TV/Movies Megathread

[LaCroix]

That was a joke on narration being "flaccid, sloppy writing."

ah. i don't mind narrations when they're done well, but when they're bad, they can really fuck up a movie. but narration wasn't the only thing wrong with it. i thought it was a pretty meh movie in general

also, @ide: i finally saw hunger games. i didn't hate it as much as you, but it's pretty awful. it's like taking battle royale, spending half the movie on the introduction, removing all grit, and focusing on 1-2 characters while completely ignoring everyone else. also, what the fuck was up with the jacked costumes/hair styles of the rich and elite? i hope that at least was in the book...

[celedhring]

That was a joke on narration being "flaccid, sloppy writing."

also, what the fuck was up with the jacked costumes/hair styles of the rich and elite? i hope that at least was in the book...

To me it smacked of making the "bad guys" look banal and ridiculous compared to the sweaty and hard working dwellers of the poor districts. Which made the film look stupid.

The whole world didn't make much sense to me, but I hadn't read the books. How an spectacle where the several districts send two of their young ones to die helps in any way to keep the peace? There's that scene where there's a riot after some citizens watch one of the kids die where I thought "gee, how come that didn't happen the SEVENTY-THREE times these games have been held before?"

[Berkut]

That was a joke on narration being "flaccid, sloppy writing."

also, what the fuck was up with the jacked costumes/hair styles of the rich and elite? i hope that at least was in the book...

To me it smacked of making the "bad guys" look banal and ridiculous compared to the sweaty and hard working dwellers of the poor districts. Which made the film look stupid.

The whole world didn't make much sense to me, but I hadn't read the books. How an spectacle where the several districts send two of their young ones to die helps in any way to keep the peace? There's that scene where there's a riot after some citizens watch one of the kids die where I thought "gee, how come that didn't happen the SEVENTY-THREE times these games have been held before?"

The point was to illustrate just how out of whack the society has become, with the wealthy capital citizens being so over stimulated living off the slaves of the districts that their society has become essentially a parody, which even some of the people who live their have come to recognize, although most are blissfully unaware of just how ridiculous they have become.

I thought it was pretty obvious myself - you can argue that it isn't plausible, I suppose, but that is true for almost any future society. It is one possible result of a infinite number of possible results.

Personally, I don't think it was intended to make the citizens of the capital district "bad guys" (the bad guy is clearly the president), it is to make it clear that they are grossly out of touch and mostly ignorant of what is going on, and just how broken their society is.

As far as why there weren't more rebellions...there were. District 13, for example, was completely destroyed. The Hunger Games are the means by which the capital district reinforces the abject subservience of the other districts, while at the same time entertaining them AND focusing their aggression on one another. Notice that some of the districts don't even see it as a negative anymore - they've fully subsumed themselves into their masters ethos.


Again, you can argue that this is not really plausible, but it is perfectly fine within the universe the author has created.

You might as well argue that it isn't plausible that the Federation would form in Star Trek, or that it isn't plausible that elves would ally with humans in the Lord of the Rings, or that super fascist nation states would dominate the world in 1984. None of those are "plausible" but they are the basis for the universe the author has created, and you simply have to accept that in THAT universe, that is what has happened.

Finally, I would say that it is pretty clearly not sustainable - what happens with Katniss seems clear to me to be the society beginning to collapse under the weight of its own ridiculousness. But fundamentally, what is portrayed in that world is hardly something that in its basic form is unkown in human history - a small elite ruling minority dominating a majority for its own advancement by setting the factions, real or imagined, in the majority against one another while maintaining an iron control over the means of resistance (weapons and organization). They never last forever, but they do happen.

[Berkut]

I know that seems like an overly long response for a story that is essentially a teen's novel.

But I actually think that the Hunger Games presents a pretty interesting dystopia, and sometimes wish the author had chosen to write the same story from a more adult perspective or with an adult audience in mind.

Probably would not have been nearly as successful though.

[celedhring]

I like when an universe works its belieavility, suspension of disbelief only works a finite amount of times for me. Again, I accept it might be more nuanced in the book, but the whole setup looked too grandguignolesque to me in order to fully immerse myself in the film. Everything just looked too ridiculous; out of touch high class with ridiculous styling vs hard working honest workers, death hunt games where people cheer the death of children, a world where apparently one can deploy holografic animals that feel real and yet the poor districts look stuck in the XVIII century. I *get* what the filmmakers are trying to portray, but they could have done it with less neon signs.

I will concede though, that it was more interesting than your average Hollywood blockbuster.

[LaCroix]

The point was to illustrate just how out of whack the society has become, with the wealthy capital citizens being so over stimulated living off the slaves of the districts that their society has become essentially a parody, which even some of the people who live their have come to recognize, although most are blissfully unaware of just how ridiculous they have become.

