Last Series Watched

Just finished season 2 and 3 of Squid Games.

Overall I liked it and definitely liked the new games. Not sure how I feel about the overall arc, and I definitely hated the end scene. Still a good show that probably suffered a bit from being so big out of the gate and trying to keep that going years after the first season.
 
Well I fell down another rabbit hole. Not a "series" but rather a Youtube channel that popped up on my suggestions:

https://www.youtube.com/@WasteSomeTimewithJasonGreen

This guy's channel does some great retrospectives on old TV shows and their filming locations (among other things). It has me watching now because I like seeing old exterior filming locations along with the bits of trivia for old favourites.
 
Saw the last ep of Alien: Earth. I think my favorite of the series thus far, mainly because it moved the ball down field in a way that opens us up to a lot of new things. My D+ sub is cancelled for now, but maybe if a season 2 comes and it looks good I'll give it a shot as well.

None of my thoughts about the first few eps or the problems in them have really changed, but a strong closer does a lot to wallpaper over all that. The ending of this ep felt the most like a Dark Horse Alien comic yet, and that's the highest praise I can give the show.
 
I know I have a VERY VERY VERY specific taste in sci-fi but that Alien: Earth finale leaned right into it. I finished it off not with satisfaction but with longing, like I want to know more, now, about what happens next. It got under my skin like a sliver of glass.

Meanwhile: trying to find a new show to watch while I work out. I gave Yellowjackets a watch but it's not paced right for running (I'll probably watch the rest, just not my grind show). Netflix just added Spartacus and the first half hour held my attention but felt like a 300 homage cinematography-wise... would anyone recommend sticking it out? I find the best workout shows I watch have a good combination of swords, blood, and a peppering of T&A.
 
docsilence said:
I know I have a VERY VERY VERY specific taste in sci-fi but that Alien: Earth finale leaned right into it. I finished it off not with satisfaction but with longing, like I want to know more, now, about what happens next. It got under my skin like a sliver of glass.

Meanwhile: trying to find a new show to watch while I work out. I gave Yellowjackets a watch but it's not paced right for running (I'll probably watch the rest, just not my grind show). Netflix just added Spartacus and the first half hour held my attention but felt like a 300 homage cinematography-wise... would anyone recommend sticking it out? I find the best workout shows I watch have a good combination of swords, blood, and a peppering of T&A.
Click to expand...
Don't know if it would work for your needs, but if you haven't you might want to check out the Expanse.
 
docsilence said:
I gave Yellowjackets a watch but it's not paced right for running (I'll probably watch the rest, just not my grind show). Netflix just added Spartacus and the first half hour held my attention but felt like a 300 homage cinematography-wise... would anyone recommend sticking it out? I find the best workout shows I watch have a good combination of swords, blood, and a peppering of T&A.
Click to expand...
Yellowjackets is my most hyperfixated thing ever since Buffy and X-Men. Probably helps it covers my current age and halcyon youth. And that it does what I wish Lord of the Flies did ever since I had to read that in 6th grade.

I bought t-shirts. I support Etsy fan artists. I made fan art. I have never done fan art in my life, in the modern social media community sense.

But I agree with you. That's a show you want to sit down and focus on. There's a lot of plates in the air and it also rewards a rewatch, but I don't think you would want to do that on a treadmill.

Anyway.

Spartacus is excellent stories and character arcs.

Bad FX and sometimes acting can be... Not so good.

It's a Trojan Horse of a show. Really does feel like it got greenlit to ride the blood and tits that Game of Throne made acceptable for a while. But the creators actually had interesting things to say with great writing and compelling characters.

The 300 bit you mention does fall off. Again, seems like they were aiming for a specific audience for the Studio Suits, but knew once they had a foothold on viewers and that shock attack word of mouth what the real power they wielded was.

Highly recommend. Might rewatch it now.

That one I think you can treadmill.
 
altcunningham said:
Yellowjackets is my most hyperfixated thing ever since Buffy and X-Men. Probably helps it covers my current age and halcyon youth. And that it does what I wish Lord of the Flies did ever since I had to read that in 6th grade.

I bought t-shirts. I support Etsy fan artists. I made fan art. I have never done fan art in my life, in the modern social media community sense.

But I agree with you. That's a show you want to sit down and focus on. There's a lot of plates in the air and it also rewards a rewatch, but I don't think you would want to do that on a treadmill.

Anyway.

Spartacus is excellent stories and character arcs.

Bad FX and sometimes acting can be... Not so good.

It's a Trojan Horse of a show. Really does feel like it got greenlit to ride the blood and tits that Game of Throne made acceptable for a while. But the creators actually had interesting things to say with great writing and compelling characters.

