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And then the alien yelled, "This is MAGA country!"

Still traumatized by the horrible Prometheus movie, I only just now got around to watching Covenant. It's okay, with minor woke elements.

Minor spoilers follow.

The woke elements are:

* Male-on-male kiss by androids. They are furthermore "twins", so we get pseudo-incest as a "bonus". It was just a ploy by one, but the director's intent was homo-eroticism.

* Interracial sex, black man on white woman. It again just feels forced by the director. The black man is Jussie Smollett, famous for the "This is MAGA country" racism hoax, LOL.

* Tough women. Not a big deal, but the director's intent again breaches the Fourth Wall, harming immersion.

The film is rather predictable, including the main twist. I cannot say I like what they did with the origin of the aliens. I asked ChatGPT to explain it, and boy is it confused too.

Overall, it is a 3.5, rounded down to 3 for woke elements.

Decent movie, but this genre is always contrived

Good movie of the Machiavellian vengeance sort, although the tail part is over the top.

Butler is (as often) excellent. Foxx I find to be somewhat hit or miss as a rule, and this time is not a hit for me. At least, he has the loud-mouth asshole part down pat. Must be method acting.


In favour of the script-writers, they don't push any protagonist as morally superior.
The putative bad guy is driven mad with grief, and argues his actions as necessary, not correct, even though he kills beyond the sphere of direct culprits, and seeks to enjoy retribution. He was clearly capable of discreetly bombing or poisoning all his targets on the same day, without a possibility of being stopped, and still make his point.
The supposed good guy's morality is variable and self-serving, and thus just a system of excuses for his own selfishness. In short, he's a small man, a sleazeball hiding behind the authority of his office, who puts his career, not justice, above the safety of his family and co-workers. .
One "just doing his job", the other his perceived duty.

The script spirals out during the second part, and the plot-holes enlarge quickly. Biggest of all being the Hollywood ending. Seriously? Are they reading their own characters?
Oh well, still a decent movie.


As for wokeness, I don't think the production was going for forced diversity, Philly being 1/3 white, 1/3 black.
But it's funny that all decision-makers are black, and get a whole lot of white people killed.

Not the Crow, should have been it's own bland 2020s drivel

The original Proyas movie was not exempt of imperfections. But it did ooze style. Styles, really: goth, grunge, whatever. The Cure's Burn was written for this movie. It has RATM, NiN, J&MC, 90s shot pure straight through the skull.
And it did have charisma, by the truckload. Lee was charismatic. Top Dollar was charismatic. Even the minor villain who's whole spiel is to be stoopeed was charismatic.

This movie is emo, all the main characters look like they have pronouns, and I'm probably too old for this shite.

The cinematography is actually excellent, but the pacing is all wrong. The movie wastes the best part of an hour on Shelley, who's supposed to be an ideal, an incarnation of regret, but not a person. And it's not even worth it. Neither Shelley nor Eric come off as real characters.

The idea of a villain who's corruption and despair incarnate is fine, if somewhat out of place (ie: it's not the Crow, make your own movie with its own brand). But Draven, being its polar opposite, becomes some sort of unstoppable zombie, tanking through action scenes like a bloody terminator (pun intended). It bleeds, but you can't kill it.
It's a slog, it's a grind, and it's tedious.

Actually, Draven is not the opposite of his enemy here. He's just a force for destruction, whereas the original was motivated to kill also to save future victims.

And it has forced diversity, white man bad, perfect woman of colour, and obviously male lead sacrificed for the female happy ending

You don't get a second chance at Indiana Jones

Selleck (allegedly) turned down the leading role in Raiders of the Lost Ark, because he had a very good start with Magnum, P.I.
One has to make choices.

He was later given an opportunity to change his mind. The resulting movie could never be a threat to the Indy franchise, though.

I find it, well, charming would be the word. It is predictable for sure, but Armstrong is charming, Selleck is a charmer, and the make their merry way through a, well, charming if somewhat a little naive adventure tale.

But on thing it has not, is Raiders epic breath. Partly because the writers seem scared of the 'high fantasy' ambitions in Raiders, and partly because of the photography.

Comparing both movies makes one realize how good of a director Spielberg was. Both movies were shot for basically the same budget, but Raiders is so much more dynamic and vibrant, whereas High Road seems to lack enthusiasm.

As to woke, Armstrong character is a flapper proto-feminist heiress, which is in accordance to the time and place, and appears more loud and out-of-touch with practical reality than modern girlboss, cause the 80s still knew that a 100 pounds woman can't take on an Afghan guerilla war party on her own. Her character is more a victim of a rich and sheltered upbringing than of the Patriarchy (tm) (c).

One of the best animated TV shows of all time.

By far one of the most amazing animated shows, and just in general, ever made. The only minor instances of "wokeness" (more like liberal-leaning, really) would be one or two 'girl-power' episodes, but it's handled in a balanced way, and doesn't detract or distract at all from the rest of the show. The show is perfect and fun for kids or adults of any age. There are also plenty of adult jokes hidden in the show that kids won't get.

Being only two seasons long, the plot and story are excellently delivered and suspenseful, strung out along both seasons. There aren't any filler episodes. Every episode adds something. Character development, an addition to the story or mystery, emotion, etc. Gravity Falls is fun, goofy, weird and creepy, with hidden puzzles, and one of the best villains, if not THE best villain ever on Disney, and one of the best villains in general. And the music is just as good. Think of Owl House but better and no LGBT cr*p. This show is really something special.

