Things I've Watched in Covid Isolation

[Kyle]

Entire Seasons of Shows:
Season 2 of the Mandalorian (Great- Freaking Great)
Season 1 of Invasion (Good but slow and a bit bloated)
Season 10 of Letter Kenny (If you don't know my thoughts, you don't know me)

Movies:
Get Duked- Great indie British film about four juvenile delinquents being hunted by old people. Lots of rapping. Hilarious.

Meander- French horror about a kidnapped woman put in a series of tubes laced with traps. Pretty good. Not as much like Cube as I thought.

Kingdom: Ashin of the North- Kingdom is a medieval Korean zombie drama and it's so so good. This is a special movie released between seasons, also so so good.

No One Sleeps in the Woods Tonight II- Polish horror comedy. The first movie was a homage/farce to horror movies. This one is a straight up deconstruction. Both are quite funny, but the effects are terrible and the acting is often bad. I enjoyed the first one but didn't love it. I thought much more highly of this one, but if you're not a horror fan, skip it.

There's Someone Inside Your House- Unoriginal teenage slasher. I shouldn't have watched it, but it was the only movie listed in the "horror movie" selection on Netflix's front page that I hadn't seen, so my OCD compelled me to watch it. It's not that it was horrible. It wasn't. I've just seen this exact movie dozens of times. Blah.

[Kyle]

I forgot two:

The Trip: A Norwegian dark comedy about a couple that go to a secluded cabin, each with independent plans to murder each other. It doesn't go as planned. Very funny and the two leads (one of which is Noomi Rapace) are both brilliant in their roles. Genuinely very funny.

Unhinged: Fat Russel Crow is a road rager that stalks a single mom driver who's having a bad day. It's alright. Kind of of like a shittier version of Falling Down. So skip this and rewatch Falling Down if that's the kind of thing you're in the mood for.

[Kyle]

Hawkeye Season 1- I know that you think that Jeremy Renner's MCU Hawkeye is the PG-13, smug, Deadpool wannabe that misses the mark. But this show redeems the Hawkeye character. It is SO DELIGHTFUL! Borrowing heavily from the Matt Fraction run on the Hawkeye comic (which is freaking brilliant), this show captures the low-stakes earnestness of powerless Hawkeye. Kate Bishop (the new Hawkeye) is played perfectly by Hailey Stanfield (who I always thought was a good actress but a prisoner of Hollywood trying to make her an "it" girl). This show is funny, has heart and doesn't take itself too seriously even though it is incredibly earnest. And did I mention there's LARPing? And it's respectful of LARPing?!? But most importantly, the late episode character reveals are freaking amazing. I don't want to spoil it but, HOLY SHIT.

So do yourself a favor. If you've read Matt Fraction's Hawkeye, watch this and you'll enjoy the shit out it. There's plenty of Track Suit Mafia Bros for you to laugh your ass off. If you HAVEN'T read it, then watch this show first. You'll love it. THEN read the Matt Fraction run of Hawkeye (I think it's a single graphic novel) and you'll love that EVEN MORE. Y'all, this show was great.

[Phoebe]

Have you ever seen Fleabag and do you have Amazon prime? I mentioned it because it lends itself so well to massive binge watching.
I believe this was on Netflix - Rainn Wilson is narrating some series that looks at bizarre contests people have, The first one being a cheese rolling down a hill. I think we actually mentioned you among the people we decided should hear about this, So for sure if you have Netflix in isolation you should look into this.

[Kyle]

Have you ever seen Fleabag and do you have Amazon prime? I mentioned it because it lends itself so well to massive binge watching.
I believe this was on Netflix - Rainn Wilson is narrating some series that looks at bizarre contests people have, The first one being a cheese rolling down a hill. I think we actually mentioned you among the people we decided should hear about this, So for sure if you have Netflix in isolation you should look into this.

I have Prime, so I might check Fleabag out.

I think there were two shows like the second one you're talking about. One is We Are The Champions, and I can't remember the name of the other one. But they're both on Netflix and both are terrific. I think Mike and I raved about them here about a year or so ago.

[Kyle]

Oh I forgot:

I finished Only Murders in the Building, which may be my favorite series of the past year.

[Kyle]

Last night, because I've long been committed to watching every horror anthology movie that is ever produced, I watched Hellarious, a movie of 7 or 8 short horror comedies. From your typical fare like cursed murderers or slashers to crazier shit like killer shopping carts and chupacabra- these were actually pretty amusing. The hardest thing to get right in horror comedy is to be true to the horror but still legitimately funny. Most of these hit that mark. I wasn't blown away, but look- most of these were clearly labors of love shot with friends doing all the acting. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Mike]

One is We Are The Champions, and I can't remember the name of the other one. But they're both on Netflix and both are terrific. I think Mike and I raved about them here about a year or so ago.

Yes we did. A surprisingly positive and uplifting show. Joyous.

[Mike]

Oh I forgot:

I finished Only Murders in the Building, which may be my favorite series of the past year.

Really lovely. Again, it just feels good to watch.

[Kyle]

Reservation Dogs Season 1- why are more people not talking about this?!? The show is about four native american kids living on a reservation in Oklahoma and dealing with the shit that goes on in their lives. Filmed on a real reservation, almost the entire cast and crew (including writers and directors) are indigenous people. It's fucking smart and hilarious. I really loved this show. It's on Hulu and you all should watch it.

[Kyle]

The Last Duel- So when I read about this movie, it said, "This is Ridley Scott's take on toxic masculinity." and I thought, "Uh-huh. Sure it it is. Or is it just another excuse to make a movie about men, where women are objects." But now I've watched all 2.5 hours of it and, in fact, it is an examination of toxic masculitnity. Set in the 1400s, the movie is about one squire (Adam Driver) being accused of raping the wife (Jodie Comer) of a knight (Matt Damon). Here's what's cool about it, it's told in four parts. The first two parts are from the perspective of Matt Damon and Adam Driver's perspective. The third part is told from Jodie Comer's perspective. And the fourth part is the duel between Damon and Driver. It actually plays out pretty well and is, in fact, an examination of masculine toxicity. That's all I want to say about it without giving spoilers. Very good movie. High recommend.

[Phoebe]

Just watch episode one of Fleabag and you will purge all your unwanted phlegm. If this does not happen, you will know it is not your cup of tea.

[Kyle]

Fleabag Seasons 1&2- Great recommendation, Phoebe! And she's right. Watch the first episode and you'll know if this is a show for you. Two six-episode seasons with half hour episodes. It's a dark, dark comedy about a early 30s woman whose life is falling apart because of her refusal to face her grief. So smart and so funny. Awesome show- high recommend.

[Phoebe]

I am so happy. Made my day as I sit here in a crowd of mask less dums weighing my choices.

[Kyle]

Season 1 of Alice in Borderland- An interesting sci-fi series about everyone disappearing except select people who have to compete in life or death games. This predates Squid Game and, even though it is a similar premise, it's a completely different feel. More traditional dystopian asian sci-fi. I enjoyed it a lot.

[Kyle]

I forgot to add my last series, which I finished last night:

Archive 81- a Netflix series about an archivist restoring tapes that reveal a mystery related to a cult in '94. Well done and I enjoyed it. Even though it felt unnecessarily slow at parts, it never felt like it had filler in it.

[Phoebe]

We have watched the Champions shows and it was a bit patchy for me since interspersed with other things, like sleeping, but I did see key portions of the cheese roll and frog jump and those were my favorites.