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

O-dot

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

1541 by O-dot

TC wrote: 20/07/23, 07:28:21
TC wrote: 05/07/23, 09:35:18

wrapped s2 over the weekend, taking a break from it before starting s3. it was again, fine? just like s1. some good drama surrounding a police procedural. michael k. williams is fucking fantastic in this (and really, his role is comic relief somehow, even though he's a mass murderer), but is very under-used. idris elba is also really good, and is heavily featured this season as someone trying to game the game. the dockworkers union and working-class folks struggling when a dock is losing work is really the centerpiece here, and what they do to try to make ends meet. funniest part of this season is the idea that GPS/software is new (it was 2003). cops are blown away when someone "knows computers" and seeing GPS work is magic to them. there are still guys using palm pilots in this season. that's pretty amusing. i think every major problem faced in this season could have been handled from a desk today. anyway, like i said, it's fine. good cop drama. nothing special. if they used williams' Omar more, might be better, but i could also see his shtick getting worn out. three more seasons to go.
finished s3. damn omar is awesome. after building the conflict between avon and stringer all season, that was a pretty climactic ending. damn. and amazing to see littlefinger star in this season. i assume he'll also be in next season, based on the storyline. if i had seen this prior to game of thrones, i probably would have freaked out to see him appear as littlefinger. that dude is such a good actor. he was great as alan hynek too. anyway, great season. the ideas colvin had for a "drug safe zone" were ahead of their time, as many cities now actually do that. and tyrese from walking dead featured heavily in this season as well, who's also great. so far this was peak series for me, curious to see where it goes next.

Some people pick s4 as the highlight. I recall s5 as somewhat wobbly but it ends strong.

This is a snakeskin jacket. And for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.

20/07/23, 08:52:16

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

1542 by TC

The Wave - (original Norwegian title Bølgen). As far as disaster movies go, this was pretty damn good. This isn’t an over-the-top cheesefest from Roland Emerich, but it also doesn’t have the budget of Emerich, either. In this case, that’s a good thing. The titular wave is only really in the film briefly and is clearly CGI, but it doesn’t really matter. Tense film written about a real thing that happened (and will happen again) near a village on a Norwegian fjord where a rock slide caused a massive tsunami, flooding the village and killing several people. Essentially half the mountain slides off. While tsunamis don’t quite work the way the film depicts (I think we’ve all seen too much real video footage of tsunamis in real life over the last decade or so), again, doesn’t really matter. We get the idea. Things are accelerated and enhanced for film purposes. This film doesn’t pull any punches, either. Good cast, well written - no one-liners here, a taut enjoyable viewing. Jan from Lilyhammer is in it, if that means anything to you. The lead dude looks like a cross between Darryl from The Walking Dead and Jonathan from Stranger Things. Check it out.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves - followed up The Wave immediately with this, as I kept hearing good things about it, which seemed inexplicable to me, having seen the trailer

, so I checked it out. It was fine, at best? Super cheesy. If you can’t get enough of Chris Pine with a massive ego, virtually winking at the camera all the time, you’ll love this. His character’s charisma is off the charts, which I guess is the point. Everyone is a pretty clear class of character with certain traits dialed up to 11. It’s mildly amusing at best. It’s not like they break the 4th wall and acknowledge that they are playing a game or anything - we’re merely watching characters play out a campaign. Because we know it’s a D&D thing, all the shortcuts to writing, etc., are meant to be excused as not really important or part of the game. Convenient at times for the filmmakers, I’m sure. There was a cameo of sorts, when there is another group of characters in a sequence, kind of in the background but you can still make them out, that were all dressed exactly like the group of characters from the D&D cartoon, which I did smile and chuckle at. Nice little nod to many of us - I guess we’re supposed to be that target audience. As someone who played D&D and watched the cartoon religiously (and owns it on DVD), and as someone who generally likes Pine’s work, this is not something I’d ever watch again. It’s really goofy, clumsy, and overly-long - all of which seem to be meant to be excused because of the construct, again, as those things are also true of some D&D campaigns. I get it. And Hugh Grant continuing his recent trend of being a villain does actually work pretty well. It’s just not really a film I need in my life. Don’t recommend.

