72 thoughts on “Third Monday Movie Day: The (Other) Big One Edition”

1. Posting this right away this morning as I'm guessing people have a few things to say.

2. GoT

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   I thought that the first half did an okay job of establishing Dany's headspace. She sold the material, anyway. 2nd half was kind of boring, though. Went full RotK on us. Sansa's arc felt fully realized. The reasoning behind Bran being king was nonsense. Grey Worm turning into the most hateable character on the show was.....something. I laughed when it was revealed that the small council was literally just the most popular characters on the show. Arya's dreams of sailing the seven seas are finally realiz.....wait,what? Overall, the eighth season was kind of a disaster that ended in an "acceptable" place that doesn't diminish the rest of the series for me.

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      It was the best episode of the season, but that's, of course, more a testament to how much of a disaster the previous episodes were. As you say with the Bran thing, it was non-sensical but at least no one did anything particularly stupid. Also, shout out to Bran for not doing an effing thing yet still being handed the throne. The worst part about season 8 is that they didn't show any of their work so not a thing was earned. Overall, that was a really unsatisfying ending basically for everyone except Sansa.

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         I'd give Episode 2 the title of Best Episode of season 8. The finale didn't bother me greatly, not like the past three episodes have irked me. I do not consider Grey Worm a hateable character; his actions were defendable - as a soldier, he follows orders. Minus that guidance (for the first time in his life), and in a strange land, I expect him to be a bit resolute. I would have called him the most dangerous character, not the most hateable.

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            Good call on episode 2, I can agree with that, I just forgot it because of all that came after.

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            Agreed that Episode 2 was the best of the season (and honestly, one of the 10 best episodes of the show, IMO. I even told my mother-in-law right after I watched it that it "feels like I just watched the last great episode that this show has in it." "Hateable" might be a bit too strong a word, but his character arc, in particular, felt really ooky. Again, I think it's just a matter of not spending any time at all building any character in the last season, so everything is implied, with no grounding to go from "devoted soldier and true believer" to "super duper eager war criminal". I think that if they had paced this season properly, I could've gotten over a lot of this. It's just that so many of the decisions leading up to the end were of the "we have a knot and a scissors, let's do this" variety that in the end, "okay" was about the best they could possibly do. It was amazing how suddenly I went from cautious, but hopeful, and invested, to completely uninvested.

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               Its sort of funny thinking about this season of GoT in context of Twitter chuds who complain about things that show instead of tell and don't spell out every little plot point for them. Well, GoT season 8 is the ultimate in telling instead of showing and it was just awful to watch. Greyworm's ending was really stupid too, since he went through that progression then just let Tyrion go without putting up much of a fuss then jumped on a ship to go somewhere that no one cares about.

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                  In theory, he cares about it, since it was where he and Missandei were going to frolic in the sun and whatnot. He had mentioned how he was going to make sure they were protected. The beat did ring a little false, though. Their entreaties to him were based on the fact that the North (somehow) has a whole bunch of people outside the city and any conflict would end in a lot of bloodshed, and we've never seen a single thing throughout the series that that is the type of fight that he'd back down from. If there had been, it could have been a nice bit of character growth for him, instead, him just shrugging felt like a shortcut to a semi-happy ending.

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                     I think GW had just had enough by that time, and just wanted to get the heck out of there. Of course, a good story would have led us to that decision instead of making us grasp for it.

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                        Yeah, that's the feeling I got, too, and I'm not exactly wishing they had spent a lot of time with Grey Worm, or anything. Again, the finale was "okay", where I was expecting something much worse. I just wish a couple of the endings had been a bit more earned.

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                     the North (somehow) has a whole bunch of people outside the city And somehow the Unsullied still had a lot of people left and the Dothraki apparently weren't all killed back in Winterfell despite us watching them all get killed.

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                        I think, though I don't really recall, that it was mentioned (there's that telling crap again) that about half of the Dothraki were kept off the battlefield in Winterfell. Of course, each episode after that the number of them seemed to grow from episode to episode.

