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Thread: Love, Death + Robots (Fincher produced)

  1. #1
    collecting tapes Skitch's Avatar
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    Love, Death + Robots (Fincher produced)


  2. #2
    collecting tapes Skitch's Avatar
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    1: Sonnie’s Edge - What a way to kick off this anthology. Doesn’t hold back on the R ratedness. Love the way it ended, one part expected, extra spin I loved. I hope theres more this sci-fi.

    2. Three Robots – Okay…this was a little lighter toned but still quite funny.

    3. The Witness – Oh holy shit we are back to the adult material. Wow. Loved the nightmarish Twilight Zone-type story.

    4. Suits – Enjoying the animation style change up. This was fun and could see this premise being a video game any second now. Cool creepy creatures.

    5. Sucker of Souls – Another new cartoony animation style, but this ep didn’t hold back on the violence. Excellent entry. Made maximum use of short runtime.

    6. When the Yogurt Took Over – Another comedy entry with light animation tone. Hilarious because of how true it is.

    7. Beyond the Aquilla Rift – Now we return to the near photorealistic computer animation of the first entry. This space adventure feels very Alien-verse but changes to a psychological horror show. Very high marks.

    8. Good Hunting – This starts off as deep rooted Asian mythology, and shifts to corrupted steam punk with several moments of extreme nudity and gore. The conclusion is sad but satisfying. One of the best so far.

    9. The Dump – This was an amusing short, its biggest flaw simply being overshadowed.

    10. Shape Shifters – Back to the photorealistic style, this time with military in Afghanistan and using some sort of animal human hybrids. The real life military implications are bothersome, but the story is diverting enough. Really enjoyed.

    11. Helping Hand – Another photorealistic. This one is really well done but I’m curious about some of the sciency stuff here. Not a deal breaker. Did have to look away at that one moment. Yikes.

    12. Fish Night – Another wonderfully colorful slice of Twilight Zone.

    13. Lucky 13 – Photorealistic. Really liked this story with some terrific action and a very sly A.I. undercurrent. Cool stuff.

    14. Zima Blue – My least favorite so far. It had a cool animation style and the story was interesting enough, but this was PG rated and had a rather bewildering ending.

    15. Blindspot – A neat little heist action short, with some good laughs. Would’ve had more weight if we knew what or why they were after whatever.

    16. Ice Age – Whoa, didn’t expect the Tim Miller entry to be mostly live action. This was cool idea and well executed…but they did something similar in an episode of Star Trek Voyager many years ago.

    17. Alternate Histories – Another comedic entry that quite amusing.

    18. Secret War – Ending strong on a final photorealistic entry. The animation on these are just incredible. Here they throw in some crazy demon creatures and the blood flows strong. Creepy cool alt-history story.

    Tops:

    8. The Witness
    7. Sucker of Souls
    6. Secret War
    5. Lucky 13
    4. Sonnie’s Edge
    3. Shape Shifters
    2. Good Hunting
    1. Beyond the Aquilla Rift

  3. #3
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    Great write-ups, Skitch! I generally thought the first half was better than the second, with "The Dump" being the dividing line. My tops in bold.

    1: Sonnie’s Edge - Went in with low expectations, thought I knew was this gonna be ("Oh, a cyberpunk Fight Club meets War World, okay, fine, I guess..."). I was wrong, and the payoff left me giddy.

    2. Three Robots – Funny with good animation and vocal performances but it's an exposition dump masquerading as a short story. Also highly derivative --- and of some pretty famous print sci-fi --- but it's based on something by Scalzi so that's no surprise.

    3. The Witness – The guy who wrote and directed this is a first-timer; previously he'd been in the art department on "Spider-verse" and "Tron: Uprising." I was absolutely stunned by how confident he was with the camera and how smoothly this was animated. It's a frantic chase across a futuristic city but we never get lost in that space and it's always clear exactly what's happening, despite the almost complete lack of dialogue and context.

    4. Suits– Reminiscent of Into the Breach and a lotta fun (the game already exists, Skitch, and you should play it!). They got a lot of tension out of a very simple premise. Well served by its place in the roster, which makes its style and story a nice change of pace after entries like "Sonnie's Edge" and "The Witness."

