Media Discussion

[kuhla]

Megalopolis 2024

imdb - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10128846/

Imagine a famous painting. Now imagine someone made a poor copy. It's just plain bad right? Then you realize they also added some clowns. It's still just plain bad but what is it now? This movie is a disaster. It's so terrible. Many of the scenes are so far beyond ridiculous they end up being funny while the (thin) story is completely serious. Watch this 4 min clip below. The context doesn't even matter (there isn't much anyways). I laughed a lot watching this movie. I would only recommend this as like a party movie when people want to intentionally see something bad and just laugh together.

 

[Malaphax]

Secret Level - It's basically video game themed "Love, Death and Robots" made by some of the same people.  I'll try and keep my thoughts on each episode brief because they are all quite different and generally different levels of quality.  

• D&D - meh, nothing special.
• Sifu - cool concept, middling executution
• New World - Arnold voicing the character, it's goofy and mostly bad.
• Unreal Tournament - One of the best in the series.  Really good.  
• Warhammer 40k - The guy who made astartes worked on this, so it's fantastic.  
• Pac Man - Uhh, high concept grimdark pacman... that's a take.  
• Crossfire - Grounded setting, but this is generic enough it could be call of duty / battlefield / whatever.
• Armored Core - Keanu Reeves + big robots, sadly not interesting.

They're going to release another batch I'll check through those when they come out.  They're very quick episodes, honestly I wish they were a bit longer, but I suspect this first season had a very low budget.  

Say Nothing - The trailer for this is practically a comedy, and while there's a few moments of levity, the general tone is as dark as the subject matter.  This is one of the few shows I might want to either turn on the dialogue booster or subtitles, I can understand them but sometimes the audio mix is a bit all over the place and I'm straining against it + heavy accents.  

Creature Commandos - It's basically a knockoff animated "The Suicide Squad".  It's more James Gunn DCU content so if you're into that it might appeal.  So far it's mid.  

[Jedi2155]

Hoping they do a lot more secret levels or LDR as its one of my favorite series in all of Netflix

[Malaphax]

Secret Level stuff: td:dr - just watch the unreal tournament and warhammer 40k episodes everything else is skippable.  

• Outer Worlds - meh
• MegaMan - cool intro, way too short
• Exodus Odyssey - neat intro for an upcoming knock off mass effect game
• Spelunky - meh
• Concord - neat intro for a game that has already been delisted / killed (lol)
• Honor Way of Kings - No idea what the fuck this was
• Playtime Fullfillment - Absolutely trash playstation commercial

Day of the Jackal - This is decent but there's too much fluff around character's personal lives that don't add anything to the overall plot of an assassin and the agency trying to catch him.  It seems like they're going to get another season, hopefully they focus the plotline and ignore the family drama, but knowing hollywood they'll do the opposite.  

Dune Prophecy - This ended up middling.  I feel like there are cool ideas they could get into but they're missing the mark.  I'm also not sure the super short season (or it being cut in half) was the right call.  I'll keep watching but I'm mildly disappointed this isn't better.  It's also unfair to compare this to the movies, but it's almost impossible to tell your audience not to do that.  

The Agency - This is a remake of the French series The Bureau, which I watched some of.  So I keep getting weird feelings of deja vu because I recognize the characters and plot elements.  The show is clearly premium tv with solid actors, good set design and a nice layer of polish.  They've also changed some stuff to be more topical, including some very current stuff about the war in Ukraine, and tensions with China.  I'd give this a tentative recommendation.  
I'm also really tempted to go back and watch the Bueau because I remember that show being solid.  

Anime bullshit:

• DanDaDan is fantastic, please watch.  Sadly they ended the season at an odd place and left with an abrupt cliffhanger.  At least this was wildly popular and successful so we're guaranteed more.  

[Malaphax]

Alien Romulus - This was ok, too close of a retread of the first film.  Also I thought the CGI for a particular android was surprisingly low quality, I think I even saw a post recently showing they had gone back and redone it for the bluray release.  

The Knick - I actually went back and finished this, it's really good.  Here's a fantastic little video talking about why the show feels different and so high quality as well as the consistent cinematography/editing (because it's essentially all one guy).  The show is absolutely worth a watch due to the quality level, and honestly deserves to be included in the "prestige tv" club.  

Mr. and Mrs. Smith - This show is far more style over substance, but it absolutely nails the style.  Donald Glover's character unironically talks about fashion and looking good and it felt almost fourth wall breaking.  The show also does a decent job with the romance aspect considering the short runtime of the series.  Bonus, Ron Pearlman's character is fucking hilarious, and totally against type.  

SAS Rogue Heroes - Turn your brain off WW2 themed nonsense, British flavoured.

Anime bullshit:

Solo Leveling Season 2 - Power fantasy garbage, but high quality animation.  This is also one of the few non-japanese original material shows that have been turned into anime.  

[Malaphax]

Castlevania Nocturne Season 2 - This was a nice step up across the board.  The animation is better, the writing was good and it felt like a more "completed" season compared to season 1, which was obviously a set up for a larger arc.  I hope they continue this series either with a direct sequel or just more random Belmont / vampire hunting stuff.  I also hope that Powerhouse Animation finds other cool projects to work on, they're clearly doing a great job.  

