I almost threw my computer against the wall after finishing Altered Carbon yesterday. Poor Anthony Mackie - he deserves a lot more than that sh*t. He's Falcon and Captain America for god's sake! 

 

But then I started Westworld and my mood resolved. So far so good! And when I finish that, it's time to FINALLY start the Wire. 

 

I've given up on so many Netflix series during this quarantine: Stranger Things, Ozark, Sex Education, Kim's Convenience Store... I think there's something wrong with my brain. I always seem to enjoy the first seasons but then get bored with them. Frankly the only Netflix series I'm really excited about is F is for Family season 4. 

 

And I'm just dreading season 2 of House on Haunted Hill... but I'll give it a shot. Btw, the final episode of season 1 was the sh*tttttttts.

Ozark season 3 is fantastic.  Do NOT give up on that.  Stranger Things is what it is.  And not feelin' Westworld this season...too much Delores, not enough Maeve.

You've convinced me on Ozark.

18 minutes ago, TBideon said:

You've convinced me on Ozark.

 

It does start slow, but stick with it.   

The series finale of The Magicians was a week ago and did not disappoint.  Sorry to know it was the series finale but I'm not surprised, and in fact I'm impressed the show lasted as long as it did--it had to have been ridiculously expensive to produce based on the size of the primary cast.

 

The season 3 finale was the low point of the series for me, the season 4 finale was the high point, and the season 5/series finale was definitely worth sticking around for, though the season itself was a little bit of a rush and some of the villains were a little more forgettable.

4 minutes ago, Gramarye said:

The series finale of The Magicians was a week ago and did not disappoint.  Sorry to know it was the series finale but I'm not surprised, and in fact I'm impressed the show lasted as long as it did--it had to have been ridiculously expensive to produce based on the size of the primary cast.

 

The season 3 finale was the low point of the series for me, the season 4 finale was the high point, and the season 5/series finale was definitely worth sticking around for, though the season itself was a little bit of a rush and some of the villains were a little more forgettable.

 

We are some 4 seasons behind.  But glad to hear it keeps getting better (minus S4 finale you say)!

3 minutes ago, Gramarye said:

The series finale of The Magicians was a week ago and did not disappoint.  Sorry to know it was the series finale but I'm not surprised, and in fact I'm impressed the show lasted as long as it did--it had to have been ridiculously expensive to produce based on the size of the primary cast.

 

The season 3 finale was the low point of the series for me, the season 4 finale was the high point, and the season 5/series finale was definitely worth sticking around for, though the season itself was a little bit of a rush and some of the villains were a little more forgettable.

 

Agreed, though I was disappointed they didn't bring back Quentin for a farewell while they were in the Underworld.  And of course, more Marina would've been nice but bat-isht crazy Dean Fogg was amazing.

On 1/15/2020 at 7:57 PM, Mildtraumatic said:

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: I'm a big Quentin Tarantino fan but this might be my least favorite film of his. Not saying it was bad but the movie definitely needed not to be so long. If they cut about 30 minutes off it would have been better but still not impressed with it. The plot seemed a little weak and halfway through asked my girlfriend what time it was.⭐⭐

 

 

a lot of people say that, but imo might have missed the reference, which i think is supposed to be in the style of those cheap old pointless drive in make out movies like the van or van nuys blvd.

 

personally, i could not get enough of it. i wished it had another hour of pitt and dicaprio driving around el lay, doing nothing and having adventures. lol.

 

i could have done without tarantino’s foot fetish and the goofball over the top ending, but again you know its going to be old exploitation movie styled, so those scenes would authentically fit that ethic.

 

i can understand people not caring at all for it though.

Two quick observations.

 

Ozark: The recap really made me aware I've forgotten more than I remember of seasons one and two. Also, holy cow those two boys grew up in between seasons. 

 

Westworld: McBoyle as one of the protagonists? Sounds good to me.

