#Streaming (Reviews)

[litcityblues]

'Paradise' By The Creepy Billionaire Bunker Cave Light

I hadn't intended to watch this show, but (yet again) it began flooding onto my TikTok feed at such volume that I got tired of seeing it in bits and pieces and just sat down and watched the damn thing. Don't get me wrong: there is a lot to like about this show. It scratches one of my favorite things: what happens after the end of the world!

Seriously: 2012 is a shit movie to me*, for many reasons, but a far more interesting film would be 2013. I understand that doomsday looks pretty awesome on the big screen, but the day after doomsday is a far more interesting story to me, and Paradise delivers on that. At this point, I'm assuming you (like me) have seen enough on the internet to know that it's set in a city-sized underground bunker in Colorado, three years after a doomsday event.

(If you didn't know that, apologies for the inevitable spoilers. But also, this is one of those shows that the internet really ruins in some ways. If you go into this cold, the reveal at the end of the first episode must have hit like a ton of bricks. I (thanks to the internet/TikTok) knew that it was coming, but after that, I made a concerted effort to lean away from learning anything more, and it paid off, to some degree.)

Sterling K. Brown stars as Xavier Collins, who starts his morning routine as usual and then heads to his job as a Secret Service Agent guarding the President of the United States, Cal Bradford (James Marsden), whom he finds has been murdered by an unknown assailant overnight. Collins frantically tries to put together as much as he can before calling it in: the President's safe has been raided. The security cameras have been frozen for a few hours after his last contact with Bradford the night before. One of the last people to see him was high-ranking Secret Service Agent Nicole Robinson (Krys Marshall), who was having an affair with the President. We find out (via flashbacks-- there are a lot of those in this show) that Collins was promoted to the President's detail after taking a bullet for him and that the relationship between the two has broken down: Collins tells Bradford that he'll forgive Bradford when he sleeps again and he'll sleep again when Bradford is dead.

And just like that, we're off and running with the mystery. Paradise weaves in flashbacks-- so little by little, we learn what has happened to the rest of the world. Turns out, they had been planning for an event of some kind for quite some time-- one of the Chief Billionaires in the Bunker, Samantha Redmond, codename Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson) helped to excavate and build the bunker. After the death of her son, Dylan, she finds a grief therapist, Dr. Gabriela Torabi (Sarah Shahi), who helps put her back together again and winds up in the bunker as well, helping to manage the trauma and grief that people are (inevitably) feeling.

We find out more: it's a supervolcano eruption under Antarctica that fractures the ice sheet and sends a gigantic tsunami racing across the world. Collins was briefed and put on the list as a reward for saving the President's life, but when the eruption happens sooner than they thought, his wife, Teri (Enuka Okuma), is stranded in Atlanta, and despite President Bradford's promise to retrieve her, they don't make it in time.

Collins eventually figures out who is actually calling the shots in the bunker, and unsurprisingly, it's not the former Vice President, now President Henry Baines (Matt Malloy); it's Sinatra. Sinatra who covered up what really happened when they sent out an expedition to investigate conditions on the surface. Sinatra, who ordered the death of Agent Billy Pace (Jon Beavers), who was about to reveal to Collins that the surface, in fact, was more habitable than they thought, and more importantly, there are survivors.

Look, I've already spoiled the big hook about this show (the post-apocalyptic bunker thing), so I kind of have to lean away from the other spoilers as best I can. Needless to say, Collins does figure out what happened to President Bradford. Do they set up a second season of this show in a very interesting way? Yes, they do. Will I be watching the second season of this show? In all likelihood, yes. I'm onboard, and it gets a lot more interesting in the finale.

But let's just say that I have... questions. And it's not to say that the show won't get around to answering these questions at some point, but... I'm still left with questions. How does the Bunker work? How do they get food? Consistent, stable food supply for 25,000 people? How do they get fresh water? How does their fake sunlight compare to the real thing? Would it be enough? Would they see deleterious effects from not being exposed to actual sunlight?

