What Are You Watching?
Re: What Are You Watching?
I just started The Expanse this week and I'm six episodes in. Why did I sleep on this series? Great scifi with a Battlestar feel to it.
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I enjoyed the first part, yes - husband has stuck with it but I've dropped off now as I got behind where he was. I really like Shohreh Aghdashloo - she is awesome!
Continuing on with watching Something In the Rain - it's a long series. I think they are trying to hurt the audience. They make us fall in love with this couple - they are so perfect, we are so indignant that society frowns upon their pairing of ages for all the wrong reasons, we love them and we recognize ourselves in them - no, we recognize the BEST of ourselves in them, our aspirational selves! This is true even when they are flawed: we see that he has bottled up his traumas in order to deal with them. Well, haven't we all? Who can blame him? We can see that she has messed up her life precisely by being too obedient and caring to her parents, and too unwilling to cause discomfort to other people. She'd rather hurt herself than hurt others. Well! We get it, girl, we get it. But you have to go for it, kids, you two have to be happy! You have our blessings! Everything needs to work out!
Then they start chipping away and chipping away at their happiness - we thought we knew what obstacles the couple would face and we were sure they should confidently stride past these! But then we see that they are causing pain to their families that we did not see or understand before. We see that they wanted to avoid this, but they love each other too much! Aieeee, I am suffering actual emotional pain from watching this show. It hurts me! Things had better work out for these people. Soon! I would be happy if we just devolved to watching them walk around the park or cook supper together, contentedly. Every diversion from their happiness is a new agony. I would be bawling my eyes out but I am supervising people's kids and going to work meetings around all this and, well, I can't! I have to suppress it. K-dramas are also bad for your own relationships - this show reminds me of all these things I felt and experienced when I was about to be or just had become engaged to my husband. You see this nice young man - he is doing everything right. He can do no wrong. He is a perfect man. No real man can be like this. It's just... you cannot. But you are put into that emotional place again by the show and then given a version of a perfect man to compare with and that's not cool! Have mercy on us, please. No man is this good. I won't even comment on myself; this woman is perfect as well. They are killing me with their sadness.
Re: What Are You Watching?
I finished watching this Something in the Rain show. I wrote a long discussion here about the quantity of snot swallowed but thought better of some details so decided to give you the brief summary instead. The show is so good, so poignant, so insightful, so profound. I am laying here totally dehydrated with a migraine as a result but cannot sleep. It hit way, waayyy too close. The last episode, basically sobbed for over an hour straight. What writer did this to me? Will find out tomorrow.
Re: What Are You Watching?
I was both emotionally and physically exhausted by watching Something in the Rain. It was such a good show but it really was painful. These people were suffering things. The crying was epic - I think I made myself sick, physically. I couldn't watch anything during the weekend. In this sad state I sought solace from watching the little driblets of Pachinko allowed to us. The sight of my man Lee Min-ho only continued the torment. It hurts me to look at him. Apparently some subset of his public is dismayed that he "put on weight" for the role. Uh, where? Keep going, buddy, I'll let you know when you're close to optimal. Lots of road to travel. His face looks maybe a slight hair fuller and that just makes it harder to look at him without the dull ache. Honestly can't see how anyone could date this person. It would be a burden to live with that kind of appearance. I have gratitude I'm not (quite lollll) that good looking. No worries here, no such burden. But for real, how does this guy ever know when he is loved for himself only, and not his looks or the rest of the accoutrements of fame and fortune? I don't think I could be in a room with him. I mean, you could but you'd faint. How does he converse with anyone?
Re: What Are You Watching?
So, yep, I'm watching these snippets of this Pachinko show that I can't access on Apple plus TV or whatever. I have seen about five critical scenes with Lee Min Ho and feel like I know something about Hansu. It only takes a few seconds and you have everything.
In one of these early episodes he did a love scene and I am dismayed, to say the least, by the "fan reaction". Y'all. It caused hysteria so I thought it had to be something far more dramatic than what he had already done on film. We have had a shower scene, a sauna scene, and a scene where he's half naked and fighting off hypothermia in some kind of mountain shack. We have had multiple entire shirtless scenes in swim trunks. More importantly, we have had The Closet Scene from Inheritors. Good luck besting that one!
Well. In this scene from Pachinko that has everyone frothing, it turns out our man is fully clothed and all we see is that he touches the woman's mouth with his hand and then touches her bared shoulders with both hands, and then they kiss. It is clear they are doing business but none is shown! Yes, the way he touches the woman is all that and more, but we already knew it would be like that. It was just confirming what we already know!
So first I was disgusted because I felt that in many screeching headlines I was promised something much more than I got - going by the reaction level - but then I was truly outraged on behalf of the guy because apparently some large group of fans refused to believe he is shown in the scene! They say he used some kind of stunt double as if what was happening was a stunt! Can you imagine?! They think it was someone else because his profile in the kissing scene didn't look very handsome! They don't think it looked like his face. ?????????
I feel like in the afterlife I will have even more punishment because of how much I love Lee Min Ho. First I was like, hey girl, pick Boy #2!!! And I started screaming at my TV because I thought I was probably the only one who could see it. Then I realized the entire world saw what I saw and that's why he is the biggest actor, biggest fandom in the World. Okay. Makes sense! Then I watched all of his shows that I was able to get ahold of easily. Then I watched a bunch of stuff that wasn't easy to get ahold of. At first I thought he was just the second best looking man on Earth - then I realized he is extremely similar to my actual husband in a great variety of ways! Except I assume he's gay and I don't think husband is, so they're different in that way? But otherwise basically a similar guy - A similar type and even similar looks if you somehow translate into a different format. It's hard to explain. I bet if we did the math and calculated the angles and ratios and relationships among parts, it would be all the same ones, plus that vague resemblance to Big Bird in the way they kind of bend down to listen, and the way the legs attach? I know what I see is the truth, even if it sounds crazy. Anyway, it's unethical, the degree to which I love this man. The husband has his various celebrity crushes and that's fine, he can watch Outlander by himself because heaven knows there's nothing to divert my attention in that show, and plenty to cause revulsion! But it can't be OK to actually love Lee Min Ho, you know? Like, that can't be right, but here we are. Please, let him be gay, because my life is weird enough sometimes and I will someday go to Korea.
Ah yes, I started off here intending to post a television review. I watched The King: Eternal Monarch, because it stars LMH as a king. The show is terrible. It would have been unwatchable except that he's on the screen sometimes - a lot of time. At some point you just have to give up because the plot doesn't make any sense at all. It was an exercise in wading through many hours of television I couldn't understand at all in plot, not to mention that I couldn't understand most of the language and had to rely on subtitles. Eventually I gave up looking at the subtitles and just watched his face talk and do things. That's a really sad comment but it's true: I haven't the slightest idea what was going on in that dumb show but I just watched him walk around and emote and say words that I didn't understand. When people say things like I would watch that guy read the dictionary... It was like that. But of course I love him, so every once in a while I want to see him and it doesn't really matter what he's doing on screen. It is not morally OK to love this dude, however, so I think I'm just going to stop watching shows that he's in. It's not like a fan thing - I'm not even that much of a fan. I don't enjoy this situation at all. I don't know if it's just me or if everybody looks at the man's face and has this reaction eventually.
Oh, hahahhahaaaa here's the funniest thing in the world. In his next show, he is going to play a doctor who falls in love with an astronaut. Correct: these days I mostly do feel like a visitor from outer space. That will make it easy. Check this out... You know they think of this stuff because they are all laughing over the prospect that none of this could ever happen in real life. If you walked in and this man was your OB/GYN???? LoLLLllllllL there are no words. Hahahaha the very idea of such a thing! An OB! Haha. The patient would just pass out cold immediately and then they would do the exam.
