Watch Watched Watching: The Rambunctious Cinema of Terrence Malick

[Heartofice]

Surely the model has changed now with streaming. Having a few high quality shows to entice people over to your platform makes sense, but once they are there then you need to just keep pumping out content to keep them. It doesn’t matter so much if that content isn’t as good, as long as it’s just enough to stop people leaving. Add in the repeated promise of new upcoming shows so we hold off cancelling our subscription and that is how you win these days.

Back in the DVD days it made sense to just pump out high quality series , or at least aim to. Now though I think it’s more like the newer platforms like Apple who are trying to attract new viewers by creating those prestigious shows. Netflix just wants the numbers 

[WarGalley]

12 hours ago, polishgenius said:

One of the things about Tenet that bothered me is that it seemed like two separate perfectly good films crammed together into one. The psychological heist thriller with Branagh and his wife and the SF action movie about reversed time did not need to be in the same movie at all. 

The other main thing was that the action staging and editing were borderline incompetent. The reversed chase scene was at least ambitious, though incoherent, but the finale just fell flat in every way for me.  

It should have been a mini-series if they were going to cover all of these new and complicated concepts of science along with the character plotlines and mystery. Exposition alone isn't enough to explain how things work (the explosion that gave him hypothermia, the 'temporal pincer' movement) especially when you're trying to keep up with it moments later in a rushed action sequence involving multiple moving pieces. It's just too hard to follow in real time. There's a spectrum of clever and confusing and this was definitely in the latter part of it.

[Kalbear]

Netflix does have some genuinely great things - things like Stranger Things, some of the earlier Marvel stuff, Mitchell vs the Machines, a TON of their kids shows, a ton of the silly game shows like Nailed It or The Floor is Lava. And they have a surprisingly decent amount of anime. 

Netflix definitely doesn't have a whole lot of shows that you have to watch no matter what; I'd say HBO is best for that sort of thing. But Netflix has the most to watch, and much of it is at least decent to good, if not absurdly great.

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

Netflix also has a ton of children programming that's pretty popular. I remember hearing something a while back that Netflix was looking into live sports. I don't know if that's still a thing or not. 

HBO is the gold standard for this sort of thing. They have a ton of experience doing it. That said, their track record isn't exactly perfect. Some of their original films are pretty forgettable. As are some of their series. e.g. the third season of Deadwood didn't rise to the standard of the previous two. The Sopranos should have been concluded a season earlier IMO. And lets not mention... 

And they get lucky from time to time. David Simon had to fight constantly to keep The Wire from being cancelled. The show was probably not that expensive to produce so they let him go for 6 seasons, though he wanted to do more. 20 years on, they must be thanking whatever gods they pray to that The Wire is part of their catalogue. It might actually be the best thing they've ever done. 

One area where HBO definitely leads is documentary films. Not that those are a big draw for them, but the stuff they produce is consistently great. 

[Iskaral Pust]

Netflix’ strategy is to have a huge variety and breadth of easy-to-watch low quality stuff that is easy to pick up and just as easy to drop and move on to something else after only a season or two.  It’s undemanding novelty and variety, not unlike scrolling through YouTube.  It lends itself to bored browsing.  HBO is the opposite with a narrower slate of prestige TV, which generates more committed fans but has risks if the quality ebbs.  And the general opinion is that HBO has been on a creative decline for a decade.  GOT’s popularity was covering up a lot of gaps.

[Iskaral Pust]

I watched Tenet and didn’t love it.  It felt like a boring Bond film blended with a nonsensical sci-fi gimmick that didn’t work well visually and tied the film up in knots to deliver a pay-off reveal that was slightly satisfying but entirely predictable and ultimately not worth the mangling of the film.

Flack S1 and S2 on Amazon was pretty good.  It’s slightly like a modern day, gender-flipped MadMen told at a much, much faster pace.  Anna Paquin is a good lead as the self-destructive Don Draper-ish but she benefits from a really strong ensemble cast: Eve steals the show with her snarky one-liners, Melody is a relatable everywoman, Caroline chews the scenery and Ruth provides a grounded balance.

My wife and I have watched almost all of Blue Murder on BritBox, which is ok but annoyingly blokey/matey throughout.  And as much as I like Caroline Quentin, I got tired of the show insisting her character commands the romantic interest of all around her.  Jesus wept.

I tried a rewatch of The Wire but it’s just too familiar now.  So I’m rewatching Fargo S1 and really enjoying it. 

[WarGalley]

I watched The Tomorrow War. You definitely need to turn your brain off for this one. It is a very standard summer Hollywood action movie with canned humor and one twist which could have been more interesting than what they ended up doing with it. I rolled my eyes through a lot of the scenes and the 3rd act did not help matters and didn't feel like any sort of special pay-off. I feel like the creators really tried to model it off of Edge of Tomorrow and just couldn't meet the bar.

During the advertising campaign, I kept thinking that this was a live action version of The Forever War. I think that, and Old Man's War by Scalzi, could be fine sci-fi stories put to film though I cringe when I think what Hollywood might do with it. I see the rights are held by Warner Brothers and Netflix respectively so guess we'll see.

