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Henke

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I enjoyed Annihilation well enough the first time I saw it, but it also stuck with me for some reason.  Watching it again it grew on me a lot more, and now it's my favorite movie of last year(I have now seen it many times).  The depth of the visual storytelling is pretty wonderful and adds a lot to the enjoyment of it as there were things I missed the first time around.  I'm of the rare opinion that I liked it more than the books overall!  I enjoyed the books as well, and they worked best when they got very strange and abstract.  I however found myself very uninterested in the x-files-y/spy plots for the most part.  I saw the movie first, so when reading the books, that stuff felt like fat that should have largely been trimmed off or at least reduced.

 

It's also strange discussing the movie in the context of Netflix, since they did not have any hand in making it, they just scooped up the international streaming rights because the studio basically had no faith in the movie.  Ironically in the US Annihilation streams on Hulu and Amazon Prime, not Netflix at all.

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The final half-season of Kimmy Schmidt came out a while back, and boy that show really fizzled out. I loved the first season, felt the second dipped a little then the third one got better again. But season 4 has just been really aimless and, worse, not that funny. Where before it had that 30 Rock feel of meticulous yet effortless, you could really hear the gears grinding by the end

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Ouch, yes. I thought s3 was already reaching, and what I've seen through the slits of my snake-like eyes when my partner was watching, I actively thought was unfunny. The show's world is too absurd to ever really buy into (30 Rock always upheld some semblance of 'this could actually go on behind the studio doors', whereas in Kimmy I never believe these people could exist), but neither does it veer into the sublimely weird, like a Mighty Boosh. And it's a tricky one, because I love Brooklyn Nine-Nine and that's clearly absurd as well, but for some reason that world doesn't fall apart despite using caricatures just as ridiculous.

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I gave up on Kimmy Schmidt somewhere in the second season. It's been a while but I remember the writing having an increasingly shitty attitude about the midwest. Same with how they portrayed her landlord trying to stop the neighborhood from gentrifying. It all felt like it was written by a stereotypical smug new yorker...30 rock had a bit of that but was overall much more self aware.

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10 hours ago, Professor Video Games said:

I gave up on Kimmy Schmidt somewhere in the second season. It's been a while but I remember the writing having an increasingly shitty attitude about the midwest. Same with how they portrayed her landlord trying to stop the neighborhood from gentrifying. It all felt like it was written by a stereotypical smug new yorker...30 rock had a bit of that but was overall much more self aware.

extreme same. Prof & I have spoken before about the active disdain the show has for the Midwest and midwesterners at points. Really turned me off basically immediately, even if Tituss Burgess is a brilliant comedian.

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Has anyone watched the Umbrella Academy? I saw it pop up on Netflix and the premise is vaguely interesting to me, but I have no idea whether it's actually any good.

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Everyone keeps saying good stuff about The Umbrella Academy but I haven't watched it. People said equally good stuff about Russian Doll so I watched it and liked it but it didn't blow me away. The lead gives a great performance and I definitely like the setting/mood/tone but aside from that it didn't rock my world. I also watched Velvet Buzzsaw which I liked a lot: dark humor/satire plus an insane amount of cheese which the movie isn't afraid to own. It's not as good as the director's previous movie Nightstalker, which had a more interesting satire target and more interesting characters, but Jake Gyllenhaal gives a great performance in both movies so there's that.

 

Also I live in India where Star Trek: Discovery is technically a Netflix Original, and I've been keeping up with that. It's fine.

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Ok, El Camino is out and also I've recently watched a pile of Netflix's Orignal movies for the year. Time for my fall-time BEST OF list.

 

Best Netflix Original Movies 2019 (so far)

 

1. Always Be My Maybe

Hilarious and heartwarming, even if it the jokes do dry up in the final act and it pretty much becomes a straight drama. Also, that mid-movie cameo puts all other movie-cameos to shame.

 

2. El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie

Really well put-together, with some great performances. Felt very episodic, like 3 or 4 episodes of the show mashed into a movie, which is kinda appropriate. Somehow it never really engrossed me 100%, but I also feel like I wanna watch it again.

 

3. Between Two Ferns: The Movie

A bit uneven, but I enjoyed it enough to watch it twice. Honestly, the end credits are the most hilarious part.

 

4. Walk. Ride. Rodeo.

A real-life story about a competitive rodeo rider who, after a paralyzing accident, is determined to not only walk, but get back in the saddle again. It's starts out very sacharine, but manages to bring the feels when shit hits the fan. Overall the structure is kinda your classic underdog sports movie, but I found it very captivating.

 

5. Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened

This was pretty crazy, huh?

 

Also pretty good:

Triple Frontier

In The Tall Grass

In The Shadow Of The Moon
 

Meh:

Velvet Buzzsaw
Wine Country
Polar
The Highwaymen
See You Yesterday
The Wandering Earth
Shaft
 

Still to come:

Dolemite Is My Name
The Irishman
 

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Agreed on El Camino, Two Ferns and Wine Country. Disagree on Always Be My Maybe, which I thought was the most bland, toothless archetype of a romcom I've seen in a while. I also watched Dumplin' but for some reason I forgot to put a review on letterboxd. It was meh to good.

I didn't realise Shaft was a Netflix co-production! I should have realised when it came on the service two weeks after theatrical release. I can't be bothered to watch it after the bad reviews, though, even if Roundtree does get more to do than in the last one.

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Updated list: Marriage Story the best 2019 Netflix original. Tho I haven't seen their latest one, 2Popez.

 

Shirkers was indeed an original as well, a 2018 one. I recently rewatched it, it was great. Wonderful soundtrack too.

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I liked Marriage Story a lot and The Irishman was also good, although I think the motivation for the main character to become involved in a life of crime (in his 50s or something!) in the first place was almost non-existent.

 

By Letterboxd ratings I Lost My Body and Dolemite Is My Name seem worth a look, but I haven't yet.

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It is time again, my friends, to return to the Idle Thumbs forums for a yearly ritual.

 

THE RANKING OF THE NETFLIXES

 

Original Movies, that is.

 

1. I'm Thinking Of Ending Things

I felt this one. As for Kaufman movies, I think I almost like it as much as Eternal Sunshine, but it's a lot darker.

 

2. The Old Guard

This was just a really good sci-fi action movie. The action is thrilling not only because it's choreographed well, but because the stakes are well set-up. Unlike Extraction, pffff.

 

3. Lost Bullet

This is my pick for HIDDEN GEM on Netflix this year. Great French actionmovie about a man framed for murder. It's a story you've heard before, but it's very well-told, and the actionscenes are great.

 

4. Da 5 Bloods

That Delroy Lindo, man! He should be in more movies.


 

Also pretty good:

The Devil All The Time

Love Birds

Mank

 

Meh:

Extraction - all style, no substance!

The Half Of It - I don't even remember any of this.

Enola Holmes - Good cast, just... kinda boring.

 

Disapointments:

Eurovision:The Story of Fire Saga - I like Will Ferrell, and I'm an avid watcher of the Eurovision, so I was expecting to like this, but all the jokes are the same kinda lame jokes that the Eurovision already make about themselves every year.

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Agreed on Enola Holmes and Eurovision. I didn't think much of The Old Guard, but the other 3 (plus Mank) are on my watchlist!

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Mank seemed pretty cool as I watched it, but in hindsight I’m not sure I’d recommend it. Looks great, though.

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