Watch, Watched, Watching: Start another thread already

[Mindwalker]

In search of a decent comedy, I settled on The Other Two. Not bad. Also, nice to see "Uma" from OMITB in one ep.

[RhaenysBee]

I finished The Idol. Well, wasn’t that an interesting one? I still don’t hate it and massively appreciate the try. The script would have needed a few more drafts, but I do believe they have the potential to do improve the shortcomings if they get a second season. 
Lily Rose Depp was quite incredible and I was surprised what a deep performance she delivered (though I do hope her parents don’t watch this  ). I’ll be looking forward to seeing her in other movies (and in more conservative roles as well, just for the sake of variety). It took solid talent to bring this character to life and make the audience like her. 

I cannot put into words how much I appreciate the fact that this show had a story to tell and was actually about something. It had underlying themes and wanted to say more than your average 2020s tv show. And all the while it managed to stay commercial and perfectly marketable by being explicit and visually well designed. Since these were both parts of the story as well, the show even felt authentic, at least more so than much of what’s on the streaming platforms. 

About the story itself.
 

Spoiler

I liked Jocelyn, she carried the show as a strong antihero. I like that she eventually outplayed everybody. Im not sure I like that I can’t quite decide if she did have it in her to outplay everybody or the script didn’t quite work out. Like I said, it could have used a couple more drafts. I liked most of the supporting characters, or I liked to loathe them. Leia is like nails on a chalkboard with her complete inaptness at her job, social awkwardness, hypocrisy,  judgments and enabling, yet I could still empathize and relate so I suppose that was writing done right. Tedros makes my skin crawl, there isn’t a pixel about his character that I don’t despise. I suppose that was the main goal, though a better actor could probably inject a hint of sympathy into the viewer. I liked Jocelyn’s team, especially Destiny and Chaim, and I really loved Chloe. I liked Xander a lot until the torture sequence which is a huge gaping bleeding gash on the plot and the character too. It was gratuitous shock (damn, the pun opportunity) value that shouldn’t have made the cut. 

Oh I did like that this show had the balls to have actual humor. 

what I didn’t like was the excess of nudity, which had a purpose to certain extent, but was way over the top and far more than necessary to achieve the purpose. On the other hand, the show authentically owned its own strategy (“sex sells”), and you know, kudos for that. 

there were also some plot inconsistencies, and just and time jump at the end also brought up some plot issues. For example, if you had the chef fired you kinda need to account for what everybody ate after that point. This is not a nitpick, you could have made it a tendency to fire staff as part of taking over the house and escalated tension, but you didn’t, the chef was an isolated incident which was a character moment for Tedros and the first major flag of his  influence over Jocelyn, fine, but what did everybody eat after that? Leia, though indeed completely incompetent, stupid and unlikable was treated like absolute shit by everybody and yet she stayed in this job. Why. And then she left. Why. Please elaborate. Then time jump and no mention of her. I mean that sure underlines the fact that she was completely useless thus difficult to feel the absence of, but you know, she left an envelope for Joss so maybe tie that thread up if you opened it.

there were also a bit too many people in Tedros’s crew. The scenes were too crowded. The news article storyline was all over the place and a huge missed opportunity to create more tension and amp up the stakes. They didn’t really know what to do with the journalist, who was introduced as a power player but then wasn’t one. Again, another draft would have done wonders. 

so yeah sorry not sorry I actually appreciated this show in spite of all its many flaws because it made an effort and even worked in a couple aspects. 

Edited July 4, 2023 by RhaenysBee

[Isis]

We are up to episode 8 of The Leftovers and I would say we are committed to watching it now. I enjoyed the part where Nora went to the conference, that was a fairly entertaining section. However 

Spoiler

I found the unimaginative, predictable and dare I say unsatisfying sex scene to be disappointing within the scope of the show so far. It felt like it did less than nothing for the characters and was a bizarrely dull scene for such an esoteric show. And what could be more likely to put you off your stride than Max fucking Richter's cliched funeral dirge (which pops up in any scene you're supposed to have feelings about)?  

 

Edited July 5, 2023 by Isis

[Theda Baratheon]

Finished the first season of Bad Sisters on Apple TV. Loved it - will happily watch more if there’s any. Feels like there might be 

[3CityApache]

18 minutes ago, Theda Baratheon said:

Feels like there might be 

Really? I've got the definite miniseries vibe out of it. But it seems you are right, Apple renewed it. Really wonder what the second season could be about.

Edited July 5, 2023 by 3CityApache

[Theda Baratheon]

6 minutes ago, 3CityApache said:

Really? I've got the definite miniseries vibe out of it. But it seems you are right, Apple renewed it. Really wonder what the second season could be about.

Yes, I was thinking that although it feels like it’s fairly tied up at the end of the season, that there are still a few threads left to follow. 
 

