150 thoughts on “#ST/ND/RD/TH ______DAY MOVIE DAY”
as meat was saying...
I've watched the wire through 3-4 times, and it just keeps getting better. I recently went back to the sopranos and found that the show really doesn't hold up well over time. I think that the wire operates as a time capsule, in a way, because the producers created a painstakingly 'real' Baltimore.
I finished up a third go-through of The Wire a bit back. Probably have a 4th in me. I was thinking about going through The Sopranos again and was wondering something similar. In the end, I decided that much viewing time was better spent on other things.
Like Silicon Valley! Only a couple episodes in, but it's off to a great start for me.
I still need to watch The Wire. The fact that it seems like such a commitment is really holding me back. So is the sense that I will be sad and/or upset while watching it. I don't know why I have that sense, but I do. Is it correct?
If anything, the seasons are somewhat compartmentalized, so you can take them in doses. Try the first season, and if it works, move to the second.
Regarding sad/upset, I would say yes and no. If anything, I would say they don't necessarily try to provoke emotional response (like a, say, This Is Us or something). However, by plainly stating some stark realities, the emotional responses to those realities can be strong (ugg, 4th season).
It's also not that long. 54 episodes, so I'm not sure it's much of a commitment, though I think the question may have had more to do with the emotional and mental commitment.
Well time commitment too, because an hour a night is hard for Philosofette and I to both come by at the same time before school is out.
But also very much the emotional/mental, because what viewing we do engage it is pretty much leisure by necessity. Rewatching select episodes of 30 Rock, Futurama, and Parks and Rec is about all we've got left in the tank when it comes to that.
I'd approach it like reading a hefty novel (Russian, Pynchon, whatever) in one's spare time. Take a bit at a time, enough to stay engaged and on top of the story, but not so much as to feel overwhelmed or oppressed. At 54 episodes, if you can commit to one a week you'll be done by mid-May next year. If you want to step it up to two after assessing time & mental/emotional reserves, go for it. I think some seasons are more draining than others, but that my interest was sustained at a very high level across all of them.
I kind of like that idea.
It still might wait a while, because Philosofette will want to watch too, and first years of teaching... uh... what I said before.
Season Four will be tough, then. No spoilers; just a heads-up.
I hate to admit it -- I'm fairly certain there are popular culture phenomenon's that a man my age is required to be fluent in, or at least aware of -- but...
I only managed 4 episodes of The Wire and never got back to it. I want to, but haven't found made the time.
I've only watched 3 episodes of Deadwood.
My wife and I took a hiatus from Breaking Bad about halfway through Season 2 and have not been back.
I haven't seen one episode of The Sopranos
It's not that I've avoided any of these; I have an interest in seeing and/or completing them all. I just ... well, there's so much else to do, I don't know how to catch up.
In college, my roommate made me binge The Sopranos. I made it through about a season and a half but got sick of watching it because that was pretty much one weekend. Binge watching isn't always a good thing, people.
0 episodes of The Wire
0 episodes of Deadwood
1 episode of The Sopranos
0 episodes Game of Thrones and no desire to start before the series is ended.
All of Breaking Bad but I didn't love it nearly as much as most (the pain was just too much...)
- 0 episodes of The Sopranos or Deadwood - I was a Six Feet Under guy at the time. I'm inclined to watch Deadwood because of Ian McShane, but it's not a high priority right now. I'd be more inclined to start Treme.
- 0 episodes of Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Dexter, True Blood, or The Walking Dead. No interest in changing that, either.
- I pointedly ignored every suggestion to watch Lost while the show was in production, to my apparent vindication by the time it wrapped. When people are shocked that I don't watch X or Y hyped TV show of the moment, I point to this.
I am not the person you should be pitching the Lost example to. I think that your "apparent vindication" is not a true vindication, and you've missed out on a show that is actually brilliant.
Agreed on the Deadwood/Ian McShane angle.
I've seen all of GoT and enjoy(ed) the heck out of it.
Still watching Walking Dead... just because. True Blood was more my wife's thing, though I have seen quite a few episodes. Same goes for Mad Men. Not a priority.
Watched quite a bit of Lost, but lost interest midway through Season 3. No interest in finishing it.
I also have Justified in the queue and enjoyed the hell out of Sherlock.
If for no other reason, I would suggest powering through "Lost" solely to get to the episode "The Constant."
Cosign. If I made a list of my top 50 episodes of all TV shows ever, "The Constant" would have a place for sure.
Yes.
For me, the finale too.
Of course, the real point here is that who gives a Danny Santana what anyone sees or doesn't see. Now excuse me while I go binge watch 19 Kids and Counting.
LOST drifted at times, but it's the journey, not the destination.
That show started out great, but I ran out of steam. Last episode I saw was the one where David was kidnapped. Didn't stop there for any reason in particular, just didn't have the energy to keep going.
I think part of what helped me power through was that I started watching it when I was living with someone in Minneapolis who had an HBO subscription. When I woke up in California I eventually got back to the show via DVDs. Had I not already bought the remaining seasons, I might not have finished the show. This cuts both ways; production of DVDs for NYPD Blue and Hill Street Blues was abruptly halted after I started buying them, which has permanently discontinued my ability to finish those shows unless they wind up streaming somewhere. Both of those shows were well-regarded when they were on air, so this has always seemed a bit curious to me.
That was my favorite episode. I was sweating buckets.
The final season, minus the last couple of episodes, sees a big dropoff. It's a disappointment...I guess they were so wrapped up in ending strong, which they most certainly did, that the road to the end was shrugged off as secondary.
The final episode – and really, the final montage – was a fantastic wrap to that show. But yeah, that last season was a marked step down from the level they'd established.
Huh, I made it closer to the end than I'd realized. I thought there were a few more seasons after that.
It is an intense episode, but... I dunno, all of it put together was a little too over the top for me.
I think that was always the point, though. It was intended melodrama.
Once I see the third season of "Deadwood," I will have seen all of all four of those shows.
I tried and failed to get into The Sopranos several times during its run (I think I couldn't get into it because I was going to school with a bunch of people from New Jersey who did nothing but rave about how their state). However, I've seen every episode of the other three shows at least twice.
Edited to add: but I recently started The Sopranos again, and in enjoying it after about eight episodes.
deadwood is still a contender for my favorite TV show. The characters seem to come to the show fully baked, and the language (plus the foul language...) is phenomenal. I know that I can't convince people that it's not a 'western', but I really see it as Shakespearean tragedy set in the west. YMMV
Your avatar gave it away. Easily in my Top 5, too. The Wire still tops my list. Mad Men was a remarkable series. Need to rewatch it, but I think Rectify will enter the list.
Rectify is some intense viewing. That show was so engaging that dr. Chop said she needed to let it rest (I plowed though) to relieve the pressure.
The Wire is top of my list for dramatic series, and probably second all-time after Fawlty Towers.
Perhaps I need to move Deadwood up my priority list.
Like meat says, the dialogue alone makes it a worthwhile watch. Profound, profane, elegant and at times hilarious. Plus a cast that is the equal to the wonderful words that were written for them. David Milch is a tremendous writer.
Aye.
Do you watch exactly what I watch? Because, give or take an episode, that's exactly my experience with those four shows.
What can I say - Great minds... oh, who am I kidding?
I also find it interesting that you hit on three shows that I like in theory but haven't followed through on.
I really loved a lot about that first season of Breaking Bad. I like westerns in general, not sure why Deadwood didn't resonate at the beginning. I liked the Wire a lot, too, but somehow didn't quite work out. I suspect a big part of all this is that my wife has approximately zero interest in these shows.
Yes exactly, to all of this, and your final 'spoilered' sentence especially.
