Finished Ergo Proxy, that didn't work. Then I watched Serial Experiments Lain. Ehm, it didn't live up to the promise of the initial episodes either.

Genejoke wrote:
Black mirror. Why did no one tell me how good that show is?

I'm just getting into season 3 now. I think Episode 3 of Season 2 is an amazingly accurate premonition of the current American election cycle.

Jeremy Ray wrote:
Finished Ergo Proxy, that didn't work. Then I watched Serial Experiments Lain. Ehm, it didn't live up to the promise of the initial episodes either.

Lain was a real disappointment!

Speaking if disappointments, the anime Overlord has turned out to be lame.
It seemed to be a cool take on the trapped in a MMORPG genre, where instead of being an adventurer the player is the evil overlord.
But it's turned out to be trope after trope, cliche, after cliche, with nothing very much happening in each episode.

It's one of those cheaply made shows where they intersperse it with 3D models and have very long cuts of characters posturing before a fight- blah blah blah “Who ARE you?” blah blah “Do you really think you can beat ME?” blah blah…

So lame. Could have been SO much better.

Funny you say that about Overlord because it does all the same things Log Horizon did with the character working to build a political system (and a basically good person working within the confines of an evil character) and the intricate combat system with all the buffs and spell layering.

Did you see the OVAs? they were even worse with the tropes but were wonderfully silly. And there will be another season coming as after the first arc the whole thing supposedly got turned on its head in the manga.

So I watched the rest of .hack: Sign and it was exactly the cheap type of mid 2000's anime with lots of long shots and talking heads. And it goes on and on. It's 24+ episodes and it could easily have been done in 12, and been much better. It is the only full series in the .hack franchise the rest being OVA short series. Seems they learned their lesson.

SAO so far is the only one that really goes into the effects on people of such immersion in a game. And how people can lose themselves or find themselves through the game and even suffer from PTSD. And again it's refreshing to see the usual crushes of multiple girls on one guy, but he doesn't interact because he's in a committed relationship rather then being clueless.

And I've started making my way through ST:Voyager They were really struggling there. At times it's so awful and the technobabble is really weak. The bookScience of Star Trek singles it out for the worst science of all the series. And the Khazon? Bargain basement Klingons with bad haircuts.

moizmad wrote:
ANTHROPOID - Cillian Murphy, Jamie Dornan, Toby Jones. The Czech resistance assassination of Hitler's #3 man, Reinhard Heydrich, the Butcher of Prague.
Very well done and closely recreates those events. I think I'm going to watch it again!

Just saw it. Very nice, very accurate. Like that, you have to see the Russian film “Come and See” about the villagers in Belarus during World War II and the SS einsatzgruppen.

Hmm, Log Horizon did so much more… Overlord acts as if it might do more, but never does. I will have to look for the OAVs!

——–

Just watched the 2013 version of The Great Gatsby by Baz Luhrmann.
Typical Baz film in every way, which was a bad thing here because you're just watching a story in his style and not the story itself.
The music was not great. Modern stuff is just so irrelevant to the story and the era, it adds nothing, only taking away- taking out OUT of the story and the era.

Overall his typical style gave the film a dream-like quality; a fantasy.
This harmed the story because Nick Carraway, the poor observer, was fully a PART of the fantasy, as were the poor mechanic and his unfaithful wife. There was NO ONE who was grounded in any sort of reality to contrast with the fantasy that Gatsby surrounded himself with.
The whole thing was like a Broadway stage play, not a film. With everything looking more cartoony and hyper reality than a usual Luhrman movie. Obvious CGI and obvious sets.

The costumes too were not great. Just a touch too hipster.

Overall it was a fan fantasy film with a tragic end, but the treatment made the story seem extremely shallow.

I was reading an anime site that castigated Log Horizon for unoriginal characters and design. I had no clue what they were talking about until I saw the two .hack CGI movies and the animated ova. And there he was a character nearly identical to the one in Log Horizon and being an “evil” genius. It was an obvious homage down to that strange scarf collar. But then such obvious homage are a trope in anime.

And now I started watching the 1973 incarnation of Cutey Honey. All the ecchi tropes and tons of playful nudity in an anime that looks like Speed Racer. Shin Cutey Honey (aka Go Nagai's Cutey Honey) 20 years later was very similar but more explicit adding in nipples. Two live action movies and a live action series and several 1/6 scale action figures. Just doesn't stop.

And that doesn't include the Cutey Honey Flash which was a pure magical girl version of the storyline that replaced Sailor Moon when it finished it's original run.

