And then it's going to get even messier right after. And then they're going to introduce a crazy superpower for one of the characters that it's then going to ignore for most of the series. Or maybe the show won't, but the comics certainly did.
Discuss and Rate the Last Thing You Watched (non-movies)
- Thread starter Hawki
- Start date
Started a couple of new shows on Netflix:
Zero Day, ep 1
Limited series starring Robert Deniro as an ex-president who is tasked with leading an investigation into a massive nation-wide cyber-attack. The episode ends on a "twist" (that is revealed in the trailer so not a spoiler) that he may be losing his mind? That last hook is what interested me more.
I will admit it is really hard and kinda of dark-funny to watch these shows like this and Paradise where the president(s) of the USA are actually concerned about the well-being of people and trying to somewhat do the right thing and having any kind of competence. It's been the biggest suspension of belief I've ever had in fiction. This show has TWO competent presidents as Angela Bassett plays the sitting president.
There is a scene where Deniro sternly lectures a crowd of conspiracy-pilled street protests and gets applauded and it's like something out of the West Wing. lol wtf, this wasn't even reality in the 90s just writers' room liberal fantasies and it appeared here. So stupid.
Other than that, though, Deniro's character and portrayal are pretty interesting and I'm invested in the double-mystery. At least enough to watch the whole 6 episodes. I kinda like these limited series because you know it will actually end.
Running Point, ep 1 & 2
Produced by Mindy Kaelig and starring Kate Hudson, a woman born into a basketball team owning family inherits its ownership much to the chagrin of her brothers and all the men. So it is a girlboss fantasy for sure. If Zero Day seems like it was made in the late-90s this one seems like it was made in the 00's, the era of "lean in" and girlboss and Jezebel blogs. But that's fine for a half-hour comedy where the stakes are so low.
It's the kind of show that is fun for its vibes. Few of the jokes land hard but none of them are awkward or terrible. As a former-NBA fan I did get a kick out of hearing Kate Hudson's character talk trade deals and strategy. A major hook of the character is that she grew up loving basketball but was ignored because of her gender so instead became a party girl, but she gets to use her knowledge and passion now to embarrass stupid arrogant men.
It's a completely silly confection, the pussy hat of TV shows, but for 30 minutes it's fun enough.
Zero Day, ep 1
Limited series starring Robert Deniro as an ex-president who is tasked with leading an investigation into a massive nation-wide cyber-attack. The episode ends on a "twist" (that is revealed in the trailer so not a spoiler) that he may be losing his mind? That last hook is what interested me more.
I will admit it is really hard and kinda of dark-funny to watch these shows like this and Paradise where the president(s) of the USA are actually concerned about the well-being of people and trying to somewhat do the right thing and having any kind of competence. It's been the biggest suspension of belief I've ever had in fiction. This show has TWO competent presidents as Angela Bassett plays the sitting president.
There is a scene where Deniro sternly lectures a crowd of conspiracy-pilled street protests and gets applauded and it's like something out of the West Wing. lol wtf, this wasn't even reality in the 90s just writers' room liberal fantasies and it appeared here. So stupid.
Other than that, though, Deniro's character and portrayal are pretty interesting and I'm invested in the double-mystery. At least enough to watch the whole 6 episodes. I kinda like these limited series because you know it will actually end.
Running Point, ep 1 & 2
Produced by Mindy Kaelig and starring Kate Hudson, a woman born into a basketball team owning family inherits its ownership much to the chagrin of her brothers and all the men. So it is a girlboss fantasy for sure. If Zero Day seems like it was made in the late-90s this one seems like it was made in the 00's, the era of "lean in" and girlboss and Jezebel blogs. But that's fine for a half-hour comedy where the stakes are so low.
It's the kind of show that is fun for its vibes. Few of the jokes land hard but none of them are awkward or terrible. As a former-NBA fan I did get a kick out of hearing Kate Hudson's character talk trade deals and strategy. A major hook of the character is that she grew up loving basketball but was ignored because of her gender so instead became a party girl, but she gets to use her knowledge and passion now to embarrass stupid arrogant men.
It's a completely silly confection, the pussy hat of TV shows, but for 30 minutes it's fun enough.
Cunk On Life: Fucking Brilliant / Great
Philomena Cunk, terribly uninformed yet oddly curious, asks some of the biggest questions of the biggest brains about science, spirituality, and all the muddy waters between the two.
