Watch, Watched, Watching: The Good, Bad and Ugly

[Mexal]

31 minutes ago, HelenaExMachina said:

I liked Molly's Game, and appreciated the dumbing down because I don't know shit about gambling and specifically poker. I also didn't know anything about the story going in so it was all new to me. And yes, Elba and Chastain were both great 

I really liked it too when they stopped the actual poker stuff because that stuff was bullshit. But the dialogue and the way the story played out plus Elba/Chastain, really enjoyable movie.

[Ramsay B.]

45 minutes ago, HelenaExMachina said:

I liked Molly's Game, and appreciated the dumbing down because I don't know shit about gambling and specifically poker. I also didn't know anything about the story going in so it was all new to me. And yes, Elba and Chastain were both great 

I knew nothing of the story either and it was interesting to read about it after. I guess it is well known that Micheal Cera’s character was based on Tobey Maguire too. I’ll never look at that Spider-man the same again.

[Astromech]

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Great film. McDormand and Rockwell were excellent as usual, but there were no slouches in the cast. I laughed more than I expected I would.

[Red Tiger]

I decided to look up this list

http://www.conservapedia.com/Essay:Worst_Liberal_TV_Shows#Animated_Series

Not only are the description of the series i've seen hilariously wrong, but so laughable that im almost forced to watch some of the shows I didn't know about.

[Prince of the North]

40 minutes ago, Red Tiger said:

I decided to look up this list

http://www.conservapedia.com/Essay:Worst_Liberal_TV_Shows#Animated_Series

Not only are the description of the series i've seen hilariously wrong, but so laughable that im almost forced to watch some of the shows I didn't know about.

That's...surely that's satirical, right?  My brain hurts just from reading some of it...

[red snow]

city and the city was impressive. Didn't have a clue what was going on but loved that that was more of a mystery than the murder mystery.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

53 minutes ago, Red Tiger said:

I decided to look up this list

http://www.conservapedia.com/Essay:Worst_Liberal_TV_Shows#Animated_Series

Not only are the description of the series i've seen hilariously wrong, but so laughable that im almost forced to watch some of the shows I didn't know about.

Haha, that was an amazing read,

Also, damn to they hate Supergirl. 

[Astromech]

I watched It. I can't help but compare it to the 1990 miniseries with Tim Curry and John Ritter, which I preferred. That preference may be due to having the complete story in the miniseries. The kids were also less annoying in the miniseries. Pennywise was great in the new version, though.

[Iskaral Pust]

22 hours ago, Red Tiger said:

I decided to look up this list

http://www.conservapedia.com/Essay:Worst_Liberal_TV_Shows#Animated_Series

Not only are the description of the series i've seen hilariously wrong, but so laughable that im almost forced to watch some of the shows I didn't know about.

That was funny to glance at but also exhausting and terrifying just to imagine what it would be like to share that worldview and walk around all day hating 90% or more of regular people and blaming them for moral sedition.  Not to mention the hypocrisy that almost no-one who espouses a worldview like this manages to actually live up to it — although it is funny each time one of those hucksters attempts a tearful confession and apology.

[Red Tiger]

1 hour ago, Iskaral Pust said:

That was funny to glance at but also exhausting and terrifying just to imagine what it would be like to share that worldview and walk around all day hating 90% or more of regular people and blaming them for moral sedition.  Not to mention the hypocrisy that almost no-one who espouses a worldview like this manages to actually live up to it — although it is funny each time one of those hucksters attempts a tearful confession and apology.

What I find amazing is that they talk about liberal shows having torture and portraying the US military in a negative light.

Then they praise 24.

[Zorral]

1 hour ago, Red Tiger said:

What I find amazing is that they talk about liberal shows having torture and portraying the US military in a negative light.

Then they praise 24.

Go to the US Politics thread in General Chatter and see what else these sorts are up to -- 1984 thought police all the way.  

 

[williamjm]

On 06/04/2018 at 10:32 PM, Tywin et al. said:

Haha, that was an amazing read,

Also, damn to they hate Supergirl. 

