Thoughts on finding "Shetland," how "The Last of Us" kindles the question of humanity, Oscars, my new experiment on watching movies, long running series no one mentions; a proper place to watch TV.
It appears I may have oversold Shetland. ;-) For future reference, all recommendations from me are likely to be Normal TV, since the shows that push boundaries or try something new most likely involve subjects or settings that aren't my bag -- hence all the British mystery shows. What drew me to Shetland (besides the novelty of a show not filmed in NYC, LA, Atlanta, or Vancouver) was the exploration of experiencing or investigating crime in a small place where lots of people affected already know the other people involved. Like an incredibly dark version of Mayberry. FYI, Season 2 is actually three two-episode arcs, adapted from Ann Cleeves's books; the six-episode arcs start with Season 3, which features Ciaran Hinds. I actually prefer the shorter arcs, which satisfy my need to see the mystery solved without an inordinate number of red herrings.
My practice for movies varies by title and by what I think may be in them -- Barbie? I'm going to go in cold. EO? You bet I went to Does the Dog Die to find out if anything bad happens to the donkey.
Great post, Tim. I will just answer a few questions.
1. I feel like there was some hope in the Leftovers once you got past that first grim season. But I don’t think that show is for the faint hearted.
2. As I commented above my TV setup only works at night, other than bright things like Bundesliga soccer or network sitcoms. But fine I will admit a TV setup I love: my iPad with headphones and my reading glasses on. It’s a newish iPad Air so an excellent screen. I catch a lot more dialogue this way. But it’s maybe a bit shameful to admit this!
3. I am late getting to post here so maybe we’ll talk more about The Last of Us, but ... I am beginning to think it’s too scary for me. I actually wish someone could tell me precisely when scary parts happen and the result in advance. That or watch during the day where I can barely see the screen! So while I think you’re onto something about knowing nothing about movies I need an amendment for scary shows.films.
--Pull out something that looks nice and “try it on”
--If not a good “fit”, move on to something else
--TV set up NOT feng-shui’d for proper viewing....light from one floor-to-ceiling window entirely washes out the TV screen. Cozy upstairs rooms are better. : )
I used to be a member of SFFILM and I went to a lot of screenings and festival showings where I knew nothing about the movie going in. Some of the films were real gems, and others were garbage. Now that I'm older and time feels more finite, I like to at least get a sense of whether or not a movie is something I'm likely to enjoy. Often I can get a sense from general critical praise -- for instance, I saw "Everything Everywhere All at Once" knowing essentially nothing about it (besides that it had "something to do with the multiverse") and was delightfully surprised throughout the film.
My TV is around 40", I think. I've had it a while now. I could probably go a little bigger, but I live in an old house with small rooms. Someone in my book group just announced that he'd bought an 85" TV. You can get them at Costco now for around $1500. An 85" TV in my home would fit about as well as Kevon Looney in a SmartCar.
So happy you are trying to watch films with as little foreknowledge as possible. My strategy is to do deep dives on reviews, intentionally skip any parts that discuss the actual plot and just get a sense for if I would like it, then put it on my watch list and not watch it for months until I have forgotten everything except that I wanted to watch it.
My pet peeve: sometimes I get halfway through a movie and am not entirely clear on some basic aspect of the setup (often the cost for going in cold to a movie with my sieve-like brain). Thus, I look at the one or two sentence summary of the film on the streamer's page. However, far too often they spoil things from the third act. What the hell?
As far as shows that lasted for few seasons that nobody talks about I got three: (all on HBO)
The first two are for David Simon completists, “Treme” and “The Deuce”. They BOTH lasted multiple seasons, were well done and had their audiences, but ya NEVER hear ANYTHING about them...
The other is STILL going strong after 11 seasons was regular in Tim Goodman columns and “best of lists” over a decade ago, has been brilliant from day one, hasn’t dropped off in quality:
CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM!!!
(Sips from “Latte Larry’s Mug”)
Aside from a viral YouTube clip every now and then it’s ignored...🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️
So much to like in this post, so much to comment on, but it's breakfast time and I'm hungry, so briefly:
Knowing nothing. That is my preferred method for movies. One thing that helps is that I keep lots of lists on Letterboxd that include movies I'm told somewhere I should watch. When I watch one of them, that is often all I know, that someone thinks I'll like it. (And since I love critics, I'll go for movies critics like, but I won't actually read their reviews until after I've seen the movie.) I also take part in "challenges" on Letterboxd, like one where for 33 weeks we watch a movie a week we've never seen that meets the criteria for that week's challenge. (This is why yesterday I watched a Filipino horror fantasy called The Killing of Satan, about which I knew nothing. Spoiler alert: it sucked.)
As for watching conditions, I have a 50" 4K TV hooked up to my main sound system, and I sit way too close when I watch it.
Finally, thanks for the Strain Shoutout. Made my day, although since it's only 9:07 AM, I suppose something else might top it.
