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The Hunger Games I really liked! I always feel weird for feeling this, but actually I think though that the hunger games themselves are the least interesting part for me lol. I loved reading (or watching) about their society amd the politics and all the build-up to the games, but the games themselves sometimes kept my attention and sometimes not. Honestly I think they would have been been more interesting to me if there had been a lot more focus on Katniss having to take lives and be really bloodthirsty, and how much the experience of being the one victor would change her and not really feel like a victory at all. Instead there was never all that much focus on the magnitude of taking a life, it was more about surviving against the elements I felt? It was a well-put together film though that really compliments the books, I loved all the little touches they added like actually showing the rioting in Distract 11 and making President Snow a bigger presence. For once I may have actually liked the film more than the book! Peeta still didn't do much for me though tbh in the books or the film, I was always more into Gale and Katniss. I don't have any major ship though, I cared more about Katniss's connections with Haymich and Cinna then any love interest in the books, just if I had to throw my hat into the ring it would be for Gale/Katniss.
My favourite fan video for the film!:
The Cabin In The Woods was an interesting idea I guess and I liked all of the meta commentary, but I'm not that into slasher films and ultimately a lot of that part of the film bored me and I was impatient to get back to the lab. Yeah they were making fun of the horror movie cliches, but we were still watching the cliches at the same time which wasn't really my thing. If that even makes sense lol. Idk maybe it was aimed more at people who watch a ton of slasher movies and would appreciate the satire of them more and all of the in jokes? Also I know it wasn't supposed to be pure horror obviously, but none of it it really scared me much and I'm the kind of wimp that can very easily be left terrified watching a scary movie. But then I found the same thing with Buffy, it wanted to combine action, horror, and comedy, but it never once scared me in the way that shows like the x-files or Supernatural have done, horror is something that Joss has never managed to pull off for me for some reason. Going back to the 90's, Scream was a film that I thought had a much better balance of scares and tongue-in-cheek humour, plus getting me to care about Sydney's character (I still need to watch Scream 4 at some point). I've never been much into films like The Evil Dead where I'm supposed to care about a bunch of teeangers stuck in a cabin in the woods and making stupid decisions, so maybe The Cabin In The Woods was a bit of a non-starter for me :P
The Iron Lady wasn't exactly what I had expected. The trailer is all clips from her life and there's no indication that most of the film is about Margaret Thatcher as an old lady with dementia, so why not be honest and advertise it that way? Because they knew that wouldn't sell? Meryl Streep was certainly excellent, but the film itself felt very poorly done. I think it would have worked better if they had opened with Margaret Thatcher as an old lady talking to Dennis and flashing back, then used the entirety of the film to tell the story of her life, and only then return to her as an old lady in the closing moments. Instead you couldn't get involved in the characters or the story at all because the flashbacks mostly felt so random and there was no real context being given for a lot of it. And don't get my wrong, I've no problem with Margaret Thatcher's policies being criticisized, but it felt like the movie was trying to send a message about her as a woman which made me a little uncomfortable? There was the scene of her children running over her car calling out 'don't leave us, Mummy' (would a male politition's film have had a similarly manipulative shot?), her husband complaining about her neglecting her family, and then the final message which seemed to be that she sacrificed personal happiness by being so obsessed with her career. Now again I would have had no problem if the film had criticised her in terms of her policies, but it was hard to even get much out of those flashbacks because we kept returning to the lonely old lady in the present wondering why her son doesn't visit her. It was just kind of a weird message I got from it, I don't know if it's just me?
