It's Here! 2020 SF in motion pictures

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It's Here! 2020 SF in motion pictures

1DugsBooks
Modifié : Déc 31, 2019, 6:47 pm



...It's Here! 2020 SF in motion pictures

Getting a jump on the new year, unless you are from down under, I thought I would start a new topic for 2020 movie opinions {and 2019 & earlier flicks & streams comments}.

I saw the new Star Wars, The Rise of Skywalker, this past weekend and will post my impressions of the flick and streamed stuff I have viewed at a later time but after fiddling with some "grabbed" illustrations I wanted to post this effort before it was lost.

Illustration above ripped from an up and coming UK skiffle music band from across the big pond to the usa & others - see link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRc0yaMW7Mw

2DugsBooks
Modifié : Avr 27, 2020, 2:50 pm



How Amazon (and Jeff Bezos) Saved 'The Expanse'
Rather lengthy Space.com article about the evolution of The Expanse.

Quote from article; "...but oddly enough, being canceled by Syfy was probably the best thing that could've happened to "The Expanse."

3DugsBooks
Modifié : Jan 6, 2020, 5:26 pm



I saw The Rise of Skywalker at the flicks this past weekend - the high priced 3-D IMAX edition. {Link to official web page with trailers etc.}. I think I will have to find another venue as the mall with the theaters had a fatal shooting of a teen aged girl for no discernible reason a week earlier. A place where mall security or whoever are typically annoying to regular customers but not present at any real trouble.

I think the 3-D is an expendable expense when you buy a ticket although I have only seen the one version. No heads flying off to land in your lap or similar in plasma sword fights etc. that I remember. I liked the flick and Rey's development although it would not rate at the top in a ranking of each film of the series. {Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) and Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) my top 2}. When the movie started I remembered a radio show mentioning this is the last movie whose music will be scored by John Williams which is sad - he really nailed the entire Star Wars series making it a part of a global culture.

The winning entity in the movie series is Disney for certain, with their totalitarian grasp on the series there is no chance of a slave princess Leia again {for good or bad} or any of the more "edgy" parts of the saga. I will watch it again when it comes out on DVD , I am still processing a lot of the events. Definitely worth the watch when you have the time. Rey does some serious butt kicking, filmed spectacularly and a lot of character's loose ends are tied up.

Reviews; watch out for spoilers:

https://io9.gizmodo.com/how-star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-is-a-quintessentia-1...

very good video review : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIMJFQT6kxQ

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/18/movies/star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-review...

4DugsBooks
Jan 12, 2020, 11:22 pm



>3 DugsBooks: "I think the 3-D is an expendable expense". There are of course, movie goers who disagree with that statement.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/scientists-put-3d-glasses-on-cuttlefish-and-played-...

5BruceCoulson
Jan 13, 2020, 6:54 pm

The first movie I'm going to see in 2020 may (or may not) be science fiction: The Color Out of Space.

6drmamm
Jan 14, 2020, 11:21 am

I'm getting very excited about Tenet, which is Christopher Nolan's latest mindbender (Summer 2020). I'm really hoping he pulls it off, because, based on the limited information about the movie, he is swinging for the fences with this one ($200 million budget).

7DugsBooks
Modifié : Jan 15, 2020, 3:52 pm


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colour_Out_of_Space

>5 BruceCoulson: Wow, that has everything {as "Stefon" says} - H. P. Lovecraft, Nicolas Cage, Tommy Chong. I wonder if Mr. Cage is done with some sort of sabbatical and will now start appearing in at least every other movie release as he did some years ago. Mr. Chong must be taking some time off from suppressing his competition in the weed health food market to keep his acting chops honed {maybe he needed a busy set to hide on?} ;-)

I have not read the H. P. Lovecraft story but the description looks interesting.


"It has everything"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_Out_of_Space_(film)

8DugsBooks
Modifié : Avr 28, 2020, 1:23 pm



Everything You Need to Watch Before Star Trek: Picard

::edit:: fixed the link so it is to the actual article - that must have been confusing!

Is a Wired article about the new Star Trek series to be released on Jan. 23rd wherein as described on wiki it is "Set at the end of the 24th century, 20 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis (2002), the storyline is affected by the destruction of the planet Romulus referenced in the film Star Trek (2009), as well as the death of Data in Nemesis."

