This Watch, Watched, and Watching Thread? I like it. ANOTHER

[Ramsay B.]

Just watched City of God, about drug dealers in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. The really good reviews made me expect more, though I'm not sure what. It's certainly not a bad movie but I didn't get much out of it.

Hmmm, it's one of my favorites. 

I watched Bone Tomahawk recently. It's a western, horror type slow-burn movie with one of the most brutal death scenes I've viewed on film in recent years. It has a pretty interesting cast too with Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson and Matthew Fox. I had no expectations going into it and it was actually very entertaining.

[Nictarion]

Hmmm, it's one of my favorites. 

I watched Bone Tomahawk recently. It's a western, horror type slow-burn movie with one of the most brutal death scenes I've viewed on film in recent years. It has a pretty interesting cast too with Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson and Matthew Fox. I had no expectations going into it and it was actually very entertaining.

That death scene 

Also, Rebecca from Banshee. 

And City of God is a great film btw. 

[Ramsay B.]

That death scene 

Also, Rebecca from Banshee. 

Hanzee even made an appearance in it! But yeah, that death scene was nuts.

[Nictarion]

Hanzee even made an appearance in it! But yeah, that death scene was nuts.

Matthew Fox was my favorite part. He was excellent. Those fuckers were genuinely creepy too. It kind of reminds me of a western 13th Warrior,  but better. 

[RedEyedGhost]

Jesus guys!  Now I know there's a death scene in it!  Haven't you heard of spoiler tags??  REPORTED

ETA: Not really.

[Nictarion]

Jesus guys!  Now I know there's a death scene in it!  Haven't you heard of spoiler tags??  REPORTED

Hidden Content

Thought you were completely serious at first. I know we have some very spoiler sensitive poster's in the movie threads. 

You know who you are Mr. Guitar flamethrower.  

[First of My Name]

Hmmm, it's one of my favorites. 

Part of the reason I didn't like it as much might've been the poor quality I watched it in, tbh. There were times when I couldn't tell faces apart and wasn't sure which character I was watching, and the subtitles (which couldn't even settle on which language they wanted to be) didn't help either. 

[Kindly Old Man]

Watched Anomalisa. Charlie Kaufman is a brilliant writer, responsible for many unique movies that have real insight into the human condition. That does not give him a free pass to make a movie that is essentially 1.5 hours of him gazing deeply into his own navel and crying. Jesus. Someone should have told him that a movie about solipsism will still eventually have to be shown to other people. There is one good thing about it, which is that it's made me realize I've been far too profligate with my use of the term 'self-indulgent'. I may never use it again, because I doubt anything will measure up to this film. It has a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Fuck everything. Happy New Year!

[Veltigar]

I finished  season five of The Wire last night. I would like to take a moment and thank everyone here on the forum who has been yapping about this series for years, because it is indeed as good as you all said it was. I felt like I was there, in the streets of Baltimore with the characters while I watched it. That realism is probably what I loved the most about the series.

It's pretty much the perfect example of novelistic TV in my mind.  Excellent performances all across the board, memorable (and relevant) storylines, a setting that was crucial to the plot and just an unfathomable slew of great characters. It just proves that you can make rivetting TV without overly flashy setpieces, expensive CGI, fanciful directing and big dumb action sequences. In the end it's all about the writing and the acting. If you get those two things right (and especially the writing), everything else will follow. 

My favourite season was the fourth one. With one, two and three coming right after that, in no particular order. I'd have to rewatch the entire series to make a distinction between the first three seasons in terms of quality. Season five was definitely - and by quite a margin imo - the weakest. Mainly because it sacrificed a lot of the realism that made The Wire so brilliant, in order to tell a much more conventional TV-story.

I have to say that I didn't expect that. I mean, Simmons had brilliantly captured so many other Baltimore subcultures, from corner boys to stevedores to teachers and back again, so you would think that the world of journalism, which he must have known best of all would have been easy trucking for the man. 

The finale of season five was also pretty weak, which was unfortunate since it also doubles as a series finale. I could live with that though, mainly due to the very nature of the series. Every ending to The Wire would have been unsatisfying. This is a series that just begs to keep on going (at least for as long as people are able to make a fortune out of dealing  illegal narcotics) and all the while it could show us the impact on the streets of the latest developments that shook up the world.

For instance, I read that their idea for a sixth season was to focus on the influx of Latino immigrants into Baltimore and how they brought their own problems and gangs with them. That would have been fascinating and I'm kind of bummed that they didn't go through with it.

Now a word on the subcultures. Aside from the journalists, I think I enjoyed our protagonists, the cops the least. Strange really, but it's probably part of the reason why four is the best season, since it has less about the cops in favour of politics and teaching. On the other hand, it's also why five is the weakest, since that season focusses mostly on the cops and journalists. Everything else around it is pretty great though.  If I had to rank them, I'd say something like corner boys, teaching/politics, stevedores and then some distance until we reach the cops and then a lot of distance untill we get to the journalists. 

You can probably guess that a lot of my favourite characters are to be found amongst the more criminal elements of this series. The Wire really had so many great characters, it's quite incredible. The Wire's bit parts are more developed than most main characters on other TV-shows. This is how you use a sprawling ensemble to good use, unlike some other series I could mention  Anyway, I have gone off on a bit of a tangent.

