Category: Good Watch

Great Watch: Jack Ryan, Season One @johnkrasinski @WendellPierce @dinashihabi @jackryanamazon @PrimeVideo

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I have until November 25, to finish watching everything Amazon has to offer. That’s because the (mediocre) Borat sequel inspired me, at last, to activate a free, 30-day trial of Amazon Prime. I have no intention of adding yet another pay streaming service to my suite of paid streaming services, and I don’t shop through Amazon very often, so there’s no reason for me to choose Amazon Prime over one of my existing ones. I really loved the Man in the High Castle, but the rest of what I’ve seen hasn’t sustained the aforesaid inspiration.

With time running out, I requested recommendations from the Facebook hive mind. I was told that Jack Ryan season one was really good, but that subsequent seasons were a let down. So, I watched it, with the intent of moving on to Bosch after I finish that season. I’ll be damned if season one wasn’t awesome. Perhaps you need to be into spy thrillers to like it, but I wouldn’t say that describes me, so I’m willing to guess that the average person would like it. I think it’s just a matter of it being a good show … or at least that season one is. I may never know whether season 2 is.

I also love shows and movies taking place in the Washington, DC area. As always, YMMV.

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I Finally Watched the Movie, #Tombstone #GoodWatch

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I said yesterday that I wasn’t going to go out of my way go post every day anymore, but I didn’t specifically promise to end my streak. I’ll post when I have something particular to say. So, with today’s post, it’s been 215 in as many days, and tomorrow’s ridiculousness will make me 216 for 216, but that’s probably where the streak will end.

So what inspired me? You already know, dipshit. You read the title of the post. While no movie could possibly live up to the hype this one has received, I’m finally watching Tombstone. So please, shut up.

First observation (a silly one): Sam Elliott always looked old. In this movie, he was 3 years younger than I am today, and while I wouldn’t say I have a youthful appearance, I think I look younger than he. I definitely act younger. What can I say? I’ve got issues.

Second observation: I love watching movies from an earlier decade to see a historical snapshot of where actors we at the time. Movies like this have actors on their way out, actors well-established, actors who recently got their big break, and actors that haven’t yet hit big, but our hindsight tells us they will. We also have a sprinkling of actors that were around only for that brief period before they dropped off the radar scope.

Third observation: Val Kilmer’s performance was flawless. Simply flawless. You can’t completely dislike this movie because of his performance. Nevertheless, the movie earned only two award nominations that hardly count, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s as good as any metric as to why we shouldn’t take them seriously.

Last observation: Clearly this isn’t historically accurate. We all know how this really went down.

Enough observations. Did I like it? Hells, yes. Plus, it’s been the source of so many damn memes. Back when I watched the Simpsons, I’d often miss the references to, for example, Dr. Strangelove until I saw that. Maybe now I’ll get some of your jokes.

Well...bye ANIMATED GIF - SpeakGif | Tombstone movie quotes, Tombstone, Movie quotes

I’d recommend the movie, but it’s 27 years old, and you’ve probably already seen it. Only I take 27 years or more to watch movies.

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Good Watch: The Mandalorian, Season 2 @themandalorian @starwars @disneyplus #GoodWatch

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Yeah, I know. Thank you, Captain Obvious.

The Mandalorian is back! But why is Tatooine? I get it. Tatooine and a few of its inhabitants hold a special place in the hearts of all who watch Star Wars, but the whole premise of the planet is that it’s an obscure place where nothing interesting happens, making it the perfect hiding place for a young Luke Skywalker. Yet here it is. Again. The center of a Star Wars story.

But let’s move past that. Jon Favreau should be handed the reins to Star Wars. He knows not only how to tell a story, but also specifically a Star Wars story. Two episodes in, and this looks to be as good as season one was. I still love the sign language of the Sand People. Nice touch. Though I’m not sure everyone else is happy with the structure, I also like when a TV series is episodic (original Star Trek for the win!) with a larger story subservient to that.

I also hope their paths cross again.

Rodians cook their meat well done.

No universal translator? Star Trek >> Star Wars.

Someone needs to stat out that Krayt dragon for D&D.

Boba Fett must have been the runt of the Mandalorian litter. He was a wimp. As always. YMMV.

