ABz B👹anaz
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This country is (now less of) a shitshow.
Posts: 1,874
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Post by ABz B👹anaz on Mar 21, 2024 10:05:59 GMT -5
I started watching Brooklyn 99 now that it's on Netflix, and am really enjoying it. I get past the copaganda by just pretending it takes place in an alternate universe where NYPD isn't completely full of corrupt racist shitbags.
Short episodes also means I'm almost done with the first season already after like 5 days. I enjoy the dynamic of goof-offs who are actually good at their jobs when it's time to work.
Rosa Diaz is the best.
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Post by Nudeviking on Mar 22, 2024 3:16:31 GMT -5
I watched the first two episodes X-Men '97 and it's honestly kind of great. Some of the voices feel off but that's to be expected since they either got the original voice actors back now nearly 30 years older from when they last did the voice or replaced due to death or the original voice actress being like "It doesn't feel right for me to be playing a Chinese-American character as a white lady," but other than that and some real nitpicky stuff where people are using slang that did not really exist in 1997 I've got no complaints. Granted it's a Disney Plus jawn so I fully expect it to go off a cliff by episode 4 but the first two episodes have me more amped up for Marvel as a concept than anything Marvel's done in like 4 or 5 years. It somehow manages to keep the look and feel of the original Fox Kids X-Men cartoon but also feel modern. Folks can say kill now and Wolverine says "crap" and "damn" and clearly drinks beers all of which were verboten back in the day.
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Mar 22, 2024 9:11:05 GMT -5
I have never watched more than a couple minutes of the TV show 911, which is now on ABC and the lead-in to Grey's Anatomy. But every promo and short clip I've seen has indicated that you cannot possibly take this show seriously. Every disaster is just 1000% over the top. You thought Grey's Anatomy was unrealistic? Last night the end of the episode showed people trapped on a cruise ship that suddenly, out of absolutely nowhere, went full Poseidon Adventure and got turned upside down by a massive wave. Complete with one guy who had been injured strapped to a table so he's now hanging out (literally) up at the "top" of the ship. Just. Totally ridiculous.
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Post by Floyd D Barber on Mar 22, 2024 10:55:20 GMT -5
I have never watched more than a couple minutes of the TV show 911, which is now on ABC and the lead-in to Grey's Anatomy. But every promo and short clip I've seen has indicated that you cannot possibly take this show seriously. Every disaster is just 1000% over the top. You thought Grey's Anatomy was unrealistic? Last night the end of the episode showed people trapped on a cruise ship that suddenly, out of absolutely nowhere, went full Poseidon Adventure and got turned upside down by a massive wave. Complete with one guy who had been injured strapped to a table so he's now hanging out (literally) up at the "top" of the ship. Just. Totally ridiculous. They have cruise ships in Reno?
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Mar 22, 2024 11:13:56 GMT -5
I have never watched more than a couple minutes of the TV show 911, which is now on ABC and the lead-in to Grey's Anatomy. But every promo and short clip I've seen has indicated that you cannot possibly take this show seriously. Every disaster is just 1000% over the top. You thought Grey's Anatomy was unrealistic? Last night the end of the episode showed people trapped on a cruise ship that suddenly, out of absolutely nowhere, went full Poseidon Adventure and got turned upside down by a massive wave. Complete with one guy who had been injured strapped to a table so he's now hanging out (literally) up at the "top" of the ship. Just. Totally ridiculous. They have cruise ships in Reno? Took me a second, lol, but no, this is not Reno 911 I think it's set in LA? And is ostensibly a Serious Drama?
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Post by DangOlJimmyITellYouWhat on Mar 23, 2024 12:31:14 GMT -5
Got a free trial of AMC, started watching The Terror, and it’s… not landing for me. It’s right up my alley, early exploration disasters & all that, but I keep getting irritated by Franklin’s whole “clearly God wants us to be doing this so it’s gonna be totes fine” schtick,and some of the interactions between officers & crew are just so …idk feudal. Yes yes classism and period accuracy, and it always rankles to some degree, so maybe it’s just the performances/direction making it more grating than normal.
