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Onhell said:
Binged Dark, season 3. HOLY CRAP. What started as a fairly simple show about a missing kid and turned into a slightly complicated time travel dilemma escalated quickly. They took this shit to 11.

After a while the amount of incest and pedophilia started to bother me. As well as how they keep referring to the Apocalypse, yet we never see anything outside of the town of Winden. We know there is a world outside of Winden, Aleksander came from sonewhere else and decided to stay, hiding from his past. But they keep talking about the end of the world when all we see is the end of Winden. Not unlike Chernobyl.

Looking at Dark through this not so subtle biblical lense makes the mess understandable. I wasn't too concerned with the time travel, it was fun, but not worth putting too much thought into it. Many movies have done it and honestly... it will always be sci-fi, so you can make whatever rules you want, whether Terminator, Back to the Future, Time Cop or Avengers.

That being said, I liked how they handle it, as a mistake from yet a third "original" world. I don't want to say "real" because all three realities are real. I also like that it is bittersweet. We've traveled with Jonas, know the whole cast, yet it was the clock maker, Tannhaus, all along. The loss of his son, daughter in law and granddaughter that drove him to give time travel a shot to begin with. Jonas and Martha could've been selfish and chosen to maintain their worlds alive, but they chose sacrifice, to end it all, even if it meant destroying two realities.

Worth a watch.
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What a fucking show.

We did actually find out that the apocalypse in the 1st alternate world caused worldwide catastrophe, as the dark matter fucked up nuclear power plants in all parts of the Earth. It was heard on the radio in S3.

I would say no other TV show or movie did time travel as precisely or plot-hole-less as this one. It was absolutely perfect.

Ending was amazing. Bittersweet endings like these are the best.

It was a sad ending for the original main characters.

Almost all the children ceased to exist - Jonas, Martha, Magnus, Franciszka, Mikkel and Bartosz - along with some parents - Ulrich and Charlotte. However, all of them went through enormous personal torment so not existing at all was their promised Paradise.

But it was also a happy ending for the characters that appeared at the end. They were different people as they didn't have Ulrich to fuck up their relationship (Hannah/Katharina), Peter most likely met Benni/Bernadette instead of Charlotte when first coming to Winden, Regina never met Alexander as she was never bullied by Ulrich and Katharina etc. Oh, and no one coerced city officials into building a power plant, so it was never made. Regina therefore never got cancer from the radiation.

Moral of the story: use protection and don't have children :D And get the hell away from Winden.

It's a must watch. I'd also recommend watching S1 and S2, then rewatching them and only then watching S3. It'll be a much better experience.

P.S. Please don't watch the dubbed version.
 
Seen a few things lately, but only one worth mentioning is Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. I personally loved it, even cried at the end. The Guardian gave it a scathing review of how Will Ferrell doesn't "get" Eurovision. On IMDB an Icelander gave it a 10 out of 10 and some other article gave a serious ranking of the songs, like actually talking about song structure, lyrical content, time/key changes sooooo..... make of it what you will. I thought it was great, just the perfect amount of silliness mixed with straight performances.

In case you've been living under a pandemic rock, it's about Fire Saga, an Icelandic duo played by Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams and how their lifelong dream is to be in the Eurovision Contest. Silliness ensues.
 
Black Wizard said:
Was it Diesel's list blog?
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No, I didn't pay attention to the publication, but it was fun and honest. Hell they have Volcano Man as their number one and they say why. Whether one agrees with it or not is irrelevant, it's a fun article, like the movie, unlike the Guardian's beat down.
 
Just watched The Old Guard. It was an awesome, well shot, thrilling action movie, that did a wonderful job showcasing the journey through quasi-immortality of five characters and the evil CEO who wants to exploit them for genetics research. Charlize Theron continues to reinvent herself as an action superstar after Fury Road, Atomic Blonde, and The Fate of the Furious
 
LooseCannon said:
Just watched The Old Guard. It was an awesome, well shot, thrilling action movie, that did a wonderful job showcasing the journey through quasi-immortality of five characters and the evil CEO who wants to exploit them for genetics research. Charlize Theron continues to reinvent herself as an action superstar after Fury Road, Atomic Blonde, and The Fate of the Furious
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Don't forget Aeon Flux and Hancock. I was about to post about this movie to. I found it.... OK. I liked how each character dealt with their "immortality," and the trauma that carries. I did love the ending though! Enough that I'm kinda hoping they do make a sequel hahahaha.

