Last of Us (HBO Max)

Covert Rain

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I hope they nail the "mall episode". One of my favorite moments from the game.
 

carrrnuttt

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One admirable thing about this show compared to the drek that TWD became, is that it doesn't seem to feel the need to fulfill some kind of zombie-killing quota per episode. Sure, it's about fungi-created zombies, but it is *really* about the people inhabiting the world the outbreak created, instead of just lip-service by the showrunners.
 

carrrnuttt

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This is an almost hour-long video but is a GREAT watch:

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media


I think this video will be of special interest to you, @cheesebeef. Just watch the first few minutes; I can almost guarantee you'll keep watching way past that.
 

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I hope they nail the "mall episode". One of my favorite moments from the game.
I'm sad that they decided to film the entirety of the first game in one season. They could have and should have done two seasons per game.
 

Cheesebeef

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This is an almost hour-long video but is a GREAT watch:

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media


I think this video will be of special interest to you, @cheesebeef. Just watch the first few minutes; I can almost guarantee you'll keep watching way past that.
Gotta be honest, I stopped watching after they called Mazin an insane choice to make this, platforming him as someone who only made stupid spoof movies, while completely ignoring the fact that he wrote and show-ran Chernobyl, his absolutely breathtaking/harrowing mini-series that was one of the best I've ever seen.
 

Stout

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Gotta be honest, I stopped watching after they called Mazin an insane choice to make this, platforming him as someone who only made stupid spoof movies, while completely ignoring the fact that he wrote and show-ran Chernobyl, his absolutely breathtaking/harrowing mini-series that was one of the best I've ever seen.
Damn, he did Chernobyl too? The dude is fire!
 

Cheesebeef

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Damn, he did Chernobyl too? The dude is fire!
Yeah. The evolution of his career is incredibly unique.

Makes me wonder how bad the suits screwed with his Spoof movies with thousands of different writers’ rewrites. Would be super curious to see what his OG drafts looked like before getting chewed up in the machine.
 

Covert Rain

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Yeah. The evolution of his career is incredibly unique.

Makes me wonder how bad the suits screwed with his Spoof movies with thousands of different writers’ rewrites. Would be super curious to see what his OG drafts looked like before getting chewed up in the machine.
This is such a strange project to do after that one. In fact, this is pretty damn risky considering it’s a game adaptation. Not sure if he is simply a genius or just has huge marbles loving a challenge. Maybe it’s both.
 

carrrnuttt

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Gotta be honest, I stopped watching after they called Mazin an insane choice to make this, platforming him as someone who only made stupid spoof movies, while completely ignoring the fact that he wrote and show-ran Chernobyl, his absolutely breathtaking/harrowing mini-series that was one of the best I've ever seen.

Then you missed the whole point of the video or weren't catching the thread he was laying out. Did you even get to where the Holocaust was brought up because Mazin brought it up? You assumed that that was the target of this when the title itself talks about "genius?"

Mazin himself declared that he HAD to go through his tribulations in order to have done what he did with Chernobyl and now with this show. The whole journey of that analysis is Mazin's journey to his present genius. You, the watcher will also go through that journey unless of course you got too opinionated and/or emotional and got off the train.

I figured you, with what you do, will get/catch on to the video better than I. I guess not.
 

Cheesebeef

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This is such a strange project to do after that one. In fact, this is pretty damn risky considering it’s a game adaptation. Not sure if he is simply a genius or just has huge marbles loving a challenge. Maybe it’s both.
Eh… they’re both stories about devastation and the after effects of a disaster. Thematically it makes sense to me to follow one after the other.
 

Cheesebeef

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Then you missed the whole point of the video or weren't catching the thread he was laying out. Did you even get to where the Holocaust was brought up because Mazin brought it up? You assumed that that was the target of this when the title itself talks about "genius?"

Mazin himself declared that he HAD to go through his tribulations in order to have done what he did with Chernobyl and now with this show. The whole journey of that analysis is Mazin's journey to his present genius. You, the watcher will also go through that journey unless of course you got too opinionated and/or emotional and got off the train.

I figured you, with what you do, will get/catch on to the video better than I. I guess not.
Just didn’t really care. Seemed like it was going to be an hour of Mazin fluffing. I’ve heard enough of that from himself on his podcast.
 

Covert Rain

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Eh… they’re both stories about devastation and the after effects of a disaster. Thematically it makes sense to me to follow one after the other.
Although a similarity, one is based on a historical event. The other is a video game in a fantasy world. Still seems like a major risk even from the standpoint of doing a video game adaptation alone.
 

carrrnuttt

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Just didn’t really care. Seemed like it was going to be an hour of Mazin fluffing. I’ve heard enough of that from himself on his podcast.

