Recommend a Movie/Documentary/Show
Vee said:Hey Ahavati, how are you? We need to catch up, It's been so long and I hope you're doing well.
I completely agree, the documentary on that girl and her son is heart wrenching . As the saying goes, real monsters live amongst us. I thought the documentary so well produced.
As for The Old man, I just started watching and its fantastic. Full of mystery and twists. Ofcourse, the great cast of actors and their talent makes it even better. I can't wait to watch the whole thing to see how it will play out.
Holy Crap! What a twist at the end of season one! I did NOT see that coming. It's been confirmed there will be a season two as well.
I completely agree, the documentary on that girl and her son is heart wrenching . As the saying goes, real monsters live amongst us. I thought the documentary so well produced.
As for The Old man, I just started watching and its fantastic. Full of mystery and twists. Ofcourse, the great cast of actors and their talent makes it even better. I can't wait to watch the whole thing to see how it will play out.
Holy Crap! What a twist at the end of season one! I did NOT see that coming. It's been confirmed there will be a season two as well.
I enjoy Archer because it displays its might. However, Tiger King on Netflix is also quite good. Talking about Archer, critics really think about canceling it. Like yesterday, I've read on https://tvcancelrenew.com/tv-status/all-rise-season-4-or-cancelled-cbs-renewal--release-date how boring it gets to the end. We're six episodes in, and I don't think the show has done all that well. I attempted to suppress my bad feelings for the first few episodes because I appreciated Reed's size of balls and wanted to give the program time to adapt to its new environment and premise. Recently, cocaine has played no role, and I find the entire country storyline completely uninteresting.
I can definitely recommend Black Adam, which I finally got the chance to actually see last Thursday. I knew that the critics hated it, but I did not at all care about that since typically I seem to like a great many movies that critics despise. For instance, I loved all of the Disney Narnia movies, and I especially enjoyed The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in particular. I just tend to have rather unique taste, I suppose. But Black Adam was a lot of fun! *** Spoilers to follow! *** It was cool seeing a live action version of Doctor Fate too, since he was always truly one of my favorite DC superheroes. I thought that the addition of the Justice Society was done rather well, and it was cool how they updated them for modern times rather than going with the older World War II era Justice Society, which would have required making this a period piece. They did a great job I thought turning the main villain from a character who originally in the old comics was a rather silly looking and kind of dumb character... and making him into a truly imposing, demonic monstrosity. I am not really up on how they are portraying Sabbac in the comics these days, but if the movie is anything to go by it is a marked improvement over the goofy fellow in the green robe that he used to be. It reminds me a lot of how they made Doctor Sivana a whole lot cooler and more threatening in the Shazam movie. So right off the bat, they took a rather interesting turn there, from what I was at first expecting! As for the heroes, Hawkman was portrayed rather well, and they skirted around his main power quite nicely, since it would not have fit well within the scope of the movie. That is to so, his ability to reincarnate after being killed, with his next incarnation becoming the next Hawkman. You could eke something like that out in a series, but in a movie you only have so much time, so not going there with him was a good idea. A lot of people seemed to think that Doctor Fate was a bit dumbed down in the movie, but me I thought he was portrayed perfectly to the comics... it did so much seem to me like he died per se, but that his spirit went into his helmet when his body was killed. So... the people who were angry over his death in the movie, might have been underestimating him a bit. In the comics, the original Doctor Fate was killed fighting the Lords of Chaos, but then his body was possessed by the god who used to empower his helmet... who then passed on the helmet, and the mantle of Doctor Fate to a mother and her son who become the next Doctor Fate (by combining into one body, which made for some awkward moments, but since this was back in the 80's DC did not mind going experimental like this a lot). It was rather debatable whether or not it was just the god possessing Doctor Fate's old body, or if his soul was somehow still in it since sometimes, he kind of almost still had his old personality. But the point is, Doctor Fate is not so much one man but rather a mantle that gets passed on from one person to the next kind of like Marvel's Sorcerer Supreme title. In