True - And it is in service to making the films as good as they are to watch, I just.. Don't happen to believe that Keanu is irreplaceable in those films. I think any other similarly reputable actor could be John Wick. The fact that Halle Berry also put at least some of that same training into her role just solidifies that for me. I like Keanu, and I think he's an okay actor, but I don't think he's particularly.. Unique, if that makes sense.
I agree. The excessive cuts thing dates back to Bourne, I'm pretty sure. And you're right, the Marvel school of filmmaking taking over the industry can be placed squarely on the success of Avengers. What I mean about video games having a role in it is just that more and more of the people making movies will be of an age where they grew up playing games, as the older creative peeps die or retire (or go into making pretentious navel-gazing social pieces - sorry to Clint Eastwood, I love the man but American Sniper really jumped the shark). Video games are in the water supply now; their concepts and norms will be bound to affect us on an unconscious level. Have you seen Morbius, by the way? It's just....every bad trait we've touched on, turned up to 11. It's like a 90-minute video game cutscene. Unrelated, rewatched Amelie and it's still a 10/10 perfect film and a masterclass in style and pacing particularly. And the soundtrack is fantastic.
True, true, but I think the movie industry, especially the American movie industry, is so far up itself that it'll shun video games and their story telling mechanics for some time yet - And I very much think they should. Every time a game spawns a film I'm aghast at how bland, or how shockingly crap, it is. That said, I am enjoying Halo - It took a little bit to get into it, and to let the changes settle, but right now I'm really enjoying it. I like that they haven't shied away from making Halsey a complete piece of **** in every respect. I've not watched Morbius, no. I have an aversion to Jared Leto, so he tends to need a good supporting cast before I'll entertain a film with him in. Or a Fight Club style scene.
Ghostbusters Afterlife worth a watch/10 You know what, I enjoyed this. I wasn't expecting much at all but it kept me entertained.
Venom Let There Be Carnage WTF/10 I didn't expect much from Venom the first time around but did find it quite a funny enjoyable watch. This though, jeez, it seemed to have been made just for being made's sake. Waste of time.
Jarhead 2 Jarhead 3 Both background noise whilst trying to clear emails. Both Jarring/10 Ah, I wasn't expecting much. They didn't disappoint in that regard. I think somebody might have even acted at some point.
'Ang on, Brian - is this released yet? I thought Paramount was out in July or something?! Have I missed the launch?
Yeah, I think episode nine is also the last in this series. I like it. However. If you are a big fan of the spaghetti that is Halo lore per the games, comics, books, and other film/tv stuff. You stand a good chance of hating it. It is very much not that Halo. Personally, I think the established Halo lore is a dumpster fire of fifty people writing different stuff at the same time and not having one particularly cohesive vision for the "story" (such as can be had in an fps..) so I don't care that it's radically different.
Ah. Yes, that would be the difference. Think the UK launch is still some way off, unforts. This sounds like they might have left it open for another series then? I am looking forward to it (haven't got too deep into the dumpster fire like you say, so I don't think I'll be too irked by any lack of continuity) - I still remember that promo they did for the X360 which I think was called Landfall or similar? Amazing at the time. And the ODST one where he collects his father's flag and then joins up. Great short pieces.
I think it's already been renewed for a second season. I never watched the shorts in full, but I think I know some of what you're referring to from clips that've been on sites or what have you.
Series 2 was greenlit and announced before Episode 1 aired. I'm not convinced it will actually happen unless Microsoft has already paid upfront for it. Now... I am a huge Halo fanboi, clusterfracked lore and all. I absolutely did not like the Halo TV show. I've read rumors (possibly/probably interweb sh*tposts) that it started life as an abandoned Mass Effect TV series. Which makes a lot of sense if true, because the tone, plot and characters in it are very Mass Effect. They're not very Halo at all, which was a real shame. The promo shorts for Halo 3, ODST and Reach were amazing.
Honestly, I loved the aesthetic of the game and I was itching to see 'real' versions of them - But I've been acutely aware for some time that getting an actor to be the MC that proper Halo fans wanted was never going to happen. Actors trade on their face - And there's no face under a helmet. Permanently full-face helmeted characters are always going to be something of a turnoff because the actors know they can be replaced without so much as a second thought. Not that he was replaced, but there were parts of The Mandolorian where Pedro wasn't the man under the helmet - And not because of stunts. Add into that the fact that MC has what, 100 lines in the whole MC saga so far? Most of which with his little blue imaginary friend, so we can presume they're thoughts, not necessarily spoken word. All in all MC works as a player character because it's much easier to 'be him' as it were - But in a TV show? It's just some nameless faceless body playing war. I saw some comments on /r/Halo (I've been enjoying the outrage at the show almost as much as the show) about how the last bit of the last episode so far is "one of only two times MC is MC" or words to that effect. And well. At that point, it might as well be an animated show rather than live action (Which, I admit, isn't necessarily a bad idea). And frankly, how many times can any writer write the same thing over and over? Fast And Furious films have been recycling plots to the point of eating their own face since the third film, arguably the second is just recycling the first too. Halo, as much as I enjoy the games, is.. Bland. Shoot the bright sparkly aliens (and later the less bright sparkly aliens) ad-nauseam. And it is fantastic at that. It's, IMO, the standard for FPS games. But it doesn't make for a very interesting TV show. I don't much care about Kwan (Except that I got more Bokeem Woodbine), but for me it highlighted the direction I'd have taken with a Halo TV show. I'd not have made MC the main character. Glimpses, little tidbits, something interesting around MC, rather than just presuming the green armour will carry the show. Which, ultimately, wouldn't have been a Halo show that dissimilar to what we have now. I enjoy it, though. I enjoy that it's not just.. Nine hours of gun fights.
IIRC this was the case with V from V for vendetta, Hugo Weaving wasn't the original choice of actor but they'd already filmed stuff with the previous guy... and they just kept it all in bc you couldn't tell bc of the mask.
In keeping with the Pedro/Mando thing, Prowse/Vader is another example. I didn't know the V for Vendetta thing! Interesting - And an excellent example!
Prowse iirc was also told he'd get to be the 'face' of Vader in RotJ, only they shafted him and replaced him with Sebastian Shaw [and then replaced Shaw by CGIing in Hayden Christensen in in his place].
Hollywood is a bunch of fickle bastards, and without a face involved, it's easier for them to be fickle bastards.