I thought the first episode looked amazing, but was far too slow and long for what I assumed was either a single or less than an issue of the comic.
Discuss and Rate the Last Thing You Watched (non-movies)
- Thread starter Hawki
- Start date
Watched Episode 4 of Primal Season 2, introduced some new player to the scene and I'm fucking ready!
Though with the rate HBO Max is going who knows how long this show will be allowed to exist.
Though with the rate HBO Max is going who knows how long this show will be allowed to exist.
I'd agree this is generally good. There is one major fly in the oitment for me, and that is Jenna Coleman.
There's a bit very quickly after her appearance where she lets fly a load of swearing to introduce her character, and it looks and feels like it is: a posh girl pretending to be gritty and street-smart. She is far too glossy, neat and perky-wholesome to carry the role of a cynical demon-hunter weighed down by tragedy and constant danger. She was either hopelessly miscast, or her role/portrayal was not well thought-out.
Pretty sure she shows up in Episode 2 and I hadn't seen her yet when I posted. I think she is a sex swapped John Constantine. Maybe you could pull this off but I think your critique of her in particular is spot on. I looked into the cast. Sandman's sister, Death, in the comics I think is supposed to remind one of Joan Jett. They have a black woman playing her. She does not remind me of Joan Jett.
I had to look it up and Nightmare is played by the heavy from Logan.
I will watch the rest of this series.
Watched the first two episodes of The Sandman. Good stuff. Not much else to say about it just yet really, just a very captivating watch.
As far as I know the first season is adapting the first two volumes/story arcs of the comic. I think the big problem is that while it's pretty faithful to the comic(at least in ep1, which is all I've seen so far), Dream is stuck in a glass ball for much of episode 1 and doesn't actually get to DO anything but occasionally narrate, so you have some rich fucks trying to Exhort stuff from him for much the episode. Arguably this goes a lot faster in the comic. They also introduce the Corinthian a bit earlier, which eats up some time(though he does tell them how to keep dream contained).
OTOH we got to see Charles Dance be a Jerk for a bit, so that's always a good time.
I've read the whole Series, and some arcs are definitely better then others, so it'll be interesting to see how this all goes and if Netflix actually gives the show enough seasons to cover all 10 arcs. Especially since some of the arcs could probably take a full season to pull off(such as "The Kindly Ones")
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I don't mind if they want want to completely change characters from the comics to the TV, be that sex, race, personality, etc. But they need an actor that can make whatever they want to portray work.
I found it a little wierd that there were women and black people at the ceremony in the big fucking mansion in 1910's England, but then I figured they were all rich occultist fucks and rich fucks tend to make exceptions for other rich fucks so carry on I guess. I've heard in the UK that Class tended to matter more then race/gender anyway, though I'm not totally sure.
If you are going to adapt a pre-existing character, typically the best you can do is casting that blows your mind and makes you think they did a great job bringing a character from book/comic book to screen and seemingly to life. Example: I loved Matt Ryan as Constantine. If you can take that character and change him her in interesting ways, that can be a hoot too. Idris Elba's Heimdall in Thor worked for me. As @Agema points out, Jenna Coleman as "Constantine" doesn't quite work out for me. A good girl pretending to be bad. I love her a lot, just not such great casting in this part.
EDIT: So, there is what I want to watch, which is things like Sandman. And then there are shows I watch to be sociable with the missus.
At this time, the most bearable show I'm watching with her is Hacks which her twin says she needs to see.
Season 1 was pretty dark and not very funny.
1: I respect the older comedian character when she tries to explain, success is hard. You have to claw your way to it. I think she is supposed to be like Joan Rivers who did not have it easy. But 2) in one episode, the young'un is partying with some guy in Vegas. Money seems to be no object. That is because his life is f'd and his plan is to have fun and then kill himself, which he does. OMG
Season 2 so far is much funnier.
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Bluntly, it is unrealistic - but they clearly favoured colourblind casting, and that's okay.
