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Tyrant - The Godfather set in the Middle East - Season 2 - Tues on FX

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B

BMO = GOAT

Member
Started off slow, but it picked up. Good episode :). Him being the "bad" one was given away though, seeing how he was always cold and alone.
 
H

Heshinsi

"playing" dumb? unpossible
ZiZ said:
very likely a show about evil arabs, where the least evil arab is the Americanized one.

As an Arab myself I often find most portrayals of arabs in the media to be terrible and cringe worthy, and I can't help but feel this will be one of the worst.
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Same reservations here. The most bad ass portrayal of an Arab from a non Arab I've ever seen is still Mark Strong in Body of Lies. Going to watch and see if they portray us like of cartoon villains.
 
A

AuthenticM

Member
Heshinsi said:
Same reservations here. The most bad ass portrayal of an Arab from a non Arab I've ever seen is still Mark Strong in Body of Lies. Going to watch and see if they portray us like of cartoon villains.
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Is every Arab in the show a discusting POS, even those who are not criminals (I have yet to watch the episode) ? This is a show about organized crime, you know. It's kinda normal that the criminals would be protrayed in a negative light. How is their depiction different from other villains' ?
 
K

kehs

Banned
AuthenticM said:
Is every Arab in the show a discusting POS, even those who are not criminals (I have yet to watch the episode) ? This is a show about organized crime, you know. It's kinda normal that the criminals would be protrayed in a negative light. How is their depiction different from other villains' ?
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It was over the top stereotypical. You can characterize actions without generic examples tied to stereotypes of being "evil".
 
R

RustyNails

Member
6.5/10 for me.

This show's problem is sadly "what hollywood thinks an arab dictatorship is like", hence all the characters feel like 2D caricatures. It was what I feared. Evil madman Jamal is over the top, but I think the actor did a good job. The women are non-existent. The military is evil cardboard cutout dudes. Older dad was interesting, but younger dad was very cartoonish. Barry's family is annoying, especially the wife. OH THE DICTATOR DIED? WE SHUD STAYYY!

I think it got a few things right as well. Barry's actor did a good job too. That slap was out of left field, and I think his scenes with Jamal were pretty good. The dynamic between them will probably form the crux of the show.

Also some of the overlooked little details are very off putting. A guy calls himself "Abdul". Right. No one goes just by Abdul and it's ridiculous. Jamal's son in no way looked Arab to me. Some of the dresses they wore were wtf.
 
B

BMO = GOAT

Member
RustyNails said:
6.5/10 for me.

This show's problem is sadly "what hollywood thinks an arab dictatorship is like", hence all the characters feel like 2D caricatures. It was what I feared. Evil madman Jamal is over the top, but I think the actor did a good job. The women are non-existent. The military is evil cardboard cutout dudes. Older dad was interesting, but younger dad was very cartoonish. Barry's family is annoying, especially the wife. OH THE DICTATOR DIED? WE SHUD STAYYY!

I think it got a few things right as well. Barry's actor did a good job too. That slap was out of left field, and I think his scenes with Jamal were pretty good. The dynamic between them will probably form the crux of the show.

Also some of the overlooked little details are very off putting. A guy calls himself "Abdul". Right. No one goes just by Abdul and it's ridiculous. Jamal's son in no way looked Arab to me. Some of the dresses they wore were wtf.
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Yea the wife had me smh, why would anyone want to stay in a country in which the dictator just died.
 
R

RustyNails

Member
AuthenticM said:
Is every Arab in the show a discusting POS, even those who are not criminals (I have yet to watch the episode) ? This is a show about organized crime, you know. It's kinda normal that the criminals would be protrayed in a negative light. How is their depiction different from other villains' ?
Click to expand...
You can portray people in negative light without being stereotypical. Add a few shades of grey here and there. It's not that difficult.
 
A

AuthenticM

Member
RustyNails said:
You can portray people in negative light without being stereotypical. Add a few shades of grey here and there. It's not that difficult.
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But this is Hollywood; all of their characters are stereotypical. How is that show any different from any other Hollywood show ?
 