Also, why is there a President of the United States still? Bradford is trying to be all hush-hush about his affair with Robinson so he can serve out his term and get a divorce-- at this point, who cares? Just get the damn divorce if that's what you want? Not to mention that he's under the thumb of his old man (Gerald McRaney) who pretty much tells him (in a flashback) that he's gonna be a politician if he's not going to be an oilman and doesn't give his grown ass son a choice in the matter and Bradford (again, a grown ass man) just sort of takes it and goes along with it. He's a complex fellow, but doesn't exactly seem the type to lead the 25,000 survivors into a post-apocalyptic future. He seems like he wants to be an English Teacher and drink a lot.

And while, yes, I assume that if the government knew of an actual extinction-level event, there would be a bunker somewhere, let's be real: I doubt it would be this cool. This show places an awful lot of faith in the competence of billionaires (because let's be real: the current crop today ain't Andrew Carnegie. They're not sending their best) and just glosses over the other 24,000 or so people. Who are they? What do they do? Does anybody get paid? How does this place actually work? (Even more so when you realize that the show appears to be strongly suggesting that Sinatra is a couple of French fries short of a happy meal as well.)

Overall: I am intrigued enough that I will tune in for another season of this show. The cast is excellent, the mystery is well constructed, and the reveal is unexpected, and in a fun bonus, Collins' son, James, is played by Percy Daggs IV, and that name seems familiar, it's because his Dad, Percy Daggs III played Wallace Fennel in Veronica Mars. My Grade: *** out of ****

[willyhoos]

alfred livestreaming his breakdown to the entire us public (as his pr team devolves into chaos)

[jermaobsession]

jerma and poke are such goofballs in the lethal-company-like death lobby

[reunitedinterlude]

dan playing with phil's hair

[mgu-h]

Lando Review 214/? • June 2021 • Connor's Twitch Stream

[submarine-cinema]

[plu-mo]

peakoh update doots yayge

i made a self indulgent character out of Elosie hoo hoo ha haacringe cringe cringe someone beat me to death cringe-

the concept is that she’s nene’s boring boring roommate. buuut she covers the rent when nene falls short- so nene really cant boot her. (especially when certain missions take longer than expected to complete)

i will probably never draw this eloise alt again- but the doodle sheet was fun lol

[decaf-lesbian]

i'm still here tbh

[tubbytarchia]

I'm making a "Jimmy and Joel being very normal" compilation because I've always had a need to share with the world how long that compilation would be and if no one else is gonna do it then I will. It's 32 minutes long so far. If you have even the vaguest of memories of some rarer moments from streams that people havent talked about before please feel free to inbox me about it

[aleppothemushroom]

Pixar is at its best when they tackle a very simple story/idea and execute it with as much creativity as possible. Win or Lose is a delightful non-linear story about imperfect characters trying as hard as possible to be perfect. Each episode does an excellent job at putting you in the headspace of its designated focused character. Not to mention the wonderful and expressive, along with the dips into other animation styles, make it an absolute joy to watch. I HIGHLY recommend it. This is the kind of stuff Disney should be doing more often. I love the heck out of this middle school softball team and associates. Go Pickles!

But now I need to go off on a little tangent here. For those of you unaware, one of the kids on the softball team was designed to be trans and the episode focused on her was going to delve into that. Disney, under pressure from MAGA Conservatives, made Pixar cut all that out. Disney, I would just like to say, you are a bunch of cowards. You've made it very clear that even though you can take risks, you'd rather stick to making safe, easy money than afford losing a couple million dollars out of your 200 billion bank account. These brainwashed people are not worth listening to. They are literally running our country into the ground. And you know what? I can still see leftovers of the trans storyline in the final product. It's especially worse considering the kids' voice actor is actually trans and was very upset when you forced the change. You are the company that's supposedly a friend to all people no matter what race, culture, or identity they are. But really it's all about making more money. Well, good luck with that Lilo & Stitch remake. I'm sure it'll make a billion dollars. That's what you want, right?