"On March 28, it was confirmed that Lee Min Ho would be playing male lead Gong Ryong, an OB-GYN (obstetrician-gynecologist) with a strong sense of responsibility who arrives at the space station as a tourist."
Seriously, this is hilarious. I honestly would not be able to go to the doctor if the person looked like this man. I would take one look and have to walk out the door. Goodbye. And I mean, It happens that my OB GYN in real life is extremely good looking and quite charming as well, but that doesn't have any effect on me. It would be different if you were dealing with this. I don't know how anyone could deal with this. Like you could have this person even in the room, much less touching you, lol!
In one of these early episodes he did a love scene and I am dismayed, to say the least, by the "fan reaction". Y'all. It caused hysteria so I thought it had to be something far more dramatic than what he had already done on film. We have had a shower scene, a sauna scene, and a scene where he's half naked and fighting off hypothermia in some kind of mountain shack. We have had multiple entire shirtless scenes in swim trunks. More importantly, we have had The Closet Scene from Inheritors. Good luck besting that one!
Well. In this scene from Pachinko that has everyone frothing, it turns out our man is fully clothed and all we see is that he touches the woman's mouth with his hand and then touches her bared shoulders with both hands, and then they kiss. It is clear they are doing business but none is shown! Yes, the way he touches the woman is all that and more, but we already knew it would be like that. It was just confirming what we already know!
So first I was disgusted because I felt that in many screeching headlines I was promised something much more than I got - going by the reaction level - but then I was truly outraged on behalf of the guy because apparently some large group of fans refused to believe he is shown in the scene! They say he used some kind of stunt double as if what was happening was a stunt! Can you imagine?! They think it was someone else because his profile in the kissing scene didn't look very handsome! They don't think it looked like his face. ?????????
I feel like in the afterlife I will have even more punishment because of how much I love Lee Min Ho. First I was like, hey girl, pick Boy #2!!! And I started screaming at my TV because I thought I was probably the only one who could see it. Then I realized the entire world saw what I saw and that's why he is the biggest actor, biggest fandom in the World. Okay. Makes sense! Then I watched all of his shows that I was able to get ahold of easily. Then I watched a bunch of stuff that wasn't easy to get ahold of. At first I thought he was just the second best looking man on Earth - then I realized he is extremely similar to my actual husband in a great variety of ways! Except I assume he's gay and I don't think husband is, so they're different in that way? But otherwise basically a similar guy - A similar type and even similar looks if you somehow translate into a different format. It's hard to explain. I bet if we did the math and calculated the angles and ratios and relationships among parts, it would be all the same ones, plus that vague resemblance to Big Bird in the way they kind of bend down to listen, and the way the legs attach? I know what I see is the truth, even if it sounds crazy. Anyway, it's unethical, the degree to which I love this man. The husband has his various celebrity crushes and that's fine, he can watch Outlander by himself because heaven knows there's nothing to divert my attention in that show, and plenty to cause revulsion! But it can't be OK to actually love Lee Min Ho, you know? Like, that can't be right, but here we are. Please, let him be gay, because my life is weird enough sometimes and I will someday go to Korea.
Ah yes, I started off here intending to post a television review. I watched The King: Eternal Monarch, because it stars LMH as a king. The show is terrible. It would have been unwatchable except that he's on the screen sometimes - a lot of time. At some point you just have to give up because the plot doesn't make any sense at all. It was an exercise in wading through many hours of television I couldn't understand at all in plot, not to mention that I couldn't understand most of the language and had to rely on subtitles. Eventually I gave up looking at the subtitles and just watched his face talk and do things. That's a really sad comment but it's true: I haven't the slightest idea what was going on in that dumb show but I just watched him walk around and emote and say words that I didn't understand. When people say things like I would watch that guy read the dictionary... It was like that. But of course I love him, so every once in a while I want to see him and it doesn't really matter what he's doing on screen. It is not morally OK to love this dude, however, so I think I'm just going to stop watching shows that he's in. It's not like a fan thing - I'm not even that much of a fan. I don't enjoy this situation at all. I don't know if it's just me or if everybody looks at the man's face and has this reaction eventually.
Oh, hahahhahaaaa here's the funniest thing in the world. In his next show, he is going to play a doctor who falls in love with an astronaut. Correct: these days I mostly do feel like a visitor from outer space. That will make it easy. Check this out... You know they think of this stuff because they are all laughing over the prospect that none of this could ever happen in real life. If you walked in and this man was your OB/GYN???? LoLLLllllllL there are no words. Hahahaha the very idea of such a thing! An OB! Haha. The patient would just pass out cold immediately and then they would do the exam.
"On March 28, it was confirmed that Lee Min Ho would be playing male lead Gong Ryong, an OB-GYN (obstetrician-gynecologist) with a strong sense of responsibility who arrives at the space station as a tourist."
Seriously, this is hilarious. I honestly would not be able to go to the doctor if the person looked like this man. I would take one look and have to walk out the door. Goodbye. And I mean, It happens that my OB GYN in real life is extremely good looking and quite charming as well, but that doesn't have any effect on me. It would be different if you were dealing with this. I don't know how anyone could deal with this. Like you could have this person even in the room, much less touching you, lol!
Re: What Are You Watching?
A Beautiful Life
I don't want to go too many spoilers so a lot will have to be left out, but this is the story of an unlikely romance between a career woman from Hong Kong who is having an affair with her boss, is an alcoholic, and nothing good is going on in her life, and a staid and upright policeman in China. I wonder about the extent to which it is propaganda now that I know that actors in it are big name popular actors, given the extent to which it portrays Hong Kong as a place of misery and disregard for basic moral foundations, while the Chinese policeman is 100% a hero even when he's struggling, and he represents all kinds of good and true things to which the woman must be drawn in order to live as her true contented self.
Many very sad things happen in this show. The experience of watching it is somewhat alien because the transitions between scenes and explanations for the character actions are very different than what you are accustomed to. The whole style is different and it seems like some things are left out that should have been included, while others are telegraphed despite being obvious.
In particular, it is inexplicable why the main man puts up with the things he does from the main woman. It kind of makes sense later but also kind of not.
I don't want to go too many spoilers so a lot will have to be left out, but this is the story of an unlikely romance between a career woman from Hong Kong who is having an affair with her boss, is an alcoholic, and nothing good is going on in her life, and a staid and upright policeman in China. I wonder about the extent to which it is propaganda now that I know that actors in it are big name popular actors, given the extent to which it portrays Hong Kong as a place of misery and disregard for basic moral foundations, while the Chinese policeman is 100% a hero even when he's struggling, and he represents all kinds of good and true things to which the woman must be drawn in order to live as her true contented self.
Many very sad things happen in this show. The experience of watching it is somewhat alien because the transitions between scenes and explanations for the character actions are very different than what you are accustomed to. The whole style is different and it seems like some things are left out that should have been included, while others are telegraphed despite being obvious.
In particular, it is inexplicable why the main man puts up with the things he does from the main woman. It kind of makes sense later but also kind of not.
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Supernatural Season 4 now...
Just started House Season 1
Just started House Season 1
"Yay! I'm for the other team."
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Bridgerton, Season 2
It sucked.
It sucked.
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Finished a full rewatch of 30 Rock, on and off, took about five months. I've seen all these episodes multiple -- some 10+ times. As I remembered, the show really takes off episode seven "Tracy Does Conan" is pretty much unbeatable from then to the end of season 3. The following 4 seasons are still high quality but and often reaches similar heights, but less all time favs -- though Secret Santa and Leap Day are still wonderful. Even minor episodes have amazing lines in them. Wrote down one, "There's no such thing as a bad idea, Lemon, only great ideas that go horribly wrong."
