Netflix/Prime/Hulu Discoveries

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TheGirlCanSkate said:
The Godfather came out before I was born so I never saw it. They are on Netflix and I'm partway through part II. I am enjoying all of the references that I knew were Godfather references but in isolation - now I see the whole thing in context.
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I saw it the first time on TV back in the later 70s Not a big screen, and the movie was so dark on the tv - hard to get into it. My brothers had seen it. But I could not see the horse's head very well. Lost something there.
 
Well I am in the middle of a "Longmire" binge. I saw the original seasons on A&E and enjoyed them but I think they have really improved in Seasons 4-6 because there was focus on so many characters and instead of simply the who-dun-it each week. It was good to get out to the reservation to see Henry's people and what they are up against. Their lawmen and women are certainly hamstrung if this show is a reflection of true US law. Plus I love, love, love the scenery whether it is truly Wyoming or Canada. Beautiful.
 
Father of the Year - Netflix Original. If you like every version of Adam Sandler's movies (because let's face it, they are almost all the same)you will like this - it's not original, it's physical slapstick with the maturity of a 12 year old boy going through puberty in a rough fashion. IF, if, if, you like that style, you will like this movie. For some reason, it's the kind of thing that cracks me up when I'm tired. I laughed so hard. Any cool, intelligent, rational person will hate it.
 
Okay so "Dietland"......I am flummoxed by this show. On one hand it is great to see Plum tackle week to week her issues regarding her own self-image and the mountain of information, debate, treatment etc....about what it means to be a fat female in this country at this time. And there is certainly the terrorist group "Jennifer" with their kill list and the men (and woman) that they have murdered in the name of all of the women and girls who have suffered because of them. It feels like they have taken "Me Too" to the nth extreme. And on the flip side there is mostly evil Kitty (played by the wonderful Juliana Margulies) who represents something of another extreme we see everyday. It is certainly entertaining and show-runner and writer Marti Noxon doesn't mind shoving boundaries all over the place. And then there's Aisha Tyler's talk show "Unapologetic" which follows each episode which is something of a wonderful surprise as I find myself going from one extreme to the other myself applauding one moment and then thinking "enough with the Discrimination Olympics" the next (Aisha's term not mine.) So together the two shows have entertained and made me contemplate more about entertainment than I normally do and maybe that is the point.

Is anyone else watching "Dietland" or "Unapologetic?" I'd love to read your thoughts.
 
I watched 'The Looming Tower' on Hulu - 10 episode mini series - based on book by Lawrence Wright about 1998- - 9/11 and the issues between the FBI and the CIA. FBI comes out looking better. Some was real people, some was composites which I think made a negative impact on the storytelling.
Jeff Daniels was amazing as the head of FBI's counterterrorism in NYC - John O'Neill and Tahir Rahim as FBI agent Soufan - real people and most compelling. The FBI characters were more fleshed out, maybe showing too much personal stuff. In Daniel's character - it is important to show the personal and professional. When I looked online - his life was more of a mess than they showed, which is hard to believe.
The CIA people were a bit 2 dimensional. One woman in the CIA, red head named Diane, I read online is the same person as 'Maya' from Zero Dark Thirty that Jessica Chastain played. Other than the hair, they seemed like 2 different people. Very robotic and cold/calculating in this show, way more animated/passionate in the movie. Maybe they were limited by not having some the real peoples permission??
But I highly recommend. Interesting to see how the 2 agencies have 2 different methodologies and missions and their conflicts and could 9/11 have been stopped??? Daniels and Rahim were great.
I do not think Condolezza Rice is happy with how she is portrayed.
 
chantilly said:
I’ve loved everything Josh Groban has done in film and tv.
I actually find him far more interesting as an actor.
This show looks hilarious.
I will definitely be checking it out.
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I remember first adoring him way back when he guest starred on Ally McBeal. And he also cracks me up. First time I noticed how funny he was was when he did a few vocals in Jimmy Kimmel's retaliatory 'I'm F*cking Ben Affleck'. And all this bits where he sings people's tweets (like Kanye and Trump). His comedic timing is fantastic. And he was FANTASTIC as a host of the Tonys this year. I'm looking forward to The Good Cop.

Anyway, I know I'm late to the game, but I just watched the Netflix movie "Set It Up" and adored it. Zoey Deutch was fantastic, and I've loved Glen Powell ever since he was the best part of Scream Queens.
 
Just finished To All the Boys I've Loved Before on Netflix and instantly bought all the books on Kindle. Even though it's a small part, I also totally relate to Margot being the oldest sister trying to keep things running smoothly and dealing with and loving a tribe of younger siblings.
 
smurfy said:
I saw it the first time on TV back in the later 70s Not a big screen, and the movie was so dark on the tv - hard to get into it. My brothers had seen it. But I could not see the horse's head very well. Lost something there.
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I wouldn't say you lost anything. 'The Godfather' is the one of the reasons why I prefer to eschew films that glorify male violence, which Mafia movies do IMO. The process of wanting to avoid these films has been a long one, and 'Platoon' contributed to it also.

