TV/Movies Megathread

[The Brain]

Finished Chernobyl. It was excellent. Well worth watching.

Some notes:

- They don't try to disguise the fact that everyone in the Soviet Union speaks English, with an English accent. Willing suspension of disbelief work on that ...

I don't fully understand this kind of comment. Why would it require any significant suspension of disbelief (if that is what you are implying, I may be wrong)? In Amadeus English took the place of German (even if generally not English accents), and in Chernobyl English takes the place of Russian (even if it generally doesn't include writing). I recently read The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, I never felt like "whoa all these Chinese guys speak English!".

[Berkut]

Yeah I don't get that complaint. What was the alternative?

[Malthus]

Finished Chernobyl. It was excellent. Well worth watching.

Some notes:

- They don't try to disguise the fact that everyone in the Soviet Union speaks English, with an English accent. Willing suspension of disbelief work on that ...

I don't fully understand this kind of comment. Why would it require any significant suspension of disbelief (if that is what you are implying, I may be wrong)? In Amadeus English took the place of German (even if generally not English accents), and in Chernobyl English takes the place of Russian (even if it generally doesn't include writing). I recently read The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, I never felt like "whoa all these Chinese guys speak English!".

I didn't think it was a problem - is exactly what I was saying.

Apparently some (Russian?) viewers complained about it. I don't think it requires significant suspension of disbelief.

[Malthus]

Yeah I don't get that complaint. What was the alternative?

It's not a complaint. It shouldn't be read as such. Hence "Willing suspension of disbelief work on that ... ". 

[Eddie Teach]

Yeah I don't get that complaint. What was the alternative?

It's not a complaint. It shouldn't be read as such. Hence "Willing suspension of disbelief work on that ... ".

That jumble is rather difficult to parse with confidence.

[The Brain]

Finished Chernobyl. It was excellent. Well worth watching.

Some notes:

- They don't try to disguise the fact that everyone in the Soviet Union speaks English, with an English accent. Willing suspension of disbelief work on that ...

I don't fully understand this kind of comment. Why would it require any significant suspension of disbelief (if that is what you are implying, I may be wrong)? In Amadeus English took the place of German (even if generally not English accents), and in Chernobyl English takes the place of Russian (even if it generally doesn't include writing). I recently read The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, I never felt like "whoa all these Chinese guys speak English!".

I didn't think it was a problem - is exactly what I was saying.

Apparently some (Russian?) viewers complained about it. I don't think it requires significant suspension of disbelief.

Gotcha (as Eddie says it wasn't extremely obvious what you meant).

Yeah. I've also seen a number of YouTube comments from Anglo-Saxons who would have preferred English with Russian movie accents.

[Malthus]

Yeah I don't get that complaint. What was the alternative?

It's not a complaint. It shouldn't be read as such. Hence "Willing suspension of disbelief work on that ... ".

That jumble is rather difficult to parse with confidence.

Typical Languish - focus on trivia, cling on like grim death. 

[Malthus]

Finished Chernobyl. It was excellent. Well worth watching.

Some notes:

- They don't try to disguise the fact that everyone in the Soviet Union speaks English, with an English accent. Willing suspension of disbelief work on that ...

I don't fully understand this kind of comment. Why would it require any significant suspension of disbelief (if that is what you are implying, I may be wrong)? In Amadeus English took the place of German (even if generally not English accents), and in Chernobyl English takes the place of Russian (even if it generally doesn't include writing). I recently read The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, I never felt like "whoa all these Chinese guys speak English!".

I didn't think it was a problem - is exactly what I was saying.

Apparently some (Russian?) viewers complained about it. I don't think it requires significant suspension of disbelief.

Gotcha (as Eddie says it wasn't extremely obvious what you meant).

Yeah. I've also seen a number of YouTube comments from Anglo-Saxons who would have preferred English with Russian movie accents.

Personally, I think all actors portraying Russians should sound like either Boris Badenov or Natasha Falale from The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, but I don't go around telling people that in public. 

[Tamas]

the demand that Chernobyl actors should have spoken English in fake Russian accent is just ludicrous.

That would have required exponentially more suspension of disbelief as it would have implied that those Russian people actually conversed in English with each other.

But I don't think that was ever a serious complaint, just the usual modern symptom of every little baseless complaint or perceived offense taken out of all proportions.

[Valmy]

The Last Jedi is the only Star Wars film I have watched only once*. I understand what they were going for (breaking the saga's cliches), but the result was extremely joyless with some really stupid parts.

*Yes, that means I've watched the prequels more than once. I apologize for that.

The prequels were bad but I can just sort of tolerate them. The Last Jedi I actually loath. Very nihilistic and disheartening film. If I want that I will watch something that depressing I would prefer something like Requiem for a Dream, which has the benefit of at least being a good film.

[Malthus]

the demand that Chernobyl actors should have spoken English in fake Russian accent is just ludicrous.

That would have required exponentially more suspension of disbelief as it would have implied that those Russian people actually conversed in English with each other.

But I don't think that was ever a serious complaint, just the usual modern symptom of every little baseless complaint or perceived offense taken out of all proportions.