This time I was most impressed with the finale. I love the last episode more than ever.
This time I was most impressed with the finale. I love the last episode more than ever.
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A Business Proposal
Very popular on Netflix. Starts off very cute and silly. The highlight is our heroine's interaction with her husband-to-be's grandfather in an early episode, and this remains the highlight in the second to last episode as well. When you're watching a romcom that has two major couples in it, the highlight probably shouldn't be scenes between gal and Grandpa, but he's a scenestealer! He carries the whole thing. Cute show, has promise, starts off pretty well but ends weakly, ultimately unable to deliver much impact but offers diverting grandpa.
Very popular on Netflix. Starts off very cute and silly. The highlight is our heroine's interaction with her husband-to-be's grandfather in an early episode, and this remains the highlight in the second to last episode as well. When you're watching a romcom that has two major couples in it, the highlight probably shouldn't be scenes between gal and Grandpa, but he's a scenestealer! He carries the whole thing. Cute show, has promise, starts off pretty well but ends weakly, ultimately unable to deliver much impact but offers diverting grandpa.
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I bought The I.T. Crowd because I can't stream anymore. Also there's other content.
Ever see a show, love it, then share it with other people and then you realize the cringeworthy humor? Well, I was afraid I was the only one...lots of that in The I.T. Crowd....I laugh anyway.
Ever see a show, love it, then share it with other people and then you realize the cringeworthy humor? Well, I was afraid I was the only one...lots of that in The I.T. Crowd....I laugh anyway.
"Yay! I'm for the other team."
Re: What Are You Watching?
Have had no time for TV what with work and such, so I amuse myself with vicarious occasional thrills from reading the reviews of Pachinko. If you have apple plus TV apparently it's a blockbuster and all the critics and viewers love it. My guy here plays a kind of villain/complex character and it's probably good that I can't watch the show because I can barely handle the screenshots of the face. This is the apex of male beauty - my husband is still better than LMH all made up fancy with movie makeup, but it is what it is right here:
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Watching clips from a show that I can't actually watch seems like a poor idea, regardless of my vast and unrequited love for LMH. Therefore, I watched a show called "Wedding Planner". This turned out to be the second of two Malay dramas I have encountered. The first one was about the architects who hated each other, in part because the woman wanted to wear hijab. The man was brought closer to God in the process of the whole thing, and it went downhill from there.
I thought the new show might be a frothy diversion, given the title and the initial premise of a meet cute where he takes her parking place. Nope! I'm not too worried about giving spoilers because I can't imagine that any other person besides me would watch this show as far into it as I have. Other than an entire nation of people who clearly have radically different cultural standards when it comes to TV dramas - yes, there are people who would watch it, but nobody I know personally here. So here come the spoilers:
It turns out that the plot of the first half of the show is that our girl has been dating the same guy for 4 years, her cousin. But they haven't spent much time together until recently, and he is getting excited about sealing the deal and having a wedding. Unfortunately, she has been losing interest rather than gaining it, and in particular the new parking place dude seems to have caught her eye and is already conveniently familiar with her adoptive family, and her current wedding planning client is in fact his family and sister!
How is any of this a problem for a cute rom-com series, you may wonder? I will tell you: her amorous cousin-boyfriend becomes increasingly violent and stalkerish and ***turns out to be her brother***. Nor does this turn of events stop him from wanting to marry her. I think I've said enough now. It goes on from there to a lot of crazy places, and no sooner do they resolve this problem then his ex-girlfriend shows up. But now our main couple is already married! Yet the man will not consummate the marriage because he's still in love with his crazy ex-girlfriend. Yep. I had to stop watching at some point.
I might add that the male control of women is a foundational premise of everything that happens as a matter of course in the show, from who gets to drive where to where the woman stays overnight or what she eats - all of it! Like it's a real experience of cultural patriarchy via the television, and it's just as f****** ugly as you might imagine! The red line appears to be that you're not allowed to break the woman's arm. That's a bridge too far that gets you condemnation from everyone. So good, there's a limit! But even then the perpetrator suffers no consequence!
I was in a moment of weakness and desperation. I turned on episode 13 of Boys over Flowers. I skimmed along through "surprise trip to Macau" until we got to the terrible scene where Jun Pyo tells Jan Di on the fake Venetian bridge that she's a stain he wishes to erase from his life. At that point I broke down completely in hysterics and cried through like two more hours of that s***. So things are going well over here and I'll be getting up in a few hours and the coffee maker is broken. That's all.
I thought the new show might be a frothy diversion, given the title and the initial premise of a meet cute where he takes her parking place. Nope! I'm not too worried about giving spoilers because I can't imagine that any other person besides me would watch this show as far into it as I have. Other than an entire nation of people who clearly have radically different cultural standards when it comes to TV dramas - yes, there are people who would watch it, but nobody I know personally here. So here come the spoilers:
It turns out that the plot of the first half of the show is that our girl has been dating the same guy for 4 years, her cousin. But they haven't spent much time together until recently, and he is getting excited about sealing the deal and having a wedding. Unfortunately, she has been losing interest rather than gaining it, and in particular the new parking place dude seems to have caught her eye and is already conveniently familiar with her adoptive family, and her current wedding planning client is in fact his family and sister!
How is any of this a problem for a cute rom-com series, you may wonder? I will tell you: her amorous cousin-boyfriend becomes increasingly violent and stalkerish and ***turns out to be her brother***. Nor does this turn of events stop him from wanting to marry her. I think I've said enough now. It goes on from there to a lot of crazy places, and no sooner do they resolve this problem then his ex-girlfriend shows up. But now our main couple is already married! Yet the man will not consummate the marriage because he's still in love with his crazy ex-girlfriend. Yep. I had to stop watching at some point.
I might add that the male control of women is a foundational premise of everything that happens as a matter of course in the show, from who gets to drive where to where the woman stays overnight or what she eats - all of it! Like it's a real experience of cultural patriarchy via the television, and it's just as f****** ugly as you might imagine! The red line appears to be that you're not allowed to break the woman's arm. That's a bridge too far that gets you condemnation from everyone. So good, there's a limit! But even then the perpetrator suffers no consequence!
I was in a moment of weakness and desperation. I turned on episode 13 of Boys over Flowers. I skimmed along through "surprise trip to Macau" until we got to the terrible scene where Jun Pyo tells Jan Di on the fake Venetian bridge that she's a stain he wishes to erase from his life. At that point I broke down completely in hysterics and cried through like two more hours of that s***. So things are going well over here and I'll be getting up in a few hours and the coffee maker is broken. That's all.
Re: What Are You Watching?
I'm well into season three of The Simpsons. Moved past the slightly amusing but crudely drawn season 1 and the hit or miss season 2. Season 3 they are full-steam great and by mid-season they are already a few all time bests.
Disney plus changed their "skip intro" feature so it now shows the couch gag and for that I am thankful.
Itchy and Scratchy since my family tragedy I often need to look away. Some cartoon violence is currently too much for me, especially involving auto accidents. Not funny, for now
Disney plus changed their "skip intro" feature so it now shows the couch gag and for that I am thankful.
Itchy and Scratchy since my family tragedy I often need to look away. Some cartoon violence is currently too much for me, especially involving auto accidents. Not funny, for now
Re: What Are You Watching?
OZARK
Last season, finally finished it. Have been watching this off and on for years. I LOVE Ruth as I think the whole world does and I'm just overwhelmed by all of it.
Last season, finally finished it. Have been watching this off and on for years. I LOVE Ruth as I think the whole world does and I'm just overwhelmed by all of it.
Re: What Are You Watching?
