Watch, Watched, Watching: What Now?

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

I've always found it odd that my mom loves this movie and is a bit mad that I was an extremely naughty child that makes Ferris look like a saint.

[red snow]

Perry Mason was ok - the cast were great and I'll give any show with Matthew Rhys in it a try. I can't put my finger on what was missing but something stopped it from feeling like they knocked it out of the park. Possibly just me comparing it to "boardwalk empire" or maybe me not accepting the character as being different from Rhys' "The americans" character. Or it simply required a better hook for the main story or an extra episode.

I'm not familiar with the original Perry Mason so I'm not that fussed about this being a prequel but from what my confused parent was saying having him as a noir PI is a bit of a shock for them. Me, I like depression era noir so I'm happy.

[Isis]

Last night we watched Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief. Where to start?! For one thing it is hugely disturbing to have to look at Tom Cruise and his freakish middle tooth for so long. As someone (who had escaped the cult) pointed out - it's incredible that people can be indoctrinated into a religion where you can't even discover what the central tenets of the religion are until you attain very high levels within it. Pfffffft.

[RhaenysBee]

I finished rewatching Gilmore Girls. The original series without the reboot. while it was a nostalgic delight to watch it from beginning to end, and it’s an absolutely lovable show with witty and pleasant writing, I must say it’s a vastly different experience than watching it as a teenager. Back in 2005-07ish as a 13-14-year-old I was really blown away by its “cool” factor and I wanted to drink as much coffee as Lorelai and all and never quite looked at the show with an analytic or critical eye. I mean I did know back then that Emily and Richard were great people and that Mrs Kim was an impossibly loving mother in her own way - thankfully I wasn’t as stupid as to not realize that. But my view on a number of characters and the general lifestyle and milestones depicted in the show changed a little as I myself got more perspective on life, which is always interesting. I still think it’s an adorable show and it makes me nostalgic for early 2000s and my childhood/early teen years and a time in general in which things were just a little bit simpler than they are today. And I truly appreciate the writing which, sometimes better, sometimes worse, was far more solid than most shows being produced a decade or two later. 

random details: 

Spoiler

- as a teen I found Luke incredibly annoying and didn’t care for his character at all - it took fifteen years to realized that overall he was the best character on that show, in the sense of being a good person. He wasn’t perfect, he had his flaws, but he was limitlessly and unconditionally selfless and he was always the number one person to jump in and help other whether he was asked or not. I truly appreciate Luke.

- I used to adore Lorelai in spite of her flaws, but again, fifteen years makes you realize that she was stuck at being a rebellious teenager her entire life, whose self image is shockingly faulty. Throughout the entire series Lorelai fancies herself as the representative of the modern American dream, a small town woman who worked her way to the top and gave her child a better life than she had. Absolutely none of this is true. Lorelai would never have achieved what she did if she wasn’t Emily and Richard’s daughter and it was those two who gave Rory the opportunities she had (which Lorelai also had but cast away). I’m not saying Lorelai didn’t work hard, she did, but so did everybody else and every time difficulty arose or life forced her to choose between two things she wanted, Richard and Emily always dropped the golden parachute so she could have it all. Nothing wrong with that, but Lorelai closed season 7 never realizing this. She was also often rude and ungrateful, she took everybody for granted, she was the second most selfish person and she had no trouble toying with all the men in her life according to her teenagerish whims. 

- Rory had the longest fall on the rewatch. She was beyond selfish and entitled and had an even more distorted self image than Lorelai. She was not a great friend and she thought she was better than everybody, when in fact she was nothing more than an over-adored, pretty and falsely nice straight-A student. The world is full of pretty, pretend-nice straight-A students who end up being mediocre company workers or soccer mums. It was always Paris, who had it, and I found it particularly annoying when Paris thanked Rory for being where she was because Rory was supposed to be her motivator. It was always the other way around. It was Paris who pushed Rory into the extracurricular and academic achievements that landed her on the next step of her academic career ladder. Of all the other characters Rory was arguably the most awful to Dean, although to me it was always leaving Emily and Richard’s house without notice and not talking to them for weeks that felt her most unforgivable action. She was continuously jealous and unhappy for others’ achievements and happiness and there wasn’t a single time when she didn’t put herself first. 

