What Are You Watching Lately? (Rants/Raves/Reviews)

[strangerep]

I can't seem to remember, but is Succession on Prime (I thought it was mutually shared with HBO Max)?

I could get it here on Binge. Now that you've mentioned it, I might try it since it seems to get very good reviews. I could get all HBO Max through Binge, so it says. I haven't explored it though.

 

[BWV]

Anyone interested in James Cameron’s Avatar sequel? Here is a trailer:

 

[kyphysics]

Anyone seen Wakanda Forever yet? I want to, but don't want to go alone. Going with friends for Thanksgiving, though.

 

[strangerep]

I just finished watching season 1 of Infiniti. That's 6 hrs of my life I'll never get back.

 

[Rive]

I hear their [Orville] latest seasons have dispensed with the comedy aspect and are going for a deadly serious vibe.

Well, as I see it's not 'deadly serious' but rather just some ruined rush job

They just dropped the steady pace of events centered around character development and went on with mindless turmix and pew-pew to get to some closing point within the allocated screen time.

Only one (and a third) episode left so I'll finish it but then it'll be finished

 

[Hornbein]

I like the fact Kate Bush has had something of a renaissance because of the series. She is one of the UK's national treasures. One that most are not aware of.
I have seen some of the series, it looks pretty good. Quite dark.

?!? What does she have to do with She Hulk?

I'd say The Ninth Wave is the greatest.

 

[Hornbein]

I'm watching an apocalyptic version of Duran Duran's Ordinary World.

 

[DaveC426913]

I like the fact Kate Bush has had something of a renaissance because of the series.

?!? What does she have to do with She Hulk?

I think you missed the last line of the kphysics post to which pinball was responding:

Was never a Stranger Things fan, but hear it's gotten massive views.

 

[Bystander]

I just finished watching season 1 of Infiniti. That's 6 hrs of my life I'll never get back.

Easy Rider for free while in "The Nam," same/similar sensation/feeling of "loss." Could have pulled KP, had a V8, anything....

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Just watched Childhood's End again. So good!!!

I loved The Good Place and fell in love with Kristen Bell. Grrrrrrrr!!!!
I also loved The OA! So creative!!! It got a bit hokey at the end but it rates as one of my top favorites.
Another favorite that was crude and rude but very smart, is Fleabag.

These all have strong, female leads. Brit Marling, who is both gorgeous and amazing not only starred in The OA, she was also the co-creator, writer, and producer.

I've watched a bunch of other stuff and will surely think of a few more favorites, but these are certainly at the top of my list of favorites.

Kristen Bell

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Oh yes, I just watched Vesper and found it to be very good. It too is very creative. And while I wouldn't rank it as a top favorite, it is certainly worth a watch.

 

[DaveC426913]

Just watched Childhood's End again. So good!!!

Which one? I didn't know there was one, let alone two.

 

[pinball1970]

First season of Tulsa King, I thought it was great.
Also just started 'Old man' with Jeff Bridges, I like that as well.

I have noticed that the dialogue/writing is getting less and less like soap opera and more like real life, gritty.
More believable in other words.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Which one? I didn't know there was one, let alone two.

There are three!

It's a 3-part miniseries.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Who remembers Dennis Weaver being terrorized by this in the TV movie Duel?

I was surprised to learn that was an early Spielberg movie!

 

[DaveC426913]

Yep!

 

[hmmm27]

That 90's Show : too much of an "afterschool TV special" vibe, or maybe I just can't identify with '90s teens culture as I could with the '70s. Gonna wait a few weeks, see if they get their rhythm.

Night Court : Great to see John Larroquette struttin' his stuff. Not sure Melissa Rauch is up to filling Harry Anderson's shoes yet, but they're only a couple episodes in.

Letterkenny : still a hoot, but yikes this season's humour seems to be much cruder than usual.

 

[pinball1970]

Who remembers Dennis Weaver being terrorized by this in the TV movie Duel?

