Re: Recent movie/TV playlist [titles without stand-alone thread]

1421
The Patient - ATV+ Carell series. it's eight episodes into a 10-episode first season. was holding off posting about it until it wraps but i can't - this show is really, really good. i have been watching it weekly but am thinking i'm going to let both of the last two drop before watching the conclusion together. it's a really interesting concept and really well executed. great to see carell do a dramatic turn in a series (outside of his outstanding role in The Morning Show). really recommend you get caught up on this before the conclusion. can't imagine this is leading to a second season, it's probably one and done, but damn. love it.

Re: Recent movie/TV playlist

1422
TC wrote: 24/10/21, 09:09:47 Halloween Kills - i quite enjoyed the 2018 Halloween installment. Thought it was a great setup for a new trilogy. This middle entry, I enjoyed while watching, up to a point. Some of the kills are great, and Michael is completely ruthless. That I loved. But the things I didn’t love, I’m still thinking about a week later…
first of all, the whole mentally disturbed other inmate subplot was unnecessary and distracting. I don’t know exactly what they were trying to do here, but it felt like some kind of very shoe-horned in social statement that I didn’t need. Secondly, and this is my main issue, that “mob attacks michael” scene. my entire attachment to MM was that he was human. While he was insanely strong and had mad killing skills, he did get injured and had to be somewhat mindful of his ability to get injured. This fucking scene, for some reason they decided to elevate michael to some kind of god. He took so many gunshots, fatal clubbings, kicks, stomps, etc. And gets right back up? Fucking retarded. His humanity is exactly why he was my favorite among the three biggies. This completely unnecessary decision changed the entire context of this trilogy and pushed it into ridiculous territory. And i stress again - this was completely unnecessary. I don’t see why we needed to give anthony michael hall and his people some kind of closure with this. And again, it felt very shoe-horned in, like this was some kind of mob mentality social statement that didn’t need to be made.

So i guess as i’m typing this, i have to say i wouldn’t recommend it. Some great kills and whatnot, but the parts that were dumb were really dumb and undermine the rest of it. Real bummer.
Welp, Halloween Ends was certainly better than Kills, but that’s about all I can say for it. As a plus, there was no post-credits scene or “bonus” ending scene or something that would have indicated they were going to try to continue this story. It really did seem to “end”. So at least we got that.

Woke up this morning thinking - while I like him, has Danny McBride ever been involved in anything i would consider “good”? Looking at his IMDB, Tropic Thunder is of course great, but don’t think he really had much to do with that. He’s now been involved in two of my favorite properties (this and Alien) and his entries were, at best, fine. It’s kind of upsetting. How does he keep getting involved in high-level properties? I see he’s now involved in the Exorcist sequel (another David Gordon Green effort) and attached to the Hellraiser series (if that happens). Which will be two more of the A-chip horror properties in existence. This guy has something on some bigwigs, right? I mean, Vice Principals and Kenny Powers were both funny, but “great”? How is this happening?

Re: Recent movie/TV playlist [titles without stand-alone thread]

1423
Dark Glasses - somehow, a new Argento film? the guy is 82 years old. it was interesting, but the lead screams and yells (in italian) more than alicia silverstone in The Requin, which is saying something. it's grating. again, an interesting premise but really kind of fell flat for me.

Watcher - a fantastic slow burn (read: actual, real slow burn) thriller that ends as a horror film. takes place in Bucharest. really dug this the more that i think about it. very well-done. recommend you check it out if you're in the mood for that type of thing.

She Will - an Argento-produced film from last year i guess? another very (V.E.R.Y.) slow burner. sort of delivers, but most of it felt like it was too subtle and should have pushed more. can't say i really recommend it. it was sort of interesting. the setting was more interesting than anything, takes place in rural scotland, which does play a part in the plot too. though he is top-billed, malcom mcdowell is really more of a cameo/supporting role. shrug.