Also the characters are flat, the supernatural elements are utterly meh, and I have just fully realized that I really don’t like Ciaran Hinds.
Like, just fuck you guys. You have wooden boats and insufficient winter clothing you aren’t even wearing the right kind of hats and gloves it’s a miracle you survived this long. I do feel the way to some degree about the actual historical figures, to be honest. Whoo hoo exploration and all that, but yeah. It’s hard to dredge up sympathy for dudes arrogant enough to assume they can literally beat the Arctic. You can integrate with it for a bit if you’re careful, but head to head? It’s gonna win.
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repulsionist
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Post by repulsionist on Mar 24, 2024 16:00:48 GMT -5
Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind (2022)
Everything summarised in the reviews is true: perfect mixtape. Watching Killer sit, swerve, and stomp in front of every next victim microphone is utter joy. Hearing Jerry Lee succinctly state his eminence also a great pleasure. Highly recommended. Stands as the most likely format of the music documentary going forward. Said statement strongly validated by looking at the Executive Producer list for this feature.
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repulsionist
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Post by repulsionist on Mar 24, 2024 18:29:26 GMT -5
The Vince Staples Show (Episode 2)
With all the low-key, just another day in Long Beach staging and doings, I did not expect a hearty laugh to erupt from me for this episode's ending. Pure sitcom glory. Very well done.
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Mar 25, 2024 12:39:34 GMT -5
We've been enjoying The Great North as a worthy partner to Bob's Burgers (sadly there haven't been as many new Bob's this season) and last night's episode made me Feel things because the poor middle son (Ham) wanted his family to make a big deal out of his accomplishment but without him needing to TELL them...
and yeah, I felt that. Because I've always been the "it's all good" type and yet I secretly want people to fuss over me sometimes.
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Post by chalkdevil 😈 on Mar 25, 2024 15:17:13 GMT -5
I'm 4 episodes into this 3 Body Problem show is almost nearly hitting, but feels like it's just going to spin out into frustrating mystery box territory by the end of the season. Basic premise is that some of the rules of physics are starting to break down. Top scientists are killing themselves. And now it's up to a group of 30ish of the smartest young scientists who all live in London and went to school together to passively figure it. What does it have to do with the flashbacks to Maoist China? Could the young Chinese woman in the flashbacks be related to the older Asian woman we see in the current time line? I hope you want to spend a few episodes waiting for the reveal. Also there is some high tech VR game which is where all the intriguing images in the marketing come from.
Anyway, I haven't read the books. Always meant to. For some reason, from what I'd heard about the books, I thought it was supposed to be much more hard sci-fi than it is. I think the main problem is that I'm not really interested in the characters. Or most of the characters. I like Jack, as played by John Bradley from GoT. He's kind of the only one who stands out, even though he's pretty much just the rich, nerd cliché. Otherwise, the other characters are too boring or too pretty to be believable as the smartest people in the world. Like, I know it's not fair or whatever, but looking like one of the most beautiful people on the planet and also being a ground breaking scientist just strains credibility. I know, I know, it's TV or whatever but most of the rest of the cast skews closer to how regular humans look. The problem is none of them have real distinct character traits. One scientist is a mopey, white "nice guy." Another dude is a very attractive black dude with glasses. He does drugs and sleeps with random women. That's kind of it for his character. They have a driven, Asian woman scientist who seems to almost be something but also she's had the most to do so far. There's a few ringers in the cast, Johnathan Pryce is pretty great as always, but the young cast just doesn't deliver, but there's just enough mystery to keep pulling me along. Still, I don't have a lot of faith in the Game of Thrones show runners to pull this thing together.
I've been watching Shogun, too. That one's been pretty great. So far the only really bothersome thing is the lead actor. He's the "white samurai" trope. I know this is based on a book that probably started the trope, but, you know, the actor is kind of bothering me. I can't tell exactly what his character is supposed to be. He fluctuates wildly from reverent and observing of his Japanese hosts/captors to just comes roaring like Gerard Butler in 300 at any mild slight to his English sensibilities. I know, it's the 1700s and he's an Englishman, but like, I can't quite get a bead on what this character is supposed to be.