[litcityblues]

Take Notes, Marvel.

The Batman was the best Batman movie I had seen in years. Colin Farrell was outstanding as The Penguin, so when I saw that they were spinning off his character into a series for HBO Max, I was intrigued. Then I sat down and watched it and I'm going to deliver what might be a sizzling hot take here, but I'll put the marker down now and we can see if I'm right down the road.

This is the most interesting thing a superhero franchise has done in years. You can argue it's the most interesting thing the Batman franchise has done, ever. And while Marvel may be a Box Office juggernaut, the bloom is definitely off the rose of late and DC might, just maybe... be figuring things out? If they are, Marvel should take notes, because The Penguin is the kind of thing they should be doing but aren't. (This is why quality matters more than quantity. Turn down the firehouse and take your time, Marvel could be hitting home runs again in short order, IMO.)

What's the one thing we, as viewers never really get to see when it comes to all these superhero movies? The villain's rise to power. These villains just show up and we get hints of their backstory and their reasoning. We see Selina Kyle get thrown out the window in Batman Returns. We see Jack Napier go down into the vat of chemicals and emerge as The Joker in Batman-- but we don't get to see how they get to the top of proverbial heap. We just get to see how Batman deals with them.

Does this make The Penguin a villain origin story? Yes and no-- Oswald Cobb (Colin Farrell) is a scheming opportunist when this show starts, but hardly a criminal mastermind. The show opens more or less on the heels of where the movie left off. The seawall has been breached. The Crown Point neighborhood is destroyed. Everything is a mess and Carmine Falcone is dead, leaving a power vacuum in the Underworld that Oz tries to exploit.

He learns that Alberto Falcone (Michael Zegen) has a plan to revolutionize their drug operations with a new drug called Bliss. Oz kills Alberto and when his sister Sofia (Cristin Milioti) is released from Arkham, fighting her reputation as a killer and a psychopath (she's been given the nickname The Hangman) she wants answers. Unfortunately, the rest of the Falcone family doesn't like her, doesn't trust her, and has no intention of giving her any actual control.

Oz, sensing even more opportunities decides to sow discord among the Falcones and between them and the other major crime family in the city, the Maronis. He- along with a low-level gangster, Vic (Rhenzy Feliz) that he recruits touches off a war between the two families, but it backfires on Oz. He is forced underground and Sofia murders her entire family (with the exception of her little cousin Gia) and assumes control of the Falcone empire, rejecting the name and taking her mother's maiden name of Gigante instead. Cooperating with the last surviving Maroni (Clancy Brown) they hunt for Oz.

Oz rallies the other medium to small-time gangs/criminal organizations and decides to center himself in Crown Point. Still damaged, the neighborhood still doesn't have power until Oz squeezes a local politician to get the job done. That wins Oz some loyalty but unfortunately doesn't buy him enough time. Sofia figures out his location and blows up his lab. She kidnaps his Mom and tries to force him to admit the truth about what happened to his brothers to her but the seeds Oz planted pay off. The deputies of all the small-time gangs kill their leaders and take over. He out-maneuvers Sofia and gets her sent back to Arkham and as he dances in his shiny new penthouse, the Bat Signal lights up in the sky.

Cristin Millioti comes very close to stealing the entire show straight out from under Colin Farrell. His portrayal of Oz makes him seem like a scheming opportunist more than anything else and not a monster, but by the end, you see him for what he is: obsessed with power at all costs and absolutely a monster. Millioti's portrayal of Sofia Falcone/Gigante reveals so many levels to the character. She wants acceptance from her family, but she also wants revenge on those people in her family who locked her up. She wants power and control in Gotham, but she also wants to get away from the life she has and just leave. Her menace isn't as loud as Oz's, but it's quieter and comes across as infinitely more deadly. She becomes a force to be reckoned with over the course of the show and that's what's so fascinating about this. We see the birth of a criminal mastermind unfolding before us and it's able to explore nuances of that journey than a simple Batman movie cannot, due to time constraints.

