What are you watching, listening to, and reading? thread

[Mr. Impossible 409]

On 2/19/2023 at 11:07 PM, z,warrior said:

Finished latest ep of Last of Us... I'm just saying, if Im watching a zombie show, I expect to see some fucking zombies

 

Lol like how many times can you watch people running from swarms of mindless monsters with no character? 

[z,warrior 155]

14 hours ago, Mr. Impossible said:

 

Lol like how many times can you watch people running from swarms of mindless monsters with no character? 

I good zombie show/movie would make that a priority and be good at it. I remember when 28 days later had just come out and that was one of the first, if not the first, time showing zombies run instead of slow walking. It was epic at the time. Or that episode in the Walking Dead when the missing girl they've been looking for turns out to be a zombie in a horde coming out of a barn.

 

Now zombie shows and movies have ran out of ideas of what to do with their zombies. 

[Mr. Impossible 409]

9 hours ago, z,warrior said:

I good zombie show/movie would make that a priority and be good at it. I remember when 28 days later had just come out and that was one of the first, if not the first, time showing zombies run instead of slow walking. It was epic at the time. Or that episode in the Walking Dead when the missing girl they've been looking for turns out to be a zombie in a horde coming out of a barn.

 

Now zombie shows and movies have ran out of ideas of what to do with their zombies. 

 

This take on zombies is different and interesting. It also avoids a lot of the tropes of zombie movie while also adopting some of the more interesting elements like fast zombies and mutated ones. However, zombies always have one motivation, to eat people. More zombie encounters means more of what is bad about zombie movies, plot armor. The biggest downfall of the genre is making zombies a super threat to every non-main character where they can literally tear an extra apart in two seconds but can also be knocked over with a limp balloon by the star. They are using the zombies effectively, they seem to have some interesting in world rules to the zombies. I think it's biggest strengths is showing a grounded world set in this fucking nightmare scenario.

 

28 Days Later is in this unique position because they redefined the genre. Fast zombies arent new anymore. Hate viruses aren't new anymore. Hell, talking zombies isn't new anymore. Besides, how many ways can you show people running away from zombies? 

 

If I have to make a complaint, I feel they are kind of rushing through the story. I havent played more than an hour of the game, so not sure how much material they are running through, but I wouldn't have minded some more time with some characters. I love that there isn't much padding in the show, it's very efficient in giving a lot of narrative in a short amount of time. Which is evident by the post show reactions to episodes that are mostly self contained outside of Joel and Ellie.

Edited February 25, 2023 by Mr. Impossible

[-GD-X★ 7,739]

I’m watching Red Rose. On ep 3. It’s like good and bad. It’s hard to explain. But it’s super entertaining. 

[-GD-X★ 7,739]

I loved tonight’s TLOU, mainly because it explored one of my favorite subplots. The creators nailed the feel and the emotion. It was a love letter to the fans of the games, however, I wonder if it had the same effect on those who’ve never played the series. 

[Twinblade★ 3,921]

22 minutes ago, -GD-X said:

I loved tonight’s TLOU, mainly because it explored one of my favorite subplots. The creators nailed the feel and the emotion. It was a love letter to the fans of the games, however, I wonder if it had the same effect on those who’ve never played the series. 

 

I never actually played the Left Behind DLC so the ep was new to me.

[Tears of the Cows 1,209]

Worst episode so far for me. Boring af. Really impressed with Bella Ramsay’s acting though. 

Edited February 27, 2023 by Jerrys Hair Line

[Tears of the Cows 1,209]

Just watched M3GAN lol I thought this movie was about Megan the stallion lmfao. Anyway very cheesy but I think that’s what they were going for. Decent movie 

[-GD-X★ 7,739]

11 hours ago, Jerrys Hair Line said:

Worst episode so far for me. Boring af. Really impressed with Bella Ramsay’s acting though. 

You’ll love the final 3 eps of season 1. The story gets intense. 