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Post by Desert Dweller on Mar 27, 2024 2:01:51 GMT -5
I have now watched all of the "audition" rounds of S18 of So You Think You Can Dance. This show is now not remotely what it was when it started. Like the entire premise has been changed.
My feeling that the audition episodes were all producer manipulated continued into episodes 3 and 4, where they actually chose the finalists. This all just smacked of "We know who we are picking, and what you are watching are pre-rehearsed bits". To a crazy degree.
So I finally googled for information about this. They have completely changed the format of the show. It is now much less a competition show and much more a reality show. This is like something you'd have seen 20 years ago on Bravo, where they find 10 young up-and-coming dancers, and put them into situations working dancers face, and see which ones can make it.
Alarmingly, the descriptions indicate that they are going to shoot behind-the-scenes "documentary-style" footage, that allows the viewers to see their living conditions and "relationships and personality clashes".
Sigh. I just want to watch dancing.
This all just really feels like some throwback cable reality show format now.
Alas. Seasons 2-4 were awesome and 5 and 6 were still great. Then they started changing the format, and it got worse and worse with each format change. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Mar 27, 2024 7:14:59 GMT -5
Alarmingly, the descriptions indicate that they are going to shoot behind-the-scenes "documentary-style" footage, that allows the viewers to see their living conditions and "relationships and personality clashes". Sigh. I just want to watch dancing. Ah, the ruin of nearly every reality competition show. I, too, just want to watch [whatever the show is about]-ing.
Amazingly, the only one of the old guard competition shows I still like, Top Chef, has managed to stick to the cooking for 21 seasons now (give or take Season 2). For all the others, on the off chance I watch one, it's gotta be streaming so I can fast forward past the life stories.
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Mar 27, 2024 7:25:06 GMT -5
Please forgive this sudden detour into blatant racism.
We've been watching the live action Avatar: The Last Airbender with the kids. We're busy, so we're only up through episode three. It's okay so far. I like it, but I've got my complaints. One of those complaints, beyond that they introduced some of these characters so early at all, is that Katara, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee look exactly the same.
I mean, they don't. If you look at them for more than a second in still frame they obviously don't, but in the language of a moving picture, they look the same. It's like casting Jessica Chastain and Bryce Dallas Howard to ever be on screen at the same time. You can tell which is which, of course, but they fill the same visual slot.
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Post by chalkdevil 😈 on Mar 27, 2024 8:56:06 GMT -5
Please forgive this sudden detour into blatant racism.
We've been watching the live action Avatar: The Last Airbender with the kids. We're busy, so we're only up through episode three. It's okay so far. I like it, but I've got my complaints. One of those complaints, beyond that they introduced some of these characters so early at all, is that Katara, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee look exactly the same.
I mean, they don't. If you look at them for more than a second in still frame they obviously don't, but in the language of a moving picture, they look the same. It's like casting Jessica Chastain and Bryce Dallas Howard to ever be on screen at the same time. You can tell which is which, of course, but they fill the same visual slot.
Somewhat related, I saw some praise for Christopher Nolan with Oppenheimer in his ability to cast distinct actors. There were just a lot of dark haired, white dudes in suits arguing about science in a movie that moved fast. Nolan was able, at least for me, to cast a lot of "that guy" actors which helped keep a lot of them separate (like Jack Quaid or Benny Safdie, or Rami Malek). It's like the animation thing where you want each character to have an easily recognizable silhouette. I did like how in the Airbender cartoon they assigned each of different nations a color. It was easy short hand for knowing where they were and who they were dealing with in a given episode. That said, I haven't watched the live action Airbender, yet. Not sure if I will. Seems like I could just re-watch the original than something where the highest praise I heard for it was "It was actually pretty good."