I watched all of Breaking Bad (meh, I don't think binge watching worked for me with that show) and I haven't managed to watch any of Deadwood, but I'm on board with you fellas on the other two.
I don't think binge watching worked for me with that show
I think you hit the nail on the head for me too. I just got too overwhelmed by his (and everyone's) character flaws. Likely needed them in smaller doses. Which is probably a credit to the writing?
I'm going back through Breaking Bad right now (because something is on while I cook dinner...) and it's good but not great. I find that Better Call Saul is a much more rewarding entertainment choice as I don't have to suspend so much disbelief as I did with Walt's decent into darkness.
After having watched the Sopranos again the most troublesome part of the show is that the runners don't know what the focus of the show should be. Some of the time the show is a family drama with the mob attached, and sometimes it's a mob show with a family drama attached. Sometimes it's a dark comedy, and sometimes it's a tragedy. I feel like it's clear that the producers didn't have any idea where the story was going after the first season. They expanded and developed characters, but the sum total feels like this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened, and then this is going to happen, as opposed to the wire where it's clear that the producers have a story to tell in five acts.
With the exception of a rewatch of Guardians of the Galaxy (which is still my favorite Marvel movie, I think), I don't think I've watched any movies in the past month. A handful of TV episodes on Netflix, but all reruns for me, just light, easy, familiar stuff. Survivor's current season. And lots of hockey and baseball.
I haven't watched a movie in ages now, but recently got hooked on a few Netflix series. I love Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories and hope they bring more of it to Netflix, because that single season isn't enough.
I've also been watching Abstract: The Art of Design and mostly enjoying it (I have two episodes left). The Christopher Niemann and Bjarke Ingels episodes were fantastic, and I found myself unexpectedly interested in the episode about Tinker Hatfield (I don't care about Nike's braaaaahhhhnnnd (blech) or collect sneakers). The Es Devlin episode was pretty good, too. Apparently the director of the Niemann & Ingels episodes is working on a documentary focused on Mr. Rogers(!), which would terrify me were those episodes any less well-crafted than they were.
I'm over halfway through the second season of Grand Designs available on Netflix and have greatly enjoyed almost every episode. It's a huge step up from HGTV fare in terms of production quality and architectural interest, while simultaneously being more documentary in focus than faux drama reality-style programming.
Grand Designs is fun. We watched quite a bit of that while home with TLO
I found a two pack of The Raid: Redemption and The Raid 2 on Amazon for like, $15. I hadn't seen the second one, but obviously loved the hell out of Redemption. So, I watched 2 the other weekend, man is that some good shit. The final "boss" fight was pretty intense. (I also got Dredd for $5. I should do a triple feature this weekend.)
Continuing the violent martial arts stuff, I found out Into the Badlands was back, so I'm three episodes into that. I love this show even if about half of the acting is stiff as all get out.
I tried to watch The Force Awakens a couple weeks ago with the 3.5 year old. He got scared at the first scene with Kylo Ren, so that was a no go. dammit. We salvaged the day by watching The Lego Movie, so at least he liked that one.
Nothing else new, though. I've got a ticket for <Guardians of the Galaxy 2 though, so I have that to look forward to.
As my role at the Torch and the popularity of our wrestling podcast grows, my need to keep up with pro wrestling curbs my ability to see movies and TV. Still, I've knocked a few things out. Krampus was a fun horror movie, though you'll go crazy if you try to find a deeper meaning in the narrative. It also skirts over the edges of gore to remain PG-13, but it's frightening enough at points that I think they just should've embraced an R rating.
I've picked up "Louie" again and I'm never quite sure what slows me down. It's one of the smartest, funniest and heaviest sitcoms on TV, and I dig every single episode.
I'm a couple episodes into "Jessica Jones" and I like it, though the idea that I'm attempting to get through the entire Defenders backlog is slowing me down. I also still have all my unseen Marvel movies borrowed from a friend, and have stalled there as well, as I kind of tire of the predictability of superhero fare at times, even when it's good.
I caught up with "Game of Thrones" by knocking out 15 episodes over the course of three or four days. I can't say anything that hasn't been said before.
This season's Survivor has seen some of its best editing, which is something it's always been good at anyway. I'm also wasting another spring watching Big Brother Canada, which is suffering from a pitfall of the game's format, which is that weak players almost always effectively pit strong players against one another, leading to a finish where perhaps the season's least interesting players are the only ones remaining.
Sour Cream and I started a third run of "Phineas and Ferb" last night. As with the last run, she's bummed that Baljeet and Buford aren't there at the beginning. So am I.
We saw Kubo and the Two Strings at Marcus Theaters (the ones with the awesome reclining chairs) a couple of weeks ago. Sour Cream was hopeful for a happier ending, but I saw what was coming and prepared her to understand what the movie is really about. Skim loved this movie, and so did I. It's beautiful.
Moana is cool. I saw it in 3D in my basement, the second-coolest theater room in my life, and it was stunning. It's a predictable film, but charming and sweet.
Not sure if I mentioned it last month, but I saw Enter the Dragon for the first time in 25 years or so, and I like it as much now as I did as a teen. For whatever reason, I had completely forgotten that Bolo Yeung was the heavy, and that this was his big break.
Oh yeah, Moana. What you said.
Oh crap, totally forgot I watched Kubo last weeknd as well. I loved it as well (although I wasn't enamored by Matthew McConaughey's voice work). Neither kid had the patience that day to sit through a movie, though.
Eh, I thought he was pretty alright. I actually didn't even know it was him (or who was in any of the roles) until it was over, which is what I prefer.
The worst voice acting I've heard this year is Ewan McGregor's attempt at French in Beauty and the Beast. That was hugely disappointing. I didn't know he was in that role until afterward either, and was shaking my head upon finding out.
It seemed to get better as the movie went along, but in the beginning he just sort of sounded disinterested in the lines. It certainly wasn't enough to take me out of the movie though.
I wonder if this was related to the character's arc. Initially he attempts to be the valiant knight attempting to uphold the honor of his liege, but over the course of the middle act he settles into the winking smooth operator character, which is really his forte, and is probably the reason he was called upon.
I'm willing to accept this explanation.
Eh, I thought he was pretty alright. , alright, alright.
Well played.
But some of the lines were great!: "Ugh...Sword Uncomfortable..."
We also saw Moana and Kubo with our two kids (3 and about-to-be-six). They both liked both of them, but the younger one was much more drawn to Moana, and older much more to Kubo. They both still talk about their personal favorites among the two, even though we saw them 3-5 months ago. I didn't really expect either of them would be all that into Kubo, but my older son really connected with it.
Neighbor had to watch Matrix for a class (he had never seen it) so I grabbed the work laptop and rewatched it with him and one of his classmates.
Enjoyed the heck out of the Legion finale; good to see that Jemaine Clement will be back for season two.
The third season teaser episode of Rick & Morty looks like it's setting up for more fun. It was pretty mean to run it unannounced on April Fool's Day, but nods to Cartoon Network for filling the day's lineup with googly eye variations of their shows.
Also, thanks FXx for The Simpson's reruns. Always great to fill spare evening time with early, early episodes.
dido.jpg on Legion.
Finally watched Slumdog Millionaire. It felt very Dickensian, which isn't always a bad thing, but I felt at times the movie tried too hard to force drama or coincidence into spots that didn't need it. For example, I knew the final question literally 10 minutes into the movie. I had also recently watched Lion, so my Dev Patel playing a poor boy from India expectations were already sky high. All that said, still liked it quite a bit.
While it isn't the worst (that's Crash), I think Slumdog Millionaire was the dumbest Oscar winner I've seen. Introduce an evil game show host and there's no way in hell I can take you seriously as a drama. Also, the most interesting relationship of the three pairings of the three leads is the one that gets the smallest amount of screen time.