I thought it was pretty obvious myself - you can argue that it isn't plausible, I suppose, but that is true for almost any future society. It is one possible result of a infinite number of possible results.

i think it was a very poor and immature way to represent that. there are plenty of movies that show a dystopian world where the elite are unconcerned with the plight of the under-society and live lavishly better than what we saw in hunger games. dressing the rich up in ludicrous costumes and hairstyles is cheap and easy, when they could have instead devoted a few (short) scenes to illustrate its point instead - which would have fleshed the world out in a superior way

[Liep]

I didn't like how it made it seem that Denmark is not the utopic wonderland it has been advertised as.

Vinterberg's first big hit, The Celebration (Festen), will also challenge that view. The best and at the same time most horrible Danish movie I've seen.

Pretty sure a lot of Von Trier films can challenge Festen in both accounts.

Not really for me, and at any rate most of Trier's movies aren't about Danes.

[Viking]

I didn't like how it made it seem that Denmark is not the utopic wonderland it has been advertised as.

Vinterberg's first big hit, The Celebration (Festen), will also challenge that view. The best and at the same time most horrible Danish movie I've seen.

Pretty sure a lot of Von Trier films can challenge Festen in both accounts.

Not really for me, and at any rate most of Trier's movies aren't about Danes.

Festen freaked the shit out of me. von Trier was just wierd and eclectic. Vinterberg freaked the shit out of me and unlike most other films about uncomfortable topics I felt like I had shared the experience rather than merely witnessed it when the whole thing was over.

[celedhring]

Weirdly, I wasn't too fussed by Festen. Think The Hunt is amazing, though, and thoroughly disturbing.

[Ideologue]

also, @ide: i finally saw hunger games. i didn't hate it as much as you, but it's pretty awful. it's like taking battle royale, spending half the movie on the introduction, removing all grit, and focusing on 1-2 characters while completely ignoring everyone else. also, what the fuck was up with the jacked costumes/hair styles of the rich and elite? i hope that at least was in the book...

THANK YOU.

Funnily enough, the nutty costumes were my favorite part, but I like wacky costume and production design; of course they were shot in the same soul-melting, chlorinated, palsied cinematography as everything else in that filthy movie.

I want to see Festen now, even though it was made under Dogme 95, in other words under abhorrent, essentially anti-movie principles.

[Ideologue]

I feel bad for never properly reviewing Catching Fire, but I was never able to find the time--when it was relevant--to edit my original HG review, which it turns out was unfit for publication in its original form because it's very stream-of-consciousness anger and bile, something that might fly were it March 2012 and not November 2013.  I'll eventually get around to it, probably around the time of the home video release.

But I will say briefly here that the costumes get a bit better presentation in Catching Fire.  There's one dress Elizabeth Banks wears that probably gave the thing a whole half a letter grade.  Not because it's sexy, but because it's like five thousand monarch butterflies, which is awesome.  There are like three awesome things in that whole movie, and two of them are dresses.  The other was Jena Malone, who proves in about five aggregated minutes that the whole damned series ought to have been 1)starring her and 2)about her much, much, much cooler and more interesting character.

[garbon]

I think by biggest issue with the Hunger Games is that it completely falls apart in the 3rd novel. I'm wondering if they are going to do a re-write for the two films.

[Ideologue]

I dunno.  Catching Fire wasn't staggeringly inept.  It was such a tremendous improvement, that if they continue at the same rate, the fourth movie will be better than Flash Gordon Vertigo.

[celedhring]

also, @ide: i finally saw hunger games. i didn't hate it as much as you, but it's pretty awful. it's like taking battle royale, spending half the movie on the introduction, removing all grit, and focusing on 1-2 characters while completely ignoring everyone else. also, what the fuck was up with the jacked costumes/hair styles of the rich and elite? i hope that at least was in the book...

THANK YOU.

Funnily enough, the nutty costumes were my favorite part, but I like wacky costume and production design; of course they were shot in the same soul-melting, chlorinated, palsied cinematography as everything else in that filthy movie.

I want to see Festen now, even though it was made under Dogme 95, in other words under abhorrent, essentially anti-movie principles.

Festen is one of the most watchable Dogme films, technically-wise. Don't diss Dogme anyway, it had its place and accomplished a lot of interesting things. Von Trier has always believed in how strict, almost arbitrary, rules foster one's creativity.

[Scipio]

Helfer, Texas Ranger

We follow Tricia Helfer, as a Texas Ranger, during 8 weeks for wich she will aprehend 8 different Killer Woman (the exact title of the show).  She's smart, she's beautiful, she's tough and she knows how to handle a gun.  The perfect American women (except she's really a Canadian).

So, what's wrong in the show?  In the first ep, she's seen handling her personal life: brother, sister in law that wants her more feminine, little niece who asks questions she shouldn't ask, job related stress, illegally crossing the border to Mexico in order to free hostages and solve a case.

This is what's wrong, unfortunately, it's all Déjà vu in a bunch of similar themed tv shows.  Sure, she's a good actress, she's proven it since Battlestar Galactica (it's ok Neil, she's not the one doing Starbuck ).  The problem is not with her or the cast, just the stories and the way they're presented.  I don't think I'll watch the 2nd episode.

Btw, I've thrown the ball on Almost Human.

Be nice to Tricia- her in-laws are good friends of mine, and own the best music venue in Hattiesburg.

Also, she's frickin' hot.