I have not watched a k-drama in months and feel like I'm shriveling up into a hollow, limp version of my former self. Where is joy? How can we know it without shedding buckets of tears over scenes of senseless dramatic artifice? Also Ozark was such an experience. Laura Linney is such an amazing actor - well, they all are! They all are! But she in particular stirs up such a complex of thoughts and feelings about this character. The whole thing was epic.
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I had never seen the entirety of the movie Stand By Me so I decided to watch it last night with my kid because it was on the list of classics you can stream for free on Netflix. As most of you know, and if not stop reading here because I'm about to give some spoilers, my timing was both good and bad. I didn't really want to be watching a show that featured scenes with a gun, but on the other hand we've been having that conversation and it gave us plenty of occasion to have other conversations about it. Thank God the kid is able to identify the safety issues and takes it seriously. But there's a deeper problem with the show that I had never noticed before - not just because I haven't seen it but because I've never heard anyone say this about it - the way it presents the gun is exactly in line with the narrative that motivates a majority of these younger school shooters. A common profile, though not a universal one, is that they've been bullied and they feel wronged both by specific people and events of life in general, such that they're willing to lash out at anyone regardless of whether the victims are innocent. And precisely because they have been victimized themselves, the gun becomes the equalizer. That's exactly how it works in this movie, and even though it's presented with nuance and complexity and it's clear that the situation is dangerous and unlikely, our boy Wil Wheaton still comes off as the hero in that scenario. The audience still feels relief that he was able to use a gun to defend himself and his friends against violence. So you can imagine as a parent that creates some things you need to talk about! And they're not easily communicated in a single or quick setting. I also didn't know that the movie was based on a Stephen King story and I didn't know that Wil Wheaton was the main character. I still haven't looked up to see who the other actor is who plays his best friend. LOL Jerry O'Connell is Vern! I had no idea. River Phoenix I recognized but had forgotten the name. That's just wild. Anyway, Wil Wheaton's acting in this show is just f****** unbelievably great. How could I possibly have not known this?
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Stepped into the Obi-Wan miniseries. Enjoying it, proves there were excellent actors playing excellent characters in the prequels, and that maybe it wasn't their fault that didn't work.
Re: What Are You Watching?
I need a show. We watched the old top gun to prepare for the new top gun but otherwise I have not watched TV for months now. I realize it's a healthy thing to watch little TV, but usually I am multitasking in the process so it would be nice to have a browsing program. Anything new comes out that inspires you lately, let me know!
Re: What Are You Watching?
Watched "Respect" on Amazon Prime. I knew it got mixed reviews so was prepared for something mediocre but for the most important parts, the cast performances and the music numbers, it was great! There's some by-the-numbers biopic stuff, but how much can you be critical of a film that is pretty faithful to what actually happened. What, another story of a female singer who due to the stresses of fame and terrible men in her life, leads to failings and fallings and substance abuse? Maybe stop complaining that it's cliche and actually support the women who go through this.
Anywho, Jennifer Hudson is fantastic, and the performances are equal to fan service in Marvel Movies. I ate it all up. It might be a little overlong but then again I could watch Hudson as Aretha all day.
Anywho, Jennifer Hudson is fantastic, and the performances are equal to fan service in Marvel Movies. I ate it all up. It might be a little overlong but then again I could watch Hudson as Aretha all day.
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I don't know if movies go here, but saw Top Gun Maverick and liked the scenes where they/stunt people were actually flying planes around. The rest, uh, whatever, but the planes are cool and the Val Kilmer scene made me misty, so I got my money's worth as expected. I maintain Iceman is the hero (or at least the Hotness) of film 1 and he maintains that status in film 2, so we're good.
Re: What Are You Watching?
RRR is on Netflix and is amazing.
Don't watch if you don't like action violence or Indian propaganda. Otherwise this is a fun, sweet, violent, fist-pumping 3 hour-long film with perfectly choreographed dancing and fighting.
Don't watch if you don't like action violence or Indian propaganda. Otherwise this is a fun, sweet, violent, fist-pumping 3 hour-long film with perfectly choreographed dancing and fighting.
Re: What Are You Watching?
Ok sounds good! Netflix is remaking Persuasion with Dakota Johnson as a kind of sardonic, flirty Anne and some putz as Wentworth and my rage fills whole universes already after only viewing the trailer I will destroy all of this mess with my profoundly irritated anguish you vicious worms
Re: What Are You Watching?
I didn't find a new show in time and fell back into the poisonous quicksand of Boys over Flowers for like 14 episodes. I've watched it too many times to be crying and howling over it now but here we are. I keep trying to mentally will her to shout things like "Jun Pyo I love you so much i can't stand it and it's slowly killing me if I cannot be with you every moment of life!" but this dumb chick never says anything like that and in fact is more likely to kick him. Why? It's Lee Min Ho girl are you insensate and stupid? The sight of Lee Min Ho's cheek hurts me physically. It literally causes pains to look at his face, that's how beautiful it is.
Re: What Are You Watching?
Finished Obi-Wan Kenobi season 1. Loved the finale.
Re: What Are You Watching?
Sticks the landing, one thing a lot of these miniseries haven't been able to do.
Re: What Are You Watching?
Really? Because the writing of these middle episodes have not given me a ton of hope...
Episode 1 was great... The rest, so far, not so much.
Episode 1 was great... The rest, so far, not so much.
Re: What Are You Watching?
I was iffy about it here and there, but really liked the last episode -- It's the best star wars prequel by far.
update: forgot about rogue one, tough one.
maybe future-new-viewers should watch obiwan before the prequels
update: forgot about rogue one, tough one.
maybe future-new-viewers should watch obiwan before the prequels
Re: What Are You Watching?
I agree there were a few parts in the middle episodes where I had some doubts, but I really thought the finale did a great job. And THAT SCENE was awesome. My oldest son was screaming WTF at that part. Even my wife, who's interest in Star Wars is so-so at best, was impressed with that scene.
Re: What Are You Watching?
This is another reason my kids all want us to get Disney Plus.
Today I discovered that the guy (Jonghyun of SHINee) who sings one of the most important theme songs from Boys over Flowers (Stand By Me) was a long time lead singer of a K-Pop group who ended up committing suicide. I have heard this song a few hundred times now, no exaggeration, and it's also on my favorites playlist, and for some reason it's just heartbreaking to think that the person who made it ended his life. It's also like an especially cheerful and loving and joyful song, so somehow the contrast between the happiness implied in singing it and the way things actually were is so upsetting.
Today I discovered that the guy (Jonghyun of SHINee) who sings one of the most important theme songs from Boys over Flowers (Stand By Me) was a long time lead singer of a K-Pop group who ended up committing suicide. I have heard this song a few hundred times now, no exaggeration, and it's also on my favorites playlist, and for some reason it's just heartbreaking to think that the person who made it ended his life. It's also like an especially cheerful and loving and joyful song, so somehow the contrast between the happiness implied in singing it and the way things actually were is so upsetting.
Re: What Are You Watching?
The unthinkable has happened and I'm unable to find an interesting k-drama. I don't know if it's me or if I'm finally having a normal reaction or I just happened to stumble upon bad shows or what.
The point is I've been driven to browsing the free movies on Amazon from time to time and I finally found time to watch two of them!
The first was a dark post-apocalyptic near future drama starring Saoirse Ronan. There's a lot of intense staring and a little bit of incest among cousins. I found myself incapable of reaching the necessary suspension of disbelief to enjoy the film. I kept having questions about unrealistic or unlikely things, a general questions about why somebody needed to imagine all this in the first place. Very similar to how I felt about game of thrones: it just made me disturbed about the author and about people who love it.
Second movie was a lot better but also disturbing:
The private lives of Pippa Lee.
This is based on a novel by Rebecca Miller which I haven't read but now might want to.
Pippa is the younger wife of a leading editor or publisher or something - he's an important person who is always surrounded by writers, artists, investors, rich art scene people, NYC party people, etc.