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Great Watch: The Man in the High Castle @alexaKdavalos @CHTOfficial @rupert_evans @FredrikSewell @lukekleintank @joeldelafuente @TheOnlyDJQualls

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For the past few weeks — perhaps months – I’ve had terrible luck with shows I’ve watched that should be right up my alley. I was worried that I was becoming Stan Marsh. Fortunately, I found the Man in the High Castle. There’s hope for me yet.

I love historical “what if” dramatizations regardless of how much of my disbelief I must spend to buy into it. But hell, if I can watch a superhero movie, I can watch this. TMitHC is set in an alternate reality in which the Nazis developed the atomic bomb and thus won World War 2. The eastern part of what should be the United States is run by Germany, and the Western part is run by Japan. The central states are a neutral territory. I’m no expert on history, but I don’t see how either country could have taken over so much of the United States even if they defeated us. That’s a lot of ground to cover by such small, foreign populations, especially as well armed as our citizenry is.

So, forgetting that aspect of it, much of the show seems plausible to me, especially the relationship between the Germany and Japan. Whether it is realistic (not and expert, remember?) is another matter. It’s clearly enjoyable, though.

I’m just starting season 2. I was warned that the series ends in a disappointing way, but I’m enjoying the story and actors so much, I remain undeterred!

I think Hellboy must have had something to do with the story. As always, YMMV.

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Good Watch: Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb @Netflix #Saqqara #archaeology

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Netflix suggested Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb to me. Based on the tagline, it seemed like a documentary, but with all the science fiction Netflix has been sending my way, I assumed it was a supernatural thriller. Either way, I was interested. I’m a sucker for ancient mythology and the cultures that create it, so I’ll legitimately enjoy movies of that sort even if the rest of you don’t. But this is a documentary about a real find. Archaeologists found the tomb of Wahtye, an official of the 5th century Egyptian dynasty.

Clocking in at two hours, it deals with both the real world (e.g., archaeology, budget constraints) and the mythological world (i.e., they find a temple to Bastet/Sekhmet). I don’t think it’s for everyone, but it was right up my alley.

It still could have used an animated mummy. As always, YMMV.

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Terrible Watch: Undone @PrimeVideo

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I watched this show because someone suggested it, and at four hours of content, I knew I could bang it out quickly. Now I want to commit a homicide. (Not really; he’s great.)

The first thing that bugs me is that it seems a lot of shows are trying to one up the last show on time travel, multiverses, etc., but each of them fails to do anything I haven’t seen before. Moreover, the main character, Alma, at one point says, “I don’t have time for this!” We’re talking about time travel. She literally has all the time in existence for “this.” Do you know a single third grader that wouldn’t be able to understand that? When a plot depends on stupidity to create tension or move the story along, the writing sucks (see, e.g., the horror genre).

The second thing that bugs me are the characters. There isn’t a single one I liked. The show centers on, among other things, a car crash and time travel. Once that becomes obvious, I find myself hoping that Alma will bring all the characters through time, place them (and herself) in the car, and they’ll all just die. Problem solved, and it would have taken 2 minutes to watch. Then I could have gone on with my life.

Then Alma pissed me off by stealing a line I’ve used for decades (something to the effect of “of course you love me; I’m just so damn loveable”). Where are my royalties?

Okay, ignore that one.

Alma is played by Rosa Salazar, but she’s partially obscured by animation, so she looked a little like Aubrey Plaza. Imagine being expected to root for Aubrey Plaza when she’s constantly being obnoxious but not trying to be funny. That’s Alma.

Based on the ending, all of this was almost explainable, but only in a Wizard of Oz sort of way, but if I’m supposed to treat this as the Wizard of Oz, then the ending can’t be reconciled with the knowledge Alma had. Besides, it was too little, too late for me. I can’t care about the story if I hate all of the characters, and no ending can possibly justify 4 hours of that. I have no idea what you all saw in it.

As always, YMMV.

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Letdown Watch (So Far): The Expanse @ExpanseOnPrime #Good Watch

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I’ve been itching to activate a free, 30-day trial of Amazon Prime, mostly because of the Expanse. I’ve heard scientists explain how the show gets the physics of space travel better than any other show or movie before it, which also piqued my curiosity. I never thought I’d say this about this show, but with only a couple of episodes to go in season 1, I’m a bit bored. Surprisingly, the fact that it gets the science right isn’t that big of a deal. They produce drama around it, but they could (as so many other have) produce just as much drama around bad physics.

