Watch, Watching, Watch -- Hold 'em, Fold 'em, When to Walk Away

[Martell Spy]

8 hours ago, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

Star Trek: Discovery S4 E1. I've said it before; In terms of visuals and production values, this is more cinematic and visually interesting than anything I've seen out of Star Wars recently. Not much to be gleaned from the first episode other than mysterious threat, something, something. It also featured aliens that:

  Reveal hidden contents

used butterfly wings to fly that were made out of actual flying butterflies.

Madness.

Watched the first two episodes of Cowboy Beebop. I've never seen the anime.

First episode was a little clunky. Second was better. So far I'm liking this. 

Yeah, just started watching Cowboy Bebop, 2 eps as well. Looks like a great show. Held my attention in a way many shows don't these days. Great dynamic between the characters. John Cho is an excellent lead character and the back and forth between Spike and Jet Black carried an entire episode. I suspect the show will get even better with Faye Valentine in it, as I don't think she was in ep 2.

Not the greatest special effects in the world would be my main criticism, but the banter and character interactions make the episodes go down really easy,

 

[Fez]

Saw the final three episodes of Arcane this morning. What a show that was, I really hope there's a season two.

Something that struck me is that Riot did NOT play it safe in trying to set this up as the expansion of their gaming franchise into mainstream media; in terms of neither appeasing "gamer" culture or Chinese censors (China being Riot's biggest market). Instead the show is a) extremely queer-positive and b) has a majority female cast. It also ends up being a very horny show, but in a subtext kind of way rather than a male gaze way. At least, that was my impression.

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

2 hours ago, Martell Spy said:

Yeah, just started watching Cowboy Bebop, 2 eps as well. Looks like a great show. Held my attention in a way many shows don't these days. Great dynamic between the characters. John Cho is an excellent lead character and the back and forth between Spike and Jet Black carried an entire episode. I suspect the show will get even better with Faye Valentine in it, as I don't think she was in ep 2.

Not the greatest special effects in the world would be my main criticism, but the banter and character interactions make the episodes go down really easy,

 

It gets better with subsequent episodes. I'm liking this show a lot.

It definitely has a off-kilter, campy quality. It reminds me of something that I can't quite put my finger on. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, Fez said:

Saw the final three episodes of Arcane this morning. What a show that was, I really hope there's a season two.

Something that struck me is that Riot did NOT play it safe in trying to set this up as the expansion of their gaming franchise into mainstream media; in terms of neither appeasing "gamer" culture or Chinese censors (China being Riot's biggest market). Instead the show is a) extremely queer-positive and b) has a majority female cast. It also ends up being a very horny show, but in a subtext kind of way rather than a male gaze way. At least, that was my impression.

I know, wrong thread, but why are you opposed to playing LoL if you like the show?

Also, please tell me Dr. Mundo has a big part!

[Underfoot]

1 hour ago, Fez said:

Saw the final three episodes of Arcane this morning. What a show that was, I really hope there's a season two.

Something that struck me is that Riot did NOT play it safe in trying to set this up as the expansion of their gaming franchise into mainstream media; in terms of neither appeasing "gamer" culture or Chinese censors (China being Riot's biggest market). Instead the show is a) extremely queer-positive and b) has a majority female cast. It also ends up being a very horny show, but in a subtext kind of way rather than a male gaze way. At least, that was my impression.

Im gonna "riot" if there's not a season 2

[Fez]

57 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

I know, wrong thread, but why are you opposed to playing LoL if you like the show?

Also, please tell me Dr. Mundo has a big part!

I dislike MOBAs. It's not even the toxic community, though that sucks too; I just really dislike the gameplay style. I have been playing the Legends of Runeterra card game Riot made though, and it's a good one.

The champion characters in it are:

Spoiler

Jinx, Vi, Caitlyn Ekko, Jayce, Victor, Heimerdinger, and Singed. Though the last two are secondary characters, there's also several main characters that are original to the show.

 

[Kalbear]

Finished ep 7 of arcane, and the fight between ekko and jinx was just incredible. 

[JGP]

We just finished it.

Really hoping for an Art of Arcane book, showing the visual development. Love it, will probably do some fan art soon. 

Beautiful, visual feast of a show, though after the last episode my 12yo is very conflicted with how much she adores Jinx.

 

 

[Fez]

9 hours ago, Fez said:

Saw the final three episodes of Arcane this morning. What a show that was, I really hope there's a season two.

And Season 2 confirmed. https://deadline.com/2021/11/arcane-renewed-season-2-netflix-1234878165/

Not too surprising, consider how popular season one seems to have been. But the renewal announcement did share the news that the main cast are returning. In other words, it'll be a continuation of the season one plot rather than anthology series with season 2 set elsewhere in the world (which I had seen people online speculating might be the case. Though, with so many other characters to draw from I wouldn't be surprised if they did start work on another show too; assuming the studio is capable of expanding enough).

[Spockydog]

So it turns out that the latest Daniel Craig Bond outing is every bit as shite as the rest of them. What a load of brainless horseshit. Though, I suppose stupid people need movies too.

And it also proves that the vast majority of film critics are hopelessly unfit for purpose.

