Discuss and Rate the Last Thing You Watched (non-movies)

Old_Hunter_77

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Discovering, hypnotized, a bunch of old US tv series I had absolutely never heard about. Mostly awful comedies with canned laughter, but apparently popular and well known. The "F Troop" ? "McHale's Navy" ? There was a tv series with Borgnine as the main character ? With George Kennedy as a guest star ? Trying to sound french ?

It's like these things were released this year, completely new to me. I feel overwhelmed by the quantity of, uh, things existing. Or having existed. And the delicious naivety of it all. It's so proudly bad. Sometimes I feel the netflix age showers us with cheap series, but now I'm not even certain the production pace changed so much. Seriously, just on the western side, I feel like checking out the whole of that. I had only ever heard of two or three of them.

I've gone through a phase where I was fascinated by now-unknown or locally unknown ancient cheesy popular comics (European or American), but this...

I dread the day where I'll feel like that about music.
I unironically listen to a lot of pre-WW2 jazz and pre-outlaw country, and acoustic country blues. It's great. Seriously, seriously great. Obviously the very very very best is what's been preserved and referenced, through all this time, but that just makes it easier to curate and enjoy.
 
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Old_Hunter_77

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Mission Impossible

Inspired by Darren Mooney and Marty Sliva, and actually kinda liking Tom Cruise despite his... whole.. everything... I decided to start watching the MI movies. I don't even remember which, if any, I actually seen before. I only remember that U2 recorded a version of the theme song in 4/4.
So... yeah, 1996, and the highlight of the film is when they use... THE INTERNET lol. Searching for super secret code words as strings on usenet engines including just putting ".com" on the ends of things... wonderful.

The film is under 2 hours, has appearances by Ving Rhames and Emilio Estevez, and John Voigt as a villain which is great 'cause he is one in real life. The famous wire-handing hacking scene is genuinely great (as long as you ignore the preposterous security measures). And this is still in the times when almost no one knew how write women characters for action movies. Classic.
The biggest surprise for me is that Brian De Palma directed it. Certainly I could see flavors of Blow Out and Scarface in some of the scenes, which I'll never not like.

I know the sequel has a bad reputation- looking forward to it.
 
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BrawlMan

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Mission Impossible

Inspired by Darren Mooney and Marty Sliva, and actually kinda liking Tom Cruise despite his... whole.. everything... I decided to start watching the MI movies. I don't even remember which, if any, I actually seen before. I only remember that U2 recorded a version of the theme song in 4/4.
So... yeah, 1996, and the highlight of the film is when they use... THE INTERNET lol. Searching for super secret code words as strings on usenet engines including just putting ".com" on the ends of things... wonderful.

The film is under 2 hours, has appearances by Ving Rhames and Emilio Estevez, and John Voigt as a villain which is great 'cause he is one in real life. The famous wire-handing hacking scene is genuinely great (as long as you ignore the preposterous security measures). And this is still in the times when almost no one knew how write women characters for action movies. Classic.
The biggest surprise for me is that Brian De Palma directed it. Certainly I could see flavors of Blow Out and Scarface in some of the scenes, which I'll never not like.

I know the sequel has a bad reputation- looking forward to it.
I love your review but you're in the wrong thread. This is the non movie thread.
 
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Old_Hunter_77

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The Afterparty- rest of season 1

My original opinion hasn't changed now that I saw the whole season in that it's alright if you like the cast. It actually does have a few good moments and jokes in each episode so it's worth watching but I won't be coming back for season 2. I did correctly predict the murderer, yay me.


Fleishman Is In Trouble- first and probably only episode

This came across our radar because it was nominated for some Emmys and has Claire Daines and Lizzy Caplan. It's about a New York kinda rich doctor getting a divorce, dealing with his kids, dating, and the wife goes missing. Plot doesn't matter, it's really one of those shows that feels made for other people who make TV shows or something. Basically, I kinda hated it?

I mean as with Succession, I recognize the craft and cast skill and thoughtfulness but it's about people I kinda hate. It very much reminded me of Woody Allen movies- though I did like some of those but I'm not in the mood for that sort of thing at all any more. Jesse Eidenberg plays the nebishy well-meaning but self-involved fast-talking secular Jewish guy with no center and existential crisis whom the writer finds way more fascinating than I do and one of the ways that is manifests is who young, beautiful, plentiful women just wanna be in love with and bone his brains off and it's so preposterous.
Like a big plot point is that he goes on "the apps" after being married for 15 and immediately an endless parade of women wanna fuck him. Like.. WHAT? No, I don't think it works that way, even if you're a successful doctor?

