Netflix

[MindFreak]

11 hours ago, Sméagol said:

I watched Equinox this weekend.

I urge you not to make the same mistake.

I also watched it this weekend. I found it alright up until the two last episodes where things just got a bit too much, and the ending was extremely lackluster and flat. I found the mystery interesting and we played with the idea that it was all in Astrid's head.

 

Yesterday I watched I'm thinking of ending things and I urge you to not make that mistake, though! It started out well but it just fell short and was really mediocre. I was thinking about ending it before it finished but I'm glad I at least stuck until the end.

Edited January 5, 2021 by MindFreak

[drahkon]

Watched the first episode of Ozark last night.

First of all: Jason Bateman is an absolute masterclass of a performer in this episode. Really hope he'll continue to be.
Secondly: What a show Obviously it was just exposition and getting to know the characters but my goodness...the tension is real.

Definitely sticking with it. Seems to be a slow burner but I can live with that.

[Dufniall]

I finished the second season of the Dutch/Belgian crime series Undercover. Still pretty enjoyable, although the first season was better in regards to setting and personas. 

Yesterday I started a new series. But first of all, I'm not a big Netflix user so picking out a new series is usually quite the struggle. There is just so much coming out, and what bothers me a bit about this quantity over quality is that you never know if a series is going to take of. Plenty of series just ended after one or two seasons with open ends but are canned due to not having the proper viewing numbers. Series that are completed (usually the non-Netflix originals) are not fully on the service or disappear after a while. I checked my wishlist and quite a few of my picks (mostly movies btw) are gone. Guess that's the downside of the splintered streaming services.

But, I watched the first two episodes of Alice in Borderland, a Japanese series about a bunch of people winding up in a parallel version of Tokyo were you have to play quite deadly games to survive. It gave me some serious The World Ends With You vibes due to the setting, and the concept is a bit similar to Batoru Rowaiaru/The Hunger Games. So far I'm liking it.

 

[Ganepark32]

Netflix have announced some of the main cast for the first season of their adaptation of The Sandman, based on  the Preludes and Nocturnes book:

I think they've got a solid cast there for those parts. Sturridge looks the part, though I will admit that I had thought James McAvoy would get a shot after his great work voicing Dream in the Audible audio book. Bhaskar and Chaudhry as Cain and Abel is a great touch, should lend those parts a comedic element which is much needed for their interactions. Holbrook also looks the part for The Corinthian and Charles Dance is always a plus in any cast.

Interested especially in the choices for Lucifer and Lucien, now Lucienne. Not familiar with Acheampong's work but picking Christie for Lucker is a fantastic choice. Should be a nice take on that character and I'm just very interested to see how it plays out with both of these changes to the characters in the books.

Its supposedly set for release at some point next year, provided things go smoothly with filming. I'm still dubious that the show won't carry that Netflix feel to it and miss the mark on the look. Its obviously a tall task, and an expensive one, but hopefully they'll take the time for the set work and the CG to do the look justice.

And I'm just curious to see how they'll handle "24 Hours". Its one of my favourite sections of Preludes and Nocturnes but is very much a tonal shift from a lot of what happens in that book so I do wonder if they'll sidestep that whole section.

Exciting to finally have news and looking forward to it.

[MindFreak]

My wife and I are watching Fate: A Winx Saga at the moment - we thought it seemed like a good series to watch between breast feeding and getting too little sleep. We were right. Awful world building and shallow characters, easy teenage fantasy. We will probably go through with it, being only 6 episodes long, but not returning for a second season.

[MindFreak]

So, finished Fate this morning and well... The ending was actually nice, the last 10 minutes finally gave some answers but overall, it was very lackluster. The world in it could be picked apart with just a few simple questions and the drama was very clearly aimed for teens, which made my eyes roll more than once during the last episode. Yikes. The story was somewhat interesting, though, and I would like to know what will happen in season 2, however, ainwill not watch that, if it ever comes. 

At least it was short. 

[Dufniall]

On 1-2-2021 at 10:00 PM, MindFreak said:

My wife and I are watching Fate: A Winx Saga at the moment - we thought it seemed like a good series to watch between breast feeding and getting too little sleep. We were right. Awful world building and shallow characters, easy teenage fantasy. We will probably go through with it, being only 6 episodes long, but not returning for a second season.

Does it have anything to do with that Winx Club cartoon that was on Nickelodeon?

Finished Alice in Borderland which was a pretty entertaining first season. It's not often I think this, but they could have dragged out the first half of the season in a whole season and made the second part the second season (without going into spoilers there are certain events happening halfway that leads to quite a different dynamic). The season ended with a major cliffhanger/open end so I'm hoping it gets a season 2 and this doesn't get the pull-the-plug treatment.

Currently I'm watching The Queen's Gambit with the misses, and I'm enjoying it.

[MindFreak]

1 hour ago, Vileplume2000 said:

Does it have anything to do with that Winx Club cartoon that was on Nickelodeon?

Yes. Live action version but with age rating 16+ due to weed and sexual themes. Teen fantasy. 

[Magnus]

Sounds amazing. I'm surprised it wasn't very good.

[drahkon]

Halfway through Season 2 of Ozark.

It's so freaking good.
Very slow, very deliberate but oh so good.

Can't say it enough: Jason Bateman is incredible. But so is everyone else.

For me, it's better than Breaking Bad which has been my favourite show of that kind since I've watched it. So far, Ozark is better in every way. Which says a lot given how Breaking Bad is a masterpiece.

[drahkon]

And that's Ozark season 3...