Just watched the 2013 version of The Great Gatsby by Baz Luhrmann.

Do you realize this was the fifth try at bringing the book to the screen? And from what I've read the least satisfying. The first was a silent film with a screenplay by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The second played up Gatsby as a bootlegger and gangster. The third was the Robert Redford romance, the fourth a faithful A&E adaptation and then this flashy but lackluster adaptation. Each was done almost 20 years from the last. Make a great paper for a film class in how succeeding generations have reinterpreted the same work.

I think I'd prefer the A&E version.
The Redford one was too much of its time, with bad costumes. Havent seen the rest.

I watched all of Steven Universe- great show. Undermines a lot of gender tropes and styles and things which has the effect of making it really refreshing and interesting.

Still going through Adventure Time - it's a good cartoon. Love the quirkiness.

Going through Shimonta: A Boring World Where Dirty Jokes Don't Exist - it's so good. The premise is unusual…
It's a take on Fahrenheit 451, except it's porn that's banned, also thinking dirty thoughts, saying rude words etc.
Various “terrorist” groups try and undermine the ban and it's funny to see how they do it…
It's also interesting to see what repressing sexuality in culture does to people, especially horny teens.
The structure of the show though is a standard harem ecchi in every way unfortunately. But the premise is really cool.

Dr. Who

Star Trek:Beyond. Amazing how they worked in the images of the original series crew and references to both ST:Voyager and ST:Enterprise. Almost makes up for the usual confusion of fast paced action that marks all three of the reboot franchise so far.

And of course this Kirk got his own -A enterprise. :-D

Star Trek Beyond was good! I enjoyed the first “rebooted” Trek, not the second one so much - this one felt more like Trek than the others. Sad that Anton Yelchin is no longer with us!

I'm watching The Walking Dead. Finally. At about season 4 and I'm still loving it so far!

Also, Rick and Morty, which is hysterical (and surprisingly moving at times!)

Rick and Morty is fantastic.

I finished all of Adventure time. Great series. It's weird because it's all done in such a childish style, but the themes are often pretty adult. They only used to show it here on TV at about might here, so that clued me in that it might not be as kidish as it looks.
But I didn't get into it till being sick in bed in Cambodia that time…

I'm going through The Regular Show right now. It's good. Very retro 80s.

Hopefully I'll get into a live action show soon!!!!

Actually it's this with Douglas Adams:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZG8HBuDjgc&t=4636s
Very intelligent comment on the earth, evolution, life, diversity, and conservation.

With some very funny anecdotes! Especially about the Australian snake vennon expert.

* the grand tour. i love cars and that trio, clarkson, may, hammond are damn funny as i like…
* the big bang theory. it s enough funny to watch, but the best part it's gone in the first 4 season.
* modern family. after 9 season it's nomore fresh like it was, but it's one of the best imho.

i tryed to watch also ash vs evil dead but it doesnt take me, and lost it after 4 or 5 episodes.

dropped the walking dead. ive spent too much time on that trashy pathetic dramah fail sitcom. enough it's enough.

I just watched “The Lure” (Córki dancingu), a Polish film directed by Agnieszka Smoczynska. It's sort of like a cross between “Liquid Sky” and “The Wiz”. Favorite movie of the year so far!

I finished watching The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story over the last two days. This was a trial that spanned most of my elementary school years and I recall watching the white Ford Bronco highway chase on tv and then hearing the verdict announced on the school's speakers. Back then, I never would have imagined that I would have moved right next to Brentwood ten years later.

It also gave me a lot of school pride as several of the key players involved in the case graduated from my alma mater. Watch the series if you feel like slipping back twenty years and reliving that part of the 90s one more time.

That was a strange time back in the ‘90s. A very weird time.
Speaking of wanting to relive the past- I think I’m going to by a complete series of Miami vice. :)

I've been watching The Regular show, all the episodes. I like it :)



An anime I really like at the moment is Saga of Tanya The Evil.
I really love it. It's part of a recent crop of anime that are set in an alternate Germany in the early 20th century, like Izetta the last which or ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept (that's more Japan mixed with Germany though).
Tanya the evil is quirky:
A bastard middle manager Japanese salaryman who joys in firing people and looking down on his underlings, is pushed into a train and killed by one of the underlings he fired. But before he dies, god speaks to him…

He's such a bastard that he denies the divine being speaking to him so he's reborn into an alternate world of the 1900s in Germany during WW1, as a girl… So he can learn his lesson and be forced to recognise god. But he/she STILL won't :D

It's quirky and weird, I love it.

Finished watching “Me Before You”. Now my eyes are puffy because it was really good and I loved it!

