Either way, it's nice to know the quality holds up for most of the show's run.
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The All-New TT: Television Time Mini Reviews
- Thread starter Rascally Badger
- Start date
Finished/caught up with Cinemax's Warrior. Really good! Some of the drama/acting is a little hokey at times, but it's pretty interesting and compelling stuff. As an action show, it's pretty top notch for an American production - great choreography, good filming, impressive stunts/fx. As a drama it's got a lot of fun characters that are flawed but still likable.
As a period piece looking at a very specific moment/place in history, it's pretty valuable I think. I think America and Americans in general - be you liberal or conservative - have a really bad habit of treating race as a binary, black & white issue. And shows like this do a good job of showing the complexities of race relations, and how people like us Asian-Americans have struggled with in silence and without recognition or representation. It's great to have our stories told in shows like this, and actors/creatives from our community given a chance to shine. And it's just a good show in general to outline how some things have changed, but a lot of things haven't in regards to things like the politics of pitting the races against each other to distract people from their real problems/from seeing the real enemies. And how quickly you can whip up a mob of regular people to commit violence. There's a really good line towards the end of Season 2 where two relatively naive characters are beginning to better understand everything that's happening around them. One goes, "It's like the world's gone mad," and the other corrects them, "No, this IS the world."
Anyways, great show. 8.5-9/10. Would recommend. The details take some strong artistic liberties, but is pretty historically accurate regarding the tone/spirit of the show. And a great show for Ducks to learn a little history and watch some kung fu in the process.
I'm very much looking forward to the show coming back for a S3 in a few months now that HBO rescued it from cancellation.
As a period piece looking at a very specific moment/place in history, it's pretty valuable I think. I think America and Americans in general - be you liberal or conservative - have a really bad habit of treating race as a binary, black & white issue. And shows like this do a good job of showing the complexities of race relations, and how people like us Asian-Americans have struggled with in silence and without recognition or representation. It's great to have our stories told in shows like this, and actors/creatives from our community given a chance to shine. And it's just a good show in general to outline how some things have changed, but a lot of things haven't in regards to things like the politics of pitting the races against each other to distract people from their real problems/from seeing the real enemies. And how quickly you can whip up a mob of regular people to commit violence. There's a really good line towards the end of Season 2 where two relatively naive characters are beginning to better understand everything that's happening around them. One goes, "It's like the world's gone mad," and the other corrects them, "No, this IS the world."
Anyways, great show. 8.5-9/10. Would recommend. The details take some strong artistic liberties, but is pretty historically accurate regarding the tone/spirit of the show. And a great show for Ducks to learn a little history and watch some kung fu in the process.
I'm very much looking forward to the show coming back for a S3 in a few months now that HBO rescued it from cancellation.
I decided to go ahead and watch The Witcher Blood Origin over the last few days. I don't have a lot to saw, other than it wasn't as bad as I was led to believe. However, I couldn't get over thinking the main guy looked like Travis Kelce and it was distracting.
The hulu/BBC adaptation of Great Expectations is halfway through and I don't know if it is particularly good yet (and I've not read Great Expectations), but it really feels like instead of doing colorblind casting, the show put a lot of thought into which characters were to be changed to non-white people.
Also, I can't think of an actor more suited to playing one of Dicken's 'big' characters than Matt Berry. Just perfect casting as a guy who is not as important as he thinks he is.
Also, I can't think of an actor more suited to playing one of Dicken's 'big' characters than Matt Berry. Just perfect casting as a guy who is not as important as he thinks he is.
I was way into Power Rangers for several years as a kid, though I stopped watching around the time of Zeo and never really looked back. But I'm a sucker for an anniversary special, so last night I checked out Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once and Always on Netflix.
It's not... actively corrosive?
Unlike other artifacts from my childhood I don't really have any lingering affection for Power Rangers, so this didn't particularly hit my nostalgia bone. But I guess I can think of worse ways to spend an hour.
It's not... actively corrosive?