I don't understand how this show isn't talked about more. It's absolutely brilliant. Occasionally a little too "slow" in the first and second season but it makes sense in the long run. Can't wait for the next (and supposedly final) season.

[drahkon]

Decided to finally go on with Black Mirror.

Watched a few episodes I skipped from seasons 1-3. My favourite of those would be Be Right Back. But Hated in the Nation and Nosedive deserve a mention, too.

Just now I've watched the first episode of season 4, i.e. USS Callister. Loved it.

But man, I forgot how fucked up Black Mirror episodes can be

[EEVILMURRAY]

On 05/02/2021 at 12:33 PM, MindFreak said:

My wife and I are watching Fate: A Winx Saga at the moment - we thought it seemed like a good series to watch between breast feeding and getting too little sleep. We were right. Awful world building and shallow characters, easy teenage fantasy. We will probably go through with it, being only 6 episodes long, but not returning for a second season.

I didn't think it was *that* bad, but the forced sexual angst was unnecessary 

"Why would I do that?"

"Because you're a guy, and I'm hot"

Emmy award winning scripting there. 

Length was perfect, of a second season happens and is as long I'll give it a whirl. Unlike Warrior Nun which went nowhere very quickly.

 

Currently testing Behind Her Eyes, because all women within earshot at work won't shut up about it, and it's starting to make waves on the Facebook feed.

[Ashley]

 

 

 

[drahkon]

On 2/24/2021 at 11:50 PM, EEVILMURRAY said:

Currently testing Behind Her Eyes

Watched the first two episodes today.

I enjoy it a lot. Made me feel uneasy right from the start.

And Eve Hewson is beautiful. That's a big plus.

[drahkon]

20 hours ago, drahkon said:

I enjoy it a lot.

Watched the finale and loved it.

Apparently it wasn't very well received. I thought it was great. A little bit "out there" but executed quite well.

Spoiler

About halfway through the final episode I realized what the last twist will be. It was pretty obvious in hindsight

"Adele's" aesthetics changed dramatically which I found weird right from the first time we got to see a flashback. And the fact that "she" had Rob's journal was a little weird, too.

 

Edited March 7, 2021 by drahkon

[EEVILMURRAY]

21 hours ago, drahkon said:

Watched the finale and loved it.

Apparently it wasn't very well received. I thought it was great. A little bit "out there" but executed quite well.

  Behind Her Eyes ending spoilers! (Hide contents)

About halfway through the final episode I realized what the last twist will be. It was pretty obvious in hindsight

"Adele's" aesthetics changed dramatically which I found weird right from the first time we got to see a flashback. And the fact that "she" had Rob's journal was a little weird, too.

 

I thought it was fucking awful. I can only assume the book is better and has much more substance to it, because this felt like someone had seen a couple of episodes of Black Mirror / Inside No. 9 / Room 104 and went "y'know what would make an episode of this better? Stretching it out over almost 6 hours" and thought it would somehow work. For the first four episodes you get the sense of an serious/actual drama (like The Stranger which nailed it perfectly), then right at the last minute it slams in a

Spoiler

supernatural twist.

It was just silly and I couldn't take it seriously after that.

 

Spoiler

The thing about Adele's personality changing didn't land because there was no sense of immediacy, to me it felt her personality had altered over time from the happy girl we originally saw, as it had already been established they'd lived at least one other house previously and leaving just because of the one isolated incident - just wouldn't happen. It was clear that there was some sort of initial trauma which messed her up, led to the mental decline (implied to be related to the death of the friend) and the medication/check ups by the husband over a span of years. 

Oh no, her gay friend dream swapped bodies. Case closed.

Even that obsession wasn't that explored. The friend and husband had interacted a handful of times, enough for there to be an attraction yes, but nothing as developed as outright obsession was even hinted at. You could guess it was going to happen just because it had become so ludicrous at that point

 

[drahkon]

18 minutes ago, EEVILMURRAY said:

I thought it was fucking awful.

Different strokes, I guess

[Sméagol]

I am excited! 

 

For the house of God.

[Sméagol]

Jupiter's Legacy is truly terrible.

Episode 1 is a pretty cool fight, episode 2 through 7 are a big void of character development, random drama, hints at intriguing backstory you're not going to see in season 1, and the most boring adventure of how they got their powers. Then episode 8 is the a terrible conclusion of a whodunnit, and basically just a set-up for season 2.

Edit:

I'm reading some article about the changes made in the TV adaptation.. Pretty much everything in season 1 is filler the TV show creators invented. I can't fathom why they thought that was a good idea.

Edited May 11, 2021 by Sméagol

[MindFreak]

I had it on my list and then googled reviews, just to get an indication of how it compared. I then removed it from my list again. Shame, as I really like Millar's comics.

[drahkon]

Started watching Orphan Black.

Halfway through the first season and it's really good.
Tatiana Maslany and Jordan Gavaris are awesome (and hot ).

Can't wait to see where they're going with the plot. There are 5 seasons, I think? Not sure how much they can get out of the premise. 

[MindFreak]

I can't remember how far I got before it got a bit too much. Think it was season 2. If it weren't for everything else I need and want to watch, I could be tempted to give it another go. 

[MindFreak]

Just finished watching the new episodes of Love, Death + Robots . Overall, I didn't find them quite as good as the old episodes but there were some great stories in there. Pop Squad really stood out to me but I also enjoyed Automated Customer Service because of its absurdity. All Through the House was also quite funny. 

[Sméagol]

I loved the first 6 episodes. 5th was the most bland one (though looked visually great), while the last one had a lot of potential, but then didn't really do anything with it. Was mostly just intriguing.

I'm sure someone will make a thread for it, but: