626 Reply by avatar

(297 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Dorkman wrote:
avatar wrote:

Was there some clue with the SD card? Hank was out on the balcony with his mate, leaving Pinkman alone with the video camera. Where's the SD card? Hank looks at the camera and says we'll need another SD card. Dunno... might be a red herring.

I think the idea was that Jesse had just been talking long enough to fill up a card, and so to continue getting Jesse's statement they'd need another.

If the SD card had been missing from the camera entirely there would probably have been a bigger reaction from Hank.

That's probably right. I'm most likely reading too much into it. It's just that BB has such sparse dialogue, everything could be significant. Also, during the same scene, Pinkman asked to go to the bathroom. Coincidence? Why mention it if it didn't 'mean' something? If Pinkman did swipe the SD card, that'd be a good time to flush it or 'hide' it. You never saw Hank take out the SD card, only put in another one. Maybe the writers insert little ambiguities here and there so they can use them in future episodes if they need to.

As to Doctor Submarine's ending, I'll venture this alternative: Hank is fired from the DEA for neglecting his managerial duties. His boss already chewed him out about about his one-case obsession. How many other crimes are going unsolved? So Hank is unemployed, Marie is in jail for resuming shoplifting, but Walt offers Saul's services to get her out. Hank joins Walt as his new 'Mike' henchman, and they set up the mother-of-all-meth labs in New York or DC or LA, etc.

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627 Reply by avatar

(297 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Doctor Submarine wrote:

I'm still amazed that, even with only four episodes to go, that flash forward is still a totally mystery. They're really holding out on that one, and I bet we'll never see it coming.

Yes, I'm expecting the pace to really pick up now, as there's so many loose ends to tie up.

Is the mountain of cash going to remain buried in the ground, seeing that Walt hit his head on the bathroom floor immediately after burying it?

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628 Reply by avatar

(72 replies, posted in Episodes)

redxavier wrote:

The vast majority of the downtrodden don't go around behaving in the same way.

That's true, but the statistics normally do show that people raised in socioeconomically depressed areas have lower social mobility, shorter longevity, fewer job prospects, and higher crime rates and other dysfunctionalities, compared to comfortable middle class households.

Environment clearly plays a factor if you zoom out and look at crime nation-wide over decades. It doesn't excuse any individual crimes towards victims, and everyone's still responsible for their actions. The correlation of class and antisocial behaviour helps illuminate the issues if you really want to do something about it. If you truly care about the victims and want to stop the cycle of violence perpetuating itself, then taking the environment into account for the big picture/long game is  necessary. The ultra-libertarian "just deal with it" is not a very sophisticated response.

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629 Reply by avatar

(72 replies, posted in Episodes)

Half an hour in. Can't believe Americans are dissin European food. Coming from the country tourists have to de-toxify from after they leave. Not all food has to be injection-moulded high fructose corn syrup. big_smile

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630 Reply by avatar

(297 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Was there some clue with the SD card? Hank was out on the balcony with his mate, leaving Pinkman alone with the video camera. Where's the SD card? Hank looks at the camera and says we'll need another SD card. Dunno... might be a red herring.

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631 Reply by avatar

(297 replies, posted in Off Topic)

So what character are y'all rooting for to make it to the very end credits? The whiny son? The comatose wife? The blowhard cop? The catatonic Jesse? The sleazy lawyer?

I can't pick one. They've all become so unsympathetic. I was rootin' for Pinkman, but he doesn't seem to have any goal he's struggling for. I don't even know why he was cooking. The money meant nothing to him.

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632 Reply by avatar

(77 replies, posted in Off Topic)

MasterZap wrote:

"Breaking Bad" is what happens when you don't have Universal Health Care.

In Sweden, Walt AND Hank's total medical bill would probably not go above $1000 ... combined.

/Z

If only Americans knew more of what universal health care (not just Sweden, but most of NW Europe, Australia, NZ, Canada, Britain) was like, they wouldn't be protesting in the streets NOT to have government health care (getcha gomamen hands off ma cancer-ridden body). They've not been well served by the media or politicians in informing them of the alternatives.
You'd think that the one redeeming feature of US health care is that it'd cost less than 'socialized' health care, but actually Americans spend more per capita. Their privatised system is extremely inefficient.

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633 Reply by avatar

(34 replies, posted in Off Topic)

bullet3 wrote:

Finally saw it, and you guys are being way too kind. It's forgettable and mediocre at best.

That't it, it's over folks. No one knows how to make sci-fi action movies anymore. If the guy who made District 9 can botch it like this, with basically full creative control, an R-rating, and 100 million dollar budget, it ain't happening.

