KK

Netflix and Amazon Prime are both streaming it, last I checked.

I think the mix of Sufjan and Adams/Ravel adds to the timeless quality that a traditional score probably would not have been as effective at.

Well, that's obviously the intention and the design of the show. But I don't think it does it very well. Yes, Black Mirror is the more cynical and flashier work, but even in its most contemplative moments, it raises more substantial questions than Tales of the Loop. I suggested sticking with Black Mirror, well the old Black Mirror (sadly, this show's gone to the pitts with the last season or two) because you could still get your dose of sci-fi, technological caution with better characters. Nah. I don't think that's it. The third episode literally opens with a girl whispering "What if I could live in a moment forever?", after which she finds a device that freezes time. The second episode is Freaky Friday without a happy ending. The first one is another time travel variation. But this one has the most potential because like great sci-fi, it shows us small everyday characters stumbling onto something larger that connects them, and Rebecca Hall is promising here, before she becomes an ancillary prop in the background for the other episodes. These are all old, tired tropes. The kind of stories I used to see on children's shows growing up. And I wouldn't mind the use of clichés if you were planning to do something with them, or use them to open up more interesting characters. But it doesn't. They play out exactly as you'd expect (at some point, I was able to guess the dialogue, almost word to word), and they definitely don't warrant the hour runtime. It just meanders, without saying anything. And like Lee, I usually love my slow shows. I should clarify, it's not a bad show. I guess it's just especially frustrating how the show wastes its premise, visual design and medium without asking deeper questions. Uhh...where on Earth did you get that from?

Happy birthday Romao! Make it a great one!

I checked the first three episodes out and remain unconvinced. The plots are utterly predictable, with half-assembled characters that take an entire hour to catch up to the obvious twist that you foresaw within the first 5 minutes. And the visual language is just not strong enough to justify these ponderous “meditations” (if that’s what they want to call it). The opening narration of the third episode sounded like a cringey Malick imitation, with none of the style or substance to sustain it. And no, the Philip Glass-lite arpeggios don’t succeed in making it any more “artsy”. I mean, it might all work if these individual stories didn’t feel like they were written by teenagers who just saw the Twilight Zone and wanted to try their hands on it. I don’t think I’ll be continuing. Just stick to Black Mirror.

Been rewatching Avatar: The Last Airbender with the siblings. Boy, this stuff is great! Really brings me back.

Ooph. This thread is super cringeworthy. But yes, I do remember being quite taken by this score at the time. Lots of Shore-esque writing, even in clip Kuhni posted above (well, the opening at least, before it starts sounding like RC fantasy).

This stunning tune has been stuck in my head:

That was a beautiful scene! Couldn't find a screenshot of it! But yes, Bertolucci defintely delivered the money shots, what with all the resources he had and his playground being the Forbidden City.

The Last Emperor The first hour is its best, where Bertolucci has a field day with the ancient looming walls of the Forbidden City and the lavish parades/customs that it was once home to. I mean it's gobsmacking gorgeous, maybe even gratuitously so. But it's also where the irony and contradictions of the emperor's predicament is made most interesting. After that, it sort of becomes an empty biopic that reduces complex political history to barely characterized archetypes without saying much about any of it. Once you pass the intrigue of its first act, much of which is cultivated by the fortress setting, the whole thing is a pretty hollow affair. Sakamoto's main theme is stunning though. It's a shame it's not featured more in the film.

Was at a double feature at a drive-in last night. The Invisible Man Not bad. Solid entertainment with a strong performance by Moss. The horror tropes fall on the generic side of things every now and then, but all the gaslighting and psychological abuse is done well. It's decent as far as modern horror films go. The Hunt Wow. That was bad. A really confused misfire that seems to make fun of the radical right, but make the radical left look even more stupid. I don't understand why this exists.

Fuck. RIP Maestro. Before I could even possibly fathom the breadth of his work, and what he did to expand the lexicon of film music outside of the Hollywood tradition, he was one of the first to make me cry when I was just starting to get into this stuff. He was one of the very very few who was actually capable of touching of the heavens with his music. The kind of touch rarely equalled by even his own colleagues.

Yes, it does this really well. Which can't be said for a lot of movies these days. I think he really did become a sort of messiah figure for a lot of wildlife travellers. And I know the film's more sensational treatment of the story directed many towards a similar journey, or line of thinking. In that sense, it does what the best kind of movies do, move people. Though on a more cynical day, some of that hippie logic probably won't hold up very well. Speaking of which, apparently the infamous "magic bus" was officially removed from the site last month! https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/alaska-into-the-wild-bus-removed-trnd/index.html