What Are You Watching?

[Emery the Steelrunner High Prelan]

I’m watching annoying younger siblings. 
Any recommendations on what to watch when they go to bed?

[Cruciatus_heart Mistborn]

The end of the world (it's a dark comedy show which ends up taking turns and being really complex) 

In others news! I am watching "a coven of sisters"

[Spren of Kindness Rambleman]

Got a chance to watch Dunkirk last night, and I have so many thoughts.  (A bunch of random production and cast related thoughts below.)

Spoiler

First off, I have wanted to see this movie since I saw the trailer in 2016, six years ago.  At this point, I don't remember any of the footage from the trailer that made me want to see it, but I remember being fascinated by the premise.  And because I remembered very little, there were multiple moments of surprise, and 'oh that makes sense' related to how the movie was made.  For example, the whole film I was thinking, 'it's a really great idea to rely on facial expression for this film' and then credits roll, director's Christopher Nolan.  I said out loud, 'Of course!'  The music too - I noticed how at times I couldn't tell what was the score and what was sound, which, I found out this morning was intentional.  It also reminded me of Interstellar's soundtrack, probably because they were both composed by Hans Zimmer.

Also, I thought a couple times throughout the film, 'that's Kenneth Branagh' and credits roll, I'm right.  Which is really strange because I'm fairly certain I've never seen anything else he's been in.  (However, he did direct Cinderella (2015), so that's probably why I recognized him.)

Overall, I really liked this.  The story was well written, and I thought pretty unique, especially the lack of dialogue.  I almost teared up a couple times, and I was definitely feeling the tension.  The actors were also really good at conveying their thoughts and feelings non verbally.

[Eluvianii Honorspren]

Watched Children of the Sea tonight. I think the word to describe it would be "Beautiful". It's a shame this movie was created by means of uh, let's call them poor management practices, but saying the result is impressive would feel insulting because of how much of an understatement it would be. This is absolutely mesmerizing to look at. The lines, the colors, the fluidity, the light. I can't even begin to imagine how one comes up with a way to put this on a screen.

The soundtrack does its job too well. It's beautiful, and calming, and claustrophobic. When appropriate it's terrifying. It complements the animation so well, it's like I just came back from a trip to abyssal waters.

The story, not gonna lie, this is gonna take a few rewatches. I thought I was seeing a story about water-dwelling humans, but then at some point it got cosmic horror on me and I couldn't tell you what the last third of the movie was about. Still, I'll rewatch it as many times as necessary, it will be a joy to go through this journey again anyway.

[Elegy Stone Shaman]

4 hours ago, Eluvianii said:

Watched Children of the Sea tonight. I think the word to describe it would be "Beautiful". It's a shame this movie was created by means of uh, let's call them poor management practices, but saying the result is impressive would feel insulting because of how much of an understatement it would be. This is absolutely mesmerizing to look at. The lines, the colors, the fluidity, the light. I can't even begin to imagine how one comes up with a way to put this on a screen.

The soundtrack does its job too well. It's beautiful, and calming, and claustrophobic. When appropriate it's terrifying. It complements the animation so well, it's like I just came back from a trip to abyssal waters.

The story, not gonna lie, this is gonna take a few rewatches. I thought I was seeing a story about water-dwelling humans, but then at some point it got cosmic horror on me and I couldn't tell you what the last third of the movie was about. Still, I'll rewatch it as many times as necessary, it will be a joy to go through this journey again anyway.

Yeah agreed, beautiful but confusing movie. The manga series is one of my favorites though and I was happy to see it done justice visually, so I'm mostly satisfied. But the story is far too esoteric and complicated to be adapted in 2 hours, I guess. It's less confusing in the manga. There's a mind-bending aspect to it, but it has enough time to set it up and it feels very intentional, in contrast to the movie where it can feel like they had no clue what to do with it and just went nuts in the end.

[Eluvianii Honorspren]

8 hours ago, Elegy said:

Yeah agreed, beautiful but confusing movie. The manga series is one of my favorites though and I was happy to see it done justice visually, so I'm mostly satisfied. But the story is far too esoteric and complicated to be adapted in 2 hours, I guess. It's less confusing in the manga. There's a mind-bending aspect to it, but it has enough time to set it up and it feels very intentional, in contrast to the movie where it can feel like they had no clue what to do with it and just went nuts in the end.

