Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008)

20xx?
first watch on other blog

July 25, 2019
ordered Blu-ray, watch it all few weeks later.

Black Spot season 1 (2017)

2019.07.16
Two episodes in and I'm interested but I'm having trouble getting attached to it.
It's hitting a lot of the right notes, bits of X-Files, Twin Peaks, deep back story to learn as you go along, tough but wounded protagonist, oozing with atmosphere, etc.
Definitely enough here to keep going. The subtitles are giving me a bit of a disconnect, but when there's no dialogue you realize you could probably watch this with subtitles off and it would still be interesting.

Another problem is this is the third supernatural mystery tv series I'm watching in a row. I'm mixing up elements of Stranger Things and Dark and now this show. I probably should have watched a documentary or something first. Maybe I'll do that and come back later.

Stranger Things season 3 (2019)

After struggling to get through the show Dark, Stranger Things is like going back to an earlier time where everything is simple and makes sense. I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit to myself that a little mindless entertainment at the end of the day is more practical than something that requires a 4D flowchart to understand.

This show has always been flirting with the line between sci-fi and fantasy, but having a Russian base underneath the town mall is a bit of a declaration. Even more fantastical and immersion breaking is all the present day self-awareness set in the 1980s.

It's a show about 2010s stories and politics, with a thin 1980s coat of paint. Not a 1980s story with some 2010s sensibilities. It was good enough but its wearing thin. I kind of hope with this trajectory they don't make a fourth, but from what I hear the income would make it inevitable.

Dark season 1 (2017) & season 2 (2019)

2019.06.25
Started watching last night. This is the best dubbing job I've ever seen in my life (or are German and English just that similar?).

* spoilers *

First impressions are True Detective (creepy and possibly supernatural overtones, especially in the titles), Stranger Things (kids getting together to solve a mystery, kids can get lost and hurt), Lost (something behind a metal door, mysterious engine driving everything, time travel shenanigans).

I got as far as kid goes back to the past, and its a nice twist on time travel, as this kid is not old enough to have seen a lot of time travel stories (which essentially teach you what to do and not to do when you find yourself suddenly time travelling).

I can't tell yet if this story wants to be sci-fi or fantasy, but its heading for fantasy. There are way too many characters introduced way too quickly but I'm getting over it.

So far so good, will continue.

2019.06.26
According to Netflix I watched more episodes, but I think I was drifting in and out of sleep. Go back to 1986 episode. At least this show is not precious about the time travel, they have a very convenient montage of actors past and present playing the same characters. Its still not enough help to keep track of all these characters and subplots. It kind of feels like Lost with way too big a cast, but at least there they gave the stories some space to breathe, and always let you know who the main focus characters are.

I read the wiki summaries for the first 3 episodes, and every 4 words introduces a new character and relationship. I'd love to see the crazy 4D string and pin corkboard for this matrix. There probably is one, but I will avoid spoilers.

Giving it more time.

2019.07.12
Just finished watching Season 2.

* all the spoilers *

I should have seen it coming. Of course by the end you finally know who all the characters are, you know all the time loops, you've finally figure it out - and at the last minute they throw in a new dimension, with an all new character and technology. Of course that's how you end a story like this.

Is there going to be a third season? Not sure if its needed, but it could work. Two years between seasons, that's quite a wait. But what is time anyway.

2020.06.24
Almost one year later...

and I have rewatched.

And season three comes out exactly as was easter-egged in the show... on Juni 27. This Saturday.

I am so hopeful. We'll see.

Good Omens (2019)

2019.06.12
Tried episode one last night, I just can't get into it.
I like the premise a lot (an angel and demon have spent so long on Earth that they have gone native and work together to thwart the end times) and the characters seem OK, and the acting and production is decent. Maybe I need to give it more time.

Black Mirror season 5 (2019)

2019.06.12
Saw first episode of 5 last night. They are doubling down on the whole thinking they are smarter than you, and you need your baby food mashed extra fine and served with a tiny spoon. A 15 minute story (at best) is stretched out to an hour. And its not even a good story. I remember reading sci-fi in the 80s (which was written well before that) about redefining gender and relationship roles - this is really old (not cutting edge) territory for sci-fi.