More trips down memory lane. The GF and I watched Legends of the Fall with Anthony Hopkins, Brad Pitt and Aidan Quinn and Julia Ormond. LOVE this movie. Three brothers living with their dad in the Dakotas in the early 20th century and they fall in love with the same woman, the youngest borhter's fiance. The youngest, Samuel, is the innocent one, Pitt's Tristan, the middle child, is the wild/tortured free spirit and The oldest, Alfred, is the one that does everything right, by the book, there are RULES dammit! If you think you're having a bad day... watch this movie.... it sucks for EVERYONE.

We also watched the Life of David Gale with Kevin Spacey. Yup, as surprised as you they have it up after taking him out of House of Cards and removing all of his other movies like, the Usual Suspects. Here he plays an alcoholic philosophy professor who is also a member of Deathwatch, a nonprofit organization trying to abolish the death penalty. The kicker? HE gets arrested for murder and sentenced to death, but... did he do it? DUN, DUN, DUN.
 
Watched The Alienist (season 1) on Netflix.

Very good show, starring Daniel Brühl of Inglorious Basterds fame, as well as Luke Evans and Dakota Fanning. Period crime drama with high tension & dark atmosphere. Looking forward to season 2!

Currently watching Timeless (season 1).

Time travelling science fiction. Takes you through a myriad of well known high stakes events, with the premise of trying to prevent a villain from changing the course of history. Adding a feel of Firefly-like anachronisms and atmosphere while it takes you through different parts of history, it's a shame it was cancelled so early. A light watch and very episodic, but with some interesting story threads added in. Could easily have been your next NCIS type longrunner.

EDIT: Holy crap, finished Timeless. Favourite series ever. Better than Firefly. Was wrapped up nicely, but could have gone on for at least another season or two exploring some more mythology-like stuff. Firefly-meets-The-Dark-Tower-meets-NCIS.
 
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Given our lack of remote and tv programming woes, we still resorted to youtube for tips on how to watch stuff. We found a better website offering shows dubbed in Spanish not available on Netflix. My GF started watching Charmed. I was a fan back when it first aired in 98, because, well... I had a huge crush on Shannon Doherty and Alyssa Milano wasn't bad either. Now though.... I don't know how such a goofy show made it past one season. Also, it didn't take long for me to start bitching. The show is called "Charmed," and the witches are often referred to as "The Charmed Ones." Meaning they are "lucky," or at the least carry some sort of favor with the cosmic entities. The thumbnail on the site says, "Embrujadas," which is, literally, "Bewitched." When the title shows up after the cold open a voice over says, "Hechiceras," which literally is "Enchantresses," but would more aptly translate to "Sorcerress(es)." My GF just shot me a look and I said, "What? THIS is why things should be watched/read in the orginal! Ok, ok, I'm done."

We also watched The Shinning so we could watch Dr. Sleep. I had never seen it. I knew most of the movie from cultural references, spoofs and articles talking about how much Stephen King hated it and made his own adaptation later which while more faithful to the source material, generally considered a worse movie. At any rate, I was not impressed. Most likely from all the interference from the above. In fact, I was dissapointed. HATED Danny Lloyd, wasn't impressed with Shelley Duvall and Jack Nicholson was once again playing himself. For such a "scary" movie very little happens and there isn't much of a payoff. King is notorious for slow build-up, but usually with a good payoff like Carrie, Christine (the book anyway), Cujo, etc. I thought this was supposed to be peak King and... I just don't see it. A friend recently stated Dr. Sleep, like th Shinning, the movies were better than the books. If that's the case, glad I never read it either.

I really like the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Exorcist is still my favorite movie and they're older films by less iconic directors in which also not a lot happens, it's the build-up and tension that really gets you with an explosive payoff. I just didn't see that here. Let's see if Dr. Sleep is as much of a let down or at least a fun ride.

Edit: almost forgot, about the Shinning, the whole "magical negro" thing has definitely not aged well.
 
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Onhell said:
I had a huge crush on Shannon Doherty and Alyssa Milano wasn't bad either.
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Should be opposite really.

Onhell said:
The Shinning
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Onhell said:
King is notorious for slow build-up, but usually with a good payoff like Carrie, Christine (the book anyway), Cujo, etc. I thought this was supposed to be peak King and... I just don't see it.
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But you just said that King hated the movie :P
 
I've never read why he hated it and the general consensus for his remake is that it might be more faithful, but it sucks lol
 
I think I'd take the adaptation he didn't like over literally every other King adaptation you care to name. They're generally TV-movie quality nonsense; which is a shame if the original material is decent.
 
