It's been awhile since we've done one of these. Seems appropriate to do one now though; lots of relevant topics.
Now that you've got the time, what titles long in your queue do you hope to unearth? Now that everything has shut down, how are your viewing habits/methods changing? Are you rationing your TV time even with little else to do?
And of course, what have you been watching lately?
Super 8 - lots of explosions. Story never really grabbed me but good escapist action. We watched with surround sound kicked up.
Frozen 2 - I'm not the target market
The Farewell - Slow. I preferred the This American Life podcast on the same topic to the movie.
1st generation Chinese-American goes to China to visit dying grandmother buy grandmother doesn't know she's sick. Interesting look at cultural differences. I just prefer documentaries to fiction based on fact.
Quantum of Solace - The 13 year old is getting into James Bond. I screwed up and we watched Skyfall a couple weeks ago before this one. Still a good one to watch.
I think I'll be sticking to action. I need escapism right now.
I know the movie itself is not great thanks to the writers strike, but "Quantum of Solace" is probably my favorite Bond title.
He’s a tortured man (physically and emotionally), he just
, and he just wants the tiniest portion possible by the rules of known physics of some kind of consolation or relief.
Also, the little hop he does onto the balcony overlooking the lobby of the hotel or wherever they're hanging out at the time is a quintessential "Bond" moment for me. He just looks so effortless doing it.
I have generally enjoyed all the Daniel Craig Bond flicks. I don't remember all of them in detail, but it seems like they've done a good enough job of making his character complicated enough that it's not always just "good guy finds and beats bad guys" but also not so complicated that it's not fun.
Joker - Meh. There was a really good movie in here somewhere (the last twenty minutes or so live up to the hype), but the movie on whole is bloated, preachy and annoyingly directed. You can tell that Phillips knew he had something, but he doesn't have the ability to do anything but shout his script out, devoid of subtlety. That he was up for best director is hilarious. Thankfully, he didn't win. I'd give the whole thing a B- (with, again, a strong 'A' for the last twenty minutes or so)
The Rhythm Section - A massive bomb, and I can totally see why. It's either a terrible movie with a few really good ideas, or it's the most incompetently made "decent" movie I've ever seen. The camera work is manic, and jittery, but less in a kenetic, Jason Bourne, kind of way, and more in a "my dad gave me his video camera and I'm learning how to make a movie". The car chase, in particular, is impossible to follow.
Better Call Saul might just be better than Breaking Bad. Whether or not that's true, Kim Wexler is a far superior character to any character on BB.
Newbish has been listening to a ton of the Star Wars soundtracks, so when he saw The Mandalorian on Disney+, he wanted to watch it. I had my doubts, but we're going slow and talking about things, and so far, he enjoys it a lot. Bonus, I get to watch all those episodes again.
Yeah, Joker didn't do it for me. And if anything, I especially didn't like the end.
Ad Astra -- I brought it home from the library (when we could), and I had to apologize to Runner daughter afterwards.
Picard -- it's good to see a bunch of the gang again, but the baddies are so stereotypical. Someday ST will learn to make their characters a little more complicated.
Avenue 5 -- apparently lots of people were unaware that Hugh Laurie is also an accomplished comedian. That said, this series is pretty dumb (no, not Seth MacFarlane sophomoric dumb), but there are a lot of funny moments in the dumbness.
Altered Carbon season 2 -- entertaining.
So I haven't seen Picard yet, but I think historically, Star Trek has been somewhat limited by attempting to make most episodes self-contained (almost like an anthology show) or maybe 2-parters, and without season-long arcs, it is hard to have much character development. To really get in and tell the story quickly, it's hard to do that without some shortcuts.
That has changed gradually over time -- DS9 (arguably some of the best storytelling of all Trek) got into longer story arcs as the show progressed, especially the end of the last season.