I watched two YouTube reactors who are also screenwriters get their minds blown by that video. Not because of the Mazin fluffing, but because of the journey that led to Mazin's current writing on this show.

You are too far into your head and your own ego to even get that far. Or so it seems.
 

Cheesebeef

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I watched two YouTube reactors who are also screenwriters get their minds blown by that video. Not because of the Mazin fluffing, but because of the journey that led to Mazin's current writing on this show.

You are too far into your head and your own ego to even get that far. Or so it seems.
Lol… I hailed Mazin as a genius myself crediting him for not just making two absolutely incredible shows but also guessing that his OG scripts for those spoof movies were probably much better than the finished product. Guess my ego wasn’t big enough to get in that way of that.

You obviously loved what you watched. I got bored within ten minutes and thought the narrative was too thirsty for my taste. Why that apparently pissed you off enough to take some personal shots at my ego is beyond me.
 
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Cheesebeef

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This is such a strange project to do after that one. In fact, this is pretty damn risky considering it’s a game adaptation. Not sure if he is simply a genius or just has huge marbles loving a challenge. Maybe it’s both.
dude’s a genius.
 

carrrnuttt

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Lol… I hailed Mazin as a genius myself crediting him for not just making two absolutely incredible shows but also guessing that his OG scripts for those spoof movies were probably much better than the finished product. Guess my ego wasn’t big enough to get in that way of that.

You obviously loved what you watched. I got bored within ten minutes and thought the narrative was too thirsty for my taste. Why that apparently pissed you off enough to take some personal shots at my ego is beyond me.

So which one is it, cheese?

Did you stop watching because they were "platforming" him as the creator of bad spoofs, or were they "fluffing" Mazin too hard?

Such weird and disparate takes about a video you didn't even bother fully watching, or understanding.

I stopped watching after they called Mazin an insane choice to make this, platforming him as someone who only made stupid spoof movies...

Just didn’t really care. Seemed like it was going to be an hour of Mazin fluffing. I’ve heard enough of that from himself on his podcast.

I assumed it was your ego blocking you from viewing further because you quite obviously assumed you already know better than the guy who worked for months writing his frankly amazing script for this when you barely took the time and effort to absorb what he laid out. It's like declaring a trip to the Grand Canyon a bust because the views driving out of South Phoenix are bad and you decided to turn around and go home before even reaching the freeway.

About your first weird take: This video talks about both the humbling and corporate crushing that Mazin experienced from creating these spoofs that led to him writing the way he does now. A necessary coverage in order to get to the genius he's delivering now. Also a screenwriter's clinic on how to use your own experiences to enhance your scriptwriting.

Your second weird take: You take a shot at the video creator for "fluffing" Mazin and at Mazin himself for apparently fluffing himself on podcasts. When in truth, it talks about that massive Impostor Syndrome that Mazin felt coming into The Last of Us as a massive fan of the games. Did you know that Druckman and Mazin were already working on this show as Druckman was working on TLOU Part 2?

Feel free to correct me if indeed it wasn't your ego that produced such contrasting takes to try and excuse why you didn't even bother understanding it. Also feel free to compare your takes to the hundreds of comments from people who watched the video. I am sure *some* of them are somewhere in your atmosphere of discernment. Not quite, but close. :rolleyes:

Why am I rolling my eyes? Because you could have just as easily said you couldn't watch the whole video without taking a potshot at the video's creator and those who enjoyed it.

Below is the reaction video I was referring to:

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media
 

UncleChris

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Wife and I just finished episode 3 and we're both, "meh.... it's okay and it wont be work to finish the series, but simply don't agree with the raves virtually everyone here has posted.

I'll start off by saying that we know absolutely nothing about the game. While based upon the game, it shouldn't be a requirement to fully "get" what is happening and why. We both noted that the show seems to be a hybrid among, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Donald Southerland version)," "Walking Dead," with a dash of "Outbreak" thrown in. We've got the ever present "The Federal Government, as always, are the big bad guys having screwed everything up," and the collection of militant super-folks who rise to the occasion and will save us all. We have gasoline that still burns after sitting in the tank for 10 years, scary people popping up in the dark and exploding heads.

Now all that doesn't mean it's bad, but it all seems rather common. We like the actor who plays Joel, but find Ellie singularly unlikeable, and a stereotype for a mouthy young teen. What we really found weird was the extended love story between Frank and Bill. We both thought that I had bumped the channel changer and we were watching a different show. Now, that being said, we really liked the Frank/Bill love story, better than any other part of the series so far. It was sweet and told a beautiful story of its own. But it felt awkward and misplaced in the series.

