Hidden Gems of Netflix's Watch Instantly

Paleocon wrote:

Has anyone else watched The Magicians? It's a little rapey for my tastes, but the deconstruction of Narnia to a world of malevalent gods is a pretty good one.

You had me at "deconstruction of Narnia to a world of malevalent gods," I'm in.

Wife and I started Travelers and surprisingly it has her interest. She usually bows out of sci-fi or timetravel but so far they do it well.

Hypatian wrote:

By the way, if you liked Tokyo Tribes even a little, keep an eye out for Why Don't You Play In Hell? (which is not around on Netflix yet, but probably will be eventually). It's less gonzo than TT, but still really damned gonzo and amazing.

Jumping back a few days- this is streamable now on 'tubi.tv'. Never heard of them before, but apparently they're ad-supported and legal. I was curious and clicked through from Justwatch expecting to see a subscription cost, and the movie started right up.

Mixolyde wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

Has anyone else watched The Magicians? It's a little rapey for my tastes, but the deconstruction of Narnia to a world of malevalent gods is a pretty good one.

I have only seen the first season, but I really liked it. The twists on an old theme are bizarre and interesting to me.

I'm really impressed with the way they've kept to the spirit of the books while making it fit TV.

Mixolyde wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

Has anyone else watched The Magicians? It's a little rapey for my tastes, but the deconstruction of Narnia to a world of malevalent gods is a pretty good one.

I have only seen the first season, but I really liked it. The twists on an old theme are bizarre and interesting to me.

I love that they respectfully treated myths from my own Korean childhood. The introduction of the mudang and the dokkaebi was super cool. I just wish that they would have had Penny do a judo throw on one of them and get granted a wish by accident.

I had to watch it again to catch what the mudang ladies were saying because I was laughing too hard the first time.

Roughly translated:

woman in blue says: "This isn't going to work. We should just stab her with our knives."

To which the woman in the cowprint shirt says, "Don't joke around. We're making progress."

Blue: "This is bullsh*t. There is no way to kill this demon without killing this white girl." (as she stabs the table and storms off).

Which makes it all the more hilarious when she says "No problem. We just discussing best way to handle your situation..."

I have been in so many rooms where these sorts of conversations have happened.

Never, ever, ever f*ck with ajummahs.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

Babylon Berlin

That's next for me after I finish Altered Carbon.

The Magicians was ok in the first season. A little too CW for my taste. I felt like the second season was worse and my wife agreed and stopped after four episodes.

LeapingGnome wrote:

The Magicians was ok in the first season. A little too CW for my taste. I felt like the second season was worse and my wife agreed and stopped after four episodes.

If there was any show like this on the CW i'd start watching content on that channel again.

Yeah, I never got a CW vibe from The Magicians. We ended up moving on early in the second season, but really liked the first. We will still probably go back and binge it at some point.

But I felt it was far more hipster Harry Potter than Narnia to us.

THERE'S A CLOVERFIELD THING DROPPING LATER TONIGHT!!!!!!!!

Saw that rumored before the trailer. Wow.

Too bad my wife hasn't seen the first. And for some strange reason it's not on Netflix. You'd think they would want both there.

Here's a tweet with the netflix screen.. Releases after the game. I think I might have to do that tonight.

Cloverfield lane is on prime I thought....Just not the regular.

Hobear wrote:

Cloverfield lane is on prime I thought....Just not the regular.

Yeah it's on both Prime and Hulu. But I haven't seen the first one in forever. Probably 2009 or 10.

Lane was excellent and only tangentially related to the original.

I believe their intention is to tell stories in the same universe. Do you know there are monsters? Then ok you're good.

The Cloverfield Paradox was one hell of a ride; a wall to wall homage to the classic space thrillers.

oilypenguin wrote:

Lane was excellent and only tangentially related to the original.

I believe their intention is to tell stories in the same universe. Do you know there are monsters? Then ok you're good.

From stuff said after people complained Lane had no real connection to the the first, I think they were going for the opposite. Similarly themed stories (human stories with sci-fi/monster action being the catalyst, but mostly happening in the background), but not necessarily from the same universe. I didn't watch Paradox yet to see if they keep that up or do something to link the previous movies.

Paleocon wrote:

Has anyone else watched The Magicians? It's a little rapey for my tastes, but the deconstruction of Narnia to a world of malevalent gods is a pretty good one.

I tried 2 episodes, I won't be watching more. My wife will probably finish it on her own. I put it in the same category as Vampire Diaries.

-BEP

bepnewt wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

Has anyone else watched The Magicians? It's a little rapey for my tastes, but the deconstruction of Narnia to a world of malevalent gods is a pretty good one.

I tried 2 episodes, I won't be watching more. My wife will probably finish it on her own. I put it in the same category as Vampire Diaries.

-BEP

We quit after 2 episodes too. I wasn't feeling it and my wife loves the books and thought the adaptation was horrible.

Books ruin a lot of good TV

In regards to these i know they branched hardcore from the book, but they took those changes and made them work within the world framed by the TV show. The core beats are still there, and honestly some of the things skipped is just too hardcore for TV. I'm actually impressed because when i first started watching i almost bounced off because i thought they were slashing everything important out. They're not.

