I've kept my subscription with them all this time. So far, it's been the most useful $8/month for a digital service. Netflix is nice and all to get the DVDs if you want them, but since I keep up with new movies and not old ones, I have no need for Netflix's DVD mail service. Redbox works fine for that. Since I don't stream movies that often anyway, Netflix and Redbox instant are not necessary and if I do want to watch an old streaming video at random, I've got AmazonPrime. I utilize AmazonPrime for the 2-day shipping, not the Instant, which puts me into the "fringe benefit" category of Amazon instant. So, in all, Hulu has been the best $8/month for me. I'm mostly paying for the service because I can watch Hulu on my iPad or iPhone anywhere, which is worth it to me. I don't really pay for cable TV (my TV hasn't been hooked up in 1.5 years and we pay the BASIC TV channels so I would get like 15 channels -- only wanted the internet, really) so the $8/month makes up for that.
Since many shows are streaming on Hulu, I can watch them the next day on Hulu! USA Network is still behind on shows (like a week or so) and that's annoying, but at least the rest I can watch right away. I will say, Hulu needs to do more commercials, though. The fact I got the Subway $5 sub song in my head after one night of watching 3 shows means they played it way too much! At any rate, this season is all about Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Dracula (starts in Oct), and Sleepy Hollow for me. I will look into Almost Human, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Ironside, Masterchef Junior, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (really doubtful about this), Reign, The Blacklist, The Crazy Ones, and The Tomorrow People. Of the latter list, mostly The Crazy Ones and The Blacklist I'm looking forward to watching. This past week was the "official" start to fall TV shows, but next week is the really BIG week for shows to start.
This week I watched only Bones, Ironside (early pilot release on Hulu), Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Sleepy Hollow. Ironside will be interesting, I guess. I know it's been called a procedural crime-drama, but the creators are saying it's going to be character driven by Ironside who is a wheelchair bound detective. First one was okay. We'll see. Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a workplace comedy so think The Office, but a police station instead. They quasi-solve crimes during the half-hour too. First one wasn't too bad. Not sure how much I'll keep up with it. I'm not a big comedy fan, so we'll see. Sleepy Hollow was interesting. They have an interesting premise, but we'll see the direction they take with it. I'm mostly worried the main story will drag on forever. My thought is they'll finish the main story this season and pick up another next, but we don't know, yet. The premise, at this point, is with the four horsemen and Revelations from the Bible. Should be interesting. Pilot wasn't bad, but we'll see.
I've noticed there are fewer crime-dramas and more period or fantasy shows (e.g., Dracula, Reign, Almost Human, etc). Sure, some of them are also crime shows like The Blacklist or Ironside, but you definitely don't see as many as you did 3 years ago. Some were cancelled after last season (e.g., Body of Proof, The Glades, CSI: NY, etc), but I think with the popularity of Once Upon a Time, Game of Thrones, Sherlock, Downton Abbey, etc, we're heading towards more "edgy" and character driven TV shows (The Blacklist and last year's The Following are prime examples of "edgy" crime-dramas). Not to mention the popularity of throwing old into the new (e.g., Sleepy Hollow). We're also looking for the next "sci-fi" show. Fringe concluded last season and no one has been able to replace Lost. Revolution seems to be going okay. I started it last year and never made it past the 2nd episode (not on purpose). I stopped trying after I made it through some other sci-fi show and they cancelled it!
I am hoping there are some shows this season where I really like them because not a lot carried over from last year and shows like Bones, Criminal Minds, CSI, etc are becoming "old" and every season that passes makes me nervous they'll be cancelled soon. I still haven't recovered from Numb3rs ending. One of my favorite shows and I still rewatch the entire show yearly. At any rate, we'll see how the fall season goes!
In other news, Monday is my presentation for the Aquarium. Should go well. After that, I'm pretty much finished. Reading is going up and down in weird spikes...I think I'm simply adrift right now on what to read...I've tried rereading old books, tried new ones, tried anthologies, etc. It's been a weird reading week...and it's not like I don't want to read anything; I just can't find anything I really want to read? Weird.
Movies! Lots of movies this week I wanted to see...