Danny Boyle also made the movie Millions four years earlier, which is more or less the same story, but is quite a bit better. I guess he knew how good it was, and wanted to release it on a grander scale.
Yeah. The host wasn't so evil to be preposterous, but his motivations are so poorly explained it's not believable. I couldn't tell if the show just didn't want to pay out the money or they were offended by a poor person winning. Maybe both.
I will say, though, that one time Drew Carey got super pissed at a contestant on The Price is Right who had watched so many shows and done his research and he knew exactly the price of every showcase item and correctly guessed it to the exact dollar amount. So there's some mild precedent. Also, on Press Your Luck, there was a guy who memorized every board and racked up records amounts of money and the producers were pissed at him, too. I'm not sure if producers hate feeling like someone mastered their show, or if they're just all nervous about another "Twenty-One" scandal.
I love that Price Is Right story. When you hear Carey say, "you got it exactly right" there is no joy or emotion, just flat delivery.
Introduce an evil game show host and there's no way in hell I can take you seriously as a drama.
Sly Stallone want you to hold his beer. Wait, it's a diet soda.
I'm fully on board with Crash as the worst best picture winner, and can probably get behind Slumdog being the dumbest, too (or at least the dumbest framing device; I always thought of the gameshow as a minor part of the movie that leads into the actual story).
Crash should not have won; it wasn't good, and it was the same year as bigger, better more important films (Brokeback Mountain first and foremost among that list). But for Slumdog, I'm ok with it having won Best Picture, since I just don't see one, single, stand-out choice that I would say should have won. There are a few movies I would probably consider better choices than Slumdog : Doubt, The Reader, Milk, The Wrestler, andRevolutionary Road; maybe Dark Knight and Frost/Nixon, too. Of that list, no sure which one I would pick. Plus, among, the epic scale of the story displayed in Slumdog really does stand out in comparison to those other smaller, quieter films.
I don't know what you guys are talking about. Crash was amazing.
Disappointed that didn't link to Deborah Kara Unger. Missed opportunity, jobu.
I haven't seen Crash, but I'd nominate The Apartment as the worst best picture winner.
That's one I still haven't seen. I'll say, though, that Crash isn't just a bad Best Picture winner, it's a bad movie.
Same re: The Apartment.
I have enjoyed the first two episodes of the new season of Doctor Who. I've always liked Peter Capaldi's doctor, and the new companion seems to be off to a good start. Also, there is no "sexual tension" between the companion and the doctor, which is a plus.
Also, there is no "sexual tension"
Yet.
The new companion is gay, so I assume there won't be sexual tension between her and the doctor. Of course, Capaldi is leaving after this season, and there's a chance the new doctor will be a woman. On the other hand, the rumors are that the new companion is leaving after this season, too. So who knows? I'm just enjoying the way it is now.
I'm not sure why everyone assumes she is gay and not bi.
Well, the actress and the producers have said so, for one thing. Also, in the first episode there was a reference to men not working out for her, or something like that. But, of course, it's Doctor Who, so nothing is ever set in stone.
yea, the whole dynamic between Capaldi's doctor and Jenna Coleman's Clara Oswald did have more than a bit of sexual tension. And, of course, she was adorable.
I was sad and disappointed that they killed off Danny. Clara got a really good send-off in terms of story, but it was heart-wrenching.
Danny Pink was really given short shrift all the way. He was treated more as a plot device than as a character. That's how Clara was treated, too, for a while, but eventually her character was developed, at least to some extent.
I never understood the Danny/Doctor interactions. Just weird, for the most part.
That's the film that taught me horror could be beautiful. Thanks for the memories.
Purchased, and watched, Sing and Rogue One. As with Moana, I still have not seen Sing in it's entirety from first frame to last, though I've probably seen the whole movie. Fun, and who doesn't love singing competitions, amiright!?!
Rogue One - I'd managed to leave completely unspoiled until stupidly clicking a bS "Actual Spoiler" a few weeks back. I thought it was great, but I'll quote spookymilk here, "I can't say anything that hasn't been said before."
Logan - in the theater on a $5 Tuesday deal was phenomenal. My buddy was let down a bit, but I say it's easily the best X-men movie of the whole bunch. As far as 'comic book/superhero' movies go, I'll say it's up there with The Dark Knight(whole trilogy really), Deadpool, Guardians, and the original Batman ('89) & Superman ('79) movies. These last two blew my mind as a child, and I'd argue that Keaton/Burton's version of Batman was groundbreaking.
Bloodline - Have been waiting for about 8 months for my wife to watch the first couple episodes as this was something we agreed (I convinced her) to watch together. We're about halfway through Season 1 - Crazy good (h/t to bootsy & spooky - probably woulda missed this one completely).
I never could get into the Superman movie franchise (probably because I've never been able to get into Supes the character), but I wholeheartedly co-sign your argument about the Burton/Keaton/Nicholson Batman being groundbreaking. I think it holds up as a well-made film today and would include it in my Top 4 comic/superhero films.
I saw the original Superman last summer and ... I thought the best part of it was the unintentional humor? I mean, if the point is that Superman/Clark Kent has no charisma at all, then Christopher Reeves really nailed it, but nothing worked for me in that movie. Could have been great at the time, I know I've liked some things in the past, revisited and found them to be lacking after time passed.
Glad to hear you picked up Bloodline. My gawd, that cast. The show has some of the best subtext I've ever had the privilege to enjoy as well. I just love the tension in every one of Danny's scenes.
I heart bloodline.
I love the foreshadowing / slow reveal ... just wow.
EAR and I really got into season 1 of Bloodline, but episode 1 of season 2 and... pfft. It was like all of season 1 was leading to the end of that season and there wasn't enough continued mystery to drive us further, but a new mystery (or something, I forget the particulars).
I had the same experience with How to Get Away With Murder, but EAR bailed on that one halfway through.
I haven't done season two yet, but I feel like a show with that first season deserves a pretty long leash. The same talent is involved, so I expect to see out the season and trust it'll deliver.
I'd give it a long leash, the seasons aren't that long, I didn't find the pacing much different from the first season, and liked where it went.
It's not about a leash, it's about the desire to watch it given the multitude of options.
It never rises to the top.
My backlog and I certainly understand that.
Would someone around here please hurry up and finish Black Mirror?
Speaking of backlog...
I'm sorry but there are too many non-English-language detective miniseries for me to get through.
Not to pick a fight, but I have trouble with The Dark Knight being included in this list. I'd give you Batman Begins, but not the others, and especially not The Dark Knight because the climax happens in the first half of the movie and then you just kind of sit there and watch lesser versions of the earlier scenes for far too long.
A rabid comic book enthusiast friend of mine and I have talked about this recently, and that movie really does get overrated pretty massively. I mean, I still overrate it and consider it to be very good, even though every time I watch it, I'm reminded of its (rather obvious) flaws.
That first half, though.
Oh yeah. If they'd just stopped there... no complaints.
I'm also in the "Batman Begins" is the best of the trilogy camp. Though wish they had cast Maggie right away.
I hate the implication that there's any meaningful difference between killing someone and not saving them when saving them requires no sacrifice on your part. Batman is more of a dark hero anyway, that dialog just seemed annoying and distracting--just let the action play out and let us make our own determination about the ethics of the decisions.
That said, overall I like that movie. I think I saw The Dark Knight but don't remember much either way. Didn't ever get around to seeing the last in that trilogy.
What are we talking about? ... /reviews own LTE/ oh, I see. I'd had the whole 'Dark Knight' trilogy listed in my best comic / superhero movie list and edited the comment before posting ... I dunno; I still liked The Dark Knight quite a lot.
