ysbreker

Movie/TV recommendations

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10 hours ago, twmac said:

Game Night - I am starting to get tired of these comedies set around couples and a ludicrous plot device. Not bad, not good, just a film

 

 

I really enjoyed Game Night because it surprised me as a movie. I also like that the whole thing is a clear reimagining of

The Game with Michael Douglas

I especially love the performance by the guy who played Landry on Friday Night Lights

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Jesse Plemons was actually really good in that film, and it was nice to see Kyle Chandler being allowed to use more than two facial expressions. But yeah, from your spoilers - I was sitting there thinking 'Why don't I just watch that film instead? Oh, I am on a plane'

 

 

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I found most of the DCCU movies to be at least interesting in how bad they were, but Justice League was just sooooooo boring.

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Saw Hereditary, which is quite good at horror. It’s better than The Witch (from a couple of years ago) at least, IMHO, while both have kind of similar moods.

 

Also saw Pity, which is also good and very similar in mood to Killing of a Sacred Deer, but more down to earth and slightly more humorous.

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Just got onto the second season of Into The Badlands, and I'm really enjoying it. It's an AMC show, set in post-apocalyptic America where they've reverted to a variation on late 19th century society, but with more martial arts. It looks great, the acting's all strong and the fight scenes are absolutely fantastic, probably the best of their kind I've ever seen on a tv show. They must have had a pretty massive budget to manage all the choreography and rehearsal to get them to that standard, (not to mention all the costumes and what have you).

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I finally watched Punch-Drunk Love. It’s quite good. I noticed the use of music especially, it seems kind of unique.

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Attention everyone: Letterkenny is now streaming on Hulu, so everyone who's not Canadian or a pirate can enjoy this subtle, witty, rude, silly comedy about small-town life in rural Ontario. I've been burned when I described it as Shakespearean before, but I'm going to go ahead and do it again. This kind of thing is downright Shakespearean:
 

 

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I couldn't help but be so pleased and happy for Terry Gilliam when I saw The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. He finally did it, he made it. And it was a most charming film too.

 

In true Gilliam style, it was an ode to madness and creativity, and the wafer thin line dividing those. It stacks at least three layers high and is meta as heck. It's definitely another 'hate it or love it' type of movie: I saw it at the sneak, adored it to bits, but others walked out or gave it crushing ratings afterwards. I get it. It's a sprawling film in terms of themes and what it does, and you have to be in for that. If you are though - boy, what a treat to see Jonathan Pryce revelling in his rol as Quixote!

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What I watched in July, more or less:

 

Split - Damn this was good!  I went in not knowing much about it (except for the final twist, because of course the internet had ruined that surprise for me). Never a dull moment in this one, I was captivated throughout. That Shaymalan's career has been real up and down, but with this one he knocked it out of the park. :tup:

Patriots' Day - This one's about the Boston Marathon bombings. I didn't think the bombings themselves would have enough drama to sustain a entire movie, but I wasn't aware of just how crazy the ensuing manhunt got. I'm sure a lot of it is heightened, but a very thrilling movie anyway. :tup:

XXX: The Return Of Xander Cage - Well, it's as dumb and over-the-top as you'd want, but unlike the Fast & Furious movies it doesn't have the character drama to make you care about any of it, and as a result it kinda gets boring long before the end. Shame. :tdown:

Moonlight - Ok, yes, this was pretty damn good. Oscar well deserved. :tup:

People Places Things - Jemaine Clement-starring dramedy about a divorcee cartoonist. It's enjoyable, but I seriously watched almost the entire thing before I realized I'd seen it before. So, uh, not super-memorable. :tmeh:

Cadillac Records - It's about Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf and Chess Records and all that jazz. I mean, blues. Good cast, good tunes, decent drama. It's alright! :tmeh:

Cars 3 - Well, this was pretty unremarkable. :tdown:

 

GLOW Season 2 - Some of the drama early in the season felt a bit contrived and out of character just to set things up for later, but besides that a really solid season. Even better than the first one. Great performances by Allison Brie and Marc Maron. :tup:

The Dark Tower - Decent, but forgettable. I didn't hate it tho. :tmeh:

Altered States - William Hurt plays a scientist who uses mind-altering substances to alter his physiology and turn himself into an APEMAN! A weird, slow acid-trip of a movie. :tmeh:

Captain Phillips - Like a real-life Die Hard. Good stuff. :tup:

Logan Lucky - Wonderful performances and interesting characters. I liked Adam Driver more in this than in anything else he's done. :tup:

