Whatcha Been Watching?

This is the place where you can conflab about all the other stuff besides videogames
User avatar
ratsoalbion
Admin
Posts: 7918
Joined: August 28th, 2012, 9:41 am
Location: Brighton, England
Contact:

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by ratsoalbion »

Interesting, I felt that last year's series was pretty strong but feel completely the reverse about this season. The second one was all right but I thought the first one was insufferable.

Comedy, eh? So subjective.
Fingers crossed for episode three!
User avatar
Seph
Member
Posts: 158
Joined: February 12th, 2021, 2:25 pm
Location: Hiroshima

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Seph »

Episode 3 has just been on, and it's like last week's with its focus on drama and tension. The first one got a lot of laughs from me, I liked a lot of lame jokes and the heist montage was brilliant.

Last year wasn't completely bad, it just felt like it was running of steam. Only the magician one and the final episode with the cops stood out for me. The Psychoville one came across as them running out of ideas, so I'm happy to see them hit a solid run of episodes again.
User avatar
ratsoalbion
Admin
Posts: 7918
Joined: August 28th, 2012, 9:41 am
Location: Brighton, England
Contact:

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by ratsoalbion »

I enjoyed this week's. My favourite of the run so far.
User avatar
dezm0nd
Moderator
Posts: 4445
Joined: August 28th, 2012, 9:48 am
Location: Leighton Buzzard

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by dezm0nd »

Lilyhammer for me.

A big Sopranos fan, I am and I found it hard to watch Steve Van Zandt as another character bit soon enough it becomes more about the loopy Norwegian characters than the main man himself.

It's a bit Fargo, too, which helps.
User avatar
SludgeWizard
Member
Posts: 115
Joined: February 25th, 2016, 1:33 am
Location: NYC

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by SludgeWizard »

I've always leaned pretty heavily into cult and horror films, but I've really gone over the edge this past year during lockdown. Anything from the 80s, anything with killer dolls or a summer camp, the campier or more controversial the better. I'm not enjoying all of them, but I am enjoying the act of watching and keeping a log.

A recent standout was Stuart Gordon's Dolls. A fun little killer doll movie that is surprisingly hard to find in the US (I had to import an Australian blu-ray to avoid paying 70-100 bucks on a US copy) .
More like an old fairy tale than a Child's Play or Puppet Master movie. Alllllmost kid friendly, but not quite. Not entirely sure why it stuck in my brain, but it did and I loved it. Wish I had seen it as a child.


Oh, and I also recently started Modern Family. I'm late to the party, but I'm glad I showed up. Great show so far.
User avatar
Miririn
Member
Posts: 207
Joined: December 28th, 2020, 10:06 pm

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Miririn »

Eight years late to the party but I've been binge-watching "Peaky Blinders" (just finishing series one). I love period organised crime dramas and I've needed something to fill the "Boardwalk Empire" void in my heart, so it's silly that it took me so long to get round to it.

It's not perfect. Grace, for example, doesn't work for me as a character at all - especially compared to dynamic and interesting characters like Tommy, Arthur, Polly etc. Sometimes it tries a bit too hard. But it's really grown on me. I like how bombastic and melodramatic it is, and the cast is great. I like how the stakes are always high. I like the atmosphere. I love stories about complicated families and stories about siblings, so the Shelbys are really fun to watch. The costumes and men's hair are also brilliant (the weirdly modern hair of some of the female characters is a weird choice - it's 1919! There were some great hairstyles for women then - why go for beachy 2010s waves?).

I've grown very attached to Arthur especially and his moustache. I hope he doesn't die. :|

I also like when the BBC makes a period drama that isn't focused on a pretty boring fascination with bluebloods and the upper class. And it's cool to see a BBC drama that remembers places outside of London exist (...I say this as a born and bred Londoner). Some of the Brummie accents seeem a bit wobbly (to put it mildly) but it's just nice to hear Brummie accents in a prestige drama.

And on a shallow note, Cillian Murphy is a very beautiful man. Those cheekbones could cut glass.

