TheAlterBridgeNation.com

Really liked it. Could pick holes but really feel like I need to watch again without being so focused on the visuals. Think they should have cut it down a bit and one aspect I REALLY disliked (you can possibly guess what bit), but it was about as good as I'd hoped it would be (not a patch on the original but still a great modern sci fi).

Yeah. And I agree. Almost every shot was like looking at art.

Saw Black Panther last night! A Top 3 MCU movie easily!

Concur.

Black Panther was really entertaining. Kind of a stretch at times and culturally not super responsible, but, hey, it's Marvel. Just sit back, don't think too much, and enjoy.

I watched a documentary on Netflix last week called Icarus. The initial premise was a about a guy wanted to document himself using a course of performance enhancing drugs (steroids and EPO) and then competing in a bike race. To do this, the guy got hooked up with a Russian drug testing expert and then things got progressively crazier and crazier until they finally went completely off the rails. I sat there with my mouth agape for an hour and a half. If you want to see the incredible story why there are "Olympic Athletes From Russia" in PyeongChang right now and how dangerous it is to cross Putin and his allies, watch this movie. It was amazing.

Getting ready to film a b movie podcast. My contribution to the group is Roddy Piper's Hell Comes to Frogtown. Fun little flick.

I think the other guys are having a hard time finding a good one to review.

So, and I am not particularly proud of this, but I was on a plane and there was really nothing else interesting to watch and I was too tired to read and it was free, so I watched The Notebook for the first time.

That was it? I guess I don't get it. What was the big f'ing deal?

Watched Blade Runner 2049 last night. I didn't remember much from the original so I was kind of lost for much of it. That, plus all the actors walking or responding in slow motion for the whole movie, and seeing Jim every time K was on the screen, really made it drag out. The story made more sense when I wiki'd the original afterward, so wish I'd done that before. Beautifully filmed/CG'd though.

Just wanted to say I am SO incredibly happy for Sam Rockwell for winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar last night! He's been one of my favorite actors for years, since i saw him in Choke, and then Moon, and Seven Psychopaths, and Galaxy Quest, and anything else I've seen him in. He's fantastic, and I'm so glad he got his moment in the spotlight! Now I really need to see Three Billboards...

Also, Allison Janney and Frances McDormand!

TenaciousBe wrote:Just wanted to say I am SO incredibly happy for Sam Rockwell for winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar last night! He's been one of my favorite actors for years, since i saw him in Choke, and then Moon, and Seven Psychopaths, and Galaxy Quest, and anything else I've seen him in. He's fantastic, and I'm so glad he got his moment in the spotlight! Now I really need to see Three Billboards...

Also, Allison Janney and Frances McDormand!

Word! Still haven't seen 3 Billboards (some of the reaction to it lessened my enthusiasm, plus I'm lazy) but those two have been so consistently excellent.

And CJ is CJ, love her.

gbruin wrote:Watched Blade Runner 2049 last night. I didn't remember much from the original so I was kind of lost for much of it. That, plus all the actors walking or responding in slow motion for the whole movie, and seeing Jim every time K was on the screen, really made it drag out. The story made more sense when I wiki'd the original afterward, so wish I'd done that before. Beautifully filmed/CG'd though.

Oh man, I loved 2049. I never got much into the original BR but I liked how philosophical this one was with questions like the opening sequence, if Gosling's house AI unit really loved him or just told him what he wanted to hear, how he debaselined just from the notion that he was human, that giving them memories with real emotions attached might be enough to blur the line between what is genuine and what isn't because what is the difference at that point if our experiences are based on the same thing, etc. I also liked Jared Leto's monologue. And like you said, the cinematography was spectacular (really happy it won the Oscar for that) and the soundtrack was great.

I enjoyed Rockwell's performance in 3 Billboards, but I was a little surprised he won. I didn't find the character's transition in the last 3rd of the film to be all that believable - it seemed like a completely different person.

Most pointless movie I saw recently was The 15:17 to Paris. Knew I wasn't going to be into it but I went with friends. Hard to believe that Eastwood went from Gran Torino and the WW2 films to this.

How did you enjoy the philosophy of 2049, but not like the original? I liked 2049 fine, but the original had more underlying things to say IMO.

I'm not sure, I think it was the time it was shot in. Decker's boss is way too over the top for example, and the cyberpunk synth seems dated to me now, stuff like that. I like the movie from when the main 'bad' synth meets his creator forward but before that seems like a lot of filler to me. I've also never been too keen on the is Decker a replicant fan theories so that extra layer isn't really there for me.

Yeah. I'm not a fan of that theory either. I love how the new film didn't really touch it.

Interesting video related to the Blade Runner 2049 discussion if anyone fancies a watch.

One Drew Remains wrote:Yeah. I'm not a fan of that theory either. I love how the new film didn't really touch it.

It implied that Rachael and Deckard were created by Tyrell to screw and have a kid!

Ubik wrote:

One Drew Remains wrote:Yeah. I'm not a fan of that theory either. I love how the new film didn't really touch it.

It implied that Rachael and Deckard were created by Tyrell to screw and have a kid!

You're right in saying that certain things are implied, but as you know, ultimately there's no concrete answer. If anything, I think K's actions in 2049 show that the question of Deckard's humanity doesn't really matter.

Dan Dando wrote: You're right in saying that certain things are implied, but as you know, ultimately there's no concrete answer. If anything, I think K's actions in 2049 show that the question of Deckard's humanity doesn't really matter.

I think it does and it doesn't - for me one of the key things in the original film was the irony of empathy being the key test for rep-detection, alongside the blade runners simultaneously hunting down and killing ("retiring", dehumanisation all the way) them like vermin. Deckard's transition from this to his final recognition of Roy (and Rachael) as true people worthy of admiration and love mirrors his own recognition of himself as a replicant (as that's the inescapable conclusion, at least to Deckard, of the unicorn scene). One recurring theme in PKD's stuff is humans behaving inhumanely, with "inhumans" being more sympathetic. They really went down that path as well in 2049, with K being the straightforwardly sympathetic character and Wallace being a true monster.

I do wanna watch 2049 again though soon, it was a bit of an overwhelming experience in the cinema and I still don't think I've totally digested it yet

Ubik wrote:One recurring theme in PKD's stuff is humans behaving inhumanely, with "inhumans" being more sympathetic

That was one of the reasons I was so intrigued by K's house AI concerning whether or not she was genuine. It also made me wonder more about Luv because that goes against the theme but while I was thinking maybe she had a similar situation as K except she could be implanted with negative emotions, there wasn't much to base it on.

I watched Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri on TV the other day. I was really swept up by that story. I hadn't been that moved by a movie since Rudderless a few years ago.

And then it got to the end and it just stopped.

What the fuck? Seriously? You think that's art or something clever? I'm watching your movie for you to tell me a story and I expect you to come up with an ending. Have the nads to say something. If I have to imagine my own story I'll go write my own. I was an English major for long enough that I can do that.

That's crap. Utter nonsense. Ruined what was really an outstanding movie.