Hidden Gems of Netflix's Watch Instantly

BadKen wrote:

Watched The Autopsy of Jane Doe tonight. I think it was mentioned here recently because the director (of this and Trollhunter) has a new thing coming out? Anyway, it is super creepy, so much so that I couldn't watch it all the way through without taking a couple of breaks. It may be a little by-the-numbers, but it scared the crap out of me.

I think it earned its 87% on RT.

I watched that a couple of years ago when Stephen King recommended it on Twitter, and loved it. Super tense and creepy!

Went through S1 of Titans. The characters have been done, but they're sort of comfort food in terms of archetype. Actors are quite good. The plotting, though, went kind of weird, especially at the end. They could have gone in many different directions with that overall cast, and I'm not overwhelmingly happy with the one they went for. Dunno if that's an outgrowth of the comics or a directorial decision, but this particular story arc isn't that interesting to me.

It doesn't suck, and I'm still in for S2, but I'd have enjoyed other backbone plots more, I think.

Baron Of Hell wrote:

Kingdom, those hats are on point.

Yep, apparently made of woven horsehair, with a bamboo frame! I had to look it up because it was all I could think about while watching.

Mario_Alba wrote:
BadKen wrote:

Watched The Autopsy of Jane Doe tonight. I think it was mentioned here recently because the director (of this and Trollhunter) has a new thing coming out? Anyway, it is super creepy, so much so that I couldn't watch it all the way through without taking a couple of breaks. It may be a little by-the-numbers, but it scared the crap out of me.

I think it earned its 87% on RT.

I watched that a couple of years ago when Stephen King recommended it on Twitter, and loved it. Super tense and creepy!

This is the kind of recommendation I come here for!

ComfortZone wrote:
muraii wrote:
ranalin wrote:
Fredrik_S wrote:

I finished Kingdom today and it's good. A korean horror drama with zombies, but it's the court intrigues that keep it from being just another zombie show. Good stuff.

Only 6 episodes :(

For real.

Another thumbs up for Kingdom... that ending though. 6 episodes isn't the problem - they were arcing towards a conclusion that would have been perfectly satisfying, but for whatever reason decided to go for the cliffhanger instead, leaving everything unresolved.

This pretty well describes the last five books in the series. I've really enjoyed them all, but I'm about ready for Cornwell to wrap up the series. They've gotten a bit repetitive and formulaic, though I do appreciate seeing the main character age over time and become more of a tactician because he can't match up physically to some of his opponents.

conejote wrote:
ComfortZone wrote:
muraii wrote:
ranalin wrote:
Fredrik_S wrote:

I finished Kingdom today and it's good. A korean horror drama with zombies, but it's the court intrigues that keep it from being just another zombie show. Good stuff.

Only 6 episodes :(

For real.

Another thumbs up for Kingdom... that ending though. 6 episodes isn't the problem - they were arcing towards a conclusion that would have been perfectly satisfying, but for whatever reason decided to go for the cliffhanger instead, leaving everything unresolved.

This pretty well describes the last five books in the series. I've really enjoyed them all, but I'm about ready for Cornwell to wrap up the series. They've gotten a bit repetitive and formulaic, though I do appreciate seeing the main character age over time and become more of a tactician because he can't match up physically to some of his opponents.

This...is not that.

Malor wrote:

Went through S1 of Titans. The characters have been done, but they're sort of comfort food in terms of archetype. Actors are quite good. The plotting, though, went kind of weird, especially at the end. They could have gone in many different directions with that overall cast, and I'm not overwhelmingly happy with the one they went for. Dunno if that's an outgrowth of the comics or a directorial decision, but this particular story arc isn't that interesting to me.

It doesn't suck, and I'm still in for S2, but I'd have enjoyed other backbone plots more, I think.

I only got through the first episode and found it really off-putting. There are a lot of emotional beats that it doesn't earn. The "dark and gritty" stuff feels kind of forced. I hate Starfire's outfit. As much as people like it, I feel like I should give it a few more episodes, but there's plenty of decent-okay superhero shows on TV right now. And if I want young DC heroes, Young Justice Outsiders is fitting the bill pretty well.

muraii wrote:
conejote wrote:
ComfortZone wrote:
muraii wrote:
ranalin wrote:
Fredrik_S wrote:

I finished Kingdom today and it's good. A korean horror drama with zombies, but it's the court intrigues that keep it from being just another zombie show. Good stuff.

