Share your latest viewing here.
You Have Been Watching
- This topic has 1,364 replies, 26 voices, and was last updated 1 day, 6 hours ago by
.
Author
-
-
We also tried the new season of The Witcher and didn’t even make it to the end of the first episode. If you thought it had got bad before then this new season is just awful, dull and grey and lifeless. Losing Cavill must be the final nail in its coffin, it’s barely even a shadow of the fun, dynamic show it was in season 1.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
We also tried the new season of The Witcher and didn’t even make it to the end of the first episode.
Same here. Even the fact I was drunk couldn’t get me through that crappy episode.
4 users thanked author for this post.
-
-
I kind of miss the times when this show was fun.
Yeah, I felt like this from season two onwards really. It’s like they suddenly became embarrassed that the show initially succeeded on the back of having two sexy leads, a load of grotesque monsters, and packing in a ton of gratuitous violence and nudity. A winning formula that they bafflingly abandoned in terms of focusing on goblin politics or some shit.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
-
-
I saw Bugonia the day before yesterday. What a fucking awesome movie. Expectedly so, but man was that a bunch of fun.
I want to see the Korean movie it’s based on now, too. Bugonia was unmistakably a Lanthimos movie, but the plot seems to be pretty much 1:1 from the original.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
-
I think continuing past the first series hurt the show…
5 users thanked author for this post.
-
I think continuing past the first series hurt the show…
When the satisfaction/pride in producing a successful single-season miniseries bumps up against the potential $$ in producing numerous sequel seasons, greed is always going to win out over creative integrity.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
I think continuing past the first series hurt the show…
When the satisfaction/pride in producing a successful single-season miniseries bumps up against the potential $$ in producing numerous sequel seasons, greed is always going to win out over creative integrity.
That’s what happened to Squid Game. Seasons 2 and 3 really didn’t add anything to the story. If they had ended Season 1 with Seong Gi-hun just standing in the bording gate after receiving the phone call then smash cut to credits, I think that would have been a more powerful ending. Leave it ambiguous as to what he did and let the viewers’ imagination decide what he did next.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
I think continuing past the first series hurt the show…
It really did go off the rails starting with Season 2 and got worse after that.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
I think continuing past the first series hurt the show…
When the satisfaction/pride in producing a successful single-season miniseries bumps up against the potential $$ in producing numerous sequel seasons, greed is always going to win out over creative integrity.
That’s what happened to Squid Game. Seasons 2 and 3 really didn’t add anything to the story. If they had ended Season 1 with Seong Gi-hun just standing in the bording gate after receiving the phone call then smash cut to credits, I think that would have been a more powerful ending. Leave it ambiguous as to what he did and let the viewers’ imagination decide what he did next.
Oh christ yes, Squid Game 2 and 3 were awful in the end
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
I think part of the problem is that the series seems to have been adapting half each of two books, so the end of the show is halfway through one of the novels.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
That’d certainly explain a few things, yeah.
Similar structural problem to the one they had with The Last of Us season 2.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
It didn’t help the first two series of The Expanse much either, though that was a much better show than The Witcher
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
To say the least.
I do wish they’d gotten a few more season of The Expanse. But at least they got to wrap things up in their own way.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
I finally watched Mickey 17 today. It was an interesting mess that felt like it wasn’t that interested in actually exploring all the ideas that it crammed in there, and although there are some good performances and amazing effects it didn’t quite hang together as a story for me. The first half is more personal and character focused like Moon and then the second half becomes a much broader (in style and in scope) satire that reminded me more of Starship Troopers. It felt like all the quirkiness and weirdness was quite superficial and ultimately the core ideas were all fairly familiar and well-trodden in sci-fi, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but I do wish it had done something more interesting with it all.
4 users thanked author for this post.
-
To say the least.
I do wish they’d gotten a few more season of The Expanse. But at least they got to wrap things up in their own way.
The main issue with adapting The Expanse is that the books have a 30-year time jump after the last book they adapted, so they’d probably have had to change things majorly to keep it going.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
It seemed like the Laconia scenes gave a hint of what might have come next.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
It seemed like the Laconia scenes gave a hint of what might have come next.
