That was kind of my point about cheap CGI being the driver rather than storytelling/dramaturgic/cinematic concerns.
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I’ve started watching The Expanse because it’s available on Amazon Prime (which does not have a very good selection of US shows here in Japan). I love the opening credits. I feel like I’m watching the opening credits of a future history documentary covering the years 2000 to 2200.
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Or 1950ies TV like “Quatermass and the Pit” where London burns down, but all that is shown is a closeup of an airline pilot in a cockpit set who says “London is up in flames!” into a microphone.
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Just finished the first series of 3 Body Problem.
I personally thought it was brilliant, but I haven’t read the book(s), so no idea if it stuck to the origins.
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They basically combined some characters and made everybody western instead of Chinese. They also established elements from the other two books.
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Looks like fun. And surely well written, since Wainwright’s Happy Valley was fantastic.
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“super-powered highway robbery is like Gentleman Jack”
Well, that’s where you had me…
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I just watched episode 3 last night and I’m enjoying it so far… I have not read it either, but my family has and they say it’s diverged in significant ways…
Well not everyone? I mean Ye is Chinese, and so is the character of Jin, and of course the stuff in the 60s and 70s (so far, as of the 1970s) are set in China… It seems like they tried to split the baby here - have some action in the west (with a diverse cast) and have some action set in China still (who, apparently the main characters in the west are meant to represent one person from the book?). But yeah, I think some people have been angry about white washing, which, that’s fair enough. It was, after all, a book by a Chinese writer, set in China… It seems a little weird to make it no longer that, I guess under the weird assumption that a western audience could never enjoy a film with an all Asian cast, ignoring that anime is a huge thing in the west now…
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I love the fact that Benedict Wong is from Salford, Greater Manchester!
I mean, I first came across him in Doctor Strange - never guessed he was English.
I assume it’s his natural accent in the series.
He gets the best straight-faced comedy lines.
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Oh yeah, he’s been great so far! He needs to be in a lot more stuff!
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It’s more like a character who disappears from the story after the first book was melded into the other characters.
I was worried about whitewashing too, but the Cultural Revolution stuff is presented exactly the same and the only interesting character from the book, the grumpy inspector (Wong), is intact, so I think it gets a pass. It’s not about the characters anyway.
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Both Happy Valley and Gentleman Jack mentioned in the context of this new show?
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… for those of us who don’t live in Australia, this show could be about life on another planet, or after the end of the world
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Limited series: 8 episodes. Netflix.
Fun, not stellar. Time travel and police procedural in one.
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If you haven’t already seen it, I recommend The Devil’s Hour. It’s in the same vein, but better in so so many ways.
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Thanks!
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I might give that a try too. I started the Netflix one and it looked interesting but I gradually stopped watching it. Don’t know why it didn’t engage me but it didn’t.
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[THE SPIDER WITHIN: A SPIDER-VERSE STORY | Official Short Film (Full) | Sony Animation (youtube.com)]
In the genre-bending thriller The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story, Miles Morales struggles to balance his responsibilities as a teenager, friend, and student while acting as Brooklyn’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. After a particularly challenging day living with these pressures, Miles experiences a panic attack that forces him to confront the manifestations of his anxiety and learn that reaching out for help can be just as brave an act as protecting his city from evil.
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