Tried 2-3 episodes of Too Much which was pretty meh and then we realized a few weeks went by and we had totally forgotten it even exists.
New season of South Park started, and from what I heard so far I cannot wait to see last night’s episode.
3 Likes
You just reminded me that show exists. 
1 Like
The PSA is tearing around the interwebs.
1 Like
If anyone thought Colbert was extreme the other night, you HAVE to watch that South Park episode.
1 Like
I did not, and the sentiment doesn’t surprise me 
Agree on both.
The Keep (1983) - dir. Michael Mann
When you hear the name “Michael Mann”, assuming you recognize it at all, you probably think of Miami Vice, of heists and crooks and cops and city streets and neon-smeared nightscapes. Thief, Heat, Collateral.
The Keep is NONE of those things. Instead we have Jurgen Prochnow as a WWII German officer, and Gabriel Byrne as his SS commander, occupying an ancient Carpathian keep they were warned not to spend the night in. They are most especially not to disturb the 108 nickle crosses set into its walls. They do, of course, and soldiers begin dying, so an old Jewish historian (a young-ish Iam McKellan in strange old-age makeup) and his daughter are brought from a detention camp to try and solve the mystery. Also, Scott Glen is a mysterious, magical stranger who is making his way toward the keep, drawn my some inner calling.
Sound confusing? It is. Mann himself wrote the script, based on a horror novel by F. Paul Wilson. Unfortunately, following a reportedly grueling shoot in Wales, Paramount refused to fund needed reshoots. Additionally, visual effects supervisor Wally Veevers died only two weeks into post production, which meant the final battle between two wizards could not be produced as planned. Reportedly, Mann’s first cut was 210 minutes. The studio refused that length of course, so it was cut down to 120. When test audiences still gave it low scores, the studio forced additional cuts down to the current 96 minutes. The big visual effects sequences for the end never came to pass, and what we were left with is a confusing mishmash of ideas, plot holes, and visual bandaids to cover last minute solutions. But, a dreamy, airy score by Tangerine Dream means that whole film really becomes a vibe unto itself. It feels like a Ridley Scott film of the same era, with all the smoke and atmosphere and occasional odd artsy visual flourish.
This is one of those films that falls into the ‘interesting’ and ‘fascinating’ rather than ‘entertaining’ category. Most everyone involved in it has completely disowned it, and it’s not hard to see why. But it’s an odd note in any number of careers, and interesting for that aspect alone.
1.5 out of 5 times Ian McKellan’s accent shifts between American, Mid-Atlantic, and British.
2 Likes
It seems to be one of those shows that people hate or love. I got really tired of girls by the 4 or 5th season but I do like some of the actors in the new series.
1 Like
I was over it by midway through the first episode. I thought it was a lot like Sex & the City, except you want all the characters to die.
1 Like
South Park…went there!
3 Likes
I really like Megan Stalter
OMG it was EPIC.
3 Likes
I give almost any show roughly 3 episodes, unless I think it is absolutely terrible.
When I first tried watching SATC, all I could think was how utterly unrelatable the main characters were — privileged, wealthy, vacuous, with their silly shoe fetish and their silly Cosmos… until I rewatched a few years later and embraced the not insignificant subject of female friendship, the previously unprecedented openness about all things relating to sex (for the time and place: the prudish 90s US) & ended up watching the entire show. Its flaws have been discussed at nauseam, but I thought for the time it was revolutionary in its own way. I felt the same way about Girls, my annoyance with the characters notwithstanding.
1 Like
One of my problems with Girls is that the characters came off as unremitting narcissists, with little or no concern for anyone but themselves. They did not seem like friends, just people accustomed to existing in the same space, disguising their inflated sense of self-importance by pretending to be insecure. But I have friends who like it, so I suppose it had its moments.
I am now and have always been an unapologetic fan of SATC, and my first impression of it was identical to your second. I am also the first to admit that some episodes have aged very poorly. Part of my job is to explain to young people that it isn’t particularly useful to judge a show harshly without understanding the climate in which it was created.
Privileged girls in their 20s, when narcissism often runs rampant vs privileged narcissistic women in their… .30s? 40s?
I preferred the grit and rather revolutionary body politics of Girls over the bonbon candy and stereotypes that was much of SATC, even though I ended up enjoying the show for the reasons I mentioned above. The reboot was terrible, OTOH.
1 Like
That “PSA” at the end? OMG. I loved that they said it was the first one of 50 psa’s so hopefully we get one every week! I guess it was also a parody of some religious ad that was on during the Super Bowl.
4 Likes
I have to admit I find her character on Hacks a bit annoying but that’s how it’s written. I love Richard E. Grant and some of the other British actors in it.
I didn’t find the women in SATC narcissistic at all. Samantha was a hedonist, but that’s not the same thing. And they put each other first (except when they had to learn a lesson about not doing so).
I’m with you on this front. After a couple of seasons. SaTC just got… silly. The dorky soap-opera stuff didn’t really land with me as a (at the time) 30-something dude with a wife and kid.
With Girls, at least, I knew I wasn’t supposed to like these people. It was a show about flaws and self delusion. The characters were consistently portrayed as caught up in their highly insulated and privileged existence, and this was a flaw in their character, as opposed to the SaTC women, who were held up as likeable and relatable.
2 Likes
