Rate the last movie you've seen

[MinionZombie]

Yeh, watched it too. Was a little disappointed that the doc didn't grill them more on WHY they believe that the earth is flat and was more interested in talking to these people as if they were celebrities, especially that old dear who was trying to look like she was 25. Could have done with far less of that, to be honest. On the whole, it was interesting enough, but these people clearly have deep seated beliefs that the programme didn't mine and I think they missed a trick on that. I mean, FFS, they have podcasts that number into the hundreds, so they must have more reasons behind their beliefs. Also, I wanted the programme to delve into why they think NASA/the government/the entire scientific community would lie about this and persist in lying, when there was no actual gain in it if, indeed, the earth was flat. Aye, I'd agree with that. I wanted at least a Cliff Notes version of the reasons why flat earthers believe it's flat versus the scientific proof of why that isn't the case. And yeah, I had that same question - what does this all-consuming conspiracy gain from 'covering up that the earth is flat' and 'perpetuating the globe theory'? At one point, IIRC, it's briefly touched upon but the answer was so vague and wooly it was barely an answer, just amounting to, essentially, supporting all the other conspiracies ... to which you'd ask, why would the other conspiracies require "flat earth" as a supporting foundation? The lack of logic and critical thinking is disturbing. There was a video a while ago where a flat earther was presented with the reality - the basic figures - of this all-consuming conspiracy theory, as in, how many people would have to be involved and how insanely unwieldy that would be, and he was left utterly speechless. Trying to find the video, but does anyone know the one I mean? Maybe it was part of a 'curb your meme' compilation. *edit* Found it:

[bassman]

Is that the Star Trek 5 remake? I’d watch that! Spock in silly levitation boots, for the win!

[JDP]

I wonder if Pink Floyd is in this vast conspiracy too... "Dark Side of the Moon".

[MinionZombie]

I wonder if Pink Floyd is in this vast conspiracy too... "Dark Side of the Moon". ^^^ I know!!! Hardly surprising considering that some of these flat earthers have said things like "we have supporters all over the globe" ... ... ...

[bassman]

That Curb Your Enthusiasm video is great! Hardly surprising considering that some of these flat earthers have said things like "we have supporters all over the globe" ... ... ... I think that very line is said in one of the main interviews of Behind the Curve?? I seem to remember it really being said in the doc, but perhaps I’m remembering wrong? While I’m only near the end of season two out of a total of five seasons, I’ve recently been chipping away at HBO’s The Wire. I’m really late to the party, but I know a lot of people credit the show as one of the all-time greats. I’m enjoying it so far, but as of now, I’m not sure it’s as amazing as it’s often made out to be? Anyone here have any thoughts on the series?

[shootemindehead]

Aye, I'd agree with that. I wanted at least a Cliff Notes version of the reasons why flat earthers believe it's flat versus the scientific proof of why that isn't the case. And yeah, I had that same question - what does this all-consuming conspiracy gain from 'covering up that the earth is flat' and 'perpetuating the globe theory'? At one point, IIRC, it's briefly touched upon but the answer was so vague and wooly it was barely an answer, just amounting to, essentially, supporting all the other conspiracies ... to which you'd ask, why would the other conspiracies require "flat earth" as a supporting foundation? The lack of logic and critical thinking is disturbing. There was a video a while ago where a flat earther was presented with the reality - the basic figures - of this all-consuming conspiracy theory, as in, how many people would have to be involved and how insanely unwieldy that would be, and he was left utterly speechless. Yeah, it's quite amazing just how much wilful ignorance is required to maintain such a belief, in the face of overwhelming contradictions and the idea that, literally, thousands and thousands of people around the world (if not millions across all the sciences) would have to be "in on it", for a long, long, period of time in order to achieve pulling the wool over the population's eyes on a continual basis. That's why I wanted the doc to, at least, question these people on things like sun rises and sun sets, etc. How do they think that happens? Is the sun a sphere or is that flat as well? What are stars? Why, if we fly high enough, can we SEE a curvature? I mean, we can view planets from our earth and witness shadows falling on them as they revolve around our sun. These shadows fall in a manner that suggests that these planets have a spherical shape to them. Unlike a lot of conspiracy theories, there's just nothing to be questioned here. There's not even any room for shades of doubt, once all things are considered. It's a truly astonishing level of medieval-style deduction. - - - Updated - - - While I’m only near the end of season two out of a total of five seasons, I’ve recently been chipping away at HBO’s The Wire. I’m really late to the party, but I know a lot of people credit the show as one of the all-time greats. I’m enjoying it so far, but as of now, I’m not sure it’s as amazing as it’s often made out to be? Anyone here have any thoughts on the series? It's amazingly over rated by its fans, for sure. But, I think the first series, second and the last are some great TV. I wasn't all that convinced by the Hamsterdam series or the one set in the school though. For its time, though, it pushed a lot of boundaries, character wise, which is why it stands in such high regard with a lot of folk. There are many, many, shades of grey going on and not a lot of other TV shows, or films, were willing to be that way with their characters. But, in its wake, such a thing has become relatively commonplace. So, I suppose people viewing it now may wonder what all the fuss is about. My fave character was Bubbles. It was great following his story throughout the show.