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Post by chalkdevil 😈 on Mar 27, 2024 9:04:48 GMT -5
I'm 4 episodes into this 3 Body Problem show is almost nearly hitting, but feels like it's just going to spin out into frustrating mystery box territory by the end of the season. Basic premise is that some of the rules of physics are starting to break down. Top scientists are killing themselves. And now it's up to a group of 30ish of the smartest young scientists who all live in London and went to school together to passively figure it. What does it have to do with the flashbacks to Maoist China? Could the young Chinese woman in the flashbacks be related to the older Asian woman we see in the current time line? I hope you want to spend a few episodes waiting for the reveal. Also there is some high tech VR game which is where all the intriguing images in the marketing come from. Anyway, I haven't read the books. Always meant to. For some reason, from what I'd heard about the books, I thought it was supposed to be much more hard sci-fi than it is. I think the main problem is that I'm not really interested in the characters. Or most of the characters. I like Jack, as played by John Bradley from GoT. He's kind of the only one who stands out, even though he's pretty much just the rich, nerd cliché. Otherwise, the other characters are too boring or too pretty to be believable as the smartest people in the world. Like, I know it's not fair or whatever, but looking like one of the most beautiful people on the planet and also being a ground breaking scientist just strains credibility. I know, I know, it's TV or whatever but most of the rest of the cast skews closer to how regular humans look. The problem is none of them have real distinct character traits. One scientist is a mopey, white "nice guy." Another dude is a very attractive black dude with glasses. He does drugs and sleeps with random women. That's kind of it for his character. They have a driven, Asian woman scientist who seems to almost be something but also she's had the most to do so far. There's a few ringers in the cast, Johnathan Pryce is pretty great as always, but the young cast just doesn't deliver, but there's just enough mystery to keep pulling me along. Still, I don't have a lot of faith in the Game of Thrones show runners to pull this thing together. Finished S1 of 3 Body Problem. Some of the characters got better once they were given time. The plot kind of went no where. The whole season felt like set up for season 2, which will be setup for season 3 - which will likely not happen because, you know, Netflix. The show did, however, remain somewhat intriguing and annoying, in your standard mystery box show way. Also, my complaint about the show as a whole, which is a similar complaint about Game of Thrones, was the compression of time. Nothing takes much time. Need to build and launch a brand new experimental rocket that goes 1% the speed of light? Sure, that'll take a couple months maybe. Weeks? Hell, could be. The scale of this thing should be on years. The ticking clock driving the plot is hundreds of years long. These things should feel like monumental achievement of humanity, not like, a quick project that just needed money thrown at it.
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Post by liebkartoffel on Mar 27, 2024 16:21:48 GMT -5
We've been tearing through Taskmaster NZ--watched the first couple of seasons on YouTube and then got so impatient for more that I just pirated the rest. It holds up quite well against the original. The NZ!Taskmaster himself isn't a comedian and isn't nearly as imposing or funny as Greg Davies (C pegged him as an "eyeglass model") but he gets the job done, and the show compensates by dialing back on the UK version's over-the-top devotion to the Taskmaster and his dictates. NZ!Alex, meanwhile, is a genuine delight and pretty effortlessly puts his own spin on Alex Horne's schtick. The tasks themselves maybe aren't quite as well thought through as the UK version's--more than a few tasks that should be theatrical and open-ended, like "become one with nature," that are inexplicably timed--but they're often surprisingly creative. The season I'm currently watching features a multi-installment task arc involving creating, murdering, and disposing the body of a dummy "best friend."
In completely different news, I thought the Top Chef season premiere was the best in recent memory. Omitting the quickfire in favor of a post elimination challenge cook-off managed to cut right through the typical "introduce yourself through your food!" premiere bloat. Likewise, I'm really intrigued by the rules shakeup of putting immunity up for grabs in the elimination rather than quickfire round. Time will tell if continually dangling the immunity carrot in the more high-stakes challenges will prevent chefs from, e.g., phoning it in during a team task because they already won immunity in the quick fire. Kristen is already a food show veteran at this point, and she fill's Padma's role admirably, even if I doubt she'll ever be as, well, delightfully fucking weird as Padma could often be without ever realizing it. Finally, as an adopted Minnesotan I feel compelled to question why we're getting a season filmed in Wisconsin of all places before we get one set in the Twin Cities, but fine, whatever, hope the chefs like cheese and beer.
