What TV SHOWS are you watching?

Watched Wolverine: Weapon X. I suppose this fits under tv show more than movie, as it is several animated episodes on one disc. Despite the title, this is practically a New Avengers story, featuring guest appearances by Spider-man, Power Man, Iron Fist, Spider-Woman, and two versions of Captain America. The story is an overly grim version of Terminator, only using Deathlok(s) as the killer cyborgs from the future. Even though I like all the characters in this story and the animation is okay, I didn't enjoy it much. The pace was a bit plodding, and there was too much time spent on supporting characters that were crucial to the story, instead of my favorite heroes. I did like the ambiguous ending that left the heroes wondering if they had even accomplished anything.

I finished the second season of Iron Fist because I hate myself. I swore after the godawful BORING second season of Jessica Jones that I was done with these Netflix Marvel shows, but ... here we are.

Iron Fist was fine. Definitely better than the terrible first season. The fight choreography was better, and by only having 10 episodes instead of 13, the plot was tighter and more focused. But Danny Rand continues to be the least interesting thing in his own show. I think the writers figured this out, because they made Colleen into essentially the co-lead, and she is awesome. If the show moves forward by ditching Danny altogether, and focuses on Colleen kicking ass with her katana, I am fully on board.

My biggest issue with all these Netflix shows is that they all have the same tone, and the same visual style. I really wish they'd mix them up, and do some different things. Like, go full-bore "Crouching Tiger" style wire-fu with Iron Fist, instead of making him just "slightly less angsty Daredevil."

I recently watched The Terror and I thought it was good, not great, but the acting was excellent. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was straight-up historical fiction and left the monster out of it.

I've also been watching Slasher on Netflix. It's an anthology horror series, like American Horror Story, where each season so far is essentially a season-length slasher movie. I inadvertently started Season 2 first - I still don't know why Netflix had Season 2 on top in the queue - and it was good, but a bit of a mess. It takes place at an old summer camp - since turned into a "self-guided" community by the new owners - that was shut down after a counselor disappeared five years prior. The missing counselor was murdered/died (not a spoiler, it's revealed very early on), and the five counselors who know what happened and hid the body reunite at the camp to move it after one of them finds out that renovations are soon to take place in the area where the body was stashed.

There are a series of flashbacks intercut with present events and that's where the most fun lies; discovering everyone's motivations and secrets concerning the counselor's death. It takes place in the winter, and the camp is in the middle of nowhere, so in short order the killer isolates the group - the former counselors and the six or so members of the community - by cutting phone wires in the area and siphoning all the snowmobiles' fuel. Despite how gory and clever most of the deaths are, the episodes move in fits and starts where plot developments and murders are padded with a few too many dull dialogue scenes. It also didn't help that I was tired of the winter/snow setting after having recently seen The Terror and The Thing.

The series gets really dark at times and there is more going on than just a masked killer picking off characters - the paranoia between the two groups rises to a fever pitch with mortal consequences, for example - but underneath it all you're left with another summer camp revenge story. Granted, it's a well told story, and the season-length format really allows them to develop characters and add some twists and turns to the plot, but it's impossible for the series to escape comparisons with Friday the 13th et al. The season mostly sticks the landing on the ending but it was definitely "inspired" by another slasher film and I'm not sure it holds up when you look back on previous episodes with the benefit of hindsight.

All that being said, I think they got as much as they could out of the summer camp setting and it's time to retire the premise unless something truly revolutionary comes along.

Right now I'm three episodes into Season 1 and I'm enjoying it much more. I'll have more to say once it's done, but right now I'm really digging the Peyton-Place-meets-Seven vibe and I prefer the small town setting to the claustrophobic winter lodge of Season 2.

Two episodes into Maniac on Netflix and it is so much fun. Cool Huxleyish sci-fi premise about people trying to find happiness in a near/alt future, very funny moments and details at a consistent rate, and some super trippy sequences. Emma Stone, Jonah Hill, the guy from Leftovers, director of True Detective 1... Outstanding so far!

I've got 3 episodes of Maniac left. It's really wonderful.

update: Just finished it all. That was great and well worth the time.

I've watched the first two episodes of Maniac and agree. Totally awesome.

I watched the first couple episodes of season 1 of Iron Fist the other day. I really enjoyed both seasons of Daredevil (first more than the second) and couldn't make it through the first season of Jessica Jones (I tried twice. I can't. The angst is suffocating.) I haven't seen either season of Luke Cage yet and I'd been holding off on Iron Fist because, almost universally, everyone said it was AWFUL; that the writing and acting were just poor. But my girlfriend had gone to bed and I was looking for something that didn't require a lot of mental effort, so I figured I'd give it a try.