 

Also, Green Room was okay, watchable, but definitely a bit overrated considering all of those hyper positive reviews.

Spending the weekend watching this:  Apollo 13 in real time

50 years ago today was the launch.

we just started Hunters. It seems good so far although we are just one episode in.

Escapist viewing:  Amazon Prime's offering of "Il commissario Manara" in Italian with subtitles.  Pretty people; beautiful settings; clever, quippy dialog; and a good crime to be solved in each episode.

 

It helps if you know a little Italian; the dialog is fast which makes reading the subtitles a bit of a problem at times.

Edited April 16, 20205 yr by Dougal
corrected spelling

On 4/8/2020 at 2:10 PM, Cleburger said:

 

It does start slow, but stick with it.   

Eight episodes in. While I don't remember season 2 that well, I can't believe it was as interesting and watchable as season 3. Laura Linney, the attorney, Ruth, and Ben steal the show.  In particular Ben's introduction was epic.

Just started The Wire since HBO is offering it for free in April. Hope I can knock out most of the series before they put it back behind the paywall

49 minutes ago, TBideon said:

Eight episodes in. While I don't remember season 2 that well, I can't believe it was as interesting and watchable as season 3. Laura Linney, the attorney, Ruth, and Ben steal the show.  In particular Ben's introduction was epic.

 

Oh, season 3 of Ozark is the best.  Without question.

51 minutes ago, TBideon said:

In particular Ben's introduction was epic.

 

We all have that fantasy of destroying phones! ?

I should have written this in my Ozark post earlier. The kid who plays Wyatt is phenomenal. If there were to be a spin-off, he'd be a logical choice to lead. Plus it's not like he did all that much this season (though he was fantastic in the scaled down role). Season 4 would survive without him.

Edited April 16, 20205 yr by TBideon

On episode 5 of The Expanse. Oh yeah, this show is cool.

Watched the first three episodes of "Mrs. America" yesterday on Hulu about the Equal Rights Amendment, early 1970s women's movement. Phenomenal cast, and so far two mentions of Toledo! 

Edited April 22, 20205 yr by westerninterloper

Just finished episode 10 season 3 of the Expanse. Holy sh*t why aren't more people talking about this show.

19 minutes ago, TBideon said:

Just finished episode 10 season 3 of the Expanse. Holy sh*t why aren't more people talking about this show.

Great show. Finally convinced my brother to watch it. He’s loving it. 

Almost finished with Hunters.  It's Inglourious Basterds meets The Boys.  Glad to see a couple of Ohio actors shining but otherwise, meh.

Oh, and Westworld?  Ugh.  Enough with Delores.  And if they EVEN think of getting rid of Maeve, I'll ??? this forum down!

 

13 hours ago, Sir2geez said:

Great show. Finally convinced my brother to watch it. He’s loving it. 

The Martian marine really stand outs. There's your live-action She-Hulk lead if Marvel ever makes the movie.

 

I've also had Cheers in the background (Jesus wept, I'm on season 10). It's the perfect brown noise tv show., and Norm/Woody/Carla are pretty funny. But my GOD is Kirstie Alley unbearable. The character, the actress, her voice - she's just painful. 

 

Dead to Me season 2 hasn't missed a beat.

 

Extras is just hilarious too, especially when Gervais and Jensen legit break character and laugh. It's a little like Party Down surprisingly,

 

I gave up on Into the Night (booooooooooooooooooooring).

 

I think I'll give Dark another chance soon. Start from the beginning, subtitles this time.

Edited May 19, 20205 yr by TBideon

I marathoned Extras in only a few days and will be done with After Life tomorrow or Monday. Ricky Gervais does make magic.

 

Santa Clarita Diet is so f'ing GOOD! Are there other shows with that silly tone/style? 

Edited June 12, 20205 yr by TBideon

we watched troll hunter this week, the movie, not the show. it was pretty good and low key funny. best thing about it was the views of beautiful norway. free on the youtube.