Anime Bullshit:
Sakamoto Days - This was supposedly a fantastic action manga, but the animation is uninspired and boring.  The quality is low and there are much better action anime out there which clearly had bigger budgets.  Dropped after 3 episodes, don't bother.  

Potential Shows to watch:

• American Primeval - Western with a decent word of mouth and reviews.
• The Pitt - ER/Medical drama but I've heard it's high quality and not a soap opera.

[kuhla]

On 12/27/2024 at 3:03 PM, Malaphax said:

Day of the Jackal (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt24053860/)

This is decent but there's too much fluff around character's personal lives that don't add anything to the overall plot of an assassin and the agency trying to catch him.  It seems like they're going to get another season, hopefully they focus the plotline and ignore the family drama, but knowing hollywood they'll do the opposite. 

I watched this too and I have a bit mixed feelings about it. They built up the main character and then, instead of displaying more of what they built, they take a detour both with the character and the story. I would have appreciated focusing more on just his work. The antagonist (I guess) was interesting as a mirror character. I enjoyed it overall as a bit more of a casual watch.

 

On 12/12/2024 at 5:11 PM, kuhla said:

Silo (Season 2)(https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14688458/)

It's plodding along fine. I'm pretty invested in this show and seeing how they finish it since I read the books. I'm pretty sure they changed a lot of things but the most important parts are there.

I did finish this. I almost think I need to go back and re-read the books. They changed less than I thought they would (from what I remember). It's a decent show but the premise needs to interest you otherwise it probably would seem boring. The end of season 2 is pretty much as far as I read in the books so I'm not sure what the next season might bring.

The Substance (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17526714/)

Oh boy. Where to start on this. I got kind of curious about this because of some of the buzz I saw online. I didn't even see the trailer and kind of went into it blind. This is like a weird combo of body horror, drama, pseudo-reality comedy something. There is a lot of tits, ass, blood, guts, puss and wet noises. Curious lol? I didn't love it but I did have a little fun watching it especially the ending which is where I felt they placed most of the comedy. Acting was good. Visuals were disgusting (intentional). Audio was nauseating (intentional). Plot was a bit predictable but the story is just not a complicated story which doesn't make it bad. 6/10.

Spoiler

I initially though the movie was just sci-fi-playing-around with the idea of aging in Hollywood and being replaced by the newest hot young thing but after reading a review online I think the allegory to drug addiction fits a lot better. It's a story of two people but it's really just one person, on the drug and off the drug and there is a price to pay. Even the shaky injections in the bathroom all fit when you look at it that way.

 

[Malaphax]

The Brutalist - It's a 3.5 hour movie that mostly tries to tell the story of a Hungarian Jewish architect and his brutalist architecture partially inspired by his time serving in a concentration camp.  So it's super cheery and fun.  It's definitely a good film but falls into the oscar-bait category.  I was a bit disappointed how little they really get into the architecture part of his life and instead focus on the dramatic elements. 

Nosferatu - I'm not a fan of horror, and this just skirts the line between suspense and horror for me.  It's a more slavic / traditional take on the vampire genre, which I appreciated.  The cast definitely nail their roles, with a fair bit of purposeful overacting/melodrama. 

American Primeval - Nice little western mini-series that touches on some lesser known stories about how the mormons had a rather violent and bloody past when they settled their new area of salt lake city.  It's mostly a "found family" story with a few people coming together to overcome a perilous journey.  Worth watching if the premise is at all interesting to you. 

The Pitt - This is a fantastic medical series, I believe the creator is the guy behind ER, but this isn't about weird over the top drama between the medical staff this is much more of a very realistic medical procedural.  I've seen a few videos from doctors claiming this is one of the most accurate depictions of emergency medicine ever put to film.  It's also a damn good series, I really appreciate that each episode is 1 hour of their shift, and they have a decent sized cast able to keep things interesting.  Strong recommendation. 

Daredevil: Born Again - I'm thrilled that Disney basically was forced to keep the cast from the Netflix show, and damn but they're making it work.  I'm still concerned that the writing might not be there, especially since this series went through a total re-write at one point.  So far it seems in line with the Netflix show in tone and writing quality.  I hope it doesn't fall off. 

The White Lotus - I've seen so many recommendations for this show, but so far it's been far less impressive than I'd like considering it's ratings.  I'll still finish at least season 1 but I'm not sure I feel interested enough to carry it forward. 

Anime Bullshit:
The Apothecary Diaries - A very highly rated show about an apothecary that solves mysteries set in a fictional Chinese empire / palace.  It's not my usual taste, but ti's actually quite good.  The second season is currently airing and tends to rank in the top 3 every week.  It's a bit of a mystery of the week / palace intrigue type of show with a female lead.  It also manages to make the female lead multi-dimensional without relying on too many YA tropes I've seen applied to women characters.  I've heard this show is basically an anime version of some Korean/Chinese historical dramas but I feel like that's a bit of an oversimplification. 

[kuhla]

A Different Man (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21097228/)

"An aspiring actor undergoes a radical medical procedure to drastically transform his appearance, but his new dream face quickly turns into a nightmare."

