What TV series are you watching at moment?

  On 12/7/2021 at 9:05 PM, Joyrex said:

The Expanse (Amazon Prime) Series 6 premieres this Thursday...

Looking forward to this very much - one of the best SF shows out there.

  On 12/7/2021 at 8:04 PM, T3551ER said:

Probably not exactly what you're thinking but maybe

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That's a classic film, and an amazing book. 

  On 12/7/2021 at 8:54 PM, chenGOD said:

100% the best Thor!

I enjoyed the LotR films, especially the ultra extended director's cut. But I understand how they wouldn't be for everyone. I suppose it really depends on what you define as fantasy. If you're excluding SF (a reasonable stance), then pickings are slim. Seasons 1-5 of GOT were really pretty fucking good though. Carnival Row had a lot of potential, but my god did they lose the plot..literally.

Yeah, definition is need, I should say "sword & sorcery", though that label has rather unfortunate connotations. And I would exclude SF. 

As for LotR, they don't hold much rewatch value for me. They are well filmed yes, there are lots of great things one could say about them. Boromir's death scene - one of many classic character death scenes from Sean Bean - still gets me. The book holds too much value for me, so that's clearly an obstacle for me.  

I just couldn't get into GOT, there were some good elements - I wasn't wedded to the books, and I watched clips as I'm a big Charles Dance fan - but I just found it very boring and cheesy overall, and I'm not a fan of the grimdark vibe. The main cast, besides the young lady that played Arya, were (IMO) all poor actors.

I love urban/modern fantasy as a concept. I missed Carnival Row, trailers didn't grab me. I still hold Carnivale in high regard. The Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell was okay too, I was pleasantly surprised. Let's see what they do Sandman..

  On 12/7/2021 at 8:54 PM, chenGOD said:

I think it's really hard to build a convincing magical world on screen as opposed to on the page because our imagination is capable of creating so much more, and what we create in our imagination is of course, so personally developed to our own tastes.

Agreed, I think SF has proved easier when converting to screen from the page, though that opinion probably influenced by the films and shows that shaped me growing up. I need to finally get around to watching the Expanse, comments above are another reminder. 

I gave Shōgun a rewatch last week. For a show that's over 40 years old, it manages to get a lot of things right, presenting late sengoku period Japan on screen in 1980, and doing justice to the book. There's a remake in the works with Hiroyuki Sanada as Toranaga...

  On 12/8/2021 at 3:29 AM, Shimon_Shimon said:

As for LotR, they don't hold much rewatch value for me. They are well filmed yes, there are lots of great things one could say about them. Boromir's death scene - one of many classic character death scenes from Sean Bean - still gets me. The book holds too much value for me, so that's clearly an obstacle for me.  

All fair points and totally understandable. The books were re-read often when I was young, the movies, I watch maybe once a year.

  On 12/8/2021 at 3:29 AM, Shimon_Shimon said:

I just couldn't get into GOT, there were some good elements - I wasn't wedded to the books, and I watched clips as I'm a big Charles Dance fan - but I just found it very boring and cheesy overall, and I'm not a fan of the grimdark vibe. The main cast, besides the young lady that played Arya, were (IMO) all poor actors.

I hadn't read the books, got into the series when they were showing season 5, and was pleasantly surprised. Peter Dinklage is also excellent, most of the other actors grow into the roles. The first 5 seasons are really quite good. 6 is still pretty good, seasons 7 and 8 should have never been filmed. I'm not outraged like some fans who are wayyyy too invested in a piece of pop culture, but still, they are just not up to the standards set in the first 6 seasons. Anyhow - not required watching, but good enough if you have time to spare. All IMO obviously.

  On 12/8/2021 at 3:29 AM, Shimon_Shimon said:

Agreed, I think SF has proved easier when converting to screen from the page, though that opinion probably influenced by the films and shows that shaped me growing up. I need to finally get around to watching the Expanse, comments above are another reminder.

SF and the comic books (now that CGI is at a level to make the effects seem natural) definitely translate better, especially I think hard SF, as there are usually clear definitions. Definitely give the Expanse a shot, it's very good. I thought they were going to bite off more than they could chew with the plot, but it hasn't jumped any sharks yet.

