What Are You Watching?

[Use the Falchion]

Started The Brothers Sun with my dad, and I'm having a blast with it so far. It reminds me of Arrow Season 1 in the best of ways, and the cast is delightfully cheesy, charming, and oh-so earnest. 

My friend and I have been watching The Wheel of Time Season 2 together via View Party stuff, but we haven't been able to talk due to Christmas break and trips. We'll reconnect in two weeks and hopefully finish up. I've seen most of the season but I do need to see the last final two episodes since I saved those to watch with him. After WoT is Echo. I'm really hoping it's good, but I won't get my hopes up. 

 

Edited January 22 by Use the Falchion

[Zurvanight he/him]

Watching True Detective Season 4: Night Country. It's basically a Lovecraft horror story, with a lot of similarities to the first (best) season.

[Eluvianii he/him]

Took me three years but decided to re-watch Akudama Drive, extended last episode this time. It wasn't what I expected but still managed to give more closure to the show than it already had. Also, as I'm now waaay over the honeymoon period, I can say it holds up as one of my favorite shows. It shouldn't be possible to tell this big of a story in 12 episodes. 

[Treamayne]

Clue

Because this post made me realize it's been too long since my last viewing

[Ookla she/her]

Hope it's okay that this is not a movie, but it's watchable and highly entertaining. Here you go. :)

[The Honorable One he/him]

I recently watched the movie "The Art of Racing in the Rain." I only cried a few times.

[Wittles he/him]

I've been watching the tv show Fringe and it's actually really good and scratches a really specific sci-fi itch I didn't quite realize was there

[The cheeseman Sola Scriptora]

17 minutes ago, Wittles said:

I've been watching the tv show Fringe and it's actually really good and scratches a really specific sci-fi itch I didn't quite realize was there

Did you, too, watch Daniel Greene's video about it?

[Wittles he/him]

Just now, The cheeseman said:

Did you, too, watch Daniel Greene's video about it?

Ooh, I didn't know he had one about it. I should check it out!

[Eluvianii he/him]

Watched Godzilla Minus One. That was a good one. I don't know when Toho learned to do cgi but no complaints on my side. 

It's also probably the most character focused Godzilla movie I've seen so far. No complaints on my side for that either. 

Really enjoyed it, a bit dark but not too much. I like the characters, Goji looks amazing, very rewatchable.

Now, this latest spree of serious Godzilla movies is great and all (Shin is still my favorite Godzilla movie), but I hope at some point we can go back to fairies and mechas and space monsters. Those were fun. 

[Fanerdinag]

I recently started watching Buffy again. It's my childhood favorite.

[Eluvianii he/him]

3 hours ago, Fanerdinag said:

I recently started watching Buffy again. It's my childhood favorite.

Ooh just started that one after about a decade of indecision. This would have been so my thing back in high school, I regret waiting so long to start it. Loving it so far. 

[Briar King]

Finished Better Call Saul finally and of course it made me want to rerererewatch BB.

On S5 now.

[Cataclysm he/him]

Watching Grimm currently

Some of the occasional Psych

[Thaidakar the Ghostblood he/him]

An empty google doc.

In all seriousness, though, I'm watching Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Not because of the new movie, but because I realized that it's on Disney plus and the trilogy looks kinda cool and I've been meaning to watch it.

[Treamayne]

Leverage - cause re-reading Mistborn Era 1 and their Annotations deserves some great modern Robin Hood media accompaniment, and this show is soooo underrated. Great cast, great chemistry and timing, great character arcs. 

For those unfamiliar:

Spoiler

IMDB Summary:

Spoiler

A black-ops specialist (hitter), a con artist (grifter), a cat burglar (thief), and a hacker join forces with an ex-insurance agent (mastermind) to use elaborate stings to make the rich and powerful pay for their crimes and make restitution.

A supposedly-wronged businessman asks a former IYS insurance adjuster to direct "his" team for one mission. Besides said IYS mastermind is one envelope-pushing daredevil gymnast thief with intimacy issues, one gregarious genius who can adapt, control and build any system with a digital pulse and one quiet but lethal ex-military retrieval expert. After the mission is completed and the four narrowly escape death, they enlist a grifter. Their quest: systematic war on fellow thieves, grifters and con-men all over the world who hide illegal activity behind reputation, articles of incorporation and lawyers.

TV Tropes Summary:

Spoiler

"The rich and powerful take what they want. We steal it back for you. Sometimes bad guys make the best good guys. We provide... Leverage."

