The costumes are pretty, but all the adult women wearing their hair long and flowing gets on my nerves. That and the lack of forehead plucking.
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"freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order."
- Justice Robert Jackson, West Virginia State Board of Ed. v. Barnette
Today I learned that all the Carry On films are on prime. I'll see you in a few years.
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"freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order."
- Justice Robert Jackson, West Virginia State Board of Ed. v. Barnette
I just finished binge-watching the new Amazon Prime mini-series, The Man in the High Tower, based on Philip K. Dick's novel of the same name. It was a bit of a mind-bender, and not exactly what I remember the novel being like. They're both about an alternative history set in 1962, where the Axis powers won WW2 and took over the majority of the U.S. The book differs from this series in that the book was about an alternative history novel that was banned but becoming popular, and the search for its author, The Man in the High Tower. The series had Nazis, Japanese cops and Yakuza, subterfuge, spying, counterspying, and illegal revolver, murder, assassination, and mysterious film canisters that contained a movie that showed an alternative history. But it wasn't popular because only a few even saw it, and they were as dumbfounded by it as everyone else, except der Fuhrer.
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Sleep - the most beautiful experience in life - except drink.--W.C. Fields
There's a massive poster for it opposite my customary section of platform at Bank London Underground station, Northern Line northbound. That's the only reason I ask.
I watched Ex Machina last night. The film, though slow and its characters odd, was weirdly fascinating. What is Artificial Intelligence? Is it okay to fall in love with a machine? Can a machine experience desire? Can a machine use human nature to deceive?
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Sleep - the most beautiful experience in life - except drink.--W.C. Fields
Well, boys, Flo has a few beefs with the movie, "The Man in the High Castle." It's not nice to piss off an old broad who has been around the block five or six times.
It's WAY more complicated (and confusing) than the book, though part of my confusion may stem from the fact that I've been watching this thing while knocking down whiskeys.
However, the makers of the movie took a slender, compact masterpiece and turned into a bloated, hyper-violent, often incoherent mess. Still, the visuals are stunning.
If you've never read the book, I suggest that you ditch this flick and read the damned book. Its theme is a thread that runs through all that zany Mr. Dick's work: What if some -- most? all? -- of what we think is real is fake, and what if some -- most? all? -- of what we think is fake, is actually real? In the novel, there is a entire subplot to this theme, which is crucial to the climax, a subplot that the movie seems to have eliminated entirely (at least through the first four episodes, which is all Flo has drunkenly imbibed so far).
In fact, this subplot was so vital that Mr. Dick started the novel with it.
I'd say Mr. Dick's work anticipated virtual reality, the Internet and Fox News, among other atrocities, although Flo does enjoy Fox News, where everything real is held to be fake, and everything fake is held to be real. Just like in the novel, The Man in the High Castle, in which, in the climax (spoiler alert!) that dear Mr. Tagomi, the Japanese trade minister, discovers something pretty trippy, a discovery that stems directly from the critical subplot that opens the novel. He discovers that The Grasshopper Lies Heavy is true, and that Germany and Japan actually lost the war. I loved it when the poor man saw the Embarcadero Freeway for the first time, and then, when he entered a diner and demanded that a white man give up his stool, was told, "Watch it, Tojo." Then got his ass thrown into the street. That scene warmed the cockles of Flo's cold, cold heart.
However, Flo agrees with Tojo that the Embarcadero Freeway was butt-ugly. Thank God IRL they tore it down some years ago.
Perhaps they'll reproduce some version of this scene in the flick's later episodes that Flo hasn't seen yet, but the elimination (so far) of the novel's critical subplot makes this iffy. But i'm betting if the makers of this flick do reproduce that scene, they are going to do with Julianna's heart pedant, rather than a jewel, as happened in the novel.
I've been watching Mr. Robinson Crusoe (1932), starring Douglas Fairbanks. That dude was in phenomenal physical condition, jumping up, grabbing branches and swinging up into the trees. He also demonstrated Bear Grylls-type survival skills by breaking open coconuts, stripping bark off a limb to make rope, and starting a fire with two sticks. He really demonstrated the skills while talking through what he was doing. The premise was surviving on a desert island was his dream, so he swam to shore of a deserted island, with the promise that his Sumatran tiger hunting pals would pick him a couple of months later. He proceeded to not only survive, but build a treehouse, and some goat and tortoise powered conveniences. Then he got his "Friday", a girl who escaped a forced marriage to an islander. I haven't finished it yet, but it is surprisingly entertaining.
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Sleep - the most beautiful experience in life - except drink.--W.C. Fields
I've been watching Mr. Robinson Crusoe (1932), starring Douglas Fairbanks. That dude was in phenomenal physical condition, jumping up, grabbing branches and swinging up into the trees. He also demonstrated Bear Grylls-type survival skills by breaking open coconuts, stripping bark off a limb to make rope, and starting a fire with two sticks. He really demonstrated the skills while talking through what he was doing. The premise was surviving on a desert island was his dream, so he swam to shore of a deserted island, with the promise that his Sumatran tiger hunting pals would pick him a couple of months later. He proceeded to not only survive, but build a treehouse, and some goat and tortoise powered conveniences. Then he got his "Friday", a girl he named "Saturday", who escaped a forced marriage to an islander. I haven't finished it yet, but it is surprisingly entertaining.
