Movies + TV series: Past and New Recommendation

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

And I don't mean that as sour grapes. I really liked Thor 3. It's one of the best of the Marvel movies.

The cast was perfect; Jeff Goldblum and Idris Elba are always great, Chris Hemsworth gave his best performance (tons of charisma) and the relation between Loki and him and Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie and him were real home runs. Even Cate Blanchett did some great mustache twirling.

There were too many jokes to cut the tension overall but the pacing was really good, and genuinely funny in bits.

The action was alright cinematically, nothing special but imbued with a great sense of energy...used appropriately, never overstaying it's welcome..which

Really speaks well of Waititi who did a marvelous job. He's clearly a good comedy director and a competent director overall...maybe the best director to ever to put out a Marvel movie.

[noddy]

hah bravo.

I didnt quite take it all on those levels - for a start maori's have their own history as warrior colonialists, so their might be a more universal aspect to that than the alt right, maybe taika is ignorant of that, i didnt do the background reading.

also, odin was the god of war and poetry, chaos and wisdom so that side of the story was ermm, whitewashed up until then... the real stories and his relationship to loki was missing from the marvelverse so i didnt see that quite the same as you, maybe i should watch it again.

the obvious tokenism of black heimdells and valkyries was just par for the course for a modern merkin thing.

[noddy]

And I don't mean that as sour grapes. I really liked Thor 3. It's one of the best of the Marvel movies.

The cast was perfect; Jeff Goldblum and Idris Elba are always great, Chris Hemsworth gave his best performance (tons of charisma) and the relation between Loki and him and Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie and him were real home runs. Even Cate Blanchett did some great mustache twirling.

There were too many jokes to cut the tension overall but the pacing was really good, and genuinely funny in bits.

The action was alright cinematically, nothing special but imbued with a great sense of energy...used appropriately, never overstaying it's welcome..which

Really speaks well of Waititi who did a marvelous job. He's clearly a good comedy director and a competent director overall...maybe the best director to ever to put out a Marvel movie.

thor coming down comic book style with the immigrant song blazing might well be the action highlight of all the movies.

and yeh, i dont normally like Cate but she really had fun with looking the part and hamming it up.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

hah bravo.

I didnt quite take it all on those levels - for a start maori's have their own history as warrior colonialists, so their might be a more universal aspect to that than the alt right, maybe taika is ignorant of that, i didnt do the background reading.

also, odin was the god of war and poetry, chaos and wisdom so that side of the story was ermm, whitewashed up until then... the real stories and his relationship to loki was missing from the marvelverse so i didnt see that quite the same as you, maybe i should watch it again.

I don't know all the in-and-outs of odin and sons...and even less about the comic books versions...but I did know enough about Odin's ...ummm....complexity to think it was a pretty clever move, all things considered. I came away from the movie thinking that Taika and his were pretty sharp.

Contrast this with Infinity War where the subtext attempted [about no hope and heroes in the universe, just overmen being their own hope through will] is all muddled and dull- proving once again the Russo Brothers are really big hacks who must be really pleasant guys who can keep a budget, work with others and know enough not to get in the way of the hype train.

the obvious tokenism of black heimdells and valkyries was just par for the course for a modern merkin thing.

Well, he inherited Idris Elba in that role [and subsequently sort of changed him up for his film] and he was definitely meant to be a token nod for the Thor universe. But I also think it's sorta the Benecio Del Toro/Jeff Goldblum situation- if you can sign them for a bit part, you do it and figure out where they fit later.

I don't think Tessa Thompson was all that token-y. I did when I saw the trailer but she did a real good job mirroring Thor as the conquered warrior. When Thor falls from the sky and is with met by this hard drinkin' scavenger-pirate/slave trader who doesn't defer to him, meets him from above (coming by ship to the shoreline of a sea of refuse) and brings him into captivity with that slow pan up to Thompson dragging the net and having that look in her eye of seeing someone like her but who she 'others'; I knew that it was a deliberate choice but not just one to fill a quota box.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

I forgot something else that wasn't all that subtle:

We are introduced to Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie as someone who has lost any bonds to her people and now drowns herself in alcohol and a marginal and shady vocation. She's disposed, depressed, and alienated. Over the length of the movie, we learn her "true" history of belonging to the proud warriors valkyries and she, with Thor humbling himself, regains her identity is able to regain her personal character.