They literally set up at least two major plot points for last three novels’ worth of story with the Laconia scenes in series 5 and 6
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
I finally watched Mickey 17 today. It was an interesting mess that felt like it wasn’t that interested in actually exploring all the ideas that it crammed in there, and although there are some good performances and amazing effects it didn’t quite hang together as a story for me. The first half is more personal and character focused like Moon and then the second half becomes a much broader (in style and in scope) satire that reminded me more of Starship Troopers. It felt like all the quirkiness and weirdness was quite superficial and ultimately the core ideas were all fairly familiar and well-trodden in sci-fi, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but I do wish it had done something more interesting with it all.
I was thinking more about this film and realised it had a very Red Dwarf feel to a lot of it. It’s mostly set in a giant spaceship with a small crew who live in grey, submarine-like sleeping quarters and eat in grey cafeterias, the tone is a mix between character-oriented stuff revolving around the lowest-status members of the crew and absurd sci-fi concepts, the interactions between two duplicates of the same character reminded me of the stuff with multiple Rimmers, the technology to backup people’s minds feels very like hologram tech, and the bio-printer is straight out of one of the more recent episodes. Even the spacesuits remind me of the Series I-era suits.
-
I watched the Blue Beetle movie tonight, which I’ve been meaning to do for, ooo, about a year.
It’s… fine? The cast is all good, the story’s alright, though my attention started to wander 2/3 in. I could have maybe lived without the emphasis on family after Shazam did that, but it does work. The effects are a mixed bag. I’m far from a snob about CGI, but it did look pretty weightless at times here. And then on the other hand, you’ve got practical fight scenes that feel a bit Sentai-ish (ie a tad cheap) but I don’t know, that worked for me. I liked the casual bounce of the extra legs looming over the shoulders when Jamie’s in costume but just talking. I wish all the weapons didn’t just magic out of nowhere (I’d have preferred an organic effect, where the suit grows them out of itself). I think the bigger problem visually is that the film half-heartedly goes for this 80s retro neon Miami cool blue and purple colour palette which doesn’t entirely work and it always looks better in the scenes where it doesn’t bother with that.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
Oh, I finally watched Peachmaker S2, and while I thought S1 was better, I still liked it a lot.
There were a lot of fun moments and the story of Chris looking for validation, and then family, worked pretty well for me – even if the tie-in into larger DCU stuff towards the end didn’t always work.I hope there’s another season.
(Presumably, that’d be… on Netflix, then?)5 users thanked author for this post.
-
I hope there’s another season. (Presumably, that’d be… on Netflix, then?)
Apparently Gunn has said they aren’t planning for another Peacemaker season but that the characters will show up in other DC projects, which is a bit of a bummer as it felt like so much was set up for a third season.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
Seriously? The last episode was nothing but set-up for another season. Then it makes no sense at all instead.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
Yep, it’s baffling.
https://www.avclub.com/peacemaker-season-3-james-gunn-no-plans
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
Seriously? The last episode was nothing but set-up for another season. Then it makes no sense at all instead.
Yeah, it’s weird. But apparently, it was actuall set-up for Man of Tomorrow…
I don’t know, I think in that case they’d better just have left it at the happy ending before that last two minutes.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
I miss the time when a crossover was “wouldn’t it be cool if Hellboy, John Constantine and Buffy, the Vampire Slayer hunted a demon together” and not “to understand this story, you must first read this story, and watch this movie, and find this thing that was released for a limited time on an exclusive platform only available in Papua New Guinea”…
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
We watched Wake Up Dead Man aka Knives Out 3 tonight, having enjoyed the first two. This one isn’t quite up there but is still a good watch.
The weaknesses are that the characters feel a bit more thinly-sketched and the setup feels a bit more mechanical and inelegant, but the back half of the film is more satisfying as things fall into place.
More than ever it felt like a movie version of Jonathan Creek, but with a huge budget and a cast of great actors, as well as Jeremy Renner.
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
Seriously? The last episode was nothing but set-up for another season. Then it makes no sense at all instead.
Yeah, it’s weird. But apparently, it was actuall set-up for Man of Tomorrow…
I don’t know, I think in that case they’d better just have left it at the happy ending before that last two minutes.
It is the US TV habit that tells me they have no confidence in their own product. Lincoln Lawyer S3 and Ballard S1? Good crime stories told across 10 eps, except for the last five minutes of the last episode.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
About 6-7 months ago, I posted about a random European-Japanese co-production anime I’d stumbled upon and the terrible Malaysian English dub it had. Well, Reporter Blues got its claws in me and I ended up getting hold of the entirety of it in French (along with the German DVD release of s1) and doing an English fan-sub of it all.
