Tag: Good Watch

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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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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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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Good Watch: #Equilibrium @netflix #GoodWatch #QuarantineLife

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Once again, I read some article telling me, “Watch this movie before it leaves Netflix!” This time, it worked out for me. Equilibrium was released in 2002, and like all movies, kills off Sean Bean. That’s just the way of things. The movie takes place in a dystopian future where a totalitarian state has banned emotion through the use of required medication. This was in response to World War III, which almost killed off the human race. The idea is that if we don’t feel, we won’t engage in crime. There are occasional angry outbursts from characters enforcing these rules, and a few other inherent paradoxes, but the script stays together fairly well.

One of the issues raised is that without negative emotions, life isn’t worth living. That means you have to accept the bad along with the good. This is a tough message to hear considering recent newsworthy events. Of course, where you strike the balance is the key. This movie shows what happens when the pendulum swings too far in one direction.

For once, the article was correct. As always, YMMV.

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Good (Meh) Watch: History 101 @netflix #GoodWatch #QuarantineLife

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Netflix just released season 1 of History 101. This is a 10-episode season with each episode under 25 minutes long. I watched the entire season in a single evening after work. It’s intended to be a crash course on the history of fast food, the Space Race, the rise of China, plastics, oil and the Middle East, robots, feminism, nuclear power, AIDS, and genetics. Obviously, none of these topics can be thoroughly discussed in 25 minutes, but then again, not many people have the time or patience to learn everything there is to know about all of these topics.

Some of the episodes focus on history (as they should) but unfortunately devolve into opinion pieces. That’s not why I was watching, and they could have spent those 5-10 minutes providing more historical information. I appreciate series where the episodes are 30 minutes or less, but that makes time precious, so wasting it opinion soured me a bit to the series, especially considering some of the opinions offered.

As always, YMMV.

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Good Watch: Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich @netflix #GoodWatch #QuarantineLife

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You’ve all seen the memes, but this isn’t a joke. Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich is a limited-run series of four episodes each about 1 hour long. As someone who grew up in the DC area and has had some experience with actual politics, this was nothing new to me. High-class prostitution runs rampant in the world, so it’s inevitable that teenagers and even younger children will be caught up in the mess. This may be a tough watch for a lot of people because of the subject matter, but if you can watch it, you should. It’s important to be reminded that the world of the powerful and wealthy isn’t the same world in which the rest of us live. It’s also important to realize that, in the unlikely event that the whole truth ever comes out, your heroes are as likely to have egg on their face as your villains. But none of them will take a fall. Who will prosecute them?

I’m not into conspiracy theories, but Jeffrey Epstein didn’t kill himself. As always, YMMV.

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Good Watch: #Unorthodox @netflix #GoodWatch #QuarantineLife

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Unorthodox is the story of a 19-year-old Hasidic woman in Brooklyn who escapes from her arranged marriage and heads to Germany, the home of her mother. I don’t know much about Hasidic culture, so I don’t want to paint too broad a brush. I’ll just say this: I see the value of organized religion, but it’s still a human institution, so it can be as flawed as the humans that run it. My experiences as a child in the Catholic Church exemplify that. This is an extreme case that disturbed me. There was little if any force. Even scarier, there was capitulation. The main character, Esty, willingly submits to the lifestyle for her entire life (often revisited in flashbacks), making change difficult and justice nonexistent. The present-day aspects of the movie show her finally breaking free from those social bonds, but she can’t quite escape her past. It’s long-term effects will always  be with her. Generally speaking, I can relate to all of that.

The limited-run series is four episodes each under 1 hour long. It was worth my four hours, but I did have to take some breaks while attempting to binge it.

As always, YMMV.

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Good (Meh) Watch: Space Force @SteveCarell @LisaKudrow @dianasilvers13 @FunnyAsianDude @rejectedjokes @netflix #GoodWatch #SpaceForce #QuarantineLife

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With much fanfare, Netflix just released season 1 of Space Force. It has some good star power (pun intended), including Steve Carell in the lead, John Malkovich, and Lisa Kudrow.

Malkovich is brilliant as usual, and as I’ve discussed before; Carell’s moving explanation as to why we have an expensive space program should shut people up about it (it won’t); and I love when the episodes are only (just over) 30 minutes each — I watched all 10 episodes in less than 12 hours — but I’m afraid that my opinion goes south from there. I was really looking forward to this show, but it just fell flat for me. It has some funny moments sprinkled in, but over all I thought the humor was ho-hum. I also imagine that, much like an attorney watching a legal drama or a doctor watching a medical drama, anyone with even basic understanding of the real U.S. Space Force or space travel will develop a nervous twitch from the inaccuracies. On this I say, it’s a comedy. Just roll with it.

More importantly, I didn’t care about the characters. There are very few criticisms worse than that. I really don’t care if Steve Carell’s General Naird, or the Space Force in general, succeeds at anything. Lisa Kudrow is reduced to a very minor supporting role, which I found as confusing as it was unnecessary. Maybe in the real world she didn’t want to commit to the schedule for filming, but if there isn’t a real world explanation, then I don’t understand why she was marginalized. In fact, we don’t even know why she was marginalized within the story. (I’m avoiding spoilers here.) She was my favorite “Friend,” and she’s really funny. She also provides the only scene in the entire season where I actually care about the characters. The one and only thing that’s good about her limited presence is that it sets up the possibility of a great dynamic between General Baird and his daughter, Erin, but the writing (not the actors) drops the ball on that. In fact, there’s little purpose to Erin’s character in the show at all.

Being a Silicon Valley fan, I’m happy to see Jimmy O. Yang  getting a good gig eventually with significant time on screen, but his role is more straight than funny. Ben Schwartz plays the same character he plays in absolutely everything else he does. I loved him in Parks & Recreation, but he didn’t get enough air time in that show for it to get old. It’s certainly gotten old seeing that actor play that role with an almost constant presence.

Then there’s Fred Willard playing General Naird’s father. Considering Mr. Willard just died, that was sad, but it also gave you reason to watch.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, the critics panned it (36%), but the audience like it a lot (71%), so as always, YMMV. I hate that I agree with the critics. I guess I must have died inside recently.

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Good Watch: Apollo 18 @HWarrenChristie @RyRobbins @netflix #GoodWatch #QuarantineLife

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I saw a video on YouTube entitled, Alien Movies on Netflix That Should Be Required Viewing. It’s over 11 minutes long, so you may want to read the rest of this post before deciding whether to watch it.

Of the movies suggested, I had seen a few already, and have since seen a few more. I have to say that the list is, at best, hit or miss. That said, Apollo 18 was pretty good.

In the real world, Apollo 18 was cancelled for budgetary reasons. This movie presumes that was a cover up, and that the mission went forward. Here’s the short description:

Apollo 17 was the last U.S.-sponsored lunar voyage — or was it? Hours of found footage, classified for decades, point to a subsequent moon mission — Apollo 18 — that ended very badly. Astronauts John Grey (Ryan Robbins), Nathan Walker (Lloyd Owen) and Benjamin Anderson (Warren Christie), on a mission to install radar scanners, discover a Soviet space capsule nearby. The men also discover a dead cosmonaut, and unfortunately for them, learn how he died.

I think that pretty much sums it up. I’m not a huge fan of “found footage” films, but this premise intrigued me, and I enjoyed the movie. It’s just under 90 minutes long.

As always, YMMV.

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