[bassman]

My fave character was Bubbles. It was great following his story throughout the show. Green Book Viggo Moternsen and Mahershala Ali Star as a musician and his hired driver, taking him on a tour of the Deep South during very tense racial times. As shown by the trailers, it’s a story about acceptance, not only acceptance, but also celebrating differences and how we can all learn wonderful things from those that are “different”. The world needs more people to treat each other in the way this film depicts the two heroes. One of those uplifting pieces that’ll have you skipping away afterwards. I finally saw it NEIL!... Free Solo Wow.....Neil wasn’t kidding about “edge of your seat”. That’s actually an understatement! I damn near went into cardiac arrest watching this doc! I’ve only been climbing once with a good friend, and even then I was actually only repelling, and almost had a nervous breakdown. Definitely not my thing...so this doc had me sweating! Amazing watch, everyone needs to check it out!

[MinionZombie]

With my fear of heights, I don't think Free Solo would be a good idea for me!

[shootemindehead]

[bassman]

You’d said that you enjoyed the character, Bubbles in The Wire. Which, BTW, is indeed a great character! Bubbles also happens to be that character’s name in the comedy series, Trailer Park Boys. Very funny show, I highly recommend giving it a shot, though I could see how it’s style might put some people off...

[shootemindehead]

Ah ok. Never seen 'Trailer Park Boys'.

[MinionZombie]

I've just started watching Formula 1: Drive To Survive on Netflix. I thought it was going to be a documentary film, but it's a whole 10 episode series (each ep generally 30-40 minutes). Done two episodes so far and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Over the last several years I've gone from barely knowing anything about F1 to being a big fan of the sport, so this exploration of the 2018 season is great to see. Each episode has a theme, or focuses on certain events and characters (drivers, team members, family), and while I can see them setting up certain expectations and I know the outcome of those expectations, it's fascinating to see the stuff that doesn't get broadcast. It's quite an intimate look inside the F1 circus and helps give the viewer an even deeper appreciation of the sport. Future World *Neil mode on* Oh dear... *Neil mode off* Seriously. It's fucking dreadful. It looked bad from the trailers, but the movie itself is even worse. It plays out like a teen boy's grab bag pick of apocalypse movie cliches and tropes, cherry-picking stuff from all over the place, with the most generic 'cause of the apocalypse' intro ever (mankind creates humanoid robots, so this for some reason means we all go to war and blow everything up). The characters are introduced in a fairly shoddy manner, the world they live in likewise, so you never really know where you are or why to care about anything, you're just adrift amidst all the incessantly floated camerawork that makes the movie look like Terrence Malick directed a (very) poor man's version of Mad Max. Speaking of, the budget seems quite low, as all these people living in this world seem to just hang out in random derelict structures - no glass, no doors, half the wall panels are missing, half the roof missing in all ... yeah, right, nobody would live as exposed as that. It's just laughable. You don't care about any of the characters, it lurches about from random set piece to random set piece (with lots of clunky, waffly direlogue turfed in between), and boy ... ... what a waste of time.