The Wired article has an odd premise - that there are people who haven't watched all the relevant Star Trek episodes that provide context to the new series. Despite the weak premise, Adam Rogers - the author, continues; listing episodes and movies that are particularly formative to understanding Picard in his retirement. It is a substantial list and if to be completed would require starting on it soon before the premiere occurs. I think the CBS All Access paywall might keep me away for awhile but if already subscribing it should be interesting.

https://www.cbs.com/shows/star-trek-picard/

9lesmel
Jan 15, 2020, 9:13 pm

>8 DugsBooks: Why would this be an odd premise -- perhaps you are being facetious? The Wired article is brilliant. Now I don't have to binge watch AND delay watching the new series. Though I was really hoping Picard would be a film and not a tv show.

10DugsBooks
Jan 15, 2020, 11:44 pm

>9 lesmel: Here at LT SF Fans , any member approached with the notion that their Star Trek knowledge base was deficient and in need of remediation would necessarily take that as a social slight and most likely demand satisfaction.......then again maybe I have been lurking in Literary Snobs too often. ;-)

11Cecrow
Jan 16, 2020, 7:47 am

>8 DugsBooks:, similarly, Tor.com offered this article as a summary of things to remember/know before you watch "Picard". I didn't look at the Wired article, but it sounds like this one is more condensed: https://www.tor.com/2020/01/08/how-to-prepare-for-star-trek-picard-the-essential...

12LolaWalser
Jan 16, 2020, 11:57 am

>11 Cecrow:

That's good, thanks. Not that I'll get to see Picard any time soon. But it's cool, I've been watching ST NG and Voyager for the first time--am currently in the fifth season of the former (mostly eh to awful) and sixth of the latter (actually very enjoyable).

13Stevil2001
Jan 16, 2020, 1:04 pm

I was talking about Picard with my mother and my wife, and when my wife said, "Who's Seven of Nine?", I realized some aspects of the new show were going to be lost on her, as she's seen little TNG and less Voyager. So last month we watched a few episodes I suspect will be useful ("Datalore," "Brothers," "I Borg," "Descent," "Scorpion," "The Gift," "The Raven," "Dark Frontier," "Someone to Watch Over Me"). Partway through I realized she might also benefit from "Q Who," and she's never seen "The Best of Both Worlds," but we were kind of Borged out! And she's seen First Contact, so she has the Cliff's Notes version of BOBW, at least.

14LolaWalser
Jan 16, 2020, 1:13 pm

Picard is a superb character (or performance if you like). I actually got interested in watching some ST NG because in a forum I used to visit one of the icons used was the "Picard facepalm", so following the logic of "where the memes are, quality is"...

Lo and behold, the famous facepalm has been sculpted even



*tempted*

15DugsBooks
Modifié : Jan 16, 2020, 1:38 pm

>11 Cecrow: I will visit that site and see which Tor suggestions match suggestions from the Wired article and probably watch those- I subscribe to Wired so I decided to pick on them ;-)

>14 LolaWalser: LOL!

16dukedom_enough
Fév 25, 2020, 11:12 am

Apparently there's some sort of film version of Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men? With Tilda Swinton? Seems like one of the least filmable SF novels out there.

17ChrisRiesbeck
Fév 25, 2020, 6:04 pm

Interesting. One option is a surrealistic approach. The other is to tack on a plot.

I still wonder how they did a stage version of The City and The City.

18rshart3
Fév 26, 2020, 1:03 am

>16 dukedom_enough:
What's the problem? Merely a matter of capturing the high points of a plot spanning billions of years and numerous intelligent races. :-)

19andyl
Fév 26, 2020, 3:57 am

>16 dukedom_enough:

Not really a movie as such. It is a multimedia art work incorporating film, music and narration.

20dukedom_enough
Fév 26, 2020, 7:03 am

>17 ChrisRiesbeck: Did you see the miniseries of The City & The City? Pretty well done, I thought.

>18 rshart3: I know, simple, right?

>19 andyl: Well, I hope it shows up somewhere I can see it.

21DugsBooks
Modifié : Mar 26, 2020, 3:13 pm

>8 DugsBooks: From the online edition of TV Guide:

"SEASON 1 FINALE NOW ON CBS ALL ACCESS
The first season of Patrick Stewart’s return as once and forever Starfleet commander Jean-Luc Picard comes to a close with an explosive finale that will set up the already announced second season, whenever that happens. If you’re not caught up on ST:P, our corporate siblings at CBS ALL ACCESS are offering a free month of the streaming service now through April 23 with promo code “GIFT.” Live long and prosper.
"



I have seen none of the episodes and am tempted to binge out on the free offer.