23/07/23, 06:59:13

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

1543 by TC

The Crowded Room - interesting show, was entertaining, but goddamn do they really make the main character sympathetic when the reality of him was very much different. i get that it's "loosely based" on the true story, but come on. in the show, he didn't kill anyone, just bumbled an attempt, and was a broken human thanks to abuse. in reality, the guy murdered and raped several people over his entire lifetime, before, during, and after his time in the system. kind of a major difference. shrug and move on from this.

The Nice Guys - rewatched this last night. such a great film. wish they had committed to doing one of these every couple years. they could make these films forever and still be entertaining. it's been eight years, time to revisit these guys, no? come on hollywood, make it happen.

31/07/23, 07:09:08

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

1544 by TC

TC wrote: 02/02/23, 13:12:05 The Righteous Gemstones - had some friends tell me this show was great so we checked it out. it is quite hilarious. finished the second season last night, and i guess the third season starts later this month. very anxious for it. danny mcbride and his whole shtick can get old fast for me, but this works great as it's an ensemble cast with a lot of different things happening. his character fits in perfectly. so much cringey humor in this show that is pitch-perfect. if you're looking for some disposable trashy TV comedy, this is for you.

season 3 was bigger in scope and had some pretty great highs. cast additions for this arc were welcome and quite amusing. it just looks like they have such a blast making this show. good luck not having that "Redeemer" theme song stuck in your head forever.

01/08/23, 09:52:21

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

1545 by TC

Hijack - AppleTV+ Idris Elba vehicle. extremely tense thriller, very well done. excellent case and writing. some holes here and there but overall an excellent show. they kept it taut at 7 episodes, which was the way to go. very much enjoyed this show, recommended.

02/08/23, 08:20:22

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

1546 by TC

O-dot wrote: 20/07/23, 08:52:16
TC wrote: 20/07/23, 07:28:21
finished s3. damn omar is awesome. after building the conflict between avon and stringer all season, that was a pretty climactic ending. damn. and amazing to see littlefinger star in this season. i assume he'll also be in next season, based on the storyline. if i had seen this prior to game of thrones, i probably would have freaked out to see him appear as littlefinger. that dude is such a good actor. he was great as alan hynek too. anyway, great season. the ideas colvin had for a "drug safe zone" were ahead of their time, as many cities now actually do that. and tyrese from walking dead featured heavily in this season as well, who's also great. so far this was peak series for me, curious to see where it goes next.
Some people pick s4 as the highlight. I recall s5 as somewhat wobbly but it ends strong.

s4 was indeed really good. really focused on the kids, which was a different angle, but i appreciated what they did with it. but...

i have three more episodes left in the final season, s5. it's been great, but man some of what's happening is venturing into cartoon land. like, so ridiculous it's ludicrous. but even so, it's been great so far. man i love omar, who is apparently a super hero now. i wonder if they knew this was their last season, or if they just "end" like deadwood. have to research that. would be nice to know that they knew so they could plan a path to an ending. as it is, i'm not sure how they wrap this up in three more hours...

07/08/23, 12:25:17

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

1547 by TC

99 Homes - this was a gap in my Michael Shannon filmography that i didn't know existed, but i saw this hit streaming, saw it also has Andrew Garfield and Laura Dern in it, so checked it out. it was a pretty damn good film, i was really enjoying it, until the end. man that ending is so fucking dumb that it undermines the rest of the film. came out of nowhere. i don't mean "out of nowhere" like The Enemy, but still, it was so odd. such a weird choice to do that at the end. so given that, can't really recommend this as a film, but if you want to see Michael Shannon chew scenery for a couple hours, it's well worth the watch. just don't expect it to have a good/satisfying ending.

