Considering said pacing and content of the last two books, a little rushing would probably do the story some good.

52

(14 replies, posted in Off Topic)

The marching band walk Teague refers to would be rolling your feet - step down gently on your heel and as you put more of your weight on the foot try to smoothly roll forward onto the ball of the foot. You also want to bend your knees so they can take up any of the remaining jolt. The less springiness you have in your rig to counteract any bumps and jolts, the more you have to do it yourself.

So you want to practice daily between now and the shoot, both to get a feel for the type of movement but also because unless you're one of the Crossfit guys we have here, walking in a maintained half-crouch will destroy your legs after about 20 minutes. If you are one of the CF guys I'd give it thirty without practice.

I had to stifle my reaction to Littlefinger's line because nobody else in my house has read the books. But I smiled on the inside.

But I can't really play that card for much longer. If we're honest, pretty much nothing happens in 4, or 75% of 5. Which means I have pretty much no idea what's going to happen for the next four years of this show, and I'm excited.

Eddie wrote:

Which isn't to say that X-Men: Days of Future Past is a bad film.  I think it's fine (sorry, Dorkman)

...

This ultimately left me ... with this disappointing feeling that the franchise is going backwards instead of forwards.

My agreement with the second point is precisely why I disagree with the first. But YMMV.

Anyway, I agree that XMFC is the best and my favorite of the series, and its non-reliance on Wolverine is probably a large part of why.

55

(37 replies, posted in Episodes)

everythingshiny wrote:

It is not available in the USA (shocker) but can be purchased internationally and as an e-book.

Cool, thanks for the heads-up. smile

avatar wrote:

Gethsemane is also a corker of a song, where even Jesus becomes a skeptic. It needs someone with a big (vintage 'Meat Loaf' like) voice. Ian Gillan belted it out on the originally studio recording from Webber/Rice.

Michael Crawford did an album of a bunch of Andrew Lloyd Webber's showstoppers, and did a phenomenal, more operatic version of this.

56

(25 replies, posted in Movie Stuff)

Faldor wrote:

What did you lot think?

He asked.  neutral

57

(25 replies, posted in Movie Stuff)

Yep. My whole problem is that this movie gives us nothing to talk about in those terms. And it should have been SOAKED in it, my god.

58

(25 replies, posted in Movie Stuff)

I was just bored. When a franchise movie just plods along and bores me, that's when I walk away. It might have been exacerbated, again, by how very not boring its immediate predecessor was. Huge drop in storytelling quality, massive potential in the FIRST CLASS reboot wasted, since we'll probably never revisit those iterations of the characters.

It's a similar problem as I had with INTO DARKNESS. We rebooted the entire franchise and can do anything, so we're going to just go ahead and go back to doing the same shit we did before. I feel like I could just watch the first two X-MEN movies on a loop and get about as much out of it as this franchise has to offer me anymore.

59

(38 replies, posted in Episodes)

I like "When Will My Life Begin" and that's pretty much it. "Mother Knows Best" is a little too dinner-theatre for me, but part of that might be the animated performance. I should listen to it on its own and see if I like the song.

Not that anyone asked ME.  mad

60

(25 replies, posted in Movie Stuff)

I agree with Doc entirely on this matter. This movie made me want to give up entirely on the series, including just not bothering with any more commentaries on it. But apparently we'll have to so I can explain how you're all crazy.

NOTHING HAPPENS IN THIS MOVIE.

It's not the worst of the series -- X3 and Origins have made a huge buffer zone for it -- but man, after FIRST CLASS, what a waste of time.

EDIT: Actually, one thing Doc hasn't mentioned is how any time there was any tension between two characters that could have been even remotely interesting if it were a running thread in the film, it was solved immediately by a single conversation in the very next scene they were in together.

OH MAN AFTER TEN YEARS MAGNETO AND XAVIER HAVE TO WORK TOGETHER BUT THEY HATE AND DISTRUST EACH OTHER HOW oh Magneto yells a bit and then they're over it yeah okay

61

(37 replies, posted in Episodes)

TechNoir wrote:

Great choice of movie, saw it for the first time a short while back and overall really enjoyed it. Can't wait to hear you guys talk about it.

http://i.imgur.com/7D75n7U.jpg

62

(20 replies, posted in Off Topic)

I hate to say it but it doesn't sound like this guy was ever your friend. Based on the way you've told the story, the only surprising part about his behavior is that you're surprised by it, given that he's seemingly been this way all along, to the point you've fallen out multiple times.

63

(37 replies, posted in Episodes)

I can't say I see the appeal -- and nor would Eli, being blind...  wink

64

(37 replies, posted in Episodes)

Actually that's totally plausible in the sort of evangelical mindset underlying the film. Killing is fine, when it's bad people and they started it. Extramarital sex, never. A guy like Eli would pride himself on how he keeps his lust in check, especially compared to the benighted sinners he passes on the road.

65

(9 replies, posted in Movie Stuff)

Yeah, I don't know what that was, but could we not.

