I don’t think I’ve fully intimated the feeling... because I’m referencing what happens to my brain when I read such stories. You know when you absolutely believe that the characters on the page are real? You feel their hopes and fears, but you don’t even fully know what those are, only enough to empathize with them (ie, just like a real person)? But there’s enough about the things of their world that makes it “not here” but “out there somewhere”? That’s the feeling.

arugula2 wrote:

UncertainSloth wrote:my, that sounds intriguing....and a 0.99 rental on prime...

I need to emphasize that plot isn’t the reason, and although I find the world-building to be exquisite, it’s a rather Earth-adjacent exterior (this moon). The sense of danger mostly comes from a handful of people, and secondarily from the environment. So it’s less far-out than Annihilation and less momentous than First Man. More intimate, like a short story.

you've just improved it even further in my eyes...

Cold Case Hammarskjöld (2019)
(Hulu)
On 18 September 1961, Dag Hammarskjöld, the UN's 2nd secretary general, was killed when his plane crashed over "disputed territory" in southern Congo (see Katanga). It's still an open case as to what exactly happened, the UN supposedly continues to investigate, and the relevant colonial powers + USA continue to withhold information under cover of national security (make of that what you will). Some individuals pressed on, including a Swedish diplomat stationed with the UN in Zambia at the time, and then his son, Göran Björkdahl (above left), who is still collecting evidence & around whom this documentary was conceived. Together with Danish filmmaker Mads Brügger (above right), they pry, stalk, and sit in the living rooms of some of the creepiest residue of post-colonial Africa. Mads looms large in this (and not because I couldn't find a decent miniature of him on imdb) but that's ok because he knows their limitations. In fact the docu is structured in part as a kind of scriptwriting session, in which Mads organizes his thoughts out loud & with sticky notes, while one of 2 hired secretaries types & helps him punctuate the plot, usually by asking questions. Here's a screenshot at ~30 mins, when he's just told her one of the things they uncovered (Mads is roughly where the camera is, so she's actually staring into space):



I had paused it, not to take the screenshot, but to flail my arms and yell, "What the fuck?". The look on her face conveys the same, but she's obviously more reserved than me at that moment. Also, this was the 5th time in those first 30 minutes that I felt compelled to do this - with about an hour to go. Make of that what you will.

The End of the Tour (2015) (Netflix)

(Maybe 1/4 of it?) I tried. I like Jason Segel a lot (I think based on one other performance, opposite Cameron Diaz, which was enough to scrub the taint from How I Met Your Mother... and no, not Sex Tape). I mildly dislike Eisenberg. The setup is fine... Rolling Stone reporter (Eisenberg) recalls his encounter with David Foster Wallace (Segel). It was going to be all about the dialogue, and the dialogue feels so forced it blocks Segel's charisma; and stilted dialogue + Eisenberg = cringe. A Sorkin script can kinda mask this through sheer volume, but this is not that. This is two guys, talking casually about life. What's with all the nervous "heheh" sounds anyway? Dial it back, bro.

Watched The Wind (2018). Horror film set in the American frontier. A woman is left alone by her husband and neighbour for a period after a death at the only other house close by, and has encounters with a malevolent force that's seemingly roaming the prairie.

Pretty good for the most part and altogether solid. The horror elements are nicely unsettling and the drama takes its time to unravel.

Ooo Little Haunted House on the Prairie. Sounds fun.

Spinozasgalt wrote:Watched The Wind (2018). Horror film set in the American frontier. A woman is left alone by her husband and neighbour for a period after a death at the only other house close by, and has encounters with a malevolent force that's seemingly roaming the prairie.

Pretty good for the most part and altogether solid. The horror elements are nicely unsettling and the drama takes its time to unravel.