It's... not bad? I mean, it's not great. It's not Daredevil. It's certainly not close to other really good Netflix series like Peaky Blinders. But it's pretty far from AWFUL. Finn Jones, as Danny, is OK. In the first couple episodes, he's kind of wandering around trying to find his bearings, which is fine. Tom Pelphrey and Jessica Stroup as Ward and Joy are clearly much older than the 15 years would have transported their child selves from Danny's memories, but that's a detail. I think Pelphrey is a little OTT in his malice, but the fact that the two of them and Colleen Wing are all really suspicious of this weird, barefoot guy seems perfectly natural to me. The most notable things I would say about it are: 1. It's kind of flat, in that there's not a lot going on other than Danny's personal struggle to get oriented. The weird stuff with Harold and the existence of the Hand is just background noise right now. 2. Iron Fist, as a character, still suffers from the "ultimate weapon" problem (as in: "Why doesn't he just use the Iron Fist every time he gets in a fight?") It's why the original comic series died after 16 issues and part of why the character was never that popular. We've only seen it once in the first two episodes, so it's not weighing that heavily on the plot. Yet.

Maybe it gets a lot worse as the season progresses? I see season one has 18% on RT, which is usually the mark of something that's utterly dreadful, while the second season is a marked improvement (53%; still not setting the bar high), but I'm willing to give it a couple more episodes, if only to see where it has to have gone really wrong

I saw all of Maniac before y'all mentioned it. It's great. Weird seeing a blond Emma Stone though.

We also watched Dragon Prince in short order after reading about it here. Not as original-to-westerners as Avatar was, but I dig it. It's really a shame when you go and binge on these things and then realize you've got a long time to wait until more. I heard Netflix and the original crew are also working on a live-action The Last Airbender series, which is cool.

Re: Jackwraith and Iron Fist:

Expectations play a large role in enjoyment.

The Immortal Iron Fist and Doctor Strange are two of my all time fave comic characters. I'm just attracted the the mystical I suppose.

They both left me a but dry, Iron Fist more than Strange.

Daredevil also sets a high bar, as does the Iron Fist supposedly being a the eiptome of a martial artist.

You watch Finn's clumsiness and it removes you entirely from suspension of disbelief. The only thing I couldn't believe, was how bad he was at karate.

The story itself is decent, in spite of Netflix. But that's because of Marvel's foundation.

Low expectations make a thing better, nearly by default.

I enjoyed season 1 of Jessica Jones though, and view it second only to Daredevil.

Colorcrayons wrote: You watch Finn's clumsiness and it removes you entirely from suspension of disbelief. The only thing I couldn't believe, was how bad he was at karate.

Maybe because he's not actually doing karate...?

Iron Fist in the comics was trained in kung fu. Supposedly, Jones trained in a couple different styles to prepare for the role.

As for the other Jones (Jessica), I just found her character to be ridiculously over the top in her emoting; and this from someone who's supposed to be guarded, suspicious, and reluctant to engage because of the trauma inflicted by Kilgrave. She basically leaves no room for anyone to actually care about her in the story and that reflects on the audience. Supposedly, Trish still loves her because she was best friends with her from before, but that means that the crucial element of this character's makeup happens off-camera. We don't see any of the transformative effects of that trauma; just the aftereffects. So we're supposed to accept that this character is someone who won't change, won't develop, and is someone we should still care about because... why?

I mean, I get the "fellow American who's down on his luck" /WB sad sack routine. There are a lot of cynical characters who become lovable because they display something other than distaste and exasperation for everyone around them at various moments. I got nothing like that through 7 episodes of the first season (I stopped at 4, disgusted, until a friend pleaded with me to watch the finale. I made it through 3 more episodes.)

Next Gen is animated movie of a rebellious and angry girl with purple hair living in the distopian future where Apple and Steve Jobs have nearly taken over the world.

It's overall theme is quite similar to The Iron Giant but the story is different enough that it in no way feels like a rip off. There's some good social satire and a hero who is very different than the typical protagonist in a Pixar or Disney film.

Even though it's animated, I don't think I'd recommend it for any real young kids. 12 and up seems right.

I enjoyed it and I'm man enough to admit it brought tears to my eye. To be fair Iron Giant makes me cry like a wee baby every time.

It's a Netflix Original. Go watch it.

The Man in the high castle season 3 just launched. Time to catch up by watching the recap of season 1 (which I really dug) and Season 2 (not so much).

A very secret service is this French comedy series set in 1960 where this young guy joins their CIA/KGB equivalent. It's packed filled with very light but sharp satire of French attitudes and bureaucracy - they're obsessed with paperwork, are racist/misogynistic, always knock off at 5 for drinks (415 on Tuesdays), are consistently amazed that the main character can speak other languages, and are disgusted when Americans can't speak French well. Lots of underlying historical bits and pieces come into it - African independence movements (theres always a delegation in the waiting room), French New Wave..... it's pretty fun.

Enjoyed the new Doctor Who and think this could be a really good season with the new showrunner too.

Agreed. Peter capaldi was far too dour. Though I suppose that had a lot to do with the brief appearance of the war doctor played by John Hurt. Capaldi may have played to the more negative influence that the war doctor was struggling with.

Regardless, this new doctor, and being female, is promising.