The Whale - newest Aranofsky hit streaming, so checked it out. not sure what i expected, but this is yet another profoundly sad film from DA. guess i should have known - seems like that's all he can do. this one also again has religious under/overtones, continuing that through-line as well. i have seen the criticisms of this film and don't really "get" any that i've seen. seems like nit picking, just looking for something to be wrong. apparently the film is based on a play, which makes sense as 99% of it takes place in one room. i have to assume there were a few changes for film purposes that you wouldn't have seen on stage, like the full-body nude shots of Brandon Frasier's character. that is one of the criticisms i've seen - that excessive attention was paid to this, thus fetishizing the character. again, i don't get that - seems to me that DA was simply trying to make you understand what his life is like. it hit hard for me. also, choosing to present the film in 4:3 aspect ratio further emphasized the confined space, especially given the size of Frasier's character. anyway, i thought this was a really great film. again, extremely sad on several levels, but a very powerful viewing experience. i've decided i have no idea what DA is really trying to say with his filmography, and that's probably for the best. some awful shit happened to him in life, i have to assume, so i'm happy he's been able to turn that into a successful career and has become someone admired in the industry. i'll always be looking forward to what he does (other than Noah, which I didn't bother with). Frasier absolutely deserves all the accolades he got for this one. he really went for it.

07/08/23, 12:35:01

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

1548 by TC

TC wrote: 07/08/23, 12:25:17
O-dot wrote: 20/07/23, 08:52:16

Some people pick s4 as the highlight. I recall s5 as somewhat wobbly but it ends strong.
s4 was indeed really good. really focused on the kids, which was a different angle, but i appreciated what they did with it. but...
i was extremely bummed that bodie got executed. he was a great actor that really embodied the character and helped set the tone for the "street" side of the show. he was really coming into his own as a character and i was looking forward to where that was going, but NOPE. that was a massive bummer.

i have three more episodes left in the final season, s5. it's been great, but man some of what's happening is venturing into cartoon land. like, so ridiculous it's ludicrous. but even so, it's been great so far. man i love omar, who is apparently a super hero now. i wonder if they knew this was their last season, or if they just "end" like deadwood. have to research that. would be nice to know that they knew so they could plan a path to an ending. as it is, i'm not sure how they wrap this up in three more hours...

ok, those last three episodes clearly answered that question - they very obviously knew it was ending. the bad news is that being said, it did feel what must be pretty realistic. you never know when it's coming, it's never going to be cinematic, and there is no good ending for anyone in the life. unless your name is marlo, i guess. but the good news is that they really, really nailed the ending. that final episode - which was extended, but the season was still shorted 2h - was so fucking good. they "played the hits" by having nearly everyone make a final appearance, and it just felt joyful how they saw mcnulty out. must've been great to film. they really did go out on top.

while there are a ton of actors that went on to huge roles/hits, there are also a ton that i'm absolutely baffled i haven't seen more of in the last 15 years. so many great performances in this show. maybe it was enough for some people and they retired? i've done zero research, just the eye test, and i certainly don't watch everything or every genre, so maybe they have been working, but just feels like a lot of folks haven't hit the limelight like one might have expected them to after this run.

so yes, very glad i did finally watch this. it felt like it got better consistently season over season and ended extremely strong. all of that being said, i still don't really understand why sopranos always comes up in the same sentence. there's no comparison other than they were on the same network. well, there is another thing that occurred to me last night - seems like nearly every "adult" HBO show starts out going hard at the hard things like sex then by season 3 kind of filters all sex out of the show. this show did that, sopranos, game of thrones (maybe slightly later but still), etc. i don't really get why this is a thing but seems like it is. anyway, other than that, two completely different worlds, genres, tones, subject matter, style of acting, etc. both good in their own right. is the wire the summit of cop dramas on TV? could be argued, but there are at least others in the category. but sopranos is by far and away the best mafia/family/Family show ever, in the very least.

if you haven't seen the wire, you should. if you're not quite sure about it or very into it in the early seasons, just dig in and get through it. you'll be rewarded.

