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Netflix recommendations

I'm very late to most Netflix parties, previously for vikings generally, and now with Behind Her Eyes.

Oof. Got me good.

Very watchable. Not sure I like where it went.
 
spanglechick said:
The Bubble is infuriating, because for the talent and experience involved it should just be better. The pace and structure needed tightening, and that sits squarely at Apatow’s door, as does the lack of cohesive comedic style. And if they wanted Armisen to play the director (and I know he’s beloved by the Second City lot) then the part needed a little rewrite. He’s too old by about 20 years to play an indie wunderkind on his sophomore film.

There are worse films, but they tend to be written/directed/acted by hacks. And hacks are gonna hack. But Apatow is a highly talented writer and director. The cast is all-killer-no-filler actors and comedians. It should be better. That’s what makes me cross.
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My feelings almost exactly (though I think you were a bit more to the point than I was in my post). I was surprised to see Apatow made it. It's a bit of a mess.
You are so right about Armisen. The cast were not all hollywood big hitters, but they didn't have to be big hitters to play big hitters, the film made it feel like the should be, and I didn't believe that they were.
But yes, frustrating because it could have been good but wasn't. I still think a lot could have been fixed in editing, (but should have been sorted before turning on a camera).
 
ATOMIC SUPLEX said:
My feelings almost exactly (though I think you were a bit more to the point than I was in my post). I was surprised to see Apatow made it. It's a bit of a mess.
You are so right about Armisen. The cast were not all hollywood big hitters, but they didn't have to be big hitters to play big hitters, the film made it feel like the should be, and I didn't believe that they were.
But yes, frustrating because it could have been good but wasn't. I still think a lot could have been fixed in editing, (but should have been sorted before turning on a camera).
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I do think I might have made a good six (or even 10) parter. All those disparate go-nowhere storylines (the cult/the adoption/the TikTok backlash/the weird security man/Carol’s awful stay-at-home boyfriend…) could have taken the wheel for an episode each.
 
spanglechick said:
I do think I might have made a good six (or even 10) parter. All those disparate go-nowhere storylines (the cult/the adoption/the TikTok backlash/the weird security man/Carol’s awful stay-at-home boyfriend…) could have taken the wheel for an episode each.
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Interesting. Everyone had their story didn't they. . . but somehow that was why the film didn't work. My initial reaction is a definite no, I really don't think so. However the more I think about it the more it sounds like a good idea. . if there was a bigger and better overarking plot/story, then maybe it could have been good. You sort of expect a bit less of TV shows, and if it was broken into 30 minute parts (45 would be too long I think) it might be quite manageable.

Just remembered another thing that didn't work for me. The isolation periods. Everyone in the world had to do this, we were isolating at home. The problem with isolating in a hotel after travel or for work is being trapped without your things in a tiny location with limited entertainment and shit food. . . these people had pretty much everything they wanted in a nice location. Obviously celebrities can be unrelatable, but I was not sure what I was supposed to feel for them. Two weeks of paid luxury lockdown? So what? Why are they going nuts? Most are actually making pretty good use of the time by exercising or learning a new skill.
 
ATOMIC SUPLEX said:
The problem with isolating in a hotel after travel or for work is being trapped without your things in a tiny location with limited entertainment and shit food. . .
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I did this throughout the lockdowns. I can confirm the food was shit. Luckily i had a decent Firestick and urban for entertainment.
 
ATOMIC SUPLEX said:
Just remembered another thing that didn't work for me. The isolation periods. Everyone in the world had to do this, we were isolating at home. The problem with isolating in a hotel after travel or for work is being trapped without your things in a tiny location with limited entertainment and shit food. . . these people had pretty much everything they wanted in a nice location. Obviously celebrities can be unrelatable, but I was not sure what I was supposed to feel for them. Two weeks of paid luxury lockdown? So what? Why are they going nuts? Most are actually making pretty good use of the time by exercising or learning a new skill.
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Shortly before this we got put into a hotel by the council for a week due to the flat having issues. It was absolute fucking torture, having a diet of crap, not having all of your clothes and stuck in a room that wasn't yours.