It appears I may have oversold Shetland. ;-) For future reference, all recommendations from me are likely to be Normal TV, since the shows that push boundaries or try something new most likely involve subjects or settings that aren't my bag -- hence all the British mystery shows. What drew me to Shetland (besides the novelty of a show not filmed in NYC, LA, Atlanta, or Vancouver) was the exploration of experiencing or investigating crime in a small place where lots of people affected already know the other people involved. Like an incredibly dark version of Mayberry. FYI, Season 2 is actually three two-episode arcs, adapted from Ann Cleeves's books; the six-episode arcs start with Season 3, which features Ciaran Hinds. I actually prefer the shorter arcs, which satisfy my need to see the mystery solved without an inordinate number of red herrings.
My practice for movies varies by title and by what I think may be in them -- Barbie? I'm going to go in cold. EO? You bet I went to Does the Dog Die to find out if anything bad happens to the donkey.
Great post, Tim. I will just answer a few questions.
1. I feel like there was some hope in the Leftovers once you got past that first grim season. But I don’t think that show is for the faint hearted.
2. As I commented above my TV setup only works at night, other than bright things like Bundesliga soccer or network sitcoms. But fine I will admit a TV setup I love: my iPad with headphones and my reading glasses on. It’s a newish iPad Air so an excellent screen. I catch a lot more dialogue this way. But it’s maybe a bit shameful to admit this!
3. I am late getting to post here so maybe we’ll talk more about The Last of Us, but ... I am beginning to think it’s too scary for me. I actually wish someone could tell me precisely when scary parts happen and the result in advance. That or watch during the day where I can barely see the screen! So while I think you’re onto something about knowing nothing about movies I need an amendment for scary shows.films.
Thx for the post!
--My viewing style is “off the rack”
--Pull out something that looks nice and “try it on”
--If not a good “fit”, move on to something else
--TV set up NOT feng-shui’d for proper viewing....light from one floor-to-ceiling window entirely washes out the TV screen. Cozy upstairs rooms are better. : )
Moody Celt island screened entertainment, willful ignorance prior to viewing a film, moving and TV viewing setup are all good things...
...but I feel that I speak for all of us when I lodge a formal complaint on the lack of Pepper in this machine post.
That is all.
I used to be a member of SFFILM and I went to a lot of screenings and festival showings where I knew nothing about the movie going in. Some of the films were real gems, and others were garbage. Now that I'm older and time feels more finite, I like to at least get a sense of whether or not a movie is something I'm likely to enjoy. Often I can get a sense from general critical praise -- for instance, I saw "Everything Everywhere All at Once" knowing essentially nothing about it (besides that it had "something to do with the multiverse") and was delightfully surprised throughout the film.
My TV is around 40", I think. I've had it a while now. I could probably go a little bigger, but I live in an old house with small rooms. Someone in my book group just announced that he'd bought an 85" TV. You can get them at Costco now for around $1500. An 85" TV in my home would fit about as well as Kevon Looney in a SmartCar.
So happy you are trying to watch films with as little foreknowledge as possible. My strategy is to do deep dives on reviews, intentionally skip any parts that discuss the actual plot and just get a sense for if I would like it, then put it on my watch list and not watch it for months until I have forgotten everything except that I wanted to watch it.
My pet peeve: sometimes I get halfway through a movie and am not entirely clear on some basic aspect of the setup (often the cost for going in cold to a movie with my sieve-like brain). Thus, I look at the one or two sentence summary of the film on the streamer's page. However, far too often they spoil things from the third act. What the hell?
I’m showing my age here, but Shetland is available on DVD at our library. I just can’t deal with the idea of another streaming service.
As far as shows that lasted for few seasons that nobody talks about I got three: (all on HBO)
The first two are for David Simon completists, “Treme” and “The Deuce”. They BOTH lasted multiple seasons, were well done and had their audiences, but ya NEVER hear ANYTHING about them...
The other is STILL going strong after 11 seasons was regular in Tim Goodman columns and “best of lists” over a decade ago, has been brilliant from day one, hasn’t dropped off in quality:
CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM!!!
(Sips from “Latte Larry’s Mug”)
Aside from a viral YouTube clip every now and then it’s ignored...🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️
So much to like in this post, so much to comment on, but it's breakfast time and I'm hungry, so briefly:
Knowing nothing. That is my preferred method for movies. One thing that helps is that I keep lots of lists on Letterboxd that include movies I'm told somewhere I should watch. When I watch one of them, that is often all I know, that someone thinks I'll like it. (And since I love critics, I'll go for movies critics like, but I won't actually read their reviews until after I've seen the movie.) I also take part in "challenges" on Letterboxd, like one where for 33 weeks we watch a movie a week we've never seen that meets the criteria for that week's challenge. (This is why yesterday I watched a Filipino horror fantasy called The Killing of Satan, about which I knew nothing. Spoiler alert: it sucked.)
As for watching conditions, I have a 50" 4K TV hooked up to my main sound system, and I sit way too close when I watch it.
Finally, thanks for the Strain Shoutout. Made my day, although since it's only 9:07 AM, I suppose something else might top it.