Edit - After over four hours of insomnia-induced "Peaky Blinders" binge-watching, I would like to update my "I'm very attached to Arthur" status to: "I love Arthur and his moustache with all my sleep-deprived heart and if they ever kill him off I might throw my television through a window". Fantastic character. Had never heard of the actor before but will now happily trot off to seek out other stuff he's been in ("The Revenant", apparently).
User avatar
stvnorman
Member
Posts: 911
Joined: March 19th, 2013, 8:09 pm
Location: Keysoe, Bedfordshire, UK
Contact:

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by stvnorman »

The Sons of Sam on Netflix is a darkly entertaining 4-part documentary twist on the story of the serial killer if true crime is your bag.

And I had a surprisingly good time with Army of the Dead on there too. I’ve been done with zombie movies since 1993 and Return of the Living Dead III, but I’d seen it promoted on WWE and it tickled me because everyone else seemed to hate what they did on there! Big budget stupidity with lots of gore and some actual laughs too. I recommend it!
User avatar
PallasRil
Member
Posts: 18
Joined: July 24th, 2019, 12:28 am
Location: London, Ontario

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by PallasRil »

Finished Demon Slayer. I thought the writing was good, and the animation was beautiful enough to make me forget I was grinding my teeth over how irritating two of the characters were. One episode to go on Bodyguard, which is vintage Jed Mercurio.
User avatar
Miririn
Member
Posts: 207
Joined: December 28th, 2020, 10:06 pm

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Miririn »

Oh no I'm all caught up on "Peaky Blinders" now. Hoping "Gangs of London" can somewhat fill the void based on recommendations here!

People (fairly) criticise PB for being exaggerated and over-the-top and melodramatic, but for me that was a lot of its charm. I felt like it really intentionally leaned into all that and the theatricality of it all, and as most (an important qualifier here!!!) of the actors are great in their roles and manage to give these often cartoonish characters souls, it worked.

In an odd way, it's the closest live-action drama I've watched that made me feel like I was reading a bombastic manga. The show wants to look cool and lay on stylistic trappings with a trowel, but because it's so blatant with it, it's fun. And there is heart there too. I did get pretty emotionally involved in it all.

I'm sad the next series is the last one, and doubly sad Helen McCrory passed away, as her Aunt Polly was an absolute firecracker of a character. There's a strong collection of characters generally, but the ones who wormed their way into my heart the most were: Arthur, Tommy, Aunt Polly, Alfie and Lizzie. I'm anticipating that the next and final series won't be kind to most of them, sadly. I also thought the depiction of mental illness with Arthur (and Tommy) was done very well. My favourite part of "Boardwalk Empire" was the portrayal of the traumatised First World War veterans who returned home, so I love that in PB that's one of the central strands.

Also now I've watched it all, I see what people mean about the uh..... creative interpretations of a Brummie accent. But I still think it's great to have a BBC prime time drama not just about London, not just about blue bloods, and also made with an understanding that the UK is diverse. I love that the Shelbys have both Roma and Irish roots, for example, and I enjoyed the portrayal of the Jewish gangsters in London (I'm biased though, because Alfie was based in Camden Town, and I'm a North Londoner!)

Sometimes when British dramas are made and exported to the US, they seem to play into the idea that all British people are very similar and have very similar backgrounds with little diversity. I'm probably overthinking this, but I always wonder if it's to do with an American habit (hashtag not all Americans etc) of putting Europeans into boxes based on their nationalities. Like in thar Arthur Miller play "A View from the Bridge", where Italian-American and homophobic Eddie decides Italian-from-Italy Rodolpho must be "gay" because he's blonde, not macho, and likes to sew (and so goes against Eddie's stereotypes of Italian culture). I like a show like PB that gets exported to the USA and shows that Britain is diverse, and has people with many different backgrounds.

Very sorry for rambling, I'm probably looking too much into it and not making sense!!!
User avatar
Alex79
Member
Posts: 8423
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 12:36 pm
Location: Walsall, UK.
Contact:

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Alex79 »

Went to watch Peter Rabbit 2 this week, in the first trip to the cinema in almost two years. (Toy Story 4 was the last film I saw on the big screen in July 2019).

