miss direct
misfungled
I'm watching Safe - giving it another go.
Netflix recommendations
- Thread starter Jon-of-arc
- Start date
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
I didn't really hear anything about it, but I would have thought that with an interesting set up an acclaimed director a star studded cast could have accomplished something more. . . But literally it's just those stars barely bothering to act in a story that goes nowhere. No highs and lows, no emotional involvement.
I suppose that's the only thing you can say about it, it's almost nihilistic in the way it purposefully doesn't let any thread take you anywhere. This idea could have been quite funny, but just ends up being boring because it's all the same and there is an almost flatlining pace to everything. The fourth wall breaking of knowing the script could have been interesting too, but is introduced as some kind of throwaway amateur hour sketch.
The female cops death right before this point might have been better if instead of just being utterly irrational, she decided the film was going nowhere and walked out into the zombies.
If it was going to be a nihilistic deconstruction then it really needed to switch gears and lean into it.
Reno
The In Kraut
I haven’t seen Z Nation and I don’t believe you need to have seen it. Black Summer is s prequel with a different set of characters, it just takes place in the same universe. From what I’ve read Z Nation had a lighter tone, Black Summer is quite grim.
BoxRoom
nicely inconspicuous
No need to at all
Chz
Stark Raving Sane
I went to a special preview at the BFI, and it did seem that I was in the minority with my disappointment. Even given that I think a bit of Tilda Swinton makes everything better.
I have a funny thing about Adam Driver. I have nothing against him personally, think he's a perfectly cromulent actor. I just happen to dislike absolutely everything that he's been in. Not because of him, but it's a damning record.
Reno
The In Kraut
I thought Marriage Story with Adam Driver was the best film of 2019. I'm a bit the opposite, I think Adam Driver makes everything better (even fucking Star Wars!), he's a hugely versatile actor, while Tilda Swinton can be an awful ham. She is good when reigned in a bit, but many of the art house directors whose muse she becomes, are so in awe of her that they give her free reign and I'm getting a little tired of her brand of chewing the scenery. I didn't make it all the way through Almodovar's The Human Voice, I found her acting unbearable.
Last edited:
kittyP
Pluviophile
Hmm see I completely agree with nearly all of that but I still ended up thinking it was OK.
Definitely could have been a lot better though.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
Yes I suppose it was 'ok', I have certainly watched a lot worse recently and I don't regret watching it. I think it just irks and frustrates me more when there is unrealised potential in a film. I certainly didn't hate it.
Buddy Bradley
Pantheistic solipsist
Agreed - just watched this, it's really good and affecting.
krtek a houby
Merry Xmas!
Despite Magne and Iman looking too old for school, am really enjoying season 2 of Ragnarok. Reminds me a bit more of American Gods (the book, haven't seen the series) than Marvel.
T & P
|-o-| (-o-) |-o-|
For me it’s precisely (though not the only reason) because it’s a million miles away from a typical Marvel product that it’s so enjoyable. It’s the superhero series for people who hate superhero series.
AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
No, the two series have nothing to do with one another really. The only connection is supposedly a reference by someone in Z Nation to "Black Summer" having been when everything went to shit.
So Black Summer is sort of a prequel in that sense, in that it happens before the events in Z Nation, but there's no other connection, no cross-over characters or anything.
The styles are completely different too. Z Nation was very much tongue in cheek and didn't take itself too seriously and sent up the zombie genre, was a bit derivative sometimes but in a humorous homage way. Plus there was a strong narrative arc moving the story along, and character development. Black Summer has neither. It's mostly a series of short-ish scenes/scenarios, set pieces in which groups of characters are in difficult situations with zombies and/or other survivors. There are more fight scenes and shoot-outs. Some characters pop up again, but like I said, no real character development, just the same character but in a different scenario. And the timeline goes a bit back and forth, jumps around, which can sometimes be a good device, a good way of telling a character's back story, but here it's just overlapping characters/stories. And Black Summer doesn't have any of the humour that Z Nation did.
I read that the shows had the same writers and some production, so that's the other thing they have in common, behind the scenes, in that it's made by a lot of the same people who made Z Nation.
AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
I've watched all of season one of Black Summer, and I'm half way through season two. I'm not enamoured, tbh, and I like most zombie stuff.After finishing S2 of Black Summer we decided to give Z Nation a go today. Fucking loving it so far
But I loved Z Nation.
Z Nation is much, much better than Black Summer.
krtek a houby
Merry Xmas!
Oh, just love the superhero series/films. Don't mind if it's Marvel, or Chronicle, Unbreakable, Invincible or this. There's always plenty to do with the genre. Kinda the same with genres like martial arts and vampires.
krtek a houby
Merry Xmas!
Is Z Nation also a film?
Reno
The In Kraut
It's not but from reading the description, there are a lot of zombie films like it out there. What put me off about Z Nation was that it was made by The Asylum, who make ultra-low budget "mockbusters" and crap like the Sharknado films. Z Nation sounded like a campy send up along Sharknado & co and I prefer my horror scary. Reviews for the early seasons were poor, though they improved as the series went on. May check it out eventually, after liking Black Summer.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
I expect you are thinking of world war Z. This is probably why asylum put a 'Z' in the title of their series.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
Based on this thread I am having a go at a bit of z nation this morning. I'm only on episode two . . . Not terrible (apart from some of the acting) but I have to ask. . . does it improve, or is this how it continues? I'm not super gripped.
Reno
The In Kraut
Sometimes people running around and getting gruesomely killed
is all I need. It’s probably not for you.
MrCurry
right after this urgent rest
Yeah, I think it isn’t. I might try Z Nation though, as it sounds like it has a bit more to it.
T & P
|-o-| (-o-) |-o-|
As Reno said, you definitely don’t need to. The only thing is that I agree with others’ sentiment that Z Nation is better than Black Summer. So you might want to start with the lesser good one. Also better IMO to progress from the dark and grim one to the funnier and somewhat lighter in tone one.
FWIW, we started with Black Summer and really enjoyed it. Second season perhaps starts to peter out a bit towards its finale, but still very good on the whole.
I am glad we started with it because we’re enjoying Z Nation even more, and not just because of its funnier & lighter tone.
Anyways, highly recommended both even if like us you had grown tired of the zombie genre. Black Summer in particular is much less about zombie apocalypses as is about human nature.
AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
Bail.
I'm only watching it because I'm a 'I've started so I'll finish' completist. I'm half way through season two and I still don't know who 90 per cent of the characters are and the other 10 per cent I don't give a shit about.
Saul Goodman
It's all good, man
I just tried it again, for the third time, and it's still shite. I didn't realise I'd attempted to watch it before, as there was no tick next to any episode, but that's only because I couldn't finish a full episode. Then I got to the bit where a woman climbs a fence whilst getting chased by a zomboid, and remembered how utterly shite it was the first two times I attempted to watch it, but I persevered for a full episode, and its still utter shite.
I wish there was a way to hide it so I didn't have subject myself to it again. Remembering would be handy.
AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
Y'see, I liked the silliness of Sharknado, so I was game for more of the same but in the zombie genre and Z Nation was a bit of light relief after a lot of The Walking Dead - they even had a zombie tornado!
So long as you don't mind that it's tongue in cheek and sends up the zombie genre, it's easy to get into and it's funny, in a low budget so bad that it's good kind of way, it's entertaining nonsense.
And there's more of an overarching narrative arc, and episodic and seasonal narrative arcs, and much more character development than in Black Summer, and it's an okay ensemble cast, but I loved the Murphy character and Warren was good too.
Similar threads
