The big TV-series discussion thread

[saishuu 3220]

22 hours ago, Bear said:

The Haunting of Hill House - Rich, deep and complex horror series that's as much about horror as drama, and digs deep into loads and loads of different subjects, and does it really well. The storytelling is top notch, the character development is excellent, the cinematography and overall visual style and so on. Man, beautiful! I love how it's all put together. It jumps back and forth and back and even further back and a bit forth and so on throughout and it's beautifully done. So well-crafted and awesome. Amazing series!

 

Really happy to see that there will be a season 2, albeit not a sequel. But as an anthology. Can't wait!

I do understand all the praise the show has gotten, so I really, really wish I'd liked it more. It had a lot of promise to me based on my personal taste when it comes to stuff like this, but overall it felt like a chore to watch. I wasn't a fan of some of the acting too. Hopefully I'm able to enjoy the second season more.

Edited September 1, 2019 by saishuu

[sleepy coffee 1476]

rewatching breaking bad (again) in preparation for the upcoming movie. whats everyones expectations and excitement levels for it? typically these "sequels" can be a real miss but assuming its all the same people in charge of writing and stuff i have all the faith in the world for it 

[Bear 1817]

 

 

 

This was amazing and super interesting. And it shows you exactly how CGI should be used, unlike how blockbuster movies use CGI for everything.

[Bear 1817]

Residue  - Good, but half-done 3x40min mini-series. Could've been fantastic, but it feels too short and as if it was supposed to be longer. Like they were planning another season or something. But it's not bad at all. I loved the setting and the atmosphere.

[Bear 1817]

The Boys - This is, hands down, one of the coolest series I've ever seen, and one of the best superhero movies/series in a long, long, long time. Yes, I know it's based off a classic comic but I haven't read it yet. I own the first issue, but want more before before starting. Anyway, this was fun, violent, silly, over the top and just awesome throughout. Hell ye! Give me season 2 already!

 

 

Swamp Thing season 1 is up next. Shame about the cancellation. And I say that even before having watched it.

[Bear 1817]

Finished Swamp Thing and thought it was awesome. A very late 80's-early 90's adventure/action/horror with one hell of a design for the Swamp Thing himself. He just looks stunning as hell! Some dogy CGI and shit, but it only felt very out of place a few times. But it was really fun, and it's a real shame it got cancelled. But hey, at least we got one great season.

 

Recommended for sure.

[Bear 1817]

The Terror  season 1 was truly magnificent. Slow-burning, atmospheric horror drama that's a big fat adventure with twists, turns, mostly amazing CGI, great characters and plot and so on. Truly stunning. Very much recommended!

[Bear 1817]

Haven't care for American Horror Story for obvious fucking reasons, but I am actually looking forward to the new season now that they've jumped on the retro-wagon and embraced the 80's. Looks really fucking awesome.

[Bear 1817]

Watched Altered Carbon  season 1 and was surprised by how much I liked it. The story isn't perfect, the characters aren't either and neither are the action scenes, especially those with hand to hand combat. But the world created was really good, especially when the characters moved around in the Blade Runner-esque city which looked really cool. Gonna watch season 2 for sure.

[spockitty 643]

Insomnia strikes again so I'm on a roll: 

 

1. Finished Fringe. Thanks @saishuu for making me stick with it, even though I couldn't care less for the 5th season, what even was that omg. 2-through-4th though, good stuff, recommend.

 

2. Tried watching Broad City cause I keep seeing gifs of it everywhere, but after the 1st season I just decided it's not my type of humour. 

 

3. Watched 2 seasons of Queer Eye, cried during 70% of the runtime.

 

4. Watched both seasons of Derry Girls. I feel like a lot of the subtext went over my head, because I'm clearly not English. I vibe so hard with Sister Michael though. It's short and ridiculous, I liked it.

 

5. Started watching Jane the Virgin because my sister kept hounding me about it. The title alone put me off for years but it's surprisingly enjoyable? She should have just told me that Bridget Regan is in it and I'd have jumped on it in a heartbeat. Some sister she is. I'm only halfway through the 1st season, I like it so far, but frankly I can already feel myself getting annoyed with all the plot-twists and misunderstandings. Wholesome tho.

