Movie & TV Show Recommendations

[Bunny Wigglesworth]

I had only watched the first season of Channel Zero and didn't think much of it (although there were some decent moments). I'll have to check out the rest of it, I didn't even know they made more than one season.

The first season is the weakest one, very slow paced. The second season is way better & each season after it just improves. My favorite was the third one with Rutger Hauer.

 

[WonderWino]

One of the most bizarre ideas for a cartoon out there but duckula is worth a watch

 

[Bionicle of War]

Is any of the Novoland series (Eagle Flag, Pearl Eclipse, Castle in the Sky, ect.) worth watching?

 

[Bunny Wigglesworth]

Just watched the Aussie FX series Mr. Inbetween, loosely based on a 2000’s mockumentary movie called The Magician. It’s a travesty that this show didn’t get more seasons, although it ends well. I’d put it up there with The Sopranos and Breaking Bad. Ray Shoesmith, a divorced father who happens to be a criminal & a hitman, is forced to go to anger management classes. These are some of my favorite scenes:

 

[Humble Architect]

Rewatched Heat (1995) one of my favourite crime movies, the cat and mouse dynamic between Al Pacino and Robert De Niro is great, two pros making one of their last good movies before descending into Meet the Parents/Jack and Jill.

It also contains the funniest scene in a non-comedic movie

The sequel novel is pretty good too, the rumours about its film adaptation are pretty horrifying though.

 

[Betonhaus]

I only have like 5TB of free space left so i figure i might as well see if there's anything that's worth purging. I used excel to sort the folders so the file size may be a smidge wonky as the custom number formatting rules won't let you divide by 1024, just move the decimal a few places over

 

[Rome's rightful successor]

Raw Force (1982) was a good schlocky fun film watch.

Same with Terror in Beverly Hills (1989)

 

[Tautology Man]

Just watched Sicario (2015), probably my favorite of Denis Villeneuve's work. Had a good idea of what would happen in the movie after 20 minutes, but enjoyed it anyway. Explores the idea that the US government operates like a gang just like the drug cartels they fight, and the legal framework that makes it possible. Good stuff.

 

[Mussolini’s Merkin]

The first season is the weakest one, very slow paced. The second season is way better & each season after it just improves. My favorite was the third one with Rutger Hauer.

Finished watched the second season today and it was indeed really good, big improvement over the first one. Going to give the rest of the show a watch now.

 

[Michael Wade]

Just watched Sicario (2015), probably my favorite of Denis Villeneuve's work. Had a good idea of what would happen in the movie after 20 minutes, but enjoyed it anyway. Explores the idea that the US government operates like a gang just like the drug cartels they fight, and the legal framework that makes it possible. Good stuff.

Tayler Sheridan movies tend to kick ass a lot of ass and be very raw. Sicario is defiintely one of his best and actually did a pretty good job of showing a successful glow op. It's movie where the mexican drug gangs are so fucking vile and evil that you plausibly root for the fed no matter how fucked up they get. The sequel is pretty good too, although its going from the opposite perspective of a fed mission gone wrong.

Hell or high water: A modern day western about two brother bank robbers played by Chris pine and ben foster being hunted down by Cop jeff bridges. It's a classic in every sense of the word and has a wonderful arc. The ending is kinda a tease but I dug how it allows you to decide how things go. If you hate Chris pine this film may actually turn your opinion around on him. He can actualy act when he's got a good script.

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Wind River: This was a brutal movie. Legit terrifying in the theater and really explored how fucked up it could be to live in the middle of nowhere on a reservation. It's disturbingly educational in how it illustrates that indian women can just be snatched up without notice because the reservations are not part of the state law enforcement. It has the guy who played hawkeye as a wildlife ranger and the scarlet witch as an FBI agent trying to figure out who killed a local Indian girl.



Die hard 2

This is was a lot better then I thought it would be. It’s not as pulse pounding as 1 but the plot is solid and the villains are pretty kickass. I dig how McClane interrupts a glow op in progress lead by star trek villain William sadler trying to bust out a dictator.

