What are you watching now?

brenda

@Mik said in What are you watching now?:

I find them all disturbing but very human. Like it.

+1

jodi

@George-K said in What are you watching now?:

My enthusiasm for 1923 is waning. The stuff about the range wars is absolutely fascinating. Mirren and Ford are spectacular, and they carry the show. The supporting cast is strong, with a couple of weak links.

But...

At times, it's getting a bit too soapy and unbelievable for me. The whole "Africa" subplot is unnecessary, other than to serve as a vehicle for more pretty big sky shots. The Spencer character is more than a bit of a caricature of the "big-game hunter" and his exploits with the runaway bride are contrived - c'mon the captain of the tug dies in his sleep, and THEN the tug gets rammed?

I'll plow through the rest because I'm retired and have the time. Hope ~~the season ends on a good note~~ to see more @jodi.

I love the scenes with Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, they really are awesome, I do like the backstory with Spencer. But I am not into soap operas, and I haven’t watched Yellowstone for that reason. There have been a lot of scenes in this I have fast forwarded through. Too violent, too cruel, of just felt like they were not necessary to the story (the whole part with the prostitutes in both 7 and 8, for example (how many ways do we need to be reminded that Timothy Dalton’s character is terrible). I am very briefly in episode 7, and I walk across the street right after Zane rides his horse around the corner in episode 8, but didn’t make it into any of the camera shots they used in that scene. One of the takes, somebody else didn’t make it to their mark, (we cue off of each other) so I ended up crossing the street too soon (Zane rides down the hill from the group outside the bank) and I got in the middle of the road before him (instead of after) and he had to stop his horse and wait for me…

Doctor Phibes

We finished watching The Last of Us last night.

Snowflake alert: There is some gayness in it. The guy from Parks and Rec. gets it on with another guy before they both die. The main character might be a bit gay. They don't show any of that as she's just a kid.

All in all, a pretty good adaptation of possibly the best story-driven computer game ever made. They didn't muck about with the story too much.

The girl who played the main character Ellie was exceptional. The guy who played the Mandalorian played the father figure Joel, so it's a bit like Baby Yoda but with flesh-eating zombies.

jodi

@Doctor-Phibes I would like to see that series. Steve really liked the game. I tried playing it but only got a little ways in and couldn’t manage the combat. I’m not really a video gamer, though I liked both Horizon games, and The Legend of Zelda BOTW, because I could use a bow and arrow from a distance easily in each of them.

Doctor Phibes

@jodi said in What are you watching now?:

@Doctor-Phibes I would like to see that series. Steve really liked the game. I tried playing it but only got a little ways in and couldn’t manage the combat. I’m not really a video gamer, though I liked both Horizon games, and The Legend of Zelda BOTW, because I could use a bow and arrow from a distance easily in each of them.

Yeah, I found the controls a bit tricky on the Playstation, presumably because I'm not 15. They're releasing it on the PC, which might make it a bit easier if you can control it with a mouse. I found the game was just amazing in the way that it brought you into the story. I found that I really cared about the people, and the developing surrogate father/daughter relationship between the two main characters was something else. It made me think that just maybe video games could occasionally fulfil their potential of being a step up from film in terms of involving us in the story.

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

A Spy Among Friends

The story of Kim Philby. Kind of interesting seeing Damien Lewis not faking an American accent.

I loved Ben MacIntyre's book upon which this is based.

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

@George-K said in What are you watching now?:

A Spy Among Friends

The story of Kim Philby. Kind of interesting seeing Damien Lewis not faking an American accent.

I loved Ben MacIntyre's book upon which this is based.

I get it. The dramatization is supposed to make the story a bit more accessible, particularly with a complicated story like Philby and the "Oxford Four." I understand the need to introduce a fictional character to move the narrative along.

But...

This was a bore. The book was MUCH more engaging, and didn't have the currently-stylish time-jumps that the dramatization had.

Don't waste your time, despite Damien Lewis.

Mik

Time jumping is an annoying device to help a story poorly told.

Aqua Letifer

@Mik said in What are you watching now?:

Time jumping is an annoying device to help a story poorly told.

Yeah, it's 2023. It's no longer a novel device. There's got to be a storytelling element that can't be achieved with chronological time, or else they shouldn't do it.