Far worse, and there should be a name for this error, Black Mirror is mostly guilty of the sin of assuming A, then B, so let's jump right to W! as far as how technology works. If you assume something vaguely like the present, you can't start dropping in tech from decades from now (if ever) and still hold the present constant. If you allow for the episode's premise, that we have shared SimStim online and in real time, you're living in a different world than shown in the show. It would take years to develop that tech, and it would have long since permeated into the culture, instead of just showing up all of a sudden.

Black Mirror is written by people who don't understand technology and have no place trying to tell us Aesop's about it.

I Am Mother (2019)

It's like a 15 minute episode of Black Mirror (i.e. Twilight Zone), but stretched out to 2 hours.

One of my definitions of disappointment is when the credits roll and I am thinking a dozen different more interesting story forks and endings I could have taken the story on. And they chose this one.

Rim of the World (2019)

I read an article that the mainstream movie market is focusing on blockbusters mostly and not really making low budget light fun movies anymore, and that Netflix has identified this niche and is trying to cater to it. One of the examples was this movie, so I tried it.

It was exactly what was written on the tin: coming of age, fantasy, light comedy and romance, monsters, personal challenges, etc. It wasn't trying to be great, just good, and that's respectable. I made it all the way through without even reaching for the remote (on first offense I reach for the remote, on second offense I'll start pressing buttons).

If movie theater tickets and concessions weren't so over-priced, this would be a great summer movie, so it makes a fine at-home movie. It's quite forgettable, but its got enough personality to carry you through some couch time.

My only take-away was questioning if this was set in an alternate timeline, which was evinced from two data points: cell phone technology was from the late 90s/early 00s, and a character mentions the event 7-11 (instead of 9-11). Maybe the movie time was supposed to be set at the turn of the millennium, but why bother doing so, it never plays into the story. And the different 9-11 date might have been just a joke at a silly character's expense, not an actual world difference. That and they go to great lengths to show one of the characters is a (Girl) Scout but it doesn't become part of the story in any way (unless there's merit badge for driving stick).

I really enjoyed the ending montage (getting knighted, in concert, etc); nice way to say we're all in on the joke together.

The Wandering Earth [ 流浪地球 ] (2019)

2019.05.08
I was attracted to this because it was by Liu Cixin (刘慈欣), and because its sci-fi.

I loved the Three-Body Problem trilogy, so I had high hopes this would be decent. In the moment, just having watched it, I can't say, but I got through it with no problem, so it had to be at least OK. I feel like I'm at least learning about what memes and tropes work for a Chinese audience (family, sacrifice, working together, etc.), and that's enough reason to watch.

The science is rough, bordering on fantasy, but its easy to excuse it as lost in translation. I read and like so much of the author that I'm willing to suspend disbelief, even if the movie totally betrayed it (as movies so often do). I feel like I'm watching 1950's/60's sci-fi, where its kind of rough but sincere, and I'm rooting for it even as I don't quite buy it.

But, if you aren't already a fan of Liu Cixin, or classic sci-fi, I don't know how you can get through this.

Sherlock series 1-4 (2010-2017)

2019.04.21
Desperate for something to watch, this comes up in some Netflix recommendation list, so why not. It's actually pretty good, better than expected so I'm willing to try more. There are some problems I hope they overcome, but it is the first episode, so I know that often causes strange characterization and writing and acting that can get better over time.

*spoilers*

I like the premise, its kind of a no-brainer to take a successful old franchise and make it new, but its rarely done well, so that's a big early hurdle already overcome. Characters are coming along nicely, I really enjoy the fake intro of Moriarty that turns into real intro of Mycroft.

