General Netflix Discussion-TV Shows

[dannyboy121070]

The cannibal thing hadn't crossed my mind--that might be a bridge too far for the show to recover from,; ultimately, it's an optimistic show with shades of dramatic tragedy--but I can see how you got there. They did put a ton of emphasis on the food. I expected more of a "There isn't enough food so we're cutting you loose" kind of thing. At least some kind of affirmative action by Ed and Poole to necessitate the amount of guilt displayed. It wound up being a whole lot of nothing. It was a sad ending for the character for sure, but it didn't rise to the level of the build up to it. The fact that they teased this mystery and then it had no bearing on the season's overall arc or motivation for any of the characters was also a narrative misstep in my opinion.

I also thought Ed was a little out of character this season, but enjoyed the little parts that touched upon him grappling with outliving his ability to maintain his importance in society. Leaning on this thread would have created a little more compelling season, but it would have been hard since they were wrapping up so many other plot threads.

As far as STAR CITY, I'm with you on the cautiously optimistic. Spin-offs are hard and prequels are even harder, if they are going that route. I don't know how much interest I'll have if they mirror the time frames of FOR ALL MANKIND. I guess I'm more in the camp of I hope it's good, but I'm not quite sure if there is a narrative angle that will be compelling and sustainable.

My understanding about Star City is that it will take place alongside the For All Mankind timeline, giving the Russian perspective on events from the series. Apple has a great track record with TV, so I'll give it a try.

[Sock Monkey]

The cannibal thing hadn't crossed my mind--that might be a bridge too far for the show to recover from,; ultimately, it's an optimistic show with shades of dramatic tragedy--but I can see how you got there. They did put a ton of emphasis on the food. I expected more of a "There isn't enough food so we're cutting you loose" kind of thing. At least some kind of affirmative action by Ed and Poole to necessitate the amount of guilt displayed. It wound up being a whole lot of nothing. It was a sad ending for the character for sure, but it didn't rise to the level of the build up to it. The fact that they teased this mystery and then it had no bearing on the season's overall arc or motivation for any of the characters was also a narrative misstep in my opinion.

I also thought Ed was a little out of character this season, but enjoyed the little parts that touched upon him grappling with outliving his ability to maintain his importance in society. Leaning on this thread would have created a little more compelling season, but it would have been hard since they were wrapping up so many other plot threads.

As far as STAR CITY, I'm with you on the cautiously optimistic. Spin-offs are hard and prequels are even harder, if they are going that route. I don't know how much interest I'll have if they mirror the time frames of FOR ALL MANKIND. I guess I'm more in the camp of I hope it's good, but I'm not quite sure if there is a narrative angle that will be compelling and sustainable.

[dannyboy121070]

Finished the fourth season of FOR ALL MANKIND. The show continues to be a solid watch and I'm really enjoying it. The third and fourth season didn't have any moments that matched the finale of season, which wrapped up two major characters' arcs, so it felt a little less fulfilling than I'd hoped for. Luckily, Aleida wasn't actually kind of bearable this season and the slow burn about the Mars black market paid off by season four's end. The only misstep, in my opinion, was the resolution to Danny's arc, which was built up as a mystery in the first couple of episodes and kind of ended on a whimper. I'm curious as to where the show is going to go with the fifth season and beyond. All the major characters from the first season are either dead or, due to age, will be close to it. I'm not sure that any of the latter introduced characters can steady the ship (and, for me, it sure can't be Aleida). I always feel like I'm ragging on this show when I post about it, but I think it's because I think it's really good but misses the mark of being truly great. Once again, I do recommend the show and looking forward to when it returns.

My wife and I thought the first two seasons were amazing, the 3rd and 4th slightly less so, but still very, very good. My hatred for Aleida and Margo really colored my perceptions of the last two seasons, but I still enjoyed it. Looking forward to season five, and cautiously optimistic about the Star City spinoff.

And was it just me, or did you think they were heading to a cannibalistic twist wit Danny? They made SUCH a big deal about the shortage of food, and they left his fate up in the air for so long......I was sure we'd find out they ate the little asshole.