[bassman]

Godzilla (2014) I went into further detail in the new franchise’s dedicated thread, so I’ll just say that I enjoyed it less than when I first saw it. Good start, good finale, horrible middle section. Hoping they’ve learned from their mistakes for the new one! Paradise Lost Trilogy (documentary series) I’d seen these all before, but they popped up on HBO again and I really enjoyed them, so I watched for a second time. Details the events following the murder of three eight year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas in 1993, the court case, and incarceration of three teenage boys now known as “The West Memphis Three”. This doc series is highly regarded, often making many “best documentary” lists, and it does so for very good reason. If there are any documentary lovers that haven’t seen this series, you should remedy that immediately. Amazingly good docs! Just be warned that they do feature crime scene videos/photos, some of which are quite graphic, showing the corpses and wounds of the three slain boys. It’s really tough to see those kinds of things of course, but it serves it’s purpose in the doc appropriately. Watch those, for sure. One of the best docs/series of all time.

[MinionZombie]

Filmworker A fascinating documentary about Leon Vitali - usually credited as "Assistant to Stanley Kubrick" from The Shining onwards (he also starred in Barry Lyndon in a role that became key). However, his job grew far beyond what anyone would consider an "assistant". He was Kubrick's right hand man and gained a huge wealth of knowledge in filmmaking. Amazingly, just as his successful acting career was really taking off (with Barry Lyndon), he abandoned it in favour of working with Kubrick behind the scenes. He was vital in casting (and coaching on set) Danny in The Shining and a whole screed of other tasks that absolute boggles the mind. How on earth he found time to have a family with the amount of stuff he had on his plate is beyond me and, indeed, you can see every ounce of stress and strain the role put upon him written across his face, and yet his love and admiration for Kubrick continues to burn bright (it seems that Kubrick really only trusted Vitali to get all this stuff done, albeit without really expressing it properly). It's revealing, at times heart breaking, but also utterly fascinating. Highly recommended viewing for any fans of either Kubrick's films or filmmaking in general. After Life Ricky Gervais' new comedy drama (it's on Netflix). He plays a widower struggling to get over the death of his beloved wife to cancer. At times it's a real tear jerker, trawling up deeply emotional stuff (indeed, the show's been getting a lot of love from grieving husbands and wives on social media), but then it can also pretty deftly turn and have you guffawing. If you liked "Derek" (his previous series) then you should like this, although "Derek" skewed more towards comedy than After Life does (which skews more towards drama). It's only six episodes (25 to 30 minutes each), so I bashed it out one day last week and thoroughly enjoyed watching it. Unsane Steven Soderbergh's 'iPhone movie' (as in, they shot it on - somewhat modified - iPhones). Claire Foy (The Crown) and Joshua Leonard (The Blair Witch Project) star in it along with a couple of other familiar faces and one big name cameo role. It's a psychological horror/thriller/drama type of flick, and if you've got any kind of fear of institutions and Kafkaesque notions of being wrongly locked up, this'll surely get you sitting uneasily. It took me a while to get around to watching it on the DVR, but I'm glad that I did. It's not without flaws as some of the dialogue and even delivery is a bit iffy, but then again it does lean into the vibe that you're not entirely sure what is and isn't true, what is coincidence and what is conspiracy, what to trust and what to distrust. The iPhone aesthetic does play into the paranoid feeling of the film as well, but visually it's kind of a help and a hindrance at the same time. It certainly gave it more of a unique selling point than if it had been shot traditionally. A solid flick. Speaking of Soderbergh, a little while ago I rewatched Haywire, the movie that was kind of tailor made for Gina Carrano. I enjoyed it the first time around, although it sort of drifted out of my mind somewhat, so I wanted to give it another bash and I enjoyed it more the second time around. Just goes to show that this is the sort of thing you should be doing to get more female action stars on screen in lead roles - create a new role for them that plays to their strengths, not sloppily pull a switcheroo on an established character (a move which is disrespectful to basically everyone - actores, audiences, the characters, and their creators). Cool, too, because you know Carrano is capable of the fight stuff, and you totally believe she could be this awesome undercover agent type. Not a jot of posturing in it, either, it's all about ability and being believable. It would have been cool to get a sequel.

[EvilNed]

The music for Haywire is great. And some of the stuff the composer has done previously is good. I think his name is David Holmes. A lot of it works well on me.