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repulsionist
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Post by repulsionist on Mar 27, 2024 19:09:43 GMT -5
liebkartoffel, it's rare I get the chance to bloviate about NZ media, so thank you for the opening. Jeremy Wells is the NZ Taskmaster. He's a media juggernaut here. His history: being a media bad boy early on (he was busted for distributing CBD oil in high school and widely publicised it), having extremely posh parents that allowed him to migrate through a variety of very posh schools to put him in good standing with the media mandarins when he came looking to settle in, and, at uni, coming up in the ranks of 95bfm (the KEXP, maybe your Radio K, of Auckland). Currently he's co-host of the butt rock station's morning show (Radio Hauraki), as well as, the male co-host of the Evening/PM programme you'd see as a part of any local station's M-F for the last, uh, 5 years; all in addition to his serving principal role at Taskmaster NZ. Despite being slightly starstruck seeing him in person when I first spent time in Auckland, and for the record he's like 6'2", my opinion, though unheralded by many, is that he's the dullest drip in the drip factory. I find him very tedious. Eyeglasses model is accurate.
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Mar 28, 2024 11:30:08 GMT -5
Somewhat related, I saw some praise for Christopher Nolan with Oppenheimer in his ability to cast distinct actors. There were just a lot of dark haired, white dudes in suits arguing about science in a movie that moved fast. Nolan was able, at least for me, to cast a lot of "that guy" actors which helped keep a lot of them separate (like Jack Quaid or Benny Safdie, or Rami Malek). It's like the animation thing where you want each character to have an easily recognizable silhouette. I did like how in the Airbender cartoon they assigned each of different nations a color. It was easy short hand for knowing where they were and who they were dealing with in a given episode. That said, I haven't watched the live action Airbender, yet. Not sure if I will. Seems like I could just re-watch the original than something where the highest praise I heard for it was "It was actually pretty good." Again I haven't finished ATLA, but I don't think it's a coincidence that I loved the live action One Piece, when I haven't seen the cartoon, while I find the live action Cowboy Bebop and Airbender, when I have, just "pretty good."
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ABz B👹anaz
Grandfathered In
This country is (now less of) a shitshow.
Posts: 1,874
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Post by ABz B👹anaz on Mar 28, 2024 12:17:23 GMT -5
I am sad that I only have 2 or 3 episodes of Warrior left before the end of the show. It's really fantastic, even if incredibly depressing because of the parts based in reality. Glad it got three seasons at least.
EDIT - Finished it just now. Fucking GREAT show. The ending was at least a fairly decent stopping point, with some storylines tied up well.
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Post by MrsLangdonAlger on Apr 1, 2024 15:25:33 GMT -5
"Hush" is such a good episode of TV.
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ABz B👹anaz
Grandfathered In
This country is (now less of) a shitshow.
Posts: 1,874
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Post by ABz B👹anaz on Apr 3, 2024 0:12:16 GMT -5
3 Body Problem was great. I'd heard that the books were amazing beforehand, now I have to decide whether to try and read them now, or wait/hope that Netflix finishes adapting the entire story before they get bored and cancel it again.
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Apr 3, 2024 7:29:24 GMT -5
I know this is about TV shows, generally, but we saw the most absolute What The Fuck Was That commercial last night. It featured two CGI giraffes, with Irish accents and bowler hats, and the script was something about their kids recommending a place to visit (I was too confused by the Irish accents to pay enough attention) .... and you will NEVER guess what it was for. It was for the Ark Encounter museum in Kentucky. You know, the one run by nutty-ass Christians who think the earth is 5,000 years old. I'm still confused.
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repulsionist
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Post by repulsionist on Apr 3, 2024 15:51:53 GMT -5
The Vince Staples Show (Episode 3)
The vibe of this show is so locked into its own interior. How Staples and his collaborators came up with a "own universe" that finds jokes in violence but doesn't explicitly tell the viewer the "whys and wheretofores" remains a mystery to me, but I will watch the remaining episodes. Hot take quip mindset tries to categorise this as: "What if Hawk from Spencer: For Hire had his own show but oddly funny?", "Long Beach Baretta", "Boyz in the Beach", "Light Menace to Society". However, the show is way more than the hot take.
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Post by Desert Dweller on Apr 6, 2024 22:49:24 GMT -5
I watched the first episode of AppleTV's Sugar, which stars Colin Farrell as a private investigator who finds missing people.
