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

[Martell Spy]

13 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

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. 

Try Orange is the New Black.

[Iskaral Pust]

8 minutes ago, Martell Spy said:

Try Orange is the New Black.

S1 was good but, for me, the premise won’t bear multiple seasons.  I think I posted in the dedicated thread.  Plus it got annoying how they want the audience to love every character without accepting any responsibility or accountability for their crimes.

[Martell Spy]

15 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.  

OITNB and Narcos are must watch imo.

The OA, Altered Carbon, and Ozark are also worth a try. There is likely more. Netflix has a habit of suprising you, like when the OA popped up out of no where.

I like Marvel Netflix, but I know this is not everyone's cup of tea.

[Fiddler]

10 hours ago, RedEyedGhost said:

@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.

\

I just started Santa Clarita Diet.  Only watched 3 episodes so far, but I've enjoyed them all.

Finished watching the Office this weekend.  I loved the whole series and wish I had watched it earlier.  Finale had me sobbing like a baby, but I am a sap for stuff like that.

[Martell Spy]

5 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

S1 was good but, for me, the premise won’t bear multiple seasons.  I think I posted in the dedicated thread.  Plus it got annoying how they want the audience to love every character without accepting any responsibility or accountability for their crimes.

Well your mileage may vary, but I would give it another try. Season 2 and 3 we're actually my favorite seasons. I stalled my self my first watch at like ep 3. I just got depressed with it. I am glad went back though. The writing is very inventive.

[Veltigar]

Had the chance to watch the first two episodes of Endeavour's fifth season. Wasn't that enarmoured with the second episode (the one with Maester Luwin), but the first one was great. I'm looking forward to catching up on the remaining four episodes over the next couple of weeks. So glad that for once we're not long behind the UK to see the new season.

I'm also greatly pleased that

Spoiler

Joan Thursday is back. Still shipping her and Morse so hard (I know, it's a juvenile thing to do)

 

[Astromech]

17 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.  

Dark is a must-see. One of my favorite series of 2017. But watch with subtitles and not the shit dub. It has similarities to Stranger Things, but is  not the German Stranger Things as reviews like to describe it. It's better. Stranger Things is fun, especially if you love the 80s.

As others have recommended, Gomorrah (the only other must-see and another favorite series of mine) Godless, Ozark. I would also recommend Mindhunter (mainly if you like David Fincher) and American Vandal, which was much deeper than the superficial, sophomoric premise would lead one to believe. Peaky Blinders is a lot of fun if you haven't seen it yet. Also The End of the Fucking World was a pleasant surprise. Trust me, the kids grow on you.

[Astromech]

2 minutes ago, Triskele said:

So my "just got Netflix" was a bit inaccurate.   I did previously have it for a period.  I have actually seen a few of these, Dark, Mindhunter, Ozark, and American Vandal.  I loved all of these except Ozark which I thought was just solid.  Definitely planning on giving Gomorrah a shot and catching up on Narcos.  

I am quite interested in Last Kingdom but am a bit torn on whether to hold off and see if I can get to the books first.  

Now that you mention it, I remember you participating in the Dark thread  

[RedEyedGhost]

2 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

S1 was good but, for me, the premise won’t bear multiple seasons.  I think I posted in the dedicated thread.  Plus it got annoying how they want the audience to love every character without accepting any responsibility or accountability for their crimes.

Agreed. I think I made it through season 3, but I wish I would have stopped earlier.

 

2 hours ago, Fiddler said:

I just started Santa Clarita Diet.  Only watched 3 episodes so far, but I've enjoyed them all.

I didn't expect it to be so campy, so it took me about half the first season to really like it. Really enjoyed it once I embraced it for what it is. Season 2 was great, and has a ton of laugh out loud moments.

[Ramsay B.]

7 hours ago, Isis said:

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

 

  Reveal hidden contents

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.

 

 

 

Great movie. We had a thread about it which has links to some pretty good interpretation videos too. Black Phillip did steal the show.

 

[Ramsay B.]

