Whatcha Watchin'?

[Sudy]

It's OK everyone is wrong sometimes.

[Skinypupy]

It does lose its way in later seasons a bit

I'm 2/3 of the way through Season 3, and this is a very apt description. I'm still going to finish the show because I'm invested at this point, but pretty much every plot decision they've made has rubbed me the wrong way.

- Feels like they decided to ditch the theme of overcoming adversity by relentless optimism and hard work, and instead decided to explore the deep, dark, shadowy crevasses of everyone's psyches instead. Not exactly the tonal shift I was expecting or hoping for.
- Maybe I'm overly sensitive to this because I played for so long, but the sequences of actual football gameplay are laughably bad. Especially the goalkeepers, which leave me cringing every time I watch. One episode this season showed the keeper setting up a wall correctly, then proceeded to show him standing directly behind the wall during the free kick, leaving the entire goal wide open.
- I get that AFC Richmond is a lower tier team, but it's still a Premier League club. Those are worth billions of pounds, with the average player salary of around $60K a week. They make it look like a minor league baseball team in the US.
- Regarding relationships:

Spoiler:

- They have now leaned hard into the inappropriate boss/employee relationship not once (Sam and Rebecca) but twice (Keely and Jack). Just...no.
- Here's an idea. Let's have Trent Crimm come out by literally stalking Colin to a gay bar. How fun! How quirky!
- I get that the "handsome stranger on a boat" in Amsterdam was meant to be a turning point to show that Rebecca could be open to love, but maybe they could do that with a few less serial killer and date rape jokes? Just a thought...
- Turning Beard from a wise sage into a flamboyant goofball just isn't really working.
- Feels like they have tossed aside the strong relationships that were built up over the first two seasons in place of other...stuff. They have chosen to either simply ditch them entirely (Keely and Roy) or make them far less of a focus (Ted and Rebecca's working relationship).
- Shandy was a terrible character. I get that was kind of the point, but she was truly awful.
- Nate doesn't really work as a pseudo-villain. He's just not particularly interesting, tbh.

I've still got 4 episodes left, so hopefully they can turn things around a bit and finish strong.

[hepcat]

The finale makes up for a lot of missteps in the final season.

[Skinypupy]

The finale makes up for a lot of missteps in the final season.

Yeah, watching that finale pretty much wrecked me tonight.

Fun show overall, with a few WTF stretches.

[Kraken]

I'm watching "The Sandman" on Netflix, and as I near the end of S1 it's growing on me. I didn't care much for the initial story arc and the lead actor is like a wooden Johnny Depp, but it's getting better as it goes on. Also enjoying the parade of big-name talent, from David Thewlis to Patton Oswalt to Jenna Coleman and Gwen Christie. Looking forward to S2 and Netflix confirms that S3 is coming.

[hepcat]

The lead actor is amazing if you've read the source material. They couldn't have done better. Morpheus is supposed to be very subdued and unflappable. He's a primal force without much in the way of human emotion. I thought Tom Sturridge captured that in his performance.

[Kraken]

The lead actor is amazing if you've read the source material. They couldn't have done better. Morpheus is supposed to be very subdued and unflappable. He's a primal force without much in the way of human emotion. I thought Tom Sturridge captured that in his performance.

I haven't, but I'm warming to his cold performance as it develops. OMG, he RAISED his EYEBROW!!!

[dbt1949]

I've been watching Burn Notice. I had never heard of it and am amazed at how good it is. It's about a spy who got a "burn notice" which means he has been abandoned completely by the government and everybody else in the spy community. He spends all his time by helping people and trying to figure out who burned him.

[Isgrimnur]

I've been watching Burn Notice. I had never heard of it and am amazed at how good it is. It's about a spy who got a "burn notice" which means he has been abandoned completely by the government and everybody else in the spy community. He spends all his time by helping people and trying to figure out who burned him.

I highly enjoyed it.

[hepcat]

The lead actor is amazing if you've read the source material. They couldn't have done better. Morpheus is supposed to be very subdued and unflappable. He's a primal force without much in the way of human emotion. I thought Tom Sturridge captured that in his performance.

I haven't, but I'm warming to his cold performance as it develops. OMG, he RAISED his EYEBROW!!!

