Movies and TV shows (general recommendation thread)

[Spekulatius]

On 6/10/2019 at 4:55 PM, Liberty said:

One that I haven't seen yet but that I only hear good things about these days is Chernobyl (2019, HBO, 5-episode miniseries). No spoilers please, it's on my "to watch next" list.

 

I realize it's not the best thing to put a recommendation for something I haven't seen, but it was the highest rated series on IMDB last I checked, so it's probably a fairly safe bet.

I know it’s late, but I highly recommend this show on HBO.

 

“Every lie we make is a debt to the truth and sooner or later it must be repaid.”

[mjm]

11 hours ago, Spekulatius said:

I know it’s late, but I highly recommend this show on HBO.

 

“Every lie we make is a debt to the truth and sooner or later it must be repaid.”

 recommend "Old Henry" for a realistic western.

[Liberty]

Started watching Rick & Morty in recent weeks. I've now seen the first season fully and really like it. Impressive just how all-in they are one the vision, a kind of weird LSD sci-fi dream that plays a lot with the nature of reality. Good stuff.

 

Not sure if I mentioned it here before, but also really enjoyed the Mini-series 'Mare of Easttown' on HBO. Good stuff.

 

Got my tickets for Dune this weekend. Looking forward to it, but trying to keep expectations low, as this is a very difficult story to put on the screen...

[Xerxes]

Just went through another grueling session of watching Foundation. I am becoming more and more irritated by this so-called adaptation of Foundation on Apple TV+. Villeneuve should have been the one making this series for Apple TV+. Maybe it is just me but i loved his work on Blade Runner.

 

Have not seen Dune, but it will be epic !!!

 

Sadly, i found it that Warner Brothers have not green lighted Dune part 2 (and it has not been back to back filmed like Peter Jackson's LOTR trilogy). Who the hell is running Warner Brothers !!! In this day and age of chasing eyeballs, free money and bidding up valuable franchise, that says something about Warner Brothers ability to comprehend how huge Dune could be for them with Villeneuve at the helm. 

 

Foundation has been more or less turned into Star Trek as far as i am concerned. With the Emperor (i am sorry is that The Empire) going on-away mission on distant planets to meet locals without violating prime directive (ala Cap Picard).

 

I will give it till end of season and will cancel my Apple TV+.

 

I just hope Prime's new Lord of The Ring series (whenever that comes), wont be grueling like Foundation.

 

Edited October 22, 2021 by Xerxes

[LC]

Yeah, foundation is sucking. Dune looks good, I am excited to check it out next week.

 

Im looking forward to the wheel of time series which is coming out in a month.

[Spekulatius]

3 hours ago, Xerxes said:

Just went through another grueling session of watching Foundation. I am becoming more and more irritated by this so-called adaptation of Foundation on Apple TV+. Villeneuve should have been the one making this series for Apple TV+. Maybe it is just me but i loved his work on Blade Runner.

 

Have not seen Dune, but it will be epic !!!

 

Sadly, i found it that Warner Brothers have not green lighted Dune part 2 (and it has not been back to back filmed like Peter Jackson's LOTR trilogy). Who the hell is running Warner Brothers !!! In this day and age of chasing eyeballs, free money and bidding up valuable franchise, that says something about Warner Brothers ability to comprehend how huge Dune could be for them with Villeneuve at the helm. 

 

Foundation has been more or less turned into Star Trek as far as i am concerned. With the Emperor (i am sorry is that The Empire) going on-away mission on distant planets to meet locals without violating prime directive (ala Cap Picard).

 

I will give it till end of season and will cancel my Apple TV+.

 

I just hope Prime's new Lord of The Ring series (whenever that comes), wont be grueling like Foundation.

 

I really liked the first episode of the Foundation and the second is somewhat, but it seems to go downhill from there. I agree on this.

[nwoodman]

Yep, unfortunately Foundation not really working for us either.  Will persevere for a few more episodes, they have renewed it for a second season so I remain hopeful.

