Movies/TV worth watching (or at least discussing)

[CameronBornAndBred]

We were in the mood for something mindless last night, so we watched the first half of Jungle Cruise on Disney +.

Both of us went to sleep laughing, and are looking forward to the 2nd half tonight. The CG is awful, but the characters make up for it. Lots of over the top ridiculous fun. (And The Rock's jokes/puns should be mandatory viewing for every DBR poster.)

[duke74]

Lin-Manuel Miranda's first film, Tick, Tick...Boom! hits theaters today. It is the story of the struggles of Rent composer Jonathan Larson to get noticed in early 90s New York. I enjoyed it, but think it is mostly for Broadway musical fans. Here is my 100-word review: https://flixchat.blogspot.com/2021/1...tick-tick.html

Watched it last night...and I am a B'way musical fan. The music was reminiscent of Rent in many ways, though assumed written before the Rent score. (Loved Rent)

Garfield was outstanding, as was Shipp.

Some ebbs and lows, but overall I am glad I watched it.

[brevity]

Speaking of ‘never too late’ I finally watched the Revolutionary War series TURИ last summer, seven years after it came to Netflix. A friend had recommended it years ago but I just kept putting it off. Then the pandemic gave me extra TV time so I gave it a shot. It was a decent period piece drama and I learned some stuff so I’m glad I did.

TURИ (and Halt and Catch Fire) were solid shows that ran from 2014-2017, back when AMC Networks seemingly could do no wrong. They were beating the broadcast networks in prestige (Breaking Bad and Mad Men) and ratings (The Walking Dead), and were willing to take chances to make anything that was different.

turn.jpg

It's almost like TURИ exists because an AMC executive told a showrunner, "I've printed out a copy of the Bill of Rights. I'm going to point to an amendment at random, and you get a make a whole show about it, big budget, no questions asked. Here we go... ooh, the Third Amendment. Quartering of soldiers. Good luck with that."

[Skydog]

TURИ (and Halt and Catch Fire) were solid shows that ran from 2014-2017, back when AMC Networks seemingly could do no wrong. They were beating the broadcast networks in prestige (Breaking Bad and Mad Men) and ratings (The Walking Dead), and were willing to take chances to make anything that was different.

turn.jpg

It's almost like TURИ exists because an AMC executive told a showrunner, "I've printed out a copy of the Bill of Rights. I'm going to point to an amendment at random, and you get a make a whole show about it, big budget, no questions asked. Here we go... ooh, the Third Amendment. Quartering of soldiers. Good luck with that."

Haha, I find your TURИ origin story quite credible!
And I remember those weird days when everything that was good and original was on AMC. That that was the case always surprised me. (Is there a universe where the previous sentence is grammatically correct? What about in our universe?)

[CameronBornAndBred]

Get off my lawn! Every last one of you!!!

Ridley Scott doesn’t have “one regret” about his direction or Disney’s promotion of his 2021 historical drama “The Last Duel” — the box office failure is the fault of young people and their cellphones, he says.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/...215836441.html

(By the way, read that, Scott's quotes are great.)

[Acymetric]

Get off my lawn! Every last one of you!!!



https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/...215836441.html

(By the way, read that, Scott's quotes are great.)

Wow, excellent read. Scott's views are...interesting. I would watch the movie to see for myself, but first I've gotta go check Facebook.

[LasVegas]

Get off my lawn! Every last one of you!!!



https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/...215836441.html

(By the way, read that, Scott's quotes are great.)

So weird that the “young” generation is just by default called millennials. The oldest millennial is 40 years old.

[JasonEvans]

Someone on the set of House Of Gucci needed to remind Ridley Scott that sometimes, less is more. Everything about this film is overdone... especially the way the camera lingers on Lady Gaga's cleavage. Here is my 100-word-review: https://flixchat.blogspot.com/2021/1...-house-of.html

[bundabergdevil]

Someone on the set of House Of Gucci needed to remind Ridley Scott that sometimes, less is more. Everything about this film is overdone... especially the way the camera lingers on Lady Gaga's cleavage. Here is my 100-word-review: https://flixchat.blogspot.com/2021/1...-house-of.html

Careful, he might accuse you of being a millennial!

[JasonEvans]

The word that stuck with me as I watched the first two episodes of Marvel's new Disney+ series Hawkeye was... small. It just doesn't feel very important.

