Veltigar Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 Apparently @Cas Stark and I are the same person from parallel universes, as I came to the previous thread to post that I had started watching the Queen's Gambit and was exactly up to episode 4 I should have shilled out for Netflix earlier to watch this. It's damn great, Ana Taylor Joy's involvement is rapidly becoming a stamp of quality. If it continues like this, it will undoubtedly be the best series from 2020 I have seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMC Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 5 minutes ago, Veltigar said: Apparently @Cas Stark and I are the same person from parallel universes Chilling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 25 minutes ago, Veltigar said: I should have shilled out for Netflix earlier to watch this. It's damn great, Ana Taylor Joy's involvement is rapidly becoming a stamp of quality. If it continues like this, it will undoubtedly be the best series from 2020 I have seen. This and What we do in the shadows were the standout shows of this year. While I think 'old' Beth was amazing, I dont feel 'young' Beth is getting enough credit. I thought she was remarkable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luzifer's right hand Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 I started watched Sweet Home on Netflix. Seemed appropriate and it is pretty crazy stuff that is pulling few punches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heartofice Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 Really loving Normal People on the BBC. Stayed away for a bit thinking it might be a bit too porny, but actually it’s beautifully done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Antony Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 Standout show of 2020 for me was definitely Hulu’s The Great. Hope season two is soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heartofice Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 9 minutes ago, Mark Antony said: Standout show of 2020 for me was definitely Hulu’s The Great. Hope season two is soon Same for me. Best show I saw last year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumHam Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 I finally finished Mr. Robot. Is is just me or was the last season pretty terrible? I thought for a second maybe they switched creative teams like Killing Eve. recontextualizing Angela and Price's end of season three conversation to be a test of her loyalty to white rose made no sense. She was insanely loyal to white rose until Price forced her to accept that the machine wasn't real. They could have just as easily had Angela's mental state drive Price to side with Elliot or killed her in some other way after she made an ill-advised move against Whiterose. Also Elliot was able to save himself and Darlene at the end of season three by eliminating the one month delay in shipping the reality altering machine to the Congo. Early in season four Whiterose reveals the transfer will finish around christmas and then she will kill Elliot. But then come christmas time the machine is still in Jersey and she tries to use it so wtf? The final twist that we'd never actually met the 'real' Elliot had no impact on me whatsoever. I think the show could have been better if it didn't try to have so many big reveals and focused more on the impact of the 5/9 hack on society. They reverse it and the end of season three and I don't think they ever really address the fact that everyone suddenly has their credit card debt back in season four. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heartofice Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 16 minutes ago, RumHam said: I finally finished Mr. Robot. Is is just me or was the last season pretty terrible? I thought for a second maybe they switched creative teams like Killing Eve. Reveal hidden contents recontextualizing Angela and Price's end of season three conversation to be a test of her loyalty to white rose made no sense. She was insanely loyal to white rose until Price forced her to accept that the machine wasn't real. They could have just as easily had Angela's mental state drive Price to side with Elliot or killed her in some other way after she made an ill-advised move against Whiterose. Also Elliot was able to save himself and Darlene at the end of season three by eliminating the one month delay in shipping the reality altering machine to the Congo. Early in season four Whiterose reveals the transfer will finish around christmas and then she will kill Elliot. But then come christmas time the machine is still in Jersey and she tries to use it so wtf? The final twist that we'd never actually met the 'real' Elliot had no impact on me whatsoever. I think the show could have been better if it didn't try to have so many big reveals and focused more on the impact of the 5/9 hack on society. They reverse it and the end of season three and I don't think they ever really address the fact that everyone suddenly has their credit card debt back in season four. Agree on Mr Robot, it never seemed to understand what made it good and what made it bad. So it doubled down on all the twists and fight club rip offs, and sidelined the political commentary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarGalley Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 Slogged my way through the first couple of episodes of The Umbrella Academy (Season 1). Not a good show to follow-up with after the Queen's Gambit. I think I'm still in the mood for a non-action oriented period piece. Might finish Lady Bird or start Enola Holmes to see if it satisfies my system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLastWolf Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 Attica Attica! Spoiler Dog Days Afternoon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingintheNorth4 Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 I watched The Way Back. Ben Affleck gave a fantastic performance in what is more a story abuse and recovery than sports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veltigar Posted January 9, 2021 Author Share Posted January 9, 2021 I finished The Queen's Gambit yesterday. Search seems to be down, so I wasn't able to locate a dedicated thread about it on here, but that was one hell of an experience. My initial take has not shifted in the slightest, I just absolutely adored this series from beginning to end. It's a shame that it's only 7 episodes. They might be perfect, but they are still so few in number. I think it would be difficult to recapture the magic of that limited run, but if they were to try a second season, I would be on board 100%. If any series earned a reprisal, it is this one. There is so much to love about it, that it's quite hard to begin making a list of it. There are the uniformly brilliant performances, in particular of Ana Taylor Joy, who is an old-fashioned Hollywood grandee in the making if you ask me. Watching her play Elizabeth Harmon reminded me of the first time I saw John Boyega in Attack on the Block. You knew that guy had it in him to become a movie star and with Taylor Joy, I have that same feeling, only more intense. I am eagerly anticipating her role in Furiosa and the overall development of her career. Apart from the performances, there is the fact that this series is magnificently directed and filmed. You feel the love that is poured into it. There is also the wonderful set design and costuming. I have never really been nostalgic about 60s style and interior design, but this series makes me want to jump in a time machine to experience it all. The way they use the sets and costuming to build narrative and character is textbook perfect ( Spoiler e.g. her outfit at the end of the final episode which transformed her into a living representation of the Queen's piece.) On top of that, you could really feel the love for chess ring out of every corner of this series. I have never been more than a basic amateur, but they sold the purity and beauty this game must have to the grandmasters in a way that was just enthralling. Finally, I can say that I thought the narrative was perfect. The only (and utterly invalid) knock on it that I can give is that it wasn't based on a true story. Sparkling dialogue throughout, believable character motivations and growth and just a resoundingly empowering story. Spoiler They flirted with the cliched stereotype of the troubled genius (think Crowe as Nash), but by bringing in Harmon's gender and examining how that impacted her career path as a player and her development as a human being, they somehow managed to wring profound insights out of that old cliche. They really rode a fine line throughout the whole series and they stuck the landing perfectly. At one point in the finale I was worried, because I thought they would upend the tale of Harmon's gender-stereotype breaking genius by having her rely on the support crew of (all male) former adversaries to figure out Borkov's next move. If the show had left it at that, it would still have been great (and a good continuation of the theme of individualistic Americans crumbling against the cooperative Soviet chess spirit) but it would have reverted back to the white knight trope it had fought so hard against. Luckily, it didn't do that and instead the show became transcendent as Borgov just threw the aid she got from her prep team completely out of the window, after which she defeated him easily completely on her own. Talk about the show being able to have its cake and eat it too! By solving her stand-off with Borkov in that way, Harmon's exceptional genius was preserved and celebrated without denigrating the support of her male support crew whose help wasn't the intellectual prep they gave Harmon (as Borkov upended that in one move) but the fact that they acted as a family when she needed them and thus saved her from self-destructively taking pills or alcohol. A lesser show would not have recognized that the support Harmon needed to realize her full potential wasn't intellectual in nature, but rather emotional. It brought the entire series full circle. Absolutely wonderful writing. The only question I still have in the end is Spoiler What happened between Harmon and Townes? Do they imply he's gay? I feel like they left their interaction a bit ambiguous. EDIT: One other thing I forgot to praise was how much I appreciated the internationalism of this series. There were groups (the US government, the Soviets and the Christian group) which sought to misappropriate the spirit of chess and use it for its own end, but I loved how Spoiler Harmon managed to stay above that. Not only because that preserved her agency and independence, but also because it rightly treated chess as a universal achievement of mankind, something to be celebrated by the peoples of all nations for bringing people together (as perfectly shown in the end when she goes on to play the random Russian recreational chess players in the parc). Borkov might have been scary, but he wasn't evil. He served the same role as Ivan Drago in IV without ever being treated or behaving as an inhuman, uncaring enemy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veltigar Posted January 9, 2021 Author Share Posted January 9, 2021 On 1/6/2021 at 3:18 PM, Mark Antony said: Standout show of 2020 for me was definitely Hulu’s The Great. Hope season two is soon On 1/6/2021 at 3:27 PM, Heartofice said: Same for me. Best show I saw last year The Great was a very good show and it would definitely be in my top three, but The Queen's Gambit was one of the best shows I have seen in years. It was flawless, while The Great did not always stick the landing (Particularly with the gigolo character, IIRC that one made me groan a few times). Still, The Great was better than 99% of shows out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heartofice Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 I really enjoyed Queens Gambit, but I didn’t see it as flawless at all. It was certainly very well paced and as a mini series it felt very complete. It was well acted and looked great most of the time. If it had flaws I’d say it’s because it felt pretty safe, like I’ve seen this story a thousand times before in other guises. It’s basically the heroes tale but with Chess and it’s a girl. Add to that I think there was an element of style over substance when it came to some of the topics. Her drug problem was really only touched on at a surface level and I don’t feel was really explored properly, the script didn’t really allow for too much depth because it was more of a visual show. Also I really had to try to not be annoyed by the extreme cheese of that final episode with everyone cheering for her and working together to get her to win. It was all a little too smug at times, feel good, but smug. But mostly it just didn’t feel like it was was pushing any boundaries or doing anything especially memorable. To me it was just an extremely well crafted piece of TV. The Great however is not only well crafted, it really does feel unique, it has a sense of language and this wonderful world it has created that I can’t get enough of. Queens Gambit would be in my top shows of the year, but I also didn’t see it as perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mexal Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 2 hours ago, Veltigar said: Hide contents What happened between Harmon and Townes? Do they imply he's gay? I feel like they left their interaction a bit ambiguous. Yup. That's exactly it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HexMachina Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 @Spockydog I finished The Boys S2, can you tell me what scene with the Deep you meant when you replied before? Or was it the one I referenced from season 1? Anyway, excellent second season, was just as impressed as the First and thought it was very well done. Most unrealistic part though? Spoiler The idea the American public would turn on someone revealed as a Nazi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DireWolfSpirit Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 Watched The Mountain 11 It's a Turkish language action movie about Turkish Special Forces that battle the IS. This movie has a 8.8/10 imbd rating, it's on Amazon Prime. Very interesting for me the setting, if you know your ancient history and have heard of King Sargon. Islamic States penchant for destroying the heritage of antiquity is topical to some of what's portrayed. Well without spoilers i'll say no more than this has action but it's also a very good story and not just about showing the fight but why they are fighting and what they are trying to protect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockydog Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 9 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said: @Spockydog I finished The Boys S2, can you tell me what scene with the Deep you meant when you replied before? Or was it the one I referenced from season 1? If it's do do with fingers and gills, it might be S1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HexMachina Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 1 hour ago, Spockydog said: If it's do do with fingers and gills, it might be S1. Yeah that was season 1 made funnier by giving them the voice of Patton Oswalt in season 2 though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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