[Parsad]

8 hours ago, Xerxes said:

Just went through another grueling session of watching Foundation. I am becoming more and more irritated by this so-called adaptation of Foundation on Apple TV+. Villeneuve should have been the one making this series for Apple TV+. Maybe it is just me but i loved his work on Blade Runner.

 

Have not seen Dune, but it will be epic !!!

 

Sadly, i found it that Warner Brothers have not green lighted Dune part 2 (and it has not been back to back filmed like Peter Jackson's LOTR trilogy). Who the hell is running Warner Brothers !!! In this day and age of chasing eyeballs, free money and bidding up valuable franchise, that says something about Warner Brothers ability to comprehend how huge Dune could be for them with Villeneuve at the helm. 

 

Foundation has been more or less turned into Star Trek as far as i am concerned. With the Emperor (i am sorry is that The Empire) going on-away mission on distant planets to meet locals without violating prime directive (ala Cap Picard).

 

I will give it till end of season and will cancel my Apple TV+.

 

I just hope Prime's new Lord of The Ring series (whenever that comes), wont be grueling like Foundation.

 

 

I would imagine that they've already planned to announce the project, but are waiting to see what the box office numbers look like.  They aren't going to give Villeneuve another $165M unless Dune is on target to make $500M+ globally.  They should break $200M globally after this weekend.  If it bombs, they may want to pull the plug, which would not happen if they made the official announcement already.  

 

Dune is not Star Wars or Star Trek...not even LOTR.  It's a much more acquired taste.  That being said, I think Villeneuve is probably the guy to make it a much larger franchise on par with those other sci-fi/fantasy stories.  The global numbers look good so far...it's all up to the domestic audience to guarantee its future.  Cheers!

[nwoodman]

Two episodes in on ATV+ Invasion.  Definitely worth a watch, some intriguing characters and a good tempo.  Production values are up there.   Was pleasantly surprised to see the Fairfax link:  

 

“Invasion is a Boat Rocker Studios production that was written and executive produced by Simon Kinberg and David Weil. Jakob Verbruggen, an Emmy Award nominee, directs and acts as executive producer. Executive producers include Audrey Chon, Amy Kaufman, and Elisa Ellis, in addition to Andrew Baldwin, who also writes. Boat Rocker Studios’ executive producer is Katie O’Connell Marsh.”

 

Edit: Kocked over episode 3, not in any great hurry to see episode 4.

Edited October 24, 2021 by nwoodman

[Spekulatius]

6 hours ago, Parsad said:

 

Dune is not Star Wars or Star Trek...not even LOTR.  It's a much more acquired taste.  That being said, I think Villeneuve is probably the guy to make it a much larger franchise on par with those other sci-fi/fantasy stories.  The global numbers look good so far...it's all up to the domestic audience to guarantee its future.  Cheers!

I agree with this take. I was a huge SciFi fan as a teenager and devoured pretty much anything I could get my hands on, but Dune never hit the spot for me. Too much is just about the athmosphere while the action and the characters seem unrelatable. I tortured myself through the book and never touched anything else from Herbert again.

 

There is a lot of good Sci Fi material out there. Classics from the 40‘s and 50‘s, sometimes even just short stories with interesting characters and story lines.  Stuff like Larry Niven’s Ringworld universe is much better screen material than Dune for example. The tech and CGI is now good enough to bring it on screen in a credible manner. I am looking forward to much to come.

 

Or just imagine what you could do with the Tolkien Universe using the Silmarillion as a foundation.

[DooDiligence]

1 hour ago, Spekulatius said:

I agree with this take. I was a huge SciFi fan as a teenager and devoured pretty much anything I could get my hands on, but Dune never hit the spot for me. Too much is just about the athmosphere while the action and the characters seem unrelatable. I tortured myself through the book and never touched anything else from Herbert again.

 

There is a lot of good Sci Fi material out there. Classics from the 40‘s and 50‘s, sometimes even just short stories with interesting characters and story lines.  Stuff like Larry Niven’s Ringworld universe is much better screen material than Dune for example. The tech and CGI is now good enough to bring it on screen in a credible manner. I am looking forward to much to come.

