The TV thread

ZeroZeroZero on Prime

really good but really weird in ways it doesn’t have to be.

 

I liked it. It just needed a little restraint, often. It was an interesting concept for a narrative.

 

Yes. The small timeline jumps are cool.

 

In a way the shipment was the central character, or plot driver at least. It’s like the TV series Gun, which was only 6 episodes. Good concept.

Sort of a waste of Gabriel Byrne though.

 

The Vampire I think is a little over the top as is the Italian patriarch.

 

Agreed. The Mexican plot line never really grabbed me, and by the end I was kind of not caring.

 

They lost me when Sarah Palin whined about how meeeean everyone is to her as the judges and Nick Cannon nodded along.


Was part of a watch party for Them on Prime. A few people suggested it would have been a much better story in the hands of a director like Benh Zeitlin or Jordan Peele. I understand why that sentiment might be upsetting to hear, but oh, my goodness, this thing was twice as long as it should have been and some of the scenes were unintentionally funny.* With the exception of Ruby's Tulpa, NONE of the supernatural elements worked. What made my blood run cold were the scenes that showed the cruel actions people took toward the Emorys and the other family in the 9th episode. There was the real horror.

The comments show there are a lot of people who are uncomfortable with our past. Amazon cited their best critical consumer review and all it said was something to the effect of "This is divisive."

There are a couple of people who have let me know they are not speaking to me after they said the commodification and near-ritual destruction of black bodies did not happen. My "Yes it did. Yes it did. Yes it did." was followed up by a quick visual history lesson from me starting with pictures of Emmitt Till followed by examples of the postcards people used to collect of lynchings and some examples of people getting dragged behind vehicles in Texas a few years ago.

I don't think I've been this angry at people being so...I don't know. Ignorant? Innocent of conscience? Something. Years ago I handled a collection of lynching postcards intended for a museum collection and was told it was silly to be upset by them. I can't imagine what it would feel like to be an African-American and come across those.

I'm still mad this morning.


*Yes, this kind of horror movie can be funny. There is a scene in Us where Gabe tries to kiss Red before she gets out of the SUV to confront the Others. He seems to think he's being noble and dramatic. Her response is, "Really? Right now?" It's a blink and you'll miss it moment, but it works so well and it shows how good Peele is at storytelling.

 

Anybody make it the series finale of shameless? Woof was it b-a-d

 

My wife and I are waiting for it to pop up on Netflix or Hulu, this last season, but I've been seeing the headlines of coverage from The AV Club and it just sounds really dreadful.

 

i will say the AV reviewer hates it more than I did. Without spoiling anything, I’d say the overall quality of this season was similar to all the post-Fiona seasons. The finale though offered nothing in the way of closure or conclusions.

 

I liked the end. Maybe I just loved the beautiful filmmaking, but she is just cold.

It’s crazy how drones and digital cameras have so elevated movies almost as much as cgi.

 

So far as I was concerned that entire series was bad. Then again, I really don't like discomfort humor, so there are a number of popular series and actors that I really don't much care for.