|
I wouldn't say he's the weakest. His character was incredibly complex between the personal story of his family and the battle with schizophrenia. Plus the whole gut wrenching twist that his parents hired a fake girl to love him messing up his grip on reality even further... He definitely shouldn't have had a love angle with Emma Stone's character that was rewarded in the end. I don't see how her coming to grips with her sister's death leads her to falling in love with Jonah Hill's character.
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2018 19:30
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 7, 2024 13:27 |
|
|
Doltos posted:He definitely shouldn't have had a love angle with Emma Stone's character that was rewarded in the end. I don't see how her coming to grips with her sister's death leads her to falling in love with Jonah Hill's character.
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2018 19:34
|
|
|
Whalley posted:Y'all keep saying love angle but the show explicitly said they're friends, not lovers, multiple times, including Stone outright rejecting and being grossed out by the friend-analog replacement for Hill.
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2018 23:48
|
|
|
Jonah Hill's characters could have all worn fedoras. fedorahawk.jpg
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2018 00:05
|
|
|
Tiggum posted:What would be the point of that though? It would mean that instead of seeing their dreamworlds in the context of their real lives we'd been seeing them in the context of another dreamworld and we'd have no idea of who they were in reality or what any of it had meant for them. Well on the other hand, what was the point of the red herring of them living out alternate lives and realities while living in a real world that is an alternate of our own? It's just hanging out there in front of us, and then it turns out it's just a design choice by the production team. It does serve a function of holding a mirror up to our current society and showing how alienating modern life is by showing us a version that is the same but different. And a version we haven't been slowly drawn into over a period of 20 years. But in the context of the rest of the show it seems like plot point that would be followed up on.
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2018 03:54
|
|
|
Astroman posted:Well on the other hand, what was the point of the red herring of them living out alternate lives and realities while living in a real world that is an alternate of our own? It's just hanging out there in front of us, and then it turns out it's just a design choice by the production team.
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2018 05:08
|
|
|
Tiggum posted:It seems like you answered your own question? It's not a red herring, it's done to indirectly comment on aspects of the real world by altering them. It's kind of what science fiction is all about. I get why they did it; it just took me out of it because the entire thing was about altered realities, and in a typical story like that there would be a twist that they are in some other level of reality. I was just expecting that and in a way it made me miss the real ending, because I thought a "real ending" was coming that never did. It might have worked better without that. It wouldn't have been as visually striking, but it might have put more focus on the story. Maybe some people got right from the beginning that the altered world they were in was allegorical and symbolic for the purpose of meta commentary on our world, but I was a bit slow on the draw on that I guess...I thought it was going to be part of the plot. I can't believe I'm the only one who thought that way.
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2018 06:17
|
|
|
Their wires were literally crossed. They had no choice but to experience that poo poo with each other, and the downcast drippings of Dr. Mantleray. Owen was projecting a need for a greater purpose and Annie was infuriated by the idea of a greater purpose. Her sister was full of hope and died. Owen sees hope as collateral for catastrophe. The other participants weren’t able to get past their issues because they only had computerized experiences. The entire aesthetic is dehumanizing, with payday-loan-store doxxing and IRL internet friends. I think their interactions prior to the trial were important. They were always living in the same world. Edit: sorry, I feel like I should have said “the delicious dr mantleray”
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2018 06:39
|
|
|
Two things about the 80s episode that I liked: the payoff of the “bulletproof furs” joke, and the fur store being in the same strip mall as Crazy Eddie and Beefsteak Charlie
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2018 17:40
|
|
|
Bit late to the party and I'm not going to repeat others, but holy poo poo does Sonoya Mizuno win some sort of award on posture alone. Between that and her chain-smoking, you just get the character from those two traits alone.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2018 01:53
|
|
|
Whalley posted:Y'all keep saying love angle but the show explicitly said they're friends, not lovers, multiple times, including Stone outright rejecting and being grossed out by the friend-analog replacement for Hill. I like that they even broached the concept of platonic soul-mates. Whether real or circumstantial, it was refreshing to see the show not force them into a romance.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2018 14:53
|
|
|
tao of lmao posted:I like that they even broached the concept of platonic soul-mates. Whether real or circumstantial, it was refreshing to see the show not force them into a romance. They also leave the door open for romance as well--there's no direct awkward stating of "YES, IT IS GOOD THAT WE ARE NON SEXUAL FRIENDS" or anything like that. The viewer can choose to interpret their future as they wish. For me, I'd say they are both some pretty damaged people relationshipwise, so they would be in no hurry to get sexual. And at the same time, they have quasi-memories of dozens of full lives together, so again no hurry to jump in. I imagine after awhile they'd eventually be more than friends. But again, it's up to the viewer. 
