T.V. shows you've been watching

[Bloody_Inferno]

Finished all of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Not sure what to think of it honestly. The show went on a mad rush to try to wrap everything up with only Kimmy having a satisfying closure, and even then it wasn't enough. It ended fine, just felt could've been more. The long Sliding Doors spoof episode was pretty awesome though.

Also finished Punisher Season 2. Enjoyed it a lot, about on par with season 1, though I thought it was paced better this time around. It's such a shame that budget was never in the side of the MCU TV shows, and Jigsaw is now the strongest exhibit of this (if all the underlit scenes just weren't enough). I have no idea what will happen for here on with a looming cancellation and Disney's takeover just around the corner. But as long as it's handled with great writers and actors who will stay true to the spirit of the characters, I'll be happy to watch.

 

[wankerness]

Oh, I forgot about those last UKS episodes, I need to watch them. I think the second season of that show is a masterpiece on par with seasons 2/3 of The Office or season 3 of Parks and Rec. What's come since is...nowhere close.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

Finished all of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Not sure what to think of it honestly. The show went on a mad rush to try to wrap everything up with only Kimmy having a satisfying closure, and even then it wasn't enough. It ended fine, just felt could've been more. The long Sliding Doors spoof episode was pretty awesome though.

Also finished Punisher Season 2. Enjoyed it a lot, about on par with season 1, though I thought it was paced better this time around. It's such a shame that budget was never in the side of the MCU TV shows, and Jigsaw is now the strongest exhibit of this (if all the underlit scenes just weren't enough). I have no idea what will happen for here on with a looming cancellation and Disney's takeover just around the corner. But as long as it's handled with great writers and actors who will stay true to the spirit of the characters, I'll be happy to watch.

This. The doctor had better scars than Billy, who essentially had marker lines on his face. A Freddy cheek, a few real looking scars... it would've gone a long way and not cost that much. It didn't need to be as overdone as War Zone, but they basically opted to do nothing at all. It makes his decision to go over Frank Castle less believable.

 

[MFB]

Someone else had made that same comment on Reddit, about Jigsaw not looking that disfigured, and apparently the showrunners stated that Jigsaw's scarring while not as bad physically would be also made up in that he was mentally broken as well. So ,it wasn't just a literal "wow, this guy is ugly now, how crazy" but also that he was unhinged and even those working with him wouldn't always know how to respond and deal with him.

After finishing all of season 2, I wish he was more ugly just because of how brutal that fight in S1 ended up being, I don't feel it really lined up with the total damage done, but as an overall I felt it was fine. It also worked on a second tier like one of those hidden image puzzles, where if you squint and look past the scars, you'd see S1 Billy and think "This guy can get any girl he wants!" But then when you snap back, and see the scars and know that that's how he USED to look, and now has to live with all those - without remembering how he even got them/from whom - it was enough little puzzle pieces that come together.

 

[GatherTheArsenal]

I just finished watching the first 2 episodes of American Gods.

It's been awhile since I've simultaneously felt so confused and so entertained all at once. Production and directing seem on point. I like how they slowly tell a story in each episode, taking their time to flesh out the scene as much as possible. I'm used to a much shorter attention span, had to adjust to it quite a bit.

Also I'm big a fan of Michael McShane, so underrated. It looks amazing in Ultra HD (that's 4K isn't it?). Anyway it looks like this is going to be good!

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

Mondays seem to be a recurring theme of lethargy for me, so in my attempt to do as little as possible, I binged through all of Love Death + Robots.

Apparently this is the result of the long development hell of David Fincher and Tim Miller rebooting Heavy Metal. I was only reminded by a friend who's a hardcore Fincher fan, so I couldn't resist. It certainly has the same spirit of the original, well, without the cool music and the common thread of a big ball of green evil. Ok so it's not really a Heavy Metal remake at all then. More of a reimagining or spiritual successor or whatever. An anthology of 18 short stories and like the original it's got plenty of glorified violence, sex and nudity, you know, the real reason why Heavy Metal was so successful back in the day.

Really it's best to judge via the short stories themselves and not compare it to Heavy Metal at all (let's face it, Heavy Metal has aged terribly). Visually it varies from HD uncanny valley CGI to top notch animation with one live action episode, granted being an anthology of unrelated stories does mean the tone will be all over the shop. Some of the episodes are solid arthouse showcases while others may as well be concept trailers for an upcoming triple A gaming bore.

There are plenty of themes tackled here like female autonomy (Sonnie's Edge/Good Hunting), gentrification (The Dump), the movie Gravity retold in 10 minutes (Helping Hand), war in the Middle East (Shape Shifters), 90s anime throwback (Sucker Of Souls) and others that I'll try not to spoil. Some of these are well thought out; like Zima Blue, done by Robert Valley (Aeon Flux), the phantasmagoric trips of Beyond The Aquila Rift and Fish Night, the action of The Witness and Suits, these are some personal highlights. Others don't work as much. Lucky 13, Secret War and Blindspot feel rather slapdash storywise compared to the more visceral episodes. Ice Age (Tim Miller's directoral contribution) even more so, taking bits from Twilight Zone and Simpsons but without the things that made either interesting. Some more comical moments like When The Yogurt Took Over (despite brilliantly narrated by Maurice LaMarche aka The Brain) and Alternate Histories are cute, though forgettable. But the exception being Three Robots being almost an amalgamation of Wall-E, Nier Automata and then being lampooned. Also note that it doesn't help that the order of the episodes had a lot of the interesting stuff at the beginning so while trudging along some of the latter episodes it does feel Love Death + Robots is running out of steam.

