Hidden Gems of Netflix's Watch Instantly

kuddles wrote:

Honestly, the two swords thing always felt superfluous. Pretty sure humans still cut up real good with a silver one.

Actually, no. In the books, the silver swords are made and inlaid with runes by the witchers themselves. The base of the sword is meteor, but they are plated with silver. Because of the soft nature of silver, they are ONLY used for a specific subset of monsters that they are needed for - typically supernatural and/or undead type beasties. They are NEVER used in human combat because parrying them against other weapons would ruin them.

This is also the reason the book and show has Geralt carrying it on Roach and not his back. They are used in such limited cases that carrying a second sword on his back would be a nuisance and not a necessity. Basically, carrying both swords on his back was added to the games for " it looks cool" aesthetics and was not on practicality and/or canon lore.

It did look cool, though.

And as any woman in heel will tell you, aesthetics will trump pretty much anything.

Getting into Another Life but it's not easy going. I'm finding myself wanting the main charachter, Niko, to die every episode but she manages to scrape through every time

I like the basic idea but it's not well executed.

I thought this was a movie, not a series, hahaha!

kborom wrote:

Getting into Another Life but it's not easy going. I'm finding myself wanting the main charachter, Niko, to die every episode but she manages to scrape through every time

I like the basic idea but it's not well executed.

So far it looks pretty but it's stealing all it's ideas from other Sci-Fi films that have tended to do it infinitely better. It's fine but seriously needs to find its own story.

The GF and I are enjoying In the Dark. It's funny and the acting isn't terrible. It's like if Jessica Jones were blind and without superpowers. I hope it's only one season. It would be hard to carry the show beyond it.

It’s a CW show, so if it’s even marginally successful it will go for about 13 years.

zeroKFE wrote:

It’s a CW show, so if it’s even marginally successful it will go for about 13 years.

Maybe not now that the Netflix deal they had is over. That reduces their funding to keep some of these alive.

Sorbicol wrote:
kborom wrote:

Getting into Another Life but it's not easy going. I'm finding myself wanting the main charachter, Niko, to die every episode but she manages to scrape through every time

I like the basic idea but it's not well executed.

So far it looks pretty but it's stealing all it's ideas from other Sci-Fi films that have tended to do it infinitely better. It's fine but seriously needs to find its own story.

Agreed, except for the "fine" bit. My cat could have written that. Very poor, perhaps the worst series I've seen for some time and I've watched a few series of Under The Dome.

Yeah, I'm with kborom. Another Life is an abomination. I feel sorry for Katee Sackhoff, between this and last year's Origin Unknown.

I haven’t watched Another Life, but I was so confused when Netflix first suggested it to me. For some reason, instead of a normal trailer auto playing like most shows, they started playing behind the scenes footage. “Hi, I’m here on the set of my new show. Here’s where the cast hangs out between takes...” and I was wondering if this was a Galaxy Quest type show where a fictional sci-fi cast gets transported to “Another Life” in actual space. The clip just ended without explaining the show at all, so I moved on to something else.

Sounds like I’m not missing out by skipping it.

I got the same thing last week. But then after the show released there's a proper trailer when you select it now. My wife thought it looked interesting but doesn't sound like anyone really loving it here.

I just found Another Life to be confusing and disjointed. None of the plot points make any sense.

Spoiler:

You start with the mutiny after one decision? Because the captain is being too cautious ... deep in interstellar space where there is (apparently) no one to rescue you? And when you replace the captain of a ship about to execute a critical mission in deep space, you leave the previous captain on board with the same crew? And then you kill the mutineer in private, rather than just shooting his traitor ass in front of everyone because the penalty for mutiny is death in every navy in the world? And everyone, including the computer system, goes along with the mutiny even though they know it means their careers are over, since all this is obviously being recorded?

I think the real aliens are on board this ship, because none of them act in any way like actual humans.

I watched a bit more of another life last night and it rapidly descends into a bad Sci-Fi pastiche to be honest. It’s basically millennials in space. Who have been sent on a First Contact mission. Every single one of them are probably the least likely people you would ever think of sending on a first contact mission. It’s actively bad now.

That's a shame I was looking forward to that show. I watched the French movie Girls with Balls which is advertised as a The Babysitter or Tucker & Dale vs. Evil horror comedy show and it was not good at all. A women's volleyball team gets stuck fighting some deep country weirdos. Just watch one of those other 2 movies again if you get a horror-comedy itch PLEASE.

Having seen it through I will say Another Life does pick up a little, especially the final episode. Good to see Selma Blair doing something half decent again too.

Much work needed though.

Watched Lost in Space. Mediocre.
Some of the sci-fi aspects seemed questionable, I don't like Dr. Smith (as a character, the actor does the best she can with what she has to work with), I found Will's actor to be horrible at acting, the man in a robot suit doesn't work for me and the plot wasn't very engaging.
On the other hand, Penny is great. A breath of fresh after I watched the 1998 movie a month ago.
The mechanic and his chicken are also pretty good.