Another thing that bothered me is how much everybody shit-talked his wife, who you only see for a couple of minutes. I'm not mad if she's a bad person or whatever, it just come off as particularly mean and sad when the husband and his two friends, including Caplan's bored stay-at-home mother who is also the narrator, are just wishing her harm and being all bitchy and stupid and I hated it.

On a personal note, my mother, father and uncle have spent most of their adult lives catering to rich and upper middle class limousine liberals like these and it contributed to making them bitter, impoverished, reactionary MAGA-lites. I love New York but I don't love the gross sub-culture of the upper East side and I don't wanna watch a show about it. Pure Emmy bait.
 

Old_Hunter_77

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Vinland Saga- season 2
Oh man- am I turning into an anime guy? Good lord. This show is so good.
I think my emphasis on video games for personal entertainment has effected my taste in TV because I appreciate presentation more and plot... less? Or, rather, a simple idea conveyed beautifully holds a lot of appeal to me. Vinland Saga is just people going through freaking horrible shit and figuring out how to deal with it. Season 2 is really leaning into that with most of the show being conversations, contemplations, tension, crying, lots of tinkly piano playing in the background, and more crying. And if you had told me that I'd be like "ok, cool, not for me" but man did I choke up a bit with the last two episodes.
I'm also just a sucker for stories about a person just trying to be... good. I dunno, maybe it's partly a reaction to real life where I feel more and more that everybody wants be bad lol.

I think I'm gonna check out Attack on Titan next. Holy crap I'm turning...
 

Piscian

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Fleishman Is In Trouble- first and probably only episode

This came across our radar because it was nominated for some Emmys and has Claire Daines and Lizzy Caplan. It's about a New York kinda rich doctor getting a divorce, dealing with his kids, dating, and the wife goes missing. Plot doesn't matter, it's really one of those shows that feels made for other people who make TV shows or something. Basically, I kinda hated it?

I mean as with Succession, I recognize the craft and cast skill and thoughtfulness but it's about people I kinda hate. It very much reminded me of Woody Allen movies- though I did like some of those but I'm not in the mood for that sort of thing at all any more. Jesse Eidenberg plays the nebishy well-meaning but self-involved fast-talking secular Jewish guy with no center and existential crisis whom the writer finds way more fascinating than I do and one of the ways that is manifests is who young, beautiful, plentiful women just wanna be in love with and bone his brains off and it's so preposterous.
Like a big plot point is that he goes on "the apps" after being married for 15 and immediately an endless parade of women wanna fuck him. Like.. WHAT? No, I don't think it works that way, even if you're a successful doctor?

Another thing that bothered me is how much everybody shit-talked his wife, who you only see for a couple of minutes. I'm not mad if she's a bad person or whatever, it just come off as particularly mean and sad when the husband and his two friends, including Caplan's bored stay-at-home mother who is also the narrator, are just wishing her harm and being all bitchy and stupid and I hated it.

On a personal note, my mother, father and uncle have spent most of their adult lives catering to rich and upper middle class limousine liberals like these and it contributed to making them bitter, impoverished, reactionary MAGA-lites. I love New York but I don't love the gross sub-culture of the upper East side and I don't wanna watch a show about it. Pure Emmy bait.
I've heard nothing but praise from critics, but personally I dragged myself into maybe two episodes before I found my lack of empathy for these characters too exhausting. If the show has a protagonist or a plot I could not fathom it. Everyone was just kind of awful and out of touch.

I can only really contrast it with Fleabag which I thought was kind of amazing, but that show was actually funny, empathetic and kinda heartbreaking. The idea where it's all very acerbic and the protagonist is awful, but it was very self-aware and everyone acted pretty realistic. If the characters in Fleishman Is In Trouble are supposed to be based in reality, it's not one where I want to spend time around anyone of them.
 

Old_Hunter_77

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Fleabag was great!

I think the difference is that Fleabag wants to entertain the audience, and that is how to get us to care about the characters, while Fleishman wants to impress the audience (and itself).
 
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Kyrian007

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I watched the first episode of Hulu's Futurama "reboot." I know the term doesn't exactly apply, but the way they frame it in-universe... it kind of does. Anyway I can't really pass any kind of judgement yet. It was entertaining, but most of Futurama is extremely entertaining. But I can't blame them for an episode that didn't really land for me... considering it is a metanarrative about the return to streaming television of "All my Circuits" after 10 years off the air. My guess so far is this will be similar to the seasons of Futurama when it was brought back after Fox canceled it. Still the right spirit of the show, even if not every episode is of the same quality it was in the original run.
 
