Octopus Overlords

Broadchurch series 3 was extremely well done as a self-contained case/mystery, but it started to feel more like a regular procedural due to the lack of personal investment for the returning characters. Which was to be expected when the show was tied as much to the town and those affected by the events of series 1 as it was the detectives. So I think it ended at the right time, but it was still a joy to watch and I'll miss it.

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Wed Jul 08, 2020 11:40 pm

hepcat wrote: ↑Sun Jul 05, 2020 7:12 pm So I’m hooked on Barkskins on Hulu.

That looks good. It's a period I've always found fascinating (pre-American Revolution New World), but that I've never really studied.

I finished it in 3 nights. I can understand why it isn’t getting rave reviews, but I enjoyed the hell out of it. It’s a bit scattered at times, but I loved the odd, horror like feel it often had, mixed with a look at France’s involvement in the new world. I also appreciated that the show didn’t feature noble magical Indians watching the white men with bemused smirks, but rather portrayed them as just as human as the French and British.

That seems like an odd topic for Broadchurch to tackle.

Yeah, I didn’t realize there was a post after Blackhawks. I added the quote that clears things up.

Finished You're the Worst last night. Might have been one of the best shows (start to finish) I've watched in a long time. To reiterate, they're not good people. There are definitely dark issues the show tries to grapple with. But in terms of portraying the mess that is their relationship and concluding the series in a satisfactory way? They hit it out of the park. Would recommend. Great characters. Great acting. Believable story.

hepcat wrote: ↑Thu Jul 09, 2020 8:45 pm Yeah, I didn’t realize there was a post after Blackhawks. I added the quote that clears things up.

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Sun Jun 14, 2020 10:18 am Im midway through season 4 of Community. It’s a wonderfully binge-able show that I’ve really been enjoying.

However, I’m at the part where two of the group got together.

Spoiler:

Britta and Troy

. It’s one of the strangest, most awkward sitcom relationships I’ve ever seen. The actors have absolutely zero chemistry together, and the show seems to completely ignore their relationship.

Missed this when you posted it originally. I’m a huge fan of Community and Dan Harmon in general.

Season 4 is widely considered unwatchable by fans of the show because Harmon was ousted and they brought in a show runner with no clue as to what the show was about. Best to skip season 4 and go straight to 5 and 6 when Harmon was brought back.

Been a while since I saw it, but yes The Wrestler is a fantastic movie.

So I've been watching Modern Family on Canadian Netflix. Because occasionally I like to substitute something light in between all these tense, relentless dramas. (Don't judge me.) And while it does engage in some stereotypes (oh look, another dopey dad, old-fashioned grandpa, and neurotic mom), it's surprised me by being a fairly fresh and clever show (at least for a network sitcom). Through the first two seasons I've watched, anyway.

However... socioeconomically, it's so out of touch it's horrifying. What a bunch of entitled rich people. And disturbingly, the characters don't usually seem to know privileged they are. This is some kind of white, upper middle class fantasy. But I guess having a normalized gay relationship on a network family show is nice, at least. (Though they seem to over-rely on stereotype there as well.)

Sudy wrote: ↑Sun Jul 19, 2020 7:12 am But I guess having a normalized gay relationship on a network family show is nice, at least. (Though they seem to over-rely on stereotype there as well.)

What, just because it's about as nuanced as The Birdcage?

I'm almost finished with S2 (of 3) of Penny Dreadful on Netflix. The second season feels even better than the first and overall the show continues to deliver. Their take on Frankenstein in particular is quite interesting, but all the characters are enjoyable. Still strongly recommend if you originally missed it back in 2014, in the before times. I'm typically very meh on shows or stories set in Victorian era, but for some reason this is really working for me.

I really, really liked Penny Dreadful.

And huh, it looks like the sequel has already premiered. I thought it was still a while out. Too bad it's Showtime. I'm not subscribing to another service for one show.

That's what finally started me watching the original. There's only so many times I can see an ex-girlfriend in a TV commercial and not be reminded I didn't watch the first story arc (or whatever they're calling it).

Yes, the quarantine is getting to me, what gave it away?

I only dipped in and out of BREAKING BAD when it was all the rage, but just this week I've starting binging BETTER CALL SAUL and loving it.

Holman wrote: ↑Sun Jul 19, 2020 5:22 pm I only dipped in and out of BREAKING BAD when it was all the rage, but just this week I've starting binging BETTER CALL SAUL and loving it.

SO good. And occasionally emotionally hard to watch.

Malificent wrote: ↑Sun Jul 19, 2020 5:38 pm

Holman wrote: ↑Sun Jul 19, 2020 5:22 pm I only dipped in and out of BREAKING BAD when it was all the rage, but just this week I've starting binging BETTER CALL SAUL and loving it.

SO good. And occasionally emotionally hard to watch.

Especially because one of my oldest and closest friends is a lawyer who could absolutely be played by Bob Odenkirk.

