The Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Spy, and Superhero Genre

[Smokin Joe]

Happy to read that you enjoyed the film - it's gotten good reviews from some of the critics I rely on to seprate the bowsers from the boffo.
 You comment about "teeth grating impossibility" was my reaction to the remake of Day the Earth Stood Still.
The whole idea that an alien race of inconceivable technological sophistication would not understand basic psychology or that the notion of warlike, aggressive, territorial impulses would be somehow an indication of an abberative psyche is laughable.

All so-called civilized cultures had a past that was by today's standards largely barbaric. We accept this as a condition of their state of knowledge, not of their character. It rankled me that the leftist who wrote that script projected their own misanthropic prejudices onto the superior alien race - as if they would condemn the entire human race for behaving exactly as any reasonable observer would anticipate.

Recall, though that the original was from an era when nuclear warfare was virtually considered inevitable, and considered to be the self-destructive epitomy of humanity's warlike nature, sure to end in self-immolation.

So there was a significant fraction bent on drawing back from the nuclear precipice and soft pedaling the Cold War (and proxy wars) entirely lest such be precipitated (of course, many of the fear-mongers of the day were people relieved when the Committee on UnAmerican Activities shut down, and had Marxist sympathies of their own).

Not only did the fear of nuclear devastation color the movies and writings of the era, they became part of our culture (Duck and Cover), Civil Defense sirens to let you know you were about to be vaporized, backyard fallout shelters, and books like A Canticle for Leibowitz and movies like Fail-Safe, Planet of the Apes, and Doctor Strangelove.

I see The Day the Earth Stood Still as yet another attempt to dampen enthusiasm for the sort of resistance to Marxism we needed through pacifism.

There was an episode of The Outer Limits (The Architects of Fear) 1963 that played on a similar idea, where a volunteer agreed to be surgically altered into a form which would likely not survive long on Earth, but once launched in a rocket, after reentry would pose enough of a threat to get the nations of Earth to unite against a common and alien threat.

[kevindavis007]

Well I thought take it for the team and watch Incorporated (the new Syfy show). Waste of time. Basically a Green Propaganda show.

[LateForLunch]

Well I thought take it for the team and watch Incorporated (the new Syfy show). Waste of time. Basically a Green Propaganda show.

Most Hollywood productions are leftist propaganda of one sort or another. I just assume that to be the case and only mention ones that are not.

I was particularly disappointed in Joss Whedon's conversion to the dark side. The material that he produced in his early career was exceptionally well-written and slanted in a fairly conservative direction (Buffy series was unapologetically violent and without PC clichés in an era when such shows were largely being castigated by leftists).

Whedon also did the fine Serenity film (RIP Ron Glass) which had a very conservative, anti-Utopian message that must have rankled leftists pretty severely as well.

Whedon also did the non-politically slanted children's film Toy Story and equally non-political comic-book based Avengers (with well-known conservative actor Robert Downey and some fairly patriotic themes that must have also angered leftists).

Then the 2016 political campaign season hit and Whedon went utterly and completely off the rails into deepest darkest leftist lunacy. Selah. I guess he chose his career over his conscience. Whenever film makers start to lose their mojo in H-Wood, they always (with very few exceptions like Clint Eastwood, Bruce Willis, Michael Mann or Michael Bay) do a hard left turn in order to suck up to the Leftist Elitist JINOs who essentially run H-Wood.

[Smokin Joe]

Well I thought take it for the team and watch Incorporated (the new Syfy show). Waste of time. Basically a Green Propaganda show.

Did you watch the first season of Colony on USA, by any chance?

[kevindavis007]

Did you watch the first season of Colony on USA, by any chance?

No..

[Free Vulcan]

Just finished watching the second season of Dark Matters on Netflix. Acting is cheesy and campy scifi, but overall I like the plot.

[Ghost Bear]

Just finished watching the second season of Dark Matters on Netflix. Acting is cheesy and campy scifi, but overall I like the plot.

I watched the first season of that on SyFy. I lost interest by the end of the season however, and didn't continue watching it after that.   

[kevindavis007]

Just finished watching the second season of Dark Matters on Netflix. Acting is cheesy and campy scifi, but overall I like the plot.

