What Are You Watching?

[Hawki]

And to compliment the reading/playing threads, here's a "watching" one - TV, films, etc. I've watched more than what's listed, but in the case of TV and cartoons, I rank them on a by-season basis rather than by-episode. So, for stuff watched this year:

Cartoons

The Excellent

Dungeons and Dragons: Season 2

The Good

Dungeons and Dragons: Season 1

The Okay

WildCATS: Season 1

Dungeons and Dragons: Season 3

Movies

The Excellent

James Bond: Skyfall

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

The Good

Shrek

Mass Effect: Paragon Lost

Oblivion

Star Trek: Into Darkness

Kung Fu Panda

The Okay

Tomorrow: When the War Began

Haute Cusine

Tron

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Iron Man 2

Rock of Ages

Tron: Legacy

Hitchcock

The Bad

Killzone: Intercept

Argo

Stage Plays

The Excellent

War Horse

The Good

Yes, Prime Minister

Television

The Excellent

Arrow: Season 1

The Good

A Game of Thrones: Season 2

Doctor Who: Season 7B

[DemolitionSquid]

Television

The Excellent

Game Of Thrones Season 3 (RED WEDDING!)

The Good

Adventure Time

Defiance

The Okay

Doctor Who Season 7B

Movies

The Good

Iron Man 3

The Okay

Star Trek: Into Darkness

[Hawki]

You used my system? Cool.

Anyway, rest assured that come the airing of its last episode, I'll be making a judgement on season 3 of A Game of Thrones, it'll definately go in the "excellent" or "good" categories.

[DemolitionSquid]

I used your system because it was constant.

[Hawki]

Ah, derp. Meant to type "used."

[Quirel]

Movies

The Excellent

Iron Man 3

The Good

The Hobbit

The Okay

Star Trek: Into Darkness

"Infinite Desert of Hatred"

Star Trek: Wrath of Khan

Television

The Excellent

Breaking Bad
Forward Unto Dawn

The Good

Babylon 5

The Terrible

Halo: Infinity*
Tenga Toppen Gurren Lagaan
Death Note
Code Geass

*Yesh. Spartan Ops missions are "Spartan Ops", while Spartan Ops cutscenes are "Halo: Infinity". Enough to make me count them as separate pieces of fiction.

[Gradius]

Breaking Bad

Man I can't wait for this show to come back.

[Hawki]

So, continuing the thread, general thoughts/responses:

Defiance: Show I'd like to get into, but I'll likely have to wait until it comes out on DVD. Heard it has a rocky start but has gotten better.

Doctor Who: Truth be told, I almost put this in the "okay" category. Still, on a by episode basis, the average quality puts it into "good" for me, as 7B (IMO) consisted mainly of "okay" episodes with a few "good" or "excellent" ones, but no "bad" ones (except maybe Nightmare of Steel, but even that had distinct pros). While I prefer the Davies era, Moffat's still got his writing chops, as the mindscrew at the end of the season demonstrated...

Iron Man 3: Huh. Can't comment, but it's surprising to find people who aren't screaming "bloody murder" over the Mandarin plot twist.

Star Trek: Never thought I'd see anyone rate Wrath of Khan below Into Darkness, given that ID is basically "WoK lite." Or so goes the consensus, as I've only gone by reviews/retrospectives for WoK, the Abrams films being the only Star Trek films I've seen (unfortunately). Still, I'd call it "good" in the end. The plotholes are there, but not enough to completely derail the movie IMO, it had good character moments, action itself was decent, and it actually felt like a Star Trek movie in some areas, which is more than I can say for the previous one.

The Hobbit: I'd call this "good" too. I kinda feel I'm being too generous with that assertion, but still, I found it enjoyable. Have to wonder about part 2 though...apparently Tauriel visited Hyrule before coming back to Mirkwood.

Halo: Discussed at length why I consider Forward Unto Dawn to be "okay," so won't go back there unless it's brought up again. As for Infinity...well, it's strange, but for better or worse, I think the cutscenes easily form a story of their own that the actual gameplay barely contributes to (or so goes word of mouth, only seen cutscenes). Still, I'd rate it as "okay." Plot's kinda "meh," Sarah "Eggheads" Palmer has cemented herself as one of the Haloverse's most dislikeable characters for me, but still, Thorne and Halsey are relatively interesting, and Lasky's still a decent guy. I'm not exactly clamouring for a season 2, but at the end of the day, I guess it's...okay. But 'less okay' than FuD, so take what you can get.

[Turalyon]

Iron Man 3: Huh. Can't comment, but it's surprising to find people who aren't screaming "bloody murder" over the Mandarin plot twist.

It only bothers those comic book fans who are invested in that history with the Mandarin. It seemed like a middle finger to those fans but that's part of the reason why I personally liked that twist. The third act of the movie was a bit naff though...

Star Trek: Never thought I'd see anyone rate Wrath of Khan below Into Darkness, given that ID is basically "WoK lite." Or so goes the consensus, as I've only gone by reviews/retrospectives for WoK, the Abrams films being the only Star Trek films I've seen (unfortunately). Still, I'd call it "good" in the end. The plotholes are there, but not enough to completely derail the movie IMO, it had good character moments, action itself was decent, and it actually felt like a Star Trek movie in some areas, which is more than I can say for the previous one.

Wrath of Khan is and can only be appreciated by Trekkies who have seen The Original Series since Kirk and co. are quite a bit more mature during that movie and have been through a lot up to that point. Without being too spoilerish, the sense of loss is more heavily felt in WoK compared to the equivalent shown in Into Darkness. I reckon ID would have worked even better for all had it distanced itself more from WoK/old Star Trek altogether (the pandering of the old guard by re-imagining the classic WoK scene had the opposite of the intended effect) and being more unique as the first Abrams Star Trek movie had already done so.

[Hawki]

It only bothers those comic book fans who are invested in that history with the Mandarin. It seemed like a middle finger to those fans but that's part of the reason why I personally liked that twist.

I've seen plenty of non-comic fans pissed off by it as well though.

I'm kinda projecting, and as I haven't seen it, I can't really judge, but IMO, I feel Marvel missed an opportunity with its MCU. Via the chitauri, there'd be a concievable reason for the Mandarin getting his ten rings, especially since the MCU seems to be gravitating more towards fantastical elements. Again, haven't seen it, but with Stark's last two movie villains both being on the technological end of the spectrum, a fantastical element could have balanced things out.

Without being too spoilerish, the sense of loss is more heavily felt in WoK compared to the equivalent shown in Into Darkness. I reckon ID would have worked even better for all had it distanced itself more from WoK/old Star Trek altogether (the pandering of the old guard by re-imagining the classic WoK scene had the opposite of the intended effect) and being more unique as the first Abrams Star Trek movie had already done so.

In a sense. I'd have preferred it to have actually had the guts to kill off Kirk, or the guts to kill off Khan, or let him escape, not bring back Kirk after what could have amounted to a moving death scene (WoK notwithstanding) and put Khan in cryo with the notion of "well, maybe we'll bring him back, maybe not, it just depends ya know?" Heck, I'd have preferred Cumberbatch to be an actual individual named John Harrison or heck, even Gary Mitchell, his death in the comics notwithstanding.

Still, can't have everything. Good movie overall, could have been better, would have preferred many things to be different, still better than its predecessor at the end of the day.