The TV and Streaming Thread: Pilot Week

[Keyrock]

An argument could be made that the Evil Dead movies had camera shake (as well as snap zooms, quick pans, and Dutch angles) and those movies are awesome, so praising those movies while condemning Obi-wan is hypocritical. The difference is that the camera shake in Evil Dead serves a very important purpose. Ash is losing his mind and the wild camera effects are there to convey a sense of being disoriented. In that scene in Obi-wan the camera shake doesn't serve any real purpose, it's not even there to cover up crappy fight choreography, which is initially why people started using it in action movies. If you have quality fight choreography you don't need camera shake because you want the audience to clearly see what is happening. Somewhere along the way, camera shake just became a thing you put in an action scene whether warranted or not by directors that don't know any better.

Edit: Camera shake has also been used in action scenes with explosions. Like if a grenade goes off fairly close to the camera there would be camera shake followed by a high pitched tone drowning out all other sound to simulate ears ringing. This is a good use of camera shake, it serves a purpose. AFAIK no grenade explodes in that scene in Obi-wan.

Edited May 28, 2022 by Keyrock

[majestic]

Stranger Things 4, Episode 1: Had to pause in the middle for a bit. Stuff hits a little too close to home there. 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 hour ago, Keyrock said:

An argument could be made that the Evil Dead movies had camera shake (as well as snap zooms, quick pans, and Dutch angles) and those movies are awesome, so praising those movies while condemning Obi-wan is hypocritical. The difference is that the camera shake in Evil Dead serves a very important purpose. Ash is losing his mind and the wild camera effects are there to convey a sense of being disoriented. In that scene in Obi-wan the camera shake doesn't serve any real purpose, it's not even there to cover up crappy fight choreography, which is initially why people started using it in action movies. If you have quality fight choreography you don't need camera shake because you want the audience to clearly see what is happening. Somewhere along the way, camera shake just became a thing you put in an action scene whether warranted or not by directors that don't know any better.

Edit: Camera shake has also been used in action scenes with explosions. Like if a grenade goes off fairly close to the camera there would be camera shake followed by a high pitched tone drowning out all other sound to simulate ears ringing. This is a good use of camera shake, it serves a purpose. AFAIK no grenade explodes in that scene in Obi-wan.

I think it is a case of the technique being used incorrectly (and badly) instead of an issue with the technique itself. The scene feels very artificial to begin with, the cgi dominating the background combined with perfectly smooth camera movements makes me think that everything was done by machine. Then when we get to the camera shake it just feels wrong. If it was closer up then it would be more tolerable, but this just gives the impression that someone was shaking the dolly accidentally.

14 minutes ago, majestic said:

Stranger Things 4, Episode 1: Had to pause in the middle for a bit. Stuff hits a little too close to home there. 

Some of it was ok, but I wasn't very impressed for the most part. I guess we've gone to Vecna for the villain now, which is kind of weird that after all these years(?) they encounter an evil humanoid instead of whatever the hell the other entities were.

[Keyrock]

I did get a laugh out of the scene in that the first 2 blaster shots completely miss everything all on their own, this is before the space wizard has a chance to react and start deflecting fire with his laser sword. There is quite the mass of bodies in that room. Even if you fired completely blindly, there is a halfway decent chance you would hit someone. As always, stormtroopers can't hit the broad side of a barn. 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

9 minutes ago, Keyrock said:

I did get a laugh out of the scene in that the first 2 blaster shots completely miss everything all on their own, this is before the space wizard has a chance to react and start deflecting fire with his laser sword. There is quite the mass of bodies in that room. Even if you fired completely blindly, there is a halfway decent chance you would hit someone. As always, stormtroopers can't hit the broad side of a barn. 

Maybe they hit the cameraman and that's where the shake came from?

[Lexx]

57 minutes ago, majestic said:

Stranger Things 4, Episode 1: Had to pause in the middle for a bit. Stuff hits a little too close to home there. 

You mean where they have to look for a DnD replacement player?

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Lexx said:

You mean where they have to look for a DnD replacement player?

No, El getting bullied over her country bumpkin presentation.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

8 minutes ago, majestic said:

No, El getting bullied over her country bumpkin presentation.

Angela should have been punched in the face.

[Lexx]

Well... no spoilers, but ...

 

So turns out the episodes don't just feel long, they actually are long. All of them are 60+ minutes and the 7th / last episode is almost 2 hours. Won't manage to watch it anymore today, will finish it tomorrow.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

17 minutes ago, Lexx said:

Well... no spoilers, but ...

