Hidden Gems of Amazon Prime instant videos

I've been enjoying the weird spy/sci fi show lead by JK Simmons called Counterpart. The general premise is that there was an event that split the world's timeline into two. One side is closer to our tech, while the other side had a pandemic that killed a lot of people and limited tech. So there's kind of a cold war going on. Simmons on one side is an oblivious drone in a big UN style organization, while his counterpart is a spy/operative that crosses over between worlds. Then normal guy Simmons finds out about his counterpart and the other world, and it goes off from there.

Simmons does a good job playing both the drone character and the menacing character against each other. It's no Tatiana Maslany in Orphan Black, but Simmons puts on a great performance.

It's kind of a slow burn old school spy show. Think stuff set in US/USSR Cold War era.

Not sure where it goes, but I'm halfway into the first season and I like it. Haven't heard it really mentioned much but worth a shot if that sounds/looks interesting.

It lasted two seasons, so it's a couple of years out from ending at this point. But I heard it is really fun.

Garth wrote:

It lasted two seasons, so it's a couple of years out from ending at this point. But I heard it is really fun.

I quite enjoyed it, but to put what Garth is saying more clearly: it got cancelled after 2 seasons and there will never be any more. If you're the type of person who needs every last storyline/thread wrapped up, you might want to stop now.

Or enjoy the ride. It really is good.

Picked up on Jason Segal's Dispatches from Elsewhere today on a complete "that looks interesting" whim.

It's basically a show watching people playing a cross between a live ARG (or is it?) and an escape room. I think it's supposed to be leaving that open to interpretation, but it really seems to be playing it very obviously that no, it's a live ARG (a little research would to indicate it takes a lot of it's plot from real ARG played in San Francisco a couple of years back) and there's not quite as much mystery going on as there should be.

However, if you just go long from the ride it's sort of whimsical fun. There is a touching burgeoning romance between Segal's character and Simone's (played by trans actor Eve Lindley), Sally Fields plays a slight confused elderly widow and Andre 3000 a conspiracy nut. Richard E Grant is fantastic as the slightly creepy and overbearing narrator / come chief antagonist of the story.

I'm only a couple of episodes in but so far it's kinda OK. Not quite as magical as it thinks it is though.

ccoates wrote:
Garth wrote:

It lasted two seasons, so it's a couple of years out from ending at this point. But I heard it is really fun.

I quite enjoyed it, but to put what Garth is saying more clearly: it got cancelled after 2 seasons and there will never be any more. If you're the type of person who needs every last storyline/thread wrapped up, you might want to stop now.

Understood. Thanks for the heads up guys. I'm going to continue on.

MannishBoy wrote:

Understood. Thanks for the heads up guys. I'm going to continue on.

You won't regret it at all. Counterpoint is one of the best sci-fi shows I've watched in recent years.

It kind of reminds me of Travelers on Netflix in a quality level so far. Still sad that was cancelled.

For some unknown reason, yesterday I watched the Hindi movie War.

If I had to give it a rating it would be a "what the hell am I watching, this is so ridiculous, but I can't stop laughing, so let's keep watching"/10.

This is basically 2 Indians spy dudes going at each other. I think they're really famous in India, so this was probably a big deal. A Captain America vs Iron Man kind of thing.

In terms of influence, you can see Michael Bay and John Woo being blatantly copied. You have the never ending slow-mo walks (one of them had the most incredible sexual tension I've ever witnessed in movies/tv between the male leads), the Indian flag always visible, the epic camera pans and circling the actors, ballet fights and all that jazz.

Then, this being from Bollywood, you have the out of nowhere dance sequences.
The action scenes are ripped off from movies like Fast and Furious, Mission Impossible, they're hard to miss. They're actually alright.
Women are used sparingly and just as tools/motivation for the men.
The plot is simply ridiculous and with unnecessary twists. Let's just say there's some influence from Face/Off.

Now, me being from Portugal, I feel I have an obligation to mention the scenes in Portugal. They start at the Portugal Space Centre HQ (a far away CG building, not sure where they pretended it to be located), an organization which has started in 1940 (during the dictator Salazar's reign). Obviously, this was all fake. That's fine, let's continue.
An action scene ensues (very inspired on the MI motorcycle action sequences and also the MI3 bridge sequence) starting at Serra da Estrela, a mountain range at the centre north, they quickly jump to the middle of Lisbon (costal centre south) and end in Porto (coastal north). Meanwhile, the occasional Portuguese dialogue is with a Brazilian accent.

Maybe I should be offended, but I just laughed. This probably occurs frequently with movies portraying foreign regions.

Well, I had fun with it. It's the so bad it's funny kind of movie. I just wished it wasn't 2h30. It could've used some editing, but maybe that's part of the charm.

Saint Maud has appeared on Prime in the U.K. If you haven't seen it it is an astonishingly good psychological horror. I really don't want to spoil anything but it is one of my favourite films of the last decade. From sound design to performances everything is pitched perfectly. In case you couldn't tell i recommend watching this

It's not Bollywood per se (depending on how strictly you distinguish between Bollywood vs "Kollywood"), but big budget Tamil sci-fi:

I found entertaining, in terms of what am I watching but still enjoying it.