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SilentPony

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Corner of No and Where
Spoilers below so be aware of spoilers below.

So Secret Invasion is over, and oddly enough I find myself oddly charitable to the ending. I know people harp on the MCU as always ending everything with a big comic book punch up, and that's such a weird criticism because these are action comic book heroes. No one wonders why the character in Mortal Kombat are always fighting - its the genre.
And the Secret Invasion in the comics was a big deal because the Skrulls found a way to copy not just the Avengers appearance, but their powers too.
So if any show was going to end with a big punch up between two super powered beings, yeah it should be Secret Invasion. It would break all tension if Nick Fury was able to smarm and Bourne Identity the problem away when you have a flying super Sayan hulk with ice powers.
Also good on you Marvel for not telling us how long Rhodey had been a skrull - fuck those clickbait YouTube channels.
Emily Clark's character being a new super skrull and I'm assuming Skrull Queen is cool. And smart on the British government lady making a deal with the skrulls to find them a home on earth, rather than treat them as disposable spy refugees for 30 years.. Yeah no points there Fury.
Also the US President declares all off world born aliens as enemy combatants and must be purged? Like I love me some 40k, but like the Asgardians are aliens and they've been living peacefully on earth for like 10 years now. Plus I think its just assumed with Saber in orbit, and the wizards, and the eternals, that people are just aware its a Star Wars universe and aliens just exist on earth now. How are you going to convince Norway to agree to you holocausting Thor and his people? Or shit, Rocket and Nebula are Avengers, and remember what happened last time the government tried to get Avengers to turn on one another? Like that one scene with the US president felt so out of place, it has to be one of the reshoots after they decided to basically change the entire plot of the show. Must be a tie in to Captain America New World Order.
Overall this was the best episode of the series, and yeah for Fury and his wife leaving Earth together to work on their marriage.


7.5/10, would loved to have seen a least one Avenger or Agent of Shield.
 
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Xprimentyl

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From S1-2: WTF / Great

A family of four on a road trip are passing through a small town, and they find themselves stuck in an impossible loop bringing them back to the town whenever they try to leave. They're in an accident, and learn that they're unable to leave, and that all the residents share the same fateful tale. Oh, and when the sun goes down, creatures disguised as people roam the streets viciously killing anyone foolish enough to open their door or be outside.

I'm getting strong Lost vibes with this one. It's good, but I can almost feel the writers writing themselves into a corner where they don't know what to do next, and risking going out of bounds for the lines of credulity and plausible intention. I recommend it so far, but if it shits the bed, don't say I didn't warn you.
 

Piscian

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From S1-2: WTF / Great

A family of four on a road trip are passing through a small town, and they find themselves stuck in an impossible loop bringing them back to the town whenever they try to leave. They're in an accident, and learn that they're unable to leave, and that all the residents share the same fateful tale. Oh, and when the sun goes down, creatures disguised as people roam the streets viciously killing anyone foolish enough to open their door or be outside.

I'm getting strong Lost vibes with this one. It's good, but I can almost feel the writers writing themselves into a corner where they don't know what to do next, and risking going out of bounds for the lines of credulity and plausible intention. I recommend it so far, but if it shits the bed, don't say I didn't warn you.
I'm still with it, but with the revelation at the end of season 2 I need to start seeing some traction on an ending. I don't think I could sit through another season of mystery boxes. Like Season 3 needs to end with a direction for season 4 to end the show. I think the pieces are there.

They've done a decent job of trudging forward with little clues about what everyone shares in common. I never really watched Lost. I was busy with life stuff and at the time when I'd catch an episode or two it often felt cheap and I had little empathy for any of the characters.

I think where FROM succeeds is that, with at least some of the characters I find them compelling and I like the drive and desperation to get out. This largely isn't a show where characters fuck about too much talking about their feelings or go on side adventures for fun. Everyone wants the fuck out and will do whatever insane shit is necessary to get out. You wonder "What wackiness on with FROM this week?" it's people clawing up the fucking walls trying to leave.

Thinking on it theres only like 3 people I groan when they come on screen and thats out of like a small town of people. Its mostly the hippie son and his girlfriend. I don't care for them and their passive bs.
 
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Xprimentyl

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I'm still with it, but with the revelation at the end of season 2 I need to start seeing some traction on an ending. I don't think I could sit through another season of mystery boxes. Like Season 3 needs to end with a direction for season 4 to end the show. I think the pieces are there.

