[Abyss]

Abyss, on 10 May 2020 - 10:58 PM, said:

Abyss, on 23 April 2020 - 02:55 AM, said:

QuickTidal, on 19 April 2020 - 03:38 AM, said:

OUTER BANKS on Netflix. Fuck me...binged it in two days. FANTASTIC show. Starts out like Dawson’s Creek meets Clive Cussler, and then goes utterly batshit insane and entirely unpredictable in the best ways around episode 4 or 5...soooo good.

Just a blast. Can’t wait for season 2!

Just glanced at an ad and it looks like they gave DAWSON the RIVERDALE treatment.

Can't quite give it full marks for unpredictable, but 8 eps in and it IS fun coming off HOMELAND and WESTWORLD heaviness. Tnx for the reco.

Briar King, on 11 May 2020 - 03:19 AM, said:

Against my better judgment and severe boredom I’ve turned on Outer Banks Ep 2...

My opinion hasn’t changed at 11 minutes and 9 seconds in. This is horrible and most of it is all the dumbass friends overacting fault. This guy is just painful to watch anytime he is onscreen.

and then there was this gem: “WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE COMPASS?”

If I continue to watch this sorry drivel of a show it’s only going to be just to see how much of a cringe fest it is and laugh at it.

The show could score some points from me if they off this idiot soon....

Abyss, on 11 May 2020 - 03:35 AM, said:

I can acknowledge the acting is uneven, and the romantic subplots have near zero chemistry early on. Also the idea that the main cast are supposed to be 16-17 is ludicrous. The underlying mystery/treasure hunt is fun enough tho.

Call it NATIONAL TREASURE with a few shakes of RIVERDALE. Maybe BLOODLINE JR.

Gaah.
Fails to stick the landing.
Really fun treasure hunt plot sidelined by CW level teen romance and framed-for-murder. Lack of credible villain also really hurts it. The show tries way too hard to show all the major bad guys as deeply damaged, conflicted, whatever. The one really bad bad guy is utterly ineffective and a bad actor.

[Aptorian]

Finished season 2 of Westworld.

For the first 9 episodes I was inclined to say it was an okay season. Some seemingly pointless journeys and bad story writing, making characters do stupid things to create tension or drama but overall a lot of fun adventure and mystery. Then I watched the last episode and nearly rage quit several times.

The writing was downright embarrassing. How many times can your characters say "go, I'll stay behind and fight them/delay them" in a completely undefendable position before your writing credentials are revoked? There was also that gem where the Forge AI postulates that it's discovered that human beings are simple and never change and then, in the very next scene, you see a "go on a head I'll delay them" where a cowardly, selfish character sacrifices themself. Everything about that episode is inconsistent.

[paran falcon]

Aptorian, on 13 May 2020 - 05:23 AM, said:

Finished season 2 of Westworld.

For the first 9 episodes I was inclined to say it was an okay season. Some seemingly pointless journeys and bad story writing, making characters do stupid things to create tension or drama but overall a lot of fun adventure and mystery. Then I watched the last episode and nearly rage quit several times.

The writing was downright embarrassing. How many times can your characters say "go, I'll stay behind and fight them/delay them" in a completely undefendable position before your writing credentials are revoked? There was also that gem where the Forge AI postulates that it's discovered that human beings are simple and never change and then, in the very next scene, you see a "go on a head I'll delay them" where a cowardly, selfish character sacrifices themself. Everything about that episode is inconsistent.

I recall feeling similarly, though I think I was beyond irritated a good bit before the finale ep. Much of S2's writing seemed to be about doing whatever was necessary to keep the fans theorizing online from ever guessing right what was coming. S2 is the reason I refuse to give HBO even a month's subscription worth of my $ to watch S3. HBO will have to produce something else I can't go without seeing, it will not be just for Westworld.

