The Netflix Thread - Part II
 

Please carry on. Part I is here.

Inside Man, black comedy
 

Following up on a conversation at the end of The Netflix Thread Part I about the David Tennant and Stanley Tucci feature called Inside Man. After watching the first ep I rationalized away my immediate objections to the absurdity and horror by deciding that it is a black comedy. I said I'd think about well known examples.

War of the Roses.

American Psycho. Horrific. Hilarious. Most of all a terrifying true allegory.

Most David Lynch stuff is horrifying and simultaneously highly comedic. Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Lost Highway all have many strong horrors and jokes often combined.

Some of the episodes of Black Mirror were very funny. Nosedive was a hoot.

Serial Mom. Kinda inconsequential story but I like it.

Many Almodovar films, e.g. Volver.

Just watched GLASS ONION KNIVES OUT at our local theater. It will be a limited theatrical run so it will move to streaming on Netflix soon. Hope you have a big screen and surround sound. It's pretty spectacular in the theater.

Wednesday dropped yesterday and I watched all 8 episodes.

Really enjoyed it. Tim Burton did a good job directing.

I am half way through the third season of Dead to Me. Enjoying it. Not sure how it is going to end as this is the last season.

We’ll see tomorrow.

Love Tim Burton!
(default reply for new thread subscription) ;)

A Netflix Challenge
 

1. Watch two episodes of The Hidden Lives of Pets
2. Watch I Came By
3. Watch another episode of The Hidden Lives of Pets

How does that make you feel?

Read something interesting about the new Netflix series '1899'.

Apparently the story features people from many different countries all speaking in their own language and following mixed feedback, Netflix encourage viewers to watch the original version with English sub-titles over the (confusing?) English dubbed version.

I refused to proceed with Dark after the first season and felt dramatically cheated. We watched a trailer for 1899 and that's that for me.

The combination of stuff that works like these represent, show-off directors creating and manipulating mood, leaves so little space for drama and story, and therefore little for the actors to do other than emoting for the mood stuff the megalomaniac directors are so keen on.

Watched the 1st episode of 1899 and gave up halfway through the 2nd.

I watched the first episode of 1899 last night. Let's see if I make it through the second! ;)

....Likewise!

What did you dislike about Dark? I thought it was one of the best science fiction dramas I've ever seen with an incredibly clever ending. Of course it wasn't revealed until the last episode of season 3, so you might have bailed too soon.

Let it be known that I have now seen two full episodes of 1899!

It's extremely demanding in terms of my patience, suspension of disbelief, and tolerance for the directors' self indulgence and delivers nothing much in return except some mediocre acting and a boatload of "mood" (vfx and sfx).

I don't mind a soap opera so long as each episode delivers enough drama. But if its a single 30-hour long drama then that's tough and I need some entertainment to get me through. All Dark had was gloominess.

Iow, the quid pro quo wasn't acceptable to me.

This is a common problem with these serial dramas that are clearly written ep after ep, season after season with indefinite destination, milking the concept for ratings, like Breaking Bad. People told me it was good so I watched some and thought the first season was quite funny (black comedy) but it got so boring. When an entire episode featured nothing but Walter and Jesse chasing a fly, I quit.

Other serial dramas that have a quid pro quo that I cannot accept include the The Handmaid's Tale. Again it was too demanding. Endless, abuse, cruelty, torture, and other horrors so all I get is stress and the sense that it's all going nowhere, except leaving it open for another season.

The Good Nurse wasn't good, it was terrible. No idea what anyone enjoyed about this cure for insomnia.