The bar for a 'pass' is getting lower. While Oblivion and Elysium (& Stoker?) are looking to be the best movies of 2013, in prior decades, they wouldn't make the top #10. They'd be forgettable like Sphere or Event Horizon or Supernova.

At this stage, we'll take anything. Any redeeming features? At all? Look hard. There's one....pass.

Project the trend forward another 10-20 years, and Adam Sandler flicks will be revered like Citizen Kane.

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634 Reply by avatar

(359 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Wow - distributing the special features over several retailer releases is descending into new depths of bastardry. Into Darkness. I hope the backlash is brutal. And then they wonder why fans go to pirate sites.

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635 Reply by avatar

(77 replies, posted in Off Topic)

BBQ wrote:
Doctor Submarine wrote:

Wait...

  Show
Was the Alaska thing a callback to Jane? I thought they wanted to go to New Zealand.

Huh...

  Show
Actually you are correct. I thought I remember Alaska being part of the discussion before they finalized on New Zealand -- but it's possible I made that up........

However, I looked around a bit on the nets and found this in an interview with Gennifer Hutchison (wrote the episode):

Why does Jesse fixate on Alaska?
He and Jane in their drug-induced haze talk about New Zealand, so for awhile we talked about maybe he’d say New Zealand, but that felt a little more far-fetched. I remember always being in the room and saying, “I just want Jesse to get on a bus to Alaska and get the hell out.” I love Jesse and I want the best for him. Alaska still feels like a frontier in our collective imagination, like just generally a place you can start over and maybe become a bush pilot. It’s so remote and so different from New Mexico. It just felt right.

LINK: http://www.vulture.com/2013/08/breaking … sions.html

I can imagine Jesse as Chris McCandless

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636 Reply by avatar

(77 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Doctor Submarine wrote:

Wait...

  Show
Was the Alaska thing a callback to Jane? I thought they wanted to go to New Zealand.

Hank mentioned he had a Blu-Ray of Heat. And in Heat, the plan is for de Niro and his woman to retire to New Zealand and were driving towards the airport at the end.

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637 Reply by avatar

(34 replies, posted in Off Topic)

It just opened in Britain and I was in the first session of the day. What a stunning looking movie. Neil Blomkamp struck gold when Peter Jackson took him under his wing. Give this man more $100M+ budgets. Yes, it's up there with Oblivion for best movie of the year. Both are:

Original sci-fi premises
Stunning to look at
Awesome production design - making it re-watchable for that reason alone
Superb VFX - ships & robots & Elysium
Thumping good score

There are other similarities:

  Show
1. In both movies, the objective is to reach an orbiting station around Earth.
2. Humanity is saved by a Christ-like lead that sacrifices himself. Matt Damon even gets a 'spear' in his side. Tom Cruise is resurrected.
3. Dangerous robots
4. Friendship with woman from past rekindled in crisis
5. Cool ships

Things that were confusing:

  Show
1. Why did Max have to sacrifice himself to upload the data? Heard of a thumb-drive?
2. Why was the code first scrambled and useless, and then useful?
3. Given Max was sick with radiation poisoning and dying in 60 hours, his many wounds healed fast.
4. Kruger's sudden beef with Foster/Max. The whole section from the crash-landing until the break-out was confusing. Were Kruger's henchmen fugitives too? Why didn't they just kill the woman instead of throwing her in an armoury? What was the deal with Max in the gimp mask?
5. Fight scenes - too close, too quickly edited. Couldn't tell what was really happening.
6. Aren't surface to space missiles dangerous if they're aimed at ships in front of a giant space station?
7. No explanation about why the poor couldn't also have the magic med machines.

Things that could have improved it:

  Show
1. At 109 minutes, it was little short and relentless. It could have had a breather every now and then with more establishing time on Earth and Elysium.
2. Fewer WWE punch-up fights between mechwarriors. We're veering into superhero v supervillain territory.
3. Clearer 3rd act: motivations, and Elysium politics.
4. Show Matt Damon doing a car score to get into see the hackers.
5. Young girl needs to look sick.

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638 Reply by avatar

(123 replies, posted in Episodes)

Dorkman wrote:

Yeah, I agree on Moby Dick actually, which I'm fairly certain is only that way in the first place because words were money at the time.

In the 19th century, the only literate people were gentlemen and ladies who had servants to do all the work. With no TV or 'net and cumbersome transport between places, the leisured classes had to amuse themselves somehow.

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639 Reply by avatar

(359 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Star Trek fans vote Star Trek Into Darkness the worst in the franchise...

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter … 63317.html

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640 Reply by avatar

(27 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Trey wrote:

"When we reach our cruising speed of 700 mph, we recommend you keep your seat belt loosely fastened.  That way if there's an accident the lower half of your body will stay in your seat and we'll know whose legs those were."