From one body horror movie to another. Kinda. Even just saying that makes me feel a tiny bit guilty and that is one of the problems I had with this movie. I felt it was decent movie overall except for the fact that the story is about a real condition, about a real person and they even have multiple people with the real condition (neurofibromatosis) cast in the movie. It's just a fictional story but it almost feels like a mockery sometimes. I have mixed feelings. Again it was decent and the genre description (psychological dark comedy) and the trailer are accurate but I don't think this is for everyone. Maybe if it interests you then give it a shot.

[Malaphax]

On 2/13/2025 at 8:50 PM, kuhla said:

The Substance (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17526714/)

Oh boy. Where to start on this. [...]

Not my tempo.  I got the idea, I didn't mind some of the body horror but I feel like the last act completely shifted into absurdist nonsense. 

Orb: On the Movement of the Earth - I saw plenty of recommendations for this, which I was very uncertain of, but I gave it a shot.  It's a strong anime, clearly seinen/adult focused with the majority of the show being about pursuit of knowledge, people's convictions, the dangers of over zealousness, the potential boons and harms of technology, commentary on religion - oh and aristotle, plato and socrates are quoted unironically just about every episode.  If this sounds like an "up it's own ass" type of show... well that's partially true - it's saved by fairly good writing and a plot that links several shorter stories together.  But I'm going to paste the description here because, yea it's not exactly doing much for the appeal of the show:

Quote

The setting is 15th century Poland. It was a time when heretical ideas lead those to who possessed such a mindset to being burned at the stake for their beliefs. Rafal, a child prodigy, is expected to major in theology, the most important subject at the time, at the university. One day, however, he comes across a mysterious man, and is now studying a possible "truth" in the midst of heretical thought!

As an aside, this show does depict some fairly graphic methods of medieval torture so, just be warned. 

Wheel of Time Season 3 - This season has been absolutely fantastic, but every single season so far has had atrocious season finales, so watch this show somehow manage to grab defeat from the jaws of victory and crash the ending... again.  I have zero interest in the books but I do think the show has absolutely hit it's stride, and I'm hopeful it keeps going because it's a well produced high budget fantasy show that isn't from George RR Martin (I'm just kinda sick of his shit). 

Common Side Effects - This show was solid, far better than I expected.  The first episode is literally on youtube for free if you want a taste of the general vibe.  It's made by the same people as scavengers reign which should give you a slight barometer on the weirdness but I feel like this was a little more mass market focused. 

[kuhla]

On 3/5/2025 at 3:02 PM, Malaphax said:

Daredevil: Born Again - I'm thrilled that Disney basically was forced to keep the cast from the Netflix show, and damn but they're making it work.  I'm still concerned that the writing might not be there, especially since this series went through a total re-write at one point.  So far it seems in line with the Netflix show in tone and writing quality.  I hope it doesn't fall off.

It's no cinematic masterpiece but I have enjoyed watching this. Feels like Marvel for grown ups. A lot less woo woo special powers and flashy set pieces and a lot more just every day struggles at a smaller scale. Even the few fight scenes feel a little more grounded.

On 4/4/2025 at 5:57 PM, Malaphax said:

Wheel of Time Season 3 - This season has been absolutely fantastic, but every single season so far has had atrocious season finales, so watch this show somehow manage to grab defeat from the jaws of victory and crash the ending... again.  I have zero interest in the books but I do think the show has absolutely hit it's stride, and I'm hopeful it keeps going because it's a well produced high budget fantasy show that isn't from George RR Martin (I'm just kinda sick of his shit).

I'm mostly pleased with it. This season has definitely been a step up but it's still very much high fantasy so that's going to be a quick turn off for some people and I hesitate to recommend it.

Severance (Season 2) - I'm not a huge fan of some of what happened in this season. So many things were explained and the explanations were not satisfying to me. The show lost a lot of its mystique. The acting, the visuals, soundtrack is still all good but I hope in the next season they are able to bring more of the "weird" back which seems to be mainly connected with the cult/religion element of the show.

[kuhla]

Mickey 17 - It was ok. Easy to watch. It was not quite as funny as I thought it would be but I'm not sure it was trying to be more slapstick funny or satire. The trailer is pretty accurate, narration and all.

 

[Malaphax]

Daredevil: Born Again - This was really solid.  It felt like marvel made for adults and wasn't afraid to shy away from the more brutal elements of characters like Punisher and Fisk.  Someone pointed out that the middle episodes felt like they were filmed originally and kept before they did the major rewrites and reshoots which is why the first and last few episodes feel different in both tone and production level.  I also don't entirely understand just how bad their production was because I seem to recall their original plan was 18 episodes and so I expected a sort of mid-season finale with episode 9 and then a quick turnaround on the next set of episodes, but their recent announcement of the next season being in March 2026 tells me they either had to completely scrap the rest of the episodes or they're going back and doing major reshoots.  Well if they can keep the tone and general quality level of this season I'm fine with that.  This is probably the best thing marvel has put out in a while. 
Again I want to thank whoever managed to convince Disney to basically admit the Netflix daredevil series was cannon - I hope Disney and Netflix come to some agreement and allow those seasons to be seen on both platforms as a type of cross marketing but I sincerely doubt that will happen. 

The Pitt - This ended well enough, they've already green-lit another season so I'm happy for them.  Considering the hype this show had I wish them all the best and hope the next season is just as good. 

