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klaythoring
Reviews
The Menu (2022)
So much deeper than the fluffy marshmallows
What a feast for the eyes, the visuals: incredible. The acting was superb, not one cast member took me out of the suspension (split emulsion?) I was hovering in for the ride.
Seeing a lot of posts complaining the movie should spell out or explain itself to be enjoyed. For myself, I'm glad for that. There's been an ever growing trend of some expositional voiceover at the end or open dialogue thing things up or explaining the message as though metaphor and satire stopped existing.
The murkiness is the point! Life has no clean endings. The journey is enough, and no finite interpretations or loose ends should decide whether a movie was "worth" it. The experience was the point and not getting it or appreciating it is against the entire point the Chef was making throughout. Many people honed their craft and built this majestic (home) cinema experience for you and you are so busy critiquing it you've missed the joy of the experience for the joy of it.
No one is the good guy, humans are disastrous. The attendee who didn't really choose to be there and realized she could bring some final moments of joy and satisfaction to this destroyed creature was given the opportunity to leave. The misery is universal, people aren't sated by the literal crème de la crème. Dissatisfaction and disillusionment abound. It's so much commentary blatantly yet somehow simultaneously deftly presented. Like a butcher presenting a gossamer fillet on the end of a cleaver.
I know the meme is let people enjoy things...but I wish people would let themselves enjoy things too. Walking out confused and frustrated might be the whole point, once in a while.
Taskmaster (2015)
Just the Greatest
I have rewatched this show over and over, introduced everyone I know to it and pounce on new episodes with glee!
The format is amazing, I love the tasks that Alex comes up with & that there's all kinds - artistic, athletic, intellectual, obscure.
the ridiculous authority of Greg with moments of softness that are super charming. (Checking on Knappit, hugging Katherine R., the bond with Asim)
I like the way they all take criticism & the way they put their all into things. That Alex considers feedback and adapts to it instead of ignoring it. (The stage tie task stands out for that, and made me feel even more stoked on TM.)
I can't decide whether the best bit is seeing how different people's brains work as they come up with task solutions, or trying to imagine how you would do the same task (yourself or with friends).
Fave season so far is Acaster's, but it's a testament to the awesomeness of this show that it's so hard to pick!
Taskmaster (2018)
Massive TaskMaster fan, unimpressed
I'm not sure why so many UK comedians want to go to the US to 'make it' when they're so great at what they do.
Just find a distributor for US sales instead of ruining a perfect format with unfortunate compromises.
Maybe collaboration with Canada or Australia where the cheeky, ironic, intelligent humor has a place, but the US media market is a lot more flash and gloss than substance and likes to wear down the sharp edges until you've lost the best bits of a show like this.