Speaking of D+, I watched The Finest Hours. Maybe my recently seeing Chris Pine in WW84 made me subliminally click on it out of curiosity. Well, in short it was fair to mediocre. All due respect to the real people whom the film is based on, but it felt very much like a story I’ve seen before. I love true story drama, especially when it highlights bravery, strength, and honor, but this one just fell a little flat. If you liked The Perfect Storm, or Captain Phillips, or Titanic then you might find something here worthwhile.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@KidBoruto It's the trilogy that made up my childhood. Episodes 4 + 5 of Cobra Kai Season 3 made me tear up. I'm sure we'd all like to go back to simpler times.
Also... don't bother with 4 again. It wasn't good then, it won't be good now.
I'm a completionist so even if 4 is a big turd, will still watch it, RIP XD.
Also this will be my first time watching Cobra Kai...had no clue it was a direct sequel until a year or two ago. So happy Netflix saved it and renewed it for S03 (S04 is happening right?).
I got some old video tapes out of the loft to get rid of. Thought I'd watch through some and put them on eBay for a spell until they get assigned to the rubbish bin.
Currently watching the VHS of Alaska, such a trash film. It was trash when my mum bought it for me as a kid too. I remember seeing the advert on TV for the tape and a free cuddly polar bear from Woolworths or co op or something and asking my mum to buy it for me
I think I liked the cuddly bear more than I liked the film!
Just about to watch the original Karate Kid in preparation to start Cobra Kai. Gonna try and watch The Karate Kid 2 and 3 by the time Monday rears its ugly head too.
@colonelkilgore Having watched all available episodes of Cobra Kai, I do recommend (re)watching KK1, 2, and 3 to get the full effect. Obviously the first movie is the most important, but I was glad to have context of the other two films as I made my way though the series.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
It’s been a real test-of-wills to get the missus to even watch the first one... I’ve been trying since season 1 & 2 hit Netflix a few months back. BUT the magic of the original KK has totally won her around... she is enjoying it so much that I can already tell that slotting in 2 & 3 is gonna be ‘no thang’ tomorrow and then hopefully start Cobra Kai next weekend.
@colonelkilgore The only problem is the quality decreases with each movie such that KK3 ends on such a hollow note that it might sap her (and your) excitement for the TV show. But it still has story beats that relate so it’s worth it, so long as she can remember the magic of the first movie to carry into the series.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Good to know. I must’ve watched the original around 25 times as a kid... and a good few of the Miyagi scenes actually made me well-up tonight. I think I only watched the sequel around two or three times and I think I only ever watched three the once. So even though my expectations are a good deal lower, I’m looking forward to them as I hardly remember them at all.
Super-psyched to start Cobra Kai too! The missus and I only really watch tv that we’re both in agreement on and although I’ve wanted to watch it for ages she has never fancied it. I know I could watch stuff like CK when I’m alone but that’s the time I use to game. Now the OG KK has totally converted her, Cobra Kai is gonna be the perfect filler to tide us over until episode 9 of Wanda-Vision airs and we can begin that binge.
So in total agreement on the decrease in quality as the KK trilogy progresses. Part 2 wasn’t a good film but was at the very least watchable, Part 3 on the other hand was absolutely bloody terrible. Not regretting watching it though as I’m sure that Cobra Kai will reference both movies at various points throughout the shows three seasons.
I watched a video tape of Antz today, well I had it on in the background. Apart from being actually quite a good film that totally washed over me as a child due to it mainly being an adult story with adult problems, two main moments really stood out to me.
The first is when Z goes to war and in the aftermath finds the talking decapitated head of a character called Barbatus. This was pretty horrible for obvious reasons but I really find this kind of body horror terrifying (in a good way). It's kind of got me in the mood to watch the remake of RoboCop which features a similarly horrifying moment.
The second is the magnifying glass scene that looks like a gears of war hammer of dawn strike! I totally forgot this was something you could do with a magnifying glass. It's amazing that just a lens can make sunlight into something immediately dangerous (obvs I know it is long term dangerous too). I wonder if a large scale orbital magnifying glass was ever considered as a weapon for military application.
@ralphdibny yeah I think most kids (like myself) just identified that movie as the other animated film about bugs.
But who knew it was basically just Ayn Rand's Anthem right? (maybe that's a bit much.) Still weird. Can't help but think of RATM's play on the film studio's name - nightmare works.
It's like when I go back and watch Be Prepared in The Lion King as an adult and all the imagery really clicks.
Anyway, now I feel like I should watch Antz with my kids lol.
