I actually found it to be alright in the end. After all the slagging off it was given, I went in with low expectations and ended up finding it fun. I think one thing is that Steampunk is a small niche, and they were at least 2 years late to the party to boot.
But, we all see things different ways, and not every movie clicks. I can’t get further than half way through Captain Marvel without turning it off.
Hellboy (2019)
Lol
Its kinda terrible but fun at the same time. Reviews that called it all over the place were dead right but David Harbour somewhat pulls it through.
The CGI, of which there is lots, is nearly always pretty bad. The standard is cheapy TV show rather than movie blockbuster. If the budget was that stretched they’d have been better going for less bling and making the places they used CGI more thought-out. The flame effects on Hellboy with crown and sword though are great. Some of the rampaging monsters later on are just wonderful. Most are not.
Lots of swearing. I laughed at this as I remember at least one review complaining about this. It fits, its fine.
Terrifun.
It sounds like one of those films where they use a quantity of foul language, or sexual references to try to earn it an "R" rating. I have not seen the film, bur it sounds like something they should have left on the cutting room floor .Pretty confident people’s faces getting ripped open would get it an R without that so its not about using it for such.
The century of self
how Freud and others psychoanalytic theories have been applied by businesses to shape society as it is today…
Straw man presentation yes…but makes interesting points
Drink dos equuis
I just realised that nearly all the stuff I’m looking forward to seeing is via TV/Streaming. There’s very little that’s upcoming cinema-wise that I really care about. ScFi-wise, streaming services are beating the crap out of cinema these days.
Some flicks I caught/rewatched recently:
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - 8/10 - Quite a good flick. Very slow crawl, with a classic Tarantino payoff.
Mandy - 10/10 - probably my fifth watch. Still a masterpiece, could be my favorite film right now.
Total Recall (remake) Director’s Cut - 7/10 - more fun to look at then indulge.
Blade Runner 2049 - 10/10 - my 2nd viewing since it came out. It was better than I remember, could be one of the best films I’ve seen in the past decade. Vilineuve is the modern Scifi master. Can’t wait for Dune. Also, I’m pretty sure Deckard has to be a replicant.
Christ the audio on the blu-ray version of Avengers Endgame is bad, specifically the speech dubbing. It sounds exactly like recorded in a vocal booth then the all the wrong amounts of reverb applied to it for any given setting. Really noticeable and annoying.
My setup had problems with the wide range between the loud and quiet. I like dynamics as much as the next guy, but I don’t want to have to ride my volume remote to have a comfortable experience the whole movie. Even my parents complained and they usually just get the quiet parts comfortable and suffer through the loud stuff.
I wish. Actually, is that a thing home theater people do? I got my parents a Bose system almost 10 years ago now (open box, was the cheapest thing in the store when I went) with everything built in and called it done. Little 2.1 system that I have to admit sounds fantastic, probably better than anything I could have done in the given space with the given budget at the time. All that is to say I don’t go all in on home theater like some.
I think it’s probably something people like us do, just because we know what a compressor is and what to do with it.
I do think most modern mid-to-high end theater systems come with some kind of DSP, and that’ll include some kind of dynamic range processing (ie compression), the simplest of which would be a ‘night mode’. That tends to raise the level of dialog while normalizing the background stuff like explosions and whatnot.
I’m not an AV guy by any stretch (I have one 22" TV I turn on for weather emergencies sometimes), so I don’t really know the ins and outs. I’d be the dude trying to run it through an outboard compressor because I don’t know any better. 
I know there are some people who obsess over their AV stuff like audiophiles do over their stereos, so actually some consumer focused surround sound processors that let you tailor the experience to your wants/needs a bit sounds like something that only doesn’t exist because no one’s been masochistic enough to resign themselves to designing a 22-channel compressor… yet.
Yeh, some kind of EQ and compressors seems to be standard. You’ll see the label for the setting described as Clear Voice, Music, Movie, etc but you can also usually customise1 the settings too. I was watching Endgame on my PC and the voice EQ and reverb didn’t match most of the environments in which the action was taking place. Volume levels were fine though.
not my favorite…
…
but it did have some of the most brutal fucking kill scenes of all time, damn.
It Chapter Two:
If not to talk about cool 3D graphics, then the film itself is dull. But 3D saves everything. Funny picture.
John Wick 1,2 & 3:
Got the Parabellum blu ray so binged all 3 together at the weekend. Jolly good brutal fun. By the end of Parabellum though was a bit tired of the endless fights. The last couple in Parabellum went on a bit long. That minor crit aside, bloody good fun. Love the myriad euphemisms “dinner reservations for 12”, “I’d like a tasting”, etc.
Giggled like a loon at the Matrix callback when asked what Wick would need, “Guns, lots of guns.”
Clone Wars:
Up to re-watching S4 now. Holy crackers this is still great. Am at the Umbaran campaign and its nothing short of brutal. The bodycount in this TV series is mahoosive for a cartoon. Beats the crap out of any of the prequel movies.