Whatcha Been Watching?

This is the place where you can conflab about all the other stuff besides videogames
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KissMammal
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by KissMammal »

We binged all three seasons of Succession recently. Totally agree with all of the praise here - absolute masterpiece as far as I'm concerned.

We've also been watching Yellowjackets.

Absolutely gripped by the premise and the pilot episode, and the cast is pretty great, but 5 or 6 episodes in and it's all getting a little bit too silly and far-fetched to maintain my suspension of disbelief. Becoming more 'entertaining schlock' than a 'prestige TV must watch'.

I figured the tone would be straight up survival horror in the wilderness, but it's surprising (and a little disappointing) at how disinterested the writers seem in portraying that aspect in any way resembling realism, in favour of introducing slightly tedious supernatural elements. I also think it really suffers from having disparate strands set spanning different time periods, some of which are a bit boring and really bog the pacing down.

It feels like a show in need of tighter focus in terms of structure and tone, which veers wildly between high stakes life and death and humdrum domesticity. My partner commented yesterday that it feels like watching 3 shows at once, and I think that's pretty spot on.

It also does that really annoying thing of being set in a specific time period (in this case the mid nineties) but having dialogue that frequently wanders into very modern-day sounding slang and terminology. This really bugged me in GLOW and especially in later seasons of Game of Thrones.
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Truk_Kurt
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Truk_Kurt »

KissMammal wrote: March 29th, 2022, 7:44 pm We binged all three seasons of Succession recently. Totally agree with all of the praise here - absolute masterpiece as far as I'm concerned.
I'm on episode 7 of season 3 now. So far I think season 3 has been the weakest but still really good. I will save my final judgement for when I've finished it though as the next episode is Kendals birthday party which I hear is one of the best episodes.
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SludgeWizard
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by SludgeWizard »

Saw Everything Everywhere All At Once last weekend and it was great. 5 stars, 10/10, A+, etc etc.
Something very special will need to come along to not have it be the best movie of 2022 (in my opinion, obviously)
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Truk_Kurt »

Finished Season 3 of Succession and overall it was great, had a great ending and I can't wait to see what happens in Season 4. 4/5

Also finished the latest Drive to Survive which I think is a show which would get anyone into the sport as it's all about the relationships within teams and between drivers. Definitely my favourite sports documentary ever. 5/5

Finally I watched The Harder They Fall (the 2021 film) and thought it was a decent revenge flick with a great soundtrack. Quite reminiscent of Tarantino but with all the critical praise it got I was expecting something more. I also thought there were too many characters, none of them had much chance to grow so in the end I didn't really care about any of them. 4/5.
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KissMammal
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

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Raiders of the Lost Ark

Going against the general consensus, this has always been my least favourite of the trilogy (the fourth film not really being part of the conversation). Hard to put my finger on why exactly, but it just never grabbed me the way the other two did. Rewatching it again now it's a film that is really starting to show its 40+ age. I think people tend to remember only the iconic sequences and forget the general scrappiness to a lot of the scenes that often betrays its low budget, and a slightly odd, stilted feel to some of the dialogue and expository scenes. It feels kinda choppy and unpolished compared to more modern blockbusters, and not always in a good way. The characterisation overall is very slight, even compared to later films in the franchise.

The music and the opening sequence are still ace though.
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Truk_Kurt
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Truk_Kurt »

KissMammal wrote: April 11th, 2022, 5:51 pm Raiders of the Lost Ark

Going against the general consensus, this has always been my least favourite of the trilogy (the fourth film not really being part of the conversation). Hard to put my finger on why exactly, but it just never grabbed me the way the other two did. Rewatching it again now it's a film that is really starting to show its 40+ age. I think people tend to remember only the iconic sequences and forget the general scrappiness to a lot of the scenes that often betrays its low budget, and a slightly odd, stilted feel to some of the dialogue and expository scenes. It feels kinda choppy and unpolished compared to more modern blockbusters, and not always in a good way. The characterisation overall is very slight, even compared to later films in the franchise.

The music and the opening sequence are still ace though.
I very much agree with everything you say here.
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

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12. A View to Kill
In preparation for the Back Page Podcast Bond ranking special later this year I have decided to start going through the older Bond films (pre Brosnan) as I have only seen a few of them. I started with A View to Kill. First time watching this and it was a decent Bond film. Stronger second half from the fire escape scene onwards. Walken was a good villain. Does have some cringe moments though. 3/5
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

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13. Le Man 66 (aka Ford vs Ferrari)
Fantastic film telling the true story of Le Man 66. Christian Bale was fantastic as Ken Miles, as was Matt Damon as Shelby. I won't go into spoilers but there was one moment that made me feel genuine anger more than any other film I've seen, probably because I know it was a true story. This is one of those films which can be enjoyed even if you have no interest in racing, after all it was nominated for a Best picture Oscar and won Best Editing. Another racing film I love is Rush and I would put this on a par with it. 4.5/5
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

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14. There Will be Blood
This film lived up to the hype. Absolutely amazing performances all round but especially from Daniel Day Lewis who I hope got an Oscar for his performance as it’s probably the best I’ve ever seen from an actor. Loads of memorable scenes. 5/5
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Seph
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Seph »

Three episodes in to the final run of Better Call Saul and I'm thinking this might just be better than Breaking Bad.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

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KissMammal wrote: March 29th, 2022, 7:44 pm We've also been watching Yellowjackets.