>11 Cecrow: I have looked at that Tor list combined it with the Wired article and augmented it with the actual episodes data that makes it easier to search out the episodes on Netflix or other resources. Stuff got in the way & I have not been able to post it yet.,

22DugsBooks
Mar 27, 2020, 11:02 am

I just got an email for another source that offers/lists free 30 day trials as a special offer during this "stay at home" regulated era {in the USA at least}. And if the stock price can be pushed up 5 more points I am back in black on the

ROKU</I> to the rescue!

Their message:

"We’re increasing the availability of free content—including premium series—in familiar places like Featured Free and The Roku Channel.
We teamed up with 20+ of our premium channel partners like SHOWTIME®, EPIX, FitFusion, Smithsonian, and more to offer you 30 days of free viewing with extended trials.
We’ve updated a Latest News Zone to help you get live, local and breaking news from a variety of top sources. Access Zones using Roku Search and enter topics such as “News” or “Documentary.”
These are a few things we're doing to make streaming a little easier as we all spend time Home Together.
"

23RobertDay
Modifié : Mar 27, 2020, 5:31 pm

>12 LolaWalser: ST:Voyager (currently being shown weeknights on one of the UK digital channels) improved immensely once the actors began not taking themselves too seriously. This exchange between two characters from a late series episode sticks in my mind:

Harry Kim: (Insert any particularly egregious example of Trek technobabble)
Tom Paris: Do you even understand what you just said?

24LolaWalser
Mar 27, 2020, 11:49 am

>23 RobertDay:

Ha, yes!--I actually noticed all the meta-fun they were having. Lots of examples--not least the holodeck black-and-white sci-fi saga, Captain Proton or whatever it's called (I'm about to start the second disc of the last, seventh season).

25dukedom_enough
Avr 14, 2020, 8:51 am

Dune looms.

I do like Jason Momoa for Duncan Idaho.

26DugsBooks
Modifié : Avr 15, 2020, 5:08 pm

>25 dukedom_enough:


Looks like they have the right location to avoid excessive "green screen". I have liked most all the Dune attempts to varying degrees. As I remember most of the complaints come from those who did not bother to read the books first - their own fault!

27pgmcc
Avr 15, 2020, 5:32 pm

>26 DugsBooks: As I remember most of the complaints come from those who did not bother to read the books first - their own fault!

Hear! Hear!

28RobertDay
Avr 15, 2020, 5:56 pm

I always felt that the David Lynch Dune was a trailer for the film we ought to have had. Perhaps Villeneuve's pair of films will be it.

29iansales
Avr 16, 2020, 2:16 am

The "TV version" Lynch's film is interesting. Ignoring the awful prologue, it has the advantage of including several scenes from the cutting-room floor and they give a much better idea of what Lynch was trying to achieve, especially in the scenes with the Padishah Emperor. Changing the Weirding Way into the Weirding Module probably made sense given that a martial art isn't very science-fictional, but it does weaken the Fremen and make them less plausibly superior to the Sardaukar.

30RobertDay
Avr 16, 2020, 6:54 am

>29 iansales: Yes, that prologue to the TV version of Lynch's film is rather like the old BBC TV children's show 'Blue Peter', which in its early days would sometimes tell stories via still artwork and a voiceover.

Martial arts didn't become science-fictional - in film, at least - until the gun kata in Equilibrium, and (of course) the bullet time sequences in The Matrix. 'Doc' Smith did have martial arts in the Lensmen books, though quite what a 'Tomingan donganeur' consists of is perhaps best left to the imagination.

31DugsBooks
Avr 27, 2020, 2:56 pm



BSG , the good one with Katee Sackhoff , has been playing for free on Comet TV which can be streamed I believe. I have caught several episodes, which are shown "back to back", and the series holds up well.