Oh right, the manga. I'll check that out before a re-watch then. It will be nice to have a better understanding of the story so I can know what the visuals represent instead of just looking at them. 

[Elegy Stone Shaman]

They did not lie, Everything Everywhere All at Once really is one of the most insane and ambitious films I've ever seen. It completely escalates after less than half an hour and does not calm down until the credits roll. Still trying to wrap my head around some of it. It's an explosion of ideas, tropes, genres and styles, just too much to comprehend all at once, true to the title.

Mostly, I'm just happy that stuff like this is being made, exploring new ways to tell a story/film a movie.

Edited May 25, 2022 by Elegy

[Hollow Graves Hazekiller]

Unfortunately, I am not watching anything. To busy with school work.

Do you guys have any recommendations?

[Spren of Kindness Rambleman]

Giving My Hero Academia another shot.  I think I might be able to get farther in this time than I did last time.

[Robin Sedai Steel Inquisitor]

Doctor Who!

[The Bookwyrm Rambleman]

I'm spending too much time re-watching some of my favorite movies, which are Interstellar, Inception, Arrival, Dune (the new one, of course), and The Martian. For the past little while I've re-watched these movies multiple times. 
You can also tell that I like Sci-Fi movies.

[Spren of Kindness Rambleman]

Started Kenobi with my family.  I'm really liking it so far!

[aneonfoxtribute Misting]

Just finished Demon Slayer season 2. Fantastic stuff

[urrutiap Pahn Kahl]

I'm watching these movies on Tubi this weekend

 

Subspecies 1, 2 and 3

and another one of those VHS fans documentaries. Dunno why i watch those documentaries since they repeat the same thing over and over

[Use the Falchion Twinborn]

Shows: 

Person of Interest with my dad

Elementary with my mom

Superman & Lois (Season 2 by myself, Season 1 with my mom on occasions) 

 

Movie-wise, I've seen quite a few movies, but my Top 5 First Watched This Year* movies so far in no particular order:

007: Thunderball 

Karate Kid (original) 

The Batman

Everything Everywhere All At Once

Encanto (by sheer value of needing to fill out the Top 5 slot)

 

[urrutiap Pahn Kahl]

watching these movies this weekend

 

Lions for Lambs

new Shudder horror movie Death Valley which i bought for DVD from Walmart

Subspecies II on Tubi

[Draginon Dakhor Monk]

Finally got around to watching Encanto and for all the praise I heard about it it was pretty average. I know, pretty controversial but I just want to be honest here.

I liked the message it was going for, that family isn’t perfect and the generational toxicity aspect of it, but overall it’s not something I would place in my top 20 favorite Disney Animated Canon films (only the official ones from the animation studio so forget about the Pixar films here). Moana felt like a much more relatable film and character compared to Mirabel. I don’t hate Mirabel, she’s just unremarkable for a Disney heroine.

In terms of songs they feel very forgettable unfortunately. I can remember the melodies of all the songs from Disney’s previous films, even if it’s just the instrumental version, but I barely remember what any of the songs sound like besides some of We Don’t Talk About Bruno. People praised Surface Pressure and I can’t even remember how it sounds barely half an hour later.

I guess my point in the end is the film feels like lip service and an attempt to be diverse on a surface level only. Another way to put it is that when I see any new Disney film for the first time it’s all I can think about all day long, Moana and both Frozen films did that, but Encanto is one of the few that didn’t do that for me. Others that didn’t do it for me were Winnie the Pooh (the newer one not the 70’s classic) and Wreck-It Ralph 2. Heck if I only think about only the current era of Disney that started with Princess and the Frog (film 49) through Encanto (film 60) and compare it to the previous renaissance era of The Little Mermaid (film 28) through Lilo & Stitch (film 42) Encanto feels on the same level as Dinosaur (film 39) and during that era Dinosaur was the oddball film of the group and Encanto definitely feels like the oddball for me in this new group of films, especially if I don’t count the canon sequel films as their own film and just the second part of their initial film, which means we might be seeing the beginning of the end of the Neo-Renaissance era for Disney and might be heading into another Dark/Dork Age era soon.