The story focuses on the literal fucking murder of the original Yellow Ranger by Rita Repulsa, an event which we see depicted on screen. For those who don't know, the actress who played that Ranger, Thuy Trang, left the show in 1994 and was killed in a car accident in 2001. She was not murdered by a space witch who lives in a dumpster.
Dealing in-fiction with the real world death of an actor always requires one to tread lightly, but I guess enough time has passed that it doesn't feel ghoulish, and her character is treated with reverence. The special is dedicated to her memory and to that of Jason David Frank, the original Green Ranger, who sadly took his own life in December. JDF (along with Amy Jo Johnson, the original Pink Ranger) declined to be involved with Once & Always for reasons unknown, but their characters are briefly seen in Ranger form in the first scene, with a word or two each of what I assume was archival audio. I don't know how I feel about that.
Anyway, a few random observations:
- It's evident that the special wants to appear more grown-up than a 1993 kids' show, and as such there are liberal references to death and killing sprinkled throughout, beyond what happened to the Yellow Ranger. At one point Rita (who wants to go back in time to team up with her younger self) vows to KILL YOU ALL IN YOUR SLEEP BEFORE YOU BECOME RANGERS. Jesus.
- There's also a briefly-glimpsed gay couple in the form of two men being menaced by Putties (this isn't me shipping; one literally says THEY'RE AFTER MY BOYFRIEND!) so I guess that was nice. I hope the chuds are super mad about it.
- The Rangers feel they are outclassed by Rita's monsters, and as such they teleport away from areas where those monsters are actively threatening civilians in order to save themselves. It's true that the monsters are more interested in pursuing them than wreaking random havoc, but it's not particularly made clear that the Rangers realize that at first, and they just seem cowardly and irresponsible.
- I know it's the catchphrase but they say IT'S MORPHIN' TIME! four or five times over the course of this 55 minute episode. It's never not morphin' time.
- Bulk and Skull do not appear, but we get a glimpse of a billboard for their sandwich company(?) with a brief quotation of their farting clown theme music at one point. Partial credit, I guess.
Dealing in-fiction with the real world death of an actor always requires one to tread lightly, but I guess enough time has passed that it doesn't feel ghoulish, and her character is treated with reverence. The special is dedicated to her memory and to that of Jason David Frank, the original Green Ranger, who sadly took his own life in December. JDF (along with Amy Jo Johnson, the original Pink Ranger) declined to be involved with Once & Always for reasons unknown, but their characters are briefly seen in Ranger form in the first scene, with a word or two each of what I assume was archival audio. I don't know how I feel about that.
Anyway, a few random observations:
- It's evident that the special wants to appear more grown-up than a 1993 kids' show, and as such there are liberal references to death and killing sprinkled throughout, beyond what happened to the Yellow Ranger. At one point Rita (who wants to go back in time to team up with her younger self) vows to KILL YOU ALL IN YOUR SLEEP BEFORE YOU BECOME RANGERS. Jesus.
- There's also a briefly-glimpsed gay couple in the form of two men being menaced by Putties (this isn't me shipping; one literally says THEY'RE AFTER MY BOYFRIEND!) so I guess that was nice. I hope the chuds are super mad about it.
- The Rangers feel they are outclassed by Rita's monsters, and as such they teleport away from areas where those monsters are actively threatening civilians in order to save themselves. It's true that the monsters are more interested in pursuing them than wreaking random havoc, but it's not particularly made clear that the Rangers realize that at first, and they just seem cowardly and irresponsible.
- I know it's the catchphrase but they say IT'S MORPHIN' TIME! four or five times over the course of this 55 minute episode. It's never not morphin' time.
- Bulk and Skull do not appear, but we get a glimpse of a billboard for their sandwich company(?) with a brief quotation of their farting clown theme music at one point. Partial credit, I guess.
Unlike other artifacts from my childhood I don't really have any lingering affection for Power Rangers, so this didn't particularly hit my nostalgia bone. But I guess I can think of worse ways to spend an hour.
The Night Agent imagines that there is an offshoot of the FBI with agents that report directly to the President for off the books spy work, and determines that they would be the good guys.
