Stuff to watch

[dilettante]

I suspect a lot of this has come about because the media industry has not been subjected to due antitrust action.

In a competitive environment there is far more economic pressure to produce what people want. That would make it a lot harder to co-opt media and use it as an indoctrination tool to push agendas.

It gets harder every day to avoid making unsavory comparisons with Communism.

[Niya]

It gets harder every day to avoid making unsavory comparisons with Communism.

It's funny you should mention this. I've been wondering for a few years now how utter garbage like Discovery make it to 4 seasons while great shows of the past like FireFly could not get past 1 season. Something has definitely changed in the industry. In the "old world" a show like Discovery would not have made it past the pilot. There is something in the background that keeps these shows alive. I refuse to believe that modern garbage like this are economically viable.

[dilettante]

Or perhaps I have it all backwards.

Maybe they know the only economically practical entertainment is that which gains their advertisers massive revenue. If the advertisers know that certain market segments have control over frivolous household spending and are the most easily swayed to blow money on crap by advertising... they'd naturally want to provide patronage to media that caters to that demographic, and not care what anyone else enjoys.

So that would be perhaps the ugliest part of Capitalism at work.

Maybe the spectrum is not a line but a circle, so the two extreme "ends" fall right next to each other and are essentially the same thing?

[Niya]

Interesting theory. Perhaps later I will type "Why do woke TV shows not get cancelled" into Google and see if anyone else has come up with a reason why this seems to work.

[Niya]

And in other new, I accidentally stumbled onto this new show today:-


There are 3 episodes so far and as far as I can tell, it's completely free of the typical far left woke trash which feels like such a breath of fresh air. I was actually able to enjoy it without feeling like I'm being preached to about tolerance and acceptance or insulted for being born a male. Just on that alone I'd recommend it.

However, I get a slight feeling it might be environmentalist propaganda. I get the feeling that we may start hearing about "carbon footprints" before long into this series. I don't look forward to that but I'm willing to live with it and so far it does seem like it would hamper the quality of the show.

[dilettante]

Ahh, Cotyar. Badass as James Bond. Gritty as Jason Bourne. Just a man, with a man's courage.

Here's a tribute somebody edited together.

Careful: spoilers.



Turning on closed captions helps get the dialog through the overlaid music.

[Niya]

Ahh, Cotyar. Badass as James Bond. Gritty as Jason Bourne. Just a man, with a man's courage.

Here's a tribute somebody edited together.

Careful: spoilers.



Turning on closed captions helps get the dialog through the overlaid music.

[FunkyDexter]

I can recommend Taboo. I'm only about two thirds of the way through but it's been excellent so far.

[dilettante]

Taboo? Is that the one about English robber barons of early Western Canada?

[FunkyDexter]

Yes, though I'm not sure Robber Baron's is quite the right term (close though). Tom Hardy inherits a small island of the coast of Canada that essentially means he can lock down naval access to Vancouver Island and therefore the Far East. He's in a battle of wits to protect his interests from the East India Company, the British Crown and the American Government, all of whom want to take it off him. Add to that strong implications that he's learned some kind of black magic while living in Africa and you get a pretty cool melting pot of period drama and mysticism. Tom Hardy's unsurprisingly brilliant in it and there's a load of other really strong British actors too.

[dilettante]

Sounds like the potential for a larger-scale period version of "Big Trouble In Little China."

[FunkyDexter]

No very different (though Big Trouble is definitely in my top ten). It's much darker and it sure ain't playing for comedy as Big Trouble does.

[dilettante]

Lots of funny stuff out there. Some of it is even real!

[Niya]

Lots of funny stuff out there. Some of it is even real!

God I hope this is real. If it is, they'd have no problem getting my money for nothing more than the fact than they have the balls to speak out against woke leftist garbage. Even if they made the worst razors on the planet and I'd still buy just because of that ad.

[dilettante]

Here is an odd one.

A short streaming series, though it might get a Season Two. You can never tell though since this sort of thing fails to get renewed pretty often today with an infant mortality rate close to 50%.



I enjoyed it, though I read 6 reviews and they all seemed to hate it after the scene-setting first episode. But then it had no blue milk, no poorly animated attacking birds, and seems to have failed to meet the diversity standard.

[Niya]

Oh I'm definately watching this based on this trailer! This is going on my to-watch list.

I enjoyed it, though I read 6 reviews and they all seemed to hate it after the scene-setting first episode.

I recommend Filmento and the Critical Drinker YouTube channels. Not only do they take a lot of bullets for us by watching a lot of rubbish to provide reviews, they both understand what makes a good story and best of all, they aren't infected one iota by the "leftist disease".

seems to have failed to meet the diversity standard.

Now I'm really interested. Seem the woke crazies missed this one which means the producers would have a lot of breathing room to write a story that is actually interesting.

[Niya]

You can never tell though since this sort of thing fails to get renewed pretty often today with an infant mortality rate close to 50%.

Well if it's not some crazy leftist's pet project, it would probably get cancelled. Hollywood money doesn't seem to support producers not willing to tow the line these days. This is my hunch.

[jpbro]

[dilettante]

Now I'm really interested. Seem the woke crazies missed this one which means the producers would have a lot of breathing room to write a story that is actually interesting.

Very odd in my opinion. Sure the main characters are an old white couple. But they have a young adult granddaughter with a significant role who had a black mother their son had married. There are also quite a few important characters who are Argentinian as well as others who appear to be of mixed racial background.

So various ages, genders, and ethnicities... though nothing from the corners of today's gender palette I suppose. And all we have seen is Season One which seems to just be getting started on the larger story. Down the road we may yet meet test-tube baby based societies or whatever. For all I can tell the entire story may prove to be based on some scenario out of religion, more like a "Constantine" situation.

