TV/Movies Megathread

[Malthus]

Starting in on watching Fargo (I didn't before, because I wanted to watch it from the start). It's looking good so far. Has a different tone from the movie - in the movie, everyone except the police chief seemed incredibly dumb, which was part of the comedy.

[Duque de Bragança]

Well, I didn't say it was "good".  I said it was doing good, in the ratings, you know.

It's part of the NCIS 'verse.  There ain't a ton of quality acting in these shows.  Not that they're meant for actors to surpass themselves, anyway.

Makes the original Magnum P.I. sound like a Shakespearean masterpiece. 
With ninjas in an episode of season 3. 

[viper37]

Well, I didn't say it was "good".  I said it was doing good, in the ratings, you know.

It's part of the NCIS 'verse.  There ain't a ton of quality acting in these shows.  Not that they're meant for actors to surpass themselves, anyway.

Makes the original Magnum P.I. sound like a Shakespearean masterpiece. 
With ninjas in an episode of season 3. 

Well, back then, without cable, we din't have much choice of tv shows to watch...  Besides, the Ferrari was the real star!

[Duque de Bragança]

Well, I didn't say it was "good".  I said it was doing good, in the ratings, you know.

It's part of the NCIS 'verse.  There ain't a ton of quality acting in these shows.  Not that they're meant for actors to surpass themselves, anyway.

Makes the original Magnum P.I. sound like a Shakespearean masterpiece. 
With ninjas in an episode of season 3. 

Well, back then, without cable, we din't have much choice of tv shows to watch...  Besides, the Ferrari was the real star!

No, the moustache!   

[Darth Wagtaros]

He had that watch too.

[Syt]

Over the past few days I've binged Seasons 3-6 of The Expanse. SPOILERS to follow (still no spoiler tags ).

Personal rating of the seasons:
1: A
2: A
3: B+
4: B
5: B-
6: B-

SPOILERS below

Season 3 felt very much like two separate (short) seasons, and kind of reminded me of season 4 of Babylon 5 where, unsure whether there would be a season 5, two major plot points were concluded (in Babylon 5 it was the Shadow War and the Earth Civil War, in Expanse it was the Earth/Mars war and revealing what the proto-molecule tried to create and some backstory to the Builders - Holden getting those visions beamed into his head reminded me of Shepard in Mass Effect with the Protean Beacon ). The banter between Avasarala, Bobby, and Cotyar was fun, but maybe a bit too much in some situations.

The action notably slowed down after the end of the Mars/Earth war - not a bad thing. The constant high stakes, high risk action of the first two and a half seasons is hard to maintain. But the war was wrapped up a bit too quickly/neatly IMHO.

I generally enjoyed Season 4. Klaes Ashford (who joined in S3) was a great character to add. The plot set on Ilus/New Terra was interesting for the alien mystery while the Belters vs. Corporate felt a bit like ticking off the usual tropes. The parasite side plot was at first interesting but didn't really add much except padding. "Oh no, we're all going blind!" - "No wait, here's a cure that works instantly!"

I actually liked showing Bobby getting entangled in the Mars underworld and catching on to the black market dealing in the background. The election campaign stuff was fine. Interesting to see Chrisjen having to deal with a competent up and comer and fearing to lose power. The introduction of Marco Inaros was generally fine and building him up to be the next main villain (poor Klaes ), however ....

Season 5 was a bit strange. I like the idea of splitting up the core group so each character can have a bit more of the spotlight than before. Amos was having the best of it, IMO. The whole political situation makes sense to me. Mars going through a crisis, now that habitable planets are easily within reach, making its people wonder what the point of trying to terraform the red planet still is. Factions that try to hold on to old rivalries and trying to settle scores of the past rather than face the unknown united. Naomi trying to reach out to her son now that her ex is the system's most wanted terrorist. That's all good. But I also feel this could have been handled much more concisely.

The story of the charismatic war leader who ends up overestimating himself and this leading to his end is not a new story, but one I tend to enjoy. Sure, for most Belters he's more of a symbol than anything else, someone to pin their hopes on after being disappointed in Dawes and Johnson. Interesting parallels there with Holden, who could probably have taken a similar route following the Canterbury if he had really wanted to. Naomi on the freight/bomb was a cool concept, but stretched out just a bit too much IMHO. And after the crew cheated death numerous times over the past seasons, Alex gets a weirdly impactless off screen death ... yeah, not cool. I really liked his character, and it sucks he's gone, but this felt really, really casual. Adding Clarissa to the team was nice, and also seeing some of Mars's elite heading off to build a "purer" society on a new world (and basically burning all bridges behind them by propping up Marco and having him distract everyone) made a certain sense.

I was not happy with the entire "ancient civilizations" plot being put on hold for the entire season except for the epilogue in the final episode. The bombing of Earth with asteroids - we see surprisingly little of that. I guess a sign of smaller production budget, and maybe the Covid production environment?

