Netflix Tidbits

Giving you my honest opinion of the good, the bad, and the stupid. Movies, TV shows, and...well, that's it really. Just a sampling of what you can find deep in the recesses of the biggest movie streaming service there is.

[crowleytakesall]

So I’ve Been Playing…….Paper Mario! Ghost of Tsushima! ACNH!

Hello everyone! I’m trying out a new (hopefully weekly) format today! Please come let me know what you think; any input is appreciated! I had a lot of fun with it, and with editing it, so hopefully it shows.

Oh, and if you didn’t know, I have a YouTube now. ;D

[crowleytakesall]

Hitman 2 - The Bartholomew Hornswoggle | ZORRO HIS FACE OFF | Level 1-3 Escalation

Join me in this pirate-y Hitman adventure called The Bartholomew Hornswoggle, where we dig up some pirate treasure and cut up a whole bunch of guards with a ...

Hey y’all! Just a reminder that I started a YouTube channel recently, and because I am extremely proud of this thumbnail I wanted to show it off!

Check it out and tell me what you think! And subscribe if you like it, why not.

[netflix-tidbits]

Hey everybody! You may be wondering where I’ve been lately, and, well, I realized that I am much more a video game person than a TV/movie person. I kind of knew that anyway, but it’s become more obvious over the past couple of years that that’s what I really enjoy.

So I’ve started my own YouTube channel! I don’t know if any of you will be into gaming, or watching gameplay, but if you are, check it out, share it around, and subscribe if you like! 

It’s still a work in progress and it’s taking a little getting used to, and it doesn’t help that I’ve been sick a lot of the past two months I’ve been recording, but I’m having so much fun with it and I’m wondering why it took me so long to get it started, because it’s the only thing I’ve ever fully wanted to dedicate my time to.

https://youtube.com/channel/UCtfGiYDo8hEAKA59ajUmUSQ/featured…

[netflix-tidbits]

Reblogging for later crowd!

[netflix-tidbits]

Hey everybody! You may be wondering where I’ve been lately, and, well, I realized that I am much more a video game person than a TV/movie person. I kind of knew that anyway, but it’s become more obvious over the past couple of years that that’s what I really enjoy.

So I’ve started my own YouTube channel! I don’t know if any of you will be into gaming, or watching gameplay, but if you are, check it out, share it around, and subscribe if you like! 

It’s still a work in progress and it’s taking a little getting used to, and it doesn’t help that I’ve been sick a lot of the past two months I’ve been recording, but I’m having so much fun with it and I’m wondering why it took me so long to get it started, because it’s the only thing I’ve ever fully wanted to dedicate my time to.

https://youtube.com/channel/UCtfGiYDo8hEAKA59ajUmUSQ/featured…

[netflix-tidbits]

Title: 我，租了一個情人 (Love Me or Leave Me)

Director: ?

Year: 2012

Length: 1 season, 31 episodes, 40 min/episode

Rating: TV-14

Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Tragedy

Yay, Nay, or Meh: Neh

I kind of figured this one was a bust when in the first 10 minutes, via flashbacks, the male lead proposed to the female lead 3 different times, and she said no every time, and instead of getting the hint, he does it a FOURTH time, she says no AGAIN (and somehow everyone's still surprised by this answer), and he chased her down and instead of acting like a rational human being who actually loves her and doesn't just want to possess her, gives an ultimatum that she HAS to marry him, otherwise he'll break up with her, because marriage is the end goal and there's no way a couple could have a happy, loving relationship without it, especially in the 21st century. And this is after she explains to one of her friends how one of the STARTING TERMS of the relationship was that she didn't want to get married and he agreed to that. NO MEANS NO. LEAVE HER ALONE. Like, I knew these things were misogynist at the best of times, but HOLY SHIT DUDE. Get over yourself. Personally, if that was the set-up for my relationship, he'd get an ultimatum himself after the first time, and if he did it again, he'd be gone. Emotional blackmail is not how healthy long-term relationships are formed or maintained.

AHEM. Other than that starting premise, though, it's not bad. Or at least no better or worse than any other of the dramas I've watched. Well. With the exception of the OTHER man who needs a restraining order and anger management classes. Violent stalker is never a good look, dude.

