Runner daughter and I watched the season opener of Dr. Ms. Who -- it was fine, although the body count surprised us both.
Ken Burn's film on Mayo Clinic was excellent.
Watched Bridge of Spies, Hotel Artemis, and A Wrinkle in Time recently. Many of the scenes in the last one I found myself asking, "What's the point of that?"
Season 7 of Venture Bros was outstanding; they keep getting better. And then there's this exchange between Billy Quizboy, Doc, and Brock:
So any Better Call Saul fans out there? Great slow burn of a season. I would definitely watch a Kim Wexler, Attorney at Law spinoff after this show is done. What a great actress. The look on her face in the last scene was just amazing. Also, if I remember correctly, she spoke not a word, it was all in her physical reaction.
Also I found myself less and less interested in the Gus/Mike/Nacho secondary plot. Although the last scene with Mike and the German Engineer was lovingly shot (pun intended).
Yes. I pretty much agree with everything you wrote.
The lab construction got old but the final scene offered a turning point for Mike and what he's willing to do.
Yup, no half-measures for Mike.
I’m assuming you’re talking about the most recent season, as I’ve just finished season 3 on the Netflix. I can’t really find anything to criticize about season 3. What an ending as well.
more of a quick burn, that one.
Nicely done
Check out the header on my twitter feed. That should give you an idea of what I think about this show.
Obviously Kim is a universally beloved character. Which just adds to the angst of what happened to her during Breaking Bad? Killed? (the creators aren't above killing beloved characters -- See Hank) In Jail? Moved away? Still in ABQ but just not involved in the Walter White saga? Personally I think it would be a cop out if she followed "Gene" to Omaha. Killing her off or sending her to jail would be devastating but fantastic drama. I just don't want her character to kinda just go away either.
Maybe, she's killed off, but I somehow don't think that they will, because she's a character that can continue in some fashion. Howard Hamlin isn't resolved... I kind of see Kim getting to hand him a(nother) big L. She's obviously not going to sell Jimmy out. So, she has to go along, or just break away, that seems unsatisfying. I've been thinking about who is the guy that relocates Walter White and Jimmy. This is someone that Jimmy knows or he knows a guy that knows him. That's not resolved. Could it be that Kim is somehow involved there? Could she have relocated Jimmy and then just left him there? That would be cold.
The cold open with Chuck and the karaoke bar scene was also heartbreakingly awesome.
And I also <3 Kim Wexler.
Always happy to see more Ernesto
I’m only through season two, but three is on the list in the short term after I catch up on a couple of things.
And I’ll pile on for Kim, like all others.
If you are on the Kim Wexler Bandwagon after two BCS seasons, you are going to love her after watching seasons 3 and 4, especially 4.
The wife and I enjoyed I, Tonya quite a bit. The shifts in tone were rather jarring at times, but overall, it was an interesting look at an event that I thought I remembered quite well.
Better Call Saul is still awesome.
I watched You Might Be the Killer on Syfy over the weekend. I was quite entertained by it, laughed quite a bit. I would recommend it.
We also watched The Addam's Family and Addams Family Values and Raul Julia was just the best.
I didn't really watch much over the past month. I've been spending my weekends playing through Wolfenstein: The New Order and Wolfenstein: New Colossus because I want to get through em before Red Dead 2 comes out in a couple of weeks. (I am insanely pumped for it.)
Can I borrow RDR2 when you're done? And your gaming system?
You’ll pass them along to me when you’re done?
Sure, no problem.
Well this got away from me quick. I still haven't even finished Fallout 4.
I'll take 'em after meat, but you're gonna have to watch my kids for a few weeks in there too...
We finished Season 2 of The Good Place. Hot dang that's a good show. It's really Lost all over again, isn't it? I can't believe how quickly paced it is too. They don't belabor anything, trust their audience, etc.
Disenchantment. Meh. Even the last few episodes which finally moved the plot forward (some of it fairly obviously) weren't all that enjoyable. I'll watch a little more, but it better pick up.
Sierra Burgess Is A Loser - Netflix Chick Flick. Convinced to add it by a decent trailer. Was more or less a mistake. Had more potential than it delivered. Probably would have resonated if I was a teenager. The sound editing or mixing or whatever was horrible, since there were a ton of times when the music was way louder than the dialogue it was supposed to be playing behind. And the equivalent thing happened visually, since a good chunk of the movie happened on phone screens (a screen inside a screen - yay!), but they didn't zoom far enough in that you could actually read the text. Bleh.
Working through Iron Fist Season 2. It's better than the first season, but is moving a bit too slowly.
Apparently there will be no Iron Fist season three.