Started watching The Haunting of Hill House. 2 episodes in and it's pretty good.

Another Life is bad enough that I don't want to watch the rest of it because I don't want Netflix's algorithms to register that it was worth enough for me to even finish it. It feels like it was written by bottom-of-the-class screenwriting students who actively dislike and have no understanding of science fiction.

The Boys on Amazon Prime is excellent, especially if you liked Preacher. Like Preacher, it's a Garth Ennis/Seth Rogan production with tight pacing, interesting characters played by talented actors, and lots of black humor and gore.

Is there a 'gender/sexuality in the media' thread? (I know there's one about race).

I've been watching Lost Girl which is another one of those shows that owe a lot to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the X-Files. It's okay to good, but seldom great.

The premise is that the main character finds out that she's a succubus in the first episode (she feeds off the sexually of others- and when uncontrolled causes their death). And she learns that there are other various "Faye" out there- fairies, leprechauns, sirens, etc. She quickly turns into a P.I. investigating various Faye related crimes and such. The main character is openly bisexual complete with a bisexual love triangle that is much the focus of the first couple seasons. I saw that as a pretty LGBT+ positive aspect of the show.

But, then there's the first episode of season 3... (spoilers obviously)

Spoiler:

The main character goes undercover into a prison run by "Amazons", who in this world don't bother with men, except when it's time to mate- they get it on, then shun them again. And any male babies born from the mating are left in the woods to die.

In the prison some inmates are being "released" and never heard from again, or they come back to prison "broken". It turns out the Amazons have a way to impregnate the inmates magically and have them give birth in a matter of days- in order to bypass the need for men.

The final twist comes with the revelation that the warden and leader of the Amazons is actually a male, who as a baby was left in the woods to die, but somehow survived. And it's his magic sperm that's actually being used to impregnate the inmates.

It ends with the warden's gender being outed in front of the Amazons and them chasing him down off camera to what is very likely going to be an untimely demise. Granted, the warden was doing some not great things, but it came across as very hostile to trans people and just left me with a bad feeling overall. I haven't gone back to that show since.

Saw Lost Girl recommended somewhere and it's on my list but haven't ever started it.

Another Life is actively bad. I made it part way through the first episode and just shut it off.

The dad / daughter thing was instantly annoying, the crew appeared to consist solely of stupid dipsh*ts, and the AI was like Hal 9000 if Hal sucked at being an AI made to interface with stupid dipsh*t crews.

Reaper81 wrote:

Another Life is actively bad. I made it part way through the first episode and just shut it off.

The dad / daughter thing was instantly annoying, the crew appeared to consist solely of stupid dipsh*ts, and the AI was like Hal 9000 if Hal sucked at being an AI made to interface with stupid dipsh*t crews.

So the premise is “what if Jack Dorsey was charged with saving the world?”

I gave up on Jessica Jones season 3 after episode 3. The show is titled "Jessica Jones." Not "Trish Walker" or "Jeri Hogarth." I watch the show because I love Krysten Ritter's portrayal of the tortured anti-hero. Trish's character gets on my nerves, and Trish's mom's character even more so. Jeri's personal story is interesting, but it is tonally different from the Alias Investigations goings-on. I have to be in a different head space to get into her story.

I'm a little disappointed, but interested to see what the show runner and cast get up to next.

Oh, and here's a bit of Krysten Ritter on the Off Camera show from a few years ago that I just found recently:

Sam Jones is so great at getting out of the way of the interviewee and letting them talk about their process or experiences or whatever. He's like the anti-Jimmy Fallon.

Sorbicol wrote:

Every single one of them are probably the least likely people you would ever think of sending on a first contact mission.

Ah, Rama II.

Quintin_Stone wrote:
Sorbicol wrote:

Every single one of them are probably the least likely people you would ever think of sending on a first contact mission.

Ah, Rama II.

That cut was so deep the Marianas Trench is jealous.

Thom Yorke's music video directed by Paul Thomas Anderson is a great 15-minute watch.

I finally got around to watching I Am Mother. Recommended! It's not breaking any new ground in post-apocalyptic sci-fi story telling, but the characters are interesting, and the acting is fantastic. Particularly Rose Byrne as the titular robot. The production design, for what was almost certainly a low budget film, is quite good.

The Haunting of Hill House is pretty fantastic. It has some very nice directorial flourishes.
Apparently there's a second season incoming, but this first season felt very complete. Maybe it will have different characters.

slazev wrote:

The Haunting of Hill House is pretty fantastic. It has some very nice directorial flourishes.
Apparently there's a second season incoming, but this first season felt very complete. Maybe it will have different characters.

It's an anthology show. However, they seem to be using some of the same actors, kind of like American Horror Story.