— Nathan Ford

Leverage (2008-2012) is a crime dramedy which follows the exploits of Leverage Consulting & Associates, a team of heroic criminals led by a former insurance investigator. The team takes a modern-day Robin Hood approach of finding people and corporations who have committed wrongs and attempting to restore justice as they see it, using their skills to run elaborate Ocean's Eleven-style cons on their targets. Think of them as a modern-day version of Mission: Impossible or The A-Team.

And the in-show summary quote:

Quote

Nate: There’s nothing glamorous about what I do. Powerful people have tried very hard to kill me, and almost succeeded. I’ve served time in jail. Hell, I’ve been shot several times— I can’t even lift my arms over my head anymore. This isn’t exactly what you’d call a great lifestyle choice.

Elizabeth: Allow me to refute your points, Nathan. I’ll give you jail— though I will add that it was medium security and your sentence was commuted. But you were shot on the job while you were working at IYS, too— by an art thief, if I recall the story correctly— and powerful people tried to kill you then, too. The difference is, now you’re doing what you do to assist people in need rather than serving a corporation whose purpose is to try to avoid paying the very services that people specifically pay us to provide. I’d definitely say you’ve moved up in the world.
                         — The Zoo Job

 

 

Edited May 21 by Treamayne
SPAG

[Eluvianii he/him]

Watched the 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie. That was... pretty good actually. I wouldn't mind seeing more of this, a trilogy or something. The fact that it was so thoroughly canned makes the sequel bait at the end all the more painful.

Good watch, peak popcorn material.

[Briar King]

Finished Dune 2.

Surely 3 is coming…idk if film will work once past Children of Dune material but I’d be supportive of DV if he attempts God Emperor-Chapterhouse at some point in the future.

Still hope to see a live action Miles Teg one day. Animation may be better for bks 4-6 arcs though.

[Eluvianii he/him]

A while ago I rewatched Alien and while it's still a really good movie, it wasn't as good as I remembered.

Today I rewatched Aliens and, well, this one was even better than I remembered.

It's just one of the coolest movies ever made. Period. The characters are good, Ellen is an amazing protagonist, the sets are great, the xenomorphs are on point. The build up is amazing. Over half of the movie has this nice and slow atmosphere of suspense, sometimes borderline horror, and yet a lot of people still consider it too be too action-focused. How intense does the last third have to be for that to happen? Very.

Not to mention, I spent like half the movie on the verge of tears this time around. Ellen and Newt have so many little behaviors and reactions stemming from just how damn traumatized they are. I don't think I appreciated those nearly enough when I was younger, but I was rooting for them harder than ever. Just, great stuff.

All the more reason I can't forgive Alien 3. I mean idk, for all I know it's a great movie, my memories of it are fuzzy at best and non-existent at worst. But uh I do remember the beginning. And killing Newt alone makes me want to pretend that Ellen's story finished with the second one.

[Elf They/them]

Just finished American Horror Story season 1 and I am already in love. Evan Peters was so great as Tate

[Use the Falchion]

Shogun with my dad - My dad likes it more than I do, but he also read the book way back in the day AND watched the previous show. It's weird that he likes it more than the guy who actually lived in (admittedly rural) Japan for two years, but that's life at times. The show has grown on me, but it took some time...and some spoilers. 

Star Wars Acolyte with my friend and my dad - I also really enjoy Acolyte. It's doing a lot of things well and interestingly, and I'm a fan so far. The review bombing is unfortunate and seems to be spearheaded by misogyny, racism, and anti-LGBTQA+ nonsense, but I'm also not surprised that's the case. I'd like to believe that the show will redeem itself in time, but we'll see. 

My Adventures With Superman Season 2 - Kara Zor-El looks like Android 18 and I'm 99% sure that's on purpose and that's phenomenal. The show is doing a lot of fun this with Superman and his mythos, and it's a bright, fun show. I wish that it aired on a normal network at a normal time, because nothing about it screams "Adult Swim" other than AS were the people to fund the show. I really hope younger generations can find and enjoy this take on Superman before it's loss to history or something. 

 

No progress on The Brothers Sun and I may have to finish that show myself. 

[Use the Falchion]

I watched F9: The Fast Saga again with my parents on Saturday. It still is one of my favorite F&F movies. The action is good and over-the-top, characters that aren't acted by Vin Diesel get a nice chunk of screentime and development, and I honestly like John Cena as the angry brother. The movie brought back nearly every character to some degree, and while the big poster revival was one of the worst in the franchise (F 10's revival is the worst IMO), the characters reacted to it well, and it played nicely with the mid-credits teaser. I love how the final scene in the movie is Brian's car pulling up to the barbeque, as it feels like it's Justin Lin (the director of F&F 3-6 & 9) saying goodbye to the character in his own way. AND NOTHING CAN CHANGE MY MIND ON THAT. 

