Just been discussing The Mandalorian with my brother and the whole not coming to UK for months. I have noticed the Disney + app will available at launch for PS4 in US, and found an old article on Push Square about how to set up a US Playstation account. I'm wondering if anyone thinks this could be a way of getting it at launch?
No interference, no rewrites, not still shooting multiple endings, not tanking in test audience scores, not desperately calling George Lucas for help... none of that nonsense.
... I'd ask if you're serious @RogerRoger but this is 2019 and anything can happen now. Good thing I'm not too invested in Star Wars is all I'll say but I hope all of you enjoy it!
Does seem rather daft though leaving a massive 4 month gap like that between the US and Uk/Europe set up of Disney+... This IS Disney of all things we're talking about and that series is going to be spoilt all over the net faster then an ice cream melting in the Sahara!
Previously known as Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy
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"You don't have to save the world to find meaning in life. Sometimes all you need is something simple, like someone to take care of"
@RogerRoger Yeah I'm probably clutching at straws. It's funny that the lucky Dutch get it at launch(apparently because of their awesome infrastructure) but the rest of Europe has to wait. I wonder if they will do blu-ray release for it at some point?
@RogerRoger wow march 2020, thats crappy. But as a life long star wars fan i really enjoyed it, only one episode is out atm, i think the next one releases on the 15th. Seems like some good star wars fun.
@RogerRoger but as far as the disney app goes, its a little rough right now. Video freezing while audio continues happened to me several times. I had to restart app a few times before it worked right. I have the same problem with espn app(disney owns espn if u didnt know). I hope they get this worked out soon, i read alot of articles about people having issues with the app.
I wanna watch The Mandalorian but I don't even know when Disney+ will be available in my country. Another one I wanna watch is the Obi wan Kenobi series.
Pretty good two episodes in. Or at least - not bad is possibly the better descriptor. It isn't doing anything 'wrong' or particularly objectionable. Thankfully, I know almost bugger all about Mandalorians other a few bits and bobs from some of the animated Star Wars stuff.
I do get the sense that Favreau was offered a Star Wars show and he watched a bunch of Firefly. The 'space western' theme is very strong in the general presentation. There's a fair amount of derivative work going on that stands out quite a lot in such a sparse show, the worst of which being a 'Last Crusade' action riff in a scene that seems like it was actually tacked on and a too speedy repeated-ridicule for the titular bounty hunter. But, it looks nice at least.
The music is great, again - really pushing the 'space western' feel. The theme and incidentals work with the on screen proceedings very nicely (the closing titles are probably the best thing about the show) - though again, there a certain amount familiarity with the music that took me a minute to grasp. The main theme borrows pretty heavily from the (excellent) Stallone Judge Dredd movie theme and to a lesser extent parts of the Rocky theme. None of that is a bad thing, as it makes for a satisfying wild-west feel; but perhaps (and I certainly like to think) the composer had the 'never takes his helmet off' trope buried in his subconscious somewhere and it spat out Judge Dredd and Rocky.
Generally though, first 2 episodes are quite nice.
The only other TV goings on for me over the weekend was the new BBC production of The War Of The Worlds.
I'm a very big fan of the source material and Jeff Wayne's musical version - so I actually wasn't expecting much from this. Good job really.
It's not terrible - the production value seems good - but the pacing of the events depicted is entirely bizarre. The decision to linger on the core relationship yet speed through the rather important arrival and set up of the martians is an odd one.
Casting is OK, Spall is decent as per, Robert Carlyle is rather under used as Ogilvy. He's ideally placed to offer exposition, but doesn't do much and is almost immediately faced with the first 'idiot official' of the show, of which I'm certain that there will be several more.
Eleanor Tomlinson is fine, but - and this is an issue that comes up in plenty of period work - she has an incredibly, distractingly modern face. The cinematography doesn't really help this, but she looks very 'insta' ready the majority of the time. If you've ever seen Jenna Coleman And Queen Victoria, it's like that.
At several points, I felt like this new interpretation was handled by a smelting pot of different people with vastly different visions leading to a drama that is rather incoherent in it's execution. The family drama and the martian invasion just don't coalesce snugly, too much time focusing on one and not the other.
The design of the martian sphere is lazy, followed too swiftly by the extremely lazy transformation from sphere to fighting machine. This occurs with no input or exposition from the supporting cast. That feels intentional, but also limiting. The fighting machine design is OK - nothing groundbreaking and could be lifted straight from deviant art or pintrest. The scale comes across well enough though.
