Tag Archives: Netflix movies

Daredevil Renewed on Netflix!

Are you a fan of Daredevil yet on Netflix? If not, it may be because you haven’t watched it. John and I started watching the weekend it was released and we’re halfway through season 1. (We’d be done by now if we weren’t so busy with other things – like jobs! Haha!)

So I was super excited to read yesterday that it’s already been renewed for season 2! The only thing I’m not so sure about is that the article says they’re changing the show runners. (The show runners are responsible for the story and making the whole show follow their vision.)

On the other hand, Marvel Studios has been doing a great job the last few years in the film entertainment they’ve put out. So I’m going to go with the flow for now and trust that season two will be just as good. Meanwhile, I can hardly wait to finish watching season 1!

You can read the article I read here.

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Netflix Picks: Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the BeastI loved the original Beauty and the Beast TV show in the late 80s. It was both dark and sweet, romantic and full of danger. At least, that’s what I thought when I was 19. When I catch an episode occasionally now, twenty years of changing entertainment later, I think it’s just a bit too melodramatic for me.

Well, that’s one of the parts they kept when they redid the series in 2012. I watched the pilot a couple weeks ago just to try it out. The picture of the couple on Netflix (not the one you see here) is so “glamour-shot”-ized (it looks like a New York City underwear ad, bleck!) that I didn’t even realize it was Kristin Kreuk from Smallville. I love Kristin! I didn’t recognize Jay Ryan, but my Aussie friends will.

They kept the basics of the original show and updated it to make it a bit more modern. Theoretically, I like the changes. Catherine is a police officer instead of a lawyer, and Vincent was part of a super soldier experiment in the military. He was a doctor before, but his family died when the Twin Towers came down so he enlisted.

Now the government bad guys who created him want to kill him like they did the rest of his platoon, and yet Catherine’s cop instincts have her following him trying to figure out how he’s related to her mother’s death. Because of her, the bad guys find him and…

So there’s lots of potentially good storyline, but they play it too melodramatically. Everyone always seems to be full of angst and upset about everyone else’s choices. And some of the more interesting plot bits are glossed over too lightly.

It’s just my opinion, of course. But I found it to be a good show to turn on when I’m doing accounting and just need some background noise to keep me company.

2 stars, Didn’t Like It

Netflix Picks: The Finder

FinderSometimes I like to have the TV on when I’m working around the house or doing number-crunching on the computer. I usually turn on Netflix and try to find something I’ve already seen or something that doesn’t grab my attention so that I stop focusing on what I’m doing.

And sometimes I have to stop using that show as my background noise because I start finding it too interesting. The Finder has been that kind of problem for me.  🙂

The characters are all different and interesting and just a bit odd, but still nice. That’s my favorite combination of character traits! Sometimes I can get work done while the people onscreen help a client. But sometimes I’m so engrossed in the story, I just have to turn it off! LOL!

That happened to me while writing this post! Episode 6 came on – Little Green Men – and it started with the actor TJ Thyne playing Dr Jack Hodgins, a main character from the TV show Bones! It was this funny X-Files-like scene where Hodgins was trying to convince the main character that there are aliens and that he needs to find one. I had to stop it so I could focus here, so I don’t know what happened yet! LOL! But it was a very fun beginning!

If you like shows like Bones and Burn Notice and White Collar and Royal Pains, I think you’ll like this show.

4 stars, Really Liked It

Netflix Picks: 666 Park Avenue

666ParkAveI just started watching 666 Park Avenue last weekend. I was pleasantly surprised that I was a little creeped out right from the beginning. Yay! It actually reminded me a bit of a good scary movie – the right music, the right editing, the right cast. I was hooked.

By the end of the first night, I’d watched three episodes! You see just enough of what is going on to not be lost, but not enough to yawn and feel like you’ve figured it all out. Sure, you kind of know what to expect from this genre, but it’s interesting and engaging.

I noticed in the credits that it’s based off a book of the same title. The book doesn’t look creepy, just interesting, and it’s the first of a series. I downloaded a Kindle sample so I can see if I like it. In the description, the words “chick lit” are used, so I think I might like the book, too. But it’s probably more “fun” than scary, I’d guess.

If you like a little creepy and weird and selling-your-soul-to-the-devil type of stories, I think you’ll like this one. Like I said, I’m only part-way through the season, but I’m having a great time!

4 stars, Really Liked It

Netflix Picks: Skyfall – See It Now!!

MV5BMjM1MzMzOTA3MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTE3NzA1OA@@._V1_SX214_Hey there, my friends! Guess what’s on Netflix right now? The newest James Bond flick, Skyfall! I don’t know if it’s only a weekend special or what. The newest update to the Netflix app downloaded onto John’s Xbox yesterday and when we turned it on last night, there was a huge advertisement for Skyfall.

I don’t need to tell you anything for you to know if you want to see it or not. It was a huge movie and you probably know all about it. This is one of my favorite James Bond films (Daniel Craig is my favorite 007), and John thinks he likes it the best. I love everything about it except the villain. He’s just weird. But it’s still an awesome film!