And finally Season 6. I liked the scenes on Laconia (I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE, "PURE" MARTIANS ...  ) that led off each episode. The rest of the episodes were fine, but not exactly spectacular. More shooty-bang to wrap up the Inaros story. I feel this could have been tightened a lot and integrated into Season 5. Oh well. We got a somewhat reasonable wrap up for now. Again, I don't think we needed Marco Inaros for 16-20 episodes.

I generally liked the casting in the show, but Steven Strait as Jim Holden always looks like he's about to have a breakdown and cry. My favorite character by far was Amos. He reminded me initially a lot of Jayne from Firefly, but I liked his arc of learning to moderate his violent impulses somewhat, finding his new family, and "adopting" Clarissa into the team, basically doing for her what Lydia did for him. He also provided the best comic relief. Bobby is a great action girl character (with her suit she's basically Samus Aran from Metroid ), though I feel she's maybe a bit too competent/flawless?

Alex felt like the moral center (and least damaged) of the original crew, so him dying leaves a considerable gap IMO. Naomi had the most on-screen personal drama, and though it felt at times a bit much, she seems to have grown following her "family reunion". Avasarala started morally ambiguous, but by the end she sees her responsibility all of the system, not just Earth. I thought her political maneuvering was more interesting in the first seasons; the latter ones seem to lack that finesse.

Drummer maybe went through the most change, slowly learning from Ashford that the old order is being replaced by something new and finding her place in it and moderating her temper. She remains an uncompromising voice for the Belters, but the wrap up of the final episode shows that it's necessary to ensure they're treated as equals. (Speaking of: through all this, Martian politics rarely pop up - we see Mars military personnel in seasons 5 and 6, but the prime minister only shows up as a bit part in the final episode ... even the bombing of parliament on Mars, simultaneously to asteroids hitting Earth, is basically a footnote.)

Despite trying to be a bit more grounded than other sci-fi, this clearly falls into space opera for me, as a genre. You have a core group of characters that are in the right place at the right (or wrong) time and who are involved in pretty much all major historic events we see (and often influence them) while adding a high dose of action and personal melodrama. I enjoy that kind of stuff, even if the coincidences of who is where at what time are a bit much at some points.

Star Wars suffers the same, but IMHO it can get away a bit more with it. For one, you can ascribe all those coincidences to fate, i.e. The Will Of The Living Force(TM). And for another, Star Wars tries (at least originally) to be more of a myth/fairy tale in its story of good and evil a long time ago and in a galaxy far, far away.

END SPOILERS

[FunkMonk]

I really liked The Batman. It feels like the Batman movie a 14-year-old me would try to write in a journal between 4th period Algebra and lunch. That may turn off a lot of people but it's right up my alley 

Something I really enjoyed in the movie was "Batman As Detective". That's often overlooked or backgrounded in other Batman movies but here it's basically most of the movie. Again, something people may not like but it was right up my alley.

The length of course is a big issue. My wife got bored half way through. As a Batman fan I didn't actually have a problem with the pacing, but part of the reason I've waited so long to see it is because I have to schedule a giant block of time in my life that things like taking care of baby and work and social life and having a wife don't afford me 

[The Larch]

The trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder is out, and it looks apropriately ridiculous. 

[Darth Wagtaros]

Everything Everywhere All at Once

This was a fun movie. I recommend it.

Thor looks like it'll be great.

[Grey Fox]

Finally Nat Portman has stopped being afraid of Disney money.

[crazy canuck]

Last Duel, available on Disney.

Ignoring the bad accents by Damon and Affleck, a really great movie.  Showing the three perspectives was very effective and powerful ending with the version clear of the way the two men wished to be seen. 

Driver saves the movie on the acting front and if Damon didn't have any lines he was the perfect brute.

[viper37]

The trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder is out, and it looks apropriately ridiculous. 

Looks good!

[FunkMonk]

Natalie

[Syt]

Final season of Better Call Saul is off to a decent start. Not great yet, but past seasons also started a bit slow after high tension finales of the previous one, so I expect things to ratchet up.

I generally like the cinematic style of BB/BCS-verse, but there were a few instances, esp. in the first episode, where I thought it was a bit gratuitously pretentious.

Also, having a bit of an issue with the scam/con Saul pulls in the first episode. With the scene he made, I'd be shocked  if his mark wouldn't hear about it and knock the house of cards down. Not to mention his other slip up. Then again, he got out of such spots before.

Trying to keep this spoiler free, but already looking forward to next Tuesday.

[Josquius]

Russian Doll series 2. Seems to be about time travel this time. Yay.

Though the main character sees a guy with a dumb hair cut at one point and says "a millennial"... When she is about to turn 40. Misuse of words angers me.