In spite of the film's critical success, the film was noticeably absent from the Best Picture nominee list, prompting controversy and led many to criticize the Academy Awards for "snubbing" the film. There was speculation that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences later changed their number of Best Picture nominees to ten, instead of the traditional five, because of the film's omission. In a question-and-answer session that followed the announcement, the Academy's then president Sidney Ganis said; "I would not be telling you the truth if I said the words Dark Knight did not come up."
Yeah, sorry, I totally hijacked that for a pet complaint.
Weird
Quiet you.
Forgot to mention that I'd seen Ghost in the HalfShell while on my last business trip. It was entertaining, but the earlier anime was fine; didn't see a need for this vehicle.
I finished Doctor Strange last night (spread out across multiple viewings). It was... not that great? Also, was Bindlebop Cumberbun trying to do an American accent? I really couldn't tell through the entire film.
I have a problem with these superheroes that have all this power and it devolves into a fistfight.
It drives me crazy when directors and writers can't think of a better way to put a cap on a conflict between two characters who probably wouldn't be interested in fisticuffs.
It also drives me crazy that so many writers & directors think the best way to make their film compelling is by destroying whole cities & millions of (fictional) lives in some kind of apocalypse pr0n.
It drives me crazy when films have a science advisor and then ignore them. And don't get me (re)started on how films handle train accidents.
I'm not giving anything away here, but in the season finale of Expanse, a major character was pinned by a large cargo crate; when they killed ship's gravity to avoid another particular problem, there was the major character still pinned. Duh.
He was pinned because the crates use magnets to stay in place. The thrust vector can change, especially in battle as this is a corvette, so all cargo uses magnets to stay on the "floor". In this case, if magnets weren't used, he could have freed himself when weightlessness happened because he could have pushed the crate away, albeit very slowly.
thanks. then I blame the writers for not holding my attention better
Expanse has been a pretty great show. Still not sure where it's headed, but that's okay.
I don't mind some flawed science if it is a sacrifice that serves some greater good (facilitates a tidy plot twist or serves as a way to reinforce a theme or something like that). Sometimes it is hugely distracting, though.
The Martian did so many things right that I'm not bothered by the initial sandstorm problem (which the author even admits)
That BS about Clooney's "momentum" in Gravity annoyed me to no end.
Sacrifice some science for plot I get (see Rhu_ru's Martian point), but that's a damned basic law of physics.
I haven't seen that movie, but I totally agree there's a line somewhere.
There were so many other things about Gravity that bothered me besides the physics. No way in hell does NASA allow anyone to tool around in an astronaut propulsion unit near Hubble's mirror (closed or not), nor do they allow them to purposelessly zip around for the hell of it.
Yeah, most things about that movie are really wrong. I disliked Gravity mostly because of the poor physics of motion, my wife hated it more because of the unrealistic portrayal of NASA and astronauts in general. That seems like a movie where the less you know about the topic, the more you might like it.
For me, a big difference is also whether or not the realism actually matters for what the movie is meant to do. Gravity is mostly just people moving in orbit, and dealing with what is physically around them, so if you get those two things wrong, then you've basically blown the whole movie.
On the other hand, I'm completely willing to buy into a movie with completely incorrect science if that is not really what the movie is about. For example, Sunshine with Cillian Murphy. I liked that movie a lot, even though the plot is based around a completely wrong understanding of stars. It's about a crew carrying a bomb to the Sun in order to restart it and save all of humanity. That is super, super wrong and not physically possible in any way, but I liked the movie a lot anyway, since it's really about the crew, not about the physics of how they would try to restart the Sun. The same story could have been written about just about any dangerous mission to save the world, so the fact that they really messed up how the Sun works barely bothered me at all.
Yeah, that annoyed me, too. Whenever I see astronauts in movies being unprofessional it bugs me.
This has to be a tough spot for a screenwriter. You need your characters to be interesting and dynamic, but people don't get put on important space missions because they're interesting and dynamic.
Chris Hatfield seriously disagrees
If you saw The Martian, you'd see that all of the astronauts portrayed were very interesting in their own way. You just didn't see them not taking their work seriously.
Yep. All the astronauts I know are interesting, dynamic people, and generally fun and a bit weird.
Even though it's a serious, detailed kind of job, it still takes a certain kind of person to be willing to strap themselves to a huge explosive and launch themselves away from the Earth.
it still takes a certain kind of person to be willing to strap themselves to a huge explosive and launch themselves away from the Earth
<3
Yeah, it wasn't that great. Pretty, but... shallow.
If found it to be....fine. Not much more than that. I kept waiting to love it, but it just never happened. I do feel like it may have set itself up for a good sequel, though. I like the characters, and feel like there is a lot of ground that could be covered, it just didn't really happen with this one.
Haven't really seen much for movies.
Kong was fun to watch. I appreciated the occasional bits of humor. Hiddleston is still a massively "meh" actor, but he was fine. Brie Larson was good, as always.
Otherwise, it's been TV.
Better Call Saul is my favorite current TV show by far. All four main characters are great, and the show is just beautiful to look at (some of the shots are just crazy gorgeous), but what really sets this show apart is its patience. The story moves slowly, and sometimes devotes extended periods of time to watch the process of something happening, rather than taking the easy way out and just skipping to the gist of it. I could not have anticipated that a show about Saul Goodman before he became Saul Goodman could be so engrossing.
The patience is amazing. What other show could spend about 25 minutes with Mike over two episodes with only about five words of dialogue?
Even better, what other show could do that and have the results be so incredibly watchable?
I love dialogue restraint so much. Part of my love for Wall-E and Cast Away
Under the Skin
Okay, why is Deadpool always referred to as Merc with the Mouth where merc rhymes with "irk" and not "hearse"? It's short for "mercenary" right?
I don't know, but I'll chime in to note that murse is in some situations slang for male nurse.
Ah, are you one of the rare few that pronounces char like char- from character instead of the word?
If you're talking about the Oracle format, then yes, like CARE. Most people I know do.
So, do you pronounce it "VAIR-CHAIR", "VAIR-CARE", or "VARR-CARR"?
Here's your "merc"
No, here's my Merc.
I was thinking the C char. I'm not sure how I pronounce varchar. I think VARR-CHAR.
Mercantile
In programing I've heard char both ways and never really cared. Not like gif. That I care about. But only because I think the while thing is funny. I call them pictures, that may or may not move with other data attached.
Also that way it rhymes with smirk yes?
I saw Hidden Figures Sunday night. I thought it was quite good, but I would probably watch just about anything set in NASA in the '60s. Or any movie that portrays mathematicians/scientists as the main protagonists. (I liked Imitation Game as well.) Didn't love the soundtrack--I like Pharrell Williams in general, but the lyrics especially seemed a bit heavy-handed and having Pharrell sing so many times seemed distracting. Would probably have enjoyed the soundtrack just fine if it was just instrumental. For me, when you have pop songs with singing, it works best to vary the performers or if one person performs multiple times, for them to be one of the characters.
I just finished Bordertown. I guess I really like detective series set all over the world.
This one: Rural-ish Finland near the Russian Border.
I really like the characters. Teenagers, Work/life balance, moving home to a changed town, moving to a new town, getting close calls and returning to where things were from the beginning, all while solving ghastly murders.
EAR couldn't watch it.
Also: Father Brown Mysteries, which I do watch with EAR.
Finally saw Deadpool a few nights ago. I don't know why I didn't see it earlier as it just seemed like a movie I would love. Well, I hated it. Absolutely hated it. Maybe I had way to high of an expectation due to the rave reviews from people around me. It was just bad.
Oh, and is this the worst commercial in the history of commercials? I mean, who thought this would make me hungry.