They might hate Supergirl but it certainly seems like they've watched a lot of it.

[RhaenysBee]

I started watching Netflix’s Troy: Fall of a City. This may yet be the worst of all adaptations of this story. It’s wrong on every level. Horrible casting, horrible acting, horrible directing and absolutely horrid writing. 

[Zorral]

1 hour ago, RhaenysBee said:

I started watching Netflix’s Troy: Fall of a City. This may yet be the worst of all adaptations of this story. It’s wrong on every level. Horrible casting, horrible acting, horrie directing and absolutely horrid writing. 

I love it and disagree entirely with your assessment!  

Just like so many people hated Taboo, and I loved it.  And later, it did indeed find its audience so much via the BBC Player it did get a second season.  I hope that happens with Troy too.

This is NOT the Iliad.  It's a story - narrative adapted from many different sources.  There's even a lot of echoes of classical Greek lit in the dialog -- not too many -- and it doesn't matter if one catches them or not, from Hesiod's pithys, to the playwrights.

Historically, the details are pretty darned good, though they do push the envelope re silk, but just barely -- and this is what experts in these matters have weighed in saying.  It's also wonderful to look at.

[Iskaral Pust]

47 minutes ago, Triskele said:

I just got Netflix  

Gomorrah, Godless, Sherlock and Stranger Things are the best things that come to mind.  Breaking Bad and Mad Men are on there if you want to rewatch. 

[Iskaral Pust]

1 minute ago, Triskele said:

Thanks for these recs.

I have seen S1 of Stranger Things, and while I think it's solid, it doesn't tickle me all that much.  I do think I'll get around to S2 at some point but am not jumping over myself to do it.

I think in some previous thread I said and someone else echoed that the pilot for Godless was really slow...like, really.  But I did see a lot of good press for it and might give it more of a chance.  

I agree on ST.  I’m not a huge fan of horror or 80s nostalgia just for the sake of it.  And S2 is about the same as S1.  But it’s really well made and carries a concentration of tropes that are almost archetypes of American culture.

Godless is slow.  It’s a western movie stretched out to eight hours.  It’s basically a less cheesy version of Shane with a feminist twist, but it’s very well done, well acted and gorgeously shot.

The thing is that Netflix doesn’t have really great television.  Amazon Prime has most of the HBO classics like The Wire, Sopranos and Band Of Brothers.  Netflix doesn’t have much prestige TV.  House of Card is their best effort but it’s not great and the British original from 20 years ago is better.  They have some good British shows like Broadchurch, Orphan Black and Wallander, but Acorn has a monopoly on much of the best British stuff.  So Netflix is mostly about breadth.  It’s like a one-stop-shop for syndicated shows that were ok but not great. 

[RedEyedGhost]

@Triskele  The Last Kingdom is fantastic.  Because most great television these days is dramatic, here are some shows that are just plain fun: The Magicians, The Good Place, iZombie, Santa Clarita Diet.

If you insist on watching Sherlock watch the first season and maybe the second, but go no further.

 

3 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

They have some good British shows like, Orphan Black

Not British, Canadian.

[RhaenysBee]

8 hours ago, Triskele said:

I just got Netflix and was curious about this one.  Maybe a hate watch is in order.

I tried a few more episodes of Sherlock and am not loving it but might persist.  

I think I'm going to stick with Babylon Berlin a bit longer.  I think I've seen the first 5. It's a bit weird, but the period piece element and the parallels to today are too intriguing.  

I mean this is just my opinion, you might as well like it. 

Oh I loved Sherlock, there are a couple weaker episodes, but it’s still overall genius. Sorry it’s not your cup of tea. 

Bombarding you with more recommendations: Spartacus is on Netflix now and it was freaking amazing (but be warned that all the amazingness in under a thick layer of R-rated gore and violence and adult content). I also loved The Good Wife, at least the first 5 seasons, and Orphan Black. On the even lighter palette, The Good Place is a must see, and I also enjoyed Don’t Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23. Broadchurch is also an underrated gem, and ACS - The People vs. OJ Simpson is great too. 

