What shows/movies are you watching?

[SleepingSilence]

It's just a shame most of the things you *can* watch in theaters right now, aren't even worth the $3.

As there's so many poorly-reviewed things out right now (that I've never even heard of). Beast, Fall, The Invitation, Gigi&Nate, DC Pets, Three Thousand Years, The Minions Movie, Nope. (The answer to "Do you want to see any of these movies?" Buh-dum tish.)

Though maybe Bullet Train can get more eyeballs. And DBZ for nerds. This is sarcasm.

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Brief Reviews (of mostly cartoons):

Primal (Season Two) is certainly not as strong as the first. Something that could be reasonably expected, given how high the bar was set. But I still feel a bit disappointed thus far. (The ‘writing’, which is an odd thing to say for a mostly silent show, has gotten notably worse.)

The Dragon Prince’s first two episodes were borderline painful to sit through. With repetitive exposition, horrible dialogue, obvious plotting and art direction so bad that the creators themselves supposedly changed it for later seasons. (But I could only manage to skim through the next obvious ‘hook episode’, before I gave up.) Sorry Sokka.

Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts proves that Dreamworks can animate. First season looks nice throughout. Characters are generic, but entertaining enough. But the hip-hop music is poorly-fitting, and the writing is pretty bad. (Hits every trope and cliche that it could fit in a single season.)

Lost Ollie is a mini-series, without a clear target audience. (Or a hint of decent acting in sight.) And somehow, “the kid is actually dead all along”, would’ve been a better pay off than the saccharine crap you get.

Hilda is comfy and adorable, thus far. (At least its first few episodes are.)

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And in terms of something I want to watch, because of the hype surrounding it, is "RRR". (That three hour long bollywood action movie thing.) But I can't find it anywhere yet...

Edit: RRR was fucking ridiculous, and kept me (and a friend) fully entertained throughout its run time. Plus, it portrays the British as accurately as possible.

[BangoSkank]

Nope was good.

Not amazing. Not revelatory. Not transformative. Not life changing.

But it was good. Keke Palmer is great in it. That guy who is in everything Peele does was ok. Keith David was great. The monkey kid and monkey storyline was pretty good.

Overall I'd say see it but don't drop all your plans to see it. Good to see on a bored night in. 7 or 8/10 if a 10/10 is incredibly rare and a 9/10 is a movie you'll tell your friends they have to see it.

[Fabricant451]

It is hilarious and also exhausting how many weirdos are mad that the She Hulk show contains a post credits scene od She Hulk and Megan Thee Stallion twerking. The fact that every popular property piece of media just becomes a target of the stupid and dumb and idiotic culture war is proof that the internet was a mistake.

[BangoSkank]

I haven't seen any of She Hulk. It looks very meh. To me all the shows have looked very meh and been very meh. This twerking stuff is new to me but it makes sense in light of the sheer mehness.

Giving these folks as much credit as possible I assume they don't like the twerking as an extension and prime example of how lazily they are treating the character. If it's actually purely "she shouldn't be twerking" or "Megan is trash" I have to imagine they work in a field entirely devoid of female coworkers. I'd understand more if it were during the actual show and an extended scene without character development. Although even then with the crackerjack CGI it wouldn't cost them much.

Loki was probably my favorite of them, of the ones Ive seen. Female Loki was cool and the whole Loki falls in love with himself IMO made a lot of sense. Falcon/Winter was a political vehicle and heavy handed at that, IMO. I didn't see the Ms Marvel one or the Hawkeye one. I'm pretty sure there's another I did see but I can't think of what other tv shows there have been.

I think a lot of the problem, from both sides, comes from creators and corporations making a show or movie not out of love or creative vision but out of a desire for $$$ and out of a need to create something in a particular IP because they own that IP and therefore just must do something with it. So they hire someone, ideally someone they can can use in marketing, to produce something, and that something is guided by what is marketable rather than any particular vision or long term plan.

The general frustration with stuff like that leading to folks over reacting. Both creators, in the form of excessive direct to the audience rants like She Hulk's anger speech, and audiences in the form of shitting a brick over a what 10 second clip of She Hulk twerking with a professional twerker.

[Fabricant451]

I watched the first Lord of the Rings movie for the second time ever and that is a movie that is good for 90 minutes and then drops off in the second 90 minutes. I don't know why Peter Jackson decided the best way to show the bad guys was with 2000s nu-metal music video editing but he did and made people think those movies were good.

[BangoSkank]

I enjoyed the series as a whole but haven't seen it since it came out.

I'm definitely not one of those "I watch the Extended Edition Trilogy in it's Entirety Every Year" types.

I mostly just remember loving the Hobbitses and Gimli and Legolas. That one ugly ass Orc. The Ents. The octopus critter when they go in the mines. The Balrog. and then it pretty much cuts straight to that one biiiiiiiig as battle in my brain.

I kind of want to watch them again now. For that and for the fuck my life gorgeous visuals of New Zealand.

