Movies and TV shows (general recommendation thread)

[sleepydragon]

I finished A gentleman in Moscow on paramount yesterday. Very very good. Bill gates wrote a review about the book a couple years ago.

also watched Fallout on Amazon. Very good too.

[Xerxes]

On 5/19/2024 at 5:22 PM, sleepydragon said:

I finished A gentleman in Moscow on paramount yesterday. Very very good. Bill gates wrote a review about the book a couple years ago.

also watched Fallout on Amazon. Very good too.

I started watching Gentleman in Moscow. Got it through free-7 days on Prime to watch Paramount+. 
 

I am half way through. Sort of half expecting Dr Zhivago like production and story. will see what happens I guess  

 

I should say that I had to do a Google search why folks depicted in Moscow were of multi ethnicities. 
 

I was introduced to the concept of “color-blind casting”. That i didn’t know it exists.
 

I suppose one can think of English speaking actors pretending to be German or Russian in the past 50 years worth of cinema is of the same thing. 
 

getting use to this

 

 

 

 

Edited May 26 by Xerxes

[nwoodman]

Lolla: The story of Lollapalooza on Paramount+.  A trip down memory lane, never got to one but have seen many of the bands featured in the early days.  Was fortunate enough to see Jane’s Addiction on their recent tour and Perry is still rocking. Worth a watch.

 

[Xerxes]

On 5/25/2024 at 10:20 PM, Xerxes said:

I started watching Gentleman in Moscow. Got it through free-7 days on Prime to watch Paramount+. 
 

I am half way through. Sort of half expecting Dr Zhivago like production and story. will see what happens I guess  

 

I should say that I had to do a Google search why folks depicted in Moscow were of multi ethnicities. 
 

I was introduced to the concept of “color-blind casting”. That i didn’t know it exists.
 

I suppose one can think of English speaking actors pretending to be German or Russian in the past 50 years worth of cinema is of the same thing. 
 

getting use to this

 

 

Having watched all episodes except the last one, i conclude by saying that it was a complete waste of time.

This ain't Dr Zhivago or The Last Emperor, it just pretends to be some grand story happening in parallel to the arc of history.

 

I don't think it is even worth the free 7-day promotion I had on Paramount. That said, the book can be good (i am not going to read it) with this being more a so-so adaptation.

 

I was not a fan of in your face “color-blind casting”. Hire some east Europeans. The story is happening in Eurasia. Cast accordingly. What is weird is that, their “color-blind casting” applies only to the main cast of characters. Every time they show evil Soviet troops, there is no “color-blind casting”. Just angry white people.

 

One positive point: the "fast forwarding" style of this TV series, is exactly how AppleTV+ Foundation should have been. Jumping fast and furious in time to tell the next story, instead of showcasing every little non value added details.

 

 

 

 

 

[Jaygo]

9 hours ago, Xerxes said:

 

 

Having watched all episodes except the last one, i conclude by saying that it was a complete waste of time.

This ain't Dr Zhivago or The Last Emperor, it just pretends to be some grand story happening in parallel to the arc of history.

 

I don't think it is even worth the free 7-day promotion I had on Paramount. That said, the book can be good (i am not going to read it) with this being more a so-so adaptation.

 

I was not a fan of in your face “color-blind casting”. Hire some east Europeans. The story is happening in Eurasia. Cast accordingly. What is weird is that, their “color-blind casting” applies only to the main cast of characters. Every time they show evil Soviet troops, there is no “color-blind casting”. Just angry white people.

 

One positive point: the "fast forwarding" style of this TV series, is exactly how AppleTV+ Foundation should have been. Jumping fast and furious in time to tell the next story, instead of showcasing every little non value added details.

 

 

 

 

 

The book is fantastic. One of my favorites in the past few years. the story is really a good one but it just doesn’t translate into tv well.

Ewan is great but the casting is mostly bad and they basically butcher the whole thing. I also am confused by the colour blind casting. Do the directors not care about making realistic representations?  What’s the point of making a movie off a book if your going to make it so shit and poorly represented.
 

Chernobyl series was awesome. I wish the same people made this because the book is really good. 

[Xerxes]

14 hours ago, Jaygo said:

The book is fantastic. One of my favorites in the past few years. the story is really a good one but it just doesn’t translate into tv well.

Ewan is great but the casting is mostly bad and they basically butcher the whole thing. I also am confused by the colour blind casting. Do the directors not care about making realistic representations?  What’s the point of making a movie off a book if your going to make it so shit and poorly represented.
 

Chernobyl series was awesome. I wish the same people made this because the book is really good. 

Chernobyl was great. It is just that I saw in the dark days of March-April 2020. 

[formthirteen]

Apocalypto

[Gregmal]

Not a big tv guy but watched Ice Age America, which was very good. Also made me really what a hoax so much of this climate change stuff is. Earth has been going through these shifts, hot and cold phases etc, for millions of years lol. Leave it to humans to monetize it though. 

[blakehampton]

55 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

Not a big tv guy but watched Ice Age America, which was very good. Also made me really what a hoax so much of this climate change stuff is. Earth has been going through these shifts, hot and cold phases etc, for millions of years lol. Leave it to humans to monetize it though. 