Wheel of Time Season 3 - They finally hit their stride and managed a fairly decent season finale.  I feel like nearly everything this season was stepped up: costuming, acting, sets, action sequences basically this felt like the show finally hitting critical mass.  My only concern is if Amazon is getting enough engagement to continue this show because I know they paid a shitload of money for the rights and it's an expensive production, so I hope they have enough of an audience to keep this thing moving - they certainly have like another 10 books to cover...

Anime Stuff:

Lazarus - This show is made by (and clearly inspired by) cowboy bebop's creators, it even has the jazzy style music of cowboy bebop.  So far the first few episodes are alright, it feels a little too much like it's relying on character tropes from cowboy bebop, with a strange and parkour/gymnastic main character, a femme-fatale type and some others.  I hope this doesn't feel like reheated leftovers and manages to carve out it's own niche. 
Sidenote: The release for this show is mega trash, dubs seem ok, but subtitles and original japanese audio are all over the place not to mention weird issues with quality and other stuff.  I don't understand how people fuck up this hard on a show and not providing fans with good options for japanese audio + subtitles OR dubs. 

[kuhla]

Conclave (2024) - Disclaimer, I actually watched this before the pope died. Not long before he died but still before. When I decided to watch this I was going into it with the wish to see something a bit more just "plain" drama. No explosions, guns, zombies, body horror, etc. I wanted "plain" drama and I got "plain" drama. I liked it. I was in the right mood for it. It's a bit predictable in some sections but every character has their part to play and they do it pretty well. There are some visual moments in the movie that I appreciated too. Pace was never too slow or too fast to bother me or make me bored because it matches the mood of the characters.

After watching I went online to read some reviews like I usually do....... oh boy I was not prepared. This movie was apparently controversial among some groups.  Firstly a good number of people said it was "anti-Catholic". I'm going to assume many of those people saying that did not actually watch the movie. The movie is awfully sympathetic to the catholic church and those who lead it. Do people really believe there are no "factions" or arguments among the cardinals? Secondly this movie is apparently considered "woke trash" by some groups. I don't even know what the definition "woke" is so I'm not going to even try to address this. If someone thinks this movie is pushing an agenda then I think they are just being too sensitive and actually need to pay attention to some of the details in the movie.

[Malaphax]

Andor Season 2 - Too many good things to say this show is fantastic.  Andor is the best piece of star wars media. 

On 4/17/2025 at 10:26 AM, Malaphax said:

Wheel of Time Season 3 - [...] My only concern is if Amazon is getting enough engagement to continue this show because I know they paid a shitload of money for the rights and it's an expensive production, so I hope they have enough of an audience to keep this thing moving - they certainly have like another 10 books to cover...

Cancelled.  Ahh yes, unsurprising.  On the one hand I get that this show wasn't putting up great numbers and is really expensive to produce on the other hand... they're still making rings of power which is 4-10x more expensive. 

I'm really not super interested in reading 17 books in this series, so I might go find some sparknotes on this and live with the disappointment at Amazon's mishandling of this show. 

The Last of Us Season 2 - I have mixed opinions on this.  I think this season was a step down from the first in terms of writing and general quality level, with the exception being the scale and set pieces being a large step up (probably due to a larger budget).  I also have an odd perspective because I've played the first game but not the second, so most of this content was "new" to me even though they've made some clear changes to the source material.  And without wanting to dive into the absolute cesspool of hatred and vitriol I've seen levied at this show, I will say Bella Ramsey is not as strong of a lead as Pedro Pascal.  I didn't have any issues with the acting, in fact there were a few stand outs like Dina and Jesse, and some great sequences.  Unfortunately there was so very odd writing choices and flat out perplexing choices which I assume are either poorly adapted from the game or something.  I also appreciate some of the more grounded elements of the show, forgoing some of the more action focused parts of the games in favor of amping up the feeling of danger and lethality. 
Supposedly season 2 had a substantial drop in viewership but even then I'm hopeful that season 3 (whenever it releases) will continue the strong quality level and hopefully land this entire storyline. 
Naughtydog who made the games is obviously finishing up a brand new IP not related to the last of us, and Neil Druckman the lead writer/producer who also works on the show is certainly motivated to potentially work on a last of us 3 game, but I think that would be far enough away that any further continuation of this story is too far away for anyone to get excited. 

Mobland - Tom Hardy working as a fixer/gangster for Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren (both with fairly awful Irish accents).  This show is very average with great cast.  It has a cool tone, but moves fairly slow.  If you're in the mood of British gangster stuff, it's worth a watch but don't expect to be blown away. 

Murderbot - I've read all the books/novellas, so I know the plot and the tone.  I think the show is trying to hit the snarky tone but it feels muted and some of the awkwardness and comedy feel off.  I'm also annoyed that the episodes are so short, it feels like they're not letting the show breath enough.  I can't tell based on the pace where they want to finish the first season but I hope they're not trying to cram all three of the first novellas into one season, that would be way too much especially with the ~30min runtimes.  I also have a hard time taking Skarsgard seriously as murderbot, my internal image of them is more androgynous leaning slightly feminine (their internal monologue especially) but this is probably due to the author being female and that bleeding through their general writing style. 

Clarkson's Farm Season 4 - This show is fantastic if you're interested with the general premise of watching Jeremy Clarkson incompetently farm.  The cinematography is consistently great, I do wonder how many people from Top Gear / The Grand Tour ended up working on this?  Or how they manage to pepper in a few nice bits of B-roll footage that looks like it's out of national geographic. 

