Watch, Watching, Watched -- Until the Sun Comes Up

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

Against the Ice:

It was OK. A bit 3.6 Roentgen

[Veltigar]

I went to see The Batman the other day. I enjoyed it and I think it is the best live-action Batman film after The Dark Knight. Matt Reeves managed to create a film that was highly atmospheric. Everyone in the cast was great (with the exception perhaps of Andy Serkis, he failed to move me as Alfred). I particularly liked the supporting cast (like pretty much every other person it seems), but I didn't think Robert Pattinson gave a weak performance like some others. The entire story was soaked in noir and having a very thin line between Bruce Wayne and Batman in his performance felt appropriate.

You could clearly see the influence from on the one hand the Humphrey Boggart hard-boiled detective films and stuff like Chinatown, Seven and the Zodiac, but on the other hand I also felt like some of the imagery came from a less ridiculous version of the Snyderverse. 

Spoiler

In particular there is this really on the nose shot of Batman with a flare, who leads survivors of the catastrophe through the night. Zach Snyder used to beat you on the head with that kind of imagery, but Reeves used a little more tasteful restrained which was nice

The fusion worked for me and did not feel as derivative as The Joker did, so that was a marked improvement. 

Overall, I would definitely recommend it. The only thing that stops it from being a great movie is the sheer insanity of the superhero landscape. Every single time Batman speaks of his mission, it is pretty apparent that he's only making things worse. I guess no one wants to see a film about a billionaire recognizing his mistakes and spending their fortune on fixing social issues when they can watch said billionaire dress up like a toddler at Halloween and beat the lower-classes into a pulp. The film sort of acknowledges that, but then it goes about beating up poor people anyways so it felt a little bit like one of those lazy sequels that try to excuse their existence with some silly jokes about lazy sequels. 

Add to that the mindboggling incompetence of the Gotham police force, the secret conspiracy that beggars belief and some plot holes and you end up with a film that needs a lot of suspension of disbelief to work. If you can shrug of that insanity however, it's pretty fun exercise within the genre. 

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

Yesterday: It took a while for me to get engaged but I ended up loving it. Interesting take on the hero's journey. Kate McKinnon is wasted. 

Dirty Money: The Netflix series about fraud/corruption. Excellent. I had to turn it off after two episodes because my blood was up. Small doses. If I binge this series I'll probably end up burning this motherfucker down. 

[Veltigar]

I also watched a bunch of other stuff:

1. Peacemaker: Finally finished it. This ended up being a massive waste of time. If it wasn't for the fact that The Book of Bobba Fett exists, I would say that this was the prime example of making a character retroactively less interesting by adding more backstory
2. Peaky Blinders: Watched the first episode of the new season and am very happy that it is back. I thought it had lost a bit of its energy in the last couple of seasons, but I feel like it started promisingly. Curious to see where it goes.
3. Station Eleven: I'm late to the party, but two episodes in and I can only say that I'm very happy that the board put this on my radar. It is very intriguing, with moving performances. I'm curious to see where it goes.

[KingintheNorth4]

I watched F9: The Fast Saga last night. Everything was over the top and ridiculous.

And I loved it. 

[Iskaral Pust]

Warrior S2 was pretty good and maintained the quality quite well.  I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoyed the first two (or three?) seasons of Peaky Blinders.  I cannot recall when PB started to drift into lower quality.

Jack Reacher S1 was pretty good and captures the character much better than Tom Cruise did.  All of the problems with the character in the book are still present here but it you’re willing to suspend disbelief it’s a good watch, and there’s good chemistry between Reacher and chief detective in the Podunk PD.

I’m also rewatching Band Of Brothers. Still amazing.  I let a few years pass between each rewatch so as not to ruin it.  And I agree that The Pacific was never even close to same quality. There should be an entire film class on deconstructing that gap.

We also watch some British detective shows on BritBox but we seem to have exhausted all the good ones.  The Cormoran Strike shoe on HBO Max was pretty well done (and the characters were more likable than in the books).

[DireWolfSpirit]

On 2/28/2022 at 7:40 PM, Durckad said:

Anyone else watching the new season of Raised By Wolves? This show is so strange and weird and unique, with so many questions and mysteries, that I can't help but feel like ANY answers it gives will ultimately be disappointing, but the ride so far has been pretty wild.

Been enjoying the new episodes each week.

And yeah had this posted in wrong thread-

Just enjoyed Netflix "Against the Ice".

It's a true story of Danish Greenland explorers in 1909.

Nikolaj C-Waldau (Jaime) and Charles Dance (Tywin) are very good in their roles for this story of endurance and survival.

[Nictarion]

I don’t think Raised By Wolves is a good show at all, but yet I keep watching it. Must be the Travis Fimmel effect. I definitely stuck with Vikings way longer than I should have. 

[RedEyedGhost]

Ugh...  I've been rewatching Dexter while working out.  Finished season 8 today.  Wow, I knew the last several seasons were awful, but season 8 is just one of the worst things ever.  Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

I need to watch something good to get that out of my brain, so tomorrow I'll start a rewatch of Deadwood.

 

Saw this tonight - probably the funniest standup set I've seen in a long time.

 

[dbunting]

I also watched The Batman and had a similar experience. I liked the atmosphere it set, the music went great with the scenes. It's a slower burn than most superhero movies but still has plenty of action. I have recommended it to people already.

