Hidden Gems of Netflix's Watch Instantly

karmajay wrote:

I thought I saw some talk here about The End of the Fxxxing world but I went back to thew beginning of the year and did not see it. I just watched all of it and it was pretty good.

I saw it somewhere. Might have been over in the weight loss and working out thread, as someone was talking about watching Netflix during their morning routine?

BadKen wrote:

Netflix stuck a new movie in my face tonight: Mute, directed by Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code, Warcraft). Premise looks interesting, and decent cast, so checking it out. So far so good...

Moon spoiler:

Spoiler:

funny little Easter egg early on. The mute protagonist goes to a cafe for breakfast and on the TV is a hearing in progress featuring several Sam Bells.

William Gibson has been plugging the hell out of it on Twitter, so I'm obliged to check it out.

I have the urge to play Shadowrun: Dragonfall after watching mute.

Mute is wonderful movie. Heartfelt and creepy at the same time and made me believe in this future world more than any other movie ever has.

Story and vibe is more Gattaca and Strange Days than Blade Runner.

Not sure why The Cloverfield Paradox got the hate it did, other than it was advertised during the Super Bowl. Wasn't the greatest movie, but was decent enough.

The ending scenes of Mute are very satisfying. In fact the whole third act, the last 30-45 minutes, really takes off! It's kind of a pity that it seems to coast on atmosphere and dangling carrots for nearly an hour, though. It finishes with a perfect blend of abhorrence, relentlessness, violence and tenderness.

The setting is inventive, as is the atmosphere. Reviewers have called it derivative, but I disagree - it has its own distinct feel. I especially loved the creatively bizarre appearance of the dozens of extras populating the streets of dark and gritty future Berlin. The production design is marvelous. It's a pity the plotting doesn't measure up.

I liked the acting, particularly from Rudd and Theroux, who I previously only knew as "Mr. Jennifer Aniston". Skarsgård's performance is a bit more uneven. He does intense quite well, but I didn't feel the subtlety I wanted in some other scenes. Most unfortunate is the lack of substantial women's roles. Even the most important woman in the cast just suddenly vanishes at the close of the first act, after only enough character development to make her mysterious.

Overall I enjoyed it. I wish I could have seen it on a theater screen, because the visuals are stunning and packed with detail. I give it a solid B-, but only because any flaws are easily forgotten in Mute's tightly plotted roller coaster of a conclusion.

Bonus_Eruptus wrote:

Not sure why The Cloverfield Paradox got the hate it did, other than it was advertised during the Super Bowl. Wasn't the greatest movie, but was decent enough.

Some folks don't like fiction in their science fiction...

BadKen wrote:

Theroux, who I previously only knew as "Mr. Jennifer Aniston".

Track down The Leftovers (HBO) and watch it!

ranalin wrote:
BadKen wrote:

Theroux, who I previously only knew as "Mr. Jennifer Aniston".

Track down The Leftovers (HBO) and watch it!

He was also in The Last Jedi. Briefly, though.

Rat Boy wrote:
ranalin wrote:
BadKen wrote:

Theroux, who I previously only knew as "Mr. Jennifer Aniston".

Track down The Leftovers (HBO) and watch it!

He was also in The Last Jedi. Briefly, though.

/me whispers in his scariest whisper, "He wrote Iron Man 2."

Remember seeing Dark Matter recommended here, not on UK Netflix but a different streaming service, Now TV, has just started offering up SyFy box sets.... Eight episodes into first series of three, the ONE actor is annoying but apart from that really enjoying it as pulpy fun sci-fi. Cheers for the recommend whoever it was!

Have skipped Altered Carbon for now, was hyped for it as AC novel a fave, but something holding me back, weird one. Have yet to watch Stranger Things series 2 after enjoying the first series a lot, so this odd hesitation to watch something I should enjoy isn't just an book adaption thing... Maybe it's a fear of disappointment.

Seems I'm more in the mood for sci-fun like Dark Matter and Killjoys right now. Here's to lower expectations being exceeded!

Mute hadn't hit my radar yet, listed, ta.

At first I thought of Dark Matter as a poor man's Firefly but I grew to love it. The art and sound design/style really grew on me and reminded me of Mass Effect a lot.

Stranger Things season 2 did not disappoint. Get to it.

Two different takes on crazy have shown up on Netflix. Bates Motel Season 5 and Crazy-Ex Girlfriend Season 3. This is what will be occupying my time for the near future.

Stele wrote:

It's on Amazon Prime in the US

Anyone annoyed that content providers keep pulling their stuff off Netflix and moving it to competitors or starting their own streaming service should consider themselves lucky they live in the US.

Here in Canada, we have one cable company providing a streaming service that barely functions, one who gave up on their half-assed service completely, a myriad of weird copyrighting issues preventing anyone who isn't an established media conglomerate from competing, and US streaming sites that do everything in their power to prevent you from signing up for their service outside of their borders.

So "XXXXX is being pulled off Netflix and going to Amazon/Hulu/Some new service" is always a huge bummer because for me it usually means "XXXXX is being pulled off Netflix and disappearing into the ether."

Also, The Cloverfied Paradox is horrendous.

So Z Nation. First season was good, zombies with tongue firmly in cheek, I was liking it.

Season 2 seems a lot more OTT, with similar stories every week and so much more zombie action. Also the zombie cheese wheel, let's not forget that.