The reviews on this are wild! Go read some of them. All the reviewers indicate there is some deeply wacky bombshell twist at the end of this. Most all of the reviewers seem to think the first half the series is great or at least good, a really nice example of a kind of noir/private detective series. But the reviewers all say that this bombshell twist happens and seems to render all of the preceding series moot.
The first episode was fine. I liked Colin Farrell. It was very softboiled noir. My primary quibble was that Farrell's character seems too perfect, and it was weird. But now that I see there is some big twist, I am having fun speculating about what this could be, that would explain why he's so perfect.
(Edited to add: By "too perfect" I mean that his character seemed superhuman. And there are several scenes that are really weird.)
1. So.... He's in the Matrix? This is all a dream? He's severely injured and in a coma, and this is his fantasy?
2. Or something wilder? He's an alien? He's a time traveler from the future? He's a cyborg? A cyborg from the future, or a cyborg alien?
Exactly how crazy is this twist? The production team have a plethora of sci-fi in their background, so I'm going with something from category 2.
The reviewers talk about how this is some wild twist, but the first episode was pretty obvious about there being something weird about Farrell's character. That's why I looked up the reviews! So, how crazy is this twist that the reviewers are complaining that it isn't supported by the preceding parts of the series?
Also edited to add: I mean, this first episode calls attention to the fact that there is something weird. I watched it and thought, "Woah, what is this guy's deal?" and so I looked up the reviews, and those have made me go from "This is weird" to "He's an alien?"
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Post by Desert Dweller on Apr 7, 2024 1:02:21 GMT -5
I then watched episode 2 of Sugar. It is less weird than episode 1. But it is still making clear that there is something abnormal about Farrell's character.
This episode thankfully corrects something that I found to be dumb in Episode 1. Which thankfully makes Farrell's character look a bit dumb or naive. Which I thought was nice to see as it helped blunt the absurd perfection of the character in episode 1.
Dennis Boutsikaris is in this show, recently seen in "Better Call Saul". This show wants me to believe that he is the son of James Cromwell's character. I'm like, "James Cromwell isn't that old". But it seems the show wants me to believe Boutsikaris's character is much younger than the actor himself is. So, congrats for apparently looking much younger than your real age!
Episode 2 features even more of an adorable dog that we met in episode 1. Apprently Farrell's character is keeping this dog. Awwww!
This is still a twisty Los Angeles noir/private detective show. If the other episodes are like this one, then I can see why the reviewers were so upset about some bonkers twist at the end.
But if more of the episodes are like episode 1, then it seems to me that reviewers should have expected something. The show clearly has to explain why Farrell's character is so strange. I definitely would not expect some mundane explanation after episode 1. Like, I'm saying that I would have considered "This is the Matrix" to be one of the more mundane explanations after episode 1.
I'm just going to proceed under the assumption that this guy is an alien or a cyborg or something. Hopefully that will make it so that the ending isn't some goofy, baffling twist.
Edited to add: Several of the reviewers are saying they think it is impossible to review this show without talking about the twist, because it re-contextualizes the entire show, but I guess Apple has an embargo on mentioning what this twist is. So, if this is so integral to the show, why is it some mystery twist? Why not just tell people up front?
It doesn't feel structured like an annoying mystery box show.
So, why hide this?
Also apparently this twist is in episode 6, not the last one, episode 8. So, this is one show for 6 episodes, and then something else entirely for 2 episodes? That is very strange.
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Post by rjamielanga on Apr 7, 2024 21:15:45 GMT -5
Ripley on Netflix was pretty good. Earned its long runtime and all those atmospheric establishing shots.
I’m hoping they do a second season.
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Post by The Sensational She-Hulk on Apr 9, 2024 14:26:09 GMT -5
Watched the first two episodes of Renegade Nell because I have a ridiculous crush on Louisa Harland. It's cute! Good family viewing for those of you with slightly older kids (I'd say 9-10 and up just for language/some scary-ish bits?), and I'm always delighted to see Adrian Lester in anything.
