How About Some Movie Recommendations for All of Us Shut-ins, Family Movies and Grown Up Ones
Mates,
For the first time in 15 years we have TV at this time of year. Good timing I guess. Anyway, with all of us being 'shut-ins' to a greater or lesser degree, it might be good to swap some movie ideas since nearly every movie ever made is available over the internet or cable/sat via one method or another. It also might make sense to divide up the movies into more of 'family movie' suggestions and maybe some with a little more grown-up content (no Hatter, that does not mean porn).
We had a couple earlier this week that were actually pretty fun, both in the 'family' category. One was the 1955 classic 'Davy Crockett' with Fess Parker and Buddy Ebsen. Another good one we watched was 'Glory Road', about the true story of the 1966 West Texas NCAA Championship run - really the first 'shock the world' championship with wonderful true lessons about race relations.
Some other family movies that come to mind to me are older stuff - Top Gun, American Graffiti, Back to the Future, things like that.
So the question/request today is:
1. Family movie suggestions - and please give a sentence or two about general subject matter/theme of the movie, and maybe even the age appropriateness.
2. Grown up movie suggestions - and again, a word or two about what its about.
Be Safe,
XM
Let’s open this up to series as well.
Man in the High Castle. We’re glued. I heard it ends disappointing but we’re only just starting season 2.
good call WD. yes, on series suggestions. mrs. XM really likes that 'man in the high castle' series too.
March 18th, 2020 at 11:08 AM ^
What is good about it? I understand the premise but is there alot of action, it's realistic? I watched a few minutes here or there but didn't make an impression to hook me.
March 18th, 2020 at 12:09 PM ^
i haven ever see it. i am told it is based on the premise that the axis powers somehow tricked the allies into believing they won WWII. japan controls the west coast, the nazis the east coast, and fly over country is kind of no-mans land. beyond that, i don't know.
Alternative history about what would've been going on had the Axis powers won. The Nazis take the East Coast, Japanese take the West Coast, and the Great Plains / Rockies are No-Mans Land. That premise alone is actually really interesting, but when they start introducing alternative dimensions into all of it is when it starts getting confusing and, in my opinion, starts to water down the story overall.
We watched the series, and overall its entertaining, but I would've much rather done away with the alternative dimension nonsense and focus solely on a resistance story.
The last season, as a whole, was actually pretty good. The ending itself (i.e. the last 15-20 minutes) was really dull, confusing and uninspiring, but all in all still worth watching.
March 18th, 2020 at 11:31 AM ^
I watched the pilot last weekend but haven't yet mustered an attempt to continue. Maybe I'll give it another go. But people saying that the ending ducks doesn't exactly motivate me to binge every season for no ultimate payoff.
Surprised no one has mentioned Patriot on Amazon Prime. Adult dark comedy about a folk-singing American agent trying to prevent Iran from going nuclear. Under appreciated short series in my opinion.
There are some great new shows on Apple TV+. Free for a year if you buy a new phone or other device.
but you have to go out to get the phone, right? and apple stores are closed and places like amazon are only delivering medical products, IIRC.
Verizon actually fedexed me one earlier this week
March 18th, 2020 at 11:30 AM ^
I thought it was more that they are prioritizing medical over consumer goods, but not refusing to deliver other goods.
Agreed. The wife and I binged Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet a couple weeks ago. Made by the same guys who make Its Always Sunny. Humor isn't quite as dark but its still pretty funny.
The guy who plays Rickety Cricket in Its Always Sunny more or less plays a character in the same vein in this show, and its hilarious. The guy who constantly gets shit on.
March 18th, 2020 at 10:51 AM ^
Literally bought a new iPhone last week but didn’t hear about this perk. Do you have any details. Also any suggestions about which shows are good.
We've been binge-watching Impractical Jokers on Tru TV. I had no idea this show even existed until my son convinced me to go see the movie a couple of weeks ago. Some of the episodes are really funny and it definitely provides some much needed comic relief.
what is it about - a reality TV thing, a sit-com, a series, what is it?
It's a hidden camera reality show with improvisational elements. A typical episode is a series of competitive games of dare, in which one of the four stars of the show receives either a thumbs up or thumbs down for his performance. The games are contrived scenarios in which one joker is challenged to embarrass himself by engaging with unwitting members of the general public, receiving commands from the other jokers who are orchestrating and surveying the bizarre scenario from behind the scenes with covert recording equipment.
Lots of clips on YouTube (I'd link one but my work has blocked YouTube to create bandwidth for everyone telecommuting).
Don’t bother. It’s the dumbest show ever.
4 friends since grade school compete to embarrass each other.
March 18th, 2020 at 10:47 AM ^
I took my family to see their live show in front of an audience of 12,000 people. I had seen some of their stuff channel surfing but hadn’t really gotten into it. The live show was super entertaining.
Movies:
- Planet of the Apes (all of them)
- Bedtime for Bonzo
- Gorillas in the Mist
- King Kong (all of them)
- Congo
- Mighty Joe Young
- Every Which Way but Loose
- Any Which Way you Can
- The Barefoot Executive
- Cannon Ball Run II
TV Series:
- Planet of the Apes
- Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp
- Me and the Chimp
Do you work with gorillas. I see a pattern in your suggestions
No, but it's a bit of a meme for me here. Simians in general. :-)
got anything for koalas?
Sure do...
Even after the Aussie wildfires??? Absolutely savage.
March 19th, 2020 at 10:40 AM ^
Thank you. How do you think the wildfires started in the first place?