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                  Hilarious that you mention "telling instead of showing" too. So spot on.

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   Which sequel: Jon and Tormund's Excellent Adventure or Arya the Explorer? I think I want to see Westestos.

   1. I’m more interested in the latter.

4. The only thing that makes sense in that ending:

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   Arrrrrryyyyyya becoming a pirate

   .

5. I also saw movies!

   Newbish is at the point where he's really starting to enjoy full length movies, and the dreariness of the weekend made it the perfect time to watch a couple (and play some Legend of Zelda: a Link to the Past with him, which was a million kinds of joyful for me.

   * The Secret Life of Pets is right about what you expect it to be. Louis C.K. lends a little bit of unwelcome cringe to the whole proceedings, which is doubly annoying, because he doesn't really add anything to the movie, anyway. Along with the new Jumanji movie, it's one of the two things where I can see any appeal at all in Kevin Hart's manic energy, though. Just sort of.... there.

   * The Good Dinosaur is Pixar's first (and so far, only) box office bomb. I can sort of see why. The writing is fine and the animation is unbelievable (seriously, it's one of the most visually stunning animated movies I've seen), but something is definitely missing. The voice acting might be part of it. The fact that you're constantly reminded that you've seen all of these storytelling pieces in other movies doesn't help. Sam Elliott as a rancher tyrannosaur definitely DOES help, though.

6. *steps over all the GoT content*

   Barry: This was the only finale I watched last night. I've decided to completely ignore any basis in reality of criminal investigation for this show, and it's made me enjoy it a lot more. Hader (and Berg) have done a great job with the show and it's fun to watch, but I haven't crossed over to the love for it I've seen online. It's a fun show, but it's not amazing, especially with as much as it strains at believability.

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   One guy with a handgun takes out a whole compound of automatic weapon toting henchmen?

   Also, if you're a lifelong Stephan Root fan as I am, this has been a great showcase for his talents.

   Chernobyl: This has been faaaaaaantastic top to bottom so far. Visually striking, well-written, and superbly casted and acted. If this is your thing, I would also recommend the official companion podcast (so far just with the creator/writer and host Peter Segal) as it breaks down how they translated it to the screen (what's true, what's pretty true, what's not exactly true but was done to convey the truth, etc.).

7. Last month a friend & I were discussing the Criterion Channel. I remarked that I’d love to subscribe, but wondered if I could justify the fee given how many films I’m likely to see in a month. He said we already had institutional access to Criterion’s catalog through Kanopy, which was news to me. Turns out we don’t have full access — what we have doesn’t include my two favorite films in Criterion’s catalog — but we can stream nearly 400 Criterion films. Since that revelation, I have watched Chaplin’s Sunnyside (1919) & rewatched Tirez sur le Pianiste (Shoot the Piano Player) (1960). I’m going to try to alternate feature-length films (including some of the great documentaries in Kanopy’s catalog) with silent films, since there are quite a few Chaplin, Buster Keaton, & Harold Llyod films I haven’t yet watched. If your local or institutional library has access to Kanopy, check it out.

   On the smaller screen, I started watching Babylon Berlin with Mrs. Hayes, also recently finished Season 5 of Bosch, which I continue to enjoy quite a bit.

8. "So the wall only exists now to protect Brienne from Tormund."

9. Non GoT stuff:

   I watched Deadpool 2 and Pacific Rim: Uprising last weekend. DP2 was hilarious, especially Domino. "Luck" as a super power was used to excellent comedic effect. PR:U was alright. It was entertaining but no where near as amazing as the first one, even though John Boyega is a much, much better actor than Charlie Hunman. (and seriously, they should have let Boyega use his natural accent in Star Wars.) The final boss battle was pretty cool. The soundtrack was noticeably not as badass without Ramin Djawadi doing it, though.

   1. Still love the review of the first PR: "I'm unsure whether this is an awful, awesome movie or an awesome, awful movie."