08/08/23, 14:06:13

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

1549 by TC

Yellowstone - i know i’ve heard people saying how great this show was for five years but i never did watch it. All the things i do watch are kind of mid-season right now and i usually wait until a season is over to watch things, so figured i’d start this. Very quickly went through season 1 entirely. Holy shit is this show good. Wish someone would have told me it isn’t just idle E! chatter and made me watch it earlier. Extremely well-acted and well-written all around, very tight show that jumps right it, doesn’t over explain anything. It’s also very dark and brutal. I think we were two episodes in by the time one of the main characters had murdered like four people, and he’s not supposed to be a serial killer. There is also some animal death, which I wish they wouldn’t have shown, but fair game I guess. Lots of sex and semi-nudity too. I guess this is Paramount’s Sopranos. Since I just finished the first of five seasons, I’m not going that far in my comparison, but it is certainly very good. Kevin Costner was made for this show. Oh, and I think Maynard Keenan must have blackmail on one of the producers or something - there are what seems like at least two different Puscifer songs per episode, weaved into the story in some way. Looking forward to the rest. Plus, I guess there are two spin-off series’ as well, both prequels. Should be fun.

13/08/23, 06:11:12

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

1550 by TC

Yellowstone continued - blazed through seasons 2 and 3, now mid-4. s2 was equally as good as 1. S3 was slightly different. Can’t really pinpoint the change, but the overall vibe felt way less dark. There was also way more humor injected, almost inadvertently. Not in a goofy, over-the-top way, but in a way that felt native to the characters. Like, this was probably always happening, just was off-camera before this season. It was welcome, only because I knew there was more. If I had been watching as it aired, I would probably have been bitching about how nothing was happening, the characters had become way more introspective, and the humor felt off. But in the big picture of hindsight, I enjoyed it. Then as s3 was nearing the end, the last couple episodes returned to the prior darkness, and ended, quite literally, with a bang. S4 picked up immediately where s3 left off, which was fucking great. I think the first 14 minutes of s4 was some of the most tense, most action-packed TV I’ve seen. Looking ahead, I see that there will be no “season 6”, but ala The Sopranos, there will be a “season 5 part 2”, which was scheduled to begin in November, but I assume will be pushed due to the strikes. It will be Kevin Costner’s last, but I read that the show will continue in some form with Matthew McConaughey in the lead role, which is very interesting. Anyway, s4 is a return to very dark times for the Yellowstone ranch. Absolutely fantastic show, can’t state it enough.

19/08/23, 17:19:03

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

1551 by TC

Pontypool - I had heard this under-seen film from 2008-2009 was good but had never watched it. It recently returned to a streaming service I have so I checked it out. It is good, just extremely weird. It’s hard to explain what it is exactly. Reading up on it post-viewing, the film was adapted from a book, which was itself adapted from a radio show. The film takes place almost entirely in a radio studio. Best to go in knowing as little as possible, but I’ll say this - it’s kind of like that thing where maybe you’re really high and you are talking and you end up focusing on a word, saying it over and over to the point where the word no longer has any meaning. That, but contagious, and makes people zombies. It’s really fascinating, because most of the “action” takes place offscreen while you experience what’s happening through the radio show staff in real time. It does have some hokey moments near the end, but overall really well done and an extremely interesting idea. I understand the film differs quite a bit from the book, if that makes any difference to you. But I do recommend checking it out. Don’t know that it warrants repeat viewings, but it is good and something you should see, as a film buff.

19/08/23, 17:23:34

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

1552 by TC

TC wrote: 19/08/23, 17:19:03 Yellowstone continued - blazed through seasons 2 and 3, now mid-4. s2 was equally as good as 1. S3 was slightly different. Can’t really pinpoint the change, but the overall vibe felt way less dark. There was also way more humor injected, almost inadvertently. Not in a goofy, over-the-top way, but in a way that felt native to the characters. Like, this was probably always happening, just was off-camera before this season. It was welcome, only because I knew there was more. If I had been watching as it aired, I would probably have been bitching about how nothing was happening, the characters had become way more introspective, and the humor felt off. But in the big picture of hindsight, I enjoyed it. Then as s3 was nearing the end, the last couple episodes returned to the prior darkness, and ended, quite literally, with a bang. S4 picked up immediately where s3 left off, which was fucking great. I think the first 14 minutes of s4 was some of the most tense, most action-packed TV I’ve seen. Looking ahead, I see that there will be no “season 6”, but ala The Sopranos, there will be a “season 5 part 2”, which was scheduled to begin in November, but I assume will be pushed due to the strikes. It will be Kevin Costner’s last, but I read that the show will continue in some form with Matthew McConaughey in the lead role, which is very interesting. Anyway, s4 is a return to very dark times for the Yellowstone ranch. Absolutely fantastic show, can’t state it enough.

