Whatcha Watchin'?

[hepcat]

Those aren’t tropes. They’re basic storytelling devices.

[Kraken]

I'm enjoying All Creatures Great and Small on PBS. It's like a palate cleanser - no action, dystopia, crime, hateful people, or any of the other tropes that dominate entertainment. Just mostly likeable people trying to do their best in a world where integrity, honesty, and compassion still matter. It would probably bore y'all to tears.

I watched that many years ago. I even picked up a couple of the books. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't realize it was still on the air.

It was originally made in the 1970s. This is a 2020 version. It's about to start its fourth season. Viewers are reportedly apprehensive because WW2 is about to inject a dose of reality into our escapism. I'm still in S1. If you liked the old version you will surely like the Masterpiece remake.

Those aren’t tropes. They’re basic storytelling devices.

"Common or overused themes or devices" is the definition of trope that I meant. Probably 90% of current TV shows and movies fall into the same half-dozen or so buckets. As a show about a young Yorkshire veterinarian in the 1930s, the conflicts and dilemmas that arise in All Creatures are quite a change from virtually everything else we're all watching.

[hepcat]

I mean, “show with action” or “show with criminals” is not what I would call tropes. Tropes are more about overused plot mechanics (“stuffed into a fridge”, for example).

I like a feel good show myself, in any case. I love Ted Lasso.

[Malificent]

Mrs. Davis on Peacock is (so far) original, fun and incredibly quirky. A badass nun fights against an all powerful AI that has taken over the world through apparent benevolence.

It’s…hard to describe beyond that. Betty Gelpin is just such a great comic actress.

Yeah this has been fantastic through 3 episodes (still have to watch the 4th). It has that odd but wonderful sense of offbeat humor that Lindelof had thrown into his later shows. You would never call The Leftovers a comedy but the comic moments in it had the same sort of absurdity.

[hepcat]

Do you like science fiction that isn’t all giant monsters and laser beams? Do you like science fiction that forgoes explosions and instead concentrates on the narrative of a solid story? Do you like science fiction that reminds you that science fiction is sometimes used to make us think of what could possibly be?

If you answered yes, firstly….NERD! But secondly, check out The Artifice Girl.

Spoiler:

Made on a shoestring budget but with top notch acting and a great story, it concerns a little girl named Cherry who isn’t real. She’s an AI designed to catch online predators.

But this isn’t a story about good and evil. This isn’t a tale of evil robots. It’s about humanity. It’s about how humans may someday be creating what is essentially their children, and how we could be just bad parents to this new generation.

I rented this on Vudu after seeing some stellar reviews from writers I respect. Check it out now, or when it comes to a streaming service you subscribe to.

This is a director/writer I’ll be watching closely going forward.

[Jeff V]

The other day was looking for a movie for wife and I to watch, and Freevee was offering John Wick. I saw the first 3, wife has seen none of them and it's been awhile, so what the hell. She liked the first one well enough to start watching the second last night...but kept falling asleep. Thursday might try to get her through the 3rd one (which I remember liking a lot), if successful, might catch 4 in the theaters in a rare date night.

[Kraken]

Having finished Poker Face (Peacock) last night, and wanting a new half-hour show, we started Russian Doll (Netflix) tonight, because Natasha Lyonne. The basic premise is the same as the movie Happy Death Day -- a woman repeatedly relives her death on her birthday, Groundhog Day style. I didn't like the first 15 minutes, which introduce a bunch of irritating hipsters, but by the end of the first episode I'm hooked enough to see what's next, because Natasha Lyonne.

[Smoove_B]

Seems to be getting some attention elsewhere, so I started Shiny Happy People last night on Amazon Prime Video:



I never watched the show but I remember the big sensation it was (along with the news about Josh). I had no idea how it all started and the bigger specific religious movement that was behind everything. After watching 1 (of 4?) episodes, all I can say is WTF repeatedly.

EDIT: Ok, I'm through Ep3 and it's off the charts WTF.

[Isgrimnur]

Inside Job (Netflix)

Finally got around to finishing Inside Job. Has a decent "ending" for the season, and, of course, tries to set something up for the cancelled season 2. But overall, I enjoyed it, and still think it's worth watching.

[hepcat]

Seems to be getting some attention elsewhere, so I started Shiny Happy People last night on Amazon Prime Video:

I never watched the show but I remember the big sensation it was (along with the news about Josh). I had no idea how it all started and the bigger specific religious movement that was behind everything. After watching 1 (of 4?) episodes, all I can say is WTF repeatedly.

EDIT: Ok, I'm through Ep3 and it's off the charts WTF.

You’re just jealous. Who doesn’t want 79 children?

[Scuzz]

The US Open on the USA Network and on NBC. They must have paid a lot for this because they are running one heck of a lot of commercials.

[Sudy]

A Man Called Otto is a bloated, contrived sapfest that's too dark for granny but not dark or funny enough for the disaffected youth. I love the grumpy old man genre, but this is a waste of Time Hanks.

[Kraken]

I've never seen Time Hanks but s/he sounds awesome.

[Sudy]

New phone, OK?