You're right that class/money would get some footing in British society, and there weren't the same legal impediments or extreme subjugation as the USA. However, racism was still high and black people were overwhelmingly denied good opportunities in the UK. There are of course a few rare examples of black people who did well in the UK going back centuries - the first known black person to vote in the UK (which was dependent on substantial property ownership) was in the 1700s. It may be more likely affluent black people made their money abroad, but even then opportunities were scarce. Despite improvement from the 19th century, in the 1910s British black people almost exclusively lived in major ports and were poor (most had arrived connected with seafaring: freed slaves, or that the navy and other ships were often not fussy when they needed sailors).
Asians and Middle Easterners would be much more likely to turn up as guests at a mansion in 1910: those were richer parts of the world and deemed more civilised, such that it might not be unusual for aristocrats and other wealthy individuals to come to the UK with some measure of respect. Plus some Indians worked with the British in the military, civil service etc. across the Empire in positions of substantial middle class responsibility and pay.
However, I feel that when people are selling British media to American audiences, because black people have far more resonance to US audiences than south Asians do, they might often be favoured for representation of people of colour even though south Asians would make more sense in terms of realism.
El Internado Las Cumbres / The boarding school Las Cumbres season 1
(Note the show is available dubbed into different languages Amazon just didn't bother putting up regional dubbed trailers only subbed ones)
Rating: 6/10
Thoughts in a Tagline: A brilliant demonstration in tension building, the problem being not getting to the payoff / release point. This is tropey horror ideas done in a shockingly almost serious high brow horror way but not losing the B movie horror tropes elements that to some make them seem uncouth or unsophisticated, (yes this is a long tagline).
Premise:
Las Cumbres is a boarding school for the worst / seen as most dysfunctional kids (well 16 - 18 year olds) out there that society and other schools and in many cases even their parents have given up as. This is their last shot. The school has a very strict set of rules and creative & nasty punishments for students who choose to break the school rules or just cross certain teachers. It's connected to a Monastery where monks there see it as their duty in life to be the army of god fighting against and every on guard against the devil. The monastery having been build there on the alleged site of a Satan worshipping cult who sold their soles to the devil to protect themselves from the black plague.
Add to this mix:
A monk who has lost his faith after an exorcism went badly wrong.
A researching looking into the special properties of unique species of local plants of fauna.
4 students with a plan to break out of the school
A girl at the school with no memory of her life before waking up at the school, no memory of her father the head governor of the school or the accident she was in that apparently killed her mother.
Thoughts:
Honestly it's really nice that Amazon has partnered with what I believe is a Spanish TV company or production company for a few shows with this one being a sort of reboot of a series previously done by the company (don't worry there's basically no connection beyond 1 Easter egg apparently). Based on the trailer for the previous incarnation of the show they really have put Amazon's money to good use and produced something pretty incredible in terms of visuals, the shots used and just the story telling.
Oh BTW It's dubbed into English, if at times that English and the English of the subtitles disagree on quite what words were used)
The Shows biggest problem is it build and builds and builds the tension and the season 1 ending doesn't give a release to that tension, in fact it pushes it up higher building up he mysteries and the twists and in the end we only get about 1 minor reveal in the main plotline and 1 subplot resolved which also completes one characters story in the show. Everything else is left up in the air and unexplained (presumably something season 2 will address a bit more as season 1 has set so much up).
This is kind of Skins does high brow arthouse horror and it's great when it's firing on all cylinders.
To avoid too many spoilers it's a show that through subversion of expectation (expectations the show itself sets up) it really makes you root for characters who may have more to their stories of how and why they ended up at the boarding school than you're initially told.
It's also does a good job of fleshing out the main characters and even quite a few side characters that are quite diverse but aren't defined by one characteristic obvious diversity trait.
E.G. One of the main characters is almost entirely deaf and reliant on hearing aids. This has some plot relevance in that it means they can lip read. They're also shown as very determined and loyal but also quick to get irritated sometimes.
Another character is gay but he's very much no some flaming queen stereotype, he's just gay and is generally the joker of the bunch. when he's with them on screen and he's a side character.
Same with one of the villainous characters actually, he's just not a joker he's the complete opposite of one.
