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Topics - Neumatic

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16
Music / What makes the X-Men theme so good?
« on: September 12, 2018, 04:28:36 pm »

This is a nice dive into the 90s X-Men theme... and it's kind of awesome to see what Ron Wasserman actually looks like, his music was all over the 90s.

17
Short Films / My Dead Dad's P*rno Tapes
« on: August 24, 2018, 11:52:15 am »

I saw this earlier this year on the indie film circuit and am glad to see it picked up by the Atlantic.  An interesting personal story told in an interesting, poppy visual style.  I can sense a lot of copycats coming to Youtube in the near future.

18
Short Films / Nathan Fillion in Uncharted
« on: July 16, 2018, 09:49:21 am »
Total fan service.  And awesome.  Just pure Fillion.


19
Short Films / Rakka
« on: May 12, 2018, 10:20:08 pm »

Yeah, that's Sigourney Weaver.  I heard about this but never really followed up on it.  Well, I just happened to see this on the big screen today, there's a lot going on in here... lot of story, lot of action and ideas... lot of voiceover... I don't know if I would watch a full length feature of this, but the aliens are insanely interesting and I love the production design of their ships and weird megastructures, it feels like despite all the insane CGI we see in movies these days, I feel like I haven't really seen anything like this.

20
DVD's & Blu-rays / Travelers, Season One
« on: April 08, 2018, 08:32:22 pm »

I've been meaning to watch this show for a while, and for some reason (maybe because I'm feeling a bit ill) I just decided to start watching it... and I like it!

The premise is very similar to Twelve Monkeys, with people from a nightmare desolation future being sent back in time to put things right in small ways.  It also reminds me of Dead Like Me, given that the new travelers take over the bodies of the about-to-be-deceased and have to take over those lives afterwards.  It also reminds me of Odyssey Five, but I was never able to get into that show.  There's even a bit of Person Of Interest in there as well.  The fact that it reminds me of these other shows isn't a point against the show at all, it's a simple premise that works quite well.  One of the producers of the Stargate series made this, which is great because the Stargate guys also made Dark Matter (which I love) and Blindspot (which I haven't seen yet but I've heard is excellent).

And the show is episodic, which is great.  I love a good episode series, especially since this was made direct for Netflix.  It feels like I'm watching a proper show instead of one written for the trades.  It's TV-MA but doesn't scream that in your face (no gratuitous nudity or sex, just a couple curse words in there).

...that's all I have to say about it thus far.  Like the show, like watching the show, like the characters, premise, good writing, there's one or two "oh sh*t" moments in each episode, which is a plus, and it's made in Canada so quite a few familiar character actor faces.  If you have the means, check it out.

21
Music / All Things Weird Al
« on: April 04, 2018, 07:38:38 pm »
I can't believe we don't have a Weird Al thread on here.

Here's something I felt I had to post... Weird Al did a concert tour last month where his band played actual songs, not parodies.  Had no idea.


And of course, he had to do SOME parodies...


22
Video Games / Demos and Tech
« on: March 25, 2018, 07:55:18 pm »
A thread not about any specific games, but cool stuff that goes into them.

Case in point, this video of Andy Serkis live-controlling a CGI creature.  I thought this was very impressive.


23
Short Films / Papers, Please
« on: February 25, 2018, 10:43:09 pm »
I heard about this ages ago, it's nice to finally see it.  Love the production design, too.  Proof that you can make a film out of a game (well, a short film at least).


24
Now Playing: Movies / The Last Jedi (spoiler thread)
« on: December 24, 2017, 11:14:39 am »

Lot to unpack here.

And obviously spoilers, so don't be readin' this thread unless you've seen the movie.

Let's start out with the positives:

It looks amazing.  Especially in IMAX, I imagine 3D would have looked awesome too (I think I'll try to see it in that context), but the cinematography really put you into those worlds, nothing felt fake or matted in.  The spaceship stuff looked amazing too, I think I complained that they weren't in space or spaceships that much in TFA, well now there's a whole thing on a starship.

