Yeah that's what I'm looking for--high caliber writing that has a great plot that isn't necessarily predictable but also full of character development and exploration. Depth to the world are also pluses--but in Dexter's case this wasn't so much an issue because Dexter himself was the world and they did a bang up job as you said probing all his nooks and crannies. Twelve Monkeys level of plot twists aren't a requirement, but certainly appreciated.

Orphan Black and Fringe look interesting, as does The Man in the High Castle. I actually watched the first season of The Wire a couple of years ago but never watched subsequent seasons. Perhaps I should. The thing that bugged me was how much it felt like "work" -- not actually working, but had an office environment feeling to it. I try to get away from that.

Another show that I had on my list that I don't know much about is Mr. Robot. Seems to have good reviews online, not sure how it got on my list, but that one also sounds interesting. I'm watching The Witcher in the meantime until I decide, which so far seems as if it won't satisfy, but I'm only one episode in. Less action, more plot, that's how I see things.

I have a personal rule that I give any and all serialized series at least 10 episodes before I make a final judgement on whether or not I'll continue with the show. Why? Because serialized shows by their nature are usually a "slow burn". It simply takes time for the characters and the plot to unfold properly.


I simply don't understand those viewers who demand instant gratification when watching a serialized series.

Gonna watch Picard 4th episode in a few.

A good day for classics "Wargames" with Mathew Broderick..If nothing else it brings me back to the early computer gaming days when a computer took up a whole room....Sure enjoy old movies at least they had soul

Forgot to mention, There is a "bonus round" for Boardwalk Empire. The last season of B.E. introduces Bugsy Siegel as a young mobster, but naturally can't finish his story. Cue Mob City, a "film noir" TV series I wish had made it longer than just that one season. It circles around Siegel's last year in LA., and the invention of Las Vegas.

Yeah I'm the same way, but I do tend to see plot directions sooner than most viewers. I'll definitely give it all eight episodes unless they do something really bad which I doubt they will.

Picard episode 4. Finally it's getting good (Don't want to give it away)

Got another old one SGT York with Gary Cooper hooky as hell but a good show..Got to git me a piece of bottom land to make the world right

Evil Under The Sun, Agatha Christie.

My wife adores it and it was Feb 14th so a no-brainer. Quite liked it actually.

Just finished season 1 of Watchmen. Thoroughly enjoyed it but then I do like Regina King and the story is really good.

Also just started 'Future Man'. About 5 episodes in and it's good. I'm not familiar with the actress that plays 'Tiger' but she makes the swonickles revolve below the waist.

Parasite by Bong Joon Ho
I recommend if - like me - you enjoy stories going from comically to horribly wrong
That's one of them



Cheers,
Slug

NoFlyBoy,I just finished 'Parasite'.

As you said,30 minutes in wasn't enough to get into the characters,etc. I'm glad I persevered as it was engrossing and truly unexpected what happened in the latter half. Worthy of those Oscars for sure.

Glad you gave it a second chance, Chucky, Glad you also enjoyed it, Sluggish.

Just finished watching In the Heart of the Sea the story behind the writing of Herman Melville's Moby Dick. While the film follows the story of the crew of the Whaling Ship Essex out of Nantucket fairly closely it does take a few liberties with the time line and how a sailing ship is handled.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_n2CAhgPiA

Based on the manuscript that was found in 1960 in the attic of one of the survivors "The Loss of the Ship "Essex" Sunk by a Whale and the Ordeal of the Crew in Open Boats" by Thomas Nickerson.



Coincidently the whaling ship Ann Alexander was struck, capsized, and sunk by a sperm whale at about the same time as Moby Dick was released.

The Essex is also the inspiration of the tune/album Nantucket Sleigh Ride by Mountain in remembrance of Owen Coffin (Henry in the film) he was the cousin of Captain Pollard.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQQZ-hV95KE

I finished season 1 of "Altered Carbon" last night. While I found the production values and the acting performances to be top notch, I also found it difficult to really care whether or not some of the characters lived or died. Having said that, I will be watching season 2 when that comes out in 2 weeks.