Finished episode 6 last night and have to say I am really digging Altered Carbon.

Damn episodes 7-10 of Altered Carbon are an absolute sh*t show. I am on board for adaptations making big changes, but the only change that pays off here is Poe. The rest are hacky filler to extend what should be a 6 hour story to10.

Reminds me of Luke Cage. Front-load the quality, then let the back half fall Dragon Ball Z level writing with the hopes that the viewer just doesn't notice. Boo, Netflix bait-n-switch, boo.

They have completely ruined any value a second or third season would have. Season 2 I predict the emergence of a second envoy/quellist as a plot twist, with a power level of 9000. I will not be there to see it.

Hobear wrote:

Wife and I started Travelers and surprisingly it has her interest. She usually bows out of sci-fi or timetravel but so far they do it well.

I've mainlined this show over the past three weeks and have loved it. Just finished season 2 and am now awaiting season 3.

Danjo Olivaw wrote:

Damn episodes 7-10 of Altered Carbon are an absolute sh*t show. I am on board for adaptations making big changes, but the only change that pays off here is Poe. The rest are hacky filler to extend what should be a 6 hour story to10.

The rest are filler to set up Season 2:

Spoiler:

The Quest for Quell's Stack

Danjo Olivaw wrote:

They have completely ruined any value a second or third season would have. Season 2 I predict the emergence of a second envoy/quellist as a plot twist, with a power level of 9000. I will not be there to see it.

This is essentially book 3 of the series. I love that this got made, but i'm not a huge fan of how they tried to combine a lot of different elements from the later books in this first series. I suspect it was due to costs, but them combining SeaTac training with the Envoys and

Spoiler:

the sh*t with his sister

just to have a hanging thread for a new season was not needed at all and definitely feels cheap. Overall though it's still a good show at least for me.

thejustinbot wrote:
Hobear wrote:

Wife and I started Travelers and surprisingly it has her interest. She usually bows out of sci-fi or timetravel but so far they do it well.

I've mainlined this show over the past three weeks and have loved it. Just finished season 2 and am now awaiting season 3.

It grew on me and I recently finished season 2, not knowing season 3 wasn't there to watch. Letdown.

There's a slight chance I may have a crush on Mackenzie Porter. Maybe.

-BEP

Rat Boy wrote:

The Cloverfield Paradox was one hell of a ride; a wall to wall homage to the classic space thrillers.

it was an odd 'un.

I don't really know what I thought of it, other than (a) the irish guy from the IT Crowd is only really capable of being 'the Irish guy from the IT Crowd' even when he's trying to be serious

and (b) I feel like the whole premise

Spoiler:

Running out of "energy" so....giant dangerous space centrifuge to make infinite power

seems a bit...flimsy? *looks out of metaphorical window in general direction of about a dozen non-metaphorical wind turbines*

bepnewt wrote:
thejustinbot wrote:
Hobear wrote:

Wife and I started Travelers and surprisingly it has her interest. She usually bows out of sci-fi or timetravel but so far they do it well.

I've mainlined this show over the past three weeks and have loved it. Just finished season 2 and am now awaiting season 3.

It grew on me and I recently finished season 2, not knowing season 3 wasn't there to watch. Letdown.

There's a slight chance I may have a crush on Mackenzie Porter. Maybe.

-BEP

She certainly is great. She’s probably my second favorite Traveler behind Trevor, but David for my money is far and away the best character on the show.

Well, Cloverfield Paradox was eye-rollingly bad.

Spoiler:

Is it too much to ask that science fiction movies at least make a half-hearted attempt to get the science part right? How exactly is a particle accelerator supposed to create energy? They could have easily done a cut/replace on the script with "experimental fusion reactor" and it would have made a lot more sense.

Then there's the wacky space station design, with multiple spinning rings for some reason. Ok, sure, gravity via centrifugal force, but those rings look to be spinning at 40-60 rpms, and the small internal size would mean the g-force differential between your head and feet inside would virtually guarantee constant extreme nausea. Ok, maybe that's picking at nits, but still, how do you transfer from a 40 rpm ring into the stationary part of the hull?

Oh, and apparently there's gravity in space when they're crossing the missing section of the station.

On top of the bad science, they just have to add in every overused horror movie trope ever: supposedly top tier, well trained, psych-evaluated scientists resorting to fisticuffs at the slightest provocation, not actually talking problems through, acting like a bunch of school children. Could we maybe, occasionally, have a movie where "scientists" actually act like real people?

I don't even know what the point of the rescue of the kid on Earth was. Completely irrelevant to the story.

Also, in the other dimension, the space station was on the other side of the sun from Earth, but that escape pod was going to get the two astronauts back to Earth? Roughly 186 million miles (2 au) away give or take?

Oh, and the basic premise that Earth is out of "energy" and countries are starting ground wars to... what... capture... energy? Huh?

I guess I've just been spoiled by too many good Sci Fi movies in recent history that I'm not willing to overlook the flaws in this one. Not a bad problem to have, all things considered.