I don't know, maybe I am just crabby that I woke up from a nap in which I dreamed I woke up late for work, and it was way too real.
What an odd commercial. Her bad voice is impossible to miss, so it's clearly intended. In which case...why? What's the actual gag? Am I supposed to be guffawing because she's sailing just over and under the correct pitch?
Yeah, I saw another one where a middle aged lady spontaneously raps at the salad bar. Maybe it's supposed to be a message of "our freshness will make you sing no matter how bad you suck". But here's the rub: you are a quasi-full service chain restaurant. Are there really many people out there that really believe that all the food comes in fresh and is prepped at these places? I interviewed once with another big name chain neighborhood restaurant and at the time they had 7 microwaves on their cooks line... 7!!
Runner daughter and I have started into the new MST3K Moon 13: The Moon episodes. We're two in, and they do a good job of being an homage as well as continuing the good work.
btw Rows, have you seen Cry Wilderness episode? Rowsdower callback AND sasquatch!
I'm two episodes in and I'm actually having trouble moving forward. There's been some good, but a lot of flat jokes as well. Granted, the original took a couple of years to find its footing, and this cast is entirely new.
I'm trying to find a time where I can pay closer attention to it.
The wife and I had a date night last night and used it to watch the new Fast and Furious movie. It's a completely ridiculous movie, which for the last several F&F movies has been high praise, but it sort of feels like the scale tipped a bit here. I liked it, but didn't have that same giddy rush when I left the theater that I did for 5, 6, and 7.
as meat was saying...
I finished up a third go-through of The Wire a bit back. Probably have a 4th in me. I was thinking about going through The Sopranos again and was wondering something similar. In the end, I decided that much viewing time was better spent on other things.
Like Silicon Valley! Only a couple episodes in, but it's off to a great start for me.
I still need to watch The Wire. The fact that it seems like such a commitment is really holding me back. So is the sense that I will be sad and/or upset while watching it. I don't know why I have that sense, but I do. Is it correct?
If anything, the seasons are somewhat compartmentalized, so you can take them in doses. Try the first season, and if it works, move to the second.
Regarding sad/upset, I would say yes and no. If anything, I would say they don't necessarily try to provoke emotional response (like a, say, This Is Us or something). However, by plainly stating some stark realities, the emotional responses to those realities can be strong (ugg, 4th season).
It's also not that long. 54 episodes, so I'm not sure it's much of a commitment, though I think the question may have had more to do with the emotional and mental commitment.
Well time commitment too, because an hour a night is hard for Philosofette and I to both come by at the same time before school is out.
But also very much the emotional/mental, because what viewing we do engage it is pretty much leisure by necessity. Rewatching select episodes of 30 Rock, Futurama, and Parks and Rec is about all we've got left in the tank when it comes to that.
I'd approach it like reading a hefty novel (Russian, Pynchon, whatever) in one's spare time. Take a bit at a time, enough to stay engaged and on top of the story, but not so much as to feel overwhelmed or oppressed. At 54 episodes, if you can commit to one a week you'll be done by mid-May next year. If you want to step it up to two after assessing time & mental/emotional reserves, go for it. I think some seasons are more draining than others, but that my interest was sustained at a very high level across all of them.
I kind of like that idea.
It still might wait a while, because Philosofette will want to watch too, and first years of teaching... uh... what I said before.
Season Four will be tough, then. No spoilers; just a heads-up.
I hate to admit it -- I'm fairly certain there are popular culture phenomenon's that a man my age is required to be fluent in, or at least aware of -- but...
It's not that I've avoided any of these; I have an interest in seeing and/or completing them all. I just ... well, there's so much else to do, I don't know how to catch up.
I'm 3 out of 4 better than you on pop culture!
My list:
Mine:
I also have Justified in the queue and enjoyed the hell out of Sherlock.
If for no other reason, I would suggest powering through "Lost" solely to get to the episode "The Constant."
Cosign. If I made a list of my top 50 episodes of all TV shows ever, "The Constant" would have a place for sure.
Yes.
For me, the finale too.
Of course, the real point here is that who gives a Danny Santana what anyone sees or doesn't see. Now excuse me while I go binge watch 19 Kids and Counting.
LOST drifted at times, but it's the journey, not the destination.
I think part of what helped me power through was that I started watching it when I was living with someone in Minneapolis who had an HBO subscription. When I woke up in California I eventually got back to the show via DVDs. Had I not already bought the remaining seasons, I might not have finished the show. This cuts both ways; production of DVDs for NYPD Blue and Hill Street Blues was abruptly halted after I started buying them, which has permanently discontinued my ability to finish those shows unless they wind up streaming somewhere. Both of those shows were well-regarded when they were on air, so this has always seemed a bit curious to me.
That was my favorite episode. I was sweating buckets.
The final season, minus the last couple of episodes, sees a big dropoff. It's a disappointment...I guess they were so wrapped up in ending strong, which they most certainly did, that the road to the end was shrugged off as secondary.
The final episode – and really, the final montage – was a fantastic wrap to that show. But yeah, that last season was a marked step down from the level they'd established.
Huh, I made it closer to the end than I'd realized. I thought there were a few more seasons after that.
It is an intense episode, but... I dunno, all of it put together was a little too over the top for me.
I think that was always the point, though. It was intended melodrama.
Once I see the third season of "Deadwood," I will have seen all of all four of those shows.
I tried and failed to get into The Sopranos several times during its run (I think I couldn't get into it because I was going to school with a bunch of people from New Jersey who did nothing but rave about how their state). However, I've seen every episode of the other three shows at least twice.
Edited to add: but I recently started The Sopranos again, and in enjoying it after about eight episodes.
Speaking of Deadwood:
Deadwood Revival Script 'Has Been Delivered to HBO,' Says Ian McShane
deadwood is still a contender for my favorite TV show. The characters seem to come to the show fully baked, and the language (plus the foul language...) is phenomenal. I know that I can't convince people that it's not a 'western', but I really see it as Shakespearean tragedy set in the west. YMMV
Your avatar gave it away. Easily in my Top 5, too. The Wire still tops my list. Mad Men was a remarkable series. Need to rewatch it, but I think Rectify will enter the list.
Rectify is some intense viewing. That show was so engaging that dr. Chop said she needed to let it rest (I plowed though) to relieve the pressure.
The Wire is top of my list for dramatic series, and probably second all-time after Fawlty Towers.
Perhaps I need to move Deadwood up my priority list.
Like meat says, the dialogue alone makes it a worthwhile watch. Profound, profane, elegant and at times hilarious. Plus a cast that is the equal to the wonderful words that were written for them. David Milch is a tremendous writer.
Aye.
Do you watch exactly what I watch? Because, give or take an episode, that's exactly my experience with those four shows.
What can I say - Great minds... oh, who am I kidding?
I also find it interesting that you hit on three shows that I like in theory but haven't followed through on.
Yes exactly, to all of this, and your final 'spoilered' sentence especially.
I watched all of Breaking Bad (meh, I don't think binge watching worked for me with that show) and I haven't managed to watch any of Deadwood, but I'm on board with you fellas on the other two.
I don't think binge watching worked for me with that show
I think you hit the nail on the head for me too. I just got too overwhelmed by his (and everyone's) character flaws. Likely needed them in smaller doses. Which is probably a credit to the writing?
I'm going back through Breaking Bad right now (because something is on while I cook dinner...) and it's good but not great. I find that Better Call Saul is a much more rewarding entertainment choice as I don't have to suspend so much disbelief as I did with Walt's decent into darkness.