Only 6 episodes :(

For real.

Another thumbs up for Kingdom... that ending though. 6 episodes isn't the problem - they were arcing towards a conclusion that would have been perfectly satisfying, but for whatever reason decided to go for the cliffhanger instead, leaving everything unresolved.

This pretty well describes the last five books in the series. I've really enjoyed them all, but I'm about ready for Cornwell to wrap up the series. They've gotten a bit repetitive and formulaic, though I do appreciate seeing the main character age over time and become more of a tactician because he can't match up physically to some of his opponents.

This...is not that. :)

Oops! Ctrl-F'd it and skipped an entire page from Docjoe's post!

Carry on.

kborom wrote:

Any watchers of Border Town? It's a Finnish detective series (S2 just out) but the main characters are likeable and it deals with issues between the town on the border with Russia and St Petersburg which is close.

Yes. Big fan of Bordertown. But, S2 was just not quite as wonderful as S1. The Lena subplot wasn't as good and it just wasn't quite as silly and wierd as S1.

Deadwind (Finnish) and Borderliner (Norwegian) are also good.

I saw Cam mentioned here and elsewhere, so I got curious. I watched it, and I wanted to share a bit about it because it left me with mixed feelings. I'll try to avoid spoilers, because the story runs through some clever twists and turns. Cam is a well crafted suspense thriller with a dash of horror. It was fun to watch, but left me very confused. I don't know if I can recommend it or not. Critics loved it.

The acting is fantastic. Madeline Brewer (from OITNB, The Handmaid's Tale, Hemlock Grove, et. al.) does a great job. I don't know much about the inside story of being a webcam performer, but her performance seemed very credible to me. She shifted seamlessly between onscreen and offscreen personas. When things started to go south for her, her gradual unraveling was played wonderfully. I read that one of the screenwriters was a cam performer, so I suspect the writing for that part of her story was at least somewhat realistic.

The movie starts off introducing the main character in a novel way, and gradually reveals more of her personality as she works her online room, takes her personal time, and spends a little time with her family. Things start to go off the rails when the movie's main conflict is introduced. It isn't really clear what is going on, but that's fine, because we follow "Lola" as she tries to figure out what the heck is going on.

Cam makes great use of everyday horrors that everyone can relate to. The nightmare of trying to deal with a singularly unhelpful tech support person over the phone. A pair of policemen clueless or just apathetic about cyber crime, one dismissive, the other leering with repulsive come-ons. Travails unique to the profession show up, too, like an obsessed fan and a whale who thinks throwing his money around gives him personal leverage.

When the real culprit is revealed, it didn't make any sense to me. In fact it was so implausible I had to search around online to find an explanation, because I couldn't understand what had happened. Maybe the movie would work better for people who don't really understand technology. If the movie had made it clear that it was happening in some near-future scenario, or if there had been some exposition about the kinds of things technology can do in the Cam world that they can't do in the real world, I might have followed it better.

Thinking about it, I kept dwelling on The Autopsy of Jane Doe, which I just watched. The conclusion of that movie was ridiculously implausible, too. The difference is that it was made very clear that supernatural elements were at play, and that this wasn't your average autopsy.

With all that in mind, maybe you'll enjoy Cam more than I did. There's a lot to like there. The writing is sharp, most of the acting is good (the cam house women are a bit over-the-top catty, if you ask me), and it has above average production values for what was probably an inexpensively produced Netflix movie.

BadKen wrote:

Cam makes great use of everyday horrors that everyone can relate to. The nightmare of trying to deal with a singularly unhelpful tech support person over the phone. A pair of policemen clueless or just apathetic about cyber crime, one dismissive, the other leering with repulsive come-ons. Travails unique to the profession show up, too, like an obsessed fan and a whale who thinks throwing his money around gives him personal leverage.

These were my favorite bits of the movie. I especially liked the scene with the police men who are clueless about the situation she is in and how they treat her.

BadKen wrote:

When the real culprit is revealed, it didn't make any sense to me.

I agree with this as well, but I after it was revealed I thought of Black Mirror and just kinda accepted it.

BadKen wrote:

Thinking about it, I kept dwelling on The Autopsy of Jane Doe, which I just watched. The conclusion of that movie was ridiculously implausible, too.