"One of the unloveliest and least enlightening aspects of contemporary discourse is the tendency to presume that whatever one disagrees with must be very simple—not only simple, but also simply wrong." - Elizabeth Bruenig
@zupertramp yeah same here! We probably only had it on video because a bug's Life was too expensive!
To my shame (I guess), I am not really familiar with the work of Ayn Rand. But having a quick look at the wiki of the book you mentioned, I believe it may actually be closely linked to Antz. The opening paragraph of the wiki actually uses some of the same words as they used in Antz so I wouldn't be surprised if it was a major influence.
It was almost a bit of a sad ending in that they kind of just end up in the same sort of society except they now chose to live as they do. Admittedly the choice is the one thing any human being needs in my opinion. I would say though that even in a society such as ours, we do have a choice but it is "my way or the highway". Most all deviance from our place in society is either met with an equivalent meaningless position in another part of society or ostracism to the point of being a pariah. So while we do have a choice, we don't really have a choice. If you know what I mean.
Do you mean rage against the machine when you said RATM? I can't remember nightmare works, I had a Google but couldn't find anything. I've only listened to the CDs and seen them live once though so I'm not mega familiar with their music videos or anything
@ralphdibny Wow I didn't realize it was that closely linked. I haven't seen Antz in a really long while so my recollection is a little fuzzy.
I'm mostly just familiar with Rand's overall philosophy but I did read Anthem when my daughter was assigned it in school. There's always those people you should be familiar with but I wouldn't recommend actually reading their stuff... She's one of them. Agree or disagree, the book just isn't that good.
And yeah I think I follow your musings on society and choice. Hard to argue anyone has too much freedom when we're always running up against the norms of the time and place, whatever those may be. Always narrow parameters I guess.
Also yes, Rage Against the Machine... it's just too much to type most times lol. And I was referencing a line from the song No Shelter. Something like "Spielberg, the nightmare works..." Pretty sure it's in reference to the film Amistad as it's mentioned in the next line. And honestly those lines have always puzzled me as I know nothing about the movie but I appreciate the word play. Sorry for the confusion and the departure into the topic of music. Just popped in my head.
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"One of the unloveliest and least enlightening aspects of contemporary discourse is the tendency to presume that whatever one disagrees with must be very simple—not only simple, but also simply wrong." - Elizabeth Bruenig
@zupertramp Yeah... Ayn Rand. I read The Fountainhead out of curiosity a couple of years ago and even without paying attention to the endorsement of essentially rape, the utterly bizarre subliminal messaging and the like, it’s just not very well written. It actually reminded me a lot of L. Ron Hubbard’s Battlefield Earth, with the ham-fisted allegories and laughable prose. I’d recommend everyone read Battlefield Earth for a laugh though, it’s hilarious especially if you listen to the strange soundtrack to the book, ‘Space Jazz’. I wouldn’t recommend anybody read The Fountainhead though as it’s not even funny, it’s depressingly terrible.
@nessisonett A soundtrack to a book huh. Interesting.
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"One of the unloveliest and least enlightening aspects of contemporary discourse is the tendency to presume that whatever one disagrees with must be very simple—not only simple, but also simply wrong." - Elizabeth Bruenig
@zupertramp no not at all! I actually love rage against the machine but I never noticed those lyrics before so it's good to get some more understanding of something I like! Rage was one of the best gigs I've ever been to, I saw them at a festival in 2008 (I think) and they literally started the gig in PoW uniforms, hooded and facing away from the audience, it was awesome.
I was thinking maybe it's not best to base the link between Antz and Anthem on my watching the film in the background and reading a quick synopsis of the book on Wikipedia haha. I did Google "Antz Anthem" just now and it looks like there are essays on it though!
@nessisonett I've seen the film of battlefield earth, I thought it would be one of those so bad it's good movies but no, it's just boring
So, as a former Objectivist (yes, I was an a-hole as a teenager), I have a particular fondness for anarcho-capitalist Murray Rothbard's rather dead-on one-act play that satirized the inner circle of her budding cult back in the 60s, since a lot of it still feels true to the people I interacted with as a kid.
It's much funnier if you've read Atlas Shrugged and 'get' all the references, but still.
And yeah, Anthem is just the fast food version of Zamyatin's We. I still love The Fountainhead, though. It's peak Rand, but without the weird fetishism of wealth and laissez-faire capitalism (and 60 page speeches...) that defined Atlas. There is also still value to be found in its defense of innovation and individualism against tradition and conformity. And its vicious satirical jabs at writers and political figures Rand disliked. And in what other novel is the primary villain going to be a diminutive socialist architectural critic?
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