The Northman…

[cyclone24 1,814]

What are you guys thoughts on this? I see keeps getting really good reviews and they are advertising the hell out of it but kind of seems like a very tired premise? 
 

boy witnesses his father‘s murder then it takes him like 25 years to get his revenge. Rapes a bunch of russian children… Yada yada

[MDC 5,890]

I really enjoyed the director Dave Eggers first 2 films the Witch and the Lighthouse, and I will definitely see this one. I agree though, the plot is basically Conan with Vikings. Eggers other movies were really artsy fartsy so I’m wondering if this one is more normal. 

Anyway I am totally there for it.  

[IGotWorms 3,315]

4 minutes ago, MDC said:

I really enjoyed the director Dave Eggers first 2 films the Witch and the Lighthouse, and I will definitely see this one. I agree though, the plot is basically Conan with Vikings. Eggers other movies were really artsy fartsy so I’m wondering if this one is more normal. 

Anyway I am totally there for it.  

Those were awesome movies

[DonS 3,067]

2 hours ago, MDC said:

I really enjoyed the director Dave Eggers first 2 films the Witch and the Lighthouse, and I will definitely see this one. I agree though, the plot is basically Conan with Vikings. Eggers other movies were really artsy fartsy so I’m wondering if this one is more normal. 

Anyway I am totally there for it.  

I saw Witch and enjoyed it.  What was the name of the goat?  Black Billy or something????

I need to check out the Lighthouse. 

[MLCKAA 395]

3 hours ago, MDC said:

I really enjoyed the director Dave Eggers first 2 films the Witch and the Lighthouse, and I will definitely see this one. I agree though, the plot is basically Conan with Vikings. Eggers other movies were really artsy fartsy so I’m wondering if this one is more normal. 

Anyway I am totally there for it.  

It’s Robert Eggers.  Dave is an author.

[MDC 5,890]

29 minutes ago, MLCKAA said:

It’s Robert Eggers.  Dave is an author.

Got it. Any relation?

[MDC 5,890]

1 hour ago, DonS said:

I saw Witch and enjoyed it.  What was the name of the goat?  Black Billy or something????

I need to check out the Lighthouse. 

Black Philip.

The Lighthouse was focking WEIRD but I sort of loved it.

[IGotWorms 3,315]

I read all of Dave Eggers’ novels, and yet I’m not sure if I like him

[MDC 5,890]

33 minutes ago, IGotWorms said:

I read all of Dave Eggers’ novels, and yet I’m not sure if I like him

I read A Heartbreaking Work … etc. I’d have probably loved it as a teenager or in my 20s but I thought it was navel gazing and whiny as an adult. 

[kutulu 1,545]

2 hours ago, MDC said:

 

The Lighthouse was focking WEIRD 

That's what I was gonna post. I'm bound to like anything with Defoe in it, but that was one of the movies where I started to realize Robert Pattinson was actually a pretty good actor (the other being Good Time)

[DonS 3,067]

39 minutes ago, kutulu said:

That's what I was gonna post. I'm bound to like anything with Defoe in it, but that was one of the movies where I started to realize Robert Pattinson was actually a pretty good actor (the other being Good Time)

So is it like Brokeback New England or something???

[kutulu 1,545]

8 minutes ago, DonS said:

So is it like Brokeback New England or something???

Yup, right up your alley. 

[IGotWorms 3,315]

1 hour ago, MDC said:

I read A Heartbreaking Work … etc. I’d have probably loved it as a teenager or in my 20s but I thought it was navel gazing and whiny as an adult. 

I did love it in my 20s, but totally see what you’re saying.

Many of his novels are almost great, but then they fall short with a huge thud, and they’re also deeply pessimistic. Frankly I don’t know how the guy hasn’t offed himself.

[Gladiators 1,904]

If there are enough boob shots, I’ll watch it.

[DonS 3,067]

1 hour ago, kutulu said:

Yup, right up your alley. 

Back alley. 

[MDC 5,890]

1 hour ago, IGotWorms said:

I did love it in my 20s, but totally see what you’re saying.

