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Post by CoolJGS☺ on Nov 20, 2017 15:21:08 GMT
Prairie Home Companion - I assume this show isn't as popular, but boy do I like the new guy way better than Garrison Keillor.
One of the problems with routine is you tend to get stuck doing stuff you don;t particularly njoy. After religious services on Sundays, I listen to the radio and both of Lexington's public radio stations play this. When Garrison was hosting it, the bits weren;t terribly funny and the music, while good, was also old and felt out of date.
This new guy has infused some great stuff into the show. He doesn't seem bored and instead seems generally privileged to be hosting this show. The music is almost always phenomenal. He's actually a great singer and musician himself. Now I enjoy my Sunday afternoons. I might have to start podcasting it too.
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Post by Marv on Nov 20, 2017 16:46:00 GMT
Shameless...midway through season 3. Good. Sometimes it's pretty damn great. I think it's also part of the charm, but some character inconsistencies bother me. There's a lot of pot/kettle behavior and hypocrisies. Which make it pretty realistic but at the same time annoying. Most of the characters are likeable enough despite their flaws but the one that I want to strangle about 3 times per season so far is Frank.
Started Punisher as well. 2 episodes in and it's very good so far.
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Post by CoolJGS☺ on Nov 20, 2017 17:08:44 GMT
I saw the first episode of Punisher and I like him in his own show better than I liked him in Daredevil.
It's pretty violent and I'm not seeing the point entirely yet, but it's just the first episode.
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Post by CoolJGS☺ on Dec 21, 2017 0:30:12 GMT
Moonlight - This movie is superb for 2/3 of it. I hated the last 3rd meaning that this was not Best Picture for me, There were at least a couple ahead of it. Still, kid part of it was fantastic. All of the performances were great and considering how basic the setting was, it was beautifully shot. If only they didn't venture into adulthood.
Get Out - Amazing. I hate horror movies so I kinda avoided this one and watched it by accident while chanel flipping. It helps that it isn't really a horror movie. I really don't know what genre it fits into. The lady who plays Georgina has perhaps my favorite scene of the year and it kills me she's not getting recognized for her performance. It should be a Best Picture contender.
Hidden Figures - Great biopic as far as biopics are concerned. Very rote and predictable but anchored by great acting performances, including Costner. However, I have no idea why Octavia Spencer got a nomination and not the better performing Janelle Monáe. Taraji P. Henson was robbed of a nomination.
Fences - This film is a lot weirder than advertised. I didn't particularly care for it. Denzel was not likeable and the movie felt very much like the stage play it originated as.
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Post by Marv on Dec 21, 2017 12:24:48 GMT
Saw Die Hard at theatres. It was a very enjoyable environment to watch one of the greatest Christmas movies ever. I'm pretty sure several members of the audience had never seen it as there were many gasps.
Other than that...season 7 of shameless but my interest is slowing down. Feels like similar issues over and over again at this point and there's always that human problem of not learning from previous mistakes that can get aggravating to see in tv and movie characters.
Most of my free time has gone to playing Fortnite and CoD Ww2. Fortnite is great and they continue to add content and tweak things around. Cod...is more of a mindless time waster. If I don't feel like strategizing and positioning myself for a victory...I run around cod with a shovel and throwing knives. Easily the most enjoyable way to play the game.
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Post by Marv on Dec 24, 2017 16:11:39 GMT
Bright...Very good I thought. Interestingly critics have given it mostly negative reviews. But audiences, i.e. Normal people, have given it mostly positive. It's 30% and 90% on RT. I side with the latter. It's a cop movie with elements of fantasy. I thought it worked and the fantasy elements added an extra layer of fluff to it. I recommend.
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Post by CoolJGS☺ on Dec 24, 2017 16:52:21 GMT
TV Shows
I have been watching a lot of TV lately, but most of it has been merely OK so nothing much to report. There are now some gems.
The Marvelous Mrs Maisel - When this was a part of Amazon;s pilot season, I didn;t even bother finishing the the first episode since it didn;t look like a part of my sensibilities. It was getting some great reviews and a Golden Globe nom, so I decided to give it another shot. The first episode got better by the end and the rest of the episodes have been amazing.
I would have never thought I would have any interest in any of the characters on the show and I wound up loving all of them. It's superb and so well written I may have to go back and watch Gilmore Girls since it was done by the same team.
I'm ecstatic when Midge does well in stand up and have to stop watching when she bombs because that's how much I care about her. Tony Shalhoub is fantastic as the dad and Midge's manager, who I remember from Getting On, is hysterical.