I like the serial killer and his technique, but I've got a big problem with Watson just murdering him in cold blood and and everyone walking off into the sunset after having a laugh about it. When you update anything, making it harder and edgier is an obvious choice, but this is a mess. Watson sees a stranger and Holmes taking a pill. The audience knows the threat but Watson can not. Watson can't see the danger, and we know he doesn't have near enough info to figure it out on the spot (though Holmes may have, Watson is not being set up as that kind of character). The fake gun is already dismissed and back out of sight. The only way they could have sold Watson taking a kill shot is if he's got the gun trained on Holmes (and Watson thinks he's making him kill himself with a pill). But that's already impossible as Holmes figured out its fake so there's no reason to point it. Maybe if the killer had the gun still in hand, just in hand, so Watson could think its a threat? Otherwise, how to justify a killing shot. Since there's no obvious threat, why not just shoot through the windows, distracting the killer, and letting Holmes take some action. I guess we're supposed to think that Watson thought Holmes was being forced to take the pill, but they could have sold it a little better. It's sloppy because it makes Watson seem like the real psychopath, especially with the whole laughing it off at the end. It was still a good episode, but it missed greatness by just a little bit.

2019.05.08
I'm up to Season 3, about to watch Episode 2.
I don't remember what episode it was, but Watson says we need to call the cops, and Holmes says OK, steps outside (in a nice neighborhood) and fires his gun into the air, and calmly walks back in saying something like 'that ought to do it' while Watson makes his exasperated face. I'm hooked, I'm watching this entire series.

Stories, character, dialogue, it all works well enough, but sometimes it gets so fanciful it starts getting into fantasy territory, but so far not enough to ruin it.

I love the slow trickle of information about the background and history of the Holmes brothers. I wonder if I'd be able to read the source material now, or if I would find it boring.

2019.05.31
Just saw the final episode (of Season 4).
I am in the unusual position of being... satisfied. This happens so infrequently, I'm at a loss. Of course I want more, but I know more could just dilute a solution that is just right. It was nice of them to end it on a note of 'and they went on to have many more interesting adventures', and of course you want to see those adventures, but you don't need to.

I look forward to reading more about the series, and maybe revisiting the source material, but for now, I want for nothing.

The Devil We Know (2018)

2019.04.21
Scandalous. Shocking. Depressing. Why isn't this a bigger issue? Is it because the problem is so big we don't even know what to do? I'll be thinking about this one for a long time. It should be life changing, but I'll probably do what most of us do and just try not to think about it.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

2019.04.21
Beautifully shot, even factoring in how much I like desert and wild west imagery, its still good enough to watch with the sound off. And maybe I should, because the stories are not compelling. I like anthologies, so a few stories around a theme sounds great, but something about the people and their situations just doesn't work for me. I got about halfway through and got distracted, so I don't know if I'm coming back.

Also, I think my ability to watch westerns normally may be ruined now, as I keep expecting Westworld like situations to pop up in the flow of Old West storytelling.

Kingdom (2019)

2019.04.21
Zombie stories still work, but you have to do something to make it interesting, and setting it in old Korea certainly counts. I don't know much Korean history, but I know a little Chinese and all this palace intrigue seems to ring true. I'm not sure yet what the zombie metaphor is supposed to be, but it is an interesting variation. Still, I only made it through 3 episodes and kind of forget to come back.

Murder Mountain (2018)

I like this documentary, probably because it roots it in history and explains how we got here. It kind of starts to lose coherence at the end as it gets closer to the present and the lies and court cases don't yet have the benefit of history to sort them out yet.

Saving Mr. Banks (2013)

If you've seen even a few seconds of the preview where Mickey Mouse offers his arm to the author who's work has been Disneyfied and she reluctantly accepts at the premiere, you have no excuse to watch this movie and be in any way disappointed or surprised.

Obviously its the courtship of the reluctant author, and its the movie's job to sell it, so you watch this, with your defenses up or down, to see if they can pull it off. Well, the game is rigged. If you grew up with Disney culture and/or with Hollywood culture, the buttons are pre-installed in you, and this movie pushes them in the right sequence. Whether that makes you mad or pleases you is up to you, because you bought the ticket and you got on the ride.

My mom took us to every Disney movie when we were little, so I made it all the way the through the film with hardly a pause. I was predisposed, but the ultimate pitch is Disney's final speech to the author, and you either buy the message of hope or you don't.

I dutifully rode through the movie as one would through a dark ride, but the lack of smoking was as jarring as if someone took out a mobile phone in the 1960s, so it was really nice that they at least threw us a bone and had us catch Disney putting out a cigarette.