I highly recommend the film.

Now that I'm not doing a webcomic I've been catching up on movies and shows, and trying to make it through two novels a week (this week was Larry Niven's ‘Crashlander’ and Iain M. Banks' ‘Use of Weapons,’ both varying degrees of dreck). I did however finally get around to binge watching the History Channel's ‘Vikings’ dramatic series and it's a phenomenal show. It's nowhere near as gaudy or lurid as ‘Game of Thrones,’ but it manages on its smaller scale to weave a gripping tale of greed, conquest, love, and betrayal, all set against a strikingly believable historical setting. It gets pretty intense at times. I usually only watch television passively; I'll go up to my office and have the TV on while I'm working on something else at the computer. But with this show, more than once I'd realize that I'd been standing – not sitting, standing – in front of the TV for an hour straight, just gawking. Still just finishing the first season. Maybe it loses steam later on, but it's been amazing up to this point.

Last night I watched “Whiteout” with Kate Beckinsale and Tom Skerrit. Not too bad I must say. Supposed to be in Antarctica where Kate must investigate a few murders. Actually filmed in northern Manitoba and Quebec.

@El Cid - yup; Vikings is great.

I've taken a wee break from binging and have been watching some new shows:
Legion Amazing to think that's Matthew Crawley starring as a Marvel anomaly–his American accent isn't too bad (but I miss the British purr)> Some trippy cinematography does a nice job of supporting the chaotic storyline.

and the next three all air at the same time here (meh),so I watch
The Feud Bette and Joan at airing. My favorite part is actually the animated opening credits, but I find it wild to see how much Susan Sarandan resembles Bette. It walks a thin line with its suffrage theme, but the acting is spot on.

Then so far I've been able to stream the other two later in the week: Big Little Lies might be the best story telling, keeping a good pace with flashbacks and reveals. Again, solid cast, and I love seeing the homes of the Californian rich and that Monterrey coast. Last, there's The Good Fight (spinoff from The Good Wife, which I didn't watch for the longest time because I thought it was some kind of Tammy Wynette tribute -it's not-) because Christine Baranski (I love her) and the writing is brisk.

Sounds like some good shows.

I watch the live action Speed Racer film the other day. John Goodman as great as the dad, Racer X was fantastic, Roger Allam was a great villain.

I didn't really capture the feeling of the original animated series though unfortunately. The visuals made it look like a videogame, I don't know why they chose that effect. If you're going to hyper-stylise something then why not go for an effect that makes it look closer to the funky, flat, primary coloured original?

The setting was odd too: very futuristic with a little superficial veneer of 1960s aesthetic. Should have gone for 100% 1960s futurism instead, it would have been funkier and more fitting.

All in all it never quite worked. It wasn't bad, but it could have been really cool.

Exposed with Keanu Reeves and Mira Sorvino. A young woman has a weird experience in a subway station. She starts seeing angels and is suddenly preggers even tho her bf has been in Iraq for a year. Keanu is a detective and his partner has just been killed. He thinks the 2 events might be connected. Not a bad watch, 3 out of 5.

and in the same vein…make sure to watch ‘A Touch of Evil’ directed by and starring Orson Welles….interesting casting as well…

URGE with Pierce Brosnan, made it half way I guess and it got the kybosh! Maybe it got better in second half but couldn't take it any longer, a 0 rating.

COME AND FIND ME, sorry didn't know anyone in cast. Woman disappears without a trace and bf goes looking for her. He slowly finds strange clues indicating she wasn't who she said she was. Bad guys trash his house looking for a flash drive with something very important on it. He finds it but I was totally at a loss to what was so important on it. Left me dumbfounded. Filmed around my home town Vancouver. A 3 out of 5.

Space Pirate Captain Harlock. (2013) the CGI/ motion capture Toei animation reboot. Wasn't bad. Lots of action and the dubbing was pretty seamless.

My War (2016) Chinese nationalistic war movie about their participation in the Korean War. About time to see this story told through enemy eyes. And the story is very touching and it doesn't end happily. If you've read about the Forgotten war you may even recognize some of the incidents depicted here.

TRESPASS AGAINST US. Michael Fassbender, Brendan Gleeson, Sean Harris, and young lad Georgie something (who was very good). Michael lives with his wife and 2 kids in a trailer camp run by his father Brendan. They are all thieves but Michael wants out of the life. Problem is he doesn't know anything else. Does Sean Harris ever get some glamorous roles eh? Pretty good tale, getting a big 3 of 5.

Iron Fist. That's what I've been watching lately.