fact, Doctor Fate was always pretty much DC's own Doctor Strange. As for the other members of the Justice Society... Atom Smasher was funny, and he really, really did remind me a bit of Marvel's Deadpool in a LOT of ways, but of course not in an R-rated capacity. But he had kind of that irreverent and cocky vibe to him, which made him fun to watch. Many people complained that his mask was too much like Deadpool's but that is how Atom Smasher looked in the comics too, and honestly... he did come way, way before Deadpool was ever invented. Plus, Deadpool was more of a way of Marvel making fun of DC's Deathstroke... so we are talking about very different things there. My favorite member of the Justice Society (aside from Doctor Fate) in this movie was Cyclone though... the girl with the wind powers! I had never really given her comic book counterpart much thought, over the years... but in the movie, I thought she was fantastic. She was quite the powerhouse once she got going! But... she also had a bit of a nice personality despite nearly delving into being a bit brooding at one point (though not without good reason given what she was talking about in that part to do with her past). So, in the end I found myself liking her a great deal, when, at first, I did not expect that I was going to. In many ways, she was a nice surprise! The only bit in the whole movie that kind of fell flat was the whole Intergang subplot... in the beginning of the movie, they are built up to be the major big bad organization of the story, but once Sabbac comes into his full powers they just kind of get forgotten about once he starts tearing things up. Then, after he gets defeated, everyone seems to be acting like Intergang is no longer a problem. I got the impression that they were still going to be a big pain in everyone's collective butts... and that Black Adam was going to pretty much have to kick them the heck out of his country pretty darn soon. Unless they ran for the hills once Sabbac went on his rampage. The problem is, they never said one way or the other. So that was bit up to interpretation there, which could have been fixed by having a quick scene of Intergang retreating out of the country or a having a scene where Black Adam said he was going to continue to fight against them or something. Instead, they just kind of dropped it. So that was, for me, the only part I did not like in the whole movie since it felt rushed and not fully thought through. However, that is a small complaint, and when you think about it... a lot of old Saturday morning cartoons were like that back in the day. Heck, G.I. Joe did stuff like that all the time! So, I suppose I am a bit more forgiving of Black Adam as a movie because I am used to silly plots on that level. If anything, it did give it quite a bit of a comic book sensibility. So yeah, I would definitely recommend the movie to anyone looking for a fun comic book movie that is not trying to be high art. This is not the Dark Knight trilogy of films here! And it is not trying to be. I loved the Superman cameo at the end too... and how they played the Superman theme song from the old Christopher Reeve days. Seeing Henry Cavil in the role again was awesome, too! I was glad that they did not include Shazam in the movie since honestly there was already enough going on in it... and having the two of them going at it with everything else happening would have caused the story to spiral into incoherent chaos. Whereas it was good just the way it was. Pretty much, only one character in the whole movie annoyed me a bit, and that was the boy who kept following Black Adam around and pestering him. I get it that the kid was Adam's introduction to the modern world... but oh my goodness what a nuisance of an introduction he was sometimes. He reminded me of the "Adoring Fan" character from the Elder Scrolls Oblivion video game. All I can say about the matter is... the kid was lucky that Black Adam was as patient as he was. Seriously! Although at least the kid became less annoying later in the movie, and actually had quite a bit of courage towards the end especially. Pretty much, Black Adam was the movie I mostly thought it was going to be... a slightly more serious, and darker, take on the whole concept of Shazam in general. But with enough humor to keep it from become too dark! There were quite a few interesting and fun easter eggs and a couple of background characters that only fans of the comics would recognize. Such as the demoness in that one scene (the Hell sequence), whose name in the comics was Lady Blaze. But that was all part of the charm of the movie, that it felt very strongly like a valid part of the DC comics universe.
I enjoyed Black Summer. The zombies are way scarier than the Walking Dead zombies. If that's what the zombie apocalypse is gonna be like then with my COPD I'm totally fecked. Tar Man from Return of the Living Dead is still the god-king, though. The gold standard for all zombiekind, even Bub.