      1. I feel like it's settled pretty solidly on awesome, very well made bad movie.

10. It hasn't been talked about much here lately (I think, I'm not going to check) but the Deadwood movie will have its HBO premiere on May 31, which is a Friday. Maybe we can do another one of these two Monday's from now. I seem to recall that there are a lot of Deadwood fans too.

    1. Oh, deadwood is in, like, my top three series which includes the wire and some other show. I’ve never, ever, even thought about planning an evening around a tv show, but I know what I’m doing on Friday the 31st.

11. Chernobyl is all kinds of intense storytelling

12. Iron Man, Captain America, Iron Man 2. I'm a little late to the game on this Marvel business, but I'll get to the Endgame eventually.

    1. I did also just re-watch the Iron Man movies as well as the first Avengers. (did a re-watch of the Cap'n movies a couple months ago.) Man, Iron Man 2 really is a turd. I didn't really like 3 that much the first time I saw it, but I liked it a lot more on this re-watch. A case could probably be made that its a better movie that the first one, though with nowhere near as many iconic scenes.

       Definitely do Winter Solider next. It's really, really good.

       1. I couldn't get into IM3. Too much depressed super hero stuff. I prefer cocky super hero.

          1. I liked those parts, even the first time, and I think all of that helped push his character forward heading into the rest of the Avengers movies. My biggest issue when I initially watched it was the villian bait and switch, but re-watching it in its context as more of a humbling experience for Tony made that whole thing less important. Plus, Ben Kingsley's Tony Slattery was great.

             1. Although I like the MCU, I'm a bigger fan of the individual character movies than The Avengers.

          2. Too much depressed super hero

             But it is part of the Marvel+DC shtick. I remember from the comics that most of the SH's are brooding, depressed and carrying load's of baggage.

             1. That's why Spider-man was the best. Just a kid trying to be funny.

                That really spoke to me. For some reason.

13. I almost forgot, I did watch Venom recently as well, and you know, it wasn't nearly as bad as its reputation would have indicated. I actually liked it, not least of all because Tom Hardy sounded weird as hell.

    1. Were you drinking while you watched it?

       1. Well, I mean, yeah. But still. I'm not saying it was great, just that I enjoyed it and Tom Hardy had a lot to do with that.

          1. I watched on a flight, and it beat staring out the window.

14. Your new ruler.

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    https://twitter.com/dcagiunta/status/1130774938074243073?s=21

    1. Wouldn't you rather have a throne that can recline?

15. What We Do in the Shadows continues to improve, and it's starting to really find it's pacing.

    1. I'm a few episodes behind but enjoying it. The sense of humor reminds me of the Norsemen on Netflix.

16. Uh I've watched a lot lately, let's see...

    John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum: Everything I'd hoped for, more or less. Can't wait to watch it again.
    Detective Pikachu: Plot was pretty basic, but I got to see tons of good Pokémon buddies on the screen, and it was worth it for that.
    Avengers: Endgame: Didn't feel like 3 hours, surprisingly. It was pretty good. I'm not thrilled with every decision they made, but it's damn impressive they pulled off what they did.
    Shazam!: Everyone in this movie is having the time of their lives, and it is all the better for it.
    Tuca & Bertie Season 1: Even better than I could have hoped. It's hilarious and still packs an pretty solid emotional punch. I've watched the entire season two times, both times in essentially one sitting. The best thing Netflix has put out in years.
    I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson Season 1: Very enjoyable sketch comedy. Not every sketch hits, but the highs are extremely high. The show being six episodes of around 15 minutes each makes it a very easy watch. I'll probably watch this pretty regularly.

    I've also been watching the new season of Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas as it airs. This season is about schools. It's an excellent show, and by far my favorite funny "current events" type show.