But it's not gripped me the same way, the story is much more contrived and doesn't seem as interesting and the characters aren't really developing. And I'm sort of wanting Murphy killed off, far too much of a joke.

Not sure how many more I'll watch, it's at season 4 as well....

I really enjoyed seasons 1 and 2. Season 3 wasn't great but I've heard season 4 is fun again. The show doesn't stop being over the top so if you aren't enjoying that sort of thing now I wouldn't expect your opinion to change with another season.

I really came to like Dark Matter S01. S02 got a little sloppy or over-serious—I cant remember which. I haven’t gone back.

Has anybody mentioned The Frankenstein Chronicles? I've been on a Frankenstein kick over the last few weeks, possibly due to the 200th anniversary of its original publication. This is a well done crime story set in 1820's London, starring Sean Bean. If you haven't heard much about it, please do yourself a favor and don't read too much ahead of time, it's a fast moving 6 episodes and very rewarding.

kuddles wrote:
Stele wrote:

It's on Amazon Prime in the US

Anyone annoyed that content providers keep pulling their stuff off Netflix and moving it to competitors or starting their own streaming service should consider themselves lucky they live in the US.

Here in Canada, we have one cable company providing a streaming service that barely functions, one who gave up on their half-assed service completely, a myriad of weird copyrighting issues preventing anyone who isn't an established media conglomerate from competing, and US streaming sites that do everything in their power to prevent you from signing up for their service outside of their borders.

So "XXXXX is being pulled off Netflix and going to Amazon/Hulu/Some new service" is always a huge bummer because for me it usually means "XXXXX is being pulled off Netflix and disappearing into the ether."

Also, The Cloverfied Paradox is horrendous.

I don’t think this is content providers pulling stuff off Netflix, it’s Netflix changing their business model to more original production series and not relying on buying stuff in. Buying stuff is hideously expensive, even for stuff that’s quite old (Netflix are paying a fortune for all the Star Treks, but that got them access to Discovery outside the US, and effectively gave CBS the money they needed to make Discovery in the first place) Netflix need to makes ends meet eventually so I doubt Archer will be the first casualty, especially if not that many people are watching it.

Copyright holders started demanding more money and/or pulling their shows to build competing services once Netflix proved the streaming video market existed. As I understand it, copyright law grants the holder a lot of leverage in those kinds of business deals. The only real way for Netflix to move forward is to have a critical mass of stuff that they hold the copyright to.

Running Man wrote:

Has anybody mentioned The Frankenstein Chronicles?

I've really been enjoying it, and loved the nod to Sharpe's Rifles.

Aetius wrote:
Running Man wrote:

Has anybody mentioned The Frankenstein Chronicles?

I've really been enjoying it, and loved the nod to Sharpe's Rifles. :)

Now Im definitely in - Sharpe is one of my all time favorite characters, both books and movies.

Sorbicol wrote:

I don’t think this is content providers pulling stuff off Netflix, it’s Netflix changing their business model to more original production series and not relying on buying stuff in. Buying stuff is hideously expensive, even for stuff that’s quite old (Netflix are paying a fortune for all the Star Treks, but that got them access to Discovery outside the US, and effectively gave CBS the money they needed to make Discovery in the first place) Netflix need to makes ends meet eventually so I doubt Archer will be the first casualty, especially if not that many people are watching it.

The 2 go hand-in-hand though. Content providers started the effort of threatening to move if they didn't get more money or, like Disney is doing, decided to do their own thing, and Netflix realized this situation was just going to get worse.

Aetius wrote:
Running Man wrote:

Has anybody mentioned The Frankenstein Chronicles?

I've really been enjoying it, and loved the nod to Sharpe's Rifles. :)

Put me down for another one that is enjoying it into Season 2. Only had one "WTF?" moment in Season 1 but otherwise the acting and set pieces are great.

New season of Hap & Leonard is out. Super good as always.

pizzaddict wrote:

I really enjoyed seasons 1 and 2. Season 3 wasn't great but I've heard season 4 is fun again. The show doesn't stop being over the top so if you aren't enjoying that sort of thing now I wouldn't expect your opinion to change with another season.

decided to keep going, it's Murphy rather than the whole thing being OTT that I was concerned about. Need some new characters as well but early days

pizzaddict wrote:

I really enjoyed seasons 1 and 2. Season 3 wasn't great but I've heard season 4 is fun again. The show doesn't stop being over the top so if you aren't enjoying that sort of thing now I wouldn't expect your opinion to change with another season.

I didn't mind season three. Though, to be honest, I binged it over a year ago my recollection isn't exactly fresh.

I did burn through season four last weekend and it was most definitely fun and OTT!

I finished Travelers season 2 this weekend, and I think it topped season 1. Season 2 balances the crisis-of-the-week with the ongoing plot quite well. The actors are all comfortable in their roles and doing incredible work.

Only thing though... it landed on a MASSIVE cliffhanger. This is annoying because season 3 has not been announced! Also there's the little thing of Will & Grace episodes being produced... Fortunately both series creator Brad Wright and exec producer/lead actor Eric McCormack have dropped hints on Twitter that an announcement will be coming soon. Various rumors have been flying due to an entry on the Director's Guild of Canada's BC Production list, but Travelers is not on the most recent list, and there has been no official announcement from Netflix.

Everything sucks is such a great 90s trip. I hate the confused timeliness but it hits all the great feeling points.

Agreed BadKen! Good to hear its looking positive for Travelers!