Hidden Gems of Netflix's Watch Instantly

Both of those are the same link for me.

I always get Descent mixed up with Sanctum and Labyrinth.

Antichulius wrote:
Jonman wrote:
Antichulius wrote:

I did the first season of Agents of SHIELD and found it lackluster for me. Does it get better, then?

I'm only a bit into the second series, but thought the first season ended strong. So maybe it just didn't hit for you?

I actually liked the last couple episodes of the first season, but the slow burn the rest of the season had already worn the show on me and I just didn't go back after the summer break.

Agents of SHIELD starts finding its feet towards the end of the first season, as you noticed. The momentum is maintained into the second season and it goes in quite interesting directions. Worth trying out a run in the new season.

Wembley wrote:

Both of those are the same link for me.

Doh! Fixed.

Quintin_Stone wrote:
muraii wrote:

God I love The Descent. And the The Babadook. The former quite independent of the things that aren't the caves.

I tried to watch The Descent and ended up watching Descent. (Fixed link)

Please, don't make the same mistake I did. Save yourselves. It's too late for me.

But... but... Luke Perry.

BadKen wrote:

But... but... Luke Perry.

And Michael Dorn, I know.

Can't wait to watch more Longmire!

Also, they just put up season 3 of Miss Fisher's Mysteries.

MrDeVil909 wrote:
Antichulius wrote:
Jonman wrote:
Antichulius wrote:

I did the first season of Agents of SHIELD and found it lackluster for me. Does it get better, then?

I'm only a bit into the second series, but thought the first season ended strong. So maybe it just didn't hit for you?

I actually liked the last couple episodes of the first season, but the slow burn the rest of the season had already worn the show on me and I just didn't go back after the summer break.

Agents of SHIELD starts finding its feet towards the end of the first season, as you noticed. The momentum is maintained into the second season and it goes in quite interesting directions. Worth trying out a run in the new season.

The weak start of AoS was primarily due to them not being allowed by Marvel to do anything to foreshadow the events of Captain America: Winter Soldier. Season 2 doesn't have a similar handicap.

Baron Of Hell wrote:

Gave Narcos a shot it is ok so far. I just watched the first episode. Someone said it was based on a try story. Watching the police takeout someone by going in guns a blazing at a club made me wonder did they really have so little concern about killing innocent bystanders.

Narcos is based on a true story and I believe is loosely based on the book Killing Pablo. My wife loved the show and she used to work for the DEA so that whole storyline/plot/era in time rings well with her. No, the Colombian Drug Police rarely cared about "innocent bystanders" and frankly viewed anyone who frequented businesses/places that were well known to be linked to the Cartels as fair game. A very interesting dynamic arose in their police force and military due to the internal/external drug wars. If you are at all interested in this show/time - do yourself a favor and read Killing Pablo. the author also wrote Blackhawk Down and many others.

Jayhawker wrote:

We are five episodes in on the new season of Longmire, and if you are a fan, you will like this. I'm glad Netflix picked this up, and hopefully they will do more seasons.

I didnt realize Netflix picked it up (God Bless'em). Love the show and the books.

I just finished the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. Despite the presence of Whoopie Goldberg and Megan Fox, it's not terrible! Will Arnett is good in it, though someday when I become a big, famous movie director I'm going to cast William Fichtner as someone who is not a complete slimeball just because I think he's actually good enough to rate the option to escape his typecasting,

The movie really took off for me when I realized that Splinter was voiced by Tony Shaloub. I love that guy.

Anyway, the movie is basically a string of vaguely ninja themed action set pieces and turtle sight gags, which is really all I expect from a TMNT movie. And it was fun, which is all I ever expect from a summer blockbuster.

3.75 stars. It starts weak, but picks up steam after the introduction of Splinter.

doubtingthomas396 wrote:

I just finished the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. Despite the presence of Whoopie Goldberg and Megan Fox, it's not terrible! Will Arnett is good in it, though someday when I become a big, famous movie director I'm going to cast William Fichtner as someone who is not a complete slimeball just because I think he's actually good enough to rate the option to escape his typecasting,

The movie really took off for me when I realized that Splinter was voiced by Tony Shaloub. I love that guy.

Anyway, the movie is basically a string of vaguely ninja themed action set pieces and turtle sight gags, which is really all I expect from a TMNT movie. And it was fun, which is all I ever expect from a summer blockbuster.

3.75 stars. It starts weak, but picks up steam after the introduction of Splinter.

Crossing Lines isn't the best show in the world, but I do like William Fichtner in it and tried it just because I saw he was in the cast.

He was pretty good in Black Hawk Down as well.

Hardly a hidden gem, and probably discussed previously, but man oh man is Bojack Horseman good. I could barely get through the pilot, but it ramped up fast after that. And by the end of the first season it felt like Arnett's best performance ever. Like there were moments I cried. At a cartoon. About a horse.

TheHarpoMarxist wrote:

Hardly a hidden gem, and probably discussed previously, but man oh man is Bojack Horseman good. I could barely get through the pilot, but it ramped up fast after that. And by the end of the first season it felt like Arnett's best performance ever. Like there were moments I cried. At a cartoon. About a horse.

I might need to give this another run. I too struggled with the pilot, and limited time, coupled with a less than glowing response from my wife, quickly saw it regress in the priority viewing list.

m0nk3yboy wrote:
TheHarpoMarxist wrote:

Hardly a hidden gem, and probably discussed previously, but man oh man is Bojack Horseman good. I could barely get through the pilot, but it ramped up fast after that. And by the end of the first season it felt like Arnett's best performance ever. Like there were moments I cried. At a cartoon. About a horse.