66

(29 replies, posted in Episodes)

I'd trim a few lines tongue but otherwise much better all around.

67

(431 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Zarban is the reason
Zarban is the why

68

(9 replies, posted in Movie Stuff)

Definitely companion pieces, both about love and relationships, though they approach the topic from different directions.

I would venture to say that HER is a more "legitimate" piece of sci-fi, as it's projecting a recognizable future to wrestle with the present, while ETERNAL SUNSHINE is more fantasy, just making up a premise to get at an emotional (and timeless) truth, and could just have easily been about magic spells as a piece of fictitious technology.

It took me two viewings to really fall all the way in love with HER, personally, so might be worth revisiting a little bit down the line after some digestion time, Teague.

69

(5 replies, posted in Episodes)

Jesus Christ, Trey wasn't kidding about Maybe We'll Have You Back. I'm two chapters in and I feel like I need therapy.

70

(29 replies, posted in Episodes)

Invid wrote:

I have a general question. I've heard many say, including you guys, that Gravity really has to be seen in 3D for it to work. I didn't, which probably explains my feelings towards the film smile However, unless 3D TV REALLY catches on, from this point forward very few of those watching the movie will see the 3D version. I therefore wonder if it will have any more lasting impact than Avatar did. It's certainly not unwatchable the same way, say, How The West Was Won is (the three strip, curved screen image doesn't convert to flat letterbox well), but does a filmmaker have any obligation to "future proof" their film so it has a life beyond the theater? The answer used to be, "no", as they were competing against TV and home video didn't exist. Now, however...

...the answer is still no.

Cuaron in particular -- and now I'm wishing this had come up during the episode -- is most concerned with the experience and possibilities of cinema. All the choices he made in making GRAVITY were with the goal of creating that experience for the audience. If you don't watch it in an environment designed for that experience, you simply will not get that experience. There is nothing he or any filmmaker can do about it.

It's like the difference between going to Disney World and watching a home movie of your trip to Disney World. You can capture the gist of the experience and even enjoy the home movies on their own merits, but they aren't and can't be the same as the experience of actually going.

71

(262 replies, posted in Episodes)

I love LILO & STITCH.

A return to old school effects would entail a return to filmmakers making decisions early and committing to them. Good luck with that.  hmm

73

(29 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Even setting Keanstantine aside entirely, I don't think this looks like a very good show. Visually it looks the same as any other NBC or CW fantasy series to me, and while I see what could be appealing about the character, the lead's performance strikes me as flat and uncharismatic when -- based on the dialogue -- I assume he's supposed to be wry and charming.

Could be a bad trailer, I've been wrong before, but I'll let word of mouth be my guide once it starts airing and catch up on Hulu if it lives up to the somewhat perplexing hype.

74

(38 replies, posted in Episodes)

BEHOLD

75

(42 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Marty J wrote:

Just like Kubrick and Lynch, Nolan has a very specific style. I think it works pretty well for the movies he made so far, but not all movies should be like that.

You're conflating style with substance here. Nolan has a very particular style and a very particular absence of substance. DARK KNIGHT works as well as it does because of the Joker. Not only is he entrancing to watch, but he represents a force of chaos opposing order (represented by Batman) in a battle for the soul of Gotham (represented by Dent). There's actual themes and shit going on here. Given the rest of Nolan's work I almost feel like this was a lucky accident. He just does such a good job of making his every film a ride that a lot of people -- myself included, I'll admit -- don't really care. But, ask me what his best film is, and I'll say DARK KNIGHT hands down, and that's why.

You know ultimately, this is the same problem with AVATAR, and why it was so disappointing. AVATAR started with the worldbuilding and put so much effort into it, had this whole world of imagination and style, and then once that was all in place laid it over the least imaginative structure imaginable, just a totally generic hero's journey as an excuse to show the pretty pictures, and it didn't make for a good enough ride -- for my money -- to be forgivable.

I mean, Cameron admits that he only wrote the thing as a way to force the hand of computer graphics and advance that side of things, so it's not all that surprising, but I think the frustration was in knowing that Cameron is capable of being just as imaginative in his storytelling as he is in his visuals.

Having had some years to get over the initial shock, AVATAR isn't "incompetent," it's just clearly not applying itself. But the thing is, nobody really talks about it anymore, because the initial thrill of the visuals has worn off and there's nothing really to connect to underneath. It was supposed to be the next STAR WARS, but Jake isn't Luke, Neytiri isn't Leia, nobody is even trying to be Han, and everybody's Chewie. And we saw how that went for the Holiday Special.

So AVATAR is particularly interesting because I think both sides of the reaction have kind of walked it back and both find themselves with just tepid feelings about it, if they remember it at all.

My walking-back usually happens within the first 24 hours after watching a film. I'll come out thrilled in the afterglow of a film only for the fridge logic to tear it all down (e.g. most Abrams); or I'll come out meh but then mull it over and realize the movie was doing a lot of stuff that I didn't notice as it was going -- fridge genius? -- and decide I actually love it now that I'm on the same page (e.g. most Aronofsky).