Interesting about the sound mixing; I know it’s a difficult job, but all the same, I can’t fathom how a movie could be released with that problem still plaguing the production. I used to think there was something wrong with my copy of Alien3, until years later I watched the special features on the disc and learned that everyone was aware of the sound mixing issues. (There were of course many other issues with it; I know I’ve mentioned this but I can’t give a disc of special features a higher recommendation. It’s fascinating to hear how a movie can fall apart).
I know that with Disney's launching of their own streaming service the whole Netflix/Marvel overlap is likely to go away anyway, and Disney will want to control their content more. Sliding Iron Fist into the retirement/guest appearance bin makes perfect sense to start that off. I think they'll want to do a season of Luke Cage, given the way the 2nd one ended. Jessica Jones... not sure. I suspect Daredevil is on his last ride too, given Kingpin is back and they're firing the Bullseye bullet. Seems like an arc coming to an end.
the proliferation of these subscription streaming services is maddening. I'm not going to pay a subscription to CBS just to decide whether the new (last year) Star Trek series is worth watching. I'm not going to pay a Disney subscription fee just to see one show or series. That's a Pay Per View product at subscription pricing.
I can tell you that you can certainly wait for your local library to get the ST:D season one DVD.
Strongly concur. Aggregating streaming is worth it, individual services won't be for me.
À la carte channels came to be and turns out it's also stressful and expensive.
Heh, this.
But really, what did people expect? That instead of paying $150 a month for 400 channels, they'd be paying $1.50 for four of them?
Unfortunately, the best course shy of cord cutting is still to call and demand a lower monthly bill. When we moved, we trimmed ours to $35. It used to be $130 or so....for the same channels. The markup on satellite subscriptions is utterly insane.
There are places where content is all in one location, but...I've said too much already.
À la carte channels in a monopoly/duopoly market is just a mechanism for providers to capture more consumer surplus. If the market for access to content were reasonably competitive, then consumers would recapture that consumer surplus because pricing was more competitive.
the product differentiation by the dominant providers is kind of like Coke and Pepsi proliferating barely different "flavors" to grab more shelf space. Yes, more "choice," but not at competitive prices.
Cruising through the walking dead newest netflix, and sweet mercy from heaven does this show need to end. Oh, what's that, there is another season? Holy barf.
I hated that show when it started, hung around for reasons I can’t put a finger on, started really liking it for a while and then got suckered in for way too long. I think I’m about three episodes into season seven but it didn’t even qualify as a background show when I’m doing something else anymore.
I think my biggest problem with the show is that it does not know how to pace the stories that it tries to tell. All of my favorite episodes/arcs were wrapped up quickly.
The acting is subpar and the writing is laughable, but when it was moving as a quick pace, those things could get glossed over. When Negan sits around chewing scenery for two full freaking seasons....it's a lot harder to hide.
Now, they're trying to go in a "rebuilding civilization" storyline. It's a perfectly fine idea that the writing staff of this show is in no way equipped to handle. At this point, I still think that the show would be better in less serialized, more "Have Gun Will Travel" or "Maverick" mode. Pare away almost all of the actors, stick with a core of five or six, and have them travel the land, finding new communities and people. No story arcs longer than an episode or two.
What I'm sure we'll get instead is some new crazy big bad that is a lesser copy of a lesser copy of the Governor, and eventually, the ratings will fall so low that the show will mercifully be put down.
Until then, I get some laptop/Hearthstone time on Sunday evenings.
I am really, really glad I bailed a couple episodes into season 3. The only thing I ever hear from anyone is that they're just hate-watching it at this point. Meanwhile, AMC has a perfectly awesome show that rules that they should be promoting in Into the Badlands.
You missed the best stuff they did, and not by much. Not that I’d suggest picking it up again, just in case you felt the urge to move forward, believing the good stuff would continue.
As I mentioned yesterday, The Gaga/Cooper Star is Born was very entertaining.
I don't actually recall seeing the Streisand version, but I have long loved the Garland/Mason version. Except for the Mason character's ending. It romanticizes his death. The Cooper version does a much better job with the character's arc, but still gives mental illness too little play.
Have you seen the original? Fredric March’s death is shot artfully but I can’t say I remember it to be romanticized. I know I saw the two others but can’t say I remember a ton about them, as they were during the Really Drunk Years.
I don't think I have seen the original.
The James Mason scene involves him walking into the surf (at night, I think). I don't recall any explicit treatment of mental illness.
I spent most of this month catching up on wrestling stuff, but saw a few things. If I didn’t mention American Vandal last time, I loved it probably as much as I loved the first season. I’m four episodes into the latest BoJack Horseman and it continues to blow me away and be one of the more relatable shows I’ve seen.
