The TV and Streaming Thread: Summer Re-reruns (it's always summer somewhere)

[Lexx]

I keep confusing The Night Agent with The Night Manager. The later was a great show.

[bugarup]

Altered Carbon. Went in blind and liked quite a lot. Good solid cyberpunk science fiction, even if it borrows quite a bit from Blade Runner and sometimes from Fifth Element, but those aren't bad places to borrow from. It appears I'm so used to stupid asspulls in TV that when things that happen actually make sense within setting's rules and story's framework it feels so unexpectedly good. First season: bad guys are exceptionally easy to loathe with a burning passion, protag's of my favorite flavour - an irreverent, sarcastic ass who doesn't take things too seriously, poignant stuff (mostly) doesn't sink into cheesy sentimentality, and one episode's culmination even had me loudly cheering. 

Second season...eh, story still tight and engaging if predictable but shows importance of the cast. New actors, protagonist's in particular were just...not very interesting to watch. 

Netflix apparently canceled it but it's a good thing, because its series inevitably decline with each season, and I bought the books anyway. 

Edited May 29, 2023 by bugarup

[InsaneCommander]

Silo. Dystopian SciFi with Rebecca Fergunson and Tim Robbins. A better show than most SciFi we see these days. I imagine the closest comparison would be Snowpiercer and I think this one is better. Five episodes available so far and, despite a slow down in the story in the later episodes, I'm enjoying it a lot.

On 5/10/2023 at 1:16 AM, uuuhhii said:

watching silo

first two episode are intriguing

hope it doesn't get worse

Episodes 3-5 are definitely less interesting than the first two, but that is understandable. The show is based on a series of short stories and apparently the first episodes are based on shorter stories so they can deliver a more satisfying conclusion by themselves. The others follow a longer arc and have to develop things "slowly".

It seems there is only material for one season, unless you count a prequel that takes place when the silo was built.

[Gfted1]

'Futurama' fuels up for Season 8 as Hulu's reboot blasts off this summer | Space

[ShadySands]

Citadel - Meh. Crazy they're trying to make it its own universe since it's not very good.

[uuuhhii]

4 minutes ago, ShadySands said:

Citadel - Meh. Crazy they're trying to make it its own universe since it's not very good.

trying to sell that level of nonsense this seriously doesn't work anymore

it would make more sense if it is at least scifi

[Sarex]

Ted Lasso season 3. A stronger showing than s2 and

Spoiler

a nice ending to the series.

 

[Gorth]

Dusted off my old dvds and watched Lexx season one (four episodes). Lots of nostalgia and just good fun to watch Stan the Man and his crew taking on His Divine Shadow… sounds better than a desperate escape

[LadyCrimson]

Tried to watch FUBAR. If you like Arnold's old school classic cheesy one-liner mode (which I do/did), there's plenty of those, at least initially, but it's overdone/too many, so a lot fall flat. Otherwise it's a typical spy/crime/comedy (shades of True Lies scenarios here and there perhaps) show, with a cadre of typical "team" members, a father/daughter conflict and Arnold pining for an ex-wife - sometimes a little serious, usually mined for comedy. I found it not terrible, but too dull for the most part, with lackluster writing, and occasionally obvious stuntmen (Arnold's old after all - they don't have his chr. do a lot but when he does...) - not even my fondness for Arnold's on-screen presence could get me past Episode 3. YMMV.

Other stuff: I'm looking forward to the next season of Black Mirror - usually there's at least a couple episodes I like from it.

Edited June 7, 2023 by LadyCrimson

[Zoraptor]

Watched The Last of Us. Weird one that, in parts really really good, in others... not exactly bad, but pretty jarring. Having not played the games I rather suspect it was at its worst when trying to follow its set pieces etc*. Good acting, and the only episode I didn't like much as a whole was the cannibal one which I found extremely obvious in pretty much every respect, from set up to how it played out. They built the setting really well and the main characters were both well written and acted too. Plus John Hannah cameo at the beginning, big ups there. Bit disappointed he wasn't there at season end, though that would have been more than a little contrived and I probably would have complained about that.

*since I'm semi interested in whether I'm right or not

Spoiler

the stuff I'd pick as being more or less straight from the game is the end battle/ rescue with the Fireflys, the end battle with Melanie Lynskey's group (character name escapes me, with that big infected dude and the silliness with a bulldozer type wotsit falling into the ground); side characters having death expectancy rather than life expectancy. Quite probably the giraffes too, but that was slightly different to feeling 'gamey'; it was more something out of place in an otherwise pretty consistent/ believable setting- ie not sure how an African savannah animal survives those winters for years.

 

[uuuhhii]

2 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

Tried to watch FUBAR. If you like Arnold's old school classic cheesy one-liner mode (which I do/did), there's plenty of those, at least initially, but it's overdone/too many, so a lot fall flat. Otherwise it's a typical spy/crime/comedy (shades of True Lies scenarios here and there perhaps) show, with a cadre of typical "team" members, a father/daughter conflict and Arnold pining for an ex-wife - sometimes a little serious, usually mined for comedy. I found it not terrible, but too dull for the most part, with lackluster writing, and occasionally obvious stuntmen (Arnold's old after all - they don't have his chr. do a lot but when he does...) - not even my fondness for Arnold's on-screen presence could get me past Episode 3. YMMV.

