Amazon Prime streaming video recommendations thread

[Reno]

Interesting. I gave it a swerve because it had such bad reviews.

What ? The Green Knight was one of the best reviewed films of the year and it is my second favourite film of the year so far.

The Green Knight

An epic fantasy adventure based on the timeless Arthurian legend, The Green Knight tells the story of Sir Gawain (Dev Patel), King Arthur's reckless and headstrong nephew, who embarks on a daring quest to confront the eponymous Green Knight, a gigantic emerald-skinned stranger and tester of men...

www.metacritic.com

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

What ? The Green Knight was one of the best reviewed films of the year and it is my second favourite film of the year so far.

The Green Knight

An epic fantasy adventure based on the timeless Arthurian legend, The Green Knight tells the story of Sir Gawain (Dev Patel), King Arthur's reckless and headstrong nephew, who embarks on a daring quest to confront the eponymous Green Knight, a gigantic emerald-skinned stranger and tester of men...

www.metacritic.com

Yes, then (a bit further down the thread) I ignored those reviews and watched it. It was great.

To be fair I think I had been looking at reviews from all the wrong places, starting with amazon, which tends to rate dross way too high, so in the case of this, it perhaps also rates decent films that are not all out bang bang pow pow, too low. I had assumed as an 'amazon original' it was a shitty dungeons and dragons style CGI bore.
That'll teach me. It was awesome.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Fair, but still poor value for money if less than 4 people imo.

A bit shit for singletons.

 

[Chz]

What ? The Green Knight was one of the best reviewed films of the year and it is my second favourite film of the year so far.

The Green Knight

An epic fantasy adventure based on the timeless Arthurian legend, The Green Knight tells the story of Sir Gawain (Dev Patel), King Arthur's reckless and headstrong nephew, who embarks on a daring quest to confront the eponymous Green Knight, a gigantic emerald-skinned stranger and tester of men...

www.metacritic.com

I quite liked it, but it does suffer quite a bit from the "how dark can we make this and still let people see what's on the screen" thing that's been popular the last 7-8 years. Does my fucking head in. I know the Dark Ages were a bit Dark, but I would like to see what's going on!

 

[Orang Utan]

I quite liked it, but it does suffer quite a bit from the "how dark can we make this and still let people see what's on the screen" thing that's been popular the last 7-8 years. Does my fucking head in. I know the Dark Ages were a bit Dark, but I would like to see what's going on!

Might be your TV settings

 

[Reno]

I quite liked it, but it does suffer quite a bit from the "how dark can we make this and still let people see what's on the screen" thing that's been popular the last 7-8 years. Does my fucking head in. I know the Dark Ages were a bit Dark, but I would like to see what's going on!

I had no problems seeing anything, as OU said. Wouldn't have worked looking all bright and shiny, at times it feels like a horror film.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Me three.

 

[Chz]

I think it's HDR being overzealous. I turned it off and it looks better, which sort of defeats the point of the technology. I was looking for something to show off the fancy brand new telly and instead this said "why did you bother?" to me.

 

[Orang Utan]

I think it's HDR being overzealous. I turned it off and it looks better, which sort of defeats the point of the technology. I was looking for something to show off the fancy brand new telly and instead this said "why did you bother?" to me.

You probably need to change the settings then. I changed mine when they had that really dark episode of Game Of Thrones

 

[Chz]

You probably need to change the settings then. I changed mine when they had that really dark episode of Game Of Thrones

It's definitely not just me, based on the complaints in AVForums. HDR seems a bit of a crapshoot as to whether it gets implemented well. The latest Bond, for instance, looks amazing.

 

[T & P]

Spiral, which appears to be a Saw sequel/ spinoff, has just dropped. Judging by the trailer it seems to be more of a psychological crime thriller than the gory escape room horror films the Saw franchise were. Haven’t seen it yet so could be completely wrong there though.

Chris Rock and Samuel L Jackson star in it among others so worth checking out imo, seeing as it’s free.

 

[T & P]

Spiral, which appears to be a Saw sequel/ spinoff, has just dropped. Judging by the trailer it seems to be more of a psychological crime thriller than the gory escape room horror films the Saw franchise were. Haven’t seen it yet so could be completely wrong there though.

Chris Rock and Samuel L Jackson star in it among others so worth checking out imo, seeing as it’s free.

Well two thirds in and I was quite wrong about the traps potentially being less vicious than in the Saw films, so I’d advise anyone not into that kind of stuff to give this one a miss.

As to the quality of film, maybe there’s going to be an amazing ending/ twist that’s going to save it, but so far it’s very formulaic and clichéd. Chris Rock going by the numbers in his role and completely failing to convey any emotions, for me at least.

ETA: Turns out I also totally guessed who the villain was.

 

[paul mckenna]

Well two thirds in and I was quite wrong about the traps potentially being less vicious than in the Saw films, so I’d advise anyone not into that kind of stuff to give this one a miss.

As to the quality of film, maybe there’s going to be an amazing ending/ twist that’s going to save it, but so far it’s very formulaic and clichéd. Chris Rock going by the numbers in his role and completely failing to convey any emotions, for me at least.

ETA: Turns out I also totally guessed who the villain was.

Chris Rock cannot act for love nor money

 

[Reno]

Chris Rock cannot act for love nor money

He was really bad in this.

