Went with The Dark Crystal. I have many feelings and it is late, but I am glad that for one character, they went with a voice actor who understands that certain things must be done right instead of putting their own spin on things.
Simon Pegg and his “Hmmmm…” bring my childhood right back.
Finished The Boys.
Thought it was decent.
Good casting. Erin Moriarty really sold the bright-eyed, do-gooder to me.
Looking forward to S2.
I will recommend Double Wedding and I Love You Again
I’ve only just realised that Officer Dwayne is played by Danny John-Jules.
The Cat has changed a lot since his days on Red Dwarf…
Black Earth Rising is well worth the time, if you have not seen it yet.
We’ve been watching Serengeti lately. The reviews have been mixed-- apparently some people don’t like dramatized nature shows-- but we are highly enjoying it. The cinematography is amazing, and I want to but don’t want to know how they filmed some of the point-of-view and closeup shots.
Anthony Starr as a blond sociopath parody of Captain America is hands down the creepiest portrayal that I’ve seen in quite some time.
The new Dark Crystal series.
omg.
i wasn’t a big fan of the original movie, but this has now made me understand.
The Boys is brilliant but I am completely not onboard with the way that they took an obviously Japanese actress and had her firing an AK-74 into the jungle like she was in the Vietcong.
Just completely not okay.
It’s otherwise one of the best ever things I have seen on TV but Jesus, there is a whole bunch of completely unquestioned stupid, racist bullshit in it and it is irritating me incredibly.
I really, really like the show but I wish there were some way that Hollywood/Amazon/Netflix could stop using being from “Asia” or “the Middle East” as the default “incomprehensible” motivation for its protagonists.
Not to be contrary; it wasn’t obvious to me.
And no, none of the bullshit racist tropes that are baked in are “okay.”
The Lives of Others. A really good film.
On headphones, naturlich.
I wish I could say that the SDH nature of the subtitles enriched the experience by getting everything down in writing. But no. Netflix should procure real subtitles. Or maybe I should brush up on my German.
No, and that’s kind of the point, I think. Her captors were speaking Tagalog but the pop video she loves is in Japanese, the graffiti in the Chinatown scenes is a mix of Mandarin and Taiwanese, and the nail shop owner was speaking Malay, iirc. The actress who plays her is Japanese-American. It’s okay though, because she is Mute Asian Girl/Ninja, who never speaks to anyone.
Given how the show keeps calling Karl Urban a Brit, despite the fact that he’s got the most Kiwi accent I have ever heard, and given how smart the rest of the show is, I’m inclined to think it’s not accidental.
I’m still not okay with “Japanese American establishes her Asian-ness by firing a submachine gun into the jungle” though.
ETA: there’s a short clip where her brother speaks to her in Japanese, and her name is Kimiko, which is a Japanese name. I’m not really sure who the “they” are who kidnapped her and turned her into a child soldier but the short clip of her childhood shows a beach that seems to be further south in Asia than Japan. It could be Okinawa at a stretch but my guess is Thailand or Malaysia. So yeah, Asian othering in full effect.
It sounds like perhaps Ms. Lynch was talking out of school, but this was reported on Jezebel:
But, if this IS a thing, I’ll definitely give it a whirl.
Lair of the White Worm (Amazon).
Hugh Grant stars, but Peter Capaldi is also in it.
It’s the kind of movie with dream sequences. Also, the director seems to have some sort of stocking fetish.
Le Casa de Papel on Netflix. Using subtitles, because I have never felt comfortable with dubs. They are very uncanny valley for me.
Still in Part 1. But it’s a good illustration of why you never trust your perfect, complex plan that requires self-discipline and self-control to a bunch of career criminals and never work with hostages if you can avoid it. And Berlin needs a short drop into a long, empty elevator shaft.
I remember how many people hated it, but I think the sad part was how much it put a dent in Sammi Davis’ upward trajectory, especially after such a strong performance in Hope and Glory.
I thought Lair did well at the Box Office though? (IMDb doesn’t seem to have that info readily accessible.) She immediately went on to Ken Russell’s The Rainbow, which I think got better reviews, but didn’t do as well sales-wise.
Perhaps simply doing two Russell flicks in a row, outside his prime ‘70s period, was enough to harm her career.
ETA: Ah, just checked Wikipedia (and Box Office Mojo). US ticket sales weren’t so hot, compared to the budget. On the other hand, it did better than Russell’s prior film Gothic, which still did well enough on video to help Ken get the Vestron deal which led to Lair.
mad scientists in an underground lair
