Movies and TV shows (general recommendation thread)

[wristband]

Also just saw & loved "Belfast" - a warm, funny & moving film of his family and childhood during The Troubles.  Ken B's young self Jude Hill, Judy Dench, facially charged Ciaran Hinds, Jamie Dornan & wife...all terrific actors. 

 

Dissed b/c of its use of black & white cinematography.  Strange - b&w was (my opinion) evocative and sensible in the portrayal of one person's remembrance of things past.

[Spekulatius]

6 hours ago, wristband said:

Also just saw & loved "Belfast" - a warm, funny & moving film of his family and childhood during The Troubles.  Ken B's young self Jude Hill, Judy Dench, facially charged Ciaran Hinds, Jamie Dornan & wife...all terrific actors. 

 

Dissed b/c of its use of black & white cinematography.  Strange - b&w was (my opinion) evocative and sensible in the portrayal of one person's remembrance of things past.

I agree that Belfast is a movie worth watching. There is nothing wrong with the cinematography and the acting is great.

[Xerxes]

On 8/11/2022 at 11:47 AM, rkbabang said:

 

 

I'm a fan of The Gray Man books and finally got to see the movie this past weekend.  Having read the books really ruins the movie.   I hate that they made it all about the US Government.  In the books he's a private hitman not a current CIA agent, and the people out to get him are also not US Government agents.   Since it takes place in Europe the books have very little to do with the US in any way. Hollywood wants to make everything about US Government all of the time.  Also in the book he's a badass lone operator, where in the movie they gave him a female sidekick.  As a standalone story I guess the movie wasn't bad, but my expectations where very high and the movie disappointed me tremendously. 

 

One of my all time interesting spy story is the tale of Reilly. The TV shows was filmed in the early 1980s and covers the era around Russian revolution (before and after) and great power rivalry. 
 

really story and a fascinating character. 

 

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reilly,_Ace_of_Spies

 

 

[rkbabang]

Just finished watching The Sandman this weekend.  Really good show, which according to Neil Gaiman Netflix may or may not renew for a second season unfortunately.  I guess they spent something like $15M per episode on season 1, so it will have to do extraordinarily well for them to commit to a season 2.  So if you were planning on watching it, doing so sooner rather than later might help Netflix decide to renew it.

 

https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/neil-gaiman-why-netflix-has-not-renewed-the-sandman-season-2-yet/

 

[Xerxes]

House of Dragon was pretty good !

They really did a good job of showing who is who in the Taygaran familly & give full context in the span of one hour.

 

Not an easy feat.

[Longnose]

41 minutes ago, rkbabang said:

Just finished watching The Sandman this weekend.  Really good show, which according to Neil Gaiman Netflix may or may not renew for a second season unfortunately.  I guess they spent something like $15M per episode on season 1, so it will have to do extraordinarily well for them to commit to a season 2.  So if you were planning on watching it, doing so sooner rather than later might help Netflix decide to renew it.

 

https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/neil-gaiman-why-netflix-has-not-renewed-the-sandman-season-2-yet/

 

 

also watched this - I enjoyed it, but I felt the LGBT tones were a little strong and over played. Id watch another season but if it didn't happen I wouldn't miss it. 

[rkbabang]

2 hours ago, Longnose said:

 

also watched this - I enjoyed it, but I felt the LGBT tones were a little strong and over played. Id watch another season but if it didn't happen I wouldn't miss it. 

 

I don't really care if there are a few gay characters.  It didn't take away from the show in this case.  It isn't a Disney film, the gay guy was a serial killer nightmare that took out people's eyes and ate them.

[Parsad]

5 hours ago, rkbabang said:

 

I don't really care if there are a few gay characters.  It didn't take away from the show in this case.  It isn't a Disney film, the gay guy was a serial killer nightmare that took out people's eyes and ate them.

 

What is it with you guys and gay people?  They've been around since the dawn of man...whether your a creationist or evolutionist.   

 

Get used to it!  

 

Cheers!

[rkbabang]

15 hours ago, Parsad said:

 

What is it with you guys and gay people?  They've been around since the dawn of man...whether your a creationist or evolutionist.   

 

Get used to it!  

 

Cheers!

 

There is nothing wrong with gay people or with gay characters.  It's just weird when a show aimed at kids has sexual themes of any type, or a show has like 90% gay characters when in reality the % of gay people in the population is like 10% or less.  I don't like watching and/or reading fiction that is trying to push an agenda on me to the detriment of the story.  Imagine watching a show supposedly set in sub-Saharan Africa and 80% of the cast had snow-white skin and red hair.   It would distract you from the story. The Sandman didn't do that at all. 

[Longnose]

No issues with gay's here. Just commenting that there was a lot of gay undertones. It didn't make or break the show. Likely Sandman would have been just as good without them. I find most shows include unnecessary sexual content just because they can. 

[rkbabang]

16 minutes ago, Longnose said:

No issues with gay's here. Just commenting that there was a lot of gay undertones. It didn't make or break the show. Likely Sandman would have been just as good without them. I find most shows include unnecessary sexual content just because they can. 

 

 

The other thing to realize is that the character was gay in comic books which were written in the 1980s.  It wasn't like they tried to add it in to make it woke.   The Sandman was very true to the original material which is a rarity and another reason why it was an exceptional production.