so finished s4 and s5 part 1. the toward the back half of s4, several characters started getting more dumb. s5 has many characters exhibiting extremely stupid behavior, antithetical to how they behaved previously. it was quite frustrating. beth, for example, when from aggressively shrewd to willfully stupid. jaime is just a cartoon character at this point. kayce seems to only be there to... actually, i'm not sure why kayce is in the show anymore, as it seems like the writers have completely forgotten he exists. the only reason his family is in the show is to have john interact with monica. speaking of john, his relationship with the eco-warrior is retarded. i had had enough of her last season, but at least she served a purpose in beth's grand plan, but goddamn is that side plot dumb in s5. i've had way more than enough of her. she exists to spoon feed everyone the cowboy take on vegans, i guess. WE GET IT. also, it should be said - Maynard's involvement ended with s1. they completely bailed on that take on music and went to straight country. it kind of existed in the background and transitions through prior seasons, but in s5, there are multiple - MULTIPLE - full set pieces, full songs, of hardcore country just to show montana scenery. it's become pretty brutal to deal with. again, WE GET IT. i don't know what happened between s3 and s5, but man does the first part of s5 seem pretty lazy. yes, some big confrontations are coming, but again, only because the main characters are suddenly dumb. hopefully they can recover some greatness in the back half/finale. to be clear - while all of these are valid points and annoying, it is still an engaging show and i still recommend watching it, just plan on getting a little frustrated with what's happening in the last 10-12 episodes.

1883 - we started 1883, and it's about as bleak as expected. life back then was obviously difficult, and this show doesn't pull any punches so far (i'm three episodes in). the POV is fluid - parts of it seem to be taken from the daughter's diary (or later rewriting) with her narrating, while other portions of the show clearly take place out of her visibility/knowledge, so more typical of shows. regardless, it's really good so far, while being grim. one minor complaint - the prices for things are absolutely insane. in deadwood, it was what, ten cents per shot of whiskey? that makes sense. here, it's $10/night to store your wagon, or $20/night with someone watching. i did the research - $1 in 1883 equates to about $30-$31 in today's money. who the fuck in 1883 is walking around with $600 to park a wagon? then they offer cowboys $100/month to ride with them from Ft Worth to Oregon. $3k/mo seems like a reasonable rate i guess? but just everyone has insane costs here that don't seem realistic. other minor observation - i love sam elliott. he's a treasure. but every time you get a far shot of him walking, it just looks like even walking hurts him at this point. maybe that tracks with his character, but man it is just kind of sad to see. anyway, good show so far.

28/08/23, 09:44:10

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

1553 by TC

Sharks Of The Corn - my son told me about this film. i had never heard of it, but he told me it's so bad that i needed to watch it. looked it up and it's a new(ish) film from Tim Ritter, the person responsible for '80s classic Truth Or Dare: A Critical Madness, which I love, so I checked it out. it's absolutely insane how incredibly, aggressively bad this film is. you have to watch it through the lens of "what if Neil Breen made a horror film" - if you do that, it's pretty goddamn funny. but even that joke starts running long about 30-45 min into this. still stuck with it just to see where this insanity was going. the payoff was not worth it. if you are looking for something in this vein, i have to say you should at least start watching this just to experience what this is. audio is all over the place, changes from day to night and back mid-scene, some "night" shots are clearly just blue filter while some are actual night and waaaay over-lit, there are walkie-talkie conversations that happen with characters 10 feet apart (and both visible on screen), invisible blow-darts, gratuitous Stonehenge shots, dime store vin deisel... i could go on and on. it's something to see. i haven't seen a Tim Ritter film since the aforementioned Truth Or Dare, so not sure how that guy got to this point, but wow. i think the advent of at-home post-production like digital effects did not do him any favors. he was way better when he had to make things happen in camera or not at all.