Voyager was an incredibly wasted opportunity and I think it would have been a lot better if it was being produced today rather than in the '90s. The whole show was based on two main premises -- that they were stuck so far from home and might not get back, and they had to integrate the starfleet and maquis crew together -- and overall they got stuck between telling those stories and doing random one-off anthology stories that did nothing to advance the overall narrative. Broadcast TV at the time (maybe it is a pre-Sopranos thing, maybe it was a Star Trek idealism thing as well) just wasn't into darker, more cynical plots anyway, which I think makes it hard to give any sort of realism to that premise. Like they could have written all sorts of little week-to-week struggles into the show, but aside from a few cast changes, there's very little different from a random season 2 episode and a random season 6 episode. It's not like you see a bunch of clearly non-standard modifications to the ship which have been forced over time since being away from a starfleet maintenance facility, and just generally they all seem to carry on like it's generally business as usual when they are getting years into their mission. Even naming the show Voyager almost precluded them from doing something interesting like forcing them to lose their ship and figure out another way home. I know some people didn't like that DS9 was a bit stuck in one location for a show that was historically "where no one had gone before" but at least they leaned into the premise of the show and it was something which fit in the Star Trek universe but also wasn't just more of the same. (That said, I still liked a fair bit of it and if you take the existing episodes and cut them down to 10-12 per season it'd be a pretty decent show, if still a missed opportunity and some really inconsistent character writing.)
Enterprise had longer story arcs (that whole second season arc--which for me was awful, frankly, but more because of the particular story, not because they were doing a season-long arc), and in the last season had some 3-parters which were pretty good. (I didn't really watch Enterprise when it was on, but it took them until their fourth season to really get on track -- it was like the first three seasons they were doing as much as they could to do a Star Trek prequel series while distancing themselves as much as possible from Star Trek -- right down to the title of the show -- and then they finally started embracing more of the Star Trek universe at the end and it got cancelled. Also, the final episode of Enterprise really is one of the worst finales ever -- they could have just not aired that episode and it would have been better.)
I've only gotten to see the first season of Discovery, and there it's clear they are doing more of the modern "binge-style" season-long narrative where the episodes aren't meant to be seen individually but as part of a whole. I thought in the first season at least that the character writing was pretty good -- it's not high art but it was a fun enough production that I'd watch it again.
I also have only watched the first season of Discovery. Whole lot of fanboys were butt-hurt by that first season.
I am most of the way through Season One of Discovery. Just got to the big reveal episode on Michael's live interest. A little disappointed that they went to the Mirror Universe thing so quickly in the series, and dreading the bs they surely are going to pull regarding spore-dude and his lover.
I wish they would find ways to honor the earlier series without beating us over the head with it. Mirror episode rehashes are overdone, same with tribble references.
I think Discovery is struggling to balance appealing to a wider audience while keeping the base Trek fans engaged.
We started watching Sherlock. It's good but having watched Elementary, it's natural to compare the two. It's not entirely fair with the vastly different episode setup, but I liked Elementary better. Having 150 episodes to get to know the characters strangely helps. The thing that immediately jumps out to me is Sherlock's Sherlock is obliviously cruel about people while Elementary's Sherlock isn't. I do however appreciate the editing in Sherlock and how they demonstrate his observations.
We've been watching a fair bit of the Netflix "Queer Eye" and I'm liking it. All the guys are positive and validating, and no one is trying to drastically change anyone, just take their positive qualities and build on them.
I remember the original QE was a thing and watching it, but I'll be darned if I can actually remember any of it, so I can't compare the two versions.
We just watched our first episode of this over the weekend, needing some light, positive TV to watch.
I really wasn't expecting this attitude, but I found it SO refreshing and heartening. In the first episode, I kept expecting them to glam up the teacher and was prepared to think "yep, she's getting a different haircut ten minutes after you guys leave", but it wasn't that way at all.
I've only seen a couple, but I also left feeling refreshed
Frozen 2: Agree with the comments from last month about the confusing, silly plot. But I enjoy the music and I thought it was funnier. Olaf was great. Also, Kristoff's line "I'm here, what do you need?" was a very uplifting moment.