[Isgrimnur]

Polite Society

Wife and I watched it on Peacock. We were mildly amused.

[Kraken]

Four years late, we watched El Camino, Jesse Pinkman's Breaking Bad sequel. It was better than expected, even though we suffered memory gaps regarding several characters. If you didn't see it when it was fresh, you should still be able to follow it even if your memory is as spotty as mine is. It's on Netflix.

[Rumpy]

A Man Called Otto is a bloated, contrived sapfest that's too dark for granny but not dark or funny enough for the disaffected youth. I love the grumpy old man genre, but this is a waste of Time Hanks.

I haven't seen this one, but the original Swedish movie based on the Frederich Backman novel, A Man Called Ove was quite good, so I assume something was lost in translation by the Hollywood adaptation. The problem I find with most translated remakes is that they miss what made the original movies feel special by not being able to capture lightning in a bottle twice. With a few exceptions, I find most remakes end up lacking a certain feel of inspiration.

[hepcat]

The trailers for Otto struck me as a film made by a marketing firm, to be honest. Glad to hear I'm okay in avoiding it.

[TheMix]

The trailers for Otto struck me as a film made by a marketing firm, to be honest. Glad to hear I'm okay in avoiding it.

You seem to enjoy a solid acting performance, irrespective of the movie. You may be doing yourself a disservice. I thought that Mariana Treviño gave a fantastic performance. And Tom was Tom, as usual. The movie was reasonably predictable and seemed designed to pull on all the right strings at the right time. But the scenes between them were a joy.

[hepcat]

It just seems so….formulaic. I wonder if the original has a better story, or approaches it with something less so.

[Sudy]

I mean the acting's good, but it's way too long at two hours. I've just seen variations of this story so many times.

Spoiler:

The flashback story is so predictable. It just makes me cringe. I understand what caused the character to become bitter, but there's such a difference between the young character and the old.

It's rare (in my mind) to see a mainstream PG-13 film that's so frank about suicide. But it didn't seem to explore it in a complex, meaningful way. The opening scenes in the hardware store are played for laughs, but the following suicide attempts are just framing for the painfully sincere and paint-by-numbers flashback scenes.

It does feel like a European character film. Just watered down like most U.S. remakes.

The feel-good "social media journalist" stuff and the "everybody taking videos of the man on the railroad tracks rather than helping" just felt like trite and somewhat inaccurate social commentary. Perhaps if it wasn't played so straight. I liked the trans boy subplot, but his father throwing him out at the exact right time for the plot made me roll my eyes.

I still have no idea how the condo company was getting the community's medical records. They felt like the villains from an 80s-90s family film.

[Kraken]

I just paid $4 to watch Kind Hearts and Coronets for only the second time ever, at least 35 years since I first saw it. Totally worth $4.

[Rumpy]

It just seems so….formulaic. I wonder if the original has a better story, or approaches it with something less so.

I do think so, IHMO. It felt more inspired. The thing about remakes is that they often tend to feel uninspired. They might hit all the right notes in the original but a remake might fail to capture what made it special because they're going by the numbers and trying hard to match it. They tend to lack feeling. And I see that in the trailer of Tom Hank's version of the story. It feels... rote? And I feel Tom Hanks was possibly miscast. The original version was nominated for 2 Academy Awards.

Years ago, there a really funny French-Language comedy from the Canadian Eastern maratimes. It was witty and charming. A few years ago they decided to remake it in English with the same director, and with some great actors but it was nowhere near as funny or good as the original version.

Here's a trailer for A Man Called Ove:

[hepcat]

Seems to be getting some attention elsewhere, so I started Shiny Happy People last night on Amazon Prime Video:



I never watched the show but I remember the big sensation it was (along with the news about Josh). I had no idea how it all started and the bigger specific religious movement that was behind everything. After watching 1 (of 4?) episodes, all I can say is WTF repeatedly.

EDIT: Ok, I'm through Ep3 and it's off the charts WTF.

My new favorite thing to say randomly is “Hands are composed of non living atoms.”

[Smoove_B]

It's a throw-away line, but it helps explain so much.

[hepcat]

The couple that teaches parents how to physically punish their children while still remaining within the law are pure evil. So much of what the Duggars and the IBLP practice should be considered child abuse. Values change as people become aware of how awful some of them are, so "traditional values" is an utterly meaningless piece of sentimental crap that needs to die.

[Sudy]

I don't know how I hadn't heard about Mississippi Grind (2015). It's a gambling addiction road movie starring Ben Mendelsohn and Ryan Reynolds. Reynolds reminds us he can act, back when he needed to. But Mendelsohn's portrayal of the broken loser is the star of the show, along with the blues soundtrack. It's the kind of character study that makes me remember why I love film. The Wrestler of gambling films that feels both modern and retro at the same time. It's familiar but that's irrelevant. All stories are familiar. The only bad thing about this one is the poster.

Avoid the trailer unless you need convincing. It's not a bad trailer, it just glitzes up the plot and makes it come across as far more self-important than it is.

[hepcat]

Mendelsohn is an actor’s actor. I’ll have to look for this one.