28/08/23, 09:50:21

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

1554 by TC

A Dark Song - my friend told me to watch this one, so I checked it out. it's essentially about a woman who decides she's going to pursue the Abramelin operation, which is a very real magickal ritual. while i wasn't thrilled with the ending, the film itself is good and a very grounded in reality portrayal of ritual magick. like i said, the ending kind of goes off the rails, but it's worth a watch i think. after seeing it, i did a bit of research, and saw that someone has released a book called "Conjuring Demons for Pleasure and Profit: An Abramelin Memoir" wherein they decided to take the opportunity of being locked down during Covid to undertake the self-same ritual and detail their full experiences. completely unrelated to this film, but that's a book i really want to read. last time anyone was published attempting to do so was Crowley, if i'm not mistaken. anyway, the film is essentially just two people the entire time, and both performances are fantastic, so worth checking out if just for that, even if you know nothing about magick.

28/08/23, 13:54:49

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

1555 by TC

TC wrote: 28/08/23, 09:44:10
TC wrote: 19/08/23, 17:19:03 Yellowstone continued - blazed through seasons 2 and 3, now mid-4. s2 was equally as good as 1. S3 was slightly different. Can’t really pinpoint the change, but the overall vibe felt way less dark. There was also way more humor injected, almost inadvertently. Not in a goofy, over-the-top way, but in a way that felt native to the characters. Like, this was probably always happening, just was off-camera before this season. It was welcome, only because I knew there was more. If I had been watching as it aired, I would probably have been bitching about how nothing was happening, the characters had become way more introspective, and the humor felt off. But in the big picture of hindsight, I enjoyed it. Then as s3 was nearing the end, the last couple episodes returned to the prior darkness, and ended, quite literally, with a bang. S4 picked up immediately where s3 left off, which was fucking great. I think the first 14 minutes of s4 was some of the most tense, most action-packed TV I’ve seen. Looking ahead, I see that there will be no “season 6”, but ala The Sopranos, there will be a “season 5 part 2”, which was scheduled to begin in November, but I assume will be pushed due to the strikes. It will be Kevin Costner’s last, but I read that the show will continue in some form with Matthew McConaughey in the lead role, which is very interesting. Anyway, s4 is a return to very dark times for the Yellowstone ranch. Absolutely fantastic show, can’t state it enough.
so finished s4 and s5 part 1. the toward the back half of s4, several characters started getting more dumb. s5 has many characters exhibiting extremely stupid behavior, antithetical to how they behaved previously. it was quite frustrating. beth, for example, when from aggressively shrewd to willfully stupid. jaime is just a cartoon character at this point. kayce seems to only be there to... actually, i'm not sure why kayce is in the show anymore, as it seems like the writers have completely forgotten he exists. the only reason his family is in the show is to have john interact with monica. speaking of john, his relationship with the eco-warrior is retarded. i had had enough of her last season, but at least she served a purpose in beth's grand plan, but goddamn is that side plot dumb in s5. i've had way more than enough of her. she exists to spoon feed everyone the cowboy take on vegans, i guess. WE GET IT. also, it should be said - Maynard's involvement ended with s1. they completely bailed on that take on music and went to straight country. it kind of existed in the background and transitions through prior seasons, but in s5, there are multiple - MULTIPLE - full set pieces, full songs, of hardcore country just to show montana scenery. it's become pretty brutal to deal with. again, WE GET IT. i don't know what happened between s3 and s5, but man does the first part of s5 seem pretty lazy. yes, some big confrontations are coming, but again, only because the main characters are suddenly dumb. hopefully they can recover some greatness in the back half/finale. to be clear - while all of these are valid points and annoying, it is still an engaging show and i still recommend watching it, just plan on getting a little frustrated with what's happening in the last 10-12 episodes.