Watching it again after having seen F 10, I feel like this is a good stopping point for the series in the same way that Star Wars: The Last Jedi is for the series. The story clearly isn't over, and the adventure will continue, but everyone feels like they've completed their arcs for the saga, and they're in a better place. There's hope at the end, and in these cases, our imaginations are better than the reality we got.*

 

Television-wise, my mom and I finally started Ted Lasso! I mean, she binged the show a year or two ago and has been trying to get me to watch it ever since, and I'm finally in the mood to watch it. And boy howdy do I love it so far! We're only four episodes in, but I've already got the craving to make some biscuits, get a cup of English Breakfast Tea, and binge 3-4 episodes with my mom. 

 

Later in the summer my dad and I will watch the 1980s Shogun to have a fun compare/contrast with the 2024 version. My dad loved the show growing up, and while the 2024 version took its time to grow on me, grow on me it did! I'm excited to see the older version also. (And fun fact, Anna Sawai aka "Mariko-Sama" in the 2024 Shogun played Elle in F9!) 

 

 

*Speaking of Star Wars, when I originally saw and reviewed this movie, I claimed it was as if Justin Lin wanted to direct and/or saw The Rise of Skywalker, said he could do better, and proceeded to do so in his own ninth installation. The plot and action just felt so Star Wars-y to me at the time, and I was still hurting from The Rise of Skywalker, that it made sense. Seeing it with The Rise of Skywalker nearly 5 years out, I can say that some of that still is true for me, but most of it has faded. What's left is my desire to have Justin Lin actually direct a Star Wars movie. He's done Star Trek, now let him do Star Wars! (I have a pitch and everything!) And yeah, at that time, I compared a LOT of movies to TROS. The most memorable ones that I compared to Star Wars were: 

F9: The Fast Saga - High octane chases, a sci-fi world-ending device that felt straight out of Star Wars, and the power of love, family, and friends. 

Shang-Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings - You've got an evil father, fun fight scenes, and focus on Yin-Yang/duality, mysticism and magic intertwined with modernity to a degree, and forgiveness. I'm not explaining myself very well here, but Shang-Chi gave me a lot of Return of the Jedi vibes, but condensed and in the way possible. 

Spider-Man: No Way Home - A (slightly) better way to introduce a villain you want to redeem but not necessarily forgiving them of what they've done. 

Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantamania - It was if someone wanted to do a Star Wars movie but had neither the pedigree, experience, or budget. 

[clowncarcrash]

House of Dragon S2- really good stuff!

The Boys just finished its fourth season finale. A bit meandering this season but I love the shocking stuff they always put in into the show.

My adventures with superman - really cute show and its a refreshing optimistic take on Supe.

[Eluvianii he/him]

Watched The Boy and the Heron. Or How Do You Live as I'm pretty sure it was actually called? It's a very good movie. Miyazaki seems to have challenged himself to make even more impressive animation and he certainly succeeded.

Coming to terms with the death of a loved one is always an interesting theme, though it wasn't as central as I expected. It was well done though. Well intertwined with the acceptance of a new environment/family.

The music was confusing. Mostly because, well, this was done by Hisaishi, right? It didn't sound like him. At all. And that's not exactly a complaint. I love his usual style but what he did in this movie is absolutely haunting. Several pieces unlocked emotions I didn't even know I had.

Overall I think this does one up The Wind Rises as the ideal movie to retire. Now, this is Miyazaki we're talking about, I have no doubt with enough time he'll get bored of retirement once again but, rude as it sounds, I don't think he has time anymore. If he starts a new project I doubt he'll live to finish it. But I'm sincerely glad we were able to see him finish this one. It was a beautiful journey for sure.

[Eluvianii he/him]

Went to see Alien Romulus today. It. Was. So. Good.

I tried to lower my expectations a little bit, the trailer looked good but a bit safe. Man, I was so wrong about that. Sure, the setting is familiar and the plot is simple enough, but otherwise it's just such a creative movie. They really took everything we knew about xenomorphs and asked, what other dangerous situations could come out of this? And how would a human survive it?

If I had to choose a "downside" it would be the lack of a hunt. There's not much of that here. But hey, we've had several movies dedicated to a hunt already, a change of pace isn't bad.

Overall, I just appreciate a director who clearly likes the franchise but is also willing to try new things. A little too willing maybe, the movie gets extremely bold at one point. I liked that part, and I think it's a good precedent, but I can see some, say, "traditional" fans having a hard time with it.

Excellent movie though. Easily the best one since the second one (and better than the first one too but I don't dare say that too loud).