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2018 23:43
|
|
|
Astroman posted:there's no direct awkward stating of "YES, IT IS GOOD THAT WE ARE NON SEXUAL FRIENDS" or anything like that. There pretty much was though? I mean, sure, hypothetically that could change in the future. Anything can happen. But that's just you writing fanfiction.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2018 01:18
|
|
|
Astroman posted:They also leave the door open for romance as well--there's no direct awkward stating of "YES, IT IS GOOD THAT WE ARE NON SEXUAL FRIENDS" or anything like that. The viewer can choose to interpret their future as they wish.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2018 03:10
|
|
|
Whalley posted:The viewer can do whatever. The show said in exact words, in response to the idea of romance in the real world between Hill and Stone, "oh I guess I must have read into that wrong" I read that as she was disgusted at the idea she had hired some guy to pretend to be Owen, and that Owen would probably not delare his love for her in that sort of forced way. Is there some reason it would be so amazeballs if these two were just friendzoned forever? Is that some new ideal we should strive for in media and life?
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2018 03:19
|
|
|
Astroman posted:I read that as she was disgusted at the idea she had hired some guy to pretend to be Owen, and that Owen would probably not delare his love for her in that sort of forced way. Absolutely. Normalize platonic friendships between men and women. gently caress that When Harry Met Sally bullshit. Let them be friends.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2018 03:27
|
|
|
Astroman posted:Is there some reason it would be so amazeballs if these two were just friendzoned forever? Is that some new ideal we should strive for in media and life?
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2018 03:48
|
|
|
Astroman posted:Is there some reason it would be so amazeballs if these two were just friendzoned forever? Is that some new ideal we should strive for in media and life? Er, platonic relationships can be way more rewarding than romantic ones if it's between the right people. Not everything needs loving to be good.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2018 05:59
|
|
|
loving or not I still don't understand why they're even friends in the first place. Emma Stone's character had her own journey to go on and she just happened to get cross-wired with the psychotic dude who thought she was a sleeper cell. Feels kind of pathetic, like she feels bad for Jonah Hill's character enough that she has to be friends with him.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2018 07:49
|
|
|
Doltos posted:loving or not I still don't understand why they're even friends in the first place. Emma Stone's character had her own journey to go on and she just happened to get cross-wired with the psychotic dude who thought she was a sleeper cell. Feels kind of pathetic, like she feels bad for Jonah Hill's character enough that she has to be friends with him. I mean they shared countless of dreams and memories together. We only saw a small handful, but it was explicitly mentioned that they had way way more. And in each dream/memory they already “knew” each other in various ways. So imagine sharing so many intimate moments together over and over and over and over again and it makes sense. I thought even the last line was something like “do we really even know each other?” and now they get to find out.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2018 11:01
|
|
|
They implied that Annie is gay a couple of times, so that might put a downer on the romance angle.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2018 16:55
|
|
|
Boris Galerkin posted:I mean they shared countless of dreams and memories together. We only saw a small handful, but it was explicitly mentioned that they had way way more. And in each dream/memory they already “knew” each other in various ways. So imagine sharing so many intimate moments together over and over and over and over again and it makes sense. I thought even the last line was something like “do we really even know each other?” and now they get to find out. That makes sense then I guess. Almost makes me wish there was a second season to this show just to figure out where they go once the 'fairy tale' is over.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2018 22:15
|
|
|
The show kind of got less interesting towards the end. I didn't like the first episode with the fantasy narrative and mob family and when I saw it was crossing into the next episode I was even more disappointed. The initial setup of the doctors, test subjects, and experiments was so intriguing that once I got straightforward answers as to what everything was, I lost interest. The first four episodes were so great that even though the rest of the series was good, it couldn't recapture the magic of those episodes.
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2018 00:39
|
|
|
I really liked this show, not sure why....man is it weird. Great acting. This wouldn't get a chance anywhere but Netflix.
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2018 16:19
|
|
|
LifeLynx posted:The show kind of got less interesting towards the end. I didn't like the first episode with the fantasy narrative and mob family and when I saw it was crossing into the next episode I was even more disappointed. The initial setup of the doctors, test subjects, and experiments was so intriguing that once I got straightforward answers as to what everything was, I lost interest. The first four episodes were so great that even though the rest of the series was good, it couldn't recapture the magic of those episodes. I agree... This was a fun ride, but some of the dream episodes just weren't that interesting (Jonah Hill's cholo dream was real boring). I don't say this about a lot of shows but I think it could have benefited from another month in the writer's room. Take this interesting narrative full of recurring images and themes, and actually give them some weight and meaning instead of just throwing them around all over the place. Things like rubik's cubes, don quixote, owls, opening safes, existing continents vs lost continents, and lots of other things that recur never really seem to hint towards anything. They just keep popping up for the sake of it. Sure that's what happens in a dream, but in such a heavily written and well-done show you'd expect at least one or two of these things to symbolize something. Because of this, the whole show feels like Just A Bunch Of Stuff That Happened while it also skirts very close toward Meaningful Allegory but never really gets there, which kind of bugs me. This thought aside, I loved Maniac and have been recommending it to people. I can't reasonably fault it for NOT accomplishing something.