I hope it gets buzz although it probably won't since it's on Amazon, but it convinces me that Amazon has the best TV shows between the 3 big streaming giants. Can't wait for the next season.
Legion - I actually have issues with the characters themselves for this show, plus I truly, truly loved the comic book version of Legion way better (I even thought up a movie adaptation for a Professor X movie a long time ago.). That said, the show looks great and nothing haunts my dreams like the Devil with the Yellow Eyes.
Although the characters are still growing on me, the performances are all great and it's worth a look.
Fargo - In my never ending quest to not be interested in Breaking Bad, I decided, based off Legion, to look at the showrunners other show - Fargo. I have needed a break from depressing shows and Mrs. Maisal was so bubbly that I decided to go the downer route now. The first season has been great so far. It is very Fargo-y and so it will be interesting to see if they can carry Coen Brother eccentrics over a single season, much less multiple ones.
Superstore - This show is way better than it looks. It's very much like Parks & Rec, one of my favorite shows of all time. The characters are not as memorable, but they are still quite funny. Plus you can jump in and out of it without much catch up needed.
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Post by CoolJGS☺ on Dec 25, 2017 18:07:19 GMT
Fargo- Finished the season. It's too intense. I'm not going to make it through another season anytime soon. It is great though. it is truly the movie stretched out over a season. What's next, a No Country for Old Men mini-series?
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Post by CoolJGS☺ on Dec 26, 2017 3:38:41 GMT
She's Gotta Have It - This show is so much better than the movie. Unlike Fargo, it actually needs to time to develop the characters.
The show is sublime. It makes me want to move to Brooklyn. Like a lot of my favorite shows, this one integrates music incredibly well. Spike Lee did an interesting thing by showing the album cover of all the music played.
The show goes off on some tangents and regarding gentrification, body image, art, obviously race relations, and a host of other things. If you love Trump, this is a show to avoid. Amazing Prince tribute in the finale and the show overall is a homage to a lot of Spike Lee's other works.
Worth checking out.
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Post by CoolJGS☺ on Dec 31, 2017 16:02:12 GMT
Black Mirror - Off to a great start with the darkest Star Trek parody ever. Very well done.
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Post by CoolJGS☺ on Dec 31, 2017 16:08:56 GMT
Anne With An "E" - My wife finally wanted to watch something. We are cutting the cord this week and doing everything through streaming, so she was getting the hang of Netflix & Hulu.
I am usually down for anything to watch and she is extremely picky. One of the genres she likes is historical dramas (Along with Romcoms of course) and remembers watching Anne of Green Gables as a kid and loving it. So as she was flipping through Netflix options she came to this and we would up watching the whole season over a few days. It's really good and well-made.
It does a great job of showing how the characters evolve over the season. At first it seems like things are rushed, but then everything the characters do simply make sense and the story progresses in a great way.
Waiting for the 2nd season.
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Post by Morgana on Jan 1, 2018 15:14:11 GMT
Edge of Tomorrow - TNT is doing some kind of marathon and I love this film. I just watch it over and over again. Better than Groundhog Day. Tom Cruise has been in some of my favorite sci-fi films. Kindred - Just finished this book on my flight to Denver. It's technically a sci-fi book from Octavia Butler but it's really a story about slavery. I generally dislike slave stories. They tend to be too clean cut regarding who the bad guys are and who the good guys are and there's little ambiguity. This book is rilling in ambiguity and not in the way that people are conflicted with what slavery is. The slave masters are just doing their job and the slaves, while still clearly hating, don;t know a way out of it. They arenlt in search of freedom since the punishment is so severe if they try to escape. Anyway, it's very good and is not a particularly deep read. No one will feel white guilt or black anger reading it. The story is told matter of factly although the main characters, Dana and her white husband Kevin, go through the ringer. Highly recommend it to all. I loved Edge of Tomorrow, and I'm happy to hear they are doing a sequel.
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Post by Morgana on Jan 1, 2018 15:16:58 GMT
Agree about the surprise factor of GotG2. Where the first film caught us off guard with the characters this one did not...and it suffered slightly because of it. Still very enjoyable tho. I didn't enjoy the second one nearly as much as I did the first, probably for the reason you mentioned: the characters were new to us.
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Post by Morgana on Jan 1, 2018 15:26:13 GMT
I saw the first episode of Punisher and I like him in his own show better than I liked him in Daredevil. It's pretty violent and I'm not seeing the point entirely yet, but it's just the first episode. Punisher was my least favourite of all the Marvel series. The violence was extreme, and there wasn't really much of a story. I didn't like the actress that played Madani. I didn't believe her in the part. I get a little irritated with the whole (is it called a 'trope'?) detective/loose canon/etc., who basically does what they please without any consequences whatsoever.