Brooklyn 99: Damn, this show is so freaking funny. I would have got Hulu a long time ago had I known. Just finished season 4. The episode "Moo Moo" was brilliant.
I've been considering adding Hulu just for this show, having never seen it, but having seen plenty of clips.
Do it for Letterkenny
Brooklyn 99
Since I was in a different region on my vacation, this was actually available on Netflix. I got through the first 6 episodes or so, and yeah, I need to watch more. Annoyed my local library only has season 6.
"Moo Moo" did a great job handling a very real, very sensitive issue. In general, I feel like B99 tackles stuff like this very very well.
This most recent season
I'm an episode behind, my tv login was acting up on Friday and I haven't given it another shot since. It's the one show, now that "The Good Place" is concluded, that I watch as it comes out.
I watched The Post last night. It only took me 3 years to get to it.
The recent season of "Doctor Who" was--well, it was better than the season before it. Only a couple of really bad episodes, and some fairly good ones. At least it wasn't boring, like the year before. I felt like Jodie Whittaker really became The Doctor this year, and the companions became more real as well. I don't know if that was better writing, better direction, becoming more comfortable with the roles, or some combination thereof.
The series finale is apparently quite controversial among Doctor Who fans. I'm not that upset about them messing with canon--"canon" in Doctor Who has always been kind of a floating concept anyway. I was more disappointed in the execution of it. You're going to re-write the history of the Doctor, and the best way you can think of to do it is to have the Master essentially give a long illustrated talk? Seriously? I'm also disappointed that now the Master is apparently just a crazed, evil villain. He was always a villain, but he used to have some style to him, so flair.
All in all, it was improvement, but there's still a ways to go. It sounds like it's a long time until the next season, so they have time to work on it.
I still have the whole season in the queue. One episode left of Watchmen first.
Just finished Into the Spider-verse. I don't know what too me so long, other than hype aversion. That was a heck of a great movie. Definitely my favorite Spiderman movie.
Such a beautifully "shot" movie.
the creativity that went into that movie astounds me. every little detail.
Yep. Feels like as much a leap forward in animation as "Snow White" and "Toy Story".
Loved it as well!
Inspired by some film critics on Twitter, me and a couple guys at canis decided to watch Glenn Danzig's Verotika on Thursday. I.... Do not recommend this.
Finished the latest season of Letterkenny and it remains the funniest show on tv.
I've mostly been catching up on the video games by finally digging into Breath of the Wild and playing the new Animal Crossing with my daughter. But i decided to take a break last night and surfed the streamings and went with Mission Impossible: Fallout. I haven't watched any out the newer ones, but it was a lot of fun with great action sequences. Say what you will about Tom Cruise, but the man is a pro.
I highly recommend Mission Impossible 4-6. As a set they are by far one of my favorite trilogies ever and are a great set of action movies. Amazing stunts, funny moments, and just overall great experiences. I'm very much looking forward to 7 & 8.
Pretty much this.
Just watched 5 and 6 the past 2 weekends. They were definitely fun.
Started Giri/Haji on Netflix yesterday. Three episodes in and I'm hooked. I love the 8 episode season format.
One episode of Watchmen to go. Absolutely compelling TV.
Finished watching Picard. Mildly entertaining, but the character development was seriously lacking. I did not believe the Rios/Dr. whatshername relationship at all, for example. And the Big Bad, eh.
I think CBS whatever is offering a free window. Same with a bunch of HBO shows.
Here are the free HBO shows:
The Sopranos
Veep
Succession
Six Feet Under
The Wire
Ballers
Barry
Silicon Valley
True Blood
I cannot say enough good things about Succession. Truly one of the best TV shows that I have seen in years. It is a hilarious, scathing indictment of capitalism despite how dour it can look from the trailers. But it’s a tremendous satire, I love it dearly, and if you watch it please talk to me about it.
