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Post by bigdfromla on Jul 11, 2018 1:00:42 GMT -5
GLOW is very good! Excellent use of 80's music in the show.
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Post by Wolfgang on Jul 21, 2018 19:07:29 GMT -5
The Last Ship (s4)
This is one of my wife's favorite shows, which is a mystery to me. She says she likes naval strategy -- or whatever that strategy is that's shown on this TV show. To me, this is a mediocre show but all the naval stuff, especially the weapons, is new to me.
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Post by gnu2vball on Jul 22, 2018 7:08:28 GMT -5
The Last Ship (s4) This is one of my wife's favorite shows, which is a mystery to me. She says she likes naval strategy -- or whatever that strategy is that's shown on this TV show. To me, this is a mediocre show but all the naval stuff, especially the weapons, is new to me. Looks like the 5th and final season will begin airing in September.
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Post by Wolfgang on Jul 22, 2018 17:01:34 GMT -5
Fargo (s3)
Ewan McGregor?!?!
I've watched 2 episodes already and I don't think this season has the same spark and wit as the previous 2 seasons.
One character's assessment of Minnesota: "Do you know why I like Minnesota? It's so perfectly, sublimely bland."
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Post by Wolfgang on Jul 23, 2018 22:42:45 GMT -5
Fargo (s3) Anybody else think Carrie Coon and Mary Elizabeth Winstead look similar? I like these actresses. I first saw Coon in the TV show The Leftovers and Mary Elizabeth Instead in the film 10 Cloverfield Lane and the TV show Braindead. Also, the entire 3rd episode seems to be some sort of homage to Barton Fink, down to the shot of a woman at the beach. Carrie Coon Mary Elizabeth Winstead
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Post by Wolfgang on Jul 25, 2018 15:16:49 GMT -5
Fargo (s3)
Some really bad acting by Mary Elizabeth Winstead after getting beaten up by Varga's thugs. While she was trying to get up and into her car, she was so terrible at acting that I could NOT believe she was just beaten up. It was incredible!
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Post by ironhammer on Jul 25, 2018 22:15:13 GMT -5
Finally gotten around to watching "Stranger Things" on Netfilx. I may well be flamed by the "Stranger fans" for saying this, but I thought the series was...ok. Certainly not bad, but I just don't share the orgasmic response that some critics have for it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the series is horrid or not worth watching. It is a decent series if you are in the mood. But I just don't see it as great as the fans and critics say.
Yeah I get it, it rides on a wave of 80's nostalgia, with particular homage paid to ET, The Thing, Dungeons & Dragons, video arcade games, the earlier Stephen King novels and Jaws (although that is actually a 70's thing). In that sense it reminds me of "Ready Player One". But leaving nostalgia aside for a moment and just judging the series on it's own, I don't see anything so original or exciting. It's mostly recycled ideas of well-known TV/movie tropes ( e.g. alternate dimension, a good "Carrie" in the form of Eleven, evil government agencies etc). So I don't get the "wow" factor that some fans are showing. Maybe those are younger fans who have not experienced 80's or 90's pop culture, I don't know.
And both seasons do start kinda slow and meander around before picking up the pace to focus on the core storyline in in the later episodes. I wish they would just start off getting to the point, although I guess with any TV series, they need "filler" episodes to stretch out the story to fill a whole season.
Still, I didn't say it was a bad series, and there are some good points. I like how it's mixes different genres together. It's basically a supernatural thriller with aspects of detective mystery, family drama, teen drama and a light touch of comedy thrown in. And that can be interesting. I also enjoy watching some of the characters grow and evolve. Like how Eleven starts out as an almost mute before gradually learning the world around her. Or how Steve, Nancy's ex, starts out as a stereotypical a-hole jock, but only to show a more empathetic and mature side as the season goes along.
All in all, an alright series to watch if you have the time or in the mood for it, but at the same, adjust your expectations as it as not as out of this world as the fans and critics say it is.
