50 thoughts on “Third Monday Movie Day – Emmy Edition 2: Electric Boogaloo”

1. This season of Venture Bros has been outstanding. Hard to believe it's been around now for 14 years.

   I don't expect much bling for Game of Thrones, as this past season was one of its weakest.

   1. It was definitely the weakest, but...well, here's a reason I don't watch award shows.

      1. Heh.

2. Admittedly, I'm always Netflix-season level behind on TV (so Season 2 of The Good Place just came out), but this list of nominees kind of surprises me. It seems really uninspired.

   Also, if U.S.S. Callister is nominated, there's something very wrong with the people picking TV movies. That's probably the worst episode of Black Mirror I've ever seen (and I've seen most of them).

   1. At least the somehow still shambling corpse of Modern Family wasn't nominated again?

      1. That corpse is still shambling? Huh. I watched the first season, have seen a couple of episodes from after that. The first season was very very good, but everything I saw afterward was a significant step down.

         1. It's one of the very few shows which Linds and I finally decided to throw in the towel on. That was, like, two season ago, I think? And we really could have done it three seasons earlier. Good heavens, that show is past its "sell by" date.

            1. I rarely throw in the towel after the first season. It's this compulsion to finish something I've invested time in, hence watching Dexter's Seasons 7 and Season 8. But I did give up on Girls and Orange is the New Black after several seasons.

               1. I actually thought that this season of Orange was a huge step up compared to the riot season (which was a bold, risky move move for the show which absolutely failed to pay off in any way). I don't love every choice the show made, but it got back to what it's best at.

                  The writers really need to figure out what the endgame is and start making their way there, though.

               2. Yeah, one season of Girls was enough for me.

   2. Within a month I'm going to be doing a Black Mirror countdown on my website. Sneak preview: not the worst episode, not the best.

      1. I look forward to that.

         I've not seen all of Season 4 (just the first two... neither left me impressed). I'm assuming the worst one comes from somewhere else in Season 4?

         1. I haven't finished Season 4 yet, but I'm thinking you may be right.

      2. I'll look forward to your countdown. I've watched some BM mirror episodes but a scattering from all seasons. Plus I'm deliberately skipping disturbing stuff like the bestiality and Prime Minister episode.

         1. that's my Dad's favorite episode

            Nearly every episode is disturbing in some way. Some hit me more than others.

            1. It was the episode that turned EAR off the program, about 10 minutes in.
               She's lucky she bailed before the end of the episode.

               The ick feeling that almost every episode gives off reminds me of the 1980's Alfred Hitchcock Presents which was on TV when I was a kid.
               But they're hitting me as an adult rather than a 10-year-old.

   3. EAR and I blitzed through The Good Place season 2. Was disappointed it was another short series.
      I find the storyline really interesting and way more intriguing than Schur's other shows (other than that Brooklyn show I haven't watched).
      Schur's other shows have been so much more character that nothing really needed to happen in them.

3. Emmy thoughts:
   * Better Call Saul is a complete delight. This season has been great so far. The fact that's it's nominated for nothing is dumb.
   * I'd love for Ted Danson to win best actor for The Good Place, even if that seems highly unlikely.
   * Game of Thrones seems to be the consensus pick for a lot of wins, though I can't see why. For a show that should be building to a massive finale, it is spinning its wheels like crazy. I didn't *dislike* last season, but it didn't move the needle much, either.
   * This Is Us is a better show than I always seem to think it is. It's shameless "#Feels" fodder meant for people to vaguely tweet about how sad that night's episode made them, but damn if it hasn't made me realize what a good actor Sterling K. Brown is (and honestly, the rest of the cast has grown on me a ton, too).

   Non-emmy Thoughts:

   * I've been watching the Duck Tales reboot with Newbish lately. It's zippy, fun show with an obscene amount of voice actor talent.
   * Not to quibble about realism in silly sports shows, but there's no way they would call "roughing the passer" on that Green Bay player in real life. I get that they had to juice up the drama somehow, but it would've been nice for them to have some better writing. I did find the completely non-cathartic tie hilarious, though. Way to defuse the cliffhanger!

   1. On the Poscast, Poz and Ken Tremendous have been doing this thing were they debate about moments in sports movies, but then they'll talk about a way to remake the movie to make it as anticlimactic as possible (like in the final game the home team gets way behind to start, then makes a mild comeback, but then gets blown out and the last 10 minutes the game just peters out to a predictable conclusion).