The film was... well just imagine how you think Peter Rabbit 2 would be, and that's how it was. Entirely inoffensive kids film, some jokes here and there, watchable at least.
User avatar
Seph
Member
Posts: 158
Joined: February 12th, 2021, 2:25 pm
Location: Hiroshima

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Seph »

I picked up the One Cut of the Dead: Hollywood Edition set from Third Window Films this week. The original is such a wonderful and fun film, maybe I'm still buzzing off the excitement of seeing it for the first time this year, but it might be in my top 10 ever. I keep worrying that I'm becoming jaded and cynical as I get older, but One Cut of the Dead is one of the things that holds that back. Watch it if you haven't already, it's a breezy 90 minutes and the ending is perfect. Don't read anything about it: the less you know, the better.

The Hollywood sequel-of-sorts is a nice short film. It doesn't hit the heights of the original and it follows the same pattern, but I enjoyed it anyway. While I would like the director Shinichiro Ueda to try something different as he's clearly an inventive filmmaker, I love seeing this group of people work together so I would happily watch another (I've also seen the Remote film they put on YouTube, but that doesn't count).
User avatar
Tolkientaters
Member
Posts: 137
Joined: April 22nd, 2021, 10:39 pm
Location: Florida, USA

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Tolkientaters »

I just went through Season 1 of The Sopranos, as expected it's really good. In particular the camera work and cinematography is a standout, I can see how people credit this show with changing TV for the next 2 decades.
User avatar
Alex79
Member
Posts: 8423
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 12:36 pm
Location: Walsall, UK.
Contact:

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Alex79 »

I took a little break from my massive Marvel odyssey (last thing I finished was the Netflix show, Defenders) and for no particular reason decided to watch the X-Files on prime video. I'm about halfway through season two now. I've watched the first two seasons before but never made it much past that. The good episodes really are brilliant, but there's a lot of filler. Even the monster of the week shows have some cracking ones, but several so far have been plain boring.
User avatar
Truk_Kurt
Member
Posts: 692
Joined: July 9th, 2015, 10:00 pm

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Truk_Kurt »

Just finished season two of the Shield last week and loved it, I can see this being in my top 3 shows ever. I just love all the characters and the plot which runs through each season. People tell me that each season just gets better so I can't imagine how good season 7 will be.
I also watched the Cristiano Ronaldo documentary on BBC iplayer which came out last week, really good if you're into football, no matter what you might think of him as a character, no one can deny the dedication he has put into being a footballer and his constant need to be better.
User avatar
Seph
Member
Posts: 158
Joined: February 12th, 2021, 2:25 pm
Location: Hiroshima

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Seph »

Truk_Kurt wrote: June 12th, 2021, 9:40 am Just finished season two of the Shield last week and loved it, I can see this being in my top 3 shows ever. I just love all the characters and the plot which runs through each season. People tell me that each season just gets better so I can't imagine how good season 7 will be.
An incredible series that is overlooked these days as it came out in the greatest era of TV drama. Maybe it's my memory, but I felt like it never glorified anything that Vic and his team did; you're just watching a bunch of awful, but competent, people demonstrate the worst of human instincts. I think it dips slightly at the end, but that's because it's working to tie up everything and loses a bit of character stuff while doing so. Enjoy the ride though, I think it did a great job in paying off a long-term story. I never played the game version, and I never will.

While Michael Chiklis understandably gets a lot attention and won awards, Walton Goggins should get similar praise as he's also excellent in this. It's great to see how well his career has gone and I'm happy everytime he turns up in a film I'm watching.
User avatar
Truk_Kurt
Member
Posts: 692
Joined: July 9th, 2015, 10:00 pm

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Truk_Kurt »

Seph wrote: June 12th, 2021, 12:08 pm
Truk_Kurt wrote: June 12th, 2021, 9:40 am Just finished season two of the Shield last week and loved it, I can see this being in my top 3 shows ever. I just love all the characters and the plot which runs through each season. People tell me that each season just gets better so I can't imagine how good season 7 will be.
An incredible series that is overlooked these days as it came out in the greatest era of TV drama. Maybe it's my memory, but I felt like it never glorified anything that Vic and his team did; you're just watching a bunch of awful, but competent, people demonstrate the worst of human instincts. I think it dips slightly at the end, but that's because it's working to tie up everything and loses a bit of character stuff while doing so. Enjoy the ride though, I think it did a great job in paying off a long-term story. I never played the game version, and I never will.