I quite enjoyed Barry. I'm watching the final season of Silicon Valley. The second episode hit a bit too close to home. I would like to finish the last few seasons of Veep, but probably won't have time. Same with Succession.
Veep is another one I'm stuck in the middle of...
I've been watching Six Feet Under on Prime. I'm in the second season. It's a really good show. Good character-driven family drama.
I hit a speed bump in the 4th or 5th season. I should really finish that one up.
I have a free 3-month trial via the Roku. I won't be buying a subscription.
I watched Crip Camp on Netflix. It's a documentary about a camp in upstate NY for disabled kids that was run by a bunch of hippies. The story evolves as the attendants at the camp were instrumental in getting the ADA passed. A little slow but an interesting story that I didn't know.
Watched Ford v Ferrari this weekend with Mrs. Runner, and enjoyed it a lot. Now if I could get her to watch The World's Fastest Indian with me as well -- that needs a rewatching.
That's one I saw in the theater. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I liked watching them problem solve.
You'd enjoy Indian as well, then.
I'll have to check that out.
I saw that recently, too, and thought it was great.
Anthology series Tales from the Loop has landed; watched the first episode last night and enjoyed it.
Killing Eve - watched the first 2 seasons over the last week. Very enjoyable, but I think I liked the first season better than the second.
Breaking Bad - rewatching after keeping up with Better Call Saul. I'm surprised at how much I hate Walter White. I realize his the protagonist, but man I really dislike the character in this re-watch. He's just so completely despicable. Talk about pride before a fall.
Better Call Saul - I love this series. Been loving Season 5 so far. And... uh... something about a man and a horse.
Survivor: Pearl Island - been going back and watching some old Survivor Seasons. After finishing Season 4 (Marquesas) I skipped ahead to Season 7 (Pearl Islands), which was the first season I ever watched. Such a great season, but similar to my Breaking Bad comment above, my view of Rupert has certainly changed over the years. I loved him in this his first season. However, rewatching I realized he has some not so good moments that I clearly ignored the first time.
Killing Eve - watched the first 2 seasons over the last week. Very enjoyable, but I think I liked the first season better than the second.
I didn't enjoy the second season and never went past it. Season one was written by the Fleabag creator and season two was written by someone else. I thought it really dropped off.
Better Call Saul's last couple of episodes have been some of the show's best work. I think that when all is said and done, BCS ends up better than BB (though much less flashy, and thus, much less likely to be quite as well loved). The fact that Rhea Seehorn hasn't even been NOMINATED for an Emmy is a travesty. I think that at this point, Kim Wexler is a top 5 fictional character for me.
She is just killing it this year. Between the scene with all the advertisements and her two scenes yesterday, she's just conveying so much (including how much she is trying to suppress everything). Yesterday's episode was fantastic.
Also, Lalo is so good at being in control (and letting everyone know it). That the same universe can have both he and Gus Fring as two sides of the completely opposite coin personality-wise, but also as such effective people within the game is incredible writing and acting.
Agree about both Kim and Lalo.
Has there been a more beloved character than Kim Wexler? Obviously part of it is that she’s such a great actress but part of it is we don’t know what happens to her, whereas we know the ultimate fate of everyone else. I think the way Kim’s story arc ends up will have a huge impact on we all feel about BCS.
Woah, did anyone see last night's BCS? That last scene was super intense. Again Kim Wexler is an amazing character.
Oh, man. That was great. This show is operating such a high level right now.
One thing I'm not grasping:
Thanks.
Based on what Alan Sepinwall has said in his reviews, it is still 3-4 years from this point and the start of the Breaking Bad timeline. It will be interesting to see how they get there. I'm scared where the Kim storyline will take us.
I haven't seen Sepinwall's calculations, but I have seen an estimate that it could be closer than that (maybe less than 2 years from the start of BB) since this episode's reference to Tuco getting out of prison in 11 months.
Sepinwall is pretty sure of his calculations. So he questioned the 11 month quip. Either Tuco goes back to jail or is out for a while before Walt and the gang catch up with him.