[Sock Monkey]

Finished the fourth season of FOR ALL MANKIND. The show continues to be a solid watch and I'm really enjoying it. The third and fourth season didn't have any moments that matched the finale of season, which wrapped up two major characters' arcs, so it felt a little less fulfilling than I'd hoped for. Luckily, Aleida wasn't actually kind of bearable this season and the slow burn about the Mars black market paid off by season four's end. The only misstep, in my opinion, was the resolution to Danny's arc, which was built up as a mystery in the first couple of episodes and kind of ended on a whimper. I'm curious as to where the show is going to go with the fifth season and beyond. All the major characters from the first season are either dead or, due to age, will be close to it. I'm not sure that any of the latter introduced characters can steady the ship (and, for me, it sure can't be Aleida). I always feel like I'm ragging on this show when I post about it, but I think it's because I think it's really good but misses the mark of being truly great. Once again, I do recommend the show and looking forward to when it returns.

[Sock Monkey]

Shows have waaaaay too long of a lag time between (SHORT!) seasons these days.....

I agree. You'd think with the shortened seasons that they would come out a lot faster, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I've also heard that writers are complaining that the shortened seasons are actually making earning a living more difficult as they have to score more than one series to make ends meet.

If we're being completely honest, I also think the pendulum has swung too far in the direction of the shortened seasons. I understand a limited series telling a complete self-contained story to only have six episodes, but six to eight episodes just seems too short for a season of an ongoing series. I'm more in the mindset that 10-13 (with more emphasis on the latter than the former) should be the length of a season. Depending on the scope of the series, even 16-18 episodes is workable. There seems to be a mindset that great work can't be maintained over a longer season yet I like to point to the early seasons of Lost as to how this can be done right. Yes, there is a lot of criticism, especially for the last season, but the positive memories come mostly from the first three seasons that all had 23 to 25 episodes a piece.

[TacomaDiver]

I'll buy that for a dollar!

Hahahaha

[dannyboy121070]

Money back guaranteed!

I'll buy that for a dollar!

[TacomaDiver]

Maybe I'll give it a revisit after Shark Week ends.

Money back guaranteed!

[dannyboy121070]

My wife hadn't seen any of the Beverly Hills Cop movies but she wanted to after she saw the preview for Axel F. We've only watched the first one, and it's still pretty good. Funny in the right places, characters are great. It's worth revisting. I don't know if I've ever seen the sequels, but I own them, so we'll probably watch them one day.

Maybe I'll give it a revisit after Shark Week ends.

[TacomaDiver]

I didn't feel the need to see the original again, and now I'm wondering if it would hold up and be as fun as I remember it being when I was a kid..

My wife hadn't seen any of the Beverly Hills Cop movies but she wanted to after she saw the preview for Axel F. We've only watched the first one, and it's still pretty good. Funny in the right places, characters are great. It's worth revisting. I don't know if I've ever seen the sequels, but I own them, so we'll probably watch them one day.

[Ben Staad]

Wow. I'm not a fan of the series and these comments certainly don't change my opinion.

Tried watching a series called The Judge starring Brian Cranston. The premise was sketchy to me and the execution of said premise, from what I watched, isn't done very well. It feels forced and highly unbelievable. This is still on my watchlist but I doubt I will go back to it.

LOL! I saw an interview where he (Jokingly, I thought...) said that he told the Director "I can't run!". Then I saw the movie, and realized he wasn't joking.

 

[dannyboy121070]

Yeah, a friend of mine forced me to watch Axel F and it was pretty bad, a pure paint by numbers movie. Also doesn't help when your lead in an action film refuses to do stunts and won't even run. Murphy basically rides in a golf cart anytime he would have run in a previous film, it's so bad that it actually becomes funny. Probably the last new Eddie Murphy film that I will ever watch.

LOL! I saw an interview where he (Jokingly, I thought...) said that he told the Director "I can't run!". Then I saw the movie, and realized he wasn't joking.