I’ve also put a ton of hours into Spider-Man on PS4 this month, which improves upon the origin story and easily could be a movie itself, with great acting, set pieces and dramatic weight. It probably robbed me of what otherwise would have been movie hours.
Oh, and Attack on Titan keeps changing in unexpected and satisfying ways. I’m only three episodes from the present on that one.
Runner daughter and I watched the season opener of Dr. Ms. Who -- it was fine, although the body count surprised us both.
Ken Burn's film on Mayo Clinic was excellent.
Watched Bridge of Spies, Hotel Artemis, and A Wrinkle in Time recently. Many of the scenes in the last one I found myself asking, "What's the point of that?"
Season 7 of Venture Bros was outstanding; they keep getting better. And then there's this exchange between Billy Quizboy, Doc, and Brock:
So any Better Call Saul fans out there? Great slow burn of a season. I would definitely watch a Kim Wexler, Attorney at Law spinoff after this show is done. What a great actress. The look on her face in the last scene was just amazing. Also, if I remember correctly, she spoke not a word, it was all in her physical reaction.
Also I found myself less and less interested in the Gus/Mike/Nacho secondary plot. Although the last scene with Mike and the German Engineer was lovingly shot (pun intended).
Yes. I pretty much agree with everything you wrote.
The lab construction got old but the final scene offered a turning point for Mike and what he's willing to do.
Yup, no half-measures for Mike.
I’m assuming you’re talking about the most recent season, as I’ve just finished season 3 on the Netflix. I can’t really find anything to criticize about season 3. What an ending as well.
more of a quick burn, that one.
Nicely done
Check out the header on my twitter feed. That should give you an idea of what I think about this show.
I love the way he says it to Kim when explaining his new venture.
What are the chances that Kim ends up hanging out with Cinnabon Gene?
The cold open with Chuck and the karaoke bar scene was also heartbreakingly awesome.
And I also <3 Kim Wexler.
Always happy to see more Ernesto
I’m only through season two, but three is on the list in the short term after I catch up on a couple of things.
And I’ll pile on for Kim, like all others.
If you are on the Kim Wexler Bandwagon after two BCS seasons, you are going to love her after watching seasons 3 and 4, especially 4.
The wife and I enjoyed I, Tonya quite a bit. The shifts in tone were rather jarring at times, but overall, it was an interesting look at an event that I thought I remembered quite well.
Better Call Saul is still awesome.
I watched You Might Be the Killer on Syfy over the weekend. I was quite entertained by it, laughed quite a bit. I would recommend it.
We also watched The Addam's Family and Addams Family Values and Raul Julia was just the best.
I didn't really watch much over the past month. I've been spending my weekends playing through Wolfenstein: The New Order and Wolfenstein: New Colossus because I want to get through em before Red Dead 2 comes out in a couple of weeks. (I am insanely pumped for it.)
Can I borrow RDR2 when you're done? And your gaming system?
You’ll pass them along to me when you’re done?
Sure, no problem.
Well this got away from me quick. I still haven't even finished Fallout 4.
I'll take 'em after meat, but you're gonna have to watch my kids for a few weeks in there too...
We finished Season 2 of The Good Place. Hot dang that's a good show. It's really Lost all over again, isn't it? I can't believe how quickly paced it is too. They don't belabor anything, trust their audience, etc.
Disenchantment. Meh. Even the last few episodes which finally moved the plot forward (some of it fairly obviously) weren't all that enjoyable. I'll watch a little more, but it better pick up.
Sierra Burgess Is A Loser - Netflix Chick Flick. Convinced to add it by a decent trailer. Was more or less a mistake. Had more potential than it delivered. Probably would have resonated if I was a teenager. The sound editing or mixing or whatever was horrible, since there were a ton of times when the music was way louder than the dialogue it was supposed to be playing behind. And the equivalent thing happened visually, since a good chunk of the movie happened on phone screens (a screen inside a screen - yay!), but they didn't zoom far enough in that you could actually read the text. Bleh.
Working through Iron Fist Season 2. It's better than the first season, but is moving a bit too slowly.
Apparently there will be no Iron Fist season three.
Interesting about the sound mixing; I know it’s a difficult job, but all the same, I can’t fathom how a movie could be released with that problem still plaguing the production. I used to think there was something wrong with my copy of Alien3, until years later I watched the special features on the disc and learned that everyone was aware of the sound mixing issues. (There were of course many other issues with it; I know I’ve mentioned this but I can’t give a disc of special features a higher recommendation. It’s fascinating to hear how a movie can fall apart).