Pippa is a wandering free spirit who left home pretty young after growing up with a mother who was addicted to dexedrine.
After running away, Pippa took a bunch of drugs herself and lived a bohemian party life in NYC, but unlike most of the people around her she wasn't trying to accomplish anything besides escape.
She found shelter with the older book publisher guy, and lots of other eventful events happened in her life that caused some trauma and shaped her current situation.
After moving to a retirement community with her husband, which he needs but wildly resents needing, and which she definitely doesn't need, she starts to grow restless and feels a kind of inchoate but palpable discontent. She is struggling to integrate her past and present and future selves, or even to know who they were or should be. Along the way she meets a friend's son, played by Keanu Reeves. He was ideally suited to this role of an intensely weird but honest person.
I had no idea who the main actress was at the time - I thought she was phenomenal and that she looked really familiar but I couldn't figure out who she was. So either I have dementia or it was just a really great case of acting and presenting her in such a way that she was unrecognizable to me! Her younger self was played by Blake Lively, who may not have a great deal of range as an actress but does a terrific job of playing a fundamentally sweet and wounded it-girl and free spirit. She's basically playing Serena again, if Serena had grown up in a middle-class household with a drug addicted mother. This is something Blake lively can do really well and so she did it well.
Lots of other famous actors in the cast - surprising how many terrific actors they managed to jam in here, possibly because they knew / liked / wanted to work with this director. It's the same woman Rebecca Miller who authored the book and turns out to be Arthur Miller's daughter and the wife of Daniel Day Lewis. Anyway, people like Alan Arkin, Winona Ryder, Julianne Moore, and Monica Belluci play relatively small roles - incredible talent in this group, which did enhance the movie.
Then to my shock I find out it's Robin Wright-Penn who has played the main character! She was phenomenal. I don't know if they put like a prosthetic face on her or if I'm stupid but I have no idea.
Anyway, it was an interesting film about a woman having some struggles with her identity and life, which I think she solved at least in part. Worth the watch.
The point is I've been driven to browsing the free movies on Amazon from time to time and I finally found time to watch two of them!
The first was a dark post-apocalyptic near future drama starring Saoirse Ronan. There's a lot of intense staring and a little bit of incest among cousins. I found myself incapable of reaching the necessary suspension of disbelief to enjoy the film. I kept having questions about unrealistic or unlikely things, a general questions about why somebody needed to imagine all this in the first place. Very similar to how I felt about game of thrones: it just made me disturbed about the author and about people who love it.
Second movie was a lot better but also disturbing:
The private lives of Pippa Lee.
This is based on a novel by Rebecca Miller which I haven't read but now might want to.
Pippa is the younger wife of a leading editor or publisher or something - he's an important person who is always surrounded by writers, artists, investors, rich art scene people, NYC party people, etc.
Pippa is a wandering free spirit who left home pretty young after growing up with a mother who was addicted to dexedrine.
After running away, Pippa took a bunch of drugs herself and lived a bohemian party life in NYC, but unlike most of the people around her she wasn't trying to accomplish anything besides escape.
She found shelter with the older book publisher guy, and lots of other eventful events happened in her life that caused some trauma and shaped her current situation.
After moving to a retirement community with her husband, which he needs but wildly resents needing, and which she definitely doesn't need, she starts to grow restless and feels a kind of inchoate but palpable discontent. She is struggling to integrate her past and present and future selves, or even to know who they were or should be. Along the way she meets a friend's son, played by Keanu Reeves. He was ideally suited to this role of an intensely weird but honest person.
I had no idea who the main actress was at the time - I thought she was phenomenal and that she looked really familiar but I couldn't figure out who she was. So either I have dementia or it was just a really great case of acting and presenting her in such a way that she was unrecognizable to me! Her younger self was played by Blake Lively, who may not have a great deal of range as an actress but does a terrific job of playing a fundamentally sweet and wounded it-girl and free spirit. She's basically playing Serena again, if Serena had grown up in a middle-class household with a drug addicted mother. This is something Blake lively can do really well and so she did it well.
Lots of other famous actors in the cast - surprising how many terrific actors they managed to jam in here, possibly because they knew / liked / wanted to work with this director. It's the same woman Rebecca Miller who authored the book and turns out to be Arthur Miller's daughter and the wife of Daniel Day Lewis. Anyway, people like Alan Arkin, Winona Ryder, Julianne Moore, and Monica Belluci play relatively small roles - incredible talent in this group, which did enhance the movie.
Then to my shock I find out it's Robin Wright-Penn who has played the main character! She was phenomenal. I don't know if they put like a prosthetic face on her or if I'm stupid but I have no idea.
Anyway, it was an interesting film about a woman having some struggles with her identity and life, which I think she solved at least in part. Worth the watch.
Re: What Are You Watching?
It's weird to me that sometimes you don't actually just say what you're watching. I'm interested in your opinions! But I don't want to have to go on some imdb or google quest to figure out what you're talking about.
Also- you can't run out of K-dramas. That's like me running out of horror movies on Netflix (Oh wait...)
Also also- Robin Wright (not married to Penn for over a decade) is a goddamn national treasure. One of the premier actors of her generation, and can still kill it in puff-action movies like Wonder Woman. She's the best.
Also- you can't run out of K-dramas. That's like me running out of horror movies on Netflix (Oh wait...)
Also also- Robin Wright (not married to Penn for over a decade) is a goddamn national treasure. One of the premier actors of her generation, and can still kill it in puff-action movies like Wonder Woman. She's the best.
Re: What Are You Watching?
The last one was just that - The private lives of Pippa Lee. For the other one I would have to know what I was watching. Sometimes the type on screen is very far away and I'm not going to be getting glasses out just to be scrutinizing it, you know? I'm just sliding gracefully into old age like this.
Re: What Are You Watching?
Two other movies:
The Nanny Diaries - twee dramedy about a college grad who (to her shame) becomes a nanny for a rich NYC family. If you like scenes of Scarlett Johansson being all fake-innocent and cutesy and thin-brained, you might enjoy this movie, but its real attraction for me was watching the masterful Laura Linney play a miserable and desperate rich mom, with Paul Giamatti as her jerk of a husband. He plays horrid creepy guys so well but seems like he would be a nice guy irl! Unfortunately there just wasn't much here. I couldn't care less how she felt about being their nanny, so I certainly wasn't prepared to see it as some meaningful or transformative experience for our main character. Whatevs. If you were attracted to Scarlett Johansson then you might enjoy the visuals of the movie a lot more than I did.
The other movie was called Another Woman - the incomparable Gena Rowlands plays the lead role, with an incredible supporting cast (Sandy Dennis, Gene Hackman, Martha Plimpton, Mia Farrow, and more).
Where The Nanny diaries movie lacked substance or anything of interest, this movie had more substance than the viewer is quite sure what to do with. Rowlands plays a middle-aged Philosophy professor who finds herself experiencing some sort of identity crisis, which intensifies after she rents an office where she can focus on writing her latest book. She can hear conversations in the next office, between a psychologist and his clients.
One of the clients is a young pregnant woman and her fears and anxieties about the pregnancy inspire sympathy and fascination in our main character, who goes from blocking out the sound to actively eavesdropping on these conversations.
Rowlands is very self-possessed and rational, and while her husband doesn't seem all that interested in her as an intellect, his daughter / her stepdaughter clearly considers her a role model and is trying to make a strong positive impression with her. But while our main character is quietly pensive and unaware she has this effect on people, her brother and other close family members and acquaintances see her as very judgmental and detached. She gives people the impression that she doesn't think much of them or is critical of their choices.
As a consequence she has had difficulty establishing warmth and emotional bonds with people, including an old close friend who had become estranged, played by absolute film goddess Sandy Dennis.