View attachment 320943

I was surprised to learn that was an early Spielberg movie!

Brilliant. Around the same time he directed this Columbo episode, one of my favourites.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066932/

 

[gleem]

Two series that I found engaging were "Shooter" on Netflix and "Reacher" on Prime Video.

Shooter followed an ex-marine sniper trying to find out why he was set up for carrying out an assassination he did not do. 3 seasons.

Reacher, a character based on a Lee Child novel series, is a retired army officer wandering through the south who gets blamed for a murder in a town he is passing through. 2nd season is soon resuming his travels.

 

[pinball1970]

Two series that I found engaging were "Shooter" on Netflix and "Reacher" on Prime Video.

Shooter followed an ex-marine sniper trying to find out why he was set up for carrying out an assassination he did not do. 3 seasons.

Reacher, a character based on a Lee Child novel series, is a retired army officer wandering through the south who gets blamed for a murder in a town he is passing through. 2nd season is soon resuming his travels.

I liked Reacher, I like Tom Cruise and the film but I had no idea the character from the book was this huge bruiser.
I was hooked pretty quickly.

 

[gleem]

I liked Reacher, I like Tom Cruise and the film but I had no idea the character from the book was this huge bruiser.

I had read a few of the novels so when a movie version was announced with Cruise in the leading role I thought, you kidding me?

 

[pinball1970]

I had read a few of the novels so when a movie version was announced with Cruise in the leading role I thought, you kidding me?

Yes I think that was reaction last time!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

The Phenomenon (2020)
Very well done.

 

[strangerep]

I had read a few of the [Reacher] novels so when a movie version was announced with Cruise in the leading role I thought, you kidding me?

Oh, his ego is easily large enough...

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Brilliant. Around the same time he directed this Columbo episode, one of my favourites.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066932/

Huh!

Remember The Waltons and John Boy Walton, who aspired to be a writer? The real John Boy was Earl Hamner Jr., who created the TV show, which was based on his novel. He also wrote a number of episodes of The Twilight Zone [a few of my favorites!]. Note that he wrote several episodes about mountain people.

• "The Hunt" (1962)
• "A Piano in the House" (1962)
• "Jess-Belle" (1963)
• "Ring-a-Ding Girl" (1963)
• "You Drive" (1964)
• "Black Leather Jackets" (1964)
• "Stopover in a Quiet Town" (1964)
• "The Bewitchin' Pool

He was also the creator and writer for Falcon Crest.

 

[pinball1970]

Huh!

Remember The Waltons and John Boy Walton, who aspired to be a writer? The real John Boy was Earl Hamner Jr., who created the TV show, which was based on his novel. He also wrote a number of episodes of The Twilight Zone [a few of my favorites!]. Note that he wrote several episodes about mountain people.

• "The Hunt" (1962)
• "A Piano in the House" (1962)
• "Jess-Belle" (1963)
• "Ring-a-Ding Girl" (1963)
• "You Drive" (1964)
• "Black Leather Jackets" (1964)
• "Stopover in a Quiet Town" (1964)
• "The Bewitchin' Pool

He was also the creator and writer for Falcon Crest.

Brilliant. I spent about 12 months going through every single episode in order.
I remember most of those you cited from reading the plot on wiki.
The Waltons and John Boy, yes that was a nice series. Pretty cool he wrote those episodes, quite dark!
Falcon Crest was probably watched by my mother and sister, I would have been elsewhere!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Brilliant. I spent about 12 months going through every single episode in order.
I remember most of those you cited from reading the plot on wiki.
The Waltons and John Boy, yes that was a nice series. Pretty cool he wrote those episodes, quite dark!
Falcon Crest was probably watched by my mother and sister, I would have been elsewhere!

Yes! That was something I found striking - the contrast between John Boy, as portrayed, and the stories the real John Boy later wrote.

