We finished "Tabula Rasa" some days ago.
I'll have to give it 9/10.
Not sure what they could have done better, it's a nice little mini serie.
I strongly recommend it!
We finished "Tabula Rasa" some days ago.
I'll have to give it 9/10.
Not sure what they could have done better, it's a nice little mini serie.
I strongly recommend it!
Really liked Watchmen—much more than the movie. Good cast, well-told story, excellent direction, solid episodes all 'round, apart from the final two episodes. I was honestly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
Now trying to get into His Dark Materials and Warrior Nuns. I loved pullman's books, but the first episode really didn't do it for me. The second episode is much better, so I remain hopeful. Warrior Nuns, well... looks like a solid production with a decent cast and competent plotting, but the church thing just isn't my cuppa tea. Still, looks like it's worth a shot. If it disappoints, I'll switch to Cursed.
"One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."
If anyone hasn't watched Cobra Kai yet, it's fantastic and way better than it has any right to be.
Watchmen - very good
Lovecraft Country - pretty good, though weird seeing all white people as the bad guys
The Boys, S2 - liked it quite a lot. It stumbled a bit in the middle, but not too much
Succession - just started this, not sure yet if I like it.
Raised by Wolves - fairly good, strong start, though the most recent episode has entered the real of the stupid. Some unforgivably lazy scifi.
Ratched - quit watching it. Visually beautiful, especially the colors. But hard to watch creepy characters you totally don't give a shit about.
The Rules
Copper- behave toward others to elicit treatment you would like (the manipulative rule)
Gold- treat others how you would like them to treat you (the self regard rule)
Platinum - treat others the way they would like to be treated (the PC rule)
Watchmen : couldn't get into it
Lovecraft Country: pretty good, I am tempted to watch it again. I don't know if I agree about 'all white people as bad guys'
The Boys; I saw 2,5 episodes of season 2, not impressed
Succession; love it
Raised by Wolves: don't even know what you're talking about
Ratched; I like it. It looks glorious, and it's interesting that there is like one minor character in all of the series that you can feel any sympathy for, and he's probably going to be exposed as a serial rapist in the episode I still have to watch
Congratulations America
Away ... Netflix sci-fi starring Hilary Swank.
Utterly shit. I couldn't even finish the first episode.
A group of astronauts chosen from nations across the globe are set to go on an inaugural mission to Mars. Those astronauts end up being dull, predictable, clichéd, two-dimensional shit characters. The Russian is conniving and back-stabbing, the Chinese is tight-lipped and opaque, the Indian is jolly, the Brit is soppy, weak and wet, and the American who naturally leads the crew is an All-American (TM) idiot hero who loves her family or something.
Most of the first episode was centred on clichéd attempts to elicit tears of sadness as said All-American idiot hero leaves her loving (shit, boring) family behind, and then gets to know the other shit two-dimensional international characters who end up being two-dimensional and shit. Cue predictable conniving backstabbing from the Russian, tight-lipped opaqueness from the Chinese, good-humoured jolliness from the Indian, and wet soppy weakness from the Brit. My nostril hairs provide more depth.
Christ. I was hoping the whole base they were working from would blow up in a huge fireball and put them all out of their misery. When that didn't happen I switched my teevee over to find something more interesting, which fortunately was an advert for car insurance, something more substantial I could get my teeth into.
I get the feeling Netflix exercises no directorial control. The reason great shows are great is that someone was standing over the shoulders of directors/producers and vetoing their zany ideas.
Hope is the denial of reality
They fuck around enough to chase away the Avatar guys.
"In a field where an overlooked bug could cost millions, you want people who will speak their minds, even if they’re sometimes obnoxious about it."
Strange. I wonder why Netflix got involved so heavily in that one. Maybe test audiences didn't like it?
Hope is the denial of reality
They also cancelled the one good SciFi space show they had (luckily Amazon saved The Expanse). Nightflyers was atrocious as well.
When the stars threw down their spears
And watered heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the lamb make thee?
Additionally, this seems to be poised to shit on everything that made Discworld work:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...ughter-rhianna
They genderswapped Lord Vetinari. In a setting where there's no dearth of strong and capable women, they felt the need to make Lord Vetinari into one. Then they made Vimes into the Funny Drunk (instead of Drunk But Sharp), made Cheery a not-dwarf, and got rid of Detritus, Nobby and Sgt Colon.
Plus, everyone looks like a Advert For Kohl reject.
When the stars threw down their spears
And watered heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the lamb make thee?
That seems more of a crappy showrunner issue than a Netflix interference issue.
Hope is the denial of reality
The Expanse was a SciFi Channel show. They cancelled it, not Netflix. However, Netflix did cancel Teenage Bounty Hunters after just one season. Criminal.