Love, Death and Robots (2019)

Watched the entire thing in a row last night. I really like the anthology format with lots of little short stories, especially since its mostly darker sci-fi, sometimes even cyberpunk. I kind of ruined it for myself by bingeing the entire thing, but there was always room for just one more.

Too bad most of the stories were either not that good or not really stories that needed telling. Much like the Animatrix, there are one or two really good ones, a few mediocre ones, and the rest are not worth any time at all, but you can't tell until you watch them and before you can reach for the remote its over and its on to the next one.

Also like the Animatrix, everything is animated, sometimes as photo-realistic as can be done at this level of production, sometimes not even good enough for kids cartoons, and everywhere in-between.

The more I think about it, this really is content for young adults (not withstanding all the gratuitous genitalia). A lot of the stories are short not because they make a good point quickly, but because there's just not much there.

* spoilers *

The first story is the best, and if you hate it you can just stop right here. Remote control monster gladitorial combat, not a bad premise. I am immediately on notice (for bad writing) by the businessman's open and desperate attempts at fixing the match, as if a guy at that level got there and stays there by acting like a whiny teenager. He just met these people, who knows if they aren't recording the whole conversation, and ruining the whole sport? Why not send in a trusted subordinate to approach them with carrots and sticks, while keeping his own hands clean? He acts the way a grade school writer thinks mob bosses / CEOs / politicans / etc. behave.

There's no safety fence in the arena. Maybe the lower rows are the cheap seats, where people risk their lives for a better view. But this looks so routinely dangerous that it doesn't seem like something even dedicated fans would want to do. The antagonist gladiatorial opponent seems to be in a state of permanent 'roid rage, and probably wouldn't be able to get through a bar brawl, let alone high intensity combat.

The end reveal is nice, even with the little exposition dump it takes to get there, and I always like it when the title makes sense only at the end. More unrealistic behavior from mob/business/whatever guy; killing people who win at your area is just not good for business.

Good animation, some OK writing, the story is entertaining enough, and then its over before you can really complain about anything.

There's really nothing to say about the rest of the stories.

Umbrella Academy season 1? (2019)

2019.03.12
Just saw the first episode, and I'm allowing myself to feel a little hope. Someone decided to mash up a lot of X-Men First Class, some Heroes, a bit of Harry Potter, and a touch of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and improbably enough it seems to be working. I really like the cool clubhouse, the deep lore that seems to keep on giving, and the little human touches that make the characters come alive. I haven't been this hopeful for a new series since I can't recall. Please let this be something.

* spoilers *

2019.03.17
Two episodes left to go. I'm still into it, but there are some tropes here that are hard to accept. I feel like there is a whole bunch of accepted methods from the comic book world, a world I have never liked or followed, that will never work for me. Mainstream comics feels like modern day 'wrestling' to me, bound by dumb rules in some attempt to be entertaining.
There are other tropes which feel very mainstream Hollywood, that also enforce stupidity on characters and story. I especially don't like watching whole episodes of story and character development and then having the reset button pushed like its no big deal. And then they kill a main character and we're supposed to act like its real and permanent?
I still can't figure out when this show is set. Is it the 90s? No one seems to have a phone, and we see payphones in use every episode. And the cars are all old. I dare not look online, I don't want even a hint of spoilage so I'll just put up with it.
Still there's plenty to still like and love. Most of all I love its sense of humor and seriousness, and how quickly and adeptly it can move between them. I love the deep history that is never handed to you but constantly pokes out from behind a curtain, sometimes in crude exposition dump but usually subtle.