Production values are good, but the writing, so far anyway, is simply not original or even much of a deviation from much of what has gone before in cinema. 3.5 out of 5 stars for us both.

Just our humble opinions.
 

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Wife and I just finished episode 3 and we're both, "meh.... it's okay and it wont be work to finish the series, but simply don't agree with the raves virtually everyone here has posted.

I'll start off by saying that we know absolutely nothing about the game. While based upon the game, it shouldn't be a requirement to fully "get" what is happening and why. We both noted that the show seems to be a hybrid among, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Donald Southerland version)," "Walking Dead," with a dash of "Outbreak" thrown in. We've got the ever present "The Federal Government, as always, are the big bad guys having screwed everything up," and the collection of militant super-folks who rise to the occasion and will save us all. We have gasoline that still burns after sitting in the tank for 10 years, scary people popping up in the dark and exploding heads.

Now all that doesn't mean it's bad, but it all seems rather common. We like the actor who plays Joel, but find Ellie singularly unlikeable, and a stereotype for a mouthy young teen. What we really found weird was the extended love story between Frank and Bill. We both thought that I had bumped the channel changer and we were watching a different show. Now, that being said, we really liked the Frank/Bill love story, better than any other part of the series so far. It was sweet and told a beautiful story of its own. But it felt awkward and misplaced in the series.

Production values are good, but the writing, so far anyway, is simply not original or even much of a deviation from much of what has gone before in cinema. 3.5 out of 5 stars for us both.

Just our humble opinions.
:moon:

Kidding! While I really don't at all agree (coming from a non-video gamer), that's what makes this board and the world interesting: differing opinions. I have unpopular opinions on pop culture stuff like movies and shows, so I can't rightly cast stones at other posters for doing the same :thumbup:
 

UncleChris

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:moon:

Kidding! While I really don't at all agree (coming from a non-video gamer), that's what makes this board and the world interesting: differing opinions. I have unpopular opinions on pop culture stuff like movies and shows, so I can't rightly cast stones at other posters for doing the same :thumbup:

Thanks! I fully expect to get the crap beat out of me on this, but hey..... Just our opinions..... and we'll still be watching episodes 4-7.

;)
 

Covert Rain

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Thanks! I fully expect to get the crap beat out of me on this, but hey..... Just our opinions..... and we'll still be watching episodes 4-7.

;)
You are entitled to your opinion. It's all good.

I have watched every alien body snatcher and zombie show there is. This one blows them all away. So much so, my wife who HATES all of the zombie type shows is watching every episode with me. I am shocked. My kids are shocked. I think she is even shocked she likes it so much. I never thought I would see the day she watches one of these shows with me. Here we are.

Because of it, I keep checking to see if a real apocalypse is upon us and side-eying the mushrooms in my fridge.
 
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carrrnuttt

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Because of it, I keep checking to see if a real apocalypse is upon us and side eying the mushrooms in my fridge.

You're eventually (hopefully) going to be side-eyeing more than that, my friend:

 

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Thanks! I fully expect to get the crap beat out of me on this, but hey..... Just our opinions..... and we'll still be watching episodes 4-7.

;)
You like what you like. I personally did not like the show Arrested Development. I liked all the actors but the comedy just wasn't my style. I knew a lot of people that really liked that show.
 

Finito

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Wife and I just finished episode 3 and we're both, "meh.... it's okay and it wont be work to finish the series, but simply don't agree with the raves virtually everyone here has posted.

I'll start off by saying that we know absolutely nothing about the game. While based upon the game, it shouldn't be a requirement to fully "get" what is happening and why. We both noted that the show seems to be a hybrid among, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Donald Southerland version)," "Walking Dead," with a dash of "Outbreak" thrown in. We've got the ever present "The Federal Government, as always, are the big bad guys having screwed everything up," and the collection of militant super-folks who rise to the occasion and will save us all. We have gasoline that still burns after sitting in the tank for 10 years, scary people popping up in the dark and exploding heads.

Now all that doesn't mean it's bad, but it all seems rather common. We like the actor who plays Joel, but find Ellie singularly unlikeable, and a stereotype for a mouthy young teen. What we really found weird was the extended love story between Frank and Bill. We both thought that I had bumped the channel changer and we were watching a different show. Now, that being said, we really liked the Frank/Bill love story, better than any other part of the series so far. It was sweet and told a beautiful story of its own. But it felt awkward and misplaced in the series.

Production values are good, but the writing, so far anyway, is simply not original or even much of a deviation from much of what has gone before in cinema. 3.5 out of 5 stars for us both.

Just our humble opinions.

Frank and Bill are in the game.
 

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