Longwinded rant about general television seasons and strategy
Overall, I'm in agreement with 90% of the internet about how these large budget tv series are incredibly frustrating to follow when you have 2+ years between seasons, and this is exacerbated by short season length.  If you want a nice counter narrative, slow horses uses 6 episode seasons, but they film 2 back to back and release them at least 1 per year (the first two were released within 6 months of each other).  This works for slow horses and keeps people engaged, but if I need to wait 2-3 years between seasons (holy hell when is stranger things finally ending? those "kids" are going to be in their mid twenties) - I quickly can lose interest and frankly need a refresher on what exactly happened in prior seasons. 
I'm not so naive to be unawares of the pandemic and writers strike absolutely trashing some production schedules, but both of these are no longer an issue and yet, writing on season 3 of last of us isn't even STARTED let alone complete, they're hoping to release season 3 in 2027, and HBO greenlit season 3 before season 2 aired (probably when they saw the final cut of the show).  So what the fuck is taking everything so long?  Why can't studios greenlight the writing of the next season BEFORE they finish production of the current season?  This is especially true of series that are adapting material, you've got a fucking source to reference.  If the studio doesn't want to renew the show until they see the numbers at least you can start production shortly after the season finishes rather than having to start from scratch and take even longer.  I know for a while Netflix had the strategy of greenlighting 2+ seasons at a time so they could keep production moving - I believe they've moved away from this but I get this feeling that while tv shows are getting closer in quality to movies they're also leaving behind all of the advantages of having a tv show, like longer runtimes, slower pacing, side stories and characters being fleshed out, more frequent release schedules etc. 
/RANT

[kuhla]

Nosferatu (2024)

I had a hard time trying to decide how to categorize this. Yes it's a dark story but it does not have a lot of what I usually call "horror" these days. The story is not deep and leave you with things to ponder so it's not a "drama". There is also this over-dramatic element to many scenes. I've decided to settle on calling it "horror opera". It was nice to do a bit more "old school" on the vampire stories to make them a bit more monsters of the dark. I found it pretty easy to watch although I probably wouldn't recommend it to most people unless the idea of "horror opera" appeals to you.

Sinners (2025)

Decided to stick to the vampire theme....

I saw a lot of hype for this movie but I don't think it's warranted. The primary problem is that this is 3½ stories stapled together. You have a gangster prohibition movie, a musician movie, a vampire movie and a small thing at the very end movie. They try to weave it together but it doesn't feel like it fits well. There are some cool moments here and there and a couple of fun ideas but I just couldn't get over the misfit feel of the movie. I guess if it interested someone then sure it is easy to watch but otherwise skip.

 

[Malaphax]

The Amateur (2025)

This is someone who watched mr. robot on a second screen while texting and also thought jason bourne was cool and decided to combine the two but way worse than both.  It's not a particularly good movie and honestly while the writing is predictable and bad the acting isn't exactly elevating anything either.  Please skip this and watch mr. robot or go back and watch the bourne movies instead.  

Dept. Q (2025)

Keeping with the British tv tradition of taking scandi-noir series/books and adapting them to the various british isles this is a Scottish take on an originally Danish book series about cold cases.  It's a solid little show that I recommend if you're in the mood for murder/mystery with a reasonably high production value and the Scottish brogue (good luck without subtitles kuhla).  I quite enjoyed this and not just because there's some mildly scuba related stuff in the show.  I hope they adapt the other two books that the author wrote because this seems like it had legs and wasn't super high budget.  
Sidenote: It's hard not to look at Matthew Goode as Ozymandias in Watchmen, but he really does look scruffy and terrible in this.  

Gundam  GQuuuuux (god help me this is the actual name)

This isn't a good gundamn show, please go watch iron blooded orphans or witch from mercury or if you're feeling oldschool go watch 08th ms team.  The major conceit is this is a spinoff of a "cannon" gundam timeline which they somehow manage to rope in but the CGI gundam models combined with a weird lackluster story doesn't make it worth anyone's time.  Just please watch something else.  

Tomo=chan wa Ononoko!

This is a romance anime that manages to not overstay it's welcome.  They keep it to 13 episodes and keep the plot moving with some rather predictable nonsense.  It's not the best romance anime I've seen but it certainly isn't the worst.  Just keep in mind this won't appeal unless you buy into the central conceit of a tomboy trying to confess to their childhood friend.  

 

Looking foward to Season 4 of the Bear, Season 2 of Sandman and Season 3 of the Foundation.  Also season 2 of DandaDan.  

[Malaphax]

The Bear - Season 4

Not as good as season 1 or 2, but better than season 3.  It does put an end to the series, which at this point I'm grateful for because I think the writer/creator lost the plot and didn't entirely understand what made the first seasons so good.  I still enjoyed the show but I feel I would only recommend the first two season to anyone interested in it.  