The Watcher - no, not the film above, the limited series starring Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale. more of a mystery/thriller here that has more red herrings than you can count. allegedly based on a true story i guess? it's pretty entertaining, and well-acted (which should go without saying), but fair warning - there is no goddamn ending. it's frustrating, but i guess that's kind of the point. it's another thing that's interesting if you're looking for something different, but not a "can't miss" or anything.

Re: Recent movie/TV playlist [titles without stand-alone thread]

1424
Barbarian - had heard a lot of talk about this film and was anxious to watch it when it hit streaming, which it just did. as i'm sure you've heard, go in as cold as possible. there are many/several twists/red herrings. it's pretty impressive what they were able to do on such a "meager" budget. it's very well done, while not ground-breaking or really innovative. some questions/plot holes i have issue with, but nothing show-stopping. main question is that i don't understand where the title comes from, but i guess it doesn't really matter. recommend checking it out. tense story, great kills and effects, minimal woke-isms.

Re: Recent movie/TV playlist [titles without stand-alone thread]

1425
The Devil’s Hour - new British limited series (six episodes) on Amazon. It looked interesting so i checked it out, and boy was i pleasantly surprised. It ended up being really good. The boy is creepy as fuck. On the surface it’s about a serial killer and the hunt to find him. That’s about all i can say without spoilers. Just go watch it, it’s only six hours of your life. You’ll thank me. It also stars one of the Dr Who’s if that helps you decide. Oh, and Jamie Tart from Ted Lasso as well, who plays a giant asshole piece of shit way too well.

Re: Recent movie/TV playlist [titles without stand-alone thread]

1426
Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet Of Curiosities - so GDT dropped this anthology series on Netflix last week. it's a series where he presents each episode from a different director, he doesn't direct any of them. from what i've seen so far, he may assist with writing or story, but hands the reins over to others to create. as GDT is hit & miss for me, i didn't have high expectations. watched three episodes last night, here are my thoughts:
  • Lot 36 - this one was a slow burn but goddamn did that ending pay off! very lovecraftian in nature. was extremely pleasantly surprised by this, it was excellent!
  • Graveyard Rats - another episode that started a bit slow but fucking delivered. this was also an excellent episode. given i was 2 for 2, i skipped ahead and watched...
  • Dreams In The Witch House - this is possibly my favorite HPL story so was really interested to see how the hell they did this, as to me it seems unfilmable if you follow the text. well, what we got in this hour bears very little resemblance to the original story in text or tone. you would never guess, if you didn't know, that this was an HPL story. there were a few points they used so that they could call it an adaptation of the story i suppose, but used completely out of the context of the tone of HPL's story. i mean, there are something like 20 min of fabricated (and unnecessary) backstory before you get to the starting point of the original story, but then i guess the back story was necessary due to all the other shit they injected into the main story that ties it all together. anyway, this one was mostly a dud because of all this. if it had not been an attempt to call itself an adaptation of the original story, it would still have been just OK. but because it completely botched one of my favorite HPL stories, it really soured me on this series so i went to bed. will check out the rest of the series, but don't get your hopes up by seeing this title in the list. the fact that GDT approved this makes me extremely worried about his long-discussed ATMOM adaptation.
more to come...

Re: Recent movie/TV playlist [titles without stand-alone thread]

