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Streams 2020 Mar Apr May

Never trust an atom. They make up everything.

Series

  • Tales From The Loop
    My tumblr back in the day was loaded with Simon Stålenhag art. That was enough to get me in. This was visually beautiful, and as a fan of The Twilight Zone and Black Mirror, I loved the content too. And although there were about three episodes way too slow in the mix which I didn’t need, the last two left me wanting more.
  • What We Do In The Shadows (Season 2)
    This show is just pleasant to watch. The energy vampire rampage episode is hilarious and incredible.
  • Beef House
    I had high hopes for this after seeing Tim & Eric back in February (which feels like 6 years ago now). The second episode, “Prunes” had me laughing harder than anything I’ve seen in the last year, but the rest of the episodes felt a bit flat to me.
  • Dave
    I didn’t want to watch this, but here we are. Dave has a very punchable face. Not since David Schwimmer have I seen someone on screen who looks as perpetually miserable and worried. I got some good laughs. The guy has talent, but I would not have watched or missed this if I hadn’t been isolated at home.
  • Upload
    This show was awful. I know it’s meant to be a comedy (emphasis on meant) but the sci-fi takes were distractingly bad. I kept watching out of fascination to see just how terrible it could get. It’s like the tech was imagined by a 60-year-old accountant spit-balling it all in a 15 minute coffee break. Why is there a forbidden area in a virtual world?? Just don’t design it with that area. Christ.
  • After Life (Season 2)
    This was just a carbon copy of the first season. Gervais moping around like a sad sack with a couple of laughs along the way.
  • Parks & Recreation (All seven Seasons)
    I had Amazon for the month to watch the aforementioned TFTL, so I smashed this out while working out and cooking. Doesn’t require my full attention. I rate it as basically The Office running at 80% strength.

Movies

  • The Lighthouse
    Loved this, as I do anything that leaves me with questions. The visuals, sound design, and performances only elevated it further.
  • Vivarium
    This felt like three-quarters of an idea. Very cool, but just missing a strong point to it. That kid is creepy as hell though.
  • Stand By Me
    This one passed me by as a kid. I feel like I would have loved it had I seen it back then. I still enjoyed it – the Stephen King vibes, the music – but I’m 30 years late to fall in love with it.
  • Jojo Rabbit
    This was good, but not great. My biggest takeaway was the reminder that Scarlett Johansson is actually a great actress. It’s been a while.
  • Bombshell
    This one had great production value, and Margot – but last year’s The Loudest Voice was a better take on the same content.
  • The Big Sick
    Another one that passed me by a few years ago. Enjoyable, but probably forgettable. The fact it was based off a true story was probably the most incredible part.

Docos

  • Beastie Boys Story
    This was such a pleasure to watch – heartbreaking in parts, hilarious in others – Adam, Mike and Spike Jonze inject it with so much charm that I imagine it would be enjoyable to fans of music generally, even those unaware of the Beastie Boys.
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Streams 2020 Dec Jan Feb

Well, we made it through the greyest, bleakest winter I’ve ever experienced (says more about the fortune of growing up in Australia than anything) – only to be faced with more confinement. On the same week that Spring reared it’s sunny face and washed away the grey, the slow moving tsunami named Coronavirus reached North America.

So we’ll be trapped inside for some time yet. I’ll be forced to continue reading, making digital art on my Surface, and annoying the neighbours with my Harmonica.

And, of course, staring at screens. Here’s some recent ones…

I wished this world was larger

Games

  • Whispers of a Machine
    My childhood was spent riding my bike and playing PC and Sega games, and 90% of that was either parser-based or point-and-click adventure games. So much so that I largely stopped playing games when they stopped making this genre at the end of the 90s.
    I recently discovered there’s been a resurgence and WoaM was the first I dived into – a “sci-fi Nordic Noir” murder mystery. The story was great, the future-retro artwork and world were fantastic, and as for gameplay the UI was a simple and easy to pick up (although having grown up on games where you spent months pixel-hunting, I thought it made the game too easy). The “enhancements” feature was tricky to understand at first but allowed for great replay-ability. I wanted more.
    It might be time to try making my own again…