Yep. The last few minutes are so cliche that when I recommended it to a friend of mine I said "turn it off when

Spoiler:

the ambulance shows up

". Up until that point I really enjoyed its horror.

Check out Swiss Army Man if you're looking for a weirdly charming movie where one of the protagonists is a corpse.

OG_slinger wrote:

Check out Swiss Army Man if you're looking for a weirdly charming movie where one of the protagonists is a corpse.

Weekend at Bernie's??

Baron Of Hell wrote:

Kingdom, those hats are on point.

I’m so impressed by those hats.

Mario_Alba wrote:
BadKen wrote:

Watched The Autopsy of Jane Doe tonight. I think it was mentioned here recently because the director (of this and Trollhunter) has a new thing coming out? Anyway, it is super creepy, so much so that I couldn't watch it all the way through without taking a couple of breaks. It may be a little by-the-numbers, but it scared the crap out of me.

I think it earned its 87% on RT.

I watched that a couple of years ago when Stephen King recommended it on Twitter, and loved it. Super tense and creepy!

one of my favourite horror movies the year it came out! (even though i guessed the reason behind the...situation in play...about 10 minutes in). more of this less of the Conjuring-style loud jump scare nonsense plz!

Finished Russian Doll and really liked it. About halfway through I stopped trying to figure out the puzzle box and just went along with the characters. I got more invested in them than I would have initially expected, but the writing and acting were really good. The ending will stick with me for a while.

Watched the first episode of Derry Girls and laughed a lot, even if I could only understand maybe 3/4 of what everyone was saying due to the Irish accents. A raunchy teenage comedy set against the backdrop of The Troubles isn't something I would expect to work, but somehow it does.

polq37 wrote:
kborom wrote:

Any watchers of Border Town? It's a Finnish detective series (S2 just out) but the main characters are likeable and it deals with issues between the town on the border with Russia and St Petersburg which is close.

Yes. Big fan of Bordertown. But, S2 was just not quite as wonderful as S1. The Lena subplot wasn't as good and it just wasn't quite as silly and wierd as S1.

Deadwind (Finnish) and Borderliner (Norwegian) are also good.

We've been on a foreign tv kick lately and finished all 3 of these in about 2 weeks. All were quite good.

We watched Sex Education the last couple nights. So far so good. Gillian is great. Never realized she grew up in London so maybe that's more her natural accent?

pyxistyx wrote:
Mario_Alba wrote:
BadKen wrote:

Watched The Autopsy of Jane Doe tonight. I think it was mentioned here recently because the director (of this and Trollhunter) has a new thing coming out? Anyway, it is super creepy, so much so that I couldn't watch it all the way through without taking a couple of breaks. It may be a little by-the-numbers, but it scared the crap out of me.

I think it earned its 87% on RT.

I watched that a couple of years ago when Stephen King recommended it on Twitter, and loved it. Super tense and creepy!

one of my favourite horror movies the year it came out! (even though i guessed the reason behind the...situation in play...about 10 minutes in). more of this less of the Conjuring-style loud jump scare nonsense plz!

Looked this up, because it sounded interesting. Then found it starred Emile Hirsch. Going to have to pass.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/emile-...

Stele wrote:

We watched Sex Education the last couple nights. So far so good. Gillian is great. Never realized she grew up in London so maybe that's more her natural accent?

British people being superior actors is pretty much objective fact at this point, because American actors trying to sound British almost always sound exaggerated and fake, meanwhile you hear an actor on an American show in an interview and half the time go "I didn't know they were British!"

Gillian Anderson grew up in both London and Chicago and has both American and English accents. She switches between them depending on who she's talking to.

kuddles wrote:
Stele wrote:

We watched Sex Education the last couple nights. So far so good. Gillian is great. Never realized she grew up in London so maybe that's more her natural accent?

British people being superior actors is pretty much objective fact at this point, because American actors trying to sound British almost always sound exaggerated and fake, meanwhile you hear an actor on an American show in an interview and half the time go "I didn't know they were British!"

?

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IMAGE(http://media.salon.com/2010/09/the_rise_of.jpg)
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ClockworkHouse wrote:

Gillian Anderson grew up in both London and Chicago and has both American and English accents. She switches between them depending on who she's talking to.