Saw The Gentlemen, Guy Ritchie's latest. It's actually not too loud, brash, and disgusting. Well, it is a bit. But I was expecting worse. The story's certainly not original, but it's framed in a captivating way. I don't know if all the threads hold up, but the various actors are fun to watch. I'd consider it worthy popcorn fare for those who enjoy this type of content. (And those of us who prefer their popcorn flicks over 60% on Rotten Tomatoes.)

The song from the opening titles is also really great. Though I'm not sure Neil Young shouldn't sue.

Wife and I have started watching Superstore, now streaming on Hulu. I have a lot of very serious, dramatic shows on my list to watch. But every now and again, you just need 30 mins of comedy and I'm super enjoying this. The characters are entertaining, we all have heard stories about bad retail experiences and its a good hearted comedy. It's not breaking any originality records midway into Season 2, but I'm enjoying it immensely.

I'm late to the party, but What We Do in the Shadows is the best movie to TV adaptation since MASH. The cast is great and Matt Berry (Lazlo) is the funniest guy I've seen in a long time. His delivery on simple lines is hysterical. I was worried this show would suck and not compare well to the movie. Far from it.

The Informer is a pedestrian informant/prison thriller that underuses a fairly impressive cast (Joel Kinnaman, Rosamund Pike, Clive Owen, Common, Ana de Armas). But... it's well shot, well scored, and... it stars Joel Kinnaman. It's a story everyone knows and has seen done better, but it's done with enough talent to make it enjoyable. It's often implausible if you stop to think about it, but it's very down to earth and doesn't draw attention to itself. It's the kind of film I doubt I'll remember, but I never regret watching. Currently on Canadian Netflix.

McNutt wrote: ↑Thu Jul 23, 2020 1:20 am I'm late to the party, but What We Do in the Shadows is the best movie to TV adaptation since MASH. The cast is great and Matt Berry (Lazlo) is the funniest guy I've seen in a long time. His delivery on simple lines is hysterical. I was worried this show would suck and not compare well to the movie. Far from it.

Totally agree, and I can't even watch the show as I don't have Hulu. But I've seen every available clip there is on YouTube.

Here's how out of touch I am:

I'm into season three of binging BETTER CALL SAUL, and I just now figured out that the actor playing Jimmy's brother Chuck is the actor who played (a) David St. Hubbins, lead singer of Spinal Tap, and (b) Lenny of Lenny & Squiggy.

I didn't even know (a) and (b) were the same actor until I looked it up today.

hepcat wrote: ↑Thu Jul 09, 2020 9:13 pm

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Sun Jun 14, 2020 10:18 am Im midway through season 4 of Community. It’s a wonderfully binge-able show that I’ve really been enjoying.

However, I’m at the part where two of the group got together.

Spoiler:

Britta and Troy

. It’s one of the strangest, most awkward sitcom relationships I’ve ever seen. The actors have absolutely zero chemistry together, and the show seems to completely ignore their relationship.

Missed this when you posted it originally. I’m a huge fan of Community and Dan Harmon in general.

Season 4 is widely considered unwatchable by fans of the show because Harmon was ousted and they brought in a show runner with no clue as to what the show was about. Best to skip season 4 and go straight to 5 and 6 when Harmon was brought back.

I thought 6 was really unwatchable as well.

I don't recall it being unwatchable, but I think it was really suffering from the loss of its multiple original cast members (even Chase--he may have been disruptive on set, but his character was an important foil for the others) and the production (having moved to Yahoo) felt "off". The extended episode lengths afforded to them by the streaming format also caused the show to feel less tight, IMO.

Seasons 5 and 6 suffer from the loss of some beloved cast members, true; but they still get good to great reviews from the overwhelming majority of critics and fans...unlike season 4.

OK we bought into Hulu (with ads, but OK) just today. We made it cost-neutral by cutting the DVD-by-mail component of our Netflix subscription, keeping the streaming of course. It's been a while since we actually needed a Netflix DVD.

So now at my house we stream Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, and Hulu. We're basically Roman emperors, right?

Such opulence... you're like the family with the SNES, Genesis, and a Neo Geo!

My credit card number changed, so I let Amazon Prime and Crave (Canadian service that has HBO, Showtime, and other stuff) lapse this month. I'm sure I'll subscribe again in due time, but unless there's a hot new series I'm usually just browsing and not finding anything I actually want to watch. Netflix never gets cancelled though, even though it probably could. And I think we're still "borrowing" my sister's Disney+ login. We're a no-cable family, so it's streaming or nothing. (Millenials without kids.)

YouTube TV pissed me off with their huge price increase, but as that and Amazon Prime are all I buy right now, I'm going to let it slide.

I’m not sure I’m ditching cable correctly. I kicked DirecTV to the curb, and right now I’ve got Netflix, Hulu Live, amazon Prime, HBO Max, ShowTime Anytime, STARZ, and Peacock. And a Plex server with 1500 movies and a crap ton of tv shows.

Oh, and Disney+

If you're not actively watching a show on a provider that you're paying monthly for, you're doing it wrong.

