Movies/TV worth watching (or at least discussing)

[Duke79UNLV77]

As I mentioned considerably upthread, I set a pandemic intention to stream movies from as many different countries as possible, just to get my head out of my own %&&. I'm up to 111 distinct countries now, which says that I'm odd but also that the range of stuff available on basic streaming platforms (Prime, Hulu, Netflix, Youtube) is pretty incredible. Your mileage may vary, but my experience is that if a movie from a remote country (e.g., Cameroon or Laos) makes it to a US streaming platform, it's generally going to be pretty interesting.

Wowsers! What would be your top few or so in case not all of us make it 111!

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

As I mentioned considerably upthread, I set a pandemic intention to stream movies from as many different countries as possible, just to get my head out of my own %&&. I'm up to 111 distinct countries now, which says that I'm odd but also that the range of stuff available on basic streaming platforms (Prime, Hulu, Netflix, Youtube) is pretty incredible. Your mileage may vary, but my experience is that if a movie from a remote country (e.g., Cameroon or Laos) makes it to a US streaming platform, it's generally going to be pretty interesting.

I was actually thinking about this recently... Pre-streaming, pre-"we mail you DVDs" you were limited to what was on TV (cable if you were lucky) and whatever was at your local independent video store. Depending on what size town you lived in, that was a pretty limiting factor. In Asheville 25 years ago, we had two pretty good independent movie shops. Both had a modest selection of foreign films. But once you had exhausted them...

Nowadays, you are pretty much only limited by your awareness and imagination. It's rather extraordinary.

[Phredd3]

I feel like Elaine when she didn't like "The English Patient," but, alas, I just couldn't make myself keep watching.

Elaine is not alone. I thought The English Patient was waaaay too long and just plain dull. I feel asleep at some point. Not for me.

English Patient gets a very good but not great 83% audience score on Flixster, so Elaine and I were most assuredly not the only folks who were "meh" on that flick.

My mother (and to a lesser extend, me) were WAY beyond "meh" about The English Patient. My mother called it "Necking in the Desert" and absolutely despised it. Venomous hatred. I just actively disliked the waste of time. And it was a looooooooong time.

[wilson]

..."Necking in the Dessert"...

Sounds messy, depending on the dish.

[Phredd3]

Sounds messy, depending on the dish.

LOL. Fixed. Typing too fast, clearly.

[Skydog]

As I mentioned considerably upthread, I set a pandemic intention to stream movies from as many different countries as possible, just to get my head out of my own %&&. I'm up to 111 distinct countries now, which says that I'm odd but also that the range of stuff available on basic streaming platforms (Prime, Hulu, Netflix, Youtube) is pretty incredible. Your mileage may vary, but my experience is that if a movie from a remote country (e.g., Cameroon or Laos) makes it to a US streaming platform, it's generally going to be pretty interesting.

I’m with you on that. Many of my most memorable and enjoyable TV series shows over the pandemic were foreign language - loved Borgen (political drama from Denmark), Money Heist (Spain), Babylon Berlin (Berlin in 20’s -30’s), Lilyhammer (Norway), Lupin (France), Squid Game (Korean. memorable but not enjoyable), Orthodox (Yiddish), The Rain (Denmark), Rita (Denmark), Occupied (Norway, just ok), Deutschland 83, Les Revenants (French, season 1 only), Parasite (Korean) and others. There were a couple less well known Israeli series that I really liked but can’t remember the names right now.

[WillJ]

Wowsers! What would be your top few or so in case not all of us make it 111!

Here are my top 4 (Title, Country, Streaming Platform):

In the Fog, Belarus, Prime
Wadjda, Saudi Arabia, Prime
3 Idiots, India, Netflix
Sincerely Yours, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Netflix.

[WillJ]

I was actually thinking about this recently... Pre-streaming, pre-"we mail you DVDs" you were limited to what was on TV (cable if you were lucky) and whatever was at your local independent video store. Depending on what size town you lived in, that was a pretty limiting factor. In Asheville 25 years ago, we had two pretty good independent movie shops. Both had a modest selection of foreign films. But once you had exhausted them...

Nowadays, you are pretty much only limited by your awareness and imagination. It's rather extraordinary.