I don’t think 2 murders and however many more attempted ones are going to be able to be brushed away so easily…

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

On 7/3/2023 at 11:09 AM, Corvinus85 said:

Agreed. I may be biased because it was actually the first one I saw, therefore while it is similar in its formula to Raiders, I prefer it. And I love the last bit with the old knight, too. "He has chosen poorly" 

Indiana Jones was the first trilogy where I saw all three films in the theatre. It might actually be Star Wars but I have no memory of seeing A New Hope when it hit cinemas.

[Isis]

Watched In the Earth last night - directed by Ben Wheatley. Found it a little underwhelming. Probably the best thing about it was Reece Shearsmith's mad geezer in the woods role. It has some classic Wheatley uncomfortable gory moments. But overral it feels a bit muted?

[Darryk]

Finished Black Mirror Season 6. I loved the first two stories but not so much the three that followed that.

Edited July 6, 2023 by Darryk

[TheLastWolf]

Rewatched No Country for Old Men. Sat for the opening with a friend, his first time. Before I knew it, Mike Zoss Productions: cut to black. It's imprinted. Not just for Deakin's staggering beauty and the matching up to the novel's standards but for being one of the first films that made me view them as sonething more than just entertainment. 

Edited July 7, 2023 by TheLastWolf

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

Rewatched Horrible Bosses. It might be the first time I’ve seen it start to finish in one sitting. Great movie.

[Annara Snow]

On 5/31/2023 at 12:21 PM, Veltigar said:

I watched Rain Man over the weekend. Don't think I ever did before, but a lot of scenes rang a bell since this film has been parodied time and time again. Anyways, I thought it was great. Every performance lands and even by the very high standards of 80s Tom Cruise, this was a fun movie. 

Also finished the last two episodes of Succession and the last two episodes of Barry. My hot take is that Barry is more deserving of accolades than Succession. Both are great in their way, but there is just something about Barry that is very hard to replicate.

Ii would say that about both of these shows. It's impossible to think of another show that's like Succession or another show that's like Barry. Although if there are similarities to other shows, I'd compare them to each other rather than to anything else, and maybe to BoJack Horseman, as a subgenre of dark drama-satirical comedy. BoJack is more cautiously optimistic than either of other two though. 

Barry has been rather overlooked by awards, except for Bill Hader. I get angry every time I see Sarah Goldberg completely snubbed by awards - even know she's not predicted to be nominated.

Succession is one of the rare shows that gets a lot of accolades and awards and deserves them. The acting nominations and awards are funny though because it could be argued that the show got simultaneously too many and too few of them. A great example of how silly Emmys are is the fact that Emmys snubbed the entire cast of Succession for season 1, and then apparently suddenly discovered the acting on the show was really good and went and nominated 9 cast members for season 2 and 14 for season 3.  In spite of Succession season 1 getting recognized for writing, directing and show as a whole and winning for writing (I guess even Emmy voters couldn't convince themselves that GoT season 8 scripts were amazing), not a single acting nomination. I'm trying to imagine someone going: "oh yes, Kit Harrington gave such a great performance, better than Jeremy Strong or Brian Cox." And then once GoT was gone and not the HBO flagship anymore, Emmys nominated almost anyone they possibly can from Succession - and most of these are absolutely deserved, however - some of the guest acting nominations are little more than cool cameos, and does Nicholas Braun always need to be nominated for doing the same shtick for 4 seasons with no range? But in terms of actual wins, it has only had 3 out of 10 possible wins (Jeremy Strong as Lead Actor and Cherry Jones as Guest Actress for season 2 and Matthew McFadyen as Supporting Actor for season 3) (and that's just the nominations it did get, not counting the complete snub for season 1)

Edited July 8, 2023 by Annara Snow

[Nictarion]

I watched the documentary Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror. Absolutely fantastic. Bit long at a little over 3 hours, but I highly recommend it if you’re at all into the genre. 

[Isis]

1 hour ago, Nictarion said:

I watched the documentary Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror. Absolutely fantastic. Bit long at a little over 3 hours, but I highly recommend it if you’re at all into the genre. 

We watched a really long folk horror doc on Shudder last year but I don't recall the name of it. I think it was about four hours long. This one was about the world history of folk horror, how it isn't just an English thing and there are examples from different cultures. I will look up the one you saw and see it it's the same one.

ETA - yes, it is the same one.

Edited July 8, 2023 by Isis

[Zorral]

While not even interested enough to finish watching season 3, this fourth and final AP Jack Ryan season is so far engaging, in all ways differently  than second and third seasons.  It may be the cast, beyond the always worthy regulars, Wendell Pierce as Ryan's sidekick and ass saver, and Michael Kelly as Mike November, also Ryan side kick and ass saver.  When both Greer and November are in the same scene, things crackle and pop most pleasingly.  Betty Gabriel's Elizabeth Wright again remains elegantly controlled, while wanting nothing more than exploding into ass kicking, but knows better. The new characters are played by terrific screen presences, such as always worthy Michael Peña, and Louis Ozawa. So far too, the writing is a lot crisper and the plot more plausible than seasons 2 and 3.