Copper

@Mik said in What are you watching now?:

Time jumping

That's funny, when I hear the name Filby I think HG Wells time machine.

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

@Mik said in What are you watching now?:

Time jumping is an annoying device to help a story poorly told.

And it was really contrived in many cases...

Closesup of Philby in Beirut, drunk, lying on a deck chair poolside in 1963 (?) fades to close-up of Philby, drunk, lying on snowy steps in Moscow two years later. It's a hackneyed device that gets old quickly. Now, do it with conversations, with the same words being told at different times.

And the sad thing is that it's really a gripping story of how Philby rose from journalist (that part is never really fleshed out in the miniseries) to his conversion to Communism in WWII to his ascent in SIS (MI6) and a high leadership position in DC. All that stuff is totally engrossing, and it's not told in the miniseries, other than tangentially. Instead, we get a 6 hour cat and mouse game that could have been told in 90 minutes.

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

@Doctor-Phibes said in What are you watching now?:

We finished watching The Last of Us last night.

Snowflake alert: There is some gayness in it. The guy from Parks and Rec. gets it on with another guy before they both die. The main character might be a bit gay. They don't show any of that as she's just a kid.

All in all, a pretty good adaptation of possibly the best story-driven computer game ever made. They didn't muck about with the story too much.

The girl who played the main character Ellie was exceptional. The guy who played the Mandalorian played the father figure Joel, so it's a bit like Baby Yoda but with flesh-eating zombies.

I'm tempted, but I wonder if it's just "The Walking Dead 2023." Rather than having zombies walking around with no cause for the "zombie=ism" in this case it's TOTALLY different - we know it's a fungus.

I presume it's like TWD in the sense that there's all kinds of hostile societies that try to kill the protagonists. Right?

Doctor Phibes

@George-K said in What are you watching now?:

@Doctor-Phibes said in What are you watching now?:

We finished watching The Last of Us last night.

Snowflake alert: There is some gayness in it. The guy from Parks and Rec. gets it on with another guy before they both die. The main character might be a bit gay. They don't show any of that as she's just a kid.

All in all, a pretty good adaptation of possibly the best story-driven computer game ever made. They didn't muck about with the story too much.

The girl who played the main character Ellie was exceptional. The guy who played the Mandalorian played the father figure Joel, so it's a bit like Baby Yoda but with flesh-eating zombies.

I'm tempted, but I wonder if it's just "The Walking Dead 2023." Rather than having zombies walking around with no cause for the "zombie=ism" in this case it's TOTALLY different - we know it's a fungus.

I presume it's like TWD in the sense that there's all kinds of hostile societies that try to kill the protagonists. Right?

The Last of Us really isn't about the zombies, it's about the two main characters. There are psychos and horrendous people, but it's really about the people and how their relationship develops. I don't normally watch this kind of show, but I'd played the game so I wanted to see how they'd adapt it. It still wasn't as good as the game, which had a lot more zombies in it, incidentally, but that's because the game involved me in the story much more.

taiwan_girl

@Doctor-Phibes said in What are you watching now?:

but I'd played the game so I wanted to see how they'd adapt it. It still wasn't as good as the game, which had a lot more zombies in it, incidentally, but that's because the game involved me in the story much more.

Played the game also, (but have not watched the show). Enjoyed the game very much, but it was kind of depressing overall.

Aqua Letifer

Rewatched Seven Samurai over the weekend.

I've seen it a few times and I remember how awesome it was, but every time I watch it, it still somehow gets better.

Mik

Just finished Mayor of Kingstown S2. Excellent. Hope Renner can do S3.

Started Rabbit Hole. So far so good.

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

@Mik said in What are you watching now?:

Just finished Mayor of Kingstown S2.

Started to watch this but got distracted. Perhaps I should revisit?

Mik

An awful lot of f bombs but I liked it. Sheridan and Dillon make some great TV.

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

I'm a sucker for musicals. Schmigadoon (on Apple TV+) is a take-off on the classic Hollywood musicals. Lots of nods to the musical hits of before, Great dancing, and just tongue-in-cheek enough.

Premise is two people, who're deeply in love, they think, find themselves in Schmigadoon. The songs sound like Oklahoma, the characters look like Carousel, Oklahoma and others.

Not everyone's cup of tea, of course, but I'm enjoying it. I'm 3 thirty-minute episodes in.