But Tom Berenger sure was hot in that film (he's not since aged well)! :slinkaway
 
VIETgrlTerifa said:
Just finished To All the Boys I've Loved Before on Netflix and instantly bought all the books on Kindle. Even though it's a small part, I also totally relate to Margot being the oldest sister trying to keep things running smoothly and dealing with and loving a tribe of younger siblings.
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I did the exact same thing. The movie is really cute. I’m really appreciating all of Netflix’s romcom offerings.

Book Lara Jean comes across as a young 16; though that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’m on book two now.
 
The book version of the characters seem to have more of an edge than the movie did and is obviously more dimensional with its characters. Peter K reads differently in the book but he's not far off from the movie. In the movie, he seems a lot sweeter. They sort of have different feelings, but are similar enough that I think the movie captured the essence of the book while being its own thing. I really like both versions so far.
 
VIETgrlTerifa said:
The book version of the characters seem to have more of an edge than the movie did and is obviously more dimensional with its characters. Peter K reads differently in the book but he's not far off from the movie. In the movie, he seems a lot sweeter. They sort of have different feelings, but are similar enough that I think the movie captured the essence of the book while being its own thing. I really like both versions so far.
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They're so cute and wholesome and make me so happy. Ah, to have had a Peter in my life at that age. :swoon:

ETA: @VIETgrlTerifa I thought you'd like this op-ed from Jenny Han about representation, and working to make sure that Lara Jean's Asian American heritage was part of the story. Apparently, only one production company agreed to keep Lara Jean Asian-American, and that's the one she went with.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/17/opinion/sunday/crazy-rich-asians-movie-idol.html
 
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I just finished season 2 of GLOW. Such a good show! So many powerful women, expressed in such different ways. My favourite character, though, is one of the very few main men - Bash! Chris Lowell just plays the role so well, and it was heartbreaking to watch the scene where
he completely breaks down after finding out his best friend/unexplored possible crush, has died of pneumonia (which was likely related to AIDS, though they wouldn't really know that)
 
Atypical Season 2 is out Sept. 7 on Netflix. Really enjoyed S1 of that show! Will have to restart my subscription to see that one and S2 of Ozark, which comes out August 31.
 
VIETgrlTerifa said:
Just finished To All the Boys I've Loved Before on Netflix and instantly bought all the books on Kindle. Even though it's a small part, I also totally relate to Margot being the oldest sister trying to keep things running smoothly and dealing with and loving a tribe of younger siblings.
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I probably won't read the books for this one, but I watched the movie tonight, because one of my best friends said it was the story of HER life haha. I liked Lara Jean...just the name. Well, I also liked her subdued tone but overall I found her character quite annoying and just wouldn't understand how she could still find any reason to complain and insist on a no-kissing rule. I mean, come on, between sweet & hot Peter and cute Josh...She's one lucky girl (and obviously not as shallow as I am) ! Plus, she has a cool dad and a witty lil sis (which was probably my fave feminine character of the movie). Christine was cool too. I found the actress playing Margot looked kinda old for a character who's supposed to be starting college. Overall, awful (but not truly awful).
 
oleada said:
They're so cute and wholesome and make me so happy. Ah, to have had a Peter in my life at that age. :swoon:

ETA: @VIETgrlTerifa I thought you'd like this op-ed from Jenny Han about representation, and working to make sure that Lara Jean's Asian American heritage was part of the story. Apparently, only one production company agreed to keep Lara Jean Asian-American, and that's the one she went with.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/17/opinion/sunday/crazy-rich-asians-movie-idol.html
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I’ve also seen some controversy that none of Lara Jean’s crushes were Asian. I get why that is a controversy. I remember something similar about Joy Luck Club where the younger women ended up happy with either white guys or very westernized Asian guys while the Asian men were all portrayed as cruel or money grubbers.
 
I'm of two minds about it. I totally get it and Asian men really are portrayed badly in westernized media that has created real complexes with many Asian-Am individuals. There's also a perceived issue with Asian-Am women being pushed to date "up" and marry white/Jewish men for better status. There are some Asian-Am women who do have some sort of self-hatred and refuse to date Asian men or straight up say they aren't attracted to them. I think that gets overstated and if somebody says something like that, it's like anybody else who says they don't find ____ attractive and is probably somebody who has other issues.

