I believe the 80 year statute of limitation has expired.
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I donât think that counts as a spoiler as it was used in promotions for the filmâŚ
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Itâs a classic era noir. How it ends is not a surprise, itâs how you get there.
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Black Doves was fun, but my suspension of disbelief collapsed in a couple of scenes.
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Yeah, itâs classic pulp including the unbelievable bits.
New series of The Night Agent is out soon, and that doesnât even pretend to be realistic but itâs huge fun.
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Finally got around to watching Squid Game - the rest of this post isnât very spoilery but there are a few very mild things if you know nothing about it so Iâll spoilerify it.
I had avoided it having heard the very vague outline of the polt - people play simple games and get killed if they fail - partially because it felt very well-trodden ground (the lineage I suppose traces through Hunger Games, Battle Royale all the way back to The Most Dangerous Game and probably before that (I know the âgameâ in the last bit isnât a game in the same sense, but the basic lethal sport idea is there)), and partially because I was given the state of the world I wasnât really in the mood for dystopia.
However⌠goodness me, itâs good. The essence of drama (I canât rememeber the attribution of this quote) is supposed to be making characters that people care about, and puuting them through hell. Squid Game succeeds very easily at the second part, given the nature of the show, but I wasnât expecting it to succeed quite so well at the first part. The characters are varied, well-drawn and relatable in all sorts of different ways, and holy smokes do you care about them.
I also hadnât expected the nuance in the show, the readiness to explore our society (capitalism is a fairly easy target currently, but the show nails condemnation of it - Iâve heard it described as an anti-capitalist fairy tale, and thatâs a fairly good description) and moral choices⌠what do people who believe they are good actually do when their life is at risk?
Every game puts the characters in extreme situations and watching them react is incredibly tense, and even when the show pans back to say âWait, arenât you, the auidence, just like these people?â (something I get pretty tired of in films), itâs done so well here that it actually make me stop to think about it.
It handles changes in tone extremely well, and one of the episodes (and youâll know the one I mean if youâve seen the show) is probably one of the finest episodes of television Iâve ever seen, even thought it⌠hmm, well I canât spol when Iâm already in a spoiler, but youâll probably know the âeven ifâ if youâve watched the show too.
One final thing that surprised me about Squid Game - the actually quite (or at least somewhat) optimistic and hopeful view of human nature. Yes, the awful is there, but itâs given equal footing with the better angels of our nature, and if anything, comes down slightly on the side of hope in the end.
I havenât watched the second season yet, and Iâm slightly wary of doing so as I enjoyed the first season so much but the basic premise of the second season seems a little⌠hmm⌠but I think I should trust the showrunners and give it a try.
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Iâd recommend season 2, though it ends in the middle of the story and so you may want to wait until season 3 is released and watch both in succession.
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Watched Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance on Netflix. Pretty well done, though the very end felt a little abrupt to me. I didnât feel the protagonist would have made the decision to stay on Earth to keep fighting instead of returning home to her son. Itâs also unclear to me how she would fight for child soldiers as a mobile suit pilot on one side of a war.
But thatâs a minor quibble for an otherwise good show.
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Watched season 2 of The Devilâs Hour on Amazon. It was an unexpected and intriguing evolution of the story past the end of the first season. It was too short at 5 episodes and left too many hanging threads; season 3 is in production. Itâs a very good show, but given everything that you probably need to remember from each season, it is probably best to wait until its finished before starting (if you havenât already).
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Iâve finished all there is for Rimuru the Slime (something something âAnd so I got reincarnated as a slime in another worldâ why are anime titles so weird and long?) and now I am rewatching it with my partner because halfway through I found out, this is his favorite anime genre. Me being a noob is the reason we never realized. I described the stuff I was watching in a way that he couldnât recognize ⌠anyway I am happy that another season for this one is announced.
Anyway, I also watched another one Iâll have to rewatch with him: Solo Leveling. Just watched the first episode of the 2nd season and I really really like this one. Definitely have no problem rewatching that. Itâs a little less happy happy joy joy than Rimuru and a lot more blood and goreâŚ
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Well damn⌠David Lynch has died.
A genuinely unique artist who was fully committed to his vision (and he seemed like a nice guy as well).
Lost Highway has always been my favourite of his films. Mulholland Drive (which I think of as the companion film to L.H.) was the one of that pair which got all of the accolades, but Iâve often thought that this must partly be the critics realising retrospectively that theyâd been wrong about Lost Highway.
Maybe Iâll watch them this weekend.
I shall miss the sensation of being baffled-yet-mesmerised when watching a new David Lynch film.
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I mostly remember not getting Mulholland Drive.
And Dune. I didnât get Dune. I read it the first time after watching the David Lynch movie. But it was still awesome even when not getting it.
I do prefer the new Dune movies. But without Lynchâs movie would the new ones exist?
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Twin Peaks is a piece of media that changed the way I see the world and a constant reminder of the presence and immediacy of wonder in the world for me.
I havenât read a statement as touching as Kyle MacLachlanâs on Lynchâs passing since the one Christopher Lee had on Peter Cushing.
Lynchâs visions to me have always offered a comfort that existential terror is a common experience and when Iâve had it I havenât been alone in having had it.
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To be explicit here, the Winkieâs Diner scene in Mulholland Drive so exactly re-created the experience of terror and mortality I had during a bad trip that when I first put that DVD on at my house I had to stop it before that scene ended and leave the house.
David Lynch was a real one and Iâm glad his visions are around for folks to observe.
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1984 Dune isnât a perfect version of the book, but I love that itâs so weird. He made a WEIRD big budget film with the mysticism and dreams that are totally missing from the recent ones.
And Twin Peaks is incredible.
I saw a youtube vid explaining Mulholland Drive and it made me appreciate it so much more (spoilers) :
Basically dark-haired Rita isnât a human being, sheâs the concept of selling out and sleeping your way to the top to get ahead in Hollywood. Betty is new in Hollywood, but eventually becomes Rita by giving in to the corruption to gain the success. Itâs a lot deeper than that, with much more going on, but if you take that theory (which probably isnât the only one) then the whole movie becomes Lynch hating Hollywoodâs dark heart in every frame.
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+10 geek points for âMoon-Mouseâ.
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Lynch sometimes said in interviews regarding his more perplexing films that he felt they were open to interpretation even for him, and while he had his own interpretation of what it all meant, he didnât want to put that on record and stop anyone from having their own differing ideas.
I really like that I have my own concept of whatâs going on in Lost Highway and that David Lynch apparently would have considered my take as completely valid, even if it wasnât the same as his. We all get to have our own version of the film, based on our own experiences, and no one is wrong. The more I think about that, the more I appreciate it.
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Yes, he was very much a person who would never tell you what a movie ending meant (if heâd even decided himself).
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I havenât seen a lot of his movies, but did like (and semi understand) Mulholland Drive. And I do remember watching Twin Peaks back in the day - everyone did! I remember an Australian talk show host spoiling the ending, which I thought was a pretty shitty thing to do.
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