 

6. Criminal: UK. Meeeeh? The cast was doing a great job, the format just wasn't doing it for me.

 

7. Unbelievable. Loved it, but then again, I suppose I'm the exact target for this show, so no surprise there. 

 

 

Next on the agenda is Bletchley Circle: San Francisco, I loved the original one and just realized they made another one! Fingers crossed that it's going to be as good ❤️ 

[Bear 1817]

I started re-watching Tales from the Darkside and so far I am actually quite disappointed. It starts off with a blast with Trick or Treat, co-written by George A. Romero, an episode than leans more towards horror-comedy. And it feels like an episode that could've been on Tales from the Crypt. But from there it went quick downhill. Currently 6 episodes in. I hope for more horror, because this is not at all what I remembered. It's never straight up bad, but aside from the first episode it's basically like the worst episodes of Tales from the Crypt. I think I rated 16 out of 93 Tales from the Crypt episodes 6 or 5 (had two 5's I think), with the majority of them appearing in the last season. So far I've rated 4 out of 5 episodes 6 or lower in Tales from the Darkside. Disappointing.

 

 

Oh well, I hope the quality rises soon enough.

[Bear 1817]

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie - I was sceptical and did not expect anything good or anything close to that. But I was surprised. Because this was motherfucking magnificent! It's not a film that the world needs, nor is it a film that the Breaking Bad universe needs. But it does add some closure to Jesse Pinkman's story, and it does so in a really, really, really classy way. Thought it was exceptional, and it was so good that it made the series even better.

Also, Aaron Paul really outshines himself here. Truth be told, you can't really compare this Aaron Paul too the one in the series. He's on a whole other level. What a performance! This guy has truly grown as an actor. Impressive!

[CAT5 9075]

My woman got me to watch The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance with her. I'd never seen the original movie (tho I'd heard of it), and I wasn't really sure about the whole puppet thing, but man...I was impressed! It was a uniquely fun experience, I'd say. Despite the inherent drawbacks of the medium, it was so well-done that they actually managed to suspend my disbelief and transport me into their world. I also did not expect such a star-studded cast, so that was a treat, too! I instantly noticed recognized Lena Headey's voice when I heard it

[Bear 1817]

8 minutes ago, CAT5 said:

My woman got me to watch The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance with her. I'd never seen the original movie (tho I'd heard of it), and I wasn't really sure about the whole puppet thing, but man...I was impressed! It was a uniquely fun experience, I'd say. Despite the inherent drawbacks of the medium, it was so well-done that they actually managed to suspend my disbelief and transport me into their world. I also did not expect such a star-studded cast, so that was a treat, too! I instantly noticed recognized Lena Headey's voice when I heard it

 

 I am currently 7 episodes in it. And it is bloody brilliant. But then again I am one of those who consider the original movie a classic. But then again, the fact that I consider the original a classic and still feel like this is amazing is quite something isn't it? But the original is highly recommended. A really good, elegant and fantastic movie

 

Still haven't watched the Making of..., but I am looking forward to it. I know there's CGI in this series and all but it's used sparsely, and the characters are puppets and animatronics and that looks amazing. No, it doesn't always look like they speak whatever it's said. But that is not at all the importance of this type of filmmaking at all. It's all about the atmosphere, the feeling, the visuals and all that. 

 

What makes this so amazing is that it feels 80's/early 90's, even with modern techniques like CGI and so on. Hands down! This is amazing!

[Ada Suilen 652]

I finished Carnival Row on Amazon right now and I was surprised for how much I liked it; the world is detailed, the themes are dark but so timely, the characters are well written in general and I love Orlando Bloom, he is so terrific here, and it made me Cara Delevigne more likeable...

Planning to catch-up with Yellowstone (Josh Holloway will be on next season, oh my!!), to sample Watchmen and the Apple shows See and For All Mankind, and waiting anxiously for Lost in Space 2 and Star Trek: Picard!

[sleepy coffee 1476]

i know its technically a movie but since its a sequel and in a ways something that wrapped up the events of breaking bad i figured posting here works as well. wont be spoiling anything but just finished El Camino and wow it was nothing like i was expecting. something about it feels very odd as though its missing something (could be the fact it feels a bit rushed or that the ending kind of came out of nowhere and then the movie was just over) but otherwise i find it to be a very satisfying conclusion to Jesse Pinkman's character, if you watched breaking bad this is a must watch, if you havent seen breaking bad then idk what youre doing with your time go watch that first. 

[Bear 1817]

Speaking of El Camino, Robert Forster died yesterday on the date of the release of El Camino. He played Ed Galebraith, the vacuum cleaner guy. That's sad.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Watched El Camino last night too, good stuff! It was nice to get closure for Jesse, and the whole thing was done in a very Breaking Bad style. Just great.

