing set pieces. Pin-point precision film-making. Incredible use of film technology that few other directors will be able to achieve for many years to come.
And every criticism youāve heard about every past Nolan film is there in spades too. Overbearing soundtrack? Static camera whenever there isnāt a big set-piece? Soullessly mechanical masculine script with a single shoe-horned female character used as little more than a plot device for establishing emotional stakes that is completely at odds with the rest of the film? Unintelligible dialogue to the point where Nolan calls himself out for how little he cares about plot and character in favour of spectacle? All in there, and far worse than ever before.
Feels good to get that off my chest 
1 Like
really want to see it but still too ā¦ careful? to go to the movies.
2 Likes
Yeah, I tossed and turned about whether to go, but I had the day off so could go midday when it was quieter - thought it canāt get much safer under the circumstances. In the end, it worked out better than I had expected. Maybe 25-30 people in the entire screening (IMAX, so seats were even further spaced than a standard screen), with masks worn throughout (apart from two naughty rebels who were on the other side of the audience). Very few people anywhere near me, and the way in and out was sparse too.
Think thatās my one and only outing for a while! The British government is trying to encourage eating out at the moment, but Iām unconvinced.
4 Likes
Thereās a movie theater here that offered āprivateā screenings for 90ā¬ so you could go with just your friends. My partner is the one who is more of a movie aficionado so I told him he had to organize it if he wanted to goā¦ but we never did, I donāt know if the offer still exists. And just today a friend asked me if we wanted to go see Tenet at the theaterā¦ but cases here are rising again andā¦ I donāt know. Maybe weāll catch a very very early show in Septemberā¦ on a week-day or soā¦
3 Likes
We arenāt doing theaters currently. Iām 70, and the risk factor is just unacceptably high. If we want movies or other video weāll stream, or get the DVD. And since these days everything is going to be available on disc and/or streamable, thereās less reason to go to theaters.
3 Likes
Looking forward to go this weekend, although I have an essay to finish. Hopefully Sunday, as a post-essay delivery treat.
Not super-impressed by season 2 of the boys.
Also, pet peeve, if you have a huge budget and write a Japanese* role, get a Japanese actor, not an American(?) whose Japanese is mumbled and really hard to understand. This is made doubly irritating when they donāt even get subtitles on Japanese streaming services.
*(Substitute any other language here)
8 Likes
At the moment I am at the office having just finished watching the DUNE trailer. I have to admit; to me it looks really good so far. I especially love the fact that most of the dialog thatās heard is straight out of the novel. Iām quite critical when it comes to modern remakes/reboots (I think there are far too many these days), but I am such a slobbering fan of the original source material AND a rather enthusiastic fan of Denis Villeneuve as a film director, that Iām going to just shut up and wait.
6 Likes
We just watched that, too. It does look good, I really need to reread the novels and play the boardgame I bought last yearā¦
We just watched episode 1 of the 3rd series of Gone Fishing with Mortimer and Whitehouse.
Itās just lovely, two old friends giggling with each other in beautiful places. Bobās excitement when one of them catches something is great.
And I donāt even like fishing
Fear (of them screwing up this movie) is the mind-killer.
Fear (of a hot mess of plot, characters, and omnipotent third-person naration) is the little death that brings total (joy) obliteration.
PLEASE let it be good. Please oh please.
2 Likes
(The Pink Floyd near the end gave me goosebumpsā¦ I hope this holds upā¦)
2 Likes
I picked up the full series of Northern Exposure on DVD as a birthday present to myself and I am trying to watch it without binging. Iām really enjoying it and itās fun to be surprised by my memories of watching it with my parents and what I did and didnāt pick up on.
3 Likes
I didnāt feel this kind of fear since The Fellowship of the Ring.
I am pretty sure Villeneuve will do a good job of it. He did with Blade Runner, and his previous movies have been really good. But there is still that fear. Please donāt screw it up. It happened with my favourite book at the time, now is happening with my favourite sci-fi book.
I think it is reasonable.
5 Likes
I am quite free of mind-killer syndrome. I see all adaptations of any work into another work as simply new works, and have no emotional investment. It helps that these days there are so very many genre films and TV shows that more will always be along, probably including more Dune adaptations.
It was not the same once, of courseā¦
3 Likes