2019.03.18
Just watched the last episode of Season 1.
There are certain things I really want to nitpick, but I almost feel I can't, because the usual rules don't apply here. It's almost as if this wasn't a movie or tv show, but more like a comic book world where the as long as it feels right logic and continuity can just be forgotten.
Who sent a platoon of soldiers to shoot at our heroes? As the Handler tells us, Number Five blew up the briefcases (I guess she still had one somewhere, as she was able to travel). And why can't the soldiers hit anything? Well, in retrospect, they were doing their job, keeping the Umbrella kids always moving with no time to think, so they could make a stupid rush at Vanya while she was doing nothing wrong, instead of waiting to talk to her normally.
I like the circular nature of the problem, that the Umbrella Academy causes the apocalypse. But then why did Hargreeves travel from the future just to create it? And what was in the jar of little spirits he let go? The original 43 babies born, of which Hargreeves collected 7? Whatever happened to all the others? I was thinking other Umbrella Academies were created around the world, as these various babies were scooped up like valuable trading cards. And what's with all the rockets flying at once? It reminds me of the end of a Terminator movie, with all the nukes being launched in rural areas, and of the Superman story where aliens send their child (children in this case) to another world to start over.

It gets very tiring that nobody can talk to each other, everyone acts first. Though there are refreshing moments, such as when an exasperated Number Five wants to cut to the chase and just blurts out the point.

At least now I can start looking this up on the net.
OK, I'm glad to see that the fact that these kids are all messed up from their childhood is kind of the point. They were set up for failure right from the beginning. Was Hargreeves that inept, or was this always the plan?

The tvtropes are hard to read through, as they're constantly comparing points to the comic books. Do I want to spoil myself on the comics? Do I want to just read a list of the important bullet point comparisons? I don't normally read comics, but its tempting, as there won't be any more of this show for at least a year, and that's if its renewed.

I just realized, I'm going to miss Pogo. He never did get a flashback. I just assume he was rescued from a circus, elevated, and decided to keep his slave name for humble reasons.

I think what I'm stuck on right now is did this family ever have free will? Were they always doomed to cause the apocalypse? Apparently so, but there seems to be moments when she could just be talked to.

Still reading tvtropes and the non-stop comparisons to the source comic, I think I'm liking some of the tv show choices more.

Reading about Vanye, the threat she represented as a child really can't be underestimated. She killed (or nearly came close enough to still count) several nannies in a row before they finally came up with using a bot. She had to be restrained chemically, psychologically, and with the compelling power of Allison. Taking all this into account, maybe its not so strange she slides inexorably towards apocalypse. After all, we only were shown her placid drugged state, never her true nature.

The Pixar Story (2007)

Saw this some time in the past month, clearing it off my Netflix list.

Feels overly sterilized and sanitized, like a lot was left out.

Still, mildly interesting.

The 2000s (2018)

True Detective season 3 (2019)

2019.02.25
Just watched Season 3 finale.

The time skipping narrative finally feels sincere coming from the perspective of an old man with failing memory, but if this story was just told in a straight linear form would it have been as interesting to watch?

I like the little nods to the supernatural, as old and young versions almost see each other a few times.

The aging make-up is the best I've ever seen.

Twist ending averted is fine, except the son saved the note and invited over dad's friend, so there's the strong hint someone will know the whole story. Unless the ghost visits dad again and drops the clue all over again, starting the search once more. And why wouldn't she? BTW, if they mentioned how she died I never caught it. I kept waiting for it to be a plot point.

Russian Doll (2019)

2019.02.22
Finished.

2019.02.25
Does this genre have a name? I just think of it as Groundhog's Day movies. But I think it goes back much further, wouldn't "It's a Wonderful Life" be a primitive ancestor? Off to tvtropes for the answer... and the first link is to /GroundhogDayLoop. Though there are many of these stories, I guess Groundhog's Day really does deserve to be the namer.

And as good as Groundhog's Day is, these stories all have the same problem: its extremely entertaining to set up the loop and watch our hero experiment with it, but then, because its a story, some sort of conclusion has to be forced on to it. Of course it can be very hard to come up with some new metaphysics to explain this, so its easier to just not explain it (Groundhog, Russian Doll) but it leaves one a little unsatisfied. I can think of at least one example where the looping method is explained, Edge of Tomorrow, but that movie also has a forced happy ending, and so is unsatisfying at the end for a different reason.

2019.02.27
Not thinking about this show at all, its kind of unmemorable, but it was fun and I would happily watch hours more if anything like it was available.

Fyre Fraud (2019)

The Hulu one.

I don't think I finished watching it, but who cares, I get the gist of it.