Just click on "Watch Comet Live Now" at top left of page.

https://www.comettv.com/

32DugsBooks
Modifié : Avr 27, 2020, 4:10 pm

Netflix's Space Force is due to start on May 29th here in 2020. I guess this qualifies as SF ?? It has a lot of people from the USA version of "The Office" and is being presented as a comedy I believe. The series is created by Greg Daniels and Steve Carell. I will catch a few episodes I am sure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Force_(TV_series)

33DugsBooks
Modifié : Mai 4, 2020, 4:48 pm



May the 4th be with you! Star Wars Day is here. Link to official Star Wars Site https://www.starwars.com/star-wars-day

::edit in :: Disney+ is offering all the Star Wars flicks today evidently {not free} and here is their trailer advertising that.

https://io9.gizmodo.com/ Where there are Star Wars articles including: How to Build a Functional Mandalorian Tracking Fob to Find Your Smartphone Instead of Baby Yodas

Link to library where image ripped from: https://www.tapinto.net/articles/may-the-4th-be-with-virtual-star-wars-events-co...

34dukedom_enough
Mai 4, 2020, 9:09 pm

Not a movie, but streaming:

Britain's National Theater is streaming some of its plays on Youtube, during COVID19 lockdown. They currently have Frankenstein, in two versions, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller alternating as Victor Frankenstein and the monster. Am halfway through the Cumberbatch-as-monster version, and it's quite good. Theatrical, very different from what we'd get from a slick Hollywood version.

Each play is only available for one week, so this may not be there after Friday or even earlier.

35LolaWalser
Mai 21, 2020, 11:31 am

Most recently seen: Mars Needs Women (we have a touchstone!), 1967, enjoyed it tremendously. There can't be ANOTHER movie out there uniting a superb striptease act ("Bubbles" Cash in the credits--yes, all with quotation marks), a brainy lady-scientist who won a Pulitzer (yes) for her book on "space genetics", and a bunch of cleancut dudes in suits and ties more persuasively alien. Top marks.

36iansales
Mai 21, 2020, 3:36 pm

>35 LolaWalser: Check out Queen of Blood, dir. Curtis Harrington, 1996. Stars Basil Rathbone, a very young Dennis Hopper, an equally young John Saxon, and Florence Marly in a film-stealing turn as the title role despite having no dialogue. Also surprisingly feminist for 1966.

37LolaWalser
Mai 21, 2020, 5:14 pm

>36 iansales:

Yes! Actually saw it recently on the same channel as Mars Needs Women. That's the one that looks so gorgeous because they cannibalised a Soviet movie for the exteriors. Agreed on the space vampire, most effective.

38iansales
Modifié : Mai 22, 2020, 2:33 am

Roger Corman's New World Pictures did that with several Soviet sf movies. The most egregioius was using footage from Planeta Bur for Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet. Which was then re-edited, with inserted footage of Mamie Van Doren and a few other women in fur bikinis, by Peter Bogdanovich, as Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women...

Even Francis For Coppola did one - Battle Beyond the Sun, which used scenes from Nebo Zovyot.

39Cecrow
Mai 22, 2020, 3:56 pm

>26 DugsBooks: ... little green screen? .... how do they make her cape float dramatically like that without stirring up the sand?

40LolaWalser
Modifié : Juin 16, 2020, 10:46 am

Brilliant Danish sci-fi from 1918, Himmelskibet, or, A Trip To Mars (with Danish and English intertitles)!

Offered by the Danish Film Institute.

A TRIP TO MARS

Holger-Madsen, 1918, 81 min



Mars is Gallifrey! Or the Vatican? Omg, Gallifrey is the Vatican!

41LolaWalser
Modifié : Juin 16, 2020, 4:35 pm

Mentioned elsewhere but worth repeating, here's a restored version of the 1936 Space Voyage by Vasily Zhuravlyov (Russian and German intertitles):

Kosmische Reise

Wonderful sets, heartwarming story, and I particularly noticed how feminist-y it is without fanfare. To be sure, Fritz Lang sent a woman to the moon first, and that's not the only similarity--Lang too included the audience-friendly character of a boy who sneaks on board of the rocket. I must assume Zhuravlyov copied this, although the unwanted stowaway is a classic figure in adventure.

However, what's remarkable in this film is the casual ease with which the entire crew of the rocket ends up being the three "stowaways"--nobody BUT the people who were NOT supposed to go to the moon! The designated first man on the moon was to be, as in every story ever, a dudebro, here one Viktor Orlov. Viktor is plotting with Dr. Karin to keep the aged legend Dr. Sedych (inspired by Tsiolkovsky) out of the spacefaring team. They are not evil but concerned about him... and also what effect his potential death in space might have on the public. So, old man Sedych is to stay behind, as is Karin's assistant Marina (Viktor's girlfriend), to say nothing of the young Andryusha, Viktor's little brother.

