Month: June 2020

Great Watch: The I.T. Crowd @BigBoyler @RichardAyoade @porksmith @ITCrowdSupport @netflix #GoodWatch #QuarantineLife

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The I.T. Crowd is four-series, British sitcom that aired from 2009-2010, and then concluded with a single episode in 2013. After the first couple of episodes, my first thought was that it was a perfect blend of humor that did and didn’t translate well to American audiences. By the first episode of series 2, I was laughing out loud nearly constantly. Seriously; it’s that funny. It’s one of those shows that spends the first series/season getting to know the characters, and then once they’re established, lets them go nuts.

It’s also an easy watch. Each episode is less than 25-minutes long, and each series is only 6 episodes, so the entire show is less than 13 hours long (the finale is 48 minutes). You could hammer out the entire show in a weekend if you’re so inclined.

As an attorney, I find it funny that, despite America’s deep history of free speech, we can’t say, “fuck,” on TV. England is hardly totalitarian, but their laws tend to be less tolerant of speech in general. However, when it comes to silly things, England just doesn’t care, so it seems they have less a need for protections like ours. I’m not sure if my observation is on target, but that’s how it seems to me.

As always, YMMV.

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Garbage Watch: The Ritual @netflix #GoodWatch #QuarantineLife

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I’m not a fan of the horror genre. I find the writing lazy, relying on poor decision making on the part of the characters in order to move the flimsy scripts forward. So, take this with a grain of salt.

This movie was atrocious. It took far too long to develop, and once it did, it moved very quickly because there was absolutely nothing clever about the story or the characters. Moreover, the big reveal was rather lame. I was rooting for the bad guys because only one of the protagonists didn’t earn my ire, and he was the first one to die. If you watch this movie, you won’t deserve to have been blessed with the 94 minutes of life that you will have just wasted. You’ve been warned.

Whoever suggested that I watch this is lucky I don’t remember they did so. As always, YMMV.

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I’m Playing Again! (Until I Get Sick of It.) #DnD #RPG #Theros

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I was invited to an online, 5e D&D game with some friends. The recent release of Mythic Odysseys of Theros inspired me to accept. Our first session was last night. I’m playing a leonine (anthropomorphic lion) fighter modeled after the archetypical Spartan. Dory spear, xiphos, loin cloth; all the trimmings.

The character, Grexes, has been transported through space and time by the blacksmith god, Purphoros, from the world of Theros to the Forgotten Realms. His quirk: He speaks in riddles. For example, when he went to the bar, he asked the host for that which has four legs but cannot run (table, though chair works). As a player, this is hard to pull off, but that’s a good thing. I won’t be able to overdo it to the point it becomes annoying. I also sprinkle in Greek care of Google Translate. For example, I refer to Waterdeep as the most splendid polis I’ve ever seen. This also isn’t overdone because Grexes is notably learning Common through divine inspiration. Being from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, he otherwise wouldn’t be able to communicate effectively.

We’ll see how it goes.

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Good Watch: Look Who’s Back @netflix #GoodWatch #QuarantineLife

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The premise: Adolph Hitler is magically teleported to 2014. He quickly makes his presence known, and people mistake him for a comedian. The show starts out rather slowly but quickly becomes interesting. While there are genuine comedic moments, this is not a comedy. It’s a satire on how Hitler came to power. If you doubt its authenticity, note well that there are several scenes where the actor stays in character in dealing with ordinary Germans (i.e., not actors). Some laugh it off, and one guy actually doesn’t think the joke is funny at all, but some express support. This reminded me of what Sasha Baron Cohen does. I’m a fan of his work as well; sometimes creating comedy, and sometimes exposing the dark side of society.

As always, YMMV.

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Meh Watch: F Is for Family, Part II @billburr @netflix #GoodWatch #QuarantineLife

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F Is for Family is the R-rated brainchild of my favorite active comedian, Bill Burr. The fourth season dropped to Netfilx on June 12, 2020. It’s a sitcom about middle-class, suburban America in the 70s, and as I’ve discussed, I relate quite a bit to the show.

