New, Good Media

[littleman]

>After Life

Likes the first season, the second season wasn't as good imo.


If you want light but sort of smart Cobra Kai is surprisingly good.  It builds on the story of the Karate Kid movies.  The show can be funny, sometimes goofy, but there is some depth to it too.  For instance, instead of the typical story of how good people go bad, it explores how people with good intentions can do harm when they are filled with the wrong ideas.

[ergophobe]

We watched a couple last night. I thought it opened slowly, perhaps because I and was expecting something lighter based on your description, but we gave it a second episode and got pulled into the story. It's interesting what 35 years has done to storytelling. KKI was a pure good/evil story. 35 years later, there's no Mr Miyagi. Everyone is a little good and a little evil and the fun is trying to parse it all out. We're definitely in for the whole season now.

[littleman]

Light is relative I guess, but compared to other shows/movies on this list I'd call it light.  There were some moments when I've laughed out loud which doesn't happen to often for me.

[ergophobe]

Yes, light is relative. Our previous watch was "I Am Not Your Negro," about James Baldwin. Very good. Definitely not light, but very much worth a watch. I wish it had been longer.

We also watched Ip Man, which is fairly light, despite a background of Japanese atrocities in China during WWII. It has nothing to do with the actual life of Ip Man. Best thought of as a propaganda film for China.

The ending is precious - it says that Ip Man moved to Hong Kong after the Chinese defeated the Japanese in 1945. If I think really hard, I seem to recall some other countries involved in that effort too... if I could only remember who they were...

[DrCool]

>Ip Man

As far as storytelling and overall quality the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Ip Man movies definitely take a step down. Still good fight scenes and all that if you just want something mindless on in the background.

[jetboy]

Favourite movies of the year so far, with the caveat that it's been far from a vintage one:

1917
Hamilton
Come As You Are
Richard Jewell
Dark Waters
The Gentlemen
Just Mercy
The Platform [subtitled]
The Rhythm Section
Les Miserables [subtitled]
7500
Bombshell
Stage Mother
Why Don't You Just Die! [subtitled]
The Vigil
Beastie Boys Story [documentary]
JoJo Rabbit
Days Of The Bagnold Summer
Proxima
Alice [subtitled]

[littleman]

>JoJo Rabbit

If you liked JoJo you'd probably like The Death of Stalin.  They are very complimentary films.

[littleman]

Jetboy, thanks for the list.  I'm watching Come As You Are right now and really enjoying it.

[jetboy]

Cool  Mulan would be on the list now. I didn't get on with Tenet or The New Mutants.

[gm66]

I really enjoyed After Life, with Ricky Gervais. It's a bit dark. You have to stick with it. I just watched the first episode of season 2 and will definitely watch the rest.

It crosses lines for me, i hate to sound like Mary Whitehouse, but lots of modern humour isn't even toilet-humour, it's just toilets, i find myself watching older comedies more often.

I blame the dumbing down of education in general and the tendency to disencourage (is that a bloody word?) imagination , lots of  the young script writers are thick as two short planks compared to stuff like Monty Python, Seinfeld and Friends, which is generationally recent.

This is embarrasing for me but i'' share it with the group because forums are basically group-therapy in the end ;+} I've become hooked on a reality TV show called Below Decks, on Bravo i think in the US.

In the face of crap drama on TV, at least these series are real so you're getting real reactions (i know they stage parts of it).
I'm shuting up now, there's no excuse, i'm just watching crap, i have COVID lazy-brain disease.

I've probably said these before but they are always worth rementioning :

Life After Beth.
Phil The Alien.
Bad Milo.
Lars And The Real Girl.

If i could only own one film it would be the 82 Blade Runner commercial release not the directors cut, madly enough i found Sean Young's YT channel a couple of years back and she responded to a couple of posts. If you like blade runner her channel is worth a visit, she has private video of Sting filming Dune and other things : https://www.youtube.com/user/msyPARIAH

[gm66]

How about the news? Totally fictional comedy-drama with a good dose of condescension thrown in. Lap it up.

[ergophobe]

>>If i could only own one film

Hands down, Jeremiah Johnson

[BoL]

>one film

Last Samurai, for me. "Necessary. What could be more necessary?"

[jetboy]

One film? Gremlins.

[BoL]

Just watched David Attenborough's "A Life on our Planet" (Netflix). Makes a lot of sense. Preserve biodiversity and focus on poorer parts of the world becoming sustainable with less children. Insane how much our planet has been adapted within a few generations. Reckon biodiversity supercedes any human ideas of progress, but hopefully we can sort that in the coming decades.