The glares from his cage in the first episode sold me on his performance.

[ImLawBoy]

Yeah, they knocked it out of the park with the Sturridge casting.

[Isgrimnur]

Watched Some Came Running.

Hard-drinking novelist Dave Hirsh (Frank Sinatra) returns home after being gone for years. His brother (Arthur Kennedy) wants Dave to settle down, and introduces him to English teacher Gwen French (Martha Hyer). Moody Dave resents his brother, and spends his days hanging out with Bama Dillert (Dean Martin), a professional gambler who parties late into the night. Torn between the admiring Gwen and Ginny Morehead (Shirley MacLaine), an easy woman who loves him, Dave grows increasingly angry.

[Kraken]

1958 is more recent than most movies that I like, but I'd give it a chance if it's streaming on a TV near me. Where did you find it?

[Isgrimnur]

YouTube.

[Rumpy]

Watched The Phantom of the Open on Netflix this weekend. What a charming and funny movie. It's a comedy about the world's worst golfer. One day, despite never having played golf before, Maurice Flitcroft decides he wants to compete in the British Open. And you'd never guess with the treatment of the story, but it is based on a real person. Mark Rylance gives off a great performance as the perfectly aloof title character and does so with such charm and likeability. Sally Hawkins plays his wife and she also puts in a great performance. Highly recommended.

[Smoove_B]

Just finished this 10 episode run on Netflix:

A wet-behind-the-ears, yet good-hearted sea captain unwittingly finds himself at the helm of a smuggling ship for a terrible international cartel who’s using him as a fall guy in case the authorities ever catch up to them.

I'd definitely recommend it, though it's a bit dark. It's also probably not at all what you're expecting and they do some really wacky stuff to further the plot. If you're looking for a filler show and something quick, the episodes are all like ~25 minutes or so. Definitely something you can bang out in a few nights.

The actress that played Mazikeen on Lucifer does a voice, as well as Jason Ritter and Anthony Carrigan. Overall, I thought the voice acting was great so it was nice to recognize some famous names. There's an episode with David Schwimmer that I thought was quite good.

Not sure what's going to happen with the strike, but it's a thumbs up for me - I hope it gets a second season.

[hepcat]

Good god, Captain Fall gets dark. The first three episodes are set up material and I was about to give up on it. Then the sex club episode hit and I was cringing and laughing at the same time. Definitely takes a few episodes to get going. But once it does it reminds me of the more serious aspects of Venture Bros..

[Punisher]

Been watching Suits on Netflix. Random preview got me interested in it.
I'm on season 8 but really just pushing to finish the series since the main character left in season 7.
What's weird os that my wife days that pre medical adventure I wanted absolutely nothing to do with this series and no interest in watching it.
Guess my brain changed more than I thought.

[Isgrimnur]

Time for a Voight-Kampff test

[Punisher]

Time for a Voight-Kampff test

I had to look it up.
My argument would be that if I'm a replicate someone made a very defective model.

[Unagi]

Time for a Voight-Kampff test

I had to look it up.
My argument would be that if I'm a replicate someone made a very defective model.

Sounds more like Phineas Gage to me.

[Punisher]

Time for a Voight-Kampff test

I had to look it up.
My argument would be that if I'm a replicate someone made a very defective model.

Sounds more like Phineas Gage to me.

Had to look that up too.
When I woke up from my coma I insisted that I had been in an MVA. It took a while for me to believe otherwise. Mostly because I couldn't believe there wasn't a physical cause for my condition so at least he had an excuse.

[Sudy]

I re-watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, a childhood favourite that I've seen at least once every couple years for the last thirty of them. It's so comforting. I see it as a defining bridge between two eras of filmmaking. It has so many gorgeous sets, and the visual effects are almost unnoticeable which I believe is a huge accomplishment for 1989. The score is just outstanding. The writing and cinematography are perfect, evoking a slightly earlier age of cinema.

