Hidden Gems of Amazon Prime instant videos

Watched Supernatural season 14. Just more of the same really. Only one last season to go.

Just found out Battlestar Galactica is on Amazon Prime.
I've delayed the rewatch for too long.

With the last app update, I prefer it to Netflix. Much easier to rewind and fast forward.

The Vast of Night is a really great, well acted low budget Sci-Fi movie that is more than worth the time taken to watch it.

It takes the form of a Twilight Zone homage (in fact it starts with you entering a TV set showing something called "Paradox Theatre") - set in a 1950s small New Mexican town, a smart young girl who operates the local telephone switch board starts hearing some very strange radio interference as she's connecting phone calls. Calling in her DJ friend from the local radio station, they start investigating.

It's got more dialog than it knows what to do with for half the film (seriously, in places it's a Aaron Sorkin film on steroids) which both does a great job of introducing the characters, and which all the actors handle more than admirably, interspersed with sweeping tracking shots and silences back by scratchy violin soundtrack. The 1950s setting works perfectly and when the reveal comes its been earned - the whole film being about how the two main characters get to where they need to be. It's got a couple of slight contrivances but the film more than over comes these.

Highly recommended.

slazev wrote:

Watched Supernatural season 14. Just more of the same really. Only one last season to go.

Just found out Battlestar Galactica is on Amazon Prime.
I've delayed the rewatch for too long.

With the last app update, I prefer it to Netflix. Much easier to rewind and fast forward.

BSG is on some OTA channel called Comet. It just started airing in May. They've done a couple weekend marathons too. I've probably seen 75% of it on and off the last few weeks.

The first season is still magnificent. And 2nd and 3rd still pretty good. And everything after the final 5 BS is still trash.

I don't remember being annoyed by the ending and season 2 is what really elevated the series for me. Let's see if it still holds true.
I've already rewatched the mini-series. Pretty good, though the HD conversion isn't great, especially the visual effects which seemed to be in SD.

I agree I really enjoyed The Vast of Night!

I was pretty excited about The Vast of Night, but it didn't really work for me. It was two hours of premise and introduction that never went anywhere.

I really wanted to like it more than I did.

I don't regret having watched it. I liked what was there. But the whole thing felt unsatisfying, like a wasted opportunity.

I also watched and enjoyed Cosmos last night as well!

I just finished watching "The Boys" last night. Holy crap what a jaw-dropping show. Every episode had a moment that just left me and the wife reeling. I very much want another season of that show.

ThatGuy42 wrote:

I just finished watching "The Boys" last night. Holy crap what a jaw-dropping show. Every episode had a moment that just left me and the wife reeling. I very much want another season of that show.

I loved it as well. Aren't we supposed to get season 2 this summer?

ThatGuy42 wrote:

I just finished watching "The Boys" last night. Holy crap what a jaw-dropping show. Every episode had a moment that just left me and the wife reeling. I very much want another season of that show.

Mario_Alba wrote:
ThatGuy42 wrote:

I just finished watching "The Boys" last night. Holy crap what a jaw-dropping show. Every episode had a moment that just left me and the wife reeling. I very much want another season of that show.

I loved it as well. Aren't we supposed to get season 2 this summer?

That was a show that I just could not see working. I read the comics years ago, and it was just too bananas. They managed to actually improve on the story in a lot of ways while still keeping the tone of the original. It is amazing. And the way that first season ends is just bananas.

Really need to finish the Boys. Started watching it with my sister-in-law's BF. Neither she nor my wife wanted to see it, so the boys watched The Boys.

But we did that back at Christmas break, and we ran out of time, with 1 or 2 episodes left. Now with covid, we haven't seen them since. May have to just watch without him.

Get it watched. Then you can be wondering what the heck is going to happen in season 2 like the rest of us.

ThatGuy42 wrote:

I just finished watching "The Boys" last night. Holy crap what a jaw-dropping show. Every episode had a moment that just left me and the wife reeling. I very much want another season of that show.

I really enjoyed that one. I imagine it's a little trigger-heavy for some, but I gotta say, real-life superheroes would probably be just like that a lot of the time.

If you were a neurotic asshole before you got amped, you'd probably still be one afterward, with a great deal more ability to f*ck things up around you.

I finished up Homecoming season 2. Absolutely amazing story, soundtrack, production, and acting. Really good, and DAMN... that ending! I skipped season 1 because I had listened to the podcast and didn't want to taint or muddle that experience.