Agreed - though there were more significant issues with the series, mostly dealing with making the situation (admittedly horrible) out to be worse than it actually was, for dramatic purposes.

Again, I don't think that detracts from the series as drama. It is worth noting in passing though.

[crazy canuck]

Personally, I think all actors portraying Russians should sound like either Boris Badenov or Natasha Falale from The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, but I don't go around telling people that in public. 

You just did 

- The makers did on occasion veer into excess, not that this mattered much: for example, at one point claiming that the possible steam explosion could have been 'megatons', which isn't possible. This was mildly annoying (it would have been so easy not to do this and it wasn't necessary for the plot), but I thought it was a minor issue.

At least one person who has researched what happened disagrees with your assessment.

"If that happened it would have triggered a second steam explosion that would have done unimaginable damage and destroyed the entire power station, including the three other reactors," author Andrew Leatherbarrow wrote in an email to Tech Insider. Leatherbarrow recently published a book, called "1:23:40: The Incredible True Story of the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster," that recounts the catastrophe's history on its 30th anniversary. By most estimates, such a blast may have wiped out half of Europe, leaving it riskier to live in for 500,000 years.

https://www.businessinsider.com/chernobyl-volunteers-divers-nuclear-mission-2016-4


There is another piece in the business insider quoting some expert who thinks it was overdone but he doesn't rule it out.

Haverkamp said there were too many hypotheticals considered in this scenario.

"They're not saving the world," he said. "That situation might play out if all of the melting corium hit groundwater," he added, but when corium starts melting, it melts "in a very uneven way."

The claim that a second explosion would carry a force of up to 4 megatons, he said, was "an exaggeration."

https://www.businessinsider.com/chernobyl-hbo-whats-true-myths-2019-5#myth-a-steam-explosion-following-the-disaster-could-have-left-much-of-europe-uninhabitable-5

Not sure why you found it mildly annoying.  Sounds like one needs to know about the details of nuclear power on a Brain level of expertise to have the general knowledge necessary to make a judgment about whether it was over done or not while watching the show.

[Berkut]

I remember thinking that either that was grossly exaggerated, or we should stop using nuclear power altogether if there was any possible set of circumstances that could result in an accident that could wipe out an entire continent.

I assumed they were grossly exaggerating for effect.

[crazy canuck]

I remember thinking that either that was grossly exaggerated, or we should stop using nuclear power altogether if there was any possible set of circumstances that could result in an accident that could wipe out an entire continent.

I assumed they were grossly exaggerating for effect.

Shows the problem of making assumptions.  According to the expert who thought it was overdone, it is not that it is was impossible, its just that all the variables had to go the wrong way for it to occur.

[Malthus]

You just did 

I'm not sure if this is a woosh or not. 

- The makers did on occasion veer into excess, not that this mattered much: for example, at one point claiming that the possible steam explosion could have been 'megatons', which isn't possible. This was mildly annoying (it would have been so easy not to do this and it wasn't necessary for the plot), but I thought it was a minor issue.

At least one person who has researched what happened disagrees with your assessment.

"If that happened it would have triggered a second steam explosion that would have done unimaginable damage and destroyed the entire power station, including the three other reactors," author Andrew Leatherbarrow wrote in an email to Tech Insider. Leatherbarrow recently published a book, called "1:23:40: The Incredible True Story of the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster," that recounts the catastrophe's history on its 30th anniversary. By most estimates, such a blast may have wiped out half of Europe, leaving it riskier to live in for 500,000 years.

https://www.businessinsider.com/chernobyl-volunteers-divers-nuclear-mission-2016-4

Where does this person claim the steam explosion would have been "megatons"?

No-one, I think, denies it would have been bad, even "catastrophic". But "four megatons" isn't, I think, physically possible from a steam explosion.

The notion that the "blast would have wiped out half of Europe" is also nonsense: I assume what the reviewer was trying to say was that the fallout would have contaminated half of Europe, not that the "blast" would literally have been that powerful (which of course would require a lot more than "four megatons").

There is another piece in the business insider quoting some expert who thinks it was overdone but he doesn't rule it out.

Haverkamp said there were too many hypotheticals considered in this scenario.

"They're not saving the world," he said. "That situation might play out if all of the melting corium hit groundwater," he added, but when corium starts melting, it melts "in a very uneven way."

The claim that a second explosion would carry a force of up to 4 megatons, he said, was "an exaggeration."

https://www.businessinsider.com/chernobyl-hbo-whats-true-myths-2019-5#myth-a-steam-explosion-following-the-disaster-could-have-left-much-of-europe-uninhabitable-5

Not sure why you found it mildly annoying.  Sounds like one needs to know about the details of nuclear power on a Brain level of expertise to have the general knowledge necessary to make a judgment about whether it was over done or not while watching the show.

No - even a complete layman would know that an explosion caused by superheated steam could not be "four megatons". That's an explosion on the level of a fusion bomb.   

I found it mildly annoying because it was unnecessary to the drama (all the audience needed to know is that it would be bad) plus being wrong. Why add it?