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JUNE 2015 TV THREAD


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http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/sense-8-reviews-roundup-critics-pour-scorn-on-netflixs-confusing-new-original-10300914.html

 

Man, the critics have turned on the Wachowski siblings almost as badly as they did M Night Shyamalan.

 

TBH, as soon as I heard it was being pitched as a cross between "Heroes and Lost" I was rather put off.

Its not like they have done anything worthwhile since the original Matrix. . . .just like Shyamalan, I guess.

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M Night and the Wachowskis were part of that second wave of celebrity directors after the Miramax crew made that a thing. Before the 90s only hardcore cinephiles even cared about who a director was, outside of the rarefied air of a Spielberg, Scorsese, or Coppola. I don't think the public took directors to task for not meeting the expectations of previous works until recently. Of course, if they were emerging on the scene now they'd be locked into studio deals making franchise movies almost right away.

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I kinda feel like that Wachowskis forgot how to properly edit a  script after the first Matrix film.

 

Action stuff aside, that's a well-paced, well put together film with a plot that is a bit complicated but easy enough to follow if you're paying attention.

 

After that everything they did got so ridiculous and convoluted. The Matrix sequels made about as much sense as quantum physics. 

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M Night and the Wachowskis were part of that second wave of celebrity directors after the Miramax crew made that a thing. Before the 90s only hardcore cinephiles even cared about who a director was, outside of the rarefied air of a Spielberg, Scorsese, or Coppola. I don't think the public took directors to task for not meeting the expectations of previous works until recently. Of course, if they were emerging on the scene now they'd be locked into studio deals making franchise movies almost right away.

The celebrity director most probably began with Hitchcock, who was both a commercial brand and a critical (Cahiers du Cinema) darling. I doubt that John Ford had that at the time. The three you mention were also part of the first wave of film school directors in the US.

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M Night and the Wachowskis were part of that second wave of celebrity directors after the Miramax crew made that a thing. Before the 90s only hardcore cinephiles even cared about who a director was, outside of the rarefied air of a Spielberg, Scorsese, or Coppola. I don't think the public took directors to task for not meeting the expectations of previous works until recently. Of course, if they were emerging on the scene now they'd be locked into studio deals making franchise movies almost right away.

The celebrity director most probably began with Hitchcock, who was both a commercial brand and a critical (Cahiers du Cinema) darling. I doubt that John Ford had that at the time. The three you mention were also part of the first wave of film school directors in the US.

 

Capra? Legit asking. . . .

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So CBS are getting are getting a ton of shit over The Briefcase.

 

Basically it's a reality show where they give a poverty-stricken $100 grand. Then they introduce them to another, even more way poorer and worse off family, they tell them their story and then the first family has to decide whether to keep the cash, keep some of it or give the other people all of it.

 

Yeah, I'm not personally OUTRAGED~! about it (they can split it after all which is probably the more moral and practical option) but it sounds kinda tawdry. 

 

I think they'd get away with it if there was a big twist at the end and they gave everyone the cash. 

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M Night and the Wachowskis were part of that second wave of celebrity directors after the Miramax crew made that a thing. Before the 90s only hardcore cinephiles even cared about who a director was, outside of the rarefied air of a Spielberg, Scorsese, or Coppola. I don't think the public took directors to task for not meeting the expectations of previous works until recently. Of course, if they were emerging on the scene now they'd be locked into studio deals making franchise movies almost right away.

The celebrity director most probably began with Hitchcock, who was both a commercial brand and a critical (Cahiers du Cinema) darling. I doubt that John Ford had that at the time. The three you mention were also part of the first wave of film school directors in the US.

Capra? Legit asking. . . .

Dont know. I'd have thought most of his films were sold on the stars (jimmy stewart, ...) and the plot than the directors. It might be worth looking at the trailers to see how they were structured.

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So CBS are getting are getting a ton of shit over The Briefcase.

Basically it's a reality show where they give a poverty-stricken $100 grand. Then they introduce them to another, even more way poorer and worse off family, they tell them their story and then the first family has to decide whether to keep the cash, keep some of it or give the other people all of it.

Yeah, I'm not personally OUTRAGED~! about it (they can split it after all which is probably the more moral and practical option) but it sounds kinda tawdry.

I think they'd get away with it if there was a big twist at the end and they gave everyone the cash.

The "twist" is that both families are doing the same thing. Both get the case without knowing the other family has one too. So everyone is walking out with some cash.

Still stupid, manipulative dreck but not as bad as some in the media seem to be making it.

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I barely made it 30 minutes into SENS8 before I had to throw in the towel.

It kinda had the same problem as their adaptation of CLOUD ATLAS did. The constant jumping back and forth between over half a dozen characters made it impossible me to care about a single one of them. I feel like they would've been better off going the ORPHAN BLACK route and starting with the focus squarely on one of the 8 and branching out.

I'm sure the Wachowskis and Straczynski would defend it by saying they were writing for the Netflix binge model and weren't concerned about conventional plotting, but I'm sorry...If I've invested half an hour into your show and you haven't introduced a single, solid plot line I can grasp and give a shit about, or even name a single character, I'm out.

And I'm not gonna waste another half hour waiting for it to *maybe* come together. There is too much other good TV available right now.

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I think I can skip The Whispers.   I hated it when it was called Torchwood:  Children of Earth because it was better when it was called Quatermass.

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Got around to binge watching Silicon Valley and have two thoughts: 

 

One, I think the Adult Industry would be less sleazy to be involved in (depending how accurate the satire is, which I'm assuming certain plot points or references are based on actual events) than trying to develop anything in the tech world.

 

Two, I can't help it but I'm starting to dislike Richard and his group. They're just written so painfully stupid I just don't feel bad for them. Every time it looks like things are going their way, Richard or someone else does something so blatantly bad I question how any of them have the intelligence to do things at the level they're supposed to be at. At this point, I'm half expecting something to go wrong and they show us the main cord is unplugged with them standing around it in the middle of the room scratching their heads.  

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Got around to binge watching Silicon Valley and have two thoughts:

One, I think the Adult Industry would be less sleazy to be involved in (depending how accurate the satire is, which I'm assuming certain plot points or references are based on actual events) than trying to develop anything in the tech world.

Two, I can't help it but I'm starting to dislike Richard and his group. They're just written so painfully stupid I just don't feel bad for them. Every time it looks like things are going their way, Richard or someone else does something so blatantly bad I question how any of them have the intelligence to do things at the level they're supposed to be at. At this point, I'm half expecting something to go wrong and they show us the main cord is unplugged with them standing around it in the middle of the room scratching their heads.

I still love it although I haven't seen the latest episode, but the

Tequila bottle on the keyboard, fucking seriously?

... was nearly a bridge too far.

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Got around to binge watching Silicon Valley and have two thoughts:

One, I think the Adult Industry would be less sleazy to be involved in (depending how accurate the satire is, which I'm assuming certain plot points or references are based on actual events) than trying to develop anything in the tech world.

Two, I can't help it but I'm starting to dislike Richard and his group. They're just written so painfully stupid I just don't feel bad for them. Every time it looks like things are going their way, Richard or someone else does something so blatantly bad I question how any of them have the intelligence to do things at the level they're supposed to be at. At this point, I'm half expecting something to go wrong and they show us the main cord is unplugged with them standing around it in the middle of the room scratching their heads.

I still love it although I haven't seen the latest episode, but the

Tequila bottle on the keyboard, fucking seriously?

... was nearly a bridge too far.

 

 

See, I loved that bit.

 

The majority of the "computer problems" I have to walk people through at work are pretty much exactly as dumb as that.  

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