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TV / movies 📺 List your recent and current binge watch (streaming shows) here

Maister said:
Started Northern Exposure this weekend. I didn't see the show 30 years ago so it's truly all new to me. Some things (e.g. homophobia) probably wouldn't fly today, but the situational humor holds up quite well.
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I watched the first few seasons when it aired. I went to college and didn't get a chance the last few seasons. It was a great show.
 
Whose Yur Planner said:
I watched the first few seasons when it aired. I went to college and didn't get a chance the last few seasons. It was a great show.
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Rumor has it the show's last couple seasons were weak owing to a producer who really didn't care about the production.
 
My wife and I started watching Animal Control on Hulu. We had very low expectations going in and I'm happy to say the show greatly exceeded them.
 
Can we talk about cinematic universes here? You know those movies will eventually be staged on a streamer.

It had to happen, more b.s.:

www.rottentomatoes.com

Madame Web

In a switch from the typical genre, Madame Web tells the standalone origin story of one of Marvel publishing's most enigmatic heroines. The suspense-driven thriller stars Dakota Johnson as Cassandra Webb, a paramedic in Manhattan who develops the power to see the future... and realizes she can...
www.rottentomatoes.com www.rottentomatoes.com
 
I watched all 7 episodes of Ted on Peacock over the past few days while I've been quarantined in the den. It's a prequel to the movie of the same name and pretty funny.
 
bureaucrat#3 said:
I watched one or two. I cant get my mind to not see it as Jeff Winger took a job in animal control after leaving Greendale CC.
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Speaking of Greendale CC, Abed (Danny Pudi) is on an AppleTV show called MythicQuest with Rob McElheny (Always Sunny). It was ok, the show revolves around a game development company that makes a World of Warcraft type game. It has its moments.
 
Last week we finished True Detective Night Country. We enjoyed it. I thought Jodie Foster and the other lead did a good job. Sure, it has some holes but overall it was good.
 
bureaucrat#3 said:
I watched one or two. I cant get my mind to not see it as Jeff Winger took a job in animal control after leaving Greendale CC.
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There was a good throw-away line in Animal Control where the Joel McHale character was arguing with his partner about the correct pronunciation of something in Spanish and he looks directly at the camera and says something to the effect of, "I know I'm right, I took Spanish at community college" and then proceeds to get the pronunciation very wrong.

estromberg said:
Speaking of Greendale CC, Abed (Danny Pudi) is on an AppleTV show called MythicQuest with Rob McElheny (Always Sunny). It was ok, the show revolves around a game development company that makes a World of Warcraft type game. It has its moments.
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Love MythicQuest. That was the show that got me to actually pay for AppleTV once my trial ran out so that I could watch the rest of it. I'm looking forward to season 4.
 
We burned through "Avatar: The Last Airbender" over the weekend. It was...meh. Not sure I get making real life versions of animated series, and then trying to make it look like an anime as much as possible.
 
I'm with you, Avatar gets a meh. It entertained me and i'll watch the next season, but i think cartoons can do so much more. Granted Avatar is a little more childish than some of the other animated stories.
 
Watched Denis Veleneuve's 2021 film "Dune" last night. It was easily the best adaptation I've seen to date of the Sci Fi classic written by Frank Herbert. Can't wait to see part 2. Speaking of which, the directorial decision to make the story into two films was exactly correct, and he chose the same part of the story to put the divide in that I would have chosen; pre-messiah Paul (Pt 1) and post-messiah Paul (Pt 2). Making two films instead of trying to cram everything into one allows for more critical detail to be conveyed to audiences about Fremen culture and the rich universe that Herbert created. It also means less exposition is needed to bring audiences up to speed on what's going on, as information about the universe is conveyed as the action occurs instead. This is much more interesting and engaging to audiences.
 
bureaucrat#3 said:
I keep trying to make it through the first season. The show is funny, but the people in the show are just so horrible. I get that they're supposed to be, but they drive me crazy.
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Yes, that's my struggle with the show. I want sympathetic characters.... at least one. But every person in that show has serious flaws. For the Roses themselves it's their self absorption.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
I agree with FM. By the end of the series, all of the main characters seemed like pretty good people. Yes, they may have been somewhere between a bit out of touch and outright delusional, but they still seemed genuinely good with good intentions. The horribleness/obliviousness of the Rose family is what initially put me and my wife off (we had watched the first few episodes a few times over the years) but I'm glad that we stuck with it this time.

