Adventure Gamers - Forums

Tenebra - 07 August 2022 01:46 PM

Do they? Or do we want to? As much as I like both characters and as much as I like to see them together, they have both committed very questionable acts. They were engaged in a campaign to ruin Howard’s life, they may not have been the direct perpetrators, they may not have pulled the trigger, but Howard would be alive if it wasn’t for their actions. And what did he do to them?
Interesting how Howard’s character at first struck me as a smug, heartless lawyer and by the end I liked him, he didn’t get what he deserved.

I like Howard too, but I don’t think it’s fair to blame Kim and Jimmy for his death, he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, any other late visitor would’ve ended the same. And I don’t really believe his life was ruined - to quote himself, “But yes, I will land on my feet, I will be okay.” On the other hand, he did affect both Jimmy’s and Kim’s careers, maybe not intentionally, but he hurt their feelings quite a few times and made them keep their distance and rely only on themselves. He also contributed to what happened to Chuck, even with Jimmy’s “help”, while Chuck contributed to what happened to Jimmy who really wanted to change and pursue a big career, but was never given a chance.

Personally I think Marion is going to be a determining factor in what’s to come, I don’t think her addition in these last few episodes was for nothing. She’s already starting to get suspicious, like when she realized that Gene didn’t even remember the lie about the dog, or when she looked out the window and saw Gene and his son in some weird activity. I think she’s going to find out who Gene is, and maybe she’ll be his downfall for good.

Yes, I thought of that too, otherwise those late episodes would just feel like fillers. But we’ll find out soon

Finally the end of Better Call Saul, not an extraordinary ending but a very good one nonetheless.
The high points:

- Marie’s appearance was not only unexpected but also the best of the cameos even better than Walter and Jesse.

- The flashbacks were well introduced and not only did we get to see Mike, Walter and Chuck for the last time but in each of them Saul was never honest in his “Imagine if we had a time machine” game, except in the very end. I think that was excellently handled.

- Saul’s fading finally on the stand, back to being Jimmy. Saul is gone.

- In both BB and BCS their characters end up in a final act of redemption by clearing their guilt, not a happy ending, but an ending that left me with a sense of satisfaction that both Kim and Jimmy also had.

- I fell in love with the last scene of them sharing a cigarette, exchanging glances. And Jimmy’s last gesture with his hands simulating a gun like Kim used to do.

I thought the final didn’t live up to 4 hours of (black and white ) exposition. It seemed like Gilligan and Gould just decided to play safe and followed Breaking Bad’s trope — the guy suddenly becomes real nasty, loses everything, then decides to make a sacrifice. Only in this case it was pointless, he just willingly went to serve a life sentence instead of reuniting with Kim who obviously wanted to return. Like they felt obliged to insert some moralising, so that viewers wouldn’t think people like Jimmy could get away from justice™. I’m not even sure they understood where the story was leading to. One minute Jimmy is oh so scared and careful, then he breaks into the house of the man with cancer, steals his watches, drinks his whiskey, then absolutely loses his temper and abruptly runs away with only a small box and hides in a trash can from police. And when it comes to negotiating a deal, he once again turns into Saul.

And speaking of Kim, her story felt even more ridiculous: a strong highly educated woman who just left to live in some shithole with a degenerate husband, acting like a good loving wife - all because of Howard’s accidental death? I just don’t buy it. Yes, the final moments were somewhat nice and reassuring, but it still leaves you with no hope - unless Kim gathers everyone alive (Jesse, Huell the big bodyguard, Mike who is too tough to die and Jason Statham who is always there) and organises a prison break.

As for cameos, I also liked the way they reintroduced Marie, she was among the highlights of those episodes, but not the rest, unfortunately. Not only they didn’t add anything to the story, but the actors were just too old for their roles and they had to hide them in darkness, which made those scenes also almost black and white. In fact this whole season felt bleak, claustrophobic, like it was made on a tight on budget. I really missed the beautiful cinematography of previous seasons. But, well, I’m still glad they made it despite all delays and Odenkirk’s health problems.

Tabula Rasa, a 2017 Belgian mini-series (9 episodes) created by Veerle Batens who also stars in the lead as Mie, a woman with amnesia that finds herself locked in a psychiatric hospital, with an annoying police detective asking about some missing man she doesn’t know. The plot jumps between her past and present the more she remembers, similar to True Detective, only I liked the switch better in this one, probably because there’s a lot of going on in both parts.

Turns out she was a victim of a car accident some months before and had memory problems since, forgetting people and even basic things on a daily basis. She has to make notes and draw every face or detail in her notebook to remember later, while her husband puts sticky notes everywhere, tracks her movements in town and just tries his best to make her life more comfortable.

Like this wasn’t enough, the family moves to a creepy house in the woods where she starts seeing nightmares and disturbing visions and her daughter - acting weird. There’s also a bunch of eccentric and/or unpleasant characters with their own skeletons, both in the present (it’s a mad house after all) and in the past. All the performances are great, including the little girl, can’t think of a single miscast.