But I found myself watching it critically for the first time, and realized there are honestly a lot of little things I could nitpick, as I often do in modern series and sequels. The rose-tinted nostalgia is real, but, on the other hand, we really are in a generation of mainstream filmmaking that often feels bereft of creativity. Crystal Skull and Dial of Destiny are bad/worse films, to different degrees and for different reasons. But I think I might be able to view Destiny a second time with a more forgiving point of view. It's just the damn de-aging and "everything's CGI" stuff that I can't swallow (in any film). Visual effects can and continue to enable us to put so much imagination on screen and produce high-quality genre shows that never before would have been affordable. But so much CGI still lacks metaphorical depth and texture.

[Skinypupy]

I finally figured out how to get back my access to Max that comes with my AT&T Wireless plan. So I’m jumping into The Sopranos for the first time.

I typically don’t like mobster stuff that much, but this has been great so far (10 episodes in).

[Smoove_B]

Just saw the final season was added to Netflix and started it last night. Believe the hype - it's an awesome show (and the first episode makes me think it's going to have a strong finish)

[Punisher]

Just saw the final season was added to Netflix and started it last night. Believe the hype - it's an awesome show (and the first episode makes me think it's going to have a strong finish)

Isn't that opinion a bit...premature?

[Smoove_B]

If there's a show that's been consistently good, it's this one.

[Rumpy]

Just watched Stagecoach featuring a stacked cast of Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, John Schneider and June Carter Cash. Fun movie with a great script! They looked like they were having a lot of fun with this project.

Oh and I've just started watching Sex Education's final season and while the show was already quite progressive and bold, I dunno yet about this new season. While the first 3 seasons felt fairly grounded, this new season has a new school that feels rather... fantastical? It certainly doesn't resemble any school I've ever been to, ie a school completely run by a student body, eschewing paper with every student being given a tablet. And in an effort to be even more inclusive than the prior seasons, it ends up feeling less authentic and less relatable, if that makes any sense.

And fair warning, first episode of Season 4 has a fairly lengthy scene with lots of groin shots.

[YellowKing]

I'm late to the party, but I'm catching up on Interview With the Vampire and I'm *really* enjoying it so far. I think the recasting of Louis as an African-American was a stroke of genius. They used it to add depth to the character and story vs. just marking off a "diversity" checkbox. Lestat is fantastic as well, and this show only illustrates how terribly miscast the movie was (even though I still have a nostalgic soft spot for it).

[Blackhawk]

Just watched Stagecoach featuring a stacked cast of Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, John Schneider and June Carter Cash. Fun movie with a great script! They looked like they were having a lot of fun with this project.

I remember (vaguely) watching that when it was first released (it was made for TV, as I recall.) Fans of westerns (which I was at the time) were making a big deal of it, between the cast and love of the original.

[hepcat]

I'm late to the party, but I'm catching up on Interview With the Vampire and I'm *really* enjoying it so far. I think the recasting of Louis as an African-American was a stroke of genius. They used it to add depth to the character and story vs. just marking off a "diversity" checkbox. Lestat is fantastic as well, and this show only illustrates how terribly miscast the movie was (even though I still have a nostalgic soft spot for it).

I am not an Anne Rice fan at all, and I completely agree that making him African American and then plopping him into a setting where he’s already considered barely human by so many really made the show work for me.

[Rumpy]

Just watched Stagecoach featuring a stacked cast of Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, John Schneider and June Carter Cash. Fun movie with a great script! They looked like they were having a lot of fun with this project.

I remember (vaguely) watching that when it was first released (it was made for TV, as I recall.) Fans of westerns (which I was at the time) were making a big deal of it, between the cast and love of the original.

Oh, I didn't realize it was actually a remake or that it was made for TV, as it looks really well made.

[Blackhawk]

Just watched Stagecoach featuring a stacked cast of Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, John Schneider and June Carter Cash. Fun movie with a great script! They looked like they were having a lot of fun with this project.

I remember (vaguely) watching that when it was first released (it was made for TV, as I recall.) Fans of westerns (which I was at the time) were making a big deal of it, between the cast and love of the original.

Oh, I didn't realize it was actually a remake or that it was made for TV, as it looks really well made.

It was the role the made John Wayne famous.



It was also famous for this insane stunt:

[Kraken]

Just watched Stagecoach featuring a stacked cast of Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, John Schneider and June Carter Cash. Fun movie with a great script! They looked like they were having a lot of fun with this project.

