Yellowstone

这几年和xw一起看的片越来越向轻喜剧方向发展,主要是xw经常表示上完班很累,懒得看更复杂的片。每天拿起遥控器基本上就是在romantic comedy和standup comedy这俩类型里选来选去。最近看得比较有剧情的片除了一直在跟的Succession,就是从头刷了一遍Yellowstone了。

Yellowstone这个老牛仔保卫牧场的片我一直就有点兴趣,主要是冲着Montana的风光和大量的户外镜头。xw则是看了某公众号的推荐就嚷嚷着要看,具体原因不明。这两年感觉这个片越来越火,就开了个Peacock账号看了一下。看完三季发现第四季居然Peacock上还没有。。看了点盗版觉得画质太差不能忍,于是去Amazon Prime买了看。这个streaming诸侯混战的时代刷个剧是真麻烦。

Yellowstone我看之前以为会有些黄石公园的镜头,没想到完全没有,只是设定这个牧场在黄石公园附近而已。风光倒的确是Montana那种big sky的感觉,应该是真的在那一带建了外景地拍的。前两季还经常飞个直升机,三四季改成了很多牛仔套牛驯马的情节,个人感觉更好看一些。

这个剧个人觉得比较有意思的是对印第安人这个群体着墨很多。他们和主角一家之间时而对抗时而合作的矛盾关系,和Dutton家三儿子的bonding都是推动故事主线的部分。片子里有很多印第安人的仪式,生活态度,遭受的不公,和保留地之外的社会的相处方式,种种描写都挺真实。

主角一家的人物性格早期看很鲜明。三四季看下来却觉得越来越走极端,有点编剧编不下去的感觉。Beth越来越疯,Jamie软蛋到不行,Rip战无不胜,Dutton家一方面是保卫自然资源传统价值的正义天使,另一方面也可以说是横行乡里滥用私刑随便杀人的地头蛇……这些揉到一起是可以,人物立体嘛。但搞得太极端就有点揉不起来了。

看过一个WSJ的文章说Yellowstone今年在美国各级市场都很popular,也就是说从大城市到小镇都有人看。相比之下Succession就是一个典型的只有大城市的人看的剧。想来Yellowstone里面不时表现出的保守派立场,和对加州人无情的嘲弄都赚到了不少小镇居民的好感。作为一个纽约人看这个片会有一点点getting out of bubble的感觉,当然这大多也就是幻觉而已。

总之还是比较推荐的,可以当一个风光好的drama片来看。

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Sense8

A few weeks ago I noticed Sense8 season 2 was available on Netflix, several years after season 1. I was a bit curious because I watched one episode of season 1 before and didn’t continue. How come this show released the 2nd season so long after? So I picked up this show and watched through the two seasons. During my view of the show, Netflix announced they canceled this show, so no season 3. The cancellation wasn’t a surprise after I watch this show, which seems very expensive to produce: they have to take lots of scenes at multiple locations across different continents…

So when I started watching Sense8, I thought it was a sci-fi show. After a while, I realized this was an LGBT show. Then I found it was actually a soft porn. Eventually, I confirmed it was still mostly a pro-LGBT show. Some plots seem a bit obsessive with LGBT advocating and deviate from the main storyline.

I still recommend Sense8 because of its aesthetic value. All leading actresses/actors are amazingly good-looking. I mean all 8 of them! And the cinematography is also incredible. Just watch the 2-minute opening titles, and you should be able to feel it. It was definitely a pity that the show got canceled.

Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad

最近一段时间看完了Breaking Bad的1~5季,前四季Netflix,第五季BT下的。。

这是一个男人戏,主角的妻子已经是戏份最多的女角,但其实也不算多。剧情里面爱情纠葛的成分少之又少,很符合我的期待。总的来说这个剧就是讲一个身患癌症的化学老师为了给老婆孩子攒钱,找上一个现在是街头小混混偶尔贩毒的学生,很有末日感的开始制造冰毒的故事。这生意自然很不好做,一波三折各种不顺。于是这个剧一上来的两大悬念就是主角的病,以及他的“事业”进展。看过一季之后就会感觉悬念层出不穷,编剧的水平很强,至少到第四季结束都编得很圆很好看。拍的手法也是很不错,不是平铺直叙而是搞了很多小花样。每集片头曲之前的那一小段绝对是亮点。。

这个剧既然主角是制毒的,自然少不了对毒品这个争议话题的一些探讨。主角的观点是相当自由化的,拿美国30年代的禁酒令和现在的禁毒类比,或者还提到了香烟。最近美国两个州的休闲用大麻合法化,我甚至怀疑是不是和这个剧对大众舆论的影响有关系。不过剧里也展示了种种吸毒者的可悲下场,对可卡因和海洛因这类烈性毒品的态度还是很坚决的。说实话我是很惊讶看到这种如此热门的剧对毒品的态度如此暧昧的。这个片分级是分在TV-14,也就是14岁以上才可以观看,但感觉上还是有点恐怖,十六七岁的青少年看这个真的ok?

最后要说一句这片子里新墨西哥的风景真的很棒。。。

Recent Watching TV Series

Still following TBBT, not that interesting anymore after watching 5 seasons. It’s just a habit to follow it.

“The Game of Thrones” is the hot one now. I’ve been enjoying it a lot, to see characters and plots in book picturized. Xw doesn’t like it very much though, as the TV series get rid of too many stories from the book.

“The Office” is a good one recommended by Netflix. We watched 2 episodes and found it very hilarious. People in my office look much more reasonable compared to those weirdos in this TV serial.

北京爱情故事(Beijing Love Story)……I can’t fucking believe I’m watching it!!!