[watching] What have you viewed recently? (II)

BBC appears to be having a bit of a Thomas Hardy season. Watched the first three Wessex Tales on Iplayer. Each one's a self contained drama running at a little under an hour. They were made in the early 1970s and have had a lot of care lavished on them - top class acting talent of the era and what seems to be all location shooting. There's none of the dreary looking studio interiors you often get in other dramas of the time. The stories themselves are very much what you'd expect from Hardy - tragic, ironic and sometimes ambivalent. I really enjoyed them and am looking forward to watching the next three.
 
Lara Croft (Netflix). More anime, based on the latest set of videogames rather than the originals. Very simple storyline which serves mostly to connect and justify the fights and other action set-pieces, although they gave up for the final fight with a T-Rex, that was just "OK, we've finished the story but we've got five minutes left - suddenly, T-Rex!" The simplicity was actually a plus this time as I was watching it in Italian.

Red Eye (BBC, which I don't usually watch but my wife said I'd like it and she was right). Murder mystery with action taking place in London, Beijing, and a red eye flight between the two. Very twisty plot, good use of modern technology to support the story, enjoyable watch, 'nuff said because spoilers. Characters do take some sub-optimal decisions, but they are under pressure and optimal decisions don't generate as much drama.

Red Notice (Netflix). Trope-rich heist movie drawing on James Bond, Indiana Jones, and The Sting. Doesn't take itself seriously, and nor did I; not great drama, but a fun way to spend a couple of hours. The pace does vary, but there's no "shoe leather"; everything ties back in to the story eventually, and none of the screen time is wasted.

Transformers One (cinema, because my grandsons are Transformers fans and wanted to see it). Actually not a bad movie, considering. Explains why the Autobots and Decepticons are enemies, and how some got their names. I was pleased to see no-one is actually evil, though some are greedy, some are power-hungry, and some just have differing political philosophies. That's quite deep for cartoon robots punching each other.
 
Arcane: League of Legends season 2 is on Netflix. 6 episodes there so far - another 3 drop on Saturday. Still loving this. I've never played the game.
 
For those who are interested, Paramount+ is offering two Black Friday deals: The first is a half price monthly subscription for 3 months, and the other is half price for a year's subscription. We went for the latter and paid £35 for the year.
 
I rewatched The Adjustment Bureau last night. A PKD short story with Emily Blunt and Matt Damon, the eldest observed that there were echoes of the TVA in the MCU's Loki in it. It still stands up as a series.

Then I started rewatching Babylon 5, as the HD versions on Prime were reduced for Black Friday. Two episodes in, I'm quickly remembering how multilayered the plot is. I also love the way that Londo switches from stump speech mode to his natural self in the first episode; so much foreshadowing even in the first two episodes.
 
Stronty Girl said:
Arcane: League of Legends season 2 is on Netflix. 6 episodes there so far - another 3 drop on Saturday. Still loving this. I've never played the game.
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ooh! must watch that, loved the first season.
 
Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance (Netflix). More anime. This follows mecha pilots from the Principality of Zeon who have invaded Romania as part of an attempt to conquer Earth. The Earth Federation doesn't like this idea and fights back. The plot is pretty limp, and the characters stereotypical, but the CGI is very good.

As an engineer who worked on actual armoured vehicles (which is about as much as I can tell you about that I'm afraid) I look at the mobile suits and the tanks with twin main armament and the tanks that are the top half of a mecha mounted on a tracked chassis and consider them all very silly.

I might feel differently if I had any previous exposure to the Gundam franchise, which I understand is very popular and strives for technical plausibility. Tactical plausibility appears not to be a primary goal, though.
 
Just finished watching the first season of The Bureau, but now really frustrated that they've removed it as purchasable to stream on Prime. I can get the 2nd series (but at a silly cost per episode) or by subscribing to Paramount+ - may have to get the DVDs instead.

Absolutely fantastic series by the way.
 
@Nathan just got a good deal on Paramount+
 
I am now watching Babylon 5 Season 2, about half way through. The image quality has steadily improved and the CGI gets better and better. The real collapse in quality happens when they have live actors and CGI behind, the CGI is fine but the actual photograpic quality of the actors has been lost in process. I suspect that they don't have the original footage to do it again.

It's nowhere near as good as the Trek remasters (not seen the Dr Who or Blake's 7 ones yet).

However, the stories and the acting are still just brilliant, it's good core SF and I shall continue to take notes to steal for my Traveller games.

I am reading the C4 episode guide book alongside watching, and that's very enjoyable.
 
Guvnor said:
The real collapse in quality happens when they have live actors and CGI behind, the CGI is fine but the actual photograpic quality of the actors has been lost in process. I suspect that they don't have the original footage to do it again.
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That's the one problem they faced doing the remastering.
 
Bones and All is a weird horror movie on iPlayer. Mostly about the teenage protagonist, who is very good, but Mark Rylance's ability to be both creepy and pitiable simultaneously is brilliant.
 
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The Skeleton Crew just keeps getting better and better. Episode 3 was a real, fun blast! I highly recommend this series if you loved The Goonies, ET, and other kids adventure movies from the 1980s. I recommend you watch even if you didn't. It's certainly a step up from The Acolyte (which, to be honest, wasn't really that terrible as the internet was making out).
 
The Adventures of Robin Hood on the big screen. Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone et al in all their glory thanks to an action season at our local(ish) indie cinema.
 
Alita: Battle Angel on Netflix. Fun action-adventure SF romp. I enjoyed the action-adventure enough to overlook the plot holes. In outline, a doctor specialising in cyberpunk upgrades finds a discarded amnesiac cyborg and fixes her up. She gradually remembers the important parts of who she is and what her mission was. The main plot arc is not resolved, however, and the ending is clearly a setup for at least one more movie.

Take one standard YA Chosen One heroine, add one part Six Million Dollar Man, one part Elysium, one part Rollerball, mix well and serve with popcorn.
 
Loving The Solar System on iPlayer.
Great ideas for SF but also just beautiful.
 
TLOTR: The War of the Rohirrim.
It's a nice, uncynical piece of trad-animation storytelling. Seems fairly respectful of its source material (appendices in LOTR). Will doubtless be hated by critics for not being sufficiently edgy or innovative. Will be hated by Tolkien fundies for any departures from strict canon. Not woke enough for the Guardian. Too woke for anyone who thinks women warriors in a male-dominated society = beating us over the head with diversity messaging.
I think it may struggle to find its fans, but I liked it (as did my anime loving 22-yr old daughter)

(Hey, I haven't checked in here for a while. It must be past end of term, or something....)
 
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Tokyo Override on Netflix. Oh so very cyberpunk. A hacker meets a group of motorbike couriers who turn out to have some interesting side hustles. There are people they can trust, people they can't, and they're never entirely sure which is which. Looks good too, although you have to accept 'hard light' as a widespread technology. I enjoyed it.
 
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