I haven’t given up hope on it. A fan of the show admitted that it starts off slow, and two of my all-time favorites, The Office and Parks & Recreation, both had weak first seasons to set up the series.

As always, YMMV.

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Good Watch: The Onion Movie @TheOnion @STARZ #GoodWatch

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I wanted to do something stupid, so I did. I watched the Onion Movie, and it didn’t disappoint. It’s the kind of movie that you can’t review. It’s just a ridiculous mess of funny anecdotes, each serving as a segue into the next. Just when I think it’s getting old, I suddenly find myself again laughing out loud at something ridiculously funny. It’s also great to see a snapshot of Hollywood in 2008, seeing which actors were on the rise, and which were on their way out. Plus, Jed Rees has a nice skit making fun of D&D players. That’s always fun for me. The Onion Movie is showing on Starz.

If you have a stupid sense of humor, this could be your thing too. As always. YMMV.

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Overrated Watch: Good Omens @michaelsheen #GoodWatch

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As I mentioned last Monday, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm inspired me to finally start my 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime. I’m otherwise uninterested in adding a 100th streaming service to my monthly bill. So, I asked the social media world what I should after Borat and received a ton of suggestions. Looking up everything, I settled on prioritizing the Expanse (I can’t believe I forgot that was available), Good Omens, Man in the High Castle, the Boys, and Undone. If there’s time, I’ll add Jack Ryan, Catastrophe, and Bosch. Practicing an analogue of Occam’s Razor, I chose Good Omens to start because it’s only six hours of content so far. I watched all six, 50-minute episodes this weekend.

Overall, it was decent, but I’ve seen too many movies and shows reimagining the apocalypse for modern times. Each adds a tiny twist. Tiny, not clever. I also get a bit annoyed by the overuse of flashbacks. Sometimes, holding back the history leading up to an event makes a lot of sense. Sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it’s just a gimmick. The first 30-some minutes of the sixth episode is a flashback, but it’s also the conclusion to the main story. There’s absolutely no reason for that, and little reason for the last 25 minutes. Finally, I was particularly annoyed by the theft of Sandra Bullock’s joke from Demolition Man (“lick butt v. kick butt”).

But it certainly wasn’t “bad.” If it were “bad,” I wouldn’t have finished it. Besides, if none of these things get on your nerves, you’ll probably like it a lot. It was still a good story delivered by a great cast. It was just a bit trite for my tastes.

David Tennant’s delivery reminded me of Bill Nighy. Every now and then, my mind would see Nighy delivering Tennant’s lines.

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Sophmore Slump Watch: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm @SachaBaronCohen @RudyGiuliani

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Borat 2 inspired me to start a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime. I’m glad it was free.

Okay, that was a bit rough, but it makes for a good tagline, so I offer no apologies. Borat 2 wasn’t bad; it just wasn’t as good as his first movie. Maybe I was expecting too much. The charm of the first movie was Borat acting crazy and watching the honest reactions of unaware citizens. Too many people recognize him, so that’s much more difficult. The movie is amusingly self-aware of that fact.

The other strength of the first movie was that Borat never learned his lesson. He started the movie screwed up and ended it that way. Not so here. In Borat 2, Borat returns to the “U S and A” but through circumstance is paired with his daughter, Tutar (Maria Bakalova). The movie makes a story out of their relationship, and that’s why I don’t think it was as good. It’s supposed to be a feel-good story, but if you focus on the story as serious, the premise is far too depressing for a comedy.

But that’s okay, as long as we get Cohen’s over-the-top comedy, right? Well, there was only one cringe-worthy moment for me, which was when Tutar speaks to the group of Women Republicans. There was also a funny moment, let’s just say, related to abortion, but it wasn’t embarrassing. It was just a misunderstanding. I can get that from any comedy. I did laugh out loud on occasion, but not enough. In fact, at one point, I walked away from the TV to put water on for pasta. I wouldn’t be able to do that while watching the first movie.

As a side note, the Giuliani thing is greatly exaggerated, probably on purpose. I suspect it was intentionally overblown in order to hype the movie. It seems to have worked.

I hope I have better luck with the Expanse, the Boys, the Man in the High Castle, and Good Omens. If there’s time, I’ll add in Jack Ryan and Bosch.

I really wanted a proper sequel for Borat. As always, YMMV.

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