[Bear 1817]

The Mandalorian - Well, this surely caught me by surprise. Disney have gotten quite a lot of shit for picking up Star Wars and "ruined the franchise", as if it wasn't already fucked up by the man himself George Lucas 20 years ago with his shitty prequel (as well as the "remastered" versions of the originals which is nowhere as good as the actual original movies). So yeah, don't blame Disney if you think this franchise has gone to shit. Blame George Lucas. I personally liked The Force Awakens a lot, Rogue One even more, and I found pleasure in both Solo: A Star Wars Story and The Last Jedi even tho both where flawed. But that's not entirely Disney's fault. They're at fault for choosing the wrong people to work on the franchise, but they have also done a lot right so far.

 

And guess what, The Mandalorian might be their best work so far. It's at least on par with Rogue One. The Mandalorian sees creator Jon Favreau continue a lot of what George Lucas started in the 70's, namely steal/pay homage/whatever you want to call it from Japanese movies. This time they've taken from the cult classic, super violent exploitation chambara series Lone Wolf & Cub, which I am more than fine with as it's one of my favourite film franchises ever. It's got that same premise of a man with a child roaming around and being hired for different duties to earn a paying. They have, like in the original trilogy, not even tried to hide it, and I fucking love it. Like, it's so clear and obvious. Fantastic!

 

While Solo: A Star Wars story had a major space western feeling, this taken it even further. This almost cuts out the space feeling and rely more on a Sergio Leone-esque western feeling, than a space opera, even with a soundtrack very, very, very similar to those of Ennio Morricone.

 

I thought this was amazing. Can't fucking wait for a new season! Go Disney, GO!!!

[Gaz 1097]

did anyone else also loathed The Witcher adaptation series? initially i thought that awful cast would be it's major flaw, but that christopher-nolan-homage-of-a-timeline turned out to be far worse and utterly unnecessary. yeah, it wouldn't have saved the series completely, but at least it would've been much bearable to watch, imo. i'm still looking forward to 2nd season though, because first two books were my least favorite and i'm hoping Lauren Schmidt would listen to some of the reviews and avoid unnecessary overcomplications in the furute seasons.

[Bear 1817]

Creepshow - Six-episode long anthology series with two stories in each episode. This isn't brilliant by any means, nor is it flawless, but god damn is it fun. The quality is, as you'd expect from an anthology, a bit up and down, but that's part of the charm imo. Thought this was really fun. Bring on season 2!

 

The Enfield Haunting  - Three-part mini series based on The Enfield Haunting, same as The Conjuring 2. It's pretty good, but too rooted in drama for my taste. I wish there was more scares, more atmosphere, and less family drama. Timothy Spall is really good tho. Fantastic performance!

 

Don't F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer - True crime series about a kitty-killer, and how he went from posting videos of killing kittens to something even worse. Dark, grim, and very interesting. Asks some pretty good "what ifs" too.

[Bear 1817]

The Terror , season 2 - Great, but not quite as good as season 1. Season 1 was a bit more traditional horror, while this steps a bit into the world of drama and is way more plot- and character-driven. It's not bad, tho. Not at all. It's quite fantastic! Superb atmosphere, beautifully shot and well put together. Give me season 3 asap!!!

 

Daybreak  - I did not have big expectations to this, just had to watch something while eating dinner, breakfast and shit. This really caught me off-guard. Really fun apocalyptic take on Ferris Bueller's Day Off or something. A nice, unique twist on the zombie craze. Great stuff!

[Bear 1817]

Sex Education, season 2 - Still charming, still hilarious and still really interesting. Loved the character development in season 2. As good as season 1 for sure. Fantastic!

[Jigsaw9 6783]

1 hour ago, Bear said:

Sex Education, season 2 - Still charming, still hilarious and still really interesting. Loved the character development in season 2. As good as season 1 for sure. Fantastic!

I was just about to go here and post the same thing basically, haha. Every bit as great as the first season! It felt too short tho, could've watched it for a few more eps, but not gonna complain because it was all quality all the way.

[Bear 1817]

Watched The Expanse season 4 a while back. This series just keeps getting better and better, and I love how it drive forwards with ever season. It's deep, rich and complex, but fast-paced and with fantastic character development for the mains, superb bi-characters and amazing plots. Best sci-fi series ever? Most likely, at least it's up there with Firefly and a few other superb ones.

 

PS: I do NOT count Stranger Things as a sci-fi series. Horror all the way, baby.