[Robin Sedai Steel Inquisitor]

Saw Jurassic World: Dominion in a movie theater today. I liked it. I wasn't blown away by anything, but it was enjoyable and fun.

[Eluvianii Honorspren]

Everything Everywhere All At Once swiftly overtook Belle as my favorite movie this year so that was unexpected. 

[Spren of Kindness Rambleman]

Every now and then, I remember that Finrod Zong exists, and then I watch it.  If you have no idea what that is, it's a rock opera about Finrod, a character in the Silmarillion, and also kind of about Bern and Luthien.  And the whole thing is in Russian.  It's my favorite Tolkien adaptation ever, after Peter Jackson's LOTR trilogy, because I can watch the trilogy with my eyes closed and know what's happening perfectly.

I actually really recommend it.  It's pretty good, it has a pretty cool vision of the First Age despite being on what I assume was a severe budget.

[SymphonianBookworm King's Tester]

Just watched Heaven's Official Blessing.
When will the next season come out? Please. I need to see if 

Spoiler

Xie Lian and Hua Cheng end up together.

 

[Elegy Stone Shaman]

Watched the Vinland Saga season in three days ... It was amazing! Not quite on the level of the equivalent manga arc (which is one of my favorite things ever), but to see the story come to life was totally worth it. I'm also happy that the second arc will also be adapted. This manga is a really thought-provoking work of art, and is one of those rare things that I feel are "deep" in the actual, non-overused sense of the word.

Edited July 8, 2022 by Elegy

[Use the Falchion Twinborn]

Mid-year update: 

 

Top New Shows of 2022: 

Abbott Elementary 

Castle

Ms. Marvel

Peacemaker

Miss Sherlock

(Honorable Mention: Moon Knight)

 

Top Continued Shows of 2022:

Elementary

Superman & Lois

Stargirl 

(Honorable Mentions: Stranger Things & Person of Interest)

 

Top Movies of 2022 So Far:

Everything Everywhere All At Once

The Karate Kid

Top Gun: Maverick

007: Thunderball

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

The Batman

(Honorable Mention: Encanto)

Edited July 22, 2022 by Use the Falchion

[urrutiap Pahn Kahl]

couple of things Im watching 

Binge watching I Love the 80s Strikes Back on Youtube

 

watching the new shark horror movie Shark Bait for DVD

watching Andy Warhol's Dracula on Shudder and Ginger Snaps on Joe Bob Briggs' Drive In on Shudder

[Eluvianii Honorspren]

Slowly but surely working through my Ghibli backlog.

Porco Rosso: This one has me conflicted. The movie is like the definition of in medias res. I love it, but not only does it feel like it starts halfway through the story, it also ends that way. It apparently has a manga written by Miyazaki himself though, so I hope that is a bit longer.

Pom Poko: I was not ready for this one. You know that feeling when you're halfway through the movie and only then do you realize it was directed by Takahata? It has everything to be a normal kids movie, from the anthropomorphic animals with super powers to the high number of skits. But when these tanukis say they're at war they storming mean it. There's a high number of deaths and they can get pretty graphic. The tone jumps around a lot and it's in general a very bittersweet movie.

Earwig and the Witch: Probably the funniest Ghibli film I've seen. Also between this, Lupin III: The First, and in a different style Belle, I'm now convinced that japanese animation has almost mastered the jump to 3d, so that's exciting. The soundtrack is all over the place genre-wise but I enjoyed it a lot. I can't decide if the protagonist is the most malicious kid ever or the sweetest one. And, as a lot of Ghibli movies do, it added yet another book to my backlog. What's more, Ghibli is known for their unfaithful adaptations as far as I know, so I have to read it to get the full experience.

 

Still pending:

• I Can Hear the Sea
• Tales from Earthsea
• My Neighbors the Yamadas
• The Tale of Princess Kaguya
• Grave of the Fireflies
• Probably some others that I haven't heard about yet.