The show is a mostly enjoyable spy/thriller potboiler. In the 90's it would have been a movie starring Harrison Ford. It was fine.
The show is a mostly enjoyable spy/thriller potboiler. In the 90's it would have been a movie starring Harrison Ford. It was fine.
There's a new season of True Detective coming this year, so I finally got around to watching season 3 over the past week. It's real good, and way better than I remember season 2 being. The framing device dealing with memory loss is pretty compelling, and the way the narrative is sliced up across 3 different timeframes made the story really engaging too. And the ending itself was well done, even though on paper it might come across as bad writing, because one of the elusive characters involved in the mystery basically just directly tells the detectives everything that happened that they didn't figure out.
Should this go here? I guess this should go here. I'm like 15 hours deep into PsychOdyssey, the documentary spanning 7 years at Double Fine following the development of Psychonauts 2, and it's... really good? It's just such a... unique cultural object. Completely unprecedented. I guess Boyhood would be the closest thing? Being paid to just embed a documentary team with unfettered access for 7 years must be the thing that most documentarians dream of. I have never played a Psychonauts game, but I'm still very much here for this. If you're ever wanted to see how the sausage gets made, want a bunch of cool stories from Tim Schafer, want to see special guests such as Jack Black and Pendleton Ward, or just want to build a parasocial relationship with a game dev team, or just want to follow a group of people through 7 years of world events such as the election of Donald Trump, the release of the Switch, COVID, etc, then I highly recommend it. I have cried multiple times watching these people make this video game that I'll probably never play.
The whole thing is free on Youtube for anyone to watch, which is just wild. I feel like I should be paying someone for this.
The whole thing is free on Youtube for anyone to watch, which is just wild. I feel like I should be paying someone for this.
Sat down over the last week and watched the Netflix show Beef on a recommendation from a friend.
Phenominal show.
It stars Ali Wong and Steven Yuen as two petty individuals who let their intrusive thoughts win and who can't let go of their rage, as they escalate their beef with each other from a prank war to something else.
It's a lot of fun on multiple levels. Like, it's just hilarious watching these two go at it as their lives spiral and they suck other people in their lives into their vortex of poor decisions.
It's also a pretty relatable show. I think we all know people in our lives who are like these characters with regards to their pettiness and anger issues, and might even see a little of ourselves in these characters. I don't think there's a single 'good' person in the show, so it's a pretty impressive feat that the show can still make you empathize with a bunch of borderline sociopaths. The theme of interpersonal empathy is fairly poignant and well done.
It's also an enthralling character study and has a lot of interesting things to say about the human condition, being a Millennial, family, and especially about the Asian-American experience. It's yet another great work by A24 (who recently did Everything Everywhere All At Once). Every actor and all of the directors and writers hit things out of the park here.
It was awesome and I can't recommend it enough. Everyone should watch it.
Phenominal show.
It stars Ali Wong and Steven Yuen as two petty individuals who let their intrusive thoughts win and who can't let go of their rage, as they escalate their beef with each other from a prank war to something else.
It's a lot of fun on multiple levels. Like, it's just hilarious watching these two go at it as their lives spiral and they suck other people in their lives into their vortex of poor decisions.
It's also a pretty relatable show. I think we all know people in our lives who are like these characters with regards to their pettiness and anger issues, and might even see a little of ourselves in these characters. I don't think there's a single 'good' person in the show, so it's a pretty impressive feat that the show can still make you empathize with a bunch of borderline sociopaths. The theme of interpersonal empathy is fairly poignant and well done.
It's also an enthralling character study and has a lot of interesting things to say about the human condition, being a Millennial, family, and especially about the Asian-American experience. It's yet another great work by A24 (who recently did Everything Everywhere All At Once). Every actor and all of the directors and writers hit things out of the park here.
It was awesome and I can't recommend it enough. Everyone should watch it.
I'm 5 or 6 episodes into that show and I'm enjoying it greatly. One of the best things about it is that I can never guess where the hell it's gonna go next.