    5. Sucker of Souls – I got a huge kick out of the characters and the voice acting and thought the action was nicely done. This was the first one that made me think they coulda used tighter editorial control over the entire show. It's another story about Bug Eyed Monsters coming through a hole in the world to threaten human kind, and it plays like single action scene taken from larger story. (Setting an unfortunate trend for the entire series. Cf especially: "Blindspot" and "Secret War.")

    6. When the Yogurt Took Over – Funny but another exposition dump masquerading as a story. Another Scalzi story, ugh.

    7. Beyond the Aquilla Rift – The one that made me think there's more sex and blood in this show than I've seen at the movies over the last dozen years. Terrific build-up, great animation, creepy as hell. The payoff is so-so because it's so damn familiar.

    8. Good Hunting – Memorable because of the way it mixes folklore and scifi. Terribly rushed execution, like they crammed and hour's worth of story into 10 minutes. I wish they had taken the time to tell the story properly. There are a few moments where the narrative actually says something about the world and technology.

    9. The Dump – I liked the animation and the setting but the reveal is pretty silly. It's fine. Mostly harmless.

    10. Shape Shifters – Pretty good premise. The political implications around the setting made me uncomfortable, and not in an entertaining way; it very nearly in bad taste. It's also another short built mostly around a single fight scene.

    11. Helping Hand – Good because it's self-contained, introduces a new idea, and covers its subject well. It does a helluva lot in a very limited runtime. The premise is my worst nightmare and several of the beats had me squirming in my chair and holding my breath.

    12. Fish Night– Short to the point of feeling truncated. I guess there weren't many places they could take the premise but holy shit who cares because what a great premise it is. This was a terrific idea. Pure fantasy with a touch of wonder to it. I loved the line that starts out with, "If humans could haunt a house, what if ..."

    13. Lucky 13 – Another short based in unquestioned militarism -- I mean, they only have 10 minutes, so whatever --- but this is mostly an endless voiceover and very little character and action. It's like an entry into a post-9/11 version of "Amazing Stories." I feel as if every TV fantasy anthology that's come around has been over this same ground time and again. (eg: "Twlight Zone, "Outer Limits," etc.)

    14. Zima Blue – Really distinctive animation style but unfortunately more endless voiceover and huge exposition dumps. They totally botched the execution. Which is a shame because the central idea, revealed at the very end, is wonderful. This is good sci-fi that coulda been great sci-fi if they'd taken their time.

    15. Blindspot – More terrific animation. I loved the style. But another short that plays like an action scene clipped from a bigger movie. The payoff lacks context; I wasn't given a chance to really know anything about the characters so I didn't care about what happened to them.

    16. Ice Age – Yeah. This was terrible. The entire show was Tim Miller's baby and I don't understand why he chose to direct this short. It's an old, old concept --- decades old --- and I swear to God, the fucking thing was parodied successfully in an episode of "Rick and Morty." It's tough to come back from that, and worse, this episode doesn't try. They take the core idea, play it straight, and do nothing new with it.

    17. Alternate Histories – Yeah. Also terrible. There's potential in the premise but the execution is too glib. Not surprised it's based on another Scalzi story. Why did they option so much work from him? Were they desperate for comic relief?

    18. Secret War – Might have been cooler if it did anything more than what we've already seen, but it doesn't. Cf: "Suits," "Sucker of Souls," "Shapeshifters," "Lucky 13." So yay, more Bug Eyed Monsters facing off against resolute locals? The Russian angle also doesn't add anything. After 3 hours of shorts, I was just tired, and this one left me feeling restless and bored.

  4. #4
    collecting tapes Skitch's Avatar
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    Wow. We were pretty damn close in our reactions to these and especially close in the ones we cared about. I may sound more forgiving but I whipped that write up round up together in about 10 frantic minutes of speed typing (thanks to parenting demands).
    Last edited by Skitch; 03-19-2019 at 05:44 AM.

  5. #5
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    The good episodes were very good and the bad ones were forgivable (and at least short).