I just started watching The Orville on Hulu. It's not bad. Its old-style one-story-per-episode, very much channeling original star trek. Its described as a comedy/parody, but in reality, that's just the surface. After 4 episodes, I'm wondering if it will mature a bit - I believe there are three seasons, so it can't be that bad.
The Rules
Copper- behave toward others to elicit treatment you would like (the manipulative rule)
Gold- treat others how you would like them to treat you (the self regard rule)
Platinum - treat others the way they would like to be treated (the PC rule)
Orville is an excellent show crippled by excessive in-your-face Americanism. It's like someone took a great show, made it happen, and then invited a centrist American dude-pundit to shit all over it. But yes, the show does mature—almost everything that doesn't directly involve Seth MacFarlane gets much more sophisticated, but his—and Mercer's—injured centrist male pride schtick gets really old really quickly.
"One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."
Teevee doesn't always suck.
Giri / Haji is superb.
A BBC production, aired on BBC and Netflix. Very solid production it is too, great performances from the lead cast, intriguing plot line set in Tokyo and in London, lots of slick touches in terms of narrative continuance.
We're about three quarters of the way through.
Highly recommended.
I kinda becoming a fan of Israeli spy stories. After Fauda I'm now watching Tehran. I'm surprised at how many words I'm able to follow over all the languages spoken in it. Hardly ever a full sentence, but very very often I recognize words. Tehran I'm watching as an apple+ special (which means 1 episode a week). Of course it's predictable and formulaic, but enjoyable.
Congratulations America
I get mad thinking about the TV I'm paying for with my subscriptions/memberships....but still have to endure the damn ads, even for On-Demand shows. Plus the sports franchise fees and taxes that I'm forced to pay to Comcast, with no way to opt out because they have monopoly control. grrrr that's why TV sucks.
Get rid of cable. It's not worth it.
Hope is the denial of reality
I'm deep into Season 2 now and I'm finding that gender and sexuality is more or less the theme of this show. There are a few 1-off things here and there, but overall it seems that sexual relationships and gender identity, standard and non, underlay the majority of story lines.
The Rules
Copper- behave toward others to elicit treatment you would like (the manipulative rule)
Gold- treat others how you would like them to treat you (the self regard rule)
Platinum - treat others the way they would like to be treated (the PC rule)
I was a little bit disappointed about the season premiere of This is us. I think it was inevitable that they would do something about BLM. But it felt very forced the way they did it. Randall's color has been addressed several times, including the risk of his adoptive parents not being able to understand what it means to grow up as a black man. And now we have to believe that Kate was oblivious all of the 39 years she had him as a brother? It would have felt much more natural if this had been played over the Kevin angle. At least with Kevin you could have been able to believe that he never got close enough to Randall for Randall to share his emotions.
Subbura reminded me that Italians are light-years ahead of other European countries when it comes to cinematography. If compare this to a crowd pleaser like Elite (also Netflix) there can be no doubt which of the two is the better one.
I'm shocked that I actually needed the 'previously on' for Tehran. Streaming has this effect ; I'm not used to wait a full week for a next episode.
Congratulations America
The Rules
Copper- behave toward others to elicit treatment you would like (the manipulative rule)
Gold- treat others how you would like them to treat you (the self regard rule)
Platinum - treat others the way they would like to be treated (the PC rule)
FOUNDATION
Congratulations America
Started watching The Queen's Gambit for procrastination purposes and, dang... if the first episode's anything to go by, I have a really lovely show ahead of me. Everything about the production feels spot on. I don't ordinarily watch dramas, but this was just really pleasant.
Also started watching Shitt's Creek. I think it might be the first show I've sorta liked without wanting to binge, in, like, over a decade or so. I'm guessing it gets better but right now the mayor is really just ruining things for me. I don't like the actor, and I don't like the character archetype. But the family and the other characters are still keeping things interesting.
Saw season 1 of The Shannara Chronicles, and, you know, once I got over the clunky acting and the truly abominable/hilariously bad facial expressions, I kinda enjoyed it. I really like the setting (from the books), and the production values were decent. You just have to set aside all your standards of quality, and dial down the thinking.
"One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."
The Rules
Copper- behave toward others to elicit treatment you would like (the manipulative rule)
Gold- treat others how you would like them to treat you (the self regard rule)
Platinum - treat others the way they would like to be treated (the PC rule)
"One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."
The Rules
Copper- behave toward others to elicit treatment you would like (the manipulative rule)
Gold- treat others how you would like them to treat you (the self regard rule)
Platinum - treat others the way they would like to be treated (the PC rule)