I Have Just Seen... VII -

Phylum · #**361** 05-05-2014, 09:19 PM

I watched about 10 minutes and then contemplated suicide. How did I ever enjoy that, even if I was 5?

Holy Sock · #**362** 05-06-2014, 07:19 AM

:

This is increasingly becoming a problem in almost all fiction, and I'm kind of sick of it. One of the more blatant ones that sticks out in my mind are the Game of Thrones books. He kills off an absurd amount of important characters (this is fine. It's war. People die in wars), but if you don't explicitly see the death happen, or if it stops short of showing the body after death, it's almost guaranteed that this person is either still alive, or is coming back by magical means. See Jon Snow, Tyrion, Stannis, and Bran, just to name a few.

A couple of those were fake outs or wounds that are written in a way that belies their seriousness Bran, Arya, Asha, Tyrion (I guess) Davos... - Some are handled a little better than others Davos for example but the literary merit of those is up for debate really...

But I'm not too bothered about ACTUAL resurrections since, in this world, they seem to fundamentally change a character - for the worse. So I don't think Catelyn's resurrection feels cheap and I look forward to Jon's inevitable resurrection and how it dramatically changes the character. It seems to be an interesting way to handle resurrections than most of the fiction I've consumed.

OANST · #**363** 05-06-2014, 07:35 AM

Yes, but don't you think that it being obvious that Jon will be resurrected is kind of a literary device problem? Also, I purposely left out Cat because the way she was killed was pretty definitive. You really don't expect her to return.

Holy Sock · #**364** 05-06-2014, 08:01 AM

Not necessarily, because the prologue seems to be there to establish that his death wasn't definitive rather than GRRM's simple use of the trope creating all this doubt and speculation. It's purpose being that it explains, in depth, the experience of wargs after death which seems to very much relate to Jon's final chapter. If the prologue wasn't there I'd probably move more towards your opinion on the matter.

I mean I think GRRM can still kill off a POV character without his use of the "fake-out" trope being a problem as with saw with Quentyn's final chapter. Although the character didn't actually die from the wounds until the next chapter I don't think there was any doubt in the readers mind to his fate when they finished the chapter before.

But I do think there's a limit to these "fake outs".

OANST · #**365** 05-06-2014, 09:51 AM

I still find it difficult to believe that The Hound is dead. No body, in my mind, means that he's still alive.

Holy Sock · #**366** 05-06-2014, 11:32 AM

:

I still find it difficult to believe that The Hound is dead. No body, in my mind, means that he's still alive.

Ha, well you seem to be right there. It's very heavily implied that he's the gravedigger Brienne sees in A Feast for Crows doing his penance for those monks.

Phylum · #**367** 05-06-2014, 06:35 PM

Anyone else watching Orphan Black? I enjoyed the first season, although I didn't think it was as perfect as everyone seems to say it is. I felt like the pacing was kind of whacked out at times, and the characters were all way too extreme. The writers just kept trying to push the edgy characters on us, and it didn't always come across well.

At the end of the day, the first season was really well made, well acted and great to watch. And then the second season started.

The second season has picked up exactly where the first one left off. In terms of story, in terms of intensity, in terms of dense plot. And it keeps pushing new, extreme characters, more plot elements and more drama. I haven't been able to take it seriously. When I spent the first half of episode 3 watching a montage of scenes that blatantly try to elicit some kind of sympathetic emotional response without really advancing the plot, I honestly could tell if the writers were just taking the piss. I'm really worried that this show is going to turn into a parody of itself. I can definitely say that it's jumped the shark.

I'd still say season 1 is worth watching, but if they don't end it with this season I think I'm going to be at a point where I don't even give a shit what happens.

e: I think what everyone loved about the first season was that it was so gritty and grounded. It started simple and spiraled out of control quickly. It was overwhelming, but at the end of the day it was about Sarah trying to run away with her daughter. The second season is a lot less believable, and at this point it feels like we know too much about the different groups and their intentions, without really knowing what's going on in an overall sense. They killed the mystery, but are still trying to hook us with more mystery.

MeechMunchie · #**368** 05-07-2014, 06:53 AM

I'm watching the Fargo remake. Billy Bob Thornton seems to be having fun.

Holy Sock · #**369** 05-07-2014, 08:04 AM

:

I'm watching the Fargo remake. Billy Bob Thornton seems to be having fun.

I'm quite enjoying it myself.

OANST · #**370** 05-07-2014, 08:33 AM

I want to watch it, but my girlfriend refuses to watch anything that has snow in it.....

Varrok · #**371** 05-07-2014, 08:54 AM

OANST · #**372** 05-07-2014, 09:16 AM

She hates snow.

Varrok · #**373** 05-07-2014, 09:18 AM

OANST · #**374** 05-07-2014, 11:23 AM

She hates having to wear clothes.

I've never seen anyone walk around naked so much in my life. I basically spend all my time around her sporting a massive hard on.