Don't judge me too harshly but I went ahead and caught up on The Walking Dead... I stopped middle of this season and wasn't planning to finish it but it's the last season, might as well. They actually did two things I liked.

Spoiler

Maggie and Negan have a conversation about regrets and he tells her that he should've killed all of her group that night, not just the two, Maggie expected him to say he wished he hadn't killed so many people. She of course is upset blah blah blah. Well of course a few episodes later a scene happens where Maggie is letting a group of enemies leave who just reneged on letting her live because they had the upper hand, she looks at Negan and he says, you know what I would do, and she actually does it. She kills the last of them after telling them they could go free. Felt good to see that.

Then Negan meets back up with Maggie later and tells her he isn't going to stick around for her to kill him and he leaves to make his own way. He is probably the only one I'd actually like to see a spin off centered around. Definitely the best actor and has the most charisma.

I'll go ahead and ride this series til it dies.

[Derfel Cadarn]

Rewatching Babylon 5, nearing end of season 2. The mass driver attack on the Narn cities struck very close to home given the war in Ukraine

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

7 hours ago, RedEyedGhost said:

Ugh...  I've been rewatching Dexter while working out.  Finished season 8 today.  Wow, I knew the last several seasons were awful, but season 8 is just one of the worst things ever.  Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

Dafuq is wrong with you? Yesterday I accidently touched my eye while cooking with hot peppers and that was more enjoyable than watching season eight of Dexter.

Heavy snow here this weekend so I watched a bunch of things:

Belfast. This may be an unpopular take, but I thought it was just okay. The acting is strong and I like the way it was shot but it didn't live up to all the praise. I wonder if it would be getting this much love in a stronger year for movies.

Scream 5. To put it simply, this is not a good movie. Time for this franchise to be over.

Righteous Gemstones. On the other end of the spectrum, this show is hilarious. Only a couple episodes in and I totally get all the love. 

Random sidenote, it took Danny McBride two years to learn how to throw a baseball for EB&D. That just blows my mind. 

Winning Time. This is the new McKay show about the rise of the 80's Showtime Lakers. Not gonna lie, the first episode was meh, but I'll give the next few ones a chance. There certainly is a lot to play with.

Lastly, Our Flag Means Death. This is a delightful little comedy about unqualified pirates. Check it out if you get a chance.

[Zorral]

NF sent announcement to ebox that season 6, final season, of The Last Kingdom goes up on Wednesday, the 9th!

[Ramsay B.]

10 hours ago, Nictarion said:

Must be the Travis Fimmel effect. I definitely stuck with Vikings way longer than I should have. 

I was thinking about starting this. It doesn’t stay decent? You’re scaring me.

 

1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

Random sidenote, it took Danny McBride two years to learn how to throw a baseball for EB&D. That just blows my mind. 

And he still didn’t look that natural by the end. I always laughed about how the show was about a pitcher and they get a guy who obviously never played baseball in his life. Still loved it. Fucking Stevie.

[Darryk]

King Richard (2021)

I thoroughly enjoyed this and was ready to give it a 9/10, until I read up on the real Richard Williams and found out how completely mental he was.

So now I'm dropping it to 7/10 because I feel lied to. Great performance from Will Smith who made the character a lot more likeable than he sounds in reality. Also a great performance from Jon Bernthal who I've only seen in tough guy roles up until now.

[SpaceChampion]

12 hours ago, dbunting said:

 

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 He is probably the only one I'd actually like to see a spin off centered around. Definitely the best actor and has the most charisma.

I'll go ahead and ride this series til it dies.

You're in luck...  depending on how you feel about who he's paired up with.  Just today was a Maggie and Negan spin-off set in Manhattan announced. 

 

 

[briantw]

15 hours ago, RedEyedGhost said:

Ugh...  I've been rewatching Dexter while working out.  Finished season 8 today.  Wow, I knew the last several seasons were awful, but season 8 is just one of the worst things ever.  Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

Yeah, they really outdid themselves with that ending.  It's like they saw how Lost ended and said, "Hold my beer."

When I rewatched Dexter recently before the sequel series came out, I just stopped after season four.  That's the high point of the series and it goes downhill pretty drastically after that.

[DMC]

9 minutes ago, briantw said:

When I rewatched Dexter recently before the sequel series came out, I just stopped after season four.  That's the high point of the series and it goes downhill pretty drastically after that.

Definitely the best idea.  When I rewatched a year or so ago I watched the whole thing just cuz I'm a completist.  The only season that's even just ok after four is probably seven.  Ray Stevenson is a good villain and it's got Yvonne Strahovski (granted so does eight, but not nearly enough).  Plus, while Deb finding out isn't handled that well, it's still interesting to watch.

[Nictarion]

7 hours ago, Ramsay B. said:

I was thinking about starting this. It doesn’t stay decent? You’re scaring me.

The first couple seasons are great, but it gets progressively worse after that. And it really goes off the rails once Ragnar’s adult sons come along. Think I finally dropped it like halfway through the 5th season? Still haven’t even finished it. 

[Teng Ai Hui]

13 hours ago, Zorral said:

NF sent announcement to ebox that season 6, final season, of The Last Kingdom goes up on Wednesday, the 9th!

Well, that's my weekend sorted.

Destiny Is All!