Here is my 100-word review: https://flixchat.blogspot.com/2021/1...ws-disney.html

[cspan37421]

Someone on the set of House Of Gucci needed to remind Ridley Scott that sometimes, less is more. Everything about this film is overdone... especially the way the camera lingers on Lady Gaga's cleavage. Here is my 100-word-review: https://flixchat.blogspot.com/2021/1...-house-of.html

Given a movie that overdoes lingering on someone's cleavage, and given among its stars are Lady Gaga and Salma Hayek, I'd have guessed wrong. With confidence.

[cspan37421]

Wow, excellent read. Scott's views are...interesting. I would watch the movie to see for myself, but first I've gotta go check Facebook.

If only the director could have known something about his audience in advance. Or other movies with which it was competing. Or matters of taste, test screening results, pandemic effects, likelihood of good word of mouth. But hey, no one has a crystal ball, right? Totally unforeseeable.

[JasonEvans]

Given a movie that overdoes lingering on someone's cleavage, and given among its stars are Lady Gaga and Salma Hayek, I'd have guessed wrong. With confidence.

In this film she is quite literally poured into outfits most of the time. She's also shown in at least 2 bathtubs and one tub full of mud (Hayek is also naked in the mud scene). The mud is verrrry strategically placed to cover up just enough to not enrage the censors.

Look, I like a little naughty stuff as much as the next person (probably more than most) but I found it distracting from her performance. It is not a major problem with the movie, not by a long stretch, and I suspect many folks won't even notice. But, I found it to be a good way to explain how this movie does more more more all the time -- always going for the most outrageous thing it can -- rather than lingering a little bit in what really matters, the story.

All that said, Jared Leto is just off the charts great in this flick. He's in a completely different movie from everyone else (like if you got Groucho Marx to play the Ben Kingsley role in Schindler's list) but he's so much fun. Al Pacino fairly close to Leto in terms of his performance but everyone else is in a hard-edged drama. I sorta wish they had just made this into a full on comedy.

[Channing]

I started a thread about Dopesick that got exactly zero replies. I'll just leave it here with a positive referral. My job puts me nowhere near the pharma business - it is eye opening. Highly recommend and I'm sure those in the pharma / medical field will find it particularly poignant.

[duke74]

Anyone watching this? Keeps getting weirder, but I am liking it.

[Phredd3]

Someone on the set of House Of Gucci needed to remind Ridley Scott that sometimes, less is more. Everything about this film is overdone... especially the way the camera lingers on Lady Gaga's cleavage. Here is my 100-word-review: https://flixchat.blogspot.com/2021/1...-house-of.html

The pictures you posted make it look like a film based on a cartoon or comic book. Visually, those two shots remind me of the Dick Tracy film with Madonna. Although I kinda like Dick Tracy, I don't regard it as a selling point for how this film is being pitched.

[killerleft]

Anyone watching this? Keeps getting weirder, but I am liking it.

My wife and I watch. Weirder is right. I keep asking where the sun comes from down in that sinkhole, but just put it aside. Sometimes you gotta go with the flow.

[Kdogg]

Anyone watching this? Keeps getting weirder, but I am liking it.

There are so many things wrong with this show but I can’t look away. It’s actually a hit for a new network show in this day and age.

My wife and I watch. Weirder is right. I keep asking where the sun comes from down in that sinkhole, but just put it aside. Sometimes you gotta go with the flow.

They are back in time not hollow earth.

[Skydog]

There are so many things wrong with this show but I can’t look away. It’s actually a hit for a new network show in this day and age.



They are back in time not hollow earth.

Seems like a poor design. The portal between time periods is sky on one side and sinkhole on the other. Lot of falling involved. Also for some reason planes and cars crash but individual bodies land without a scratch.

[DU82]

Seems like a poor design. The portal between time periods is sky on one side and sinkhole on the other. Lot of falling involved. Also for some reason planes and cars crash but individual bodies land without a scratch.

Some of the cars made it, just won't start (I don't remember exactly how they got the Jeep to start.) And they mentioned that some of the people didn't make it (from earlier groups of "sky people".)

Now, if only the next sinkhole/opening would occur centered about 35.907307, -79.047832.

It's not great TV, but it's interesting enough to be on my DVR recording list. At least they're not dragging it out as much as the show they referenced, Lost.

Re other new network offerings, I'm enjoying Ghosts, Thursdays at 9 on CBS. Then again, I'll watch almost anything with Rose McIver (iZombie was another good one.)