TV/Movies Megathread

[viper37]

I zoned out in the first series when they discovered the mystical never seen before isle of England via the cutting edge new compass tech.

the first episode features valyries taking warriors to Odin's hall and in all likelyhood Odin himself.  Following that, all throughout the seasons, we see an oracle that predicts the future.  I think based on that first scene, you should have realized it wasn't an historical documentary you were watching.

Now, England ain't mystical nor never before seen, just that this group of Vikings leaders pretends there's nothing to the West.  Others seemed pretty convinced there was something out there worth exploring and raiding.

Anyway.  It's more historical than 300 (Persians did not use war rhinos ), the battles sequences are more realistic that Spartacus, but that's about it.  Still a great show to watch and you shouldn't miss on it if you like historical fiction.

[Josquius]

The trouble with it is it falls in between being historical and fantasy.
300, The Great, etc... Have no pretense of being anything but silly and loosely based on a real story. And they work for it.

Vikings however fits into the same slot as the Tudors in presenting as a straight historic show, but being anything but.

Extra trouble with this kind of show is that even if we ignore the actual history and just look at it as a fantasy series in its own world on its own merits, it still doesn't work. So there's this tribe of mariners... Who don't know about a well known great big island in their part of the world?

Honestly I don't remember the gods in the show. It was long ago I tried to watch. But I wouldn't necessarily see an automatic problem there depending how they're fit into the world and if they make sense within the shows rules.

[Threviel]

With you there, it's a straight up fantasy show using themes from history. To even talk about the historicity of Vikings is just silly.

It's a good show compared to stuff like Blood and Sandals or whatever that crap gladiator thingy was called. And that's enough damning with faint praise from me.

[Duque de Bragança]

Vikings is the kind of show that has a guy travelling east along the Silk Road for months end up in Kiev. I don't know what more needs to be said.

Unsold! 

[Syt]

Finished Season 4 of Veep (Election Night).

I've come around to the show. Actually, how it essentially ignores almost all political issues and reduces DC politics to the 24h media news cycle, fake/real outrages and scandals and the dysfunctional handling of them ... it feels a bit too real at times. Especially after 4 years of the first Trump presidency.

I didn't watch House, and therefore Hugh Laurie with an American accent still feels incredibly weird to me, though.

[Admiral Yi]

Finished Season 4 of Veep (Election Night).

I've come around to the show. Actually, how it essentially ignores almost all political issues and reduces DC politics to the 24h media news cycle, fake/real outrages and scandals and the dysfunctional handling of them ... it feels a bit too real at times. Especially after 4 years of the first Trump presidency.

I didn't watch House, and therefore Hugh Laurie with an American accent still feels incredibly weird to me, though.
 ... it feels a bit too real at times. Especially after 4 years of the first Trump presidency.

I didn't watch House, and therefore Hugh Laurie with an American accent still feels incredibly weird to me,

I'm surprised it took you time to warm up to it.  I thought it was funny right off the bat.

There is something very glitchy about the quoting.

[Syt]

I think I may have gone in with different expectations, but it's all good now.

Oh and just watched:

"How many abortions does a pro-lifer have to pressure his mistress into before the people turn on him?"



  

[grumbler]

Then there's Walker's son observing "if you love children so much, why didn't you raise any of yours?"

[Syt]

Since we had the topic of "torches" in shows set in medieval times ... these two cartoons showed up in my feed.

[Josquius]

Pretty good.
A realistic/exagerated the other way slant on medieval shittiness could be quite good too- rampant disease and cities needing immigration to sustain themselves hidden away beneath a veneer of happy colourful  civilization

[The Brain]

La Casa de Papel (Money Heist), S1-S2. Nerd leads squad of misfits in an elaborate heist. It was good enough that I stuck through it to the end of the heist, but the show has several problems. Among them, some things are just never explained. Instead of using the opportunity to tell how the "genius plan" deals with some problems, they just ignore those problems, which is lazy writing I think. For instance, 1) how do they print the banknotes in a way that makes them untraceable? Which serial numbers do they in fact use? and 2) almost a billion in 50 notes weighs many tons. How did they transport all that through the tunnel in the time they had, and how did they move that in a single van? Or did they in fact only leave with a small fraction of the total printed (but there is no indication of that)? Add to this the Imperial Stormtroopers marksmanship of police snipers, the kindergarten style of police leadership, and the generally unlikable heisters (only Berlin is any cool), and you get a show that could have been done a lot better.