And how are we introduced to this renewed Valkyrie? She shows up to defend her homeland from an oppressive force as the colors of the aboriginal flag shoot off like fireworks behind her.

=====

As for Mr.Waititi, he can be described as being somewhere between 'very woke' and 'absolutely woke' with every social justice warrior cause.

Except when it comes to Jews: though that might make him so woke that he's so awoke he never sleeps or even blinks- in portside politics, nowadays.

[noddy]

of course the slave planet was hopeless until the blue eyed fascist came and saved them from themselves, the black female being nothing but a suicide bomber in a hopeless cause that had given up on life until the cute white boy winked at her and reminded her of more.

then the perfect butler heimdall saved those noble peasants .. but what did he save them from.. the white woman who wanted nothing more than her place in history, her only crime being the same as the men.

of all the symbols to revitalize and rehabilitate in the modern world they chose the ultimate symbol of the wotans, fascist white supremecy writ large.

--

doin my best el graduin representation

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

of course the slave planet was hopeless until the blue eyed fascist came and saved them from themselves, the black female being nothing but a suicide bomber in a hopeless cause that had given up on life until the cute white boy winked at her and reminded her of more.

then the perfect butler heimdall saved those noble peasants .. but what did he save them from.. the white woman who wanted nothing more than her place in history, her only crime being the same as the men.

of all the symbols to revitalize and rehabilitate in the modern world they chose the ultimate symbol of the volkenfolk, fascist white supremecy writ large.

[noddy]

hah bravo.

I didnt quite take it all on those levels - for a start maori's have their own history as warrior colonialists, so their might be a more universal aspect to that than the alt right, maybe taika is ignorant of that, i didnt do the background reading.

also, odin was the god of war and poetry, chaos and wisdom so that side of the story was ermm, whitewashed up until then... the real stories and his relationship to loki was missing from the marvelverse so i didnt see that quite the same as you, maybe i should watch it again.

I don't know all the in-and-outs of odin and sons...and even less about the comic books versions...but I did know enough about Odin's ...ummm....complexity to think it was a pretty clever move, all things considered. I came away from the movie thinking that Taika and his were pretty sharp.

i know nothing of the comics but in the eddas and associated tales thor is little more than a homer simpson (albiet pretty and strong) and easy to manipulate.

odin is just an stoppable force of 'whatever works' , no excuses - you should be smarter, more aware,more educated, more violent, more everything - everyone else is a subset of skills, he is the all father.

rhodes scholar material from the height of the british empire.

so i saw the same thing as you commented on, just read it completely differently - the previous 2 movies had a sort of pussified odin, the old man who tried to keep the peace in his kingdom and ignored his real nature of war god.

as to how the modern world handles war gods and folks living by blood and passion... well.. you dont have to be woke to see the complexities of handling that for the mainstream.

the obvious tokenism of black heimdells and valkyries was just par for the course for a modern merkin thing.

Well, he inherited Idris Elba in that role [and subsequently sort of changed him up for his film] and he was definitely meant to be a token nod for the Thor universe. But I also think it's sorta the Benecio Del Toro/Jeff Goldblum situation- if you can sign them for a bit part, you do it and figure out where they fit later.

I don't think Tessa Thompson was all that token-y. I did when I saw the trailer but she did a real good job mirroring Thor as the conquered warrior. When Thor falls from the sky and is with met by this hard drinkin' scavenger-pirate/slave trader who doesn't defer to him, meets him from above (coming by ship to the shoreline of a sea of refuse) and brings him into captivity with that slow pan up to Thompson dragging the net and having that look in her eye of seeing someone like her but who she 'others'; I knew that it was a deliberate choice but not just one to fill a quota box.

this is true - i was only talking in the crude form of who they picked to represent the nordic shield maiden.

i think she did a good job.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

now that you mention it, all the female characters in these films are either cold, witch-y termagants

or

the sweet, and naive damsel-ly ingenues distressed about being in distress- in need of rescue.

or

the GOOP herself, Ms. Paltrow....

So for all of Marvel's race-theorizing; they present a united front in the male/female hierarchy of things.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

i think she did a good job.

As they are not making anymore Thor-solo movies for the foreseeable future, I hope they figure out a way to bring her back and use her again. It'd be better than a 'nother Thor/Loki team up.

