Hidden Gems of Amazon Prime instant videos

firesloth wrote:
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...

I didn't say I was out on a limb.

(My wife hates when I do this when we start watching something. Especially when I'm right. So I try to keep it inside. Or share it with the internet )

slazev wrote:

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

Yup. Sam Richardson and Mike Mitchell being in it means there's a decent chance of there being some good comedic relief. It also has Mary Lynn Rajskub in it, which means she could go the serious 24 route or she could show off her significant comedic roots. Plus it has JK Simmons in it and I don't think that man has appeared in something not worth watching his entire career.

MannishBoy wrote:

(My wife hates when I do this when we start watching something. Especially when I'm right. So I try to keep it inside. Or share it with the internet )

Mrs Sorb gets very irritated when I do this too. Definitely one in the ‘annoying habits’ list for me!

My wife does this, doesn't really bother me, but I tend to just shut my brain off/suspend disbelief, for most movies of this ilk.

Amazon launched The Tomorrow War early so I watched it last night.

I liked it. I mean it wasn't Citizen Kane and Edge of Tomorrow/Live Die Repeat did the whole timey wimey alien invasion thing much better, but it was perfectly enjoyable summer action film. The run time is a bit long because they tried to pull an Aliens, but didn't quite transition smoothly enough so it kinda felt like two movies.

Sam Richardson was fantastic in the comedic relief slot and I look forward to seeing him in more movies. Yvonne Strahovski was solid in her role. JK Simmons was yoked af. Pratt was probably the weakest link mostly because of the character he played was pretty one dimensional.

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.

You're one for two.

Hardly a hidden gem but the final series of Bosch was very good. loved Edgar's comment about binge watching The Wire

kborom wrote:

Hardly a hidden gem but the final series of Bosch was very good. loved Edgar's comment about binge watching The Wire :)

I did like that they actually engaged with some of the issues that they had dodged in previous series: the toleration of sexual harassment in the department, in particular.

That said, they still "solved" some mysteries by shooting people so it's still the same show.

I have only a couple episodes of Bosch left to watch and it has not disappointed. I am perfectly fine with my fictional cop shows solving problems via hot lead. I am really going to miss Lance Reddick's character, he just owned it so many times, particularly when he was exasperated with Bosch.

I thoroughly enjoyed Honest Thief. Liam Neeson Is fantastic when he has a great story to sell.

I used to think that The Fast and Furious franchise was the stupidest blockbuster series I'd ever watched.

The Tomorrow War takes that forward and elevates it to 11.

However, I'd be lying if I said I didn't find it entertaining. The action sequences are perfectly OK, There are some very charismatic performances (curiously though, Chris Pratt's isn't really one of them as I think he spends the entire movie trying to work out if he should be playing it straight or not) and "the story with a message" doesn't belabour it's point. In the end and as stupid as it is it seems to be at least a little self aware of this and goes with it.

It's not Edge of Tomorrow by any stretch, but if you want a really stupid Saturday night "park your brain at the door popcorn and beer" movie, it'll do.

Sorbicol wrote:

I used to think that The Fast and Furious franchise was the stupidest blockbuster series I'd ever watched.

The Tomorrow War takes that forward and elevates it to 11.

However, I'd be lying if I said I didn't find it entertaining.

We saw The Tomorrow War last night, and I had exactly the same response. I'd struggle to recommend this as a good movie. But as an entertaining one... it definitely is. Classic summer-blockbuster stuff, and relatively unpretentious, too, which makes a change in a landscape dominated by brooding superheroes.

I was also reminded how every movie and TV show on the planet would be immeasurably elevated by the casting of J.K. Simmons. Preferably in every role.

Wait, some people don't love Edge of Tomorrow?

I loved it, and I don't think it's just because I love every reprise of Groundhog Day, which I absolutely, only semi-ashamedly do.

I think it's fantastic until the end where it goes very "gamey".

The Tomorrow War is a Mac burger. Had fun eating it, but regretted almost immediately after I was done.

Bosch went out on a high note, great series, gonna miss it for sure.

AcidCat wrote:

Bosch went out on a high note, great series, gonna miss it for sure.

Unbelievably fantastic show. Binged it so hard. Wish every show was this quality.

I liked Tomorrow War up until the last 30 minutes. Didn't care for the direction they went. The action was good though. The acting was good. Mostly a fun movie even with the stupid parts.

I thought the Tomorrow War as execrable. I can see why Paramount want absolutely no part of it when they saw what they'd paid for.

It was a real Frankenstein's monster of a film borrowing liberally from - most obviously - Independence Day, The Terminator, Starship Troopers, Enders Game, and The Thing (to name, but a few), without doing anything as well as any of those films.

And none of it made any sense. Why are the conscripts not given any training before they are deployed? Why are their deployments only a week long? Why - in 30 years - are scientists unable to travel anywhere other than 2022 and 2051? Why don't the people of 2051 send anything vaguely useful back to 2022, like a future technology that can be developed further over 30 years and used to kill the aliens? How is that only Chris Pratt and his wife realise the aliens have been on Earth for more than 1,000 years? How is it the alien ship is sufficiently well-hidden to lie undetected for 1,000 years, but Chris Pratt and co find it in a couple of hours?

But nothing ever really gets explained or explored. Instead, it's explosions, shooting and lots running around shouting, followed by more explosions, shooting, running around shouting, CGI... Presumably, all of this mindlessness is designed to distract the audience from the fact that the movie is a warm, steaming turd.