 

Edited July 8, 2023 by Zorral

[Gaston de Foix]

1 hour ago, Zorral said:

While not even interested enough to finish watching season 3, this fourth and final AP Jack Ryan season is so far engaging, in all ways differently  than second and third seasons.  It may be the cast, beyond the always worthy regulars, Wendell Pierce as Ryan's sidekick and ass saver, and Michael Kelly as Mike November, also Ryan side kick and ass saver.  When both Greer and November are in the same scene, things crackle and pop most pleasingly.  Betty Gabriel's Elizabeth Wright again remains elegantly controlled, while wanting nothing more than exploding into ass kicking, but knows better. The new characters are played by terrific screen presences, such as always worthy Michael Peña, and Louis Ozawa. So far too, the writing is a lot crisper and the plot more plausible than seasons 2 and 3.

 

See it's funny we have such diametrically opposite reactions: I kept thinking the plotting was extremely predictable and the show quality had dramatically worsened.  Haven't finished episode 4 but I'm kind of glad this is it for the series.  

Started the Bear after hearing rave reviews comparing it to Succession.  So far not really living up to the hype 3 episodes in. 

[Padraig]

I continued to run through old movies.  Given I skipped all the movies from the Golden Age of the Western, I ended up watching three westerns from the second half of the 1960s.  By then, the Western had changed radically.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is probably the most famous of the lot but easily my least favourite.  A very long movie and I had just watched For a Few Dollars more (which I did like), so it felt like more of the same.

I also really liked the Van Cleef character from For a Few Dollars more.  It took me a while to realise there was a reason why he was behaving very differently in the follow up (i.e., he was playing a different character).  That didn't help.  There is still a lot to like but it is morally bankrupt (even Eastwood's character seems a darker version of the guy from For a Few Dollars More).

My favourite of the three is the Wild Bunch.  Still populated with very morally grey characters, the spectacle is equally impressive (and Holden's opening line in the film is super) and it just has a better story.  Melancholy also works on me and this film is all about the end of an era.  William Holden deserves a lot more credit.   He added a lot (in a low key way) to many top notch movies.

It wasn't all about Westerns though.  I watched Cool Hand Luke.  Newman really had a great decade.  A very fun movie (or half movie) and a very bleak movie (or half a movie).  Very obviously segregated chain gangs too, which struck me more than it should I suppose.  That wasn't the case in I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang from the early 1930s.

And while Polanski carries a hell of a lot of baggage, I did watch Rosemary's Baby.  With this and Psycho, you could see the birth of the modern horror genre.  I did think it was a very strong movie also, always a little off kilter (the antagonists are creepy but not you average antagonist).   A shockingly young Mia Farrow also.

[Tywin et al.]

Go watch Once Upon a Time in the West. Same director and it's also really long and slow, but man some of those scenes hit hard. The opening one is on the short list for best ever. 

 

 

[Padraig]

13 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Go watch Once Upon a Time in the West. Same director and it's also really long and slow, but man some of those scenes hit hard. The opening one is on the short list for best ever. 

Thanks!  I was originally planning to but was all Leone'd out.  Maybe I was too quick to judge.

[Heartofice]

15 hours ago, Padraig said:

I continued to run through old movies.  Given I skipped all the movies from the Golden Age of the Western, I ended up watching three westerns from the second half of the 1960s.  By then, the Western had changed radically.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is probably the most famous of the lot but easily my least favourite.  A very long movie and I had just watched For a Few Dollars more (which I did like), so it felt like more of the same.

I also really liked the Van Cleef character from For a Few Dollars more.  It took me a while to realise there was a reason why he was behaving very differently in the follow up (i.e., he was playing a different character).  That didn't help.  There is still a lot to like but it is morally bankrupt (even Eastwood's character seems a darker version of the guy from For a Few Dollars More).

My favourite of the three is the Wild Bunch.  Still populated with very morally grey characters, the spectacle is equally impressive (and Holden's opening line in the film is super) and it just has a better story.  Melancholy also works on me and this film is all about the end of an era.  William Holden deserves a lot more credit.   He added a lot (in a low key way) to many top notch movies.

It wasn't all about Westerns though.  I watched Cool Hand Luke.  Newman really had a great decade.  A very fun movie (or half movie) and a very bleak movie (or half a movie).  Very obviously segregated chain gangs too, which struck me more than it should I suppose.  That wasn't the case in I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang from the early 1930s.

And while Polanski carries a hell of a lot of baggage, I did watch Rosemary's Baby.  With this and Psycho, you could see the birth of the modern horror genre.  I did think it was a very strong movie also, always a little off kilter (the antagonists are creepy but not you average antagonist).   A shockingly young Mia Farrow also.

I did a very similar run of movies a couple of years ago. Wild Bunch I think is easily the most accessible to modern audiences, and is great. The Leone movies really do need patience something like Good Bad Ugly really needs that intermission. 
 

Once upon a time in the West is utterly beautiful but also a bit of a slog midway through, again a bit of a tough watch unless you are in the mood.