I'm taking a break from my Breaking Bad rewatch for the moment to catch up on some films and make the most out of my netflix subscription for the month, but I am planning to start season 3 soon. And after I've finished with my Breaking Bad rewatch some tv on netflix I'm torn between trying is White Collar, Heroes, Lost, Prison Break, or 24. Any recommendations? I'm leaning toward White Collar at the moment just because the other shows seem like really big time commitments lol, but we'll see. Actually the show I would really like to check out next is The Shield, it looks seriously amazing from what I've seen of it on the Breaking Bad DVD trailers, but of course that one isn't available on UK netflix grr
My favourite fan video for the film!:
The Cabin In The Woods was an interesting idea I guess and I liked all of the meta commentary, but I'm not that into slasher films and ultimately a lot of that part of the film bored me and I was impatient to get back to the lab. Yeah they were making fun of the horror movie cliches, but we were still watching the cliches at the same time which wasn't really my thing. If that even makes sense lol. Idk maybe it was aimed more at people who watch a ton of slasher movies and would appreciate the satire of them more and all of the in jokes? Also I know it wasn't supposed to be pure horror obviously, but none of it it really scared me much and I'm the kind of wimp that can very easily be left terrified watching a scary movie. But then I found the same thing with Buffy, it wanted to combine action, horror, and comedy, but it never once scared me in the way that shows like the x-files or Supernatural have done, horror is something that Joss has never managed to pull off for me for some reason. Going back to the 90's, Scream was a film that I thought had a much better balance of scares and tongue-in-cheek humour, plus getting me to care about Sydney's character (I still need to watch Scream 4 at some point). I've never been much into films like The Evil Dead where I'm supposed to care about a bunch of teeangers stuck in a cabin in the woods and making stupid decisions, so maybe The Cabin In The Woods was a bit of a non-starter for me :P
The Iron Lady wasn't exactly what I had expected. The trailer is all clips from her life and there's no indication that most of the film is about Margaret Thatcher as an old lady with dementia, so why not be honest and advertise it that way? Because they knew that wouldn't sell? Meryl Streep was certainly excellent, but the film itself felt very poorly done. I think it would have worked better if they had opened with Margaret Thatcher as an old lady talking to Dennis and flashing back, then used the entirety of the film to tell the story of her life, and only then return to her as an old lady in the closing moments. Instead you couldn't get involved in the characters or the story at all because the flashbacks mostly felt so random and there was no real context being given for a lot of it. And don't get my wrong, I've no problem with Margaret Thatcher's policies being criticisized, but it felt like the movie was trying to send a message about her as a woman which made me a little uncomfortable? There was the scene of her children running over her car calling out 'don't leave us, Mummy' (would a male politition's film have had a similarly manipulative shot?), her husband complaining about her neglecting her family, and then the final message which seemed to be that she sacrificed personal happiness by being so obsessed with her career. Now again I would have had no problem if the film had criticised her in terms of her policies, but it was hard to even get much out of those flashbacks because we kept returning to the lonely old lady in the present wondering why her son doesn't visit her. It was just kind of a weird message I got from it, I don't know if it's just me?
I'm taking a break from my Breaking Bad rewatch for the moment to catch up on some films and make the most out of my netflix subscription for the month, but I am planning to start season 3 soon. And after I've finished with my Breaking Bad rewatch some tv on netflix I'm torn between trying is White Collar, Heroes, Lost, Prison Break, or 24. Any recommendations? I'm leaning toward White Collar at the moment just because the other shows seem like really big time commitments lol, but we'll see. Actually the show I would really like to check out next is The Shield, it looks seriously amazing from what I've seen of it on the Breaking Bad DVD trailers, but of course that one isn't available on UK netflix grr
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(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-23 02:00 pm (UTC)
Date: 2013-04-23 02:04 pm (UTC)Heh yes I guess that I would just watch the first series of Heroes as it doesn't seem like anyone has anything good to say about it after that. Lost and Heroes always feel like a craze I missed out on as it seems like nearly everyone is familiar with at least one of them when they were hugely popular, so they've always been shows I've thought about checking out at some point. There's just sooo much tv out there these days it's hard to keep up with it all!
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-23 07:03 pm (UTC)I'm interested in The Shield too. Let me know what you think of it if you get around to watching it. Of the other shows, I wouldn't recommend Lost. Well, I was a huge Lost fan in the early seasons then it made me more bitter than any TV show I've ever experienced. 24 and Heroes are engaging at first and then their concepts wear thin.
The best 'substitute Breaking Bad' shows I'd recommend are The Sopranos and Dexter, since they share similar themes of a dangerous criminal disguised an ordinary American man. I finished The Sopranos just before I started BB. I've only just started watching Dexter.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-23 10:15 pm (UTC)And Dexter is a show I'm curious about, but my flist has had such a negative response to the last few seasons that it's put me off a bit :P One serial killer show I definitely want to try sometime though is Hannibal
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-24 06:08 am (UTC)I found Sopranos even better from S4 onwards. You should definitely catch up sometime.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-24 12:33 pm (UTC)And Dexter is on Netflix as well, so maybe I will add those early seasons to my to-watch list :)
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-24 05:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-24 05:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-29 03:52 am (UTC)Heroes - Season 1 is intriguing. And then things go downhill. Very downhill.
White Collar - I watched two seasons and for some reason I stopped. The plot got repetitive?
The Shield - I didn't watch it all as it was airing. Only watched the first two seasons. Then watched season 3. It got really hard to watch after that. I have tags on 'the shield' when you are ready to watch it. I rec the first 3 seasons, but after that, eh. It's a really, really rough show.
Lost - Where to begin. I started with it innocently. But then I had to see it to the end. It really goes off the rails in season 3. But . . . this one while it gets weird and kind of bad, it's hard to just stop with it, you know?
Prison Break - Should have been a one-season show too! I watched two seasons of it as it aired. Because how can one prison break take three seasons? But the first season was good and Wentworth was cute. :-)
Never watched 24. I don't know why. Kiefer doesn't do much for me, I suppose.
Let us know which one you pick!