Kingsman: The Golden Circle - I watched this the day after seeing Logan Lucky, and BOTH MOVIES features characters who spontaneously start singing "Take me home, Country Roads"! I thought I was loosing my mind, man. Anyway, just as over-the-top and fun as the first Kingsman. Great actionscenes set to great music. Elton John is great as Elton John. :tup:

Batman: Gotham by Gaslight - It's steampunk Batman hunting Jack The Ripper. You'll never guess who the Ripper is. I did not see it coming. :tmeh:

American Honey - This is kind of an ambling plot-less thing that gets by on it's characters and performances. I liked it. :tup:

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I also experienced the "Country Roads" thing, and the darndest thing is once you see that, it starts popping up in every other movie. I swear I've seen it used at least three times since. It's truly the new "Who Let The Dogs Out".

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Any recommendations for new TV shows? I've recently watched

 

GLOW Season 2 :tup:

OITNB new season :tmeh:

Fargo 3 :tup:

Mindhunter :tup:

Brookline Nine-Nine :tup: (still watching)
 

Kind of bored/don't want to bother with

Archer (watched till season 6 or something)

Final Space (liked premise, but first half of first episode was really lame)

Chewing Gum (I dunno, the interest only lasted a few episodes)

Sherlock (uh, I don't know, I was bored within minutes of ep 1, maybe I should keep going?)

Jessica Jones season 2 (don't know if it's just me who has changed, but something was lost to me compared to first season)

Sci-fi (all the current ones I've tried to watch are so boring, besides black mirror and sense 8 and stranger things)

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9 hours ago, Erkki said:

Any recommendations for new TV shows? I've recently watched

 

GLOW Season 2 :tup:

OITNB new season :tmeh:

Fargo 3 :tup:

Mindhunter :tup:

Brookline Nine-Nine :tup: (still watching)
 

Kind of bored/don't want to bother with

Archer (watched till season 6 or something)

Final Space (liked premise, but first half of first episode was really lame)

Chewing Gum (I dunno, the interest only lasted a few episodes)

Sherlock (uh, I don't know, I was bored within minutes of ep 1, maybe I should keep going?)

Jessica Jones season 2 (don't know if it's just me who has changed, but something was lost to me compared to first season)

Sci-fi (all the current ones I've tried to watch are so boring, besides black mirror and sense 8 and stranger things)

My shit is currently terrace house: Opening new doors on Netflix. 

It's a Japanese reality show where 3 men and 3 women live in a house together. Think the real world but instead of horrible monsters they're just real people who fall in love and talk about their feelings and build igloos in the backyard. A+ could not recommend more. 

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I just watched The Expanse. There's three seasons of it so far. Oddly enough, I saw the first episode at least a year ago, and it didn't really strike me, but now I was hooked after a couple of episodes. It's different to most sci-fi I've liked over the years such as Firefly, Star Trek and Babylon Five in that it is not episodic in the least. I wouldn't say that it's all-around amazing, but compared to even the most celebrated sci-fi series I think it has less dud episodes or parts of the world I try not to notice, such as Firefly's nerd-fantasy prostitutes. I also really enjoy that the technology appears realistic compared to just about any sci-fi series. There's constant talk of G-forces, ships do breaking burns and manouver just about realistically.

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I tried to watch The Expanse with a friend, but I somehow always got sleepy and missed part of each episode, and eventually lost interest. Maybe I shouldn't fault it on the show...

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The Expanse takes some time to gain traction and the more sci-fi bits are harder to swallow given how grounded the bulk of the show is but I'm a sucker for hardboiled/noir stories.  I still need to finish season 3 but I'm glad it's getting a 4th.

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I love The Expanse, but it took me at least half the first season (including a read of the Wikipedia episode summaries) to fully grok all the background and storylines they throw at you. I'd say it's worth a re-watch at an early enough time that you're unlikely to fall asleep, @Erkki

 

I'll +1 Terrace House, it's great. A reality show that avoids all the grossness of the genre. I recommend watching the different series in order, though - Boys & Girls In The City, then Aloha State, then Opening New Doors. (Apparently there's at least one earlier season that only got broadcast in Japan, but it only has fan-created English subtitles which don't last to the end of the season.)

 

In cartoons, I finally rewatched Adventure Time seasons 1 and 2 and am now moving onto stuff I haven't seen. This show is great, it's like a family-friendly Rick And Morty. I also tried Steven Universe, but after ten or so episodes I found it mildly irritating - I've skipped forward to around episode 20 as apparently that's where the serialisation kicks in and it starts to pick up.