If you haven't watched this show, do so. I highly recommended it.

Enjoyed it.

I've seen complaints about this online, first I can't compare it to the original movies. I'm sure I seen them when I was a kid but I can't remember, so i'm going fresh into watching this.

I really enjoyed most if it, impactful, cinematic, no wokeness. The impact was let down by the ending and what you could say the 'meaning of it all' that I won't expand on as it'll give it away.

But still well worth a watch.

Back in the USSR

"The Cranes Are Flying" transports us to the Soviet Union at the start of the German invasion in WWII. It is surprisingly realistic and not woke.

No spoilers below.

The endgame of wokeness is Communism, such as equality of outcome. The film does not have an agenda on this front. Women are very much in the workforce in the film, but that was accurate for the time, and it also happened in America during WWII.

My wife was born in the Soviet Union, in an occupied territory. She remembers many of the things shown in the film, like primitive stoves and handwashing, which persisted decades later. I asked her if a bust of Lenin in one scene was realistic, and she said, "oh yes, everyone had to have one", adding that at school the boys would vandalize the school's Lenin statue and then the principal would assemble the whole school to admonish everyone at length and put them to work repairing the statue. And then it would happen again. I asked if the clothes and living conditions were glamorized for the film, and she said it was realistic overall.

The first third of the film is just delightful. Good acting, inobtrusive cinematography, and realistic sets left me free to be fascinated by this world I had never before seen. However, later heavy-handed cinematography and overdramatic acting pulled me out of immersion. Some of the camera effects were impressive for 1957, but the flying cranes were animated by people who had never seen flying cranes (but perhaps had seen flying pterodactyls).

I did not expect to like this film, but I found myself mesmerized by this immersive peek into the Soviet Union. Just don't expect much war; it is mostly a romance-drama.

Based on 1st episode, good, but will possibly not watch further.

The good: Bates is (expectedly) brilliant, and her character is witty and well written. Nice bit of social engineering in the opening scene. All along really. Also, over-arching plot, apparently.

The bad: forced diversity. Nowhere is that diverse. Also, the episode does a very messy job of distancing itself from the original show (and thus accusations of gender-swapping), but a very good job of stealing its lunch, up until the court-room drama, and last-second surprise witness. So yeah, gender-swapped. Why not go for an original name instead of very obviously riding coat-tails.

The ugly: no man can be both (vaguely) competent and white. Women complaining about men every few minutes. I know, that’s what they do, but I want escapism, not a documentary. Also, SJW talking points raised, and not in irony.

It’s irksome. On the fence about the whole show. Somehow gives off same feeling as Inside Out 2: woke vehicle hastily dismantled in hopes not to go broke. Show creator quite possibly overt feminist. Del Rio self(?)-described as 'Latinx'.
Time will tell if show for everybody, or just the enlightened /s.

Edit: watched further, activism toned down somewhat, although 'privilege' and racism are still there. White males less stupid, Bates still excellent as a sly old she-fox.

Further edit: non-white lesbians! Non-white lesbians everywhere! Will they have the balls (not assuming gender) to make the not-white oppressed woman the ultimate villain? Not sure.
I stand by my initial opinion: it was planned to be far woker, was toned down, but clever editing has its limits, particularly when you have a run time target. Excising the omni-lesbian would have also meant serious reshoots.

Final edit: The writers never let go of the permanent nagging and complaigning about men. Usual talking points, stops just short of the word patriarchy. Or factual evidence, as always with that kind of discourse.
Well, art imitates life, but I like my escapism a little less realistic.

Also, white men can never be good guys. They're at best neutral, with barely a positive quality. Which begs the question, how in hell did all the strong independent women in the show get hitched with such pussies. On the other hand, I wonder how any men would want to marry a self-professed perennial victim, so maybe I just don't get it. Maybe it's that way over in North America. Quite possibly, judging by the marriage rates.
In which case, you lads have all my sympathy.

Still, it does evolve into pretty overt racism toward the end of the series. Or is it sexism? Hey, why not both. I'm all for free speech, and people don't have to like me. But it does make for contrived writing.

All in all, this series leaves me with a mixed appreciation.
It's a bit like the German mustache enthusiast: he did get the trains running on time, too bad he was a genocidal socialist (pleonasm intended).

Matlock is good in many ways, but also hateful. The somewhat disguised hatred of the almost clever. Those about which cannot be said to forgive, because they know not what they do.

This is written knowingly, and the hatred is assumed.

The main character is race-swapped from white to black (in the book he was white)

I don't consider this woke. Yes, there are gays but that's the point of the story. It's not like they just randomly added some gays, no, it's a cornerstone of the movie, without which it can't exist. There is no agenda, no race-swapping, no rewritten history or portrayal of strong females and weak men. And the story is original.

It is just a story about 2 men who happened to be gay and their tragic life in the most conservative state of the US. There is no underlying meaning. The movie quality is very good.

A textbook woke trash

Just another typical Netflix woke garbage, with tons of gays, lesbians, race-swapping, sexual gay scenes and an overall horrible quality and stupidity. Not worth a minute of your life.

Awesome, highly recommended

I loved the first season, no woke bullshit, highly recommended. Good masculine characters.

Second season is also awesome so far 2 episodes in.

This is what we need more of.