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2018 16:51
|
|
|
I enjoyed the story but absolutely loved the visuals. It's like that whole "every frame a painting" thing. You could pause it almost anywhere, print it, and hang it on your wall. What's the industry term for that? Visual aesthetic? Cinematography? Set design? What's it called when everything is so drat pretty?
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2018 12:22
|
|
|
Untrustable posted:I enjoyed the story but absolutely loved the visuals. It's like that whole "every frame a painting" thing. You could pause it almost anywhere, print it, and hang it on your wall. What's the industry term for that? Visual aesthetic? Cinematography? Set design? What's it called when everything is so drat pretty? Mise-en-scčne.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2018 12:45
|
|
|
Wikipedia posted:Mise-en-scène has been called film criticism's "grand undefined term". Makes sense. Thanks for teaching me a thing!
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2018 13:26
|
|
|
Untrustable posted:Makes sense. Thanks for teaching me a thing! I knew that film studies degree would come in handy one day.
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2018 14:22
|
|
|
Doltos posted:That makes sense then I guess. Almost makes me wish there was a second season to this show just to figure out where they go once the 'fairy tale' is over. There isn’t a S2? Oh 
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2018 15:41
|
|
|
"Gas up the Miata" I don't know why this line made me laugh so hard.
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2018 01:46
|
|
|
Miatas are funny cars.
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2018 02:51
|
|
|
Doltos posted:loving or not I still don't understand why they're even friends in the first place. Emma Stone's character had her own journey to go on and she just happened to get cross-wired with the psychotic dude who thought she was a sleeper cell. Feels kind of pathetic, like she feels bad for Jonah Hill's character enough that she has to be friends with him. This is kind of my take on it. As soon as their connections got soldered together (which I had to go back and verify were numbered 1 and 9 despite being all out of order) I figured this was the crux of the show that all further understanding would hinge upon. Had I missed that detail though, even with the heavy-handed but somehow easy to miss if you blinked exposition, I probably would have been lost. When episode 9 ended I was looking forward to an even more intense denouement in episode 10 that really didn't materialize. I can understand they'd want to maintain some sort of friendship after an ordeal like that, but breaking a schizo from a mental ward after meeting him in a drug trial seems entirely too rash and impulsive for me get on board with. Also I was not expecting Hank Azaria to pop up in the last episode. His dynamic with Annie reminded me of Marc Maron's dynamic with Justine on GLOW for some reason, but his inclusion seemed more extraneous and weird to me than if it had been literally anyone else without his accolades. I've yet to see any comparisons drawn to Wes Anderson in this thread but right from the get-go I was seeing it through a Blade Runner meets Life Aquatic lens that I couldn't shake, and later on in the elevator scene when the door opened up on the older woman's blood-soaked reverse-gravity nightmare I saw some of the psychological aspects in retrospect through a kind of Kubrick prism. On that note, I was a huge fan of how the depth of field would shift slightly every time the focal point changed in a shot. I'm not a camera geek or anything but I know enough to know you NEVER see that anymore. I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt that they were using period correct film equipment to give it that 80s feel, which really paid off for me for something so relatively inconsequential. All things considered, sometimes I wonder why I'm paying $10/month for Netflix when I go for weeks or months without really watching it. Then they drop something awesome like this and I go "oh yeah, that's why. I'm a little upset with myself that I watched it 100% sober with no weed involved tho cuz drat. XYZAB fucked around with this message at 11:16 on Oct 15, 2018 |
|
#
?
Oct 15, 2018 11:13
|
|
|
'twas a very good weed show
|
|
#
?
Oct 15, 2018 16:40
|
|
|
Started watching yesterday, trying to puzzle out the story has been a trip. I am on ep 5. Got to say I don't care about the Azumi actress. I am not getting anything out of her. I don't like the completely fantasy episode like the lemur. Feels like a throw away side quest in an Assassin's Creed game. I hope I am wrong. My favorite thing is the setting. 80s steampunk? Not sure what to call it. tino fucked around with this message at 13:01 on Jan 13, 2019 |
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2019 12:52
|
|
|
I think it’s CRT punk
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2019 16:08
|
|
|
I don't know if I made this term up or heard it somewhere, but I call this kind of thing "future past". Like, the aesthetic of a historical period but with advanced technology.
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2019 16:13
|
|
|
According to my Lexitron 600, the hip lingo for it is "retro-futurism."
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2019 17:25
|
|
|
The show started strong but kinda flopped at the end. I hope more shows don't have cell phones or LCD Monitors, both ruin sci-fi somehow
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2019 20:08
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 7, 2024 13:27 |
|
|
ynohtna posted:According to my Lexitron 600, the hip lingo for it is "retro-futurism." It's this. Though, "cyberpunk" basically is "80's retro-futurism" at this point. Scifi futurist poo poo now seems to all look like Black Mirror, with monolithic glass and steel and holograms everywhere.
|
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2019 22:23
|
|