    Toss up between "The Witness" and "Sonnie's Edge" for my favorite.

    I wish they had broken it out into two separate ~90 minute seasons and also turned off the auto-forward between episodes. It woulda been nice to see some titles and credits so we'd know what we were watching. I kept pausing to look up things up on Wikipedia, because some of the individual episodes were so strong I was yelling "WHO MADE THIS???" in disbelief at the screen.

    I'm less forgiving toward bald exposition when it's badly done. The whole "show don't tell" thing is a sticking point, especially with short subjects.

    But anyway I hope they do this again, and soon, with a different crop of writers and directors just to mix it up and push forward.

  6. #6
    Sunrise, Sunset Wryan's Avatar
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    Since I don't have Netflix anymore, I don't really keep up on all the hot-topic items (I only caught the cultural "Bird Box arc" because I was home on holiday at the time, ditto all the Black Mirror episodes I had missed). I had thought these were live action but I just watched the trailer. This shit is so up my alley (pardon the euphemism), so I'll need to track these down to watch.
    "How is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home wine-making course and forgot how to drive?"

    --Homer

  7. #7
    A Platypus Grouchy's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Irish (view post)
    also turned off the auto-forward between episodes. It woulda been nice to see some titles and credits so we'd know what we were watching. I kept pausing to look up things up on Wikipedia, because some of the individual episodes were so strong I was yelling "WHO MADE THIS???" in disbelief at the screen.
    Eh, I think that's just your configurations. End credits showed up for me.

    I started it last night and watched non-stop until Lucky 13 at which point I just had to go to sleep, but I'm mighty pleased this exist .

  8. #8
    The Pan Spinal's Avatar
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    Oh hey, someone finally did Heavy Metal except good. Watched the first 3 last night and I'm looking forward to watching more.
    Coming to America (Landis, 1988) **
    The Beach Bum (Korine, 2019) *1/2
    Us (Peele, 2019) ***1/2
    Fugue (Smoczynska, 2018) ***1/2
    Prisoners (Villeneuve, 2013) ***1/2
    Shadow (Zhang, 2018) ***
    Oslo, August 31st (J. Trier, 2011) ****
    Climax (Noé, 2018) **1/2
    Fighting With My Family (Merchant, 2019) **
    Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013) ***

  9. #9
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    Quote Quoting Grouchy (view post)
    Eh, I think that's just your configurations. End credits showed up for me.
    Autoplay has been on by default for ~6 years:

    https://www.engadget.com/2012/08/15/...-play-ps3-web/

    You couldn't disable it until a year after they implemented the feature:

    https://www.techhive.com/article/209...y-feature.html

    Maybe Netflix works differently where you are ... or maybe you just turned it off?

    Anyway, my settings weren't the point.

  10. #10
    The Pan Spinal's Avatar
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    Suits gave me really bad Starcraft flashbacks.
    Coming to America (Landis, 1988) **
    The Beach Bum (Korine, 2019) *1/2
    Us (Peele, 2019) ***1/2
    Fugue (Smoczynska, 2018) ***1/2
    Prisoners (Villeneuve, 2013) ***1/2
    Shadow (Zhang, 2018) ***
    Oslo, August 31st (J. Trier, 2011) ****
    Climax (Noé, 2018) **1/2
    Fighting With My Family (Merchant, 2019) **
    Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013) ***

  11. #11
    A Platypus Grouchy's Avatar
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    Yeah, I turned it off. I doubt it'd be even legal if they didn't allow you a way to watch the credits of a production.

  12. #12
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    Quote Quoting Deadline
    Netflix has a way of presenting you with shows that you might like based on movies and TV shows that you have watched before. Now the streaming giant has been called out for shuffling episode orders of certain shows based on…your sexual orientation.

    The issue of this very specific personalization of streaming interests first came up when Lukas Thoms of Out in Tech noticed that episode order of Netflix’s animated anthology Love, Death & Robots changes with each person. He posted a side by side comparison of his episode order for the series and his friend’s. On his account, the first episode on the list is “Sonnie’s Edge” which features a lesbian storyline while his friend’s list is ” Beyond the Aquila Rift” which features “explicit hetero sex.”

