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Disney + streaming video recommendations thread

"She's a peasant, a criminal, she'll hardly be believed"

Same as it ever was.
 
"I thought you were in the business of truth.

I am in the business of stories."

To/from a newspaper magnate
 
Just watched the first episode of the brand new series Shardlake.

Based on the C. J. Sansom novels, it’s a kinda murder mystery thriller set in Tudor times. Pretty watchable and entertaining opening salvo, and it features Sean Bean for good measure. Early series recommendation as entertainment fodder.

 
cannie believe noone is watching X-Men 97 aside from the serious nostalgia vibe

best bit marvel story telling in a decade :)
 
cannie believe noone is watching X-Men 97 aside from the serious nostalgia vibe

best bit marvel story telling in a decade :)
I gave it five minutes and gave up. Not saying it’s bad, but as a child of the 70s I like my retro cartoons to be lighter than more fun regardless of whether they are aimed at kids or adults, so it didn’t grab me.

Then again I was never a fan of DC/ Marvel comics so I guess I am completely the wrong demographic
 
maybe the wrong demographic original run.of the show started in 1992 when i was 10 and ran for 5 seasons so was a part of my childhood Saturday morning and made me a comic and marvel fan

the nostalgic call back to the original show with the original voice cast is quite something
plus the themes of the show about people standing outside the norm reach out to plenty of groups

shame you could not enjoy as it some of the best stuff i've seen from marvel in years and is covering 30 years of build up
 
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Just watched the first episode of the brand new series Shardlake.

Based on the C. J. Sansom novels, it’s a kinda murder mystery thriller set in Tudor times. Pretty watchable and entertaining opening salvo, and it features Sean Bean for good measure. Early series recommendation as entertainment fodder.

I'd have enjoyed it if I hadn't read the books. Adaptations of books you love are always a dispointment.

(When I say books I love I mean books that would be my Mastermind specialist subject in this case...)
 
I'd have enjoyed it if I hadn't read the books. Adaptations of books you love are always a dispointment.

(When I say books I love I mean books that would be my Mastermind specialist subject in this case...)

Same. The books are ace but I'm finding the show really hard work.
 
I've seen praise for the richness of the depiction of Japan in Shogun but to me it looks like a computer game. Too much CGI and even when they're shooting real sets it is all too pristine and doesn't feel real. Even if the palaces of the rich were that spotless, the villages wouldn't have been. Think how gritty the depiction of village life is in Seven Samurai. It's something to do with how they shoot it in digital too I suspect. It's a well-made series in many ways but the visuals keep throwing me out of being immersed in it - really ruining it for me.
 
I've seen praise for the richness of the depiction of Japan in Shogun but to me it looks like a computer game. Too much CGI and even when they're shooting real sets it is all too pristine and doesn't feel real. Even if the palaces of the rich were that spotless, the villages wouldn't have been. Think how gritty the depiction of village life is in Seven Samurai. It's something to do with how they shoot it in digital too I suspect. It's a well-made series in many ways but the visuals keep throwing me out of being immersed in it - really ruining it for me.
It's a shame covid and costs prevented filming in Japan, although Vancouver (island?) is a decent enough stand in.

The CGI would normally annoy me a bit, but Tbh, the story is so gripping and the acting so good am willing to ignore the FX.
 
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will admit they should of shown anjin men as more dirty and grimmy that the glimpse of one man we saw in the series..

the book deals with it better with anjin have lived with the Japanese culture for months and not seeing himself as one with his men anymore

only bit of the series I found wanting really
 
Starting the brand new (to Disney+ at least) German supernatural/ dark comedy/coming of age series Pauline, about a young woman who gets pregnant after a one night stand dating app date with the son of the Devil, who seemly is living among us like any human young adult would.

At the time of posting I have not found a single review of it whether positive or negative. But plenty of news articles from a year ago when I guess it was announced Disney had commissioned it. Apparently its very existence has caused massive outrage among the more unhinged fringes of the Christian community


Too early to give a judgement as only halfway through the first episode- feels like Lucifer for late teens so far but not bad.
 
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They now have all the Omen films, including the recent prequel - The First Omen.
Good (or rather evil!) classic horror fun and games.
We're doing a chronological Omen marathon Monday night when N is off work.
 