I tried to watch Dark Masters but I couldn't get into it.

[Cripplecreek]

I tried to watch Dark Masters but I couldn't get into it.

Killjoys is better.

[LateForLunch]

Killjoys is better.

Not to be a wet blanket, but with all of the disappointment expressed on this thread about T.V. / film productions, have any of you considered READING books??? I'd imagine that your imaginations are infinitely superior in their ability to produce evocative characters and special effects to any Hollywood  set designers or effects people.
 
If I had the time to watch hours of video production I might be tempted to dive into a good book or two - there are so many on my list now (thanks to some of the posters on this forum) that it would be a slam dunk.

I fully understand that how people relax is a matter of personal taste, but I can't help agreeing with Robert Heinlein about T.V./films being inferior media - for a lot of good reasons.

Lately my housemate and I have been getting classic movies we haven't seen for awhile from the library and watching them again - just got Kubrick's Shining and enjoyed it immensely. Now THAT is what I call a classic film experience. Why can't more people make movies the way Kubrick did?

And speaking of reading, The Stanley Kubrick Interviews has to be one of the most interesting books I have ever read (and I have read hundreds) out of any topic. I found out for instance, that Kubrick started as a camera guy primarily who just happened to get into making films as almost an afterthought. So he was intimately involved in the cinematography for all of his films. He'd collect lenses from camera stores the way furniture people collect antiques - the fool even built cameras from scratch for some of his films!!

[Doug Loss]

Killjoys is better.

Actually, I feel exactly the opposite.  I've enjoyed Dark Matters, but quit Killjoys after the 2nd or 3rd episode.

[Doug Loss]

Not to be a wet blanket, but with all of the disappointment expressed on this thread about T.V. / film productions, have any of you considered READING books??? I'd imagine that your imaginations are infinitely superior in their ability to produce evocative characters and special effects to any Hollywood  set designers or effects people.
 
If I had the time to watch hours of video production I might be tempted to dive into a good book or two - there are so many on my list now (thanks to some of the posters on this forum) that it would be a slam dunk.

I fully understand that how people relax is a matter of personal taste, but I can't help agreeing with Robert Heinlein about T.V./films being inferior media - for a lot of good reasons.

Lately my housemate and I have been getting classic movies we haven't seen for awhile from the library and watching them again - just got Kubrick's Shining and enjoyed it immensely. Now THAT is what I call a classic film experience. Why can't more people make movies the way Kubrick did?

And speaking of reading, The Stanley Kubrick Interviews has to be one of the most interesting books I have ever read (and I have read hundreds) out of any topic. I found out for instance, that Kubrick started as a camera guy primarily who just happened to get into making films as almost an afterthought. So he was intimately involved in the cinematography for all of his films. He'd collect lenses from camera stores the way furniture people collect antiques - the fool even built cameras from scratch for some of his films!!

Agreed.  And with the explosion of indy publishing of ebooks, you're not forced to read whatever the leftist editors and publishers of the dead-tree publishing companies have decided you should.  Take a look at http://monsterhunternation.com/, https://accordingtohoyt.com/, and https://madgeniusclub.com/ to get a start in this world.

[Ghost Bear]

Not to be a wet blanket, but with all of the disappointment expressed on this thread about T.V. / film productions, have any of you considered READING books??? I'd imagine that your imaginations are infinitely superior in their ability to produce evocative characters and special effects to any Hollywood  set designers or effects people.
 
If I had the time to watch hours of video production I might be tempted to dive into a good book or two - there are so many on my list now (thanks to some of the posters on this forum) that it would be a slam dunk.

I fully understand that how people relax is a matter of personal taste, but I can't help agreeing with Robert Heinlein about T.V./films being inferior media - for a lot of good reasons.

Lately my housemate and I have been getting classic movies we haven't seen for awhile from the library and watching them again - just got Kubrick's Shining and enjoyed it immensely. Now THAT is what I call a classic film experience. Why can't more people make movies the way Kubrick did?