[QuickTidal]

Snip

Abyss, on 13 May 2020 - 03:57 AM, said:

Gaah.
Fails to stick the landing.
Really fun treasure hunt plot sidelined by CW level teen romance and framed-for-murder. Lack of credible villain also really hurts it. The show tries way too hard to show all the major bad guys as deeply damaged, conflicted, whatever. The one really bad bad guy is utterly ineffective and a bad actor.

Spoiler

You don't think the dad is a viable villain? I found him to be incredibly so, especially after he started to lie to the FBI about his own kid being mentally ill (the wrong kid BTW, since it's his son that is really the metal ill one), and you know...KILLING people with a sea meat hook... I was completely surprised by his mid-season turn into the villain.

And I also like the fact that the ex-bf is nuanced...like he's not a card-carrying bad guy...there are layers there from the first moment of conflict (when Rafe nearly kills Pope) inside him, up till the moment he saves the two leads to prove he loves her.

Coupled with the fact that the ship captain at the end predicted the end of the newly spawned relationship...there's lots of nuance here.

Briar King, on 13 May 2020 - 04:20 AM, said:

I will probably finish this crapfest just to get more lols out of its horribleness but I’m in no rush to do so.

BK, you watch The Bachelor, and the Bachelorette man...you can't talk horrible about OUTER BANKS at the same time. LOL!

[QuickTidal]

Re-watching 1995's BBC adaptation of PRIDE & PREJUDICE and it's still as great as I remember...but man, the fact that they shot is on film (instead of videotape) but Super16mm film (as opposed to the more common 35mm used in most films) makes it age a bit poorly visually. The acting and the casting make up for it, as they still come across very well. I think especially Mrs. Bennet comes across better here than in any other adaptation because of how utterly petty she is (which is how she's meant to be) as in other adaptations she's been played as just a bumbling silly woman....she's basically the adult version of her most vapid daughter Lydia, and how they unapologetically present Caroline Bingley as a stone cold asshole....in the 2005 version they kind of ride the line with Caroline to almost show her as just a concerned sister...but in the book and in the 1995 version she's just a dick.

Anyways, solid stuff.

[Malankazooie]

Read a headline that AMC and Ann Rice just entered into an agreement for future projects ... yuck.

I mean, I'll probably see what develops, but my initial reaction is... yuck.

[QuickTidal]

Rick Riordan's PERCY JACKSON series (which was turned into two lacklustre movies that didn't bear a shadow of resemblance to the books there are based on) is going to be a TV series on Disney+.

Great news. The books are a lot of fun (YA mind you), and would definitely be served better by a TV series than a movie.

The movies famously ignored taking any advice from the author...to their detriment...

but the show will apparently be much more in contact with Rick: "Rest assured that Becky & I will be involved in person in every aspect of the show"

Anyways, this is super cool news to anyone who enjoys this series.

[Primateus]

So yeah.

[QuickTidal]

Primateus, on 15 May 2020 - 06:35 PM, said:

So yeah.

Yep. Fans (including myself) have been asking for this, so I'm really glad they are doing it! These people were SO good in DISCO S2, so a whole show about preKirk Enterprise exploration? I'm SO down.

[Abyss]

I find amazing that coming from the success of PICARD vs split response to DISCO', they decided that the thing people want most is another prequel series.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

I think the decision had already been made prior to Picard's success. I seem to remember rumblings about a Pike series not long after the second series of Discovery finished.

I liked Anson Mount in Discovery though so I'll probably give this a whirl.

[Malankazooie]

Okay, full disclosure - I swore off anything to do with vampires after the shit garbage True Blood turned into. I decided I was done with anything vampirey after damaging myself watching that crapfest from about season 4 onward.

Well hot cross buns! (*hissss). I heard good things about What We Do in the Shadows and decided to give it a try. I loved it from the start and binged season 1, and dammit if it isn't one of the funniest shows I've ever seen. I devoured each episode, one after the other, and never wanted to take a break or go out into the sun (*hissss) like a normal person. Instead I stayed cloistered in my subterranean lair until I finished all of season 1. It is such a brilliantly hilarious show. Season 2 is on its current run and I am going to start ASAP.

