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

[GallowKnight]

17 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

We watched Thor: Ragnorak last night, purely on the strength of positive reviews because the prior Thor movies were really dull, with Loki the only redeeming feature.  The winking humor was a big improvement -- it's more Guardians Of The Galaxy than Iron Man -- even if it meant that Loki lost all the best lines to Thor this time.  Is that the most Aussies/Kiwis in a major Hollywood film?  I counted both Hemsworth brothers, Cate Blanchett, Karl Urban, the rocky gladiator revolutionary, plus a handful of the minor roles seemed to have the accent too.  I think Brits (Hiddlestone, Cumberbatch, Hopkins) outnumbered Yanks too in the major roles.  

GotG, Deadpool and now T:R have really injected some fun back into Marvel.

Rocky Gladiator was Taika Waititi, the director of the movie, wasn't it?

[Veltigar]

17 minutes ago, GallowKnight said:

Rocky Gladiator was Taika Waititi, the director of the movie, wasn't it?

Jups, he was also one of the heads of the threeheaded gladiator apparently  

[red snow]

On 23/04/2018 at 10:15 PM, Veltigar said:

What's the verdict on The Alienist? Is it any good?  

They should stuff this article in Michael Hirst's mouth  

Sounds like "I'm in a bad mood as I had a deadline to meet for reviewing this and discovered it was 20 mins longer than expected" as there's clearly ranting going on. One paragraph opens with it being a Westworld specific problem followed by the next paragraph stating the not just a Westworld problem.

I agree with the sentiment that some shows seem long because no one could be bothered about tighter editing but at the same time I wouldn't want a show to cut an important scene just because it had to hit a certain time constraint. I think some writer/directors need to earn the extra time though and feel many would benefit from learning to tell a tight story.

[ithanos]

On 24/04/2018 at 5:01 AM, Iskaral Pust said:

We watched Thor: Ragnorak last night, purely on the strength of positive reviews because the prior Thor movies were really dull, with Loki the only redeeming feature.  The winking humor was a big improvement -- it's more Guardians Of The Galaxy than Iron Man -- even if it meant that Loki lost all the best lines to Thor this time.  Is that the most Aussies/Kiwis in a major Hollywood film?  I counted both Hemsworth brothers, Cate Blanchett, Karl Urban, the rocky gladiator revolutionary, plus a handful of the minor roles seemed to have the accent too.  I think Brits (Hiddlestone, Cumberbatch, Hopkins) outnumbered Yanks too in the major roles.  

GotG, Deadpool and now T:R have really injected some fun back into Marvel.

Urm.. make sure you watch that end credits scene.

---------

Been watching The Expanse (S3) and really enjoying it. iZombie (S5) and The Good Fight (S2) are also on my weekly watchlist.

Watched Avengers: Infinity War today, and I say only this: I will happily go back & watch it again. Thanos lays waste! I usually laud the IMAX with DLP experience but I was second row/centre from the front today and my head was like a typewriter platen.. to archaic? how about head was like a CRT electron beam lighting up a frame.. no? OK I needed to turn my head constantly in order to scan the 6 storey screen, being that close.

[Ramsay B.]

2 hours ago, ithanos said:

Watched Avengers: Infinity War today, and I say only this: I will happily go back & watch it again. Thanos lays waste! 

Fabulous news!

[briantw]

Doing a re-watch of Gomorrah right now.  Pretty sure this is the best active show on TV right now.  It really does feel like the Italian version of The Wire.

[Mark Antony]

2 hours ago, briantw said:

Doing a re-watch of Gomorrah right now.  Pretty sure this is the best active show on TV right now.  It really does feel like the Italian version of The Wire.

I never really got The Wire comparison as there is literally no law enforcement presence on the show. It’s truly it’s own thing and I agree probably the best active show right now though. 

[Nictarion]

18 minutes ago, Mark Antony said:

I never really got The Wire comparison as there is literally no law enforcement presence on the show. It’s truly it’s own thing and I agree probably the best active show right now though. 

And that music...

 

[Mark Antony]

Seriously lol. I listen to the soundtrack on the reg 

[WarGalley]

4 hours ago, Mark Antony said:

I never really got The Wire comparison as there is literally no law enforcement presence on the show. It’s truly it’s own thing and I agree probably the best active show right now though. 