I was just going to put it all up on a torrent site like Nyaa, but it turns out that’s almost impossible to do (if only media piracy was as simple as the people who demonise it claim) so I’ve resorted to putting it up on my YouTube channel (soft-subs using YT’s built in caption feature because I really couldn’t be arsed to re-convert all 52 episodes yet again to have hard subs).
It’s all uploaded and scheduled to go 4 episodes a week for the next 13 weeks. Episode 1 went live this morning.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
I can’t remember if anything about it was brought up in Whedon’s cancellation
Quite the opposite if memory serves – both Fillion and Tudyk defended him when the whole thing first broke. I think making Firefly was probably a very different experience.
And in terms of critical re-evaluation in light of Whedon’s fall from grace, it is quite weird that he created a future where Chinese has blended into English (which doesn’t always hold up either imo) and yet there’s barely any Asian people anywhere in this show. I could remember one off the top of my head and a quick scroll thru imdb suggested one more in a minor role and a third uncredited. Which isn’t great.
Yeah, that was already weird back then. On the plus side, he had two black people in the main cast from the get-go, which was a step up from Buffy for sure.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
I’ve been watching an animated show called Pantheon on Netflix. It’s a pretty cool sci-fi thing about people who have died and been uploaded experimentally and then basically enslaved, and now they’ve broken free. It’s a well-made show and deals with its topics in interesting ways.
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
Stranger Things 5.5 – 5.7
I watched the next three episodes and this is what kept running through my head as I watched them: “The finale is going to shit the bed, isn’t it?”
As I’m watching the episodes, Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s advice to young writers kept popping into my head:
It was like the show’s writers kept saying, “AND THEN! AND THEN! AND THEN!” The explanation of the Upside Down really felt like and “and then” thing. It felt like there were needless complications and story beats added as a way to add tension, instead of drilling down into the characters and their motivations to raise the stakes.
One thing I loved about the first season is it genuinely felt like it was set in the 1980s. The cinematography, style, everything, just felt like this was actually shot in the 80s. Now, It looks like any 2025 series.
Is it possible that the finale will stick the landing and retroactively redeem everything? Yes, it is possible.
Probability of occurence: Very low to non-existent.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
Finally got around to watching a bit more Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. It’s a fun idea, doing an animated show that picks up a lot of stuff from both the books and the movie, but also does its own thing.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
Finally got around to watching Stranger Things Season 5 ahead of the finale. Better than Season 4, but still quite bad, especially the dialogue scenes.
It also hurts that Noah Schnapp isn’t a good actor, and they keep giving him things to do. Lucas has done absolutely nothing this season, and Nancy spent too much of it stuck with Jonathan.
For a show where a lot of the early attention came from them killing off a fairly big character, they sure have given all the leads too much plot armor. The cast is far too large at this point.
Hopper should have stayed dead after Season 2, Will, Jonathan, and Karen should probably have all been killed at some point too. I assume Hopper will die in the finale; I hope he’s not the only one, but it’s too little too late at this point.
I have no interest in spin-offs, if they ever happen aside from the animated one.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
I finished the first season of Pluribus. I thought it was really good. Quite minimalist storytelling in some respects – a small cast and a simple plot – but in other ways the show has a massive scope and is really thought-provoking and uses its ideas to touch on a lot of different aspects of life and society. I’m already looking forward to season two.
-
-
Apart from Pluribus and Andor, it’s been all movies lately – wife has gotten back into film so we racked up quite a few over the past few weeks (after many years of maybe a handful per annum!):
One battle after another – I didn’t really know anything about it other than it being PTA and Leo, and that my movie podcast guys all had it as their top film for the year. Maybe my expectations were too high as a result; I give it a solid 3/5.
Taxi driver – a rewatch for both of us (hers for the second time ever, after many many years, mine – well, I watch it 1-2 times a year anyway). Still a banger, 5/5 – all timer for me.
Sinners – another one where all I knew was that it was vampires, and that everyone loved it. A soft 3/5 for me.
Aftersun – again, I didn’t know anything about it and might have gotten it mixed up with Saltburn (similar title, no actors I like). Slow, well done, quite pretty. I remain uncharmed by Paul Mescal. 3/5.
Shiva baby – another one where my wife picked it; it was described as a lower stakes female version of Uncut Gems in terms of the pace and anxiety. It was an endearing portrayal of middle class Jewish American families. 3/5.