[Fabricant451]

I have been watching Superstore and am on the third season. It is really good background viewing and I am shocked by how under the radar this show feels despite it having six seasons.

[SleepingSilence]

Cyberpunk Edgerunners is the kind of anime I expected Devilman Crybaby to be. Which is why I still haven't seen it. (All style, no substance.) Worldbuilding is borderline comical. Cheap flashes of vulgarity/sexual scenes in some attempt to be mature. Trope characters without clear motivation. Deaths of main characters all fall completely flat. (Laughed out loud in the final episode.) Predictable nonsense plot. The music often sucked and didn't fit the tone of what was on screen. (As typical for Netflix anime.) And a lot of the action scenes were in slow-mo and lacked any kind of logic. (Fight choreography in general was poor.)

It honestly felt like a show had a wasted budget, and its ending was beyond unsatisfying.

5 out of 10. (And that's being generous.) For decent character design and nice looking art. (But its Studio Trigger, so...its to be expected.) First half is more watchable than its second.

[Fabricant451]

Cyberpunk Edgerunners is the kind of anime I expected Devilman Crybaby to be. Which is why I still haven't seen it. (All style, no substance.) Worldbuilding is borderline comical. Cheap flashes of vulgarity/sexual scenes in some attempt to be mature. Trope characters without clear motivation. Deaths of main characters all fall completely flat. (Laughed out loud in the final episode.) Predictable nonsense plot. The music often sucked and didn't fit the tone of what was on screen. (As typical for Netflix anime.) And a lot of the action scenes were in slow-mo and lacked any kind of logic. (Fight choreography in general was poor.)

@SleepingSilence

Other than the music this sounds exactly like the game the anime is based on.

[StarWight]

I was looking through the subforum and I saw there was an old thread of this!

What shows or movies are you currently watching? What do you like or don’t like about it? Would you recommend it to others?

If it’s something that may have spoilers, please hide it just in case someone doesn’t want it to be spoiled!!

Currently I’m coming back to anime and I’ve been watching Black Clover with my fiancé. It’s deceptively good in the sense that it has the slapstick humor that I tend to enjoy in anime, tropes that I’m familiar with but thoroughly enjoy, and a bunch of OP goodness. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea for an anime but I’m really enjoying it.

I also just recently started Spy x Family and one I fell in love by episode 1.

Outside of anime, I am super invested in Obi Wan Kenobi. I’m excited to see how it goes.

@Dao Ma

My first post back in 5 years and it gets to be this one!

House of the Dragon (or HotD as GRRM would like the show to be abbreviated) is what I have been watching. And let me say boy was I skeptical about it at first. But this show has wowed the heck out of me. I only recently watched the original Game of Thrones, so that show is still very much fresh in my mind (watched it for the first time a few months ago give or take).

The political intrigue, the dragons, the world of Westeross itself. I just love all of it. The darker setting, the low magic, the fantastic characters and plot development. I would definitely 10000% recommend the show to anyone who even has the slightest, remotest love of fantasy and/or medieval political interests.

Also waiting for The Walking Dead to air again, for the last part of their final season. I have loved The Walking Dead since their pilot episode (and I've never read the comics). Some criticize the show for seasons 5 and 6, and felt the All Out War story arch went on too long, but I disagree with those sentiments and very much can't wait to see how they end the story.

I don't watch a LOT of shows, so those are the only two right now. If anyone knows of any really good mafia-based TV shows currently running, let me know. I miss the Sopranos :(

[Fabricant451]

Do Revenge was a lot of fun. It is probably the best teen movie adaptation of classic literature/film since 10 Things I Hate About You seeing as how Do Revenge is Strangers on a Train but set in high school with a twinge of satire and actual genuine subtle references.

[SleepingSilence]

I feel like I've been seeing this headline a lot more recently. It also apparently canned an 'Alien Vs Predator anime series" that was basically finished. (Along with every other show under the sun apparently. Looking at lists of its 2021/2022 cancelled shows.)

So its not surprising that Netflix is losing millions of subscriptions. While HBOMax is in a class action lawsuit over potentially faking their subscription numbers. And Amazon is now deleting already paid for content from consumers' libraries because of licensing snafus'.

But streaming was supposed to be the be-all/end-all solution to media consumption...

Though, I do use Spotify. (And Hulu for the day my bundle with them actually worked as advertised.) The times it doesn't have music that I look up. (Especially if it's an album with one or two randomly unplayable songs in them.) I can't help but doubt my choices to purchase less physical media over the years.

Because when the power went out (again) from storms. This neighborhood and those around them are incredibly unlucky it seems... Most of my games (PC & Switch & PS4) are digital and couldn't be played.

Point is, I need to buy more physical media. And sailing the high seas is perfectly justifiable.

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Really, I haven't had the time to watch anything. But I do have several things that I plan to watch later this weekend.