[netflix-tidbits]

Title: The Witch

Director: Robert Eggers

Year: 2015

Length: 1h 32min

Rating: R

Genres: Horror, Mystery

Yay, Nay, or Meh: Yeh

While this is a horror movie, it's not a horror movie in the same vein as most that come out of Hollywood, or for a massive audience. There isn't reliance on jumpscares, and instead a lot of the horror comes from not being entirely sure what's happening or who to trust. I think that I've said before, though, that I prefer this to the former. It feels a lot more scary, as a key part of being scared is experience with the unknown. The score really helps with building an overall sense of unease, and the acting is largely very good. I also really liked how accurate and good the set dressing was. I feel like a lot of things don't neccessarily go fully into that when they do these early colonial movies, but it looked really good and convincing, as did all of the outfits. The scenes were very well shot and pretty, or as pretty as a film that is largely brown can be. It can feel a little slow at times, which I think some people may not get along with, but most of the time this is for the tension, and I think it was very well done.

[netflix-tidbits]

Title: Wine Country

Director: Amy Poehler

Year: 2019

Length: 1h 43min

Rating: R

Genres: Comedy

Yay, Nay, or Meh: Yeh

While this is billed as a comedy - and obviously so, look who it stars - there was not as much comedy as I originally thought. Not that it wasn't funny, or that I wasn't in the right age range for it, but it got a little more real than I feel like a lot of people may expect. There was a lot of humor that, while I as a 28-year-old don't have personal experience with yet, I could still chuckle at, because my parents are in their 50s now and I actually pay attention to and spend time with them. Probably partly by virtue of being an only child, but also because I actually like them!?! But also I could only enjoy so much because I'm watching my parents go through some of it. It's not like that was the only sourse of humor, though. Otherwise, it's so nice to see a proper lady-dominated movie that depicts lady relationships properly, with good and bad sides, but that's because Amy Poehler et al. are lovely and wonderful and kudos to all of you, you're great.

The only point I want to make: "You're acting like a millenial!" Please. She HAS a doctor; that's nothing like a millenial. :P

[netflix-tidbits]

Title: Street Food

Creators: David Gelb, Brian McGinn

Year: 2019 -

Length: 1 season, 9 episodes, ~ 40 min/episode

Rating: TV-G

Genres: Documentary

Yay, Nay, or Meh: Yay

This is a very cool idea for a food show, and I really like how they do it. This first season focuses on Asia, as you can see, and each time they're in a different town and they seem to hit a good number of the countries. Also, in each episode, they focus mostly on one individual and their story in relation to their specific street food, but they do bring up other stalls and food types that are intrinsic to the area they're talking about. There's also a little bit of history of the country on occasion, and how food relates to it, so it's great for that as well. I'm interested to see if they do end up doing a season for each continent, though I feel as though they may struggle a bit with some places more than others. But if you like food and even travel shows, and don't mind a bit of history, this is a great, fascinating look at foods that are integral to other countries. Just make sure you eat before you watch it, because holy crap I want to eat everything.

[netflix-tidbits]

Title: Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween

Director: Ari Sandel

Year: 2018

Length: 1h 30min

Rating: PG

Genres: Adventure, Comedy, Family

Yay, Nay, or Meh: Meh

I did the first Goosebumps movie on here a while ago, and I quite enjoyed it. It was a fun family film, with enough for everyone to enjoy. This second one is...essentially a rehash of the first one, only with a lot less Jack Black and a lot less scariness. Not that, as an adult, Goosebumps is as scary as it used to be, but this movie was barely scary. They barely even bothered with jumpscares, the laziest horror scare tactic ever. Also, I know that Slappy's whole deal means that he can be the villain multiple times, but that works much better 5 times in a ~70 book series than showing up twice in 2 movies. I don't know if you can establish a cliche with only 2 occurances, but if you can, this definitely already is one. And if there ever is a third one, money's on him showing up again. For multiple reasons. There is such a variety of R.L. Stine books and Goosebumps off-shoots that there's a lot more you can do and choose from, so it can't be for want of material. Honestly, I would rather they do like the old TV show version, but with better acting. They're still fun so far, but it will get very old very quickly if they don't break this pattern soon.