1427
TC wrote: 31/10/22, 08:57:07 Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet Of Curiosities - so GDT dropped this anthology series on Netflix last week. it's a series where he presents each episode from a different director, he doesn't direct any of them. from what i've seen so far, he may assist with writing or story, but hands the reins over to others to create. as GDT is hit & miss for me, i didn't have high expectations. watched three episodes last night, here are my thoughts:
  • Lot 36 - this one was a slow burn but goddamn did that ending pay off! very lovecraftian in nature. was extremely pleasantly surprised by this, it was excellent!
  • Graveyard Rats - another episode that started a bit slow but fucking delivered. this was also an excellent episode. given i was 2 for 2, i skipped ahead and watched...
  • Dreams In The Witch House - this is possibly my favorite HPL story so was really interested to see how the hell they did this, as to me it seems unfilmable if you follow the text. well, what we got in this hour bears very little resemblance to the original story in text or tone. you would never guess, if you didn't know, that this was an HPL story. there were a few points they used so that they could call it an adaptation of the story i suppose, but used completely out of the context of the tone of HPL's story. i mean, there are something like 20 min of fabricated (and unnecessary) backstory before you get to the starting point of the original story, but then i guess the back story was necessary due to all the other shit they injected into the main story that ties it all together. anyway, this one was mostly a dud because of all this. if it had not been an attempt to call itself an adaptation of the original story, it would still have been just OK. but because it completely botched one of my favorite HPL stories, it really soured me on this series so i went to bed. will check out the rest of the series, but don't get your hopes up by seeing this title in the list. the fact that GDT approved this makes me extremely worried about his long-discussed ATMOM adaptation.
more to come...
continuing:
  • The Autopsy - this episode was GREAT. loved this. excellent take on
    what alien life on earth might be like, considering they have been here for a very long time. how they get here, who they inhabit, etc.
    loved this. this show is like what creepshow wishes it could be.
  • The Outside - frankly, this was the most disturbing episode so far for me. i mean, wow - so fucking odd. it has to be the way it was filmed. the lenses and POVs used are extremely unsettling and makes this episode way more effective than it would have been otherwise. not my favorite, but massive props to the technical crew on this one. made it quite good.

Re: Recent movie/TV playlist [titles without stand-alone thread]

1428
TC wrote: 12/10/22, 14:44:51 The Patient - ATV+ Carell series. it's eight episodes into a 10-episode first season. was holding off posting about it until it wraps but i can't - this show is really, really good. i have been watching it weekly but am thinking i'm going to let both of the last two drop before watching the conclusion together. it's a really interesting concept and really well executed. great to see carell do a dramatic turn in a series (outside of his outstanding role in The Morning Show). really recommend you get caught up on this before the conclusion. can't imagine this is leading to a second season, it's probably one and done, but damn. love it.
fantastic ending for this show. highly recommended checking this out.

Re: Recent movie/TV playlist [titles without stand-alone thread]

1429
TC wrote: 01/11/22, 07:42:39
TC wrote: 31/10/22, 08:57:07 Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet Of Curiosities - so GDT dropped this anthology series on Netflix last week. it's a series where he presents each episode from a different director, he doesn't direct any of them. from what i've seen so far, he may assist with writing or story, but hands the reins over to others to create. as GDT is hit & miss for me, i didn't have high expectations. watched three episodes last night, here are my thoughts:
  • Lot 36 - this one was a slow burn but goddamn did that ending pay off! very lovecraftian in nature. was extremely pleasantly surprised by this, it was excellent!
  • Graveyard Rats - another episode that started a bit slow but fucking delivered. this was also an excellent episode. given i was 2 for 2, i skipped ahead and watched...
  • Dreams In The Witch House - this is possibly my favorite HPL story so was really interested to see how the hell they did this, as to me it seems unfilmable if you follow the text. well, what we got in this hour bears very little resemblance to the original story in text or tone. you would never guess, if you didn't know, that this was an HPL story. there were a few points they used so that they could call it an adaptation of the story i suppose, but used completely out of the context of the tone of HPL's story. i mean, there are something like 20 min of fabricated (and unnecessary) backstory before you get to the starting point of the original story, but then i guess the back story was necessary due to all the other shit they injected into the main story that ties it all together. anyway, this one was mostly a dud because of all this. if it had not been an attempt to call itself an adaptation of the original story, it would still have been just OK. but because it completely botched one of my favorite HPL stories, it really soured me on this series so i went to bed. will check out the rest of the series, but don't get your hopes up by seeing this title in the list. the fact that GDT approved this makes me extremely worried about his long-discussed ATMOM adaptation.
more to come...
continuing:
  • The Autopsy - this episode was GREAT. loved this. excellent take on
    what alien life on earth might be like, considering they have been here for a very long time. how they get here, who they inhabit, etc.
    loved this. this show is like what creepshow wishes it could be.
  • The Outside - frankly, this was the most disturbing episode so far for me. i mean, wow - so fucking odd. it has to be the way it was filmed. the lenses and POVs used are extremely unsettling and makes this episode way more effective than it would have been otherwise. not my favorite, but massive props to the technical crew on this one. made it quite good.
more...
  • Pickman's Model - while there was some extraneous stuff added (why can't people just fucking adapt lovecraft??), it was a pretty accurate adaptation of the material, and fantastically executed. built to a wild finale. very well done. one chief complaint about this short - crispin glover's accent. what the hell is that? it's beyond cartoony and extremely distracting and unnecessary. outside of that, this is a winner.
  • The Viewing - Panos Cosmatos-directed episode. simply fucking outstanding. absolutely drenched in what has become his trademark saturation of mood, architecture, and retro-modern aesthetic. peter weller was fantastic. the gore was appropriate and great when it came. easily my favorite episode of the series so far. goddamn do i love this guy's stuff. if you watch no other episode, watch this one.
one more to go...

