Finished season two of Warrior on HBO max. It’s a really fun ride and I hope the renew for season 3.

the protagonist is charismatic and the western/martial arts/gang war vibe just works.

 

Yeah, I've enjoyed Warrior although it's weird genre episodes are way stronger than the main plot. It's not great but extremely watchable if that makes sense

 

Finally watched Lethal White, the miniseries based on part 4 of JK Rowling‘s Strike series.

It‘s good – Lethal White had a fairly complicated plot which could’ve used some streamlining and they‘ve achieved that while still having plenty left to play with on four hours of runtime. Contrary to the adaptions of the previous two books, Lethal White feels considerably less rushed: There’s quite a lot of detective work going on and the major subplots and events of the book are accounted for. On the technical side, the episode structure is very good and makes the story fairly easy to follow, particularly watching back-to-back.

As usual, there‘s a very good ensemble cast. Robert Glennister (otherwise known as narrator of the Strike book series) is delightful as Government minister Jasper Chiswell. As for the main cast, Holliday Grainger as Robin does a lot of the emotional heavy lifting over the course of the four episodes, and she‘s great. The chemistry between her Robin and Tom Burke‘s Strike drew me in time and time again, particularly in the quieter moments.

If anyone wants to watch, knowledge of the previous books/episodes isn‘t a huge requirement, but probably beneficial for some of the finer points.

I‘d consider this an evening well spent.

 

Interesting.

 

I loved the comic although I'm somewhat questionable how well it'll adapt given the trailer

 

I've no familiarity with the source material, but that looks pretty damn good!

 

Yeah, I've never read the source material, but it looks fairly interesting. Just hope it has higher quality than the Umbrella Academy.

 

My basic worry is that they're going to stretch the first two issues out way too far. Also the Utopian looking like Hobo Santa instead of an older bearded Superman is a weird choice.

 

https://www.cbr.com/warrior-season-3-hbo-max-leaves-cinemax/

Oh yes! A season 3 of Warrior is confirmed.

 

I've watched the first 4 episodes of Shadow and Bone. It's shaping up to be very well done so far. I'm linking the trailer, though I would recommend you not watch it because it gives away quite a few scenes integral to the plot.



I started watching it because it's got Ben Barnes, who I liked as Logan from Westworld Seasons 1 & 2. But the other actors aren't bad either. The main character is played by an actress of (part?) Asian descent, and tapping into the zeitgeist, she's seen as a foreigner in the fictional country of Ravka as well despite having been born and brought up there because she doesn't look the same. The plot is quite standard: there's a problem and a saviour is required to help deal with it, but the problem isn't an antagonist like Voldemort or Sauron. It's a bit of magic gone wrong which is causing political and social problems. That sets it apart from most other stories of this type I've read/seen. That and the fact that the setting is based on Tsarist Russia.

It's not as good as say, The Witcher, I think. But I'd definitely test the waters with this one: it's shaping up to be quite compelling. I've also heard it's based on a book of the same name, but I'd never heard of it before so I can't say how the two stories compare.

 

I watched the first two eps last night. It's decent so far. Definitely getting that "teen paranormal romance" genre vibe though which makes me cringe.

 

Watched all of it and really enjoyed Shadow and Bone. It's corny with the YA vibes but I could easily overlook that just because the worldbuilding/magic interested me. By the end of it, the corniness did go away a lot. I think The Witcher is a good comparison, it's not as good as that but then again they probably didn't have the same amount of production money, though I'm hoping that the next season improves on the dialogue.

 

Yeah, the corniness is tolerable. Ben Barnes really sealed it for me: the guy is a phenomenal actor and you can see the layers in his performance. The protag is a little shit in the first couple of episodes but she becomes likeable towards the end.

I can tell you that while it does seem that way, the show itself addresses that in a bit, and the deconstruction is fairly well-done. So give it a chance: the second half is fairly compelling.

 

Recently caught up with Snowfall. The new season wrapped up nicely, but the buildup to the last few episodes were rather lackluster. Compared to the first two seasons, season four feels like OK fanfiction at best. It didn't devolve to Power-levels of cheesy, but it got close.

Still a fun ride, but no rewatch value whatsoever.

I like the actress who played Irene Abe, the reporter, but that whole sub-plot was so hamfisted. Would've rather seen more character development for Wanda. She got off the crack and straightened out too quick.

The Manboy-Scully drama was such a drag.

 

Got a new trailer for Rick and Morty Season 5 here:

 

I’m currently watching “The Flight Attendant” on Prime. It stars Kaley Cuoco as an alcoholic flight attendant (You see why it’s called that?) who has a wild night with a dude in Bangkok. Problem is: said dude ends up dead the next morning. The show is a mixture of black comedy and psychological thriller.

I’m on episode 2/8 and so far, it’s very, very enjoyable. Competently shot and intriguing – I will report back once I’m further along.

 

Well, they had my curiosity, but now they have my attention.

 

Even if it ends up being terrible, getting Yoko Kanno to remix/extend the Bebop soundtrack will have been worth a couple hundred million dollars of development costs.

I'm really hoping it'll be a success though. They have a lot of talent accumulated here and space-westerns are almost always popular/entertaining with even a half-assed effort.

It definitely probably will not be as good as the original, but if they can at least make a loving adaptation that pokes me in the feels and nostalgia, I'll be happy. Getting Yoko basically guarantees the "poking me in the nostalgia" bit.

 

Sandman's sets are quite something, but I'm surprised there is no trailer for it or Bebop. They made a big deal of their announcements this week and as good as some news are, I'm sure most expected at least a teaser scene.

 

Speaking of Rick and Morty, was it my imagination, or was there a Belle Delphine cameo in the Rick and Morty extra: Eternal Nightmare Machine?



Edit: I can't figure out how to make the video start at a specific time, so the part I'm talking about is 11:05.