[netflix-tidbits]

Title: The Order

Creators: Dennis Heaton, Shelley Eriksen

Year: 2019

Length: 1 season, 10 episodes, ~45 min/episode

Rating: TV-MA

Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Horror

Yay, Nay, or Meh: Meh

I'm going to be honest, I wasn't exactly sure what I expected when I started this, but it certainly wasn't what I ended up getting. The whole premise is kind of a mess and the acting is embarrassingly bad most of the time. There's some of the awkward dialogue that's always been obviously written by someone who has no idea how college students in the past 20 years have spoken or acted. The CGI is super cheap and bad. Situations and relationships are too convenient. All that said, it has its entertaining moments. They are a little few and far between, if I'm being honest, and they weren't really enough for me personally, because I was so focused on how much I didn't like the characters and how terrible the dialogue was. I think, though, if you're more into the campier "horror" shows and/or shows with obnoxious spoiled-brat teens/college students, then go for it. I, however, found little to engage me for any extended period of time.

[netflix-tidbits]

Title: Phuean Hian..Rongrian Lon (ThirTEEN Terrors)

Director: ?

Year: 2014 - 2015

Length: 1 season, 13 episodes, ~40 min/episode

Rating: TV-MA

Genres: Horror

Yay, Nay, or Meh: Yay

I know I do a lot of horror, and I'm trying to be better, but do you have any idea how right up my alley this is? Episodic horror short stories, but they come from Asia? I'm all over that shit. And though these are theoretically made with teens in mind, some of them are properly scary. Like, the first one has shades of the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark short story that still freaks me the hell out to this day (for whatever reason), so that's...cool. And in general, there's a lot of good spookiness happening in most of the stories, and a nice variety of supernatural and just generally weird stuff going on. There's a weird kind of tonal shift at the end, sometimes; a lot of them end in ambiguous endings, which I tend to associate more with Asian horror already, but there are a few of them that end happily or at almost borderline silly occasionally. They're not badly done, and all the stories are wrapped up satisfactorily either way, I just personally would rather have them all be either happy or bleak. It does keep you on the edge of your seat though, as it's never clear which one you're going to get.

[netflix-tidbits]

Hey everyone!

So, I’m gonna be on vacation starting next Tuesday (April 2nd) until the 11th. I’m going to try to stock up on stuff to post for that time period, because I’m not sure I’m going to have time to watch anything, really, because we’ve got a pretty tight schedule for most of the time.

That’s all! Cheers!

[netflix-tidbits]

Title: Anacleto: Agente Secreto (Spy Time)

Director: Javier Ruiz Caldera

Year: 2015

Length: 1h 33min

Rating: ?

Genres: Action, Comedy

Yay, Nay, or Meh: Meh

The first thing I'm going to say about this is that it's not a comedy spy movie in the way you're probably thinking. There were funny bits, but they weren't laugh out loud funny or inane like most parodies in English; it was much more situational irony kind of stuff, for the most part. Which is kind of nice, and not a problem at all. It makes the whole thing feel refreshing, because otherwise there's not too much to differentiate this from other spy movies. It's not bad, but it does still feel a bit cliche most of the time. One way it probably differs is that it can get extremely bloody at times, like, more than you'd expect. Definitely not one to watch with the kids, if you were so inclined anyway. As I said, though, while it doesn't necessarily break out of the spy movie mold in any significant way, it's still an entertaining film if you can stomach the blood.

[netflix-tidbits]

Title: Dating Around

Creator: Chris Culvenor

Year: 2019

Length: 1 season, 6 episodes, ~30 min/episode

Rating: TV-MA

Genres: Reality-TV

Yay, Nay, or Meh: Meh

Okay, so spoiler if you haven't figured it out, sometimes I like watching reality-TV more than I should. Mainly because they're kind of brainless, and sometimes you need that. This was...odd. It's definitely scripted, to some degree - some people were saying the background people were always the same, which I didn't notice, but it seems a little too much like they were following a checklilst to a point. Unless that's how dates actually work? Hell if I know. I feel like regardless the presence of cameras on a dating show makes sure people act a certain way. It was a little nice to see some variety though - there are a couple LGBTQ+ episodes, as well as an episode with an older man, but the conversations are largely superficial, in my view. Again, maybe my standards are too high, and/or maybe that's why I've never dated anyone, or maybe that's the nature of the show or reality-TV in general. But by the end of each episode I just got a huge sense of misplaced awkwardness. It just....didn't feel good. It was pretty obvious when they were awkward, and I hate confrontation in real life, so even though it doesn't generally get to me with fiction it did with this because it's at least superficially real. Also, there's a complete jackass in the second episode who apparently doesn't realize that going into marriage with doubts is pretty common, no matter how much you love the person. So I don't know that I recommend it, but it could be worse. If you want the pinnacle of brainless TV, then watch it.

