Watched, Watched, Watching: It's not the plane, it's the pilot

[Nictarion]

I like both The Town and Gone Baby Gone a lot. Ben Affleck is actually a pretty good director. I wasn’t real big on Argo, but it was fine? Haven’t seen Live By Night, but I know it wasn’t very well received. 

[Mindwalker]

After a disappointing season 2, I'm really happy with season 3 of For All Mankind. They've returned to real human drama instead of soap (mostly), the space race is riveting, and the final moment of episode 4 was hilarious. 

Spoiler

Always happy to see Molly's husband! Btw, Molly herself is AWOL... Also, sadly, Margo is toast. And Sergej - coughing on tv - is most definitely toast, as in, dead soon.

Didn't think they had it in them! (I hope I didn't just jinx it...)

 

 

[Jaxom 1974]

1 hour ago, aceluby said:

I've been saying this since I read the book in the 90's

Everything about The Lost World, from book to film, is all about a blatant money grab...oh the book is better, but it didn't need to be written. 

Thanks, Jeff Goldblum. 

[RhaenysBee]

The Body was… raw. It was raw and it tore into your flesh with its merciless realism. It also went by very quickly. When the end credits rolled, I thought there was still some 15 minutes left. Forever was a beautiful second act, that kept building the reactions each character had in The Body. In terms of the story itself, I’m a bit worn out by the Buffy/Dawn dynamic. There’s nothing wrong with it, but this dynamic times ten is every day of my life, so it’s kinda the last thing I like to watch as entertainment. But that’s hardly the fault of the series. I’m also heartbroken that the Joyce/Spike dynamic is forever gone. 

[Mindwalker]

Gentleman Jack got cancelled. Can't say I'm surprised... or even bothered*. I'd still recommend series 1 to anyone who hasn't seen it. Season 2 simply didn't live up to it in any way, shape or form (except for acting and scenery/ costumes).

In contrast, FAM s2 had genuinely good  moments throughout a medocre season AND two very strong final episodes.

* correction, I'm a tad sad because lesbian representation on tv/ film is still so little and usually bad.

[Cas Stark]

13 minutes ago, Mindwalker said:

Gentleman Jack got cancelled. Can't say I'm surprised... or even bothered*. I'd still recommend series 1 to anyone who hasn't seen it. Season 2 simply didn't live up to it in any way, shape or form (except for acting and scenery/ costumes).

In contrast, FAM s2 had genuinely good  moments throughout a medocre season AND two very strong final episodes.

* correction, I'm a tad sad because lesbian representation on tv/ film is still so little and usually bad.

Loved the first season, it was a very fresh and fun show.  I honestly can't remember if I even knew that the second season had aired?  I certainly didn't watch it or know it was on.  It didn't seem to get any coverage anywhere, was it that bad?  

[Cas Stark]

24 minutes ago, RhaenysBee said:

The Body was… raw. It was raw and it tore into your flesh with its merciless realism. It also went by very quickly. When the end credits rolled, I thought there was still some 15 minutes left. Forever was a beautiful second act, that kept building the reactions each character had in The Body. In terms of the story itself, I’m a bit worn out by the Buffy/Dawn dynamic. There’s nothing wrong with it, but this dynamic times ten is every day of my life, so it’s kinda the last thing I like to watch as entertainment. But that’s hardly the fault of the series. I’m also heartbroken that the Joyce/Spike dynamic is forever gone. 

Ah yes, The Body is one of the most famous of the Buffy episodes.  I hear you on Dawn, though, I never really got over that, and indeed, it goes on and on and on and on.  You motivated me to rewatch a big chunk of season 4 which was generally better than I remembered.  I always expected that James Marsters would have had a better career post Buffy, but really, no one on the show excepting Joss Wheadon, Sarah, Angel, and to a lesser extent Alyson had much of a career outside of Buffy.

[Mindwalker]

31 minutes ago, Cas Stark said:

Loved the first season, it was a very fresh and fun show.  I honestly can't remember if I even knew that the second season had aired?  I certainly didn't watch it or know it was on.  It didn't seem to get any coverage anywhere, was it that bad?  

From what I've heard, the advertising in the US was already bad for season 1, no idea if it got worse.

Most reviews I read (usually British) were positive, so maybe I'm an outlier in my criticism. Viewership in the UK was lower than for series 1 too, though.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

On 7/4/2022 at 2:38 AM, Durckad said:

Watched The Two Towers again while painting some miniatures tonight. Man, both it and Fellowship really hold up still. The effects still look great, mostly thanks to a good mix of CGI and practical effects, but even then, a lot of the pure CGI stuff still looks fairly good, which is pretty damn good for a 20 year old movie.

The only outlier is the warg scene, which just looks noticeably worse than everything else in the movie. The pacing of it is also a bit odd as well. It really feels like an action scene that was thrown in just because they needed some action in the middle of the movie. Easily my least favorite action scene of the trilogy.

Also, the Arwen and Aragorn falls off a cliff stuff both directly before and after this really grinds the pacing down. If it wasn't for this section, I might like this better than Fellowship, but alas, Fellowship is still my favorite of the trilogy and that's unlikely to change.