 

Or just imagine what you could do with the Tolkien Universe using the Silmarillion as a foundation.

Agreed re: Dune, it was almost like reading Michener drone on about shifting tectonic plates for 300 pages before getting on with the story.

 

However, Herbert did write one book that I really liked,

the Godmakers.

 

https://sciencefictionruminations.com/2013/03/30/book-review-the-god-makers-frank-herbert-1972/

Edited October 23, 2021 by DooDiligence

[Xerxes]

12 hours ago, Parsad said:

Dune is not Star Wars or Star Trek...not even LOTR.  It's a much more acquired taste.  

 

i would disagree with that.  (the acquired taste part).

 

It has all the elements to make it an engaging story upfront. What has been working to its disadvantage has been the Lynch movie in the 1980s. If people were exposed to Dune for the first time by watching that movie, that makes it acquired taste. Given Lynch's style. I would add though in making the Harkonnens, Villeneuve probably borrowed a lot of 'brutalist' like style from Lynch.

 

As an interesting anecdote:  Dune was written in the time when OPEC held sway over the oil market. So spice is really oil and CHOAM in the Dune universe was really OPEC and interested parties. The Empty Quarter described by Frank Herbert in the book are not dissimilar to the Empty Quarter in Saudi Arabia. The Mud'adib is really Mehdi. The Sardaukar, the emperor's elite crack troops in Dune, trained on the harsh prison planet of Selesu Sedunus, are probably modelled after the famed Ottoman imperial guards, the vaunted janissaries, who were a slave army. When the emperor comes to Dune to deal with the situation, this is probably no different than when Ottoman send their armies to Arabia in the 19th century to quell the rebellion from the first house of Saud (which ended with their leader brought back to Istanbul and beheaded). The current line sitting on the throne in Riyad is the 3rd incarnation of House of Saud, and to this day they see Turkey as an imperial oppressor. In the book Dune that ends differently.

 

So Dune has enough analogies to real history to make it an amazing movie and highly adaptable (far adaptable than Foundation). If today's audience could keep track of all different warring houses in Game of Thrones (itself modelled on War of Roses and rise of Tudors in England), they can keep track of 3 houses and the few warring factions in the Dune universe.  The issue is that Peter Lynch version in the 1980s created a data point that to this day has biased people's opinion (and possibly Warner Brothers) if Dune can really made in a movie.

 

I should add that 'adaptability into a movie' breaks down with Book 2 (Dune Messiah) and Book 3 (Children of Dune). Book 4 (forget it). Books 2, 3, 4, 5 and Book 6 can be made into a short TV series, based on the flagship first book set by Villeneuve.

 

 

[Xerxes]

6 hours ago, Spekulatius said:

I agree with this take. I was a huge SciFi fan as a teenager and devoured pretty much anything I could get my hands on, but Dune never hit the spot for me. Too much is just about the athmosphere while the action and the characters seem unrelatable. I tortured myself through the book and never touched anything else from Herbert again.

 

There is a lot of good Sci Fi material out there. Classics from the 40‘s and 50‘s, sometimes even just short stories with interesting characters and story lines.  Stuff like Larry Niven’s Ringworld universe is much better screen material than Dune for example. The tech and CGI is now good enough to bring it on screen in a credible manner. I am looking forward to much to come.

 

Or just imagine what you could do with the Tolkien Universe using the Silmarillion as a foundation.

 

Spek,

Have you tried reading the Game of Thrones books ... or Tolkien's original LOTR.

They are no different than the original Dune book. 

 

I agree that Dune Book 2 and onward, it drags and gets more philosophical. 

 

[Parsad]

Just saw Dune!  Absolutely magnificent!

 

So good, it might be the first sci-film to win an Oscar...which should have gone to Kubrick and 2001 or Close Encounters of the Third Kind in my opinion.  

 

Villeneuve has crafted a masterpiece that I think most viewers will want to see over and over.  I'm not sure how I'm going to wait 2 years to see the 2nd half.  