1883 - we started 1883, and it's about as bleak as expected. life back then was obviously difficult, and this show doesn't pull any punches so far (i'm three episodes in). the POV is fluid - parts of it seem to be taken from the daughter's diary (or later rewriting) with her narrating, while other portions of the show clearly take place out of her visibility/knowledge, so more typical of shows. regardless, it's really good so far, while being grim. one minor complaint - the prices for things are absolutely insane. in deadwood, it was what, ten cents per shot of whiskey? that makes sense. here, it's $10/night to store your wagon, or $20/night with someone watching. i did the research - $1 in 1883 equates to about $30-$31 in today's money. who the fuck in 1883 is walking around with $600 to park a wagon? then they offer cowboys $100/month to ride with them from Ft Worth to Oregon. $3k/mo seems like a reasonable rate i guess? but just everyone has insane costs here that don't seem realistic. other minor observation - i love sam elliott. he's a treasure. but every time you get a far shot of him walking, it just looks like even walking hurts him at this point. maybe that tracks with his character, but man it is just kind of sad to see. anyway, good show so far.

so we finished 1883. it was very bleak as i've already said. it really didn't let up. i guess the ending is as happy as it could have possibly been, and that's not saying much. it was a really good show. i probably enjoyed it more than the last season or so of Yellowstone, but it's close. so hungry for more, we went directly into...

1923 - the voice over remains, and tells us that 10-11 years after the family arrived and buried her, her father died. her mother wrote to her uncle and begged them to come help her, which they did. that is harrison ford and helen mirren. so here we are, 40 years later, and the '20s are happening. country is still reeling from WWI, prohibition's shadow lurks, motor cars and horses share the road, forced "re-education" of native children is happening - that's the backdrop for what we're dealing with here. so yeah, some dark shit happening here as well. as i said in the Indy thread, harrison just isn't great here. at all. on the plus side, while he's the paternal and "leader" Dutton, he really isn't in this show heavily (for a couple different reasons i won't mention as they're spoilery). we spend a lot of time with native folks, which is a good thing here. we spend a great deal more time with one of his sons, Spencer, who apparently went on some soul searching quest after he got back from the war and ended up a hunter for hire in Africa. his aunt and uncle write him, begging him to come home and fight their war now, which he does. so we follow him from the middle of nowhere Africa as he tries to get back to the states. a crazy, insane journey. so overall, it's once again another great Taylor Sheridan creation. that guy is a fucking genius. whoever decided to encourage him to start writing his story, which turned into this universe, should be honored. left us with quite a cliffhanger ending - a couple of them actually - and i guess this one is getting another season. who knows when it will start, what with the strikes, but it's coming. i will also say that helen mirren is fantastic in this show. she's still got it and is giving her all here.

04/09/23, 22:49:03

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

1556 by TC

The Pope's Exorcist - this is not nearly as bad as you may have heard. really, i thought Crowe was great here. it's a role that fits him where he is these days just fine. it was fully of tension and good build up, although the ending went kind of bonkers off the rails. still entertaining. the fact that it's even loosely based on true stories and a real person is insane. anyway, it's worth a watch i think, if you're remotely interested in it. it's not at all something i'd call terrible. it was an enjoyable take on the genre.

04/09/23, 22:54:59

Re: Recent movie/TV playlist

1557 by TC

TC wrote: 20/07/22, 08:47:40 Dark Winds - AMC show, only six episodes, basically a cop show except on a reservation. started out very interesting, but quickly completely abandoned any spiritual elements and became a pretty standard cop mystery. if you think about the things they set up early on, there are so many threads left hanging that just never get addressed again. kind of disappointing in that sense, but it was enjoyable, up until the end, which was pretty much as expected.

