Hidden Gems of Amazon Prime instant videos

For any Travel Man (or just Richard Ayoade) fans, Gadget Man is on Amazon Prime.

It’s a little dated, but is still fun.

Bonus: Series 1 was hosted by Stephen Frye who is also delightful.

Did Amazon finally stop doing that thing where they listed the 4K/UHD version of shows separately from the standard HD versions? I spent a while trying to find the "Season 2 UHD" listing for The Boys but it looks like there is only one listing per season, unless I'm missing something. Maybe soon they'll stop listing each season as a separate item...

Sorbicol wrote:

Edge of Tomorrow is now on Amazon Prime - first time I've seen it on a streaming service.

If you've not seen it before I recommend you make time.

Make time to watch it again and again and again.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Sorbicol wrote:

Edge of Tomorrow is now on Amazon Prime - first time I've seen it on a streaming service.

If you've not seen it before I recommend you make time.

Make time to watch it again and again and again.

Looks like I missed the free window. Boo.

Amazon recently released four new Blumhouse movies in time for Halloween. Diving in tonight.

So. Nocturne.

It... doesn't suck?

First off, if you don't like to listen to a lot of classical piano, skip it. Apart from that, it has some interesting ideas, and is technically good (cool settings, camera work, sound, etc.), but the story is missing something. It doesn't cling to any of its themes long enough to do them justice.

Buuut if you just want to listen to some classical piano and watch some decent players strut and fret their hour, give it a go. There are a few fairly gory visuals, but no violence is shown. Also two hot college kids have sex, but they keep their clothes on. I think that's kind of a good metaphor for the movie.

Mixolyde wrote:

I know I am late to the party, but my wife and I started The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and we both love it. I am a stand-up comedy nerd and dated enough Jewish girls to be familiar with all of those dynamics. The characters and acting are great and feel real. The story is fun and suspenseful, too. We are halfway through season 2 and looking forward to the rest.

This ended up being the next show to work through with my partner. I actually hate stand-up comedy and have never dated a Jewish girl but still loved it. It has the same snappy, clever dialogue of Gilmore Girls but feels more grounded. I'm also surprised by the twists - I usually start to guess where things are going and I am usually wrong.

I would say the one knock against it is that, as is common with shows that deal with stand-up comedy, sketch programming, etc., is that you never really believe that her bits on-stage are real because of how over-written they are when they are presented as stream-of-consciousness. (It's also why 30 Rock is the best at this - they just make the show within the show completely terrible.) The material doesn't seem really believable either - if Lenny Bruce struggled during that time period with his performance, I sincerely doubt a divorced woman would have succeeded even close to how she does. But, you obviously aren't watching a show like this for gritty realism so in the end I don't actually care.

I finished The Boys season 2 and thought it was great. It's surprising how much I like the show since I thought the comic was awful. The show is just less hateful and cynical than the comic--not that it's free from cynicism, of course, but it has real heart to it.

Watched Archive, a surprisingly intimate sci-fi drama, written and directed by Gavin Rothery (concept and graphic artist for Moon), in his directorial debut. It was scheduled to premiere at the 2020 SXSW, but 2020 made sure SXSW didn't happen. It had a limited US theatrical release, and was released on digital streaming services in July. Currently available free for Prime members.

The movie stars Theo James who does a remarkably good job portraying a melancholy genius who is building a series of robots with increasingly advanced AI, and Stacy Martin in a dual role as his recently deceased wife and the most advanced of his robots (guess what he's going to do with that robot...).

Archive alternates between moody/languid, and somewhat tense, as it brings to life the almost oppressive isolation of the scientist and his conflicts with his employer and another company. This other company is responsible for a device which keeps the recently deceased in a kind of electronically enhanced suspended animation in which they can continue to communicate with their loved ones for a limited time. The company discovers that he has tampered with their "archive," so he must race against time to complete his final creation.

It is a relatively low budget affair, but the production value is outstanding. As it was created by an artist, the sets, design, costuming—everything visual is fantastic, with a kind of retro 70s sci-fi flair. In fact, the interactions between James and his first two limited prototype robots kind of reminded me of the old sci-fi classic Silent Running. The music is wonderful, too. The acting is solid, particularly the flashback scenes of the relationship between the scientist and his wife. The ever-popular character actor Toby Jones even puts in an appearance.

Don't expect anything super groundbreaking, but it is a nice diversion. There are a few confusing conspiratorial plot elements in the middle of the film which I believe were due to things getting lost in the edit. Fortunately they're not enough to derail the whole film. The buildup to the conclusion, and the conclusion itself, are quite memorable.

Incidentally, as I mentioned above, the movie is not nearly as tense or actiony as that trailer might suggest. It has a lot of atmospheric mood-building scenes. These are actually good, as they give the rest of the story a bit of breathing room. However, no futuristic exploding helicopters or pew pew robot attacks.

One thing that stood out for me (mostly because of the stuff I've been watching lately) is that this is a very straight, white, heteronormative male movie. There are zero POC and the protagonist is a dude rescuing his wife from death. It takes place in Japan, and there is a scene in a diner in which the only Japanese people are servers. So yeah. I mean it's not overtly racist or sexist or anything, but I'm noticing things like this in movies a lot more recently. There are so many great movies and series out this year going out of their way to represent all kinds of people and that's mostly the kind of stuff I've been watching.

The Boys season 2 ep 1- 3
So far just as good as the first season. Stormfront was nothing like I thought she would be and then she was exactly like I thought she would be. Well, maybe. The direction they went with the kid surprised me as well. Aquaman surprised me also. Heck everybody surprised me.

