Watch, Watched, Watching: The Prequel

[Isis]

16 hours ago, Ramsay B. said:

Hereditary comes out on Friday here in the states and it’s been getting rave reviews. I’m pretty excited for it so I’ve been watching some of my favorite horror/thriller movies to get in the mood, so to speak.

I watched Kill List last night with the subtitles on. I feel like I missed a lot of the conversations in previous views because of the strong accents. That movie has some brutal fucking scenes in it but I love it. Dolorous Edd has a little scene in it too.

Next up is The Blackcoat’s Daughter. 

 

 

I saw a trailer for Hereditary at the cinema last month and thought that if I was going to be brave enough to see it at all, it would be less scary at the cinema (during the day!). 

Kill List is one of my favourites. Can't say I recall any 'strong accents' though. 

I've finished S2 of Lemony Snicket. Sad that it's over. 

[HexMachina]

9 hours ago, Isis said:

I saw a trailer for Hereditary at the cinema last month and thought that if I was going to be brave enough to see it at all, it would be less scary at the cinema (during the day!). 

Kill List is one of my favourites. Can't say I recall any 'strong accents' though. 

I've finished S2 of Lemony Snicket. Sad that it's over. 

Loved ASOUE, perfectly weird and absurd. I really like the young performers playing Klaus and Violet too

[Ramsay B.]

9 hours ago, Isis said:

I saw a trailer for Hereditary at the cinema last month and thought that if I was going to be brave enough to see it at all, it would be less scary at the cinema (during the day!). 

Kill List is one of my favourites. Can't say I recall any 'strong accents' though. 

Well strong for over here I guess. It was especially hard picking up everything Gal said. It kind of reminds me of The Witch where I had a hard time understanding the dad the whole time. 

I read that Toni Collette is amazing in Hereditary, and worth the price of admission alone.

[Isis]

Did a rewatch of Children of Men last night. I was expecting some kind of enlightenment/revelation, thinking I must have missed something the first time I saw it - because others seemed to think so highly of it - and I almost thought I was going that way, but then it ended and I didn't really feel anything. It looks great, some of the locations are fantastic, and thematically it's terrifyingly real ('all foreigners are illegal' = how brexity Britain feels today) but other than that... it leaves me kind of empty. I can't help but feel this is Clive Owen's fault.

[briantw]

51 minutes ago, Isis said:

Did a rewatch of Children of Men last night. I was expecting some kind of enlightenment/revelation, thinking I must have missed something the first time I saw it - because others seemed to think so highly of it - and I almost thought I was going that way, but then it ended and I didn't really feel anything. It looks great, some of the locations are fantastic, and thematically it's terrifyingly real ('all foreigners are illegal' = how brexity Britain feels today) but other than that... it leaves me kind of empty. I can't help but feel this is Clive Owen's fault.

The thing I really loved about that movie was the action scenes and the way they tricked you into thinking they were all one shot.  Really impressive editing, and the scenes themselves are choreographed brilliantly and are intense as all hell.  Visually it's fantastic too.

[Isis]

12 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Loved ASOUE, perfectly weird and absurd. I really like the young performers playing Klaus and Violet too

I have a weakness for whimsy I think. It's just weird enough, usually without taking it too far.

1 hour ago, briantw said:

The thing I really loved about that movie was the action scenes and the way they tricked you into thinking they were all one shot.  Really impressive editing, and the scenes themselves are choreographed brilliantly and are intense as all hell.  Visually it's fantastic too.

Oh yes, the action scenes are VERY well done, very vivid and almost shocking in their intimacy. I just think that once you're past that, and the overall theme, I just found it hard to care what was happening. I don't know. It's like something is missing and this is what I felt the first time round. When I sat down to watch it last night I said, 'was I drinking or not paying attention the first time I saw this? - because I feel like I don't remember all of it'... but the thing is, I did remember all of it. It's just that there wasn't anything that 'significant' to remember, that's why I feel like something was rubbed out from my memory. It's like it's too simple or something. It's like there's no conflict in the story.

[Iskaral Pust]

I saw both Solo and Avengers at the movie theater over Memorial Day weekend, end enjoyed both but left frustrated with the ending of Avengers.  Combined with Black Panther earlier this year, that's three trips to the movie theater already this year.  That's a lot for us, especially since the projections for the 2018 box office are pretty tepid.  I guess it's because my son is now at a point where we'll bring him to most PG-13 blockbusters without waiting to preview it first. 

