Sure, I’m with you on that first paragraph (although I don’t have the same complaints about plot twists being everywhere, probably bc I don’t watch that much TV anymore). But plot isn’t everything, and you can be creative in other ways, like here the staging of the kills was imo boring, even if you know they’re going to happen you can allow for some surprises in how (say as in the Final Destination series), or at least have it be done in a fun/visual way/ with some tension build-up (as in ep 2)
(Also Macbeth isn’t 8 hours long / Flanagan is not Shakespeare 
).
It’s The Curse premiere week.
When watching Nathan for You, it was always tempting to wonder just how much of it was kayfabe, so I’ve always appreciated this look behind the curtain from the actress in the clip above (which has background sound added, I assume to avoid a copyright claim): Victoria Hogan (the ‘I love you’ actress from Smokers Allowed) describing that moment : nathanforyou (reddit.com)
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Thats awesome. She outlined it really well and it was nice to hear she was worried about his well being. Seems like a really nice woman.
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Yeah, armed with that knowledge you can 100% see it register in her reaction at the end of that clip too.
Caught up on Invincible. This was great. I suppose I should not feel so surprised given it’s from Robert Kirkman. I think I just totally whiffed how much this show has to say about domestic and child abuse by initially not watching past the first ten minutes, but the s1 recap was the perfect grounding for me to get it second attempt.
Nice video on themes in Invincible
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Script Magazine picked up a condensed version of my interview with Naomi Alderman.
We talked a lot about adapting her book The Power into a TV series, as well as some banger advice on writing and why publishing Disobedience (then turning it into a movie) led to her leaving Orthodox Judaism.
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Hulu recommends: haven’t watched much lately. Watched The Bear. Welcome to Wrexham not much else recently. Any recommends considered.
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New season of Futurama was mostly hit.
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Rewatched the series finale of Buffy. There’s something to be said for the 22 episode season. There’s so much that hits really hard in the finale, but it hits hard because you’ve spent a lot of time with the characters, almost too much time. Bottle episodes, some not so great episodes, but it’s a bit like life. So when Buffy tells Spike ‘I love you’ and he says 'No you don’t, but it was nice to hear it", it really hits like some semi lovers who just can’t make it work. Even Whedon’s Whedonisms, when done in the service of making a better point, work really well. Like Xander after finding out his ex fiancé died in battle and that Andrew just lied to him saying that she died heroically defending him, saying “that’s my girl, always doing the stupid thing” and Andrew nodding along with him showing that Andrew’s will even take abuse in the service of selfless lie.
And of course the slow zoom in on Buffy finally smiling without saying a word.
It’d be impossible to get someone interested in Buffy now though. Saying hey spend a hour a night for over half a year and you’ll finally get finished is a hard sell.
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A Haunting in Venice is great if you loved Knives Out or enjoy Poirot in general. Ignore the other sequel Death on The Nile.
The new Goosebumps series is as good as the OG Stranger Things. Just wonderful and full of novelty and nostalgia. Would also suggest Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark for revamped 90s stuff.
Dark Side of the 90s is a great doc series that needs no further explanation.
They’ve got all of the Saw movies. I’d only watch 1, 2, 8, and 10 tho.
Recent-ish movies:
Clock
No One Will Save You
Barbarian
The Clovehitch Killer
Infinity Pool
Gone in the Night
Prey
Run
The Owners
Fresh
Jagged Mind
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So good that I’m getting chills just thinking about it, even though I watched this so long ago. Maybe the most emotionally powerful “happy end” of all time ? (and like you said, a huge part of why this works is that we spent so much time with Buffy’s character).
For all the hate Whedon gets now (and by all accounts he seems to have been a pretty horrible human being), reducing his writing to “so…that just happened” type quips forgets that this was always paired with extremely sincere (teenage-type maybe) emotions, and that this is why this actually worked.
Thanks Canada and Risky, give me something to chew on.
Wait wait wait. 8>6 might be the hottest take youve ever dropped here.
Also, cutting 3 means you miss out on the saga of slowassmothafuckinJeff
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Deadloch on Amazon: Australian lesbian comedy mystery. If that doesn’t get you to check it out, well.
I like Only Murders in the Building.
Dopesick was a very well done miniseries about opioids in coal country.
Chainsaw Man was a trip.
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I thought Little Fires Everywhere (on Hulu) was surprisingly solid given that I didn’t much care for the book.
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Still been meaning to check that out (and I did like the book quite a lot).
I think the only ones that are good are 1, 2, and (haven’t seen) 10.
I also got the numbers wrong.
I meant to say Saw VII the Final Chapter. Not Saw 8, which is titled Jigsaw. Saw 7 is a must watch because it reveals what happened to the doctor/Princess Bride from the first movie.
I’m sad I don’t like part 3 given it was the return of the OG folks behind part 1.
Spiral/Saw 9 is TERRIBLE. A bunch of it is a direct ripoff of scenes from Beverly Hills Cop. Even the opening is just Beverly Hills Cops opening, and to a further extent Rush Hour. But the difference is Rush Hour did it well.
I haven’t seen Saw X but reviews say it’s so good that I can’t help but include it.
So I say watch Saw, Saw 2, Saw X, then Saw 7.
Previews for the 2nd season of Reacher are up and if you like heroes who violate the shit out criminals civil rights to solve a crime, you’ve come to the right place. Looks like it should be a nice follow up to the first season.