![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatAnother beautiful day..but cold. I may take a walk a bit later.
More reviews...
1.) His Dark Materials - seen one episode so far. Beautifully rendered, the world is a perfect adaptation of what was in the novels, and done with care and detail. (Definitely an improvement on the failed movie.) Also, well cast, in particular Lyra, Mrs. Coulter, and Lord Asrail. Along with their daemons.
It's sort of a steampunk fantasy/sci-fi series, that has a lot of metaphysical philosophy intertwined. And the world is quite detailed and specific, which takes it a step above some fantasy novels, and it is innovative in that there are none of the traditional fantasy creations such as Wizards, trolls, fairies, elves, witches, etc.
I really haven't seen anyone else do this type of world.
It is however a little slow in places and hard to hear or make out what some of the characters are saying. Not helped by the fact that I can't figure out how to put close-captioning on HBO. I figured it out for Game of Thrones, so I'm sure I can figure it out again. This may be more of a hardware problem than well a show problem.
Definitely continuing with it -- it's reminding of what I loved about the books, they were just so different from other fantasy worlds and didn't fall neatly into cliche tropes. Also in this series, good and evil isn't quite that clear and foggy in places. Nor are children romanticized, nor is childhood -- which was great failing of the Chronicles of Narnia series.
2. The Crown -- seen half of the first episode of Season 3 -- it's a tad slow. Also it was late when I was watching it. And, I'm admittedly burned out on the British costume historical drama. But the casting is almost pitch perfect. I'm on the fence about Olivia Coleman who isn't quite as seamless a transistion from Clair Foy as the other actors are. My mother, whose seen two episodes, warned me about this already. That Coleman was a bit of a disappointment and almost too stiff. But that Helena Bonheme Carter had surprised her -- and was bouncy and perfect casting. She is. As are the men -- Tobias Menzies (Outlander) as Philip and Ben Daniels as Tony (Princess Margaret's husband). Menzies looks like the previous actor. And while Daniels doesn't, his mannerisms and embodiment of Margaret's husband is spot on.
Winston Churchill is in the first episode and dies. I thought he'd died in S2, so was surprised by this. For an ailing guy, he lived a long time.
3. Toy Story 4 -- also surprised a bit by it. It got mixed reviews, co-worker/cubical mate was less than enthused but your_librarian enjoyed it. I agree with your_librarian's assessment.
It's mainly continuing Woody's journey from Andy's favorite toy to figuring out his place in the world once Andy has grown up and forgotten him. The first movie, Toy Story 1 - deals with Andy getting a new favorite toy and Woody being regulated to second, possibly third in the toy box. Which results in Woody being jealous of Buzz and wanting to get rid of him. Only to realize that there was room for both of them, and what was best for Andy, mattered. Toy Story 2 -- I don't remember at all, to be honest, but it seemed to be about new toys being introduced and broadened the world. Toy Story 3 - was about Andy growing up and giving his toys to Bonnie. The series works on two levels -- one it's a delightful tale about toys wanting to please children, be played with, adored by children and belong to a child (sort of like the Velveteen Rabbit) and two, a satire on workplace politics, what it is to outlive your usefulness in a job, and handling change in the work place, being laid off, transferred or having your job discontinued -- ie. trash. Except, while the first Toy Story was rather dark in places (Joss Whedon wrote it), the followups have been decidedly less so.
This one focuses on Woody accepting the fact that he can no longer be a child's favorite toy, and how to transition into a new stage or a different role. Aided by his old friend and cohort, Bo Peep, who was forced into this stage some time before him. Tired of sitting on the shelf waiting for someone to buy and adore her -- she
jumps off the shelf, escapes the antiques shop and travels the carnival grounds with her sheep in tow. It has some nice twists and turns, turning alleged villains into misunderstood dolls hunting a place in their world. With some innovative new additions to the cast.
The ending is also clever and somewhat fun. As are little jokes like the toy that Bonnie creates from items that Woody retrieves from the trash and dumps in front of her when she's not looking. Forky - the toy she creates, sees himself as trash. Not a toy. And just wants to be trash -- is happy and safe as trash. So there's a somewhat humorous little metaphor about leaving a comfort zone or isolation and taking a risk to be loved and played with. Not regulating oneself to trash -- which is a broader metaphor for Woody, who is regulated to a closet and then possibly the trash heap...until he opts finally to become a lost toy (who isn't so much lost and independent of the human world, and aiding children in obtaining toys outside the human system or cagily within it.
It pays to watch the first roll of the credits to get these tidbits.
Overall, a better movie than the last two but still not quite on par with the first.
Also, it pretty much completes Woody's journey.