Oh, and I LOVE Snoke's throne room.  That big red wall?  SO Korusawa.  The Red Guys (who I assume are the other Knights Of Ren, despite being listed as "The Elite Praetorian Guard") and the gold outfit reminded me of the Coppola Dracula in the best possible way.


The Jedi stuff is interesting, they don't just give us new powers (or I would argue new ways of VISUALIZING the powers), but by keeping it so close to nature and so on, they stress the simplicity of it.  You hear of this ancient Jedi temple, but it's an old tree with, what, six books in it.  And doesn't Luke say "there's nothing in here you don't already know?"  I love that.  It reminds me of Dogma, "you took a good idea and you made a RELIGION out of it."  I love the idea that the Force belongs to everyone (how could it not? It connects to ALL LIVING THINGS), but the way Luke described it sounded more like disaffection rather than him finally grasping a simple concept and trying like hell to explain it to another person, like how water is wet.

I really thought we were going to get more of a Force Renaissance because of that, the idea that the whole religion is... well, not false, but a form of control, combined with the idea that the Resistance and the First Order were decimated in the movie (how beautiful was that shot where ALL those ships crack in half?) really made me think we would get a "Golden Compass" sort of thing where we just venture straight into unknown territory.  Except we double back on good vs evil so we can have Luke finally face Kylo.  As much as I like that scene, it doesn't feel like the climax to the movie the throne battle does.

Also, if the idea is tearing down old structures, it seems really weird to me that Snoke is just some guy.  I would have thought he would be an Aeryn Targeryan type, just this overly imbred Jedi from ages past who kept his life extended far past the breaking point so he could maintain control and keep things the way they've always been, doling out approval to Jedi and Sith as the sole arbitrator.  Like, a literal expression of nobility and blood supremacy that's been the hallmark of both Jedi and Sith.  Doubly so when you think about the imagery inherent in destroying that big red wall and seeing all of space behind it.

I thought for sure Rey would join Kylo, or they would unlock some new power (I could see Kylo being able to kill people just by looking at them), something weird and messed up that would throw us all for a loop.  Although again, they did intro a lot of new abilities, I just thought he would go Avatar mode like Thor in Ragnarok.

Oh, and I totally can see where Mark Hamill is coming from with disagreeing with Luke's actions... but at the same time, it still feels like it's true to his character.  He does have darkness in him, he's arrogant... I can see him having a moment of weakness that would bring everything tumbling down.  How could he not?  He's human.  We all do things we disagree with.

The stuff about the stories we tell ourselves and how we fall for our own bulls*t was interesting... I like how Finn still has this reputation that he feels like he has to live up to, it's like a macrocosm of that.  He's not brave, strong, or particularly clever... and he's always trying to run away, but he's still slowly coming around to that because that's the person he wants to be, even if he doesn't know how too yet.

As for the practical movie, I felt it was paced weird... like, I wasn't sure when the first act was over... I don't think that's going to be an issue with rewatches, but I couldn't tell where I was.  There wasn't enough segmentation of the sequences for there to give you a sense of momentum, you know?  The Rose/Finn stuff moved the most places, but it didn't feel like enough because it wasn't the A storyline (it's hard to tell which was the A storyline, actually).  And it felt weird that "we have just a few hours, we can go on TWO missions?"  That felt strange.  It would have made more sense if they weren't with the fleet to start with, if they had been marooned or were bringing up the rear, that might have felt more natural... having to race against time to go in one direction instead of doing a donut.  Or it could have taken place over, I dunno, more than a few days?  Like months, perhaps?

I can't really dissent structure properly b/c it was a one-time viewing with no time bar or anything to refer to, it just felt kind of blob-like to me.  Visually there's a nice progression with the ships, how the Resistance fleet gets smaller and smaller and the First Order ships get bigger and bigger, but it's not enough to sell that progression.