During flights recently I watched all of Orphan Black S2. Still good but getting increasingly claustrophobic, as feared, as they inject twist after twist to maintain suspense within the same small cast and narrow setting.  It's like a game of ping pong now.  These kinds of stories require huge suspension of disbelief, especially since they could easily go public with irrefutable evidence of clones; that's a pretty huge plot hole.  I'm not sure yet if I'll continue.  Perhaps after a break.

I also watched Logan Lucky during a flight.  It was ok for a redneck heist movie. 

My wife and I watched Killing Eve together.  It took a while because I don't watch all that much TV unless I'm stuck on an airplane.  But this was pretty good.  Villanelle has to be one of the most entertaining villains in a long time.  But my wife hated the final five minutes of the season.  I was wondering throughout the season how we should view Eve's fixation: is she a plucky crusader who threw off the shackles of bureaucracy to save the world, or is this a hero complex irresponsibly combined with a desire for excitement?

So far I'm skipping Arrested Development.  I loved S1-3 so much but S4 was such a let down that I can't muster the energy to watch the S4 remix and half of S5.  I think I'd rather just remember it how it was.

I guess I'm hunting around for what to watch next.  I tried another episode of Justified, but it still feels corny and generic.  I'm getting tempted to rewatch Breaking Bad, but that feels like a big commitment.  The golden age of television should have enough offerings that I wouldn't need to rely on rewatching.

[briantw]

3 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

I guess I'm hunting around for what to watch next.  I tried another episode of Justified, but it still feels corny and generic.  I'm getting tempted to rewatch Breaking Bad, but that feels like a big commitment.  The golden age of television should have enough offerings that I wouldn't need to rely on rewatching.

Justified improves immensely from season one to season two.  Season one mostly just sets the tone and establishes the main characters.  Season two starts to put it all together.

[Mexal]

5 minutes ago, briantw said:

Justified improves immensely from season one to season two.  Season one mostly just sets the tone and establishes the main characters.  Season two starts to put it all together.

This. The first season of Justified was a bit of a mess. They hadn't yet figured out the balance between story of the week and overall arc plus they didn't know what to do with Boyd. As brian said above, season 2 improves immeasurably.

[HexMachina]

16 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

I saw both Solo and Avengers at the movie theater over Memorial Day weekend, end enjoyed both but left frustrated with the ending of Avengers.  Combined with Black Panther earlier this year, that's three trips to the movie theater already this year.  That's a lot for us, especially since the projections for the 2018 box office are pretty tepid.  I guess it's because my son is now at a point where we'll bring him to most PG-13 blockbusters without waiting to preview it first. 

During flights recently I watched all of Orphan Black S2. Still good but getting increasingly claustrophobic, as feared, as they inject twist after twist to maintain suspense within the same small cast and narrow setting.  It's like a game of ping pong now.  These kinds of stories require huge suspension of disbelief, especially since they could easily go public with irrefutable evidence of clones; that's a pretty huge plot hole.  I'm not sure yet if I'll continue.  Perhaps after a break.

I also watched Logan Lucky during a flight.  It was ok for a redneck heist movie. 

My wife and I watched Killing Eve together.  It took a while because I don't watch all that much TV unless I'm stuck on an airplane.  But this was pretty good.  Villanelle has to be one of the most entertaining villains in a long time.  But my wife hated the final five minutes of the season.  I was wondering throughout the season how we should view Eve's fixation: is she a plucky crusader who threw off the shackles of bureaucracy to save the world, or is this a hero complex irresponsibly combined with a desire for excitement?

So far I'm skipping Arrested Development.  I loved S1-3 so much but S4 was such a let down that I can't muster the energy to watch the S4 remix and half of S5.  I think I'd rather just remember it how it was.

I guess I'm hunting around for what to watch next.  I tried another episode of Justified, but it still feels corny and generic.  I'm getting tempted to rewatch Breaking Bad, but that feels like a big commitment.  The golden age of television should have enough offerings that I wouldn't need to rely on rewatching.

