News about Netflix exclusive films and content

[Rumpy]

So Joseph didn't suspect the camel salesman?

He did, but Marvel's Gabriel (if Lucifer is a "Marvel villain" then clearly Gabriel a Marvel hero, they're like peas in a pod) set him straight.

So, I wasn't wrong he looked like something out of Marvel?

[hepcat]

16 hours from recommendation to spoilers?

You can't spoil what's already rotten.

[Max Peck]

The film isn't actually that bad. It's kind of dumb, somewhat boring, with a biblical story for a hook (and therefore mild religious controversy to drive marketing hype), but the performances are fine, the cinematography is fine, the dialogue is mostly fine, the plot is... well... the plot, with a dumb twist ending, but for the most part it hits the narrative beats you'd expect if you've read the book. It doesn't deserve to earn any awards, but I wouldn't nominate anyone involved for a Razzie either. There are worse ways to kill a couple of hours, and (obviously) better.

[Max Peck]

So, I wasn't wrong he looked like something out of Marvel?

I didn't really see it, but that's just me. I just think that if one of them is Marvelous then so is the other, because they're very similar in appearance and wardrobe. I'm kind of surprised that they didn't fully lean into it and use the same actor for both roles, to emphasize that Lucifer is a fallen angel.

[Rumpy]

So, I wasn't wrong he looked like something out of Marvel?

I didn't really see it, but that's just me. I just think that if one of them is Marvelous then so is the other, because they're very similar in appearance and wardrobe. I'm kind of surprised that they didn't fully lean into it and use the same actor for both roles, to emphasize that Lucifer is a fallen angel.

Pretty sure both of them were playing by the same actor with different makeup, which is the impression I got anyway. Once you get a good look at them together when Mary first gets ambushed by Lucifer, it becomes apparent. They're kind of a mirror of each other in that way.

[Max Peck]

I checked the cast info and it was two different actors, but the characters were clearly meant to different sides of the same coin to some extent, the angel and the fallen angel. Gabriel was played by Dudley O'Shaughnessy and Lucifer by Eamon Farren.

[Rumpy]

Huh, interesting, as they did look eerily similar.

[Rumpy]

And now a counter to my complaints about Mary, I highly recommend the Christmas animated movie 'That Christmas'. Absolutely beautiful and charming with loads of heart and Christmas cheer. This one was a delight.

[Isgrimnur]

The Electric State

[McNutt]

Goddamn that older song in trailers trend. Make it stop!

Sent from my CPH2583 using Tapatalk

[Max Peck]

I ran across this article a few days ago. It's a long but interesting read if you're at all curious about how/why Netflix came to be what it is and how it has affected the film and television industry.

Casual Viewing: Why Netflix looks like that

Until recently no Hollywood studio had ever released two movies with the same name at the same time. At most studios, such a strategy would be unthinkable. Audiences might accidentally buy tickets to the wrong film, and the PR fallout would be disastrous: snipes from trade-magazine writers; angry calls from investors questioning the studios’ business acumen; angrier calls from agents demanding to know why their clients’ images were being intentionally sabotaged.

Netflix, however, is not most studios. On April Fools’ Day, 2022, the company released a Judd Apatow comedy titled The Bubble, which takes place on the set of a Hollywood dinosaur franchise that’s forced to quarantine in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. Four weeks later, it released an animated film by Tetsurō Araki, director of the popular Japanese anime shows Death Note and Attack on Titan, about a postapocalyptic world in which the law of gravity ceases to exist. Araki’s film was called Bubble.

There were no box office mix-ups, no snipes from the press, no angry calls. The few critics who bothered to write about it panned Apatow’s Bubble, an unfunny comedy that’s duller than the blockbuster franchises it makes fun of. Nobody had anything to say about Araki’s Bubble, a TV movie better suited to a graveyard slot on a children’s cable network. Like all Netflix movies, Bubble and The Bubble floated away as quickly as they appeared, becoming tiles in the company’s sprawling mosaic of content, destined to be autoplayed on laptops whose owners have fallen asleep.

For years Ted Sarandos, the Netflix co-CEO who pioneered this distribution strategy, has been hailed by the press as a visionary. Even after the streaming giant faltered in 2022, recording an overall loss of subscribers for the first time in a decade, the podcast impresario Scott Galloway raced to Sarandos’s defense in the New York Times, comparing him and Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings to “A-Rod and Barry Bonds.” He added, “You don’t want to bet against these guys.” Galloway had apparently forgotten that the two baseball players he named had tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs at the height of their careers. In this way his comparison was more accurate than he intended. Netflix is a steroidal company, pumped up by lies and deceit, and has broken all of Hollywood’s rules.

