Planet of the Humans: Michael Moore Producer
Could have done without Gibbs' ecofascist social engineering, depopulation gobbledygook.
What are you watching and why?
Sun, 2020-05-03 17:10
#202
Tue, 2020-05-05 09:40
#203
Sat, 2020-05-09 15:46
#204
..i have always liked westworld ever since it's inception in 1973. this movie starred yul brynner as the leading robot.
..i also found much to like about the remake of westworld as a tv series. which brings me to season 3 which began a short while ago. i'm about to have some yogurt for lunch as i watch the 1st epi.
Everything You Need to Know About ‘Westworld’ Season 3
It’s been 16 months since “Westworld’s” second season ended, and while Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy’s sophomore effort received more mixed reviews than their freshman debut, no one can deny just how highly-anticipated its upcoming third season is ahead of its March 15 debut. Especially in the wake of a “Game of Thrones” conclusion and with HBO’s upcoming series like “Watchmen” and “His Dark Materials,” now is an interesting time for sci-fi/fantasy series on the cable juggernaut.
HBO recently released five images from the third season’s upcoming second episode, which will air on March 22. Here’s a look at the new photos and the ongoing struggles of several of the eclectic show’s standout characters.
..well watched the season 3 finale last night. it was 1.5 hrs long. there was a surprise ending..and there will be another season.
..in season 3 we find that dolores has escaped from westworld into the human world. she soon picks up breaking bad's, pinkman, as a sidekick..with the goal of revolution in mind. pinkman, aaron paul, plays a solid role and the story evolves at a quick pace. with plenty of food for thought.
Sat, 2020-05-09 17:23
#205
RIP Little Richard. My brother posted an old music show from the UK in 1964, "Don't Knock the Rock" because he is one of the acts. I even watched the few commercials between episodes because they are so dated as to be camp.
Sat, 2020-05-09 18:03
#206
And you think you had a tough beginning
Sat, 2020-05-09 18:50
#207
Ballad Of A Thin Man
Mon, 2020-05-11 17:31
#208
Just watched Bend It Like Beckham, a truly superb flic
Mon, 2020-05-11 03:13
#209
Mothers' Day at the War Show (and vid)
http://coat.ncf.ca/air_show.htm
"Richard Sanders' documentary made for the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT). It's about a highly militaristic Ottawa 'air-show' that was held on Mothers Day, a day that was originally meant to unite women against war. The COAT film came out in 1998 during the brutal economic blockade of Iraq. The UN later said this blockade killed 500,000 children under the age of five.
Throughout the 1990s, several multi-billion dollar Canadian warships - like the frigate HMCS Ottawa - aided and abetted that devastating blockade. This is still an issue in Canadian politics as our government wages a deadly economic sanctions war against Venezuela -- even during the deadly COVID crisis.
Mon, 2020-05-11 17:27
#210
The Good Fight Season 4 Trailer
..season 4 started off interesting but odd. i'll try not to reveal much of anything except one thing that caught my attention in the 2nd epi..memo 618. it has a real feel about it though for selected instances only. a judge, in the process of a trial surrounding a powerful developer, finds an envelope on his office desk. inside the envelope is a piece of paper with nothing written on it but the words memo 618. he goes to another judge and asks what it means. that judge says recuse yourself from the trial or face disbarment. a disbarment based on concocted charges created by anonymous but powerful people. so he does..which translates to a victory for the developer.
..good show!
Mon, 2020-05-11 20:56
#211
laine lowe
I just watched episode 4 of Season 4 of "The Good Fight". I am happy to say that it is very enjoyable and the memo 618 plot line is heating up.
Sat, 2020-05-16 19:44
#212
Toronto Palestine Film Festival"
https://www.tpff.ca/nakba-commemoration
"Join us in commemorating the 72nd year of al Nakba with two special free virtual screenings on May 15 & 17
Wed, 2020-06-03 18:07
#213
..awesome flick! very relevant! only on a corporate scale.
The Perfect-Life Facade Crumbles Fantastically in ‘Bad Education’
Truth trumps fiction once again in Bad Education, Cory Finley’s whipsmart and wickedly fascinating take on a 2002 scandal about trusted educators who embezzled more than $11 million from the public-school system in Long Island, New York. A stellar Hugh Jackman, like you’ve never seen him (or Wolverine) before, tackles the complex role of Long Island school superintendent Frank Tassone, a hero in the posh district for making Roslyn High fourth in the country by getting top seniors into Ivy League colleges, which brings cheers from parents and students — he knows all their names — and ups the real-estate value of the neighborhood. Everybody wins.