(Watch the trailer 2 of those I've just mentioned are in there see if you can guess which ones are which)
(Note the show is available dubbed into different languages Amazon just didn't bother putting up regional dubbed trailers only subbed ones)
Rating: 6/10
Thoughts in a Tagline: A brilliant demonstration in tension building, the problem being not getting to the payoff / release point. This is tropey horror ideas done in a shockingly almost serious high brow horror way but not losing the B movie horror tropes elements that to some make them seem uncouth or unsophisticated, (yes this is a long tagline).
Premise:
Las Cumbres is a boarding school for the worst / seen as most dysfunctional kids (well 16 - 18 year olds) out there that society and other schools and in many cases even their parents have given up as. This is their last shot. The school has a very strict set of rules and creative & nasty punishments for students who choose to break the school rules or just cross certain teachers. It's connected to a Monastery where monks there see it as their duty in life to be the army of god fighting against and every on guard against the devil. The monastery having been build there on the alleged site of a Satan worshipping cult who sold their soles to the devil to protect themselves from the black plague.
Add to this mix:
A monk who has lost his faith after an exorcism went badly wrong.
A researching looking into the special properties of unique species of local plants of fauna.
4 students with a plan to break out of the school
A girl at the school with no memory of her life before waking up at the school, no memory of her father the head governor of the school or the accident she was in that apparently killed her mother.
Thoughts:
Honestly it's really nice that Amazon has partnered with what I believe is a Spanish TV company or production company for a few shows with this one being a sort of reboot of a series previously done by the company (don't worry there's basically no connection beyond 1 Easter egg apparently). Based on the trailer for the previous incarnation of the show they really have put Amazon's money to good use and produced something pretty incredible in terms of visuals, the shots used and just the story telling.
Oh BTW It's dubbed into English, if at times that English and the English of the subtitles disagree on quite what words were used)
The Shows biggest problem is it build and builds and builds the tension and the season 1 ending doesn't give a release to that tension, in fact it pushes it up higher building up he mysteries and the twists and in the end we only get about 1 minor reveal in the main plotline and 1 subplot resolved which also completes one characters story in the show. Everything else is left up in the air and unexplained (presumably something season 2 will address a bit more as season 1 has set so much up).
This is kind of Skins does high brow arthouse horror and it's great when it's firing on all cylinders.
To avoid too many spoilers it's a show that through subversion of expectation (expectations the show itself sets up) it really makes you root for characters who may have more to their stories of how and why they ended up at the boarding school than you're initially told.
It's also does a good job of fleshing out the main characters and even quite a few side characters that are quite diverse but aren't defined by one characteristic obvious diversity trait.
E.G. One of the main characters is almost entirely deaf and reliant on hearing aids. This has some plot relevance in that it means they can lip read. They're also shown as very determined and loyal but also quick to get irritated sometimes.
Another character is gay but he's very much no some flaming queen stereotype, he's just gay and is generally the joker of the bunch. when he's with them on screen and he's a side character.
Same with one of the villainous characters actually, he's just not a joker he's the complete opposite of one.
(Watch the trailer 2 of those I've just mentioned are in there see if you can guess which ones are which)
Watched Episode 3 and 4 of The Sandman. I'm not sure on Patton Oswald's inclusion. He's got a good voice for the character he's portraying, but unfortunately I can't not hear Patton Oswald.
Other than that, good stuff still.
Other than that, good stuff still.
I found some old Scottish medical drama called Doctor Finlay on Amazon Prime. It’s the end of WWII but only just; the main character is a doctor who was drafted to the army medical corps being discharged and going back home to take over a practice. There’s still POWs in the town and there’s still American forces in the country, though they are demobilising Just to set the scene.
So far it’s been a perfectly enjoyable watch but so far the headline scene is one where the POWs are shown what I presume was footage shot by the allies after the liberation of Auswitz and/or Bergen-Belson. You don’t see any of the footage - thank fuck - and the narration is all in untranslated German so it’s only the reactions of the POWs that you pay attention to.
It’s an interesting bit of plot because it isn’t one I find very common in shows about World War II - showing the hapless bastards who in as good a faith as possible went to serve Germany with what they hoped was honour only to be shown the depth of the atrocities they were in some small way facilitating - knowingly or not.
The other interesting plot point, the one that made me click on it to watch was that it’s also about the beginnings of National Health Service.