I'd love to know exactly how much actually Amazon Prime paid for the film. I would be astonished if they actually wrote Paramount a cheque for $200 million. I suspect any payments will be related to the number of actual views.

detroit20 wrote:

I thought the Tomorrow War as execrable. I can see why Paramount want absolutely no part of it when they saw what they'd paid for.

It was a real Frankenstein's monster of a film borrowing liberally from - most obviously - Independence Day, The Terminator, Starship Troopers, Enders Game, and The Thing (to name, but a few), without doing anything as well as any of those films.

And none of it made any sense. Why are the conscripts not given any training before they are deployed? Why are their deployments only a week long? Why - in 30 years - are scientists unable to travel anywhere other than 2022 and 2051? Why don't the people of 2051 send anything vaguely useful back to 2022, like a future technology that can be developed further over 30 years and used to kill the aliens? How is that only Chris Pratt and his wife realise the aliens have been on Earth for more than 1,000 years? How is it the alien ship is sufficiently well-hidden to lie undetected for 1,000 years, but Chris Pratt and co find it in a couple of hours?

But nothing ever really gets explained or explored. Instead, it's explosions, shooting and lots running around shouting, followed by more explosions, shooting, running around shouting, CGI... Presumably, all of this mindlessness is designed to distract the audience from the fact that the movie is a warm, steaming turd.

I'd love to know exactly how much actually Amazon Prime paid for the film. I would be astonished if they actually wrote Paramount a cheque for $200 million. I suspect any payments will be related to the number of actual views.

I did tell you not to think about it.....

Sorbicol wrote:

I did tell you not to think about it.....

I should have taken your advice.

But seriously, it was such a formulaic, colour-by-numbers piece of nonsense that.... it could have been a Netflix Original.

detroit20 wrote:
Sorbicol wrote:

I did tell you not to think about it.....

I should have taken your advice.

But seriously, it was such a formulaic, colour-by-numbers piece of nonsense that.... it could have been a Netflix Original.

For the most part I was able to check my brain and not think about plot points too much, but when it came down to "I've got a kid in my high school science class who is really into volcanos, therefore he's the only one who can figure this out" my eyes were rolling pretty hard.

detroit20 wrote:

And none of it made any sense. Why are the conscripts not given any training before they are deployed? Why are their deployments only a week long? Why - in 30 years - are scientists unable to travel anywhere other than 2022 and 2051? Why don't the people of 2051 send anything vaguely useful back to 2022, like a future technology that can be developed further over 30 years and used to kill the aliens? How is that only Chris Pratt and his wife realise the aliens have been on Earth for more than 1,000 years? How is it the alien ship is sufficiently well-hidden to lie undetected for 1,000 years, but Chris Pratt and co find it in a couple of hours?

  • They deployed abnormally early because the research building in Miami was about to be overrun and the toxin samples and researchers needed to be evacuated right then.
  • Some combination of the survival rate and how often the jump link can be activated.
  • Answered in the movie itself, but the link barely works and these are the anchor points they have, with both ends still proceeding along at the normal flow of time.
  • Isn't that kind of what the plan turned out to be? Anything more would have required scientists and engineers be sent back, and at that late stage of the war with under .5M people worldwide, they seemed pretty scarce. Presumably the time travel didn't actually get working until that timeline was already beyond saving itself.
  • In the future before time travel existed, finding that out wouldn't change anything, and it didn't matter to the present until the toxin was perfected. It took present-day analysis and a volcano stan to help put it together.
  • They knew it would be a glacier that would melt around the right time and in the right place. Further than that, I'm not sure about other than they had almost everyone who'd been stranded in the past with them to help on the ground.

We started watching Solos. It is very (to me) art-house. Each episode is a different actor putting on what is essentially a one-person show. It is an anthology series so episodes may or may not be connected. The talent they recruited for this is impressive (Ann Hathaway, Hellen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, etc.). I'm kind of enjoying it though it is a very slow burn. So far each tale is centered on someone who is fundamentally damaged in some way.

Finished Bosch, solid finale to a solid show. I do wonder about the spin-off. I'm not sure that I see Bosch's "chaotic good" morality being a good fit as Honey Chandler's PI. Chandler would seemingly have to radically change who she represents for Bosch's participation to make sense.

Honestly, would rather see a Robbery Homicide spin-off with J. Edgar as the lead character.

That Chris Pratt movie is quite possibly the dumbest f*cking thing I've ever watched.

Amazon is releasing short Tucker Carlson-inspired news segments on the 7th day of each month for the next 7 months, covering the in-world fallout from season 2 of The Boys and the lead up to season 3.

Has anyone watched a show called "Lodge 49" on prime? Heard good things about it from elsewhere and apparently a wild Bruce Campbell appears in it.

Fredrik_S wrote:

Has anyone watched a show called "Lodge 49" on prime? Heard good things about it from elsewhere and apparently a wild Bruce Campbell appears in it.

It's been on my pile for awhile, and hearing it described as "Cheers meets Twin Peaks" has definitely moved it way up near the top.

Lodge 49 is indeed a hidden gem, shame it only got two seasons. I watched it on Hulu though, guess it's now on Prime?

Chef is a fantastic film. Lots of feels. I was partway through when I considered posting about it but I thought I’d better finish watching incase it went sharply down hill. It only got better.

Higgledy wrote:

Chef is a fantastic film. Lots of feels. I was partway through when I considered posting about it but I thought I’d better finish watching incase it went sharply down hill. It only got better.

Now go watch The Chef Show over on Netflix. Jon Favreau and Roy Choi (who trained him for Chef) cook, interview other chef's, and occasionally bring in celebrities. Many in the MCU. Also a great show.