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

42 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Netflix’ strategy is to have a huge variety and breadth of easy-to-watch low quality stuff that is easy to pick up and just as easy to drop and move on to something else after only a season or two.  It’s undemanding novelty and variety, not unlike scrolling through YouTube.  It lends itself to bored browsing.  HBO is the opposite with a narrower slate of prestige TV, which generates more committed fans but has risks if the quality ebbs.  And the general opinion is that HBO has been on a creative decline for a decade.  GOT’s popularity was covering up a lot of gaps.

I doubt "low quality" is part of netflix' strategy. On the one hand, I'm sure there's a bit of soul searching going on as to how they could have spent $200 million on Jupiter's Legacy. On the other, Their madness has given us things like Queen's Gambit and Love, Death + Robots. And, as mentioned, they have a fantastic selection of Anime. 

I don't know if I agree with the general opinion on HBO. Boardwalk Empire was excellent. The lack of viewers screwed that up. Leftovers was great. Newsroom was pretty good. Watchmen might have been over praised but it was still good. I just wish they'd get of their asses and do an I, Claudius series. 

[WarGalley]

Well there is a large difference in show popularity between the 2000s HBO Shows and the shows during the 2010s. I think Chris Albrecht leaving HBO was the major turning point. During his run, HBO had the midas touch and there was no competition on a Sunday night that wasn't sports or an awards show.

That 2000 run was a monster lineup.. the Sopranos, Band of Brothers, Sex and the City, 6FU, Curb your Enthusiasm, The Wire, Entourage etc etc. The only flop I can think of was John From Cincinnati. Since then you had other channels (FX, AMC) and now streaming platforms step up and provide comparable quality/popularity at least in some subset of their content.

[Derfel Cadarn]

Just binged WandaVison and Captain America/Winter Soldier, and few episodes of Loki.

Finally started Farscape, despite having had the DVDs for seven or eight years. Also about to start a B5 rewatch.

[TheLastWolf]

47 Ronin is bad 

[RumHam]

‘The Tomorrow War 2’: Amazon & Skydance Already In Talks For Sequel

Quote

I understand discussions are in place to bring the whole creative gang back both in front of and behind the camera including director Chris McKay and screenwriter Zach Dean; 

How bad does a movie have to be to not get a sequel these days?

[TheLastWolf]

2 hours ago, RumHam said:

How bad does a movie have to be to not get a sequel these days?

Meanwhile F&F after 3/4 films 

[Corvinus85]

2 hours ago, RumHam said:

‘The Tomorrow War 2’: Amazon & Skydance Already In Talks For Sequel

How bad does a movie have to be to not get a sequel these days?

There is no limit as long as the money flows. This is our fault for having a Prime account and deciding to watch it 'for free'.

[Veltigar]

I watched 2016's Don't Breathe the other day. That was a pretty fucked up movie. Again not really scary, but it was pretty creative for a modern horror movie. I'm curious how they are going to try to redeem the villain in the sequel, because that seems like a hard sell.

23 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

There is no limit as long as the money flows. This is our fault for having a Prime account and deciding to watch it 'for free'.

This part of Noah comes to mind (from 02.40-end):

 

 

[Veltigar]

Oh, and I also watched Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. It's shit. The best thing about it is the video clip for finest girl (Bin Laden) it spawned and the clip isn't even in the movie. It's a testament to the good will towards the Lonely Island that I have that I even finished it.

[Zorral]

The original British House of Cards, featuring Ian Richardson, is up on Amazon Prime. A great opportunity for those who haven't ever watched this brilliant series which the US attempted to adapt as a US political satire.

Alas, that neither of them turned out to be exactly satire, the more we all learned of the political establishments and operatives in both nations. 

 

[RumHam]

22 minutes ago, Zorral said:

The original British House of Cards, featuring Ian Richardson, is up on Amazon Prime. A great opportunity for those who haven't ever watched this brilliant series which the US attempted to adapt as a US political satire.

Alas, that neither of them turned out to be exactly satire, the more we all learned of the political establishments and operatives in both nations. 

 

Is it a lot better than the American version? Which is still arguably the worst thing Kevin Spacey ever did.

[WarGalley]

1 hour ago, RumHam said:

Is it a lot better than the American version? Which is still arguably the worst thing Kevin Spacey ever did.

That's a stretch. I thought that first season was great (HBO worthy) but I never went past Season 2 due to the reviews / life.

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

On 7/9/2021 at 7:30 AM, RumHam said:

‘The Tomorrow War 2’: Amazon & Skydance Already In Talks For Sequel

How bad does a movie have to be to not get a sequel these days?

Chris Pratt + Crature-feature = box office gold, son.

As I mentioned: Jurassic World 2 made over a -billion- dollars. My brother and his kids were watching it and I showed up about an hour in. I'm sure the first half was a non-stop CGI action thrill ride, but the second half of the movie seriously looked like boring, mediocre made-for-TV garbage.  Yeah, it's getting a sequel. 

I liked him in Moneyball and GotG, but aside from that I'm just not a Chris Pratt fan. 

Paramount should be chasing him with a dump truck full of moneys to lead a new Transformers franchise.  Watch out, Avatar...