Pajaro Pete
(He/Himbo)
i think most of netflix's slate should consist of shows where ali wong portrays unhinged wealthy women
The first episode wasn't what I expected, but I'm planning to go back to Beef.
I've heard nothing but good things, but that first episode did not work for me.
I've heard nothing but good things, but that first episode did not work for me.
Great show. "Last Stand is the best X-Men movie! Wolverine can't be circumcised!"
Looking forward to what y'all think of the show. The first episode is weird, but it only gets better from there. A lot of the characters don't really make sense or aren't sympathetic in the beginning, but the show slow drips you info about them at pertinent points where after a while you can't help feel sorry for them but then also gets you face-palming repeatedly when they inevitably make more bad decisions. It's wonderful
Yeah I think I can see that perspective. Show does a good job earning its length though. The escalation of the beef is drawn out in a pretty interesting and realistic way when you consider the conceit of the show is that its characters are physically incapable of letting their rage go, and it won't let them stop escalating the beef. It's also a kinda intense at times character study, so there's lots of time spent giving all of the show's characters texture.
I finished watching Beef last night. I am glad the ending provided some manner of catharsis, because otherwise the show would've been relentless. The last episode really was excellent, too.
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
I don't have Peacock but I saw this trailer and am incredibly curious about this show, apparently about a nun on a motorcycle who is either helping or destroying an AI overlord??:
Has anyone watched Mrs Davis? That trailer just looks so dang interesting but I'm cheap and don't want to buy a streaming subscription if the show sucks.
Has anyone watched Mrs Davis? That trailer just looks so dang interesting but I'm cheap and don't want to buy a streaming subscription if the show sucks.
Pajaro Pete
(He/Himbo)
haven't seen it but the ads have been all over The Tw*tter for the past few weeks.
I might still have peacock? I know they were threatening to retire the free version that comes with comcast internet. I’ll check it out and report back.
It's on my watch list, I've got to finish up S2 of Sweet Tooth (Its real good through 3), and maybe Beef, but I'm trying to get to it.
The relentlessness was awesome. There are so many points where the characters could turn things around, or just give up the beef and take a massive W. And instead, they just keep going. Because they can't stop. It's wonderful. The characters are so dumb. You sympathize and pity them, but at the same time, you can laugh at them and be like "you deserved this" because they are horrrrrrrible people.
I would never have anticipated the trajectory this show has taken from the first season. Especially what it's doing with NoHo Hank.
I watched the final episode last night, so I can definitely say that I liked Mrs. Davis. 8/10? 8.5? Damon Lindeloff is co-showrunner, and after Watchmen, I'll definitely at least always give his new work a try. I think the trailer conveys a lot of the irreverent humor, some of the fantastical elements... It leaves out a few other key bits, but I don't really want to spoil that stuff, so I'm kind of going to leave it there. I will say that there's a lot of elements all working towards some common themes here.
It is an 8 episode mini-series that tells a complete story, and like Watchmen, there is no season 2. This is it. (As an aside, the opening sequence of the first episode may make you think the amount of gore is more of a thing, but it's not pervasive throughout the show... just a few key bits.)
Also, Peacock is only like five dollars with ads (10 without ads), so if you don't like Mrs. Davis, there's also a few other good shows, like Poker Face and the Saved by the Bell reboot (canceled too soon, alas). I think the Mario movie will hit the service in June or July, so you can also wait a bit for that if you haven't seen it.
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
Thank you for reporting back, that's awesome. I think I might actually have a free trial of Peacock though Gamepass or something so I will plan to check it out.
This though? This is great news! One of the biggest reasons I don't watch a lot of TV is then I have to watch all these episodes and don't know when it will end.
Finished off Ted Lasso. Good stuff. Thanks to everyone like a year ago who recommended it as “what next?” after things like Good Place and Parks&Rec.
So, uh.... what next? Gonna need something new for the “quirky characters all end up loving and supporting each other” slot.
So, uh.... what next? Gonna need something new for the “quirky characters all end up loving and supporting each other” slot.