I've been meaning to write a full review of We Own This City for months now but life keeps throwing meteors of stress and distraction in my direction every time I start to get more than a dozen words together, so for now, writing is on the backburner. I actually feel like I'm in a hurry as I write this lol. Anyway
I'm a major, major fan of The Wire, it really is THE GOAT for the hourlong TV crime drama format, so when I heard that WOtC was being produced & written by David Simon (for HBO, no less....always a great combo) I was antsy to dig into the story. Where The Wire required your attention to appreciate it, WOtC actively punishes you for not paying enough attention, so it's for serious viewing only, with its back-and-forth time skips and flashbacks.
It doesn't really matter if you're not familiar with The Wire, but if you're fan of that show like me, you'll definitely appreciate WOtC even more, as numerous actors from there dot the landscape here. (Poot's a county investigator? Donut's a wise old man with a big grey beard now? Jay Landsman backstabbed his all the way to police chief?! All kinds a good cameos.)
Jon Bernthal (who I thought did a fine job as Shane in Walking Dead) really shines here, his Baltimorean accent SPOT ON (I just wiki'd him, and yep, he's a Marylander lol, shoula known), as corrupt BPD Gun Trace Task Force chief Wayne Jenkins. This is a true story, and not merely "BASED ON", but actually very detailed. I did some research into the Wayne Jenkins case and it looks to me like the story is pretty accurate here. I recommend you don't research the case before you watch it for the full emotional impact, and I'm doing my best not to spoil anything here. Also, look for Jamie Hector, who portrayed the reptilian Marlo Stanfield on The Wire (imo the most realistic villain in TV history), go in the complete opposite direction here as a straight-laced, nice-guy family man detective who gets caught up in the super corrupt investigations of the GTTF, and again, I don't want to spoil anything but his role is central to the story. I'll just say that Hector is really an amazing actor.
As bad as Jenkins is, I think Daniel Hersl (played convincingly by Josh Charles, a little TOO convincingly maybe!) is the absolute worst. Any of you who have been threatened and humiliated by street cops might find the scenes with Hersl a tad triggering. As bad as Jenkins is, I actually empathized with him in a small way...I think Jenkins is largely a delusional fool. Hersl, though lol....guy f'in SUCKS.
Another thing I admire about this miniseries is how they get the SJW stuff right. THIS is how you incorporate that stuff into a story. Simon's not really big on "preaching" in a script, what he does is more objectively "reporting" life as he sees it, like a reporter should. The Wire NEVER preached. That being said, there are some characters here that border on the edge of that, but this is a 6-part miniseries and not a full-fledged series with dozens of episodes to build interconnected storylines like The Wire did, so I can understand how some scenes are simply cutting into the meat of the story due to time constraints. Treat Williams has a role here that does just that, for one example.
This story was not that long ago, and it's uncanny how The Wire basically prophesized this story in fiction before it happened reality. Of course, that's Baltimore for ya. If you've ever been there, or especially you're FROM there, you know exactly what I mean. Overall, it's a tragic, sad little story, and more terrifying than any horror film for its gritty realism. It's been called a "spiritual successor" to The Wire, but don't expect it to be as great as that show was....but what show is? Still, highly recommended. You fine folks from around the world ought to find out what's happening in Baltimore, and many other U.S. cities, and the problem is growing outward. We need to be cautious about who we allow this kind of authority over us. You do not want guys like this coming to get your stuff. This miniseries nails this point home like no other.
I've been meaning to write a full review of We Own This City for months now but life keeps throwing meteors of stress and distraction in my direction every time I start to get more than a dozen words together, so for now, writing is on the backburner. I actually feel like I'm in a hurry as I write this lol. Anyway
I'm a major, major fan of The Wire, it really is THE GOAT for the hourlong TV crime drama format, so when I heard that WOtC was being produced & written by David Simon (for HBO, no less....always a great combo) I was antsy to dig into the story. Where The Wire required your attention to appreciate it, WOtC actively punishes you for not paying enough attention, so it's for serious viewing only, with its back-and-forth time skips and flashbacks.