Many of his novels are almost great, but then they fall short with a huge thud, and they’re also deeply pessimistic. Frankly I don’t know how the guy hasn’t offed himself.

It’s really hard to stick the landing in books or movies. One reason I’m a big short story reader is that they’re generally much better written and don’t waste my time.

[MLCKAA 395]

4 hours ago, MDC said:

Got it. Any relation?

Not sure.  I’ve read 5-6 Dave Eggers books

[MLCKAA 395]

2 hours ago, MDC said:

I read A Heartbreaking Work … etc. I’d have probably loved it as a teenager or in my 20s but I thought it was navel gazing and whiny as an adult. 

AHWOSG is great, and not just for whiny 20 yr olds.  The passages about the beauty of frisbee are priceless.  FWIW, though, he wrote it in his twenties.

[MDC 5,890]

38 minutes ago, MLCKAA said:

AHWOSG is great, and not just for whiny 20 yr olds.  The passages about the beauty of frisbee are priceless.  FWIW, though, he wrote it in his twenties.

I liked the longish intro. Everything after that was a depressive slog IMHO.

[MLCKAA 395]

9 hours ago, MDC said:

I liked the longish intro. Everything after that was a depressive slog IMHO.

That’s cool.  Thanks for the discussion.

[IGotWorms 3,315]

3 hours ago, MLCKAA said:

That’s cool.  Thanks for the discussion.

Well it wasn’t expanded on much, but I agree with MDC’s diagnosis of depressive. It undergirds every single one of his novels—it is essentially the defining characteristic of his writing. Which is too bad, because otherwise he is really an amazing writer.

The other issue he has is more practical, and that’s that he never seems to know where to go with his novels. Typically the first half is incredible as he introduces the story and concepts, and then it totally unravels about the midpoint of the book as it becomes clear that he has nowhere to go with it.

Anyhow, I think my second favorite of his works after AHWOSG is A Hologram for the King. It’s actually a little quaint at this point but it really nailed the early to mid 00s and America’s decline. It’s also just really interesting for the perspective of an American businessman abroad in the Middle East.

Probably my other favorite of his is What is the What. That might actually be #1 or #2 but I need to revisit it at this point.

The Every may be his most important work but it’s also a bit of a depressive slog, as MDC said.

[MLCKAA 395]

6 hours ago, IGotWorms said:

Well it wasn’t expanded on much, but I agree with MDC’s diagnosis of depressive. It undergirds every single one of his novels—it is essentially the defining characteristic of his writing. Which is too bad, because otherwise he is really an amazing writer.

The other issue he has is more practical, and that’s that he never seems to know where to go with his novels. Typically the first half is incredible as he introduces the story and concepts, and then it totally unravels about the midpoint of the book as it becomes clear that he has nowhere to go with it.

Anyhow, I think my second favorite of his works after AHWOSG is A Hologram for the King. It’s actually a little quaint at this point but it really nailed the early to mid 00s and America’s decline. It’s also just really interesting for the perspective of an American businessman abroad in the Middle East.

Probably my other favorite of his is What is the What. That might actually be #1 or #2 but I need to revisit it at this point.

The Every may be his most important work but it’s also a bit of a depressive slog, as MDC said.

Rather than  depressive/depressing, I would say he often has a focus on human frailty.

[DonS 3,067]

Any of you guys see this yet?  I'm considering catching it tomorrow. 

[IGotWorms 3,315]

I saw some previews the other day and it really made me lose interest. Looked like some homoerotic 300-type junk  

[DonS 3,067]

41 minutes ago, IGotWorms said:

I saw some previews the other day and it really made me lose interest. Looked like some homoerotic 300-type junk  

It's the Nortttthhhhman? 

[DonS 3,067]

So I saw it today.  Movie was quite a bit different than I expected as the Viking pillaging shown in trailers really only happens near beginning of the movie.

Rather than some huge battle epic it was actually fairly small scale and was basically Hamlet.  Some nice gore at least. 

