Hidden Gems of HBO Max

Suvanto wrote:

Finished the first season of Warrior after stalling for good few months. It's really quite fun, guaranteed Cinemax quality action.

Warrior is excellent, and today's news is that it is getting a Season 3!

PaladinTom wrote:

We really enjoyed the first episode of The Nevers. I had read a few negative reviews earlier in the day so I had really low expectations. We were pleasantly surprised and will be tuning in for now.

Same here. Whedon's name is a poison pill for a project these days so I hope that the quality continues after he left the series.

I watched Godzilla vs. Kong the way it was meant to be seen: on a second screen as background viewing while doing work. It ruled! Nothing the humans did was of any interest to me, but there were a good half-dozen laugh out loud moments of just joy as Kong socked Godzilla right in the face and similar action. I loved the neon cityscapes, the absurd hollow earth stuff, and, my favorite shot of the whole movie, at the end:

Spoiler:

Godzilla using his nuclear fire breath to charge up King Kong's axe so he could take down Mechagodzilla

This sort of bonkers silly action doesn't always connect with me, sometimes I care about the plot being incomprehensible or the characters' motivations not making sense or the side plots being stupid, but, not this time. It's inspired me to put on Kong Skull Island and holy hell, I don't know how I missed what an incredible cast this movie has. I recall knowing that Brie Larson and Tom Hiddleston were in it, but I didn't know the cast also included John Goodman, Sam Jackson, John C. Reilly, Shea Wiggam, Marc Evan Jackson and a bunch of other great actors. I'm about an hour in and there's tons of cool shots and great imagery, a really vibrant color palette... Cool movie! Maybe I'm a monster movie guy and just never knew it (prior to this week, I think the only movie like this I can recall seeing is the 2014 Godzilla, which I thought was pretty good, and I guess Pacific Rim might count too).

And on a completely different track: There's a new season of Infinity Train! This was a surprise to me, I checked out the first three seasons when this service started and I was surprised how much I liked, but I hadn't seen anyone talk about anywhere so I wasn't expecting it to get another season. Infinity Train is a sci-fi series that begins with the premise of a girl running away from home who discovers a train, and once she gets on board, she discovers that each car of the train is a separate world, and also she suddenly has a neon number printed on her hand, and as she travels through the cars of the train and deals with problems that arise in each one, her number changes and she tries to figure out what it all means and how she might get home and whether she wants to. It's like...Quantum Leap and Doctor Who crossed with Adventure Time and Steven Universe? Each of the subsequent seasons have focused on characters who spun off of the first season, and I liked each of the first three, though the first is probably my favorite. I don't know what the fourth season is about because I haven't started it, but I'm excited to find out!

For most of the reasons you stated above, Godzilla vs Kong is the most true to the Showa era Godzilla flics. Lots of great fights between monsters, humans fleeing, kaiju emoting, a macguffin that helps the "good" monster, hubris being the downfall of the man behind the curtain, and of course children with plot armor. It has it all in glorious HD. Unfortunately, that also means that it won't be a re-watch until I'm feeling nostalgic.

So HBO Max recently added Superman: The Animated Series, remastered in HD for the first time. Just in case you're interested in a version of the character that's superior to anything the DCEU has ever done.

Coincidentally, my best friend and I just wrapped up our two-year podcast project to watch and rank every episode of Batman: The Animated Series (also on HBO Max) and are moving on to Superman. We just posted our pilot episode covering the three-part Last Son of Krypton pilot; next week is Fun and Games and the Toyman.

So, y'know. Obligatory plug.

I just started season 3 of Search Party, and man is it good. The first few episodes were a little rough for me because they go out of their way to make all the characters insufferable. Once it got rolling, I didn't notice nearly as much. Not sure if that's because they toned things down, or because there was enough other stuff and nuance added that it bothered me less. Either way, I'm actually finding myself rooting for the characters now, even though I still want to slap them sometimes. I'm really glad I started watching this.

After watching the first 20 minutes of Shin Godzilla I have to say don't bother with the American versions. They do more in the first 20 minutes than they did in 3 godzilla movies. Kong skull island wasn't bad. It's just shin Godzilla is great.

Shin Godzilla is up there with Godzilla Returns and Gojira as a movie that isn't a kaiju movie so much as it's a movie using kaiju to tell a greater narrative. Those movies have something to say and they use the ridiculous threat of a giant atomic mutated dinosaur to say it.

Grenn wrote:

Godzilla vs Kong is the most true to the Showa era Godzilla flics.

*Stares in King of the Monsters*

hbi2k wrote:

So HBO Max recently added Superman: The Animated Series, remastered in HD for the first time. Just in case you're interested in a version of the character that's superior to anything the DCEU has ever done.

Coincidentally, my best friend and I just wrapped up our two-year podcast project to watch and rank every episode of Batman: The Animated Series (also on HBO Max) and are moving on to Superman. We just posted our pilot episode covering the three-part Last Son of Krypton pilot; next week is Fun and Games and the Toyman.

So, y'know. Obligatory plug.

Is it as good as this? Skip to five minutes in to see Supes.

Really enjoyed the first 2 eps of The Nevers. I can deal with Whedon as creator because he left the show before it premiered.

RawkGWJ wrote:
hbi2k wrote:

So HBO Max recently added Superman: The Animated Series, remastered in HD for the first time. Just in case you're interested in a version of the character that's superior to anything the DCEU has ever done.