1 hour ago, mrnyc said:

we watched troll hunter this week, the movie, not the show. it was pretty good and low key funny. best thing about it was the views of beautiful norway. free on the youtube.

 

Funny I was just thinking about that movie yesterday. 

Troll Hunter is incredible.

 

Hell House LLC is pretty good. I know what happens in the sequels but am not all that interested.

 

Houses October Built was DOGsh*t. I just don't understand the appeal.

 

Savageland was boring, and I turned it off.

 

I'm watching Veronica tonight (or possibly tomorrow). Have heard good things.

 

Grave Encounters is still one of my favorites; the similar Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum was very watchable, but not as good as I've heard.

 

Lake Mungo started off slow but really picked up.

 

...as you can tell, I've been on a found footage kick lately.

Hereditary was so depressing I turned it off. For all of its acclaim I found it ugly and unpleasant to watch; perhaps you need to be in the right mood. I'm still a fan of Midsummer so I'll give Hereditary another shot sometime time.

 

This weekend I'm going to try Doom Patrol.

 

Big thumbs up for Butterfly Kisses. It's a fake documentary about a filmmaker putting together discovered documentary tapes to form a found footage film. You watch him promote his literally found footage film as well as the film itself. In both cases things start to go haywire, and the events parallel somewhat. 

 

It wasn't particularly scary but the premise quite clever and very self-referential. And the guy who played the filmmaker was incredible. The radio scene was something else, very realistic and uncomfortable.

i binged the whole two seasons of ajin on netflix. its a japanese anime series from the oughties. 

it had a very interesting premise, about 100 people born around the world who can almost live forever. you kill them they just pop back to life. of course these ‘ajin’ are seen as not human and are hunted, examined, tortured. it really explores the topic of what that would be like for them and for the world well. also, they can summon a kind of alien ghost when they get emotional, which they do not have a lot of control over, which was a kind of cool aside and i have to say these beings looked very stylish.

it got bogged down by a rather boring terror plot that ran over most of the latter episodes, and some not very inventive stock characters i did not like watching, such as this chain smoking nutty genius guy for example, or the head terror guy mr sato, who i did not care for, but anyway, its well done, great to look at and worth a watch if you want to take a dive into some of that ever popular anime to see what that is all about.

I just got 3 free months of HBO Max. Are there any good HBO series worth binging on before my  3 months is up?

4 hours ago, freefourur said:

I just got 3 free months of HBO Max. Are there any good HBO series worth binging on before my  3 months is up?

 

Is...this...a...serious...question?

 

A network that brought you The Wire, The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, Watchmen, Veep, etc?

Wrapping up the second season of 'What We Do In The Shadows' (FX via Hulu). It is very good. The 2015 movie that inspired it is available to stream from your local library if they partner with Hoopla.

12 hours ago, freefourur said:

I just got 3 free months of HBO Max. Are there any good HBO series worth binging on before my  3 months is up?

 

How did you get 3 months?? lol

 

Chernobyl recently was really good, in addition to the ones ColDayMan laid out.  I'd hesitate a bit on GoT since it's so many seasons, not current, and the ending was...eh, controversial.

Other ones we've liked/have been recommended to us:

-The Leftovers

-McMillions

-Westworld

-True Detective

-Sharp Objects

-Deadwood

-Succession

I have internet and tv service through att and they offered 3 months free. I just have to remember to cancel it on September. 

 

I might pick one or two shows but I dont want get sucked into a paid subscription. 

I'm enjoying Hannibal but my god are some of the characters frustratingly dumb. And enough with the Silence of the Lambs references. Some are so on the nose you just roll your eyes.

 

The prison/asylum doctor is my favorite character. Maybe the show should have revolved around him.

Thanks to YouTube I've been watching old episodes and clips of Another World. I forgot how brutal Frankie's death was. 

On 6/26/2020 at 8:42 AM, TBideon said:

I'm enjoying Hannibal but my god are some of the characters frustratingly dumb.