On the 300 homoerotic scale of 1 to 10 it was probably more like a 2.

I enjoyed it but that could be due in part to me at least having some knowledge of the underlying Norse mythology (thanks in part to Assassin's Creed Valhalla).

While it did look good on the big screen it definitely can be enjoyed just as much on a smaller screen at home. 

[cyclone24 1,814]

2 minutes ago, DonS said:

So I saw it today.  Movie was quite a bit different than I expected as the Viking pillaging shown in trailers really only happens near beginning of the movie.

Rather than some huge battle epic it was actually fairly small scale and was basically Hamlet.  Some nice gore at least. 

On the 300 homoerotic scale of 1 to 10 it was probably more like a 2.

I enjoyed it but that could be due in part to me at least having some knowledge of the underlying Norse mythology (thanks in part to Assassin's Creed Valhalla).

While it did look good on the big screen it definitely can be enjoyed just as much on a smaller screen at home. 

I’m not well-versed in Norse mythology but how did it tie into assassin’s creed Valhalla? Absolutely love that game.

[DonS 3,067]

Just now, cyclone24 said:

I’m not well-versed in Norse mythology but how did it tie into assassin’s creed Valhalla? Absolutely love that game.

Didn't tie-in, but some of the mythological backstory like the witches (Norns???) that thread everyone's fate play an important part. 

[edjr 5,564]

On 4/16/2022 at 6:56 PM, IGotWorms said:

I read all of Dave Eggers’ novels, and yet I’m not sure if I like him

You just kept getting egged on. 

[IGotWorms 3,315]

Finally caught this last night. Good but not great. Generally just a straightforward tale that tried to throw in some weird mystical sh1t here and there and it didn’t work super well. Also no idea why the love story was tossed in as it seemed entirely superfluous.

[wiffleball 4,640]

My high school mascot was the Norseman.

 

But we had this gay kid who always pronounced it northman.

 

Then one Halloween he dressed up as a Norse god.

 

I asked him, are you Thor?

 

He rubbed his butt and said "a lithttle"

[DonS 3,067]

9 minutes ago, IGotWorms said:

Finally caught this last night. Good but not great. Generally just a straightforward tale that tried to throw in some weird mystical sh1t here and there and it didn’t work super well. Also no idea why the love story was tossed in as it seemed entirely superfluous.

GHEY SPOILER ALERT:  I need to rewatch this.  My wife and I watched True Blood recently and I realized that the main character in Northman was one of the main vampire characters.  While True Blood had plenty o' tittays there was also some major homoerotic bits.  Maybe that's why I liked it? 

On a related note..  I re-watched The Witch w my wife a couple weeks ago. Was cool seeing the parents in that movie with cameos in The Northman.

[MDC 5,890]

40 minutes ago, IGotWorms said:

Finally caught this last night. Good but not great. Generally just a straightforward tale that tried to throw in some weird mystical sh1t here and there and it didn’t work super well. Also no idea why the love story was tossed in as it seemed entirely superfluous.

I’ll skip it. Thanks for the review. 

[crackattack 513]

It was meh. 

[TheNewGirl 1,030]

1 hour ago, DonS said:

GHEY SPOILER ALERT:  I need to rewatch this.  My wife and I watched True Blood recently and I realized that the main character in Northman was one of the main vampire characters.  While True Blood had plenty o' tittays there was also some major homoerotic bits.  Maybe that's why I liked it? 

On a related note..  I re-watched The Witch w my wife a couple weeks ago. Was cool seeing the parents in that movie with cameos in The Northman.

Alexander Skarsgård plays Eric Northman on True Blood. 

I thought the Northman was good, but I really liked Robert Eggers other movies too. I thought the Tree of Life drawing type stuff was meh. 

I LOVE The Witch, its one of my favorites. If you read a little history on that era and the hallucinations in that movie and all of that, it was common. Especially for families that were starving or eating food that had rotted/molded without them knowing. Wheat and corn mold can create a few illnesses like this. Anyways. Great movie.