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Westworld

And disappointed I was! Got to the end and it was "Is that it?" time. Surprised to see I'm not the only one who found its gamesplaying tiresome. Yeah, let's beat up some women and call it a metacommentary on violence in computer games. Or let's not. Although Ingrid Bolso Berdal almost redeemed the final episode, that was a long way to go for it. Glad I didn't pay full price!
 
Disappointed overall.
It looked amazing and I loved the clever use of contemporary music, but the painfully slow plot development meant my attention kept flagging.
No wonder it was haemorrhaging viewers towards the end.
Sincerely hope they wrap it up properly in series 2 and don't let it drag on interminably.
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
Disappointed overall.
It looked amazing and I loved the clever use of contemporary music, but the painfully slow plot development meant my attention kept flagging.
No wonder it was haemorrhaging viewers towards the end.
Sincerely hope they wrap it up properly in series 2 and don't let it drag on interminably.
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I re-watched it recently: they could easily have done the ten episodes in six, five, even with tight editing. There's some really clever plot and character development in there, and the gradual reveal about timelines was brilliantly handled - it was just all way too far apart.
 
I'm really enjoying this - and I thought there might be some interest in this short here - it's called City Slickers in Westworld, and it has the actors from the acclaimed comedy in the world of Delos!

 
On the verge of giving up on Westworld.

The effects are still superb, but it's grindingly slow and series 2 is showing worrying signs of degenerating into soap opera or, even worse, a directionless cop-out like Lost.

Relaunching Westworld as a one-off movie would have been far better than this (but probably not as lucrative).
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
On the verge of giving up on Westworld.

The effects are still superb, but it's grindingly slow and series 2 is showing worrying signs of degenerating into soap opera or, even worse, a directionless cop-out like Lost.

Relaunching Westworld as a one-off movie would have been far better than this (but probably not as lucrative).
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We've recorded the new episodes and watched them, and I have to admit I've lost interest. It seems to be just fighting and shooting, yawn.
I'll give it another go but not expecting much.
 
Well.....I'm enjoying this second season as much as the first...and I like the somewhat slow development....you are going to have fighting since the hosts are malfunctioning (or achieving sentience however you want to look at it...)trying to take over the world...makes perfect sense to me. I could do without some of the backstory in the second season so far but it does help flesh out why certain people turned out the way they did. I don;t like it when a series gets to the punch line too soon...it ruins the tension and misses a lot of opportunities to explore issues.
 
dr wu said:
Well.....I'm enjoying this second season as much as the first...and I like the somewhat slow development....you are going to have fighting since the hosts are malfunctioning (or achieving sentience however you want to look at it...)trying to take over the world...makes perfect sense to me. I could do without some of the backstory in the second season so far but it does help flesh out why certain people turned out the way they did. I don;t like it when a series gets to the punch line too soon...it ruins the tension and misses a lot of opportunities to explore issues.
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I'm just afraid that, like so many US series, we will invest a lot of our time, only to find there IS no punchline.
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
I'm just afraid that, like so many US series, we will invest a lot of our time, only to find there IS no punchline.
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Actually I'm surprised I even used that phrase.....is a 'punchline' always needed to enjoy a program.....does there have to be one in the end?
 
Punchlines don't bother me and I can handle slow development, but constant violence, how boring.
 
Episodes're piling up unwatched on our Sky box. Not sure we'll make the effort.

I can cope with all the plot/identity twists but violence bores me, especially shooting. I'm not offended or appalled. It's just tedious. I'm a grown woman, not a kid of 15 who's obsessed with gaming.
 
escargot said:
Episodes're piling up unwatched on our Sky box. Not sure we'll make the effort.

I can cope with all the plot/identity twists but violence bores me, especially shooting. I'm not offended or appalled. It's just tedious. I'm a grown woman, not a kid of 15 who's obsessed with gaming.
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I don't mind violence (in fiction!), it's like any tool in the film and TV makers' arsenal, can be used well or badly, it was the "nothing happening until the last five minutes" of the first season that bored me. Can't work up much enthusiasm for season 2, though a friend has recommended it.
 
GNC said:
I don't mind violence (in fiction!), it's like any tool in the film and TV makers' arsenal, can be used well or badly, it was the "nothing happening until the last five minutes" of the first season that bored me. Can't work up much enthusiasm for season 2, though a friend has recommended it.
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The first episode of the new series is a long shoot-out. The next one too, I drifted off to Reddit!

The who's-a-host business in the gun battles reminds me of the old B&W cowboy fillums where old stock was re-used so that an actor watching might spot himself shooting at himself in a different coloured hat!

Really, I'm done with it, for the same reasons as I've dumped The Walking Dead. It's just a load of cruelty, not engaging.
 
I hear you, whenever someone wants to do a "dark, gritty" version of an existing property it can get pretty tedious when the remakers believe that means relentless nastiness without a shred of wit.
 