  On 12/8/2021 at 3:29 AM, Shimon_Shimon said:

I gave Shōgun a rewatch last week. For a show that's over 40 years old, it manages to get a lot of things right, presenting late sengoku period Japan on screen in 1980, and doing justice to the book. There's a remake in the works with Hiroyuki Sanada as Toranaga...

I loved that book (and the whole Clavell series, Tai Pan is probably my favourite) when I was younger, and then I was stupid and went and did Asian Studies in university. It's still a good read, but really hard to get some of the Orientalism and some of the inaccuracies out of the way when reading. I hope the remake is better than the original mini-series, which could never have done justice to the book.

I've seen two (of five) episodes of The North Water. It's about British whaling in Greenland around 1850. Dark, violent and gritty with excellent music by Tim Hecker. Recommended!

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/aug/28/north-water-bbc-amc-colin-farrell-stephen-graham-jack-oconnell-andrew-haigh

  On 11/30/2021 at 7:16 PM, J3FF3R00 said:

Watching the Beatles “Get Back” series (still 30 minutes remaining in part1… 2 more parts to go). Actually, not 100% sure whether to classify it as a “series” or an 8hr “film”. It doesn’t feel like watching a series. It’s structure is more like a movie. What is unique about it is that it’s more immersive than any other documentary I’ve ever seen about anything. You’re just planted in the room with them and almost experiencing everything they are experiencing for an extended amount of time. It’s the closest thing I can imagine to actually spending time with the band and getting to know them. 
I’m guessing he experience is probably painful for anyone who doesn’t care for the Beatles, but if you love them, or even like them, it’s 100% worth the watch. It’s also crazy to see how young they still were at the end of their career as a band. They each share this paradoxical state of being supercharged with youthful, creative energy and a taxed/spent/fed-up energy. Super fascinating stuff.

Biggest takeaway: Ringo deserves a Medal of Honor for his patience. 

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I know! Ringo was the consummate professional; punctual, he showed up even when the others didn’t, he didn’t complain, but I was surprised how isolated he was on his drum throne, and they seemed to almost ignore him. Ringo was an established brand before The Beatles, and afterward. The sound was amazing, and the BTS stuff is really interesting, they used Ai to restore both the audio and video separately, and then resynced the two, which is why it took 4 years of restoration. You really get to hang out with The Beatles for 6 hours, like they just showed up one day. Some Ai “smear” is evident on the image, especially after watching for a while, but you can begin to pick out what shots are actually animated stills, when they are speaking but their mouth is just a vague blur is a telltale sign. Seriously, though poor Ringo, he seemed like the most mature individual, yet he had to spend all day listening to 3 of the most entitled white men on Earth complain about their first world problems. Also Yoko didn’t do anything to antagonize their split, she just sat there silently, but I liked when they let her wail, the freakout jam was great. And thank God they didn’t let Clapton join The Beatles.

  On 12/8/2021 at 10:25 AM, Rubin Farr said:

I know! Ringo was the consummate professional; punctual, he showed up even when the others didn’t, he didn’t complain, but I was surprised how isolated he was on his drum throne, and they seemed to almost ignore him. Ringo was an established brand before The Beatles, and afterward. The sound was amazing, and the BTS stuff is really interesting, they used Ai to restore both the audio and video separately, and then resynced the two, which is why it took 4 years of restoration. You really get to hang out with The Beatles for 6 hours, like they just showed up one day. Some Ai “smear” is evident on the image, especially after watching for a while, but you can begin to pick out what shots are actually animated stills, when they are speaking but their mouth is just a vague blur is a telltale sign. Seriously, though poor Ringo, he seemed like the most mature individual, yet he had to spend all day listening to 3 of the most entitled white men on Earth complain about their first world problems. Also Yoko didn’t do anything to antagonize their split, she just sat there silently, but I liked when they let her wail, the freakout jam was great. And thank God they didn’t let Clapton join The Beatles.

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Exactly exactly exactly exactly.
I’m just starting chapter 3. We have a little one year old baby and have had to watch in bits around baby’s schedule and after bedtime so we unfortunately have had to also watch at a super low volume. It’s been a mild form of torture to deny my ears the complete audio of this doc, especially with so many unreleased early songs peppered here and there. I’ll just have to rewatch in a year or two at a proper volume. 