There's an article on Vox about all the backlash the film received, and it's definitely an interesting read, but here's a block of text about the pacing that I thought was worth pointing out.

Quote from: Vox Article
ut when you reach the third act, and the thematic impact of this plot clicks into place (as the Atlantic’s David Sims has written about here), it becomes more impressive within the whole of the film. Put simply, Johnson’s film, on a first watch, seems to have a lot of pieces that don’t fit, because he’s not planning to make them fit until the film’s very end. And that can be taxing to watch.

Also in thoughts to timing, I don't have an issue with "how quickly people learn to use the force" now.  Because I realized just being aware of it and tapping into it is the big breakthrough.  Yeah, there's skill involved in using it or fighting with a lightsaber, but I think it's a "once you hear it, you can't unhear it" type of thing.  "How did I never notice this before?"  The power and balance of the universe suddenly becomes big and obvious, that's the trick, and the ones we've seen learn it are already a little aware of it.

I'm glad to see Phasma back so that she and Fin could physicalize their beef, but it felt like too little.  Underused, just like last time.  And I understand that's due to her working on Game Of Thrones, but man it would have been fun if she had more **** to do.  Like when Rose and Finn are in prison, and she walks in with a couple troopers, that could have been a lot scarier than the beach police, right?  Or if she was like a Captain Bligh figure to the other stormtroopers now, since Finn escaped, ANY hesitation or even HINT of independent thought is wiped out.  Couldn't you see a Trooper trip or something, or fall out of formation, and she just walks up to them and shoots them in the head or whip them or something.  "Let that be a lesson to the rest, any deviation is unacceptable."

The Leia in space thing just looked weird.  The issue is that the stuff that establishes that, being able to pull bodies and sh*t happens AFTER the scene, so you have no idea what's happening.  And given that she survives, what was the point?  It's cool to see her use the force finally, but it feels so out of left field.  Wouldn't it have worked if she could close the breach in the wall with her mind?  Like she's holding onto something and reaching out?  Wouldn't that have the same effect?  I dunno.

I love that Poe got more sh*t to do, but at the same time I wanted him to be put through cr*p on a planet b/c after TFA he was kind of boasting that he got to just chill in London while everyone else was in the desert.  I do like the he finally got to meet Rey at the end, that was cute (although I instantly imagined him saying "we didn't meet in the last movie.")

A little thing, Benicio's ship?  Love it.  I have no real idea what it looks like, but I love that about the tech in these movies, it's almost treated like "yeah, you've seen a starship before, it's no big deal."  There's no establishing beauty shots like a commercial or anything, it's just there.

I thought Laura Dern was going to stick around, she seemed like the natural replacement for Leia... so it's interesting that they didn't go in that direction.  I suppose in the new micro-Resistance there isn't a place for someone like that anyway, so no big deal, I suppose.

I have also no issue with Rey's parents being nobodies who don't matter, they always said it didn't and it's part of the theme of the movie.  If the Force belongs to everyone, it sure as h*ll belongs to a literal no one.

I do wish we would have seen what regular life was like under The First Order, it sounds like they control everything but I want to know what it looks like.  Also do love that they have the writing on their sleeves, very SS.  But I was kind of disappointed by the casting.  Something I liked about TFA was how many of the First Order were young, too young to remember how bad life was under The Empire, so they're making the same mistakes again.  Very timely, I think, with the current resurgence of Nazism and White Supremacism, so I feel like an opportunity was missed there.  The way people were reacting, I thought for sure the movie would be blatant about "these people are total monsters and if you identify with them, you're f*cked up."  Surprised that they didn't do that.

I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of anything else at the moment.  I'm glad I finally saw it (especially on that big big screen) with my family... wish other Efe could have come along, we'd have been geeking out all night, but alas it wasn't to be.  Oh well, a good excuse to come back.