I saw an interview with Hamner once. He said that until she passed, Hamner's mother would often invite the curious to join her for lemonade on the porch of "the real Walton house". It wasn't the house from the show but the house where Hamner grew up. The curious public would drive by to see the house for many years after the show ended. And she was quick to wave and invite them to stop.

Hamner and Richard Thomas on the set.

 

[DennisN]

I'm watching an apocalyptic version of Duran Duran's Ordinary World.

That is an amazing song, one of my favorites.
Extremely well written, in my opinion.
And the story behind it is fascinating.
The story is told here on the youtube channel "Professor of Rock":

 

[DennisN]

Who remembers Dennis Weaver being terrorized by this in the TV movie Duel?

Wow, I had forgotten about it, but I remember it.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Wow, I had forgotten about it, but I remember it.

It was Jaws on wheels.

 

[kyphysics]

I cut my Netflix and Disney+ subscriptions a few months back and have been watching "free" stuff more (YouTube). Lately, I've really enjoyed murder mystery shows like these:


A&E has lots of shows like this (I watch them free on YT)


CBS' 48 Hours is good too. . .

I have no idea why it is, but it helps to de-stress me (I am going through a TON of stress). Perhaps, ironically, seeing other people's lives being so tragic makes me feel like what I'm going through is a lot easier? Or, it's just intriguing stuff and relaxes me by taking my mind off things.

 

[kyphysics]

Some observations I have of the murders featured on these shows:

1.) the murderer almost always knows the victim and/or is in a close circle with them.

This obviously makes sense, as there's not much to gain from just randomly killing someone. But, it still is interesting, given the way crime can be portrayed and/or fear-mongered over in the news. Sometimes my brain's first instinct is to think of the local news and seeing someone randomly shot & killed from a stray bullet related to gang violence.

2.) it feels like 60-70% of the killers were jilted lovers (or the case had something to do with a romantic relationship of some kind)

3.) 95% of the cases involve Caucasian communities and murderers, who are not gang or organized crime affiliated. These are just "regular" every day people, who are doctors, teachers, train conductors, insurance agents, priests, etc.

4.) DNA evidence is often what ultimately convicts or exonerates a person.

5.) the killer often has a past criminal record or history (as told by acquaintances/family members) of out-of-line behavior. Like maybe the killer abused animals as a kid, had a juvenile record, and/or was known to be verbally abusive/aggressive or domestically violent. There's rarely a case where the murderer was super well-liked by everyone, had fantastic manners/etiquette, and was squeaky clean to all those who knew them.

6.) The killers SURPRISINGLY often make threats before they even commit the crime. I wouldn't say this is 50% of the time, but more like 20% of the cases on these shows.

Of all the cases I've marathon/binge watched, this one both shocked and saddened me the absolute most:

The killer is very surprising and what happens in the resolution is heart-breaking in a lot of ways.

 

[pinball1970]

It was Jaws on wheels.

He directed one of the first Columbo episodes, "Murder by the book."
It is one of my favourite episodes and you get those Spielbergisms all over. Brilliant, 1971. Duel was also around the same time.
EDIT. Apologies, already posted this six months ago.

 

[kyphysics]

I opened Amazon Prime Video for first time in a while and saw it has two indistinguishable Liam Neeson movies:

Memory and Blacklight

Is Neeson broke? Is Hollywood so pathetically out of ideas that they cast Neeson in the same types of movies over and over and over and over....same sort of plot........he basically has played the same character or 10 movies straight since Taken.

 

[pinball1970]

Two series that I found engaging were "Shooter" on Netflix and "Reacher" on Prime Video.

Shooter followed an ex-marine sniper trying to find out why he was set up for carrying out an assassination he did not do. 3 seasons.

Reacher, a character based on a Lee Child novel series, is a retired army officer wandering through the south who gets blamed for a murder in a town he is passing through. 2nd season is soon resuming his travels.

Season 2 out next month