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Watch, Watched, Watching: Ringing in 2018


RedEyedGhost

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Also been watching some classic Simpsons episodes this weekend.  The softball episode from season three is still one of the best.

"You're Darryl Strawberry."
"Yep."
"You play right field."
"Yep."
"I play right field too."
"So?"
"Are you better than me?"
"Well, I've never met you, but...yes."

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1 hour ago, Triskele said:

Maybe I need to give this one more of a chance.  I watched the 1st episode and thought it was as boring an hour of TV as I'd ever seen.  Perhaps just a slow start?

I thought the same thing. But many posters here who have good taste like it so I'll go back to it eventually.

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On 12/31/2017 at 9:22 PM, Iskaral Pust said:

I binged American Gods and really enjoyed it.  I posted a fuller summary of likes and dislikes in the dedicated thread. 

I finally finished The Americans S4, which just felt like a grind.  Not sure if I want to watch S5 after hearing it drops off in quality, with S4 the supposed peak. 

Currently watching Black Sails S4, up to ep 5 now.  I’ll stick with it because it’s the concluding season but this season, amd all the earlier ones, are bogged down by pompous monologues from every character.  I think the writers are far too in love with their imagined powers of rhetoric.  

I wanted to ask what you disliked about season 4 of The Americans, but then maybe the show just isn't for you. Did you like any of the previous seasons?

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1 hour ago, Triskele said:

Maybe I need to give this one more of a chance.  I watched the 1st episode and thought it was as boring an hour of TV as I'd ever seen.  Perhaps just a slow start?

I wasn’t as impressed with it (the series overall) as most here seemed to have been. I’d file under good, not great. 

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56 minutes ago, Annara Snow said:

I wanted to ask what you disliked about season 4 of The Americans, but then maybe the show just isn't for you. Did you like any of the previous seasons?

I enjoyed the show a lot but felt that S4 was a grind to watch.  The major arc is that everyone is burnt out, questioning whether they should or even can continue, the psychological toll has accumulated, and they passively accept and then worry about an existential threat from Pastor Tim.  Several major plot arcs wrapped up at the end of S3 — Martha, Paige, Gad, Elizabeth’s mother, Nina — and now the show wants to emphasize their grim consequences for Philip, Elizabeth, Stan and Paige.  So we have this leaden trudge of misery.  It’s a decent metaphor for the fatigue that leads to the collapse of the USSR and the end of the Cold War, but a grind to watch.

Maybe it comes from watching all four seasons in just a few months, but this season had very low energy and reduced agency for all the main characters. 

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I finished the new episodes of Black Mirror.  It was pretty good, but as usual, it was pretty uneven. Looking at the ratings on imdb I am quite shocked that the final episode is rated as highly as it is, that was predictable as fuck. Hang the DJ was probably my favorite with Arkangel in second.

After that I watched the new Chappelle specials.  Really enjoyed both of them.

Now I think I'll finally finish up the final season of Longmire.  The first five were slightly disappointing, hopefully the final five pick up again.

 

4 minutes ago, Leap said:

I just watched Bright on Netflix. While not amazing, I did think it was pretty fun. The film has uninspired writing and action, but I think the awesome setting really saved it and the decent performances of the leads helped too. I would watch a sequel of this. 

I liked:

  • Will Smith and the guy playing the Orc. Pretty good chemistry imo
  • That they weren't afraid to really go with the fantasy of the film
  • Following on from that, the general setting and ambiance was very interesting
  • Spoiler regarding the ending 
      Hide contents

    I liked that they wrote it back into a buddy cop film if there's a sequel. I like Will Smith, but I'm gonna need another few films of lower level fun and whackery before you go all out with the whole prophecy/Bright aspects of the storyline, if they ever do.

    I disliked:

  • Plot holes

  • The action and fight choreography was good with guns, but bad with hand to hand stuff, particularly towards the end

  • Some dialogue

:agree:  I think expecting it to be bad helped with my enjoyment level of it.