It's great fun if you can tolerate the outbursts of rather crude humor. They never dial down the craziness of time travel but rather escalate it, Season 2 is even crazier. Season 3 has been announced, but will be kept short.

I am seven episodes into the Witcher series and I'm sad to say my fears were warranted. The seventh episode was one of the nastiest trainwrecks in show history that I have seen in a long time, and fundamentally is a result of how they structured the framework of the entire series.

*spoiler warning*

Why was this episode bad?

Well, there is a basic principle in writing fiction that any scene should possess one of three elements:

a) It should move the story forward
b) It should develop the characters further
c) It should raise the stakes or increase tension

The best scenes do all three, although every scene should do at least one, but two is better.

This entire episode did none of the above. Now before someone argues that this episode helped us understand Geralt's connection to the queen, I will reply in such that yes it may have, but provided nothing of tangible value because he already had a connection with Ciri through the surprise and there was no need on wasting an entire episode to show this, but perhaps could later have been revealed upon Geralt and Ciri being reunited, in passing--to increase tension between the two of them. Of course, in her happiness his revelation could have dimmed her feelings and welled up anger inside of her now knowing he was present at the catastrophe and could have saved her there, sparing herself from the calamities she faced upon escaping. Thus her own character would have been developed further revealing her deeper personality, and tension between them might linger--or regret, or perhaps a moment in time where Geralt's heart might open to uncomfortable emotion--or not. Either way, the show wasted an entire episode on this crap and did none of the above. They committed a huge writing sin.

The whole series has been rife with bad writing, but never has it been so obvious until episode seven, which felt like c-tier monday night television melodrama. Really, really bad. There's way more I could nitpick on but what's the point. I'm disappointed with the show so far, and surprised Netflix didn't pour more effort into engendering the greatness of the first novel. Rather than do that, they decided to be cute with social justice and rewrote entire character backgrounds to alter perspective to fit their justice narrative. Granted, the Yennifer changes deepened her character(which can be good), but you'd have to be pretty dense to not see sinister social engineering reasons for these manipulations, as well.

If I were Andrzej Sapkowski, I'd be a bit upset.

Ok, I'm done! I gave it a fair shot but just couldn't take anymore!

Today was the first time I ventured beyond "Return of the Jedi" in story chronology (I have the first 6 SW movies, the only ones I've seen). "The Force Awakens" and "The Last Jedi" came on regular TV (DirecTV) the other evening, wife gave me a heads up so I DVR'd the last one (was too late for the first one). I waited until today as Friday afternoon starts my ~24 hr. goofing off time. I made it to the part where the bridge gets hit and everyone gets sucked into space, including Princess Leia. How sad. Then her frozen corpse, floating in outer space, starts to twitch. She becomes fully conscious and starts flying in space like Superman! Maybe I'm not wise enough in the ways of the Force but this to me was just too ridiculous to keep watching. I stopped and deleted the movie, turned off the TV and went back to my tunes.

If I want a ridiculous movie I'll watch Maximum Overdrive, The Toxic Avenger or Re-Animator. Maybe I'll watch all 3 tomorrow for a ridiculous movie marathon!

I fell asleep watching episode 8 of "The Witcher." What a bummer. The stakes weren't real and some of the contrived coincidental happenings were yawn worthy.

On a brighter note, I watched two movies this weekend:

Winter's Bone - this one surprised me. I didn't expect much but turned out to be an interesting hillbilly drama. This was a novel translated in the right kind of way to the screen. Good movie!

The International - I watched because Naomi Watts was starring. Yes, superficial, but the film turned out to be a pretty good thriller and I was entertained. The only weak part was how the ending arrived at the conclusion and the levers pulled to get there. Regardless, the film made some good points. Worth a watch.