LivDiv wrote:

Coen Brothers cinematic universe innit.

A fully grown Arizona, played by George Clooney, spills something on the Dude's rug and takes it to the dry cleaners, The Dude, played by George Cloony, thinks it's been stolen and hires an assassin with a silenced shotgun to hunt it down. George Clooney stars.

Unlikely wrote:

afgavinstan wrote:

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/03/bryan-singers-accusers-speak-out/580462/ After seeing An Open Secret, I've waited for this moment to come. Vile person.

That's a grim read.

I write this immediately after finishing the film, I'm still thinking about it now; it's a superb concept - I recommend you give it your full attention.

There's plenty of "zombie crap" post The Walking Dead (even more if we include the reboot/rehash craze at the moment, zombies and super-hero/comic books surely approach or exceed 70% of stuff) - and at first I feared this was another of the weird things from the depths of youtube that'd found it's way onto Amazon Prime.

This is a superb take, backed by a superb cast; I wont include anything hear that that could spoil it - but as the icon has the silhouette of a little girl: don't worry about the child actor thing - she was outstanding.

It's nice to see a fungus represented in the "zombie" arena, usually it's a virus (which has become a stand-in for bacteria if it's ever mentioned) and while there's no technical reason why not, bacteria show relatively few cases of "host control" when they alter the behaviour or structure of what they inhabit. There are plenty of example of symbiosis but not "hijacking something living for their own ends" (for example root nodules)

If I may elaborate further: viruses are much smaller than bacteria and more like machines than things that live. They *require* a suitable host to reproduce but there are not really any phases other than "dormant" (floating around waiting to be activated and to hijack animal (us too) cells) and active. There's a good debate around whether or not viruses count as life (7 life processes from year 7 anyone? Argument for another time!)
Rabies is the classic example of behaviour altering virus/

Fungi however have distinct phases to their lifetime and can be massive and multi-celled (viruses not even being a cell) forms which differentiate to do different things; and thus be much more complicated in how they hijack those living; and I recognised the name of the fungus used here as one that is well studied and hijacks ants. Even giving it a layer of physical protection of a hard shell. I wont bore the reader who got this far by trying to measure "degree of hijacking" with rabies causing extreme thirst, salivation and aggression vs the behaviour of the ant. In truth they're probably similar.

What I like about this is that the fungus has a life cycle.

It's hard to say much without spoiling it (so I will say little) but the story is superbly told. There are things which could have been "played up" more to really spell out the the thoughts it attempts to invoke, but it skilfully resists doing so - if anything leaving you wanting more.

Thinking about it now I realise that perhaps their absence was reasonable in certain places given the situations of the characters (that statement is deliberately vague! No spoiling it is my goal here)

I really don't know what else to say without risking spoiling it; but it was truly a treat to get to watch it the first time - I'm sad because I know it'll have so little re-watch value. It's just given me a lot to think about - which I like. I'd loved to have seen this with friends at a cinema purely for the bickering that happens as you walk out with them.

So to sum up:
* I really like the "more realistic" texture this has RE the "plague"/"infection" - we can measure this somewhat in "conservation of energy-ness" with The Walking Dead (I stopped watching years ago. The prison series with "The Governor" was my last) with their entropy-defying energy-factory zombies that can decay and still move.
* Great cast, great actors - even the little girl; gotta leave it there for spoiler's sake.
* Great visuals - I actually recognised at least one of the city shots as whatever that city is near Chernobyl (it was evacuated) - so we get to see "real city reclamation", the areas where the city couldn't be substituted for a Ukrainian-unless-Russia-Annexed-That-Too look great too.

The only thing I have to say about this is (as a film) is the subtitle quality is particularly poor - I've found sometimes I miss bits of dialogue and generally follow better with them on; despite this I noticed tonnes of incorrect (nonsensical - as in "that doesn't make any sense" - so I'm guessing "AI" did it) subtitles. I'd hate to actually be deaf.

PS: CHAINLINK FENCES - REALLY?!?!