Re: Recent movie/TV playlist [titles without stand-alone thread]

1431
Don't Worry Darling - this seems like a pretty good sci-fi-ish film. i say "seems" since i fell asleep for probably a 20 min chunk of this in the middle and feel like i may have missed something important, but i got the gist. nothing groundbreaking, and absolutely zero ending (they completely bailed on showing you anything), but well-acted and pretty fun to look at - the main setting is essentially mid-'50s idyllic mid-century-modern community, complete with many classic cars. speaking of which, hilarious that it seems like almost any of those cars could outrun the mid-'50s corvette. anyway, florence pugh was good, as usual. chris pine was sort of a caricature of himself and intentionally single-dimensional. but was entertaining. i'll probably watch it again and try to stay away, might change my opinion lol.

Re: Recent movie/TV playlist

1432
TC wrote: 31/05/22, 08:24:40
O-dot wrote: 06/04/22, 08:54:32 You should watch The Dropout next.
so I did. not as transparent regarding the world of silicon valley, but certainly full of drama. watching this just makes you wonder how fucking stupid was the entire board (and walgreens' board) to not ever do any due dilligence on whether or not there was ever a functional product? i'm sure there is more to the story, but holy shit. just because she was a reasonably pretty woman you forgot how business works? yes, clearly she and sunny were huge pieces of shit, but the board is 100% to blame here. they should all be serving jail time for negligence. again, if everything presented in this series is the entirety of the story, which i'm sure it isn't. more a comment of how trimming things to make it a tight story can really take you out of it when the omissions are so glaring that you have a hard time believing this is what happened. also, holy shit what happened to michael ironside? jesus. but yes, enjoyable show that just makes me want to really know the whole story. thinking about buying carryrou's book.
Holmes was sentenced today. She got 11.25 years for defrauding investors. Oof.

Re: Recent movie/TV playlist [titles without stand-alone thread]

1433
1899 - new show from the creators of the fantastic Dark. it's an extremely dense story, full of many different languages (at least eight). masterfully crafted story that keeps you on edge as you're never quite sure exactly what's going on. the ending (last couple episodes) is wild. really don't know if there will be a second season, but sure feels like there should be, similar to Dark where i assume that further seasons will be very different now that the veil is broken. highly recommend you check it out. excellent story, some amazing visuals that are seamless, great cast, etc. if i had to classify it, i'd say it's a cross between horror/sci-fi and a period piece. it works extremely well.

