I think plenty of US citizens do, and just as many do not. Education level, information sources, peers, etc.
Finished White Lotus season 3 yesterday, and I’m more positive than some of the other posters here in this thread.
On a very basic level, this series just holds my interest better than 80% of series coming out. I mean I tried watching Pitt but turned it off mid episode 1. White Lotus photography, production values, music, casting, all just work well.
For me, the most interesting dynamics were among the Thai people. And this is something one can see in real life: people in Asia are becoming richer by the day, but to what extent can they stay true to their selves and not fall into consumerism and egoism? The series shows that in order to become succesful and respected as a Thai male, and win the love of a Thai woman, you have to hurt your fellow humans. Which is completely the opposite of what Buddhism teaches.
That said, the series could be improved upon by having less episodes. The storyline could have been tighter, and after the former 2 seasons, I got the impression that the writing could have been more ‘extreme’ for lack of better description.
1 Like
If you wanted “extreme” writing ya shoulda stuck it out with The Pitt 
1 Like
The first episode was very promising, after a bit of slow, somewhat too cutesy start.
1 Like
We checked out the first episode of Good American Family, which is based on the true case of Natalia Grace Barnett. It was that, or the 3 season documentary (which we might watch as well).
Then we finished Black Mirror. Meh. The Giamatti episode was perhaps the most compelling of the last 3.
Uh-oh…
Agree was a bit slow. Hopefully will pick up pace.
OK, I’m late to the White Lotus 3 game and want to weigh in so am jumping in.
It was largely disappointing, possibly because it decided to lean in too heavily to one of the plots that was an obvious twist, and despite the excellent performances, not sufficiently interesting.
Meanwhile, the Ratliff story just peters out (and its weirdly slight treatment of sexual assault – something also minimised in the reportage-- pissed me well off. The three women were fascinating and uncomfortable, but Carrie Coon’s closing speech was underwritten and not sufficient although sold in her performance. The romance of the security guard and the hotel worker was sweet but also given very little. Natasha Rothwell’s storyline was one of the stronger ones plus I’m always glad to see her.
I think the problem was how bloated and meandering it was without generating decent insights (I don’t mind long and slow, but there needs to be something I take away).
But the performances were so good: I’ve long been a fan of Jason Isaacs, Parker Posey, Walter Goggins, and Natasha Rothwell, and liked what Aimee Lou Wood did… and really everyone was solid and I was glad to watch them.
But yeah: media that presents me with sexual assault and blithely treats it as anything other than that? It can get in the sea.
1 Like
I mostly agree & have expressed my disappointment with S3, but — just to be clear: are you referring to the drug-fueled incest scene as sexual assault?
1 Like
Yep. Because it was. Lochlan gave a handjob to a person who was barely conscious and unable to consent. And then people just treated it like it was a “kink” or his thing. And no, Saxon’s behaviour up until that point is neither excuse nor invitation.
Well, one could argue that none of the actors in that scene were conscious, or able to consent. It’s not like Lochlan was sober or didn’t do the same drugs everyone else did 
We tried the documentary on the case, but found its overall sensationalism exploitative and off-putting.
Watched After Hours, which I’d brought up for some reason recently (not that I remembered why 
). Pretty uninteresting for a Scorsese IYAM.
Also the only other role I ever saw Griffin Dunne in besides American Werewolf in London.
And we finally gave The Last of Us S1 another try. The famous 3rd episode is coming up next!
1 Like
I still am impressed that Scorsese went meta by casting Cheech Marin as an art collector around the time he started collecting art.
1 Like
I love After Hours, but it is definitely the least ‘Scorsese’ -like of all his films. It’s an outright comedy that has more in common zany adventures like Its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World or absurdist farces like like Gilliam’s Brazil than any of his mob movies. There’s a nihilist, but much more lighthearted tone here than most of his other films. And the cast is stacked, with not only Checxh Marin, but also Tommy Chong, Rosanna Arquette, and Catherine O’Hara among many others.
And I can never hear about After Hours without bringing up Vamp, a 1986 teen comedy that’s basically After Hours plus vampires, with GRACE JONES as the vampire queen.
4 Likes
Dreams (1990) - dir. Akira Kurosawa
A collection of vignettes inspired by actual dreams of the famed filmmaker, taking in this masterpiece is much more akin to appreciating a fine art painting, or a symphony, than a standard narrative film. There are subtle linking themes, a current of environmentalism, a sense that man has transgressesed against nature, and that consequences follow. But beyond any message, it is a work of supreme visual beauty. Kurosawa’s attention to color gives his frames a magical, glowing quality without resorting to oversaturation. Each tale gets steadily more modern, and, til the last, visually darker.
Dreams was famously backed by a who’s who in Hollywood. Spielberg amd Amblin Entertainment were producers, Lucas’s ILM contributed top tier VFX work, and Martin Scorsese appears, playing Vincent Van Gogh, for Pete’s sake!!
It’s not pulse pounding thrills or knee slapping comedy. Instead, Dreams offers a potentially transcendent experience to people willing to meet it where it is. A rare thing indeed.
5/5 - mandatory viewing for anyone who really loves film as a medium.
3 Likes
Finished S2 of Recipes for Love & Murder
Somewhat disappointed vs S1 in the balance of food to murder — they lost a bit of the deliciousness to overdoing the drama and intrigue on what seemed like too many fronts.
Still, some interesting new characters.
2 Likes
I took that storyline a bit differently, but didn’t think of it much more kindly,
Tbh I thought the act would go in reverse, because there is also overly hinted at but unaddressed sexuality.
If anything, that whole bit was gratuitous and didn’t add much of anything at all other than bringing incest into the mix, which came across as a bit desperate almost on the part of the writers. “What other sexual deviance can we bring into a storyline set in Thailand without offending by playing on all the usual tropes of sexual deviance in Thailand?”
1 Like
I’ve been on a bit of a BritBox crime drama spree.
Ludwig – I like it, which is not a surprise given that I also liked Monk, Professor T, Death in Paradise, The Good Doctor, and the general theme of genius with quirks / social awkwardness and/or on the spectrum (even though there are often cringe bits as they try to deal with that).
Towards Zero (Agatha Christie) – I may have to wait to binge it, because episode by episode is not a great format for me these days.
The Bay – Finished S1, started S2. Some very good characters, and a good storyline.
.
3 Likes
Yeah, not going to have that argument here.
It would be about as far OT as possible, so let’s not.