In brief, Love Death + Robots is yet another anthology series. I enjoyed some more than others. Certainly not as influential as Heavy Metal but more substantial in the small bites department. Or maybe it could be. Definitely better than Heavy Metal 2000... which is about as far as I'll go to being kind to that abhorrence.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

We have all made the decision never to speak of... of that! How dare you!

 

[Seabeast2000]

Gonna watch it. Thanks for the review.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

The original heavy metal was ok at best. I always preferred Fritz the Cat for seriously pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable in western animation (especially back in the 70s/80s). The heavy metal magazines were dope though. I always loved paging through those in bookstores and looking at all the varying artwork and gratuitous violence/nudity, plus some told really great short stories.

 

[mongey]

got a 3 week old baby at home so been stuck in front of tv.

Most of the way done with umbrella academy. couple of ep's left . I like it. how much depends on how it finishes

slammed a whole bunch of older forged in fire series I hadn't seen. think I have seen every episode made now

halfway through season 4 of bo jack .I loved the first 3 seasons and for some reason never got around to watching the 4th. it good. as good as the others iMHO

 

[Seabeast2000]

In brief, Love Death + Robots is yet another anthology series. I enjoyed some more than others. Certainly not as influential as Heavy Metal but more substantial in the small bites department. Or maybe it could be. Definitely better than Heavy Metal 2000... which is about as far as I'll go to being kind to that abhorrence.

Its def worthy of a watch. I must be getting old AF because I couldn't figure out several scenes in the "lifelike" eps were actually animated, or live-action with a digitized applique on top. I have made it through the Chinese Djinn episode so far. Not sure I understand Witness' plot yet either.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

started up orville again. I like it more than i liked the latest star trek series

 

[wankerness]

started up orville again. I like it more than i liked the latest star trek series

That seems to be a very common opinion, especially among fans of TOS/TNG. Maybe I should check it out. I HATE family guy but Seth McFarlane seems like a good dude in interviews.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

That seems to be a very common opinion, especially among fans of TOS/TNG. Maybe I should check it out. I HATE family guy but Seth McFarlane seems like a good dude in interviews.

It's definitely more in the vein of TNG, but it plays a lot of stuff for laughs, like when the captain's wife gets caught sleeping with an alien rob lowe who climaxes and sprays the room in blue goo from his head.

 

[synrgy]

^Those moments are increasingly exception to the rule, though. It's definitely McFarlane's love-letter to TNG. I think they were still finding their voice during the first season - which seemed to play for laughs a little more - but the second season has pulled away from that a bit. In both seasons, though, the show has surprised me with some of the themes it's chosen to explore, and that's where it really succeeds, IMHO: It takes topics that are relevant to our contemporary world, then explores them in a future context.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

^Those moments are increasingly exception to the rule, though. It's definitely McFarlane's love-letter to TNG. I think they were still finding their voice during the first season - which seemed to play for laughs a little more - but the second season has pulled away from that a bit. In both seasons, though, the show has surprised me with some of the themes it's chosen to explore, and that's where it really succeeds, IMHO: It takes topics that are relevant to our contemporary world, then explores them in a future context.

I'm only a few episodes into season 2 but it's definitely focusing less on comedy and more on actually trying to be decent science fiction. I did giggle at the moclan piss ceremony though.

 

[PunkBillCarson]

Jimmy Carr's newest special on Netflix. Can't post much of it here since it would set off quite a few people, but funny if you're not afraid to think "that was pretty fucked up."

 

[777timesgod]

Jimmy Carr's newest special on Netflix. Can't post much of it here since it would set off quite a few people, but funny if you're not afraid to think "that was pretty fucked up."

His joke on abortions and coat hangers in the past, even made me go "Oh no he did not!". Super funny guy and his tax evasion should concern people more than his jokes.

Made the mistake of beginning to watch the first season of Mr. Robot, it is not good. Full of plot holes and unrealistic characters. I guess I will finish it since I started it but despite effort from the actors. Do not believe the hype unless you are one of those millennials who thinks that hacking will easily change the world and bring down the multinationals, leading us to a paradise where human nature is ignored. In which case you will enjoy the show.

 

[PunkBillCarson]

His joke on abortions and coat hangers in the past, even made me go "Oh no he did not!". Super funny guy and his tax evasion should concern people more than his jokes.

Made the mistake of beginning to watch the first season of Mr. Robot, it is not good. Full of plot holes and unrealistic characters. I guess I will finish it since I started it but despite effort from the actors. Do not believe the hype unless you are one of those millennials who thinks that hacking will easily change the world and bring down the multinationals, leading us to a paradise where human nature is ignored. In which case you will enjoy the show.

I myself liked it, but I think it's because I'm more of a Rami Malek and Christian Slater fan than anything. I liked the overall dark mood of it and things like that, but as I've said in other threads, I normally don't spend too much time thinking about the why's I just take them as it is these days.

 

[Seabeast2000]

I was sort of tracking until the Tyler Durden moment, then haven't watched any of it after that.