[sholloman81]

I was all set to watch the new Beverly Hills Cop movie on Netflix when I realized...I have never seen BHC II & III. So, off to Paramount+ I went to remedy that!

As I get older, I find that if I try reading/watching something that I passed on when I was younger, I usually end up learning that my initial impulse was right, and I passed on it for a good reason. These films were no exception.

BHC II was decent. Tony Scott makes films that are nice to look at, so there was that. The plot was ridiculously complex (Why stage an elaborate series of alphabet-themed robberies, leaving Riddler-esque clues, if you're planning to commit insurance fraud with the racetrack that you own? Why would someone leave a note to themselves with a code and latitude/longitude coordinates when they could just write "Racetrack on Friday"...?) I think I chuckled once.

BHC III was...bad. Sooo bad. It seemed to go on for hours. Cheap-looking, badly filmed, written, acted....another convoluted mess. If you were running a counterfeiting ring, why would you do it from work? Especially if you worked in an amusement park? Just take the printer home and do it there. There were two good laughs, though, so...there was that. (Oddly enough, of the three laughs that I had over the course of these two films, NONE were generated by Eddie Murphy.)

So then I finally got to watch Axel F last night. My wife just walked out after 30 minutes, lol. As with most Netflix films, it was a film. That's the best that I can say about it. It was just there. It hit the nostalgia buttons (Neutron Dance, Shakedown, The Heat is On, Taggart and Rosewood returning), but brought nothing new or worthwhile to the game. Eddie Murphy....one of the funniest people alive, and the guy hasn't made a good film since The Klumps.

I didn't feel the need to see the original again, and now I'm wondering if it would hold up and be as fun as I remember it being when I was a kid. Regardless, this is a mostly bad franchise, and I hope they let it rest in peace after this latest.....

Yeah, a friend of mine forced me to watch Axel F and it was pretty bad, a pure paint by numbers movie. Also doesn't help when your lead in an action film refuses to do stunts and won't even run. Murphy basically rides in a golf cart anytime he would have run in a previous film, it's so bad that it actually becomes funny. Probably the last new Eddie Murphy film that I will ever watch.

[dannyboy121070]

I was all set to watch the new Beverly Hills Cop movie on Netflix when I realized...I have never seen BHC II & III. So, off to Paramount+ I went to remedy that!

As I get older, I find that if I try reading/watching something that I passed on when I was younger, I usually end up learning that my initial impulse was right, and I passed on it for a good reason. These films were no exception.

BHC II was decent. Tony Scott makes films that are nice to look at, so there was that. The plot was ridiculously complex (Why stage an elaborate series of alphabet-themed robberies, leaving Riddler-esque clues, if you're planning to commit insurance fraud with the racetrack that you own? Why would someone leave a note to themselves with a code and latitude/longitude coordinates when they could just write "Racetrack on Friday"...?) I think I chuckled once.

BHC III was...bad. Sooo bad. It seemed to go on for hours. Cheap-looking, badly filmed, written, acted....another convoluted mess. If you were running a counterfeiting ring, why would you do it from work? Especially if you worked in an amusement park? Just take the printer home and do it there. There were two good laughs, though, so...there was that. (Oddly enough, of the three laughs that I had over the course of these two films, NONE were generated by Eddie Murphy.)

So then I finally got to watch Axel F last night. My wife just walked out after 30 minutes, lol. As with most Netflix films, it was a film. That's the best that I can say about it. It was just there. It hit the nostalgia buttons (Neutron Dance, Shakedown, The Heat is On, Taggart and Rosewood returning), but brought nothing new or worthwhile to the game. Eddie Murphy....one of the funniest people alive, and the guy hasn't made a good film since The Klumps.

I didn't feel the need to see the original again, and now I'm wondering if it would hold up and be as fun as I remember it being when I was a kid. Regardless, this is a mostly bad franchise, and I hope they let it rest in peace after this latest.....

[dannyboy121070]

Shows have waaaaay too long of a lag time between (SHORT!) seasons these days.....