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Post by CoolJGS☺ on Jan 2, 2018 1:26:10 GMT
Black Mirror - Finished it already. I was starting to worry after episodes 2 and 3 (Crocodile is the worst episode for me).
However, it redeemed itself with the next episodes whihc were all very good to excellent
In order:
USS Callister - Still the best one Hang the DJ - Nice little romance that isn;t quite as San Junipero, but Black Mirror needs a show like this each season imo Black Museum - 3 stories in one and all of them very interesting although I saw the twist coming. Metalhead - Straight up horror/chase episode that works Arkangel - Merely OK. The implications are interesting, just not the story Crocodile - Hated it.
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Post by Marv on Jan 2, 2018 23:58:57 GMT
I liked Black Mirror season 4...I think my fave would have been Hang the Dj...but to be honest the twist, as much as it made sense, took a little away from the romance for me. Compared to San Junipiero which left you with as many feels possible. I still liked it a ton.
USS Callister was very good and I’ve never been a Trekkie so I can imagine those fans enjoy it even more.
I actually liked Krocodile for what it was. Super bleak but I was amused at seeing the paranoia steamroll through that woman’s life. She was a pretty effective killer all things considered.
Ark angel as you say...interesting story but not all that interesting character wise. I thought they’d go down a darker more sociopathic turn. Kind of glad they didn’t.
Black museum was interesting but even when all the pieces came together I wasn’t invested. I was kind of hoping the bad guy was gonna be Satan in a twisted reveal. He seemed the same age in all those stories.
Metal head was just kind of straight forward. The teddy bear reveal made it all feel kind of worthless.
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Post by FilmFlaneur on Jan 3, 2018 11:48:03 GMT
Foreigner
A suitably old and tired-looking Jackie Chan stars in this London-set thriller in which an immigrant father seeks to avenge the death of his daughter after a terrorist outrage. Co-starring a grizzled Piers Brosnan, whose remarkable similarity to real life leader Gerry Adams works much in the film's favour. Despite being in his sixties Chan manages two or three action-stunt sequences with his usual aplomb while director Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, Vertical Limit) shows his talent for narrative drive and action once again. While the father-in-revenge-marathon idea is hardly fresh, script and direction were excellent with no character being entirely morally black or white set in an interesting double narrative. Foreigner is a pleasant surprise and can be recommended.
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Post by Marv on Jan 3, 2018 15:47:02 GMT
Finished season 7 of Shameless...it’s feeling pretty repetitive. Still enjoyable but at times I found myself going through the motions just to finish the season so I figured this is a good stopping point. Favorite characters overall...Svetlana, Carl, Lip, Kev.
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Post by Marv on Jan 3, 2018 15:49:05 GMT
Tremors....one of my favorite monster movies. Bacon and Ward made a great duo and the supporting cast is solid.
Tremors 2...Enjoyable sequel and the effects haven’t aged all that bad. Captured the spirit of the first pretty well.
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Post by CoolJGS☺ on Jan 3, 2018 23:13:09 GMT
I liked Black Mirror season 4...I think my fave would have been Hang the Dj...but to be honest the twist, as much as it made sense, took a little away from the romance for me. Compared to San Junipiero which left you with as many feels possible. I still liked it a ton. USS Callister was very good and I’ve never been a Trekkie so I can imagine those fans enjoy it even more. I actually liked Krocodile for what it was. Super bleak but I was amused at seeing the paranoia steamroll through that woman’s life. She was a pretty effective killer all things considered. Ark angel as you say...interesting story but not all that interesting character wise. I thought they’d go down a darker more sociopathic turn. Kind of glad they didn’t. Black museum was interesting but even when all the pieces came together I wasn’t invested. I was kind of hoping the bad guy was gonna be Satan in a twisted reveal. He seemed the same age in all those stories. Metal head was just kind of straight forward. The teddy bear reveal made it all feel kind of worthless. ***SPOILERS****Crocodile would have been better if she had started ruthless but resisted it. I didn't think her actions was as paranoid as just being something within her. As they set her up, she just went from nice lady to serial killer. Maybe I was reading too much into the show title. I think it is interesting to think that the machine used to help insurance claims could actually increase murders. I liked Metalhead because it unintentionally created the better, more logical, & more efficient version of Terminator. It's not a better story since we need the face, but those were the most ruthless creations I've seen in a while. I liked the ending because it showed how foolish it was to live in a sympathetic or nostalgic world when those things are roaming around. Wherever the rest of the group was, they apparently were safe as long as they stayed away from the dogs and stopped longing for toys.
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