And yet somehow, in the chaos Andryusha's schoolmates create on the launching site so that he could sneak onboard unseen, not just Andryusha but Marina and Sedych smuggle themselves in, while Viktor (presumably the only real astronaut) is left behind.

And this unlikely trio not only isn't ever berated or anything, they get the hero's welcome, and Viktor is only happy to see his girl and his brother, and happy FOR them.

It may seem like an odd thing to expand on but it's just so strange if you're used to the emotional beats of Hollywood stuff.

When the rocket successfully lands on the moon, Andryusha kisses the old man. It's exactly the right thing, and yet totally un-American. Boys don't kiss. Boys maybe get a hug, and get their hair ruffled. Or a punch in the arm or the shoulder. But a boy showing spontaneously gratitude and affection with a kiss? Not in America.

And it's not just Marina that makes the story's fem-rep progressive. As much as she, maybe even more, counts the fact that the numerous staff shown at the institute is at least half female. Women are everywhere. A woman gets to observe their signal, and announces they've landed. The news is picked up by the crowd of staff, again women in the foreground etc.

Pretty amazing in comparison to the rest of the world.

P.S. I mean, remember how they failed to show girls and boys in equal numbers in the freaking Harry Potter movies, even in the background? Someone has to WANT to do it.

42drmamm
Juin 17, 2020, 9:40 pm

For all of you time travel fans, Dark's 3rd and final season releases on Netflix on June 26th! This is one of the best shows I have seen in any genre. This is probably the most complicated storyline in the history of television, and the producers have (so far) executed perfectly. I really hope they stick the landing in the final season.

It's in German, but the subtitled version is much better than the dubbed version, IMHO.

43DugsBooks
Modifié : Juin 18, 2020, 9:12 pm

>42 drmamm: (the coveted 42cd post!) Dittos, I agree. I have enjoyed the series, time convolutions & all, and the subtitles help with suspension of disbelief - no lip syncing errors. Looking forward to the new season.

44bnielsen
Juin 20, 2020, 5:48 pm

>40 LolaWalser: Thanks! I have the book Himmelskibet by Sophus Michaëlis (1921), but I didn't know of the film. Neither that it is about Gallifrey :-)

45LolaWalser
Modifié : Juin 20, 2020, 6:27 pm

>44 bnielsen:

I'd love to hear what you thought about it.

By the way, I watched two more Danish silent movies and was stunned by how fab they were. Did you know you had such a superbly accomplished film industry at one time? (ETA: Verdens undergang was particularly mind-blowing. ETA 2: I posted about it with six screenshots here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/320697#7190924)

Another factoid re: Himmelskibet, I discovered one of my favourite sequences in one of my favourite films, Henrik Galeen's 1926 Der Student von Prag, was practically wholesale lifted from Himmelskibet. But I'll write more about that with pictures elsewhere.

46iansales
Juin 21, 2020, 5:11 am

>45 LolaWalser: I've seen several early silents by Carl Theodor Dreyer. They were released by the Danish Film Institut. Their shop seems to be offline at the moment - https://www.dfi.dk/cinemateket/butik

47LolaWalser
Juin 21, 2020, 10:39 am

>46 iansales:

Yes--Dreyer, Asta Nielsen, Benjamin Christensen, Olaf Fønss... were just about the only Danish fim people I'd known of from before.

The Danskfilminstitut is currently offering Dreyer's The master of the house:

https://www.stumfilm.dk/en/stumfilm/streaming/film/du-skal-aere-din-hustru

Also a 1-minute (only surviving) fragment from Money, 1915, for which he wrote the scenario (after Zola):

https://www.stumfilm.dk/en/stumfilm/streaming/film/penge

Sorry about the digression!

48iansales
Modifié : Juin 21, 2020, 10:51 am

>47 LolaWalser: I have the BFI DVD of The Master of the House. Plus a couple of the DFI Dreyer DVDs.

49DugsBooks
Juin 22, 2020, 2:58 pm



Apple announced it is releasing The Foundation series or at least the first book on Apple TV in 2021. Evidently the word has been out on this for awhile but I had not heard. Link to trailer below some of which is apple tv ad but looks impressive. The blurb also says "based on Foundation" which means the movie will probably flow a bit better than a verbatim film portrayal of the series. I know a lot of people complain about digressions in the series but I liked all the early novels before the prequels and sequels. I have forgotten a lot of the later plots but reviewed a little at wiki. Look forward to seeing how R. Daneel Olivaw is portrayed and if he is used as narrator?