Thunderbolts (2025)

Surprisingly good for a modern marvel movie.  I think this was a solid lower stakes film that took a bunch of b-list anti-heroes and gave them a purpose moving forward.  This movie also puts into stark contrast just how badly they mismanaged black widow as a character.  I enjoy Florence Pugh more than Scarlett Johansson but she's also been given more to work with an is a more fleshed out character as opposed to a flat "femme fatale" trope that wasn't ever really interesting.  I hope the lesson learned from this film was to keep the stakes smaller (not constantly trying to save the entire world/new york city) and giving smaller characters more to do.  
My limited understanding is that marvel is having a hard time and it's transitioning to have movies be more standalone, and shows be dedicated to more "street level" heroes.  I hope they stick to that plan instead of going full bozo and trying to spin up a bunch of teams of superheroes to fight over various villains of the week.  

Rick and Morty - Season 8

This feels like more of the same, and while the main voice-actor was forced out due to him being an asshole, the new talent definitely worked to improve and sounds much closer to the original in this season.  The stories are still fun and innovative, and I enjoy it for what it is.  

Titan: The Oceangate Disaster (2025)

Fascinating documentary about how fucked this entire project was.  Between their test craft failing repeatedly, multiple people (including the owner) talking about how loud the cracking/popping noises were during descent.  To firing the entire engineering team (twice) and ignoring sensor readings.  The entire thing feels like a slow motion train wreck or a monster movie - we know what's going to happen but goddamn is it somehow worse than we expected.

Good Night, and Good Luck (2025)

This stage play is about the red scare and the media's response, which in part lead to the downfall of McCarthyism.  It's very well produced and well acted, it has several high profile actors not just George Clooney.  It also simultaneously feels like a high school art project criticizing the government.  The parallels are obvious, and the fact this ran on CNN is even more obvious.  Much like the aforementioned high school project, I doubt this will change any minds or do anything more than pander to a certain subset of people.  

[Malaphax]

Chief of War

This is being hailed as the most authentic Hawaiian production every undertaken and they're clearing aiming for it with everyone speaking Hawaiian and as far as I can tell mostly native actors.  It's also a bit of an odd show, since it's based loosely on real events and Jason Momoa isn't even cast as the "main" character.  The production value is good and the story line is entertaining enough, I just have a hard time believing this is going to gather a big enough audience to get the multiple seasons needed to tell the complete story.  

The Gilded Age

Downton Abbey: America Edition.  It's a period piece set in the late 1870s with fantastic costuming, great sets, decent acting and almost no real plot other than flimsy excuses to balls, operas, and lavish weddings.  It's also very romance heavy but of the puritanical variety (I haven't seen a woman so much as flash an ankle - barring one scene).  I mostly wanted to see what all the fuss was about and while it's a well produced show, it's not exactly my cup of tea.  

Duster

I saw this as a recommendation from the internet, and it's just very middle of the road.  It's so middle of the road is was immediately cancelled after the first season.  

Sandman - Season 2

Solid season.  It's so hard to describe this show but I think they nailed the general vibe and weirdness.  The actor that plays Desire is a complete scene stealer.  The side story about death was interesting but not as good as the first season's side story (or death-centric episode).  My understanding is the series discarded all the side stories to sort of speedrun to the conclusion and while it doesn't feel rushed I wish I could have spent more time in this world.  

Murderbot

They nailed the ending.  I'm excited because they've greenlit another season and I hope they manage to make it through the first 4 novellas.  I wish they had more confidence in this show and went with longer runtimes for the episodes, maybe they could cram 2 novellas into season 2 if they did that.  

Star Trek Strange New Worlds - Season 3

It's the only "new-trek" show that's worth a damn.  It's not a perfect show but considering how much of TNG or DS9 is crappy episodes, I have to give them credit for being far more good than bad.  I'm curious how many more seasons they intend to go for because eventually they have to transition the show to Kirk - and then where do they go?  

Foundation - Season 3

This show gets better every season.  I think they've finally hit their stride and we're seeing some of the events discussed in season 1/2 come to fruition properly which is exciting.  I feel like they've also done a decent job pruning some of the terrible actors from the first 2 seasons (*cough* salvor *cough*) and they're also showing some love to a few weird loose ends like Demerzel.  I appreciate they've not been afraid to lean into some heavy CGI elements to help amp up some scenes - they clearly are taking advantage of their larger budget.  

Alien: Earth

This nails the vibe and visuals of the Alien(s) films.  In fact one of the opening sequences felt less like an homage and more like a duplication of the opening of Alien.  But they've made a few story decisions that I absolutely loath - and while it hasn't gone of the rails, I'm very cautious about how that will manifest later in the series.  This clearly has a great budget and people who love the original movies making it so I hold out hopes for a strong show.  

Anime Bullshit:

DanDaDan - Season 2

This show manages to hit so many genres so well it's absurd.  They're high school slice of life / romance, aliens, spirits, battles / action, music (they got dragonforce's lead singer to dub a concert scene).  I mean it's just hard not to be impressed by that, and then the animation does a fantastic job.  This was in contention for anime of the year 2024 and could potentially be in contention for anime of the year 2025 depending on what else is out there.  

Sono Bisque Doll - [My Dress-Up Darling]

High school romance with an emphasis on cosplaying.  The first season is well done and well animated - but the second season took it to a whole new level.  Some of the sequences are so smooth and well done it's distracting.  They also animate whole sections of fictional anime to provide context for a cosplay the character is interested in.  Super high quality show that won't appeal to everyone.  