I've seen praise for the richness of the depiction of Japan in Shogun but to me it looks like a computer game. Too much CGI and even when they're shooting real sets it is all too pristine and doesn't feel real. Even if the palaces of the rich were that spotless, the villages wouldn't have been. Think how gritty the depiction of village life is in Seven Samurai. It's something to do with how they shoot it in digital too I suspect. It's a well-made series in many ways but the visuals keep throwing me out of being immersed in it - really ruining it for me.
The obvious CGI is ruining many a good series. I was watching Masters Of The Air and couldn’t get past the obvious CGI of the aircraft. Switched it off. The same with Shogun.
 
The obvious CGI is ruining many a good series. I was watching Masters Of The Air and couldn’t get past the obvious CGI of the aircraft. Switched it off. The same with Shogun.
I absolutely hate CGI if not done properly and kept to a bare minimum and blended seamlessly with practical effects (such as the work of Christopher Nolan or Gareth Edwards). But I didn’t mind the CGI Masters of the Air at all. In fact I found the air battles among the most riveting of any WWII film or series I’ve ever watched. And besides, it’s not a set up you could recreate with real working aircraft for obvious reasons.

I guess you could have filmed it without any CGI if all aerial battles showed little more than shots of crewmen inside prop planes. Which was admissible in 20th century war films, but would look shite today unless it’s an art house type of production.
 
I do find it somewhat off-putting in Shogun. Makes it rather more obvious that Vancouver Island isn't Japan. But then it's shot almost entirely in the dark, as is the fashion, so it's harder to tell.
 
It's something about how Shogun is lit/shot/processed too. Look at this still, which presumably has no CGI in it, and tell me the woman in the foreground doesn't look like a particularly good game render. Her face and clothes look kind of unreal:


shogun-022624-1-67b8e458f9044392a8930d36cee2770e.jpg
 
It's something about how Shogun is lit/shot/processed too. Look at this still, which presumably has no CGI in it, and tell me the woman in the foreground doesn't look like a particularly good game render. Her face and clothes look kind of unreal:


shogun-022624-1-67b8e458f9044392a8930d36cee2770e.jpg
We are not going to be able to tell the difference soon. I was discussing this with my daughter who was brought up with PC Gaming she said “ what’s the big deal “ she is obviously used to it. Maybe it grates with older buggers like me.
 
I suppose if you can accept cartoons you should be able to accept this, perhaps we are just resisting because we are old and it is new...

But I do object to people raving about what a realistic depiction of Japan it is. That's what grates as much as anything. If they just said it's a glossy computer game version of Japan that requires you to use a lot of imagination to believe it is medieval Japan, I would probably be able to accept it better.
 
Perhaps our TV is not modern enough to make it an issue (which given that it’s around 13- 14 years old, wouldn’t surprise me if it turned out to be a factor). But I must say it hasn’t bothered me in the slightest. Putting aside the subject matter and genre aside for a minute, I find the CGI visuals about a hundred and fifty million times less bothersome than 99% of all Marvel or DC blockbusters, and probably countless other action and sci-Fi productions I can’t think of right now.
 
In other news, Disney’s latest Star Wars new spinoff, The Acolyte, starts tomorrow. Know little about it other then being set about a century before the original trilogy. Might merit its own thread but I am not holding my breath.
 
In other news, Disney’s latest Star Wars new spinoff, The Acolyte, starts tomorrow. Know little about it other then being set about a century before the original trilogy. Might merit its own thread but I am not holding my breath.
Created/written/produced by the same producer who did Russian Doll, so you never know
 
This has also just started tonight, and on weekly doses you’ll be pleased to hear Orang Utan . I don’t usually have much time for films or series about sports, but The Guardian of all people gives it a 5- star review so about to give it go. In any event it is based on true events so I guess it’s not really a sports series.

 
I suppose if you can accept cartoons you should be able to accept this, perhaps we are just resisting because we are old and it is new...

But I do object to people raving about what a realistic depiction of Japan it is. That's what grates as much as anything. If they just said it's a glossy computer game version of Japan that requires you to use a lot of imagination to believe it is medieval Japan, I would probably be able to accept it better.
I actually reckon Ghost of Tsushima does a better job of capturing the feel of medieval Japan. So it's not just that it's CGI, it's how it's used. Granted, GoS doesn't have to model proper cities given where it's set.
 
I have watched the first episode of A Small Light - which is about Miep and her husband Jan Gies and their role in the Dutch resistance during WWII and the Nazi occupation, including helping to hide the Frank family and help to hide others or to get them to safety.
It has a very good cast.

It is also very upsetting, obviously - the term "trigger warning" seems too trivial - the subject matter is serious and upsetting as it should be.
 
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