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-29 10:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-29 01:40 pm (UTC)This comment was the last thing before I went to bed so of course, I dreamed about these shows somewhat. And Once Upon A Time. :-) But I remember thinking, she might like Oz! Just looking at the shows you were considering watching. But I can't quite recommend Oz. It's a really heavy show with little relief even though I watched the entire series in like two weeks.
But you've already seen it! I'm curious to you thoughts on it. I recommend you watch The Wire ASAP. If you've seen it, rewatch season 1. It's that good, really. Or watch The West Wing! Or get the show in my other "let's play lions" icon, Jeckyll. It's only six eps, as British shows tend to be, but I think you'd particularly would like it.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-29 11:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-29 11:15 pm (UTC)Or you can watch Jeckyll which is dark but not as dark as it starts out to be. Or! If you like British shows, Prime Suspect! Which is very, very dark. It starts out with Helen Mirren in 1988 and ends in 2007, I think. She is so amazing. I thought I'd be bored but it's riveting TV.
Trust me! Hee!
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-29 11:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-29 04:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-29 10:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-04 09:40 am (UTC)I really wish the HG movies had been a bit more bloody. And the cast had been actual teens, though I was okay with the casting. Except for Rue. Cute little girl did nothing for me. Why? So we get more of the horror of what children were forced to do. It wasn't just a game of Survivor out there.
I think they passed on the blood because they wanted the PG-13 rating. I forget it sometimes but it is a teen series. But I think they should have went R for the violence.
As for the books, I always got the feeling the author was protecting Katniss from making an actual offensive kill. It was always in self-defense, defending Rue, or a mercy killing. Did being a victor change Katniss? I think the war changed her but she still seemed herself after both games.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-04 10:27 am (UTC)And yeah I got that feeling at times too, but it seemed like a cop-out if you're going to establish a world where children have to kill for their own survival and then have your protagonist mostly just defending herself from attacks and still winning the games. I would have expected her to kill at least one person outright and have to deal with her feelings after that
(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-04 10:36 am (UTC)Rue . . . I don't know. I don't feel we knew Rue all that well so she was sort of token sacrificial lamb. Really just a stand-in for Prim. Katniss actually says this. That she cares about Rue because she reminds her of Prim.
Total violence cop-out. You know what? You've inspired me to work on my HG fic today! (That and waking up with a terrible sore throat, thus canceling my evening plans.) I want to make it better and it's nice to know there is one person out there who might actually get it.
I don't dislike the HG world, just think there is more about it I'd like to know about.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-04 10:51 am (UTC)I always feel hugely in the minority actually because Mockingjay is actually one of my favourite books and it seems like most fans really hated it and found it rushed? Whereas I thought the coda was a bit weird and a blatant attempt at a fan-serving ending, but most of the book I really enjoyed and that's the one movie (or two movies I think they're making from it?) that I'm really excited to see with the rebellion against the Capital. If I'm totally honest I wasn't that excited for Catching Fire at the time because, like I said, the hunger games were never my favourite part of the books. It was still an interesting idea to involve all the victors that time and the author did ultimately do a good job with it, but definitely the ideas in Mockingjay interested me more when it felt like things started moving a bit and real change was going to happen
(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-04 11:03 am (UTC)The second book felt a bit of a retread of the first.
The third could have been two books! I do feel the author handled writing the two games better. She seemed more comfortable writing about the arena. She was less good about handling the details of the revolution. I wanted to know more. What happened with District 13? Who led after Snow was killed? And yeah, that was so sad and incomplete about Cinna. So I felt the author left a lot of threads loose in that book but maybe they'll be able to fill some in in the two movies.
That's what I think of the series, generally. A lot of good world-building and ideas. For me personally, I would have wanted a little more detail on plot resolution and a bit more time spent with other characters. Still, as a writer myself, sometimes you write the story as it comes to you and you don't always have the answers to all those details yourself!
(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-04 11:16 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-04 07:11 am (UTC)I like horror and anything that plays with Tropes (hence my love for Community... before they shitcanned Dan Harmon) so Cabin was right up my alley. I don't think it has much mass appeal, but I think it should get and definitely deserves a good cult following.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-04 10:10 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-04 10:29 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-04 10:20 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-04 10:42 am (UTC)So they've just pretty much given fanservice. I'm not saying that has no value as I love the characters and appreciate the new showrunners are trying to please and sometimes they still give moments of brilliance. But I miss Dan Harmon and how he didn't worry about fan reaction and just gave us the crazy workings of this world he created.
That being said, WATCH THIS SHOW. I've watched most episodes three and four times and still find something fresh in each. It's very well-crafted and meticulous and treats its audience like they have a brain.
Even this (final?) season is worth watching. Not as much as the first three seasons, but it's still good at times.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-04 10:55 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-04 11:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-05 12:10 am (UTC)