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Post by Wolfgang on Jul 25, 2018 22:17:21 GMT -5
Finally gotten around to watching "Stranger Things" on Netfilx. I may well be flamed by the "Stranger fans" for saying this, but I thought the series was...ok. Certainly not bad, but I just don't share the orgasmic response that some critics have for it. It's basically a supernatural thriller with aspects of dective investigation, family drama, teen drama and a light touch of comedy thrown in. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the series is horrid or not worth watching. It is a decent series if you are in the mood. But I just don't see it as great as the fans and critics say. Yeah I get it, it rides on a wave of 80's nostalgia, with particular homage paid to ET, The Thing, Dungeons & Dragons, video arcade games, the earlier Stephen King novels and Jaws (although that is actually a 70's thing). In that sense it reminds me of "Ready Player One". But leaving nostalgia aside for a moment and just judging the series on it's own, I don't see anything so original or exciting. It's mostly recycled ideas of well-known TV/movie tropes ( e.g. alternate dimension, a good "Carrie" in the form of Eleven, evil government agencies etc). So I don't get the "wow" factor that some fans are showing. Maybe those are younger fans who have not experienced 80's or 90's pop culture, I don't know. And both seasons do start kinda slow and meander around before picking up the pace to focus on the core storyline in in the later episodes. I wish they would just start off getting to the point, although I guess with any TV series, they need "filler" episodes to stretch out the story to fill a whole season. Still, I didn't say it was a bad series, and there are some good points. I like how it's mixes different genres together. It's basically a supernatural thriller with aspects of detective mystery, family drama, teen drama and a light touch of comedy thrown in. And that can be interesting. I also enjoy watching some of the characters grow and evolve. Like how Eleven starts out as an almost mute before gradually learning the world around her. Or how Steve, Nancy's ex, starts out as a stereotypical a-hole jock, but only to show more empathetic and mature side as the season goes along. All in all, an alright series to watch if you have the time or is in the mood, but at the same, adjust your expectations as it as not out of this world as the fans and critics say it is. I thought Stranger Things (s1) was mediocre.
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Post by ironhammer on Jul 26, 2018 3:57:00 GMT -5
Finally gotten around to watching "Stranger Things" on Netfilx. I may well be flamed by the "Stranger fans" for saying this, but I thought the series was...ok. Certainly not bad, but I just don't share the orgasmic response that some critics have for it. It's basically a supernatural thriller with aspects of dective investigation, family drama, teen drama and a light touch of comedy thrown in. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the series is horrid or not worth watching. It is a decent series if you are in the mood. But I just don't see it as great as the fans and critics say. Yeah I get it, it rides on a wave of 80's nostalgia, with particular homage paid to ET, The Thing, Dungeons & Dragons, video arcade games, the earlier Stephen King novels and Jaws (although that is actually a 70's thing). In that sense it reminds me of "Ready Player One". But leaving nostalgia aside for a moment and just judging the series on it's own, I don't see anything so original or exciting. It's mostly recycled ideas of well-known TV/movie tropes ( e.g. alternate dimension, a good "Carrie" in the form of Eleven, evil government agencies etc). So I don't get the "wow" factor that some fans are showing. Maybe those are younger fans who have not experienced 80's or 90's pop culture, I don't know. And both seasons do start kinda slow and meander around before picking up the pace to focus on the core storyline in in the later episodes. I wish they would just start off getting to the point, although I guess with any TV series, they need "filler" episodes to stretch out the story to fill a whole season. Still, I didn't say it was a bad series, and there are some good points. I like how it's mixes different genres together. It's basically a supernatural thriller with aspects of detective mystery, family drama, teen drama and a light touch of comedy thrown in. And that can be interesting. I also enjoy watching some of the characters grow and evolve. Like how Eleven starts out as an almost mute before gradually learning the world around her. Or how Steve, Nancy's ex, starts out as