• he/him

Coder, pun perpetrator
Grumpiness elemental
Hyperbole abuser


Tools programmer
Writer-wannabe
Did translations once upon a time
I contain multitudes


(TurfsterNTE off Twitter)


Trans rights
Black lives matter


Be excellent to each other


UE4/5 Plugins on Itch
nte.itch.io/

dsy
@dsy
They Live Review

★★★★½

Watched Mar 11, 2023

I was so excited about the fight scene between Roddy Piper and Keith David that I completely forgot that this film is *also* the origin of Duke Nukem's "I'm here to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I'm all out of bubble gum" line. Incredible film.

... but seriously though, there's something about the length and the sheer physicality of that fight that feels like leftist infighting. of course you can just *kill* the aliens keeping everyone down, but what do you do about the people who you know should be on your side and refuse to see things your way? and that's not even getting into the people who are willing to sell us out for their own gain, also well represented here in varying levels of subtlety.

I could get into my thoughts on the aliens and their real world counterparts but then I would probably get into trouble with the Letterboxd Terms of Service. Bye!

An extra note that I didn't want to add to the review: fuuuuuck streaming, y'all, god damn. We opted to rent the film off of Amazon after talking about it while playing Xrd, and despite the convenience I do not know if it was worth the compression artifacts over 5-10% of the film. Particularly some great shots involving shows of force by the police featured stark red lighting that would upset the codec. I think I might have a little more consideration before following another impulse like that.


rosysyntax
@rosysyntax

Truly a fantastic film, and always a joy to see.

Notes about streaming:

I've had the same issue with many titles on many different services. Amazon compression is Not Good and probably does it the worst. Amazon is also Not Good for other reasons, but what they do to their video library is a crime.

The only times I've been satisfied when streaming were when using AMC+, and when viewing certain Netflix titles, and only those in 4k and/or HDR.

Not to, uh, sell anyone on it, but if folks really need a streaming service, AMC+ for like $7 a month is a steal, especially if you like horror films (includes Shudder!). Compression artifacts have been virtually non-existent, audio quality and subtitle quality/availability are superb, and it's really the only streaming service I'd recommend (other than Shudder, but again, that's all horror media). YMMV.

I'd also highly recommend pirating media instead of paying for literally any service. Gather your pristine HD copies of your favorite films, stash everything on a drive on a rented NL server (or torrent directly to it!) and FTP it back to yer compy. Costs like $5/mo depending on the service. EZ.


panicattheopticon
@panicattheopticon

not having streaming in tyool 20X3 is a bit like nobody knowing how to make a tire in Detroit in the 70s

this isn't complex, and I'm tired of seeing 500 attempts at a video player and video quality, all while the content itself shuffles around from platform to platform. A DVD is a DVD, a blu-ray is a Blu ray, i should not be confronted with "oh sorry we only have this available across the nation in vhs suddenly, check back with us in a month we may have laserdisc"

this is the bare minimum, and the only reason people tolerate it is because the mega corps have created a wall of No Interaction around them.

there is nowhere to complain anymore, in the future there will be even less. complaints with services are seen as something to be fixed by "shutting" out consumers & gaslighting them, rather than just.. addressing the criticism


what's worse about this is how essentially, we're now doing this with food via ghost kitchens except the complaints here are raw chicken and other shit that can get you really, really sick. it's to a point the FDA/Local health authorities don't know what to do about it, and Amazon has done this with physical goods also exceeding safety regulations - can't fine (or sue) someone for lead paint if their brand is DGEGHEELELFOGOFFOOPS and they aren't real.

"shut up, stop complaining, be grateful everything is so CONVENIENT"

I don't want convenient. this is not the 80s. fuck off. i want quality, i want less shit that WORKS GOOD. i want what I paid for, money is not a suggestion it is consent & you are taking advantage of my consent



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