HBO Max Recommendations

[Mike Pow]

True Detective: Night Country.
A little bumpy and fantastical so far. I keep flashing on Fortitude and 30 Days of Night.

Exactly my thoughts and feelings

Plus throw in an number of shows recently that have highlighted the fate, futility & fatality of the indigenous

[MontuckyFried]

Last night the kids (ages 6 and 8) and I watched Hayao Miyazaki's "Porco Rosso." I saw it back in the late 90s on VHS and a small TV, so was just in awe this time around with just how drop-dead gorgeous this film actually was. So many beautiful hand-painted backdrops. Kids got a bit of a quick history lesson about early fascist Italy, aviator culture and the Adriatic region. I absolutely adore the leisurely but even pacing of the movie. A nice break from the ADD style so many modern movies are prone to these days. Thankfully, I've been raising my little ones with the stuff I grew up with (like old school Mister Rogers) so they thoroughly enjoyed it and were never bored. They were BEGGING me not to pause it for the night as bedtime approached, so we finished it despite my better judgment. Haha. Highly, HIGHLY recommended for a family or solo viewing.

[The Reverend Floater]

True Detective: Night Country.
A little bumpy and fantastical so far. I keep flashing on Fortitude and 30 Days of Night.

I actually liked it. I don't disagree with your synopsis but the cast was strong enough to propel the story. The end was a bit meh, however.

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[PB]

Yeah, it definitely grows on you. I would put it on the same level as season 1, maybe even better (different?) in some ways.
Haven't watched the finale yet, but I always try to keep my expectations tamped down, as endings rarely do it right.

[MontuckyFried]

Continuing with HBO's Studio Ghibli offerings, I FINALLY got around to watching Miyazaki's "The Wind Rises" from 2013. Another film with a fascinating view of early 1900s aviation, but this time more specifically Japan and the lead up to WWII. It is a somewhat fictionalized, fantastical biopic of the real life Jiro Horikoshi, the chief engineer for Mitsubishi that helped create the A5M Zero among many other iconic fighters of the war. As usual, the outspoken pacifist Miyazaki does a MASTERFUL job of showing foreign perspectives on very difficult topics that we don't often see. The gray areas so to speak. The real life Jiro Horikoshi was evidently none too stoked on his masterpieces being used as tools of war, and the film does a beautiful dance addressing that.

It's a story of passion, of love, and is hands down one of THE most beautiful pieces of artwork I have ever seen in my entire life. The score was done by Joe Hisaishi, conducting the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra himself, and that alone can bring one to tears. This one was nominated for a ton of awards, won a bunch, and now I see why. An absolute must-watch in my opinion.

[bennymac]

I thought Night Country was a total complete disappointment. I was pretty hyped for the lead actors, the setting and premise, the showrunners and producers - all of it really. They had everything they needed to make this really great.

I thought the plot was sloppy, the pacing was disjointed, the references to season 1 obvious and lazy, and the finale completely unsatisfying and frankly hard for me to imagine how they thought it was a good way to tie up the story. All of a sudden it’s a group of indigenous women who killed all the white men for wrecking the environment - that could have been a great plot if they didn’t just introduce these characters in the last 10 minutes of the final episode.

My opinion seems to match the majority of viewers but is not in keeping with most professional critics who gave it positive reviews. Reading those reviews it’s like I watched a totally different series. Unclear how this could even be compared in the same sentence to season 1 IMHO. I’d put it on par with season 3.

Pizzolato (the showrunner for season 1) called season 4 “so stupid” and said “I certainly did not have any input on this story - can’t blame me”

[MagnificentUnicorn]

I thought Night Country was a total complete disappointment. I was pretty hyped for the lead actors, the setting and premise, the showrunners and producers - all of it really. They had everything they needed to make this really great.

I thought the plot was sloppy, the pacing was disjointed, the references to season 1 obvious and lazy, and the finale completely unsatisfying and frankly hard for me to imagine how they thought it was a good way to tie up the story. All of a sudden it’s a group of indigenous women who killed all the white men for wrecking the environment - that could have been a great plot if they didn’t just introduce these characters in the last 10 minutes of the final episode.

My opinion seems to match the majority of viewers but is not in keeping with most professional critics who gave it positive reviews. Reading those reviews it’s like I watched a totally different series. Unclear how this could even be compared in the same sentence to season 1 IMHO. I’d put it on par with season 3.

Pizzolato (the showrunner for season 1) called season 4 “so stupid” and said “I certainly did not have any input on this story - can’t blame me”

This is how I feel about Night Country


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[MontuckyFried]

My opinion seems to match the majority of viewers but is not in keeping with most professional critics who gave it positive reviews. Reading those reviews it’s like I watched a totally different series.