Yofukashi no Uta - [Call of the Night] - Season 2

A very moody / vibes based show.  The central premise of enjoying the city at night combined with vampire shenanigans.  There's also some introspection regarding what the vampires have given up (the daytime and all it's associated activities.)  As well as vampires losing their memories of the time before they were turned, and how precious objects from their human lives can weaken them allowing them to be killed.  This is another one of many shows I feel like could have easily been aged up to a college / early 20's adult and would have been a better choice.  

[Jedi2155]

On 12/27/2024 at 3:03 PM, Malaphax said:

Secret Level stuff: td:dr - just watch the unreal tournament and warhammer 40k episodes everything else is skippable.  

• Outer Worlds - meh
• MegaMan - cool intro, way too short

Dune Prophecy - This ended up middling.  I feel like there are cool ideas they could get into but they're missing the mark.  I'm also not sure the super short season (or it being cut in half) was the right call.  I'll keep watching but I'm mildly disappointed this isn't better.  It's also unfair to compare this to the movies, but it's almost impossible to tell your audience not to do that.  

I actually really enjoyed Outer Worlds, and probably my most re-watched episode in Secret Levels because I felt there was several levels deep (probably 3-4x) to understand the various nuances of it but thats just me. LDR my most re-watched was The Secret War.

Dune Prophecy was definitely meh, but better than i expected, and not as bad as I feared for a primarily female focused story arc.

Side note, no idea there was a Starship Troopers anime.

Next up is Predator new anime, which I'll be watching on the 15+ hour plane ride later tonight.

[Malaphax]

Peacemaker - Season 2

This show is really good, but I'm also noticing some serious retconning even of the first season, which is awkward.  It's also leaning on the multiverse elements which I'm generally not a fan of.  But the acting is good, the writing is solid without going full joss whedon, and the story is oddly introspective which I wasn't expecting from anything tied to the DCU.  

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Season 3

This season felt weaker and worse than previous seasons.  I don't mind the occasional silly episode (lord knows every star trek has that) but I just wasn't impressed by the more story/serious episodes either.  Star Trek trying to be binary about good/evil doesn't work super well, and since they can't use the borg they sort of make some new stuff up and try and use the Gorm.  It just felt messy and tonally inconsistent.  I still think most of the actors are great, and it's just the writing which isn't holding up.  
Outside of the show, I believe they've said the plan is to "end" this show with kirk becoming captain, but the real question is if they have the balls to try and "reboot" the original series.  I'd actually like to see them try, preferably with some better writers backing them up.  

Gen V - Season 2

The first season was mid, and I'm not especially a fan of the premise but I'm curious about how this might tie into the mainline series so I'll watch along.  Not exactly holding out hope for anything fantastic.  

King and Conqueror

This is centered around William the Conqueror's rise to power as he and his Norman army beat the Saxons at the battle of Hastings in 1066, which resulted in the current line of British monarchy.  The acting is decent but the writing and action was very middling.  They also try to play up a large amount of drama surrounding the various warring states of Europe and regions of the UK, but ultimately records from that time are sparse so this is more historical fantasy than docudrama.  The series is probably a 6/10, but I was curious if they were going to tap into that "Last Kingdom" energy (it's similar in setting, ~200 years apart) but I don't think it managed it.  
SIdenote: No idea why the past few years have had like 3 different shows all around very early history england (Last Kingdom, the anime Vinland Saga), I'm curious if the prospect of writing historical fiction is easier than having to do a full set of worldbuilding.  

Superman (2025)

This movie was so forgettable I've genuinely seen clips on youtube that I have no memory of.  I appreciate that they skipped the origin story stuff (mostly) and took it up in media res, but nothing about this film grabbed my attention or interest.  I'm honestly more interested in the potential spin off movies, but this didn't exactly inspire confidence in James Gunn's writing/managing the DCU moving forward.  

Fantastic Four: First Steps

Again, I appreciated a quick montage rather than dragging out an origin story that no one really cares about.  I dislike that the villain is Galactus, because he's a galactic level threat, and acts more as a force of nature than an actual character.  It honestly felt more like a setup to add silver surfer as a recurring side character, which I hope they make use of otherwise this plotline was a giant waste of time.  I would have preferred if they used a smaller, more street level villain, instead of skipping straight to "the world will be destroyed if we don't defeat the villain."  I know they had to shoehorn in some multiverse stuff (which was oddly teased in a movie before this was released lol) so I'll reserve judgement until I can see a few more moving pieces.  At least this film wasn't dreadfully dull, just middling.  

Anime Stuff:
DanDaDan Season 2 - this ended on another major cliffhanger but the show is immensely popular and they've already announced a season 3 so I suspect we'll get more in a year or so.  
Sono Bisque Doll - [My Dress-Up Darling] - this ended with the classic "will they or won't they" style romantic cliffhanger.  I'm sure this will get more seasons based on popularity, check back in a year or so.  
Yofukashi no Uta - [Call of the Night] - Season 2 - This show did not end on a cliffhanger, but I don't think it has the popularity to get more seasons.  I hope I'm proven wrong.  

 

Slow Horses is starting up again.  I have high hopes.  I'm also curious about the mini-series Black Rabbit, so I'll add that to my voluminous watchlist.  Anime stuff is a bunch of shounen sequels: One Punch Man Season 3, My Hero Academia final season, and oddly I don't see much else on the anime side that catches my eye.  I'll let various youtube reviewers point out if there's anything else worth watching or maybe I'll go back and binge stuff I've seen that has some decent hype around it from prior seasons.  