[noddy]

now that you mention it, all the female characters in these films are either cold, witch-y termagants

or

the sweet, and naive damsel-ly ingenues distressed about being in distress- in need of rescue.

or

the GOOP herself, Ms. Paltrow....

So for all of Marvel's race-theorizing; they present a united front in the male/female hierarchy of things.

or they are mary sue perfectionistas - black panther was full of those and black widow is hardly flawed.

the Valkyrie is perhaps the first to carry a wee bit of humanising baggage even if she did just shrug it all off and become perfect again.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

now that you mention it, all the female characters in these films are either cold, witch-y termagants

or

the sweet, and naive damsel-ly ingenues distressed about being in distress- in need of rescue.

or

the GOOP herself, Ms. Paltrow....

So for all of Marvel's race-theorizing; they present a united front in the male/female hierarchy of things.

or they are mary sue perfectionistas - black panther was full of those and black widow is hardly flawed.

the Valkyrie is perhaps the first to carry a wee bit of humanising baggage even if she did just shrug it all off and become perfect again.

Oh! I missed that.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

Finally caught Dunkirk.

Thought it was pretty weak outside of Tom Hardy's silly accent/eye acting.

Kenneth Branagh...wow, he was hired to stand on a sound-stage and look like the most stiff-upper lip British thing ever, in all existence.

[Mr. Perfect]

Not into Christopher Nolan.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

One more advertisement for The Americans.

3_onW1c-9pU

Tonight was the penultimate episode of the series and it was a doozy.

The show has been tense, thrilling, subtle with some really great performances- particularly from Noah Emmerich, who has played Mr. FBI and accidental neighbor and friend to our KGB stars from season 1 forward.

[noddy]

dunkirk - nope, its rare ill subject myself to a war movie, i saw more than a lifetimes worth in my childhood and never suspect they have anything to offer me.

americans - it hadnt showed up in my paid streams and you mentioning it is the first ive heard of it.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

hah, that's the same reason I heard from others when I wanted to go see it with him in the theaters.

It was definitely underwhelming. You have Chris Nolan stand-ins 'will-to-power'-ing all over the place in an otherwise dreary, pointless movie hitting you over the head just how meaningless it all is.

The boy-band kid/and friend he hired were lousy choices and suck any energy out of a film they are really supposed to be carrying.

The pacing was off...and for a war film, it was devoid of any sort of energy. Even the parts meant to be thrilling or stirring felt real flat. Maybe, with Dark Knight Rises, it proves Christopher Nolan really stinks at action sequencing people.

He's much better with vehicles and the best part of the film takes place in the air with a few scenes that almost break out into palpable cinema- but with a smaller vf/x budget and it being only a bit of the film; it doesn't really take off.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

Other war movies, les'see:

The first Army Rangers into Afghanistan after 9/11 one with Michael Pena and Chris Hemsworth as the lead:

Michael Pena is always A++ great but he often gets stuck with C-material because he's a short, goofy-looking hispanic man who doesn't get the leading roles he deserves.

What he needs is a Joe Pesci type career path where he has a Robert DeNiro/Martin Scorsese handing him great supporting parts that lead to something bigger.

Chris Hemsworth is his charismatic self and does the best with what's available in the movie- that ain't much.

The problem being that there is zero tension. A group of elite soldiers with top-grade training and weaponry drop into Afghanistan and blow up horseback riders from the stone age with their drones-of-death.

Some of the cinematography was very good and the whole mountain-fighting was interesting, 'cause you don't see much of that in any war film I've seen.

But you also get the impression this film (paid for or endorsed by the pentagon to some extent, if I'm remembering correctly) is part of a deal they made with the warlord who is portrayed in the film as being on our side.

He is portrayed as all just and all wise and a warrior-mentor of sorts to Hemsworth's GI Joe. He also gave up ground on his enemy warlords in a deal w/the Americans, which acts as the climax of the film...something tells me it all wasn't done from the goodness of heart, and the existence of this movie may prove it.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

The Mel Gibson film, Hacksaw Ridge, was excellent all around.

Mad Mel sure is nutty but he knows his filmmaking.

[noddy]

Mel knows how to give an action scene some grunt.

---

vaguely related to such things is the DeathWish reboot with bruce willis.

I watched it on the buccaneers out of morbid cultural curiosity - fascinated how such a classic\ Toxic Male Gun Fantasy would be handled in post modern hollywood.