Also, whenever I'm working in the kitchen and the recipe says to fold in whatever ingredient all I can think of is this clip now:

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I think part of the issue with Schitt's Creek is that I want to like the characters, but the Roses are just so dysfunctional, especially with each other. It's a great device to create humor, but it also creates a high degree of discomfort, especially if you have difficulty communicating with family members. It's very relatable and that's both a blessing and a curse.

Fold In The Cheese is one of the best bits ever.
 
We recently received access to Paramount and I've started watching Titan as much as I can during lunch when I'm home. I don't have a lot of comic book "baggage", so I'm really enjoying it a lot.
 
Doohickie said:
I think part of the issue with Schitt's Creek is that I want to like the characters, but the Roses are just so dysfunctional, especially with each other. It's a great device to create humor, but it also creates a high degree of discomfort, especially if you have difficulty communicating with family members. It's very relatable and that's both a blessing and a curse.

Fold In The Cheese is one of the best bits ever.
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I tried to watch it but couldn't get past the first couple of episodes. The family dysfunction was just too great.
 
I was laid up sick for most of last week so I watched a lot of TV... Primarily American Dad repeats on Hulu (love the show, but I've seen every episode at least 3x so if I fall asleep for a few hours, no loss), but I also watched a couple good documentaries. The first was All Up in the Biz about Biz Markie and the second was You're Watching Video Music Box.

The Biz Markie one was great (and it was also a bit of a tear-jerker). I always knew he was pivotal in the rise of hip-hop in the early '80s and helped a lot of other artists get his foot in the door but this really put into perspective just how much of an impact he had in the careers of so many others.

I've never lived in the NYC area so I was not too familiar with the Video Music Box show but it was an interesting history and also made me dig deeper into a bunch of music videos I hadn't seen in a long time. I'd recommend both of those docs for fans of hip hop.
 
Maister said:
Watched Denis Veleneuve's 2021 film "Dune" last night. It was easily the best adaptation I've seen to date of the Sci Fi classic written by Frank Herbert. Can't wait to see part 2. Speaking of which, the directorial decision to make the story into two films was exactly correct, and he chose the same part of the story to put the divide in that I would have chosen; pre-messiah Paul (Pt 1) and post-messiah Paul (Pt 2). Making two films instead of trying to cram everything into one allows for more critical detail to be conveyed to audiences about Fremen culture and the rich universe that Herbert created. It also means less exposition is needed to bring audiences up to speed on what's going on, as information about the universe is conveyed as the action occurs instead. This is much more interesting and engaging to audiences.
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After watching the first part about two months ago, I hate I didn't see it in the theater. I'm planning to watch part 2 on the big screen. You're correct about it being the best version to date.
 
We started the new Shogun series last night. It was enjoyable except the main white dude was trying to hard to look and sound like Tom Hardy. It was distracting.
 
My wife and I have been watching Death and Other Details (Hulu). It's a murder mystery on a cruise ship. Mostly actors I didn't know, with the glorious of exception of Mandy Patinkin. We have really enjoyed it. We are finding that we really like murder mystery shows, especially ones with lots of twists and turns. We loved Only Murders in the Building.
 
Maister said:
AND?
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Aesthetically and visually excellent and aligned very closely with how I pictured the book's events in my head. Loved that! You will be like "Damn, who knew Florence Pugh and Christopher Walken looked so like family?"
I felt like it missed the point of the book though and made it more into your typical action/revolution movie. Much less dignity in/for the characters.
 
joscoffee said:
Aesthetically and visually excellent and aligned very closely with how I pictured the book's events in my head. Loved that! You will be like "Damn, who knew Florence Pugh and Christopher Walken looked so like family?"
I felt like it missed the point of the book though and made it more into your typical action/revolution movie. Much less dignity in/for the characters.
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What do you think is the thesis of the Dune saga? What do you think Frank Herbert was trying to say? I'm curious if you ever read any of Herbert's other books, such as Soulcatcher, The God Makers, The Dosadi Experiment, etc? If not, I've found there are certain recurrent themes he revisits time and again.
 