I won't be down in front of that carriage, because I don't want my friends in my head.

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641 Reply by avatar

(123 replies, posted in Episodes)

In Britain, they have "Quiet" carriages on National Rail, and the big shitstorm is that everyone ignores that and carries on talking, telling their frigg'n life stories on the phone and to everyone on the carriage.

So, likewise, you can have cinema screenings designated 'QUIET' but until an enforcement policy is decided on that doesn't infringe civil liberties, it's going to be ignored by the 5% of assholes that spoil it for everyone else.

Cinemas need to decide which side their bread is buttered on.

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642 Reply by avatar

(123 replies, posted in Episodes)

It's only a matter of time before someone posts this...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live/films/code_of_conduct.jpg

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643 Reply by avatar

(51 replies, posted in Off Topic)

bullet3 wrote:

The problem is you know they won't actually do anything interesting with it, because these are important franchises and they want to lead into the Justice League.

Batman will come to Metropolis, he'll fight Superman for the 1st hour, during which neither will suffer any permanent damage or setbacks...

Another hour of physics-less PG-13 punching and throwing each other through walls and buildings and dropping cars on each other. The kiddies will love it.

bullet3 wrote:

There, I just saved you 2 years of waiting and 10 dollars.

Thanks. I owe you.

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644 Reply by avatar

(53 replies, posted in Off Topic)

auralstimulation wrote:

Extended Edition clip as featured on Yahoo!

http://movies.yahoo.com/video/hobbit-bl … 21146.html

An offer of free accommodation in a ***** eco-resort with Arwen down at the pool bar every day. And Bilbo passed that up.

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645 Reply by avatar

(93 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Yes, real-world logic dictates you always lead with your best weapon.

Hollywood logic (& computer game logic) dictates that you use your best weapon last.

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646 Reply by avatar

(70 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Phantom Menace, Transformers 2, Prometheus. In this case, 'Worst' defined as the difference between expectations and reality, or between resources and final product.

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647 Reply by avatar

(93 replies, posted in Off Topic)

bullet3 wrote:

Boy do I kind of hate this movie, and the internet in general. I cannot believe that THIS is the horse the fanboys decided to die on and hold up as some big original blockbuster we should be supporting.

Dorkman is being nice, I'll come out and just say it. Not only is this not all it's being hyped up to be, it's a flat out BAD movie. Awful characters, awful dialogue, the story is ludicrously stupid. That last one is sort of a given going in, it's true, but I'd let it slide if everything else worked. The biggest problem by far though is the pacing and action sequences, which was what really blind-sided me. The actual fights in this movie combined are maybe 30 minutes of the running time if I'm being generous. In between, we're subjected to the most vanilla, stereotypical characters, spouting awful dialogue at each other for 90 minutes. On top of that, all the fights are shot either in heavy rain, or underwater, so you can't even follow the action very well half the time. WTF del toro? Never did I think the action would let down the movie like this, but man did I not give a shit during that climactic battle, and boy was it not particularly exciting.

Big let down for me, even going in with lowered expectations. The year of disappointment continues.

I second all the above. I saw it in the last row of IMAX and had no idea what was going on in the action scenes. Too fast, too blurry, too zoomed in, too many cuts, too shaky. The characters were awful except for the old Aussie and young flashback girl (& Ron Perlman of course). The dialogue was cringeworthy. The actors were bland. The story was dumb and predictable, but that was expected. But the action was poorly directed and that's the biggest disappointment. Maybe it'd look better on a laptop screen at 10 yards' distance.

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648 Reply by avatar

(162 replies, posted in Off Topic)

http://hollywoodandswine.com/al-qaeda-u … ing-video/

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649 Reply by avatar

(52 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Just reading that instead of the low-budget 3rd act we did get, I prefer the original ending. Depends how it was filmed though (Forster's no good with action). But it sounds more epic and gritty.

In any case, at least Lindelof didn't 'Lindelof' the new third act it by making it vague, non-nonsensical and blatantly anti-scientific.

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650 Reply by avatar

(52 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Anyone else seen the new zoombie flick, World War Z?
Besides needing a 'R' rating and a third act, it's pretty good. No camp capes, no WWE punch-ups, etc.
It's 28 Days Later crossed with a bit of Aliens and I am Legend.
Brad Pitt keeps it real. The swarm effects are impressive. There are some genuine suspenseful moments. The opening is very strong.
On the downside, some of the cinematography & editing are a little jerky - like Marc Forster's other shaky-cam flick Quantum of Solace. The finale is very low-key for a $200M+ movie (production issues). And for genuine horror and a sense of threat - it needs to be more graphic. Unfortunately big budget means it has to be PG-13.

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