Overall: I loved this. Batman as a franchise seems to vacillate between hyper-realism and camp so it's refreshing to find a new twist: Hardcore Ever-So-Slightly Old School Noir. (Because Batman is, of course, the World's Greatest Detective. It says so right on the comic book.) The Penguin slides right into that milleu without missing a beat. I don't know if there's more of this planned- and I almost hope this is it, because it would be hard to top this, but I do know that even if this strand of the Batman-verse doesn't fit in with whatever plans James Gunn is cooking for the DCU, I am absolutely going to watch the sequel to The Batman. Especially if The Penguin is involved. My Grade: **** out of ****

[please-let-this-work-oh-my-god]

NO POCS IN 2.2 WE LOST

(Anjo Nala is limited btw)

THE NEW SKINS THOUGH

PV: https://youtu.be/cWFz-l5vYfY?si=UcRmfclQrq8Zp21s (MASSIVE SPOILER WARNING FOR 1.9 ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE) (skip to 2:23 to NOT get spoiled)

[paint-n-thinner]

SUPER DUPER IMPORTANT PSA!!!!

Many may not know, but this show (👇👇) is going to be releasing on netflix on NOVEMBER 14TH!!!

I need everyone that follows me and has access to a netflix account to stream it so a season 2 gets greenlit! I NEED A SECOND SEASON OR I DIE!!!! DO YOU WANT ME TO DIE? NO? THEN STREAM IT LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT CAUSE IT DOES!!

get hypnotized 🌀🌀 oooo you want to watch the fairly oddparents so bad oooo🌀🌀

[mgu-h]

Lando Review 141/? • Apr 2023 • Twitch

[supercantaloupe]

had the pleasure of catching the opening night of marriage of figaro tonight. yet again wolf trap knocks it out of the fucking park. some of my vaguely-but-not-really sorted thoughts will be under the cut but tldr fantastic production, all at once fun, funny, and thoughtful. not sure if it's the rush of seeing the thing live or just the production being so good on its own but this is probably to date my favorite marriage of figaro that i've seen

the performance venue for this is inside an old barn which was really a lovely space for such a thing: cozy, not too big but not too small, surprisingly good acoustics. admittedly there were two beams that slightly obstructed the view from the balcony seating lol but it wasn't too bad. the designers also deliberately continued the look of the barn into their set design which was a really nice touch. also, and maybe this is a weird detail, but it smelled SO nice in there. like old wood and forest and hay

i arrived just in time for a pre show lecture given by a music history lecturer/phd from maryland. most of her spiel was stuff i already knew about the opera lol but towards the end there were some insights on the production design and the director's vision which were kind of a nice teaser. i regret not sticking around between the lecture and the show to chat with her since just before the talk started we chatted very briefly about both being musicology grad students and she said we should chat more. but i had to use the restroom before the show and she disappeared after that. sad...maybe i'll look up her email or something

also renee fleming was there?? was not expecting that. although in hindsight it's not a surprise since it was opening night and she's in some kind of artistic advisory role at WTO. i was in the lobby during intermission watching a slideshow they'd set up with design development information on the show when she walked past me to a hightop with some of the other organization bigwigs with nametags and i was like . wait was that renee fucking fleming LOL. didn't see her at all after the show otherwise i might've asked for a photo lmao but i imagine she was sequestered in an opening night VIPs reception by the bar or something away from us commoners so, unsurprising