- I also grew to appreciate Christopher however, who only ever did his best and whatever Lorelai told him. The poor man just didn’t deserve the treatment he got. 

- in terms of love stories, Lorelai was always meant to end up with Luke throughout the writing of the story, but nobody will ever convince me that he was her best match. As I observe above, Lorelai is not a townie who lucked out in business life, no matter how much she wants to be or how much she fancies herself as such. If it wasn’t going to be Christopher (who was right to get fed up with being Lorelai’s rebound and second choice), it should have been Jason. They had a lot in common, they had great chemistry, there was mutual respect and understanding, probably the most honesty and best communication Lorelai ever had in a relationship and Jason was compatible with her background. as for Rory, the obvious and clear choice was Logan. She was with him for the longest time and he grew so much as a person during that time. Logan challenged her, moved her out of her comfort zone, accepted and supported her, he was willing to give her everything and more. He made an effort to bond with both Lorelai and the grandparents (absolutely nobody else did this for Rory), he was a decent communicator, he was mature enough to appreciate Stars Hollow and enjoy himself there.

- and well it was very very interesting to see the things that could be written and produced in 2000 as opposed to what people get for 140 characters of uncensored thoughts on twitter these days. How the entire empowerment and independence and girl power and strong female character narrative changed since then and how terribly outdated a show that I wanted to be my life 13 years ago is considered by today’s liberal media standards. well, I always knew I was born into the wrong age. 

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

4 hours ago, Isis said:

Last night we watched Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief. Where to start?! For one thing it is hugely disturbing to have to look at Tom Cruise and his freakish middle tooth for so long. As someone (who had escaped the cult) pointed out - it's incredible that people can be indoctrinated into a religion where you can't even discover what the central tenets of the religion are until you attain very high levels within it. Pfffffft.

Whispers: 

It's because religion has always been a scam and a cult. Listen to one of the chosen people. We've been doing this for a while, and our best natural skill is bullshitting people. 

Religion is a joke. Always has been, always will be. Be spiritual if you want, there's nothing wrong with that, but organized religion? THAT WANTS YOUR MONEY?
 

 

[Isis]

Yes, absolutely. Faith isn't the problem, organised religion is. Maybe Scientology lures people in because of the therapy aspect - people enjoy talking about themselves. 

[Martini Sigil]

On 6/23/2020 at 3:13 AM, red snow said:

Perry Mason was ok - the cast were great and I'll give any show with Matthew Rhys in it a try. I can't put my finger on what was missing but something stopped it from feeling like they knocked it out of the park. Possibly just me comparing it to "boardwalk empire" or maybe me not accepting the character as being different from Rhys' "The americans" character. Or it simply required a better hook for the main story or an extra episode.

I'm not familiar with the original Perry Mason so I'm not that fussed about this being a prequel but from what my confused parent was saying having him as a noir PI is a bit of a shock for them. Me, I like depression era noir so I'm happy.

I got the same feeling... I think maybe because --even for a depression era show-- it was dismal AF... the sex was especially awful... but I'm willing to stick with it it, mainly because of Rhys, and Tatiana Maslany.... and I couldn;t help but notice that a lot of prominent names turned up in that first episode alone....although Veronica Falcon irks the hell out of me...lol... 

[Astromech]

2 hours ago, Martini Sigil said:

I got the same feeling... I think maybe because --even for a depression era show-- it was dismal AF... the sex was especially awful... but I'm willing to stick with it it, mainly because of Rhys, and Tatiana Maslany.... and I couldn;t help but notice that a lot of prominent names turned up in that first episode alone....although Veronica Falcon irks the hell out of me...lol... 