Favourite characters: Bodie, Stringer Bell, Wallace, Snoop, Pryzbeliwski, Marlo, Avon Barksdale, D'Angelo Barksdale

Least favourite characters: Every single one of the journalists, McNulty, Herc

To drop one final bomb, I don't really get all the fanboying about Omar   Michael Kenneth Williams gives a great performance and the character is layered enough, but I feel like the folkhero thing Omar had going on occassionally jarred a little bit with the rest of the show. Especially in season five, where I thought they did some strange things with his character. Like the way he died, I got the idea behind it, getting shot by some no good punk is the way people like Omar usually go out, but somehow it didn't land for me. I don't know why really. 

 

[williamjm]

I watched The Theory of Everything, which I thought was good, particularly the acting from Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones.

Also watched the last episode of The Last Kingdom (I'd fallen behind a bit). I liked the series, although I got a bit exasperated at times with Uthred repeatedly doing extremely foolish things then being astonished when his stupidity had consequences.

[HexMachina]

Re-watched Kingsman today, got plenty of laughs and still loved it as much as I did in the cinema, although

The church scene looks even better on big screen

 

Currently rewatch int Gone Girl. Yes, its Christmas DVD time

[Martini Sigil]

We've just finished binging DaVinci's Demons .... I liked it much more than I thought I would....  the writing in the 3rd (last) season got lazy... but I did enjoy it.... Our next two binges are the new season of Hemlock Grove (it's awful, but we're invested) .... and Manhattan...

Otherwise --along with the shows that are continuing through the new year, American Horror story (best season IMO) and the Expanse-- we're just looking forward to January's start-ups.... Shannarah Chronicles, Black Sails, Agent Carter.... and kind of bummed that Banshee is delayed...

[Isis]

I watched The Hunt a few days ago. What a bleak, depressing film. It manages to make you feel sad, angry, exasperated and hopeless all at once. Wow. 

Currently watching season three of The Bridge. Love the dark, grubby feel of this show. Hardly any sunshine to be had. Perfect for this time of year I guess. 

Oh, nearly forgot, went to see In The Heart of the Sea at the pictures. It was a touch underwhelming to be honest. I'm not sure they truly managed to convey the relentless horror of being lost at sea for over three months. THREE MONTHS! The book definitely drummed into you how bad this was. I don't know, it just felt like it wasn't actually that bad in the film. Was that just me? 

 

[Ramsay B.]

I watched The Hunt a few days ago. What a bleak, depressing film. It manages to make you feel sad, angry, exasperated and hopeless all at once. Wow. 

Oh, nearly forgot, went to see In The Heart of the Sea at the pictures. It was a touch underwhelming to be honest. I'm not sure they truly managed to convey the relentless horror of being lost at sea for over three months. THREE MONTHS! The book definitely drummed into you how bad this was. I don't know, it just felt like it wasn't actually that bad in the film. Was that just me? 

 

The Hunt is such a powerful film, it does make you think a lot.

My initial expectations for In The Heart of the Sea were pretty high after seeing the trailers but the lackluster reviews I saw made me go into it with really no expectations, and I think that helped me like it more. It did have its flaws with developing characters and a lot of the survival aspects seemed to be glossed over and rushed but I did enjoy it as a whole. Definitely not the epic I thought it could be but also not a bad movie. I should read the book though.

[RedEyedGhost]

I watched Betas on amazon prime.  Very fun, but soooooo similar to Silicon Valley, good filler until season 3 of that shows up though.  Too bad it's not getting a second season.

Over the past month and a half I've been binging Psych, it was the first time I've rewatched seasons 6-8 so that was nice.  The chemistry between Dulè Hill and James Roday is just great.  Go on, son!

I watched Pan the other day, it wasn't terrible.  The randomness of Smells Like Teen Spirit threw me.

I'm trying to figure out what to binge next while I'm working out... Person of Interest is near the top, but I'm worried that I won't be able to devote as much attention to it as I would like.

Oh and I watched the first two episodes of Making a Murderer.  I must be missing something because I was bored out of my mind.  With something like this I would think they would try to make the victim sympathetic, but most of what they've talked about has been how little he offered society.

[SkynJay]

I picked up Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation earlier in the week.  Was quite shocked when my wife watched it all the way through.  We have now watched the first three together.  The first one was quite awesome, as was Rogue Nation.  #2 had some good parts but way too much slow motion fight scenes for my taste.  I liked three but mostly because the mannerisms of Hoffman were perfect.

We are also working through the complete series of Frasier.  Just finished season 2.  

[matt b]

Just finished the second season of Transparent. Fantastic, once again. Too bad I made my end of the year list before I watched it, it's easily the best half hour show (hard to call it strictly a comedy) I watched this year.

[Martini Sigil]

.... and there's a Banshee marathon. So.... awesome.

[Jack Bauer 24]

I'm on episode 7 of Jessica Jones. Feeling indifferent to it so far and the special effects are horrible. Netflix should be embarrassed.

[First of My Name]

Watched Kingsman: The Secret Service. Worth it just for the church scene I'm a little ashamed of how much I enjoyed that actually. But the movie also has good acting and great music. Not a revolutionary story by any means but still simply a shitload of fun.