Spoiler:

I didn't watch or read anything about the second season. When Stormfront first hits the scene I figured she would be super nazi just because of her name. Then the present her as the super cool lady that doesn't put up with sexism and bs. Then in episode 3 she murders a bunch of black people for no reason while chasing down the female's brother that she also makes a racist statement to before killing him. Makes you think why would Gus make a super racist.

The one bad thing about stormfronts killing spree is that no one caught it on camera. She was blowing up multiple apartment floors not giving a eff about damage. I would think in this day and age of cameras in everyone's pocket it would be impossible to cover something on that scale up.

Aquaman apparently found god. I thought they might just kind of drop him but I guess he is going through a redemption. His story is just nuts. His gills start talking go him after he takes something. He has one scene where he gets a whale killed by using her to block a boat. Really nasty carnage happens ending up with multiple people inside the guts of a whale. Crazy man.

Then we have homelander being homelander forcing himself onto his son trying to bring out his powers. We learn that people are given powers through drugs so I was thinking his son doesn't have powers. However, homelander pushes the kid off a roof and the kid survives. He then nearly kills the mom but the kid knocks him back and his eyes start glowing proving he actually does have powers. Brightburn.

Except this kid actually loves his mother.

Borat 2 is live.

There suddenly seems to be a lot of 'A' list Hollywood movies up on Amazon Prime as actual prime movies - 1917, Parasite, The personal history of David Copperfield, Knives Out among others. Netflix is looking a little left behind all of a sudden.

So the new Borat movie was...surprisingly touching. Maria Bakalova, who played Borat's daughter, absolutely crushed it. And the scene with Rudy is *way* creepier than the picture.

I also really enjoyed Get Duked!, a horrorish comedy about four delinquents who get selected for a character-building camping trip in the Scottish Highlands that goes awry.

OG_slinger wrote:

So the new Borat movie was...surprisingly touching. Maria Bakalova, who played Borat's daughter, absolutely crushed it. And the scene with Rudy is *way* creepier than the picture.

Couldn't agree more. Bakalova was incredible. I enjoyed this far more than the original.

I also thought Borat 2 was very enjoyable.

Mario_Alba wrote:

I also thought Borat 2 was very enjoyable.

Same. Sacha Baron Cohen is a genius.

Just finish The Boys and liked it. Season 2 was just as good as season 1. Not sure why wonder woman showed up but whatever. Black Noir was interesting. Stormfront at the end reminded me of Vader. Girls get it done indeed.

Borat is not my type of humor but it was a ok watch. I always wonder how much was staged in these movies. The Rudy stuff was really uncomfortably nasty feeling.

Stealthpizza wrote:

Borat is not my type of humor but it was a ok watch. I always wonder how much was staged in these movies. The Rudy stuff was really uncomfortably nasty feeling.

Apparently very little of this one was entirely staged, though he frequently “prepares” scenes or changes the context after filming. The father/daughter cotillion for example was apparently an event he organized and the people that attended thought they were auditioning for a southern-themed reality show. The white supremacist rally that Country Steve sang at was originally much smaller as well until SBC approached them pretending to be a conservative philanthropist and offered to pay for a stage, entertainment, and security (though the security ended up being to protect him from the rally, rather than protect the rally).

TruthSeekers - Nick Frost and Simon Pegg's new series about amateur paranormal investigation is very British, a little bit twee, really quite funny in places and just the right side of being spooky rather than scary - although it does have its moments. It's mostly carried by Frost with Pegg just having a cameo role, but Samson Kayo as Frost's able (if petrified) assistant is great support. I'm hoping it develops out more after the first 2 scenario setting shows, but there's enough there to carry on watching to find out.

I enjoyed Truthseekers a LOT. Binged it all in an afternoon. Had some pretty nice emotional beats as well, I thought.

Not a new movie by any stretch, but it's the first time I've ever seen Addams Family Values. Excellent cast and damn near perfect script. Also feels like the perfect time of year to watch this. Just wanted to call it out because it's leaving Amazon Video on Nov 15.

I saw that in theaters way back when! I want to watch the animated movie from last year, which I recently discovered is on Amazon Prime Video.

merphle wrote:

Not a new movie by any stretch, but it's the first time I've ever seen Addams Family Values. Excellent cast and damn near perfect script. Also feels like the perfect time of year to watch this. Just wanted to call it out because it's leaving Amazon Video on Nov 15.

That was filmed right around the corner from where I grew up. I went to elementary school with some kids who were cast as extras/camp kids.

Just watched Bone Tomahawk and really liked it. I wasn't expecting how brutal it would get. Pretty long movie but I was glued all the way through. Very good acting that carries most of the movie. Kind of reminds me of Deadwood.

Got fooled by the "award nominations" in the summary of Dark/Web, so gave it a watch.
Bad acting, cringe dialogue. Seemed made by teenagers. They nominated themselves, didn't they?

Baron Of Hell wrote:

Just watched Bone Tomahawk and really liked it. I wasn't expecting how brutal it would get. Pretty long movie but I was glued all the way through. Very good acting that carries most of the movie. Kind of reminds me of Deadwood.

Bone Tomahawk was also our movie last night. It happened to be starting upon channel surfing. So we settled in for a preview that took us all the way to the credits. It maintained a few hooks throughout. It was well acted. The graphic nature was befitting rather than gratuitous. Not bad at all for an unexpected random flick.

Not sure if it's available, but try checking out Brawl in Cell Block 99 from the same writer/director. Fair warning, it also has some brutal sequences.

slazev wrote:

Not sure if it's available, but try checking out Brawl in Cell Block 99 from the same writer/director. Fair warning, it also has some brutal sequences.

That movie....was something else. I liked it quite a bit.