I know that with Disney's launching of their own streaming service the whole Netflix/Marvel overlap is likely to go away anyway, and Disney will want to control their content more. Sliding Iron Fist into the retirement/guest appearance bin makes perfect sense to start that off. I think they'll want to do a season of Luke Cage, given the way the 2nd one ended. Jessica Jones... not sure. I suspect Daredevil is on his last ride too, given Kingpin is back and they're firing the Bullseye bullet. Seems like an arc coming to an end.
the proliferation of these subscription streaming services is maddening. I'm not going to pay a subscription to CBS just to decide whether the new (last year) Star Trek series is worth watching. I'm not going to pay a Disney subscription fee just to see one show or series. That's a Pay Per View product at subscription pricing.
I can tell you that you can certainly wait for your local library to get the ST:D season one DVD.
Strongly concur. Aggregating streaming is worth it, individual services won't be for me.
À la carte channels came to be and turns out it's also stressful and expensive.
Heh, this.
But really, what did people expect? That instead of paying $150 a month for 400 channels, they'd be paying $1.50 for four of them?
Unfortunately, the best course shy of cord cutting is still to call and demand a lower monthly bill. When we moved, we trimmed ours to $35. It used to be $130 or so....for the same channels. The markup on satellite subscriptions is utterly insane.
There are places where content is all in one location, but...I've said too much already.
À la carte channels in a monopoly/duopoly market is just a mechanism for providers to capture more consumer surplus. If the market for access to content were reasonably competitive, then consumers would recapture that consumer surplus because pricing was more competitive.
the product differentiation by the dominant providers is kind of like Coke and Pepsi proliferating barely different "flavors" to grab more shelf space. Yes, more "choice," but not at competitive prices.
Cruising through the walking dead newest netflix, and sweet mercy from heaven does this show need to end. Oh, what's that, there is another season? Holy barf.
I hated that show when it started, hung around for reasons I can’t put a finger on, started really liking it for a while and then got suckered in for way too long. I think I’m about three episodes into season seven but it didn’t even qualify as a background show when I’m doing something else anymore.
I think my biggest problem with the show is that it does not know how to pace the stories that it tries to tell. All of my favorite episodes/arcs were wrapped up quickly.
The acting is subpar and the writing is laughable, but when it was moving as a quick pace, those things could get glossed over. When Negan sits around chewing scenery for two full freaking seasons....it's a lot harder to hide.
Now, they're trying to go in a "rebuilding civilization" storyline. It's a perfectly fine idea that the writing staff of this show is in no way equipped to handle. At this point, I still think that the show would be better in less serialized, more "Have Gun Will Travel" or "Maverick" mode. Pare away almost all of the actors, stick with a core of five or six, and have them travel the land, finding new communities and people. No story arcs longer than an episode or two.
What I'm sure we'll get instead is some new crazy big bad that is a lesser copy of a lesser copy of the Governor, and eventually, the ratings will fall so low that the show will mercifully be put down.
Until then, I get some laptop/Hearthstone time on Sunday evenings.
I am really, really glad I bailed a couple episodes into season 3. The only thing I ever hear from anyone is that they're just hate-watching it at this point. Meanwhile, AMC has a perfectly awesome show that rules that they should be promoting in Into the Badlands.
You missed the best stuff they did, and not by much. Not that I’d suggest picking it up again, just in case you felt the urge to move forward, believing the good stuff would continue.
As I mentioned yesterday, The Gaga/Cooper Star is Born was very entertaining.
I don't actually recall seeing the Streisand version, but I have long loved the Garland/Mason version. Except for the Mason character's ending. It romanticizes his death. The Cooper version does a much better job with the character's arc, but still gives mental illness too little play.
Have you seen the original? Fredric March’s death is shot artfully but I can’t say I remember it to be romanticized. I know I saw the two others but can’t say I remember a ton about them, as they were during the Really Drunk Years.
I don't think I have seen the original.
The James Mason scene involves him walking into the surf (at night, I think). I don't recall any explicit treatment of mental illness.
I spent most of this month catching up on wrestling stuff, but saw a few things. If I didn’t mention American Vandal last time, I loved it probably as much as I loved the first season. I’m four episodes into the latest BoJack Horseman and it continues to blow me away and be one of the more relatable shows I’ve seen.
I’ve also put a ton of hours into Spider-Man on PS4 this month, which improves upon the origin story and easily could be a movie itself, with great acting, set pieces and dramatic weight. It probably robbed me of what otherwise would have been movie hours.
Oh, and Attack on Titan keeps changing in unexpected and satisfying ways. I’m only three episodes from the present on that one.