[generic] What have you viewed recently?

Castlevania Season 4
Netflix

Astonishing really.. but how a high action combat platformer became a complex and well acted anime-Euro-vampire drama with endless excellent twisty plotlines, varied and excellent animation sequences and some really excellent set piece combats.. I don't know.. but I love all four seasons so far.. and I really suspect it is only.. so.. far..

Recommended 8/10 but start at the beginning.
 
Not truly a viewed, but having rewatched my SciFi channel (as it was then) DVDs of Frank Herbert's Dune and Children of Dune recently and really enjoyed them, I noticed that the former is available to watch at a very low cost on Amazon Prime and the latter is free at the moment on Prime as well.

Children is great because it shows you the kind of thing you can do post the events of the first book, with the politicking and Alia's slow slide towards abomination under the Baron's influence.
 
Guns Akimbo and Jolt both on Amazon Prime. Big dumb hyper-violent fun a la John Wick et al but much better - for me - because of being so wonderfully self aware. Jolt has more famous people in it, probably higher budget and production values. Guns Akimbo makes up for that with its glorious antipodean abandon and humour.
 
I have binge watched all of Orphan Black. I'd already seen the first 3 seasons but it was great to re-watch them and then get to see all the way to a proper finale with all the plot threads wrapped up.

Tatiana Maslany is amazing as all the different versions of the clones.
And Felix is an awesome character.
 
Blimey, coming up to month 8 with no telly (nor room to watch it in). Here's hoping we get that renovated before the evenings draw in.
 
Black Widow - good (apart from one actor phoning it in). If this had been made earlier, they’d have made a Black Widow Family movie by now. Every one of them could lead their own film. Every. Single. One.

The Suicide Squad - “Please, Mr Gunn, please make us a film like The Guardians of the Galaxy. Yes, yes, you can do whatever you want. Here’s some money.….. please.” This is what you get when executives don’t get to give notes and a bunch a giggling schoolboys get together to see who can be the silliest. Exactly what you were expecting only more so. Really, really, good.
 
I finished watching The Gloaming (Disney+) last night, which was excellent. Beautifully shot in Tasmania, the story follows an investigation into the brutal murder of an older woman by the local police. The case has links back to one in the past, and an additional detective is brought in from Melbourne to support. The detective has links back to the original case. What follows is a creepy murder investigation that uses a lot of show, not tell, which works brilliantly as the folk-horror aspects come more and more to the front. Using that format means that there is space for another series should they chose to, but if they don't, I'm happy with how this went. The 'Gloaming' of the title refers to the liminal space between life and death where restless spirits dwell. It is really atmospherically shot, beautiful, moody and stunning.

Last week I rewatched Watchmen (can't remember if this was Netflix, Disney+ or Prime) for the first time in a long time, partly in preparation for watching the series. I still think that it is an excellent film, which works well for a different medium.

Followed that with the second part of the Batzan trilogy (Netflix), The Legacy of the Bones. In this, an FBI trained detective is once again called back to investigate a crime in her home town, Elizondo in the Navarre region of Spain. It links directly to the previous film (The Invisible Guardian), but is set 12 months later when Inspector Amaia Salazar has had her first child. Like the first film, there are occult shadows reaching back into the past when the Inquisition was active. I'm hoping to watch the final part this weekend.

Accidentally ended up watching the whole of the pilot for The Americans (Disney+), a spy drama set in the USA where the protagonists are deep-cover Soviet agents. Looks good and I could well dig into this further.

Loki (Disney+) was excellent, I'm not sure if it beats WandaVision (which I loved) but it edges Falcon and the Winter Soldier for me. We also really enjoyed Black Widow which we watched at home as I was isolating. Definitely one for a revisit.
 
Accidentally ended up watching the whole of the pilot for The Americans (Disney+), a spy drama set in the USA where the protagonists are deep-cover Soviet agents. Looks good and I could well dig into this further.
We also came across this by accident a couple of years ago. Unbelievably well-made and riveting, though quite harrowing throughout. I wish I could forget it so I could watch it all over again.
 
Dynasty Warriors (Netflix)

The colourful film of the console game condensation of the early phase of the Three Kingdoms period. Stilted dialogue, laboured signposting through colour and banners to keep you on track, ridiculous heroes in unlikely combat encounters, much flying solider victims scattered everywhere.

It is faithful to the console game, and as such, there should be another 5 or 6 films to follow. However, that faithfulness delivers a similar soulless grind as the action packed game, which admitedly I have played and realy enjoyed. This though, is a film. The combination of the ludicrous with the occasional drop into serious exposition, or deep emotional connection, leaves an uneasy and inconsistent character to the film.

Watch Red Cliff instead.

Or watch this, after a few beers.
 
Last part of the Batzan Trilogy (Offering to the Storm) on Netflix was worth the watch. I'm glad I've bought the books which I think may be what I read after I finish the current one, because I'd like to explore this again. May well sort a binge-watch of the lot one day as well.
 
Captain Carter - sorry “What if…” Episode 1 - is bloody beautifully brilliant!

All it does is takes everything we want to see and gives it to us. Like taking a kid to a sweet shop and letting them buy whatever they want.

The writing, the acting, the fight choroegraphy. Oh, I so wish this was the pilot to a series!

(They paid Renner to say 6 words?)
 
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