I saw Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist. A stirring film that uses the visual language of film to tell its modern parable about cultivating a sustainable ecosystem and what happens when the boundaries put in place to protect that ecosystem are not respected. This premise may sound lofty, but the movie keeps things grounded by focusing on the everyday. Townhall meetings, Udon noodle lunches, and wood chopping sessions make up the runtime. What results are long beautiful shots accompanied by a haunting score. A slice of life flick corrupted with unease, Evil Does Not Exist rewards its attentive viewers with a story that is simultaneously simple but untold. The movie does not spoon feed you and you’ll need to pay attention (the most important scene in the film IMO is not even included in the Wikipedia plot summary- yikes!). If you need to feel the blood spatter on your face in order to engage with a film, look elsewhere. But if you are curious to know why Hamaguchi is a living master of the craft, get a ticket and study Evil Does Not Exist.
Also, the movie has great sound mixing. Even film freaks like me don’t discuss mixing too often, but Hamaguchi makes a fascinating choice that infects the whole film with a sense of majesty and dread. Great stuff.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Aprea was great. If you enjoyed the other films in the series you’ll enjoy this new one.
This time, we watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. The Turtles were in it
– As before, the problem with this duology is that the action scenes are so intense and explodey that it’s hard to tell what’s going on…maybe it’s just me…
– A lot of love for the '87 series, and the first movie with Bebop and Rocksteady. I think it was a good portrayal of them…funny friends with monstrous strength [not easy to defeat]
– A rare instance in the beginning of Shredder in handcuffs; pretty hot <3 [too bad it wasn’t April] I think he’s a different guy this time; how did he grow hair? Humans don’t grow hair ! OR DO THEY
– And he went from having too many blades in 1 to none in this one [I think they were retractable]. You want somewhere in between, for Shredder. They’ll get it next time.
– Kind of weird that they always call the mutagen “the purple ooze”. And I guess TCRI is just a…normal, human lab in this series.
– The Technodrome, but in a movie ! Actually, I wonder if they crammed a bit too much into one movie [Bebop, Rocksteady, Krang, Technodrome]. They should make a reboot [series] of specifically the '87 cartoon, where Vernon and April slowly but surely come to respect each other and work together to defeat the Technodrome in the Final Battle…Shredder, of course, having been usurped by Lord Dregg as the main villain in the original series, so we never really got something like that
– A flying Technodrome, like in 2012. They almost should’ve introduced the Turtle Blimp to get up there, since they were obviously on a '87 kick. Ah, whatever.
– Shredder doesn’t want to share with Baxter, then gets frozen by Krang. It would seem that what goes around comes around
Dream Scenario - Was excited to watch this after having loved Sick of Myself but I found it pretty disappointing honestly. Felt messy overall and a lot of the comedy fell flat for me. Nic Cage was pretty good though. Also I did not expect to see Jeremy Levick in this lol.
Really have been enjoying the show Tracker on NBC. It’s like a more tamed down Reacher.
@prin, Ghost in the Shell is one of my favorite forrays in anime (first anime i ever saw) I like Shirow’s mind and have seen quite a bit of his stuff. I really liked the Ghost in the Shell 2.0 edit, and would recommend you check that version out the next time you rewatch it if you haven’t. I liked the new 3d sequences that they put in a few spots here and there. Just visually cool, and feels complete.
Watched Generation Kill with an ex-marine and he explained a lot of the show and that is a mind blowing insight. That is a crazy, crazy world.
Made it to Season 2 of The Bear the other month, fantastic cooking drama. Easily would reccomend
Just finished Season 1 of Beavis and Butthead (the new series) it’s very strong writing of Mike Judge and I guess he spent time on it to secure a second season. Most episodes are way better than the original (i’m several seasons into those recently as well) Worth watching if you like judge or the original.
for weird occult-y seinen: Doomed Megalopolis was cool and better than most I run across.
Rewatched Jaws (1979) damn that movie is fantastic in every facet, it put Universal Studios on the map easily.
Village of the Damned (1960) excellent classic sci-fi. Very unnerving. StTory was way better than I had expected.
John Carpenter’s Vampires. Excellent. Never heard of this. Like Blade at times in feel and tone.
Hazbin Hotel very enjoyable eye candy and music. Not sure what to compare it to.
Easy Rider (1969) Excellent americana movie by Dennis Hopper (featuring Dennis hopper)
Climax. A Crazy french movie about a house party that goes horribly wrong when the punch is spiked. Lots of crazy oner’s showing madness. Viewer Discretion Advised.
X: The Movie (1996) Made by Rintaro. Has a similar look and apocalyptic vibe to his Akira’s Neo-Tokyo. more mythic occult seinen type SMT vibes. I love stuff like this.
Fans of JJBA, should check out Fist of the North Star (finished this recently) It’s very similar in some ways and seems likely to have inspired the concept of JJBA. I’m near the end of the second series FotNS2, but it’s not as good as the first.