March 18th, 2020 at 10:58 AM ^
Congo was one of my favorite movies as a youth.
Also, watching Justified. I know I’m late to the party, but it is damn good so far. Just starting season 3.
March 18th, 2020 at 11:26 AM ^
Do you know of any good koala movies?
Asking for a marsupial...
Towering Inferno comes to mind.
March 18th, 2020 at 11:27 AM ^
ripip harambe. gone too soon, our sweet prince
March 18th, 2020 at 12:43 PM ^
HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND LEAVING OUT THE GREATEST SIMIAN TV SHOW EVER?
BJ and the Bear, dude.
:-) thank you. Never saw it.
March 19th, 2020 at 10:24 AM ^
There's an old episode of MASH that might interest you.
Wife and I are catching up on Homeland - We missed last season and finished that up last night, will start up the current season probably tonight. It's such a crazy change from what the series originally started out as.
Highly recommend Schitt's Creek - On Netflix - Sitcom that somewhat lampoons the Kardashian type of family
This season's Curb has been really good too
My girls are currently obsessed with Wild Kratts on PBS - show about animals and that's both funny for them and educational
March 18th, 2020 at 10:18 AM ^
We could be TV buddies!
Loving this season of Homeland. Bummed that Schitt's Creek is ending. And Curb has also been very funny; hard to believe it first launched almost 20 years ago!
We enjoy several Brit and European mostly police-based dramas/series. These are all adult themed. We often use subtitles to catch the nuances of the conversations. I think all or almost all are found on Netflix or Amazon Prime:
Happy Valley
Wallender
Safe
Shetland
Call the Midwife
Broadchurch
Collateral
Marcella
Dr Foster
The Five
River
The Fall
Luther
DCI Banks
Scott and Bailey
Retribution
Bordertown
Unforgotten
Trapped
Offspring (Australian comedy/drama)
Unbelievable
Afterlife (Ricky Gervais dark comedy)
The Stranger
Fearless
Tennison
Use IMDB.com for descriptions/reviews on all of these
I have 3 kids 11, 9. 7
Merlin TV Show from BBC. About a young sorcerer and his friendship with King Arthur. There is violence and some scary situations with ghosts, dragons, Faeries and monsters. When my 9 year old was 7 we took a year or so break, but he's sort of sensitive. The 7, then 5 yo, was fine. 5 seasons.
Marvel Movies--This seems obvious, but my kids and I watched the entire series over the past two years after they earned the right to watch. Other than the Orgy joke in Thor Ragnarok and a couple of Tony Stark lines in Iron Man 1, there isn't a lot of sexy stuff. Lots of violence, but usually not too gruesome. Great movie marathon.
Harry Potter Movies--We read the series of books at bed time. After reading the first two books we started in watching the movies.
Star Wars movies--stupid kids. like the prequels the best. Ugh!
Little Lunch--Australian kids show on Netflix. It's like The Office at an Australian elementary school. Legit hilarious for kids and grown-ups. Fun to watch together.
My kids had little interest in the original Star Trek or TNG as they were too slow, but I think they may eventually like them.
Grown up stuff: Breaking Bad, The Wire, Rome, The Killing, Damages, The Patriot (Spy with depression on Prime.), Versailles (Louis IVX), Deadwood, Homeland, Sopranos, Fargo, True Detective Season one, True Blood (though it jumps the shark after a season or two.), For anyone who liked Dragon Ball Z type stuff, One Punch Man on Netflix is fantastic. Archer and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia are both pure genius. The HBO superhero series with Regina King about superheros is also great, but only one season.
Edit: Big omission that most people have already watched. Neither my wife or I ever watched more than a couple of episodes of The Office. It just seemed meh. We started watching a few months ago and it actually is super super funny. The plus side? There are like nine 23 episode seasons.... Plenty of content to socially isolate with.
fargo is a family movie, right?
March 18th, 2020 at 11:16 AM ^
My Mom is from the UP and was a bit defensive.
She thought they over did the accent a bit eh? I thought they kind of nailed it ya.
Do a free trial of the WWE network and watch every Wrestlemania ever. I've never been so happy
Buster's Mal Heart
Enemy
Would You Rather
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Heathers
can you give a line or two about what each is about? that'll make what you took the time to write a lot more valuable to the many who might gaze at the list.
I showed my 8 and 10 year old boys The Matrix yesterday. It was a nice walk down memory lane, and they loved it. They were literally jumping up and down and cheering when Neo opened up his trench coat to show all his weapons to the security guards, lol.
Heavyweights. Trust me on that one. Watch now and your child gets two free weeks at my camp. Who wouldn't want to spend a whole summer with their dear Uncle Tony?
March 18th, 2020 at 10:00 AM ^
Nobody's seen more butts than you Uncle Tony..........
March 18th, 2020 at 10:17 AM ^
Get off the scale
Firefly TV series. About cowboys in space (survivors from the losing side of a civil war, now going about business as smugglers). IMHO, it's the best show Joss Whedon has done (and I really liked Buffy, Angel, and Dollhouse).
March 18th, 2020 at 10:16 AM ^
I'll second that. I really enjoyed that series. The movie wrapped it up fairly well too.
Fantasia if the young-uns haven’t seen it. I first saw it when I was visiting my brother in ‘69 at the Campus on Sourh U. First movie with my future wife in ‘82 (again at the Campus ...soon to turn into the McD’s). Kids watched it many times on sick days on VHS. Of course the music and animation are great and is timeless.