They've done a decent job of trudging forward with little clues about what everyone shares in common. I never really watched Lost. I was busy with life stuff and at the time when I'd catch an episode or two it often felt cheap and I had little empathy for any of the characters.

I think where FROM succeeds is that, with at least some of the characters I find them compelling and I like the drive and desperation to get out. This largely isn't a show where characters fuck about too much talking about their feelings or go on side adventures for fun. Everyone wants the fuck out and will do whatever insane shit is necessary to get out. You wonder "What wackiness on with FROM this week?" it's people clawing up the fucking walls trying to leave.

Thinking on it theres only like 3 people I groan when they come on screen and thats out of like a small town of people. Its mostly the hippie son and his girlfriend. I don't care for them and their passive bs.
I'm not upset with the show, just gun-shy since Lost so infamously spent so much of its time spinning its web of intrigue just to admit it had nowhere left to go with its finale, and so far, From seems to be doing the exact same thing. I can't begin to imagine a satisfactory ending that ties up all the loose ends it's dangling about. Like when the busload of new people show up, it just felt like instead of delving into the guts of what they already had, they just threw more shit onto the bonfire because very little distracts your focus than more things to have to focus on. I'll see it through, but my expectations are low. And that doesn't mean I expect to be unsatisfied, just that I don't expect an ending that feels as compelling as the start.
 

Old_Hunter_77

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A grab-bag of stuff I started watching:

Attack on Titan first episode
Its popularity, promise of dark themes and concept make me at least wanna check it out and it started off fine, with all the expected tropes, but when the titans turn out to just look kinda like normal naked people, I am interested- clearly there is some tragic background for that and the horror element has me invested.

Little Bird first episode
A mini series based on true events about a native girl in 1960s Canada basically kidnapped by gov't social services and forced-adopt into a middle class Jewish family. The series exposes ignoramouses like me to the real Sixties Scoop. It's a real heartbreaker, serious stuff, obviously compelled to watch this whole thing and learn about the history.

Jury Duty first 4 episodes
A delightfully silly and funny show made by some of the team behind The Office and trucking in that same awkward humor but this time it's this elaborate fake out where the star is literally not an actor, just a guy that thinks he's in a documentary about the justice system as he serves on a jury, so he thinks he's participating in a real trial. But the whole thing is fake and everyone is an actor and hilarious. And James Marsden plays a douchier version of himself and he's great but he's like the 5th best character. Funny, funny stuff.

Justified: City Primeival or whatever it's called, first episode
I dunno.. it's ok? Rayland Givens is always great but he's in Detroit which just seems wrong. Part of what made Justified work is the setting. I'll keep watching cause why not but it's just ok so far.
 

Piscian

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I'm not upset with the show, just gun-shy since Lost so infamously spent so much of its time spinning its web of intrigue just to admit it had nowhere left to go with its finale, and so far, From seems to be doing the exact same thing. I can't begin to imagine a satisfactory ending that ties up all the loose ends it's dangling about. Like when the busload of new people show up, it just felt like instead of delving into the guts of what they already had, they just threw more shit onto the bonfire because very little distracts your focus than more things to have to focus on. I'll see it through, but my expectations are low. And that doesn't mean I expect to be unsatisfied, just that I don't expect an ending that feels as compelling as the start.
They've been dangling some clear threads that A. everything bad happening come from the nightmares of the people. B. That something happened to create the place that involves a group of kids.

I think theres enough evidence to say theres a singular entity trapping them there for its own entertainment and the mom came close to figuring it out.

I got $20 on the sherrif figuring out how to beat this thing using the kid from the bus who has deja vu. I think

I get the concern, but as a long term reader of Stephen King, this literally feels lifted from a couple different books. Im comfortable guessing at the general ending.

 
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Hawki

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@Hawki and @Old_Hunter_77, check this out! Pretty good video on Ethan's characterization for each film.

Found myself agreeing with most of that. I can't comment on Ghost Protocol, but Ethan's characterization from Rogue Nation to Dead Reckoning is pretty consistent in terms of his moral compass, and the idea of his life costing him everything. Which isn't the deepest characterization in the world, but it's certainly a more consistent one.

I've often wondered if MI: 2 might have worked better as a prequel to MI: 1 than a sequel because of this. As in, if it was, you'd get "showman Ethan" in his chronological debut, who then has to go into "detective Ethan" (who has to deal with personal betrayals and the like), before maturing into "husband Ethan" by the third film. Of course, you'd have to change around some stuff (e.g. Luther couldn't be in the second film), but as is, MI: 2 represents a weird divergence of Ethan's character development by its placing.