Fans of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (esepecially REbecca, i think her name is) should check out Dead Leaves
WHAT A DAY, WHAT A LOVELY LOVELY DAY!!
Mad max mad max mad max.
Lol
Sorry, not sorry. Furiosa is gonna be great
I saw Furiosa. Australia rocks.
Yes, yes it does. It even has a really big one.
There’s a joke here in the UK that Australians leave home so they can tell everyone else around the world how awesome their country is. While it is a tongue-in-cheek there is an element of truth to it; I certainly appreciate the country a lot more since moving to the UK. I don’t think I’d have had the opportunities in regards to work, the book and some other stuff but the quality of living, weather and actual country side is just so amazing. Really do miss it.
Sorry, that was a bit of a downer.
I watched the Bob Ross/Owen Wilson movie- Paint. I liked it quite a bit! Paint is a very light inoffensive comedy about love, masculinity, success, recognition, and art evaluation. I think the film does a good job discussing these points with low brow entry points. More importantly, it is funny! I laughed out loud a handful of times. That isn’t to say every joke hits (the movie sadly ends on a groaner. Like it’s the worst joke of the movie.), but I was smiling and laughing during the majority of the runtime. Owen Wilson is such a a great comedic performer as he somehow is able to simultaneously convey a knowing next to a sincerity. There is a juxtaposition of a something and a nothing behind his aloof characters’ eyes that I don’t think other actors have. Anyway, he’s great in this.
The movie is cheap as dirt, but it is crafted thoughtfully enough that I didn’t mind and I kinda doubt you will!
I watched and enjoyed Biosphere. It’s a weird movie to recommend on the premier video game discussion website for woke folk because it gets some video game stuff wrong (Atari sounds for video games in a modern setting drives me crazy and there is a discussion about warping in Mario which I can only charitably say is about warp pipes but still doesn’t make all that much sense contextually), but outside of that I enjoyed it. It is weirder than the trailers made the movie out to be and the trailers did not make the movie look not weird. That is to say the movie is weirder than even the weird trailers indicate. I would like to just let you check it out from here but I’ll give some spoilery thoughts blurred below if this description (weird and screws up the video game stuff) isn’t enough to whet your pallette.
Biosphere is about the president of the US and his lifelong friend who built a bunker surviving some sort of nuclear catastrophe together. The film examines guilt and survival without being despairing. But about 30 minutes into the film, we get another left turn- the conservative president’s body seems to be switching to female as a survival tactic. And the two friends process masculinity, gender roles, homosexuality, trans inclusion, and more. The movie covers tons of ground while staying light and relatively warm. The movie isn’t without its flaws. There is a hamfisted bit about a bowling ball that the film keeps coming back to, but the premise and the performances are so fascinating that you ultimately don’t care.
Fun! Watch if you like fun!
Looks rather meh.
I still haven’t gotten around to watching the first two. Have you?
Yep. First one is dumb fun, second one is just dumb.
Still making my way through Criminal Minds currently at season 9. I can’t explain why I do not get bored, it is relaxing to watch one or two episode every so often. I haven’t watched so many episodes of a TV series for years. Usually I drop out after 10 episodes even if it is something everyone else loves and I don’t like binging and watching more than one episode at a time but here I can watch two with no problem.
Still not sure that I can make it through all 15 seasons, I mean they have to run out of ideas how to serial kill people at some point, right? 
Just watched it. Definitely recommending it. I did not know much about Henson and can’t compare it to any other documentary about him. I liked it very much and shed a tear at the end. I did not know anything about his wife and the film gave her a spotlight too. And then these ads and the violent beginnings … A lot of fun to get a glimpse into all of it.
Also Muppets are real and no one can convince me otherwise! I need to watch the Muppet movies, I never have seen them.
I still remember the first time I saw a part of the Muppet Show. It was in an English class and I remember a news speaker saying something about how the prices for beef have fallen and then a cow falls from the ceiling onto him. Left a huge impression on both of us. 
Found it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIfxVCYz_XU
I wasn’t allowed to watch Sesame Street as a kid in Germany , because it was “too American”. When the first episode was on television in Germany Bavarian television decided it was“cultural alienation” of German children and banned it. Later on the German version of Sesame street got some unique additional characters made in Hamburg with their own stories. One of them my favorite: Finchen the snail.
2023: | 50 Years of Sesame Street at the Hamburg Museum of Arts and Crafts | ndion
Muppet movies are pretty cool; I have a few of them. But my older brother is more into them than me. Hope you can see them at some point
I feel like they wanted to have a positive influence on the world, with Sesame Street and such
Though, kind of interesting, then, that their first works were proto-Kermit shooting a guy for not liking coffee
Yes, I was shocked too. Kermit started out as a baddy and got resocialised while on the other hand Miss Piggy started as a singer and became violent by “finding her personality” and karate chopping everyone.