Streaming Recommendations (Netflix, HBO, Amazon, etc.)

December 3rd, 2020 at 1:03:21 AM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
Finally watching Westworld. Not impressed
with the first episode. Nice cinematography,
good well known actors, silly nonsensical
script. I didn't like or care about a single
character. Look at a show like Deadwood,
after the first ep you liked half a dozen
characters, even Al Swearengen.

In WW they are all boring as paint. Lots
of gratuitous nudity and F words. Lots
of needless violence. Read some IMDB
reviews and it seems season 1 was the
best, season 2 was mediocre, and season
3 sucked so bad it was hard to find a
positive review.

Then I realized this is JJ 'Lost' Abrams
creation. No wonder it's confusing
and dull. He has good stuff like
Star Trek and Mission Impossible.
But he also has Cloverfield and Lost.
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
December 3rd, 2020 at 8:53:19 AM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
Quote: Evenbob


Then I realized this is JJ 'Lost' Abrams
creation. No wonder it's confusing
and dull. He has good stuff like
Star Trek and Mission Impossible.
But he also has Cloverfield and Lost.


IMDB shows Abrams currently working
on 16 yet to be released projects. Good
stuff is hard to find, yet he has 16 things
that HE found? It just means 2 of them are
OK and 14 of them are pure crap that he
can get even richer on.
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
December 3rd, 2020 at 8:57:27 AM permalink
Gandler
Member since: Aug 15, 2019
Threads: 27
Posts: 4236
I liked the first season, I agree that it went downhill after that.

The original Westworld (1970s) was very ahead of its time written by Michael Crichton (guy who wrote Jurassic Park).
December 3rd, 2020 at 9:13:10 AM permalink
ams288
Member since: Apr 21, 2016
Threads: 29
Posts: 12421
Quote: Evenbob
IMDB shows Abrams currently working
on 16 yet to be released projects. Good
stuff is hard to find, yet he has 16 things
that HE found? It just means 2 of them are
OK and 14 of them are pure crap that he
can get even richer on.


You do realize he has hardly any involvement with the shows/movies he “produces,” right?

If he didn’t write or direct it, he’s basically just collecting a check.

After the first season of Lost, he had virtually no input in the show as he moved on to directing Mission Impossible 3.
“A straight man will not go for kids.” - AZDuffman
December 3rd, 2020 at 9:40:24 AM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 1068
Posts: 12569
Quote: ams288
You do realize he has hardly any involvement with the shows/movies he “produces,” right?
If he didn’t write or direct it, he’s basically just collecting a check.


That seems to be the best way to earn money. DJT realized after a while it was more profitable to just sell his name for a project rather than actually to develop them.
December 3rd, 2020 at 10:57:16 AM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
Quote: Gandler
I liked the first season, I agree that it went downhill after that.


Thinking about it today, I really disliked
the first episode and don't know if I
want to continue. I'm not a big Ed Harris
fan, he always plays the same character.
And the violence and gratuitous use of
the F word really turned me off. It's
a sign of poor writing to have educated
people throwing the word around like
street corner drug dealers. It's pandering
lazy writing. And the fact the writers didn't
even attempt to make any of the characters
likeable is not a good sign.
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
December 3rd, 2020 at 11:43:20 AM permalink
ams288
Member since: Apr 21, 2016
Threads: 29
Posts: 12421
I never finished the first season of Westworld.

Then everyone said season 2 was a confusing mess.
“A straight man will not go for kids.” - AZDuffman
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:06:51 PM permalink
Gandler
Member since: Aug 15, 2019
Threads: 27
Posts: 4236
Quote: ams288
I never finished the first season of Westworld.

Then everyone said season 2 was a confusing mess.


That is basically correct. And season 3 was even worse. I watched it and don't really understand what happened.

I liked the concept (AI becoming sentient/conscious), but they took weird turns in the later seasons.

Apparantly they are working on a Season 4, so it must be popular.

Personally I think it could have been a movie (like the original) or a miniseries and have been much more effective. It seems like they are bloating it for no story relevant reason, and in so doing making the story bizarre with a lot of layers of storyline that nobody needs to see... (just my opinion)
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:17:24 PM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
Quote: Gandler


I liked the concept (AI becoming sentient/conscious), but they took weird turns in the later seasons.
)


Stories about AI always get weird.
There's no 'there' there. It's just
actors who are told they're now
fake humans. Without a real
good script, it gets boring and
weird very fast. Think how many
times this gimmick has been used
in movies, I lost count. Even Star
Trek had one, Data. At least he
was somewhat interesting.
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:34:32 PM permalink
Gandler
Member since: Aug 15, 2019
Threads: 27
Posts: 4236
Quote: Evenbob
Stories about AI always get weird.
There's no 'there' there. It's just
actors who are told they're now
fake humans. Without a real
good script, it gets boring and
weird very fast. Think how many
times this gimmick has been used
in movies, I lost count. Even Star
Trek had one, Data. At least he
was somewhat interesting.


I think the base story was fine if they just kept it at the park like the original. But, they tried to add too many layers with the robots (AI, whatever they are called) escaping and trying to dismantle the corporation and allied agencies that made the park (or something I think I kind of got lost?)

It would like if Jurassic Park (book written by same author) added a bunch of corporate and government backstory and the majority of the story ended up being about trying to dismantle Ingen instead of us just knowing that was the company.