ysbreker

Movie/TV recommendations

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I finished Patriot season 2 last night (Amazon Original show) It felt like a solid advancement of the first season, acting and music continue to be top notch. The writingis still able to pull off some of the most insane things in a totally deadpan way

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19 hours ago, twmac said:

 

Watch the documentary instead - it is a way better story.

 

 

Yeah, that looks a lot more interesting, if only because it's real. The story of Marwencol is actually a little small and unassuming for a movie, but wildly exotic for something that actually happened/existed.

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23 hours ago, Roderick said:

 

Yeah, that looks a lot more interesting, if only because it's real. The story of Marwencol is actually a little small and unassuming for a movie, but wildly exotic for something that actually happened/existed.

 

Yeah, I also imagine that there are elements in the documentary that film isn't even going to touch. I won't say anything because the way it unravels in the documentary is what makes it jarring, sad and kind of beautiful.

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I binged thorugh Sex Education and liked it. It's a story of a teenage boy living with a single mom who works from home as a sex therapist. There's not as many jokes or domestic situations as you could imagine from that description, but instead it's more of a high school drama, but a good one. With the help of a girl who he falls for, the boy discovers that he too has an ability to help people with their sex issues, even though he is not experienced. It has some flaws, but it's overall a warm feeling show.

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Yeah I’ll give a +1 to Sex Education. I honestly didn’t expect much of it from the premise but once I started watching I ended up really enjoying it and finished all the episodes within a day or two. The performances in particular are great.

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I hate Asa Butterfield, but yes, I really liked the show too. There are a few little cliches in there, however the writers desperately want to make something warm, kind and positive.

 

I finished the last episode and was researching Andrew Dice Clay after some stuff I saw on Twitter and listening to Clay be the most homophobic piece of shit and then contrasting it with the Hedwig and the Angry Inch episode of Sex Education made me so fucking angry.

 

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Been bingeing lots of stuff recently:

 

Insecure - I am sure someone has already talked about this before but, man, this show is sharp, funny and loud (as well as irrepressibly horny) Issa Rae is pretty brilliant. For those that don't know what it is, it is about two black women living around Inglewood. One works for a group of people aiming to better experiences for kids, while the other works as a lawyer. The way the show plays with the perception of colour and gender is fun and there were more than a few times where I winced at white characters and recognised my own short comings - but even though the show is unapologetic about its viewpoint it doesn't spend all of its time on a soap box and is just as much about the character's lives. Strongly recommend

 

Bloodline - This came out early in Netflix and is about a family conflict taken to the most extreme. The first season has a good setup of the errant eldest son returing home and causing trouble, and then it just gets darker and darker. Kyle Chandler must have some kind of contractual obligation to always be able to wera shades. I still like it a lot in its 3rd season but it is pretty gruelling experience.

 

Ocean's 8 - I don't think I've really, really liked any of the Ocean films, so this one was fun and forgettable, the whole cast is enjoyable to see bounce off of each other and if they made another one I would definitely watch it to see what they were going to do next.

 

Crazy Rich Asians - This seemed to get a  lot of hype, but if you strip the film of its setting and decor, it is an incredibly bland story of a woman meeting the family, the family don't like her and then the family do like her. I actually turned it off twice and did something else as the only character I was even engaged with was Awkwafina's weirdo character (who was also in Ocean's 8 - weird) and the rest of them could have been in a Hallmark film. I get that people were really happy that an all asian cast was a blockbuster hit, but I just didn't like any of it.

 

Blindspotting - I really liked this film, again about two friends, one black, one white, pretty much trying to make everything work while being removal men. It reminded me a bit of Linklater in the way that the characters would drify in and out of different people's lives. The film very much had a message, I seem to recall it getting dragged by Fem Freq for it but for me it resonated quite a bit - a white guy who wants to be black and represent the hood he grew up in and a black man who can't do anything to escape it after an incident has landed him in jail and then on parole. It is a lot funnier than I was expecting too.

 

IO - The world is running out of oxygen and everyone is heading to Jupiter. The film is set on earth and revolves around one woman trying to make the best of a bad situation, until a stranger show up looking for her father. The acting is fine and there is lots of attention to post-apolocalyptic day-to-day that I liked. However the film just sort of goes nowhere and offers no real surprises and not much in the way of anything outside of some very nice shots. Also the ending is goofball rubbish and feels like it was tacked on at the end.

 

 

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On 12/13/2018 at 11:16 AM, jennegatron said:

I watched Minding the Gap last night. It is a documentary about 4 young men who became friends through skateboarding and is a movie all about cycles of abuse & poverty in the dying city of Rockford Illinois. I love my home state and have been to Rockford many times for school events in high school. I saw so much of people I knew in this film. It's on hulu and I can't stop thinking about it. I highly recommend it for a look into what it's like living in a rust belt style city in the US as a young person.

 

Minding the Gap got an Oscar nom for documentary so the Academy at least agrees it's extremely good.

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Do you know where I would be able to find this, without borrowing it from the internet?

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Started with Insecure and it’s pretty good indeed although the pace could be faster. Also watched Westworld episode one and I don’t get the general appeal - it seems so boring so far.

 

Any other HBO recommendations? Just subscribed to it and already binged through Girls, which was 100% awesome and maybe one of the best series ever.

