Movies and TV shows (general recommendation thread)

[Xerxes]

12 hours ago, Xerxes said:

Only if JRR Tolkien knew that some day +$400 million would be spend on some obscure appendix attached to Lord of the Rings. 
 

It is not easy what Prime is doing. 

With Game of Thrones, HBO has access to the source talent, and the show has more of an adult theme to it. And that is what the market wants. 

 

I think Peter Jackson Hobbit’ 3rd movie left a bad taste and turned the whole thing into a joke. The third movie had no substance, beyond being an amalgamation of jokes.  
 

unclear how this will unfold in this day and age. The first episode was ok. 

 

Watched the second episodes. It is getting good & i am getting excited in terms of where they are going with this.

I never read the related source material (never cared too much about the Second Age; preferred the Third Age), so have no clue on the details.

 

[nwoodman]

On 9/3/2022 at 12:26 PM, Xerxes said:

 

Watched the second episodes. It is getting good & i am getting excited in terms of where they are going with this.

I never read the related source material (never cared too much about the Second Age; preferred the Third Age), so have no clue on the details.

 

Have tried to steer clear of the usual reviews for this one, to keep an open mind.  So far we are really enjoying it.  Great production values and almost justifies a decent OLED and sound system in my mind and the kids, if not the missus

[nwoodman]

Call out for Bad Sisters on Apple TV+.  one of the best shows of the year if you are into slightly dark, Irish humour.  Has a four weddings and a funeral vibe.  Claes Bang, as Jean Paul is diabolical but a great performance .  I think this will be up for multiple awards.

 

Spoiler alert in the guardian review below , as the opening scene  sets the tone and is worth watching without any preconceptions.  Episode one is good enough to watch again, which I have

 

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/aug/19/bad-sisters-review-sharon-horgan-pitch-black-comedy-is-murderously-good

[maxthetrade]

 

He nailed it. Unwatchable for me.

[Spekulatius]

10 hours ago, nwoodman said:

Have tried to steer clear of the usual reviews for this one, to keep an open mind.  So far we are really enjoying it.  Great production values and almost justifies a decent OLED and sound system in my mind and the kids, if not the missus

The felt the first episode was so so, but I think this might be turning out to be alright. The production and the acting still does feel a bit artificial to me. My hope is that they can bring this alive like Sméagol in Jackson’s trilogy for example.

Edited September 5, 2022 by Spekulatius

[Parsad]

House of the Dragon keeps getting better and better each episode.  Hopefully the quality won't deteriorate next season with Sapochnik gone.  Matt Smith was well regarded before this, but he may move into legendary territory!  Cheers!

[maxthetrade]

22 minutes ago, Parsad said:

House of the Dragon keeps getting better and better each episode. 

 

Yeap, really enjoyed the latest episode.

[Xerxes]

Elon Musk complainng about Rings of Power is no different than Bezos throwing darts at Musk for his bid for Twitter. Just two billionaires with nothing else to do.

 

I think Rings of Power need to be judged indepedently than Thrones. The latter was always more intriguing to an adult audiance, and given that House of Dragons and Rings of Powers are being relesaed in parallel, people would implicitly making comparisions.

 

The fact is both are being released in a time, when the consumer is overwhelm with content. Could you imagine how Lord of the Rings would do if it was released TODAY in the threaters amidst all these content instead of early 2000. It was then the only fantasy-with-sword franchise out there and had the whole market to itself.

 

Game of Throne came later in 2008 and established itself as the adult oriented (more geopolitically relevant) genre and took that market for itself.

 

I gave bad grades to Apple' Foundation series, but after watching a good few episodes to confirm my initial suspisions. I actually think Rings of Power looks pretty intriguing. (and btw i dont care about effects or CGI; all i care about is the story and character development)

 

[Pelagic]

The real question I think is if Rings of Power is a success does Amazon tackle some of the other stories set in Middle Earth? A series based on the Children of Hurin or The Fall of Gondolin would be awesome but also a lot of potential to piss off die hard fans.

 

Could Middle Earth be the next Marvel Universe or Star Wars and we see shows/movies set in it for years to come?

[Xerxes]

There was something that I heard from Walt Disney a while back, that as they move more on the periphery of the Marvel Universe with the characters that are less well known, the die-hard fan base backlash is also correpondingly less. 

 

The Second Age, with its rings, Isildur etc., has enough 'backbone' to make it highly relevant to the overall LOTR franchise, but probably doesnt have enough meat for the die-hard fandom to claw at it.

 

Amazon will be ok, as long as they do not make the mistake that Apple made with Foundation series. (i.e. really bad writing coupled while overstreching a galactic arc,  where the story gets diluted). 

 

[Gregmal]

Watched the SpaceX documentary on Netflix. Man it’s impossible not to marvel at the brilliance of Elon Musk. Yea, I get the one dimensional financial people who create next to nothing for anyone but themselves hate him, but he s doing so much utterly remarkable shit that you can’t help but respect the guy. Especially the scene where he’s running out to see the rocket like an enthused 7 year old on Christmas morning, his passion and personal investment in his ventures is nothing short of remarkable.

[Spekulatius]

 

Almost  weekend and looking forward to the new episode drop LOS and House of Dragons. I like where both but after watching the first two episodes the HoD series promises to become a masterpiece just like GOT. Love the tournament melee scene where the Squire is puking in the background watching all the violence. Those little details is what make great movies, imo. E2 convinced more with character and story development than visuals, but I felt both were great.

 

Now we need LoS pick up some steam...