Well, I haven't thought very highly of Sepinwall's TV criticism in general for a long time, so I'm probably not going to put much weight on his conclusions here, either.
Sepinwall's criticisms aside, he has a direct line to Peter Gould, so I doubt he wouldn't have double-checked his math.
This article also puts Season 5 of BCS in 2004, 4 years before season 1 of BB.
https://screenrant.com/better-call-saul-season-5-breaking-bad-timeline-setting-when/
Kim Drexler is the bomb. (And the fact that Rhea Seehorn has never been nominated for an Emmy is a freaking embarrassment.)
Ugh. I let this season get by me. Now I have to wait for Netflix. 🙁
Enjoyed Knives Out last night. What a really well done movie. I didn't realize at the outset that it was Rian Johnson, but learning that made it all make sense.
Also, I've avoided spoilers and conversation on this one, but, uh...
That final shot is just great. This was my favorite movie of 2019.
That last shot was just the perfect cherry on top.
I'm one episode from finishing Tales from the Loop, and it's been a treat. It's interesting in that Nathaniel Halpern produced it, and although he also produced Legion, this is practically the opposite in its presentation. And it's inspiration is the art of Simon Stålenhag
The Poissonnière watched Wallace & Gromit for the first time this weekend. The last two Fridays we’ve popped corn together, then sat down to watch something as a family. We debated between Wallace & Gromit and The Iron Giant, but are going to hold off just a bit longer on the latter.
Shaun the Sheep has gotten a lot of play in our household. We watched A Grand Day Out and The Wrong Trousers several months ago, but the latter was deemed too scary so I didn't continue on to A Close Shave. I might try again in a year or two because that's my favorite of those three.
I love the way Wallace says "It's you!" when the penguin takes off the glove
I saw Blinded by the Light last night (It's on HBO, if you have that service). Pakistani kid uses Springsteen lyrics to inspire him to get out of his working class English town. It's decent. If you love Springsteen you will be all over this movie. It's based on real life events as the protagonist wrote the screenplay based on his life. It all gets tied up in a nice little bow at the end but what's wrong with every so often? Some cool fantasy scenes with the Springsteen lyrics too. Fun little way to burn two quarantine hours.
The preview I saw for that one looked pretty cool. Thanks for the reminder.
I really enjoyed this movie. Took my son to it last summer when it came out. The only 8 year old in the theatre
Jojo Rabbit was a real treat.
The wife and I have started watching Tiger King (like everyone else except for the denizens of this site, it would seem). It's entertaining, but I don't get a particularly "truthy" vibe from it. Mr. Exotic is clearly the most magneticly awful of the few main "characters", so he gets to tell his story roughly the way he wants it told (even if the way he wants it told is utterly bonkers). I don't care for True Crime, so the grand conspiracy about Carole's husband doesn't do much for me.
Somehow, knowing that this (or at least a facsimile of this) all actually happened somehow makes it slightly LESS compelling for me. Is that weird? Like, rather than being really engrossed and super scandalized by it, I just end up sort of wanting brain bleach. It's entertaining, but it's trashy.
Yeah, I feel the same way about TrueCrime, though I did get hooked on Serial, Season 1
I've seen it and agree with everything.
I also just read an article and said that Joe Exotic was sexually abused as a child and his personality started to change when he lost his first husband to AIDS.
I feel asleep during episode 4 and haven’t gone back. I may, but doubtful.
I watched and enjoyed it, but it was pretty clear throughout that just about everyone’s description of what happened was very slanted to their own benefit.
I‘ve been really into documentaries, especially documentary series, over the past year or so. My wife has no interest, so those have become my late-night viewing. McMillions on HBO last week was one was pretty good, all about people who stole all the winning prices in the McDonald’s Monopoly game for years, and how they were caught.
I read the super long NPR piece on that a few years ago. Fascinating.