For me the main pleasure of the Saw sequels was, that how instead of a franchise like Friday the 13th, where every film is basically the same, Saw became this insanely intricate gore-soap opera with a recurring cast of characters to keep track of and some genuinely clever plot twists. You had to watch one after the other to make sense of the plot. As such Spiral wasn't that interesting to me. Because it featured a couple of movie stars, it looked more glossy and had a higher budget than the previous films, but it completely ignored the elaborate mythology. Some of the traps were still squirm inducing though.

 

[paul mckenna]

There's normally a breakout role for movie stars who've transitioned from another entertainment realm that gives them some leeway on subsequent dodgy performances. I can't point to one with Chris Rock. He was terrible in the latest Fargo too both in performance and presence.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

I watched The Green Knight last night. I kind of liked it, but a lot of it went over my head... I'm guessing to get the most from it, you need to be familiar with the poem it's based on or have watched it at least a couple of times.

 

[Reno]

I watched The Green Knight last night. I kind of liked it, but a lot of it went over my head... I'm guessing to get the most from it, you need to be familiar with the poem it's based on or have watched it at least a couple of times.

Wikipedia research on the poem helped making things clearer for me and it made me appreciate what changes the film made, to make the story work for a modern audience.

This essay is quite interesting:

The Green Knight Unmakes a Classic—to Unsettling and Glorious Effect

I first encountered Sir Gawain in a college course on the quest narrative. The class fulfilled the English major’s pre-1800 literature course requirement, but it also met at 8 am. It is primarily a…

lithub.com

 

[DaveCinzano]

Wikipedia research on the poem helped making things clearer for me and it made me appreciate what changes the film made, to make the story work for a modern audience.

This essay is quite interesting:

The Green Knight Unmakes a Classic—to Unsettling and Glorious Effect

I first encountered Sir Gawain in a college course on the quest narrative. The class fulfilled the English major’s pre-1800 literature course requirement, but it also met at 8 am. It is primarily a…

lithub.com

An interesting essay indeed, especially as she knows the source material yet her impression of the film seems very similar to my own.

I don't think there's anything I really disagree with. It is "stupendously gorgeous...the visual experience of this film...is consistently spectacular"; and it does feel "radical—and sometimes transcendent—in the current landscape of easy-to-watch entertainment and obvious moral play-by-plays".

 

[Johnny Vodka]

I watched Xtro tonight. Hadn't seen it before. In many ways a terrible and nonsensical film, yet there are some amazing effects/horror scenes. I had the urge to stop it five minutes in, but I'm glad I didn't.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

This looks great, Dec 10th.

Encounter review – Riz Ahmed shines in sophisticated alien-invasion thriller

Family road movie and sci-fi conspiracy merge in this subtle psychological drama from Beast director Michael Pearce

www.theguardian.com

 

[Orang Utan]

I watched The Green Knight last night. I kind of liked it, but a lot of it went over my head... I'm guessing to get the most from it, you need to be familiar with the poem it's based on or have watched it at least a couple of times.

Read the Simon Armitage version. Incredible piece of work.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight » Simon Armitage | The Official Website

www.simonarmitage.com

 

[chandlerp]

Chris Rock cannot act for love nor money

Ruined that last season of Fargo for me. And I like him.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

I watched The Green Knight last night and adored it. I am only vaguely familiar with the source material but I don't think that spoilt my enjoyment.
It looks absolutely beautiful. I like the "chapter" headings. I like that in the film. The giants....oh my! I thought it was all just so beautifully mysterious and magical and nonsensical and just rather wonderful.

 

[kabbes]

I watched the first third of Green Knight and I like it so far. Like 90% of modern films, it’s way too long and needs some decent editing, but I don’t single it out for that problem.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

I watched the first third of Green Knight and I like it so far. Like 90% of modern films, it’s way too long and needs some decent editing, but I don’t single it out for that problem.

For me, this is an instance where I think the pace is right. It felt right that it was long. I can't really explain myself but the fact that it was a bit drawn out seemed right for the story.
The time absolutely flew for me anyway as I was so absorbed in it.

 

[bimble]

Its not new but its quietly fucking brilliant, documentary film called The Street.

 

[Orang Utan]

Its not new but its quietly fucking brilliant, documentary film called The Street.

Is that the one about Hackney? I missed that a couple of years ago at a film festival and missed out cos I thought I’d find it too hard to watch in a pandemic

 

[nagapie]

Its not new but its quietly fucking brilliant, documentary film called The Street.

Thanks. I will definitely watch this.

 

[RileyOBlimey]

Its not new but its quietly fucking brilliant, documentary film called The Street.

Aye, this is brilliant.

 

[T & P]

As a teenage-oriented spy thriller series goes, S2 of Alex Rider is actually pretty watchable, even if you’re a grown up. Far, far better than the film from a few years ago anyway- and much better than S1.

Main villain is former Bond villain Toby Stephens, and the main character himself is somewhat unlikeable and moody, rather than the typical charming poster boy you would have expected the studio to cast to attract a bigger teenage audience.

(Seeing as I’ve already stated this is a teenage-targeting show, do not blame me if you watch this with your full-grown-up cap on and think it’s poor; though I myself am finding it more entertaining than a few of grown up shows of the genre)