Haha, you were watching Queen of the South, weren't you?

I'm willing to give it a few episodes. I was a bit irritated about the initial mystery/case basically being  a 

Spoiler

Lindbergh baby case rip off. Hopefully it becomes more interesting.

I'm also a bit tired of the miserable detective trope. Rhys's Mason exceeds the definition of miserable. But it looks like we'll get some more background on him and his experiences and in The Great War.

[GallowKnight]

I watched Guy Ritchie's latest movie The Gentlemen and god damn what a giant piece of shit that was, I hated every minute of it. It mostly just feels like a bad parody of a Guy Ritchie movie. The characters were all awful, unlikeable and uninteresting, the story was boring and a lot of the humour felt really dated in a really bad way. Colin Farrell was by far the best thing about the movie and he didn't even put in much of an effort.

[Mexal]

13 minutes ago, GallowKnight said:

I watched Guy Ritchie's latest movie The Gentlemen and god damn what a giant piece of shit that was, I hated every minute of it. It mostly just feels like a bad parody of a Guy Ritchie movie. The characters were all awful, unlikeable and uninteresting, the story was boring and a lot of the humour felt really dated in a really bad way. Colin Farrell was by far the best thing about the movie and he didn't even put in much of an effort.

I really liked it *hides*. Just found it entertaining and didn't take it seriously at all. I will agree, however, that Colin Farrell was the best part about it.

[Nictarion]

3 hours ago, Mexal said:

I really liked it *hides*. Just found it entertaining and didn't take it seriously at all. I will agree, however, that Colin Farrell was the best part about it.

Hugh Grant was pretty damn good as well. I personally loved it. Return to form for Ritchie, imo. 

[Mexal]

I've started a re-watch of Justified as my wife and neighbors haven't seen it and with us finishing up The Shield, we needed a bit more Walton Goggins in our life. As someone who has generally talked people into looking past the first few episodes, upon re-watch, they're totally fine. It still carries the same level of wit though the absence of Boyd, Raylen killing everyone and the case of the week nature really does drag it down a bit. Think we're up to episode 6, so should be getting Boyd back soon and if I remember correctly, first season should take off soon with Bo Crowder. Still a great show and can't wait for seasons 2, 3, 4.

[RumHam]

39 minutes ago, Mexal said:

I've started a re-watch of Justified as my wife and neighbors haven't seen it and with us finishing up The Shield, we needed a bit more Walton Goggins in our life. As someone who has generally talked people into looking past the first few episodes, upon re-watch, they're totally fine. It still carries the same level of wit though the absence of Boyd, Raylen killing everyone and the case of the week nature really does drag it down a bit. Think we're up to episode 6, so should be getting Boyd back soon and if I remember correctly, first season should take off soon with Bo Crowder. Still a great show and can't wait for seasons 2, 3, 4.

He's great on Vice Principals as well. 

[red snow]

13 hours ago, Triskele said:

I did go ahead and finish S3 of Hannibal and thought that it did have some episodes down the final stretch that were easier to follow and really hardcore on gore and terror (for better and for worse).  I assume it wasn't known at the time that they'd end it there?

It was cancelled rather than ended and one of the few shows fuller didn't walk away from. There's often talk about a potential miniseries tv movie down the road and it seems the cast are open to it.

I really enjoyed the show but i can see how it was cancelled as there were several episodes early in S3 that were bordering on impenetrable with slow mo blood shots and general "disappearing up one's arse-ness" that will have shed viewers of a show with borderline cancellation numbers. I recall it picking up a lot towards the end though. 

[ithanos]

I watched Queen and Slim last night and it was very good. I came close to abandoning it though, but I'm glad I continued as I was well rewarded with the performances of the two leads; Danial Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith. Their onscreen chemistry was one of the best I've seen in a long time.