So far it’s been a perfectly enjoyable watch but so far the headline scene is one where the POWs are shown what I presume was footage shot by the allies after the liberation of Auswitz and/or Bergen-Belson. You don’t see any of the footage - thank fuck - and the narration is all in untranslated German so it’s only the reactions of the POWs that you pay attention to.
It’s an interesting bit of plot because it isn’t one I find very common in shows about World War II - showing the hapless bastards who in as good a faith as possible went to serve Germany with what they hoped was honour only to be shown the depth of the atrocities they were in some small way facilitating - knowingly or not.
The other interesting plot point, the one that made me click on it to watch was that it’s also about the beginnings of National Health Service.
I've finished episode 3, and while I don't particularly mind her appearance or her behavior most of the time, the reveal at the end makes me dislike her quite a bit. She barely reacted to what happened to Rachel, hell there were even some scenes where it looked like she was smiling??? Overall, for something that really seems like her fault, she doesn't seem to show any remorse. Or, well, any emotion at all. When she was going off on Dream I had the urge to ***** slap someone.
Okay, time for the unnecessary Sandman hot take.....
Alright, actually don't know how I feel about this. Some was absolutely fantastic. Some was unnecessary. Some was like getting a nail through the foot
It's like Shazam, but the good stuff spread out instead of stacked at the end
This show has the same problem I have with Superman. Or Captain Marvel. Dream is pretty much invincible and that deletes any stakes. Villians are taken out so easily and I wonder why anyone thought they were a danger
Loved the Hal house, I know that's all we supposed to get, but more of this fun nonsense please.
Hated the Lucifer fight. But then I found it stupid before the show even turned up. Like, why wouldn't you START at the autowin word. Also, you can't think of one word to defeat the winner? So dumb
Also, spending a whole episode on the end of the Ruby arc... i know why people cut this to ten minutes at most. And then, it never seems to have lasting real world effects, deleting any tension
I like how its not a fight show, rather being a thinking show. But they do not always pull it off
I know some of the problems is just the problems I have with the original story so I'll give it an 8/10. It's sometimes really that good. I'd dare say people who love the comics will absolutely love this
Alright, actually don't know how I feel about this. Some was absolutely fantastic. Some was unnecessary. Some was like getting a nail through the foot
It's like Shazam, but the good stuff spread out instead of stacked at the end
This show has the same problem I have with Superman. Or Captain Marvel. Dream is pretty much invincible and that deletes any stakes. Villians are taken out so easily and I wonder why anyone thought they were a danger
Loved the Hal house, I know that's all we supposed to get, but more of this fun nonsense please.
Hated the Lucifer fight. But then I found it stupid before the show even turned up. Like, why wouldn't you START at the autowin word. Also, you can't think of one word to defeat the winner? So dumb
Also, spending a whole episode on the end of the Ruby arc... i know why people cut this to ten minutes at most. And then, it never seems to have lasting real world effects, deleting any tension
I like how its not a fight show, rather being a thinking show. But they do not always pull it off
I know some of the problems is just the problems I have with the original story so I'll give it an 8/10. It's sometimes really that good. I'd dare say people who love the comics will absolutely love this
I don't think it's that kind of story though. I haven't watched the whole show yet, but I figured what happens to Dream in the first episode is pretty much the worst that will happen to him. And after that we basically just see him getting his life back on track while being introduced to different characters, different realms etc. The first episode kind of lays out its storytelling by introducing you to characters you assume will play a prominent part throughout the show, only to very quickly disappear from the story. It feels set up more like a slice of life story than a tense mystery.
I freaking love Hacks.
But this is one of those shows where I was always going to love it. It's clearly inspired by Joan Rivers, one my absolute entertainment idols, and Jean Smart is one of those actresses that is a guaranteed good time. It's similar to that Netflix show The Kominsky Method, where the premise and cast hits a certain comfortable comedic nerve that makes every episode an A+. I can't even objectively review these shows, of course I will love them.
Watched Episode 7 and 8 of The Sandman. I find the actress who plays Rose Walker not that great. So far pretty much every acting performance has been terrific, but she's really not making much of an impact for how important her character is.