Disqus - Latest Comments for Oak

Re: How AMC’s Interview with the Vampire Changes the Anne Rice Books

Oak — Mon, 25 Jul 2022 00:15:12 -0000

There really isn't anything "woke" about it though, not really.
They're switching out plantation slavery for sex slavery, I would assume because on paper the first is rightfully not something that should be filmed in fiction, but sex slavery isn't especially any better. I'm making an assumption there that 1920's brothels aren't a beacon of positive workers rights and freedoms. From the executive side it's a win-win for them, it ditches an objectionable part of the story and gives the them 5-star saleable sexy-time content they need.
Louis being of colour is fine. Anderson is a great actor. Making him so morally questionable (at best) from the outset is a problem.
And anyone want to bet that they'll work some angle in of Claudia being a 14yo sex worker who gets beaten to near death that L&L decide to save her? Or that with the "chemical excitement" of puberty they get to yet again work sex into it by making Claudia constantly thirsty for more than blood? If we're expecting anything more creative from Rolin, I think we should be prepared to be disappointed. "Sex sells" was clearly in the liner notes on this adaptation.

Re: Mary Elizabeth Winstead Kicks Some Serious Ass in New Trailer For Her Action Film KATE

Oak — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 21:27:19 -0000

Look, you can read my other reply, or not. I'm not going to continue this chat, because I have other things to do with my time.
Maybe you hold action films in higher regard than I do? I mean I feel like action films for the most part are rubbish, in terms of characters/storytelling/etc. Some smash it out of the park in all aspects, some have great set pieces or action sequences but lack any depth, others are steaming heaps of crap in all regards.
But if you can't see that this is so similar to all the other action moves that have come before it, except that now it's a woman, I can't help you & and don't have the time or inclination to try any more. I dunno, maybe watch more movies with an open mind?

/peace

Re: Mary Elizabeth Winstead Kicks Some Serious Ass in New Trailer For Her Action Film KATE

Oak — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 20:44:36 -0000

The ONLY thing that has changed is that the protagonist is female. That's it. You all can rattle off plenty of similar films with male leads where the lead up against an army of dudes is Doomed To Die or Protecting a Child, or both. If you are *choosing* to take issue with a single marketing line of "takes no crap from dudes" then you are looking for an excuse to hate on it, and you probably have a pattern of similar complaints about other films where nothing changes but the leads gender.

Re: Mary Elizabeth Winstead Kicks Some Serious Ass in New Trailer For Her Action Film KATE

Oak — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 20:38:41 -0000

Sigh.
Male lead action films, who are the antagonists? Men.
Female lead action films, who are the antagonists? Men.
What's the one and only change being made? The gender of the lead.

If the problem really was that 'all men are evil' where are the complaints that about how the bulk of action films make men the evil antagonists.

Re: Mary Elizabeth Winstead Kicks Some Serious Ass in New Trailer For Her Action Film KATE

Oak — Wed, 04 Aug 2021 21:41:42 -0000

This shouldn't have to be spelled out, but isn't this how a bulk of male led action films frame the protagonist?

Why are some people "stronk wahmen" when they frame female leads this way? (you know the answer to that, but lets not go explicitly insulting people further up the thread)

Do the same people jump on to male led movie posts to say the same shit about the men? No, of course they don't. They ONLY want to see women framed as the historical tropes have them: understated hero or eye candy. Heaven forbid there's women staring in films that follow the schlocky tropes that men have enjoyed for decades, that of the overblown obvious action star.

Re: Did The Lord of the Rings Series Just Reveal Valinor?

Oak — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 21:39:41 -0000

I wondered if the tree might have been missed - I saw the Twitter image, which is higher res and the tree is obvious. In the first lower res shots I saw I thought the 2nd tree might have been an after-image of the dark tree.

I tend to agree with you - why this scene.
At one time I'm excited (the detail in that single scene is impressive) but also perhaps it might have been better left.

I suppose if this represents flash-back possibly they're dropping this because it wont spoil the main story they're going for? Alternatively maybe they're taking the naming of the show quite literally. The Lord Of The Rings. If that is Melkor pre-fall, then perhaps in the story they're telling they want to show (again, just flashbacks?) the character who was the dark lord before Sauron, and the heritage of it? The events that get the whole thing moving in the first place? I'm too far removed from reading Silmarillion to remember any other details that might hint what they're planning.

Re: Did The Lord of the Rings Series Just Reveal Valinor?

Oak — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 20:23:53 -0000

If it helps, the Twitter upload image @ 4096x2304 is nearly 4x the pixels of the Facebook image which was 2048x1152.