[spartansaver]

39 minutes ago, rkbabang said:

 

 

The other thing to realize is that the character was gay in comic books which were written in the 1980s.  It wasn't like they tried to add it in to make it woke.   The Sandman was very true to the original material which is a rarity and another reason why it was an exceptional production.

My wife and I finished the first two episodes last night. Good recommendation. I thought the trailer looked awful, but glad I listened to the COBF'ers.

[valuehawk91]

The movie Arrival is good. In fact, I might watch it again this weekend.

I rarely re-watch movies if ever.

[rkbabang]

23 minutes ago, spartansaver said:

My wife and I finished the first two episodes last night. Good recommendation. I thought the trailer looked awful, but glad I listened to the COBF'ers.

 

I'm glad your enjoying it.  I've found quite a few good shows because of this topic here.

 

[rkbabang]

While I'm recommending shows based on comics there is a show I watched a month or so ago that was pretty good too.  "Pennyworth" on HBO.   It's about Alfred Pennyworth (Batman's butler) as a young man in London.  There's 2 seasons, so I was obviously late discovering it.  It's entertaining and I enjoyed it, but it was a little weird.  For one it's impossible to place the show in time.  The cars are from the 30s & 40s, people dress like the 70s, there is music from all over the place in time, there is technology from all over the 20th century, Aleister Crowley is alive and young, the CIA exists already, so it has to be after WWII, and yet fascism is a popular thing with wide public support in the UK.   None of that really makes sense being all at the same time, but the story is good.

 

[Parsad]

1 hour ago, valuehawk91 said:

The movie Arrival is good. In fact, I might watch it again this weekend.

I rarely re-watch movies if ever.

 

Denis Villeneuve may be the best science fiction director in Hollywood these days.  He should have done the last three Star Wars instead of JJ Abrams.  Arrival was terrific...Dune was also amazing!  Cheers!

[spartansaver]

2 hours ago, valuehawk91 said:

The movie Arrival is good. In fact, I might watch it again this weekend.

I rarely re-watch movies if ever.

Arrival gave me goosebumps when I figured it out. It was perfect. Very re-watchable with a new perspective.  

[valuehawk91]

On 8/23/2022 at 2:11 PM, Parsad said:

 

Denis Villeneuve may be the best science fiction director in Hollywood these days.  He should have done the last three Star Wars instead of JJ Abrams.  Arrival was terrific...Dune was also amazing!  Cheers!

 

On 8/23/2022 at 3:05 PM, spartansaver said:

Arrival gave me goosebumps when I figured it out. It was perfect. Very re-watchable with a new perspective.  

 

Yes, Arrival gave me goosebumps too! I love movies that has so hidden meanings/symbology.

Dune was another terrific movie. I believe Star Wars was inspired in a way by dune's story-line. Hope you know about Joseph Campbell too.

[Spekulatius]

Watching the latest season of Unforgotten, which dropped in Amazon Prime a few weeks ago, It’s Brit crime TV at its finest. I also like Slow Horses on Apple TV in the same mold.

 

Started to watch Indian Match Making, the reality TV series on Netflix. I don’t really watch reality TV if this kind, but the cultural aspects of this show kept me interest in Season 1 and Season 2 seems just as good.

[Parsad]

On 8/27/2022 at 12:17 PM, valuehawk91 said:

 

 

Yes, Arrival gave me goosebumps too! I love movies that has so hidden meanings/symbology.

Dune was another terrific movie. I believe Star Wars was inspired in a way by dune's story-line. Hope you know about Joseph Campbell too.

 

I've only read "A Hero With a Thousand Faces", so I'm not particularly familiar with all of his work.  Cheers!

[boilermaker75]

On 8/28/2022 at 3:50 PM, Spekulatius said:

Watching the latest season of Unforgotten, which dropped in Amazon Prime a few weeks ago, It’s Brit crime TV at its finest. I also like Slow Horses on Apple TV in the same mold.

 

Started to watch Indian Match Making, the reality TV series on Netflix. I don’t really watch reality TV if this kind, but the cultural aspects of this show kept me interest in Season 1 and Season 2 seems just as good.

 

I watched all the seasons including the final one of Unforgotten. I found it all right, but not in the same tier as shows like Vera, Endeavor, and Shetland. 

 

I do like Sanjeev Bhaskar. Have you watched The Indian Doctor? 

Edited August 31, 2022 by boilermaker75

[Xerxes]

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. 

[Spekulatius]

I am just belatedly watching “Billions” on Prime video and the one guy at the hedge fund brainstorming session got scolded for proposing Apple, because it has “still room to run”. This was S1 E2 in 2016.

 

So far, I like this show.

[Parsad]

35 minutes ago, Spekulatius said:

I am just belatedly watching “Billions” on Prime video and the one guy at the hedge fund brainstorming session got scolded for proposing Apple, because it has “still room to run”. This was S1 E2 in 2016.

 

So far, I like this show.

 

It was a great show till about Season 4 and then things started to get over the top and the show headed in a different direction.  Great actors and writing...was spot on Wall Street for several years!  Cheers!

[LC]

Billions has a special place in my heart because the first season or two features the empire racetrack in Yonkers (used to be called Yonkers raceway iirc). I grew up right around there and love that Woodlawn/south Yonkers area - tons of irish and Italian first gen immigrants having nothing but a good time. In fact all the young irish kids working the few pubs left in NYC all come over from Ireland and live in Woodlawn.