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The fact that Steven Universe starts out fairly mediocre is unfortunate. On the one hand, the effect that it has once the serialization kicks in is legitimately cool. If you're watching it with no expectations, it feels like a slightly worse Adventure Time-like, but then the bottom drops out and suddenly everything is re-contextualized, there is a serious plot, and the quality ramps up considerably. On the other hand, it takes most of the first season to get to that point, which leads a lot of people to abandon it before it really gets anywhere, and I can't really blame them for that. Once it gets going it becomes one of the best things currently on tv, but it does not do a good job of convincing new watchers that it'll get there.

 

My best advice is that if you watch a handful of episodes and aren't feeling it, it may not be the show for you. But if you feel like it has potential, if you're at all curious where this might be going, keep with it. I promise you, it lives up to that potential and then some. 

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Yeah, Steven Universe gets really good at some point. I have forgotten to check for new stuff, I think I watched two seasons. Same happened with Adventure Time, I watched 7 or so seasons, but then then forgot to check for new episodes. I think Adventure Time also got somewhat less interesting at one point in season 6 or 7. I used to watch these illegaly since i don't have any reasonable legal options to watch them (waiting for Blu-Ray is not reasonable most of the time). And now Netflix is making so much stuff available (even as the Estonian selection is 10 times smaller than the US, it's still a lot) and is so easy to use, that I am trying series that are of limited interest, but are on Netflix, rather than finding something I know I love that is not on there.

 

[edit] Actually this situation kind of sucks, I keep giving Netflix money despite them not making a lot of things available to me, while I'm watching things I like less instead of things I like more :( I should change something about this. Plus, I'm also only seeing the content in 720p since I'm watching it through Steam Link. :(

 

I'm going to check out that Terrace House thing if it's on Estonian Netflix.

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4 hours ago, Cleinhun said:

it takes most of the first season to get to that point

 

And the first season is 52 episodes long, right? That's all I have access to on Netflix anyway (plus they have them in the incorrect order), so maybe I'll check out the final ten episodes or something and see how I feel if further seasons come up.

 

Be aware @Erkki that Terrace House is chill-out tv - it doesn't engineer any drama, so it moves pretty slowly and it takes a while to warm to the house-mates/commentors. But it's totally addictive once you're fully into it after a few episodes.

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I dunno I got into Steven Universe pretty much from the start and the big lore stuff kicking in was more of a bonus. Adventure time is fun but sometimes the backstory stuff can be overwhelming and convoluted, especially in the later seasons. I think they are wrapping it up soon? I haven't seen the latest stuff since it's not on any streaming services last I checked.

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I started watching Steven Universe with a friend though I haven't kept up with the last few seasons.  Incidentally Ben, I've asked her to make a skip list for season one that might help you out.

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7 hours ago, Cleinhun said:

The fact that Steven Universe starts out fairly mediocre is unfortunate. On the one hand, the effect that it has once the serialization kicks in is legitimately cool. If you're watching it with no expectations, it feels like a slightly worse Adventure Time-like, but then the bottom drops out and suddenly everything is re-contextualized, there is a serious plot, and the quality ramps up considerably. On the other hand, it takes most of the first season to get to that point, which leads a lot of people to abandon it before it really gets anywhere, and I can't really blame them for that. Once it gets going it becomes one of the best things currently on tv, but it does not do a good job of convincing new watchers that it'll get there.

 

My best advice is that if you watch a handful of episodes and aren't feeling it, it may not be the show for you. But if you feel like it has potential, if you're at all curious where this might be going, keep with it. I promise you, it lives up to that potential and then some. 

 

The really weird thing about the first season of Steven Universe is that, if you go back and watch it through again once you've gotten to season four or five, there are a lot of surprisingly specific references to later reveals (looking at you, "Keep Beach City Weird"). Rebecca Sugar and her team had it planned out from the start, they just took forever to get there for some reason.

 

I went looking online for skip guides to the first season, which is harder than you'd think since the fandom is adamant that every piece of content (except for the Uncle Grandpa crossover, of course) is absolutely essential to the experience. This one seems pretty good, if you just stick to the green episodes, although it focuses more on which episodes contribute to the lore than on which episodes contribute to character development. I'm curious to see what SAM's friend says, though.

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I watched the first episode of Terrace House: Boys & Girls in the City.

 

It's definitely very nicely shot, and I can see some of the appeal already, but normally I don't watch reality TV and I'm not sure if I'm going to keep watching or not.

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