speaking of design. the production was very much focused on the wit, ingenuity, and camaraderie of the female characters, and how they are able to outsmart and overpower their jealous male counterparts. in service of this they designed the set and costumes to be very heavily inspired by pablo picasso -- the count himself is all but a reflection of the artist himself, as much of the set is built from his studio strewn with canvases and sculptures, his painting ladder. the backdrop and lighting and set pieces often featured sprays of blue along with bolder cubist designs, and very geometric and bold costuming elements on the servants' and especially female characters' outfits. for the count's part, and most of the other male characters, they're dressed much more "straightforwardly" and less caricaturishly as susanna, marcellina, and the countess begin acts i and ii. during the overture we even see the count admiring the figures of each woman in turn and then casting them aside for the next -- reflecting both the real life artist's and the fictional count's misogynistic conduct towards them. it's pretty smart, and quite well done. everything is extremely pretty and attractive to look at, the colors and designs are bold and appealing, but the respect is never misplaced and over the course of the opera we see the women shedding the artist/count's version of themselves and embracing their own, more natural, more personal selves instead.

elaborating on this: the female characters all wear costumes and makeup that are heavily inspired by picasso's artwork, which contrasts with the male characters' costumes which are more down to earth (colorful and patterned sometimes, sure, but not literally constructed and ornamented and made up like a cubist portrait). at the top of act ii the countess even has a dab of blue under her right eye -- it's a beautiful way to use the design style to impart her emotional state. anyway, over the course of acts i and ii, susanna and the countess gradually shed parts of their costumes, the most geometric and caricaturish, the least natural and comfortable parts. by acts iii and iv they are in plain dresses and naturalistic makeup rather than cubist face paint, showing how they're growing from and breaking free from the artist/count's view and control of them. marcellina also sheds her picasso-esque costume elements in favor of a more normal dress by the end of act iii. in a word, this THRILLED me. i absolutely LOVE it when costume design is taken full advantage of by the creative team, and is used as a storytelling device in itself as part of the whole product. it's such great stagecraft

the vocal and acting performances were all fantastic. i can't even really single out who was a standout because they were all just top notch. wolf trap always manages to scout some really high caliber talent, it's such a treat to get to see and hear

also, i appreciate that WTO seems to understand color conscious casting. it did not escape my notice that, of the main cast, the count was the most conspicuously white actor, while susanna, figaro, and the countess were all black.

i should say also that this is the most convincing the "swapped clothes to fool the count" has ever been. first of all susanna and the countess' actresses looked similar. second of all, they staged it so that the wedding celebration/dance at the tail end of act iii and into act iv were a masquerade, so most of the cast is wearing masks at least part of the time, giving extra reason why it would be hard to tell who's who. third, the lighting did a good job of actually being dark and moody and a reasonable facsimile of being obscure and shadowy while still being functional theatrical lighting that lets the audience see what's happening on the stage. very well done

actually the lighting in act iv deserves its own point. it was SUPER pretty. all dark teal and indigo, with dappled shadows projected from above onto the stage, and orange paper lanterns hung around the perimeter above the stage. combined with the foliage strewn about to give the effect of the garden, it was just beautiful to look at

anyway i'm running out of steam so i'm just gonna rapid fire some misc details that i noticed and enjoyed

when the count reveals cherubino in the first act by pulling the sheet off him cherubino's just got his ass up and pointed directly at the audience LOL. and while there's general confusion and distraction he keeps trying to scoot/crawl/slide across the floor and out of the room but the count keeps dragging him back in

the chorus reprises their tune in praise of the count after he tells them to wait for the marriage ceremony until later with visible grumpiness and lethargy lol

the count cut off cherubino's ponytail during non piu andrai 😭 bullying him

when antonio the gardener enters in act ii he enters through the window and you can see him put up a ladder just before he climbs in. and then he pushes the ladder down after he's in? and then later when figaro & co are getting rid of him they just fucking. push him back out the window 😭 and figaro steals his flask and dumps it out on him...

