What are you watching right now?

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Notaro

Stark Raving Normal
Mar 23, 2007
1,135
7,321
58
Dublin/Ireland
Watching this five episode drama series, Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) stars as a young woman who was kidnapped when she was thirteen years old, she escapes thirteen years later and when the police begin their investigations all is not as it appears to be. I really enjoyed this, Comer is excellent in the lead role.

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Steffen

Well-Known Member
Aug 9, 2015
2,233
12,800
Just finished the Doom Patrol series. I cannot express how much I adore this show's gleeful and wonderful embrace of absolute weirdness. It is by far my favourite thing DC has done thus far. And it's so nice to see Brendan Fraser back in the spotlight. Also, I'm in love with Crazy Jane.
 

Grandpa

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2014
9,724
53,642
Colorado
Well, I should get caught up.

Our viewing of Big Bang Theory had become spottier as the show got more tired, but of course we tuned in for the two-part finale, and we were not disappointed. Different people will like different things, but the show ended on a great note for us.

The Umbrella Academy, a Netflix series. Kind of a Dark Horse graphic story come to video, and I think that may actually be the case. Super-anti-hero tale. It had very interesting characters and plots twists and such. Pretty dark, pretty brutal. We were getting worn down by the end of the season and were looking forward to getting it wrapped up, and it didn't. I don't know if we have enough energy or interest left for a Season 2.

Marie Kondo on Netflix. I know she's almost a self-caricature now ("joy!"), but by golly, after watching one or two episodes, we revamped our disaster of a master bedroom closet, and it's been in good shape ever since. She's got worthwhile approaches. Can't much argue with success.

The Ranch, Netflix. This is a different one. How can you go wrong with Sam Elliott and Ashton Kutcher with Chuck Lorre producing? Oh, and Debra Winger. Oh, and Elisha Cuthbert. And set in rural Colorado to boot? It's reasonably funny in many spots, which it should be since it's billed as a comedy, pretty gritty in any number of places, and near depressing at times. But we keep watching it. The character development is better than it seems it will be at the start. We can't really call it compelling, but we keep getting drawn back.

Fluffy's Food Adventures, Amazon Prime TV. We watched an episode out of curiosity, and we got such a kick out of it that we immediately watched another. But the first episode will be hard to beat. It was hilarious, and the setting was perfect for the theme. I'm not a fan of the "reality" template, but this carries it off well.
 

Gerald

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2011
2,201
7,168
The Netherlands
I finished the second season of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. It was as good, if not better, than the first. It's interesting to see that while in general series are getting bigger and bigger with huge budgets, this show is so small in scale. There are only a handful of rather small sets (that are beautifully lit and decorated, and very atmospheric), and also the regular cast is not huge. Also while there are some special effects, it doesn't rely on them heavily. So it all comes down to the cast and storytelling - and when done well that's all you need for a compelling series in the end. You can have lots of money, but if those two elements aren't working, you still got nothing.

The cast are all very good and charismatic. Michelle Gomez, who was of course Missy on Doctor Who, feels much more at home here - there is something a bit witchy about her. Miranda Otto, playing Sabrina's aunt Zelda, reminds me a lot of the stone-cold, harsh characters Piper Laurie played regularly in titles like Carrie, Twin Peaks and Trauma.
Apart from Bronson Pinchot (who was only in the first season), William B. Davis (best known as the cigarette smoking man on X-files) and Alexis Denisof (probably best known as Wesley on Buffy and Angel) the others are fairly unknown, but very well cast.

Also it is absolutely filled with references to pop culture, not only in terms of posters, paintings (there are a lot of Clive Barker paintings) and parts of sets (there are doors and a skylight inspired by Suspiria), but also in the way some scenes play out: Gomez' character takes a strange man home, the man needs to pee and goes to the toilet, Gomez hits him with a hammer. Sound familiar?
Another episode plays a bit like Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

While you could be inclined to think the show is like Buffy (my own all-time favourite tv-show), it doesn't feel very similar to me to that. It's its own thing, but if anything I would compare it most with Harry Potter - a kind of satanic, witchy Harry Potter though.
 

swiftdog2.0

I tell you one and one makes three...
Mar 16, 2010
7,095
35,344
Macroverse
City on a Hill

Showtime crime-drama series set in Boston starring Kevin Bacon. It's set in the early 90s.

Hits all the Boston stereotypes- Lots of dropped r's in character dialog, people pronouncing the letter o like "awe" as in "cawp" insttead of cop, armored-car thieves from Charlestown, sensationalized class and racial conflict ,corrupt FBI agents, renegade cops, junky informants, Whitey Bulger references, et al.

That said, it's not a horrible series. Somewhat predictable but the acting is good despite the awful accents. They capture the gist of Boston during that time. The late-80's early 90's was a tough time for the city. Lots of violence and the crime rate was pretty high. Both my grandmothers lived in the city during that time. One in South Boston, the other on Dorchester (home of Marky Mark). Each neighborhood had different issues but neither were very safe or nice places to live at the time. Having grown up in and around Boston I can parse out the BS from the authentic. So far, mostly authentic but a good amount of over-dramatization of somethings. So far I give it a 7.5 / 10.
 

Steffen

Well-Known Member
Aug 9, 2015
2,233
12,800
I'm almost done watching season 3 of Stranger Things and I am surprised by how much I have fallen out of love with this show. The third season in, and AGAIN all we get is basically
the townfolk being possessed by monsters
. Again. Come on Duffer Brothers, get to the point or wrap this up, but don't go all "Lost" on us.

At least y'all opened the season with Corey Hart's best song (no it's not the one about sunglasses).
 

cat in a bag

Well-Known Member
Aug 28, 2010
12,038
67,827
wyoming
Animal Kingdom - episode 8 season5

Watched the latest episode and it was one of the best episodes of the series. It looks like Ellen Barkin will be leaving soon (unless there's a miracle cure). I'll miss her, she's been great on this show.
Oh boy, the scene with Jay and his ex was BRUTAL. I'm glad it was off camera.
Do you think she really killed Baz?

I have been meaning to ask if you are still watching this, I think it is one of the best of the summer shows.