Dark Winds s2 - pretty much the same review as s1, except they never attempted spiritual elements. what they did attempt is to work in other native issues, like forced sterilization and taking of land, etc. ate some time on these side plots while ignoring the main plot. there were some nice set ups once again by the end of e5, but when e6 starts, it seems many of the hanging threads were resolved off screen and we get an epilogue episode that wasn't really earned. so once again, great cast, good ideas, looks beautiful, but the writing just does a big disservice here. i like the idea of the show better than the show. wish they would spend more time on it before filming.

12/09/23, 11:25:22

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

1558 by TC

Twisted Metal - caveat up front: i didn't play the game so can't comment on that. but saw the cast for this and trailer that looked nuts so checked it out with low expectations. was very pleasantly surprised. a couple folks from Brooklyn 99 here as well as Falcon in the lead makes this quite amusing. Sweet Tooth is fantastic. the last episode is pure chaos, and as i understand it, pretty much like the game. some goofy moments throughout (meaning, unintentional goofy moments) but buttressed by some wild kill scenes and pure gallows humor. recommended for a quick, entertaining, throw-away viewing.

12/09/23, 11:29:41

Re: Recent movie/TV playlist

1559 by TC

TC wrote: 22/11/21, 11:33:41 Foundation - watched the first 6 episodes of this then took a long break to watch other things. it was just soooooo slow, sooooo full of setup with really not much happening. i have not read the source material, but reading the reviews online from people that worship the source material, seems some very extreme changes were made that are antithetical to the entire point of the source material. that being said, i did eventually come back to it and finished s1. the last few episodes paid off some of the extensive setup and building of the first few pretty nicely. don't know if it's getting a season 2, but i assume the rights were expensive and the production of this was very expensive, so i have to assume it will. without spoilers, i'll just say that a lot of the characters we were introduced to in the first half and a ton of time spent with them were ultimately non-consequential in the back half, making the first half seem even more draggy than it needed to be. it's like the first half wants to be star trek without any pesky action and very few characters you actually give a shit about, and the second half wants to be star wars. very kind of odd show. again i'll say they seemed to find their footing in the last few episodes, which were by far much more effective than the prior episodes, but i don't know that i can recommend this show to anyone that doesn't know the source material. and again, even so - it seems the show really betrays the source material, so i'm not sure who this show is for. shrug.

Ok, so season two of Foundation was fantastic! All that setup paid off with in a ton of ways. Yes, there are obvious Dune rip-offs that Isaac took, but he’s not alone in that, and once again, I have not read the source material so I’m assuming what is on screen here is in the books, but even so, it’s forgivable as the elements taken are kind of core space travel/sci-fi tropes at this point and I’ll go ahead and assume necessary for space travel in some capacity. Anyway, s2 really made me want to go back and re-watch s1, as I assume a lot of the setup would now make more sense. I plowed through s2 in just a few days and was wanting to keep watching the next episode. This is top-tier hard sci-fi for anyone into it. My advice - if you start s1 and find it to be slow and slogging, maybe even a bit of a chore, stick with it as s2 is great. Now I really can’t wait for s3. Huge setups here, and it certainly seems like s3 will wrap things up, even though it certainly wouldn’t have to. I could see these arcs going for maybe 5 seasons if they wanted to and took their time. So yeah, please watch so we continue to get great world building that pays off. Recommended!

16/09/23, 08:30:07

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

1560 by TC

Painkiller - this is the story of Purdue / the Sacklers / the Oxycontin opioid epidemic as told via Tik Tok. not sure we needed this docudrama (very very very heavy on the "drama"), but here it is. light on any factual information, heavy on "based on" things, invented/representative/compiled characters, and over-the-top to the point of fever dream scenes based on things that happened. it's moderately entertaining if you can get past all that, and of course it's absolutely infuriating, but also feels like an extremely reductive take on the horror that actually happened (and is still happening). turning the Sacklers into absolute clowns and the sales reps into total whores and evil villains is certainly one way to present this. i will say that fifth episode featuring the annual sales conference was a fucking wild, Jacob's Ladder-esque dream/drug sequence. but at the end of this, i'm just left feeling gross for having watched it. i don't know who needed this or who this was for. there are several actual documentaries about this topic that are far more impactful.

21/09/23, 08:15:50