It was very self aware - the first 1/3 establishing him as a passive, polite family man that gets bullied at his daughters soccer matches.

then, his awakening into the holy spirit of gun religion, including obligatary gun maintenence porn in slow motion.

tastefully capped off with a bit of wink wink nudge nudge understanding with the local cops as to who has been slaughtering the low lifes.

i give it 3 dirty wanks out of ass salt rifles.

[Simple Minded]

Mel knows how to give an action scene some grunt.

---

vaguely related to such things is the DeathWish reboot with bruce willis.

I watched it on the buccaneers out of morbid cultural curiosity - fascinated how such a classic\ Toxic Male Gun Fantasy would be handled in post modern hollywood.

It was very self aware - the first 1/3 establishing him as a passive, polite family man that gets bullied at his daughters soccer matches.

then, his awakening into the holy spirit of gun religion, including obligatary gun maintenence porn in slow motion.

tastefully capped off with a bit of wink wink nudge nudge understanding with the local cops as to who has been slaughtering the low lifes.

i give it 3 dirty wanks out of ass salt rifles.

you've peaked my interest. sounds like a classic Hollywood re-make.

your post reminds me of the real Merikan women who (when they're in heat) put a few drops of Hoppe's No. 9 behind their ears before they go bar hoppin.......
https://www.amazon.com/Hoppes-Cleaning- ... B00109AAN2

"If you want your barrel really clean, your looking at the right product!"

nowadays, everyone is Paul Kersey, it's just they're using social media or the internet instead of a pistol......
http://deathwish.wikia.com/wiki/Paul_Kersey

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

All I've heard of the new Death Wish is that it's good, so it's on the list of movies to check out.

Another Bruce Willis film, "Hostage" is a fun time. In it he plays John McClane but this time he's a hostage negotiator with a bad conscience.

His John McClane character he plays in all these movies has gotten more mournful to go along with the portraiture of heroic masculinity with each action movie.

I imagine he's playing McClane again in Death Wish...which sounds kinda off. I can imagine the action man Charles Bronson always played thinking of Willis's version as one big p*ssy.

[noddy]

he wasnt very John McClane until the final moments actually, very low on snappy one liners, it was predominantly earnest and quiet with an old, passive and bumbling bruce.

It was definately watchable - constructed well enough to avoid most of the dangers of revenge porn - a genre which i can only watch if they get the "trigger" out of the way quickly and subtley and then just focus on the action flick aspect.

any kind of prolonged torture or low grade nastyness results in me turning it off, so they managed to leap that particular bar.

John Wick is the perhaps the king of revenge porn movies in the last decade - it handled the trigger so much more deftly than the painful rape and slaughter of family tropes and then just became a comic book of well constructed action scenes.

[noddy]

your post reminds me of the real Merikan women who (when they're in heat) put a few drops of Hoppe's No. 9 behind their ears before they go bar hoppin.......
https://www.amazon.com/Hoppes-Cleaning- ... B00109AAN2

"If you want your barrel really clean, your looking at the right product!"

heh. a splash of rum works in these parts.

nowadays, everyone is Paul Kersey, it's just they're using social media or the internet instead of a pistol......
http://deathwish.wikia.com/wiki/Paul_Kersey

aint that the truth.

[Simple Minded]

nowadays, everyone is Paul Kersey, it's just they're using social media or the internet instead of a pistol......
http://deathwish.wikia.com/wiki/Paul_Kersey

aint that the truth.

that would be a good remake of a classic, "Virtual Death Wish."

Marl Karx, a dweeby SJW devotes his entire virtual life to social justice causes. At age 30, he forms the Social Justice Warrior Avengers League of America (SJWALA). Then when the local smoking hot 17 year old high school prom queen joins his ragtag group of low self-esteem, perpetually aggrieved Avengers, (his first documented contact with a human female) he comes to the shocking conclusion that his constant thinking about getting in her pants means that he is not gay after all. He hates what he fears he has become.

He is torn and perplexed. He has to choose, "Reality, where he might not be successful, or the ideals of VR, where everything is always a balance of victimhood, rainbows, and unicorns?"

He chooses to live in reality. It is a terrifying experience. He pursues her endlessly, she plays him for a fool, but he is a master of social media. She pays a heavy price. The other slighted Avengers turn on him and the group is dedicated to destroying the virtual existence of the leader who has abandoned them and their ideals.

Hopefully, pajama boy is available for the leading role.