There have been a few decent ones. 11/22/63 is probably my favourite (mini series), as is the novel...

A high school teacher travels back in time to prevent John F. Kennedy's assassination.
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Glorious.
 
Maturin said:
There have been a few decent ones. 11/22/63 is probably my favourite (mini series), as is the novel...

Glorious.
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Mini-series is good, but the book is way better. Mini-series skips the best parts of the book and focuses too much on the JFK thing.
 
Night Prowler said:
Mini-series is good, but the book is way better. Mini-series skips the best parts of the book and focuses too much on the JFK thing.
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Definitely agree, but as far as adaptations go... "Hey, watch this series about preventing the assassination of JFK! ... Just kidding, it's really a sentimental love story / history piece with some occasional action thrown in for good measure."

Timeless gave me a serious itch for more, so I'm currently watching Travelers. Another sci-fi time travel series with a very different approach to the premise... and a less episodic more serialized storyline. Also very good.
 
Finished Travelers.

Very different from Timeless but also about time travel.

Now I can't decide which one I like more. These are two seriously brilliant stories. I'm just sitting here in awe of the twists and turns of a well executed storyline x 2.

Trying to get ahold of Continuum at the moment. Doesn't seem to be on any streaming service in Sweden...

(Let me just say it: Swedish Amazon Prime sucks. There's barely anything on it.)
 
So 7 months into this year I've watched like 3-4x as many TV show episodes as previous year, and probably the year before that. I blame it on coronavirus.

Watched You Season 2 first. I liked Season 2 probably even more than Season 1, definitely one of my favorite shows.

I've been watching The Good Place each week since Season 2 and it ended in Season 4 with one of the best and most emotional series finales ever. Very original show, quick paced and unpredictable. Will probably watch it again soon, as I discovered there are extended episodes of Seasons 3 and 4 (which weren't available before).

Watched The Expanse Season 4. I feel that switching to season dump format made me like the show more. Was a great mystery and payoff, splendid visuals etc. I've read mixed reception since the season was largely situated in one place and not much in space (boom, what a rhyme), but it was a welcome change of pace. Looking forward to Season 5 and hope it comes out in a normal way. Cas Anvar, guy who plays Alex, has been accused of sexual harassment etc, and is currently being investigated. I don't care much for the character, I'm just hoping that if the actor's guilty, it doesn't hinder the show. Just kill him off or recast and people will be understanding. And release Season 5 unchanged, of course.

I watched the Watchmen miniseries next. I started it in 2019, but didn't initially like it, but I pushed through and it was actually pretty good in retrospect. Great cast. I still like the movie more because no one in both the movie or the TV show is as great of a character as Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Comedian.

Next up was The Mandalorian Season 1. Started off kinda slowly, but quickly became one of my favorite shows of the year. Obviously Baby Yoda is the highlight, but most recurring characters were good and you know who's death was very memorable and sad despite featuring the character in like 1 episode before it. Actually probably the Star Wars movie/TV show I've liked the most after The Force Awakens. Just keep doing TV and scrap the movies.

One of my favorite shows ever, Homeland, wrapped it up with Season 8 and they stuck the landing completely. It wasn't a perfect show by any means, but 4 of the biggest characters in the show pulled off some amazing performances throughout the show and saved some of the weaker material. I'm glad they didn't GoT the show and I can look back on it with fondness.

Then The Sinner Season 3. Season 1 was great and had an awesome mystery, if a little unbelievable. Season 2 was fine, but not as cool. I just couldn't get into Season 3. There was no mystery as they changed up the format, it was way too depressing and unrelatable, and not even the great performances of the cast could save it. It was renewed for Season 4 so I hope it bounces back.

The Walking Dead didn't manage to finish off Season 10 before the pandemic struck. Finished filming, but not editing the finale. Actually just remembered to check and the finale will air on October 4th, like 6 months after the previous episode. And 6 episodes of S11 that were filmed, or will be filmed will be added on to S10, so it's not actually the finale. Weird.
Anyway, S10 along with S9 saved the show from the brink. Now it's back to being great again. They cut down on solo episodes considerably since that fucker left and everyone is a bit more involved. Obviously, Negan is the most interesting character and the best is yet to come for him IMO.

I watched Russian Doll Season 1 next. Fun little time-loop comedy show.

I Am Not Okay With This Season 1 - kinda too short and weird. Not sure I'll be watching Season 2 if it gets renewed. Cliffhanger was cool though.