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The Leftovers, Veep, Flight Of The Conchords. Barry is supposed to be good. The Wire, obv.

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6 hours ago, Erkki said:

Started with Insecure and it’s pretty good indeed although the pace could be faster. Also watched Westworld episode one and I don’t get the general appeal - it seems so boring so far.

 

Any other HBO recommendations? Just subscribed to it and already binged through Girls, which was 100% awesome and maybe one of the best series ever.

High Maintenance!

 

People are really hyped about Westworld...but I had a hard time getting into it, i think there was one or two episodes i truly liked in season 1 and otherwise was I just kinda fine with it.

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7 hours ago, Brannigan said:

People are really hyped about Westworld...but I had a hard time getting into it, i think there was one or two episodes i truly liked in season 1 and otherwise was I just kinda fine with it.

I mostly enjoyed Westworld season 1 but it ended in a way that totally killed my interest in season 2.

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Yeah Barry isn't perfect, but it's a lot of fun and the supporting cast (esp Henry Winkler and Anthony Carrigan) are fantastic. Plus the episodes are 30 mintues and the season is only 8 episodes long, so why not?

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I just finished a glut of films and tv shows in my regular binges:

 

Burn Burn Burn A film about 2 women that decide to fulfil a friend's dying wishes and spread his ashes at different points in England. It isn't brilliant by any means but there are enough guest spots from English actors that dip in and out for snap shots of stories that intermingle with the main themes that it ends up being a solid if unremarkable film.

 

The First Purge After listening to the Be Kind and rewatch it podcasts about the purge films I decided to take a dive and watch this one. I actually ended up really liking it and felt that it probably had more to say than the third film. Some strong performances and enough action to satisfy. Surprisingly good.

 

Russian Doll So, according to friends Natasha Lyonne is just doing more of her OitNB schtick here, but having given up on that show after the first season, I am really enjoying this tale of a woman who keeps dying and waking up on her Birthday. I don't want to say too much but it was a fun spin on Groundhog Day and elicited more than a few laughs. Co-created with Amy Poehler and some of that shines through.

 

Nightflyers Based on some G RR Martin novella, about a ship trying to make first contact with what they believe to be alien life. Earth is dying, everything is a mess, etc, etc. I was sort of into it at first, especially because of the opening that I thought was actually the last episode for a second. It then just starts getting way too convoluted in ways that are just all too much, the show introduces about 4 potential 'bad' guys and then spins shades of grey on them. Some gruesome deaths, people going insane, blah, blah, blah. Not good, not bad, just a thing.

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Almost through with Insecure and got used to the pacing. It’s good! Will give Westworld another try at least for another episode and then I still have a bunch of HBO stuff, recommended here and what I’ve wanted to see before that I only now realized was HBO. And by the time I’m done Netflix has probably released some new good stuff...

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I'm 3 out of 5 episodes through Eight Hours Don't Make a Day and I am totally in love with this.  The way it treats it's characters is just so great.  I didn't actually know anything about this before watching it other than it was a series about working class people by Fassbinder, but I totally expected it to be a lot more bleak and cynical.  It turns out that it's actually incredibly tender and funny.  Speaking of movies about working class families, I just re-watched Distant Voices, Still Lives which I saw for the first time probably a year ago and I might have liked it even more than when I saw it the first time, it's so good.  The movie just explores the life of a family in a way that isn't really following a narrative and isn't documentarian, but it definitely feels like it exists just to let you know that these were some people that existed and this was a place that existed, and these were some emotions that existed.  It sort of reminded me of the comic 'Here' by Richard McGuire in a very vague way in that it just takes you and puts you in a place and shows you a lot of different moments that happened.  It does some super cool stuff with how it plays with both sound and picture (which totally makes sense given the title).

 

Also while we're talking HBO rec's I just need to mention Show Me a Hero because I feel like it wen't totally under the radar, at least of the people I encounter, and it was so good.  For me personally it's as good as anything David Simon has done, though The Wire is still The Wire.

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I tried to watch Barry last night while I was drunk... I need to give the first episode another go because I am perplexed as to why people like it.

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I had the exact same feeling after episode one of Barry. Perhaps it picks up as it goes on.

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I binged through Westworld and as you can guess I started liking it at one point. I think it was somewhere between episode 4 and 5. The second season is a bit too all over the place and takes way long to get where it’s going, but I cannot say that I disliked it.

 

Another show I’m watching is Pose from Netflix. It’s about the ball scene in 80’s New York which I have zero interest of, but following the troubles of the several trans characters seems enlightening. It’s not easy to binge and I think I like it that way - been watching one or two episodes a week. The cast is also trans women, but I haven’t looked up what trans women generally think about it, though. Initially it seemed pretty male-gaze’y but it seems to be with a point.

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I finished Pose and now watched Paris is Burning. Interesting to see the doc after the fictional series and how accurate it seemed in many ways.

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Truth and Justice is an Estonian film made more in the Hollywood style. It is pretty true to the book on which it is based, which is one of our most famous saga. So if you want to learn something about Estonian culture, I guess this movie is a good way to get an introduction, in a familiar format. I wouldn't say it's super great because I think it really comes together at the very end, and you might get bored somewhere in the middle of this two and a half hour epic.

 

(it also shares a single line with the short film I'm making because I borrowed the line from the same book).

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