[Fabricant451]

Barbarian was very very good

[Carlyle]

Is anyone watching the last few episodes of The Walking Dead? I know a lot of people shit on it now or say they didn't realize it was still on air, but they're wrapping up the main show this year. The franchise isn't done, though--they've got a bunch of spin offs and miniseries coming up soon. There's the NYC series with Maggie and Negan, the Paris series with Daryl and the Rick/Michonne miniseries that's supposed to be happening instead of the previously planned movies. Course there's Fear, too, but I haven't heard much news of it lately since everyone was focused on Tales airing awhile ago.

[StarWight]

Is anyone watching the last few episodes of The Walking Dead? I know a lot of people shit on it now or say they didn't realize it was still on air, but they're wrapping up the main show this year. The franchise isn't done, though--they've got a bunch of spin offs and miniseries coming up soon. There's the NYC series with Maggie and Negan, the Paris series with Daryl and the Rick/Michonne miniseries that's supposed to be happening instead of the previously planned movies. Course there's Fear, too, but I haven't heard much news of it lately since everyone was focused on Tales airing awhile ago.

@Kuro

I never stopped watching the show. I absolutely love it, I think the hate for S7 and S8 was waaaay blown out of proportion, and this last episode (watched it on AMC+ so I am an episode ahead so I won't give any spoilers) was absolutely amazing.

I am a huuuge walking dead fan, have been since about S2 when someone I met here actually introduced me to it. Very fun series and I'm sad that it is ending the flagship series after 11 seasons. But hey, like you said--we got a lot of cool spinoffs coming.

Between House of the Dragon, Walking Dead, and Fear the Walking Dead, I'm having a good time for TV; first time I can say that in years tbh

[SleepingSilence]

The fact that She-Hulk attempted to pull a "We purposely made a bad ending of the show guys. Ha ha ha." Makes it one of the saddest pieces of fiction that I've never watched in my life.

Because it easily had one of the bigger budgets of any "bad show" that you ever watched. (Rings Of Power aside.) 75 million for 3 episodes, to put it in perspective.

No one, and I repeat, no one goes out to produce a bad show. (Let alone a project that spends so much money, and spends so much time worried about their haters.)

And it reminds me of that "secret Sherlock episode" that never existed. Because the joke isn't on the people who criticized the show. (Much as some truly zealous fans might want to believe.) It only validates their perspective.

It tacitly mocks your fanbase and supporters for ever liking it in the first place. Something you know is terrible and you did absolutely nothing to fix.

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Also, not to do any work for the devil. But...

Netflix released a season of "The Mole". (All episodes come out on the 21st. And more come out today.) But while I'm watching it, because it was one the better reality shows to come out. The current season has been incredibly predictable, and I swear it better not be as obvious as the editing makes it out to be.

[Fabricant451]

The fact that She-Hulk attempted to pull a "We purposely made a bad ending of the show guys. Ha ha ha." Makes it one of the saddest pieces of fiction that I've never watched in my life.

@SleepingSilence

That's not what it did, though. That's not at all what they did. The point wasn't "haha the ending is bad" it was "the MCU is very formulaic and this is us poking fun at that and reinforcing the point of the show was never 'superhero punchy origin story' but rather 'the protagonist comes to find a balance between two very different lives'.

[SleepingSilence]

@Fabricant451 I feel like between this and Rings Of Power. Hollywood's just seeing what they can get away with, and still get praised for it.

But like what you like.

I'm sure that kind of audience will really like that new 'adult' Scooby Doo show, without the main character in it too. Because was Scooby Doo ever really that good anyway?

But then you have to wonder why these expensive shows based on nostalgic properties are always liked by people who already dislike or constantly slag off those nostalgic properties...

I'd say there's no way to prove motive. But in comics, for instance. Those books always seem to have nobody actually purchasing or putting money where their mouth is, for these "subversive" products. That, or it gets canned prematurely and has little fanfare trying to bring it back.

So I wonder how many bought Lord of the Rings or the older Marvel movies. Versus how many would actively pay for DVD's of these new shows...

In short: How good can something really be, if it isn't something most fans would individually pay for? (Let alone merchandise for it.)

[Fabricant451]

Black Adam was ass

[SleepingSilence]

The Mole is so obviously scripted that it hurts. And it's a complete waste of time.

Went to some haunts, and planned to find movies to watch with some company. So I watched things. Planned to watch more. (The ratings and reviews of these films completely baffle me.)

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Haunt: I’m annoyed that I even spent time watching this POS. 2/10

Hellfest: Pretty lame kills and movie altogether. But at least I finished it, and the stock characters weren’t so stupid and unlikeable that it made the movie hard to sit through. (I never expected this to be the ‘best’ thing I watched tonight.) 4/10

Barbarian: This movie is a fucking trap and completely goes off the rails within forty minutes. Good actors gets replaced with ones who can’t. Men are dumb and bad. And an inbred couple locked in a basement feeds someone a big baby bottle. There, I saved you two hours. 2/10

Werewolf By Night: It’s special when you can get one of those “Oh. This is going to suck, isn’t it?” reactions, from the very first spoken line of narration. 1/10 (This is genuinely awful and looks like a youtube skit movie.)