TV/Movies Megathread

[KRonn]

Watching The 100, last season. Interesting new twists to the story, new worlds or something.

[celedhring]

Ocean's 8. As predictable as they are, I'm a sucker for heist movies. This one felt a bit lazy though, and the plot make even less sense than the usual for this genre. The cast has enough charisma to carry it, though. Bonham-Carter is really funny in this and I could watch Cate Blanchett read a cricket almanack.

[Syt]

Watched Space Force. The first 3 or 4 episodes were quite rough and the humor was applied with a sledge hammer, but I felt after that the series was starting to come into its own, especially with Steve Carell's Gen Naird moving away from a military version of his Michael Scott to a more sympathetic character. Though John Malkovich is the highlight of the cast for me. I checked his IMDB page - jeez, he's a busy boy. I hope he comes back to the Vienna stages again at some point.

I hope they'll be able to resolve the cliffhanger of the season (the last two episodes felt very rushed, like they had intended to have more episodes and then had to rush to the end). I don't think the series will age well, though, because a lot of the humor, especially as relates to POTUS is quite topical and "of the time." I did appreciate the Full Metal Alchemist discussion. Overally, the series generated more laughing out loud moments for me towards the end than in the first few episodes, and it added some heart as well.

[Barrister]

Watched Space Force. The first 3 or 4 episodes were quite rough and the humor was applied with a sledge hammer, but I felt after that the series was starting to come into its own, especially with Steve Carell's Gen Naird moving away from a military version of his Michael Scott to a more sympathetic character. Though John Malkovich is the highlight of the cast for me. I checked his IMDB page - jeez, he's a busy boy. I hope he comes back to the Vienna stages again at some point.

I hope they'll be able to resolve the cliffhanger of the season (the last two episodes felt very rushed, like they had intended to have more episodes and then had to rush to the end). I don't think the series will age well, though, because a lot of the humor, especially as relates to POTUS is quite topical and "of the time." I did appreciate the Full Metal Alchemist discussion. Overally, the series generated more laughing out loud moments for me towards the end than in the first few episodes, and it added some heart as well.

John Malkovich is a delight, for sure.

Gen Naird - while I appreciate that Carrell is trying to play the character as fairly different from his character from The Office, the sort of gruff military man he tries to play him as just doesn't seem to be in his range as an actor.

I did like how they referenced the President not by name, but only as POTUS to avoid making the show all about him.

I did not like the last couple episodes though just because it went from something mostly grounded in reality, towards almost science fiction.

Curious to see if we get a season 2.  Netflix is notorious for axing shows if they're not generating new subscriptions, and with that cast Space Force has to be really expensive to produce.

[crazy canuck]

How do you know that last line is true.  Netflix is notorious for not sharing any of their data or metrics or anything else.

[Barrister]

How do you know that last line is true.  Netflix is notorious for not sharing any of their data or metrics or anything else.

No they don't, but I believe they've said so.  There big obsession is churn - people are always quitting, so they always need people signing up.  So shows like House of Cards or Orange is the New Black which had huge viewership and word of mouth apparently would drive new subscriptions and were thus renewed multiple times, whereas other shows didn't and were summarily cancelled.

[celedhring]

What they care the most is for people watching an entire show, regardless whether these are old or new customers. Shows with high "full" viewerships are the best at driving engagement with the platform and keeping customers onboard. Also means people will come back for a second season.

[Oexmelin]

Ocean's 8. As predictable as they are, I'm a sucker for heist movies. This one felt a bit lazy though, and the plot make even less sense than the usual for this genre. The cast has enough charisma to carry it, though. Bonham-Carter is really funny in this and I could watch Cate Blanchett read a cricket almanack.

I too love a good heist movie.

Do you have a top ten?

[Sheilbh]

If you like a heist movie - watch Widows.

[Oexmelin]

If you like a heist movie - watch Widows.

Thanks. I heard it was a minor McQueen offering, and must confess I forgot about it. I'll add it to the pile.

[Sheilbh]

This looks like a delight:
https://twitter.com/hulu/status/1272936980905484288?s=20

[Sheilbh]

If you like a heist movie - watch Widows.

Thanks. I heard it was a minor McQueen offering, and must confess I forgot about it. I'll add it to the pile.

Oh yeah - in comparison to his other films it's "minor" but as a heist film - with light social commentary - it's superb.

[celedhring]

My Top 10. Ordered by "I would watch this over and over" criteria:

1- Mission Impossible
2- The Sting
3- Inception
4- Ronin
5- The Italian Job (the 1960s original, the remake is fun though)
6- Inside Man
7- The Bank Job
8- Rififi
9- Snatch or Lock&Stock, which are essentially the same movie 
10- Heat

Then there's stuff like The Town and Hell or High Water, which are serious dramas with big heists in them. They're quite good (Hell or High Water is a masterpiece, imho), but don't quite belong to the "heist movie" genre.

I haven't watched Logan Lucky, which looks to be even sillier and funnier than the Ocean films (which I enjoy despite not making the list). I refuse to watch any of the Fast & Furious movies.

[crazy canuck]

I love both versions of the Italian Job

[Admiral Yi]

The Sting at #2??