Watch, Watched, Watching: What Old Is New When There Is No New

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

25 minutes ago, Veltigar said:

Just saw the Babysitter it was fun all in all. Definitely not something anyone is missing out on, but probably the best of the three films I have seen the last three days.

The best part of the film are the 

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way the usually cliche victims are the bad guys here

In particular, I'd like to give a shout-out to Andrew Bachelor, playing the stereotypical black guy character XD He was so much fun

I just appreciate how the film didn't take itself too seriously. They knew they were making a B film comedy-horror and they delivered exactly what you could ask for. 

[Zorral]

2 hours ago, Goro said:

I need a good show out there, either from outside the United States or from the United States (so it can be Russian, Chinese, Iranian, what have you).

I just can't find a good show that isn't set in the modern world or is a drama or something. I need something much more adventurous, you know? Something like Game of Thrones (though not with the same bad quality that it had since season 3). I need something that's a different genre than most TV shows or streaming serials out there. Could be fantasy, scifi, horror, etc. but I just need something that isn't, say, a crime drama or cop serial.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B01B0OJ6FY/ref=atv_wl_hom_c_unkc_1_20

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf:_Return_to_the_Shieldlands

This is streaming on Amazon Prime.  An ITV (Brit) production, the critics wrongly just trashed it.  I re-watched it again this year and was even more disappointed it got canceled because the reviewers hated it for not being GOT.  Or something. The sets and locations are spectacular; the acting is OK, the writing, i.e. script and plot are good, and the characters are a variety and they are interesting.  It's kind of like Last of the Mohicans in the way that Britain does that sort of American frontier thing, i.e. this is called Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands -- i.e. the frontier.

So this got canceled while Britannia, with not a single redeeming value, got what? 3 seasons?????

 

[Derfel Cadarn]

Britannia season 2 was 10 or so eps of little happening.

I stand by my criticism that Antman is white-centrix; did any latin-americans watch it feeling well-served by Pena’s character? Horrible characterisation of most of the non-white characters.

Juat rewatched Civil War; loved Bicky’s shock when Spiderman catches his punch one-handed, showing his strength.

now rewatching Black Panther.

 

[Leofric]

2 hours ago, Goro said:

Thanks! But is there anything a bit more... fantastical? Something that uses made-up elements that aren't derived from any sense of "realism?" I hope I'm able to explain myself.... I'm also looking for shows that came out in the last five years or are running now. More shows like The Mandalorian, for example.

Killjoys just finished a 5 year run on SYFY last year, it is a great scifi show, or if you have Netflix can check out Lost in Space or the Last Kingdom or Stranger Things.

[Goro]

14 minutes ago, Zorral said:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B01B0OJ6FY/ref=atv_wl_hom_c_unkc_1_20

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf:_Return_to_the_Shieldlands

This is streaming on Amazon Prime.  An ITV (Brit) production, the critics wrongly just trashed it.  I re-watched it again this year and was even more disappointed it got canceled because the reviewers hated it for not being GOT.  Or something. The sets and locations are spectacular; the acting is OK, the writing, i.e. script and plot are good, and the characters are a variety and they are interesting.  It's kind of like Last of the Mohicans in the way that Britain does that sort of American frontier thing, i.e. this is called Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands -- i.e. the frontier.

So this got canceled while Britannia, with not a single redeeming value, got what? 3 seasons?????

 

Reminds me of when Marco Polo was panned for not being "Game of Thrones."

[Werthead]

I picked up Police Squad! (in color) on Blu-Ray, since it's been given a full HD remaster. Not exactly a show crying out for it, you'd think, but it does rely a lot on sight gags and those are improved by the added fidelity. Leslie Nielsen remains the absolute king of deadpan comedy, and of course you could argue that Rex Hamilton remains the absolutely definitive Abraham Lincoln.

I also forgot how many jokes got reused from this for the Naked Gun movies.