Absolutely gripped by the premise and the pilot episode, and the cast is pretty great, but 5 or 6 episodes in and it's all getting a little bit too silly and far-fetched to maintain my suspension of disbelief. Becoming more 'entertaining schlock' than a 'prestige TV must watch'.

I figured the tone would be straight up survival horror in the wilderness, but it's surprising (and a little disappointing) at how disinterested the writers seem in portraying that aspect in any way resembling realism, in favour of introducing slightly tedious supernatural elements. I also think it really suffers from having disparate strands set spanning different time periods, some of which are a bit boring and really bog the pacing down.

It feels like a show in need of tighter focus in terms of structure and tone, which veers wildly between high stakes life and death and humdrum domesticity. My partner commented yesterday that it feels like watching 3 shows at once, and I think that's pretty spot on.

It also does that really annoying thing of being set in a specific time period (in this case the mid nineties) but having dialogue that frequently wanders into very modern-day sounding slang and terminology. This really bugged me in GLOW and especially in later seasons of Game of Thrones.
You might like The Wilds on Prime video. The first season was great.
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Truk_Kurt
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Truk_Kurt »

15. Django Unchained
I’m annoyed I didn’t watch this film sooner. Absolutely incredible. Definitely my favourite Tarantino film and in my top 10 films ever. Django is an absolute badass. 5/5
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SludgeWizard
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by SludgeWizard »

Do any of you use the Letterboxd app? It's just an app where you review and/or log movies that you've seen, and you can see what your friends watch/review. Kind of an app version of this thread and I use it constantly (I just checked and have just over 1,500 films logged)
Nothing earth shattering but worth looking into if you're a movie person, and feel free to add me if you feel so inclined. My username is just "NateClark"
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

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No, but you've reminded me I do have an account and used to use it.
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

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Truk_Kurt wrote: May 3rd, 2022, 10:38 am 15. Django Unchained
I’m annoyed I didn’t watch this film sooner. Absolutely incredible. Definitely my favourite Tarantino film and in my top 10 films ever. Django is an absolute badass. 5/5
Have you seen The Hateful Eight yet? That's probably my favourite Tarantino movie.
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Angry_Kurt
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

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Not yet no
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Angry_Kurt »

SludgeWizard wrote: May 6th, 2022, 4:32 pm Do any of you use the Letterboxd app? It's just an app where you review and/or log movies that you've seen, and you can see what your friends watch/review. Kind of an app version of this thread and I use it constantly (I just checked and have just over 1,500 films logged)
Nothing earth shattering but worth looking into if you're a movie person, and feel free to add me if you feel so inclined. My username is just "NateClark"
I’ll give you a follow
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DeadpoolNegative
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by DeadpoolNegative »

You may have heard many strange things about the Halo Television series, and scoff that what you're hearing cannot possibly be true. I'm here to tell you: It's true, it's ALL true.

It was one ridiculous show.

--Dan
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Feirsteax
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

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SludgeWizard wrote: April 1st, 2022, 4:40 pm Saw Everything Everywhere All At Once last weekend and it was great. 5 stars, 10/10, A+, etc etc.
Something very special will need to come along to not have it be the best movie of 2022 (in my opinion, obviously)
Saw it on Wednesday. Totally brilliant, a roller coaster ride of a film, felt like I had emotional whiplash by the end of it due to all the whacky shenanigans, hopping from the sublime to the ridiculous to the mundane and back again in seconds. But it worked so well. Thought the human relationships in the family and all were very real & affecting, I got a bit teary towards the end watching it.

Would recommend, it's so much fun.
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Seph
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?

Post by Seph »

Yeah, I saw it last night too and it blew away my expectations. Not in the way that I thought it would be bad and it turned out to be the best film ever, but because I went in expecting a smart and fun timey weirdo film and not something that would make me have actual feelings and emotions. Even the stupid hotdog finger universe made me cry.

It's wild and creative, and definitely something I can see winding up people who don't like to think while watching films; but it has some of the best writing and characterisation I've seen in a long time (the cast were all fantastic too). Also, from a technical standpoint it's phenomenally good. I can't wait to see this again with access to a pause button so I can fully appreciate some of the images that flew by in single frames. I usually have headphones on when out in the world, but after seeing Everything... I left them off as I just needed to experience the world after being overwhelmed by this incredible audiovisual assault.

The only annoying thing was that I spent a ridiculous amount of time wondering why Waymond looked and sounded so familiar until it hit me. Then I spent even longer wondering why such a great actor hasn't been in more films.
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