 

 

[Xerxes]

@Spekulatius

Forgive my ignorance, but what is LOS ?

is that your aberivation of Rings of Power or something else ..

[Xerxes]

Watched Episode 3 of the Rings. This show is really immersive, even the bloody Hartfoot are fun to watch. You can see the similarities between Gondor and Numenor. 
 

Very different style than the cartoonish Peter Jackson’s Hobbit Trilogy. 
 

The Southland story line with Orc tunnels is pretty interesting (no spoilers)
 

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/09/09/amazon-the-rings-of-power-firsttime-showrunners.html

[Spekulatius]

I agree the E3 of Rings of Power is really good. It’s all about Elves in every storyline. The show seems to comes to its own.

 

For the Fantasy inclined, S2 of Britannica is out and I really love the production and storyline as well.

Edited September 10, 2022 by Spekulatius

[Gregmal]

Rewatched Inside Job recently.
 

First, reinforced how todays risks are absolutely nothing like what occurred back then. Second, noticed how the financial firms and hedge fund guys, very similar to today, did their best to manipulate the narrative until positioned to benefit from the situation. Third, how utterly clueless the Fed was, much like today. Interesting but different times for sure. 

[weighingmachine]

"The Bear" and "Welcome to Wrexham" both on Hulu. Though they are ostensibly set in a Chicago beef restaurant and a Welsh soccer team, they are both actually about value investing.

[ACooke]

I've been watching 'Gold Rush' lately, namely the 'white water' seasons - mainly because it's fairly brainless and intriguing as to how they rig and build things to tackle certain scenarios they fall upon whilst being in the middle of nowhere and for some reason I'm always fascinated by prospecting and mining in general.

 

I'd love to know their actual spend each year - I feel like I'm continually doing the math in my head (and it's very simple math) of how much their pulling in vs what they're likely spending, before the crew takes home a cent. It's truly brutal.

 

I'm sure they're probably floated (excuse the pun) or supplemented to some extent by the film producers, and no doubt a chunk of it's mashed together in odd orders and over dramatized; but if what they show and suggest is in any way indicative of the true economics of an operation like that ------ mannnnn it boggles thy mind.

 

Fun - if slightly repetitive - watch though.

[Gregmal]

16 minutes ago, ACooke said:

I've been watching 'Gold Rush' lately, namely the 'white water' seasons - mainly because it's fairly brainless and intriguing as to how they rig and build things to tackle certain scenarios they fall upon whilst being in the middle of nowhere and for some reason I'm always fascinated by prospecting and mining in general.

 

I'd love to know their actual spend each year - I feel like I'm continually doing the math in my head (and it's very simple math) of how much their pulling in vs what they're likely spending, before the crew takes home a cent. It's truly brutal.

 

I'm sure they're probably floated (excuse the pun) or supplemented to some extent by the film producers, and no doubt a chunk of it's mashed together in odd orders and over dramatized; but if what they show and suggest is in any way indicative of the true economics of an operation like that ------ mannnnn it boggles thy mind.

 

Fun - if slightly repetitive - watch though.

Wicked Tuna is neat too. Many of the same characteristics. A bunch of rich kids but also some of the old timers. Spend a week at sea, hope for no mechanical issues and reasonable weather, spend 5 hours fighting a 200-500 lb bluefin, come back and hope for $5k gross before crew splits and fuel/bait costs.

[ACooke]

6 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

Wicked Tuna is neat too. Many of the same characteristics. A bunch of rich kids but also some of the old timers. Spend a week at sea, hope for no mechanical issues and reasonable weather, spend 5 hours fighting a 200-500 lb bluefin, come back and hope for $5k gross before crew splits and fuel/bait costs.

Sold. I'll throw that on my list.

Thanks!

[Gregmal]

1 hour ago, ACooke said:

Sold. I'll throw that on my list.

Thanks!

What’s cool if you’re really into it and live somewhere around the northeast is you can book those guys for fishing trips at not much more than you’d pay for a regular trip anywhere else. Dave Marciano and Paul Hebert are awesome dudes. 

[nwoodman]

1 hour ago, Gregmal said:

What’s cool if you’re really into it and live somewhere around the northeast is you can book those guys for fishing trips at not much more than you’d pay for a regular trip anywhere else. Dave Marciano and Paul Hebert are awesome dudes. 

It’s a great show.  In particular Marciano is one of my favourites.  Pretty cool that you have had the opportunity to fish with him.  Did you have any luck?

[Gregmal]

Few cod and a blue shark on a day trip with Dave. Which are awesome eating(the cod). Always wanted to try Thresher.

Fun fact is Paul Hebert who is a fishing genius got into trouble claiming disability while the fucker was fishing on the show. Gives perspective to how fortunate people like us are while guys like that deal with real shit just hoping to make a few hundred bucks.

 

My main guys I fish with are in the Keys are never on shows like that; Paul Ross on Relentless is a fishing god as is Nick Stanzyck. But TJ and Tyler from Tuna most of their money not related to the show is out of Florida. 

[Gregmal]

This was last trip with Paul. 
 

 

[ACooke]

7 hours ago, Gregmal said:

What’s cool if you’re really into it and live somewhere around the northeast is you can book those guys for fishing trips at not much more than you’d pay for a regular trip anywhere else. Dave Marciano and Paul Hebert are awesome dudes. 

I can only wish - at least for now. 
I’m a couple of thousand kilometers (miles ) away from you lot.  

 

I can assure you, i’m extremely envious though.