[Malaphax]

Gen V - Season 2
Was slightly better than the first season, but ultimately not all that great.  I think they initially pitched this as a spinoff that wouldn't affect the main storyline of The Boys but that's a lie (go figure) and I expect the main character to show up somewhere near the climax of the final season of The Boys.  I'm glad this show is ending I feel like they've played out most of the tropes and parodies to their logical end.  

Slow Horses - Season 5
This felt similar to the first season, but with a slightly different set of characters.  Still a fantastic show, with really solid acting and good production values.  I believe there are a few more books to adapt and I think the author has said they're working on more.  I still strongly recommend the series to anyone, especially if you enjoy the spy / thriller style of films.  

The Diplomat - Season 3
This show is really well done and acted, but it rides the line of jumping the shark.  For plot convenience sake every geopolitical issue seems to be between the US and UK, and the political machinations flip between stupid and overly competent.  Overall the show continues to be a fantastic political drama with plenty of flawed characters and ugly social climbing.  

Black Rabbit
Very well produced show that manages to capture that anxiousness of watching characters barely scrape by from one terrible event to another while seemingly throwing just enough light before being dragged back down into a negative reinforcing spiral of despair.  I heard Jason Bateman was specifically cast / picked the "loser" character to play against type, and I think he does a great job.  I continue to think Jude Law is a fantastic actor who manages to own his scenes and make you root for his character despite the awful shit he does to get by.  I also appreciate how they used the deaf actor with some nice details including how some characters try to speak to his interpreter and are met with "talk to him not to me."  

Spoiler

My issue lies with the ending being too neat and tidy.  I understand they didn't want to leave everyone with this ultra negative awfulness (I mean there's a major suicide and multiple characters die in the last episode) but this weird montage of everyone living their best life and moving on felt a bit too pollyanna for me.

Task
Great mini-series that manages to handle the various reveals and rug pulls while still managing a sense of grounded realism and just a bit of foreshadowing.  Also one of the handful of media I've seen where someone is seriously deafened / injured by a nearby gunshot.  The acting is fantastic, with nearly every character having a bit of ugliness of shadowy past, but done tastefully and without massive exposition dumps for each sorry story.  I strongly recommend the mini-series.  

Caught Stealing
Great little drama / thriller movie directed by Darren Aronofsky.  Strong acting from Austin Butler, with a nice storyline that keeps it quick and simple.  The movie doesn't overstay it's welcome or try to break any conventions - I doubt much in the film will surprise you but it's executed well.  Solid recommendation for this, try to go in blind if possible.  

The Thursday Murder Club
This is a movie with a fantastic cast, mediocre mysteries and probably too big of a budget.  My mom has read the books and bluntly said the books are better (surprise surprise.)  No idea how this stacks up with the Agatha Christie movies (I've heard mixed things about them) but it you want to see old people try and solve cold (and not so cold) cases this might be of interest to you.  

Currently Watching:

Pluribus
The new show by Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) which means of course it's set in New Mexico.  Really great modern scifi thriller, with fantastic acting especially from Rhea Seehorn as the main protagonist.  I strongly recommend the show and look forward to it weekly.  This show is best going in blind - don't bother watching trailers just give the first 2 episodes a try.  

Death by Lighting
Mini-series about everyone's favorite president - Garfield.  I checked the first episode and so far it seems like a nice little period piece mini-series about a semi-forgotten piece of american history and the seemingly weirdos that make it up.  

Anime Bullshit:

One Punch Man - Season 3
I've seen powerpoint presentations with better animation than this.  The production quality is genuinely garbage and the entire team who worked on it is getting flamed online by fans.  I'm clicking through it but even that is tiring and I'm losing my patience.  

My Hero Academia - Final Season
It's good, and they've thrown some decent budget at this, but it's also generic battle shounen so I'm expecting the power of friendship to prevail against the big bad.  Good fights so far and it doesn't feel like they're drawing this out (it should end with less than 200 episodes for the whole show).  

Star Wars Visions - Season 3
This definitely has started to run out of ideas, or the folks working on this season weren't all that excited by it because it felt very weak.  There are a couple of episodes that are continuations of previous season episodes and those felt worse creatively, just aping a style and hoping people would be interested.  

[kuhla]

Pluribus

I saw part of the first Saw movie but I didn't finish it. Why? It's torture porn and everything else in it feels like just some window dressing. I don't need that in my life. 

I have not watched Chernobyl because after viewing a few clips it seems to be back to back downer-to-downer-to-downer. Extremely depressing. I don't need that in my life.

About halfway through the first episode of Pluribus I had already decided this was not for me but, because of the hype, I wanted to give it a chance and pushed through the first two episodes. I'm done. Not watching anymore. Pluribus is cosmic eldritch horror. Everything else in it feels like just some window dressing. Humanity was completely wiped out and not even with a bang but with a whimper. They never had a chance. There is no ethical dilemma. No moral quandary. Nothing to explore. Not for me. I don't need that in my life.

Spoiler

The entire sequence of Carol going to the meeting with the other "special" people like her was rage inducing. She was 1000% justified to call them traitors to humanity. Any civility she gave them after that only made Carol look weak.