Coincidentally, my best friend and I just wrapped up our two-year podcast project to watch and rank every episode of Batman: The Animated Series (also on HBO Max) and are moving on to Superman. We just posted our pilot episode covering the three-part Last Son of Krypton pilot; next week is Fun and Games and the Toyman.

So, y'know. Obligatory plug.

Is it as good as this? Skip to five minutes in to see Supes.

I'm pretty sure those old Max Fleischer cartoons are explicitly called out as one of the big inspirations for S:TAS.

A 2nd for superman and batman animated. Peak best.

Vargen wrote:

I'm pretty sure those old Max Fleischer cartoons are explicitly called out as one of the big inspirations for S:TAS.

Well, yeah. But more importantly, the Fleischer Superman was most likely the biggest inspiration behind Batman:TAS, which was a clear influence on Superman:TAS.

Man, seeing that Fleischer Superman brings me back. I watched that very episode countless times as a kid on VHS. But now seeing it on Youtube, the colors pop in ways they never did before. Its really amazing.

I almost forgot... I need to work out a proper viewing order for the Batman and Superman Animated Serieses for streaming. On DVD it's "Watch the first 3* Batman seasons, then watch Superman until Batman shows up, then alternate discs between them."

Speaking of that continuity, I should probably go back and actually watch Static Shock now that I have the chance. I missed it the first time around.

*I think. I haven't revisited them in years so I might be remembering wrong. If the art style shifts then you've gone too far.

Vargen wrote:

I almost forgot... I need to work out a proper viewing order for the Batman and Superman Animated Serieses for streaming. On DVD it's "Watch the first 3* Batman seasons, then watch Superman until Batman shows up, then alternate discs between them."

Speaking of that continuity, I should probably go back and actually watch Static Shock now that I have the chance. I missed it the first time around.

*I think. I haven't revisited them in years so I might be remembering wrong. If the art style shifts then you've gone too far.

If you're trying to approximate airdate order, something like this should work:

* Batman Season 1
* Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
* Batman Season 2(Volumes 2 and 3 of the DVDs; watch through "Judgment Day" and you'll be fine.)
* Batman & Mr. Freeze: Sub-Zero
* Superman Season 1
* Superman Season 2 until you hit "World's Finest"
* Alternate episodes of Batman and Superman from here

That'll get you to the introductions of Supergirl and Livewire before they show up in B:TAS. You could get more granular with alternating by airdate if you wanted, but this order is easier to remember.

Hm I did a rewatch of Superman a few years ago... gosh, maybe 5 or 6? It was on Amazon Prime for a while.

Now I own Batman and Batman Beyond sets. Very tempting rewatch...

Static shock was great and definitely rotate in Batman Beyond once done. About 15 years ago I did a full beyond watch, so good.

Don't forget Justice League / JL Unlimited. The Cadmus Arc was incredible.

I was very excited to see The Thin Man added. Can't believe that movie is almost 90 years old.

My wife and I watched The Thin Man on HBO Max as part of our special Valentines dinner date at home--I'd never seen it before but had heard good things, and we both liked it a lot. There were aspects of it that felt a little dated at first--the rhythms of a 1930s movie are definitely not like a modern movie--but overall a surprisingly modern and enjoyable movie. One gloomy thought that kept floating through my head though was "wow, everyone who appears in this or worked on it is almost certainly dead by now." Though really that's a thought that troubles me any time I see sufficiently old videos...every once in a while I'll see a video tweeted out that's like an 1880s New York City street scene and I can't help but think about how even if there's a little baby that makes an appearance, that baby has probably been dead for at least 40 years. Hm this got depressing fast. Anyway, good movie!

The wife and I finished watching the first season of Raised by Wolves. The final episode evokes the disappointment of the Lost finale with the WTFness of the St Elsewhere finale.

Just finished Mortal Kombat. It was good! Not great but entertaining, the action was well done without to many jump cuts, the story held together, and while it was more serious than the original it was still rather light hearted. The violence was so over the top as to not be ... off putting. I am not sure that make sense but sometimes - like in the Yakuza games - the violence is so silly and over the top that it doesn't feel that bad. It is obviously not real so it is easy to laugh at.

Would recommend

Crawley wrote:

The wife and I finished watching the first season of Raised by Wolves. The final episode evokes the disappointment of the Lost finale with the WTFness of the St Elsewhere finale.

Lol! Yeah a good one word review of Raised by Wolves is "WTF?".

I really enjoyed the new Mortal Kombat. Perfect movie to watch at home while under the weather.

Mortal combat was fun but a few fights were a bit choppy. The actors did a great job with those fights but I think they were edited to make them more cinematicly active.

Add Shang Tsung to the list of biggest cheaters in coaching.

Doh, wrong thread!

mrlogical wrote:

Falcon and Winter Soldier stuff:

Spoiler:

Random Falcon finale thing that bothered me: how does this random senator a)get to be a vote on the GRC thing and b)pardon people? That's definitely not how pardons work, and I guess I can't say it's not how the GRC works since that doesn't exist but any time the US is participating in some sort of international vote it would almost always be represented by a member of the executive branch, something like this would probably be like our representative to the UN or something. I assume it's just that calling someone Senator is an easier shorthand for "important person" than they would otherwise achieve and maybe this isn't a nit worth picking, but it annoyed me!

Wrong thread