[Niya]

though nothing from the corners of today's gender palette I suppose.

Praise God for that. I had enough mental anguish trying to figure out what Adira and Grey from Star Trek Discovery were supposed to be and they didn't even make a point with it. They were just there.

Very odd in my opinion. Sure the main characters are an old white couple. But they have a young adult granddaughter with a significant role who had a black mother their son had married. There are also quite a few important characters who are Argentinian as well as others who appear to be of mixed racial background.

I won't know until I watch the show but my guess is that these characters actually made sense and weren't just there for just the sake of diversity or to preach some childish "why can't we all get along" message. In other words, the producers weren't pious enough so the wokies don't even see it.

[dilettante]

Well, there is one "Is it because I am black?" moment. However the story defuses that almost immediately, point being that the awkward feelings of the grandmother toward her granddaughter stem from issues utterly unrelated to race. The moment gives the old woman a chance to push her guilt to the past and repair relations on the spot.

Clearly this isn't how a things work in a "modern" film though.

[dilettante]

A couple of 1990s neo-classics that might get the wokesters' knees a-jerking:





I like to watch these as "prequels" to the Jason Bourne movies, though sometimes I'll slip the two Tom Cruise "Jack Reacher" flicks into the rotation too.

Here's another from the same genre, recently restored in 4K:

[Niya]

Just got my heart broken once again. The "wokies" got one of my favorite franchises.



That trailer tells me all I need to know. So disappointed. The Predator franchise has just become yet another casualty for the sake of the woke political left.

[dilettante]

A 2008 remake/reimagining of the story from the book and original classic film, this 2-part miniseries seems pretty good:

[Niya]

A 2008 remake/reimagining of the story from the book and original classic film, this 2-part miniseries seems pretty good:

Donno how I managed to miss this one. Going on my "to watch" list.

[dilettante]

Well darn. That wasn't what I had hoped.

The first "episode" is pretty good by TV-movie standards. Some of the actors have been in good stuff before and the story was going fine. The second "episode" began ok too but things gradually got more awkward. By the midpoint of this one they started speaking ignorantly about "ASCII codes" and setting that cringe aside... the story went rapidly downhill. The very last 3 minutes or so were ok but that doesn't make up for "Birdemic" levels of story and attempts at special effects.

It's a toughie. A bit of gratuitous wokeness on top of the usual hilarious awkwardness from the cheap non-union Canadian actors trying to mimic US accents. I'm not sure why one character decided to "come out" as gay just before he ended up dead. But the weird Canadian "Mexican girl" at the end was at least as bizarre a choice. I guess they has a casting quota.

[Niya]

Sounds like what I expect from a cheaply produced movie. I might be able to tolerate it. After all Guyver 2 is one of my favorite movies. It's the quintessential B movie yet I can't get enough of it. Must have watched it 100 times in my life.

[jpbro]

[Niya]

I just watched this one. If you like military science fiction movies, I highly recommend this. While it's not breaking new ground, it is still one of the best movies in this genre I've seen in a long time. A must watch!

[NeedSomeAnswers]

I have been watching The Orville recently on Disney+, which is basically Seth MacFarlane (from Family Guy) version of Star Treck and I have been really enjoying it.

[dilettante]

I watched the first season, and while good compared to other things that year it seemed like a clownish rehash of 1960s Star Trek scripts to me with a few TNG scripts thrown in to pad it out.

I just couldn't get lured back into it for the second season, and I won't spend money to chase it behind the paywalls it lives behind in the third season.

That doesn't mean I won't go back and consider it once it hits the free-with-ads second-tier streaming services. I still hear people saying good things about The Orville. I'm just cheap and not a fan of the Disney Empire.

[Niya]

The Orville is actually really good. It was a lot better than I thought it would be. I consider it an true successor to Star Trek, far more so than rubbish like Discovery. It has that old-school Star Trek feel but with modern special effects.

I watched the first season, and while good compared to other things that year it seemed like a clownish rehash of 1960s Star Trek scripts to me with a few TNG scripts thrown in to pad it out.

The second season toned down on the campiness and was less "monster of the week". It was actually a lot better than the first season in my opinion.

[Peter Porter]

I'm sure most of you have seen Shawshank Redemption. I've watched it four times myself over the years.

[FunkyDexter]

^One of the best films ever!

[Peter Porter]

^One of the best films ever!

The ending gets me every time!

It's on the top of my list of movies to watch over and over!

[wes4dbt]

The ending gets me every time!

It's on the top of my list of movies to watch over and over!

Well, I liked the escape but I thought the whole, there's a rock in a field, in the country somewhere unbelievable. Other than that it was a very good movie.

[Niya]

I just finished watching this one:-


Another really great gem, hidden amongst the "woke" garbage proliferating entertainment today. It's fast paced action sci-fi that straddles gracefully between being a comedy, drama and action flick, peppered slightly with a style reminiscent of a Quentin Tarantino movie. I highly recommend this one. 8/10 easily!

[dilettante]

Though good choices are getting thin they are still out there if you dig for them.

[NeedSomeAnswers]

I know I am late to it (there is just so much to watch to get round to everything) but I have also just started watching Ozark on Netflix, just the first couple of episodes so far but is great so far.

[Niya]

I know I am late to it (there is just so much to watch to get round to everything) but I have also just started watching Ozark on Netflix, just the first couple of episodes so far but is great so far.

Ozark is a great show too. Seen about 10 to 15 episodes so far. Unpredictable but good plot with some interesting characters. My only criticism is that it's pace is a bit slow which is partially solved by binge watching. This is definitely a show I don't want to be waiting a week to find out what happens next.