Re: Recent movie playlist

1434
TC wrote: 28/10/20, 04:53:47
TC wrote: this show is absolutely fascinating. one, the actual content is insane. creepy as shit, and shows the inner workings of a cult. and on another level, the way they made the thing is really insane. like, when they started filming, they didn't know what was going to happen. we are seeing developments in real time. plus, all the footage mark had from years of filming a doc about keith from the inside for ESP purposes is heavily featured. i can only assume that once keith got convicted, rights to all of that reverted to mark. but the pure hubris of filming all of these things that could potentially come back to bite him is baffling. so many intimate moments and conversations, insane parties, meetings, etc. there had to be over a decade of footage they had to plow through to put it all together. a staggering amount of work had to go into assembling this. it's really fascinating to see. there's never been anything like it. i hope it wins some kind of awards.
keith finally got sentenced yesterday - 120 years. says it's a farce and he's going to appeal. but that fucker is going to die in prison. had to be a hell of a party with the people that spent years of their lives and untold amounts of money trying to build a case against this monster. and the craziest part, if you watched the show, is that india oxenberg flipped and testified yesterday. i would love to know what happened between keith getting arrested and now with her.
when i saw that there was a season 2 for The Vow, i thought it must be a cash grab and would be full of fluff and kind of meaningless. boy i couldn't have been more wrong. the s2 finale was this week and holy shit what a season. nancy talking elicited a lot of yelling at the TV from us, but it was absolutely fascinating to see how all of this hit someone that was inside the org and somehow willingly oblivious to what keith was doing. man what a season. it essentially covered everything from the arrest to the sentencing. such a great show. it really is crazy to think that everything that happened was the result of a couple people who were not OK with what was going on getting out and deciding that someone should stop him, and that someone was them. baffling to know all of this happened extremely recently, as it feels like something people couldn't possibly have been onboard with in any modern time.

Re: Recent movie/TV playlist [titles without stand-alone thread]

1435
Smile - not sure why this is getting so much hype. It’s fine, but nothing original. It’s essentially the same plot as It Follows, except instead of sex passing the curse, it’s seeing someone commit suicide. There’s a little more to it than that, but that’s really it. There are a couple (literally) great effects shots, but most of the film is drama/talky. It’s not gore-heavy or effects-heavy, and not really an original plot, so you know, sure - it’s fine. Nothing to go out of your way to see. Another also-ran horror film. Sad state of affairs that people are hyping this.

Re: Recent movie/TV playlist [titles without stand-alone thread]

1436
TC wrote: 04/11/22, 08:09:21
TC wrote: 01/11/22, 07:42:39

continuing:
  • The Autopsy - this episode was GREAT. loved this. excellent take on
    what alien life on earth might be like, considering they have been here for a very long time. how they get here, who they inhabit, etc.
    loved this. this show is like what creepshow wishes it could be.
  • The Outside - frankly, this was the most disturbing episode so far for me. i mean, wow - so fucking odd. it has to be the way it was filmed. the lenses and POVs used are extremely unsettling and makes this episode way more effective than it would have been otherwise. not my favorite, but massive props to the technical crew on this one. made it quite good.
more...
  • Pickman's Model - while there was some extraneous stuff added (why can't people just fucking adapt lovecraft??), it was a pretty accurate adaptation of the material, and fantastically executed. built to a wild finale. very well done. one chief complaint about this short - crispin glover's accent. what the hell is that? it's beyond cartoony and extremely distracting and unnecessary. outside of that, this is a winner.
  • The Viewing - Panos Cosmatos-directed episode. simply fucking outstanding. absolutely drenched in what has become his trademark saturation of mood, architecture, and retro-modern aesthetic. peter weller was fantastic. the gore was appropriate and great when it came. easily my favorite episode of the series so far. goddamn do i love this guy's stuff. if you watch no other episode, watch this one.
one more to go...
The Murmuring - last episode of the season. The story and tone of this are way outside the realm of all the other episodes. This is more of a classic ghost story on top of the story of a couple who lost their child. Couple goes on remote field trip to watch birds, strange things ensue. Andrew Lincoln is a better actor than this script gave him, but was good to see him flex a little outside of The Walking Dead. Everything else here has been done - many, many times - so it feels wildly out of place with the rest of the season, which - a couple adaptations aside - was pretty original, and all similar in tone with one outlier that was still original with good effects. This? This is a pretty standard “lady is grieving her lost child, won’t have sex with her husband, visits a remote haunted house, saves the spirits, then feels miraculously healed herself and is ready to talk about her own lost child” fare. Sure we’ve seen it before, but have we seen it…. Ah, I can’t do it. Sorry Joe Bob, there’s nothing to “have we seen it with” with here. The answer will always be yes - yes, we’ve seen this before. Massive, massive drop in story quality to close this season out. A huge head-scratcher, putting this as the finale. This should have been mid-season, Panos’ story should have been the closer. Well, really, this episode doesn’t belong in this series, frankly. Seems GDT must really want to promote this director/writer for some reason, or be contractually obligated to, but including an outlier story in this series, and putting it as the season finale, did not do them any favors. I’d say skip this one, just call Panos’ story the finale. You won’t be missing anything.