 

So turns out the episodes don't just feel long, they actually are long. All of them are 60+ minutes and the 7th / last episode is almost 2 hours. Won't manage to watch it anymore today, will finish it tomorrow.

****ing bull****.

[Sarex]

Ricky Gervais: SuperNature. Of all the jokes I lost it at Ling Ling...

Edited May 29, 2022 by Sarex

[Keyrock]

Brisco County - EP11 Deep in the Heart of Dixie

Dixie Cousins happens across some incriminating evidence about a corrupt politician working with Bly, now Brisco and Bowler must find and protect her from assassins trying to keep her from testifying.

They ship Brisco and Dixie to some degree in every episode that Dixie appears in, but not to the degree that do in this episodes. We find out some interesting tidbits, such as Dixie being raised for a time by Cherokees and then later living in a convent. Also, Lord Bowler has quite the list of aliases. Also also, Socrates gets seduced by his secretary.

Edited May 29, 2022 by Keyrock

[LadyCrimson]

I checked back to Viki again and there's a bunch of new Korean and Chinese stuff there I want to watch. Viki-Plus sub is a little expensive (annually) I suppose but I watch it a lot a few times a year at least. It's great for when I'm in the mood for fantasy/drama/slice of life series that isn't dystopian, gloomy, end of the world type stuff. Or when I want fluffy/silly that isn't the lame Netflix rom-com quality.

Do you think something like When Harry Met Sally would be made today?

Edit: oh, I'm still watching/intend to finish "From" but haven't been in the mood so it'll be a while before I finish.

Edited May 29, 2022 by LadyCrimson

[Lexx]

Just finished part 1 of Stranger Things s4. Liked it a lot. Much better than s3. And the best thing: part 2 will be out next week. Also as I've just found out, part 2 is only going to be 2 episodes... but basically movie length. Ep 8 is going to be 1 hour and 25 minutes, and ep 9 is going to be 2 hours and 30 minutes(!!!!).

Pretty hype, not gonna lie. Didn't thought the show would pull me in like that again after the meh season 2 and the meeeh season 3.

[Bartimaeus]

6 minutes ago, Lexx said:

Just finished part 1 of Stranger Things s4. Liked it a lot. Much better than s3. And the best thing: part 2 will be out next week. Also as I've just found out, part 2 is only going to be 2 episodes... but basically movie length. Ep 8 is going to be 1 hour and 25 minutes, and ep 9 is going to be 2 hours and 30 minutes(!!!!).

Pretty hype, not gonna lie. Didn't thought the show would pull me in like that again after the meh season 2 and the meeeh season 3.

If you're lying to me, I will have you shaved, sterilized, and destroyed. Particularly because you said season 2 and season 3 were pretty meh, which they were and why I thought I was done with this show. I am somewhat questioning myself on the wisdom of taking somebody's whose tastes don't align at all with mine so much to heart, but sometimes you just have to believe.

[Lexx]

Well, I can tell you that I had to force myself through s3, but for s4 I had no issue with just sitting down one episode, one more episode, one more episode... The only reason I didn't finish it right away yesterday is because I was super tired already and then saw the 1 1/2 hour playtime of the last episode.

S4ep1 is maybe a bit too slow. It feels kinda cluttered, because they show all these characters and everyone has like 2 minutes of playtime, and it's like they have to cram as many early 90s song snippets into the episode as possible, but with ep2 I was ready and back into it.

Edited May 29, 2022 by Lexx

[Guard Dog]

We watched the first two episodes of Obi-Wan last night. I was pleasantly surprised. It's pretty good  I haven't watched any of the other shows and don't care at all about the cartoons so my only frame of reference is the last three movies. Especially after the last one I was expecting a burning manure pile fire. It was well done. Slow burn lead in with a hook that makes sense and breaks none of the rules of the story. I'm actually looking forward to keeping up. 

Going to check out the other two shows this weekend. 

Edited May 29, 2022 by Guard Dog

[Chairchucker]

Wow there are way too many posts about a brief camera shake in the flashback section of the first of two forty minute episodes.

I didn't notice it and I intend to continue not noticing dumb minutiae like that.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

6 hours ago, Lexx said:

Just finished part 1 of Stranger Things s4. Liked it a lot. Much better than s3. And the best thing: part 2 will be out next week. Also as I've just found out, part 2 is only going to be 2 episodes... but basically movie length. Ep 8 is going to be 1 hour and 25 minutes, and ep 9 is going to be 2 hours and 30 minutes(!!!!).