[Skinypupy]

Until yesterday, I had never seen a single minute of Ted Lasso. I knew it was a huge hit, but as a matter of principle I have refused to subscribe to yet another streaming service.

I bought a new iPad on Monday to replace my 10+ year old one, and it came with a 3 month trial of Apple TV. So I figured I may as well see what all the fuss was about.

I sat down with the intent to watch one episode before firing up Diablo 4. I watched the first 5.

What a delightful show.

[Pyperkub]

I've been watching Kleo on Netflix. It's a German show about a young Stasi assassin who was politically imprisoned for her work and is released when the Wall came down and goes looking for answers.

It's a fun show with some quite amusing characters, not the usual American assassin fare, and very different from Atomic Blond, and it's inspiring me to look back for more information about the fall of the wall.

It's fascinating how little movies and TV have explored that world changing event in 1989.

I started watching it in English and then switched over to German with subtitles, which is much better as I do have some German, and the interplay is much better in that language.

Sent from my SM-S908U1 using Tapatalk

[Jaymann]

Mendelsohn is an actor’s actor. I’ll have to look for this one.

It is great as expected with this cast.

[hepcat]

Until yesterday, I had never seen a single minute of Ted Lasso. I knew it was a huge hit, but as a matter of principle I have refused to subscribe to yet another streaming service.

I bought a new iPad on Monday to replace my 10+ year old one, and it came with a 3 month trial of Apple TV. So I figured I may as well see what all the fuss was about.

I sat down with the intent to watch one episode before firing up Diablo 4. I watched the first 5.

What a delightful show.

It actually makes you feel good about life after an episode or three.

During the pandemic, it was EXACTLY what the world needed. It does lose its way in later seasons a bit, but it still stands out for being out loud funny while still avoiding cynicism and cruelty for its sense of humor.

[Skinypupy]

Until yesterday, I had never seen a single minute of Ted Lasso. I knew it was a huge hit, but as a matter of principle I have refused to subscribe to yet another streaming service.

I bought a new iPad on Monday to replace my 10+ year old one, and it came with a 3 month trial of Apple TV. So I figured I may as well see what all the fuss was about.

I sat down with the intent to watch one episode before firing up Diablo 4. I watched the first 5.

What a delightful show.

It actually makes you feel good about life after an episode or three.

Definitely. I really enjoyed that as a departure from my typical "drab and dreary" entertainment choices.

During the pandemic, it was EXACTLY what the world needed. It does lose its way in later seasons a bit, but it still stands out for being out loud funny while still avoiding cynicism and cruelty for its sense of humor.

I didn't realize Bill Lawrence was involved until the opening credits last night. Scrubs is one of my all-time favorite shows, and his involvement automatically took this up a couple notches for me.

I know I'm very late to the party here, but Hannah Waddingham is a goddamn force of nature.

And I just now realized she's the "SHAME" septa in GOT.

[hepcat]

Very true. She stands out in a cast of stand outs.

She also possesses a four octave singing range, I've learned.

[hepcat]

Seems to be getting some attention elsewhere, so I started Shiny Happy People last night on Amazon Prime Video:

Just finished the last episode recently. Amazon Prime, in an effort to keep me watching, decided to suggest somethimg similar to continue on to. That suggestion was Big Trouble in Little China.

Prime’s algorithm is either hilariously broken, or a goddamn genius. I can’t decide.

[Smoove_B]

[Sudy]

Until yesterday, I had never seen a single minute of Ted Lasso. I knew it was a huge hit, but as a matter of principle I have refused to subscribe to yet another streaming service.

I bought a new iPad on Monday to replace my 10+ year old one, and it came with a 3 month trial of Apple TV. So I figured I may as well see what all the fuss was about.

I sat down with the intent to watch one episode before firing up Diablo 4. I watched the first 5.

What a delightful show.

Wait till you get to the Coach Beard episode. If you haven't already.

I scoffed at the idea of watching the series. But eventually I tried it at the frequent recommendation of a friend. So hard not to love.

I've stopped early on in season three. I don't think it's bad? But I definitely ran out of steam. For now at least.

Finding out Bill Lawrence is involved makes a lot of sense.

[Skinypupy]

Finished Season 1 last night. Brilliant.

Wait till you get to the Coach Beard episode. If you haven't already.

That character is amazing. I've been trying to remember what else I've seen him in, but haven't wanted to look it up for fear of spoilers. Last time I googled someone's name to find out what else they'd been in, the very first link was about how they died in the show. Trying to avoid stumbling across any massive spoilers like that.

[Sudy]

I did the same thing but realized I really didn't know him. Gives off Richard Schiff vibes.

[Skinypupy]

Wait till you get to the Coach Beard episode. If you haven't already.

Got to this one last night. While I love Beard’s character, that was, by far, my least favorite episode of the show so far.

Gotta admit, I’m not loving some of the turns this season is taking towards the end. Specifically:

Spoiler:

Rebecca and…Sam? Setting aside the 30 year age difference, she’s his boss. Which makes the whole relationship wildly inappropriate, at best.

Just, no.

Maybe they redeem it somehow, but that one has really rubbed me wrong.