The saving grace as I was watching is the 'heat ray' effect, which is brilliant!
I wrote earlier about the great music in the Mandalorian; how it suits the tone, content and direction of show and supports what is a clear vision of what the creators want the show to be. Sadly, this new War Of The Worlds doesn't fare quite as well. Given the source material's best ever adaptation is as iconic a musical as it gets - getting the music (and edit) right should've been given priority here.
The presented score and cues for the show are, fine. They just don't fit. It's a synth heavy, alien sound almost throughout - whether that is terrified observers looking at the striding tripod, or George and Amy having a 'deep & meaningful' in the parlour of their Edwardian terrace. In one frenetic sequence, this transforms to a pulsing, 80s synth reminiscent of a Kavinsky tune or any one of dozen 'retrowave' type releases. It never feels like it fits properly or has enough scope to adapt satisfyingly to the breadth of scenes on show.
There's room for this all to improve of course. It'll be interesting to watch it move forward.
Interestingly a few reviews I looked at this morning are saying that War Of The Worlds is needlessly "Woke" (I loathe that word) @KALofKRYPTON
Not quite sure why they're saying it though. The only thing that really seems out of place from your description and their opinion, is the divorce drama aspect that serves little purpose whatsoever...
... Unless I'm really missing something obvious.
I only watched like ten minutes halfway through to see the sphere and machine mind
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy
It skirts the 'wokeness', or perhaps just courts it in places - but it's not woke particularly. Having Ogilvy ham-fistedly comment on local attitudes towards him as a flamboyantly dressed ageing bachelor is as close as it gets other than perhaps the setting up of the male protagonist as being an adulterer (and therefore 'bad'). I'm not even sure I spotted any token ethnic minority faces actually.
I suppose there will be those that object to Tomlinson (I'm assuming) read the opening monologue. I object to it being re-written in a rather clunky way - but again, nothing particularly woke about it.
PSN: KALofKRYPTON (so you can see how often I don't play anything!)
Twitter: @KALofKRYPTON (at your own risk, I don't care if you're offended)
"Fate: Protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise." - Cmdr William T. Riker
Well it was the Independant and Telegraph that were actually saying about it trying to be too socially relevant.
As far as I know those newspapers usually aren't particularly fussed about those sorts of things @KALofKRYPTON so that's why it caught my eye in particular.
Not like the Sun and Daily Star that love making a fuss about those things and making it out to be the end of the world 😅
As you said the effects for the heat ray were pretty good and they got the size of the titular machines right. Design of it was a bit... meh though.
I quite like the 2005 film though so... What do I know?
Previously known as Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy
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"You don't have to save the world to find meaning in life. Sometimes all you need is something simple, like someone to take care of"
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy
They're interested enough when it comes to a depiction of Edwardian England (the good old, old days) I'm sure!
The 2005 film is a really strong adaptation. It was as good as a modern day take that could've been made. I also really like Tom Cruise, despite him being creepy and mental!
I wanted the BBC version to be better than it is. Part of that is because I'd like them to follow up with a sequel series that adapts The Massacre of Mankind (Stephen Baxter's 'official' sequel novel, which is great). It would lend itself to modern sensibilities easier than the original as it has a 1920's, woman protagonist in the best tradition of independent, dare I say it 'spunky' depictions of young women in the 20's.
I also really like Tom Cruise, despite him being creepy and mental!
... Sounds about right @KALofKRYPTON more or less 😅
Apparently there's another adaptation of War of the worlds out now as well (French I think) seeing as this is offically public domain now.
George Orwell's Animal Farm goes out of copyright and into public domain next year from what I read soooo... Expect that rather then that sequel novel to war of the worlds (Though thanks for the info, never knew about it!)
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy
Just had a quick gander for the French one - reads like the old American sequel TV show from the 80's.
Created by Howard Overman though, he was behind Misfits - which was a great little show!
Massacre of Mankind is a good read. A nicely reasoned out sequel that doesn't ruin anything. Baxter also wrote a sequel to The Time Machine - that's on my list.
I'll look forward to the inevitable terrifying CG/live action Animal Farm!
PSN: KALofKRYPTON (so you can see how often I don't play anything!)
Twitter: @KALofKRYPTON (at your own risk, I don't care if you're offended)
"Fate: Protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise." - Cmdr William T. Riker
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