Got through Squid Game pretty darn quickly. That was some compelling stuff that fit the Netflix model quite well as there were a number of times an episode ended and I started the next one immediately, even if it was just to watch the first 10 minutes. Not sure what was up with those VIPs, though. Did they just go with the first take? Those characters were a little painful to sit through. But overall, enjoyed it.
Not sure what was up with those VIPs, though. Did they just go with the first take? Those characters were a little painful to sit through. But overall, enjoyed it.
If you mean the quality English language dialogue and delivery, that's par for the course for East Asian movies in general. The excellent Guns & Talks is similarly marred by a painful scene in English. It's probably hard to direct actors in a language in which you are not well beyond fluency.
Season two of Doom Patrol. Really liked season 1. Not sure what happened but season 2 makes zero sense. The storylines are uninteresting. Dada? Time travel? Don’t click here? Zzzzzzzzzzzz. Not sure I’ll finish.
Only Murders in the Building - Thought it was OK but not great. Not wowed by Selena's acting/expressions. Will at least try the sequel.
Dexter: New Blood - 3 episodes in it is good so far, like the good seasons of Dexter.
Day of the Dead - 6 episodes in it seems to have run out of material. Best episode so far was the 2nd. Now episodes have lots of filler.
Hawkeye - I see why they released the first two episodes at once because the character of Kate was not very likeable in the first one. She works better in the second as part of a buddy act with Clint. Also (one of) the villains becomes much more interesting in the second episode. Very low spoken "bro" count compared to the comics so far. Speaking of the comics, looks like as usual the TV series won't require reading the source comics to enjoy the show.
The Witcher season 2 - sufficiently entertaining but not as good as s1. Freya Allan elevated the show with her performance. Covid presumably sucked some of the life out of the season.
The Witcher season 2 - sufficiently entertaining but not as good as s1. Freya Allan elevated the show with her performance. Covid presumably sucked some of the life out of the season.
Really liked season one. Having a heard time finishing season two. Maybe it’s COVID related but one simple fix would be to get rid of the Yennifer storyline. Not needed or interesting.
Yellowjackets - If you're looking for a puzzlebox show with lots of discussion around it already, here you go. 100% Rotten Tomatoes. Show follows members of a high school woman's soccer team who survive a plane crash and being missing for 19 months before being rescued in the 1990's (and the weird/dark stuff that happened during that time) and the lives of the survivors in the present. Five seasons planned, just renewed for the second season. Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci
Currently burning through Station Eleven, It has a very Leftovers/Lost vibe mixed with the doom of the end of civilization. So far IMO it's about 7.5 or 8/10. Anyone else?
Yellowjackets - If you're looking for a puzzlebox show with lots of discussion around it already, here you go. 100% Rotten Tomatoes. Show follows members of a high school woman's soccer team who survive a plane crash and being missing for 19 months before being rescued in the 1990's (and the weird/dark stuff that happened during that time) and the lives of the survivors in the present. Five seasons planned, just renewed for the second season. Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci
I'm 2 episodes into this and pretty hooked. I'm a little surprised they're planning on 5 seasons of it, the concept seems like it would make a good 1 season arc but I guess I don't know enough about it yet.
Currently burning through Station Eleven, It has a very Leftovers/Lost vibe mixed with the doom of the end of civilization. So far IMO it's about 7.5 or 8/10. Anyone else?
This is the number one show I want to get back to. I've been avoiding plague media during our actual plague, but this is the first one that feels worth it. I was a little iffy in the beginning, I genuinely didn't understand why the main character was doing some of the things he was doing, but once it gets rolling there's an emotional core to this show that does remind me of Leftovers.
Currently burning through Station Eleven, It has a very Leftovers/Lost vibe mixed with the doom of the end of civilization. So far IMO it's about 7.5 or 8/10. Anyone else?
This is the number one show I want to get back to. I've been avoiding plague media during our actual plague, but this is the first one that feels worth it. I was a little iffy in the beginning, I genuinely didn't understand why the main character was doing some of the things he was doing, but once it gets rolling there's an emotional core to this show that does remind me of Leftovers.
The Leftovers comparison makes sense. The show-runner was a writer on The Leftovers.
Yellowjackets I was going to wait till the season ended but I got bored and started it, thinking it was some CW-ish teeny bopper thing and I wouldn’t be into it anyway, but of course I bloody LOVED it and ended up watching it all, so now I am waiting impatiently for the last two episodes. This is the best new show I’ve seen in ages, and I love that it’s all about the women, with the boys and men mostly just side characters.
I have so many questions but I don’t want to read any theories because a lot of the time they end up being spoilers that I would never have figured out for myself, so I’m just going along for the ride.
Both of these are on Peacock TV in the US (premium):
Vigil - a death aboard a British nuclear submarine prompts a police investigation on the sub and on land. Rose Leslie (GoT) costars. From the same team that makes the Line of Duty series.
We are Lady Parts - (strong recommendation) young Muslim women in London form a punk band. Heartfelt comedy
@lengmo I enjoyed Vigil because it had so many actors I like in it, and I wanted to know what was going on, but the plot was BONKERS. A lot like Line of Duty (which I love) if you think about it for more than 30 seconds. You really have to be willing to let go and roll with those kinds of shows and not ask too many questions.