2 hours ago, Goro said:

Thanks! But is there anything a bit more... fantastical? Something that uses made-up elements that aren't derived from any sense of "realism?" I hope I'm able to explain myself.... I'm also looking for shows that came out in the last five years or are running now. More shows like The Mandalorian, for example.

Into the Badlands? It's fantasy post-apocalyptica with a strong action/adventure quotient (including probably some of the best fight scenes ever staged for television) and an outstanding cast. Three seasons and only recently completed.

Maaaaybe The 100, but it's a lot cheesier and takes ages (the first half of Season 1) to get decent and it then has a lot of ups and downs, and never really escapes its CW-ness. But when it's good, it's quite entertaining. Six seasons and I think the seventh is out in a couple of months. They've been vague on whether it's the last one.

If you enjoyed The Mandalorian then obviously Star Wars: Rebels is an easy recommendation.

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I hate to be overly harsh, but  Cursed really is complete trash.

I've been impressed that Netflix spent a huge amount of money on a YA King Arthur show and somehow made something worse than Merlin's first season.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, Werthead said:

I've been impressed that Netflix spent a huge amount of money on a YA King Arthur show and somehow made something worse than Merlin's first season.

Can't say I ever saw Merlin, but this may be about as bad as anything I've seen coming out of the gate. It's hard to even finish the first episode.

Btw, I haven't seen either Police Squad or Naked Gun. Which is better in your opinion? 

[RumHam]

1 hour ago, Werthead said:

Maaaaybe The 100, but it's a lot cheesier and takes ages (the first half of Season 1) to get decent and it then has a lot of ups and downs, and never really escapes its CW-ness. But when it's good, it's quite entertaining. Six seasons and I think the seventh is out in a couple of months. They've been vague on whether it's the last one.

I didn't make it through that first half season, but you reminded me of something similar that I actually enjoyed. The Society on netflix. The second season was supposed to come out this year but Covid may have interfered. Though it's more of a drama based around a fantastical event like The Leftovers than a fantastical show. 

 

[Zorral]

It's baffling isn't it, with all there is to work with in and around the variety of Arthurian cycles and historical / archaeological matter, that most everything referencing Arthur for the screen isn't just disappointing, but actively awful.

Cornwell provided an original, historical take on the matter in his books, and they were both entertaining and plausible -- and BBC/netflix et al. managed to mostly pull that off all the way through, so far, with the Saxon Chronicles - The Last Kingdom.

So, why this ridiculous mess of Cursed?

 

[Veltigar]

In my quest to discover some decent horror, I decided to check out Pandorum. I had heard about it here a while back and put in on my watch list but never gotten around to it. It's different, I'll give it that. Quite original in fact, but they do lose quite a lot of points on the final execution of their idea.

First, I really liked the actors. It's always fun to see Ben Foster and I did think it was nice to see both him and Dennis Quad play against type. All the other performances were serviceable as well. I don't think I have ever seen Antje Traue in anything before, but she gave some good Mila-Jovovich-in-Resident-Evil vibes in this. 

The effects were also quite good by and large. Everything related to space and the space ship I thought was cool, although I also would give negative points for 

Spoiler

creature design. The hunters appeared to have been made by Morgoth after he saw a bootleg VHS of Road Warrior, which is to say they were highly derivative of better IPs.

The story was a mixed bag. I liked a lot of the ideas in it, but I feel like they failed at making it coherent.

Spoiler

I thought the following ideas were really clever:

1. Putting the action on a seed ship
2. The concept of Pandorum syndrome
3. The seed ship already having landed on Tanis, but being submerged
4. Creatures evolving to the dilapidated conditions of the space ship and feeding on the original cargo

Many other things felt off however. The list would be too long to write out completely but the following things bothered me the most:

1. How did Dennis Quad's Gallo get in a pod that wasn't his?
2. How did the weird cook know the entire fucking backstory of Dennis Quad?
3. How did Dennis Quad grow old? How many years did he stay outside before getting into the pod?
4. Did Dennis Quad's character purposely create the Hunters?
5. What was the point of the people on wires?
6. How did the hunters survive down there? (there were an awful lot of beasts and only 60,000 crew after all)
7. What happened to earth?
8. If Pandorum system is a known condition, than it does seem rather odd to only have 3 crew members awake at all time, why did they do this?
9. How on earth did agricultural guy and our german scientist get so good at martial arts

 

2 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

I just appreciate how the film didn't take itself too seriously. They knew they were making a B film comedy-horror and they delivered exactly what you could ask for. 