It’s somewhat slow even for European series, at least during the first episodes (could’ve been easily cut to 6-7 episodes), and there are horror cliches here and there, although it’s more of a thriller-mystery. On the other hand, it’s truly beautifully shot, atmospheric and intelligent, there are plenty of twists and revalations up till the (a bit rushed) end. The closest thing I can think of is Nolan’s Memento - the one that takes place in a Belgian Twin Peaks created by Stephen King. Highly recommended.

Has anyone watched Lars Von Trier’s Riget 3, or The Kingdom: Exodus? It was supposed to be released by the end of this year, although I got a bit confused when: imdb says October, wikipedia — November, and our local movie site — December. For those unfamiliar, it’s the third part to one of Trier’s early TV mini-series known as “European Twin Peaks” which was announced following the success of Lynch’s own Twin Peaks 3 (which I just finished watching and really, really disliked for the most part, not recommending to anyone who hasn’t watched it yet, fans or not). Riget was also later adapted for American television as Kingdom Hospital by Stephen King himself, although the two have little to nothing in common.

The series is shot using hand-held camera and pretty much follows Trier’s Dogme 95 (albeit it was made before the manifesto was written), but it’s more viewer-friendly than Trier’s later films as it was supposed to be a TV soap opera — and it is to some extent. Although more often than not it’s a funny, trashy ghost hunting romp that takes place in a real-life Danish public hospital (the neurosurgical department) populated by weird doctors, patients, ghosts and demons who almost start an Armageddon by the end of the 2nd season collectively.

The main plot lines were led by an elderly medium and an incompetent, psychotic head of staff appointed from Sweden, portrayed by the brilliant Ernst-Hugo Järegård. Both of them died shortly after the series ended in 1997, so they won’t be in the new season — same as a whole number of other leading and secondary actors as a matter of fact, why many people thought the 3rd season was a joke up until recently. Although those who saw it at Cannes said Trier came up with a smart explanation to their absence. Trier himself has been suffering from Parkinson’s during the past years. And yet the trailer looks exactly like what you might expect from this return (unlike, again, Twin Peaks, why I avoided it all those years).

Doom - 29 November 2022 06:53 PM

Has anyone watched Lars Von Trier’s Riget 3, or The Kingdom: Exodus?

I watched the first two seasons back in the day. Loved Von Trier’s own intro to each episode.
The series was slow-burning and off-beat, but there was this eerie atmosphere to the whole thing, and it culminated in a genuinely upsetting and extremely creepy finale.

I do have reservations about sequels that are made many years later, so I’ll probably wait to read/hear some reviews before deciding whether or not a third season is worth it for this…

Yes, those kind of late sequels/reunions are always hard to pull off, why I was never a fan of the idea of “new Friends” or “new X-Files”. Although while I’m not a fan of the majority of Trier’s works, somehow I have more faith in him and his methods.

I was really impressed by Andor. I’m not a Starwars die hard fan - but this series was really something special. Very mature with a gripping story line.
I highly recommend it.

Just came across this mid-17th century historical drama:
By the Sword Divided
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0092712/

i’ll give it a spin tomorrow. Anyone here familiar with the show?

Nothing recent, but the missus and I have watched a couple of excellent Netflix series these past months.

The Letdown - 2017-19 - Australian comedy series about the negative side of having a newborn. Hilarious - doubly so if you have kids yourself. (2 seasons - 12 episodes of 30 minutes)

The A Word - 2016-20 - British dramedy series about a family dealing with their autistic son. Christopher Eccleston (the 9th Doctor Who) is superb and funny as the grumpy granddad. (3 seasons - 18 episodes of 1 hour)

After Life - 2019-22 - British dramedy series about a man coping with the loss of his wife. Imho, the absolute best thing Ricky Gervais has ever done (and I’m a fan, so that’s saying something). (3 seasons - 18 episodes of 30 minutes)

After Life in particular is one of the best series I’ve ever seen. If you ever doubted Gervais’ acting ability, this will change your mind. He’ll make you laugh and he’ll make you cry. Superb series. Utterly brilliant final episode to each season as well!

And the best thing about British Brevity: 6 episodes per season, no more than 3 seasons. Perfect for binge-watching… 🙂

TimovieMan - 06 April 2023 06:26 PM

After Life - 2019-22 - British dramedy series about a man coping with the loss of his wife. Imho, the absolute best thing Ricky Gervais has ever done (and I’m a fan, so that’s saying something). (3 seasons - 18 episodes of 30 minutes)

After Life in particular is one of the best series I’ve ever seen. If you ever doubted Gervais’ acting ability, this will change your mind. He’ll make you laugh and he’ll make you cry. Superb series. Utterly brilliant final episode to each season as well!

I watched 2 episodes yesterday and 2 more today. Loving it. A tiny bit predictable but that’s okay. 2 more episodes tomorrow. 

EDIT: Finished the first season and loving it not as much as before. Too many platitudes and aphorisms in the last two episodes. Most, but not all characters are parodies, stereotypes. Having said that, I’m still going to watch the second season.