The plot is topical, which might turn potential viewers off - as it almost did for me, and it became predicable in its conclusion. It offers no answers to those topical questions, and doesn't need to. Its a romantic drama foremost, fugitive tale second.

The opening scene is absolutely critical for the setup that follows. Looking back, I can't believe how economical that setup was, for what was to follow. Although Kaluuya plays a great foil to Turner-Smith, it is the latter's convincing character that drives most of the film. I've seen interviews where both leads were promoting the film, and I thought Turner-Smith looked stunning then. Now I'm a mite jealous of Joshua Jackson - that planned re-watch of Fringe is now on hold.

[RumHam]

While we're complaining about Hannibal

Let. People. Stay. Dead.

I half expected Beverly Katz to show up in season three explaining that because hannibal vivisected her into six slices so "surgically" she was able to survive.

But logic aside, just from a story perspective it'd be one thing to build up Abigal Hobbs, then fake her death, then reveal she lives, then killl her for real

but they give the "she's alive and she's into it" reveal no time to breath. Will literally learns she's alive and then watches her die. We're supposed to believe she's his surrogate daughter, but they never take the time to establish this bond except for one flyfishing flashback that makes no sense so I assume it was Ghram hallunating. 

But no it's worse because they then do the fakeout/hallucination thing in the first episode of the next season just so they can pull the rug out while also lampshading the fact that will survived. Terrible. 

 

Mesmerizing performance. Terrible plotting. Like Game of Thrones I suspect most of the best writing came from the books. 

 

[BigFatCoward]

9 hours ago, Mexal said:

I've started a re-watch of Justified as my wife and neighbors haven't seen it and with us finishing up The Shield, we needed a bit more Walton Goggins in our life. As someone who has generally talked people into looking past the first few episodes, upon re-watch, they're totally fine. It still carries the same level of wit though the absence of Boyd, Raylen killing everyone and the case of the week nature really does drag it down a bit. Think we're up to episode 6, so should be getting Boyd back soon and if I remember correctly, first season should take off soon with Bo Crowder. Still a great show and can't wait for seasons 2, 3, 4.

I'm on S3, I never liked this season as much, Limehouse's teeth are so distracting for a start.  I do really like Wynn Duffy so him become more regular in the later seasons is a bonus.  Quarles is a fucking weirdo, McDonagh really has an artificial looking face.

[Derfel Cadarn]

As part of my historical rewatch I've started The Last Kingdom, a few episodes into season 1 and liking it so far (read all the books apart from the latest).

Britannia was a bit of a disappointment, especially season 2. Little seemed to happen. The Pompeii film was pretty dull. Gladiator good as always, Phoenix gives a great performance. Helps that I've been to the village in Morocco where the Zuchabar stuff was filmed.

I've resumed my Supernatural watch, about seven episodes into season 11. 

Also four episodes into The Punisher, after which I'll watch the last Jessica Jones series. 

I also plan to resume my Arrowverse watch; to start series 6 of The Arrow (4 of The Flash, 3 of Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow). 

My wife isn't into the above kind of stuff, so together we're watching You (creepy douchebag serial killer; like Dexter but with less plot). Also Treadstone and the Blacklist. And Manifest. And started the Strike Back series.

[Ramsay B.]

I watched Ford v Ferrari the other day. It was long and incredibly mediocre. Bale and Damon were good, but nothing else really sticks out. I’m kinda surprised I finished it.

 

[Mexal]

3 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

I'm on S3, I never liked this season as much, Limehouse's teeth are so distracting for a start.  I do really like Wynn Duffy so him become more regular in the later seasons is a bonus.  Quarles is a fucking weirdo, McDonagh really has an artificial looking face.

I'm a big S3 fan because of the way it builds. Lots of moving parts, multiple factions with their own goals that continues to escalate until the end. Also, every single Wynn Duffy reaction shot is gold.