I am half way through Legion ... which isn't on Netflix ... or TV ... so I am renting it on disc from Cinema Paradiso.
One disk = 4 episodes = half of season 1.
Yes, I am stalling. I don't know what to say about it. I don't know if I like it or not. It is weird. But good weird, or bad weird?
I'm still left guessing that the main guy (from Downton Abbey) is going to be called Legion at some point? I don't think I have heard the word uttered once yet. Which is odd. Half way through the season and the title doesn't actually mean anything, yet?
I could look it up. But then I would probably find spoilers and I would rather have some surprises / suspense to look forward to.
The atmosphere is good. There is intrigue. But the few action sequences, so far, have been a bit rubbish.
So I don't know where we are going here. Will the early promise fizzle out like a dud firework... or explode just after you though it was done?
I will watch the second disk. With some apprehension. And fingers crossed for a big finish.
Wednesday 29 November 2017
Saturday 18 November 2017
Suicide Squad is good
I heard it again yesterday from a critic reviewing Justice League. Blah blah blah "and the derisable Suicide Squad" blah blah blah.
Lazy, lazy, lazy. Some people still think it is cool to slam SS. It won an Oscar? Oh woe; the world is ending; this is as bad as Trump winning president.
Get over yourself, or fuck off back to Twitter where no-one is listening.
DC has many problems with its films. Primarily because there are many good Marvel films and they are trying to catch up... without looking like they are copying someone else's homework.
DC fans are different from Marvel fans. I think Suicide Squad is the most Marvel-like film that DC have done... which is a problem? I don't get it.
Marvel's "secret" is simple. It's a balance between light and dark, humour and action. All the DC films barring Suicide Squad have got that terribly wrong (with the exception of The Dark Knight, which can carry the excessive darkness by playing two differently dark characters, Batman and Joker, against each other).
I think there is another factor which whipped up the anti-SS feelings in the echo chambers of social media. Sex. The character Harley Quinn is overtly sexual and that is a problem for critics. Female critics have to decide if the film is exploiting women and using the character primarily as a sex object. Male critics have to do the same... but if they "get it wrong" then they are going to be lambasted as sexist pigs.
If the critics want to play safe then they can just pan the film for anything else they can think of and dodge the sex issue entirely. That's what a lot of them did. They did the same with Sucker Punch, which was so sexy (a major point of the film) that I could almost see the cold sweats on the male critics as they thought "I can't possibly give this a good review without being crucified by every woman I know".
And social media is inherently negative. You only have to look on Twitter for a few seconds to see that. People love to get their teeth into slagging something off. Take a few genuine fans who have legitimate gripes about how the source material has been translated, some critics desperate to not mention sex, press a few buttons and you have a meme that Suicide Squad is the worst film ever made.
Suicide Squad is not a terrible film. It's not even a bad film. I have seen a lot of terrible films and even more bad films. On balance, based on the film itself and not what other people say about it, I think it is actually quite good.
Lazy, lazy, lazy. Some people still think it is cool to slam SS. It won an Oscar? Oh woe; the world is ending; this is as bad as Trump winning president.
Get over yourself, or fuck off back to Twitter where no-one is listening.
DC has many problems with its films. Primarily because there are many good Marvel films and they are trying to catch up... without looking like they are copying someone else's homework.
DC fans are different from Marvel fans. I think Suicide Squad is the most Marvel-like film that DC have done... which is a problem? I don't get it.
Marvel's "secret" is simple. It's a balance between light and dark, humour and action. All the DC films barring Suicide Squad have got that terribly wrong (with the exception of The Dark Knight, which can carry the excessive darkness by playing two differently dark characters, Batman and Joker, against each other).
I think there is another factor which whipped up the anti-SS feelings in the echo chambers of social media. Sex. The character Harley Quinn is overtly sexual and that is a problem for critics. Female critics have to decide if the film is exploiting women and using the character primarily as a sex object. Male critics have to do the same... but if they "get it wrong" then they are going to be lambasted as sexist pigs.
If the critics want to play safe then they can just pan the film for anything else they can think of and dodge the sex issue entirely. That's what a lot of them did. They did the same with Sucker Punch, which was so sexy (a major point of the film) that I could almost see the cold sweats on the male critics as they thought "I can't possibly give this a good review without being crucified by every woman I know".
And social media is inherently negative. You only have to look on Twitter for a few seconds to see that. People love to get their teeth into slagging something off. Take a few genuine fans who have legitimate gripes about how the source material has been translated, some critics desperate to not mention sex, press a few buttons and you have a meme that Suicide Squad is the worst film ever made.
Suicide Squad is not a terrible film. It's not even a bad film. I have seen a lot of terrible films and even more bad films. On balance, based on the film itself and not what other people say about it, I think it is actually quite good.
Saturday 11 November 2017
Stranger - season 1
I really hope that there are more seasons of Stranger, because I really enjoyed it.
Probably the best TV detective drama I have seen since The Bridge. And it reminded me a lot of The Bridge at times, since it has a socially detached main character who teams up with his "opposite" to solve the crimes.
The plot is clever, with suspicion switching from character to character and back again. And the acting is great; particularly from the leads.
One thing I like about foreign language detective dramas is that you cannot look away for a second, otherwise you might miss something important. That makes the whole experience very immersive. And also you notice things that you might not if it were in English - the cultural details of Korean society were there to see - all that bowing and apologising.
The episodes (16 of them) are quite long too, which also drags you in. I think most of the episodes were just over an hour long, and the finale was nearly 90 minutes.
The last 20 minutes of the finale sets us up nicely for a second season. So let's hope that we don't have to wait too long for it.
Probably the best TV detective drama I have seen since The Bridge. And it reminded me a lot of The Bridge at times, since it has a socially detached main character who teams up with his "opposite" to solve the crimes.
The plot is clever, with suspicion switching from character to character and back again. And the acting is great; particularly from the leads.
One thing I like about foreign language detective dramas is that you cannot look away for a second, otherwise you might miss something important. That makes the whole experience very immersive. And also you notice things that you might not if it were in English - the cultural details of Korean society were there to see - all that bowing and apologising.
The episodes (16 of them) are quite long too, which also drags you in. I think most of the episodes were just over an hour long, and the finale was nearly 90 minutes.
The last 20 minutes of the finale sets us up nicely for a second season. So let's hope that we don't have to wait too long for it.
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