Lockdown was pretty much the same but at least I had my stuff but even then the sheer levels of boredom and isolation was soul sapping. This is not a big flat and I've spent a significant percentage of my life unable to leave it.
 
Supine said:
I did this throughout the lockdowns. I can confirm the food was shit. Luckily i had a decent Firestick and urban for entertainment.
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Artaxerxes said:
Shortly before this we got put into a hotel by the council for a week due to the flat having issues. It was absolute fucking torture, having a diet of crap, not having all of your clothes and stuck in a room that wasn't yours.

Lockdown was pretty much the same but at least I had my stuff but even then the sheer levels of boredom and isolation was soul sapping. This is not a big flat and I've spent a significant percentage of my life unable to leave it.
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I can't tell if you are agreeing with me or disagreeing. In the film the actors are tortured, and we see torture sequences but it's far less than any normal person had to go through at home, let alone if a normal person was submitted to hotel isolation.

We also don't see them 'soul sapped'. They are actually seemingly getting on and doing stuff, the only information we get about them going nuts is when they say 'I'm going nuts' or groan about having to do another bout of isolation.
 
spanglechick said:
On the other hand, “Is It Cake?” Was good, bonkers-but-wholesome entertainment.
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I loved the cakes and the contestants, the host was awfully over the top and not in a good way, I found him super annoying, to the extent he makes me not want to watch any more. I also found the whole benching of most of the participants in each episode and only have three bakers in each episode weird. They looked a bit like spare parts and seemed to feel it a bit, too, I mean sitting around for eight hours watching other people make a cake? That's gotta suck. And the way they had three judges, but only one button, so it's effectively the person with the button who chooses, the other two judges are a bit superfluous, apart from the fake drama about which to choose.

I like the cakes, but think the format and presenter were lacking, other competition shows are much better.
 
AnnO'Neemus said:
I like the cakes, but think the format and presenter were lacking, other competition shows are much better.
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I feel like they really messed this one up. The big question. Is it more fun at home guessing if it is cake, or watching people make realistic cakes and then watch them bite their nails as other people guess? The programme has gone all in for the former and cut out all the drama, emotion and interest of the cake creation. It limits everything between picking the chefs to presenting the cake to filler because we can't see very much of what they are doing without giving the 'game' away.
They play 'is it cake' twice on the contestants themselves anyway, and it really does get pretty boring pretty soon. The original Japanese clip only came from a short one off segment in a daytime variety show.


As for the non participating chefs sitting around and watching them make cakes for hours . . . it really wouldn't surprise me if they didn't even bake in the studio. US TV is not bound by the same law as UK TV their reality shows can stick in all sorts of made up stuff and be quite shamelessly fake. This 'may' even be the reason they didn't really show much of the cake baking.

As someone who works in TV production the making of the show on the whole looked very fishy to me. . . it might actually be made exactly as it is presented, but it would be an utterly insane waste of time and money far beyond the rather cheap throwaway look of the show.
 
I was enjoying Metal Lords.
I thought it was a TV series for some reason, but then it just kept going.

Would have worked far better as a TV series IMO. Interesting teen drama with a twist/hook. Could have explored some more of drama properly.
Has it's moments as a film, but it's a bit predictable. As a Cobra Kai type thing it could have been cheesy cool.
 
Part 2 said:
Watched the Jimmy Savile documentary. Thought it was very good. There's a lot of footage I'd not seen, some interesting talking heads and it's put together well. Second part contains a particularly hard-hitting interview with one of his victims.
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Just finished watching part 1.

Would be interested in hearing what a psychiatrist made of him. He seemed empty.
 
Old Enough...I'm not sure this is really a recommendation but it's bizarre enough to watch once or twice. It's the sort of thing that might have been on that Chris tarrant on TV program years ago.

A Japanese show where toddlers are sent on errands with cameras following them, accompanied by canned laughter and cheesy commentary. Thankfully the episodes are only 10 minutes long rather than 3 hours they apparently show it for in Japan.
 