I've not laughed this hard this often in a VERY long time. Cunk's (Diane Morgan) deadpan delivery is expert level, top notch, *chef's kiss* TROLL. She asks some of the most absurd, asinine, and inane questions to ACTUAL scholars without so much as grinning, and the experts (bless them) just, I dunno, deal with it? I know it's proably not the case, but in my heart of hearts, I want to believe the experts aren't in on the joke; I want to believe they were told they were being interviewed by a serious person, then get asked "what does the 'U' in 'A.I." stand for?" Apparently, Cunk has a series of shows like this? I'm tracking them all down now; it's my new favorite thing.
HIGHLY recommended. A++
Philomena Cunk, terribly uninformed yet oddly curious, asks some of the biggest questions of the biggest brains about science, spirituality, and all the muddy waters between the two.
I've not laughed this hard this often in a VERY long time. Cunk's (Diane Morgan) deadpan delivery is expert level, top notch, *chef's kiss* TROLL. She asks some of the most absurd, asinine, and inane questions to ACTUAL scholars without so much as grinning, and the experts (bless them) just, I dunno, deal with it? I know it's proably not the case, but in my heart of hearts, I want to believe the experts aren't in on the joke; I want to believe they were told they were being interviewed by a serious person, then get asked "what does the 'U' in 'A.I." stand for?" Apparently, Cunk has a series of shows like this? I'm tracking them all down now; it's my new favorite thing.
HIGHLY recommended. A++
hmm...
I giggled at a few clips of her antics on youtube but I couldn't bring myself to watch like a whole movie about it. Kind of reminded me of Ali G- a moron interviewing smart or important people, and that gag got old real quick.
I personally found Cunk On Life a lot less funny than Cunk On Earth. I laughed here and there, but for the most part I just felt kind of awkward. Maybe I wasn't in the right headspace for it.
Anyway, I did not know Cunk on Britain was a thing. Just found out about it after I was googling due to your post. I guess it's not on Netflix, so time to hunt it down.
I think it was interesting what they tried to do with him, but his voice actor was so distracting. He's perfect for when he has to be a wailing, shouting lunatic, but he sounds exactly the same when just speaking normally. I think the animators did him a disservice honestly (or the other way around, whichever part was finished first), because the emotion in his voice was rarely matched by his animation.
Cunk On Earth: Ep 1-5: More Fucking Brilliance / Great
Someone out there knows my sense of humor, and made this show and Philomena Cunk specifically for me.
Someone out there knows my sense of humor, and made this show and Philomena Cunk specifically for me.
Clips don't do the character justice; it's the running and often ever-increasing absurdity of her clueless curiosity that makes the character land. She fancies herself genuinely intellectually curious, but where she consistently misses the mark/point/reason/rationale with straight-faced absurdity is where hilarity ensues. I'm not familiar with Ali-G, but he's clearly an over-the-top caricature; Philomena Cunk is not that. At no point does she resort to clear or overt antics; it's very British in that regard as the humor lands in the awkward silences as interviewees try to process the nonsense coming out of her mouth.
Yeah, Cunk on Life/Earth are all I can' find on Netflix; hopefully, Cunk On Britain is readily available elsewhere.
Watched the first episode of Daredevil: Born Again last night. This show came back with a bang. I definitely give it credit for the balls it took to kill Foggy off, and I really appreciate how that event was shown to reverberate beyond just the event itself and Matt. Plus, the fight in the cold open was maybe not as strong as the best of the Marvel Netflix fights, but it was still very strong on a sheer emotional level.
Russian Doll: S1:Ep1-8: Pretty Decent / Great
Nadia, a prototypical, disaffected New Yorker, leaves the birthday party being thrown for her by her hedonistic friends, and is struck and killed by a car. She wakes back at the party in the bathroom where events from just before her accident seem to be repeating themselves. She dies again, and the same thing happens again. She is stuck in a time loop, and no matter what she does, she ends up dying, and starts the loop over again.
I don't know why I've been drawn to so many shows and movies recently about existential crises, but this is certainly another one. Natasha Lyonne plays what I'm assuming at this point is "herself" since every role I've seen her in has been the same type of person, i.e.: gritty, tough girl with a non-nonsense attitude; she's good. The rest of the cast feels kind plastic-y, but not enough to mar the impact of the whole. Recommended so far.
Nadia, a prototypical, disaffected New Yorker, leaves the birthday party being thrown for her by her hedonistic friends, and is struck and killed by a car. She wakes back at the party in the bathroom where events from just before her accident seem to be repeating themselves. She dies again, and the same thing happens again. She is stuck in a time loop, and no matter what she does, she ends up dying, and starts the loop over again.