That's because so many modern critics base their opinions on "tHE MeSsaGE" instead of storytelling devices, plot cohesiveness, acting quality, etc. Nowhere is this more evident than on Rotten Tomatoes where garbage movies that have a message they like will be like 100% fresh from the critics and 0% from the audience, with things they don't like getting the opposite treatment. Now when audiences AND critics agree something's fresh, then it's usually actually bound to pretty good.

[PB]

That's because so many modern critics base their opinions on "tHE MeSsaGE" instead of storytelling devices, plot cohesiveness, acting quality, etc. Nowhere is this more evident than on Rotten Tomatoes where garbage movies that have a message they like will be like 100% fresh from the critics and 0% from the audience, with things they don't like getting the opposite treatment. Now when audiences AND critics agree something's fresh, then it's usually actually bound to pretty good.

Ha! Renewed for 5th season!

[jackattack]

Everything pales in comparison to True Detective season 1. I hope Severance doesn’t follow suit.

[bennymac]

I’m rewatching season 1 of True Detective to clean my palate after the disappointment of season 4. There is more character depth, suspense, intrigue, and excellent acting in the first 20 minutes of episode1 than the whole season of Night Country. It’s not even close.

[Self Jupiter]

True Detective season 1 was so fucking good

[SKIP IN7RO]

Hello. This is a prepaid call from...BOB!

[toast2266]

Just finished season 4 of true detective. So yeah... agreed with comments above. It was pretty bad. Fairly underwhelmed with Jodie Foster. Agent Starling has gotten kinda shitty in her older age.

Season 1 was one of the best things on TV. It's a bummer that none of the subsequent seasons have come even close to matching its level.

[babybear]

Class Action Park was a super funny documentary

[Mike Pow]

The Regime

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2137503...f_=tt_ov_wr_sm

Very promising start

If you enjoyed

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4686844...20to%2520stain

or

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120885...520the%2520dog

or read any of Gary Shteyngart's stuff

https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...ardianreview24

You'll love it

[SKIP IN7RO]

The Jinx part 2 first episode is great

[nickwm21]

^interested in that….

Anyone else feel like HBO lost its mojo… I couldn’t make it through the first episode of The Regime. House of Dragon felt mailed in. The Idol was real bad. The new True Detective felt like some mid 90s cable garbage…

Hopefully Sympathizer and Penguin are good, but not holding my breath.

Seems like the prestige TV talent moved to Apple….


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[Dantheman]

Who could have guessed that multiple new business daddies, multiple rebrandings, and the worst app in the business would end up hurting the quality of their core product?

[fastfred]

Been an HBO fan for over 25 years always great stuff well except the past five years maybe a few random shows and that's it in those five years see this thread reminds me that I need to cancel

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[Tap]

Regime was shit

[Hott Butt Mud]

^interested in that….

Anyone else feel like HBO lost its mojo… I couldn’t make it through the first episode of The Regime. House of Dragon felt mailed in. The Idol was real bad. The new True Detective felt like some mid 90s cable garbage…

Hopefully Sympathizer and Penguin are good, but not holding my breath.

Seems like the prestige TV talent moved to Apple….


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Agree with all of that. PLUS, now it's not even worth keeping to re-watch old shows since Netflix has been buying some of the HBO classics.

[SKIP IN7RO]

Agree with all of that. PLUS, now it's not even worth keeping to re-watch old shows since Netflix has been buying some of the HBO classics.

https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/jud...rs-1235950436/

“I’m of two minds,” Apatow said. “There’s a part of me that’s an audience member: I’ll go back and rewatch ‘Deadwood’ or ‘NYPD Blue’ or any of the David Milch shows. I understand why people like the comfort food of television. But it’s a scary thing as a creator of television, because of all the streamers going, ‘Wait a second. We don’t need to spend $200 million on a new show. We can just bring back “Barnaby Jones.”‘ They’re going to do it, then you’ll get fewer new shows.”

[mcski]

Barnaby Jones was pretty cool though

[MontuckyFried]

May have to reboot The MAX for this:

Anybody checked out SCAVENGERS REIGN ?

If it’s half as bonkers as the original short film, I gotta imagine it’s really cool.

Looks inspired, in part, by Fantastic Planet and Nausicaa in the Valley of the Wind.

Finally got around to this one and I really enjoyed it!... and apparently so did most the other viewers with an 8.7 on IMDB, and 100% critic/94% audience score on RT. Ended up blasting through the season pretty fast. Your Nausicaa ref is on point for sure. Have you watched it yet? I don't know what the hell's going with the suits over at Max, but they've been on a bit of a tirade lately, axing all sorts of good content while renewing tons of garbage. They apparently put the kibosh on the next season, but in an interesting twist of events, Netflix just picked the rights to the show, so looks like we should eventually get a chance to see what's in store for what's left of the crew of the Demeter! Season 1 concluded quite nicely IMO with juuust the right amount of cliffhanger. Where you're not left feeling frustrated but look forward to the next chapter. The creators did a great job with that.