Wow, that was... something.

bbk1980 wrote:

Saint Maud has appeared on Prime in the U.K. If you haven't seen it it is an astonishingly good psychological horror. I really don't want to spoil anything but it is one of my favourite films of the last decade. From sound design to performances everything is pitched perfectly. In case you couldn't tell i recommend watching this :)

I had been looking forward to this for a good long while and caught it over the weekend. I loved it as well. I could see it being the type of slow-burn that doesn't jive with lots of folks. But I love that sort of film-making. So I was all in and enjoyed it quite a bit.

I watched Solos over a couple of weeks and some of the stories are powerhouses when it comes to the acting. The stories are not awful and I roll with the "twists" at the ends, but it's the acting that one really watches these for. Morgan Freeman's episode is astoundingly good.

Just a bump as a reminder, final season of Bosch is out today.

I've never seen a Bosch, but I like that actor. Enable me.

Oh! Thanks for reminder. One of my favorite shows.

... but I'm only on Season 2.

Mixolyde wrote:

I've never seen a Bosch, but I like that actor. Enable me.

It's an extremely high quality cop/investigation show. Actors and writing are great.

Downsides: too many serial killers for my taste, has that "let the cops break the rules to get the bad guys" attitude.

I don't think I can put up with the final season.

I worked past the very 90s "Bosch breaks the law but is always right and always justified, and the media and internal affairs and the criminal-loving justice system are in his way of doing good police work" because so many praised the show. And I admit that I did think it was a well done procedural drama that was a slow burn (I'm a sucker when one case takes an entire season).

But the really forced moral relativism started to drag on me more and more, especially as the LAPD in reality continued to be sh*tty in ways that couldn't come close to the ambiguity of the situations presented on the show.

The last season kinda broke me with that nonsense when they came up with a scenario so ridiculous and forced it was borderline parody to make out a sexual harassment policy in a police department as a potentially bad thing.

After the past two years of the news of cops acting like victims just because they did something awful on camera and faced repurcussions, I don't think I have the stomach to go back to the universe filled with "two sides" claptrap.

kuddles wrote:

I don't think I can put up with the final season.

I worked past the very 90s "Bosch breaks the law but is always right and always justified, and the media and internal affairs and the criminal-loving justice system are in his way of doing good police work" because so many praised the show. And I admit that I did think it was a well done procedural drama that was a slow burn (I'm a sucker when one case takes an entire season).

But the really forced moral relativism started to drag on me more and more, especially as the LAPD in reality continued to be sh*tty in ways that couldn't come close to the ambiguity of the situations presented on the show.

The last season kinda broke me with that nonsense when they came up with a scenario so ridiculous and forced it was borderline parody to make out a sexual harassment policy in a police department as a potentially bad thing.

After the past two years of the news of cops acting like victims just because they did something awful on camera and faced repurcussions, I don't think I have the stomach to go back to the universe filled with "two sides" claptrap.

This was a huge problem of mine with Longmire.

Anybody watch Tomorrow War yet? Save me some time or recommend it?

Edit: never mind it's Friday July 2. With the ad blitz I've seen this week, thought it was yesterday

The trailer looks kind of bad. Like Starship Troopers meets Pitch Black aliens without the self-awareness/humor/snark/satire.

I'll still watch it though, ha. Maybe it can be so bad it's good.

Everytime I see the ads I get an Edge of Tomorrow vibe. Which I enjoyed.

May just be the artwork. And of course "Tomorrow". Don't think I've even watched a trailer though.

JK Simmons so buff.

Only the dude from Detroiters makes me want to see this.

Wait. Why take them into the remote future when the war is essentially at the precipice? Why not take them forward in time and all your folks back in time to the moment where the invasion first starts? Snuff it out at the beginning?

firesloth wrote:

Wait. Why take them into the remote future when the war is essentially at the precipice? Why not take them forward in time and all your folks back in time to the moment where the invasion first starts? Snuff it out at the beginning?

I haven’t seen the movie, but if you end the war before the point at which you decide to drag time travel into the mix then things never get so desperate that they decide to use time travel to end the war, which means no one goes back to end the war, which means the war drags on and forces you to use time travel to end the war before it begins, but then things never get so desperate that they decide to use time travel to end the war, which means no one goes back to end the war, which means the war drags on and forces you to use time travel to end the war before it begins, but then things never get so desperate that they decide to use time travel to end the war, which means no one goes back to end the war, which means the war drags on and forces you to use time travel to end the war before it begins, but then… etc until Mana-Yood-Sushai wakes up, decides it’s not worth it and shuts off humans.

My guesses/predictions:

The woman from the future is our lead's daughter that you see in the trailer.

JK Simmons bites the dust in some heroic way.

MannishBoy wrote:

My guesses/predictions:

The woman from the future is our lead's daughter that you see in the trailer.

JK Simmons bites the dust in some heroic way.

Like shooting fish in a barrel...