TV/Movies Megathread

[The Brain]

[Sheilbh]

Also - for the Brits - Ghost Stories was on BBC2 last week and is now on iPlayer.

Strong recommend. It's the most exciting horror genre - British portmanteau

Very good - strong recommend. Written by one of the guys from League of Gentleman and gets the right level of creepiness from the banal - pebble-dashed terrace houses, flat-roof pubs etc.

[Zoupa]

Watching the Amazon Prime re-make of Utopia and it's....fine.

But I just don't really get it. It feels like a missed opportunity because it's basically an okay, high-end glossy American show. Which is fine. But the original had this really distinctive (at the time) visual style. It was a really striking aesthetic - sort of primary colours, dystopia with a Wes Anderson love for slightly sinister symmetries/composition. This is the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3gxwIqqzB4

And this has lost that aesthetic. So it's still a good story, and it's well-acted, but it doesn't have a style of its own. On the upside apparently Amazon have already announced the number of episodes so we should get resolution to the story because Channel 4 cancelled it after two series.

Edit: Also the original had a cracking soundtrack - so far the re-make doesn't.

I saw it all for lack of a better thing to watch recently. The main problem for me is that I was way more interested in the plot when the baddies were on screen that when the heroes were. Jessica Hyde is just an asshole, they gave me no reason to root for her.

Have not seen the British original.

[Sheilbh]

Extra Ordinary on Netflix.

Very strong recommend on this one. An Irish comedy about a driving instructor who is also a psychic and decides to help a local man. It's a wonderful, dead-pan, very sweet performance and some great gags about how little supernatural pop culture this psychic's seen.

A real treat in this is some superb Garth Marenghi style clips of her dad (Vincent Dooley's) guide to dealing with various supernatural phenomenon and some excellent VHS compilation edits.

Edit: Oh and there's a satanic, washed up American pop artist living in the nearby castle. For when she tires of dealing with the more day-to-day Irish ghosts like the man haunting a wheelie bin

I feel this is going to pick up a cult audience.

[Liep]

The Mole: Undercover in North Korea

"A real-life undercover thriller about two ordinary men who embark on an outrageously dangerous ten-year mission to penetrate the world's most secretive and brutal dictatorship: North Korea."

It's an insane and unbelievable story and well worth a watch.

[Duque de Bragança]

New Netflix series trailer:

Barbarians (Barbaren)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cA7kwBSUaU

Yes, the story of Varus and Arminius. We all know how it will end. [spoiler]Quintili Vare Legiones red![/spoiler]Expect anachronisms [spoiler]did I see stirrups?[/spoiler]
Some unintended humor "A Barbarian never betrays his people (ironically Arminius would disagree at the very end of his life).
[spoiler]Wonder if Maroboduus will get his side of the story[spoiler] Did I see Segestes?
[spoiler]Germania Tota? I thought this was only till the Elbe  Artistic license? Hubris?[/spoiler]
ROMANS SPEAK LATIN! Germans speak, well, nowadays German.

Speaking of which, I still have not seen the second season of Britannia, first season entertaining in its own right though hardly historical. I hope for a bit more historicity though I expect events to be messed up [spoiler]will the contemporary Illyrian revolt be referred?[/spoiler]
If it works, second season with Germanicus? 

[Syt]

Netflix is launching an animated show about Greek mythology, "Blood of Zeus."

I like Twitter reactions to the "You're the son of Zeus" line in the trailer.

"Can you be more specific?"
"You have no idea how little that means!"
Etc.

[Maladict]

Yes, the story of Varus and Arminius. We all know how it will end.

I thought I knew about the Trojan War before watching Troy 

The Latin/German combo sounds very odd, they could at least have used some form of Old German or Frankish.

[The Brain]

China Varus?

[Duque de Bragança]

Yes, the story of Varus and Arminius. We all know how it will end.

I thought I knew about the Trojan War before watching Troy 

The Latin/German combo sounds very odd, they could at least have used some form of Old German or Frankish.

Points for not being Ecclesiastical Latin though. I guess Rreally old German or Frankish would have necessitated some kind of post-sync by the few experts available.

[Josephus]

Six episodes into Bly Manor, still rather disappointed. Too much backstory, flashbacks and exposition. I think the source material is too limited for a nine-episode arc, and the writers are throwing the kitchen sink at it. This results in less creepiness, more tediousness. Even if the last two episodes are scary as fuck, as I keep hearing, it likely, for me, won't make up for this. Hill House, by comparison was thrilling and engaging from the get-go. This one just plods.

[Josquius]

Yeah, I find myself zoning out and looking at my phone with Bly Manor. Which means I am probably missing the few moments that matter.
Its also weird with quite how posh and artificial everyone is.

[Sheilbh]

Yeah, I find myself zoning out and looking at my phone with Bly Manor. Which means I am probably missing the few moments that matter.
Its also weird with quite how posh and artificial everyone is.

Yeah I have struggled with it because I couldn't tell if that's how some writer thought posh English kids spoke or if the kids were meant to be sort of arch and ironic.

It's a weird tone that I don't think quite works.

[Liep]

Finished Bly Manor and it's great. It has its weird moments and choices and is more creepy/eerie than scary but it all comes together rather splendidly in the end.

[Josephus]

It all comes together rather splendidly in the end.

As I said, i keep hearing that. And I'll watch it to the end; but it's a struggle getting there.As Tyr said, I found myself flipping through my phone through a whole conversation the other day. It's not gripping me.