Other stuff: I'm looking forward to the next season of Black Mirror - usually there's at least a couple episodes I like from it.

action scene are so weird

the rest are pretty boring

not sure how much budget this show have but it feel mostly wasted

[Hurlshort]

Yeah, I got 2 episodes into FUBAR before giving up. His documentary will hopefully be better.

[Sarex]

5 hours ago, Hurlshort said:

Yeah, I got 2 episodes into FUBAR before giving up. His documentary will hopefully be better.

The doc is pure propaganda. Glosses across everything bad and a little bit too much of blowing his own horn. The first 2 episodes were fun, the last one not so much.

[Keyrock]

LOL CNN

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

6 hours ago, Sarex said:

The doc is pure propaganda. Glosses across everything bad and a little bit too much of blowing his own horn. The first 2 episodes were fun, the last one not so much.

I haven't seen it yet, but I doubted that it'd be too critical given that an Arnold led series dropped right around the same time. Why is the last one the worst?

[Sarex]

5 minutes ago, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

I haven't seen it yet, but I doubted that it'd be too critical given that an Arnold led series dropped right around the same time. Why is the last one the worst?

The last one is regarding his foray in to politics, so you can imagine how that one went. The end of the episode was more about the Ukraine war than about Arnold. At least that's how I felt regarding it.

[Raithe]

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

44 minutes ago, Sarex said:

The last one is regarding his foray in to politics, so you can imagine how that one went.

Henry Kissinger magazine profile tier whitewashing?

45 minutes ago, Sarex said:

The end of the episode was more about the Ukraine war than about Arnold.

Man everything feels that way recently.

[Hurlshort]

1 hour ago, Sarex said:

The last one is regarding his foray in to politics, so you can imagine how that one went. The end of the episode was more about the Ukraine war than about Arnold. At least that's how I felt regarding it.

As a citizen of California, I found his foray into politics to be entertaining, but terribly misguided. The whole recall and special election was pretty much a train wreck, but you had to admire the chutzpah. I mean, he basically targeted teachers and firefighters on day one. It didn't go well.

I will have to wait to watch it until the weekend, since my wife wants to see it too.

I did just watch a great documentary on the Duggar family on Amazon Prime, Shiny Happy People. It was pretty crazy to hear the background on their church and this whole homeschool cultish movement we have happening.

Then I watched a 30 for 30 on the American Gladiators. That was also a good one. The style of the documentary was a bit weird, but I enjoyed hearing form the athletes involved. They definitely got ripped off for the work they were doing, though.

[Sarex]

37 minutes ago, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

Henry Kissinger magazine profile tier whitewashing?

Let's just say the first two episodes ease you in for the third one.

6 minutes ago, Hurlshort said:

As a citizen of California, I found his foray into politics to be entertaining, but terribly misguided. The whole recall and special election was pretty much a train wreck, but you had to admire the chutzpah. I mean, he basically targeted teachers and firefighters on day one. It didn't go well.

I cannot speak to that as I am not familiar with the politics in California, apart from some Joe Rogan whining, but the whole episode had that familiar stink to it.

Edited June 8, 2023 by Sarex

[ShadySands]

I liked the first 2 episodes, especially the second, except for the political parts. Probably going to skip the third. 

On 6/8/2023 at 8:27 AM, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

Henry Kissinger magazine profile tier whitewashing?

Children's bible level

[Hurlshort]

Flaming Hot - This was the best movie I've seen in awhile. I'd put it next to Dolemite is My Name in terms of fantastic biographical stories. Flaming Hot is a bit more family friendly, but still hits all the right tones. My wife is Mexican. Her dad grew up running around the vineyards of Santa Clara, where his family worked the fields. His dad eventually became a mechanic working on the crop dusters, and my wife's dad followed suite. This story had a lot of similarities. My kids also grew up running around a nursery and migrant housing, and eating the best authentic Mexican food. You can't find this stuff in a restaurant, you just have to hope you show up as the food come off the discado. 

Anyways, the movie tells a great true story.

 

We also finished the Arnold documentary. The first two parts were fun. I loved learning about the Mr. Universe stuff, and it was a good time watching clip of the movies he did. The importance of Conan in his career was really emphasized. I thought episode 3 was good too. Sure, it was more politics, and they treated him with kid gloves, but they did get Gray Davis to speak and that was a surprise. It was clearly his side of the whole story, but he is still a pretty charismatic guy.

[Sarex]

2 hours ago, Hurlshort said:

We also finished the Arnold documentary. The first two parts were fun. I loved learning about the Mr. Universe stuff, and it was a good time watching clip of the movies he did. The importance of Conan in his career was really emphasized. I thought episode 3 was good too. Sure, it was more politics, and they treated him with kid gloves, but they did get Gray Davis to speak and that was a surprise. It was clearly his side of the whole story, but he is still a pretty charismatic guy.

They glossed over all of the **** he did during the bodybuilding days and he did some underhanded stuff during that period. Same thing for his actor days, but to a lesser degree.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

On 6/10/2023 at 12:48 AM, ShadySands said:

Children's bible level

I just watched the show in the background while I was cooking and this may be downplaying it. Is there another Arnold doc in the works and this was his way of getting in front of it or something?

[Hurlshort]

Most documentaries are fairly biased. This had him narrating the whole time, so no surprise it painted him in the best light.

The Duggar family one was clearly a hit piece. Granted that was probably well deserved, but bias is inherent and all that.