 

By the way, it's almost certain that Dune 2 was greenlit from the beginning, and Villeneuve was going to get to shoot both 1 & 2 based on how this ends. 

 

Man, where was Villeneuve for the last three Star Wars, and too bad Timothee Chalamet wasn't the same age as Hayden Christensen.  He would have made a perfect Anakin.

 

Just couldn't get enough of Dune!  Cheers!

[Parsad]

9 hours ago, Spekulatius said:

I agree with this take. I was a huge SciFi fan as a teenager and devoured pretty much anything I could get my hands on, but Dune never hit the spot for me. Too much is just about the athmosphere while the action and the characters seem unrelatable. I tortured myself through the book and never touched anything else from Herbert again.

 

There is a lot of good Sci Fi material out there. Classics from the 40‘s and 50‘s, sometimes even just short stories with interesting characters and story lines.  Stuff like Larry Niven’s Ringworld universe is much better screen material than Dune for example. The tech and CGI is now good enough to bring it on screen in a credible manner. I am looking forward to much to come.

 

Or just imagine what you could do with the Tolkien Universe using the Silmarillion as a foundation.

 

The book was one of my favorites, but it isn't easily digestible for most...especially if you've seen the Lynch version of the movie...which I actually thought was pretty good, but probably not most people's cup of tea.  

 

Villeneuve takes the political/Shakespearean atmosphere of Lynch's version and Herbert's book, but makes it more relatable to current or even past world events...not dissimilar to what Benioff and Weiss did for Game of Thrones...just on a much more massive scale.  Combine that with stunning visuals and cinematography, fantastic character development and actors, and you have an epic powerhouse that could become like the Star Wars movies.  

 

If it wasn't for the pandemic and theater restrictions, this thing would be on it's way to making over a billion dollars.  Just blown away by how good it was!  Cheers!

 

 

[Spekulatius]

13 hours ago, Parsad said:

 

The book was one of my favorites, but it isn't easily digestible for most...especially if you've seen the Lynch version of the movie...which I actually thought was pretty good, but probably not most people's cup of tea.  

 

Villeneuve takes the political/Shakespearean atmosphere of Lynch's version and Herbert's book, but makes it more relatable to current or even past world events...not dissimilar to what Benioff and Weiss did for Game of Thrones...just on a much more massive scale.  Combine that with stunning visuals and cinematography, fantastic character development and actors, and you have an epic powerhouse that could become like the Star Wars movies.  

 

If it wasn't for the pandemic and theater restrictions, this thing would be on it's way to making over a billion dollars.  Just blown away by how good it was!  Cheers!

 

 

To me, Game of Thrones and specifically Lord of the Rings is just better source material than Herbert‘s  Dune world and I think they are better on the screen too.

I have read Tolkien, and felt that Jackson‘s adaptation is true to style and for me still the all time greatest fantasy  movies series of all times.

 

I think Villeneuve‘s  Dune Adaptation was good, but to me it’s a notch below GOT and LOT mainly because the source material isn’t as good. That’s just my opinion. I enjoyed Dune and the Visual are good, but the storyline just missed these moments that one tends to remember. Both GOT and LOTR have those in spades, but Dunes does not. That said, I enjoyed the movie and look forward to the second part. I think the whole will be larger than it‘s part just like the Jackson‘s LOT trilogy.

Edited October 24, 2021 by Spekulatius

[Parsad]

5 hours ago, Spekulatius said:

To me, Game of Thrones and specifically Lord of the Rings is just better source material than Herbert‘s  Dune world and I think they are better on the screen too.

I have read Tolkien, and felt that Jackson‘s adaptation is true to style and for me still the all time greatest fantasy  movies series of all times.

 

I think Villeneuve‘s  Dune Adaptation was good, but to me it’s a notch below GOT and LOT mainly because the source material isn’t as good. That’s just my opinion. I enjoyed Dune and the Visual are good, but the storyline just missed these moments that one tends to remember. Both GOT and LOT have those in spades, but Dunes does not. That said, I enjoyed the movie and look forward to the second part. I think the whole will be larger than it‘s part just like the Jackson‘s LOT trilogy.

