Never played Minecraft either, but any other games I'm... game?

What he called himself (and all his previous names) was more an indication of his own character, of both his sense of identity and humour, than a wink wink move on the part of the writers.

As for the rest, agree to some extent, but unwatchable? Surely you've seen worse and managed just fine.

I liked that movie! Quite memorable. It's like a play: few characters, one location, a thought-provoking concept.

Finally saw Elysium, I found it refreshing in that it wasn't facepalmingly stupid and incoherent like most other films of its kind (though some of the fight scenes were filmed terribly). Started off strongly (though I do have questions about the worldbuilding) with an interesting twist on the protagonist, and then ended rather unsatisfyingly with its 'everything is now magically ok' climax. Had they established more of the whys and whys nots, and had a more measured resolution which didn't feel quite as much like a wave of light sweeping over the dark landscape ala TRON, I would have liked it more.

I could also have done without the million flashbacks.

Jeremy Irons is an interesting choice, I honestly wouldn't have ever pictured him as Alfred.

I watch the live shows with the movie, but never the recorded ones. I prefer not to watch along to be honest, as I sometimes get a little irritated when the guys aren't commenting on something happening I think warrants some discussion (usually an awesome shot). Off topic conversations don't matter at all when you're doing something else!

Ender's Game
What was the point of this? I've still no idea. It didn't seem to have anything to say, and yet had many ideas that could have been explored. This could have been a superb Outer Limits episode, right down to the revelation, if in a tighter more confident form. But I was surprised at how bored and disinterested I was.

I love this one!

I know you're one of those fathers, which is why I'm baffled by the favour you give the reboot. It might be fun, but the original series was never this dumb and never this whizz bang style over substance. Is your memory of the series colouring your perception of what they really were? I'm only a recent convert to the TOS, and I'm appalled at how badly they've rebooted the classic characters.

Trek 09 is closest to Star Wars any Trek has gotten, so it's even more bizarre that it be considered the 'most Trek'.

To be clear, I think these movies are both incredibly dumb. That the second goes "one dumb too far" doesn't really make the first that much better. And me personally, I had much more fun with the second so it's not like the first is objectively more fun.

Interesting discussion about the Star Treks, I completely agree with Brian though. The films are virtually the same, with the second film being slightly better in terms of the actual story. For instance, I don't really think anyone can deny that its central antagonist and his motivation is far superior to Nero.

Goodness me, a couple of those got 8s. They must be really good!

I don't believe you have to see all parts for the theme to emerge. Watching each part one at a time in order, your knowledge of what's happening grows. For instance, in the first, the water person is virtually an apparition, it looks wispy and takes a rather menacing approach to the diver (it's Blair Witch underwater). Then 50 years before, we see a dressed up but passive girl who simply watches the pilot get out of his cockpit. Immediately, the contrast between the experiences is telling us something. This isn't a maths class. It's not an effort on your part, you simply have to observe. And a fair amount of these are subconsciously registered. I'm sure you don't actively think 'that person looks troubled by that event' when watching TV or movies. And the observations lead you to think that things are different no? Repeat for each part, each encounter is different and the differences are telling us something. We don't necessarily know what this is always, and we're left with only vague notions about who these people are and their culture, but the mystery and unrevealed backstory is ultimately more interesting, and different viewers will come away with different thoughts - Were the encounters with mankind destroying them? Was their civilisation stagnating when compared to on the surface? And isn't that the purpose of most shorts, to make us think about something?

And this is why I question whether you chose to engage with it. You appear to have walked away having made no observations about what was going on, so instead of an approach of 'I wonder just what the hell those people were doing?' and coming up with some ideas, it's a comment that it's just a bunch of random things happening and it makes no sense. I just can't see how you could walk away with so little whilst emphatically trying to enjoy it. Can you see where I'm coming from on this?

In any case, I can see that you're sort of not denying that there is substance, but that the story just isn't that interesting or engaging. And that's really a different matter. I agree, they could have worked more on characterisations and generally made each part a bit more of a complete and enjoyable experience, but then I imagine that would somewhat change the scope of the fairly basic story. To be honest, it is probably more of a theme than a story.

Anyway, we've probably laboured far too long over this. In other news, I've just finally seen two collections of webisodes for popular sci-fi franchises - Blood and Chrome for BSG and Forward Unto Dawn for Halo 4. I enjoyed both quite a bit, and was impressed by the effects in both (given their nature).

Forward Unto Dawn starts off, worryingly, like a high school Full Metal Jacket, children playing at soldiers with guns in the woods, but it mercifully shifts into a different gear and features some unexpected moments and some fantastic action that very likely will make you pine for that lost in development hell Halo movie.

Blood and Chrome starts off superbly and then devolves a bit as it crumples under the weight of its twists and turns, and then it sort of fizzles out at the end because either the money's all been spent or they've written themselves into a corner.