Love the opening credits and the imagery with it.

[Aptorian]

Watched the first episode of Westworld season 3 today. Writing is still inconsistent but seeing this plot from the "bodysnatchers" side is interesting.

Gotta say the setting, scenery and cinematography is amazing. Add some body modifications and this show would be a good example of what a Deus Ex the video game could look like as a TV show.

[Malankazooie]

Wait, there's going to be a "Beat the Judges" challenge on Forged in Fire coming next month? Damn, I guess I will watch that. I sort of dropped watching FIF. It just got too goofy with airing the failures. I mean, it can make for great television, but when almost every episode has a "shit the bed" moment it gets kind of tedious. I found myself just going to the end and checking out the final weapon challenge, and those were often a let down too.

Anyway, they better get someone to go h.a.m. on J Neilson's weapons. Get some payback on that crazy summbitch. Dude was relentless in bashing competitors blades *PING-CLANG -CLING

[Primateus]

So, yesterday I perused the pilot episode of Stargirl and the first episode of Motherland: Fort Salem.

Now, clearly, I am not the target demographic for either series, but it is fair to say that I enjoyed both of them.

Stargirl, notably with Luke Wilson as Stripesy, was actually decently made. The actress playing the title role, don't know her name, seem suitable and a decently enough actress. The supporting cast, though, fluctuates between forgettable and fair to decent.

The story was pretty good, the effects convincing enough and the hook for show was certainly good enough to make me look forward to next weeks episode.

Now, Motherland: Fort Salem!
What if the witch trials in Salem had resulted in the witches swearing allegiance to the United States of America and to fight grind their enemies with "Storm and Fury".

The acting was pretty good, the premise of the show even better and the effects pretty damn good.
I'll definitely add this one to my "to watch" list.

[Malankazooie]

I gave Motherland: Fort Salem three full episodes and a part of episode 4 before I dipped out. I'm not the targeted audience, for sure, but given excellent writing and steering of a show geared towards angsty teenage girls placed in the hands of a capable production team, I could get on board with it. But the show just seemed like it was going be too slogged down in the "good girl/rebel girl" thing (they were dipping into that well, a lot). And when it was revealed that the witchy powers were relegated to tonal changes in voice spells, eh, that kind of was a shut it down moment for me. Show should be called Motherland: Fort Siren.

[Aptorian]

Hasbro are streaming GI Joe on YouTube.

The nostalgia is strong but oh boy is the quality bad. The voice acting is hilarious. The animations are terrible and best of all it's full of continuity mistakes where characters change hair color or clothing between frames. I saw Cobra Commander shift between a helmet and a mask twice between camera angle changes.

Just watched the famous Springfield story where Cobra use synthoids to trick Shipwreck into thinking he's got a family. Creepy.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 03 June 2020 - 04:47 AM

[Aptorian]

Oh shit, they just introduced the Battle Android Troopers! I loved those BAT robots.

And Sgt Slaughter is kicking their ass!

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 21 May 2020 - 09:16 AM

[Tsundoku]

Netizens of the Empire, I give you BK's next obsession:

https://www.news.com...c40b67081b927f3

"Wild new reality show ‘Labor of Love’ sees 15 men compete to have baby with stranger."

Hosted by SATC Kristin Davis. Yep, a new low even for America.

IMHO - Pornhub do it much better with no fake drama in under an hour ...

Maybe they could do a Southern version where suitors are judged by photos of their utes ("trucks") and caravans ("trailers")?
Men in a house go straight to round 2.
Men who OWN a house go straight to round 3.

Or maybe she could just go for 15 truck rides ...

This post has been edited by Tsundoku: 23 May 2020 - 05:18 AM

[QuickTidal]

Holy shit. BK, Hana Kimura (the pink haired wrestler) from TERRACE HOUSE committed suicide.