Also, it's the one film where Ethan doesn't go rogue and/or loses contact with the IMF, so there's that, I guess.
 
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BrawlMan

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I've often wondered if MI: 2 might have worked better as a prequel to MI: 1 than a sequel because of this.
If this happened in the mid 90s, people would have bitched even more about it being in-name only to the show. Me personally, I am fine with the way MI2 came to be, but it does suck so much bullshit happened behind the scenes.

MI: 2 represents a weird divergence of Ethan's character development by its placing.

Also, it's the one film where Ethan doesn't go rogue and/or loses contact with the IMF, so there's that, I guess.
MI2 is the DMC2 of the franchise, except the former is actually fun and not a boring slog where almost nothing happens. Or for more apt comparison, MI2 is the Metal Gear Rising in the franchise that came in too early.
 

Dwarvenhobble

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House of the Dragon (Game of Thrones) season 1

(Own Copy)


Score: 9/10

Thoughts tagline: Subverting Game of Thrones

Synopsis:

A prequel series starting long before Game of Thrones following the internal conflicts of house Targaryen starting mostly in an era of peace with King Viserys taking the throne and his decision to make his daughter Rhaenyra his heir with the story spanning decades of times showing the build up to conflict and reasons for it along with the plots and plans that happened at various points with the stead forming of two sides and growing rift between them.

Thoughts:

So the non spoiler version of thoughts is this. It makes amends for the awful final series (or 2 depending on your perspective) of the original Game of Thrones and actually manages to restore the gravitas of the original show and make some very compelling and enjoyable viewing as the plots and plans twist and turn in the great game of thrones.

Time to go mild spoilers that explain the tagline and major Spoilers for Game of Thrones Series 1

This series feels like a subversion of the original Game of Thrones, the sex and violence are still there but one of the big running themes and bits in the original show was it being a deconstruction of the fantasy genre with the grand noble characters often meeting grisly demises best exemplified by the death of Ned Stark in Season 1 because he refused to be underhanded and tried to be honourable and do everything the right way.

What House of the Dragon presents us with are two slightly flawed but mostly honourable sides whose conflict comes about as a result of unfortunate circumstances and possibly less than honourable people on each side influencing things. At present by the end of the series there is no clear villain and it's more going to be waiting for future series to see the paths characters take and if either will truly become villainous through their choices and actions or if the conflict will really be one where both sides have nuance and complexity to them such that it feels far for a better way to put it deeper than the somewhat cartoonishly villainous days of Joffery or Ramsey vs House Stark.
 

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If this happened in the mid 90s, people would have bitched even more about it being in-name only to the show. Me personally, I am fine with the way MI2 came to be, but it does suck so much bullshit happened behind the scenes.
Well, yeah, if MI: 2 was the first MI film released, fans of the original series would be miffed. Heck, that Phelps was made a villain in the first film pissed a no. of original series fans off, and while I've never seen the TV series, it isn't hard to understand why the animus exists.

But I said prequel, in the sense that the second film would be the second film released, but first chronologically (similar to Temple of Doom). You'd have to make a number of changes, but it would make for a slightly smoother character arc for Ethan.

is the DMC2 of the franchise, except the former is actually fun and not a boring slog where almost nothing happens. Or for more apt comparison, MI2 is the Metal Gear Rising in the franchise that came in too early.
Too early...as opposed to when? Because assuming you're keeping MI: 2 as is, sans a shift in timeline placement, I really can't see that working so well (try placing MI2 Ethan after the Ethan of the recent films). Ethan's personality has gone one way over the course of the films, and it's about as far from MI2 as you can get.
 

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Too early...as opposed to when? Because assuming you're keeping MI: 2 as is, sans a shift in timeline placement, I really can't see that working so well (try placing MI2 Ethan after the Ethan of the recent films). Ethan's personality has gone one way over the course of the films, and it's about as far from MI2 as you can get.
You know, if hypothetically, MGR immediately happened after MGS2 and not after MGS4. Keep in mind, for as over-the-top MG started getting around MGS2, it was still somewhat grounded. The jump from MGS2 to MGR within a small time frame would have had many fanboys flip their shit. Even when MGR actually was announced and revamped into a stylish action game, I still remember some fans bitching over like they lost something. I get where they were coming from, but if Kojima couldn't get the original concept to work and went to Platinum to make the game, then there was nothing else he could. Can't blame him. Of course, when the actual game out, a majority of them decided to stop crying and have fun.
 
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