Maybe that’s why no one notices right away that Tassone and his assistant superintendent for business, Pam Gluckin (the ever-amazing Allison Janney), have their hands in the kitty. The exception is Rachel (a terrific Geraldine Viswanathan of Blockers), a sophomore used to writing puff pieces for the school paper. It’s Tassone, of all people, who urges Rachel to act like a real journalist and ask hard questions. That’s when Rachel discovers discrepancies in the competing bids to build a $7.2 million skywalk for Roslyn High. Where do you get that kind of dough when the school ceilings are leaking? It’s just the tip of the iceberg for a bigger fraud being perpetrated on taxpayers.....
Wed, 2020-06-03 20:24
#214
laine lowe
If you want to cry a bit, I recommend Ricky Gervais' "After Life". I just finished season 2 and I needed my box of Kleenix for the last two episodes.
Sat, 2020-06-06 21:21
#215
..just finished killing eve. once again i am sorry to see the season end. even before season 3 aired season 4 was ok'ed.
Killing Eve is a show about women, made and created by women, and that trend will continue into Season 4. While Phoebe Waller-Bridge was in charge of Season 1, Emerald Fennell took the reins for Season 2, and Suzanne Heathcote is the brains behind Season 3. In February 2020, the appointment of Sex Education's Laura Neal as the writer of Killing Eve Season 4 was reported.
Sun, 2020-06-07 00:32
#216
laine lowe
I really enjoyed this season of "Killing Eve". I am into episode 4 of "I Know This Much is True" featuring Mark Ruffalo (also Archie Panjabi, Kathryn Hann, Rosie O'Donnell, Melissa Leo and Juliette Lewis). It is super dark and emotionally wrentchig dealing with severe mental illness and family abuse as major themes. But the acting is powerful.
Sun, 2020-06-07 01:48
#217
Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich - Netflix - Official Trailer/
Who Is Ghislane Maxwell?/Jeffrey Epstein/ Filthy Rich/ Netflix
"The monsters are still out there..."
Watched it mostly to see how it was treated and what or who would not be mentioned. But an introduction I suppose. For a deeper dive and better information try the Whitney Webb series of articles already posted to the 'Abusers' thread.
Sun, 2020-06-14 20:15
#218
..as of late i've been rewatching some of the stuff i found really good a while back. i'm doing this because some of the new stuff coming out just doesn't cut it.
..one of those shows was FEARLESS. and i was rewarded with a wonderful viewing experience. :) luckily i'd forgotten much of it and it was like new. i was inspired so moved on to London Spy and it was fantastic. again i had forgotten most of it. the story kept me on the edge of my seat and i watched the 5 epis in 1 session.
..the creator/writer of london spy is tom rob smith so i began looking into other stuff he has done. his most recent is
A psycho-thriller set within systems of power in politics, media, and the police.
..i've just finished the 1st epi and i'm hooked. that could change but we'll see. i'll also be looking into other stuff smith has done.
Thu, 2020-06-18 12:30
#219
Fri, 2020-06-26 15:24
#220
..1st epi is out
Review: HBO’s Perry Mason Examines Power and Faith Amid a Fog of Decay
quote:
The new Perry Mason is set in 1932, and at the outset, the eponymous character is a private investigator, and hardly the respectable kind. Paired up with the sardonic Pete Strickland (Shea Whigham), he’s not above taking illicit photos of a movie star at a studio’s behest, hoping to prove a morals clause violation. Matthew Rhys brings a thick haze of disillusionment to his character, who wears a lot of stubble and an expression of perpetual weariness. Reconceived in the mold of reluctant prestige TV heroes, Mason is a man adrift, with few opportunities during the Great Depression, and so he tries (unsuccessfully) to squeeze his employers for more cash, though he still misses out on paying the child support he owes.