25
The Best TV Shows on the Internet / Disney Direct
« on: August 09, 2017, 12:52:21 am »
It was announced that that Disney will be pulling its movies from Netflix and starting its own streaming services, as well as a similar service for their ESPN channels.

Honestly, this is something I'm surprised hasn't happened yet.

Now, I think I've b*tched in the past about how I don't want to pay for a dozen different streaming services (case in point, CBS All Access JUST to watch Star Trek Discovery), but Disney is a horse of a different colour.  Why?

What's your favourite CBS show?  Is it actually a CBS show or was it created by another company and only distributed by CBS?  What's your favourite 20th Century Fox movie?

Now, what's your favourite Disney movie?  You can answer that in a second, and you know exactly what was a Disney movie and what wasn't (a couple animated flicks might be tricky, I'll concede) but more or less, Disney is instantly identifiable.  And they have a massive back catalog to draw upon, not just their classic animated movies, but their live action movies, the Disney afternoon shows, TGIF, a ton of ABC shows, not to mention their two Disney cable channels AND Radio Disney.  Not to mention specials, documentaries, etc.  They're spoiled for choice.  And I'm not sure how familiar you are with Disney Channel, but they're big on exploiting their talent: giving them shows, movies, music videos, etc.  And having that all on one platform, where they could control the promotion as well, that would be pretty big.  Not just promoting what just dropped to stream, but also what's about to come out in the theaters.

Now on top of that, imagine what else they could put on there that wouldn't quite work on traditional TV.  They could create programming about their D23 convention, for example.  I know that Ed Catmull loved The Wonderful World Of Disney, it would be great to see that come back, showing of how tech is used to create their new movies.  They could also do virtual tours of their parks, the new attractions and the old favourites.  Imagine if VR came to the channel, you could go on every ride that they ever had at any of their parks.

And that's just the content, don't forget: Disney is BIG on controlling the entire user experience, something they could never do with Netflix or Hulu, and finding a use for all that data that they'd be collecting.  I'm sure that plays more into the decision than I'd like to imagine.

26
Now Playing: Movies / The Lego Ninjago Movie
« on: July 22, 2017, 10:47:22 pm »
We don't have a thread for this?  Thought the first trailer was cute, here's the second.


First: weird that Olivia Munn ISN'T playing one of the ninjas, right?

Second... doesn't this look a bit like... Power Rangers?  You've got this group of high school kids in a city (an ASIAN city) who are secretly ninja warriors who fight monsters with the help of giant robots.  How did this not occur to me before now?

27
Short Films / Yes, God, Yes
« on: July 05, 2017, 06:27:44 pm »
Sorry I can't embed, it's Vimeo, but ten minutes and good.

Yes, God, Yes

This played at the film festival and I missed the whole thing.  And I would have loved to have seen Natalia again, she and I hung out a couple months ago and outside of being cool, she's So on my list of people to play Lola, she was going on about right to work and working at Hooters, I even mentioned the script to her and she seemed to dig the idea.  So we may see.

28
Television / Star Trek Discovery
« on: May 17, 2017, 04:17:48 pm »

Definitely looks like a 21st century Star Trek.  Liking the production design, though it is a bit monochromatic for what Trek should be.  What timing, a day after Orville.  Definitely worth some compare and contrasts.

29
Short Films / City Girl
« on: March 23, 2017, 11:17:03 pm »
This is... interesting.  From the AV Club...


Sarah Ramos from Parenthood found a script for a romcom she wrote when she was 12 and decided to film it, and the results are... WEIRD.  It reminds me of Garth Merenghi's Darkplace and 13 Going On 30 or Vice Versa, insofar as the whole cast is adults acting like kids acting like adults, as if they all made the same wish in front of a cursed statue.  Definitely a unique project.

30
Short Films / A Story For The Modlins (2012)
« on: March 21, 2017, 10:25:06 am »
This is a doc I saw in 2012... never thought I would see it again, but Criterion Collection just posted it to Youtube.


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