You asked.

Varrok · #**375** 05-07-2014, 11:53 AM

That was is NO WAY related to my question. Give me my innocence back

STM · #**376** 05-07-2014, 11:56 AM

:

She hates having to wear clothes.

I've never seen anyone walk around naked so much in my life. I basically spend all my time around her sporting a massive hard on.

You asked.

You too?

Varrok · #**377** 05-07-2014, 12:06 PM

No, he didn't ask.

STM · #**378** 05-07-2014, 12:13 PM

Oh to keep myself on-topic, I watched the first 10 minutes of s1e1 of the Digimon anime.

I was hoping for a nostalgia trip but dear god the voice acting in that show was awful. I was so disappointed.

Nepsotic · #**379** 05-07-2014, 12:44 PM

Did you watch the dub?

What I've discovered is that any English dub that isn't by Manga Entertainment is bound to be terrible.

Wings of Fire · #**380** 05-07-2014, 01:08 PM

:

Did you watch the dub?

What I've discovered is that any English dub that isn't by Manga Entertainment is bound to be terrible.

Manga Entertainment are licensing, not dubbing.

Anything dubbed by Sentai Filmworks is awful. Anything dubbed by anyone else (Especially Funimation) has a shot at being good.

Manco · #**381** 05-07-2014, 01:49 PM

:

Manga Entertainment are licensing, not dubbing.

Anything dubbed by Sentai Filmworks is awful. Anything dubbed by anyone else (Especially Funimation) has a shot at being good.

They did the dubbing for Persona 4, and that was alright.

Speaking of which, how ‘bout that adaptation of Persona 4: Golden eh? Talk about milking the cash cow for all it’s worth.

Anyway, I just watched Mulan and 101 Dalmations back-to-back. I’ve been wanting to get a Disney blu ray collection started for a while, so that’s where I’ve started.

***Nate*** · #**382** 05-14-2014, 03:18 AM

I just split off the entire discussion that the last paragraph of Manco's post inspired to its own thread here.

Bullet Magnet · #**383** 05-25-2014, 05:18 PM

I just saw Days of Future Past. I enjoyed it, though ultimately the events depicted in all the films besides this one and First Class have been altered and perhaps erased. Though they started out by ignoring most of Last Stand anyway, which was met with much approval.

I was less thrilled with having to watch the brutal slaughter of our favourite characters from the original trilogy in the future twice. At least in the comic and cartoons you only see their graves. This isn't a criticism so much as a personal point

And I was even more alarmed to find myself sympathising with Magneto, and that McAvoy's Xavier's emotional state is very similar to mine.

STM · #**384** 05-25-2014, 07:50 PM

I saw that two days ago too, it was really cool. I loved those monolithic sentinel carrier ships. Also I'd only seen the first one and that one so I had no idea what was going on nearly half the time. Still loved it though.

Also Mystique has no nips or vagina but she's butt naked. Why?

MeechMunchie · #**385** 05-25-2014, 08:08 PM

Because her scales form a protective sheath. I imagine it's all tucked away somewhere.

I thought it was pretty good. There wasn't enough Toad, but hey, there's never enough Toad. I liked the guy who could make people throw up, too.

Also, dat post-credits sequence

STM · #**386** 05-25-2014, 09:10 PM

Oh the guy who bombarded people with radiation? Yeh that was a cool power.

Mr. Bungle · #**387** 05-26-2014, 07:29 PM

I watched the Carrie remake the other day. Thought it was pretty good, at least as far as Horror remakes go. Had some problems with it, specifically how she harnessed her powers rather than having no control over her outbursts, but the carnage she caused by controlling her abilities did lead to some awesome scenes. The CGI effects were a bit much at times, though.

Only aspect I'd say the film really excelled in was the acting. Julianne Moore played a perfect psychotic religious mother, and Chloe Grace Moretz did a wonderful job of portaying Carrie's emotions, ranging from quiet social isolation to extreme angry outbursts of vengeance. She's probably my favourite young actress right now, loved her in everything I've seen her in.

Overall, it was decent. Nowhere near the quality of the original (except for the acting which I thought was superior), but that's okay because I wouldn't have expected as much. Worth seeing if you're a fan of the original, or any of the starring actors in it as they all did a great job.

6.5/10

OANST · #**388** 05-27-2014, 09:13 AM

I took Abbey to see the new X-Men movie over the weekend. This is the first time that I've watched an X-Men movie, and didn't walk away saying "Wow. What a piece of shit." It was actually really entertaining, and surprisingly well written.

Crashpunk · #**389** 05-27-2014, 02:49 PM

The Shawshank Redemption.

Nothing needs to be said. It's a masterpiece. And I have no clue why It took me so long to watch it.

MA · #**390** 05-28-2014, 12:29 PM

absolutely. same with Green Mile, and both were originally short stories, not full-blown novels or anything. that says a lot. what it says specifically is: Stephen King rambles way too fucking much.