4. I'm in the middle of soooo many shows:

   • Better Call Saul - Just watched season 3 premiere. And yeah, this show has exceeded even my wildest expectations in just how good it is.
   • Westworld - Mid 2nd season. I never watched Lost, but I'm guessing there's the same feeling of writers just kind of winging it.
   • The Americans - near end of 1st season. Normally I probably wouldn't start a show with so many seasons, but made an exception. Really like it, but it'll be awhile before I finish.
   • Veep - Mid season 3. I'm not too big on the cringe comedy shows, but this one is so well-written and performed. Hard to watch in the current climate though.
   • Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - mid 3rd season. I keep kind of falling off watching this show, but I always wonder why once I pick it up again. For some reason, I've watched this on planes a lot.
   • The Deuce - End of season 1. Just watched the finale last night. Wasn't a big fan of the finale, but still a very interesting show. I could use a lot less James Franco though.
   • Brockmire - I watched the first few episodes in spite of the backlog. Was good, but I'm hoping that it's picking up to how great I've heard it's supposed to be.

   Only thing I'm caught up on is The Good Place, which is awesome naturally.

   1. I hear ya, including only being caught up on The Good Place. Also, Cheers is now on Netflix and, since I really didn't watch it back in the day, I'm watching it now. It holds up really, really well.

      1. I watched a few episodes of Cheers myself, after EAR started on Frasier.

   2. Technically, I should add Ash vs. Evil Dead as I still haven't watched what is/was apparently the series finale since it was canceled. Guess I don't want to admit it's over or something.

5. Just finished The IT Crowd. Man what a weird, hilarious show. Richard Ayoade is amazing.

   1. That's another one I'm in the middle of, I guess. I watched the first several episodes. Should probably pick it up again. Same with Spaced.

      1. Seasons 3 and 4 are definitely better than first two.

   2. Yeah, I watched that as well. I knew several actors from BBC's The Big Fat Quiz of the Year. Was good to see Noah Fielding and Matt Berry turn up in Disenchantment.

   3. Strangely enough, I'm two seasons into a second viewing myself. Thrilled to find I like it just as much a second time.

6. I've got like three episodes left of the last season of BoJack Horseman before I can start the new season. I watched one last night. Thanks folks here for getting me to watch that.
   I've been trying out a few anime series. I'm curious to see where Gunslinger Girl goes, but it's slow pacing is sleep-inducing.
   I enjoyed the Netflix film Next Gen. Parts surprised me (parts didn't), and I love how David Cross's voice is everywhere. Seemed a strongly anti-consumerist message.

   HPR and I are almost halfway into Dragon Prince, which looks like it could be a Lego-Fairies tie-in series, even though it's not. Canadian anime?
   From the episode titling, I believe this is going to be a long, epic, story arc. Digging it, the TV-Y7 rating seems a bit light, as there is violence (without blood) and true peril.

   1. Dragon Prince is by the head writer/director of Avatar: The Last Airbender so the anime influence is not too surprising!

   2. Also watched Netflix's Sierra Burgess is a Big Loser. Which is pretty good, for a teen-movie Cyrano.

      1. Added that to my queue last night, based on a pretty strong trailer.

7. Other things I've watched lately:

   Finished Season 5 of Agents of Shield. This season was so frustrating at times. And then I saw the final 2 episodes and it all made sense. The season arc was completely brilliant, I just didn't trust the writers enough. I thought they were ruining characters, but they weren't. At all. It was really dang good. And, for what its worth, it got back to doing a little bit of establishing that the good guys don't kill people, they try to save people. That's something that gets lost far too often when you have heroes shooting at mindless bad guy minions. It was nice to see.

   Still working on Disenchantment. Apparently I'm almost to the point where it gets good.

   The Office - On a whim we decided to watch a few episodes of Season 2 again, and... it's even better than I remember. How did they manage to pack so much into so little time? For a show where painfully lingering on awkwardness caused so much of the humor I was amazed how little lingering the show actually did. So well edited.

   GLOW - Almost done with Season 2. This is probably the best Netflix Original show I've watched. It's just so well rounded, really smartly written, effective without being too pointed, etc. I highly recommend it.

   Demitri Martin's Netflix Standup special - his stuff hasn't aged well.

   Deep Blue Sea - Essentially exactly what I remembered from high school, or whenever it was. A decent action/monster movie, by which I mean overall the plot is kind of crappy. But at least the right people die in the end.

   1. While I still found parts of Demetri Martin's new special to be funny... I think I agree with your overall assessment.

      1. Yeah, there were moments, but... overall, just not there. It was more "mild amusement stand-up show" than "comedy stand-up show."