[Isgrimnur]

No Good Deed

[hepcat]

I watched Rebel Moon parts 1 and 2 and I don't know why. The story is just awful.

I’ve decided that I need to atone for something (not sure what, but I bet I did SOMETHING wrong in 2024) so I’m watching the director’s cuts of both movies. So far, during the first 20 minutes of part 1, it appears they just added a bunch of naked women, a lot of gore and the f word a bunch of times.

Are we absolutely sure Zack Snyder isn’t a 14 year old boy?

Edit: I had forgotten the weird “Irish” accent Charlie Hannan tries to pull off….and fails. It’s still hilarious.

[Max Peck]

IIRC, in addition to boobs, gore and cussing the director's cut does also fill in some of the narrative gaps and makes more use of Anthony Hopkins' interludes. At the end of the day, though, if you didn't like the original version then the director's cut isn't likely to change your mind.

Unless you're really into boobs, gore, cussing and Anthony Hopkins of course. Or wheat farming (although I believe that both versions have a lot of wheat farming going on, so that one is kind of a wash).

[hepcat]

Nearing the end now of part 1. I’ll probably do part 2 next week as I don’t want to overdo it.

Another favorite part is the engineering team on the King’s Gaze that decided it was a good idea to install a lever in an external gun pod that apparently controls the movement of the entire ship. It’s like putting an ancillary steering wheel on the roof of my Honda civic.

Also, the additional gore is nearly Evil Dead levels…but missing that franchise’s use of it for slapstick comedy. It just looks silly if done with a serious tone.

[Jaymann]

A Little White Lie is a great movie starring Michael Shannon as an imposter pretending to be a reclusive writer. Or is he?

[$iljanus]

IIRC, in addition to boobs, gore and cussing the director's cut does also fill in some of the narrative gaps and makes more use of Anthony Hopkins' interludes. At the end of the day, though, if you didn't like the original version then the director's cut isn't likely to change your mind.

Unless you're really into boobs, gore, cussing and Anthony Hopkins of course. Or wheat farming (although I believe that both versions have a lot of wheat farming going on, so that one is kind of a wash).

Since I’ve watched part one I’m going to watch Part Two, The Overstuffed Cut. But I’m satisfied with your breakdown of Part One, The Director’s Ego cut and don’t see a need to be that much of a completist and rewatch part one.

[hepcat]

Hopkins’ robot doing his impression of Thoreau every 30 minutes or so in the directors cut is as exciting as I make it sound.

Also, if you’re writing a script and you give a character the last name Bloodaxe, you’ve already failed.

[$iljanus]

I can listen to Hopkins all day long so I guess I can look forward to Hopkins the Robot Thespian in part two... with more wheat.

[hepcat]

The directors cut also introduces some new characters. Chuck Starkiller, Bob Laserblast, Emily Razorfist and Ted Beastslayer.

[Max Peck]

IIRC, in addition to boobs, gore and cussing the director's cut does also fill in some of the narrative gaps and makes more use of Anthony Hopkins' interludes. At the end of the day, though, if you didn't like the original version then the director's cut isn't likely to change your mind.

Unless you're really into boobs, gore, cussing and Anthony Hopkins of course. Or wheat farming (although I believe that both versions have a lot of wheat farming going on, so that one is kind of a wash).

Since I’ve watched part one I’m going to watch Part Two, The Overstuffed Cut. But I’m satisfied with your breakdown of Part One, The Director’s Ego cut and don’t see a need to be that much of a completist and rewatch part one.

The beginning of Part 1 in the extended cut adds the origin story for the scrawny soldier that throws in with the Rebel Alliance, er, Seven Samauri, er, our heroes. The character makes a lot more sense once you know who he is and why he ends up there.

[hepcat]

Cunk on Life is here to save us. Hearing her refer to the Bible as the first entry in the Christian Cinematic Universe has already taken the edge off Rebel Moon 1.

[Kraken]

Gotta watch that soon. Cunk on Earth was pretty great.

[hepcat]

I’m watching it in 30 minute or so chunks (cunks?) and I’ve laughed out loud numerous times already. I love her delivery.

[Isgrimnur]

Kinda Pregnant

[hepcat]

American Primeval is basically Mad Max. Brigham Young is Lord Humungus. If you’re Mormon, you probably should avoid this one.