I once worked with a product manager who was born in Britain, but raised in Toronto. His "normal" accent was Canadian.

Every time we had a global sales conference, however, he'd hang out with the Brits and his accent would slowly shift from Canadian to English.

I'm part-way through Season 1 of Last Kingdom and am enjoying it, but I HATE the main character. He's

Spoiler:

pompous, always makes the bad decisions, doesn't learn, and is generally a terrible person.

I've also been watching Lucifer which I've been pretty delighted with. An interesting take on the fallen angel, set in that now standard "cop pairs up with non-cop to solve crimes" formula ala Castle, Bones, etc. He's immoral a good chunk of the time, but charming as hell.

I've also been working my way through Ozark and man it's a good drama. It really keeps piling on layers and shifting from problem to problem at a pace that's almost a bit stressful. The character writing is really well done!

Umbrella Academy is, so far, a good over-the-top superhero drama. It is in absolutely no way subtle, but it hits the right notes and sometimes you need a little bombast in your media.

Trophy Husband wrote:
pyxistyx wrote:
Mario_Alba wrote:
BadKen wrote:

Watched The Autopsy of Jane Doe tonight. I think it was mentioned here recently because the director (of this and Trollhunter) has a new thing coming out? Anyway, it is super creepy, so much so that I couldn't watch it all the way through without taking a couple of breaks. It may be a little by-the-numbers, but it scared the crap out of me.

I think it earned its 87% on RT.

I watched that a couple of years ago when Stephen King recommended it on Twitter, and loved it. Super tense and creepy!

one of my favourite horror movies the year it came out! (even though i guessed the reason behind the...situation in play...about 10 minutes in). more of this less of the Conjuring-style loud jump scare nonsense plz!

Looked this up, because it sounded interesting. Then found it starred Emile Hirsch. Going to have to pass.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/emile-...

BLARG. Was not aware. Now I am, ta.

Well, I am a bit ashamed to say I am a little relieved I was not aware of the history of that colossal scum bucket because I would have missed out on a pleasantly creepy movie. I generally have difficulty separating the art from the artist, so I definitely would have passed on Autopsy had I known. Forewarned is forearmed for everyone else I guess.

In happier news, I found the first eps of Sex Education and Umbrella Academy quite enjoyable.

Delerat wrote:

I'm part-way through Season 1 of Last Kingdom and am enjoying it, but I HATE the main character. He's

Spoiler:

pompous, always makes the bad decisions, doesn't learn, and is generally a terrible person.

He does mature by the end of the season, he just starts from a different place from most heroes. That said, I think you are supposed to be having the reaction that you are having. There's a great scene early on where the main character casually jokes about annihilating his bodyguard's family and it's wonderfully played because it illustrates how the main character really has no idea the effect his words have on the people around him. At the same time, he's also very interested and curious about why those words have so much power.

It's a wonderful illustration of how disconnected he is from other peoples' experiences. The whole thing is a really interesting commentary on the extremely authoritarian, hierarchical, bureaucratic and abusive nature of elements of medieval Korean culture.

--

First two episodes of Umbrella Academy are promising.

Watched the animated Godzilla movies. Overall not very good. They didn't use the monsters very well and there weren't enough Godzilla.

Spoiler:

They say mecha godzilla a lot. Mecha Godzilla has been building a city for thousands of years. I'm thinking the city is going transform into a giant dinosaur mech. Nope, mecha godzilla is just the name of the city. The city does have guns that fire at godzilla. Mini mechs that look like angels fight godzilla but no mecha godzilla.

Yeah so no go representation of the classic monsters. Yeah the promo for the third movie has king ghidorah on it. So you'll see a version of him but not a good version.

Spoiler:

Ghidorah is from another dimension that was summon to Earth by aliens the humans thought were their friends. They summon Ghidorah by sacrifices people.

So Ghidorah shows up in the form of translucent energy monster . Only one head shows up and the main body can not be seen because it is in the other dimension. So the head is poking out of a hole in space. Two more holes pop out and the other two heads come out to play. So the thing is if you never heard of king ghidorah the three headed monster you would think three monsters were attacking instead of one monster with three heads because you can't see the body. Good job on ruining a classic monster for no reason.

The entire trilogy was BS. Nothing made sense. Not enough monsters. Way to much talking. They should have called this Humans talk a Lot.

Really enjoying Umbrella Academy