17. I haven't seen this yet, but hearing great things. Will definitely try to check out.

    Apparently the He-man episode is just wild.

    https://www.netflix.com/title/80161497

    1. A snippet.

       the explanation for why he-man has a tiger is one of the funniest things i've ever seen in my life and i have to share the whole clip pic.twitter.com/1pgtQglG0M

       — Bobby Schroeder (@ponettplus) May 21, 2019

18. Just finished Season 6, Episode 9 of GOT, "Battle of the Bastards."

    I am aware of complaints that exist about the final season/seasons. Let me just say that I think some of these criticisms should have started earlier. Some real head-scratchers in said battle.

    1. They did.

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       Going off memory, but I recall the flight time of the arrow being seconds. Rickon could have easily dodged a single arrow at a time and made it safely to Jon.

       1. Yes, that.

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          Assuming they come up with some other painful way to kill Rickon instead, Jon's absolute stupidity does not mesh with the character we'd previously seen. The lack of heeding Sansa's council, the stupidity of his approach... those are not consistent with the man he became at the Wall (think: he was able to become Lord Commander precisely because of his tactics and self-sacrifice.).

    2. Truthfully, a lot of those complaints begin to crop up in season 6, and start showing up in earnest in season 7.

       Not to say that there aren't some extremely good episodes, but....yeah.

       1. In an article published before the finale, academic Zeynep Tufekci notes that Game Of Thrones was once a rare TV show to focus on sociological storytelling, whereby the heroes had to cope with being cogs in a much bigger political machine that didn't care about their feelings and ambitions. But the further the show drifted from the books, the more it shifted to a typical Hollywood psychological story, where the heroes only fight the eye-patch-wearing bad guys because they killed their best friend, and they don't have to, say, deal with the Kingsguard staging a coup because they haven't been paid since Tywin Lannister died.

          1. That...puts to words exactly the issue that I had with the writing over the last few seasons.

             1. Didn't help that the buildup of the emotional reactions weren't given enough time to be fully realized, either.

          2. Say what you will about the #GameOfThronesFinale, the John Hughes homage was a bold choice to end on. pic.twitter.com/kKJrJyV9d7

             — Dan Olson (@FoldableHuman) May 20, 2019

19. So, Picard is back...?

    1. He announced it many months ago. I'm sad to see that his vineyard isn't organic :/

20. Watched Wind River last night. Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olson. Pretty good flick. I had never heard of it, but it was reviewed well online. We also watched Rim of the World. Which was basically The Goonies with an alien invasion setting. I was really confused with this movie. The main characters are 13 years old, but 3 out of the 4 look like they are 10. It had a lot of adult language and innuendo for a movie seeming to be targeting children. If it was actually targeting adults, it was brutally bad in the writing, casting and acting.

21. Watched The Wandering Earth on Netflix last night. Think China making San Andreas

22. Was it any good? I was thinking of watching that one.

    1. I compared it to San Andreas for a reason - it was pretty mindless. Or. I guess I could have used Armageddon as well

23. GoT Finale text convo w/ brother

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    Me: Lords & Ladies of Westeros: "Aye", "Aye", "Aye" Sansa: "Nah, fam, I'm Queen in the North now." Yara, Internally: "Oh, shit, that's a way better answer. Damnit!" Bro: "I didn't know that was an option. I'll have one sovereignty, please."

