Hidden Gems of Netflix's Watch Instantly

MannishBoy wrote:
PaladinTom wrote:

My family and I are really digging Atypical. It's a lot more heartfelt than I thought it would be. Still very "teevee," but quite good.

You're making it even with Rappaport? :)

Yup! Thanks for that!

So the Bleach live action was actually good? Not great, but certainly at the top of what is usually a garbage genre. They did a fantastic job making the characters look and feel like their anime counterparts.

Oh I didn't know there a live action Bleach. It is crazy that they can do series, manga, and now a live action movie about a cleaning product.

Baron Of Hell wrote:

Oh I didn't know there a live action Bleach. It is crazy that they can do series, manga, and now a live action movie about a cleaning product.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/fe80U6o.png)

BadKen wrote:

You can remove items from your Netflix watch history, which will remove it from your Continue Watching list, but I believe that also affects recommendations (if you care in the least about Netflix recommendations in the first place!).

I used to get great suggestions in Netflix's recommendations and found some favorites that way. Now, all the recommendations are for whatever Netflix Originals have been coughed up lately, whether it seems in my wheelhouse or not.

BadKen wrote:

You can remove items from your Netflix watch history, which will remove it from your Continue Watching list, but I believe that also affects recommendations (if you care in the least about Netflix recommendations in the first place!).

Here's the page:

https://www.netflix.com/viewingactivity

You can do the same for Amazon videos here:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/yourstore/...

The Amazon list includes a checkbox for each item to prevent that item from affecting recommendations without removing it from your history altogether.

Thanks BadKen! That is very good to know, I'll definitely be looking into that. I know it shouldn't bother me, but it does!

polq37 wrote:

Not really everybody's cup of tea, but it will probably appeal to you if you liked Legion.

Who doesn't like Legion!? Queued.

BadKen wrote:

You can remove items from your Netflix watch history, which will remove it from your Continue Watching list, but I believe that also affects recommendations (if you care in the least about Netflix recommendations in the first place!).

Here's the page:

https://www.netflix.com/viewingactivity

You can do the same for Amazon videos here:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/yourstore/...

The Amazon list includes a checkbox for each item to prevent that item from affecting recommendations without removing it from your history altogether.

I cannot thank you enough for this......

BadKen wrote:

You can remove items from your Netflix watch history, which will remove it from your Continue Watching list, but I believe that also affects recommendations (if you care in the least about Netflix recommendations in the first place!).

Here's the page:

https://www.netflix.com/viewingactivity

You can do the same for Amazon videos here:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/yourstore/...

The Amazon list includes a checkbox for each item to prevent that item from affecting recommendations without removing it from your history altogether.

Wow, that was so much more straightforward than I'd expected!

It's taken a concerted effort, especially since they won't let you download this show for offline viewing, but I think I'm going to manage to finish Parts Unknown before it goes away on Oct 1. It's been both fascinating and hard to watch, knowing what happened to Bourdain not long after these episodes were filmed.

For real, if you have any time between now and Oct 1, do yourself a favor and watch at least a few episodes. Bourdain was something special.

In the category of most surprising hit for my wife and me this year, we just burned through both seasons of American Vandal in less than a week. It should be stupid, but it's really, REALLY good, and the second season is better than the first.

Halloween's a couple of weeks away, so why not watch a good horror film?

Ghoul
This horror thriller is Netflix's second original production from India. Even though it's presented as a three-episode miniseries, it's basically a two-hour and change movie.

It takes place in a near future dystopian version of India where the authoritarian central government hunts down its many perceived enemies, often disappearing these "terrorists" to secret locations for interrogation.

The story focuses on Nida Rahim, a fiercely patriotic young officer who's studying to become the next generation of government interrogators. She's suddenly pulled from her training and sent to a remote black site to help question a recently captured head of one of the terrorist groups. But the interrogation doesn't quite go as planned.

The trailer's a bit spoilery, but give it a go if you're on the edge about this one. Otherwise strap yourself in for quite a ride.

As Above, So Below
A talented woman continues her dead father's quest to find the fabled Philosopher's Stone, enlisting local help to search for it in the depths of the Catacombs of Paris.

It's basically a found footage version of The Descent mashed up with National Treasure and The Da Vinci Code.

I remember seeing As Above, So Below in its theatrical release. As I recall, it starts out as promising campy horror, then really goes off the rails in the third act. I enjoyed it anyway. Critics didn't like it much.

I earlier this week finished Iron Fist season 2. Much improved. Looking forward to another season. Or...

Spoiler:

a new Misty Knight and Colleen Wing spinoff show would be amazing.

I also watched American Vandal season 2, and it's great. Just like I was amazed at how perfect the 1st season turned out to be, I'm amazed that they were able to pull off another season of this and make it equally interesting and relevant.

I just finished the first episode of Maniac. Pretty interesting. Everyone here seems to want to compare it to Legion, but I got a definite Terry Gilliam (Brazil/Twelve Monkeys) vibe from it. Should be interesting to see where this goes.

BadKen wrote:

Critics didn't like it much.

f*ck critics...

especially ones of horror films.

Finished watching the absolutely delightful, charming, and lovable Hilda today. Both me and my kids absolutely adore it.

