What Are You Watching?, Films and TV Options

[Mata]

Well, we've got other threads like this, so let's continue the set.

There are actually quite a lot of series that I'm enjoying at the moment:

Startrek: Enterprise (season 4, 3 was good, four is working out very well. They're finally in their stride and it's a shame that this is the last one)

Alias (season 4, it could do with the Rimbaldi plotline again in my opinion, without it it's still a very stylish spy thriller, but it's lost some of the heart I think)

Dead Like Me (season 2, it's a slow burner this series, but it just keeps getting better. Well worth sticking with and this season has had some real laugh-out-loud moments as well as some genuinely emotional bits. Great stuff.)

Smallville (season 4 I think, maybe 3. Things have got a bit silly this time around, but it's still enjoyable watching all the pretty people, and a bad episode of this is still ten times better than a good episode of something like Mutant X.)

24 (season 4, perhaps this is losing it's way a bit, but I still enjoy how preposterous the whole thing is. Great fun.)

Doctor Who (season umpteen, just fantastic)

I think the last film I saw at the cinema was Constantine, which I really loved. CGI, angels and demons, Keanu Reeves... Great stuff. Just my kind of film!

So, what have you been watching?

[Mata]

Personally I find the whole Cloud City thing rather dull. At least the new versions have some nice stuff outside the windows to look at.

I've always enjoyed the Star Wars films, but I can't say I've ever found myself thinking about them when they're not on. They're alright to have on in the background, or watch in the company of others, but I doubt I'm ever going to sit down and watch them. They're just not interesting! The pacing is terrible most of the time, which is something they have in common with the latter Matrix films. I'm not even bothering to include Ep.s I and II, because that would be unfair, but I do find Ep. IV rather dull. They get better, but there still isn't much brain food in there. I stand by my assertion that they're basically rubbish balancing precariously on a classic plot. When Lucas stepped away from that plot for Ep. I and II it fell apart completely, but Ep. III goes back to it, and is clearly the strongest of them all.

ShadowWolfenNinja, Joseph Campbell was a guy who studied global mythology and came up with a basic structure for all narratives that they all adhere to. In some ways I feel mean for telling you this because it shows how shallow most narratives really are in their structure, but when you see a really good film it will demonstrate how much flexibility it really has. So, here's the short form of the hero story from http://www.skepticfiles.org/atheist2/hero.htm

The hero is introduced in his ordinary world, where he receives the
call to adventure. He is reluctant at first but is encouraged by
the wise old man or woman to cross the first threshold, where he
encounters tests and helpers. He reaches the innermost cave, where
he endures the supreme ordeal. He seizes the sword or the treasure
and is pursued on the road back to his world. He is resurrected and
transformed by his experience. He returns to his ordinary world with
a treasure, boon, or elixir to benefit his world.

Each stage is explained on the website. It's a useful analytical tool. When film-makers stray from this pattern they really have to be in complete control otherwise things just meander aimlessly. Sometimes they do that intentionally, but usually it's through misguided ambition.