Epic (Colin Farrell, Josh Hutcherson, Amanda Seyfried, etc) - Decent animation. Not the most original of stories. At least it wasn't Fern Gully or anything. It's not the most happiest of endings...Or, in general. I mean, it starts off kind of sad and then sure, everything is saved, but the two main characters have an awkward "happily ever after" story...I don't know. It wasn't the greatest animation story. There are some slightly funny parts that are alluded more towards adults, but it's a forgettable movie. I will ask one thing...Why is it when you have "little" people type movies (i.e., fairies) the soundtracks always take on a Gaelic sound to it? Must be the folklore origination. I like it, but it's kind of interesting. Grade: C
The Bling Ring (Katie Chang, Israel Broussard, Emma Watson, etc) -Wow, this was really boring. I thought it was going to be more interesting, but after watching it after World War Z and just watching it in general, it was really boring. I'm not sure it gets across the point it was trying to make either. Most people's worries is it was going to glorify the crimes and it kind of does...? I don't know. They didn't get hit with a super harsh punishment for as much as they stole. I did think Katie Chang was a good actress. I didn't really like Watson in this. I've liked her in every film I've watched of hers, but this one didn't really do it for me. Maybe it was the role...She comes off pretentious and fake and that is her character. Hm. Maybe it was good acting...? At any rate, it was really a dud of a film and I don't think it got anything across at all. Definite waste of time to watch. I learned more from Googling the crimes than the movie. Grade: D
World War Z (Brad Pitt) - Wasn't sure about this, but it actually lived up to expectations and maybe even surprised me by how much I actually enjoyed it. It's not great, though, and fighting zombies wasn't the point of the movie (not that I wanted it to be about fighting zombies). The point of the movie is Pitt's character is trying to find how it started (patient zero) and, in the process, comes up with an idea to "camouflage" healthy humans from being attacked by zombies. In ways, it's more "scientific" than action. It's like if you watched Contagion, but instead the virus turns you into a zombie. It wasn't a bad movie on its own, but it wasn't great either. It sort of just passed the time and sent you on a world trip (starts in PA, takes you to NJ, then S Korea, Israel, Wales, and Nova Scotia). I will say, after recently watching Oblivion and watching World War Z, between Pitt and Cruise, I prefer Pitt as an actor. Grade: C (perhaps C+ purely because I liked it more than I thought I would)
Disconnect (Jason Bateman, Paula Patton, Alexander Skarsgard, etc) - What an oddly depressing and interesting movie. The premise is how the internet disconnects us from ourselves and, at the same time, shows how destructive it can be to those around us (and further disconnects us). They're interconnecting stories (some more than others) and is along the lines of Crash. I liked Crash. I know there are many who don't, but I like the interconnecting stories. This one does it too, but it has a majority of depressing stories. The acting was good and the cast of actors I enjoyed. Obviously, the Internet doesn't have to lead to any of the things it caused in the movie, but you can also see it staring at us too. It is a little dramatic and stylized. The end kind of dragged on as everyone's consequences finally come to head. I admit I was so bored with the ending I actually fast forwarded through parts of it because it was so slow. It's not like you couldn't see any of them coming to light a mile away. It's interesting and good acting, but the story does drag and is a little shallow. Grade: C
Bless Me, Ultima (Luke Ganalon, Miriam Colon, Benito Martinez) - Had to watch this since I liked the book when I read it as a sophomore in high school. I think Ganalon did a good acting job, but there also wasn't a lot for him to "act" too. He does a lot of "staring" and contemplation when things occur around him. I thought Colon was a good Ultima. I read one review where they thought the movie doesn't have the same "punch" as the book, but if you read the book, you'd probably enjoy the movie more. I think I'm definitely in that category. I think if you hadn't read the book, the movie will seem less interesting and make you lose the deeper intrigue in the book. At the heart of the book or movie is a coming of age story, but it also debates mysticism and religion. I think it really touches the surface of the book in that regard. With that said, I thought the movie was well done from my perspective. I enjoyed it and glad I watched it. I wish it was a little deeper, but you can't expect that in a movie. Grade: C+/B-
Based on my rough count, looks like I'll make 100 movies by the end of the year and that's not including watching any in theater. It'll all come down to when they show up at RedBox.
Here's my rough estimate:
- Fill the Void
- Great Gatsby
- Imposter
- The Kings of Summer
- Redemption
- This is the End
- After Earth
- The Colony
- 2 Guns
- Before Midnight
- The Croods
- Elysium
- Hangover Part III
- Heat
- The Internship
- Lone Ranger
- Immortal Instruments: City of Bones
- Paranoia
- Planes
- RIPD
- Red 2
- Turbo
- White House Down
Now I'm off to paint my nails... :)
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