Movies / TV Shows!

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Watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier last Friday.
Quite nice superhero movie, I really enjoyed it. I liked that it´s not centered in full action scenes, since it´s more focused in the protagonists unraveling a conspiracy. Of course, there are those kind of scenes (otherwise, it wouldn´t be a superhero movie), but the movie does achieve a good balance, IMO.
I recommend it if you like the genre.
 
Watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier last Friday.
Quite nice superhero movie, I really enjoyed it. I liked that it´s not centered in full action scenes, since it´s more focused in the protagonists unraveling a conspiracy. Of course, there are those kind of scenes (otherwise, it wouldn´t be a superhero movie), but the movie does achieve a good balance, IMO.
I recommend it if you like the genre.

I'm going to see it on Friday. It's good to see a member of the forum recommending it as I'm a fan of The Avengers!
 
Loved the last episode of Vikings. The dialog and characterization have gotten so much better. Great battle scenes but they still have to tone down the screen shake, damn the innovator who came up with that. Every character is on their own set path because they all decide their own fate, a stark contrast to those on mainland Europe. The standouts continue to be Athelstan and Lagertha. Poor friggin' Athelstan can't catch a break. I hope Hirst has him eventually escape from any sort of bondage.

Lagertha's so goddamn hot
Aslaug looks like shit
I'm loving Applestands story, is he a historical figure?
You can always see Horric killing some woman in battle but the other characters don't
 
I think Need For Speed was the best film I've seen this year (most entertaining) imo. Non-Stop was pretty good as well.

This looks interesting,
 
Lagertha's so goddamn hot
Aslaug looks like shit
I'm loving Applestands story, is he a historical figure?
You can always see Horric killing some woman in battle but the other characters don't

Applestand, lol. Yes Athelstan was a real person I believe. Thought I saw Ragnar kill a woman in the latest battle. It's doubtful if they really had women fighting with them as the show depicts. Women died often in childbirth back then, I find it hard to believe they'd toss them into battle as well. The notion is mostly based on a contemporary account regarding the Varangian guard in a battle they lost. When the victors were looting the dead, they were surprised to find armed women among them.
 
After a looong overdue reunion, I was able to throw on a tunic and journey back into Rome, the 2005 BBC/HBO series. The series hosts magnificent bastards, horrendous British teeth (namley those of the gorgeous Brutus and weasly Cassius), comedy, cheesy drama, unsatisying large battle scenes, and a few silly side plots to keep our fictional characters in line with the historical ones.

Overall its a solid series, especially the begining which takes place just before Caesar crosses the Rubicon and marches on Rome. Titus Pullo (a loveable oaf) and Vernon Roche Lucius Vorenus are fictional soldiers that have there own story and mix creatively into the historical events--not too much though. Unfortunatly its in the series middle, where Pullo and Vorenus are no longer serving that it begins to wear down and I felt they took away from the other stoires going on. Thankfully it passes and the series ends on a strong note as we make our way to the end.

Perhaps its high time I see what all this Viking talk is about.
 
Vikings just went all Game of Thrones and I think it's better for it. I'm surprised at what History is letting them get away with. Some of the stuff is telegraphed by Hirst, like Lagertha's hubby. You gotta have a few douchebags in every great story. Love the dynamic between Ecbert and Athelstan. Truth is, Athelstan is in much better hands under King Ecbert. And Lagertha...don't fuck with Lagertha.
 
Loved the last episode of Vikings. The dialog and characterization have gotten so much better. Great battle scenes but they still have to tone down the screen shake, damn the innovator who came up with that. Every character is on their own set path because they all decide their own fate, a stark contrast to those on mainland Europe. The standouts continue to be Athelstan and Lagertha. Poor friggin' Athelstan can't catch a break. I hope Hirst has him eventually escape from any sort of bondage.
I'm loving season 2 as well, but I think their characterization was always good.
 
*blindfolded to avoid the darn spoilers*

Now, I'm no trekkie / trekker / whatever, but I have watched every single episode & movie, even the car crash that was Enterprise, and have always enjoyed the show and it's ethos. The Abrams movies while fun - and I'm a general fan of J.J & co - I'd have to agree are missing a vital aspect.