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20 minutes ago, RedEyedGhost said:

I finished the new episodes of Black Mirror.  It was pretty good, but as usual, it was pretty uneven. Looking at the ratings on imdb I am quite shocked that the final episode is rated as highly as it is, that was predictable as fuck. Hang the DJ was probably my favorite with Arkangel in second.

I thought ArkAngel was far more predictable than Black Museum. Also thought the actress in Black Museum was better than either of the actresses in ArkAngel. The “teenage” daughter was one of Black Mirror’s worst castings, IMO. 

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Watched Dunkirk which was great, wrote about that in its own thread.

Also was gifted, and watched the "War for the Planet of the Apes"  DVD/BR over the holidays.

WarFTPA concludes the trilogy of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" , and "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" , which precede it.

I enjoyed it for the Ape spectacle it was, Woody Harrelson is entertaining as the human Colonel trying to wipe out the apes and save mankind (from his vantage point).

If you get this on DVD/BR be sure and watch the extras features to get an appreciation for the measures the actors/actresses go through to realistically portray their ape roles. The making of these P.O.T.A. movies are very underrated and under appreciated for the lengths involved to bring these to film. 

Anyways I get that these (P.O.T.A's) arent for everyone but I find them entertaining.

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15 hours ago, Red Tiger said:

I finally saw Blade Runner 2049. It was beautifully shot, wonderful to look at, but the movie felt so soulless to me.

The future is soulless I'm afraid ;)

Spoiler

I think the end proves that there is still hope for humankind/replicantkind when Ryan Gosling makes his final sacrifice. Before that though, I agree, very gloomy picture of our future :) 

 

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On 12/30/2017 at 2:33 AM, PetyrPunkinhead said:

Just finished binging The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon Prime. It's a late arrival, but it's definitely going in my top 10 shows for 2017. Completely captivating and charming show.

Loved this show. Cannot wait for season 2.

On 12/31/2017 at 5:31 PM, Ski the Swift said:

You are joking about Die Hard right? I watched that for the first time this Christmas Eve and it was god awful. So bad! This movie may have been good once but it definitely does not hold up now. 

My wife and I watched Die Hard 1 and Die Hard 2 on Christmas Eve. We firmly believes it holds up.

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On 12/31/2017 at 4:31 PM, Ski the Swift said:

You are joking about Die Hard right? I watched that for the first time this Christmas Eve and it was god awful. So bad! This movie may have been good once but it definitely does not hold up now. 

What what what? Did you seriously just attempt to besmirch the greatness of Die Hard?

I am about this close *holds finger tips millimeters apart* to going full Les Grossman on you!

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2 hours ago, Veltigar said:

The future is soulless I'm afraid ;)

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I think the end proves that there is still hope for humankind/replicantkind when Ryan Gosling makes his final sacrifice. Before that though, I agree, very gloomy picture of our future :) 

 

No, I don't mean soulless as in, the future is grim. I mean soulless as in, I felt absolutely nothing while watching it.

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6 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

What what what? Did you seriously just attempt to besmirch the greatness of Die Hard?

I am about this close *holds finger tips millimeters apart* to going full Les Grossman on you!

I most certainly did. Look I understand the nostalgia that goes with watching a film like Die Hard. However as 30 year old male watching it for the first time a week or so ago I can tell you that it holds up poorly.

Maybe because a lot of the troupes in the film, which may have been fresh back when it was first released, seemed old to me now. And it as a Christmas film? No way. Christmas films should leave me feeling jolly.

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40 minutes ago, Ski the Swift said:

I most certainly did. Look I understand the nostalgia that goes with watching a film like Die Hard. However as 30 year old male watching it for the first time a week or so ago I can tell you that it holds up poorly.

What doesn't hold up about it? I just watched it and it holds up pretty well IMO. 

40 minutes ago, Ski the Swift said:

Maybe because a lot of the troupes in the film, which may have been fresh back when it was first released, seemed old to me now. And it as a Christmas film? No way. Christmas films should leave me feeling jolly.

It's credited for creating a lot of those tropes. That's different than it just being a by the numbers action film relying on previous directors' work. 

And how does that movie not make you feel jolly? Everything goes the protagonists' way in end. Well except for Ellis and Takagi.  

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