I went to grad school with Barbara's husband. She was introduced to us as a former tiger trainer. Thought that was a wild party opener, and never forgot about it. Now it feels really strange to know someone involved with a major cultural knowledge thing.
We have been binging The Good Place. Now in Season 3. Fun show, but surprisingly complex themes.
I liked season 3 a lot, actually. Some really great episodes in there.
"Janet(s)" is the best.
D'Arcy Carden wasn't even nominated for an Emmy for that episode. Terrible
Nor Pillboi for "The Ballad Of Donkey Doug". smh
"The world's first energy drink-slash-body spray"
That was hilarious.
Maybe it's the Catholic in me, but... I'd expect a show about the afterlife to have some complex themes. 😉
Had a movie night with Mrs Runner and watched A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. I was a Captain Kangaroo man myself, but I certainly appreciated Mister Rogers the person.
Lodge 49 is one of the best shows I have seen in a long time. I can't help but think that it's themes will ring even more true once all of this is over.
Yes! Loved that show. Found it nearly impossible to describe to people, though. Great cast. Kurt and Goldie’s boy is a treasure.
Not surprised to find out you are a fan, painter.
How are you, Buffalo? Hope you and your family are getting through this garbage relatively unscathed.
I think we are doing as good as anyone else. Folks are dying and it doesn't feel like much progress is being made. Starting to worry that things are going to be worse on the other side. Gotta think there are going to be a lot of Shamroxxs and Higher Stakes with not too many mom and pop shops left after .
Mrs Buffalo and I are both still working though she worries the furlough is coming any day. Kids are being pretty well behaved but the idea of them falling behind is weighing on us.
Strange times man, strange times. How about you?
Well, I lost my job—excuse me, was furloughed—about a week before restaurants closed statewide, so I was able to get a head start on everyone applying for unemployment. It’s just under half of what my take-home was, so while not great (Bob), it’s certainly better than nothing.
Was hoping I could use all this new found free time to go to town in my studio, but I’m having the damnedest time focusing when I’m up there. I need to fix that, but it’s difficult with so much uncertainty swirling around. On the plus side, my cooking game is coming back after being mothballed for a decade. So there’s that.
Wondering about your nephew, the basketball god. I enjoyed your updates throughout the season and was disappointed with the sectional final result. 🙁 Does he have any plans for post-high school yet?
Yeah, that loss to Marshall still stings. Especially as my nephew only played 11 minutes total before fouling out. (He'd never fouled out of a varsity or AAU game before.) I hate to blame officials for the outcome of a game, but those three called a terrible game.
He's weighing three DII full scholarship offers (and a fourth partial that could turn full) at the moment. He's had to postpone his official visits to each school once already due to COVID-19. I really don't think he will make a decision until he can look at the campuses, but who knows when that will happen. (Per my brother's wishes, I'm not naming schools until he picks one.) In the meantime, his dad has been taking him to the gym most evenings so he can shoot and lift. (The benefits of having a coach for a dad, I guess.)
I stand corrected, Jax has not been to the gym for a couple of weeks now. Talked to my bro today and he said all the doors had been padlocked and the power shut off since the 3rd week in March. So he's been shooting in the driveway and running the hill at Sibley Park.
Also had an amazing soundtrack of cool obscure stuff I knew and a lot of newer music I wasn’t familiar with. All of of it tinted with a hazy, sunny psychedelia. Just one of the show’s many charms.
I think a lot of the citizens should check this show out. Feels like this group is predisposed to folks looking for a Lodge, albiet a digital one.
Is there a cheap, legal way to see it?
Both seasons are on Hulu. It is a little slow moving to start but this character development is really something to behold. It captures something I don't know that I have ever seen on TV before.
Well...oh wait, you said legal.
Great point, man. The Lodge is a bit like this place. Another show I would compare it to is Terriers in that it's virtually impossible to describe in a two sentence blurb and it continued to surprise and confound expectations. I've heard it described as a "hang out" show--you just want to hang out with these characters that you've grown to really like.