Killers of the flower moon – I was kind of dreading this as I assumed it would be homework/vegetables (I’ve avoided Scorsese’s Silence for the same reason)… but it’s great and not that at all. Entertaining, long but deserving, it’s still a crime/conspiracy story more than anything. 4/5.
Carlito’s Way – a rewatch, my choice, one of my all time faves – 5/5.
28 years later – tonight’s viewing. I saw the original once when it was new and skipped the second one. This was really quite good, though still only a 3/5.
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
What kind of beer do you like?
Heineken.
Heineken? Fuck That Shit!
Pabst Blue Ribbon!3 users thanked author for this post.
-
Because, well, I finally watched Eraserhead.
Definitely want a rewatch, in due time.Hmmm, may as well put Lost Highway on the schedule and try to find a Lynch Unifying Theory.
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
So I guess I did an ABC.
Aliens, Blue Velvet, Chronicle.While I recommend Chronicle, on my fourth watch it may be a bit boring.
The end is still awesome, but knowing stuff, well, we wait for the end.Edit: and I could’ve picked a better “C”, just not in the mood for Casablanca or Chinatown.
So, honestly lost on that one.Stand behind Aliens and Blue Velvet.
Weird to type that
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
just not in the mood for Casablanca
I’m never NOT in the mood for Casablanca — fantastic cast, quotable dialogue, classic storyline, and Dooley Wilson’s singing.
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
Edit: and I could’ve picked a better “C”, just not in the mood for Casablanca or Chinatown.
If only there were another universally praised and renowned classic “godfather of cinema” film that regularly tops all-time top movie lists and begins with “C”.
-
Two episodes into ITV’s new quiz show import THE FLOOR and it’s strangely compelling.
The format is that 81 contestants have a square on a big digital floor (interestingly, this and all other adaptations are shot in the studio of the original production in the Netherlands, so it must be an expensive floor. More expensive than at least 82 return flights on EasyJet) and have brought their own specialist subject. THE FLOOR randomly selects a starting contestant, who has to challenge one of their director neighbours (horizontally or vertically, not diagonally) on the opponent’s special subject.
Those challenges are, on paper, trivially easy. It is literally just a case of naming things in pictures, on a chess clock system of 45 seconds each. You’re not penalised for giving a wrong answer, you can keep going on the same picture, but you lose three seconds for passing. And yet, there have been some complete implosions. One woman confidently challenged another on “moguls” and clearly didn’t understand what the word meant, because she spent 10 seconds not being able to name Richard Branson. One guy defended his own category of fashion icons and got absolutely demolished, not knowing who most of them were. It definitely feels like it’s been cast for personality rather than quizzing skill. Still, that “I can’t believe they’re that bad on their category” element is sort of compelling, possibly not long term.
Winning a duel eliminates the opponent and merges your square with theirs. If you’re the defender, your category is gone and you inherit the specialist subject of the losing attacker. You then get to decide if you want to attack further, or pass to another randomly selected contestant. At the end of each episode, the contestant with the biggest area gets £5k (split if it’s a tie). The same contestants are on for the full series (I get the feeling it was filmed in one day, two at stretch – they didn’t even do an outfit change between eps 1 and 2, despite having them all come back out to THE FLOOR again at the start of ep 2). So the tactical element lifts it a bit as well, even though I would say the best tactic is quite obvious: if you’re lucky enough to attack without having defended first, take out all your opponents whose categories you like, then back off and wait to defend on your (theoretically) strongest subject when someone comes for you. Seems the best way to get the five grand early on at least. Despite this, a lot of people have been backing off immediately, stuck with an inherited subject they don’t like, which I don’t see panning out for them.
The show’s hosted by Rob Brydon, who is a safe pair of hands. Very personable, hamming it up like mad and able to do a good reaction shot when someone passes on something they really should know. Ultimately, it’s an enjoyable bit of fluff for a Sunday evening. The way the format’s set up, you have a tease for categories that are coming to come up at some point and seeing some of those (and how badly they get screwed up, potentially) is enough to keep me coming back, for now at least.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
The format is that 81 contestants have a square on a big digital floor (interestingly, this and all other adaptations are shot in the studio of the original production in the Netherlands, so it must be an expensive floor.
