Charlie Brooker's "Black Mirror"

Started by wilder, January 26, 2012, 09:15:01 PM

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

wilder

Black Mirror returns on October 21st

Sleepless

Quote from: wilder on July 27, 2016, 06:21:07 PM
Black Mirror returns on October 21st

FUCK YES! :)

Episode titles, cast, and directors:

  • "San Junipero", starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Mackenzie Davis, directed by Owen Harris
  • "Shut Up and Dance," starring Jerome Flynn and Alex Lawther, directed by James Watkins
  • "Nosedive," starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Alice Eve, and James Norton, directed by Joe Wright
  • "Men Against Fire," starring Michael Kelly, Malachi Kirby, and Madeline Brewer, directed by Jakob Verbruggen
  • "Hated in the Nation," starring Kelly MacDonald, directed by James Hawes
  • "Playtest," starring Wyatt Russell and Hannah John-Kamen, directed by Dan Trachtenberg

More
He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.


Sleepless

The webcam hijacking one looks like to be hugely disturbing. It's not even "imminent future," it's now.
He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.

Drenk

I often don't like Black Mirror. There is something that I find terribly self righteous in it, and they almost never go beyond the concept (which means for me that it feels too scholar and happy with the idea, ideas that are often very good, they are strong concepts...). I liked two episodes and, watching the trailer for Season 3, I have goosebumps. So I'll watch.

The one I'm the more curious about is "Nosedive"; Instagram & Co create a weird filter (pun intended when I realized there was a pun), I have a friend who feels physically bad, even though she looks good, because she watches an insane amount of insanely pretty women taking pictures of a fake life...Something that, at different levels, happens for everybody, I guess...
Ascension.

Jeremy Blackman

"Nosedive"

Man, I'm not sure I can watch more than one of these per day. It's too real. "Nosedive" has a completely conventional (even predictable) trajectory, but it's done with such full commitment that you find yourself swimming in the details. This could have been cut down to 40 minutes or so, but you would lose so much of that.

The wedding speech was jaw-droppingly great. It passes so many tests for me. (1) I had no idea what was going to come out of her mouth next. (2) It wasn't the "wake up sheeple!" speech one might have expected. (3) She didn't turn the audience around.

Some things were a little on-the-nose, and I can see a lot of people reacting like "I get it already," but for me all of that was washed away by the amazing final 15 minutes. It really starts when the sound of downvoting slips into the score around 48:30.

Jeremy Blackman

"Playtest"

Well this one is certainly polarizing. What did everyone think? I'll say this; when I rewatch it, I'm starting at least 20 minutes in. Not enamored with this dude's personality. (SPOILERS) However, I loved the three endings. Black Mirror is arguably at its best when it's trolling you the hardest. The brutality and brevity of the ultimate ending was just perfect.

Throughout the second part of the episode I was wondering why they didn't call him out on his espionage, since she caught him red-handed with his phone on (it felt strange that it wasn't acknowledged), and he was caught on camera as well. But then, of course, we find out why. The plot hole becomes a feature, not a bug.

modage

I loved Nosedive and couldn't believe Joe Wright directed it. Bryce Dallas Howard is amazing and it's actually making me mad how she was misused in Jurassic World now that I see her awesome potential in this (and Pete's D!)

Playtest I was more mixed on, his personality would've been obnoxious if I didn't already know and like Wyatt Russell from Everybody Wants Some!! The horror game seemed less about universal "the-way-we-live-now" tech in the way that Nosedive is, so I had a little bit of a harder time with it. And agree it kinda took such a while to get started I was wondering what the payoff of all that was. The super-dark ending was nice but I kinda saw the fake-out coming.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Jeremy Blackman

"Shut Up And Dance"

A worthy successor to "White Bear," I think. Forces you to grapple with cruel and unusual punishment in a similar way. The giveaway here is the troll face; we're supposed to be more or less fully empathetic. (And I was.) I love the procedural detail from beginning to end — there's not a wasted minute. Also has just the right amount of humor to cut through the darkness. "Exit Music" was perfectly used. This is my favorite so far.


"San Junipero"

I'm torn on this one. The concept is great, but the performances and writing were off in some weird combination. Maybe it's just me. I did love how things were slowly revealed. The garishness/obviousness of the nostalgia was a nice bit of cynical meta commentary, which the episode needed. I'd be interested in an alternate interpretation where this is actually deeply bleak. There are layers. (The euthanasia fluid being delivered was real creepy, right?)

Jeremy Blackman

"Men Against Fire"

Disappointingly predictable and on-the-nose. There is no reason we need the amount of explanation that is in this episode; could be the first time I've genuinely felt Black Mirror doesn't trust its viewers. Not quite a stinker, though. The concept is good, the central performance shines through, and there are enough haunting images.

Jeremy Blackman

"Hated In The Nation"

This was basically a very good X-Files episode, so I'm not sure why I didn't love it. Perhaps it didn't quite scratch the Black Mirror itch. Most BM episodes, even if they're predictable, have some kind of reality-warping element. Even "Men Against Fire" had that. This didn't. It was also a bit cold and impersonal, somehow failing over the course of 90 minutes to create one especially compelling character. "Shut Up And Dance" seemed to do that effortlessly multiple times, even amidst all its chaos. So, I dunno, maybe I was in the mood for something different.

polkablues

Quote from: Jeremy Blackman on October 27, 2016, 12:11:16 AM
"Hated In The Nation"

This was basically a very good X-Files episode, so I'm not sure why I didn't love it. Perhaps it didn't quite scratch the Black Mirror itch. Most BM episodes, even if they're predictable, have some kind of reality-warping element. Even "Men Against Fire" had that. This didn't. It was also a bit cold and impersonal, somehow failing over the course of 90 minutes to create one especially compelling character. "Shut Up And Dance" seemed to do that effortlessly multiple times, even amidst all its chaos. So, I dunno, maybe I was in the mood for something different.

I had the complete opposite reaction to this episode. I finished watching it convinced it was one of the best episodes of television I've ever seen, and I was utterly compelled by both Kelly MacDonald and Faye Marsay's characters. I'll agree that it didn't really feel like A Black Mirror Episode necessarily, but the core concept was so good and the execution so perfect that I didn't care.

Faye Marsay is turning into one of my favorite actors. She has such an intensity to her, and you always have a sense of the inner world happening inside her character at every moment. She reminds me of Jennifer Jason Leigh in a lot of ways.
My house, my rules, my coffee

Jeremy Blackman

The new season is out today (Friday)...

wilberfan

Quote from: Jeremy Blackman on December 29, 2017, 01:34:48 AM
The new season is out today (Friday)...

Noticed that.  Reminds me that I found the first two seasons really compelling.  Season three had more misses than hits for me, if I recall.  Read somewhere that this new season is spotty?

[edit] Well, none of the six episodes from this season impressed me.

Jeremy Blackman

I've watched the first 4 so far...

SPOILERS

"USS Callister" was a delight. Incisive social commentary. They should have dialed up the disturbing factor a bit, but I can't complain. Jesse Plemons delivered.

"Arkangel" was a swing and a miss. I really liked the first 20 minutes or so, but then it became super conventional. Could see the end coming from a mile away. Several miles.

I know a lot of people dislike "Crocodile," but it completely worked for me. And it wasn't just punishing for the sake of it; there's some interesting character stuff going on.

"Hang the DJ" is undoubtedly Black Mirror's best love story (that chemistry though) and I think one of its best episodes. The ending was magnificent.