His henchmen are pretty cool too, There’s Robert Patrick right before T2, (this is apparently the movie that got him the role) John Leguizamo and a bunch of other bit parts. (Chief o'brien shows up as an airline pilot, and the main dude from NYPD blue is in charge of airport security)


Again just like the first movie the bad guys are actually competent and McClane has to fight for every win he gets. There was one scene involving grenades that broke credibility but otherwise I again appreciated how they showed firefights where both sides miss their shots. Real novelty to see realistic gun fights in a 90s action hero movie.

​

 

[The Feline Solution]

Just watched Sicario (2015), probably my favorite of Denis Villeneuve's work. Had a good idea of what would happen in the movie after 20 minutes, but enjoyed it anyway. Explores the idea that the US government operates like a gang just like the drug cartels they fight, and the legal framework that makes it possible. Good stuff.

I liked it but it's not the OMG MUST WATCH BEST CRIME FILM many people sold it to me as. It's still a very good film.

Hell or high water

Same as for Sicario except i did like this one a lot less than Sicario. Over-clichéd, acting was eh, did like the setting.

Wind River

This one on the other hand i loved, has some great cinematography, really solid acting, especially by Renner and an engaging plot. I second the recommendation.

I am still rewatching Carnivale, nearing the end of the first season. I still think it is brilliant but i can see more and more why audiences weren't that enticed by it, there can be too much of a slow burn, the pacing feels off at times. Some acting is also very questionable (mainly the dude playing Lodz), others are amazing though (dude playing Stumpy, the midget, Robert Knepper and as mentioned before, Clancy Brown). I am still mesmerized by the whole Great Depression setting, even if the show is mostly shot on-set. They did a great job with casting not Showbiz-pretty and more unconventional looking actors to capture that look, really feels like looking at these old timey pictures where people look kinda different than they do in modern times, strange and much more hard. I also realized i remember next to nothing from the second season so i am looking forward very much to watching it.

It also contains the funniest scene in a non-comedic movie

Pictures you can hear Pacino's overacting feels out of place in some scenes but i read he was supposed to have a coke habit in the first draft of the script and he's still going by that in the film, making it fit again.

 

[Betonhaus]

Exploding Kittens has the right amount of heart and crude silliness. For a Netflix show it is actually really good.

 

[The Feline Solution]

Just watched the Aussie FX series Mr. Inbetween, loosely based on a 2000’s mockumentary movie called The Magician. It’s a travesty that this show didn’t get more seasons, although it ends well. I’d put it up there with The Sopranos and Breaking Bad. Ray Shoesmith, a divorced father who happens to be a criminal & a hitman, is forced to go to anger management classes. These are some of my favorite scenes:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=1YHLMU_5MLo

Pretty good show. I am three episodes in and very entertained by it, dude they cast as the protagonist is top-tier. Actually never heard this show ever being mentioned before, definitely gonna keep watching.

Edit: Watched the complete first season. Certainly was something. The ~20 minute format makes the pacing extra snappy. Really enjoyed this.

 

[Your Starter for 10]

All right, I have some recommendations that I haven't seen recommended before. All of these come with huge caveats, so pay attention because you might not enjoy them if their shitty parts annoy you too much. Apparently it is impossible to make a decent show that I can wholeheartedly recommend any more.

Ripley (Netflix)

This is an 8 episode version of Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley. I haven't read it, but from what I understand is it's a pretty faithful adaptation. Andrew Scott gives a fucking acting masterclass as Ripley, and that's really the biggest problem with the show too - Dakota Fanning and the moist noodle that plays Dickie Greenleaf are utter shit, and Scott being so good just draws attention to how inept they are. Also Sting's pooner daughter is in it briefly, but she does have an enjoyably cathartic scene. It's really worth watching to see and enjoy Andrew Scott just succeeding. Very much "HE CAN'T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH IT" vibes. It is slowly paced (and black & white) so it may be too artsy and/or fartsy for you, but I enjoyed it enough.