I loved We Are Lady Parts - it was just delightful. It was really nice to see a show where Muslim women had actual lives and personalities of their own rather than just being a terrorist or an abused wife or the usual horrible stereotypes. I also thought the actress who played Saira had a similar screen magnetism to John Boyega in Attack The Block - a kind of “who IS this person?” thing. I can’t wait for season 2.
@Dee in the latest The Watch podcast they talk a bit about Vigil. I enjoy The Line of Duty and Vigil, but you are right, they do not make as much sense as one would hope. Honestly, most British police/detective shows strain credulity but can still be entertaining, depending on other factors. I've just started Life on Mars, talk about throwing reality to the wind.
I'm interested in WALP season 2 but am not sure where they can go that will be as fun as the first season. I've watched some cast interviews and while they are informative, the actress who played Momtaz got mostly left out because a lot of the questions were about the songs/playing the instruments. She felt like an equal part of the show, so that was a bit disappointing.
I subscribed to Disney+ to catch up on some Marvel and the Wars. Thus far I've seen...
Falcon and The Winter Soldier - a bit messy, but I appreciate that it tried to address the post-snap world. Oddly, it might have actually benefited from being longer than six episodes because some of the characters could have used longer arcs. I did appreciate that it gave some pathos to almost all of the characters (save one, IMO), and ultimately I ended up rooting for a couple of characters I didn't really care that much about before this series, which I'm sure was part of its purpose. Sam's speech at the end was a bit on the nose, but the exhibit scene that followed shortly after made me legit tear up. Not a bad way to spend six episode, but there are better ways, which brings me to...
Loki- Okay, so this series has its flaws, which I posted about in its old series thread. That aside, we get some entertaining, complex characters, some crazy sci-fi concepts, the birth of the multiverse, and Tom Hiddleston doing his thing. It's a winning combination. Having seen the first three Disney+ miniseries (though I suppose Loki at least will have a season two), I think each one has been an improvement on the one before (apologies to WandaVision stans). After listening to Jim and A.Ron's coverage, I may finally give Rick and Morty a chance.
Daredevil, Season 3 - Given a certain character I've heard returns in Hawkeye, I decided to jump over to Netflix and finally finish this show. I'm six episodes in right now and it has the usual issues the Marvel Netflix shows tended to have with a bit too much padding, especially clear to me with an extended, artistic Kingpin scene where he's reading another character's psych files and we get a dramatized version of what he's learning. BUT... I just watched episode six, i.e. the first encounter between Daredevil and Bullseye and it was fucking glorious. And it wasn't even the oner, that was episode four! Man, I really hope they incorporate a few more characters from Netflix into the MCU. Given what happened with Hawkeye, I'm more optimistic.
Just finished watching season 1, episode 2 of Yellowstone. Enjoying it except for one big thing. What’s with all the scenes of animals dying or getting injured? And it’s pretty graphic. Have any of you watched this series and can you tell me if the animal cruelty stops. I’m only two episodes in and it makes me sick. Trying to figure out if I should continue watching.
Every Saturday night my cousin and I watch movies together, and sometimes we binge a TV series. Last week (and again last night) we dug in the series "Suits". I was vaguely familiar with it but didn't really know anything about it. It's a pretty good show, worth watching if you like legal dramas. I don't think that it's as good as the prestige-type shows, but for a network show it's pretty high end.
Just finished watching season 1, episode 2 of Yellowstone. Enjoying it except for one big thing. What’s with all the scenes of animals dying or getting injured? And it’s pretty graphic. Have any of you watched this series and can you tell me if the animal cruelty stops. I’m only two episodes in and it makes me sick. Trying to figure out if I should continue watching.
I binged the series recently and don't remember any of that in later seasons, may only be a season 1 or possibly season 2 thing. The show does have lots of people dying or getting injured, if that's more tolerable, along with heaps of political/corporate/family machinations. There will still be a lot of herding/roping/riding/occasional branding of animals.
I would recommend Hell or High Water, Sicario 2, and Those Who Wish Me Dead over Yellowstone and other Taylor Sheridan properties.
Yellowstone suffers from Taylor's usual weakness, writing women. Beth and Monica aren't so much characters as plot devices.
The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window - Was hoping for much better but 3 episodes in this is turning out to be another super padded Netflix show. The comedic elements just aren't landing for me. Bell is a fine actress but so far can't elevate the material.
Just finished watching season 1, episode 2 of Yellowstone. Enjoying it except for one big thing. What’s with all the scenes of animals dying or getting injured? And it’s pretty graphic. Have any of you watched this series and can you tell me if the animal cruelty stops. I’m only two episodes in and it makes me sick. Trying to figure out if I should continue watching.
Do you mean Yellowjackets? If so, no, it doesn’t stop. My friend had the same complaint and I always find it weird that she’s so squeamish about that but doesn’t care about scenes like a girl having her throat cut, lol.
