Streaming Recommendations

[Maryokutai]

Watched both seasons of Dead to Me. It's about two women meeting in a support group and quickly getting along really well but (initially) unbeknownst to them they're linked by a tragic accident. 

 

It's a really good mix of humor and drama, even though it occasionally fails to properly transition between the two. But I think those moments just show how good the combination usually works. Linda Cardellini and Christina Applegate have excellent chemistry here and honestly I think the show wouldn't work with any other pairing. Cardellini is playing some kind of female hippie Ghandi whereas Applegate's character is more of a brutish smartass and the resulting combination just a wonderful juxtaposition. There are some plot holes and a couple of larger-than-life coincidences driving the story forward but it's the characters that kept me hooked. Really enjoyed this one, it doesn't look or sound like something special on first glance but it's absolutely worth a watch.

[OCH]

Transformers War For Cybertron: Siege - Well that was boring. I hadn't had a Netflix trial in at least two years and this certainly wasn't worth the effort. 5/10

[AndyKurosaki]

The Umbrella Academy Season 2 is up on Netflix. The first season was excellent, so I’ve high hopes for this.

[OCH]

1 hour ago, Nag said:

 

I watched the first last night and quite enjoyed it.

Wait for it...?

[radiofloyd]

Splinter Cell is coming to Netflix as an anime:

 

https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/splinter-cell-animated-series-netflix-1234612535/

[Jimboxy]

3 hours ago, AndyKurosaki said:

The Umbrella Academy Season 2 is up on Netflix. The first season was excellent, so I’ve high hopes for this.

Yeah me too, the first took a bit too get going but I ended up enjoying it a lot. Looking forward to another season.

[AndyKurosaki]

First episode was pretty enjoyable, so Season 2 is off to a good start.

[Maryokutai]

Watched the first two episodes of UA Season 2 yesterday, really promising. Kind of glad I decided against reading the graphic novel, this way I can go in blind again.

[regemond]

18 hours ago, Maryokutai said:

Watched the first two episodes of UA Season 2 yesterday, really promising. Kind of glad I decided against reading the graphic novel, this way I can go in blind again.

 

I've just read something on Polygon (there's massive spoilers in the article, so I won't link it) that said they largely just follow the same setting, and they're not note for note doing the same thing. Don't know if that changes your mind at all, but it's worth mentioning.

[Maryokutai]

Yeah, I think it was the same way with Season 1. Will check that out when I've seen all the episodes, it's always interesting to see what has changed.

[DANGERMAN]

I enjoyed series 2, it's not exactly flawless, there's some pretty dumb stuff and some of the characters are worse than others, but it's pretty good

 

as an actual recommendation rather than just what I've watched recently, there's a film called The Endless that's now on Netflix, I watched it last year, it's great. It reminded me of Primer in tone, maybe not for everyone but I really enjoyed it. It's about two lads who leave a death cult as kids. One of them misses it and never really understood why they had to leave so they go back to the site

[AndyKurosaki]

Rapidly binged my way through Umbrella Academy Season 2, it definitely did not disappoint. Bloody amazing from start to finish.

[Maryokutai]

I've finished watching it yesterday as well. I think the last episodes lose a bit of steam and I'm not 100% on board with Luthor being more of joke character now but overall it was still really good. I do prefer the first one by a small margin because the buildup to the finale with Vanya was really well done and this new apocalypse theme in Season 2 doesn't feel as unique anymore. Season 3 promises to get pretty bonkers though.

 

One thing I wish they'd change for this franchise is the music. There's a bit too much licensed music going on for my taste (Backstreet Boys, seriously?). The credits song is absolutely fantastic and I wish they'd use that more during the episodes in different arrangements. Maybe even give every sibling their own proper leitmotiv that can be played at pivotal moments, I think that could work really well in this setup.

[AndyKurosaki]

I dunno, I thought the ending of Season 2 was pretty satisfying, I liked the total carnage in the final episode. Though where 3 is going to go from there is anyone’s guess.

[Maryokutai]

It's just that I prefer these long buildups like in Season 1 to certain things just coming out of nowhere. Case in point:

 

Lila.

But that's a personal preference thing.

 

Also, going back to the last page, I watched the first episode of Cursed yesterday. Yeah, that's really not my cup of tea. It feels very superficial and it doesn't really portray its universe as a real thing. It's hard to describe but when I watched it all I could think of is "these are actors on a set" – it never felt believable as a medieval fantasy setting. Plus, the way it introduces you to its lore is also frustratingly lacking and not in a "we'd like to keep it mysterious" kind of way but more like "we have no idea what we're doing". There's also a bunch of super cheesy stuff happening, like some bad guy with a baby face wearing a hood slowly walking towards the camera while the background is in flames. Yikes.

 

Too bad for Langford but to be honest she's not particularly convincing here either.

[radiofloyd]

Finished watching The Staircase on Netflix. I had watched up to the last two episodes back in April or May. It was interesting for the most part, not least because I still have no idea if he is innocent or guilty. But it got a bit dull at the end.

 

And I binge-watched Evil Genius which is just four episodes. The opening episode was the most dramatic, where it starts with a guy cornered by police sitting on the ground with a bomb strapped to his chest. You can’t really top that. But it was pretty interesting hearing about the people involved.

[Jimboxy]

Just finished the second series of Umbrella Academy. It was fine I think with a good last episode. @Maryokutai is right about Luther, I didn't particularly like him in the first series, but in this one he's just there for comic relief, I also don't remember him being that stupid in the first series. It does leave an interesting set up for the next series if when it happens. 

 

It's also another Netflix original series we've had to watch with subtitles on as well as the sound balancing is awful. I'm not sure if it's them or a setting on my amp but the music and effects are set to FUCKING LOUD but the dialogue is on whisper mode. Only seems to affect Netflix original series and Christopher Nolan films.

[mmmark]

 

[one-armed dwarf]

 

 

Where's that dmc show that was announced eons ago

[shinymcshine]

On 19/08/2020 at 15:49, Nag said:

Don't know if folk are aware of this on Netflix...

 

 

I'll give it a try at some point.

 

I've seen 3 episodes so far, and at best it's okay. Opener is about the general rise of arcade games & Atari, punctuated by an interesting sideline about modding; the second about the rise of Nintendo; the third a broad brush on early RPGs/adventure games.

 

The problem is, most of the content you've seen elsewhere before, and hence the more interesting parts don't then have enough screen time. You could easily fill a show with just the output from Roberta & Ken Williams, or Richard Garriott, so justsqueezing their truncated segments into the RPG episode, left it a bit half baked. I suppose it all depends on the target audience is suppose to be, and their interest in 'retro' roots.