25 minutes ago, Astromech said:

Also The End of the Fucking World was a pleasant surprise. Trust me, the kids grow on you.

Ha, I gave it 3 episodes and they hadn’t yet.

[Astromech]

27 minutes ago, Ramsay B. said:

Ha, I gave it 3 episodes and they hadn’t yet.

It happens in the 4th episode  

[AncalagonTheBlack]

Just finished watching season 1 of Money Heist (La casa de papel) on Netlix.Loved it.One of the best heist dramas i've seen.Highly recommended.Here's the basic premise:

Quote

Eight thieves take hostages and lock themselves in the Royal Mint of Spain as a criminal mastermind manipulates the police to carry out his plan.

 

Now onto season 2!

[williamjm]

I watched Annihilation on Netflix. I think it's a bit of a shame it didn't get a cinema release (in the UK) since it did have some interesting visuals inside the Shimmer and would probably have looked good on the big screen. I liked the feeling of going into the Unknown with none of the characters having any idea of what they are going to find and it did a good job of showing how disorienting their journey was. I also liked that it didn't feel it had to answer questions about what was going on and left a lot of ambiguity. The expedition never seemed like a good idea, I don't really know how it originally got approved - although I think it does make sense that Lena decides to go on it from her perspective. I thought Natalie Portman did a good job in the lead role, although I was less convinced by Jennifer Jason Leigh.

2 hours ago, AncalagonTheBlack said:

Just finished watching season 1 of Money Heist (La casa de papel) on Netlix.Loved it.One of the best heist dramas i've seen.Highly recommended.

 

 

I did notice that on Netflix and wondered how good it was, I do like a good heist story.

[Nictarion]

10 hours ago, Fiddler said:

Finished watching the Office this weekend.  I loved the whole series and wish I had watched it earlier.  Finale had me sobbing like a baby, but I am a sap for stuff like that.

Right up there with The Shield and Six Feet Under as far as great finales go, imo. One of my favorites anyway. 

[Isis]

16 hours ago, Ramsay B. said:

Great movie. We had a thread about it which has links to some pretty good interpretation videos too. Black Phillip did steal the show.

 

Thanks. I'll visit the thread.

[Martini Sigil]

Finished up Santa Clarita Diet, and Lemony Snickets.(loved them both)... 3 episodes into Troy: Fall of a City...

I'll add .... This season of Homeland wouldn;t be bad if it wasn't for Claire Danes... Holy cow she is just terrible... 

Couterpart was the best S1 I've seen from anything in a long time... JK Simmons should get an Emmy.... he was brilliant.

The Alienist was also very good, especially for TNT... Is it me?, or does Dakota Fanning always look like she has gas in a crowded room? 

[RhaenysBee]

2 hours ago, Martini Sigil said:

 

The Alienist was also very good, especially for TNT... Is it me?, or does Dakota Fanning always look like she has gas in a crowded room? 

as a grownup, kinda. But I think those ridiculous costumes and hairstyles she wore on alienist didn’t help either. (I have yet to finish the last episode of that, kinda lost me to Jessica Jones) 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

I watched The Disaster Artist over the weekend. I’m not sure how I feel about it as a whole. The first hour or so was not that great, but then the next twenty minutes was the funniest damn thing I’ve ever seen. Overall I’d recommend seeing it, but I doubt I’ll ever watch it again.

Also caught a horror film called Morgan. Good god was that straight garbage.

Lastly, upon my second rewatch, my opinion has not changed. The Last Jedi is bad. What a disappointment.

[Astromech]

I watched the first episode of Killing Eve on BBC America. It was initially a bit jarring with the humor because I wasn't expecting it, but it was even better with the humor. Sandra Oh plays an unsatisfied MI5 desky fascinated with female assassins, when what should appear . . . yep a suspected female assassin after a Russian is murdered in Vienna.

 

ETA: Forgot to mention Meek's Cutoff, which is barely worth mentioning. It starts with the cast walking and ends with them standing around. Nothing happens in between. I suppose if you're interested in the Oregon Trail and the High Desert scenery it's worth the watch, but don't expect anything to happen.