I think it's closer to the Wire than any other show I can think of. Sure, it doesn't have the layers of law enforcement, education, journalism and port work that the Wire has but it does give an ugly, visceral view of organized crime and the drug trade. Being based on real events helps the analogy too. It is truly it's own thing but if you HAD to compare it to something, I think the Wire is the closest possible choice.

[Mark Antony]

That’s fair I see that. Just feels so different than The Wire to me.

[briantw]

13 minutes ago, Mark Antony said:

That’s fair I see that. Just feels so different than The Wire to me.

I think that it's very similar to The Wire stylistically.  It may not follow the exact same groups of people as The Wire, but it just has that same gritty, realistic crime feel that The Wire captured so well.

I'm not trying to say it's a carbon copy of The Wire or anything.  It's not.  But it's the closest in feel to any show I've watched since The Wire.

[Martini Sigil]

.... as the Wire is my favorite show ever, I'll have to move Gamorrah to the top of the binge list.... I had always assumed it was about a giant, fire breathing turtle.

The Handmaids Tale is brilliant, but holy cow its a gut-wrenching watch

Lost in Space was fun... my major complaint is 

Spoiler

Will is supposed to be a genius, not the runt of the litter

The two shows --as of this moment-- that I can't live without are Westworld, and the Expanse.... Going to see Infinity War tomorrow 

[Mark Antony]

Three seasons so far. Only two season on Netflix in US though. 

[Iskaral Pust]

I think Gomorrah has some similarities to The Wire in the way it embraces the gritty reality of the setting: the community, the poverty, the acceptance of violent criminals as an omnipresent and beneficial part of that community, the sense of inevitability that these people feel like it’s possible to go anywhere else or have any other life than this. 

On the other hand, Gomorrah is distinctly different in style.  The Wire is closer to a classic noir focusing mainly on greyish police characters trying to do the best they can without being entirely pure, the compromises required and the inevitable taint from proximity to criminality, will they catch the bad guy?, plus it relies heavily on dialogue.  Also, the central story is the inescapable poverty trap and repeating cycle.  By contrast, Gomorrah is much more stylishly shot and directed, relies more on pulsing music than dialogue, tells the story only from the POV of criminals, and fundamentally the central story is about the younger generation yearning to take control, and their sense of destiny and potential, while their elders try to suppress them. 

So similar setting and some similar themes, but very different style and narrative arc.

[Unlady B]

I finished season 1 of Westworld some weeks ago, but I didn't feel like starting the new season until it's done.

I started binging Mr Robot since last weekend, and I'm already in season 2. Too bad the thread about that show got caught in the black hole: that dark event that erased months of posts and it truly didn't change a thing till you try to find something posted during that time. In fact, I had completely forgotten about it.

[GrimTuesday]

I just watched a Japanese show in Amazon called Documental. The premise is you lock 10 Japanese comedians in a room for six hours and tell them not to laugh. It really takes a turn for the raunchy at a certain point, and it does kind of feel like some things get lost in translation, both linguistically and culturally since they speak only in Japanese and makes a lot of references to the Japanese comedy scene so I got lost at times, but seeing someone get snapped with a rubber band is funny in any language.

[briantw]

9 hours ago, Triskele said:

I've now watched the first three episodes of this show.  Without any comment on the Wire comparison this early I'm definitely enjoying it but also before reading the thread today was like "Damn, this outro music..."

My favorite part about it is how it melds the end credit music (which is always the same tune, much like The WIre) with the preview for the next episode.  Really smart editing that gives very little away while still giving enough to hook you in.

[Isis]

 

On 23/04/2018 at 10:15 PM, Veltigar said:

What's the verdict on The Alienist? Is it any good?  

They should stuff this article in Michael Hirst's mouth  

I just watched the first two eps last night. Nice to see Luke Evans in something as I'd just been wondering what he was up to. I like the dark and moody atmosphere of it but... I'm still not completely sure how I feel about it yet. I'll know after I see another couple of episodes. But I will say that the alienist himself is the least good thing about the show.

[Centrist Simon Steele]

Last episode of Ash vs Evil Dead on Sunday