Re: Recent movie/TV playlist [titles without stand-alone thread]

1438
TC wrote: 06/10/22, 08:08:02 La Brea - this show is hilarious. it doesn't mean to be, but it's very fun to watch in an MST3K way. my wife and i provide running commentary while watching and man does it not disappoint. everyone in this show has the logic of a video game NPC. it's just entertaining enough to keep watching. i had never watched it until a week ago, and we blasted through s1. s2 just started last week and we watched the first episode. s2 starts immediately after the end of s1, and the main characters look totally different - hair grown, visibly older in the case of the daughter, and everyone seems to have forgotten the events of the previous 24h. pretty hilarious, still entertaining. oh, and Mrs. Raylan Givens is the female lead. she's clearly above the rest of the folks on this show, but it's quite amusing. especially her son, who acts in every scene like this is his first job and goddamnit he's going to NAIL it. i'm telling you, it's maybe the funniest show on right now.
so just finished the s2 mid-season break (next episode won't be until the end of jan) and it hasn't lost a step. tears from laughing at how bad/good this show is. they HAVE to be in on it. like, they have to know exactly what they're doing. in which case, these writers/creators are geniuses. thank you.

Re: Recent movie/TV playlist [titles without stand-alone thread]

1439
Everything Everywhere All At Once - got to check this out to see what all the hype was about. it was a fun film with good action pieces and some thought-out multiverse quandaries. i don't think it is the end-all, be-all that some of the hype would have you believe. i found it...fine? it was cool. jamie lee curtis was great, i didn't even know she was in it. at the end of the day, it's about a mother's guilt and struggles with her feelings about her daughter. some of the other 'verses were entertaining, but probably not as entertaining as the film makers thought they would be. it's not quite overly-clever, but does nudge up to that line many times. didn't really feel like what i would call an A24 film, but here we are. it was fine.

Spirited - everything about this will ferrell / ryan reynolds co-op was great, except for all the singing, which was everything.

The Making Of 1899 - fascinating look behind the scenes of a massive production battling with covid restrictions and state of the art effects tools.

re-adding this after splitting Ancient Apocalypse into its own thread

Re: Recent movie/TV playlist [titles without stand-alone thread]

1440
The Peripheral - wasn't sure what this was, as i haven't read the William Gibson source material, but i ended up really liking this. it's pretty hard sci-fi/time travel-ish in subject but execution is sort of cyberpunk-ish. it's quite good and well worth your time. plus it has the guy who played Jack Parsons in Strange Angel, which is nice. i can't even get into what it's about without spoiling things in some way. just trust me, you should check it out.