  On 12/7/2021 at 4:51 AM, chenGOD said:

Been sucked into the second-tier MCU series - Punisher, Daredevil, and now Jessica Jones. Enjoyable, low-thought capacity viewing (I watch a lot while I'm working lol).

I might give Luke Cage and Iron Fist a miss. Is Defenders worth watching?

Defenders is all right. The first half of Season 1 of Luke Cage is excellent. Mahershala is amazing. After the first half it goes very downhill. You can skip Iron First. Jessica Jones season 1 is amazing. Not great after that. Daredevil worth going all the way through. I could not get into Punisher at all.

  On 12/8/2021 at 5:35 PM, J3FF3R00 said:

Exactly exactly exactly exactly.
I’m just starting chapter 3. We have a little one year old baby and have had to watch in bits around baby’s schedule and after bedtime so we unfortunately have had to also watch at a super low volume. It’s been a mild form of torture to deny my ears the complete audio of this doc, especially with so many unreleased early songs peppered here and there. I’ll just have to rewatch in a year or two at a proper volume. 

The sound is so clear, maybe wireless headphones? It’s a good one to watch on the computer I bet. I did want to hear a little more about Magic Alex, he pulled off a con job on the biggest band in history, was he ever sued? They must have lost hundreds of thousands building a studio out of oscilloscopes and oscillators, lol 

  On 12/8/2021 at 6:08 PM, Rubin Farr said:

The sound is so clear, maybe wireless headphones? It’s a good one to watch on the computer I bet. I did want to hear a little more about Magic Alex, he pulled off a con job on the biggest band in history, was he ever sued? They must have lost hundreds of thousands building a studio out of oscilloscopes and oscillators, lol 

Interesting to see the # of WATMMER's w/ kids these days... we're gettin' old aren't we? (not a bad thing, just an observation). .... @J3FF3R00 congrats!

Wanted to bike in to say we faced this issue w/ our little one - usually wife and I like to fall asleep to something on the tele/watch movies at night (I know, I know, terrible sleep hygiene). It took us literally a year before my wife realized that we could probably do some sort of wireless/bluetooth solution. We got one of these: 

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/aluratek-universal-bluetooth-audio-receiver-and-transmitter-black/6342383.p?skuId=6342383

Did a bunch of research and this one ended working well b/c it allows for up to 2 sets of bluetooth headsets to connect and, depending on how new/good your headsets are, also is ultra low-latency (so you don't get that lag between what the person is saying/the sound). A bit finicky w/ pairing sometimes, but overall it works well. 

Total gamechanger. Now we can lie in bed and watch crappy TV without having to strain to to hear the dialogue and/or watch things w/ subtitles. Obvs mileage may vary depending on where the baby is sleeping etc. ...

Cowboy Bebop has been cancelled post-haste, Allah be praised.

i’d watched S1 of Stranger Things back around when it came out, but just now watched S2 and half through S3 at the moment. both seasons have been decent, obv for what the show is, S3 seems to be at once a lot better and also a lot dumber in some key ways. but they’re quite good for a TV show which is really all you can ask for, i guess?

will need something more adult soon. isn’t there a good streaming service that does mysteries and stuff? i need some British detectives talking about murders over tea.

oh and the new season of Great British Bake-off was good fun. sorta feeling like they’re driving towards the end tho, the good contestants are walking in there already fucking pros basically

  On 12/10/2021 at 6:06 AM, usagi said:

Cowboy Bebop has been cancelled post-haste, Allah be praised.

ha, yeah I haven't given this netflix one a shot yet, but probably for the best. when has rebooting/converting to live action '90s anime ever worked? GITS was butchered when it became a scar jo production. Aeon Flux the same. I know the Akira movie with Dicaprio thankfully got stuck in development hell, and will never happen.

how about the Great British Jackoff and it's a bunch of middle-aged men competing to see who can edge the longest in front of judges.