It doesn't really matter if you're not familiar with The Wire, but if you're fan of that show like me, you'll definitely appreciate WOtC even more, as numerous actors from there dot the landscape here. (Poot's a county investigator? Donut's a wise old man with a big grey beard now? Jay Landsman backstabbed his all the way to police chief?! All kinds a good cameos.)
Jon Bernthal (who I thought did a fine job as Shane in Walking Dead) really shines here, his Baltimorean accent SPOT ON (I just wiki'd him, and yep, he's a Marylander lol, shoula known), as corrupt BPD Gun Trace Task Force chief Wayne Jenkins. This is a true story, and not merely "BASED ON", but actually very detailed. I did some research into the Wayne Jenkins case and it looks to me like the story is pretty accurate here. I recommend you don't research the case before you watch it for the full emotional impact, and I'm doing my best not to spoil anything here. Also, look for Jamie Hector, who portrayed the reptilian Marlo Stanfield on The Wire (imo the most realistic villain in TV history), go in the complete opposite direction here as a straight-laced, nice-guy family man detective who gets caught up in the super corrupt investigations of the GTTF, and again, I don't want to spoil anything but his role is central to the story. I'll just say that Hector is really an amazing actor.
As bad as Jenkins is, I think Daniel Hersl (played convincingly by Josh Charles, a little TOO convincingly maybe!) is the absolute worst. Any of you who have been threatened and humiliated by street cops might find the scenes with Hersl a tad triggering. As bad as Jenkins is, I actually empathized with him in a small way...I think Jenkins is largely a delusional fool. Hersl, though lol....guy f'in SUCKS.
Another thing I admire about this miniseries is how they get the SJW stuff right. THIS is how you incorporate that stuff into a story. Simon's not really big on "preaching" in a script, what he does is more objectively "reporting" life as he sees it, like a reporter should. The Wire NEVER preached. That being said, there are some characters here that border on the edge of that, but this is a 6-part miniseries and not a full-fledged series with dozens of episodes to build interconnected storylines like The Wire did, so I can understand how some scenes are simply cutting into the meat of the story due to time constraints. Treat Williams has a role here that does just that, for one example.
This story was not that long ago, and it's uncanny how The Wire basically prophesized this story in fiction before it happened reality. Of course, that's Baltimore for ya. If you've ever been there, or especially you're FROM there, you know exactly what I mean. Overall, it's a tragic, sad little story, and more terrifying than any horror film for its gritty realism. It's been called a "spiritual successor" to The Wire, but don't expect it to be as great as that show was....but what show is? Still, highly recommended. You fine folks from around the world ought to find out what's happening in Baltimore, and many other U.S. cities, and the problem is growing outward. We need to be cautious about who we allow this kind of authority over us. You do not want guys like this coming to get your stuff. This miniseries nails this point home like no other.
Anonymous
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Anonymous
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Anonymous said:<< post removed >>
I just heard about this movie today, it sound interesting to me very much. I always like the dark and the gothic things, and am a fan of the works of Poe very much, as well as Stephen King, Clive Barker, and H.P. Lovecraft. All masters of horror among my favorites! The article I read about this new Poe movie was silly one though, it did compare the movie to Batman because of the gothic aesthetic. I can kind of see what they getting at though, but Batman it is not.
I just heard about this movie today, it sound interesting to me very much. I always like the dark and the gothic things, and am a fan of the works of Poe very much, as well as Stephen King, Clive Barker, and H.P. Lovecraft. All masters of horror among my favorites! The article I read about this new Poe movie was silly one though, it did compare the movie to Batman because of the gothic aesthetic. I can kind of see what they getting at though, but Batman it is not.