The Responder (Br*sh series)

Martin Freeman is a reluctantly somewhat bent copper who tries to be good. Worth watching for Freeman and the supporting cast of English mutants who are great. MyAnna Buring is in it, but not nearly enough and with entirely too many clothes on. The caveat to this one is Bilbo's partner is an annoying negress with a retardedly stupid secondary plotline (she is being abused by her white husband....lol. lmao even). Fortunately you can skip those scenes and when she is with Freeman she isn't nearly as terrible or annoying. I'm halfway through the second series and I am vaguely hoping they do a Breaking Bad with Freeman and he becomes a murderous bad ass...but this is a Bongland show so I imagine he will continue to be a faggot who does stupid shit and gets cucked by literally everyone. It's still a solid show, and worth watching for the Trainspotting rejects and working class bitchlords who are just fun.

The Little Drummer Girl (limited series)

Based on a John le Cargay novel. Again, not sure how faithful it is, haven't read it. Honestly I'm not sure why the hell I liked this show. Everyone in it sucks except for Michael Shannon playing hilarious stereotypical mega-Jew spy handler (and an all too brief appearance of Clare Holman (from Lewis)). The overall plot makes NO sense, since there's literally no reason for Florence Pugh's character to be important. One of the Skwigelf brothers is in it (the one from The Northman, I think) and he does fine. I fast-forwarded all of the obnoxious PG sex scenes with Pugh. Anyway, despite all the shit I'm talking about it, for some wierd reason, I was actually enjoying this. I'm kind of baffled as to why, but there it is.

The Mayor of Kingstown

Ok this show is absolutely retarded. It's by the Sons of Anarchy guy, so it's full of putting guns 3 inches from a guy when you could, you know, shoot him from 10 feet away, Renner might as well be Hawkeye because he can fight out of anything and shoot perfectly all the time. Plotlines are dropped when they are inconvenient, and people are super dangerous just because they are supposed to be (the Russian mob with like 4 guys in it is particularly mystifying). It is absolute cinematic goyslop, but if you like Renner, he does enough to carry the retardation. It's also worth watching because Diane Weist keeps shoehorning in obnoxious woke-lectures and then getting roundly owned at the end of the scene. It doesn't happen every time, but it's fucking hilarious when it does.

 

[indigoisviolet]

Right. Okay. What the fuck is going on? Either I've just seen one of the cleverest, most subtle films ever made, or The Caller (1987) is complete fucking bollocks and a total waste of time. I can't tell which it is. Point to you, film, you forced me to watch you twice to see if you were giving clues in plain sight à la Lake Mungo but no, none that I could spot. I don't even recall downloading this fucking film let alone where I got the idea to do so. Apparently it's a Vinegar Syndrome restoration?

It had such an on-the-nose slasher movie beginning that I was about to turn it off, and then Malcolm McDowell appears on screen, and, well, The Caller suddenly had my full attention. More fool me. Or not, I really cannot say.

McDowell and Madolyn Smith give compelling if utterly heightened and offbeat performances throughout as the ?plot skips merrily away over the hills. The Caller has the superficial structure of a two person stage play that either cannot decide - or perhaps refuses to decide - which genre it is communicating. Or what it is communicating. Or what it has just communicated, even. It maintains the illusion of being an isolated cabin in the woods slasher movie until it morphs into a bizarre parlor room police interrogation based solely on what was on television on screen at that exact moment, completely sweeping aside dozens of slow establishing shots of Chekhov's Guns. Everything in that cabin in the woods can apparently be used as a weapon, but never mind that, the film has now decided it's not a police interrogation any more and is an erotic thriller all of a sudden. Clever? Maybe? And then it rolls along confidently until it switches again to become a psychological horror, oh is Smith insane and hallucinating all of this seeking atonement for her sins? But no, no she's not. At one point I theorized that McDowell was Satan, and Smith was in Hell. If only that was the final, final, final reveal! That would be consistent with the inconsistencies and make way too much sense, apparently the very last thing The Caller wants to achieve. Don't worry, there is a reveal, but it won't help anything. It's just suddenly there on screen: here audience, deal with this bullshit now.