The title phrase, "another woman", could refer to a lot of different people in this movie, including the main character who seems alienated from herself and trying to become another person without really knowing how to do it or why is she suddenly feels moved to do so.
Another "another woman" is the psychologist's patient, who in some ways has similar worries that our main character has perhaps never been able to voice, but in other ways is completely her opposite.
Without giving spoilers and to make a long story short, the main character interacts with various other women and in the process ends up having a transformational experience. Maybe I'm just spoiled by the lack of subtlety in decades of Hollywood movies, but I would have liked to see this transition explored a little further to see where it was going to take her.
Instead they sort of show her coming to grips with a change and then that's it.
Despite the shortcomings, however, it was a great movie and required thinking, which was nice for a change after the nanny movie.
The Nanny Diaries - twee dramedy about a college grad who (to her shame) becomes a nanny for a rich NYC family. If you like scenes of Scarlett Johansson being all fake-innocent and cutesy and thin-brained, you might enjoy this movie, but its real attraction for me was watching the masterful Laura Linney play a miserable and desperate rich mom, with Paul Giamatti as her jerk of a husband. He plays horrid creepy guys so well but seems like he would be a nice guy irl! Unfortunately there just wasn't much here. I couldn't care less how she felt about being their nanny, so I certainly wasn't prepared to see it as some meaningful or transformative experience for our main character. Whatevs. If you were attracted to Scarlett Johansson then you might enjoy the visuals of the movie a lot more than I did.
The other movie was called Another Woman - the incomparable Gena Rowlands plays the lead role, with an incredible supporting cast (Sandy Dennis, Gene Hackman, Martha Plimpton, Mia Farrow, and more).
Where The Nanny diaries movie lacked substance or anything of interest, this movie had more substance than the viewer is quite sure what to do with. Rowlands plays a middle-aged Philosophy professor who finds herself experiencing some sort of identity crisis, which intensifies after she rents an office where she can focus on writing her latest book. She can hear conversations in the next office, between a psychologist and his clients.
One of the clients is a young pregnant woman and her fears and anxieties about the pregnancy inspire sympathy and fascination in our main character, who goes from blocking out the sound to actively eavesdropping on these conversations.
Rowlands is very self-possessed and rational, and while her husband doesn't seem all that interested in her as an intellect, his daughter / her stepdaughter clearly considers her a role model and is trying to make a strong positive impression with her. But while our main character is quietly pensive and unaware she has this effect on people, her brother and other close family members and acquaintances see her as very judgmental and detached. She gives people the impression that she doesn't think much of them or is critical of their choices.
As a consequence she has had difficulty establishing warmth and emotional bonds with people, including an old close friend who had become estranged, played by absolute film goddess Sandy Dennis.
The title phrase, "another woman", could refer to a lot of different people in this movie, including the main character who seems alienated from herself and trying to become another person without really knowing how to do it or why is she suddenly feels moved to do so.
Another "another woman" is the psychologist's patient, who in some ways has similar worries that our main character has perhaps never been able to voice, but in other ways is completely her opposite.
Without giving spoilers and to make a long story short, the main character interacts with various other women and in the process ends up having a transformational experience. Maybe I'm just spoiled by the lack of subtlety in decades of Hollywood movies, but I would have liked to see this transition explored a little further to see where it was going to take her.
Instead they sort of show her coming to grips with a change and then that's it.
Despite the shortcomings, however, it was a great movie and required thinking, which was nice for a change after the nanny movie.
Re: What Are You Watching?
Extraordinary Attorney Woo - it was better by the end than I had expected at the beginning. We all love attorney Jung, whose story became more important over time, and the episodes became less about her (Woo's) quirks and more about her realistic problems. Anyway, I reconciled to enjoying it.
Then I decided today was suited to watching/ffwd thru the last 13 episodes of the Heirs/the Inheritors, which has been off and on all day. Having watched it before, luckily I could skip through a lot of irrelevant nonsense and focus on the good parts. There was even more interesting intrigue and complexity than I recall. Basically, you watch Kim Woo-Bin and Lee Min-Ho get upset and deal with chaebol stuff and you cry and sob and gnash your teeth in anguish the whole time. It's kind of therapeutic when you need to cry and let a bunch of other stress go, but the problem is that you become fiercely protective of Kim Tan and Yeung Do and ready to fight anyone who hurts them, which is inconvenient through a TV screen and twenty episodes. Still, top five all time programs. Starts out like a romance but it's ultimately about two guys and their mommy and daddy issues and mutual friendship/rivalry and that's so, so, so much better. It's also a bit of a psychological test: can any other human rival Lee Min-Ho, and if so, how is that imaginable? Well, turns out yes, Kim Woo-Bin can do this, and it happens because he/Yeung Do is tragically emotionally wounded by his childhood. It's more than anyone could bear so you cry it out and then you're in better shape.
Then I decided today was suited to watching/ffwd thru the last 13 episodes of the Heirs/the Inheritors, which has been off and on all day. Having watched it before, luckily I could skip through a lot of irrelevant nonsense and focus on the good parts. There was even more interesting intrigue and complexity than I recall. Basically, you watch Kim Woo-Bin and Lee Min-Ho get upset and deal with chaebol stuff and you cry and sob and gnash your teeth in anguish the whole time. It's kind of therapeutic when you need to cry and let a bunch of other stress go, but the problem is that you become fiercely protective of Kim Tan and Yeung Do and ready to fight anyone who hurts them, which is inconvenient through a TV screen and twenty episodes. Still, top five all time programs. Starts out like a romance but it's ultimately about two guys and their mommy and daddy issues and mutual friendship/rivalry and that's so, so, so much better. It's also a bit of a psychological test: can any other human rival Lee Min-Ho, and if so, how is that imaginable? Well, turns out yes, Kim Woo-Bin can do this, and it happens because he/Yeung Do is tragically emotionally wounded by his childhood. It's more than anyone could bear so you cry it out and then you're in better shape.
Re: What Are You Watching?
My wife and I are on season 6 of HOUSE and I have made the late realization that House is essentially a mad scientist with the job aof being a medical diagnostician. Almost zero compassion and a cruel wit. I love it. I hate it.
I just finished seaon 11 of Supernatural. It is a weak but fun-to-watch show about the supernatural:
This past season we found God who goes by the name of Chuck, writing His memoirs in a diner. Oh and he is almost killed by his siter The Darkness...they leave the show at the end of the season. However there's a new cliffhanger: Sam Winchester has been shot!
blah blah blah....drama drama drama, but it has been entertaining thus far with lots of pop culture references including going to a SUpernatural Fan Convention and the fans (of the books) said the looked nothing like their characters....
I am restarting the watching of Brother Cadfael the mystery-solving monk...who is a former crusader.
I just finished seaon 11 of Supernatural. It is a weak but fun-to-watch show about the supernatural:
This past season we found God who goes by the name of Chuck, writing His memoirs in a diner. Oh and he is almost killed by his siter The Darkness...they leave the show at the end of the season. However there's a new cliffhanger: Sam Winchester has been shot!
blah blah blah....drama drama drama, but it has been entertaining thus far with lots of pop culture references including going to a SUpernatural Fan Convention and the fans (of the books) said the looked nothing like their characters....
I am restarting the watching of Brother Cadfael the mystery-solving monk...who is a former crusader.
"Yay! I'm for the other team."
Re: What Are You Watching?
Lunana: Yak in the Classroom (2019)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunana: ... _Classroom
This movie is from Bhutan and is about a young teacher with a dream of becoming a singer in Australia. While waiting for a visa to travel there, he is assigned to teach in a remote school in the mountains (E Himalayas) where most of the villagers are yak herders. Well, being a person irrationally obsessed with both yaks and Central Asian mountain cultures, I was delighted to find this offering on Netflix. It did not disappoint. It was like a seven out of five stars.
