What I've Been Watching: Blockbusters and the "way out there"...

First off, no, that isn't my viewing room. I wish it was, but all credit to Pixabay for the great photo. Besides an actual movie theater I've only ever been in one theater room in my life.

That was a couple of years ago when my inlaws visited Hocking Hills, OH. It was actually quite similar to the room above, so I really should have just used a photo from that trip.

Anyway, as I mentioned in my post earlier this week unless you are an avid outdoors person, winter in Michigan usually means you are shacked up in the house quite a bit. @mrsbozz and I have been consuming a lot of television this season and I figured what better place than @cinetv to share that with you.

With a bit of commentary of course!

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Let's get the big one out of the way first... I noticed a short time ago that Wakanda Forever was finally available on Disney +, so I decided I would watch it. At 2 hours and 43 minutes, I knew it was likely going to take me a couple of sessions to get it fully watched.

Looking back now, I really should have watched the first one over again. There were some things at the beginning of this one that didn't make sense to me. For example. (Mild spoiler from the first movie ahead), I had forgotten that Killmonger burned all of the heart shaped herbs in the first one.

Once I remember that, things made a lot more sense. I think they handled the death of Chadwick Boseman. In all honesty, I feel like the movie could have shaved 1/4 off the time and still gotten everything across that they wanted to. That being said, towards the end, things started to move more quickly and I was actually surprised to find myself at the end of the movie when it seemed just a short time earlier I still had an hour to go.

This is a very female forward movie compared to the last one. In fact there are only about two or three male characters in the whole thing including Namor who you probably saw in the previews or trailers. I don't have a problem with that. There are tons of movies out there with strong female leads and casts. My problem is when you try to force that because you have some kind of agenda or you need to tick off some boxes.

You can tell the difference between when something is organic and something is done to pander to a certain group of people. Sadly, this felt a bit like the latter. Which is a shame because the actresses did a fantastic job and honestly deserved better than that.

I've watched pretty much all the Marvel movies and I am not sad I watched this one. It was a good entertaining show and it sets some things up for the future of the universe that will be interesting to see down the road.

Only Murders in the Building

This is a show on Hulu that I picked after my wife and I finished watching "The Patient". I felt like we needed something a little "lighter" to watch after as I explained "The Patient" is a very very heavy watch.

In all honesty, we have only watched one episode of "Only Murders in the Building" so far. I found it entertaining, I'm still not sure how my wife feels about it. Even if she decides to bow out, I still plan on watching it.

I mean, it has Steve Martin, and Martin Short in it, talk about two kings of comedy! I think we can all agree that "The Three Amigos" is one of the best movies ever. Plus, there are all the other great shows they have been in. Steve Martin has always been one of my favorites, so this got moved to the top of my list when I saw it was available.

In addition to that, Selena Gomez is in the show, and although I'm a little to old to be a fan of "The Wizards of Waverly Place", I don't hate her. From what I have seen she plays a great character in the show.

Sorry, the basic premise is the fact that all three of these people live in the same building in New York. They are all fans of true crime podcasts and when someone dies in their building, they start their own investigation and podcast.

I think the premise is pretty cool and I look forward to seeing where they head with it.

Outer Range

I wasn't really sure what to expect when I started watching "Outer Range" on Amazon Prime. Based on the description it kind of sounds like they were hoping to take advantage of the popularity of shows such as "Yellowstone" and "Stranger Things" by mashing the two together into this series.

Right now there is only one season available and I am not sure it has been renewed yet, so I would approach this one with a bit of caution. The acting in my opinion is pretty wooden. I don't really care about most of the characters. Despite all of that, the mystery they have set up was enough to draw me in and keep me watching.

There is a twist at the end of the first season that I actually saw coming. Looking back now, I think the clues were there, but I just kind of had a hunch about it. If you are a fan of shows like this, I think you will probably figure it out too. I'm not going to say too much lest I spoil it.

Again, the basic plot of this show is about a rancher who finds a great big hole in one of his farm fields. The promotional material of the show makes that pretty clear. I don't think I am spoiling too much by sharing that with you. What the hole is or what it does is something we start to discover as the show moves along.

I can't say as though I can remember seeing anything in the past with Josh Brolin in it. He honestly reminds me a lot of Jeff Bridges character in "The Old Man". There's honestly a lot of subplots happening in this thing so it is a bit hard to keep up with it all at times.

I'd also like to point out that by the end of the first season, you don't really have more answers, just more questions. The things that they do resolve just opens doors for even bigger mysteries.

I think that alone is what will keep me coming back. I'm a pretty big fan of Will Patton, so I wanted to like his character in this, but I kind of just find him annoying. I think for me the standout character is Noah Reid. He's just odd and he goes around singing 80's and 90's songs in the oddest of situations. He actually doesn't have a horrible voice and it just kind of throws you making the show a little more enjoyable. Plus, I like him in "Schitt's Creek", so there's that too.

A quick Google search tells me that Outer Range has been renewed for a second season. Make no mistake, despite my grumbling here, I will be watching it. The questions are just too intriguing to leave unanswered.

With the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament right around the corner, I will likely be watching a bit less TV in the next month or so. I do plan on starting season 2 of Star Trek: Picard probably tonight or this weekend.

You better believe I will be writing a review at some point!

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All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or @mrsbozz unless otherwise sourced