It really is incredible what you can get brought to your door these days. The cultural cost of living in a small town is way lower than it used to be.

[Skydog]

It really is incredible what you can get brought to your door these days. The cultural cost of living in a small town is way lower than it used to be.

Cultural ‘exposure’ cost has certainly dropped. And dam* I wish it were available to me growing up in my town of 220. But while watching films from other cultures is mind expanding, small town living is still small town living. There is no substitute for being surrounded by culture.

[WillJ]

Cultural ‘exposure’ cost has certainly dropped. And dam* I wish it were available to me growing up in my town of 220. But while watching films from other cultures is mind expanding, small town living is still small town living. There is no substitute for being surrounded by culture.

Upon reflection, I might put it this way - the cost of "consuming" many types of culture is lower in small towns than it used to be for many things, but the cost of "producing" culture is still way lower in the big city, where there are more people to bounce ideas off of.

[JasonEvans]

Moonfall was awful. Just a worthless mess. Here is my 100-word review: https://flixchat.blogspot.com/2022/0...-moonfall.html

It looks impressive, especially the space action, but we never develop an emotional connection to any of the characters. I think the actors knew they were making a film where the effects are all that matters.

[wilson]

Moonfall was awful. Just a worthless mess. Here is my 100-word review: https://flixchat.blogspot.com/2022/0...-moonfall.html

Saw that coming from 238,000 (or so) miles away. I hate it for John Bradley…Samwell Tarly was one of my favorite parts of Game of Thrones and I’d like to see his career take off, but this won’t help.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Moonfall was awful. Just a worthless mess. Here is my 100-word review: https://flixchat.blogspot.com/2022/0...-moonfall.html

So it's Armageddon?*
If it weren't for Omicron, I've got no doubt that theaters would be packed with people craving to see massive movie destruction; it's fun! Transformers has proven this time and time again.

*Actually Armageddon has a worse 'mater rating.

** Actual review from Armageddon, it sounds familiar. "Armageddon is big and noisy and stupid and shameless and it's going to be huge at the box office."

[CameronBornAndBred]

If you are bored and need some laughs, reading the RT reviews for Moonfall is a good source.
This one is from a "Fresh" review, ha!

In case it isnt clear, Moonfall is a deeply stupid movie but I say that with some affection.

And this from a "Rotten" one.

If the pandemic precludes one person from seeing Roland Emmerich’s Moonfall, then it has accomplished something positive.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/moonfall

[wilson]

Anybody else as excited as I am for Jackass Forever this weekend?

[Steven43]

Anyone else been watching "Ozark?" I hope its not a spoiler to say there is some more carnage.

My wife and I started watching Ozark a few weeks ago. Last night we watched Season Three, Episode 1.

We used to watch a fair number of tv shows in the mid-90’s and early 2000’s — Seinfeld, Sopranos, the first few seasons of ER, a couple of the later seasons of Tales From the Crypt, etc. But once she began medical school at Duke all of that abruptly stopped…..until recently with Ozark. She’s seriously addicted to this show.

Should I be worried?

[Rich]

We're halfway through Season 3 right now. It's quite possibly the most stressful TV show I've ever watched

I get anxiety just watching them brew and drink coffee at all hours of the day and night

[Steven43]

Anybody else as excited as I am for Jackass Forever this weekend?

In a word, yes! I’m strongly considering buying tickets for the 9:45 showing at Silverspot in Chapel Hill on Saturday.

I think it would top off the evening nicely to go directly from having watched Duke beat UNC in the Dean Dome to Silverspot to watch JF. 😊

[wilson]

In a word, yes! I’m strongly considering buying tickets for the 9:45 showing at Silverspot in Chapel Hill on Saturday.

I think it would top off the evening nicely to go directly from having watched Duke beat UNC in the Dean Dome to Silverspot to watch JF. 😊

We're going on Sunday afternoon, as there's a theater within walking distance of my house that still sells matinee tickets to first-run films for $5.50.
I'll pee my pants with well more than five and a half bucks' worth of laughter.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Has anyone seen the movie Europa Report? It popped up on my Prime last night, and looks interesting, along with good reviews. (80+% on RT) I'd never heard about it though. The trailer makes it look good, but then that's what trailers do.