Part 2 said:
Watched the Jimmy Savile documentary. Thought it was very good. There's a lot of footage I'd not seen, some interesting talking heads and it's put together well. Second part contains a particularly hard-hitting interview with one of his victims.
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We watched both parts last night. Same re footage, plus, FUCKING HELL
the Prince fucking Charles letters!! :eek:

Yeh, was a hard watch in places. Imagine it was for quite a few of the celeb participants too!
 
Part 2 said:
A Japanese show where toddlers are sent on errands with cameras following them, accompanied by canned laughter and cheesy commentary. Thankfully the episodes are only 10 minutes long rather than 3 hours they apparently show it for in Japan.
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I've only seen it in Japan where they play only two or three at a time as part as a morning or evening studio magazine type show (Japanese TV generally follows a very very different format to western TV). It's quite possible that originally it was an evening special. I know it was very popular. Maybe I did only see a section of a three hour show, they all merge into one, the formats are all so similar. When I watched it there was a celebrity audience of about 12 people all watching and commenting, talking before during and after.

Playing stuff in big three hour evening bursts is also popular (usually in the holidays) . . . the show ninja warrior is edited from is like this . . . . probably much longer than three hours actually. I actually really enjoy these types of japanese TV events, couple of drinks, family around, TV kind of on in the background, everyone half watching and commenting now and then.
 
ATOMIC SUPLEX said:
I've only seen it in Japan where they play only two or three at a time as part as a morning or evening studio magazine type show (Japanese TV generally follows a very very different format to western TV). It's quite possible that originally it was an evening special. I know it was very popular. Maybe I did only see a section of a three hour show, they all merge into one, the formats are all so similar. When I watched it there was a celebrity audience of about 12 people all watching and commenting, talking before during and after.

Playing stuff in big three hour evening bursts is also popular (usually in the holidays) . . . the show ninja warrior is edited from is like this . . . . probably much longer than three hours actually. I actually really enjoy these types of japanese TV events, couple of drinks, family around, TV kind of on in the background, everyone half watching and commenting now and then.
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tbh I'd only read it was that long in The Guardian so no surprises it's not completely accurate.

The thing I did like about it was seeing inside peoples houses and the language.

Have you seen Drive My Car yet?...it's incredibly slow and there's lots of long dialogue scenes but that was one of the attractions for me. Despite the fact I wouldn't have a clue what was being said without subtitles it feels like such an emotive language.
 
Part 2 said:
tbh I'd only read it was that long in The Guardian so no surprises it's not completely accurate.

The thing I did like about it was seeing inside peoples houses and the language.

Have you seen Drive My Car yet?...it's incredibly slow and there's lots of long dialogue scenes but that was one of the attractions for me. Despite the fact I wouldn't have a clue what was being said without subtitles it feels like such an emotive language.
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I don't know what the guardian says about the show, but when they are full evening long programmes it's not quite like just watching 18 shows in a row, it's not presented like that.
Japanese TV is very different. They don't really have the same sort of programming at all. For instance, sitcoms (as such) don't exist.

I hope they bring Kaso Taisho to netflix. Another 3 hour epic for the holidays.

Kasou Taishou - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
I used to love it. I have several vhs videos of it that I taped off the telly over the years. I tried to get it to the UK at one point but it never worked out.
The girl I was working with (we both got free Japanese lessons at ITV because they though it would help) is now one of the top commissioning bods at Netflix.



I have not seen Drive My Car. Is it a netflix thing?
 
ATOMIC SUPLEX said:
Well I never. I had no idea it had been made into a live action film so long ago.
My wife (just now) says she has been waiting to see it for years.
Quite odd to see a Japanese man play the lead, but understandable.

Be interested to see what they do to turn it into a film format. The manga is almost a weekly educational comic without a plot as such.
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Blast from the past. i remember watching some of the anime adaptation. I believe it did shorts following the mangas style.
 
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