I very much disagree with your opinion towards climate change. Average global temperatures have increased at an unprecedented rate starting about 200 years ago or so. This directly correlates with humanity’s large usage of fossil fuels for energy. I’m not a fanatic who stands in front of cars and demands for oil executives to be hung, I think fossil fuels have done an unbelievably great service for humans. However, I do think people need to consider how we are going to transition from our current energy situation. The future of the world depends on it.

[Xerxes]

1 hour ago, Gregmal said:

Not a big tv guy but watched Ice Age America, which was very good. Also made me really what a hoax so much of this climate change stuff is. Earth has been going through these shifts, hot and cold phases etc, for millions of years lol. Leave it to humans to monetize it though. 

I am not expert on the topic. 
but you probably need to look at how fast things are happening now (over couple hundred years) vs. historical hot and cold phases (which I am guessing happens over millennia ?)

[tooskinneejs]

22 minutes ago, blakehampton said:

I very much disagree with your opinion towards climate change. Average global temperatures have increased at an unprecedented rate starting about 200 years ago or so. This directly correlates with humanity’s large usage of fossil fuels for energy. I’m not a fanatic who stands in front of cars and demands for oil executives to be hung, I think fossil fuels have done an unbelievably great service for humans. However, I do think people need to consider how we are going to transition from our current energy situation. The future of the world depends on it.

We're just returning to historical average temperatures...

 

 

[blakehampton]

I don’t know what to think anymore

Link - might be worth a read

 

Edited June 13 by blakehampton

[Jaygo]

I’m Canadian. Bring on the warmer weather. We will lower our fossil fuel use by not having to heat our homes 8 months of the year. 
 

I couldn’t care less about carbon dioxide when there is major environmental destruction going on. Why people fixated on the temperature vs poisons going into the air and ground is beyond me. 
 

Was it a documentary gregmal?

[Parsad]

9 hours ago, blakehampton said:

I very much disagree with your opinion towards climate change. Average global temperatures have increased at an unprecedented rate starting about 200 years ago or so. This directly correlates with humanity’s large usage of fossil fuels for energy. I’m not a fanatic who stands in front of cars and demands for oil executives to be hung, I think fossil fuels have done an unbelievably great service for humans. However, I do think people need to consider how we are going to transition from our current energy situation. The future of the world depends on it.

 

+1!  I'm also a believer that the Earth is self-regulating.  It will make itself less and less habitable for humanity.  At some point, if we don't adjust our behavior, a significant portion of the 8B plus people will die from various issues.  I think technology can stave off a great deal of that future, but it will also need change in human behavior.  Tech won't be able to do it all by itself.  That may give humanity enough time to seek out other habitable planets and develop large colonies.  But suggesting that climate change doesn't exist is the biggest hoax being perpetrated by people out there!  Cheers!

[Gregmal]

4 hours ago, Jaygo said:

 

Was it a documentary gregmal?

Yes, and a good one. Showing how humans inhabited the Americas 30,000 years ago, despite the “scientists” telling us it was only 15,000 years ago because half of America was covered in ice. 

[Xerxes]

12 hours ago, Jaygo said:

 We will lower our fossil fuel use by not having to heat our homes 8 months of the year. 

this past winter was pretty bad in Montreal. Not enough snow. Barely any. 
 

I want all my four seasons. 

[Saluki]

We just finished watching Bodkin TV series. It's like Only Murders In The Building but darker. Podcasters investigating 3 people who went missing on Halloween 20 years ago. Lots of secrets uncovered in a small Irish town and lots of plot twists to keep you guessing. 

[Parsad]

I'm watching The Old Man with one of my favorite actors of all time...Jeff Bridges.  Fantastic show!  Also has the great John Lithgow.  Didn't know FX came included with my Disney+ in Canada, otherwise I would have watched this a while ago.  Cheers!

[Xerxes]

16 hours ago, Parsad said:

I'm watching The Old Man with one of my favorite actors of all time...Jeff Bridges.  Fantastic show!  Also has the great John Lithgow.  Didn't know FX came included with my Disney+ in Canada, otherwise I would have watched this a while ago.  Cheers!

 

Then, you must have also missed SHOGUN and SHARDLAKE and tons of others.

Havent seen OLD MAN, will take a look

 

 

[Parsad]

12 minutes ago, Xerxes said:

 

Then, you must have also missed SHOGUN and SHARDLAKE and tons of others.

Havent seen OLD MAN, will take a look

 

 

 

Will probably watch SHOGUN next.  Definitely recommend The Old Man...the actors and story were just wonderful!

 

Will be watching the 2nd Season of House of Dragons tonight.  Rewatched the 1st Season in the last few weeks to get ready again for tonight. 

 

HOD is a fitting prequel to GOT.  Never thought I would see a show as good or on par as GOT...well they managed to do it again!

 

Cheers!

[Xerxes]

6 minutes ago, Parsad said:

Will be watching the 2nd Season of House of Dragons tonight.  Rewatched the 1st Season in the last few weeks to get ready again for tonight. 

 

HOD is a fitting prequel to GOT.  Never thought I would see a show as good or on par as GOT...well they managed to do it again!

 

 

I resubscribed to CRAVE few hours ago. I am ready to go as well in 3 min.

 

I did rewatch HOD season 1 few months ago. I think if we were to rewatch GOT some years from now (and i have not since the finale) we will probably find HOD better than GOT. But then again HOD makes sense only because of GOT's massive infrastructure built in world-building and story-telling.