November 2024 recap
Hated this November IRL wise but let's go for the monthly stuff I watched and listened to!
Movies
I didn't watch a lot of movies this month due to Arcane season 2, which took the time I allot for a movie or 2 during the week-end (and even more, as I watched each episode twice, first time blind and then a second time when tbskyen posts his reactions on youtube). I'd say the two movies I saw were pretty much diametrically opposed to that show, and it was great.
Clue (1985)
Loved it! But I'm a fan of Tim Curry so that movie was already good in my book as soon as I saw him. From what I've gathered, it's kind of a cult movie in the US, but I've pretty much never heard of it until actually pretty recently.
The movie starts pretty strong but does get a bit long in the middle part at some point. I really liked how the three endings were revealed, the repetition of it was a fun back to back to back. I saw that when the film was in theater you would get only one ending, and it's just so in line with that movie's humour that I wasn't surprised to learn that fact.
There is something I really enjoy from pre-2000 movies and I can't specifically say what, maybe it's the way they were filmed, with less shots for a scene or something like that, but it's something I can find missing in more recent movies and I'm a bit nostalgic for that.
Galaxy Quest (1999)
This was just plain fun to watch. It's a parody of Star Trek but you can see the love the film makers had for the original source, it's crack taken seriously. Loved the thermians and their gestures/way of speaking, loved the inclusion of the kid and his friends, loved the ending. I don't have much to say about this movie because it's just great. Also, what a cast!
Series
Arcane
Pardon my french mais quelle claque cette saison !
It was a roller coaster the whole way up to the end. It made me laugh at some parts, genuinely cried at some other parts, and it also already made me look at some scenes frame by frame because the animation is god-like. I don't really want to say too much storywise because spoiler, obviously.
The end was fine, maybe a bit too open for some story lines but it was alright. As someone who doesn't care much about LoL (never played the game nor any other spinoffs, but I know a bit of lore, enough to not be surprised with the whole black rose subscenario), the series was pretty good, but I can understand the disappointment some fans have about it being canon. It doesn't really make any sense, and I'm now here wondering what that show could have been if Riot didn't make that decision.
Overall I think the show needed maybe one or two more episodes at the very least (or longer episodes) to let some scenes and moments breathe. Ep 7 is one of my favorites from this season for that reason (well, not only but the pacing was definitely nice on both sides of that episode). I think it does suffer from the lack of time. I'd say the show's akin to a perfectly cooked piece of meat, but they could have kept a bit of fat to make it a bit tastier and juicier.
I think I'll need some time to decide if that season was as good as the first one, maybe even a rewatch of the whole thing.
But I'm being a bit nitpicky, it is still an incredible show, and I can't wait to see what Fortiche has in store for the future! The animation alone makes the show a 9.5/10 for me ahah
Music
The OST of Arcane S2 is really good, I enjoyed pretty much every song of it.
I need to figure out how to talk about music beyond 'I like the beeps and boops', but here are my fave albums from https://1001albumsgenerator.com/ of this month, without any commentary:
- To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar
- Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs by Marty Robbins
- Melody A.M. by Röyksopp
- Millions Now Living Will Never Die by Tortoise
- The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails
I'm a huge fan of NIN and TDS is still one of the rawest albums I've listened to. Beside the few popular songs on it, I especially love A Warm Place ; it is such both a soothing and daunting instrumental. Even if Cash's cover of Hurt made it his song (as Reznor said), I like the original Hurt a lot too, there's a more defeated side to it that is perfect for the end of that album.