   2. Ahh, GLOW is another one I'm in the middle of. I was caught up, but then the new season came out.

      1. Season 2 has been just as good, if not better.

8. I've watched a fair amount of comedians talking about their craft and other comedians lately (including, especially, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, but also Norm MacDonald has a show, and some other bits), and... I think I need to watch The Larry Sanders Show. It gets referenced lovingly by so many comedians... anyone here ever watch it? Thoughts?

   1. I watched episode 1 of Norm MacDonald has a show, with David Spade. Wow, what a glorious mess. I laughed so hard at some parts, but also got so bored with long sections.
      I'll probably finish it but who knows how long before it wears thin? Maybe the mix of other guests will leaven things a bit, as Spade can be as dry as MacDonald.

      I was interested to hear how Just Shoot Me! came about, as I watched most of that show when it first aired. It did seem a small role for someone with as big a name as he had at the time. Luckily, MacDonald let him tell that story.

      1. I suspect that, except for the anime, we have the same netflix algorithm.

9. Has anybody watched Atypical? About a teenager on the spectrum going through teenager things. I really liked season 1. I'm 3 episodes into season 2.

   Is Bojack something you need to start from the start? I think someone said they really hit their stride in season 2.

   1. The wife and I have watched the first season of Atypical, haven't started season 2 yet. We both like it quite a bit.

   2. I would definitely suggest you start BoJack at the beginning. But maybe watching the season recaps that NetFlix makes available (kept with the trailers) would work as a cheat.

      1. Also, season one isn't bad at all. It just hasn't reached its heights yet.

10. I watched the first half of the new season of BoJack Horseman this weekend. It's still probably my favorite thing on "TV." Episode 6 was... a doozy.

    I also watched Mandy last night. I'm very thankful for simultaneous theatrical/VOD releases! So, I have a lot of complicated feelings about Panos Cosmatos's previous film Beyond the Black Rainbow. It's a film with an outrageously good aesthetic, an incredible soundtrack, and a pace that makes 2001seem brisk by comparison. I watched it very late one night, all alone, in the dark, and it struck a perfect chord within me. I showed it to a friend, and I didn't enjoy it as much the second time; partly because he didn't like it as much, and partly because we didn't watch it in pitch black in the middle of the night. The film was still gorgeous, and the soundtrack still incredible, and really it just made me desperately excited for whatever Cosmatos would do next. And I guess that preamble brings me to Mandy.

    The main thing I'm looking for when I watch a movie is how it makes me feel. This is part of why I adored Spring Breakers so much. Mandy has a pretty similar, deliberate pace to BtBR for the first half before it really gets going. Even the title cards reveal slowly. The movie really leans into its early 80s schlock roots; it looked like a Troma film with a budget in the best way possible. The sound design is amazing, and the soundtrack (by Jóhann Jóhannsson, with guitar work by Stephen O'Malley) somehow tops the BtBR score. Nicolas Cage is the perfect protagonist for the film, even though he only has a couple dozen lines of dialog. The main antagonist is modeled after internet incels so... this movie was pretty much focus grouped for me? It definitely met my expectations. I'm looking forward to a rewatch. I'm glad that it's getting accolades, and I recommend it, but be prepared for the slow pace.

    1. R.I.P. Jóhannsson

    2. I'm listening to the Mandy score this morning, and it is definitely pretty awesome. It feels like a soundtrack that doesn't feel like a soundtrack - it sort of reminds me of the way I felt listening to the It Follows soundtrack, though it definitely doesn't have much in common with the actual music from that movie.

11. I'm three episodes into the new season of "American Vandal," which I'm loving every bit as much as the first season. God, it's such a smart show, using a backdrop of such superficially silly subject matter and then landing on privilege, police corruption, discrimination, sexism and isolation. Vandal and "BoJack Horseman" are easily my favorite Netflix originals, and they launched new seasons on the same day. Damn wieners.

    Otherwise, movie viewing has taken a big step back as developing my new game came to the forefront. I did manage to see My Neighbor Totoro, one of the few Ghibli releases I hadn't seen. It's a sweet charmer, but there's not much meat on the bone. Of course, pleasant to look at.

    1. There's a second season of American Vandal? Thanks for the tip.

       I've read that Totoro can be read as a reflection of Japan had they not been the expansionist empire of WWII. (Which is why it was released as a double-bill with Grave of the Fireflies.)

       1. I...may have watched the last five episodes of Vandal on this day off. Man oh man, I love it.

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