March 21, and life still sucks. Even more so than usual.
Somehow I just don't feel like writing much lately. It's a kind of general slump, partially filled with the inability to get my sorry ass into gear and publish, partially by all the doom and gloom from the orange menace's corner, and there are some private things distracting me and mine.
Note: this isn't a 'top 10' kind of list. I was just wondering where you could watch them (legally)...
Note that I'm based in The Netherlands, and availability strongly depends on the region you live in...
First you see a dragon. Then you're watching some royal intrigues for 35 minutes, and only then the action starts.
Which doesn't make Damsel a complete disaster, but it helps to know what to expect.
I had high hopes for season 2 of Arcane... Season 1 was brilliant, an emotional roller coaster, great animation, and a good story to carry it all. How could season 2 be any less?
Well... it turned out it could be. Worse, that is.
Perhaps not as good as the original Orphan Black (ignoring the nose-dive and recovery near the end of that show) but still quite interesting. I wasn’t expecting the killing of such an essential character near the end though… Was it to attract new viewers, or the original plan of the creators? Who can tell?
There will never be a season 2. But - in a way - Agatha All Along is a kind of season 2, as it is a clear sequel to Wandavision.
And, to immediately get to the point, it's great!
Rebel Moon is... a mess. Take Star Wars, add a bit of B-movie stuff like Krull, try to incorporate elements of the different 47 Ronin movies and it's descendants (The Magnificent Seven, Seven Samurai, and even Battle Beyond the Stars).
Next, spend a lot of money on effects, tits, and gross-dom, and call it the 'Director's Cut'...
J-Lo and Netlifx at it again. After the by-the-numbers (but still watchable) The Mother here's another Lopez flick, and this time she's venturing into Science Fiction territories.
In a nutshell: young girl watches her mother and half the world killed by an AI developed by that same mother, and returns to the fight 28 years later, having to overcome her fear of AI.
It’s based on a computer game, but it has (fortunately) little to do with the game (besides borrowing characters and background).
Synopsis: two sisters survive in a world with lots of contrast between the rich and the poor. When a heist fails, the oldest sister goes to jail, and the youngest one goes… crazy.
I think my first encounter with anime was back in '95. Yeah, I'm getting old 😔
Shadow and Bone... Bone and Shadow... Oh, what does it matter. It's just another Netflix fantasy series, decent first season, bad second season, then rapidly killed off.
Sigh.
Typical Netflix.
Things are never ever good enough. My god, can people complain!
Yeah, I know. I do as well. It’s only human. But the amount of negativity thrown at the Marvel shows for ‘not being true to the comics’, ‘poor CGI’, ‘discriminating’ and what not… my god! Is there even a way to do things right?!? We’re talking about television series, at smaller budgets, based on fantasy comics… and not everything has to be politically correct!
Street gang assists Watson and Holmes, fighting supernatural stuff. The single episode arcs are all tied together in the end. Not that bad, and it might have deserved another season, but it’s fine as is.
(I hate series that are discontinued without a proper wrap-up. Are you listening, Netflix?)
I am a sucker for weird stuff with a bit of action, decent story line, interesting characters, and good production values. The Peripheral thus far ticks all the boxes. I've never read the book it's based upon (by William Gibson) but I guess I will give it a go after this series has been completed.
Oh dear. Season 1 was promising, and had some interesting plotlines. An interesting ending. Lots of possibilities for a great season 2.
And then season 2 actually happened.
Just a single season, YA, and a bit tight on budget, yet quite promising.
Unfortunately, there won't be a second season. I personally think it deserved one, but I can live with it the way it is.
Are you old enough to remember the old Addams' Family? You might have seen one of the replays, or read any of the cartoons. Skip the nineties-something movie, and forget about the animated series. What you need is the original, weird stuff. So, where does the Netflix series sit?
Netflix has a habit of killing off promising fantasy series. Some barely make it past the first season, some get a few episodes more, but to be honest, Netflix (just like all the other streaming services) rarely give a series the chance to grow on people.
And so they killed this one as well. Fortunately, the core plot was done before the series was canceled.
Standard action flick with Jennifer Lopez as a former agent who went undercover to protect her newly born child, and has to protect the orphaned kid fifteen years later.
For a standard Netflix action flick, it’s surprisingly good (if a bit predictable). But the most important question isn't answered: how the hell does Jennifer Lopez keep in shape?
"The Beloved Novel of Love, Friendship, Sisterhood and Magic". Right. They missed a single word in that description: boring.
Because, I'm sorry, but because that's what it is. Boring. It starts somewhere, it goes somewhere, and it ends somewhere. I made it three quarters through, trying to figure out what was so great about the story, and gave up.
Fortunately, there's also a movie... is there?