The US one, hosted by Rob Lowe, is actually filmed in Wicklow, or at least the first few seasons were.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
-
-
I went through a big John Hughes phase when I was at uni. I wouldn’t say he’s my favourite film-maker but I do think he’s incredibly interesting.
Since then though, I’ve not rewatched many of those films – just Breakfast Club and Home Alone really – and I’ve had some sitting on my DVR for a while that I’ve been hesitant to go back to for varying reasons.
Weird Science, which I actually watched a year or so back, I had mixed memories of. I mainly just remembered the talking shit monster bit, which was good. But that I actually found really enjoyable, and I think it uses Lisa in a way that isn’t objectifying (or at least not solely). She always has agency and power.
Sixteen Candles, which I watched the other day, I couldn’t really remember much of at all, but had heard loads in the interim of it being racist and rapey. And, well, it is. Though I’d say that beyond the name, Long Duck Dong isn’t too bad. Ultimately, it has to be looked at as the transition point for Hughes between doing sub-Animal House bawdy Lampoon comedies and his teen comedy-dramas. It’s got both of those shoved in there together and it works better than it really should.
And then lastly Pretty In Pink, which I watched tonight. The reason I’d been hesitant about this is because I remember thinking it wasn’t really all that. But I think I’ve been mixing it up to a degree with another film Ringwald and McCarthy did called Slow Horses or Fresh Horses or something. So, gave it another go.
Boy it sucks. McCarthy’s character Blaine is just a big ol’ streak of fuck all. There’s nothing to him at all. It’s hard to see what Andie’s meant to be attracted to initially (beyond looks I guess) but it’s even more baffling that she’s then thrilled to be asked to the prom by him given their one date is a disaster that she clearly didn’t enjoy. And then on the other hand you’ve got Duckie, the pining best friend who is a stalkery bellend. I absolutely don’t understand anyone who thinks Andie should have ended up with him. Apparently that was the original plan and somehow that would worse than the dreadful ending the film has where Blaine gives an awful apology, Duckie suddenly gives his blessing and Andie goes off with him.
The only redeeming bits of the film are Ringwald generally, especially her scenes with Stanton (more should have been made of that), James Spader looming and lurking around as an entitled prick and Annie Potts as Andie’s boss, bit even the she gets the same “conformity brings happiness” treatment Allison got in The Breakfast Club.
There’s a much better film waiting to have been found in the bones of this.3 users thanked author for this post.
-
Watched Bugonia last night.
Loved it! Story and acting. Everything.
Highly recommended.Followed that up with One Battle After Another.
Awesome! Great Paul Thomas Anderson movie, and very timely with the current state of the U.S.
Great performances from all involved. -
Watched Bugonia last night.
Loved it! Story and acting. Everything.
Highly recommended.Followed that up with One Battle After Another.
Awesome! Great Paul Thomas Anderson movie, and very timely with the current state of the U.S.
Great performances from all involved.Two of my favourites from last year.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
I’ve seen Sinners by now, which was a great lot of fun. I tried to stay as unspoiled as possible – I mean, there was no way not to know it was actually all about vampires, but what I hadn’t realised – and I don’t think this counts as a spoiler – is that the movie was actually all about music. My favourite scenes were the ones with the vampire community singing Irish folk songs and doing their weird dances.
I don’t know whether it deserves all the Oscar nominations, mind you. It’s not that much of a standout from its genre, just a really good example. And of course, it was also an overtly political movie, and maybe it does deserve the attention it’s getting for that.
(Sidenote: I was reminded in a lot of ways both of the American Vampire books and of the HBO Lovecraft Country series, which I loved.)
5 users thanked author for this post.
-
The Wrecking Crew
This initially looks like a dumb fun movie but it quickly becomes more than that. It does some smart moves, like not immediately teaming up Momoa and Batista’s half brothers. It has a good set of supporting characters and fight choreographers that know what they’re doing.
Above all, it’s very fun, knows not to go too dark and serious and is well-paced. I never felt it was dragging its heels to make a run time. Plus, if you’re going to blow a place with action sequences, Hawaii is a good choice.
-
After starting Lord of the Flies on Sunday we’ve found it really compelling viewing and have watched an episode every evening, finishing it up tonight.
It’s a really great adaptation. Thoughtfully written, well acted by the child cast, and artistically filmed and edited.
Knowing the book I obviously knew the beats of the story but still found it all pretty affecting and thought-provoking.
One of the best pieces of TV I’ve seen in a while.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.