In the larger image the details are amazing. The design of the boats at dock, the golden intricate architecture of the domes, other beings walking around similarly robed in white, the two trees are very clear, and a distinctly short hairstyle on the foreground (antagonist?) character.

https://twitter.com/LOTRonP...

Re: Did The Lord of the Rings Series Just Reveal Valinor?

Oak — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 20:02:48 -0000

"But Melkor looked north and saw afar the shining plain, and the silver domes of Valmar gleaming in the mingling of the lights of Telperion and Laurelin."

I doubt that's Melkor in the foreground, however I suppose it could be some imagining of a 'before the fall' representation.
There's a lot of domes, which would make sense for the city of bells, and they could be silver and be coloured by the ambient golden light.
I think the clincher though is that there's definitely two trees, one dark one light.

Re: Kevin Smith Addresses The Fans Outrage Over He-Man in MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: REVELATION

Oak — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 08:45:12 -0000

Maybe, just maybe, and hear me out, maybe there is just a *little* too much energy being poured into critical assessment of a sequel to a 40 year old kids cartoon that was engineered at the time to sell toys to boys.
I'd actually encourage anyone 'angry' about this one to go back, watch the first 130 episodes and then weigh up whether the criticism of Smiths work as a direct sequel is warranted more than criticism of the original run, or the entire IP would be warranted.
The funniest comments here or anywhere are the ones that run "they're only using He-Man as a marketing lure!". Whiffing so much of irony it's unbearable, given the entire IP is marketing to sell toys.

Re: Veteran WALKING DEAD Writer/Producer Set to Showrun Anthology Spin-Off Series TALES OF THE WALKING DEAD

Oak — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 02:48:36 -0000

Put it out of our misery and fund some new programming for gods sake.

Re: Disney+ Officially Greenlights the Live-Action Gaston and LeFou BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Musical Series

Oak — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 22:49:23 -0000

On the one hand... why??!!
On the other hand, should we be encouraged that they're doing this, is it proof positive that from Disney's perspective that mixing content with serialised shows and film is working? I feel like it is, Mandalorian, WandaVision etc must have proved that, if they're branching out to something as 'fringe' as Gaston and LeFou then they must be confident.

Re: Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn Reportedly in Talks For WEDDING CRASHERS 2

Oak — Wed, 09 Jun 2021 03:28:18 -0000

Dear god no.

Re: Square Enix Ltd is Now Publishing POWERWASH SIMULATOR from FuturLab

Oak — Sun, 06 Jun 2021 19:38:57 -0000

Are they working on games in the same universe?
Loading the Dishwasher Simulator
Bringing the Garbage Bins in Simulator
Unclogging the Drains Simulator

Re: Stephen Amell and Robbie Amell Set To Star in a Sequel To Their Sci-Fi Thriller CODE 8

Oak — Thu, 03 Jun 2021 03:28:43 -0000

For a film on, lets face it a tight budget by todays standards, the first was really very good.
Could it have benefited from some additional takes to tighten up some scenes and dialogue, sure, but it was better than a lot of "more bankable" productions (can anyone genuinely say they want to see yet another Gerard Butler or Liam Neeson angry-dad action film at this point?)

Re: HBO Max Debuts FRIENDS: THE REUNION Trailer Ahead of the Premiere Later This Month'

Oak — Thu, 13 May 2021 22:06:19 -0000

During lockdowns over the past 12 months someone in the house has watched the show 2.5 times over.
The amount of cringey awful humour leveraged off destroying relationships, careers, racism and sexual assault is rank.
For friends they are really really horrible to one another and everyone around them.
At least when Seinfeld ended they played in to the fact that everyone was effectively a horrible narcissist.

Re: Alternate Cut of THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER Finale Gave Bucky The White Wolf Name

Oak — Mon, 03 May 2021 03:44:59 -0000

I think it would definitely have worked with the dual name change at the end, but from a story telling perspective I guess the show was really centred around Sam taking the Captain American mantle, so I can see they wouldn't have wanted to steal the thunder from that.

With a bit of luck they incorporate Barnes transition early in #4, or even make it a part of the full narrative.

Re: Vin Diesel to Star in Movie Adaptation of Kids Game ROCK 'EM SOCK 'EM ROBOTS

Oak — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 19:10:45 -0000

That was my exact thought (which closely followed "Why!").

Re: Let's Talk About ZACK SNYDER'S JUSTICE LEAGUE Which is an Engaging and Enjoyable Movie

Oak — Mon, 22 Mar 2021 22:23:45 -0000

I think there's an undercurrent of mistaking "better" for "good".
The movie is by most measures an improvement on the theatrical cut. Argue if it's a subtle or significant improvement, sure, but it's still an improvement.

That doesn't make it good storytelling.

