TV/Movies Megathread

[Malthus]

The Mad Max trailer has mesmerized me completely; I must have watched it a dozen times since it came out. It's completely bonkers, the good kind of bonkers. I hope the film is just a 90 minute long chase between people that have had way too much LSD punctuated by Verdi's Requiem. It's a glorious trailer.

I'm LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS ONE.

It looks like they finally made a movie that ditches such unnecessary baggage as "plot" and "characters" and features a solid hour and a half of stuff exploding. 

[Eddie Teach]

So I need to know. Why do I like the stuff that's made for Justin Bieber fans? Does this mean the golden age of TV drama series is over?

Seeing that you turn your nose up at quality shows like Hell on Wheels and Manhattan, I'd suggest it's a personal failing. 

And like I mentioned to Josq, it's fucking December. Everything's on hiatus so people can travel and watch crappy Christmas specials.

[MadImmortalMan]

Watched two episodes of Marco Polo. Seems still in the sort of setup phase. Lots of potential though.

Oh, and lots of nude harem girls of Asian persuasion.

[Ideologue]

I don't need narrative cinema for that.

[Viking]

Most of my attention span now is on Dan Carlin's History podcast, but when thinking about what TV I watch.

Agents of SHIELD and Gotham (mainly out of a feeling of obligation)
Constantine (Hoping it get's it's head of steam up before they cancel it)
Arrow ('cause it's ossum and the only show I wait until 3 am to pirate it rather than wait three weeks to watch it on TV)
Flash (being more and more optimistic as it keeps getting better)
The 100 (the second most ossum one it is a drama show that still doesn't need to manufacture it)
Revenge (The Count of Monte-Cristo with twitter on steroids, Think Emily VanCamp playing Batman)

Stuff I noticed about my schedule.

1. Nothing from Showtime or HBO. I've lost interest in Homeland, Nurse Jackie, Ray Donovan and Episodes. Walking Dead, Game of Thrones and True Detective aren't on.
2. The Network shows AoS (ABC), Gotham (Fox) and Constantine (NBC) I watch out of obligation as much as anything else.
3. The rest, and the ones I look forward to are either on The CW or belong there (Revenge which is on ABC)

So I need to know. Why do I like the stuff that's made for Justin Bieber fans? Does this mean the golden age of TV drama series is over?

What's AoS?

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The 100 is pretty good, not your average teen drama.  Constantine, I left after 2 shows, it got worst.
Gotham isn't for Bieber fans.

My point being the non-shield, non-gotham and non-constantine shows are.

And I don't understand this "I watch out of obligation as much as anything else".  Someone is forcing you to watch bad tv?  You have family members in the cast/writers/staff?

An pre-exisiting emotional attachment to some of the characters. Or, the reason why I will watch the star war prequels from time to time and why I will watch a james bond movie even it is directed by Shyamalan with the guy who played screech as bond, rosie o'donnell as the bond girl and Jackie Chan* playing the bond villain.

*I love Jackie Chan, he always plays Jackie Chan in his movies and he's the nicest guy on the planet.

[Ideologue]

Dustin Diamond is forever.

[Viking]

So I need to know. Why do I like the stuff that's made for Justin Bieber fans? Does this mean the golden age of TV drama series is over?

Seeing that you turn your nose up at quality shows like Hell on Wheels and Manhattan, I'd suggest it's a personal failing. 

And like I mentioned to Josq, it's fucking December. Everything's on hiatus so people can travel and watch crappy Christmas specials.

This is what I've been watching the last three months.

Watched the first episode of Hell on Wheels: It pandered to every single Confederate stereotype, my inner Seedy rejected it on those grounds. Plus, the revenge didn't feel as righteous as the count of montecristo like Revenge itself. The Hero was a bad guy in my mind, the whole show felt like it was written by Jubal Early.

Watched the first episode of Manhattan. I was completely un-interested in the personal lives of the people there. Not just because there was interesting science, politics, ethics and morality that could have made better use of the time, but also because these people were some of the most fortunate people on the planet at the time. They were not being shot at and they were not an ocean away from their loved ones.

Neither of those shows interested me, perhaps they got better? I don't know. With movies I watch at home, if the first act doesn't make me care about the characters or their dilemmas the rest isn't going to do so either. If you tell me my first impressions of both are wrong, I'll give them another, more sustained go. 

[HVC]

I saw the trailer for hot tub time machine 2, and kind of actually wanna see it.

[Admiral Yi]

Do you make a living out of your hobby of making asinine comments?

Harsh toke.

[11B4V]

So I need to know. Why do I like the stuff that's made for Justin Bieber fans? Does this mean the golden age of TV drama series is over?

Seeing that you turn your nose up at quality shows like Hell on Wheels and Manhattan, I'd suggest it's a personal failing. 

And like I mentioned to Josq, it's fucking December. Everything's on hiatus so people can travel and watch crappy Christmas specials.

This is what I've been watching the last three months.

Watched the first episode of Hell on Wheels: It pandered to every single Confederate stereotype, my inner Seedy rejected it on those grounds. Plus, the revenge didn't feel as righteous as the count of montecristo like Revenge itself. The Hero was a bad guy in my mind, the whole show felt like it was written by Jubal Early.

Way off base and short sighted. You cant really determine the substance of a show let alone a  main character in one episode.

[Ed Anger]

I can.

[11B4V]

I can.

lick nuts 

[Ed Anger]

I can.

lick nuts 

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[Ideologue]

Do you make a living out of your hobby of making asinine comments?

Harsh toke.

If you say so. It's nasty to try to make me feel like shit.over a pasttime. Big negative waves, man.

[Eddie Teach]

Hell on Wheels- the revenge plot is resolved pretty quickly and the War isn't that big an issue(and the part you all rolled your eyes about, that Bohannon freed his slaves prior, turns out to be a lie). It's a show about the West.

You're right about Manhattan; those people aren't getting shot at. Well, except the Chinese-American researcher who gets accused of espionage. Perhaps it would be better with less personal stuff, but the secrecy around the project drives much of that. There's witch hunts for Germans and commies alike, competing design teams that are forbidden from sharing information, wire taps in people's homes...


The thing, for me, isn't so much subject matter as treatment. There are tons of CW shows that sound awesome in a paragraph blurb. But then you watch it and everybody sounds like a teenager, the plots feel unnatural and illogical, there's a lot of cliches. I love shows with fantasy elements but they should establish a baseline of "this is what is realistic and possible in this world". Even better if the writer's constantly asking himself "is this how this character would react in this situation?" It doesn't need to stand up to scrutiny of the type that it might get on a message board like this, but if I'm sitting there watching it and thinking half a dozen times during an episode, I'm not going to enjoy it much.