Mason’s lawyer pal, E.B. Jonathan (John Lithgow), brings him in to work with E.B.’s associate, Della Street (Juliet Rylance), on the kidnapping case. The law jabs an accusatory finger at the grieving parents, Matthew and Emily Dodson (Nate Corddry and Gayle Rankin), leaving the defense to contend with dirty cops and cover-ups in addition to following a trail of money that loops through the local evangelical church. A lot of the story beats are the usual stuff of noir, with people you can’t trust mixed up in systems you can trust even less, but the series uses its central case and characters to tug at the different threads of a rich societal tapestry, deftly posing questions about religion, race, sexuality, and gender roles as the world unravels.
Fri, 2020-06-26 21:00
#221
laine lowe
I enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to the rest of this re-imagined "Perry Mason".
Sat, 2020-06-27 14:57
#222
I enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to the rest of this re-imagined "Perry Mason".
..me too! all though i hope his funk lifts a bit as he becomes more engaged. :)
Thu, 2020-07-02 14:34
#223
quote:
Sidney Flanigan plays Autumn, a young teen living in the state of Pennsylvania, who discovers that she is unexpectedly pregnant. Her performance as a stubborn yet vulnerable teen is exemplified through apathetic expressions amidst a chaotic circumstance where she finds that abortion in Pennsylvania requires the consent of a parent. Rather than confronting the parents with her truth, she chooses to travel to New York to acquire the abortion on her own. Or so she thought.
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always” explores the conversation of abortion that needs to take place in a setting without its accessibility, but it is also a very intimate portrayal of a deep friendship between Autumn and her cousin Skylar. Skylar, played by Talia Ryder, offers the most unconditional support for Autumn she can give. Skylar does not question the circumstances. She rolls with it instead. Skylar does everything in her power to give Autumn the money, situation control, and acceptance to pull through with the abortion.
While Autumn is often silently commiserating the fears, anxiety, and panic she feels due to the life in her belly, Skylar refuses to give those fears, anxiety, and panic a voice. Even when Autumn becomes resistant to Skylar’s compassion, Skylar does not falter from reminding Autumn of what she came to New York to do.
Autumn starts as a stubborn teen, but she ends the journey transformed into a disillusioned and vulnerable woman. This is a process that is not unfamiliar to the women in the world who are victimized by their circumstances and forced to become survivors. I struggled to relate to Autumn in moments of her shallow strength, but her breaking point became mine and my heart went out to all the strong women who experienced a similar journey.
My favorite aspect of the film is how accurately it portrays the steps of receiving care from Planned Parenthood. The director, Eliza Hittman, chose to film in an existing location in New York to preserve the authenticity of the journey, showing even the process of security checkpoints and advisor meetings with each healthcare provider. Rather than romanticizing New York, director Hittman also strives to capture an uncomfortable presence that the city brings to the girls. New York in this movie made me feel out of place and lonely, a set of emotions that the girls must have felt throughout their journey from Pennsylvania.
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always” is a love letter to all the women who struggle against a system that was not built for them. It is also a love letter to all the strong women that surround the vulnerable ones, a strong reminder to support the women around you because strong women support other women.
Thu, 2020-07-02 20:23
#224
laine lowe
That is a great review and sounds like a very interesting film - perhaps a bit more realistic and resonant than "Juno".
Fri, 2020-09-04 19:26
#225
..after reading the 1st 2 paragraphs of this review i didn't read any futher and decided to start watching this series. it's come out in one dump of 12, 30 min episodes. i will read the rest of the review after watching the series.
Review: I May Destroy You Boldly Dissects Notions of Sexual Assault and Consent
In “Ego Death,” the final episode of the British comedy-drama I May Destroy You, actress, writer, and series creator Michaela Coel confidently defies convention and, with it, any expectation that the events of the series, like life, can be tied into a tidy knot. Privileging character over plot, I May Destroy You has no need for the kinds of melodramatic reveals on which other cable dramas like Big Little Lies rely, and it proves no less revelatory on that front.
Coel draws one of the most nuanced portraits of sexual assault and its psychological fallout ever depicted on TV, and along the way captures the milieu of Black millennial Londoners with precise and vivid detail. For all the lived-in verisimilitude of its world, though, I May Destroy You also smoothly incorporates psychologically subjective and allegorical elements: The bar in which Arabella is assaulted is called Ego Death (a perfect summation of the consequent disintegration of her identity), and the book on sexual assault that she’s writing throughout the series is likely an in-text reflection of the creation of I May Destroy You itself.....