[jehurey 3,230]

Watched The Fabelmans, since it was getting some award buzz.

 

I already knew that it was a movie based on the childhood of Steven Spielberg, and so my main thought was "what exactly is so interesting about Speilberg's upbringing?"

 

To be honest, for the first half of the movie, it was actually quite engaging. His family is very quirky and they have their own big personalities. And he's discovering how to film basic things. And he's getting better, and things from his life at home inspire him to learn new film tricks. And its all really clever stuff, because you really do feel like this is something a young, smart Steven Spielberg would've done when making his home movies.

 

The latter half gets really disjointed. It feels like scenes from a Marty Scorcese movie, except Marty Scorcese uses narrators to help you understand what the scene is for. If you took away the narration in Goodfellas and Casino, the movie would feel disjointed.

 

The interesting thing is, it leads to believe that these scenes are pretty close to 100% true, because he's filming his most important memories from when he was a teenager. It almost wants to be more of semi-documentary.

 

The last scene is so hilarious and out of left field, that is has to be true.

[Tears of the Cows 1,209]

8 hours ago, -GD-X said:

You’ll love the final 3 eps of season 1. The story gets intense. 

Yeah next week looked pretty good

[-GD-X★ 7,739]

1 hour ago, Jerrys Hair Line said:

Yeah next week looked pretty good

And it’ll just continue to ramp up

[kaz 2,439]

 

 

 

[Angelfish 93]

I want to see Cocaine Bear.  Does that make me a bad person?

[-GD-X★ 7,739]

17 minutes ago, Angelfish said:

I want to see Cocaine Bear.  Does that make me a bad person?

nah, i heard it's a fun, campy flick.

[Ike★ 2,908]

Cocaine Bear looks and sounds awesome. Been too long since we’ve been treated to a genuinely funny R-rated comedy. 

[jehurey 3,230]

7 hours ago, Ike said:

Cocaine Bear looks and sounds awesome. Been too long since we’ve been treated to a genuinely funny R-rated comedy. 

saw it in conjuction to my favorite sports talks radio show having a monthly movie night.

 

so it was fun, because the local Alamo Drafthouse puts a whole bunch of vintage 80's anti-cocaine advertisements that actually aired back then.

 

The final 20 minutes really does drag, like they sorta don't know how to end the movie. The middle part is easily the funnest part.

[madmaltese★ 2,566]

White Lotus S1 was excellent. 

Started S2 now. 

[Ike★ 2,908]

3 hours ago, madmaltese said:

White Lotus S1 was excellent. 

Started S2 now. 

Both are different but so good. I like the setting of S2 more. The Italian coast was fucking gorgeous.

[jehurey 3,230]

Caught up all the way to Episode 7 of TLOU, with me playing the game's level before watching the show.

 

I have to say that it really has amplified the experience, and I get to see exactly what the show copied directly from the game, and whether or not they improved on it.

 

I must say, as the episodes progress further and further, the tv show is starting to rely on the game really closely.

 

And I figured that, in the hands of real dramatic writers, they'd be able to improve it, and make the themes deeper, and the performances more heavy. So, in a way, I am slightly disappointed.

 

Anna Torv as Tess seemed to have fleshed out her character at the beginning of the show, and by proxy, she made Joel more complex.

 

Back in 2013, even though I thought the game was successful at what they were trying to accomplish, I always felt annoyed at the praise it was getting like as if it was some super-heavy and deep drama. It felt like an amateurish attempt at a cable-tv drama.

 

Also, jeezus christ. I remember telling myself all those years ago, that even thought New Game + was tempting because I loved upgrading all of those weapons, I didn't want to play the game anymore, because its just too damn depressing. Seeing all of that graphical work go into very depressing-looking old homes and bedrooms. And these scenes are always occurring right around sunset, so the lighting is also depressing.

 

These next two episodes are really gonna be important. Because everything that happens, from this point forward, in the VIDEO GAME.........I have trouble with its believability.