Maister said:
What do you think is the thesis of the Dune saga? What do you think Frank Herbert was trying to say? I'm curious if you ever read any of Herbert's other books, such as Soulcatcher, The God Makers, The Dosadi Experiment, etc? If not, I've found there are certain recurrent themes he revisits time and again.
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I haven't read but Dune and Dune Messiah, so I'm definitely not an authority, but it seems to me that FH was interested in how the perennial things in mankind refracted against the new industrial/managerial world he lived in.
To look at how that worked, he created the post-Butlerian Jihad setting where mankind had integrated the rational and computational functions of an industrialised universe into itself instead of externalizing it. He concludes that those functions look indistinguishable from mysticism, per the Arthur C. Clarke quote. But I think what makes Dune unique is that by taking the implications of that conclusion seriously, he can reverse things to look at technique as spirit and treat race and heredity as technology. I don't think FH was thinking about religion or power or revolution directly, in either a cynical or positive way. This kind of stuff is just incidental to his noodling out whether personal effort outweighs inheritance as a technique for being in the world.
So I think the story's main point is the exploration of forms of marriage as technologies that allow or require mankind to survive. FH's thesis seems to be that there is a paradox in the question of being the world in the first place, where the self is a product of the world and creates it.
Then he wrote a bunch of other books I haven't read, so your mileage may vary with this idea. You got me excited with that italicised "thesis"! What do you think?
 
estromberg said:
My wife and I have been watching Death and Other Details (Hulu). It's a murder mystery on a cruise ship. Mostly actors I didn't know, with the glorious of exception of Mandy Patinkin. We have really enjoyed it. We are finding that we really like murder mystery shows, especially ones with lots of twists and turns. We loved Only Murders in the Building.
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We've been watching this one too. I really liked the first few episodes but it hasn't really held me through these final episodes (I think there is still one more left?). My wife is still really into it though so I'll stick it out with her.
 
joscoffee said:
I haven't read but Dune and Dune Messiah, so I'm definitely not an authority, but it seems to me that FH was interested in how the perennial things in mankind refracted against the new industrial/managerial world he lived in.
To look at how that worked, he created the post-Butlerian Jihad setting where mankind had integrated the rational and computational functions of an industrialised universe into itself instead of externalizing it. He concludes that those functions look indistinguishable from mysticism, per the Arthur C. Clarke quote. But I think what makes Dune unique is that by taking the implications of that conclusion seriously, he can reverse things to look at technique as spirit and treat race and heredity as technology. I don't think FH was thinking about religion or power or revolution directly, in either a cynical or positive way. This kind of stuff is just incidental to his noodling out whether personal effort outweighs inheritance as a technique for being in the world.
So I think the story's main point is the exploration of forms of marriage as technologies that allow or require mankind to survive. FH's thesis seems to be that there is a paradox in the question of being the world in the first place, where the self is a product of the world and creates it.
Then he wrote a bunch of other books I haven't read, so your mileage may vary with this idea. You got me excited with that italicised "thesis"! What do you think?
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I think you would enjoy reading Herbert's other works beyond just Dune and Dune Messiah. At a minimum, one needs Dune, Dune Messiah, and Children of Dune under their belt to be able to begin to draw definitive conclusions about a thesis behind his work. I suspect if you enjoy the intricacies of what you describe reading so far, you have some idea of this already. Herbert was looking very Big Picture at humanity's future role in the universe. Much of Herbert's body of work is directed at the concept that the evolution of our species is entirely dependent upon humanity increasing its level of consciousness. Typically, this occurs in his works when an individual or very small handful achieve higher consciousness which permits these superhumans (you should be hearing echoes of Nietzsche's Ubermensch here) the ability to accurately chart out and direct the future course of the species.