Based on your opinions so far you probably will really dislike S3 orphan black. But the final two seasons are on par if not better than seasons 1amd 2imo. Of course it helps having the phenomenal Maslany as the lead, hard to remember that it’s all the same person most of the time!

[Nictarion]

And season two of Justified has one of the greatest characters from any show ever in Mags Bennett.

[Iskaral Pust]

9 minutes ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Based on your opinions so far you probably will really dislike S3 orphan black. But the final two seasons are on par if not better than seasons 1amd 2imo. Of course it helps having the phenomenal Maslany as the lead, hard to remember that it’s all the same person most of the time!

That helps, thanks.  Maslany does an excellent job (although trans clone didn't feel convincing), and I like Felix too as he adopts an expanding array of new sisters.  It's really well done overall, it just gets claustrophobic to sustain all the twists back and forth within the same artificially closed loop.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Finally got around to seeing the final season of Black Sails. I think they handled the collusion well, over all. There aren't to many well produced movies and T.V. shows about pirates, and this one definitely captured the essence of the Caribbean during the early 18th century. 

[Iskaral Pust]

26 minutes ago, briantw said:

Justified improves immensely from season one to season two.  Season one mostly just sets the tone and establishes the main characters.  Season two starts to put it all together.

 

21 minutes ago, Mexal said:

This. The first season of Justified was a bit of a mess. They hadn't yet figured out the balance between story of the week and overall arc plus they didn't know what to do with Boyd. As brian said above, season 2 improves immeasurably.

 

10 minutes ago, Nictarion said:

And season two of Justified has one of the greatest characters from any show ever in Mags Bennett.

OK, I'll tough it out.  S1 is only 13 episodes and I must have watched seven or eight already.  I'll push on through the rest and look forward to S2.

If you're all alts of Timothy Olyphant just relentlessly pumping this show, I will remember this.  Deadwood was great but it doesn't give you unlimited license.

[briantw]

22 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

OK, I'll tough it out.  S1 is only 13 episodes and I must have watched seven or eight already.  I'll push on through the rest and look forward to S2.

If you're all alts of Timothy Olyphant just relentlessly pumping this show, I will remember this.  Deadwood was great but it doesn't give you unlimited license.

As Mexal said, the second season is less procedural and more of a single, coherent story with some "case of the week" stuff thrown in.  I'd compare it to The Shield once that show hit its stride.  The Shield always did a great job of balancing interesting short-term storytelling (the case of the week) with compelling long-term storytelling.  Justified isn't quite on The Shield's level as a show, but it becomes quite good after the ho-hum first season.  

Justified succeeds more on the strength of its characters than anything, though.  Just a wonderful assortment of great actors chewing scenery and razor sharp dialogue.

[Mark Antony]

Honestly second half of season one is pretty solid imo. Plus preacher Boyd is fucking hilarious

[briantw]

Just now, Mark Antony said:

Honestly second half of season one is pretty solid imo. Plus preacher Boyd is fucking hilarious

Yeah once they start getting into the Crowder family stuff toward the end of season one it gets a lot more interesting.  Season two just builds on that by doing it for an entire season instead of just four or five episodes.

[Mexal]

54 minutes ago, Mark Antony said:

Honestly second half of season one is pretty solid imo. Plus preacher Boyd is fucking hilarious

Agreed. Back end of season 1 was pretty good. 

[briantw]

Killing Eve was very good.  I knew nothing about it going in outside of the basic premise and some kind words said about it on here, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't the paint-by-numbers thriller I expected, but instead was very funny, over the top violent, and just generally a very fun, easy watch.  Really liked the last two episodes when one of the characters was constantly interacting with a kid.  Every dialogue exchange was golden there.  I felt the ending was way too abrupt when I watched it, but I also thought going in that this was a mini-series and didn't realize there was going to be a second season.  Now that I know it's a series, the ending is still a bit abrupt but fine.

I'd definitely say it's a must watch if you like good TV.  Just a very enjoyable season of TV.

[dog-days]

Finally got round to watching Season 2 of Agent Carter. When it first came out, I remember seeing reviews in the blogosphere saying that it was a big step down from the first season in quality, so I didn't bother with it. 

Well, it's been so long that I can now hardly remember the first season. I enjoyed S2 quite a lot - it was tremendously silly fun most of the time, and now I kind of wish I hadn't taken the time to catch up on it, since there'll be no S3.