24. Before I read anyone else's takes, here's my general thoughts on the end of GOT:

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    First, having pretty much watched straight through, without any major breaks between seasons, I have the sense that the wait could definitely have affected my perceptions. Without the wait, the ending honestly wasn't that bad. I'm cool with Bran, though they needed to have done more to build up his character (I originally thought when Arya dropped the knife while going after the Night King that it was Bran who caught it and stabbed him. That alone might have made the difference there.). We didn't see Sansa's end game far enough in advance, and it was very much a consolation prize for her. I'm okay with that, generally, but wish we would have seen her doing a little more to move the pieces into place - the arrangement of that final council or something like that. Jon's ending was completely disappointing. Or at least mostly disappointing. I think he should have been the King, but what do you do with Bran then... I dunno. It's tough, but I wish they would have done Jon better. At least he made the right call in the end, and I thought that scene was done pretty well. The heel turn by Dany and Gray Worm made sense to me, but all of the foreshadowing was "tell" not "show" - we heard characters wonder about which way she'd go, and didn't actually see her do enough truly wicked things. Gray Worm as the bad guy worked pretty well to me there. I didn't believe that he'd take Jon prisoner though. That would have been an immediate execution. Really, that jump between the assassination and the final council thing needed to be an episode. Someone told my they thought Tyrion's character arc was the most disappointing. I completely disagree. The only thing I think he'd have done differently, if truly acting, is that he would have helped Varys escaped, rather than turn him in (see: his loyalty to individuals such as Jamie, Jorah). Otherwise, I thought that arc made sense, and was one of the highlights of the end. I had heard enough rumblings about how awful things ended, that that probably colored my perceptions, and helped make things seem not so awful. And watching straight through probably helped too, since the previous two seasons had their significant gaps and inconsistencies too, and so the last season didn't really stand out - in fact, was an improvement in some ways. All told, I'm satisfied. Ready to be done. Not happy, per se. But satisfied.

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       As you said above, we very much agree on the telling thing. That's why I hated the final season so much. Characters just... changed for the sake of the plot without doing any of the homework to sake those changes have some weight. Like, even if the change could have been a logical progression there still needs to be a progression.

       Is there's one thing, though, that I think everyone can agree on it's the Euron Greyjoy is one of the worst characters to have a television screen over the past 50 years (I'll accept arguments for Craig in parks and rec, though).

       1. I will absolutely defend Craig in Parks & Rec. Partially because they gave him just the right amount of screen time, and didn't belabor the point. Much more would have been a problem, but what he had was brief enough to serve the show, and I laughed enough times.

          But yes, on Euron

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          So he shows up out of the sea and fights Jamie for... what reason? Because they're rivals over Cersei, I suppose. But there wasn't real tension there, and the moment had nothing to do with that rivalry, they were trying to escape. That whole thing was weird.

    2. I pretty much agree. I think an extra episode's worth of material could have filled in the gaps where a character's motivations would have been more obvious

       1. Yeah, I think everyone is spot on with that. Even just one more episode could have covered so many of the failings.

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    Was anyone else surprised at Cersei's death happening the way it did? It was so indirect... no specific character killed her, despite so many of them having cause to do so. There were lots of deaths in the show that happened that way (all the way back to season 1, really), but for some reason this one felt anti-climactic to me. Maybe all it really needed was another person to witness it happen?

26. Another Another Thought

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    I know more time/episodes would have fixed a lot of the issues, but I don't think it would have really fixed the Jon/Grey Worm issue. And that one has been bothering me for a time. Why did they let Grey Worm have a "happy" ending? He was the bad guy at that point... did the writers not realize that? Why did he care what was happening in Westeros when he was leaving? Why did they let what he wanted matter when he was leaving? Why, as soon as he left, did they not call Jon back and say "you're free!" This is the one area that, now that I'm a few days past, has continued to chafe me. I'm also less satisfied with Sansa's ending than I originally was. It really seems like true character growth for her would have involved her manipulating pieces to bring about that result (which would have been more satisfying), or her accepting the role as Wardeness of the North, a voluntary humbling of herself, which would have demonstrated growth. I dunno... I guess I'm saying that I've grown less okay with the ending than I originally was, since it seems like there were pieces in place to make it really good, they just didn't move those pieces for some reason.

    1. I'm still salty about how it all ended.

       1. Perhaps you would find this interesting:

          1. 45 minutes? Sir, I left college years ago.

             1. Heh, you need a desk job. (it is really good though)

                1. I have the deskiest of jobs - computer data dork.

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       Grey Worm owed it to Dani's memory to see that Jon was punished somehow. Otherwise, it was really the first time he was ever in a leadership position, and no doubt all the decisions he was making were difficult for him. And I do not consider him the bad guy, just an unfortunate antagonist that was a fish out of water.

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