True, although it did sometimes remind me a bit too much of Scott Pilgrim v. the World. I think something like Tucker and Dale vs. Evil does it better

 

[Corvinus85]

4 hours ago, Goro said:

Thanks! But is there anything a bit more... fantastical? Something that uses made-up elements that aren't derived from any sense of "realism?" I hope I'm able to explain myself.... I'm also looking for shows that came out in the last five years or are running now. More shows like The Mandalorian, for example.

The Expanse (Amazon)

Lost in Space, Altered Carbon, Kingdom (Netflix)

If you're ok with epic historical fiction then The Last Kingdom (Netflix) and Black Sails (Starz, Hulu)

Since you said that maybe you're looking for something different, then give The Boys (Amazon) a try.

 

[Week]

13 hours ago, Heartofice said:

Did your miss out Scott’s other white friend who is part of that crew on purpose because it doesn’t fit?  Or that Falcon is not used as ‘comic relief’, but is simply given funny moments in the same way that other characters are, and is pretty consistent with how he is in other movies.

I could equally turn around and say that the Antman movies portray men as bumbling buffoons and women as the real heroes.

But, a bit like your point, that would be a silly thing to say wouldn’t it.

One is a tired trope repeated again and again while the other is a trope turned on its head. I'll let you try to figure out which is which. Then tell me how equal they are in representation over the history of film.

[HexMachina]

4 hours ago, Goro said:

Thanks! But is there anything a bit more... fantastical? Something that uses made-up elements that aren't derived from any sense of "realism?" I hope I'm able to explain myself.... I'm also looking for shows that came out in the last five years or are running now. More shows like The Mandalorian, for example.

The Expanse is sci-fi with the political drama and intrigue i suspect you are looking for based on your mention of GoT. Four seasons so far, ongoing.

Stranger Things is fantasy/horror, chock full of references and extremely bingeable.

The OA is just absolutely bonkerballs and was cancelled too soon

[RumHam]

1 hour ago, Veltigar said:

In my quest to discover some decent horror...

Lights Out is on HBOmax if you haven't seen it. I like that one. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, Veltigar said:

True, although it did sometimes remind me a bit too much of Scott Pilgrim v. the World. I think something like Tucker and Dale vs. Evil does it better

I actually have yet to see SPvW, but most people have positive things to say about it. Tucker and Dale vs Evil is just amazing though, but it is fairly different stylistically. 

[Nictarion]

2 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

The OA is just absolutely bonkerballs and was cancelled too soon

This should be on the packaging if they ever release it on home video.

[Nictarion]

1 hour ago, RumHam said:

Lights Out is on HBOmax if you haven't seen it. I like that one. 

I was pretty disappointed with it. The short film it’s based on is much better. 

[RumHam]

9 minutes ago, Nictarion said:

I was pretty disappointed with it. The short film it’s based on is much better. 

Is it online somewhere? I haven't seen it. 

I tend to grade horror on a curve because so much of it is bad.  Also because sub-par/occasionally terrible horror can be surprisingly watchable. 

[Prince of the North]

5 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

I just appreciate how the film didn't take itself too seriously. They knew they were making a B film comedy-horror and they delivered exactly what you could ask for. 

Watched The Babysitter the other night and I agree.  When I saw the name Samara Weaving in it I wondered if she might be Hugo's daughter?  Turns out she's his niece.  

[Nictarion]

1 hour ago, RumHam said:

Is it online somewhere? I haven't seen it. 

I tend to grade horror on a curve because so much of it is bad.  Also because sub-par/occasionally terrible horror can be surprisingly watchable.