Link to trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgbPSA94Rqg

Mention on Asimov site:
https://books2screen.com/2018/04/10/apple-nabs-rights-to-isaac-asimovs-foundatio...

Older article on movie series says that Foundation is being made by the same folks who did Altered Carbon.
https://9to5mac.com/2018/04/10/apple-tv-show-foundation/

50dukedom_enough
Juin 22, 2020, 5:05 pm

>49 DugsBooks: I still wonder how they'll handle the many generations of characters, when TV wants to have a core set of characters throughout.

51GaryMcGath
Juin 25, 2020, 7:17 pm

>drmamm:
I'm always on the lookout for German shows to help with my language practice, but I can only find the dubbed version on Netflix. (It starts with a quote from Einstein in German on the screen, but after that the speech is in English.) Looking for "Dunkel" only got the same thing.

52cloudshipsinger
Juin 25, 2020, 8:08 pm

I'm just sitting here thinking, "Yooo, they gotta get the country back on the right track and drop a Dune trailer."

53drmamm
Juin 26, 2020, 7:57 pm

>51 GaryMcGath: (I am in the US). For me, the default was the dubbed version, but I went into the settings somehow and changed it to Subtitles:English. Don't do CC subtitles or you get the hard of hearing version, which describes EVERYTHING, i.e. "loud music".

54ChrisRiesbeck
Juin 29, 2020, 2:29 pm

>53 drmamm: One feature of CC subtitles I like is the identification of song titles and performers

55drmamm
Juil 2, 2020, 7:42 pm

I blasted through S3 of Dark last weekend, and I loved it! I had a few quibbles with the ending, but all in all, it was one of the best TV series I have ever watched. Incredibly cast and tightly written. It all comes together in the end, with only tiny plot holes (and even some of the plot holes are subject to interpretation).

56paradoxosalpha
Juil 2, 2020, 8:52 pm

I recently got around to watching the four-episode television miniseries of The City & the City. I liked it pretty well. It is not a terribly faithful adaptation, and the characterization of the protagonist was significantly shifted--largely by adding a super-plot concerning his missing wife. Other key characters were also changed in marked ways, but the cast was strong and their performances were very good. The latter-day noir sensibility of the book was communicated effectively, as was the cultural and technological distance between the intertwined cities. While the story differed a bit from that in the book, it was still a satisfying one.

57dukedom_enough
Juil 10, 2020, 6:02 pm

>56 paradoxosalpha: I liked it too.

58DugsBooks
Modifié : Juil 16, 2020, 3:24 pm

>32 DugsBooks: Watched the Space Force series at Netflix , finishing a weekend or so ago. After watching the first episode I delayed watching the rest of the series as I had a hard time getting "vested" in the concept. The episodes are short as I remember, just over half an hour, so I tried a few more and the character development drew me in. The short length works in series's favor also as a small dose of humor to break up a dreary day works for me.

I finished the new Dark series installment on Netflix also and enjoyed it thoroughly but will not pretend that I kept up with all the characters and sub plots. I think I would need one of those "annotated by the film director" DVD versions to do that but the tension really builds throughout the season. I agree with some of the comments above that the resolution of the predicament/ending was perhaps a little bit of a let down

::edited some of the more horrid bits, ya think it would be possible to write 3 sentences without needing a revision! ::

59ChrisRiesbeck
Juil 17, 2020, 2:02 pm

>58 DugsBooks: I liked it, because of the character development, particularly between Carrell and Malkovitch, but the subsidiary arcs were interesting too. People who wanted Spaceballs or the like were disappointed. It's been renewed for a second season, despite not a lot of internet discussion.

60Julie_in_the_Library
Juil 17, 2020, 5:04 pm

>58 DugsBooks: Netflix has a site site specifically to help you keep track of the family tree and all of the characters. I found I really helpful once I found it, which was unfortunately after I'd already finished the show.

I didn't find the ending to be much of a letdown, myself, but then I watched all three seasons over the course of about two weeks, so I didn't have the years of anticipation building either. I did find the very last bit, with the dinner party, a little weird and confusing, but I think that was the intent.

61dukedom_enough
Juil 31, 2020, 8:06 pm

Have people been watching Upload on Prime Video? Nicely balanced between funny and grim, full of smart riffs on uploading, the near future, and precarity under capitalism.

