Movies/TV worth watching (or at least discussing)

[fuse]

The Great on Hulu is a bit of irreverent nsfw fun.

[bundabergdevil]

We've also started watching our first "reality" show in quite a while. It's one of the "Alone" seasons, which is essentially set up like the Hunger Games except they 'tap out' and call someone to some get them versus, well, what happen in the Hunger Games.

It's a pretty ambitious survival show with 10 contestants told they may be in the wild surviving up to a year vying to be the last man/woman standing for $500K. We're both skeptical that they're truly Alone given the camera angles, battery durability, and what they manage to catch on camera. I guess they might be trained on how to recreate events or something but it all seems very suspicious. We're still enjoying it though. Always fun to guess which of the contestants is all bluff and bluster and which can tough it out, improvise, etc.

[cspan37421]

Here are 3 available on Netflix that I have really enjoyed:
...
Grantchester (2014-). For those who like Inspector Morse, Endeavour, etc. I'm always looking for the equal of Foyle's War, but that's in a class of its own. No shame in being at Inspector Morse's level.

Correction: Grantchester has been on PBS streaming (for donors to local PBS station).

Update: mixed feelings about it now. An important element of a whodunit mystery to me is that it is not easy to piece together the clues and correctly divine (ha!) the perpetrator. In this, Grantchester succeeds. The acting by the principals is generally good. However, the acting by supporting characters has been dreadful. Over-the-top, eyerolling hammy, especially those who don't regularly appear - those whose role is just for that specific episode. They are stereotypes, caricatures.

Alternative: we gave Unforgotten a try, and are hooked. It's a cold case show, again on PBS streaming. Better written, and vastly better acted - closer to Broadchurch (season one) in these regards. IMDB lists Unforgotten as having six episodes in its season one, but PBS bundled them into three of just under 90 minutes each. Of those, we've watched the first two of season one, and are eager to watch the final one. Nicola Walker stars alongside Sanjeev Baskar. In the first season, we also get Tom Courtenay, Gemma Jones, Cheri Lunghi, and a few other familiar faces.

[budwom]

New Grantchester tonight on PBS!

Spun the dial on the TV yesterday, saw some fanless golf, actually thought it was a big improvement, didn't have to listen to a pack of waddlers hollering UDAMAN ever few minutes...refreshing!

[cspan37421]

... didn't have to listen to a pack of waddlers hollering UDAMAN ever few minutes...refreshing!

In the hole! Get in the hole!

P.S. too late to edit but one other face struck me as really familiar last night in S1 E2 (USA E2) of Unforgotten - it was Alan Ford, aka Brick Top from Snatch!! Oh man, brings back memories.

[Rich]

Can you get it without paying? I would love to binge watch all 3 seasons.

It's on Hulu and you have to pay for the subscription

[JasonEvans]

Is Da 5 Bloods too long and could it have used a rewrite? Yes, but it is still and excellent film that again highlights how adept Spike Lee is at tapping into our collective consciousness.

Here is my 100-word-review: https://flixchat.blogspot.com/2020/0...-5-bloods.html



-Jason "Delroy Lindo gonna get some award buzz from this, I think" Evans

[tteettimes]

.i caught an old movie I hadn’t thought of in forever....
was “ Bolero “ an old John Derek film ( 1984)
i had forgotten just how talented Bo Derek was....
not great but reminded me also of the movie “ Ten” which I remember enjoying

[WV_Iron_Duke]

If you get TCM from your tv provider one is eligible for WATCHTCM on your streaming device. On Verizon Fios, TCM isn't even in widescreen format for movies after 1953 and no HD. On WATCHTCM you get both. In almost all cases the movie version you see on it is the best available quality. An example: I bought all of great Bogart movies a few year back on dvd since only Casablanca was on bluray. Now they all are and that's the version you get on this streamed network. The movies available generally follow the tv schedule. The catch in this streaming service is the movies available don't stay long-many for only a week. Have followed this great streaming service for 9 months and the great old movies are recycled. This week I watched "10" and "Bullitt" on WATCHTCM even though I own the blurays.

[OldPhiKap]

SonPK and I watched Bridge On The River Kwai over the weekend. Even better than I remembered.

[budwom]

I got a chuckle out of John Oliver knocking his own network's HBO MAX, "the only ash heap of history that costs $15/month.."...yeah, it's not enough that you pay for HBO, now they want you to pay $15 more to get yet another streaming product that can't possibly survive...I have no idea who the streaming winners will be, but there ARE going to be a ton of losers...

