I saw Black Panther last night and…
the hype is justified. For one thing, the story gives the background of the character and setting without making the whole film an origin story, and does it very neatly too.
And despite the (very well choreographed and enjoyable) action scenes, overall the film is very thoughtful – and thought-provoking. Whooole lot of economic and foreign policy positions being interrogated here.
There’s some genuinely gorgeous cinematography. I loved the shots of Okoye, crouched on top of a speeding car, sizing up her next spear throw while the skirt of her evening gown flows out behind her, as magical and brilliant as any superhero cape.
All the acting is fabulous too. Being a superhero film it probably won’t get nominated for Oscars – but it should.
Favourite minor fun bit – Martin Freeman’s very nasal, quite annoying American accent.
Aaaand that’s about as far as I can go without spoilers.
I finally got around to watching Stranger Things and wound up watching the whole damn thing into the middle of the night to finish it. I think I liked it more than the first season, especially fleshing out the other characters a lot more in a natural way.
Maybe that will be next the well-loved series which I binge at all once.
So far since 2010 it’s been:
Veronica Mars (The first 2 seasons were good, the last was just okay)
SPN (They really should have stopped, ages ago)
Sons of Anarchy
Six Feet Under
Breaking Bad (It’s still a freakin’ unicorn of a show)
Sherlock
Grimm
Teen Wolf (I quit after S5; it just got too stupid for me)
Arrested Development
Psych
Doctor Who
Game of Thrones
I only binged the first season of Orange is the New Black before becoming hooked, so it doesn’t really count.
Also, I briefly watched Glee and True Blood, and quit on both; Glee was only interesting during the first two seasons before becoming too repetitive, and I only watched TB because of the male eye candy; it always had terrible writing and hammy performances.
I’ve had meatspace friends suggest Shameless, Black Mirror and Firefly: haven’t gotten around to any of them yet.
That’s one that people have been suggesting to me for years, along with 24 and the Shield; maybe ‘it’s a Black thing,’ but for some reason, most police procedural dramas just don’t appeal to me.
Exceptions were CSI when Gil Grissom was still a character, and Dexter before the writers gave up completely in S5.
The Wire is officially old now but it’s less a police procedural than the ghost of a police procedural beaten to death by ghosts of police politics, drug dealing politics, labor politics, newsroom politics, prison politics, education politics, and then back to drug dealing politics.
My strong aversion to bestiality is mainly what’s kept me away, despite all the rave reviews and knowing that each ep is a stand alone.
That was a terrible choice for the pilot.
I’m already very hip to the misadventures of Jimmy Mcgill; that’s just how good BrBa was, I was actually down to watch a prequel (which I usually don’t care for in most shows.)
And Michael McKean was unbelievably brilliant; it will be interesting to see where the series goes after what his character did last season.
I couldn’t stop comparing it to Friday 13th the Series, for which I will always have a soft spot.
And I’m still officially not interested. Maybe too many years of seeing real life corrupt cops ruined the premise for me.
When it came out, the exposure of police politics (politics is the management of civil war by another name, right?) was still a novelty… for white people. That’s why it was at the top of the lists of what white people love. The last seven years has moved us closer to the scowl of recognition, but we still have the luxury of not knowing or leaving it at the eyerolling. Sorry.
There’s not a lot in life that squicks me right the fuck out, but interspecies rape is definitely something that does.
Oh, I get it; the same way I have close friends who can’t/won’t watch BrBa because they’ve personally had to deal with loved ones who were strung out on meth.
When something has a detrimental impact on one’s real life experiences, it’s difficult to see the subject matter as ‘mere entertainment.’