62DugsBooks
Août 15, 2020, 1:18 pm

Ok, I admit it {sheepishly} - I watched the second season of The Umbrella Academy and I think it was better than the first, probably because all the characters were in place and the plot took off without a lot of digression.

I am not sure how closely the Netflix series follows the comic version but a lot of social issues like gay and racial are addressed in the flick but are integrated well into the plot/storyline.

63LolaWalser
Août 16, 2020, 1:04 pm

This is not strictly sf but it's an absurd look at the USSR in its almost literally last year of existence--so, really, who can tell a difference? Think of it as a burlesque Stalker. It's a Mosfilm posting in HD--I paid good money to see it way back when, count your blessings (I love this movie to bits, PLEASE WATCH IT.) Leonid Filatov, the lead, was one of the best actors anywhere you've (probably, alas) never heard of... and born to play this role.

Karen Shahnazarov's 1988 Zero City--English subtitles under the CC tab--

Gorod Zero

oh--ADULTS ONLY PLEASE! There's a shortish but startling NSFW scene.

64AnnieMod
Août 16, 2020, 10:30 pm

>63 LolaWalser:

Oh my, I had not thought of this movie in years! I think the last time was when Filatov died and a TV station (back in Bulgaria) decided to run a few of his films over a weekend... :)

65LolaWalser
Août 17, 2020, 9:25 am

>64 AnnieMod:

It holds up so well! It's the only film with Filatov I've seen, need to look through what's on offer on the channel. His face projects paragraphs where most actors might manage a phrase, or a word.

The YT autoplay sent me next to another Shahnazarov film, from 1993, Dreams, but I only had the time for about a half. Not as good as Zero but interesting in its own way. The deflated dreams of democracy.

(oh--as for on-topicness, same considerations obtain as for Zero--there is um err a sort of time travel and body sharing between epochs--Tzarist Russia and the 1990s)

66RobertDay
Modifié : Août 17, 2020, 4:30 pm

>65 LolaWalser: "...there is...a sort of time travel and body sharing between epochs..."

Reminds me of Sokurov's Russian Ark, which uses that device to explore the Hermitage Museum in St.Petersberg (in a single take).

67LolaWalser
Août 17, 2020, 6:39 pm

>66 RobertDay:

Makes me dizzy just thinking about it!

68Petroglyph
Août 18, 2020, 12:55 pm

>63 LolaWalser:
Thanks for that link! I had a good time last night while watching Gorod Zero. It reminded me a little of the film Un soir, un train (the touchstone is for the film's source novella), which is largely set in a similar inescapable town set somewhere in Unreality. But I think I preferred Gorod Zero: the black comedy and the absurdity of a failed bureaucracy that is untethered to reality feels more, well, relevant, than the vague mumbo-jumbo at the core of Un soir, un train.

69AnnieMod
Modifié : Août 18, 2020, 3:56 pm

>65 LolaWalser:

A lot of the old movies do (minus an element here and there sometimes, especially in the ones from the Eastern block) - a lot more than most of what is produced now. Part of it was that if you do not have special effects and the ability to show the picture in minute details, you actually had to have a proper story line and actors to carry it.

Don't get me wrong - good movies are also made today and there are awesome actors out there. And there had always been trash being produced. But the current technologies had somewhat changed the ratio.

PS: Of course YT decided to be helpful and linked me to Гостья из будущего/Guest from the Future (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BB6bwJ9agM for the first episode with English subtitles if someone is interested) which I grew up with. Nowhere near as gritty as Город Зеро (being a children series and all) but still on topic so figured I should mention it :) Now if I can get the theme song out of my head...

70ChrisRiesbeck
Août 18, 2020, 2:14 pm

>62 DugsBooks: I've seen a similar review elsewhere, but, while I liked elements of the second season, and would watch a third, I prefer the first season, where you didn't know what was going to happen. In this season, it seemed like pretty much every pair of characters had to have an emotional music-heavy staring contest.

71LolaWalser
Août 18, 2020, 5:07 pm

>68 Petroglyph:

Delighted to hear you enjoyed it! I'll keep in my mind that reference. I have a great fondness for films where place and time are ever so slightly out of joint, where ordinary things convey much more than appearances indicate... and where humour tempers tragedy. I'm thinking also of Roy Andersson's films like Songs from the second floor and Du levande, and Michael Kreihsl's Charms Zwischenfälle.

