TV/Movies Megathread

[celedhring]

Thanks, internet, for allowing me to laugh at the stupidity of Transformers 4 without actually having to endure it:

http://io9.com/transformers-age-of-extinction-the-spoiler-faq-1598579492

Selected bit:

At that point, Shane Dyson, Tessa's secret 20-year-old boyfriend who happens to be a racer of some kind, shows up at just that moment to rescue Cade and Tessa.

Wait a second. Didn't you say Tessa was 17? What's the age of consent in Texas?

Oh, it's 18. But as Michael Bay has either researched or clearly had someone research for him, there is an exemption for minors who are willingly having sex with people within three years of age. So Dyson is legally fucking Tessa, and to prove it, he brings out a laminated copy of said law, which he carries around with him. So he can prove he's not guilty of statutory rape.

[Viking]

Checked the IMDB for Snyder's Man of Frank Miller 2 and there is no listing for Kevin Costner. Sigh, no chance for Pa Kent to redeem himself by imparting some other message than "be selfish and paranoid cause people are on the whole too evil to deserve being helped".

I loved it when I saw it but the more I think about it the more and more annoyed I am. I suspect I will hate the next one simply because all the things that eventually started grating on my soul about Man of Steel will be unfixed and unfixable in BATMAN V _superman.

[Ideologue]

Thanks, internet, for allowing me to laugh at the stupidity of Transformers 4 without actually having to endure it:

http://io9.com/transformers-age-of-extinction-the-spoiler-faq-1598579492

Selected bit:

At that point, Shane Dyson, Tessa's secret 20-year-old boyfriend who happens to be a racer of some kind, shows up at just that moment to rescue Cade and Tessa.

Wait a second. Didn't you say Tessa was 17? What's the age of consent in Texas?

Oh, it's 18. But as Michael Bay has either researched or clearly had someone research for him, there is an exemption for minors who are willingly having sex with people within three years of age. So Dyson is legally fucking Tessa, and to prove it, he brings out a laminated copy of said law, which he carries around with him. So he can prove he's not guilty of statutory rape.

Whenever I do get around to seeing it, I've got some shit to say about that.  The critical reaction has been really personally insulting.

From the accounts, it points out with farce the absolute insanity of an AoC set at 18, which denies human agency, emphasizes a distressing state custodial role in physical adults' sexuality, and is opposed to commonsense morality (no one in their right mind thinks a 20 year old fucking a 17 year requires state intervention).  On the other hand, there's also a very good chance that Bay is telling his male audience it's okay to sexualize the character, which is (very mildly) creepy but hardly moreso than his usual misanthropy and objectification of everything.

Prospective review title: "In Texas I'm a sex criminal."

[Ideologue]

Oh, and 23 and 17 in case you were wondering (continuing until 28 and 23, iirc).  I would not be enthusiastic about dating a 17 year old at present.

[The Larch]

Thanks, internet, for allowing me to laugh at the stupidity of Transformers 4 without actually having to endure it:

http://io9.com/transformers-age-of-extinction-the-spoiler-faq-1598579492

Selected bit:

At that point, Shane Dyson, Tessa's secret 20-year-old boyfriend who happens to be a racer of some kind, shows up at just that moment to rescue Cade and Tessa.

Wait a second. Didn't you say Tessa was 17? What's the age of consent in Texas?

Oh, it's 18. But as Michael Bay has either researched or clearly had someone research for him, there is an exemption for minors who are willingly having sex with people within three years of age. So Dyson is legally fucking Tessa, and to prove it, he brings out a laminated copy of said law, which he carries around with him. So he can prove he's not guilty of statutory rape.

Jesus fucking Christ, that's retarded even by Michael Bay and his Transformer series already ultra low standards. Those movies are ofensive to good taste. At least the earlier ones had Megan Fox or an actual Victoria's Secret model prancing around in skimpy clothing, but if the eye candy for this one is a minor... 

[jimmy olsen]

Ide don't be stupid. Don't post that information on your blog.

[Ideologue]

Ide don't be stupid. Don't post that information on your blog.

Why?  I committed neither crime nor an act of moral turpitude.  I entered into a consensual, loving, committed and largely monogamous relationship with someone who was five and a half years my junior, and happened not to be able to vote or legally smoke cigarettes at the time.  She was, however, perfectly capable of consenting to sexual activity, as South Carolina's legislators--like any other idiot--have recognized.

Although, on reflection, technically I did commit crimes (we both did): I received oral sex from Korea frequently until she was ready to have intercourse (which actually post-dated her 18th birthday).  This was pre-Lawrence, and as a matter of fact SC's sodomy laws remain on the books although they are unenforced and presumed constitutionally invalid.

but if the eye candy for this one is a minor...

She was born in Jan '95.  Filming for TF4 began in May '13.  If it's that important to you.

(And there's a value to that.  There are much better reasons to criminalize post-AoC-but-under-18 pornographic depictions and to be disturbed by sexualized photographic depictions; and decent reasons to be bothered by sexualized photographic depictions of 18 years olds pretending to be 17 year olds.)

[Viking]

I still haven't seen it and probably wont.. but seriously.. if that scene is all it's being said to be it would just have been better to make her 18 and not mention it... or make him 17 too... or not bring up the sex thing...

But, seriously, Michael Bay should not have gone and raided M. Knight Shyamalan's casting directors rolodex. It just makes everybody look bad.

[Josquius]

Sounds like they went for a joke which got a bit too close to areas some people are sensitive about.

I was raised in a country and culture where 16 is legal so meh. :p

[Savonarola]

Oh, and I forgot if I mentioned watching it but Foreign Correspondent (1940) was fine, I guess.  (It's like forty minutes too long for the plot hatched by its increasingly inept spy ring, yet somehow not long enough to make the love story between the titular character and the daughter of the villain anything but a laughable writer's fiat. 

Did you miss the "Directed by Alfred Hitchcock" line at the beginning?  The love story was going to be a laughable writers fiat no matter how long the movie was.

[Ideologue]

I think you're forgetting about Marnie, my friend.

[Liep]

Why did Party Down only get two seasons? That show was brilliant.

[Savonarola]

Sharknado (2013)

This is a rarity, a gleefully over the top B movie with a ludicrous premise that succeeds in being entertaining.  The trick, I think, is that the film is played straight.  It doesn't pretend to be cleverly ironic; it doesn't go for cheap laughs and it's not directed by Michael Bay.  I know the film is stupid.  The director knows that the film is stupid.  So long as neither of us brings that up; the film is allowed to be a fun, big, dumb action film.

[Josephus]

Anyone watching that AMC show set in the 80s about a company trying to invent a PC clone? Watched about 4 episodes. Not bad. Programmer chick reminds me of an actress from the 80s but can't place it.

[Ideologue]

I mean to check it out at some point.