TV/Movies Megathread

[The Larch]

For me Ninja is the singer from Die Antwoord.

[The Brain]

If a ninja is famous I think they're doing something wrong.

[viper37]

Long, detailed piece about the making of Terminator 2
Link

I liked this part:

Kassar: With James, you write the check, you close your eyes, you go two minutes to the set to say "Hi" every once in a while, and you let him be. Because if you think you're going to control him, you'd be wasting your time.

[Maladict]

Long, detailed piece about the making of Terminator 2
Link

I liked this part:

Kassar: With James, you write the check, you close your eyes, you go two minutes to the set to say "Hi" every once in a while, and you let him be. Because if you think you're going to control him, you'd be wasting your time.

Cool, thanks for that. I snuck into the cinema to see it when I was 12, it made a huge impression.

[grumbler]

Yeah, Viper, that was a fun read.  It's hard to believe that the movie was made 30 years ago.  I watched it maybe a year ago and it didn't seem dated at all.

The story also made me realize how much of my current impression of Cameron has been shaped by that wretched Avatar movie.  He actually was capable, at one or two points in his career, to get some acting out of his actors (see also: Aliens). 

[viper37]

Yeah, Viper, that was a fun read.  It's hard to believe that the movie was made 30 years ago.  I watched it maybe a year ago and it didn't seem dated at all.

The story also made me realize how much of my current impression of Cameron has been shaped by that wretched Avatar movie.  He actually was capable, at one or two points in his career, to get some acting out of his actors (see also: Aliens). 

I think he's done a good job on most of his movies, Avatar being the outlier.

The Abyss was excellent, actors and special effect, T2 was simply way better.

I do think Titanic, despite its basic premise, was a well executed movie.

Avatar was Dancing with wolves in space, put simply.  And given we had CGI 3D creatures when the tech wasn't totally yet there, it showed in the way the emotions of the characters were portrayed.  Basic storytelling + actors unable to fully express their emotions on screen gave us an ordinary, tame movie.

[Admiral Yi]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWoHEfmVLQo

According to this guy The Duelists was filmed for less than 1 million dollars. 

And the real historical dudes dueled 20 times.

[Josquius]

I thought Avatar was great.
Very simple and by the book plot but the 3D really was spectacular.

[The Brain]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWoHEfmVLQo

According to this guy The Duelists was filmed for less than 1 million dollars. 

And the real historical dudes dueled 20 times.

Yeah the one thing in the movie that isn't great is that they couldn't afford to shoot the retreat from Moscow stuff in a better location.

[Josephus]

Domina. It's pretty bad.

I had hopes for that

me too

[garbon]

How? From the trailer it looked like it would be schlocky and the head writer's bio doesn't inspire confidence for a serious historical drama.

[grumbler]

Avatar sucked.  You knew going in that the producer and director didn't give a shit about the plot ("Unobtanium"? That's about as lazy a piece of writing as you will ever see), the plot was simply "Pocahontas with Aliens," the acting was wooden, and, while the critter CGI was great and sometimes even breathtaking, the character CGI didn't for one second let you forget that it was just CGI.

The Abyss had  some great visual moments and the cast was mostly excellent (even with Cameron's direction), but the story was so formulaic you could see every "plot twist" coming from a mile away.

Cameron can create moments, but it seems that he no longer can create movies.

[Josephus]

How? From the trailer it looked like it would be schlocky and the head writer's bio doesn't inspire confidence for a serious historical drama.

I just saw the name, and the subject matter, and thought it might be good.

I haven't seen it. I may watch one episode.

[Maladict]

I just saw the name, and the subject matter, and thought it might be good.

There absolutely is a lot of potential for that time period, it's hasn't been covered much if at all.

[Eddie Teach]

Handmaid's Tale, season 4. Unpleasant revenge porn. Honestly should have quit after she didn't get on the plane.