Don't know if you caught the bit where Liz's co-worker was at his security job and explained why he didn't need sleep. As he shook the pills into his hand, he quoted The Small Faces amphetamine anthem, "Here come the nice!" All sorts of great little things like that interspersed into the proceedings. I'm gearing up for a re-watch, even though it's only been 2-3 months since I binged it.
I’m late to the party but I am presently savoring Foyle’s War, a BBC mystery with WW2 England as a backdrop. Another great cast. Anyone else seen this?
First season free on Prime, the rest available with Acorn TV which is 4.99 at Amazon. 30 day free trial.
Watched all the seasons. One of Craig Ferguson's favorites, too
Apparently my sister and her husband had seen the entire series via PBS. I found this out by texting her a picture of Sgt. Milner (who bears a striking resemblance to her husband) and asking,
"Who does this look like?"
"Milner. I love Foyle's War. "
"Don't you think he looks like Brian?"
"What? No. Not even close."
Incredulous that she couldn't see it, I then texted the image to a running group chat amongst my siblings. Within a few minutes four people had all answered "Brian."
Ha! Yeah, when you're too close you don't always notice things like that.
Hey, don't know if you've watched any Tales from the Loop, but have you seen any of artist Simon Stålenhag's work that inspired the series? He's got some interesting stuff.
Foyle’s War is one of my favorites of its genre. Michael Kitchen was excellent in the title role.
He's so good. And his rapport with his driver Sam (the wonderfully named Honeysuckle Weeks) is marvelous.
I find it interesting that Kitchen apparently pushed for less and less dialogue. I guess he knew his strengths.
He was pretty much embarrassed by the praise from Craig Ferguson (or anyone) -- he wouldn't even do the show.
A friend and I are doing our second movie night of the quarantine. The first was Sorry to Bother You. What a trip!
Tonight will be The Conversation. We each made a prioritized list out of movies neither of us had seen on Hulu or Prime, the two streaming services that we both have. Averaged our priorities to come up with a viewing order. We start the movies at the same time. Text during the movies. Then have a couple zoom beers after to discuss. Surpassingly not bad!
Dr. Chop teaches Sorry to Bother You in her satire class. She's found the movie to be a good conversation starter.
Nice! It’s quite the thing and I can imagine lots of good conversation to be had.
One of my favorite movies from the past few years. The Coup, Boot's group , is a great musical companion to the themes of the movie.
Man, I would love to take a satire class.
I'm imagining all the fun that could be had with a grading system in a satire class.
Dr. Chop's students wholeheartedly disagree.
Oh, I didn't mean fun for the students.
I did, it was meh.
Lots of kids who thought they were more clever than they were.
AND it was during Bush-Kerry, sooooo
I'm sure you could audit her course next semester as it's likely to be online anyway...
What did you think of The Conversation? I’ve been meaning to watch it again for a while.
The way we’re watching these movies is to text while watching. So it’s a bit more distracted for me than typical. I commented to my friend that “movies just aren’t made this way any more.” For instance, while Hackman is editing tape there are at least 4 stop/rewind/replay/adjust cycles right in a row. All in real-time. I don’t think there are many widely-viewed movies made in this “classical” way any more.
Eventually I started writing a few notes about the cool shots, possible symbolism, etc. It’s clearly cinema, as it were. I enjoyed the movie and enjoyed the art of it. I’m not sure why it took me this long to see it.
Related: I’ve never seen Godfather 2.
Binge watching the series Fargo this week. I love it!
What platform?
It’s on Hulu.
I was going to write more about Fargo yesterday but got pulled away. We ended up watching the last episode of season 2 and the first episode of season 3 last night. First of all, I am a pretty big fan of the Coen Brothers. There is something unique about their story telling that is very signature in nature. I avoided this series as I was worried it would just be such a let down compared to the movie.