More reviews...
1.) His Dark Materials - seen one episode so far. Beautifully rendered, the world is a perfect adaptation of what was in the novels, and done with care and detail. (Definitely an improvement on the failed movie.) Also, well cast, in particular Lyra, Mrs. Coulter, and Lord Asrail. Along with their daemons.
It's sort of a steampunk fantasy/sci-fi series, that has a lot of metaphysical philosophy intertwined. And the world is quite detailed and specific, which takes it a step above some fantasy novels, and it is innovative in that there are none of the traditional fantasy creations such as Wizards, trolls, fairies, elves, witches, etc.
I really haven't seen anyone else do this type of world.
It is however a little slow in places and hard to hear or make out what some of the characters are saying. Not helped by the fact that I can't figure out how to put close-captioning on HBO. I figured it out for Game of Thrones, so I'm sure I can figure it out again. This may be more of a hardware problem than well a show problem.
Definitely continuing with it -- it's reminding of what I loved about the books, they were just so different from other fantasy worlds and didn't fall neatly into cliche tropes. Also in this series, good and evil isn't quite that clear and foggy in places. Nor are children romanticized, nor is childhood -- which was great failing of the Chronicles of Narnia series.
2. The Crown -- seen half of the first episode of Season 3 -- it's a tad slow. Also it was late when I was watching it. And, I'm admittedly burned out on the British costume historical drama. But the casting is almost pitch perfect. I'm on the fence about Olivia Coleman who isn't quite as seamless a transistion from Clair Foy as the other actors are. My mother, whose seen two episodes, warned me about this already. That Coleman was a bit of a disappointment and almost too stiff. But that Helena Bonheme Carter had surprised her -- and was bouncy and perfect casting. She is. As are the men -- Tobias Menzies (Outlander) as Philip and Ben Daniels as Tony (Princess Margaret's husband). Menzies looks like the previous actor. And while Daniels doesn't, his mannerisms and embodiment of Margaret's husband is spot on.
Winston Churchill is in the first episode and dies. I thought he'd died in S2, so was surprised by this. For an ailing guy, he lived a long time.
3. Toy Story 4 -- also surprised a bit by it. It got mixed reviews, co-worker/cubical mate was less than enthused but your_librarian enjoyed it. I agree with your_librarian's assessment.
It's mainly continuing Woody's journey from Andy's favorite toy to figuring out his place in the world once Andy has grown up and forgotten him. The first movie, Toy Story 1 - deals with Andy getting a new favorite toy and Woody being regulated to second, possibly third in the toy box. Which results in Woody being jealous of Buzz and wanting to get rid of him. Only to realize that there was room for both of them, and what was best for Andy, mattered. Toy Story 2 -- I don't remember at all, to be honest, but it seemed to be about new toys being introduced and broadened the world. Toy Story 3 - was about Andy growing up and giving his toys to Bonnie. The series works on two levels -- one it's a delightful tale about toys wanting to please children, be played with, adored by children and belong to a child (sort of like the Velveteen Rabbit) and two, a satire on workplace politics, what it is to outlive your usefulness in a job, and handling change in the work place, being laid off, transferred or having your job discontinued -- ie. trash. Except, while the first Toy Story was rather dark in places (Joss Whedon wrote it), the followups have been decidedly less so.
This one focuses on Woody accepting the fact that he can no longer be a child's favorite toy, and how to transition into a new stage or a different role. Aided by his old friend and cohort, Bo Peep, who was forced into this stage some time before him. Tired of sitting on the shelf waiting for someone to buy and adore her -- she
jumps off the shelf, escapes the antiques shop and travels the carnival grounds with her sheep in tow. It has some nice twists and turns, turning alleged villains into misunderstood dolls hunting a place in their world. With some innovative new additions to the cast.
The ending is also clever and somewhat fun. As are little jokes like the toy that Bonnie creates from items that Woody retrieves from the trash and dumps in front of her when she's not looking. Forky - the toy she creates, sees himself as trash. Not a toy. And just wants to be trash -- is happy and safe as trash. So there's a somewhat humorous little metaphor about leaving a comfort zone or isolation and taking a risk to be loved and played with. Not regulating oneself to trash -- which is a broader metaphor for Woody, who is regulated to a closet and then possibly the trash heap...until he opts finally to become a lost toy (who isn't so much lost and independent of the human world, and aiding children in obtaining toys outside the human system or cagily within it.
It pays to watch the first roll of the credits to get these tidbits.
Overall, a better movie than the last two but still not quite on par with the first.
Also, it pretty much completes Woody's journey.
no subject
Date: 2019-12-01 10:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-12-01 01:55 pm (UTC)