Series

  • Better Call Saul Season 5
    The season has four more episodes to come at the moment, but it’s easily the entertainment highlight of every week without competition. The writing is unmatched. The cast delivers in spades (Rhea Seehorn & Bob Odenkirk especially). I suspect I may end up ranking BCS higher than Breaking Bad when it’s over – if they stick the landing.
  • Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 10
    This was so much better than their last attempt when they all looked old and tired. Every moment of this season was packed with jokes and energy. And the concept of a spite store really spoke to me.
  • The Outsider
    I was lured in by “Stephen King” and “Ben Mendelsohn”. It delivered what I expected. It felt like a King show and Mendo was great. Some good creepy moments. The journey was worth it despite the lacklustre ending.
  • Picard
    As a big TNG nerd, I wanted to like this more, but it felt like a chore.
  • The Man In The High Castle
    A bit uneven across the seasons (first was slow, third was all over the place) but overall it hooked me right in and when the last episode ended, I wanted more.
  • The Boys
    I started watching this (reluctantly) off a recommendation. It sounded like yet another spin on the tired superhero genre. I was surprised to find it did have some fresh ideas. Unfortunately by the time I got to the end, the fresh ideas already seemed stale.

Docos

  • Tiger King
    What the hell did I just watch?
  • The Family
    Religion. This made me angry.

Movies

  • Doctor Sleep
    This was SO much better than it had any right to be. Following up The Shining – *ahem* – Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining – 40 years later should have been a recipe for disaster. But it really fit into the same world and had a decent story add to the original. The director Mike Flanagan does his best Kubrick impersonation.
  • The Invisible Man
    Decent thriller with some clever vfx work.
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Streams 2019

Never put a fish in your car

I streamed a hell of a lot more this year than I have in years prior. The combination of slow work days and lousy weather in the second half of the year meant I gave myself more couch time than I have in the past (I get enormous weather guilt – when the sun is out I struggle to stay inside).

Here are the most notable ones.

Series

Euphoria
  • Euphoria
    My favourite of the year. The cinematography, the subject matter, the cast (it speaks volumes that so many unlikable characters maintained my interest). That carnival episode was incredible. My only gripe? All the loose ends, no doubt designed to bait me into coming back for season 2.
  • Chernobyl
    This was top of my list until I saw Euphoria. I feel most people have seen this so there’s not much to be said. Bleak, sad, heavy, powerful – as it should be.
  • Russian Doll
    This one popped up on Netflix and I started without knowing a thing about it. What seemed like a Groundhog Day ripoff at first blossomed into something more. Natasha Lyonne was great.
  • Escape at Dannemora
    Who’d have thought Ben Stiller had it in him? Like The Shawshank Redemption, but real. Great cast, true story told well. The contrast between how the characters are portrayed behind bars and on the outside is brilliant – with their horrific past crimes sandwiched between.
  • The Mandalorian
    I loved this. Simple, high production-value space-western which straddled the line between “adventure of the week” and a season wide arc. It strangely took me back to my childhood playing Space Quest more than anything to do with Star Wars.
  • What We Do In The Shadows
    Not as good as the movie, but I never expected it to be. Still worthy of sitting alongside the movie. Mark Proksch steals it.
  • Big Little Lies – Season 2
    Aside from Meryl, this stank. A season full of miserable characters which seemed to have no point to it. They should have quit after the much fresher first season.
  • Mindhunter – Season 2
    Visually brilliant as always, albeit a slow burn. Anna Torv had a lot more to work with this time but then vanished for the last 3 episodes.
  • The Office (US)
    I finally got around to watching all 9 seasons after having seen bits and pieces out of order over the years. I loved it and was thoroughly disappointed when I ran out of episodes (even with the quality dip in the final season, which came across like it had been written by a different team).
  • I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson
    I’ve been craving sketch comedy since the end of Awesome Show. This managed to scratch my itch.
  • On Cinema at the Cinema
    This will be on my list of must-sees every year it continues to exist.

Features

  • Parasite
    Favourite movie of the year. If you haven’t seen it, you should – and the less you know about it ahead of viewing the better. Watch it before the inevitable Hollywood remake.
  • The Irishman
    I love Scorsese. But for all the talk of what constitutes “cinema” around the release of this, it played more like a mini-series. Can anyone do the 3 hours and 30 minutes in one sitting?
  • Joker
    Clever take on old material and proof that Joaquin is always great.
  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
    Disappointing. A movie full of memorable scenes haphazardly stitched together. It almost played like a Tarantino clip show. Leo’s chat with the child actor was the highlight.
  • Avengers: Endgame
    The VFX highlight of the year. Ambitious, and yes predictable – but a bit of fun.
  • Us
    This was great, except for the final act, when Peele dropped way too much exposition. There is a beauty to leaving some things a mystery. Two-thirds of a good movie.
  • El Camino
    Great, as you’d expect – but unnecessary. I loved it to get my fix while I wait for more Saul. It didn’t ruin the perfect Breaking Bad ending nor did it elevate it.
  • Apollo 11
    Fantastic for any space or history nerds. The pictures do all the talking.