RunningMn9 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 25, 2020 1:13 am I’m not sure I’m ditching cable correctly. I kicked DirecTV to the curb, and right now I’ve got Netflix, Hulu Live, amazon Prime, HBO Max, ShowTime Anytime, STARZ, and Peacock. And a Plex server with 1500 movies and a crap ton of tv shows.

Oh, and Disney+

I'm trying to put together a Plex server of my own. I'd love to hear any tips/tricks. I think I'm going to use an old workstation paired with a Synoptics NAS, but I haven't decided. I might hypothetically be interested in some of that Plex content as well, if you were in a sharing mood? Or any tips/tricks on finding/ripping it?

Holman wrote: ↑Fri Jul 24, 2020 9:20 pm OK we bought into Hulu (with ads, but OK) just today. We made it cost-neutral by cutting the DVD-by-mail component of our Netflix subscription, keeping the streaming of course. It's been a while since we actually needed a Netflix DVD.

So now at my house we stream Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, and Hulu. We're basically Roman emperors, right?

I just remembered that we also have cable TV (though with no premium channels subscribed). I'd dump it, but my in-laws like it.

I remember getting cable (with Showtime!) as early as 1980 in Birmingham, Alabama. I could watch three different Star Trek episodes every day.

Isgrimnur wrote:If you're not actively watching a show on a provider that you're paying monthly for, you're doing it wrong.

I’m actively watching shit on all of them (I have four extreme streaming consumers living in this house). But it still feels like I’m doing it wrong.

gbasden wrote:I'm trying to put together a Plex server of my own. I'd love to hear any tips/tricks. I think I'm going to use an old workstation paired with a Synoptics NAS, but I haven't decided. I might hypothetically be interested in some of that Plex content as well, if you were in a sharing mood? Or any tips/tricks on finding/ripping it?

I just use my wife’s desktop as the server. I’ve got 12 TB of storage hooked up to it, crammed full of content. The entire archive is backed up in a few offsite locations.

I built the library a few ways - primarily by ripping every physical disc I own, and then every physical disc that some other people owned. It turns out that people own a lot of physical discs. I would say it took maybe two or three years to rip and encode all that content.

We got Hulu on Friday. I've binged both seasons of What We Do in the Shadows this weekend. It's just so good!

RunningMn9 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 25, 2020 1:13 am I’m not sure I’m ditching cable correctly. I kicked DirecTV to the curb, and right now I’ve got Netflix, Hulu Live, amazon Prime, HBO Max, ShowTime Anytime, STARZ, and Peacock. And a Plex server with 1500 movies and a crap ton of tv shows.

Oh, and Disney+

It could be worse... I have most of those... and cable.

Holman wrote: ↑Sun Jul 26, 2020 6:25 pm We got Hulu on Friday. I've binged both seasons of What We Do in the Shadows this weekend. It's just so good!

The first episode made me think it was going to be a stinker...then it just hit its stride (or I let go of my bias that since it wasn't the original cast, it was going to suck). Now I consider it one of the best comedies on television right now. I could watch Matt Berry just read the phone book and I'd giggle at this point.
P.S. If you STILL haven't experienced the genius of Berry's Toast of London, you're missing something else truly special. It's on Netflix, so there's no excuse not to watch it if you have that.

Batman Ninja (2018) is... one of the most ludicrous things I've ever seen. I've never been very into anime or traditional Batman comics/canon. I'm much more interested in the theatrical and more grounded takes on the character and the "idea" of Batman, as I imagine is much of the mainstream. Regardless, a one-off animated film that sends Batman to feudal Japan is going to be throwing a lot out the window. If I described some of the things that happened in its 85 minutes, I don't know if you'd believe me. But it involves giant robots and an army of monkeys, and that's understating things. There was an opportunity for a much smaller, slower paced, and grounded story here that I think I would have enjoyed a lot more. (Feudal Japan informs its visual style, but actually has very little to do with the events that unfold.) But I can't help but be delighted by the sheer goofiness of what occurs. And at the end is a much more reserved but very intense and satisfying face-off between Batman and his greatest foe.

Narratively, I have trouble taking Batman Ninja seriously. It's outlandish and all over the place. But if you're someone who's into this style of anime and the Batman pantheon, maybe it wouldn't be a problem for you. The amount of characters they manage to pack into this is nuts, but if you're familiar with them all it will probably be a lot of fun to see their transformations. There's also a big role for Gorilla Grodd, who I presume pops up infrequently outside of comics. Tony Hale is an amazing over-the-top Joker. I laughed out loud at one of his insults. The anime "sexiness" of the female characters however is distracting and annoying.

Stylistically, the film is gorgeous and should be seen for that reason alone. It's some of the most visually interesting animation/CGI I've seen.

Sudy wrote: ↑Tue Jul 28, 2020 6:10 am an army of monkeys

What kind of monkeys? It makes a difference, you know. Spider monkeys would be very ludicrous, but bonobos, not so much.