Frank's son, Brian Herbert picked up the very same thread where is father left it and seamlessly continues along the same exploration of ideas that his father began.
 
Anyone watching the 4th season of True Detective? It's really good and I haven't watched the other seasons to compare but wow

Also watching The Long Call on Britbox while getting ready for work
 
Maister said:
I think you would enjoy reading Herbert's other works beyond just Dune and Dune Messiah. At a minimum, one needs Dune, Dune Messiah, and Children of Dune under their belt to be able to begin to draw definitive conclusions about a thesis behind his work. I suspect if you enjoy the intricacies of what you describe reading so far, you have some idea of this already. Herbert was looking very Big Picture at humanity's future role in the universe. Much of Herbert's body of work is directed at the concept that the evolution of our species is entirely dependent upon humanity increasing its level of consciousness. Typically, this occurs in his works when an individual or very small handful achieve higher consciousness which permits these superhumans (you should be hearing echoes of Nietzsche's Ubermensch here) the ability to accurately chart out and direct the future course of the species.

Frank's son, Brian Herbert picked up the very same thread where is father left it and seamlessly continues along the same exploration of ideas that his father began.
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I was very reluctant to pick up Dune Messiah after Dune, fearing a big disappointment. However you have convinced me to continue reading - thank you!
 
DVD said:
Could it be the author just wrote a really good book with no alternate motive or theme?
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We live in the era of critical analysis. This is impossible. No author is innocent and none will go unpunished.
Bdsm Punishment GIF by WebGenerationGroup
 
DVD said:
Could it be the author just wrote a really good book with no alternate motive or theme?
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If so, maybe he was working his way up to Dune, because he wrote about the same themes in at least a half dozen books before Dune.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
We've been watching this one too. I really liked the first few episodes but it hasn't really held me through these final episodes (I think there is still one more left?). My wife is still really into it though so I'll stick it out with her.
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It's been good but I agree; not as good as some others (Only Murders...)

I think my favorite character is the Interpol investigator; my wife can't stand her. :p

I'm far enough in that I'll see it through. I could see additional seasons coming out of it but I think they'll need to up their writing to be successful.

But anything with Mandy Patinkin I'll give a shot. He usually plays interesting, complex roles.
 
Maister said:
If so, maybe he was working his way up to Dune, because he wrote about the same themes in at least a half dozen books before Dune.
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I stopped the original series at Children of Dune because it got weird.

I did go back and listen to the audio books of some of the prequels and thought they were decent. I've never actually seen or looked for any of Herberts other stuff.

I watched Part 1 this weekend with my wife. She thought the trailer looked decent. She was lost and bored through most of the movie.
 
Not a streaming show but current big screen. Drive Away Dolls pushes envelopes in so many directions, my biggest objection is the violence.
 
bureaucrat#3 said:
I stopped the original series at Children of Dune because it got weird.

I did go back and listen to the audio books of some of the prequels and thought they were decent. I've never actually seen or looked for any of Herberts other stuff.

I watched Part 1 this weekend with my wife. She thought the trailer looked decent. She was lost and bored through most of the movie.
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The Donsadi Experiment was pretty good as I recall.
 
Whose Yur Planner said:
The Donsadi Experiment was pretty good as I recall.
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The premise of the Dosadi Experiment, as I recall, was humans were deposited on a planet by super advanced aliens and a 'God Wall' barrier was placed around the planet so no one or no spaceships could ever leave the planet. The experiment was intended to find out what technology and political adaptations the inhabitants might develop given the enormous population pressures that were sure to increase. Much like the Fremen and the Sardaukar we see in the Dune series, the inhabitants of Dosadi also develop remarkable skills and attributes due to being confined to an environment where so much competition for resources exists.
 
7 of 9 episodes down of Masters of the Air about the 100th Bomb Group in WWII. Not as engaging as Band of Brothers or The Pacific, but a good story. BoB really take you into the lives of the soldiers in the 506 PIR.
 
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