another incredible "sua madre" moment a la the met with a black figaro and a white marcellina lmao. also appreciated how bartolo looked like he kept trying to wiggle his way out of sight until finally giving in and saying "what the hell. let's get married"

when susanna sees figaro all chummy with marcellina and she thinks he's marrying her she straight up knees him in the groin LOL? and he spends the next like two minutes singing from a curled up ball on the floor 😭

the entire family reveal section the count and don curzio are just in the back looking confused and frustrated and chugging wine lmao

cherubino doesn't get a chance to change out of his village girl's dress for the wedding so he's just chilling with barbarina in a dress the whole time until the dance when he pulls it off to reveal his regular shirt and trousers underneath the whole time

during the wedding dances at the end of act iii a lot happens all at once with all the main/supporting characters and ensemble running around and crossing paths. i think this is when the count hands off the letter and pin to barbarina but if it is i didn't spot it -- what i did spot was cherubino stealing antonio's flask and helping himself, and antonio spending like the entire time in the back either dancing goofily by himself or fussing with the flower arrangements

there was a brief moment in act iv when characters were transitioning on/off stage where the continuo player (continuist?) (guy at the harpsichord) (they had a real harpsichord!) played like two measures of "if i only had a brain" from the wizard of oz. such a tiny silly detail to throw in but it was cute and i loved it

honestly shoutout to the harpsichord. he did a nice job with the continuo and i really appreciated that he played for a spell during most of the arias and ensembles as well, as though part of the orchestra. i don't know if that's common, i don't think it is, but if it is it's rarely very noticeable. probably because the harpsichord is usually positioned in the pit with the rest of the orchestra and, if playing with them tutti, can get drowned out. but in this case the orchestra was under the stage while the harpsichord was completely separate on the floor in front of the stage on his own, and i suppose it could stand on its own better from there. point being, there were a few times during arias when there were extra little fills/flourishes/ornaments in the instrumental accompaniment played by the harpsichord, and it was a nice little extra touch

nice use of masks in act iv. the count had a bull (i think), recalling the bull head bust onstage throughout the show, that represents the artist/count, but i think it also recalls the whole cuckold's horns thing. susanna in disguise as the countess had a horse mask. the two of these together recalled actual picasso artworks depicting himself and his lover/muse apparently, which is a fun and thoughtful detail! again i love how the costuming plays into the setting and staging, and how smartly fit a real world figure and his attitudes towards women and prestige have been applied to this opera. cherubino's was a wolf i think. i don't think this had much symbolism behind it other than him being obnoxious

the count spends the whole finale (after susanna and figaro make up) disheveled and panstless 😭 he ends the show like this 😭 like he's the last person onstage after the final ensemble looking there alone and sad and pathetic before the lights cut it's so funny

also they end the show implying that the countess is divorcing his ass LOL? the last thing she does during the final chorus is pull off the ring he gave to "susanna" (her in disguise), hand it to him, and walk away, leaving him alone on the stage in his boxers and half buttoned shirt and cape and shitty rustled up hair. go queen ig

genuinely, such a fun and thoughtful and well done production. i had SUCH a blast getting to see it. really hoping this one gets added to WTO's video streaming lineup in the future, because it's such a treat and i wish more people could see it outside of its limited run here. if/when it ever drops, i'm gonna stream that shit immediately, rest assured

[demigodofstories]

Just finished Season 2 of The Recruit on Netflix:

“Owen Hendricks, Peter Kavinsky & Jesus Adams Foster. Noah Centineo gives one HELL of a performance! At 28, Noah has such a promising career ahead of him. He can act, he’s a genuine talent, humble human being & one HELL of a hot ass man!

Noah deserves to get a season 3 and 4 of this show! He also needs to be offered more roles, big or small.

He knows how to build a story & character all while capturing the audience to fall in love with him/his characters. Born to act!

Props to you Noah if you see this, keep up the good work.

Oh, Marvel Studios call him for a role would ya!”