After having watched the Sopranos again the most troublesome part of the show is that the runners don't know what the focus of the show should be. Some of the time the show is a family drama with the mob attached, and sometimes it's a mob show with a family drama attached. Sometimes it's a dark comedy, and sometimes it's a tragedy. I feel like it's clear that the producers didn't have any idea where the story was going after the first season. They expanded and developed characters, but the sum total feels like this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened, and then this is going to happen, as opposed to the wire where it's clear that the producers have a story to tell in five acts.
With the exception of a rewatch of Guardians of the Galaxy (which is still my favorite Marvel movie, I think), I don't think I've watched any movies in the past month. A handful of TV episodes on Netflix, but all reruns for me, just light, easy, familiar stuff. Survivor's current season. And lots of hockey and baseball.
I haven't watched a movie in ages now, but recently got hooked on a few Netflix series. I love Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories and hope they bring more of it to Netflix, because that single season isn't enough.
I've also been watching Abstract: The Art of Design and mostly enjoying it (I have two episodes left). The Christopher Niemann and Bjarke Ingels episodes were fantastic, and I found myself unexpectedly interested in the episode about Tinker Hatfield (I don't care about Nike's braaaaahhhhnnnd (blech) or collect sneakers). The Es Devlin episode was pretty good, too. Apparently the director of the Niemann & Ingels episodes is working on a documentary focused on Mr. Rogers(!), which would terrify me were those episodes any less well-crafted than they were.
I'm over halfway through the second season of Grand Designs available on Netflix and have greatly enjoyed almost every episode. It's a huge step up from HGTV fare in terms of production quality and architectural interest, while simultaneously being more documentary in focus than faux drama reality-style programming.
Grand Designs is fun. We watched quite a bit of that while home with TLO
I found a two pack of The Raid: Redemption and The Raid 2 on Amazon for like, $15. I hadn't seen the second one, but obviously loved the hell out of Redemption. So, I watched 2 the other weekend, man is that some good shit. The final "boss" fight was pretty intense. (I also got Dredd for $5. I should do a triple feature this weekend.)
Continuing the violent martial arts stuff, I found out Into the Badlands was back, so I'm three episodes into that. I love this show even if about half of the acting is stiff as all get out.
I tried to watch The Force Awakens a couple weeks ago with the 3.5 year old. He got scared at the first scene with Kylo Ren, so that was a no go. dammit. We salvaged the day by watching The Lego Movie, so at least he liked that one.
Nothing else new, though. I've got a ticket for <Guardians of the Galaxy 2 though, so I have that to look forward to.
As my role at the Torch and the popularity of our wrestling podcast grows, my need to keep up with pro wrestling curbs my ability to see movies and TV. Still, I've knocked a few things out. Krampus was a fun horror movie, though you'll go crazy if you try to find a deeper meaning in the narrative. It also skirts over the edges of gore to remain PG-13, but it's frightening enough at points that I think they just should've embraced an R rating.
I've picked up "Louie" again and I'm never quite sure what slows me down. It's one of the smartest, funniest and heaviest sitcoms on TV, and I dig every single episode.
I'm a couple episodes into "Jessica Jones" and I like it, though the idea that I'm attempting to get through the entire Defenders backlog is slowing me down. I also still have all my unseen Marvel movies borrowed from a friend, and have stalled there as well, as I kind of tire of the predictability of superhero fare at times, even when it's good.
I caught up with "Game of Thrones" by knocking out 15 episodes over the course of three or four days. I can't say anything that hasn't been said before.
This season's Survivor has seen some of its best editing, which is something it's always been good at anyway. I'm also wasting another spring watching Big Brother Canada, which is suffering from a pitfall of the game's format, which is that weak players almost always effectively pit strong players against one another, leading to a finish where perhaps the season's least interesting players are the only ones remaining.
Sour Cream and I started a third run of "Phineas and Ferb" last night. As with the last run, she's bummed that Baljeet and Buford aren't there at the beginning. So am I.
We saw Kubo and the Two Strings at Marcus Theaters (the ones with the awesome reclining chairs) a couple of weeks ago. Sour Cream was hopeful for a happier ending, but I saw what was coming and prepared her to understand what the movie is really about. Skim loved this movie, and so did I. It's beautiful.
Moana is cool. I saw it in 3D in my basement, the second-coolest theater room in my life, and it was stunning. It's a predictable film, but charming and sweet.
Not sure if I mentioned it last month, but I saw Enter the Dragon for the first time in 25 years or so, and I like it as much now as I did as a teen. For whatever reason, I had completely forgotten that Bolo Yeung was the heavy, and that this was his big break.
Oh yeah, Moana. What you said.
Oh crap, totally forgot I watched Kubo last weeknd as well. I loved it as well (although I wasn't enamored by Matthew McConaughey's voice work). Neither kid had the patience that day to sit through a movie, though.
Eh, I thought he was pretty alright. I actually didn't even know it was him (or who was in any of the roles) until it was over, which is what I prefer.
The worst voice acting I've heard this year is Ewan McGregor's attempt at French in Beauty and the Beast. That was hugely disappointing. I didn't know he was in that role until afterward either, and was shaking my head upon finding out.
It seemed to get better as the movie went along, but in the beginning he just sort of sounded disinterested in the lines. It certainly wasn't enough to take me out of the movie though.
I wonder if this was related to the character's arc. Initially he attempts to be the valiant knight attempting to uphold the honor of his liege, but over the course of the middle act he settles into the winking smooth operator character, which is really his forte, and is probably the reason he was called upon.
I'm willing to accept this explanation.
Eh, I thought he was pretty alright. , alright, alright.
Well played.
But some of the lines were great!: "Ugh...Sword Uncomfortable..."
We also saw Moana and Kubo with our two kids (3 and about-to-be-six). They both liked both of them, but the younger one was much more drawn to Moana, and older much more to Kubo. They both still talk about their personal favorites among the two, even though we saw them 3-5 months ago. I didn't really expect either of them would be all that into Kubo, but my older son really connected with it.
Neighbor had to watch Matrix for a class (he had never seen it) so I grabbed the work laptop and rewatched it with him and one of his classmates.
Enjoyed the heck out of the Legion finale; good to see that Jemaine Clement will be back for season two.
The third season teaser episode of Rick & Morty looks like it's setting up for more fun. It was pretty mean to run it unannounced on April Fool's Day, but nods to Cartoon Network for filling the day's lineup with googly eye variations of their shows.
Also, thanks FXx for The Simpson's reruns. Always great to fill spare evening time with early, early episodes.
dido.jpg on Legion.
Finally watched Slumdog Millionaire. It felt very Dickensian, which isn't always a bad thing, but I felt at times the movie tried too hard to force drama or coincidence into spots that didn't need it. For example, I knew the final question literally 10 minutes into the movie. I had also recently watched Lion, so my Dev Patel playing a poor boy from India expectations were already sky high. All that said, still liked it quite a bit.
While it isn't the worst (that's Crash), I think Slumdog Millionaire was the dumbest Oscar winner I've seen. Introduce an evil game show host and there's no way in hell I can take you seriously as a drama. Also, the most interesting relationship of the three pairings of the three leads is the one that gets the smallest amount of screen time.
Danny Boyle also made the movie Millions four years earlier, which is more or less the same story, but is quite a bit better. I guess he knew how good it was, and wanted to release it on a grander scale.
Yeah. The host wasn't so evil to be preposterous, but his motivations are so poorly explained it's not believable. I couldn't tell if the show just didn't want to pay out the money or they were offended by a poor person winning. Maybe both.
I will say, though, that one time Drew Carey got super pissed at a contestant on The Price is Right who had watched so many shows and done his research and he knew exactly the price of every showcase item and correctly guessed it to the exact dollar amount. So there's some mild precedent. Also, on Press Your Luck, there was a guy who memorized every board and racked up records amounts of money and the producers were pissed at him, too. I'm not sure if producers hate feeling like someone mastered their show, or if they're just all nervous about another "Twenty-One" scandal.