I feel cheated, but then again I watched The Caller twice in quick succession and wasn't bored; so it's got that going for it I guess? Even after watching it twice I couldn't tell you which key plot points matter, or if all of it matters, or none of it matters.

Baffling, but maybe in a good way? Or bollocks, but not in a bad way? Both! It's fucking both at the same time.

 

[The Feline Solution]

Almost done with the second season of Mr. Inbetween, i haven't binged a show like this in ages. It's fucking excellent. Spoilers ahead, the episode where he kills the biker prez and his army buddy kills himself at the end is magic, had to take a pause after it to fully digest it. It's beyond me how this show doesn't get mentioned in the same breath as every great crime show from the HBO Golden Age, it definitely has the same quality even without the budget of shows like The Sopranos or The Wire. One of the best recommendations i got from this thread.

I don't even recall downloading this fucking film

kek, i know that feel from my private tracker days.

 

[Tor Lugosi]

Season three of Mr. Inbetween is the only good thing to come out of COVID. Apparently the network needed content and Mr. Inbetween's small cast and it's scenes often having very few people in them lent itself well to the COVID filming restrictions. Before the lockdown shit, Mr. Inbetween's future was uncertain.

 

[indigoisviolet]

The full cut of one of the most Canadian exploitation films ever made Siege (1983) is available to watch on youtube:

Set against the backdrop of pristine, tidy lawlessness caused by a Nova Scotia police strike (some ruffians drive their cars too fast!!!) Canadian bystanders are too polite to even react when a group of armed Kiwifarmers invade a secret gay bar to, uhh... issue an ultimatum that being a sodomite is wrong and they should all stop being so gay... so Canadian... but then the cartoon bullies accidentally kill the bartender, have a Canadian freak out over it, and then decide to uhh... call their ?leader, they're in a neonazi gang now or something... and the leader is a leather-clad cartoon hit man complete with metal weapon suitcasOMG THE FILM CRANKS UP TO 11!!! Oh, no, false alarm, back down to about 6...

Siege never quite goes all-in, but that quickly becomes a charming quality. It's like a bunch of Canadian film school graduates had watched Death Wish and went "Good film, eh. Bit violent though." Same for the shortcuts the film takes to keep the excellent pacing ticking over; after a while you wonder if they are lamp shading them for dry comedic effect?

Throughout I was enjoying the heightened performances, and they reminded me of something else that I couldn't put my finger on it until I looked up one of the writer/directors: it's the same guy who wrote/produced/directed Lexx. Siege appears to be Paul Donovan's first big project, and that just makes it even better.

 

[Bunny Wigglesworth]

Watched Blue Ruin on this thread’s rec, very good movie. For a similarly raw revenge movie, Dead Man’s Shoes by the This Is England director is a must watch. Paddy Considine is extraordinary in it.

 

[Commander X]

The Love God?
An offbeat film, an attempt at a starring vehicle for Don Knotts at a time when more adult comedies were appearing in theaters, certainly more adult than the family friendly fare Knotts typically starred in. Knotts plays Abner Audubon Peacock IV, ornithologist and editor of his family's birdwatching magazine, The Peacock. Struggling to keep the magazine from going defunct due to financial problems, Peacock gets an offer from New York money man Osbourne Tremaine (Edmond O'Brien) that will save his magazine. Sent off on a wild-goose chase of an assignment for the magazine, Peacock returns to find himself in trouble. Tremaine is an unrepentant smut peddler, a publisher of dirty magazines who lost his mailing license after being sued for sending obscene materials through the postal system and found a sucker in Peacock, to use as a front. The Peacock was turned into a girlie mag in his absence, and Abner is busted as a pornographer. His trial turns into a highly publicized civil liberties case that results in him being found "innocent" and gaining a reputation as a representative of the "free love" movement. To cash in on the the publicity, Osborn works with a mobster and a high class editor played Anne Francis to turn The Peacock into a upscale men's lifestyle magazine with Abner as its Hugh Hefneresque mascot. He reluctantly begins to embrace this role, while he still attempts to salvage his reputation.