"We're a calm peace-loving people. We love football and prize-fighting." This movie is so ironically self-aware it's funny.
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Sleep - the most beautiful experience in life - except drink.--W.C. Fields
Copperhead, a film depicting the effects of the American Civil War on the people in one New York state community. No battle scenes were to be had, making this an unusual Civil War themed film. Touching movie, though a little predictable, because . . .
. . . the Union won, beating the rebellious Confederate States of America, but not before the Democrats (Copperheads) took over NY state government in the election of 1864.
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Sleep - the most beautiful experience in life - except drink.--W.C. Fields
Homecoming is a cool mystery/conspiracy thing where Julia Roberts is a counselor who helps returning soldiers transition to civilian life. There's a bit of an unreliable-narrator / nothing's-what-it-seems vibe that was fun to watch unfold. And the cast is ridic. Dermot Mulroney, Sissy Spacek, Bobby Cannavale, Alex Karpovsky, et al.
Forever stars Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisten, and it is ... well, this is probably not a spoiler if you know the premise, but I went into it pretty clueless and it took me about 2 episodes to catch on.
Forever takes place in the afterlife, and I found it hard to separate it mentally from The Good Place, even though they are not overly similar. I blame Maya Rudolph. Why is she on 2 afterlife shows? Maya, is there anything you want to talk about?
That one has a good supporting, cast, too, including Catherine Keener.
Both shows have a serious Twilight Zone vibe, what with the weird mysteries and the fucked up music. For my comfort, they went too far with the tension-inducing "music" in Homecoming. Bitch, I know the "FRIES ARE DONE" alarm when I hear it, and it's giving me a rash.
Amazon has been recommending a bunch of movies of a scifi subgenre that I can't really define or describe that well, but it's basically indie scifi stuff that is kind of a mindfuck and pretty great.
These are 3 movies that we watched twice, and the second time we watched, we were like "I remember that we totally watched this already but I absolutely don't remember what happens" so bonus free movies, yay!
I will do nested spoilers based on the severity of the spoiler.
Time Lapse (2014)
Some kids discover a camera that takes photos 24 hours into the future. Hijinks ensue.
They come out the gate doing the obvious stuff like putting up the day's lottery numbers or winning horses, etc.
It escalates to straight-up manslaughter shockingly quickly!
The Frame (2014)
Alex is a thief and Sam is an EMT. We follow them as they go through their respective days at work, and there is lots of exciting drama!
Too much drama, even, and it's all overwrought and broad. It turns out they are each on a TV show that the other watches.
Sam is in therapy and considering medication because of how traumatic her job is, and Alex is super paranoid due to his job. So when the mindfuck of figuring out they are on each other's TVs starts happening, they both freak out and deal with it in exciting ways.
Shit gets real weird, like serious Twin Peaks vibe, when Sam goes to the studio where they make Alex's show.
The title of the movie refers to the fact that the actual frame of the movie exists in their universes and interacts with them, and it freaks me the fuck out when movies do shit like that!
Infinity Chamber (2016)
In a direct ripoff of The Trial, Frank wakes up in a prison cell and he has no idea how he got there. There's a camera in the ceiling with a disembodied voice that talks to him about his basic needs and that he is to be "processed", but is not overly helpful. Frank wants to talk to a lawyer or somebody in charge, but all he gets are dead ends.
Barely a spoiler and I bet you already see where this is going:
The voice is an AI, not an actual person, which was painfully obvious to everybody but somehow not Frank.
Our hero figures it out eventually, and most of the movie is a guy alone in a room, capital-A ACTING! against a camera in the ceiling. It's pretty fucking great.
The whole thing is intercut with scenes of him in a coffee shop, which are maybe memories?
Except they keep changing! What's going on? Is this part of the "process"?
Again,
Anyway, all three of these are on Prime and I recommend them if you're into that kind of shit.
Watched The Boys season 2. It's probably slightly better than the 1st season in some ways, because it's not quite so reliant on the shock humor of extreme superhero violence. It's still there, but the characters are a bit more rounded.
Possibly the best new addition to the show is the character "Stormfront" - can you guess what her secret is?
This could go in the Seen Any Good Movies thread, but I like to give Amazon Prime's algorithm the credit it deserves. I have definitely done so before, possibly in this very thread, because it is so damn good.
Prime has this section of the home screen called "Movies We Think You Will Like", and not only is it like 95% accurate, but it's actually a bunch of cool, obscure movies that would not have otherwise been on my radar. (Protip, Netflix. Everybody liked Barbie. You don't get credit for that one.)
A couple days ago, it recommended American Star starring Ian McShane. It's a real slow burn for the first two thirds or so, but completely compelling. I couldn't put it down. I won't say anything about the premise or anything. It's a lot more fun to go in blind and let it unfold.
Re: Because of Amazon Prime...
Linear Mode