Saw this and I think talked about it here. I enjoyed the atmosphere, and it also conveyed something of how hard life was in those times and that place.

arugula2 wrote: Cold Case Hammarskjöld (2019)
(Hulu)
On 18 September 1961, Dag Hammarskjöld, the UN's 2nd secretary general, was killed when his plane crashed over "disputed territory" in southern Congo (see Katanga). It's still an open case as to what exactly happened, the UN supposedly continues to investigate, and the relevant colonial powers + USA continue to withhold information under cover of national security (make of that what you will). Some individuals pressed on, including a Swedish diplomat stationed with the UN in Zambia at the time, and then his son, Göran Björkdahl (above left), who is still collecting evidence & around whom this documentary was conceived. Together with Danish filmmaker Mads Brügger (above right), they pry, stalk, and sit in the living rooms of some of the creepiest residue of post-colonial Africa. Mads looms large in this (and not because I couldn't find a decent miniature of him on imdb) but that's ok because he knows their limitations. In fact the docu is structured in part as a kind of scriptwriting session, in which Mads organizes his thoughts out loud & with sticky notes, while one of 2 hired secretaries types & helps him punctuate the plot, usually by asking questions. Here's a screenshot at ~30 mins, when he's just told her one of the things they uncovered (Mads is roughly where the camera is, so she's actually staring into space):



I had paused it, not to take the screenshot, but to flail my arms and yell, "What the fuck?". The look on her face conveys the same, but she's obviously more reserved than me at that moment. Also, this was the 5th time in those first 30 minutes that I felt compelled to do this - with about an hour to go. Make of that what you will.

"This could either be the biggest murder mystery or the world's most idiotic conspiracy theory. If the latter is the case, I am very sorry." The second secretary's reaction to this is priceless. Perfect comic timing.

Overall, it's a great documentary until the last person Mads interviewed where he intentionally or accidentally performed a "Clever Hans" trick.

Bad Boys for Life has a level of police brutality justification and maverick cop glorification that just seems inappropriate right now.
Worse than that, though. It's a pile of shite.

Artemis Fowl.
1/10.
No story, no interesting character, no humor... Just special effects all over.

Just watched this on Prime. Cracker of a movie.

aban57 wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SML6LXnAKo8

5:26 “Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s something alright.”

Every clip looks odious... and if that’s Colin Farrell, I’ve identified the single worst thing in it already.

BlackBart wrote:

Just watched this on Prime. Cracker of a movie.

@fallible - this is the one I was talking about....

felltoearth wrote:Ooo Little Haunted House on the Prairie. Sounds fun.

I think that was the working title.

Fallible wrote:

Spinozasgalt wrote:Watched The Wind (2018). Horror film set in the American frontier. A woman is left alone by her husband and neighbour for a period after a death at the only other house close by, and has encounters with a malevolent force that's seemingly roaming the prairie.

Pretty good for the most part and altogether solid. The horror elements are nicely unsettling and the drama takes its time to unravel.

Saw this and I think talked about it here. I enjoyed the atmosphere, and it also conveyed something of how hard life was in those times and that place.

It was very atmospheric. And they sustained the "Is it something out there? Or was it just in her head?" notion well. I like that even though it's something malevolent, there's also an air of mischief about it. Like the pamphlet shows.

Oh jeez with this 7500...

UncertainSloth wrote:

BlackBart wrote:

Just watched this on Prime. Cracker of a movie.

@fallible - this is the one I was talking about....

Ohhhh, ok.

Spinozasgalt wrote:

felltoearth wrote:Ooo Little Haunted House on the Prairie. Sounds fun.

I think that was the working title.

Fallible wrote:

Spinozasgalt wrote:Watched The Wind (2018). Horror film set in the American frontier. A woman is left alone by her husband and neighbour for a period after a death at the only other house close by, and has encounters with a malevolent force that's seemingly roaming the prairie.

Pretty good for the most part and altogether solid. The horror elements are nicely unsettling and the drama takes its time to unravel.

Saw this and I think talked about it here. I enjoyed the atmosphere, and it also conveyed something of how hard life was in those times and that place.

It was very atmospheric. And they sustained the "Is it something out there? Or was it just in her head?" notion well. I like that even though it's something malevolent, there's also an air of mischief about it. Like the pamphlet shows.

Yay for the unreliable narrator trope!

arugula2 wrote:Oh jeez with this 7500...

No then?

i have heard the first half is very good, the second half is fairly 'comfort zone', and it's all pooped a bit by a certain narrative choice by the writer(s)

in that person's opinion