[netflix-tidbits]

Title: Incredibles 2

Director: Brad Bird

Year: 2018

Length: 1h 58min

Rating: PG

Genres: Animation, Action, Adventure

Yay, Nay, or Meh: Yay

Now, I and many my age have waited so many years for this (and me even longer, since I'm just watching it now), and I don't think there's a time Pixar has gone wrong, so I am admittedly a little biased. That said, I would agree with many that this isn't as good as the original. It's not as creative a plot, and it's pretty easy to guess who the villain is going to turn out to be. I don't honestly know how much of that is nostalgia and how much of that is legitimate, but that's my initial thought. There certainly aren't any stand-out lines for me, you know what I mean? There's also a bit of - occasionally semi-hypocritical - societal commentary in there (I love you Pixar but you get me, right?). I don't mind, not really, but it does kind of take me back to reality, which is exactly what I don't want when watching this kind of film. But there is still a lot of great fun in it, and it's nice to see a little bit of a story about the family as a whole, even while they're just trying to be a "normal" family. Jack-Jack is also pretty great, but I worry that unless something happens to tone it down, and there is an Incredibles 3, he's just going to be OP and very deus ex machina. Like Superman. Though admittedly more fun. (I'm not a big fan of Superman, what can I say.)

[netflix-tidbits]

Title: Period. End of Sentence.

Director: Reyka Zehtabchi

Year: 2018

Length: 26 min

Rating: TV-PG

Genres: Documentary, Short

Yay, Nay, or Meh: Yay

I think there are a lot of people, at least in the US, who were a bit aware of this project at least in some capacity, as it was kind of around in the news and social media, and was a Kickstarter project and such. If you're not aware, the point of it is to bring low-cost, easy-to-produce pads to areas around the world where it is hard to get them for one reason or another. This specifically focuses on one small area of India, and talks mostly with women (obviously) about the stigmas and difficulties of having to hide it, though there were a few men, too. It's nice to see that, while it is still such a hard subject for people there to talk about, they are willing to do so, and it's nice to see that things are changing. I think the most important thing is that the women themselves are able to make the pads, and to go around and market them, and that helps both them and other women in many ways. Hopefully the exposure this has gotten from the Oscars and the spread throughout India will help them be more widely distributed to other places, and hopefully, along with that, some of those stigmas will fade away.

[netflix-tidbits]

Title: Deadly Detention

Director: Blair Hayes

Year: 2017

Length: 1h 30min

Rating: NR

Genres: Comedy, Horror, Thriller

Yay, Nay, or Meh: Meh

The first thing I'm going to say is that Netflix rated this as TV-MA, but it's PG-13 at most. There's very little blood shown on screen, the kills are implied but not shown, and even the sex scenes have much more clothing than most slasher/teen scream movies. This has terrible reviews everywhere I've looked, and, well, it's not a great film, but it's not THAT bad - think Breakfast Club meets Scream. I've seen much worse in my life, believe me. The main factor to consider is that this is a very campy, Sci-Fi original movie kind of thing, and if you can get over that fact, it's perfectly fine. It's actually shot pretty well, and a lot of the actors did pretty well, with the exception here and there of a line which sounds bad more because of the writing than them. And now that we're onto the writing, it's easily the weakest thing in the movie. It's pretty clear that whoever was writing it was referencing or consulting with people who were teens at least 10 years ago, because it just feels awkward and it's highly unlikely that teens today would use it, because they have even worse stupid slang now. The ending is also a bit weak, but there is a line towards the end that makes it a little less like other horror movies, and which I'm not going to spoil here for obvious reasons. Honestly, I think if you go in with low expectations, or at least expectations that things are a bit cheesy, it's not terrible.