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Alex Garland's new TV Show-Dev's.

Started by IAMTHESYSTEM, 15 March, 2018, 12:59:47 PM

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IAMTHESYSTEM

"You may live to see man-made horrors beyond your comprehension."

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― Nikola Tesla

dweezil2

Well our fella Garland has certainly come good again!

The whole series has just appeared on iPlayer, so I took the liberty of binge watching over the last two days.
It's really quite astonishing stuff and a must for those who like their sci-fi on the exestential side!

Fantastic use of visuals and music, with some great performances, it reminded me very superficially of Christopher Nolan's Inception but it has more than enough ideas of its own and has a warmth and heart lacking from a lot of Nolan's output and his more sterile approach, coming off at times like a humanistic Stanley Kubrick .

There's a really compelling thriller plot and Garland plays a satisfying long game and keeps up the momentum even when exploring the heady subjects of quantum physics and self determination!

Not to be missed!

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"He's The Law 45th anniversary music video"
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Tiplodocus

Saw first episode last night. Thought it was grand. As worried that the iPlayer description spoilers it but actually, that's only the jumping off point.
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

shaolin_monkey

Excellent. Chained the whole thing. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Colin YNWA

Some friends of mine were raving about this last night - must get around to watching it as it comes well recommended.

Apestrife

Seen it twice now. I quite like it. As with Garland's Ex Machina and Annihilation it left me with some good questions to think about. Wish it had more of it's lovely weird details like rings around trees and stuff :)

Tiplodocus

Yeah, finished it all now and really enjoyed it. Nice to see the cast of a GAP advert get involved in existential musings with a (hard) science fiction edge.

Liked the way that the baddies were nuanced enough that at points I was thinking "I hope he succeeds".

Still trying to decide if I loved the atmospherics and leisurely pace (which didn't change even as we climaxed) or if it could have done with losing two episodes. I'm leaning to the former.
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

JamesC

I've just finished watching this.
I've decided I like Alex Garland as a writer but not as a director.
I thought the story was really good but the execution was just excruciating. I'm not a fan of the 'low energy' acting style, I have a pet hate for ambient soundtracks and I prefer characters to actually have some... Character.
I honestly think I'd have had a better time reading the script.

broodblik

I am now more than halfway trough and it is just average. I cannot put my finger on it but the show feels a little bit empty. I struggle to really associate with any of the characters. The choice of music is annoying and feels like the 70s sci-fi movies soundtracks.
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

shaolin_monkey

Quote from: JamesC on 28 April, 2020, 09:10:10 AM

I thought the story was really good but the execution was just excruciating. I'm not a fan of the 'low energy' acting style, I have a pet hate for ambient soundtracks and I prefer characters to actually have some... Character.


Maybe he'd be better doing some kind of dystopian future action film.

Bolt-01

Finished this last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. The 'final' twist was a little on the 'pitchfest bingo' scale, but it was a fantastically created show with a lot to think about.

I really liked the low energy pace of the piece, it worked for me as a terrific counterpoint to shows where even the most mundane of actions is so manically driven.

Hope it is successful enough to allow Alex to develop more longform TV.

IndigoPrime

If you ignored the cod-science, there was a lot to like in Devs. Even so, it really wound me up when [spoiler]Lyndon decided to hop up on to the dam. All he needed to prove many-worlds was NOT do that, since Katie had already seen him die at that moment[/spoiler]. I get that this was more a narrative device than anything, [spoiler]showcasing Katie being an extremist and an excellent manipulator of people[/spoiler], but it still wound me up, not least because it [spoiler]eroded Lyndon's character, transforming him from arguably the smartest of them into a total fucking idiot bereft of basic logical thinking[/spoiler].

Bolt-01

My take on that scene was [spoiler]Lyndon just accepted Katie's explanation without argument as he had already seen the power of the 'many worlds' solution in Devs.[/spoiler]

Also it highlighted the shock [spoiler]that was on display when Lily didn't not shoot Forrest. She just pooped all over their predictions. [/spoiler]

There was an awful lot to like in that show.