I don't know why I've been drawn to so many shows and movies recently about existential crises, but this is certainly another one. Natasha Lyonne plays what I'm assuming at this point is "herself" since every role I've seen her in has been the same type of person, i.e.: gritty, tough girl with a non-nonsense attitude; she's good. The rest of the cast feels kind plastic-y, but not enough to mar the impact of the whole. Recommended so far.
Art reflects life. There are a LOT of shows about this now.
From my high-level synopsis, yes. But the show takes the idea much deeper, and darker with a premise and implications beyond comically repeating the same day over and over for gimmick's sake.
Well Groundhog Day uses it as the central conceit and it kind of speed runs the emotional impact because it is at heart a comedy and a movie. The comparison was not meant as disparagement; because I cannot deny the dramatic opportunity that doing Groundhog Day in 10-12 hours instead of 2 is highly attractive for actors and presents great potential for audiences to engage with. It’s a good idea, in short. So I hope to hell it sticks the landing.
Russian Doll: S2 Ep1-7 WTF / Great
It stuck the landing alright, right up its own ass, along with its own head.
I was curious how they were going to change things up this time, and they did. Without spoiling too much, I'll just say the "time loop" isn't the premise this time, though "time" is the whole thing now. I got very confused trying to follow the serpentine threads they wove, then shit just got weird, like, REALLY weird. I can't tell if I liked it or not; I like cerebral stuff as much as the next guy, but when you just cease to make sense in lieu of coherent vision, you lose me.
Invincible S3E6
It's finally invincible war arc! And Steven Yeun is fantastic voicing the different versions of Invincible. And you know what? we actually get to see bits of these indvidual battles. And this has to be the most dsstructive cataclysm we've seen (yet).
Brit finally gets a voice! And I am disappointed he doesn't have the cartoonish British accent.
Rex goes out the same way, and man, he was one of those likable dickheads that you feel sad to see go.
....AAANNNDDDD now we have Conquest, voiced by Jeffery Dean Morgan (aka Negan from The Walking Dead). Now that's hilariously ironic considering their roles in TWD.
It's finally invincible war arc! And Steven Yeun is fantastic voicing the different versions of Invincible. And you know what? we actually get to see bits of these indvidual battles. And this has to be the most dsstructive cataclysm we've seen (yet).
Brit finally gets a voice! And I am disappointed he doesn't have the cartoonish British accent.
Rex goes out the same way, and man, he was one of those likable dickheads that you feel sad to see go.
....AAANNNDDDD now we have Conquest, voiced by Jeffery Dean Morgan (aka Negan from The Walking Dead). Now that's hilariously ironic considering their roles in TWD.
Is the irony layered since he was also The Comedian in Watchmen?
Watching Reacher S3 and yeah, there it be, more Reacher. We're back to basics after a team-up season nobody liked, with the neat twist that Reacher's undercover and having to find ways to stay ahead of the bad guys instead of catching up to them. The supporting cast seems to get weaker by the season, while Ritchson continues to grow into this asshole oddball of a "hero".
So I have my dad show on Thursdays and my wine aunt show on Sundays with White Lotus, also on its third season. People are complaining about the slow boil and how much darker/less comedic it's gotten but I dunno, it's extremely comfy for me. It's got this voyeuristic, reality TV appeal, like channel surfing a CC-TV while following around four or five clusters of people throughout a day. It's always a bit disappointing when everyone's finally having dinner because you know there's not much longer to the episode.
The "best" show I'm currently watching is probably Severance, and the only reason I'm paying for Apple TV+, but every other thrilling episode is intercut with an episode that tests my patience and the mysteryboxiness of it all is beginning to annoy me.
So I have my dad show on Thursdays and my wine aunt show on Sundays with White Lotus, also on its third season. People are complaining about the slow boil and how much darker/less comedic it's gotten but I dunno, it's extremely comfy for me. It's got this voyeuristic, reality TV appeal, like channel surfing a CC-TV while following around four or five clusters of people throughout a day. It's always a bit disappointing when everyone's finally having dinner because you know there's not much longer to the episode.
The "best" show I'm currently watching is probably Severance, and the only reason I'm paying for Apple TV+, but every other thrilling episode is intercut with an episode that tests my patience and the mysteryboxiness of it all is beginning to annoy me.
Hahah this is exactly my TV schedule as well.
I been watching this show from the beginning and am up to date and only just learned that Walton Coggins voices Cecil. It's crazy the amount of coverage that dude is working these days.
Not complaining, he doing good.
We're living in a blessed timeline.
I still have to catch up on Invincible but three shows at once is my limit.