Started a new show last night - The Last of Us. Based on the 2013 video game. A video game adaptation? Oh no, it must be awful! Not so. For the first half hour, I could not look away for a second. Very gripping. It's an 80-minute premiere though, so it did slow down a bit in the middle. But consider me interested. Very much looking forward to the next episodes.
Been watching the British show Endeavour and quite enjoying it. Thinking of going back and checking out the Inspector Morse series that started in the 1980s.
I rather liked Endeavour, and Inspector Morse and Lewis (the sequel to Morse). I saw that Endeavour's last season starts in 2023. The production company and main cast have decided to shut it down.
I've been watching The Last of Us on HBO and... ugh. I knew I was going to likely have a hard time with the show, because I'm a big fan of the game and how the story is presented within the game. One of those fans where if they don't get it just right is bound to be disappointed. Add on top of that, that I have unpopular opinions about the game's story, and I knew the show and I weren't going to be on the best of terms. What I didn't expect was how boring the show has been so far. Each episode gets worse, and this past one, the third, a lot of reviewers were saying was the best one of the season. To me it felt too tonally dissonant to enjoy, never mind that it presents information that taken to its logical conclusion completely undermines our main character's decisions to the point the main conflict wouldn't even be a thing. I still intend to keep watching, but solely because I'm invested due to the game. If I wasn't, I'd probably be having an "Ight Imma Head Out" moment right now.
I don't even know if I can get HBO here, but I've been hearing (aka being force-fed ads for this) about this show and how brilliant it is, so I finally took a look and found that it was yet another zombie iteration. Pass. I liked them at first, but zombies are going to form sort of a cultural boundary layer for future entertainment archaeologists.
I'll probably give it a shot because I liked the first game (haven't played the second, maybe never will). I often feel the same as you. Like when I heard other people thought the 2nd and 3rd season of The Leftovers was better than the first, my jaw hit the floor. I guess I have unusual tastes.
I didn't play the game, so I don't know much about the characters or story in The Last of Us. But it's really good still, and I can see why the viewing numbers continue to rise. It's one of the rare shows that is "appointment TV" for me, like Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon were. I popped on to recommend Cunk on Earth. I'm shocked that I've never heard of this character before, because this actress is just brilliant. Excellent deadpan. This is one of the most joke-dense shows I have ever seen, it's incredible. Here is a small sampling from the first few minutes of the second episode. Try reading it in the voice of a female British documentarian: "Jesus was born Jewish, but soon converted to Carpentry, as he followed his dad into the primitive table and chair industry. What's ironic about Jesus Christ becoming a carpenter was he was actually named after the two words you're most likely to shout after hitting your thumb with a hammer. Scholars believe he was a real historical figure, like Justin Timberlake or Garfield. Whether or not they think he was the actual son of God who performed miracles like walking on wine or helping a deaf man see... they all agree he preached tolerance and forgiveness, a message so important his most ardent followers would eventually start killing anyone who didn't want to hear it."
It was a good run though. Running zombies, get it? I declare "Train to Busan" the winner of the contest. Just imagine, all of this based on the success of 28 Days Later, because that's what started the modern zombie wave. Another pun. Zombies come in waves. Sorry. Which movie/show was the worst? I think that in fairness you'd have to assemble 10 or so movies to fill it.
Sometimes they behave as waves, sometimes particles. Depends on how many there are, and how expensive the CGI is.
It's far from dead as a genre, and at least this show has a bit more of an interesting take on it. 6.4 million people watched episode 3 live, and 7.5 million watched episode 4 live. Looks like it's a huge hit that many people are enjoying. I had my doubts about post-apoc survival horror shows after The Walking Dead refused to end and just got worse and worse every season. But it's back, baby. The Last of Us rocks.
I’m watching the second episode now. Not bad but it made me roll my eyes when they dubbed sounds of ripping off duct tape over a scene where the characters were using electrical tape
"So he came a lot?" "I believe you are referring to King Arthur's castle, Camelot" "No, it says came a lot. So did he? Like more than a normal person?" "The...only evidence we have of that is he is said to have had a son" "Oh...then probably not then."
Headline of the Day from The Onion: Netflix Asks Any Men Thinking Of Killing Their Families To Just Contact Them Directly First
I love Arrested Development, I started watching it during lockdown and now 3 years later, it's since becomes one of my favorite TV series of all time
We just finished watching The Night Agent on Netflix. As top-level conspiracy thrillers go, it was better than most. Not great, but I don't want my time back at least.
Shadow and Bone - fantasy show on Netflix. It’s kinda rubbish compared to The Witcher but it keeps the audience tuned in. Sort of.
a foreign film on netflix called private lesson. edit: ended up not watching shadow and bone to the end. I got bored.
I started a Sopranos rewatch a couple weeks ago. I haven't seen any of these episodes for at least a dozen years or so, so it's almost like watching a new show, but with characters that I feel I know well. It's simply brilliant, with some of the best writing and acting there is. No wonder it was such a phenomenon when it premiered way back in 1999. Anyway, I just wanted to share a funny moment I had when I was watching episode 7 of season 2 last night. Christopher is discussing his movie script with the titular "D-Girl," and she says, "Your inciting incident doesn't happen til page 12. It should be on page 3." Writer me was like:
Yeah, that whole episode pokes fun at writers and the film industry in general. The show was intended to be a comedic in nature and stayed true to its form. Some serious dramatic moments for sure, but they never missed an opportunity to crack a joke. I still think it's probably the best show ever, if only because it was the first to use the long form narrative model. Basically an 80 hour movie. Nobody had really done that before, though I suppose Twin Peaks and some others came close. But they weren't fully realized in my opinion.
