This was a really interesting documentary, generally devoid of any commentary from the director, except for a few times when you get an onscreen comment (maybe 4 times), but still very powerful in understanding the lives of average N. Koreans in Pyongyang. It follows one girl (and to a lesser extent, her parents) as she joins the Children’s Unit. It was written by the North Koreans and literally every aspect of it was subject to their discretion, which oddly makes it probably the most revealing glimpse into the country I’ve seen. Worth the time to watch.
[ETA] Here’s a review, which notes that he did sneak out some footage that NK government didn’t know about and were pissed and complained to the Russian government about it:
I jumped on Netflix and found this. Heartbreaking. Even with the smuggled footage, this is the stuff they wanted the rest of the world to see – the good bits. What else is happening there?
That was one of the things I noticed – history seems to start (and basically stop) just before and just after the war. I didn’t see any monuments from before the 50s, and everything else (like the children’s mural with the computers in it) stop seemed very stuck in the 50s, even with modern bits.
It’s very, very pretty. The makeup and visual effects are on a par with any other sci-fi show to date. But the characters don’t have any real depth to them. On one hand, you’ve got your basic Trekian stereotypes, like the gruff-no-nonsense-alien and the emotionless-science-officer. On the other, you’ve got generic snarky goofball types who wouldn’t be out of place on Family Guy, like the captain who can’t deal with his ex-wife/first officer’s infidelity or the irreverent helmsmen. And the plot line was paper-thin… though it may be unfair to judge too harshly based on one episode. The most troubling thing, for me, is that the show can’t seem to decide if it’s a comedic parody of the genre (which could be fun if done well) or a more serious Trekkish clone with occasional ham-handed attempts at crude jokes. Again, if the jokes were better I might not mind… but too many of them fall flat, IMHO.
One interesting thing is the casting of Penny Johnson Jerald as the ship’s Chief Medical Officer, who some will recognize as Captain “Iron” Gates from Castle… or as Kasidy Yates from Deep Space Nine.
I’ll probably watch next week to see how it plays out… but I’m not expecting too much. It has definite potential, but this first episode doesn’t really prove whether or not the show will live up to any of it.
Just watched the biopic movie, “Jackie,” on HBO the other night. it was so fascinating. i’m not sure how much was fiction (but clearly some had to be), but nevertheless it was an interesting portrayal of one of our country’s indelible moments. Jackie Kennedy was simultaneously so focused and aware, and so heartbreakingly shell-shocked and out of it on pills and vodka… it was just mesmerizing to watch a portrayal of this small painful window of time. i wasn’t even born when Kennedy was killed, and i still find it a tender wound to poke around. i really don’t think we’ve quite recovered from it, which is why we continue to talk about it and obsess over it.
it made me want to watch Lincoln again, actually. Daniel Day Lewis really just disappeared into that role. such a good movie.
I was avoiding The Keepers because I hate the Catholic Church with the fire of a million burning suns for the way they have fostered the fine art of pedophilia. I think it’s fair to say at this point that they are well beyond “cover-up” and into “actively pursuing and grooming priests for their sport.”
But I watched it and boy is it sooo good. Definitely a trigger warning for rape. It didn’t change my position on the church at all (only reinforced and added to my perception), but wow what a cool murder mystery way beyond what any author could dream up. And all led by two ferocious women who walked right out of an Agatha Christie novel, only less Brit. They do stuff like map out the list of potential suspects on coffee filters. I love them. And the lead witness and her giant Catholic family are total warriors.
Yeah, everything I’ve heard so far is “I expected a comedy, and there’s a couple of lame jokes, but it’s surprisingly more like an extremely high budget ST:TNG fan film.”
Exactly. I’m a diehard Trek fan, and even I can admit there’s comedy in putting less-than-perfect people in charge of a futuristic starship (like Red Dwarf.) If that’s what they want to do, then they should run with that. And maybe they’ll commit to that in future episodes (since you can only fit so much in a pilot.) The first episode felt like it was trying to be all things to all people, and as a result it wasn’t much of anything. Like you said, it reads like fanfiction (or maybe the FOX executives are meddling with the show McFarlane intended to make.)
A collection of 8 kinescopes of 'Way Out, an early television hosting gig for Roald Dahl which used to air before The Twilight Zone. This show was an emergency replacement for The Jackie Gleason Show ('61 edition) and the first episode “William & Mary,” the only that I’ve seen thus far, has a certain oddness to it that may be due to its rushed production, choker closeups, bare-ish sets and lots of talk. Still good old-fashioned macabre fun though.
I just started watching Madame Secretary. I’m friends with one of the people who writes music on the show, so I’m mainly listening for stirring patriotic music.
ReGenesis is on Amazon prime video, and we’ve been enjoying that a lot. It’s almost finished, though, and now I need a new binge!
It definitely gets 5 stars from me, and not just because of all the great Canadian actors and accents I don’t know if the science is any good, but it doesn’t constantly set off my eye-rolling bullshit detectors, like some other science-y shows do.
American Vandal. Sounded kinda stupid, and it is, but it sucked us in. I don’t like true crime shows, but I’ve seen enough and it’s a perfect mimic of them right down to the details while at the same time being, well, kinda stupid. Something about that makes it very watchable.
I don’t know if the science is any good, but it doesn’t constantly set off my eye-rolling bullshit detectors, like some other science-y shows do.