If you feel that too, or are in need of a real science fiction dose so absent these days, or if you're just looking for proof that fanfiction can be great, check out the Star Trek Continues series, 2 episodes so far, free to watch. The main cast is great, they retain some of the self-deprecating humour evident in for instance "The Voyage Home", and includes Scottys RL son as the father himself.

Episode 1 continues the tale of Apollo from TOS, played by the same actor, episode 2 has a very familiar-in-green-bodypaint cult actor, and the lovely Fiona Vroom. Great stuff.

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Incidentally, maybe everyone has seen this or its been shown America only, but it was new to me, and damn funny:

 

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I watched Noah the movie. I was quite impressed. I am a Christian and I found this movie to be one of the best biblical adaptions I've seen. It does not follow the story of Noah exactly...although there's barely anything written on the Ark story so they only add to that for the vast majority of the film....but it follows the essence of the story, and shows the essence of well...the entire Bible.

So spoilers ( duh ). Also religious discussion because DUH Biblical Movie.

God is portrayed...pretty well actually; He is on neither the extreme end that many people think Him as being these days: Either asthis evil meglomaniac who doesn't give a shit about humans and/or who actively punishes them in horrific ways for defying His will or as this purely benevolent being of light who does no wrong.

He is portrayed as a being who gives humanity free will, the greatest gift we got from Him, and someone who respects their choices regardless of whether they are good or bad. However that means humans have to own up to them and it's not His job to clean up our mess that we created. although He does it anyway. At one point the main antagonist, who is fairly well written, spits on God for not helping humanity survive in the wasteland that Earth has become with little food, few trees and very few animals....except that the wasteland was made by humans. It's mentioned how Earth was this rich planet teeming with life before humans destroyed it.

So on one end of the spectrum you have the story telling you: You want to not believe in God, you don't want to give about his will and then you want to take the piss on the planet He gave you? Fine go ahead, but He will force you to deal with the consequences. The flood in this movie isn't a method of destroying the Earth, since that was pretty much done, but rather saving it from complete destruction. Saving the few remaining animals from being killed and eaten by the humans.

On the other end of the spectrum the movie warns about the dangers of blind obedience in what men perceive is God's will. God warns Noah about the flood and gives him the tools to survive it and save his species and all others, but that's all he does. Noah however thinks that God wants for humanity to be wiped out, even though there's nothing towards this conclusion besides Noah blind faith into what he thinks is God's will.

So Noah decides to leave the other humans to die because of his perception, he decides to kill of his own granddaughters to exterminate the human race. His own fanatic devotion blinds him to the truth and he's really very similar with the antagonist, just at the other end of the spectrum. Only at the very end of the movie does Noah realize his own mistake and stops just before wiping out humanity.

The irony of the movie is that the director is an atheist, and yet it's pretty faithful to the lessons of the Bible: Yes God created us but He's not going to control us or take care of us every step of the way. He will intervene when necessary but we also have to take care of ourselves. We have the ability to make choices without his interference but we must also deal with the consequences of those choices, and those consequences come every single time and He will not save us from our destruction if it comes to that.

It's ultimately a lesson in human empowerment, sin, free will, obedience and the dangers that come from blind obedience as well as a lesson in the dangers of the human arrogance and that if we push it too far in our hubris we will pay the price, not because some divine being struck us down but because we would have destroyed ourselves. It's a thought provoking movie done with a great deal of respect towards the source material with brilliant acting and good visuals.

I highly recommend it.
 
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So, I saw Captain America: The Winter Soldier last night at the cinema and guess what? I F'ing loved it! Best Marvel movie since The Avengers. That end battle was incredible and I can't wait to see what they do with Guardians of the Galaxy in August!
 
Interesting, I was expecting the movie to be garbage.

Looking at the marketing now one could easily understand that. In the trailer above you would conclude that Noah would be portrayed as the pure good hero while the villain would be a complete war mongering idiot...which is REALLY not the case.

Noah is quite a major dick in the movie, although trying do what the thinks he must he is not right about it, and the antagonist, not villain, is very relatable.
 
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