In that prior post, I mentioned that the yelling and complaining of the father, Frank, began to grate on me. It was even worse in season 4, so much so that, despite some genuinely funny moments, and a tear-jerker of an ending, I didn’t really enjoy it. I was laughing out loud at several points; it’s just that what stuck with me the most was how annoying Frank had become. A character can’t completely screw up for 9.8 episodes of a 10-episode season, even while specifically trying to fix his issues, without it bring down the viewing experience. The yelling and complaining continued to get less funny and more annoying. Considering he’s the center of the show, that’s not likely going to change. What’s weird is that it didn’t bother me for the first 2-1/2 seasons, and I’m not sure if that’s because it got worse or got old. Either way, I’m afraid the show has jumped the shark, but the ending of the season makes it clear that there’ll be a season 5.

Fortunately for Mr. Burr, fans like me will always watch it because there’s always a chance it will turn into the funniest thing I’ve seen in years.

Regardless of how I feel about it now, the first three seasons were certainly worth my while. As always, YMMV.

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Black Widow Dies #MCU @JeremyRenner @MarvelStudios

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Sundays are going to be lazy days for me. Going forward, I’m just going to re-post other people’s work. Today, it’s one of the best sacrifices in the MCU. As I’ve said, I don’t know if the relationship between Black Widow and Hawkeye was the best thing in the MCU, but it’s pretty damn close.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovOrsFuh2M4

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Good Watch: How It Ends @ForestWhitaker @netflix #GoodWatch #QuarantineLife

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There’s an apocalypse. A man has to travel from Chicago to Seattle to get to his fiance. His companion is his disappointing father-in-law played by Forrest Whitaker. The movie isn’t science fiction, because it’s not actually about the apocalypse. It’s about how humans react to it, and it isn’t pretty. Sadly, I think it’s accurate. In times of stress, people will turn on each other, even though cooperation would maximize everyone’s position. It’s yet another example of the prisoner’s dilemma.

It was worth my two hours, but as always, YMMV.

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Guilty Pleasure: Priest @Paul_Bettany @KarlUrban @MaggieQ @lilycollins @CamGigandet @netflix #GuiltyPleasure #QuarantineLife #priest

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Over on Rotten Tomatoes, Priest earned scores of 15 from the critics and 46 from the audience. Not many liked it. I bet some the actors I copied will not be happy I did.

The 2011 movie takes place in a post-apocalyptic Earth in which warrior-priests are the first line of defense against a race of vampires. While there are similarities — fangs, superior senses, vulnerability to sunlight — these vampires are different from what we see in other media. They’re barely even humanoid. The critics criticized the movie as just trying to throw a bunch of pop-culture elements together in a way that hasn’t been done, and it created a mess. You may criticize its execution, but trying to carve a novel path isn’t something deserving of such criticism. I won’t hold that against them. By no means do I like this one as much as many of the other guilty pleasures about which I’ve written, but it’s okay.

This movie is nothing more than a shoot-em-up, and sometimes thats all I want to see.

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Horrible Watch: The Wandering Earth #GoodWatch #QuarantineLife

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This was bad. Really bad. The sun is expanding and will (relatively) soon engulf Earth, and eventually the entire solar system. The governments of Earth ‘come together in an unprecedented way’ (how many times have I heard that?) to build engines in the Earth that will propel it through the solar system and beyond to a star that’s 4.2 light years away. I guess that’s Alpha Centauri, which on average is 4.3 light years from Earth.

Oh no! There was a miscalculation. Or malfunction. I wasn’t paying attention at this point. Earth is heading straight for Jupiter. That is, unless a rag tag assortment of soldiers, nerds, unqualified kids, and the requisite comic relief can save humanity. What  will happen?

Who cares? Seriously, there were moments that were written clearly to evoke sympathy due to the sacrifice of a supposedly beloved character, and I couldn’t care less. I was kind of hoping the Earth would be destroyed.

Please don’t watch this, but as always, YMMV.

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Weird Watch: The Man Without Gravity @netflix #GoodWatch #QuarantineLife

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This was a really weird movie entirely in Italian with English subtitles. It’s about a guy who’s immune to gravity, so he always floats upwards; however, this isn’t science fiction. This is a story about a guy who has something that’s completely different, which separates him from society until his secret gets out. Then people give him the attention he craves but for all the wrong reasons. Everyone wants to know him solely because he’s odd, and he never really connects with anyone. But it has the happy ending that I was hoping to see the entire way through, and honestly that redeemed any flaws the movie had.

Weird is the best word for it. As always, YMMV. 

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