Fri, 2020-09-04 21:29
#226
laine lowe
I've only watched 2 episodes and it is brilliant. Very uncomfortable but truthful representation of sexual assault and the aftermath. It tackles the difficult subject of rape occuring after being knocked out by drugs thus NO CONSENT. It is so realistic in how it depicts the slow realization that something happened that you have no memory of. I look forward to finishing the series.
Also note that Michaela Cole also had an excellent 2 season TV series called "Chewing Gum" that is absolutely charming.
Fri, 2020-09-04 21:36
#227
..txs laine
Sat, 2020-09-12 13:49
#228
..a documentary
A filmmaker forges an unusual friendship with an octopus living in a South African kelp forest, learning as the animal shares the mysteries of her world.
Sun, 2020-09-13 14:01
#229
..changed my mind. i no longer recomend.
Sat, 2020-09-12 19:48
#230
laine lowe
I've been watching "Ted Lasso", about a barely successful, small-time college football coach who is hired to coach a professional soccer team in England, despite having no experience - part of an ex-wife revenge plot to destroy the team's standing and piss off her ex. It stars Jason Sudeikis and Juno Temple who are both very charming. It's a pleasant enough distraction.
I don't know if I mentioned the UK dramedy "Brassic" (on CBC Gem), but I waded into and binged the 2nd season and it really proved to be brilliant - LOLROFL moments as well as some tear provoking, tender moments.
Wed, 2020-09-16 14:29
#231
..i also watch lasso for distraction. i sometimes skip over the serious/sad parts. :) i will check out brassic.
..just started watching this:
'The Sleepers' puts a Czech on sleek spy thrillers
quote:
But “Sleepers,” an HBO Europe production that just now is coming stateside, is about a moment in the history of the Czech Republic when the country was wide awake. The year is 1989, and the country is in the throes of the non-violent “Velvet Revolution” that has displaced Communist Party rule of the country.
Only, things aren’t that simple. The government officials and secret police officers are still around, and are uneasy about their past crimes being uncovered by the people. “They’re still afraid of us,” one former Communist official says in the first episode. “But what they don’t know is, we’re afraid of them.”
Into this uneasy moment arrives a couple, a talented violinist named Marie (Tatiana Pauhofova) and her husband, a dissident professor named Viktor (Martin Marsicka). In 1977, the couple escaped Communist Czechoslovakia and settled in England. Now that the Iron Curtain has fallen, they return to their homeland to reconnect with the friends and family left behind.
Walking the streets of Prague, the couple is injured in a mysterious hit-and-run accident. When Marie wakes up in the hospital, Viktor has disappeared. She starts to investigate his disappearance, and find that Viktor may not have been who he seemed when she fell in love with him 12 years earlier.
“The Sleepers” has the low-key tension of a John Le Carre novel, as Marie must navigate the competing interests of several spy organizations to uncover the truth about Viktor. This is no sleek spy thriller like “Killing Eve,” but a grungy, atmospheric drama, the bad guys wearing shapeless sweaters and cheap tan raincoats. Espionage has never been less glamorous....
Wed, 2020-09-16 14:42
#232
I just started watching another dystopian show called, "the Barrier". Its a Spanish production and so far the first episode has me engrossed. For some reason they seem to have an innate understanding of fascism and how it would actually function in real life.
Wed, 2020-09-16 21:06
#233
laine lowe
Last night I watched the first episodes of "Brave New World" and "The Third Day". I was somewhat disappointed with the first since I loved Orwell's book so much. The second features Jude Law and is rather suspenseful, in a Stephen King set in England kind of way. The latter had me more intrigued than the former.
Thu, 2020-09-17 19:02
#234
Fargo - season 4 - 10 days
A Discovery of Witches - season 2 - 11 days
Star Trek: Discovery - 28 days
Thu, 2020-09-17 19:07
#235
"Brave New World"
..i agree with your assessment..not up to orwell standard. i managed to see the whole season though. it gets better and interesting. i'd like to see a 2nd season.
Thu, 2020-09-17 20:54
#236
laine lowe
Good to know that it gets beter, Epaulo.
Sat, 2020-09-19 22:39
#237
..a scifi. watched the 1st epi and i really like it. the first season came in one dump. and the link comes with a trailer.
Androids are tasked with raising human children on a mysterious planet.
Sun, 2020-09-20 17:03
#238
..nurse ratched is played by sarah paulson in an all star cast mostly. came in one dump. feels more like american horror story than cuckoo's nest.