Big gophers…

[dbunting]

Finished the season of The Boys and it was an excellent trip, the finale was a little let down IMO but a strong entertaining season.

Spoiler

Seems like we ended the season pretty much where it began with only minor changes.

Caught the first premiere of The Challenge USA. spin off of The Challenge on MTV. It lives up to the originals standards and so far isn't watered down. 

Also watched the finale for The Challenge All Stars and have to say it finished great.

[dog-days]

Watched an episode of Y Fets (The Vets). Lots of poor brachycephalic bulldog-type dogs having to have bits of their soft palates and noses cut out because the flat-muzzled look that their owners adore doesn't let them breath. Bloody stupid humans. 

[Mexal]

The Bear on Hulu is fantastic so far. Stressful as fuck in an Uncut Gems kinda way (at least first few episodes), but so good. 

[Zorral]

6 hours ago, RhaenysBee said:

I’m a bit worn out by the Buffy/Dawn dynamic.

I hated the addition of Dawn.  I've never been reconciled to having Dawn.

But yes, "The Body" was -- brilliant.

[Cas Stark]

I want to put in a good word for Curse of the Golden Flower, I think it is extremely underrated, even if it's a little crazy.  

[Nictarion]

Unrivaled: Red Wings vs Avalanche is so good. Highly recommend for any hockey fans. 

[Teng Ai Hui]

I just finished binge-watching Barry, season 1.  Today, I started watching season 2.  I had to pause it for a bit because the baseball fan in me was laughing too hard at the hari-kari / Harry Caray joke.

[RhaenysBee]

20 hours ago, Cas Stark said:

Ah yes, The Body is one of the most famous of the Buffy episodes.  I hear you on Dawn, though, I never really got over that, and indeed, it goes on and on and on and on.  You motivated me to rewatch a big chunk of season 4 which was generally better than I remembered.  I always expected that James Marsters would have had a better career post Buffy, but really, no one on the show excepting Joss Wheadon, Sarah, Angel, and to a lesser extent Alyson had much of a career outside of Buffy.

Yay for rewatching! 
I only ever saw Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz in anything else. Which is odd because James Marsters was quite good in Buffy and delivered all layers of Spike convincingly. 

14 hours ago, Zorral said:

I hated the addition of Dawn.  I've never been reconciled to having Dawn.

But yes, "The Body" was -- brilliant.

It was indeed quite a wonky choice in order to add trauma but not take away the family tie/responsibility. 

[Annara Snow]

21 hours ago, Cas Stark said:

Ah yes, The Body is one of the most famous of the Buffy episodes.  I hear you on Dawn, though, I never really got over that, and indeed, it goes on and on and on and on.  You motivated me to rewatch a big chunk of season 4 which was generally better than I remembered.  I always expected that James Marsters would have had a better career post Buffy, but really, no one on the show excepting Joss Wheadon, Sarah, Angel, and to a lesser extent Alyson had much of a career outside of Buffy.

You mean David. 

Seth Green has had a good career, not all about acting of course.

David and Alyson simply got cast in other long-running successful shows post Buff. Not a lot of versatility though.

Anthony Head had been in multiple TV shows as a main or a prominent guest star/recurring guest star, from Merlin to Dr Who to Ted Lasso.

SMG used to have a big career but it has been barely existent for many years. She hasn't had luck with TV shows or movies post-Buffy (all her shows kept getting cancelled or not picked up). But she seemed content devoting herself to family and that pastry business she has.

James Marsters seemed more interested in touring with his band while doing occasional notable guest star stints in ScFi shows (and a regular one in Runaways) then trying to build a big career.

And, well...lack of roles is the least of Nick Brandon's many problems.

[Annara Snow]

On 7/5/2022 at 9:34 PM, RhaenysBee said:

Season 5 just keeps ripping out my heart and eating it for breakfast. I don’t know if it’s just my mood or the first class writing, but it keeps hitting home with a sucker-punch. I generally cry easily, but the amount of times I’ve broken down over Buffy counts as a surprise even for me. That said, the Dawn insertion was weird. 

I think the way Dawn was introduced and her presence explained was very clever. 

Her main role is really how she changes Buffy's arc and circumstances. Season 5 was great, maybe the best BtVS season IMO (the overall arc and character arcs are strong, and the season is consistent with no really bad episodes; no other BtVS season has all those things going for it at the same time), though as an only child, Buffy was more personally relatable to me before.

[dog-days]

52 minutes ago, Annara Snow said:

I think the way Dawn was introduced and her presence explained was very clever. 

Her main role is really how she changes Buffy's arc and circumstances. Season 5 was great, maybe the best BtVS season IMO (the overall arc and character arcs are strong, and the season is consistent with no really bad episodes; no other BtVS season has all those things going for it at the same time), though as an only child, Buffy was more personally relatable to me before.

I also liked Dawn despite having picked up on some of her reputation amongst Buffy fans before watching the show, but then I'm also an only child. I often enjoy shows featuring sibling relationships because to me they're exotic and strange. Almost a kind of sci-fi in themselves. (Sorry, people with siblings. I know that my sci-fi can be your hell-on-earth).