>69 AnnieMod:

Ooh, thanks so much, I had heard of that series but never got a chance to see it!

72DugsBooks
Août 21, 2020, 12:26 am

>63 LolaWalser: Started watching for 15 minutes or so & liked the noir type cinematography and composition of the framing. I could not figure out “ English subtitles under the CC tab--“ However and since my, Eastern European language?, skills have deteriorated thru disuse I gave up. Quite a startling but appreciated period costuming at the first.

73Petroglyph
Août 21, 2020, 10:58 am

>72 DugsBooks:
At the bottom right of the video playback is a series of buttons. Click the one that looks like a screen with writing across the bottom half. That will toggle the captions on/off. If switching captions on does not default to a language you can read, click the next button over, the cogwheel, and select a more appropriate one.

74LolaWalser
Août 21, 2020, 11:42 am

>72 DugsBooks:

Ah, sorry I wasn't clear. Just o illustrate what >73 Petroglyph: says, see down there the CC tab (if you have subs preset on English--if not click the cogwheel to choose English)



76igorken
Sep 2, 2020, 3:31 pm

>75 dukedom_enough: Oh well, at least that guarantees it isn't getting the treatment Pratchett's "Guards, Guards" series is getting.

77dukedom_enough
Sep 2, 2020, 6:54 pm

>76 igorken: Really. If I had my way, none of the stories I love would become movies/TV. Even when they're done well, I don't like how they overwrite my own impression of the work.

78DugsBooks
Modifié : Sep 7, 2020, 12:31 pm

A quick "heads up" on Neflix's "Warrior Nun" and "Away" - both a pass.

Warrior Nun is another "teen age girl with a magic weapon" flick. Those seem to come out at least once every two weeks on Netflix. Might be enjoyable as a "YA" for 10 - 12 year olds but incredibly, boringly, predictive.

"Away" is a purported SF movie about the first trip to Mars but, as many reviewers have said, it wanders around using a slow "intense" music score trying to elicit an emotional pull from teen age angst, familial alienation, and most any other interaction - all done unsuccessfully rendering incredibly boring blase several minutes long segments in each episode I have seen so far. Kind of too bad because there are some actual SF elements that are entertaining but even these are compromised by instantaneous skype/phone calls from a ship on the way to Mars to the Earth and other glaring science errors. The crew of the Mars bound ship seems more a luck of the draw than any sort of carefully curated group of people. They have trouble when one member needs stitches and question each other's authority constantly.

If anyone has a different opinion of Away let me know....I will probably watch the series to see the plot development but I have to frequently stop the episodes when they become so extendedly bad.

79ChrisRiesbeck
Sep 7, 2020, 4:17 pm

>78 DugsBooks: My wife samples a lot more Netflix than I do. She tried and gave up on Warrior Nun for the same reasons. We've seen one episode of Away. My wife has given up already. I am willing to give it another 2 episodes, just in case they had to work all the cliches out of their system first. Episode 3 was when we decided we liked Space Force, despite what everyone else thought.

On the superhero movie front, we quite liked Fast Colors on Hulu. It also had the long emotional moments, but they were earned on this one.

81paradoxosalpha
Modifié : Sep 12, 2020, 8:55 pm

Cast Q&A with Colbert seriously geeking out: https://youtu.be/SjLijCWt76o

Man, it's really a killer cast, too.

82DugsBooks
Modifié : Sep 23, 2020, 5:46 pm



>80 dukedom_enough: >81 paradoxosalpha: Great stuff! really look forward to Dune! Glad they decided ahead of time to make it two episodes at least.

>78 DugsBooks: ......and a continuing rant about unwatchable flicks on Netflix. I can't finish 3022 . Quick plot non spoiler is that a space station waypoint hub in the solar system watches the earth blow up for some reason. The story takes off from there with survival being paramount and a trip to the one remaining bastion of humanity, a big settlement around Jupiter or somewhere, a reality they may have to face. The way station was never that important to begin with so they aren't confidant that anyone is coming to help.

Sounds good but I think the entire movie is being subsidized by the tobacco industry as all the characters are constantly smoking and one in particular says every 5 minutes "Now these things will really kill you" as he drags on a cigarette. Lots of extraneous non- science stuff that brings the characters down to dock workers at best status. Unable to watch it in its entirety.

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