 

I think GOT was so good, because the producers and writers were able to take their time and tell the story...granted, I'm still pissed off about the ending, and I'm waiting to see how Martin ties up things in the final books.  

 

LOTR under Jackson and Dune under Villeneuve...two very different styles...and I agree with you it's because of the source material.  That being said, I think both were amazing.  Jackson's movies, like the original Star Wars trilogy would appeal to a wider base than Villeneuve's Dune.  Cheers!

[wabuffo]

I must be in the minority here on the new Dune movie.   Sure - special effects are more impressive (how could they not be), but the original Lynch Dune is much better in terms of story and important plot points.   Hard to believe given the total running time (I'm including the inevitable part 2 here).

 

Style over substance.   Just my 2-cents.

 

wabuffo

[Xerxes]

I have not seen it yet (although have the read the books several time) so my opinion on the adaptation is of no value, just because i have not seen it. Just as a side note:  David Lynch work also had a four-hour running extended edition that came years later of the theatrical release. And people who have seen both, usually don't recall the difference from the theatrical version (which you should be gauging Villeneuve work against) and the extended edition.

 

On Jackson's adaptation of LOTR, i think context is important. LOTR trilogy (super-packed in a 3 year release) came at the turn of the century, 9/11, wars, dot.com bust, bear market etc. And it is my belief that it created an outlet for people to remove themselves from their worry etc. And there was no competition when LOTR came out, since George Lucas went all Jar Jar Binks with the prequals. To this day, when i go hiking with people, i hear the analogies between Hobbits gone on an adventure and hiking. Right away you know which generation they are from: the generation that saw LOTR live in the theaters.

 

Sure, Jackson's adaptation was (i think) fantastic. I was studying my mechanical engineering undergrad those years. And I very proudly went to watch The Two Towers on the matinee show right after it came out, while have a major 3-hour long end of the semester final exam on fluid mechanics in the afternoon of the same day. I got a C+. Didnt bother me.

 

But what if Peter Jackson's adaptation of LOTR came today in 2021 in this very crowded fantasy/sci market. Will that leave you with all fond nostalgia for the next 20 years, till say 2040. The answer is no. Peter Jackson has been riding the bull market on low interest rate for the past 20 years. It came at the right time. For instance, the adaptation of the Hobbits did not leave people with the same nostalgia. Same director, same book author (yes yes totally different book, but does your average movie goer knows this), and with the benefit of an enlarged fan base and with Dr Strange as Smaug the Dragon. I puked when I saw the part 3 of Hobbits, and did not watch it again until about 10 years later and puked again. The original LOTR, i had it memorized line by line.

 

----------

On Dune, I thought this was interesting. Earlier above i pointed to parallel with middle eastern history and the novel. Some how i failed to make that connection between Paul Atriedes and Lawrence of Arabia. Looks like Villeneuve is also a big fan of Lawrence of Arabia.

 

 

 

Edited October 24, 2021 by Xerxes

[Parsad]

9 hours ago, Xerxes said:

I have not seen it yet (although have the read the books several time) so my opinion on the adaptation is of no value, just because i have not seen it. Just as a side note:  David Lynch work also had a four-hour running extended edition that came years later of the theatrical release. And people who have seen both, usually don't recall the difference from the theatrical version (which you should be gauging Villeneuve work against) and the extended edition.

 

On Jackson's adaptation of LOTR, i think context is important. LOTR trilogy (super-packed in a 3 year release) came at the turn of the century, 9/11, wars, dot.com bust, bear market etc. And it is my belief that it created an outlet for people to remove themselves from their worry etc. And there was no competition when LOTR came out, since George Lucas went all Jar Jar Binks with the prequals. To this day, when i go hiking with people, i hear the analogies between Hobbits gone on an adventure and hiking. Right away you know which generation they are from: the generation that saw LOTR live in the theaters.