  On 12/10/2021 at 5:59 PM, zero said:

ha, yeah I haven't given this netflix one a shot yet, but probably for the best. when has rebooting/converting to live action '90s anime ever worked? GITS was butchered when it became a scar jo production. Aeon Flux the same. I know the Akira movie with Dicaprio thankfully got stuck in development hell, and will never happen.

I will probably never see the value of a live-action remake when a perfectly good anime exists. and I'm not even an anime nerd, I ignore like 90% of it barring the greats.

the one exception to this which I sometimes fantasise about seeing on big screens is a 3-hr Berserk film covering the Golden Age and Black Swordsman arcs. but in the absence of this, the 90s anime is like an aged wine still.

  On 12/10/2021 at 6:30 PM, usagi said:

how about the Great British Jackoff and it's a bunch of middle-aged men competing to see who can edge the longest in front of judges.

would run into the same problem of most contestants being pros from day one

still might watch tho

Signed up to Disney for that Beatles horseshit that I won’t be finishing. Along with The Beatles another big name that brings out the cynical grumpy toad in me is anything Star Wars post Return of the Jedi. However, unexpectedly I’m enjoying The Mandalorian. 
 

Also next week is the final week of Masterchef  

  On 12/10/2021 at 7:55 PM, beerwolf said:

Signed up to Disney for that Beatles horseshit that I won’t be finishing. Along with The Beatles another big name that brings out the cynical grumpy toad in me is anything Star Wars post Return of the Jedi. However, unexpectedly I’m enjoying The Mandalorian. 
 

Also next week is the final week of Masterchef  

Mando is decent.  Loki is pretty deece, too: I just pretended it was a big budget Doctor Who with nice set design.  

I could maybe stomach Ringo and George chatting for a few hours, but I don't think I can watch anything that has more than two minutes of Paul in it.  JUST IN MY IMO

edit: currently watching The Great on hulu; it's pretty funny tbqh

Just watching episode 4 of Midnight Mass. So far, so good 

Working my way through Seinfeld since it's on Netflix now.  Haven't watched in many many years.  Find myself cracking up a lot more than anything else comedic i've been watching.  Feel-good slapstick humor.

Currently watching Dopesick on Hulu, following a friend’s recommendation. Aside from Michael Keaton and the #2 FBI agent, this whole thing feels super loose. Something is fundamentally off in the direction or something but there are also numerous moments in it where the dialogue telegraphs the story pretty hard, as if they assume the viewing audience is completely stupid, kinda like  “Wait, let me get this straight. So what you’re telling is that Purdue Pharma knows Oxy is addictive???”… etc. It feels like a big long episode of Law & Order: SVU or something.

Other stuff that drives me nuts: michael stuhlbarg’s fake ass voice (I never care for him really) and Sarsgaard’s fake ass hair… plus, why is he sitting on a desk staring into space at the beginning of every scene?

Smashing out the episodes of The Mandalorian  

Enjoying all the nostalgic elements and characters from episodes IV to VI but with the new twist and the soundtrack (which is super excellent) and effects with spatial audio is also hitting the spot. Star Wars is back from the dead

  On 12/12/2021 at 6:30 PM, beerwolf said:

Smashing out the episodes of The Mandalorian  

Enjoying all the nostalgic elements and characters from episodes IV to VI but with the new twist and the soundtrack (which is super excellent) and effects with spatial audio is also hitting the spot. Star Wars is back from the dead

Hopefully this is quality as well

I'm a few episodes into this anime called takt op.Destiny.  The twist here is that music is the "force" that channels powers and fights off the evil aliens or whatever they are.  The animation and music are really lovely tho.

  On 12/13/2021 at 8:16 PM, Rubin Farr said:

Hopefully this is quality as well

 

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Starting to think Ming-Na Wen might be immortal IRL

I started watching Counterpart on Amazon Prime recently. Sci-Fi starring J.K. Simmons and Olivia Williams. Almost forgot about it after the first episode a couple weeks ago, but I watched the 2nd Sunday night. I was messing around on my phone too much and wasn't paying enough attention, but that just makes me wonder if I just don't like it that much. Anyone seen it and can recommend continuing or forgetting about it?

Gonna have to give Mando a 9/10

Even the end credits with the artwork and the music is gold