Well, 2+ seasons in, and all I can say is wow. The overall feel of the show is Coenesque. The writer and directors seem to be very intentional to pay homage to not only the movie Fargo, but Coen movies in general. I haven't really looked up the sound track, but season 2 (which is set in 1979) had several background songs from the movie O Brother Where Art Thou, that were performed with a 70's funk. I thought it was nice subtle nod. The music is used brilliantly to enhance the story. There is a dream sequence at the end of season 2 that harkens back to H.I.'s dream sequence in Raising Arizona. Like Coen Brother's movies, the dialogue is quirky, dialect a bit over the top, and the characters are flawed. The antagonists range from bumbling idiots, to cleverly evil and efficient. Like most Coen Brother's films the heroes are just everyday people with flaws, weaknesses, fears and often determination. The series pulls back the curtain to expose the horrible underbelly of human nature. The greed, selfishness and narcissism we all possess some degree. Yet, there is hope. There is goodness out there. You just have to dig for it a bit.
I absolutely love the way each season is set in a different era. There are some minor threads tying each season together, but each season is it's own story. Lastly, I gotta say the casting has been great. Billy Bob Thorton and Martin Freeman shine in season 1. Season 2 has Nick Offerman (hilarious), Bokee Woodbine (brilliant) and Kirstin Dunst (better than I thought she would be). Ewan McGregor already shining in Season 3. I read that Chris Rock and Jim Gaffigan will appear at some point in the series.
Anyway, someone else probably summed up the series on this site sometime in the past. I just felt compelled to share my thoughts on it.
I've watched all 3 seasons. Season 3 wasn't bad but I didn't think it was nearly as good as the first two. I think season 4 is coming soon.
I remember not liking the first few episodes of Season 1. Everyone was SO stupid! Then we started to see one person with some common sense and it got really, really good. Glad I stuck with it.
Yeah, I am most of the way through Season 3 now and I agree the first 2 seasons were superior. The bad guy in this season is just too far out there for me. His teeth... yuck! Do we need to see a close up every 5 minutes of the damn show? I think McGregor does a pretty good job in his duel roles but I am finding myself just wanting to finish this season so I am ready for season 4.
They're taken their time getting to season 4 so I hope they bounce back.
I did season one, and while I liked it, I didn't love it. The whole thing was a little too... fantastical? Maybe that's a part of the schtick, but if so, I don't think it struck the right balance.
Bosch is back, and that makes me happy.
Does Bosch get better after the first few episodes? I couldn't get over the young girl falling for him immediately and the way he treated her. It felt too 70s in its attitude about women/men.
It took me quite a while to remember this plot thread. The female characters get more complex and have agency. Some are allies, some adversaries. It’s not perfect, but it does improve from where it began. I haven’t read more than one, but I suspect this may have to do with the show becoming its own work apart from the Connelly novels.
It’s not groundbreaking TV, but I appreciate the slow pacing, a contemporary update on the hard-boiled genre, and cinematography. Welliver is great in the title role, and the supporting cast is well-chosen.
I've known a lot of people that have recommended it so I figured I hadn't given it enough time.
What did everyone think of the BCS finale? One thing that really bums me out is that this virus could hold up shooting for the next season so it might be a long time before we get that final season.
The Bowl Championship Series has been gone for quite some time, hasn't it?
It may literally be 18 months. Ugh.
Had a couple movie nights last week:
We forked over a painful $20 for Trolls World Tour after promising we'd watch and then deciding we couldn't reneg. Cheaper than a trip to the movies, I suppose. Kids liked it. I enjoyed it less than the first one, I think.
We watched ONWARD , too. I thought that one was a good story and better than Trolls, but not Pixar's finest, necessarily.
Our family also watched Onward. I'm with you. It was ok. Nothing great. Not terrible.
(Wait, is that Dido?)
Looks a bit like Marit Larsen
Pendleton Ward's new Netflix series The Midnight Gospel is definitely not Adventure Time. It's essentially animation set to a podcast discussion. Weird and ... did I say weird?