Re: Windows 10 KB5001567 released to fix KB5000802 BSOD, printing issue

Oak — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 01:49:53 -0000

I assume this has fixed some BSOD issues, but I hadn't seen any of those. What I've seen tons of is "can't print at all" or "can only print the first page of a multi page doc" or "printing is missing half the page" etc. And none of those issues appear to be fixed by this out of band update. I wish I'd had BSOD issues, at least they're in your face and really clear. The other issues are all so insidious and small that they can be easily cast as "maybe I need to replace the toner" or "maybe I imagined it" and the issues aren't being reported all at once. No fix for these less catastrophic failures than uninstalling KB5000802/808 as far as I've found.

Re: Gina Carano Was Supposed to Get Her Own Cara Dune STAR WARS Series

Oak — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 18:48:12 -0000

There's history and evidence that Republicans are not being treated the same. So no, it's not "opinion", no more so than say someone saying their opinion is that the earth is flat.

You assert that she is upholding her responsibilities by standing by her opinions regardless of economic harm or public harassment. Lets put aside for a moment that she has deleted the incendiary post and how that affects your argument, you are reducing the responsibility to a single element, that of remaining steadfast to your opinions. That's a bit simplistic, don't you think? With what, around a million followers? her platform of influence means that her activity can have real world negative impact on, just a short list, the financial position of her employers and other employees, the shareholders in those companies, members of the groups (Democrats, Trans, Jews, science-affirmative mask wearers to list her most egregious social media transgressions) who subsequently face heightened threats from (undeniably) extremists emboldened by the support of a celebrity.

If you're a Libertarian I forgive you, because the fundamental belief in self-determination above all else that comes packaged with that anti-social ideology leaves little wriggle room. If you're not then you're not thinking broadly enough about the ripple impacts of untruths being disseminated to mass groups. And if you reject both of those options and you're willing to continue arguing that the "opinion" Republicans are being treated the same as Jews were by the Nazis is an opinion and valid to hold, and that a person of influence should be able to disseminate that without consequence, then I can only conclude that you are a serial debater, interested in debate for debates sake. Regardless, enjoy your free time, I'm not going to further debate with someone only interested in theory not practical. Theoretically, in a vacuum of a relationship between employee and employer only? no, people shouldn't get fired for having opinions. Practically? that may be something that can only be answered on a case by case basis, and in this case (prior warnings for conduct, followed by more conduct in breach of contract, conduct not in a vacuum and having global reach) is justified.

/exit stage right

Re: Gina Carano Was Supposed to Get Her Own Cara Dune STAR WARS Series

Oak — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 17:47:43 -0000

"Clashing ideas"? This isn't an opinion like "pineapple is fine on pizza" or "products from Goop are great". This is ideology or stupidity at best, take your pick. Equating Republicans being told to "sit down" with how the Nazi regime treatmed Jews is dismissive not of opinions but of facts, it's legitimately harmful. And it wasn't said by Carano 10 years ago, so they're facing real-time consequences not after the fact (and potential personal growth) like James Gunn did.

She's a celebrity. She has influence. If she was an accounts auditor with them she wouldn't have been fired. There's nobody bigots saying crap all day on Twitter not being fired.
She enjoys the power of influencing others, seems she doesn't appreciate the responsibility of having a large platform. Actions and consequences.

Re: Warner Bros. is Exploring Ideas For a Live-Action HARRY POTTER Series For HBO Max

Oak — Tue, 26 Jan 2021 04:36:48 -0000

What we want vs what we get..
Want: anything *post* the HP films, go any tangent you like wizard-police procedural, Quidditch Friday Night Lights, Spooks but with wizards embedded in MI5?
What we'll get: high school drama as we watch Lily & James budding relationship with angsty Severus on the sidelines trying to help Lily out, all the while we get smacked between the eyes with unsubtle foreshadowing elements for the future films.

Re: Two New Images From Zack Snyder's JUSTICE LEAGUE Surface Featuring Steppenwolf and Darkseid

Oak — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 21:13:29 -0000

um surely you, they, jest?
Those look good, for pre or mid-production concept art. If that's final or close to though? balls.

Re: Zack Snyder's Zombie Heist Movie ARMY OF THE DEAD Reveals Two New Photos and Details

Oak — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 06:20:11 -0000

I don't think anyone understands what the word "heist" means.
I mean, the movie could definitely be fun.

Re: JUSTICE LEAGUE Actor Ray Fisher Takes Aim at DC Films President Walter Hamada, Saying He Will Not Work With Him Again

Oak — Fri, 01 Jan 2021 05:23:45 -0000

Didn't Gadot and Momoa come out to say they supported Fisher, I don't recall them backing or verifying the vague accusations made by Fisher.