And speaking of reading, The Stanley Kubrick Interviews has to be one of the most interesting books I have ever read (and I have read hundreds) out of any topic. I found out for instance, that Kubrick started as a camera guy primarily who just happened to get into making films as almost an afterthought. So he was intimately involved in the cinematography for all of his films. He'd collect lenses from camera stores the way furniture people collect antiques - the fool even built cameras from scratch for some of his films!!

I don't care for most Kubrick movies. 

But yeah, I get your point. I read voraciously as a kid, and well into my teens and twenties. But as I've seen many say, sometime in the mid-to-late 90s I started buying fewer and fewer books. I still went into the bookstores, but found that there just weren't as many books that interested me. Then in the 2000s I had work issues, and couldn't afford to buy many books anyway. That, plus the growing amount of things to read available for free online meant that my reading pattern shifted more to that venue.

However, in the past couple of years, with the growth of the independent e-book market, I've found myself reading more and more in that area. There are a lot of good authors and good stories out there if you take the time to look around for them. It can be difficult to find them sometimes, but sifting through Amazon's suggestions, checking out the free samples (when available), and just browsing new selections can find you a lot. It's not much different from going to the bookstore and spending an hour or several browsing the stacks and reading the back-cover and inside-the-jacket blurbs on all of the new books, like I did back in the day.

And just to make clear, when I'm "watching" a TV show or movie I'm also usually reading something on my computer or Kindle, or (nowadays less and less often) a physical book. Multitasking FTW! 

[Ghost Bear]

Agreed.  And with the explosion of indy publishing of ebooks, you're not forced to read whatever the leftist editors and publishers of the dead-tree publishing companies have decided you should.  Take a look at http://monsterhunternation.com/, https://accordingtohoyt.com/, and https://madgeniusclub.com/ to get a start in this world.

Those are three good blogsites that I'll add my endorsement to. I check https://accordingtohoyt.com/ and https://madgeniusclub.com/  pretty much every day. Since Larry cut back on his blog posts I don't check http://monsterhunternation.com/ quite as often, but I do look in once a week or so just to see if there's anything new.

[Free Vulcan]

Actually, I feel exactly the opposite.  I've enjoyed Dark Matters, but quit Killjoys after the 2nd or 3rd episode.

Never seen Killjoys, but I imagine DM isn't for everyone. The acting ain't great, it's not an overly intense show, but I like the story line, some of the plot twists, special effects are adequate, it's not pretentious, and it has some conceptual creativity. Reminds me a bit of Babylon 5.

[geronl]

@Doug Loss @LateforLaunch

I read all the time, heck some of those bad sci-fi ebooks are mine....

er...

never mind

[Ghost Bear]

Well, here is some high literature for everyone:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6965582-ass-goblins-of-auschwitz

And no, this isn't made up... it's a real book.

(note to self, do not review lists of 'bizarro' books any more)

Never ever do a search for "Chuck Tingle".

Just sayin'.   

[geronl]

Have you ever checked out webtoons.com

Sort of like an online comic strip. Some of those are rather good, some are really bad.

I like Dice, Dents, Dr. Frost (sort of), Supersonic Girl (light-hearted and whimsical), Sidekicks (another super-hero story), Space Boy (a lot deeper than you'd expect from the art style), All That You Are (good story, really good art), Nano List, Gapetto, Sithrah....

Duty After School (a shorter series that is hard to describe)
Orange Marmalade (Vampires amidst humans, at school)

[kevindavis007]

Killjoys is better.

I tried watching Killjoys, but I couldn't get into it. I guess shows like The Expanse, B5,  and the New BSG has kinda set bar too high for me.

[Cripplecreek]

I tried watching Killjoys, but I couldn't get into it. I guess shows like The Expanse, B5,  and the New BSG has kinda set bar too high for me.

True enough. I'll go out of my way to watch The Expanse.

[kevindavis007]

True enough. I'll go out of my way to watch The Expanse.

Same here....

[Smokin Joe]

True enough. I'll go out of my way to watch The Expanse.

Same here.

[geronl]

note: I deleted post 571

[uglybiker]

 



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQo41oazjoM

[kevindavis007]

For your viewing pleasure:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3a5j8PgQxg