I love that Price Is Right story. When you hear Carey say, "you got it exactly right" there is no joy or emotion, just flat delivery.
Introduce an evil game show host and there's no way in hell I can take you seriously as a drama.
Sly Stallone want you to hold his beer. Wait, it's a diet soda.
I'm fully on board with Crash as the worst best picture winner, and can probably get behind Slumdog being the dumbest, too (or at least the dumbest framing device; I always thought of the gameshow as a minor part of the movie that leads into the actual story).
Crash should not have won; it wasn't good, and it was the same year as bigger, better more important films (Brokeback Mountain first and foremost among that list). But for Slumdog, I'm ok with it having won Best Picture, since I just don't see one, single, stand-out choice that I would say should have won. There are a few movies I would probably consider better choices than Slumdog : Doubt, The Reader, Milk, The Wrestler, andRevolutionary Road; maybe Dark Knight and Frost/Nixon, too. Of that list, no sure which one I would pick. Plus, among, the epic scale of the story displayed in Slumdog really does stand out in comparison to those other smaller, quieter films.
I don't know what you guys are talking about. Crash was amazing.
Disappointed that didn't link to Deborah Kara Unger. Missed opportunity, jobu.
I haven't seen Crash, but I'd nominate The Apartment as the worst best picture winner.
That's one I still haven't seen. I'll say, though, that Crash isn't just a bad Best Picture winner, it's a bad movie.
Same re: The Apartment.
I have enjoyed the first two episodes of the new season of Doctor Who. I've always liked Peter Capaldi's doctor, and the new companion seems to be off to a good start. Also, there is no "sexual tension" between the companion and the doctor, which is a plus.
Also, there is no "sexual tension"
Yet.
The new companion is gay, so I assume there won't be sexual tension between her and the doctor. Of course, Capaldi is leaving after this season, and there's a chance the new doctor will be a woman. On the other hand, the rumors are that the new companion is leaving after this season, too. So who knows? I'm just enjoying the way it is now.
I'm not sure why everyone assumes she is gay and not bi.
Well, the actress and the producers have said so, for one thing. Also, in the first episode there was a reference to men not working out for her, or something like that. But, of course, it's Doctor Who, so nothing is ever set in stone.
yea, the whole dynamic between Capaldi's doctor and Jenna Coleman's Clara Oswald did have more than a bit of sexual tension. And, of course, she was adorable.
I was sad and disappointed that they killed off Danny. Clara got a really good send-off in terms of story, but it was heart-wrenching.
Danny Pink was really given short shrift all the way. He was treated more as a plot device than as a character. That's how Clara was treated, too, for a while, but eventually her character was developed, at least to some extent.
I never understood the Danny/Doctor interactions. Just weird, for the most part.
Well, seems appropriate to mention here:
Jonathan Demme, ‘Silence of the Lambs’ Director, Dies at 73
That's the film that taught me horror could be beautiful. Thanks for the memories.
Purchased, and watched, Sing and Rogue One. As with Moana, I still have not seen Sing in it's entirety from first frame to last, though I've probably seen the whole movie. Fun, and who doesn't love singing competitions, amiright!?!
Rogue One - I'd managed to leave completely unspoiled until stupidly clicking a bS "Actual Spoiler" a few weeks back. I thought it was great, but I'll quote spookymilk here, "I can't say anything that hasn't been said before."
Logan - in the theater on a $5 Tuesday deal was phenomenal. My buddy was let down a bit, but I say it's easily the best X-men movie of the whole bunch. As far as 'comic book/superhero' movies go, I'll say it's up there with The Dark Knight (whole trilogy really), Deadpool, Guardians, and the original Batman ('89) & Superman ('79) movies. These last two blew my mind as a child, and I'd argue that Keaton/Burton's version of Batman was groundbreaking.
Bloodline - Have been waiting for about 8 months for my wife to watch the first couple episodes as this was something we agreed (I convinced her) to watch together. We're about halfway through Season 1 - Crazy good (h/t to bootsy & spooky - probably woulda missed this one completely).
I never could get into the Superman movie franchise (probably because I've never been able to get into Supes the character), but I wholeheartedly co-sign your argument about the Burton/Keaton/Nicholson Batman being groundbreaking. I think it holds up as a well-made film today and would include it in my Top 4 comic/superhero films.
I saw the original Superman last summer and ... I thought the best part of it was the unintentional humor? I mean, if the point is that Superman/Clark Kent has no charisma at all, then Christopher Reeves really nailed it, but nothing worked for me in that movie. Could have been great at the time, I know I've liked some things in the past, revisited and found them to be lacking after time passed.
Glad to hear you picked up Bloodline. My gawd, that cast. The show has some of the best subtext I've ever had the privilege to enjoy as well. I just love the tension in every one of Danny's scenes.
I heart bloodline.
I love the foreshadowing / slow reveal ... just wow.
EAR and I really got into season 1 of Bloodline, but episode 1 of season 2 and... pfft. It was like all of season 1 was leading to the end of that season and there wasn't enough continued mystery to drive us further, but a new mystery (or something, I forget the particulars).
I had the same experience with How to Get Away With Murder, but EAR bailed on that one halfway through.
I haven't done season two yet, but I feel like a show with that first season deserves a pretty long leash. The same talent is involved, so I expect to see out the season and trust it'll deliver.
I'd give it a long leash, the seasons aren't that long, I didn't find the pacing much different from the first season, and liked where it went.
It's not about a leash, it's about the desire to watch it given the multitude of options.
It never rises to the top.
My backlog and I certainly understand that.
Would someone around here please hurry up and finish Black Mirror?
Speaking of backlog...
I'm sorry but there are too many non-English-language detective miniseries for me to get through.
Not to pick a fight, but I have trouble with The Dark Knight being included in this list. I'd give you Batman Begins, but not the others, and especially not The Dark Knight because the climax happens in the first half of the movie and then you just kind of sit there and watch lesser versions of the earlier scenes for far too long.
A rabid comic book enthusiast friend of mine and I have talked about this recently, and that movie really does get overrated pretty massively. I mean, I still overrate it and consider it to be very good, even though every time I watch it, I'm reminded of its (rather obvious) flaws.
That first half, though.
Oh yeah. If they'd just stopped there... no complaints.
I'm also in the "Batman Begins" is the best of the trilogy camp. Though wish they had cast Maggie right away.
Maggie was so much better.
I hate the way Batman Begins ends...
That said, overall I like that movie. I think I saw The Dark Knight but don't remember much either way. Didn't ever get around to seeing the last in that trilogy.
What are we talking about? ... /reviews own LTE/ oh, I see. I'd had the whole 'Dark Knight' trilogy listed in my best comic / superhero movie list and edited the comment before posting ... I dunno; I still liked The Dark Knight quite a lot.
Yeah, sorry, I totally hijacked that for a pet complaint.
Weird
Quiet you.
Forgot to mention that I'd seen Ghost in the
HalfShell while on my last business trip. It was entertaining, but the earlier anime was fine; didn't see a need for this vehicle.I finished Doctor Strange last night (spread out across multiple viewings). It was... not that great? Also, was Bindlebop Cumberbun trying to do an American accent? I really couldn't tell through the entire film.
I have a problem with these superheroes that have all this power and it devolves into a fistfight.
It drives me crazy when directors and writers can't think of a better way to put a cap on a conflict between two characters who probably wouldn't be interested in fisticuffs.
It also drives me crazy that so many writers & directors think the best way to make their film compelling is by destroying whole cities & millions of (fictional) lives in some kind of apocalypse pr0n.