Suspicion (Apple TV) - new British crime/terrorism drama. Completely ridiculous almost from the start. I hope Elizabeth Henstridge can elevate the material as she did Agents of Shield.
Life on Mars - 2006 UK show. Speaking of ridiculous premises, how about a police officer in "the present" is hit by a car and wakes up in 1973, where he is also a police officer? Despite that, the show has good episodic plot lines and is fun to watch. Wish it had subs on Amazon Prime because it can be hard to hear, let alone understand, the period dialog.
@lengmo I’ve been watching Suspicion too (doesn’t count as a binge though since it’s been two weekly episodes so far, lol). I’m into it - I like how it’s unfolding slowly and not really giving many hints about what’s going on yet.
It took me forever to work out that Aadesh was Raj from Big Bang - he was super familiar but I thought he was just an actor who has shown up in a lot of UK dramas (since I watch a ton of them). I like him in this. His London accent is a bit dodgy though, innit.
I watched Life On Mars years ago and I can’t remember a single thing about it - clearly didn’t have much of an impression on me!
@Dee I hesitate to clutter the board with topics that will only have a few posts. The (obvious) terrorist’s journey from the plane to Britain had me rolling my eyes. Would a woman really hand over her child to a stranger on a plane? How convenient the terrorist knows an unhappy wealthy woman with a small yacht who likes being tied up.
I’m enjoying Life on Mars’ over the top recreation of 70’s policing with the characters careening around the streets in British Fords, wearing awful clothes, hurling suspects around during interrogations, etc.
Murderville - Started watching this on Netflix because Hideo Kojima of all people was tweeting about it. A celebrity guest for each episode where they are dropped into a murder investigation show but don't have a script, so they have to improv their way through and at the end correctly guess which of the suspects was the killer. It's based on a British show so of course 90% of the discourse is about how that show is better, but I actually know the celebrities in the Netflix one so that's the one I'm gonna watch. So far we watched the ones with Conan, Marshawn Lynch, and Kumail Nanjiani and all of them were very fun.
Murderville - Started watching this on Netflix because Hideo Kojima of all people was tweeting about it. A celebrity guest for each episode where they are dropped into a murder investigation show but don't have a script, so they have to improv their way through and at the end correctly guess which of the suspects was the killer. It's based on a British show so of course 90% of the discourse is about how that show is better, but I actually know the celebrities in the Netflix one so that's the one I'm gonna watch. So far we watched the ones with Conan, Marshawn Lynch, and Kumail Nanjiani and all of them were very fun.
We watched ep1 last night and it was hilarious. Full disclosure: big Will Arnett fans and huge Conan fans. Looking forward to Marshawn Lynch tonight.
@lengmo, speaking of 70s British cops, have you ever seen Red Riding? It’s a three part series but each episode is listed on IMDB as a movie - Red Riding: In The Year Of Our Lord 1974, 1980 and 1983. There’s a hell of a lot going on in it, but its basic theme is police corruption, and it blends in real life elements like the Yorkshire Ripper. Loads of good actors in it - Andrew Garfield, Sean Bean, David Morrissey, Paddy Considine, Maxine Peake, Robert Sheehan, etc. etc.
Like all British crime dramas, you need to suspend a certain amount of disbelief, although this one is intentionally heightened and not really meant to be super realistic, but you might find it interesting. Caveat - it is REALLY grim. Trigger warnings for basically everything you can think of, and if you do watch it, be in a good mental health space.
@lengmo, speaking of 70s British cops, have you ever seen Red Riding? It’s a three part series but each episode is listed on IMDB as a movie - Red Riding: In The Year Of Our Lord 1974, 1980 and 1983.
I have. My recollection is I liked the '74 one quite a bit but not the others. However, it's been years. "To the North: Where We Do What We Want"
I found Nicola Walker has a new miniseries out, Annika, and ordered the DVD. Will probably be disappointing but hope springs eternal.
The Netflix Marvel shows are leaving Netflix at the end of February. So if you had one or more of them on your list to binge or rebinge, watch them now before they disappear for some amount of time. I can recommend the first season of Jessica Jones but other people really liked Daredevil. Luke Cage was filled with a lot of African-American/Harlem references beyond the superheroics, adding some depth and feeling of place. Iron Fist..had the excellent Jessica Henwick throughout the series and a good fight in season 1 episode 8, IIRC.
Comments
This is the number one show I want to get back to. I've been avoiding plague media during our actual plague, but this is the first one that feels worth it. I was a little iffy in the beginning, I genuinely didn't understand why the main character was doing some of the things he was doing, but once it gets rolling there's an emotional core to this show that does remind me of Leftovers.
I have so many questions but I don’t want to read any theories because a lot of the time they end up being spoilers that I would never have figured out for myself, so I’m just going along for the ride.
Been binging the HELL out of Station Eleven and Yellowjackets. Those two have me jonesing for the next new episodes.
Like all British crime dramas, you need to suspend a certain amount of disbelief, although this one is intentionally heightened and not really meant to be super realistic, but you might find it interesting. Caveat - it is REALLY grim. Trigger warnings for basically everything you can think of, and if you do watch it, be in a good mental health space.