Caught up on Travelers. Damn that was a great season finale.

Wrong thread.

Fredrik_S wrote:

Finished watching the absolutely delightful, charming, and lovable Hilda today. Both me and my kids absolutely adore it.

What age are your kids? I was wondering if my 4 and 6 year old girls would be able to handle it. It says 7+ in the description...

Finished Disenchanted and ended up liking it. Didn't care for the start but I thought it ended strong.

Not wanting to spoil anything but Maniac was great.

I watched the first episode of Maniac and can see why people compare it to Legion.

Subtitles are a little odd. They don't change the color or location of subtitles when more than one person is talking even if one person is speaking in the background. Then in a couple of scenes there were subtitles and no one was talking.

So far I'm liking the show.

Finished Maniac, and I expect the tonal shifts will throw a lot of people off. It's incredibly intimate, frequently bonkers, occasionally profound and heartbreaking, and damn can the leads act.

Kurrelgyre wrote:

Finished Maniac, and I expect the tonal shifts will throw a lot of people off. It's incredibly intimate, frequently bonkers, occasionally profound and heartbreaking, and damn can the leads act.

I adored the very end.

Maniac question.

Spoiler:

I want to know how Wendy is doing at the end. I mean the minds of those other people are surely dead but Wendy made it right?

Tscott wrote:

I just finished the first episode of Maniac. Pretty interesting. Everyone here seems to want to compare it to Legion, but I got a definite Terry Gilliam (Brazil/Twelve Monkeys) vibe from it. Should be interesting to see where this goes.

Just finished. It moves much more towards Gilliam territory as it moves along. But, there are visual references to 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining, The Wrath of Khan, The Matrix, Event Horizon, The Fifth Element, and probably a bunch of Scorsese movies. And more than a little Wes Anderson. And some David Lynch.

And I'm sure there are a whole lot of references I didn't pick up on at all.

Maybe even a bit of Rocky Horror with the zombie dance sequence at the seance.

Edit: And the A-Void was right out of Altered States.

KramNesnah wrote:
Fredrik_S wrote:

Finished watching the absolutely delightful, charming, and lovable Hilda today. Both me and my kids absolutely adore it.

What age are your kids? I was wondering if my 4 and 6 year old girls would be able to handle it. It says 7+ in the description...

They are 7 and 10.

There are some moments where Hilda is being chased by monsters, but every time it turns out the monster is just lonely, or scared, or lost. If they can handle some exciting chases, then they should be fine. Neither one of my kids had a problem with it at all and one of them HATES scary things.

Maniac S01E01

Spoiler:

The first thing that shocked me was the statue of liberty being replaced by the statue of extra liberty which is a completely different statue. I'm three episodes in and I'm not sure if this will be explained. I'm not completely sure if it is even real because it could be the delusion of one of the characters.

Next thing that kind of shocked me was a dude reading ads allowed to the current character. I assumed he was imaginary like another character that acted like a spy. Note I don't really know if the spy is imaginary. Luckily though the mystery of the ad reader is made clear later.

Really weird scene were the main character wanted to run away with his "sister". It is not clear what their relationship is. However, it seemed like everyone was family at the location he was at. Then the guy turns into a stalker toward a different lady but this seems to be due to his insanity. He thinks she is his spy contact.

Maniac S01E02

Spoiler:

Here is a interesting episode that follows the same day but from the perspective of a different character. We also learn that the ad reader was real. Apparently in this world people are paid to read customized ads to people. It is literally a human version of the ads from google, amazon, or facebook.

We also learn a bit more about the world. This is some kind of world that mainly looks like our current world but with a few future tech stuff that looks old. For example there is a robot monkey with a AI that makes it seem alive and might be considered alive considering how it is treated. The computers all use CRT monitors with 1.4 inch floppy drives. The OS looks like DOS but this world has advanced AI, robots, and tech that can look into your memories. Also we see one guy living in some kind of pod. They also have tablet like devices that look no more advance than our tablets.

One thing that will hit you if it hasn't already is how well shot the show is. There is accident scene between a car and semi that was really well done. Also there is area that looks like recreation of a room from Alien.

I'll probably just watch one episode a day. Or maybe not, we shall see.

I'm enjoying Altered Carbon a lot more than I expected to. I wasn't a big fan of the book, and the reviews have been pretty middling. But I didn't realize Joel Kinnaman was the lead, and he's an amazing actor if you give him half a decent script. Also, the show has a better sense of style than the book, and seems to stick its themes a little more coherently. To be fair, I only read the first book, and it sounds like the series is pulling a lot more background from the successive novels, and that stuff is a little more up my alley.

kazooka wrote:

I'm enjoying Altered Carbon a lot more than I expected to. I wasn't a big fan of the book, and the reviews have been pretty middling. But I didn't realize Joel Kinnaman was the lead, and he's an amazing actor if you give him half a decent script. Also, the show has a better sense of style than the book, and seems to stick its themes a little more coherently. To be fair, I only read the first book, and it sounds like the series is pulling a lot more background from the successive novels, and that stuff is a little more up my alley.

Interesting. I had decided not to watch this because I ended up hating the book so much despite giving it every chance (got about 85% through it before quitting in disgust). Maybe I should just try the show.