[JasonEvans]

I got a chuckle out of John Oliver knocking his own network's HBO MAX, "the only ash heap of history that costs $15/month.."...yeah, it's not enough that you pay for HBO, now they want you to pay $15 more to get yet another streaming product that can't possibly survive...I have no idea who the streaming winners will be, but there ARE going to be a ton of losers...

Not sure why you would think HBO Max is going to be one of the losers. Content is king and the combined HBO and Warner Bros library is truly impressive. I'm far less sure of CBS, Hulu, and maybe even Amazon* being there in the end. Apple+, HBO Max, and Netflix seem to have a lot lot lot more bankable content than the others.

-Jason "*- the company itself is so big and cash rich, if they want they can support the streaming service without really blinking" Evans

[camion]

I've been watching some sick films lately, sick as in they are about sick people. Here are a couple.

Five Feet Apart - Teens with cystic fibrosis fall in love. Haley Lu Richardson is perky and adorable.

Ode to Joy - Dealing with cataplexy and Morena Baccarin. I've always found Martin Freeman interesting. I've liked Morena Baccarin ever since Firefly. And I learned a new word, cataplexy.

I guess The Fault in Our Stars is one of the best known recent film of the type, but I never was interested in it.

[budwom]

Not sure why you would think HBO Max is going to be one of the losers. Content is king and the combined HBO and Warner Bros library is truly impressive. I'm far less sure of CBS, Hulu, and maybe even Amazon* being there in the end. Apple+, HBO Max, and Netflix seem to have a lot lot lot more bankable content than the others.

-Jason "*- the company itself is so big and cash rich, if they want they can support the streaming service without really blinking" Evans

HBO Max took a major beating from The New Yorker this week, in addition to what John Oliver had to say...AT&T is adept at screwing things up, I think this will be no exception. But I guess we'll see...

[fuse]

Not new per se, we started the Last Kingdom on Netflix.

Enjoying it quite a bit.

[Skydog]

I'm one of those "singles in isolation" so have ended up watching too much TV. Some random thoughts.

Armstrong 30-for-30 - Thanks to whomever recommended it. Ended up thinking Lance hasn't changed at all - still a massive control freak with no remorse for the people he hurt. But very engaging doc.

The Great on Hulu - won't be everyone's cup of tea but I thought it was fun. Weird seeing Elle in a very non-PG role -- seems she was a child just yesterday.

Grantchester - Gave it a try but it was meh for me. TBF I only watched 2 episodes. Good acting but just didn't buy into it for some reason, ymmv.

Killing Eve - First season was great! 2nd and 3rd OK.

Money Heist - I enjoyed the first 2 seasons. It's over the top but if you don't take it too seriously its a fun romp. Don't bother with seasons 3 & 4 unless you are really bored, like I was.

Grant on History Channel - Again thanks to those who recommended. Very interesting and informative. As others mentioned - watch on DVR and skip commercials if possible.



First time in my life to resort to YouTube. Enjoyed several videos by "bald and beautiful" - he films his solo travels all over the former Soviet republics and elsewhere.

[-jk]

How to have the #1 movie: make a movie and rent a theater!

With an official haul of $25,488, their 29-minute horror flick “Unsubscribe” — shot at no cost and entirely on Zoom — led the national charts on June 10, according to Box Office Mojo, among the industry’s premier revenue trackers...

It wasn’t actually easy to convince the box-office counters that the film was legit, though. IMDb, which runs Box Office Mojo, refused to believe they’d actually cast actors like [Charlie] Tahan in the film.

“They kept rejecting us,” Nilsson said. “Eventually, we shared the full film and the photos of every single person in the movie, and they finally verified that it was the No. 1 movie in America on that date.”

-jk

[cspan37421]

Alternative: we gave Unforgotten a try, and are hooked. It's a cold case show, again on PBS streaming. Better written, and vastly better acted - closer to Broadchurch (season one) in these regards. IMDB lists Unforgotten as having six episodes in its season one, but PBS bundled them into three of just under 90 minutes each. Of those, we've watched the first two of season one, and are eager to watch the final one. Nicola Walker stars alongside Sanjeev Baskar. In the first season, we also get Tom Courtenay, Gemma Jones, Cheri Lunghi, and a few other familiar faces.

Update: last episode (US version) of Unforgotten was a big letdown - simply not credible. I think we're done with it, won't bother with more seasons.

[budwom]

New Perry Mason eight part series on HBO is getting some fine reviews, not a surprise since Matthew Rhys plays Perry...begins this weekend I believe...

[JasonEvans]

Here is my nuanced and thoughtful take on why AMC theaters announced it would not require masks when it reopens its theaters:
https://twitter.com/JasonDukeEvans/s...83804705832960