 

Sure, Jackson's adaptation was (i think) fantastic. I was studying my mechanical engineering undergrad those years. And I very proudly went to watch The Two Towers on the matinee show right after it came out, while have a major 3-hour long end of the semester final exam on fluid mechanics in the afternoon of the same day. I got a C+. Didnt bother me.

 

But what if Peter Jackson's adaptation of LOTR came today in 2021 in this very crowded fantasy/sci market. Will that leave you with all fond nostalgia for the next 20 years, till say 2040. The answer is no. Peter Jackson has been riding the bull market on low interest rate for the past 20 years. It came at the right time. For instance, the adaptation of the Hobbits did not leave people with the same nostalgia. Same director, same book author (yes yes totally different book, but does your average movie goer knows this), and with the benefit of an enlarged fan base and with Dr Strange as Smaug the Dragon. I puked when I saw the part 3 of Hobbits, and did not watch it again until about 10 years later and puked again. The original LOTR, i had it memorized line by line.

 

----------

On Dune, I thought this was interesting. Earlier above i pointed to parallel with middle eastern history and the novel. Some how i failed to make that connection between Paul Atriedes and Lawrence of Arabia. Looks like Villeneuve is also a big fan of Lawrence of Arabia.

 

 

 

 

Yes, you can see the definite connections to David Lean's work in Dune.  But all artists steal bits and pieces from other artists or are influenced by them.  Cheers!

[rkbabang]

I've been watching FX's "Trust" on Hulu.  (https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/trust).  It's about the Getty family in the 1970's.  It's crazy. Highly recommended. 

 

Also, if anyone liked Squid Game watch "Alice in Borderland"  (https://www.netflix.com/title/80200575).  It's similar to Squid Game, but a lot better IMHO. It's in Japanese and takes place in Japan. But it has English audio as well as captions.

 

[Spekulatius]

On 10/21/2021 at 10:06 AM, Liberty said:

Started watching Rick & Morty in recent weeks. I've now seen the first season fully and really like it. Impressive just how all-in they are one the vision, a kind of weird LSD sci-fi dream that plays a lot with the nature of reality. Good stuff.

 

Not sure if I mentioned it here before, but also really enjoyed the Mini-series 'Mare of Easttown' on HBO. Good stuff.

 

Got my tickets for Dune this weekend. Looking forward to it, but trying to keep expectations low, as this is a very difficult story to put on the screen...

I also started to watch "Mare of Easttown" and it very good. Basically and Brit style crime series playing in the Philly subs. Great storyline and acting by Kate Winslet and others.

 

Another poster here mentioned "Invasion". I also like that one. Again it's the script and the excellent acting that makes it work.

[DooDiligence]

I started the “Get Shorty” episodic television series on Hulu and it’s pretty good so far.

 

I really liked the movie with Travolta and didn’t think this would be as good but it is.

 

This is one of those rare cases of the film / tv series being better than the book.

 

---

 

edit: this is on Amazon Prime, not Hulu.

Edited November 3, 2021 by DooDiligence

[Xerxes]

I watched Dune last night, great stuff but now agree about the 'acquired taste' comment. Watching it i could really feel the vastness of the Dune universe. The scene when they land on Dune was breathtaking. The sadistic Baron ! the prison planet etc. Was hoping to see Count Fenring, but he was nowhere to be seen !!! and am not too sure i agree as to when Dune part 1 ended.

They could have gone a bit further. 

 

I downgraded "Foundation" to watch only when i am doing my laundry, and replace it with Deadwood on HBD, which is more fun to watch.

 

 

 

[Spekulatius]

On 9/21/2021 at 4:59 PM, formthirteen said:

 

Thank you DooDiligence. I've seen all episodes now and Mr Inbetween is one of the better TV shows I've seen. The writing and acting, both by Scott Ryan, was better than Breaking Bad IMO:

 

 

Nobody dies, not EverGrande, not Lehman:

 

 

Currently binge watching Mr. Inbetween. Currently just started S3. Great show that seems to be progressively grittier.

Thanks for brining this on my radar screen @DooDiligence