 

Hahaha Lawrence Fishburn!

 

I finally have all the missing pieces that can finally point us to the real killer...I'd better run all these sensitive case files by Hannibal before I file my report. I should also make sure he knows everything I'm going to do, ever. He's so amazing and seems to know everything about every single murder.

Also, if you're dating, colleagues. friends or just an associate with a strange due who is (1) OPENLY rumored to be a cannibal and (2) puts together these incredibly exotic and complex meat dishes, maybe, maybe, MAYBE you should just stick with salad.

 

Question about Walking Dead (almost done with season 4): Do bullets and drinkable water just... show up randomly every morning? 

Edited July 10, 20204 yr by TBideon

Via Indiewire: "Stream of the Day: Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Raiders’ Sees Indiana Jones in a New Light"

 

http://extension765.com/soderblogh/18-raiders

 

 

 

On 4/29/2020 at 9:49 PM, TBideon said:

Just finished episode 10 season 3 of the Expanse. Holy sh*t why aren't more people talking about this show.

 

And the books are better.  Highly recommend.

 

Lucifer is a pretty watchable show. Very light, basically Castle 2.0.

 

I will say, "Off the Record" in season 3 was exceptional, the ending in particular. 

I know I'm late and all but FX's What We Do in the Shadows is awesome.

 

And so far, HBO's Lovecraft Country is fascinating. 

5 minutes ago, ColDayMan said:

I know I'm late and all but FX's What We Do in the Shadows is awesome.

 

If you haven't seen it, the movie it's based on (starring Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords) is also hilarious.

Yeah, I was going to check it out after I watch season 3.

On ‎6‎/‎23‎/‎2020 at 8:06 PM, freefourur said:

I just got 3 free months of HBO Max. Are there any good HBO series worth binging on before my  3 months is up?

 

I just bought a new Mac computer and so got a free year of Apple +.  The only thing I've watched so far is the Beatie Boys Ted Talk.  

 

The new programming looks pretty threadbare at the moment but I did find two curiosities:

 

1. Not one but 27 of 33 seasons of Shark Week.  Yes, they have Shark Week specials going back to 2003 or so, which was Season 6.  I mean, who know Shark Week started back in, like, 1997?  And what happened to the first six seasons?  

 

2. Season 1 of MTV's Real World.  Yes, the very first reality show of all-time, the one shot in a NYC loft right down the street from MTV's studios.  It appears to be just 8 or 9 episodes...I seem to remember it being 20 episodes or more.  Basically the only character I can recall was the girl from Alabama.  

 

They also have Season 2 Los Angeles and the greatest of them all, Season 3 San Francisco also known as Puck vs. Pedro.  I remember watching some of Season 4 London when it came out...the highlight being the guy getting his tongue bitten off in a bar and the dude from St. Louis who was pissed about ranch dressing.  

I've been marathoning all of the Dankmus videos on youtube. Very funny and reminiscent of autotune the news.

 

 

 

I was up until 2 in the morning watching all of season 1 of Cobra Kai. I've got to split up season 2 this weekend; I'm too old to be marathoning shows like that.

 

It's so good. Cartoonish. A parallel reality. So much craziness about a little karate studio in the Valley. 

 

And with all that, there's still an interesting storyline about fathers. 

 

The kid with the mohawk steals the show. He's probably the best actor on the show, or maybe just has the best character arc, despite being a side character.

 

 

And I just finished season two. Holy sh*t is this show amazing. Stingray is one of the funniest characters on tv, and the episode 10 fight was fantastic. Season three in January!!

Edited October 3, 20204 yr by TBideon

I watched one of the most twisted, mentally disturbed films a couple nights ago. It made me almost cry but at the same time laugh hysterically from how outrageous and messed up it was- plus the Canadian humor in it. They say hell is worse than anything the human mind could imagine. This is worse than anything I could imagine, losing your humanity.

"TUSK" (2014), viewer beware..