Discovery Season 1 was GREAT. Season 2 was so-so. There were flashes of brilliance but the long-term plot was way over-convoluted and seemed to meander way, way too much – a lot like one of the last seasons of BSG until they got it together at the end. this Season 3 trailer looks good though….in the meantime there’s Doom Patrol and The Umbrella Academy about to resume end of this month….
need to find that Thunderfingers DVD out there somewhere, maybe Scarecrow??
plenty more where that came from:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=thunderfingers
candybowl
Didn’t even know about this until a friend mentioned it, so naturally had to bing-watch the first season (only 12 episodes avail. at the moment).
So here’s my take on it so far (some spoilers, so be forewarned):
1) Same characters as Stand Alone Complex – they spend the first couple episodes ‘getting the gang back together’ as it were. As seen near the end of the previous series (because ARISE was a prequel to SAC if memory serves, will have to go watch that again now too I guess 🙂 ) the world has been divvied up into four major ’empires’, and Japan is kind of an also-ran country now as primarily allied within the American Empire.
2) The animation is much more like a videogame this time around, no longer 2D cartoon-drawn-style. I have to say I prefer the earlier style, but this isn’t bad. I think they start to hit their stride a few episodes in – the first few to me looked way too ‘Playstation’ like but it improves over time.
3) The Tachikomas are back, albeit there are a bit fewer of them. Otherwise largely the same, very capable but more comic relief in some ways – there’s also a new character, a PhD math wizard chick (Purin) who in some ways is similar, other ways much smarter. While she has a cyberbrain like the others, she is more akin to Chief Aramaki and Togusa – not a cyborg.
Some additional comments:
a) like the reviewer comment from the IMDB page, the plot takes a bit to really get going, so looking forward to next season given it’s nowhere near resolved by the end.
b) while they are minor characters in the other series too, both Borma and Paz show up only later and I don’t think Paz even has one line of dialog that I can remember – yet.
c) like all GITS shows – barring the lamely-executed American movie with Scarlet J, which was about as effective a ‘translation’ to live action as the Aeon Flux movie was (in other words, fairly major disappointment) – it’s far better to watch these in Japanese with subtitles, IMHO. Same as with Initial D and other anime i’ve watched – you just get a much better sense of the characters and the way that here too – the ‘posturing’ goes on between them, here mostly for Batou but the Major does a bit of it from time to time too.
d) another nit: I’m not sure on timelines here, but I’d have thought that Solid State Society was the last Stand Alone Complex series/movie/etc. (again, ARISE is a prequel so it predates Section 9 being created, kind of a Major Motoko ‘origin story’?) – but acc to IMDB that’s set in 2034, whereas this is supposedly 2045? I realize most of Section 9 are cyborgs so no issue, but Togusa and Aramaki? Hmm…..
So, all in all i’m eager to see more, the premise here (which I didn’t spoil for you) is actually pretty great, lots more to explore here.
candybowl
the truth definitely hurts…..!
I blogged about this before when I rewatched it during a period of unemployment several years ago. While parts of this movie haven’t aged well, MOST of it is still extremely funny and way ahead of its time (that’s what they all say)…
I’ve also seen the Letterman clip where Leslie Nielsen uses his ‘fart machine’ (right around the 6 min mark) – mildly funny but the best part is that you can tell Letterman is annoyed after the first couple times, and it’s always funnier when the host isn’t in control of the situation – while LN sits there like a kid and just tries not to laugh at himself:
candybowl
small bit, but big laughs…..
candybowl
Amid the various show-bingeing going on at present, we watched Boondock Saints last night. Crazy movie, ridiculous violence, but entertaining nonetheless despite its age (1999). And they do well with nearly a complete no-name cast, save for Willem Dafoe, Billy Connolly definitely playing against type, and (if you know who he is), Ron Jeremy in a bit part.
Basically this is a vigilante movie of another stripe – here, two Irish guys from South Boston go on a killing spree, wacking lots of heavy hitters in the various Boston Mafia clans (Russian, Italian, you name it). The movie doesn’t have a positive view of the Boston police for sure (Willem Dafoe is the FBI agent who gives them their marching orders) and it’s pretty gritty generally.
There are also some pretty crazy scenes in this movie and at least a couple notable stunts. While it’s nothing you haven’t seen before, if you’ve ever watched ANY gangster movie or movies with big shootout scenes (a la The Matrix of the same year as this movie but far less blood) and while the climatic scene to us simply didn’t work, it’s still a great ride, even if it veers into weird territory several times (You have to kind of figure out what’s going on at the start for a bit, it doesn’t really have much of an intro, kind of like jumping into a moving car, plotwise – and Willem Dafoe has a multi-layered character, to be sure).
Given the amount of blood flying around is not really less than say, Zatoichi, Snatch or In Bruges, or other similar over-the-top style fight/samurai movies, i’d definitely NOT recommend watching this with any kids. Enjoy!
the Goldfinger comment about the cafeteria workers is priceless 🙂
candybowl
Pretty great impression!
candybowl
One of the all time funniest people has passed – rest in peace.
Terry Jones, 77; charter member of Monty Python comedy team
A sampling:
candybowl…