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Streaming Recommendations (Netflix, HBO, Amazon, etc.)
December 3rd, 2020 at 1:03:21 AM permalink | |
Evenbob Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 146 Posts: 25010 | Finally watching Westworld. Not impressed with the first episode. Nice cinematography, good well known actors, silly nonsensical script. I didn't like or care about a single character. Look at a show like Deadwood, after the first ep you liked half a dozen characters, even Al Swearengen. In WW they are all boring as paint. Lots of gratuitous nudity and F words. Lots of needless violence. Read some IMDB reviews and it seems season 1 was the best, season 2 was mediocre, and season 3 sucked so bad it was hard to find a positive review. Then I realized this is JJ 'Lost' Abrams creation. No wonder it's confusing and dull. He has good stuff like Star Trek and Mission Impossible. But he also has Cloverfield and Lost. If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose. |
December 3rd, 2020 at 8:53:19 AM permalink | |
Evenbob Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 146 Posts: 25010 |
IMDB shows Abrams currently working on 16 yet to be released projects. Good stuff is hard to find, yet he has 16 things that HE found? It just means 2 of them are OK and 14 of them are pure crap that he can get even richer on. If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose. |
December 3rd, 2020 at 8:57:27 AM permalink | |
Gandler Member since: Aug 15, 2019 Threads: 27 Posts: 4236 | I liked the first season, I agree that it went downhill after that. The original Westworld (1970s) was very ahead of its time written by Michael Crichton (guy who wrote Jurassic Park). |
December 3rd, 2020 at 9:13:10 AM permalink | |
ams288 Member since: Apr 21, 2016 Threads: 29 Posts: 12421 |
You do realize he has hardly any involvement with the shows/movies he “produces,” right? If he didn’t write or direct it, he’s basically just collecting a check. After the first season of Lost, he had virtually no input in the show as he moved on to directing Mission Impossible 3. “A straight man will not go for kids.” - AZDuffman |
December 3rd, 2020 at 9:40:24 AM permalink | |
Pacomartin Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 1068 Posts: 12569 |
That seems to be the best way to earn money. DJT realized after a while it was more profitable to just sell his name for a project rather than actually to develop them. |
December 3rd, 2020 at 10:57:16 AM permalink | |
Evenbob Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 146 Posts: 25010 |
Thinking about it today, I really disliked the first episode and don't know if I want to continue. I'm not a big Ed Harris fan, he always plays the same character. And the violence and gratuitous use of the F word really turned me off. It's a sign of poor writing to have educated people throwing the word around like street corner drug dealers. It's pandering lazy writing. And the fact the writers didn't even attempt to make any of the characters likeable is not a good sign. If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose. |
December 3rd, 2020 at 11:43:20 AM permalink | |
ams288 Member since: Apr 21, 2016 Threads: 29 Posts: 12421 | I never finished the first season of Westworld. Then everyone said season 2 was a confusing mess. “A straight man will not go for kids.” - AZDuffman |
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:06:51 PM permalink | |
Gandler Member since: Aug 15, 2019 Threads: 27 Posts: 4236 |
That is basically correct. And season 3 was even worse. I watched it and don't really understand what happened. I liked the concept (AI becoming sentient/conscious), but they took weird turns in the later seasons. Apparantly they are working on a Season 4, so it must be popular. Personally I think it could have been a movie (like the original) or a miniseries and have been much more effective. It seems like they are bloating it for no story relevant reason, and in so doing making the story bizarre with a lot of layers of storyline that nobody needs to see... (just my opinion) |
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:17:24 PM permalink | |
Evenbob Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 146 Posts: 25010 |
Stories about AI always get weird. There's no 'there' there. It's just actors who are told they're now fake humans. Without a real good script, it gets boring and weird very fast. Think how many times this gimmick has been used in movies, I lost count. Even Star Trek had one, Data. At least he was somewhat interesting. If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose. |
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:34:32 PM permalink | |
Gandler Member since: Aug 15, 2019 Threads: 27 Posts: 4236 |
I think the base story was fine if they just kept it at the park like the original. But, they tried to add too many layers with the robots (AI, whatever they are called) escaping and trying to dismantle the corporation and allied agencies that made the park (or something I think I kind of got lost?) It would like if Jurassic Park (book written by same author) added a bunch of corporate and government backstory and the majority of the story ended up being about trying to dismantle Ingen instead of us just knowing that was the company. |