 

[Teng Ai Hui]

I wanted to try the new live-action Cowboy Bebop but felt that it was too camp for me personally.  Instead, I switched to the 1998 anime and ended up binge-ing the first ten episodes.  Interesting stories.  Amazing soundtrack!!  One of the theme songs that I never skip (The Sopranos, All in the Family, Cheers, Night Court, The Andy Griffith Show, Sanford and Son, Bonanza, etc.).

I do have a very minor complaint though.  I wish there were overall storylines rather than a new bounty every episode.  

[RumHam]

Watched the pilot of Yellowjackets. I'll definitely subscribe to showtime when it's done to binge it. (They put the pilot on youtube)

 

[IFR]

I watched the first three episodes of Arcane with a friend because of all the hype, and it was pretty disappointing. All the characters were cliches, the plot is something that has been done a thousand times before, and it seemd like it had nothing new to offer. It wasn't offensively bad. It looked pretty enough, and the voice acting has thus far been very good. But there was also nothing outstanding about it. It was a perfectly average show.

Until the end of episode three. That was unexpected and pretty good. Enough so that I'll continue watching. So far the show is a solid B- for me.

Cowboy Bebop, however, is offensively bad. At least the trailers weren't misrepresenting the kind of quality we were to expect. The show is an actual abomination to everything that is good taste. I made it through the first episode, and then had to resign. No way am I going to subject myself to that kind of suffering anymore.

Speaking of Bebop, it apparently concocted this living nightmare towards the end:

 

https://youtu.be/u2JhUjR39Kw

What were the people at Netlfix thinking?

[Corvinus85]

Just finished Arcane. So is this the best video game adaptation? What a wonderful surprise this show was. Fantastic animation, great characters, and a solid plot. More please.

Also went to see Ghostbusters: Afterlife. It was a fun movie. A bit slow and boring in the first half, but got better as the plot thickened, and achieved nice nostalgia vibes at the end. A thousand times better than the previous Ghostbusters attempt. 

[Iskaral Pust]

Watched the first three eps of Wheel Of Time and am enjoying it so far.

I watched the first two eps of Cowboy Bebop with no prior exposure to the anime/comics/cartoon(?).  It’s campy and pulpy but kind of fun so far.  John Cho does well.  I’ll keep watching.

I tried Warrior on HBO Max, which is like Peaky Blinders set in SF Chinatown.  It’s too violent and gory for my wife, but I’ll continue watching episodes here and there by myself.

I’d really like a fresh comedy series.  I’m on another rewatch of Arrested Development for some light comic relief.  I think Derry Girls S3 will be aired in 2022, but otherwise we haven’t had a fresh comedy since Schitt’s Creek.  We dropped Kim’s Convenience Store when it got very repetitive.

[Quijote Light]

16 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Watched the first three eps of Wheel Of Time and am enjoying it so far.

I watched the first two eps of Cowboy Bebop with no prior exposure to the anime/comics/cartoon(?).  It’s campy and pulpy but kind of fun so far.  John Cho does well.  I’ll keep watching.

I tried Warrior on HBO Max, which is like Peaky Blinders set in SF Chinatown.  It’s too violent and gory for my wife, but I’ll continue watching episodes here and there by myself.

I’d really like a fresh comedy series.  I’m on another rewatch of Arrested Development for some light comic relief.  I think Derry Girls S3 will be aired in 2022, but otherwise we haven’t had a fresh comedy since Schitt’s Creek.  We dropped Kim’s Convenience Store when it got very repetitive.

Have you watched The Good Place? I found it very enjoyable. 

[Kalbear]

So I haven't ever seen cowboy bebop, and started watching the anime.

And...its kinda boring so far. There was one standout ep - the ballad of fallen angels - and that was good if not a bit derivative of John woo. But the rest have been really kinda dull, with little action, almost no humor and typical jiggling tits found in most anime. 

[Heartofice]

Finally got a bit of time to watch Shang-Chi.

All I'll say is that the performances of the main leads elevated what was really a very by the numbers tale that I felt I'd seen one hundred times before. Even then there was so much Marvel layered on top of what could have been a very good movie that I couldn't enjoy it. Even the bus scene that everyone raved about I found pretty underwhelming due to the over reliance on CGI. I'm just a point where I can't get excited by that sort of cartoonish action which isn't pushing any boundaries. 

I still haven't seen Eternals, or What if.. probably won't bother with any of their new stuff. I really am tapped out by Marvel at the moment, and thats quite a sad state of affairs given how excited I used to get at mention of new movies.

[Rippounet]

21 hours ago, Spockydog said:

So it turns out that the latest Daniel Craig Bond outing is every bit as shite as the rest of them. What a load of brainless horseshit. Though, I suppose stupid people need movies too.

Dude, it's a comedy. I think it's the least serious of all the Bond movies, and it clearly doesn't try to be smart. 

[BigFatCoward]

5 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

 

I’d really like a fresh comedy series.  I’m on another rewatch of Arrested Development for some light comic relief.  I think Derry Girls S3 will be aired in 2022, but otherwise we haven’t had a fresh comedy since Schitt’s Creek.  We dropped Kim’s Convenience Store when it got very repetitive.

This country and detectorists are both wonderful, not sure how well the humour translates though.