    [...]

    Thoms did a deep dive into this interesting issue and found out his other gay friends had the same experience. “We’ve known for a while that Netflix personalized the marketing of their shows based on sexual orientation (trailers, cover images etc) but it’s next level weird to change the actual experience of watching it,” he wrote.
    BREAKING: SKITCH AND I ARE BOTH GAY

    UPDATE: NETFLIX DENIES IT

  13. #13
    A Platypus Grouchy's Avatar
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    I got the gay episode order too.

  14. #14
    collecting tapes Skitch's Avatar
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    Lmao okay. I'm sexually secure. I definitely have a penchant for gay cinema, but i am without a doubt straight. Boring, I know, but yam what I yam. Love stories from the other side though.

  15. #15
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    You guys are sending me mixed messages. Is the threesome on or off then?

  16. #16
    collecting tapes Skitch's Avatar
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    Oh I'm in for sure.

  17. #17
    A Platypus Grouchy's Avatar
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    You only live once.

  18. #18
    The Pan Spinal's Avatar
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    Yes, because hetero men are well known to be turned off by hot animated sci-fi babes getting it on.
    Coming to America (Landis, 1988) **
    The Beach Bum (Korine, 2019) *1/2
    Us (Peele, 2019) ***1/2
    Fugue (Smoczynska, 2018) ***1/2
    Prisoners (Villeneuve, 2013) ***1/2
    Shadow (Zhang, 2018) ***
    Oslo, August 31st (J. Trier, 2011) ****
    Climax (Noé, 2018) **1/2
    Fighting With My Family (Merchant, 2019) **
    Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013) ***

  19. #19
    The Pan Spinal's Avatar
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    I loved that Beyond the Aquilla Rift was disturbing without using graphic violence.
    Coming to America (Landis, 1988) **
    The Beach Bum (Korine, 2019) *1/2
    Us (Peele, 2019) ***1/2
    Fugue (Smoczynska, 2018) ***1/2
    Prisoners (Villeneuve, 2013) ***1/2
    Shadow (Zhang, 2018) ***
    Oslo, August 31st (J. Trier, 2011) ****
    Climax (Noé, 2018) **1/2
    Fighting With My Family (Merchant, 2019) **
    Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013) ***

  20. #20
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    You're my kind of perverts

  21. #21
    Second star to the right [ETM]'s Avatar
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    Just binged this in one sitting. I kind of expected more but I largely agree with Irish on the individual stories, as well as the overall conclusion: the good ones vere really good, and the rest were at least nice to look at. Could have done without Alternate Histories, Dump and maybe one or two of the rest, but other than that - yeah.

    Sent from my Mi 9 Lite using Tapatalk

  22. #22
    Replacing Luck Since 1984 Dukefrukem's Avatar
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    I forgot this was out.
    Twitch / Youtube / Film Diary

    Quote Quoting D_Davis (view post)
    Uwe Boll movies > all Marvel U movies
    Quote Quoting TGM (view post)
    I work in grocery. I have not gotten sick. My fellow employees have not gotten sick. If the virus were even remotely as contagious as its being presented as, why haven’t entire store staffs who come into contact with hundreds of people per day, thousands per week, all falling ill in mass nationwide?

  23. #23
    Fish Night was downright Spielbergian.
    Last Seen:
    Pantheon, S2 (C. Silverstein, 2023) ☆
    Pantheon, S1 (C. Silverstein, 2022)
    Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garc?a (S. Peckinpah, 1974)
    Crouching Tiger, Hidden, Dragon (A. Lee, 2000)
    Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (J. McNaughton, 1986) ☆
    Blowup (M. Antonioni, 1966) ☆
    Io capitano (M. Garrone, 2023) ☆
    Raging Bull (M. Scorsese, 1980)
    Network (S. Lumet, 1976) ☆
    Sideways (A. Payne, 2004) ☆

    First time ☆

  24. #24
    collecting tapes Skitch's Avatar
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    I'm ready to watch this again.

  25. #25
    Quote Quoting Skitch (view post)
    I'm ready to watch this again.
    I did, still great. Part 2 is coming soon

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