Just in case it’s only a special for a short while, you might want to settle down and see it this weekend. (Looks like it’s also a free Amazon Instant Video showing right now if you have Amazon Prime.) Give yourself some time as it’s nearly 2 1/2 hours long. We watched it while eating dinner with two glasses of wine. Mmm, lovely relaxing evening. 😉

Enjoy!

5 stars, Loved It

Netflix Picks: House of Cards

House of CardsI feel like it’s practically too late to post my thoughts on the Netflix original series House of Cards since it already had all the hype during the awards season.

I’ll tell you this about it: the first episode drew me in. I was intrigued by the intrigue at the White House.

BUT…

It began to get very sexual, very quickly. Not that interesting to me. The screen time became more and more about who was sleeping with whom and why, and less about the original issues that were interesting at the start.

AND THEN…

The sexual nature became more degrading. I had to look away from the screen more often to keep from taking in the parts I didn’t want to see. Since it was never on network television, there are apparently no rules as to how low they can go. I like Kevin Spacey as an actor; I have less than zero interest in seeing him naked and acting like a despicable jerk to a woman. Yuck.

The series is well-done, but the content went from interesting to disgusting for me. So while I started out thinking of it as a 4-star show, I’m afraid the content changed too much to keep my rating high.

2 stars, Didn’t Like It  (Averaging the 4-stars of some good content, and the 1-star of some awful content)

Netflix Picks: Switched at Birth

51yX+s+oHLL._SY300_The idea for the ABC Family show, Switched at Birth, intrigued me, so I put in in my Instant Queue a long time ago, maybe even last year. But it’s only been the last few months that I started taking time to watch it at lunch.

I’m hooked. At least for now.

The actors who play the teenagers are the most intriguing and the most three-dimensional. The adult characters are much more stereotypical, though they sometimes surprise you. (The actors are good, but too often the things they do and say are exactly what you expect parents in a show about teens to do and say.)

There are lots of interesting family issues going on in the show, and even when sometimes it verges into soap-opera-esque, it keeps me curious what is going to happen. And sometimes, the characters actions and reactions really move me. I can’t help it, I’m intrigued.

4 stars, Really Liked It

Netflix Picks: Continuum

ContinuumEarlier in this column, I talked about a futuristic movie that we didn’t really like. This week I’ve got a futuristic TV show that we liked a lot!

Continuum is about a police officer from 2077 who gets sent back to 2012 because of <insert cool way it happens here>. She has to figure out how to manage in a world that has practically no tech compared to her world – and she does so believably.

There is also a past-future connection that is pretty cool. I can’t say another word for fear I’ll spoil it for you.

There are several recurring characters and I pretty much liked them all. Some things leave you guessing, and other things you may guess it right half the time – Ah-HAA! – and be surprised half the time. (I like being right and being surprised, so this was a good combination for me! LOL!)

They’ve recently added the second season, so we can find out what happens next – sweet! If you like futuristic cop shows, you have to start watching Continuum.

4 stars, Really Liked It

Netflix Picks: Imposter

ImposterThis is one of those bizarre futuristic movies that I normally love. In Imposter, Gary Sinese’s character is suspected of being a replicant planted by aliens.

The movie has a great cast, and I really like the premise, but it’s hard to explain why we didn’t like it. My best word for it is “tangled.” I understand that you need to not give away the ending, but…the way it was put together seemed tangled.

Let me say this: if you’ve got a free afternoon and you like this kind of movie, and maybe you’ve got some chocolate or some popcorn, watch it. Maybe you’ll think it was great in spite of what we considered its flaws.

I don’t want to tell you more and give anything away, because there were some good parts, but overall we just didn’t care for it.

2 stars, Didn’t Like It

Netflix Picks: Being Human – UK – Update

Being Human UKIn January, I rated the U.K. version of Being Human 4 stars, meaning we Really Liked It, per the Netflix ratings system. At the time we’d seen the first two seasons, and we both really enjoyed them.

When I noticed that there were new episodes on, we decided to get back into it. We got through a very tumultuous third season with a lot of crazy things happening. Some of it was rather over the top, but it’s a show about a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost, so some “over the top” is expected.

However, the season three finale was so drastic that we weren’t sure the next season could actually be good. (I won’t give any details and spoil it.) By the end of season three, I think we changed our opinion to 3 stars, Liked It.

Then we watched the first episode of season four. “So, want me to delete it from the Instant Queue?” John asked.

Yes, it was that bad. What we thought might be a shark-jumping end to season three, became a shark-jumping-while-juggling-burning-batons beginning to season four. I hoped that maybe it was just that the writers were in a panic to keep their audience and that season four episode two would return to giving us what we liked. But no, I couldn’t even make it to the end of episode two. 🙁

Please comment if you’ve seen the rest of season four and you think we should try to get through it because it turns out to be good. But for now, it’s no longer in our queue and our rating for the first two episodes of season four is –

2 Stars, Didn’t Like It