However, I excitedly recapped it to my spouse just now and he is literally laying here snoring ... I think he got lost in the mist somewhere as I was describing how they sing to the yaks and it is considered better to be reincarnated as a yak than a yak herder, and I was expressing my concern that I could not assimilate into the culture and thus should not expect to move there ever, but if I did, what is the insect life like, do you think? Snoooozzzzzz was the reply. He seems very peaceful, maybe dreaming about life as a yak.
Anyway, the movie also has a lot to say about climate change - not as a "political" thing or add-on the way it would be here, but it comes up continuously simply because it's so real to the people there and they actually care about it. Nearly three fourths of the place remains forested, intentionally so.
I would go on but it would snooze you, possibly.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunana: ... _Classroom
This movie is from Bhutan and is about a young teacher with a dream of becoming a singer in Australia. While waiting for a visa to travel there, he is assigned to teach in a remote school in the mountains (E Himalayas) where most of the villagers are yak herders. Well, being a person irrationally obsessed with both yaks and Central Asian mountain cultures, I was delighted to find this offering on Netflix. It did not disappoint. It was like a seven out of five stars.
However, I excitedly recapped it to my spouse just now and he is literally laying here snoring ... I think he got lost in the mist somewhere as I was describing how they sing to the yaks and it is considered better to be reincarnated as a yak than a yak herder, and I was expressing my concern that I could not assimilate into the culture and thus should not expect to move there ever, but if I did, what is the insect life like, do you think? Snoooozzzzzz was the reply. He seems very peaceful, maybe dreaming about life as a yak.
Anyway, the movie also has a lot to say about climate change - not as a "political" thing or add-on the way it would be here, but it comes up continuously simply because it's so real to the people there and they actually care about it. Nearly three fourths of the place remains forested, intentionally so.
I would go on but it would snooze you, possibly.
Re: What Are You Watching?
The Dark
Husband is watching this. Weird, German, time travel, strange cello noises, murders, metaphysical jibjab. I am osmosing it without seeking to! But y'all might love it - the man loves it. Spooky time traveling Germans.
Husband is watching this. Weird, German, time travel, strange cello noises, murders, metaphysical jibjab. I am osmosing it without seeking to! But y'all might love it - the man loves it. Spooky time traveling Germans.
Re: What Are You Watching?
Partner Track
I agreed, I stupidly consented to all of this. Netflix offered it up to me - looked like a K-drama but was in New York. An American dramedy. Our Korean-American heroine is a sharp and competitive m&a associate at a top law firm, seeking to become... dundundunnnn... Partner! She's on the Partner Track, y'all!
But there are only three spots for sixth years who are vying to move up early - normally it's done after seven years.
Our girl is surely a lock even though the annoying dudebro is a client magnet, the dumb one has big family connections, and the suave British one is... Whoops! He's the dude she slept with last year at a wedding! Scandal! She's still hot for him!
Her friends are - OF COURSE - a sassy young woman divorce lawyer (is she too cynical to find real love when it comes her way?!), and a gay black man (he does Fashion law or some dumb shit like that, which offends me because why is the gay lawyer over in the "artsy clients" department instead of fighting it out with the rest of the sharks? still, this fashion thing is why he supposedly gets to wear burgundy suits and fancy ties around this old trad law office).
The friends have actual storylines of their own, which is good.
Yet I was not moved by the self-discovery struggles of the girlfriend.
The boyfriend deals with racism in the firm in a manner that seems realistic and meaningful, which is good.
However, he does some things that make no sense to me, and there are too many hot gay guy scenes. I am not opposed to this in theory, as a person who likes guys, but they were such gratuitous scenes, it felt like they were just using the character to be risque, and it was tedious to me. The same is true for our main character and her grotesque kissy scenes with her eligible bachelors, so I have large stores of distaste to spread around all the love scenes. But in the case of her man friend, specifically, it made the character seem not very nice, which sucked after we were asked to sympathize with and root for him.
Back to our main character: though this show is trash, I won't spoil it because it's popular and might be watched by others. I'll just say she is surrounded by many, too many, eligible bachelors and anything might happen. How will she navigate the trials of trying to make partner while juggling romance and friendships and family?!
One of her suitors is a philosophy grad student, and also, obviously, the scion of an ultrawealthy NYC family. These two kids flirt with, um, philosophy student talk because these lawyers do be dabbling a bit in philosophy during undergrad sometimes.
I was not charmed.
At first I was lightly mad at my husband because during episode one or two he offered a rather salty assessment of the character of our main character. However, as time went on I saw that he was right and honestly, I was amazed. I had not expected him to be right. I was chastened and also felt that watching the show was its own punishment. It was utter crap.
I agreed, I stupidly consented to all of this. Netflix offered it up to me - looked like a K-drama but was in New York. An American dramedy. Our Korean-American heroine is a sharp and competitive m&a associate at a top law firm, seeking to become... dundundunnnn... Partner! She's on the Partner Track, y'all!
But there are only three spots for sixth years who are vying to move up early - normally it's done after seven years.
Our girl is surely a lock even though the annoying dudebro is a client magnet, the dumb one has big family connections, and the suave British one is... Whoops! He's the dude she slept with last year at a wedding! Scandal! She's still hot for him!
Her friends are - OF COURSE - a sassy young woman divorce lawyer (is she too cynical to find real love when it comes her way?!), and a gay black man (he does Fashion law or some dumb shit like that, which offends me because why is the gay lawyer over in the "artsy clients" department instead of fighting it out with the rest of the sharks? still, this fashion thing is why he supposedly gets to wear burgundy suits and fancy ties around this old trad law office).
The friends have actual storylines of their own, which is good.
Yet I was not moved by the self-discovery struggles of the girlfriend.
The boyfriend deals with racism in the firm in a manner that seems realistic and meaningful, which is good.
However, he does some things that make no sense to me, and there are too many hot gay guy scenes. I am not opposed to this in theory, as a person who likes guys, but they were such gratuitous scenes, it felt like they were just using the character to be risque, and it was tedious to me. The same is true for our main character and her grotesque kissy scenes with her eligible bachelors, so I have large stores of distaste to spread around all the love scenes. But in the case of her man friend, specifically, it made the character seem not very nice, which sucked after we were asked to sympathize with and root for him.
Back to our main character: though this show is trash, I won't spoil it because it's popular and might be watched by others. I'll just say she is surrounded by many, too many, eligible bachelors and anything might happen. How will she navigate the trials of trying to make partner while juggling romance and friendships and family?!
One of her suitors is a philosophy grad student, and also, obviously, the scion of an ultrawealthy NYC family. These two kids flirt with, um, philosophy student talk because these lawyers do be dabbling a bit in philosophy during undergrad sometimes.
I was not charmed.
At first I was lightly mad at my husband because during episode one or two he offered a rather salty assessment of the character of our main character. However, as time went on I saw that he was right and honestly, I was amazed. I had not expected him to be right. I was chastened and also felt that watching the show was its own punishment. It was utter crap.
Re: What Are You Watching?
A podcast I like -- Blank Check -- went through the Marvel films a few years ago and did commentary tracks for most, so over the last few months have hit most of ones I missed the first time.
Haven't seen from the MCU: Iron Man 2 and 3, Thor, Thor: The Dark World, The Incredible Hulk, Homecoming, Far from Home, Eternals
Haven't seen from the MTU: What If Hawkeye, Moon Night, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk Attorney at Law
Should I watch any of those I missed?