The 300 bit you mention does fall off. Again, seems like they were aiming for a specific audience for the Studio Suits, but knew once they had a foothold on viewers and that shock attack word of mouth what the real power they wielded was.

Highly recommend. Might rewatch it now.

That one I think you can treadmill.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the rec. There's a very weird balancing act for a show to watch while running - literally it's mentally monotasking as I can't do anything else BUT look at the screen while I run, so it's got to be engaging, but I'm also watching while intentionally putting my body through its paces, so it needs the kind of flow that works for that. Like I can't watch shows that are cringe when I treadmill because I hate cringe and can't escape! (Previous shows that worked were the Magicians, Expanse, Vikings, Last Kingdom, Babylon 5, Black Sails... oh shoot I keep meaning to do a Farscape rewatch as a running show, too. Maybe Battlestar.)

I've tried shows like Derry Girls or even Loki and the "vibe" just isn't right. I do the same thing with audio and outdoor running, it has to be something that holds my focus but doesn't make running harder to do.

Love the idea of a Trojan Horse show. The fact that Black Sails is Tits and Pirates for a bit and then suddenly is a profound rumination on pushing back on the brutality of civilization is wild. I'm haunted by that one.
 
I'm working on King & Conqueror right now and my god this show is a mess.
 
I just finished the Splinter Cell series on Netflix. It was pretty fun. Plot's a little whatever (standard global espionage stuff, just like most spy movies, it's an excuse for the competency-porn starring the main characters), but they're continuing to move Sam forward in time so he's getting older, and they're moving in a new agent. Sort of hope they continue with that.

I think with spy-thriller stuff, like kaiju movies, I'm very happy for folks to shut up and play the hits, and I think this series mostly does that. It has some small swerves that I was happy to see happen, little things where they set up a potentially more eye-rolling version of the story only to say "nah, come-on, that would suck, wouldn't it?" and yes, it would've sucked, glad we did this instead. Sort of being vague here, but hopefully if you watch it you feel the same way.

Though it's hard for me to disassociate Sam from Michael Ironside's voice, Liev Schreiber does a great job. He's never doing an imitation, but his standard tough-guy performance is fairly close to Ironside's anyway, and so he works well int he part. It doesn't come off as disrespectful as, say, Sutherland subbing in for Hayter in Metal Gear. Doesn't feel like stunt casting. I don't know why they don't want to work with Ironside anymore, but if they're going with Liev as the new guy, I'll take it.

Also enjoyed Kirby Howell-Baptiste. I haven't seen her in much (this and Sandman are maybe it, and I didn't finish Sandman because... well you know), but so far I'm digging what she brings to stuff. They're clearly setting up her character to take on the Splinter Cell legacy and I hope that decision sticks. I'm sort of hoping they're bold enough to eventually do a full Batman Beyond and make Sam the guy in the chair and Zinnia the agent in the field. Maybe have a big blowout where Grim dies or retires or becomes a villain for whatever abstruse reason.

Anyway, fine way to spend a few hours. Animation isn't half bad either.
 
I do game testing for Ubisoft couple times a year, and we used to get to go into the studio. Now I do everything through streaming.

Anyway, back then my buddy and I both had a gig and as we were sitting in the lobby enjoying snacks, Ironside and I think his daughter walked in. Someone told us that he was here because they were working on the new project. If you keep up with gaming, you know that Ubisoft Toronto has been in charge of some sort of remake for years now.

He was also in town filming some other movie, and a friend of a friend was working on that set and told us that he was also talking about reprising the role.

Imagine our disappointment when it turned out that he must have just been doing the Ghost Recon cameo.

Also imagine my disappointment that they won't at least remaster Blacklist so I can get some sort of fix.
 
altcunningham said:
I do game testing for Ubisoft couple times a year, and we used to get to go into the studio. Now I do everything through streaming.

Anyway, back then my buddy and I both had a gig and as we were sitting in the lobby enjoying snacks, Ironside and I think his daughter walked in. Someone told us that he was here because they were working on the new project. If you keep up with gaming, you know that Ubisoft Toronto has been in charge of some sort of remake for years now.

He was also in town filming some other movie, and a friend of a friend was working on that set and told us that he was also talking about reprising the role.

Imagine our disappointment when it turned out that he must have just been doing the Ghost Recon cameo.

Also imagine my disappointment that they won't at least remaster Blacklist so I can get some sort of fix.
Click to expand...
Ooof.

It's funny, i think I've played like three of the Splinter Cell games, but the only one I completed was Conviction (which I quite liked). But I'd definitely go back and play a remaster if one was offered. It's not one of those game series I have a lot invested in specifically, but what I have experienced of it I enjoy.

Then again, I'm an easy lay for espionage-thriller stuff. I love dudes in black tacti-cool gear sneaking around and capping folks with silencers. I am a simple creature.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top