While Michael Chiklis understandably gets a lot attention and won awards, Walton Goggins should get similar praise as he's also excellent in this. It's great to see how well his career has gone and I'm happy everytime he turns up in a film I'm watching.
I heard the slight dip came around the time of the writers strike in America which might explain it.

So far I would say my favourite character is Dutch, I love how goofy he is but also has moments of being a badass.
User avatar
duskvstweak
Member
Posts: 1123
Joined: August 23rd, 2017, 6:40 pm
Location: North Carolina
Contact:

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by duskvstweak »

Alex79uk wrote: June 12th, 2021, 12:08 am I took a little break from my massive Marvel odyssey (last thing I finished was the Netflix show, Defenders) and for no particular reason decided to watch the X-Files on prime video. I'm about halfway through season two now. I've watched the first two seasons before but never made it much past that. The good episodes really are brilliant, but there's a lot of filler. Even the monster of the week shows have some cracking ones, but several so far have been plain boring.
I'm on season 4 somewhere, but it's been forever since I continued that journey.
User avatar
Seph
Member
Posts: 158
Joined: February 12th, 2021, 2:25 pm
Location: Hiroshima

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Seph »

Truk_Kurt wrote: June 12th, 2021, 12:49 pm So far I would say my favourite character is Dutch, I love how goofy he is but also has moments of being a badass.
The serial killer interrogation is a great early moment for him and showed that he wasn't just some hapless cop for comic relief. Also, I like the detail that he's called "Dutch" because his name is Holland.
User avatar
Truk_Kurt
Member
Posts: 692
Joined: July 9th, 2015, 10:00 pm

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Truk_Kurt »

Seph wrote: June 13th, 2021, 9:16 am
Truk_Kurt wrote: June 12th, 2021, 12:49 pm So far I would say my favourite character is Dutch, I love how goofy he is but also has moments of being a badass.
The serial killer interrogation is a great early moment for him and showed that he wasn't just some hapless cop for comic relief. Also, I like the detail that he's called "Dutch" because his name is Holland.
Haha, I hadn't clocked that!
User avatar
Seph
Member
Posts: 158
Joined: February 12th, 2021, 2:25 pm
Location: Hiroshima

Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Seph »

I saw that new Mortal Kombat film they have these days. Thoughts below (full spoilers):
Spoiler: show
The whole film is basically an extended trailer for what I assume will be the tournament itself in the next film. It's decent enough and uses some of the characters well, but I can't get behind the charisma vacuum they have for the lead character. I'm hoping he gets killed off in the first five minutes of the sequel and replaced by Johnny Cage.

The fights are ok, but rarely do we get a proper one-on-one battle with some great choreography. Only the Sub-Zero/Scorpion sections deliver here, which makes me wonder why they didn't just focus on them as the main characters as they're the most popular anyway (they're even on the poster, they obvious know they're the draw!). Cole felt like a Scorpion stand-in for the most part, given the family connection, and it makes no sense to me. Why not just use the character everyone likes?

While everyone is bigging up Kano (and rightfully so, as he seems to be the only lead actor actually having fun), I thought Kabal was even better. The look, the accent, the effective use of swearing, the casual way he abuses Kano whenever he can; it's all fantastic and I was sad to see him die. It made sense for the story, but it's a shame Sub-Zero (who was put over huge in this as the focal antagonist) had to go too, though I'm assuming he'll be back as Noob in the next one.

While I watched and liked the original when I was younger, I can't get behind this campaign from nerds that it's actually a good film. You can enjoy it in a camp or ironic way, but that's it. It's also aged terribly. The original does win out on some points: mainly that it is, for the most part, an actual fighting tournament, and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa is better than Chin Han as Shang Tsung; but I'd say this is the better film. It's an average 5/10 from me. As I say, this felt like a long trailer and it worked in that I'm curious to see the next one.
Post Reply