Somewhat relatedly, today's stir-the-pot opinion is that Leverage is an incredibly inferior version of Hu$tle, in no large part because the former's cast when combined does not have a tenth of Adrian Lester's incredible charisma. (Also, it doesn't have Robert Vaughn, who automatically makes everything he's in 100x better.) The latter is just a lot harder to find on streaming, and I'm sure my brother no longer has the DVDs, sigh.
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Post by DangOlJimmyITellYouWhat on Apr 9, 2024 20:20:41 GMT -5
Watched the first two episodes of Renegade Nell because I have a ridiculous crush on Louisa Harland. It's cute! Good family viewing for those of you with slightly older kids (I'd say 9-10 and up just for language/some scary-ish bits?), and I'm always delighted to see Adrian Lester in anything.
Somewhat relatedly, today's stir-the-pot opinion is that Leverage is an incredibly inferior version of Hu$tle, in no large part because the former's cast when combined does not have a tenth of Adrian Lester's incredible charisma. (Also, it doesn't have Robert Vaughn, who automatically makes everything he's in 100x better.) The latter is just a lot harder to find on streaming, and I'm sure my brother no longer has the DVDs, sigh.
Leverage is the kind of ridiculous thing that is precisely up my alley, but I will never watch it because Timothy Hutton kinda squicks me, and I absolutely cannot STAND Christian Kane. I just want to punch his stupid face; I was always so pleased when Angel did.
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Post by Prole Hole on Apr 10, 2024 3:53:25 GMT -5
I find myself in the uncomfortable position of recommending YouTube content but the series Jet Lag is an absolute godsdamned delight. If you don't know what it is, basically three guys plus usually one additional team member do a series of largely very daft races using, "the world as our game board". So for example there's a 96-hour race from America's northernmost city to its southernmost, there's Tag Across Europe (two seasons thereof), Capture The Flag across Japan, that sort of thing. Along the way, the two teams need to complete extremely silly tasks (not a bajillion miles away from Taskmaster, fans of which I would imagine would also very much enjoy Jet Lag) to earn "coins" to allow them to travel on various different forms of transport to help get them near their goal.
The three main contenders, Sam, Ben, and Adam are simply delightful to watch - each brings their own energy, so Sam is nervously strategic, Ben is a little laid-back and take-it-as-it-comes, and Adam is focussed and a little neurotic. Adam and Ben are normally paired together and Sam gets whoever this season's guest is, except in Tag Across Europe when it's just the three of them. However the dynamics land, though, they're always a pleasure to watch. Most seasons are around six-ish episodes long and they're perfect blast-through viewing and just a whole heap of fun - I started watching them when I was recently in hospital and it was just ideal. Cannot recommend highly enough.
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Apr 10, 2024 7:33:48 GMT -5
Watched the first two episodes of Renegade Nell because I have a ridiculous crush on Louisa Harland. It's cute! Good family viewing for those of you with slightly older kids (I'd say 9-10 and up just for language/some scary-ish bits?), and I'm always delighted to see Adrian Lester in anything.
Somewhat relatedly, today's stir-the-pot opinion is that Leverage is an incredibly inferior version of Hu$tle, in no large part because the former's cast when combined does not have a tenth of Adrian Lester's incredible charisma. (Also, it doesn't have Robert Vaughn, who automatically makes everything he's in 100x better.) The latter is just a lot harder to find on streaming, and I'm sure my brother no longer has the DVDs, sigh.
Leverage is the kind of ridiculous thing that is precisely up my alley, but I will never watch it because Timothy Hutton kinda squicks me, and I absolutely cannot STAND Christian Kane. I just want to punch his stupid face; I was always so pleased when Angel did.
Ha! The Mrs. and I are actually working through Leverage at the moment. My first time watching it, her second. I'm enjoying it more than I expected, since stories about lying and confidence games usually aren't my thing. Sounds like it won't be easy to find, but I'll add Hu$tle to the backlog as something to check out some day.
And I never watched Angel and have no opinion on Christian Kane except that he has the most perfectly selected stage name I've ever seen. He looks exactly like a Christian Kane. If it was his real name, he would be incontrovertible proof of "you grow into your name."
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