Beforeigners - Norwegian HBO show.
Pre-historical people, Vikings, and folks from the 1800s, globally appear from the waters and nobody knows how or why. Society has had to change to integrate all these people in the now.
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Fun concept, solid execution. I didn't expect it'll have that much comedic moments, but it worked.

Kingdom Seasons 1 and 2. Fresh take on the zombie genre with different kinds of zombies, plus set in like 15th century or so, don't remember. Visuals were absolutely perfect. Fight scenes had some great choreography. Not too sure if I liked the ending to Season 2, but will definitely tune in for Season 3. The only issue, which is probably only for non-Asian people, is that most recurring characters all looked the same. Probably not face-wise, but male characters all had beards, long hair and same or similar clothing so it was hard to tell them apart. And obviously I knew none of the actors.

Westworld Season 3. What a fucking mess. I pretty much forgot everything from it by now. Just a whole bunch of forgettable cliché bullshit about destiny, who controls whom, are humans better than robots and blah blah blah. Aaron Paul was wasted. Dude looked like he had no idea what the fuck his character was supposed to be doing. And also, my favorite actor/character in the show was underused (Ed Harris). Will probably still watch whatever is released next, but they will never surpass Season 1 which was perfect.

The Plot Against America mini-series. Solid alt-history show based on a book of the same name. I kinda felt it was building up to something greater, but it kinda fizzled out in the end.

Started watching Curb Your Enthusiasm Seasons 1 to 10 to lighten up after all these depressing shows. It delivered in a major way. Probably the style isn't really for everyone but I personally loved it. The only problem is that there's nothing else that resembles this show so it kinda ruined other comedies to me for a while. Also, it got renewed for Season 11 so can't wait for that one.

Superstore is a really underrated sitcom IMO. It's way better than Brooklyn Nine-Nine which is a bit too unrealistic IMO. Superstore deals with more real life topics and has better background/recurring characters. Superstore's Season 5 ended on a cliffhanger with a major character supposed to leave but they didn't finish filming in time so real outcome will have to wait. Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Season 7 was kinda forgettable IMO. It's just one of those shows that are fun to watch but you don't really think about them afterwards or feel the urge to rewatch them. At least in my case.
I think the following seasons will be challenging for both shows in light of recent events. Superstore is about a supermarket and its workers and irl those people are in big danger of getting COVID, so they will certainly address the whole situation in the show. I have faith they will do it right. Hell, it would probably be work if all the characters in the show would appear with masks and gloves in first few episodes if Covid thing doesn't fizzle out irl. Brooklyn Nine-Nine will have to deal with Covid AND police brutality and they said they will write a lot about it in the next season. Kinda annoying that people are like "ACAB, I don't wanna watch a TV show about cool cops when they are bad irl", which is bullshit IMO. It's a fucking TV show.

Gotta also mention the Parks and Recreation reunion Covid episode which was amazing and almost made me cry. Still my favorite comedy show ever.

Rick & Morty came back for Season 4, Part 2. Premiere was awful, but out of the 5 released episodes, one was probably my favorite Rick & Morty episode, and S4, Part 1 had 2 all-time great episodes, so I'm cool with the season as a whole. Now it'll probably take them 2 more years for 5 more episodes or something.

Normal People Season 1 - gut punch in the feelings. It just felt super real and heartwarming and also heartbreaking. Those two incredible main actors, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal will have big careers ahead of them... Show is based on one book which I haven't read, and the show covered all of it, but it still feels unfinished to me and I'm hoping its popularity gets us the Season 2 to finish off the story.

Also watched The Trip (To Greece) Season 4. Not the most interesting show, it's mostly just talking and joking around, but it was a bit more in this (final) season. Gotta say the highlight was Greece itself. I've visited but I feel l've seen just the lame shit now. Gotta check out some of the locations I've seen in the show.

Along with Curb, highlight of the year was Breaking Bad. Can't praise it enough. The cast, the story, the music, the (obviously) planned beginning and the ending. It just ruined my experience of watching any shows like this. Nothing lives up to it. Hell, I didn't even start Better Call Saul yet. Will definitely watch it later with lower expectations.

I've already spoken about Dark Seasons 1-3 before.

And at the end, I started watching What We Do In The Shadows Seasons 1 and 2. I've seen the movie before, but the TV show is way better. It's not too serialized, but still is just enough to make it a better show.

TL;DR I watch too much TV. Idk why I wrote this gigantic post, but it is what it is.
 
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