Harvester on 13/7/2021 at 15:24
Mare of Easttown
Very good detective drama starring Kate Winslet, that keeps you guessing right till the end. I was captivated the whole way. It's not a good looking show, because of the realistic setting the lighting is not exactly vibrant and the environments are sometimes dilapidated. But that just adds to the grounded realism. The writing is good, the acting is great and the story is very captivating. Well worth 7 x 1 hour of your time.
Thirith on 13/7/2021 at 15:54
We only just started watching that one, Harvester. Definitely curious to see where it'll go.
Last night we watched Judas and the Black Messiah, about the Black Panthers in the '60s and the state-ordered assassination of BP leader Fred Hampton. It's a good film, with some great acting, and a distressing reminder of the kind of state terrorism that was exercised in the not-too-distant past by countries presenting themselves as free and democratic.
heywood on 13/7/2021 at 20:04
My wife and I are in a bit of a 1980s nostalgia phase.
We just watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off on Sunday night. We watched Sixteen Candles last year.
I like John Hughes' work, and I think he "got" 1980s suburban youth culture better than any other screen writer I can think of. These are fun movies, so they naturally things over the top. But the part about nerdy freshmen boys being obsessed with girls and locker room talk, that wasn't over the top. That was reality where I'm from. The part where I cringe is after Caroline wakes up and wonders whether she was raped or abused by a strange kid while passed out drunk. Its the way she shrugs it off that doesn't seem right today.
Harvester on 13/7/2021 at 21:07
I can dig John Hughes movies, but stuff like Revenge of the Nerds and Porky's has aged poorly. That shit surely wouldn't fly today and it shouldn't.
Gray on 18/7/2021 at 04:45
For some weird OCD type reason, now that I have Disney+, I feel as if I have to watch all of Star Wars whether I like it or not. Why? For context. So, I'm going through all the various animated shows. Clone Wars? Done it. About one episode in five is actually good. Rebels? Hmm, about the same. Resistance? Slightly more annoying. But I'm still watching it, for I am a completist nerd. Bad Batch is still in progress, and I feel about the same way about it as I did with some of the better Clone Wars episodes, so, perhaps three episodes in five are almost pretty good? And yes, obviously, I'm well aware that these are made for kids and I'm a grumpy miserable old bastard who generally hates everything, and that I am not the target audience.
It's been quite a long time since I've purposefully watched a whole series of something without actually enjoying it, so it reminded me of all those crappy 80s TV shows where almost every episode was just a lame filler that did not progress the story arc at all. I'd have hoped we'd gone past that by now, but alas, fillers still seem to be a thing. But every now and then, there's some character development, a story arc, references to other movies/shows/etc to give you a grander view of the story, and that's when I'm reminded why I'm enduring all the boring bits in between. And FFS, please, please, give us much much less of Jar Jar. When those episodes are on, I'd rather punch myself in the face. It's even more tragic when they're struggling so hard to make him relatable. On behalf of all of humanity, I am offended.
But hey, I'm nearly done now. And I thoroughly enjoyed Mandalorian. And they're making more live-action shows soonish, so, I should probably stop whining. It's just that it's one of the very few things I'm good at.
zombe on 18/7/2021 at 09:13
80s TV shows had story arcs?
edit: with the exception of soap operas - i can not think of anything that had any story arcs. example?
demagogue on 18/7/2021 at 09:29
Quote Posted by zombe
80s TV shows had story arcs?
edit: with the exception of soap operas - i can not think of anything that had any story arcs. example?
Why are you repeating the exact point he made and then asking him for a counterexample to his own point? I think you misread his post to say the reverse of his point.
That said, '80s tv shows had long form arcs, where an entire season fit a broad arc, and the season intro & finale usually updated it. And of course there were mini-series (e.g., Blue and the Grey, Roots, etc.) which were like movies spread out over 8 or 10 episodes like we have today. And I'm sure there were some regular season shows with arcs, but I'll have to think about it.
Edit: Okay, I'm looking at a list of '80s shows. Here are some with more or less story arcs:
Twin Peaks, V, Max Headroom (iirc), Dynasty (borderline soap opera though)...
That's out of a list of 300 that I could vaguely recall, so I'll grant there's not many.
Pyrian on 18/7/2021 at 19:42
Dynasty is a soap opera full stop, lol.