We just watched all 3 seasons of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel. Loved it!

Is there any show that even remotely compares to this in terms of comedy and a fairly upbeat message. Does not have to be on Amazon Prime...

Gilmore Girls for sure. Then Bunheads if you want more. Same creator. Same energy. Same snappy dialogue.

Watched the first two episodes of Tokyo Vampire Hotel. It is a show about two warring vampire clans. One clan wants to end the world and the other is trying to stop them. Both clans seem to be evil or messed up. There is a chosen one that is to bring about worlds end. So far the show is very bloody. We are talking forks to the face and gun violence that will have nra members rethinking their membership. Story is something. I understand the main plot but they have a flesh wall and a lady with a giant hole, not her vagina, that it filled with vampires. Okay maybe it is her vagina. I have no idea what is going on there.

I'm liking it so far in a train wreck kind of way.

KramNesnah wrote:

We just watched all 3 seasons of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel. Loved it!

Is there any show that even remotely compares to this in terms of comedy and a fairly upbeat message. Does not have to be on Amazon Prime...

The Marvelous Mrs Maisel might just be my favorite show currently airing... followed closely by Better Call Saul, a completely different show.

Gilmore Girls is a great recommendation, and also a terrific show for sure.

Absolutely fantastic documentary on sound in film. Highly recommended.

Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound

So I am just now finishing up the first season of True Blood and I have to ask - does it ever get good? I can't believe this show got 7 seasons.

2 words:
Sexy Vampires

fangblackbone wrote:

2 words:
Sexy Vampires

Don't forget super hunky werewolves.

I feel like the second and third seasons might have been a bit better than the first? (And as is often the case with this sort of thing, it definitely takes a dive in the later seasons.)

But no, generally speaking it remains unapologetic about being a schlocky, pulpy, genre indulgence. Frequently quite fun and full of delightfully silly over the top characters intentionally overplayed by talented actors, but rarely (if ever) what would be traditionally considered "good" by your average critic.

If you're a person who enjoys genre stuff or you just want some charming bodice ripper fun, definitely check out at least the first few seasons. But if the first season didn't do anything for you, the subsequent ones probably aren't going to change your mind all that much.

SallyNasty wrote:

So I am just now finishing up the first season of True Blood and I have to ask - does it ever get good? I can't believe this show got 7 seasons.

You're already 12 episodes (and possibly a pilot) in; might as well finish out the remaining 68 and find out!

Ha!

SallyNasty wrote:

So I am just now finishing up the first season of True Blood and I have to ask - does it ever get good? I can't believe this show got 7 seasons.

Debrah Ann Woll (Daredevil) was a lot of fun as Jessica, the innocent country girl turned vampire. I can’t remember if she was in the first season - I want say she was added later. But other than that, if the first season didn’t do it for you, stop. It gets a little better, but then gets much much worse at the end.

SallyNasty wrote:

So I am just now finishing up the first season of True Blood and I have to ask - does it ever get good? I can't believe this show got 7 seasons.

It blows my mind that True Blood was made by the same showrunner as Six Feet Under. The latter I absolutely adored (though it probably shows its age these days), while the former I couldn't make through more than an episode.

I think Jess was one totally new character for the show that wasn't in the books.

And I think Zero was right, for 3 or maybe 4 seasons it was pretty darn good. There was some really weird fairy sh*t at one point that we almost quit watching, but we finished it. I don't really recommend it to anyone when talking about HBO's greatest shows.

I mean if you want to see Anna Paquin naked, by all means watch for that.

The show was just ok. We watched it because we started watching and somehow had to finish. Back before we had Netflix and kids and had a lot more free time. No backlog of shows then.

There were some excellent character such as Pam and Lafeyette. But yeah, the show didn't have great plots.

Don't you have anything better to do than pick on baby vampires?

Thought the first few seasons were great. The last few seasons were terrible.

Knives Out showed up on Prime, so I watched it last night.

Let me tell you, it earned that 97% RT rating.

Ana de Armas is a standout in this movie. It's the first of her roles that I've seen in which her character has some depth and is much more than a prop, and she acquits herself brilliantly. Many of the other fantastic cast members are playing their somewhat formulaic roles to the hilt, but de Armas plays it straight, managing to be both suspect and sincere.

And the running gag with her character Marta's country of origin is hilarious.