Anonymous said:<< post removed >>
I actually rather find the idea of Poe as a detective fascinating since he was in many ways the father of the modern mystery story, as well as a pioneer in the genre of gothic literature. I always liked the old Vincent Prince movies based on Poe's works! They had always had such a crazy energy to them, like fever dreams committed to film but in a good way. So, a movie featuring Poe himself but thrown into a story as dark and dreary as anything he wrote is an intriguing idea that actually sounds like it would be a good watch. I liked the Johnny Depp Sleepy Hollow movie because it had a similar type of premise... a detective investigating a case in a dark, gothic setting. Although this movie about Poe sounds a bit more grounded in certain respects and a lot less overtly supernatural in comparison. Even so though, interesting stuff for sure!
I actually rather find the idea of Poe as a detective fascinating since he was in many ways the father of the modern mystery story, as well as a pioneer in the genre of gothic literature. I always liked the old Vincent Prince movies based on Poe's works! They had always had such a crazy energy to them, like fever dreams committed to film but in a good way. So, a movie featuring Poe himself but thrown into a story as dark and dreary as anything he wrote is an intriguing idea that actually sounds like it would be a good watch. I liked the Johnny Depp Sleepy Hollow movie because it had a similar type of premise... a detective investigating a case in a dark, gothic setting. Although this movie about Poe sounds a bit more grounded in certain respects and a lot less overtly supernatural in comparison. Even so though, interesting stuff for sure!
Anonymous
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Anonymous
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The new TV show called "The Last Of Us". ..
Specifically the third episode. (So far only three episodes have aired, I think).
I won't spoil it. I was a bit put off by a certain romantic situation, but I dealt with it just to get through to the next scenes. And I'm glad I did. Because it is absolutely brilliantly done, the way the "situation" plays out. It will completely rip your heart wide open.
If it doesn't, I feel bad for you, because you have a cold conscience.
It will open your eyes to how love matters most, regardless of beliefs.
It is absolutely brilliant and beautiful.
Specifically the third episode. (So far only three episodes have aired, I think).
I won't spoil it. I was a bit put off by a certain romantic situation, but I dealt with it just to get through to the next scenes. And I'm glad I did. Because it is absolutely brilliantly done, the way the "situation" plays out. It will completely rip your heart wide open.
If it doesn't, I feel bad for you, because you have a cold conscience.
It will open your eyes to how love matters most, regardless of beliefs.
It is absolutely brilliant and beautiful.
Trying not to devour the entire new season of Black Mirror in one sitting like a box of cookies. I've watched the first 3 episodes so far this weekend and tempted to watch another one tonight. Trying not to binge on them all at once. These are some of the bleakest, darkest shows I've seen from BM, and that's saying something. I might rewatch one of those tonight instead. They've definitely given me some thoughts to stew on this week.
SonderNinja said:I'm a major, major fan of The Wire, it really is THE GOAT for the hourlong TV crime drama format, so when I heard that WOtC was being produced & written by David Simon (for HBO, no less....always a great combo) I was antsy to dig into the story. Where The Wire required your attention to appreciate it, WOtC actively punishes you for not paying enough attention, so it's for serious viewing only, with its back-and-forth time skips and flashbacks.
It doesn't really matter if you're not familiar with The Wire, but if you're fan of that show like me, you'll definitely appreciate WOtC even more, as numerous actors from there dot the landscape here. (Poot's a county investigator? Donut's a wise old man with a big grey beard now? Jay Landsman backstabbed his all the way to police chief?! All kinds a good cameos.)
Anyone NOT familiar with The Wire needs to be! It's classic! I HATED to see it end; however, like Mad Men, it ended perfectly! Gotta keep that Devil way down in the hole.
https://youtu.be/0ymj79q-U-w
It doesn't really matter if you're not familiar with The Wire, but if you're fan of that show like me, you'll definitely appreciate WOtC even more, as numerous actors from there dot the landscape here. (Poot's a county investigator? Donut's a wise old man with a big grey beard now? Jay Landsman backstabbed his all the way to police chief?! All kinds a good cameos.)
Anyone NOT familiar with The Wire needs to be! It's classic! I HATED to see it end; however, like Mad Men, it ended perfectly! Gotta keep that Devil way down in the hole.
https://youtu.be/0ymj79q-U-w