I might need to give this another run. I too struggled with the pilot, and limited time, coupled with a less than glowing response from my wife, quickly saw it regress in the priority viewing list.

And then the second season gets even better. Probably my favourite thing Netflix has made so far, but it really does start in a way that it got deservedly dismissed by most people.

Slacker1913 wrote:
m0nk3yboy wrote:
TheHarpoMarxist wrote:

Hardly a hidden gem, and probably discussed previously, but man oh man is Bojack Horseman good. I could barely get through the pilot, but it ramped up fast after that. And by the end of the first season it felt like Arnett's best performance ever. Like there were moments I cried. At a cartoon. About a horse.

I might need to give this another run. I too struggled with the pilot, and limited time, coupled with a less than glowing response from my wife, quickly saw it regress in the priority viewing list.

And then the second season gets even better. Probably my favourite thing Netflix has made so far, but it really does start in a way that it got deservedly dismissed by most people.

I didn't dislike the pilot as much as others--I am about 4 episodes in so far...but it clearly gets much better after the initial episode.

The Walking Dead S05 tomorrow.

muraii wrote:

The Walking Dead S05 tomorrow.

Oh nice. I was waiting on that one.

They added Gotham, maybe not a hidden gem but I didn't get past the pilot before. Maybe it's time to give it another shot.

Oh, I really enjoyed the first season of Gotham. Definitely give it another go.

Honestly, Gotham took a while to get going for me. It really picked up in the latter half, but I really just spent the whole season wishing Batman would show up.

I actually really dug the no-Batman Gotham City, which surprised me. Batman's always what made the stories for me, but here I really dig Gordon, and quite enjoyed Penguin's development and the interplay between the two. I will agree that the second half really picks up compared to the early season.

There is a lull in the middle of the season of Gotham, where I think Gordon's character goes astray. But that gets reeled in and the second half of the season is just fantastic.

I thought it was a really great first season. Just don't expect it to be anything like canon. There are nods, but the writers really do alter anything and everything they want to tell the story.

In waiting for Gotham and Season 3 of Arrow to be 'unleashed' by whatever Australian license holder has them. I'd also like to see The Flash while they're at it, but I think I'm more likely to catch the next Daredevil season before any of those others hit our version of Netflix.

Garth wrote:
Slacker1913 wrote:
m0nk3yboy wrote:
TheHarpoMarxist wrote:

Hardly a hidden gem, and probably discussed previously, but man oh man is Bojack Horseman good. I could barely get through the pilot, but it ramped up fast after that. And by the end of the first season it felt like Arnett's best performance ever. Like there were moments I cried. At a cartoon. About a horse.

I might need to give this another run. I too struggled with the pilot, and limited time, coupled with a less than glowing response from my wife, quickly saw it regress in the priority viewing list.

And then the second season gets even better. Probably my favourite thing Netflix has made so far, but it really does start in a way that it got deservedly dismissed by most people.

I didn't dislike the pilot as much as others--I am about 4 episodes in so far...but it clearly gets much better after the initial episode.

I think what's going on is that Bojack Horseman has a really difficult to pull off tone. In fact, it kind of violates a tonal rule and has two simultaneous tones - one is a fairly light, absurdist humor very much in the vein of the comedic language established in 30 Rock / Arrested Development. The other tone is a very serious, almost studied exploration of isolation and self loathing. At its best the show is hysterically funny (I mean, Vincent Adultman!) and also utterly devastating (the last couple of episodes in the first season are heart-wrenching.)

Most pilots struggle to make things click, and given how difficult it is to pull of two almost contrary tones at the same time, I think the Bojack pilot ends up feeling a lot worse than it actually is. But man, when they finally start hitting the timing and mastering what they're doing that show becomes crazy good.

It does have a very 30 Rock tone--agreed. I struggle to relax with that for for some reason.

This is Life with Lisa Ling

Good documentaries shine light on stories that develop around us to bring together unusual or wholly novel perspectives. I'm two episodes in and this is all of that. Just amazing stories that you don't hear often on the news.

Episode 1 examines an oil boom in a small town in North Dakota. It's a modern day gold rush, with an abundance of well-paying jobs for anyone willing to put bis body on the line. But with the oil boom also came a darker side, as human trafficking and prostitution rose to meet the demands of lonely men. The host interviewed women of all walks of life in this small town, gaining insight on how they navigate this unusual environment.

Episode 2 examines the hidden drug problem in Utah. Under strict religious tenets and social pressure, many LDS members turn to the gray area of prescription drugs to find release. The community was ill prepared for the epidemic, and lives were lost in the process. The host interviewed victims and their family, church members, and others. Particularly impressive was how even-handed she was with all sides of what should be a strongly controversial topic.

Is Lisa Ling the 2nd biggest success to come out of Channel One? Come on, 90's kids, 'member Channel One? How the Ramones helped explain the Balkan Crisis to us between Doritos ads?

SpacePPoliceman wrote:

Is Lisa Ling the 2nd biggest success to come out of Channel One? Come on, 90's kids, 'member Channel One? How the Ramones helped explain the Balkan Crisis to us between Doritos ads?

Which GI Joe was from the Balkins?

Grenn wrote:
SpacePPoliceman wrote:

Is Lisa Ling the 2nd biggest success to come out of Channel One? Come on, 90's kids, 'member Channel One? How the Ramones helped explain the Balkan Crisis to us between Doritos ads?

Which GI Joe was from the Balkins?

Castle Destro the ancestral home of Destro's family is located there.