7 hours ago, Zorral said:

I love it and disagree entirely with your assessment!  

Just like so many people hated Taboo, and I loved it.  And later, it did indeed find its audience so much via the BBC Player it did get a second season.  I hope that happens with Troy too.

This is NOT the Iliad.  It's a story - narrative adapted from many different sources.  There's even a lot of echoes of classical Greek lit in the dialog -- not too many -- and it doesn't matter if one catches them or not, from Hesiod's pithys, to the playwrights.

Historically, the details are pretty darned good, though they do push the envelope re silk, but just barely -- and this is what experts in these matters have weighed in saying.  It's also wonderful to look at.

I don’t claim to be anything close to an expert on this era or Iliad itself, but as a viewer, I enjoyed both the Brad Pitt and the Rufus Sewell version a lot more (and those are far from faithful to Iliad as well).

My general issue is that I don’t like the characters. It’s only fair that I hate Paris from minute 1, I hated Paris in every adaptation, but I also hate Menelaos and Helen and Priam and his wife... The casting is just so weird. As for the storytelling, I simultaneously felt bored and annoyed that the story was rushed, characters and plotpoints weren’t properly built.  As for the visiuals, I couldn’t decide if it was purposely flat or it was just a low budget thing.  

The one thing that I liked was that they seem to have incorporated the gods and their role in the events. The game of the gods was such a huge part of Iliad and Odyssey.  But that casting is weird as hell too, so I’m not going to give the show another go. 

 

[Isis]

9 hours ago, Zorral said:

I love it and disagree entirely with your assessment!  

Just like so many people hated Taboo, and I loved it.  And later, it did indeed find its audience so much via the BBC Player it did get a second season.  I hope that happens with Troy too.

This is NOT the Iliad.  It's a story - narrative adapted from many different sources.  There's even a lot of echoes of classical Greek lit in the dialog -- not too many -- and it doesn't matter if one catches them or not, from Hesiod's pithys, to the playwrights.

Historically, the details are pretty darned good, though they do push the envelope re silk, but just barely -- and this is what experts in these matters have weighed in saying.  It's also wonderful to look at.

Started a thread for discussing the show...

Last night I got round to watching The Witch because it finally popped up on UK Netflix. People I trust had told me it was a great film and I should definitely watch it. But these days I tend to live in fear of watching something disturbing which gets into my head and rattles around in there for ages (like It Follows, which people assured me was not scary). It just goes to show that scary is a relative term. I did think that it was a great film, with an incredible tense atmosphere. Even though it's not a jump scare type film I still kept expecting it to be. I was almost too unnerved to even drink my beer while watching it. 

So...I guess I'll go spoiler mode here

I'm torn between wishing it was more ambiguous and being content that it is more explicit in what it shows. I almost wished that you didn't get to see any actual witch in any shot because then you'd never be sure. Even then if you just saw the girl go into the wood at the end with the goat (+/- the floating witches bit) then that would have been enough finality for me. I'm not sure though. I have more digesting to do yet. 

I've read about the idea that everything is meant to be a hallucination. That fits with the description one reviewer gave it of being like A Field in (New) England which it kind of is without being as painful to watch as that film. 

I think it does an amazing job of showing the climate and culture of the times it is set in, where basically anyone can be accused of being a witch for not very much reason at all. 

My biggest question is - the two smallest kids (who did a great job of being so fucking annoying and creepy), were they actually possessed at any point? Were they 'witches', were they just harmless victims, did the goat actually talk to them, or was that all a fiction? 

That goat was awesome though. :)

 

 

[A True Kaniggit]

On 4/6/2018 at 4:32 PM, Tywin et al. said:

Haha, that was an amazing read,

Also, damn to they hate Supergirl. 

Supergirl. And Steven Universe too oddly enough. (Which includes a bonus attack on all liberals in general).