Finished the second season of Reacher. While it reviewed well, looking online it seems hard to find a positive thing said about this. Personally, I found the first season of Reacher honestly just kinda boring and I feel like that is one thing you can’t describe season 2 as. The first season was so long and so meandering, and sure season 2’s story is convoluted nonsense when it all landed, but again I dunno I just didn’t get that rudderless feel like I did during season 1.
And yeah, season 1 had this hard, violent edge to it, but I thought the action scenes we got as payoff were often just not very good. So while sure the harder edge may have been sanded down a bit, I thought the action sequences were way better put together here. Not amazing by any stretch, there is quite a lot of wonky CG and awkward choreography, but in Season 1 it was just the most basic direct to streaming stuff, whereas I feel like the action scenes here just generally had a bit more about them.
Sacked "Fallout" after Episode 4. I thought it was terrible. Not sure what to try next - I have all the subscription services available until the end of the week as I house-sit for my brother - I might just go with a few of the movies that are exclusive on Prime or have a laugh at "Rebel Moon 2" on Netflix.
@LN78 I had been struggling with whether to spend my time watching Fallout. I’m not a fan of the source material, having never played any of the games. I don’t actively dislike Fallout, rather I’m just apathetic about it.
I find that sometimes a long-running history with a franchise will carry a piece of media and make one blind to its blemishes (certainly something we see a lot with Star Wars, Marvel, and DC). However, fandom can also magnify its shortcomings, leading to disappointment — especially if it’s a lesser known niche franchise like Fallout. Are you a big fan of the games and did that affect your enjoyment (or lack thereof)?
Well, if you find something good out there in streaming land, let me know. Every time I sit down to watch a show, I get analysis paralysis and end up choosing to do something else. The last thing I watched to completion and enjoyed was Band of Brothers. I have most streaming services and I even have a free trial of Apple TV+ for the next 3 months so I’m open to suggestions there especially.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution I know and heard lots of people that are not aware of the video games, but still enjoyed the Fallout TV show. If something is made well, it shouldn't matter if your a fan of the source material or not. Of course you'll notice a lot of things and get more out it if you are.
Life is more fun when you help people succeed, instead of wishing them to fail.
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.
@Th3solution I liked the games (particularly "New Vegas") well enough, but wouldn't class myself as a fan or anything like that, so the reported shenanigans concerning the timeline (the show is canonical with the games) didn't bother me at all. The show is just terribly written - full of narrative coincidences, unlikeable characters and (the thing that caused me to switch off) some of the worst plot armour I've ever seen. It's rubbish in a beautifully produced package - the step-down in quality after "Shogun" (a series where the writers knew what they were doing) was seriously jarring!
@Th3solution "Shogun" was really good. While you've got an Apple TV trial period, you might enjoy "Masters of the Air" which is the third in the Tom Hanks/Steven Spielberg produced trilogy of WW2 miniseries (after "Band of Brothers" and "The Pacific") that's currently exclusive to that service. I haven't seen it yet but my brother was very pleased with it.
@LN78 Shogun and The Bear basically show that Disney+ over here is entirely reliant on FX for its quality. Which is hilarious given obviously Disney have bought them over and yet they’re keeping the service from just being a bit crap. Although I’ve been watching some documentary series thing about Disneyland rides that’s been fun, there’s a bizarre juxtaposition with Disneyland in that it’s obviously corporate hell on Earth but having never been it’s basically the holy grail of my inner child. Plus the engineering side of things is genuinely impressive. Compared to other rich dudes’ white whale projects, at least it worked.
@nessisonett After perusing all the content on offer I can't say I disagree with you. I think my brother is mental for spaffing £60 a month (or whatever it is) on all these streaming services.
@LN78 And now they’re going to bundle Hulu, Disney and HBO Max into one service in the states. Just like bloody cable! Except obviously without the same residuals for staff so yet another way to screw over their own workers.
Didn’t really think either Doctor Who tonight were very good. I’ll take slightly crap schlock over boring and crap over-serious episodes like the nadir of late Capaldi and Whittaker’s years but eeesh, not exactly a great advert for the series. The first one is just Baby Geniuses and was inoffensively silly. The musical episode I was basically watching through my fingers. I’m not a musicals person but that wasn’t even the issue, the vibes are just completely dead. Set dressing was lazy, the overuse of that Volume tech has killed creativity and everything looks fake. The plot was contrived and didn’t go anywhere at all. At least Space Babies went for one thing (even if that was quite literally talking babies) and landed it successfully. I think I’m realising that I much, much prefer Davies’ kitchen sink slant rather than what really does feel like Disney have well and truly got their claws in. It’s just flat. There’s enough episodes to change that but the difference in production is instantly noticeable from the Christmas special which was still filmed in the BBC Wales complex. I had a bad feeling when Disney got involved and it’s not looking good already.
This week saw the debut of Dark Matter, an Apple TV+ sci-fi series based on an excellent novel by Blake Crouch, who also serves as showrunner here, starring Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Connelly, Alice Braga and Jimmi Simpson. Saw the first two episodes today and felt it started very strong. The cast is great and I found the story very engaging. I only remember broad strokes from the book and very few details, as it's been seven years and my memory isn't what it used to be, so it served up a surprise or two as well.
@MightyDemon82 I don't know if you've seen it yet or if you plan on waiting to binge it later or what, but I'm curious to hear your thoughts on it, especially as I expect the novel to be a lot fresher in your mind than in mine
@FuriousMachine I'll probably wait as I don't currently subscribe to Apple TV. Does look great though as well as a plethora of other sci-fi stuff that I'm interested in!
Just started watching some shows on Netflix, new season of Blood of Zeus is up and I'm also watching Dr Stone and Captain Laserhawk.
@LN78 It’s frustrating because I want to like those episodes. I liked the Christmas one and the specials last year. I like the general direction the show is going in. I like Ncuti and Millie seems like a great companion so far. It pains me to see it be used as yet another culture war battleground considering the core principles of the show have been ‘woke’ since the 60s. However, those two episodes were a dreadful way to start a season, more filler than the sort of stuff to get things going. RTD has always been a bit naff with his actual written episodes so seeing that there’s only 2 written by other people this season doesn’t fill me with confidence. I’m not a fan of Moffat’s time as showrunner or literally anything he’s ever done outside of Doctor Who but I really hope this episode he’s penning next week is as good as what he wrote for RTD back in the 00s. At least I know which episodes to skip on a rewatch, every season has them but not at the start.
@nessisonett Let me know if it gets any better because as it stands, I'm out - watching the Disneyfication of another franchise I care about is more than I can stand.
@MightyDemon82 Plenty of good stuff on AppleTV+ to look forward to. If you like classic noir with a modern twist, you should also check out "Sugar" with Colin Farrell when the time comes (hopefully you'll manage to avoid spoilers until then).
I'm not familiar with the Netflix shows you mention. Animated?
Yes they are animated. Blood of Zeus is excellent if like Greek mythology. Dr Stone is an anime with an interesting concept and Captain Lazerhawk features characters from Ubisoft games.
@MightyDemon82 Blood of Zeus sounds like it might be my kind of jam. I am wary about Netflix shows as they are far too cancel-happy for my tastes, but that doesn't seem to apply to their animated output (at least not quite as much). Will take a look
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