It drives me crazy when films have a science advisor and then ignore them. And don't get me (re)started on how films handle train accidents.
I'm not giving anything away here, but in the season finale of Expanse, a major character was pinned by a large cargo crate; when they killed ship's gravity to avoid another particular problem, there was the major character still pinned. Duh.
But he wasn't pinned because of gravity.
then I missed something
thanks. then I blame the writers for not holding my attention better
Expanse has been a pretty great show. Still not sure where it's headed, but that's okay.
I don't mind some flawed science if it is a sacrifice that serves some greater good (facilitates a tidy plot twist or serves as a way to reinforce a theme or something like that). Sometimes it is hugely distracting, though.
The Martian did so many things right that I'm not bothered by the initial sandstorm problem (which the author even admits)
That BS about Clooney's "momentum" in Gravity annoyed me to no end.
I haven't seen that movie, but I totally agree there's a line somewhere.
There were so many other things about Gravity that bothered me besides the physics. No way in hell does NASA allow anyone to tool around in an astronaut propulsion unit near Hubble's mirror (closed or not), nor do they allow them to purposelessly zip around for the hell of it.
Yeah, most things about that movie are really wrong. I disliked Gravity mostly because of the poor physics of motion, my wife hated it more because of the unrealistic portrayal of NASA and astronauts in general. That seems like a movie where the less you know about the topic, the more you might like it.
For me, a big difference is also whether or not the realism actually matters for what the movie is meant to do. Gravity is mostly just people moving in orbit, and dealing with what is physically around them, so if you get those two things wrong, then you've basically blown the whole movie.
On the other hand, I'm completely willing to buy into a movie with completely incorrect science if that is not really what the movie is about. For example, Sunshine with Cillian Murphy. I liked that movie a lot, even though the plot is based around a completely wrong understanding of stars. It's about a crew carrying a bomb to the Sun in order to restart it and save all of humanity. That is super, super wrong and not physically possible in any way, but I liked the movie a lot anyway, since it's really about the crew, not about the physics of how they would try to restart the Sun. The same story could have been written about just about any dangerous mission to save the world, so the fact that they really messed up how the Sun works barely bothered me at all.
Yeah, that annoyed me, too. Whenever I see astronauts in movies being unprofessional it bugs me.
This has to be a tough spot for a screenwriter. You need your characters to be interesting and dynamic, but people don't get put on important space missions because they're interesting and dynamic.
Chris Hatfield seriously disagrees
If you saw The Martian, you'd see that all of the astronauts portrayed were very interesting in their own way. You just didn't see them not taking their work seriously.
Yep. All the astronauts I know are interesting, dynamic people, and generally fun and a bit weird.
Even though it's a serious, detailed kind of job, it still takes a certain kind of person to be willing to strap themselves to a huge explosive and launch themselves away from the Earth.
it still takes a certain kind of person to be willing to strap themselves to a huge explosive and launch themselves away from the Earth
<3
Yeah, it wasn't that great. Pretty, but... shallow.
If found it to be....fine. Not much more than that. I kept waiting to love it, but it just never happened. I do feel like it may have set itself up for a good sequel, though. I like the characters, and feel like there is a lot of ground that could be covered, it just didn't really happen with this one.
Haven't really seen much for movies.
Kong was fun to watch. I appreciated the occasional bits of humor. Hiddleston is still a massively "meh" actor, but he was fine. Brie Larson was good, as always.
Otherwise, it's been TV.
Better Call Saul is my favorite current TV show by far. All four main characters are great, and the show is just beautiful to look at (some of the shots are just crazy gorgeous), but what really sets this show apart is its patience. The story moves slowly, and sometimes devotes extended periods of time to watch the process of something happening, rather than taking the easy way out and just skipping to the gist of it. I could not have anticipated that a show about Saul Goodman before he became Saul Goodman could be so engrossing.
The patience is amazing. What other show could spend about 25 minutes with Mike over two episodes with only about five words of dialogue?
Even better, what other show could do that and have the results be so incredibly watchable?
I love dialogue restraint so much. Part of my love for Wall-E and Cast Away
Under the Skin
Okay, why is Deadpool always referred to as Merc with the Mouth where merc rhymes with "irk" and not "hearse"? It's short for "mercenary" right?
I don't know, but I'll chime in to note that murse is in some situations slang for male nurse.
Ah, are you one of the rare few that pronounces
charlike char- from character instead of the word?If you're talking about the Oracle format, then yes, like CARE. Most people I know do.
So, do you pronounce it "VAIR-CHAIR", "VAIR-CARE", or "VARR-CARR"?
Here's your "merc"
No, here's my Merc.
I was thinking the C char. I'm not sure how I pronounce varchar. I think VARR-CHAR.
Mercantile
In programing I've heard char both ways and never really cared. Not like gif. That I care about. But only because I think the while thing is funny. I call them pictures, that may or may not move with other data attached.
Also that way it rhymes with smirk yes?
I saw Hidden Figures Sunday night. I thought it was quite good, but I would probably watch just about anything set in NASA in the '60s. Or any movie that portrays mathematicians/scientists as the main protagonists. (I liked Imitation Game as well.) Didn't love the soundtrack--I like Pharrell Williams in general, but the lyrics especially seemed a bit heavy-handed and having Pharrell sing so many times seemed distracting. Would probably have enjoyed the soundtrack just fine if it was just instrumental. For me, when you have pop songs with singing, it works best to vary the performers or if one person performs multiple times, for them to be one of the characters.
I just finished Bordertown. I guess I really like detective series set all over the world.
This one: Rural-ish Finland near the Russian Border.
I really like the characters. Teenagers, Work/life balance, moving home to a changed town, moving to a new town, getting close calls and returning to where things were from the beginning, all while solving ghastly murders.
EAR couldn't watch it.
Also: Father Brown Mysteries, which I do watch with EAR.
Finally saw Deadpool a few nights ago. I don't know why I didn't see it earlier as it just seemed like a movie I would love. Well, I hated it. Absolutely hated it. Maybe I had way to high of an expectation due to the rave reviews from people around me. It was just bad.
Oh, and is this the worst commercial in the history of commercials? I mean, who thought this would make me hungry.
I don't know, maybe I am just crabby that I woke up from a nap in which I dreamed I woke up late for work, and it was way too real.
What an odd commercial. Her bad voice is impossible to miss, so it's clearly intended. In which case...why? What's the actual gag? Am I supposed to be guffawing because she's sailing just over and under the correct pitch?
Yeah, I saw another one where a middle aged lady spontaneously raps at the salad bar. Maybe it's supposed to be a message of "our freshness will make you sing no matter how bad you suck". But here's the rub: you are a quasi-full service chain restaurant. Are there really many people out there that really believe that all the food comes in fresh and is prepped at these places? I interviewed once with another big name chain neighborhood restaurant and at the time they had 7 microwaves on their cooks line... 7!!
Runner daughter and I have started into the new MST3K Moon 13: The Moon episodes. We're two in, and they do a good job of being an homage as well as continuing the good work.
btw Rows, have you seen Cry Wilderness episode? Rowsdower callback AND sasquatch!
I'm two episodes in and I'm actually having trouble moving forward. There's been some good, but a lot of flat jokes as well. Granted, the original took a couple of years to find its footing, and this cast is entirely new.
I'm trying to find a time where I can pay closer attention to it.
The wife and I had a date night last night and used it to watch the new Fast and Furious movie. It's a completely ridiculous movie, which for the last several F&F movies has been high praise, but it sort of feels like the scale tipped a bit here. I liked it, but didn't have that same giddy rush when I left the theater that I did for 5, 6, and 7.