a stereotypical a-hole jock, but only to show more empathetic and mature side as the season goes along. All in all, an alright series to watch if you have the time or is in the mood, but at the same, adjust your expectations as it as not out of this world as the fans and critics say it is. I thought Stranger Things (s1) was mediocre. The only TV series that made me want to keep watching recently was the Strain and of course, Game of Thrones. GOT had intricate plot and characters, but you never feel lost in the storyline. The Strain is more straight-out survival horror (and helped to re-instill fear of vampires as terrifying creatures after the hack job Meyers did to them in Twilight). The tension and fate of the characters made you want to keep watching. Whereas "Stranger Things" has horror elements peppered throughout the series, but the horror is a bit more restrained since a big focus is on the kids in the show, and the family relationship dynamic plays a bigger role. That's fine, as each show would naturally have a different focus. But "Stranger Things" struggle at times to maintain momentum and the story just seem to drag until the last several episodes when the pace and focus picks up again. The show needs a more consistent flow to it's episodes. And more originality would also help. I am not against 80's nostalgia, but there is only so much nostalgia I can take if the rest of the story isn't up to par. At the end of the day, nostalgia is not a replacement for good original storytelling. So right now I am sitting on the fence as to whether I will keep watching Stranger Things Season 3, if the the first episode agains turn out to be another "meh" episode, I will probably stop watching it. P.S-I should also mention "Into the Badlands", because I love martial arts shows and movies. The show probably has the best martial arts action of any TV series. The first season was kind of so-so, but the subsequent seasons got better with more scenic locations, costumes and dialogue.
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Post by Wolfgang on Jul 27, 2018 23:26:39 GMT -5
Fargo (s3)
I didn't think the third season was good at all. It was borderline terrible. You'd think a cast that includes Ewan McGregor, David Thewlis, Carrie Coon, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead would be enough to produce a top notch show but, for some reason, the writing was horrible.
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Post by Wolfgang on Aug 4, 2018 1:05:54 GMT -5
American Gods (s1)
Strange show. I'm 5 episodes in. Sometimes, I just phase out, especially in the 5th episode where they're being interrogated by the police for the "bank robbery" and then the other "gods" show up. And they talk. Maaaan...I could not stay awake for that entire interaction.
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Post by Wolfgang on Aug 5, 2018 19:20:58 GMT -5
American Gods (s1)
Done. I wish the makers of this show would spend more time on the story and less time with the distracting visual effects and bizarre extra crap (e.g., the multiplying dancers accompanying Gillian Anderson's character at the Wisconsin house). There are lots of interesting little stories, e.g., Laura Moon's death, Essie McGowan and leprechaun, Nunyunnini, Spider Woman. Just tell those. Toss the rest.
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Post by Wolfgang on Aug 5, 2018 19:22:17 GMT -5
The Handmaid's Tale
I read Margaret Atwood's book a few years ago and absolutely loved it. So, I was hesitant to watch the TV version of it, given that I'm usually disappointed in book-to-film/TV adaptations. But the wife wanted to watch it.
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Post by mikegarrison on Aug 6, 2018 0:46:35 GMT -5
The Handmaid's Tale I read Margaret Atwood's book a few years ago and absolutely loved it. So, I was hesitant to watch the TV version of it, given that I'm usually disappointed in book-to-film/TV adaptations. But the wife wanted to watch it. So how was it?
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Post by Wolfgang on Aug 6, 2018 4:04:22 GMT -5
The Handmaid's Tale I read Margaret Atwood's book a few years ago and absolutely loved it. So, I was hesitant to watch the TV version of it, given that I'm usually disappointed in book-to-film/TV adaptations. But the wife wanted to watch it. So how was it? We didn't really like it. We kept comparing it to the book. I think we would've liked the adaptation a lot more if we weren't familiar with the book. After 4 episodes, we just stopped watching and put in The Last Panthers in the DVD player. People who haven't read the book may like it. Who knows.
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