At work, I hear a lot of people discussing The Avengers or Game of Thrones. I'm mildly surprised there's no threads that I see about them here.
They're not my bag, but this has me thinking that they're more of a coastal thing than roadgeekdom is.
It's because they're movies/shows for people who don't appreciate art.
I'll tell you one thing Avengers is good at: abusing CGI and refusing to use practical effects
I've read the five Fire and Ice books, and kept up on the TV series. But for spoilers and to prevent subject matter dilution, I don't have any online interest in the discussion. The filming locations, set design, lighting, and costumes are wonderful eye candy to offset some of the brutality. The characters are mostly complex, and the couple of us at work who follow the series enjoy discussing the characters; it's fun to see which ones are a co-workers' faves, and sometimes it's surprising how they don't fit their personalities, or hearing about their favorite love-to-hate and hate-to-love cast.
Hmmm...there was a lot of talk about Westeros' well-worn Rose Road in the first few books, how the Freys had their own private toll bridge, and crumbling Wall infrastructure, I can't think too much that would pass for on-topic discussion...
I spent a lot of time in the 1980s and 1990s reading Marvel comics so from that aspect the movies interest me. The CGI is a problem with modern movies in general, it has become easier to do CG over practical effects. At minimum the Marvel stuff being put out today is worlds better than the majority of the super hero movies that were cranked out in the 80s/90s and takes the source materials way more seriously.
Why on Earth would I want to spend time and money on Game of Thrones when I can get the same thing from The Washington Post and Dungeons & Dragons for cheaper?
Quote from: formulanone on May 12, 2019, 09:59:24 PM
Hmmm...there was a lot of talk about Westeros' well-worn Rose Road in the first few books, how the Freys had their own private toll bridge, and crumbling Wall infrastructure, I can't think too much that would pass for on-topic discussion...
(https://i.imgur.com/6vjpqdL.png)
Thank OTA for this...
Quote from: formulanone on May 12, 2019, 09:59:24 PMI've read the five Fire and Ice books, and kept up on the TV series. But for spoilers and to prevent subject matter dilution, I don't have any online interest in the discussion.
There's also a difference in a general forum and a more bespoke one - you can't just dive into a theory about how x, y, z is going to happen in the show, drawing on obscure book references (not that they, or at least, what we can read, have had any relevance to the show since Season 5 ended), etc
QuoteHmmm...there was a lot of talk about Westeros' well-worn Rose Road in the first few books, how the Freys had their own private toll bridge, and crumbling Wall infrastructure, I can't think too much that would pass for on-topic discussion...
I don't remember much about the Rose Road. There's some good stuff in
Fire and Blood on the roads being build and the state of play before they were, though.
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MCU - decent enough, but I'm not that fussed about it.
GOT - I enjoyed the first few seasons, but now watch it more so I can understand the analysis / memeing of the book fandom (which is somewhat interesting, but also really repetitive as there's nothing new to talk about most of the time, other than the show) rather than any actual direct enjoyment.
I've read all five Song of Ice and Fire books and am currently reading the companion volume about the Targaryens' history, but I've only watched the first season of the show. We don't get HBO. I downloaded the first season from the iTunes Store a few years back but have never gotten around to the rest, and Ms1995hoo refuses to watch it because she didn't like the first episode at all. Maybe I'll watch some over the next week while she's out of town!
Rather frustrating that Martin found time to write a 737-page companion book about the Targaryens but hasn't found time in the past eight years to finish the sixth book in the main story arc.
Reading a fictional history like that of the world in GoT at least gives those who would not study real history a sense of the twists and turns which go with how a story unfolds. Real history is even more complex and hard to believe. Truth IS stranger than fiction!
Superhero movies certainly took off and became more entrenched than any other genre. I enjoyed the first two Superman movies with Christopher Reeves and the first two Batman movies. Then we wound up with movies digging into the depths of fanboy material, which certainly made that audience happy enough so these movies turned out to be highly profitable. At least these movies did not destroy the franchise foundation upon which they rest. The same cannot be said for Star Wars and Star Trek movies/shows which have come out lately. Disney will be the death of them IMO.
Rick
Quote from: nexus73 on May 14, 2019, 12:16:11 PM
Reading a fictional history like that of the world in GoT at least gives those who would not study real history a sense of the twists and turns which go with how a story unfolds. Real history is even more complex and hard to believe. Truth IS stranger than fiction!
Superhero movies certainly took off and became more entrenched than any other genre. I enjoyed the first two Superman movies with Christopher Reeves and the first two Batman movies. Then we wound up with movies digging into the depths of fanboy material, which certainly made that audience happy enough so these movies turned out to be highly profitable. At least these movies did not destroy the franchise foundation upon which they rest. The same cannot be said for Star Wars and Star Trek movies/shows which have come out lately. Disney will be the death of them IMO.
Rick
I'd argue Star Trek has done a way better job at becoming an approachable space franchise to the casual viewer than Star Wars has. The irony is the roles were definitely reversed until the movies of the last couple decades.
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on May 14, 2019, 12:33:23 PM
Quote from: nexus73 on May 14, 2019, 12:16:11 PM
Reading a fictional history like that of the world in GoT at least gives those who would not study real history a sense of the twists and turns which go with how a story unfolds. Real history is even more complex and hard to believe. Truth IS stranger than fiction!
Superhero movies certainly took off and became more entrenched than any other genre. I enjoyed the first two Superman movies with Christopher Reeves and the first two Batman movies. Then we wound up with movies digging into the depths of fanboy material, which certainly made that audience happy enough so these movies turned out to be highly profitable. At least these movies did not destroy the franchise foundation upon which they rest. The same cannot be said for Star Wars and Star Trek movies/shows which have come out lately. Disney will be the death of them IMO.
Rick
I’d argue Star Trek has done a way better job at becoming an approachable space franchise to the casual viewer than Star Wars has. The irony is the roles were definitely reversed until the movies of the last couple decades.
Placing Star Trek online killed off a chance for the larger audience it would have had on cable. On top of that, we are still dealing with so much non-canonical material due to the movies and series shows. This is not your daddy's Oldsmobile, er, Star Trek...LOL!
What would suck in the eyeballs: A "Mirror Universe" Star Trek series. We all want to watch the Terran Empire crush its enemies instead of being a bunch of namby-pamby good guys!
Rick
Game of Thrones - Never watched a second. Don't care.
Comic book movies - Loved comic books as a kid, but the current special effects centric movies have no appeal to me.
Star Wars - Disney can ruin anything. Sadly they will keep making more and more sequels until people finally stop watching.
Star Trek - The current bunch in charge of Star Trek has no clue what the show is supposed to be about. Both the reboot movies and the online TV show are unwatchable. Take the occasional comedic scene out of The Orvile, and that is what Star Trek is supposed to be.
Thanks. Water-cooler discussion at work doesn't veer to much into space opera but I mentioned the Avengers and GoT because that has been the talk lately when it isn't sports, news, or old television or movies. I'm also surprised the sports sub board isn't more active.
News, I can understand because that gets too partisan, but sports? First thing I did at work today was rib a Knicks fan.