Movies / TV Shows!

[CostinRaz]

I watched two rather memorable movies last night that I regret not having known about earlier. Traffic and Syriana both written by Stephen Gaghan.

My purpose behind watching them was for research, Gaghan has been hired by Activion to write their next CoD game and I was curios to see if he was a good writer or not which would tell me if I can expect another Black Ops 2 in terms of story quality since it was a pretty good game regarding it's plot, characters, political complexity and so on.

10 minutes into Traffic I realized just how awesome it was. I freaking loved watching them. The characters, the stories, the complexity, the three separate storylines focusing on different aspects of the war on drugs: How it affects, cops, families and judges were done very well and they came together at the end perfectly.

Then there was Syriana, a geopolitical movie focusing on what the United States does to stay the top dog in the world and how their imperialistic foreign policy affects the lives of people. I found the politics quite awesome there.

 

[KnightofPhoenix]

Yea Syriana was a pretty good movie. Not really as nuanced as actual politics are of course, but still more nuanced than most things out there all things considered.

 

[Veleda.980]

Yeah, after posting I thought, "hold on, European?" and went and checked. It looks OK, except for not having Francois Arnaud in it. That's a pretty big negative />

It's getting better. They do a very good job with intricate political and religious themes. Here's a comparison of the two series. This reviewer praises the European series more than I would, but I have to say I'm hooked.

 

[CostinRaz]

Yea Syriana was a pretty good movie. Not really as nuanced as actual politics are of course, but still more nuanced than most things out there all things considered.

I'd say that for the movie medium it featured some of the best political nuance I've seen.

I liked Nasir quite a bit myself, wasn't much sold on his idea of implementing democracy considering how it would fuck things even more but I did like his idea of diversifying the economy, granting women rights and so on.

 

[dragonbird]

It's getting better. They do a very good job with intricate political and religious themes. Here's a comparison of the two series. This reviewer praises the European series more than I would, but I have to say I'm hooked.

To be honest, that review put me off - the reviewer seemed to devote too many paragraphs to variations of "WOW! The European version has REAL SEX!!! with NAUGHTY BITS!!!!" to help explain why it's better. On the other hand, your own recommendation does make me want to watch it.

I'd say that for the movie medium it featured some of the best political nuance I've seen.

And these two. Thanks for the recommendation.

 

[Blothulfur]

Wasn't Traffic based off a television series? I seem to recall watching it, and it being quite good.

 

[cmdr_silverbolt]

Wasn't Traffic based off a television series? I seem to recall watching it, and it being quite good.

Miniseries, I think, Traffik.

 

[CostinRaz]

Wasn't Traffic based off a television series? I seem to recall watching it, and it being quite good.

There are two mini-series. The first one made in 1989 was indeed the inspiration from the 2000 movie, whereas the 2004 mini-series was based off both the earlier show and the movie.

 

[Garrison72]

Traffic felt forced toward the end, for me anyway.

 

[KnightofPhoenix]

I liked Nasir quite a bit myself, wasn't much sold on his idea of implementing democracy considering how it would fuck things even more but I did like his idea of diversifying the economy, granting women rights and so on.

There is no emir that I know of who is like that and I doubt there will be anytime soon. At best, some emirs like to show themselves off as western by implementing superficial measures without actually addressing the root causes of the problem, either ignoring it or aggravating it.

Same with diversifying the economy, there is no real serious policy for it. And whatever policies there are are borne out of a superficial understanding of economics and little to no understanding of long term sustainable development.

So while I am not a fan of American foreign policy, I would not say that they are the primary obstacle or even that big of an obstacle to democratization in the Gulf. They themselves are the greatest obstacle, the USA simply doesn't give a damn.

EDIT: so what happened in say Iran under Mossadeq is not going to happen in the Gulf anytime soon, it's a different dynamic and the relationship between the USA and the Gulf is entirely different.

 

[CostinRaz]

USA simply doesn't give a damn.

Because of course the status-quo suits them very damned well. Now of course I am aware there is no one like Nasir in the region but I imagine even if there was he would meet the same fate, though perhaps more subtly by America then a predator drone missile, but then again what do they care about that in the movie since Nasir's idiotic brother will thank them for it anyway considering Nasir was just about to pull off a coup.

 

[KnightofPhoenix]

Nasir's idiotic brother will thank them for it anyway considering Nais was just about to pull off a coup.

That imbecile pissed me off tremendously.

 

[CostinRaz]

He is however an accurate reflection of the Gulf rulers isn't he though?

 

[KnightofPhoenix]

Hence why he pissed me off yes.

 

[Aditya]

I just got up-to-date on "Person of Interest". Now THAT is how you handle a season finale. That series just kept getting better and better.

Yes indeed. Here is to hope each season keeps getting better like this one. Now they have established

Spoiler

The machine is 'alive', next season probably would focus on to what extent is it 'alive' and probably after that does it have emit otions or more?

Oh and in this week's Da Vinci's Demons I got annoyed on the fact

Spoiler

He just leaves that spear?! just like that!

still otherwise kick-ass episode. Can't wait for the finale next week, and Rains of Catemere tomorrow!

 

[gibb_geralt]

Just been watching Workaholics for the past few weeks. Fucking hilarious show.

 

[goopit]

Red Wedding sucked. I thought the acting and blocking was shit near the end but the build up was good.

 

[CostinRaz]

Yes it was a rather large piece of shit. Such a disappointment.

 

[KnightofPhoenix]

Yea the only thing I was looking forward to, ruined.

The only thing I liked about it was Roose Bolton. The pacing, the music (or lack thereof!!!!), the excessive melodrama, the set-up...etc were all weak.

 

[bcheero]

That felt really sad and I actually came to the point of tears (yeah yeah call me what you want but I was really invested in the Starks. I really liked every Stark, besides Catelyn sometimes) after watching that scene. I don't really know what to say, I knew Robb wasn't a great politician but he was a character who was driven by honor and avenging his father (obviously he made mistakes and paid the price for his actions but I didn't want him to go out that way). Whatever I guess. I'll get over it as numerous people will tell me.

I do agree that the RW could have been done better. It felt really weak and I wish the used more emotional soundtrack when Roose does his thing (I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen or read the series so far).