[Josephus]

La Casa de Papel (Money Heist), S1-S2. Nerd leads squad of misfits in an elaborate heist. It was good enough that I stuck through it to the end of the heist, but the show has several problems. Among them, some things are just never explained. Instead of using the opportunity to tell how the "genius plan" deals with some problems, they just ignore those problems, which is lazy writing I think. For instance, 1) how do they print the banknotes in a way that makes them untraceable? Which serial numbers do they in fact use? and 2) almost a billion in 50 notes weighs many tons. How did they transport all that through the tunnel in the time they had, and how did they move that in a single van? Or did they in fact only leave with a small fraction of the total printed (but there is no indication of that)? Add to this the Imperial Stormtroopers marksmanship of police snipers, the kindergarten style of police leadership, and the generally unlikable heisters (only Berlin is any cool), and you get a show that could have been done a lot better.

It was very popular here, especially for a foreign show. S1 and 2 were decent enough, but don't bother with the rest.

[The Brain]

Dahmer S1. Life and death of a serial killer. It's well made I think. I never read much about Dahmer so I cannot judge the accuracy of the description of events. The show mentions the sensitive issue of companies using the suffering of the victims and families for profit, but doesn't (as far as I could understand) make any related statement regarding its own existence.

[Valmy]

Then there's Walker's son observing "if you love children so much, why didn't you raise any of yours?"

It just shows that he wasn't vetted at all. The Republicans wanted a black candidate, and a celebrity, so they put him forward.

It is kind of sad and frustrating to see them actually do what they have always claimed that leftists do, and pick unqualified people just because they check a demographic box.

[Syt]

Binged the last three seasons of Veep over the past two days. Really excellent, though I thought there was a notable drop in quality for me in the last two seasons.

The first five seasons (her time as Veep, becoming president and fighting to be (re-)elected) were released all before the 2016 election. While it was most likely inspired by the constant media circus of the Obama presidency, it seems distressingly prescient of the crapshow that was the Trump presidency. I mean - Sean Spicer or Mike McLintock, what's the difference? Heck, Mike even dyed his beard in one episode and has the dye drip off his face in a press conference, years before Giuliani imitated that stunt. Not to mention the election shenanigans - likely more inspired by the 2000 Florida recount, but also now reminiscent of the 2020 election - including protesters who shout for/against continuing the count.

Seasons 6 and 7 felt more over the top and more cartoonish. 6 was still an interesting look at Selina trying to come to terms with not sitting in the big chair any more. 7, consequently, takes her ambition to the logical conclusion - sacrificing everything and everyone to get elected, but ultimately just ending up as a footnote of history and her funeral being pushed off the news by the death of Tom Hanks (foreshadowed a few seasons prior) while persons with more integrity follow her (Talbot and Splett).

Season 7 also left me with a few headscratchers. Amy joining Jonah's campaign seemed really off - I get that she wants to stick it to Selina, and that she loves running campaigns, but sheesh - it seemed quite out of character, even for her. Jonah's rise doesn't seem so outlandish these days, at least becoming congressman - is there much of a difference between him and a Marjorie Taylor Greene? His story is overall tragi-comic. Yes, he's a giant asshole, but he's sexually molested, loses a testicle to cancer, gets circumcised for a marriage that doesn't happen, infects his estranged father with whom he was starting to reconcile with lethal chicken pox, and marries his half-sister. He feels more like a Garth Ennis character (Herr Starr in the Preacher comics, or that one detective in his Punisher run who go through increasingly dark indignities during the story). The Oslo story was never followed up on. Selina is sought by the police for war crimes and ... nothing comes off it?

I guess that S6 and esp. 7 cranked things up and made amplified the crazy a bit more as reaction to the Trump administration - as said above reality had almost caught up with their previous shenanigans.

In the end there were no really "good" regular characters throughout the show - except Richard, Marjorie and Catherine, I guess. We don't really know enough about Sue. Perhaps Kent, but his motivation throughout this is never quite clear. He seems more interested in the scientific side of things rather than ethics.

Everyone else started cynical self-serving jerks, and pretty much stayed that way. Gary, who arguably took the biggest punishment, remained loyal as a dog till the end. And while it's easy to feel sorry for him, he's also incredibly vain and jealous. It's rather telling that Furlong, who starts out as extremely abrasive asshole - and stays pretty consistent during the show - is by far not the worst person in the room during the party convention in the final episode.

It was a good ride, though, and it's definitely a show that bears a rewatch.

I've started watching Ted Lasso now. Four episodes in; really liking it so far.