Netflix Recommendations

[Sketcz]

Watching Star Trek The Animated Show. Surprisingly good. I suppose you need to be a Trekkie, really, but I am regularly impressed at how they manage to cram a full narrative which normally takes 48 minutes in the live-action shows, into just 23 minutes.

Also, due to being animated, and not restricted by special effects, the stories are usually much more surreal and cerebral. I also especially like how how several episodes follow on directly from previous live-action show episodes. So you get to see a continuation of previous stories. It's actually quite excellent.

Someone a while back posted a news story about how Netflix wants to move away from showing older stuff like this, into creating its own bespoke high brow series. To which I say: No, **** that ****.

THIS is why I watch Netflix. To catch old shows which would never be shown on TV, where I can binge at my leisure. I want more obscure crap from the 1970s and 1980s, not less. Frankly I would pay extra to subscribe to a channel called:
NETFLIX: OLD CRAP NO ONE ELSE WILL SHOW

Keep your new-fangled high brow nonsense to yourselves. It's all about swimming through the rich thick gravy that is vintage film & television.

[Brad]

I still have the 3 original live action movies sat in the DVD Collection, those were bearable but heard the Netflix one is just plain awful

Had no idea there were already some live action adaptations!

[Soundwave]

Had no idea there were already some live action adaptations!

Yeah there were 3
1 & 2 covered the Anime
The 3rd was a side story for L

Neil

[Neon Ignition]

http://www.darkhorizons.com/netflix-offers-choose-your-own-endings/

What an age, the age of TV gimmicks. Netflix has revealed that by the end of the year they will begin rolling out 'Choose your own ending' functionality on some of its shows including Black Mirror.

[QualityChimp]

Apostle is out now.
I'm going to try and watch it this weekend.

[Sketcz]

I watched Over The Top tonight. This is what I like about Netflix. Semi-obscure 1980s classics from Canon Films, with great actors, great acting, and an emotional story which had me texting my dad to ask how he was.

Pure film making gold. They do not make films like this anymore, and we are all worse off because of it. Fantastic. Released in 1987 too. To think, a mere 10 years later and we'd all be jamming on our PlayStations to Final Fantasy 7.

10/10

Just watch this music video:

[QualityChimp]

I'm pretty sure Over the Top was and still is pish...

Apostle was pretty good!
It's not worthy of a cinema trip, but worth a watch. It's great that Netflix is becoming a source of more experimental films.

I thought it would have a Wicker Man vibe, but it's less bonkers, more like The Village with that feeling of an isolated cult and their unusual traditions (but a better film).

The main actors are all good and there are some tense scenes. Maybe a little tightening up of pacing?

There's plenty of gore, though, and I found myself saying "Holy ****!" a couple of times.
This scene is as grisly as you'd expect...

[kryss]

Over The Top is exactly as titled, for an arm wrestling movie.

Annihilation is up on Netflix here. Wasted 2 hours of my life on it.

[Neon Ignition]

The Haunting of Hill House
We're 4 episodes into the 10 episode long run and it's turning out to be pretty damn strong. Set across two time periods, it's a horror adaptation of the book and can be kind of broken down into sections in terms of how its structured. There tend to be 2-3 full on horror sequences per episode which have frankly taken The Conjuring as a strong source of inspiration in terms of execution. The first two eps rely more in jump scares but it's got a great visual tone to it and whilst the set up and scares aren't original they are well framed and executed. As it goes on it seems to be moving away from jump scares and more towards suspense and creeping dread which is smart as you begin to grow accustomed to one style.

The set up effectively is:

A couple move into a run down old house in the middle of the woods along with their five kids. They fix houses up then flip them and have been doing this to earn enough to build their dream home, this will be the last house to fix. However, one by one the kids begin to experience strange and haunting events that ultimately lead to the family fleeing the house for good. Mixed in with this are the present day sections with the kids all grown up, each is living very separate lives and trying to put the childhood experiences behind them but something happens that begins to draw them back together.

What's nice is that it starts on well worn tropes but with each episode (so far each is focused on a particular kid) you see other perspectives and experiences and it constantly gives new context to what you've seen and quickly shows how the original shallow, tired perspective isn't that simple. I still feel it'll end on a note that's easily predicted because of the nature of the story but in terms of horror on TV, this is one of the only examples I can think of that works, it's embarrassing the quality gulf between this and something like AHS which is outright trash tier by comparison.

Things should gear up soon as we've almost seen every kids perspective and there are several things it needs to explain but there's plenty time yet. Thoroughly impressed with this one

[_SD_]

I've recently watched the fourth season of Gotham and I’m still really enjoying it. I found the Joker’s minions annoying and a bit over the top, if I'm honest, but the actual chatacter(s) is very well done, certainly an interesting spin on things.

Yes, it’s all a bit silly and noone seems to be able to hit a barn door with an automatic rifle, but it’s enjoyable nonetheless...

[Neon Ignition]

I was on board with the indifferent vibes people had with Gotham at first but as it's gone on I adore it, the set design for a TV show is amazing and they've managed to build it up very nicely, touching on Batman's origins without being a slave to them. It's a massive shame the final season isn't full length.


Watched Ep5 or 10 last night for Haunting of Hill House, it's probably the most straight forward for the most part, giving a little more insight into how the past events wrapped up but the ending of the episode... damn, that stayed with me for a while after viewing it.

[Neon Ignition]

Finished Haunting of Hill House, most I've liked a new show since Stranger Things I think. Some have complained about the finale that dials back on the horror a lot but I liked it and thought it was the bets approach. At best there's one or two very small things left unexplained and they're completely unessential things. Brilliant show.

[QualityChimp]

The Night Comes For Us is out today!

Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim and Julie Estelle from the Raid series and the director of Headshot back together. It's supposed to be crazy-violent!

"Safety Starts with ME"

[Dogg Thang]

Just FYI, The Goonies is now on Netflix UK.

[charlesr]

Decided to watch Battlestar again. Just discovered Netflix have removed it.