Ratched
In 1947, Mildred Ratched begins working as a nurse at a leading psychiatric hospital. But beneath her stylish exterior lurks a growing darkness.
Sun, 2020-09-20 20:16
#239
laine lowe
Did you like it? I am catching up on some UK fare, the latest being both "I Hate Suzie" and "The Duchess". They are okay but no "Derry Girls" or "Chewing Gum". I am also caught up to "Ted Lasso" with only one episoe left and I really grew to love it.
Sun, 2020-09-20 23:44
#240
..yes i liked ratched. mind you i've just watched the 1st epi.
eta:
..just completed season 1 of the sleepers posted at #231. it was quite good. i would like to see a 2nd season but looks like a one shot deal. what was excluded from all the spies though..were the americans.
Wed, 2020-09-23 15:48
#241
..enola holmes is a delightful movie. fun. link includes trailer.
When Enola Holmes-Sherlock's teen sister-discovers her mother missing, she sets off to find her, becoming a super-sleuth in her own right as she outwits her famous brother and unravels a dangerous conspiracy around a mysterious young Lord.
Wed, 2020-09-23 21:10
#242
laine lowe
I've been going through a full spectrum of British fare - bittersweet comedies. I just started "Trying" and I discovered that I missed the 4th season of "Catastrophe" so that will be next.
Letting our episodes of "Lovecraft Country" pile up because I feel so lost as to what is going on. Maybe watching in a bingefest will help keep things clear.
Wed, 2020-09-23 22:05
#243
..in and out of british things myself. almost done north square. an intense solicitor/barrister thing. lots of manipulation and scheming going on. i'm also a sucker for a good trial cross examination.
Kevin McKidd & Helen McCrory as Leeds Barristers-- British tv show
Thu, 2020-09-24 20:51
#244
..a scifi. watched the 1st epi and i really like it. the first season came in one dump. and the link comes with a trailer.
Androids are tasked with raising human children on a mysterious planet.
..i'm so enjoying this series. very original. very well done.
Thu, 2020-09-24 21:31
#245
laine lowe
My husband loves "Raised by Wolves". He is the sci-fi fan in our bubble.
Wed, 2020-09-30 22:17
#246
..nurse ratched is played by sarah paulson in an all star cast mostly. came in one dump. feels more like american horror story than cuckoo's nest.
In 1947, Mildred Ratched begins working as a nurse at a leading psychiatric hospital. But beneath her stylish exterior lurks a growing darkness.
..the 4th epi takes off. love it.
Thu, 2020-10-01 09:05
#247
I've been enjoying Raised by Wolves too, more for the visual style than the story.
The english nerd in me is obliged to note that Brave New World was written by Adolus Huxley, not George Orwell. It was written in 1931, 18 years before Orwell's 1984. I loved that book.
from wiki -
Social critic Neil Postman contrasted the worlds of Nineteen Eighty-Four and Brave New World in the foreword of his 1985 book Amusing Ourselves to Death. He writes:
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions." In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.
Thu, 2020-10-01 13:20
#248
..txs for that mobo. interesting. i suppose both views can exist without contradiction.
eta: in the 2020 bnw the uper strata is controlled by pleasure while the lower by fear and violence. there is a middle strata, the workers, are controlled by drugs that eliminate feelings and emotions.
Thu, 2020-10-01 13:17
#249
I will check it out. In the book, the lower classes are bred to be compliant and partially defective, through cloning and regulating hormones while in vitro. Fear and violence is compartmentalized, outside the main society. There are the "savage lands", which belong to people who are exiled or born outside the managed utopia. Upper class misfits are sent there when they act up, the lower strata are successfully controlled through conditioning, social pleasures and psychedelic drugs ("soma").
Thu, 2020-10-01 13:24
#250
..the savage lands is what i refer to as the lower strata.
Thu, 2020-10-01 13:36
#251
I will check it out. In the book, the lower classes are bred to be compliant and partially defective, through cloning and regulating hormones while in vitro. Fear and violence is compartmentalized, outside the main society. There are the "savage lands", which belong to people who are exiled or born outside the managed utopia. Upper class misfits are sent there when they act up, the lower strata are successfully controlled through conditioning, social pleasures and psychedelic drugs ("soma").
..i think that this is a better breakdown than i am describing.