A

AuthenticM

Member
Alright, fair enough.

But how about the meat of what's important: the presentation (the form). How is that ? Is it well-done ? How's the writing and cinematography ?
 
R

RustyNails

Member
AuthenticM said:
Alright, fair enough.

But how about the meat of what's important: the presentation (the form). How is that ? Is it well-done ? How's the writing and cinematography ?
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I think it's presented well. It didn't look cheap. Just some of the minor details were off-putting in some cases. Nothing too stand-out with regards to writing and stuff, although I do like Jamal's delivery of lines. There's something very John Malkovich about it.
AuthenticM said:
Are there sex and nudity ?
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Of course.
 
V

Valhelm

contribute something
I loved the cinematography, and the principle actors were excellent. David Yates directed this episode, and his talent really showed through.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the son's romantic subplot. I doubt it will end well for either of them.

AuthenticM said:
Are there sex and nudity ?
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The character Jamal is a rapist, and we see him raping women. It's disturbing, but not graphic, and the only nudity is his chest and butt.
 
S

Shadow780

Member
AuthenticM said:
...no tits ?
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image.php
 
P

pgtl_10

Member
real_slime said:
This looks bad. It might seem superificial, but the pandering of having some white guy called 'Barry' be the lead and his blonde wife Molly second just gets things off on the whole wrong foot. This looks like it's prioritising popular entertainment over legitimate investigation of its subject area and I'm not too interested in getting another show like that about the middle east - we have had plenty. It's on FX as well, which limits my expectations since it's always pursued shows with some small level of creative weight behind them but goes for pulpy most of the time.

Probably not gonna watch it unless I hear it's unexpectedly very good, like beyond what people are expecting.
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This is typical of FOX though. Arabs = bad and have no morals. Only Americans can save them. Hollywood has yet to make a decent film on the Middle East.
 
A

ambientmystic

Member
CambriaRising said:
I liked it well enough. Certainly wouldn't judge it completely based on just one episode.


No.
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It's FX, no exposed female tits or bush allowed, just like AMC et. al. (unless readded during DVD/Bluray releases.)

There are only 4 premium American cable networks that allow exposed tits with no limitations in their shows:-

1. HBO

2. Shotime

3. Starz

4. Cinemax
 
B

blakep267

Member
Why did they have to make the wife and kids mentally challenged.

" talk to me"- blind wife whose name I don't know.

Beyotch, his dad is an evil dictator who just died. Didn't you see what happened in Egypt. GTFO the country right away. No need to explain it.

I wish he would've smacked her for being so clueless about how the world actually is.
 
S

SteveWinwood

Member
FX can show whatever they want.

They don't because they're worried all their sponsors will pull. Same holds true for all cable networks.
 
A

AuthenticM

Member
CambriaRising said:
The FCC dictates this I believe. However FX has been known to show bare breasts with just the nipple covered on their shows before.
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That's ridiculous. Any network should be allowed to show what the hell they want past 9 or 10 pm.

Has this policy been constitutionally contested ?

SteveWinwood said:
FX can show whatever they want.

They don't because they're worried all their sponsors will pull. Same holds true for all cable networks.
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Goddamn puritanism. It's a plague on this fucking world.
 
F

Fularu

Banned
The creators of Homeland making something in the middle east with, again, arabs beeing dictators and mafia. I'm sure they'll be terrorists by mid season.
 
A

ambientmystic

Member
AuthenticM said:
That's ridiculous. Any network should be allowed to show what the hell they want past 9 or 10 pm.

Has this policy been constitutionally contested ?

Goddamn puritanism. It's a plague on this fucking world.
Click to expand...

Well, the 4 networks I listed out earlier on have almost zero restrictions on explicit content because they don't rely on sponsors/advertisers like the others and are purely subscription driven networks. (part of the packages offered by the cable companies)

It's just the reality of the situation in the US.
 
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