Pretty hype, not gonna lie. Didn't thought the show would pull me in like that again after the meh season 2 and the meeeh season 3.

Well s3 was awful, so that's not too much praise. I thought the first episode was long and am expecting the extended length to be a bit of a drag, it seems like they could have cut the episodes up much better and released the last one as a movie.

[Lexx]

I agree with that somewhat, but I guess they had issues with pacing and thus felt it was better this way. Personally I'm ok with that now. Oddly enough, I don't even mind the 1 week break until release of part 2 - usually I like it more when everything gets released at once. Maybe it's because it really did feel long at times and I'm happy for a short break? In any case, it's better than the return of the 1 week per episode thing, which is happening more and more now, and which I still hate very much.

One thing I also wanted to point out is that .... I really don't care about the 11 storyline. Every time it comes up, I just want it to end asap, because it's just such a drag for the most of it. Ugh.

Edited May 29, 2022 by Lexx

[Bartimaeus]

O.K., I've now experienced the pain majestic was talking about - that presentation in episode 1 was torture. Well, actually, everything related to Eleven/Jane in that episode was torture. I woulda skipped it if I could. Otherwise...a pretty decent first episode with some fun moments. Hopefully it won't just become complete monster mash silliness like last season did. Shaving, sterilization, and destruction of @Lexx deferred for the time being.

...I've now watched the second episode, and it's starting to feel like monster mash silliness already. Shaving, sterilization, and destruction of @Lexx...well, let's just say it's not entirely off the table, but we'll see.

Spoiler

I really wish the entire Eleven storyline would get tabled - actually, I kind of wish she had stayed dead at the end of season 1, the direction they would've had to go instead if that had happened coulda been a lot better. I'm not saying WOULDA been a lot better, but coulda. Her character has consistently refused to grow and she's just been the show's lame deus ex machina ace-in-the-hole that solves every season, and it's just...tired at this point. Would've allowed us to focus on other, more stronger characters solving problems in different ways.

(e):

1 hour ago, Lexx said:

One thing I also wanted to point out is that .... I really don't care about the 11 storyline. Every time it comes up, I just want it to end asap, because it's just such a drag for the most of it. Ugh.

I had this thread up for a while and didn't see your post until just now. I guess we agree big time on that at least, .

Edited May 29, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[Keyrock]

I remember that I watched Stranger Things S1 and I liked it quite a bit. Then I watched S2 and a realization came over me: Oh no, the creative well is dry already. I don't remember if I actually finished S2. I didn't even bother with S3.

[Bartimaeus]

Stranger Things, episode 3. I am straight up not having a good time. Why?

Spoiler

The first episode was ironically my favorite so far, but that might just be a function of the season seemingly still having a lot of promise that has completely evaporated since watching the succeeding two episodes, wherein the show has revealed that it will...seemingly be doing the exact same thing the last two seasons have done. There are still a lot of episodes left, so maybe it could change, but I feel really feel like I should just...flat-out stop watching, unless somebody can assure me that the rest of the season will be better. It's so maddening too, because there are stretches of the show where I feel like it's going pretty swell because it's just focusing on smaller and less important character stuff (which is exactly the only bits of season 2 and 3 that I liked), and then we go through other stretches where we get back to what's actually supposed to be important, and I just want the show to be turned off. I don't want to be sitting here watching the same stupid stuff that I already saw in season 2 and 3. The worst part is, I can't even blame Lexx for it, because I knew this is what it was going to be, and that's why I told myself I wouldn't watch it - the parts that I enjoy are very much outweighed by what I don't. No, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to shave, sterilize, and destroy myself instead.

Edited May 29, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[Lexx]

Well, maybe the show is just not for you then. Not everyone has to like everything. If it sucks, just move on, don't pull a Star Trek on it where you force yourself to waste time in the hopes of ever seeing joy again.

Edited May 29, 2022 by Lexx

[Bartimaeus]

6 minutes ago, Lexx said:

Well, maybe the show is just not for you then. Not everyone has to like everything. If it sucks, just move on, don't pull a Star Trek on it where you force yourself to waste time in the hopes of ever seeing joy again.

That's the maddening bit of it, and probably why I've watched the entirety of the last two seasons: the show has a lot of good moments that I enjoy. It all just gets so bogged down in the same Eleven + monster mash re-hash combined with the faux character drama stuff, and I just get exhausted from it. I want to like it without reservation, I really do, but I just can't seem to turn my brain off. Someone, please turn off my brain. Please, anybody, just turn my brain off - just for a day or two, flip that switch.

Edited May 29, 2022 by Bartimaeus