GNC said:
I hear you, whenever someone wants to do a "dark, gritty" version of an existing property it can get pretty tedious when the remakers believe that means relentless nastiness without a shred of wit.
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Yup, that describes it for me. I'm not a fan of action movies.

The best part of the original fillum for me was when the Gunslinger was tracking the guest and you heard that deep twangy music. It comes up now and then in the modern version too.
 
And the original film is genuinely witty too, the sense of humour is a bit twisted, but it is there. Couldn't detect a single chuckle in the TV remake.
 
I gave up on Westworld 4 or 5 episodes back, but haven't yet deleted them from my Sky box.
Does it improve!
 
GNC said:
And the original film is genuinely witty too, the sense of humour is a bit twisted, but it is there. Couldn't detect a single chuckle in the TV remake.
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Yup, that's another failing, the lack of humour.

My favourite show, The Sopranos, has bursts of sometimes quite extreme violence (shootings, beatings-up, teeth being kicked out, one rape, a scalding, a couple of graphic suicides, a manual choking, manual stranglings, murder by cushion, garrottings, etc) but there's a huge amount of humour mixed in, sometimes very dark. You sometimes wonder how the cast keep a straight face. Keeps me interested!
 
escargot said:
Yup, that's another failing, the lack of humour.

My favourite show, The Sopranos, has bursts of sometimes quite extreme violence (shootings, beatings-up, teeth being kicked out, one rape, a scalding, a couple of graphic suicides, a manual choking, manual stranglings, murder by cushion, garrottings, etc) but there's a huge amount of humour mixed in, sometimes very dark. You sometimes wonder how the cast keep a straight face. Keeps me interested!
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And not forgetting what happened to Adriana's dog. I thought some of the funniest bits on the Sopranos were the jokes they used to tell each other.

A guy comes home one day carrying a duck under his arm.
Guy- 'This is the pig that I've been f@*king.'
Wife- 'That's a duck.'
Guy- 'Who's talkin' to you?'

Or when Bobby Bacala and Vito (two obese men) are standing belly to belly and Ralph says - Hey, it's just like one of those photos from weight-watchers. 'Before' and 'waaaaay before'.

A broad New Jersey accent makes these sound much funnier.
 
David Plankton said:
And not forgetting what happened to Adriana's dog.
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Was it barkin'?

Or when Bobby Bacala and Vito (two obese men) are standing belly to belly and Ralph says - Hey, it's just like one of those photos from weight-watchers. 'Before' and 'waaaaay before'.
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Hold on, that's Paulie not Ralphie. When Ralphie makes a fat joke people end up dead.
 
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Well, got to the end of WW season 2, and if it's true the next season is going to be completely different, I have no problem with that. At least I felt something was happening, unlike season 1, but it did try the patience (the Native American episode contributed what, exactly?). From the way they were going on, this show is more like the sequel Futureworld, and that's the way they'll continue. Every SF show has its evil doubles storyline if it lasts long enough.
 
I got to the end of S2: E2, but lost the motivation to watch E3. I still have the rest of them - so I suppose my question is if I just watch the season 2 finale will I miss huge and important plot development, or will I just be none the wiser but still positoned for Season 3?
 
Opening credits: Ooo! This looks good!

Anthony Hopkins: "The past is the present; the future is now!"
Some bloke: "Can the weltanschauung overcome the noblesse oblige?"
Hopkins: "If the present becomes the past while the future becomes the end!"

A bunch of Mexicans shoot a bunch of Indians for no apparent reason.

Thandie Newton: "I'm a prostitute, but I'm not keen. I'll hint at a lesbian relationship with that bint over there to keep interest rates up. Then I'll shoot someone for no apparent reason. Then I'll get my [CGI] tits out."

Some beardy black bloke: "Hmmm: my magic iPad tells me that the splootifier in this cockwaffle is rebooting its thrunge nodules. This is bad!"
Basil Exposition: "Does that mean that the schadenfreude of the hors d'oeuvres is failing and that we're all going to die?"

A bunch of blokes dressed as 1960s Bond villain's minions shoot a bunch of white people for no apparent reason.

Ed Harris gallops round a desert meeting people, half of whom he shoots for no apparent reason; the other half he kidnaps, also for no apparent reason.

The beardy black bloke: "My past has become the future! My magic iPad indicates that there's a deus ex machina over there! Run!"
Basilina Exposition: "Does that mean that the Froopyland throdulator is on a collision course with the DNA copying thingy?"

A bunch of Confederate soldiers shoot a bunch of Mexicans for no apparent reason.

Etc. ad nauseam.

I'd give it 2/10: one point for each of Thandie Newton's blouse bunnies.

On second thoughts, make it 1½ points, because they were CGI.

maximus otter
 
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