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Charlie Brooker Black Mirror

^I was guessing viagra, they also had porn for him to watch as well. I loved the comment that he was recommended not to go too quickly lest it be assumed he was enjoying it!!

I'll be honest here, I've never been a huge fan of Brookers, he seems to get healded a genius a lot of the time for merely stating the obvious, and this was no different really (Twitter is bad and we're all complicit in things). that being said, and despite myriad plot holes (turner prize winning artist taking down two close protection officers and out IT'ing MI5 and co for starters) it was much better than I was expecting it to be, I was riveted to it and disturbingly it does stay with you after the fact, and I liked that Brooker made the PM a sympathetic character.

Good solid viewing, but I can't help feeling it needed something else to rise it about the obvious. that final shot of Kinnear at the bottom of the stairs was really poignient though.
 
Three Wise Doctors said:
^I was guessing viagra, they also had porn for him to watch as well. I loved the comment that he was recommended not to go too quickly lest it be assumed he was enjoying it!!

I'll be honest here, I've never been a huge fan of Brookers, he seems to get healded a genius a lot of the time for merely stating the obvious, and this was no different really (Twitter is bad and we're all complicit in things). that being said, and despite myriad plot holes (turner prize winning artist taking down two close protection officers and out IT'ing MI5 and co for starters) it was much better than I was expecting it to be, I was riveted to it and disturbingly it does stay with you after the fact, and I liked that Brooker made the PM a sympathetic character.

Good solid viewing, but I can't help feeling it needed something else to rise it about the obvious. that final shot of Kinnear at the bottom of the stairs was really poignient though.
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I felt it could have been a bit longer and more fleshed out, but I guess that's nearly always going to be a problem in anthology stories.

That whole thing with "It's not playing well" and "It's suggested you don't go too quickly" etc. Does make you wonder about the nature of everything being focus tested and why things can't just be done with the actual reason for doing them being explained. I suppose press coverage, group think and our own biases make things play out very differently to how they should be. So it works well as a critique of everything from the whole social networking phenomenon, whether it's the instant feedback everything generates or the way it so very easily makes us fall in to mob mentality, for better and worse.
 
Just watched it. It was alright, I suppose. It worked as satire, but didn't really grab me. Good, but not great.
 
ITL said:
Just watched it. It was alright, I suppose. It worked as satire, but didn't really grab me. Good, but not great.
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I can understand that. I was a bit disappointed compared to his other stuff to be honest, but still thought it was a good piece of television if not as great as I'd hoped.
 
I have a sneaking feeling next week's will be a bit rubbish, but from what I understand of the third one it might be interesting.
 
Well, that was the most poignant pig-fucking scene I've watched all year.

It was good, not great. I didn't like the reliance on polling in the decision to fuck the pig, there just wasn't enough time to get reliable results, especially from an internet poll that would be ripe for abuse from the likes of 4chan. Public opinion apparently shifted in the space of half an hour, a professional polling company would probably take double that time just to formulate the right wording for the question.

Three Wise Doctors said:
I'll be honest here, I've never been a huge fan of Brookers, he seems to get healded a genius a lot of the time for merely stating the obvious
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It's not that he states the obvious, it's that he states it in a very blunt, aggressive manner that happens to be hysterical at the best of times. I don't consider him a genius, but I have way more time for him than anyone else in the media.
 
I walked into it blind.

didn't know a thing.

Didn't even understand it was the dead set bloke till I'm wikipediaing what the fuck I am watching half way through.

Considering some of the reactions here, my ability to ignore the bulk of the information technology available to me, seems to be a plus.
 
I'm amazed there wasn't some kind of outrage from the RSPCA animal rights lobby (in the show not in real life) about the abuse of the pig, and also, isn't fucking an animal illegal, this was something else that didn't seem to get addressed!
 
Three Wise Doctors said:
I'm amazed there wasn't some kind of outrage from the RSPCA animal rights lobby (in the show not in real life) about the abuse of the pig, and also, isn't fucking an animal illegal, this was something else that didn't seem to get addressed!
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They did mention it was an illegal act several times. They also mentioned they were drafting a law about it and including the fact no one could own a copy of the video after midnight.
 
Ah yes, I remember the bit about it being illegal to own a copy, which is ridiculous cos earlier in the show we saw how hard it would be to enforce that.

I still don't see how he could stay in power? His approval ratings in the UK might have risen but you can just imagine the kind of coverage he'd get from various foreign nations!
 
Three Wise Doctors said:
Ah yes, I remember the bit about it being illegal to own a copy, which is ridiculous cos earlier in the show we saw how hard it would be to enforce that.

I still don't see how he could stay in power? His approval ratings in the UK might have risen but you can just imagine the kind of coverage he'd get from various foreign nations!
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Well that's the thing, you'd have to know more to say whether it was believable or not.
 
Three Wise Doctors said:
I still don't see how he could stay in power? His approval ratings in the UK might have risen but you can just imagine the kind of coverage he'd get from various foreign nations!
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Well he might get some people to vote for him, if people believed the rest of Europe hated him.:lol:
 
No comments on the second one?

I thought it was excellent, considering the short running time they did a lot of world building, and the guy from Fades was brilliant again.

Lost it a bit at the end, I thought it was a trifle predictable and suddenly Bing became a very obvious mary sue for Brooker (does that man hate himself? It seemed very self piteous. "Oh I know I sold out and became famous for doing angry rants, but pity me, I'm in a cage too..." ) but overall it was v good, probably better than the first one which surprised me.
 
I thought it was very poor and obvious and just hit you over the head with some very blunt observations.
 
So we are to beleive that they've been underground so long that world has healed, or that there was nothign wrong with the world, or even that there's enough solar power out there that the Bikes are a little joke the rich are having on the poor... Which is not too dissimillar to some of the jokes the rich play on the poor these days.

Which I suppose is the point.
 
I also liked it more than the first. Someone on my twitter stream said when he trashed the room after seeing her on the adult channel would also have been a good place to end it, being such a strongly emotional scene.

I didn't think that was the point in the ending. He wasn't in so much of a cage as other people, he got to see the real world, have actual orange juice, and personal space. Seemed more about simple pleasures can do more for you than all the technology we surround ourselves with.
 
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