Debating if I could rank them all but unsure, I dunno if there was one film that I'd describe as perfect, and none that were outright bad, I mean I could be lame and say for acting: Black Panther, for comedy: Ant Man, for action, I dunno Shang-Chi's scaffolding has one shot that made me go "woo!" but otherwise they're all fine -- practical action scenes (with stunts) were on average much more exciting than the CGI stuff. On rewatch both Avengers and Endgame were more enjoyable, especially Endgame as I actually cared about the characters and knew the plot threads that were being sewn up.
Haven't seen from the MCU: Iron Man 2 and 3, Thor, Thor: The Dark World, The Incredible Hulk, Homecoming, Far from Home, Eternals
Haven't seen from the MTU: What If Hawkeye, Moon Night, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk Attorney at Law
Should I watch any of those I missed?
Debating if I could rank them all but unsure, I dunno if there was one film that I'd describe as perfect, and none that were outright bad, I mean I could be lame and say for acting: Black Panther, for comedy: Ant Man, for action, I dunno Shang-Chi's scaffolding has one shot that made me go "woo!" but otherwise they're all fine -- practical action scenes (with stunts) were on average much more exciting than the CGI stuff. On rewatch both Avengers and Endgame were more enjoyable, especially Endgame as I actually cared about the characters and knew the plot threads that were being sewn up.
Re: What Are You Watching?
Hmmm, I'll try to do it Golden Globes way
subject to change
Best Film, Drama - Black Panther
Best Film, Comedy - Ant Man
Best Actor, Drama - RDJ
Best Actor, Comedy - Paul Rudd
Best Actress, Drama - Elizabeth Olsen
Best Actress, Comedy - Zoe Saldana
Best Supporting Actor, drama - Michael B. Jordan, obviously
Best Supporting Actress, drama - Karen Gillan
Best Supporting Actor, comedy - Dave Bautista
Best Supporting Actress, comedy - (tie) Aquafina, Pom Klementieff
subject to change
Best Film, Drama - Black Panther
Best Film, Comedy - Ant Man
Best Actor, Drama - RDJ
Best Actor, Comedy - Paul Rudd
Best Actress, Drama - Elizabeth Olsen
Best Actress, Comedy - Zoe Saldana
Best Supporting Actor, drama - Michael B. Jordan, obviously
Best Supporting Actress, drama - Karen Gillan
Best Supporting Actor, comedy - Dave Bautista
Best Supporting Actress, comedy - (tie) Aquafina, Pom Klementieff
Re: What Are You Watching?
From my own personal experience, Hawkeye, and Ms. Marvel are absolutely worth watching.
Re: What Are You Watching?
I started watching Ms. Marvel last night, and was thinking it might make a good entry-point for my 10yo daughter, who has only seen Into the Spiderverse.
Btw, the "woo!" from Shang Chi was this 15 second runner (starts at 2:45 if it doesn't automatically)
That's some great use of camera work, movement and composition to impress and play up the suspense / intensity / relief. Sometimes the anonymousness of the baddies in these fights is a negative, but in this case it plays into his state of mind, he has one focus, and it's rescuing Akwafina.
Btw, the "woo!" from Shang Chi was this 15 second runner (starts at 2:45 if it doesn't automatically)
That's some great use of camera work, movement and composition to impress and play up the suspense / intensity / relief. Sometimes the anonymousness of the baddies in these fights is a negative, but in this case it plays into his state of mind, he has one focus, and it's rescuing Akwafina.
Re: What Are You Watching?
Bleach...re-watching....there's a new movie coming out and it's been a while since I first saw it.
"Yay! I'm for the other team."
Re: What Are You Watching?
The Race of the Century on Netflix...
The one about the Australian team that beats the US for the first time in the America's Cup yacht race. Five stars in context: it's a quick look, so level of depth matches the time they have for interviewing people. Fascinating look into how they did it, how they overcame setbacks, what psychological attitudes they developed for winning, and much more. Recommend!
The one about the Australian team that beats the US for the first time in the America's Cup yacht race. Five stars in context: it's a quick look, so level of depth matches the time they have for interviewing people. Fascinating look into how they did it, how they overcame setbacks, what psychological attitudes they developed for winning, and much more. Recommend!
Re: What Are You Watching?
Started watching the new Quantum Leap series. Was a big fan of the original series, and so far the new series seems a worthy sequel.
Re: What Are You Watching?
Have been watching this show called Bar rescue. This was not something I chose but rather I'm along for the ride. Nevertheless it is fascinating in a way I never would have expected.
Each episode has a formula where they go and check out how absolutely disgusting and failed the bar in question is, then they go in and confront the people who have a terrifying come to Jesus moment about how screwed up they are, then they train them to do things in a totally new way and create an improved version of whatever they're trying to do, they test them on this so that they can see how far they have to go to get to actual success, then they invest a bunch of money in physically transforming the place into something attractive and pleasant with modern equipment and computer order entries and such, and then they have a big opening night where you can see how much more awesome the bar is.
This does not sound like the type of thing that would fascinate and yet it does. This guy is one of the few people I can tolerate listening to even though he's clearly loud and angry and in your face a lot of the times on purpose, which is normally not something I would tolerate at all, but viewed from a distance in this way in an environment where people are doing all kinds of crazy s***, it's understandable. There might be some gentle massage of the OCD desires going on where you see something filthy in this man comes in and screams at them about how it has to be clean and free of bacteria before you can eat there! The flip side of it is that I'm afraid to eat anywhere now that I've seen what can go on!
Anyway it's an interesting show that you might find yourself liking without expecting to. It's also nice to have one of those completely low-stakes shows where you can turn it on and off in a few minutes and go back to whatever you were doing, without losing the thread of what's happening.
Each episode has a formula where they go and check out how absolutely disgusting and failed the bar in question is, then they go in and confront the people who have a terrifying come to Jesus moment about how screwed up they are, then they train them to do things in a totally new way and create an improved version of whatever they're trying to do, they test them on this so that they can see how far they have to go to get to actual success, then they invest a bunch of money in physically transforming the place into something attractive and pleasant with modern equipment and computer order entries and such, and then they have a big opening night where you can see how much more awesome the bar is.
This does not sound like the type of thing that would fascinate and yet it does. This guy is one of the few people I can tolerate listening to even though he's clearly loud and angry and in your face a lot of the times on purpose, which is normally not something I would tolerate at all, but viewed from a distance in this way in an environment where people are doing all kinds of crazy s***, it's understandable. There might be some gentle massage of the OCD desires going on where you see something filthy in this man comes in and screams at them about how it has to be clean and free of bacteria before you can eat there! The flip side of it is that I'm afraid to eat anywhere now that I've seen what can go on!
Anyway it's an interesting show that you might find yourself liking without expecting to. It's also nice to have one of those completely low-stakes shows where you can turn it on and off in a few minutes and go back to whatever you were doing, without losing the thread of what's happening.
Re: What Are You Watching?
Only Murders in the Building, season 2. Still a great show.
Stranger Things, season 4. Really good. But now there's a season 5 coming? I was really hoping it was wrapping up.
Reboot. Hulu show about a modern ironic reboot of a cheesy 90s family sitcom. Three episodes in, and I'm enjoying it. It's mera-take on comedy is clever. I like it.
Stranger Things, season 4. Really good. But now there's a season 5 coming? I was really hoping it was wrapping up.
Reboot. Hulu show about a modern ironic reboot of a cheesy 90s family sitcom. Three episodes in, and I'm enjoying it. It's mera-take on comedy is clever. I like it.
Any time the solution is "banjo rifle", I'm in 100%.
Re: What Are You Watching?
ANyone else seen Picard?
Spoilerish comment:
Did you notice the android that goes awry is called "F8" (Fate)
Spoilerish comment:
Did you notice the android that goes awry is called "F8" (Fate)
"Yay! I'm for the other team."