That said, I find the whole thing icky and misogynistic to a point. A lot of the Asian-Am men who complain about the dating habits of Asian-Am women are treating women as trophies or objects to prove their manhood and I'm sure if they wouldn't limit themselves to the type of women they'd want to date. I also think their personalities come out online and if that's how they come across online, I'd imagine they come across like that in real life as well. It's like Elliot Rodger. Nobody wants to be friends with that much less date that. I also think they ignore every other relationship they may come across where Asian-Am women are dating Asian men, black men, Latino men, etc. just to confirm their biases. I also think it's natural for all people to date who is available around them and there are Asian families who move in communities where they are the only Asians or there aren't that many, so naturally they date people of other races who make up a big proportion of the populace. I also hate how a lot of Asian-Am women are judged automatically if they are with a white man in our community. There's a lot of judgments that are automatically made and people projecting their anger and bitterness on her.

I also have a complicated relationship with Joy Luck Club in that I went from loving it as a kid, to critiquing it, to now thinking the critiques may be over-the-top because it was carrying the impossible burden of meeting EVERY Asian-Am expectation and standard and no one work or movie can do that. The problem was that there weren't more stories coming out in major Hollywood studios that were telling other kinds of stories to show it's not all Joy Luck Club so it became a punching bag. I think The Color Purple went through something similar. I also think a lot of the anti-Asian male critique about Joy Luck Club has some merit BUT it's also coming from some willful blindness and erasure of how the extreme patriarchal societies harm women and objectifies them because they don't want to come to terms with it. I wonder how Zhang Yimou's Raise the Red Lantern is perceived as a Chinese film making a very similar point about how harmful Chinese society can be towards women (in this case concubine life). Maybe they were more willing to accept it as an actual Chinese film AND there were no white men for them to get mad about.
 
I LOVED Joy Luck Club, and still do. 1993 was a tough year for movies (best year ever?), but I wished it got more Oscar love.

I never took the critiques particularly seriously. While a bad guy (a very bad guy), Russell Wong was a friggin' sexy badass. That should have been his "Brad Pitt in Thelma & Louise" moment but it didn't end up being that for him.
 
I absolutely loved season 1 of Harlots (Hulu) but season 2 blew it out of the water, IMO. The season finale dropped today and while a lot of storylines were kind of wrapped up, there's still a lot more to explore. Really, really hoping for a third season. If you're looking for a new show to start, I highly recommend this show.
 
Insatiable on Netflix is better than I thought it would be. Former bullied fat girl Patty meets a disgraced pageant coach who believes in her. She plans on winning beauty pageants as revenge on everyone who ever bullied her.

There's a lot of funny and a lot of screwed up seriousness and insecurities in this. The show teaser doesn't even begin to prepare you for the crazy ride this show will take you on.
 
Netflix - Wish I Was Here - it's well done, the child actors are quite amazing and I don't normally care for child actors. It's about an actor dad coming to terms with his dreams and creating new dreams. It's thoughtful.
 
VIETgrlTerifa said:
I wonder how Zhang Yimou's Raise the Red Lantern is perceived as a Chinese film making a very similar point about how harmful Chinese society can be towards women (in this case concubine life). Maybe they were more willing to accept it as an actual Chinese film AND there were no white men for them to get mad about.
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I am not sure how Raise the Red Lantern is perceived by Chinese women and rather doubt that young Chinese women have even seen it. But in my limited experience as a tutor and editor young Chinese women are very independent and career-minded these days. Of course, the young Chinese women I work with are studying in Canada precisely because they are career-minded. And they all come from cities SFAIK. Young women in rural China probably don't have opportunities to go to university in China, let alone abroad.

I'm responding to this post mainly to comment on Yimou's Coming Home, which I saw recently. I haven't seen a film of his in many years, the last being 'Not One More', which was rather lightweight.

My favorite Imou films are Jou Du and The Story of Qui Ju, with Raise the Red Lantern not far behind.

Coming Home doesn't quite measure up to these films, but was still good and by no means lightweight. And I always enjoy Gong Li, who is still so very beautiful. Her ability to convey emotion is amazing and at times haunting.
 
Binged watched the second season of Iron Fist and it is fabulous! The fight scenes are much better and the show moves along much faster. The show does change the Iron Fist mythology around a bit and I am not sure how die hard fans of the comics may feel about that. But the show does have it’s problems.

Here are a few thoughts: SPOILERS!

1. The character Blindspot does not make an appearance
2. There is a Daredevil season 3 teaser buried at the end of episode 10
3. The iconic green and yellow suit also does not appear
4. Joy got on my nerves and seemed to forget that her beloved father killed Danny’s parents
5. Loved Ward!
6. Loved all the Daughters of the Dragon hints!
7. Loved the bigger role for Colleen
8. Loved Typhoid Mary and hope to see her again! Maybe in Daredevil season 3!
 
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