I remember (vaguely) watching that when it was first released (it was made for TV, as I recall.) Fans of westerns (which I was at the time) were making a big deal of it, between the cast and love of the original.

Oh, I didn't realize it was actually a remake or that it was made for TV, as it looks really well made.

The original Stagecoach was John Wayne's breakout role. I loved its unhurried pace -- first they introduce the characters, then they establish the conflicts between them, and only then (halfway through the movie) does the action begin. I never saw the 1986 remake but I'll wager it gets to the plot more quickly; by then, audiences had already lost the patience for slow buildups. Where is it streaming? Maybe I'll watch it one day.

[Kraken]

I just re-watched The Eagle Has Landed (wherein the dying Third Reich plots to kidnap Winston Churchill) on Tubi because Wife had never seen it and she's a big Donald Sutherland fan. Must be the third time I saw it because I remembered almost all of it. It's still entertaining, even if you know all the plot twists.

[Rumpy]

It was the role the made John Wayne famous.

I've very likely watched it as I have a DVD set of his Westerns somewhere, but never made the connection as it's been so long ago

The original Stagecoach was John Wayne's breakout role. I loved its unhurried pace -- first they introduce the characters, then they establish the conflicts between them, and only then (halfway through the movie) does the action begin. I never saw the 1986 remake but I'll wager it gets to the plot more quickly; by then, audiences had already lost the patience for slow buildups. Where is it streaming? Maybe I'll watch it one day.

Actually, the one thing about the remake that I was impressed with is in how it just takes its time. It doesn't feel hurried at all, in fact. The action only starts to heat up towards the end when Geronimo's party comes into the picture and the Army escort decide to go back where they came from leaving the party to fend for themselves. Up until that point, it's mostly a slow build up in their carriage ride and the many stops they make. It kind of feels like it must have been one of the best Westerns to come out of the 80's.

Watched it on the Roku channel, btw, which is a pretty great resource for old Westerns.

[Kraken]

The original Stagecoach was John Wayne's breakout role. I loved its unhurried pace -- first they introduce the characters, then they establish the conflicts between them, and only then (halfway through the movie) does the action begin. I never saw the 1986 remake but I'll wager it gets to the plot more quickly; by then, audiences had already lost the patience for slow buildups. Where is it streaming? Maybe I'll watch it one day.

Actually, the one thing about the remake that I was impressed with is in how it just takes its time. It doesn't feel hurried at all, in fact. The action only starts to heat up towards the end when Geronimo's party comes into the picture and the Army escort decide to go back where they came from leaving the party to fend for themselves. Up until that point, it's mostly a slow build up in their carriage ride and the many stops they make. It kind of feels like it must have been one of the best Westerns to come out of the 80's.

Watched it on the Roku channel, btw, which is a pretty great resource for old Westerns.

Sometimes being wrong makes me happy. IDK what the Roku channel is, though.

[Rumpy]

Ok, I don't know if you need a Roku device to use it, streaming stick or otherwise, but it's a FAST channel included with the device.

[Carpet_pissr]

It kind of feels like it must have been one of the best Westerns to come out of the 80's.

?! Oooh, no, not even in top 3-4 IMO.

Pale Rider? Barbarossa? The one with all the Carradines? Also not sure if it was the 80’s, but if that’s when the Lonesome Dove TV series came out, that blew me away (probably did not age well like most 80’s era TV Series though)

Edit: not sure how ‘accurate’ this is considering the age, but Lonesome Dove )the OG TV series, not movies or reboots or sequels) got 98% on RT. Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones at their peaks maybe.

Edit edit; while looking at RT, I saw Silverado which I didn’t mention above. Interestingly, the review summary blurb shows:

“Boasting rich detail and well-told story, Silverado is a rare example of an '80s Hollywood Western done right.”

So I guess you’re not the only one with the opinion that the 80’s had a dearth of great Westerns (I still disagree!).

[Rumpy]

?! Oooh, no, not even in top 3-4 IMO.

Pale Rider? Barbarossa?

Personal opinion, but while I've seen Barbarossa, I still feel this remake of Stagecoach should rank higher It just feels really solid.