potentiality_26

Recently I've watched Tracker and S5 of Discovery (three guesses what streaming service I'm on right now, lol). I'm glad Tracker got picked up for another season; it was enjoyable and very refreshing in a sea of police procedurals.

Discovery was a bit.. meh, for me. I do love the characters, but I think they went too hard on the "look how far we've come" angle for the final season, and it rang hollow when the show clearly wanted so badly to pretend it's first season didn't exist. They lost a part of me in "What's Past is Prologue" that they never got back, I fear.

Always a joy to see CKR, though. And may I say he's aging like a fine wine.

I also finished Hawaii Five-0 (late to the party, I know). Is the ship name McDanno? Anyway, I have to say, I've never seen two male leads manage to tick more of the classic slash ship boxes while simultaneously convincing me that there's no way these two men could know each other carnally. But if anyone has fic recs send them my way. I'd love to "get" it.  

I have seen Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, which I would describe as an okay movie that didn't need to be anywhere near as long as it was.  And it was only half of the story they evidently want to tell. 

*Sigh* 

I watched Ken Burns' Country Music.  I'm not normally into documentaries but that was really freaking good.  That's the history of my nation right there- war, poverty, racism, genius, capitalism... it's got it all.  

Anyway I cried a lot. 

Having previously only consumed it via jokes and memes on tumblr, I first watched a few episodes of Buzzfeed Unsolved yesterday.  It's funny because, while I knew the basic premise (conspiracy theorist tells the stories to skeptic), I was completely wrong about who was who all this time. 
  

Very stoked that, because I live on the west coast and Instinct airs at 7, me and my lack of DVR won't have to choose between watching it and Jesus Christ Superstar Live this coming Sunday.

(Also I'm so amused that Easter Sunday is going to also be April Fool's Day this year)
  

Well, I finished the first season of Into the Badlands.  I love it every bit as much as I did at the beginning- great plot, great characters, and it's so, so, so pretty!

I'm sad that it doesn't seem to be more popular, and I'm extra sad that I won't be able to see season two for a while.

It's so good, people.  Check it out if you can!
  

I went to see Kong: Skull Island.  I thought it was really good.  It's one of a relatively small number of reboot/reimaginings I've seen since the craze started that seemed like it actually had something new and interesting to say.  Even though it was set in the 70's it felt very timely, and it did a lot of things right that King Kong movies normally do wrong.

Also Tom Hiddleston was gorgeous.  I definitely recommend it.
  

I went to see xXx: The Return of Xander Cage and let me tell you I thought it was fantastic.

In general the xXx movies have always brought out a slightly juvenile side of me that is 100% there for a cross between James Bond and the X-Games and wow did this movie not disappoint on that score, but there was also more to it than that.  All the action was great, all the characters were great, Donnie Yen was especially great (and Xiang's dynamic with Xander Cage really did it for me you guys) and there were so many women!

Like, I'm not going to claim it was some kind of feminist utopia, it's xXx, but there were three major female characters who were all well developed, each kickass in a different way, and really supportive of each other- and there were multiple minor female characters none of whom died for man-pain.  I can't really think of another action movie that can say the same, honestly.

Anyway, I think it's a shame that it's not getting much love.  It's not a perfect movie but it was really entertaining!  I spent the whole movie with a stupid grin on my face, and I shipped so many people.
  

I saw Rogue One and really enjoyed it.  I especially want to say one thing:

When I first saw the trailer and figured what it was going to be about, I didn't think it was a very good idea because- since it's set just before the original trilogy- whatever climax/happy ending they went for would ultimately mean very little, because the bad guys would still be kicking around and so much bad stuff was still going to happen.

But instead of trying to get out of that or conceal it somehow, they really played it out and I thought it was tragic but really beautiful.


Anyway, I thought it was great.  Having a stand-alone film instead of a trilogy was so refreshing, and I loved all the characters.  I actually liked it better than The Force Awakens.  It'll be interesting to see if I'm in a minority, because I suspect the movie won't be to all tastes.
  

I will do that meme eventually, I promise.  I've just been really busy lately.

But I did go to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.  It had a few problems that I’ve heard people talk about already, but it was an enjoyable movie overall and I liked it.  There's one thing I need to get off my chest, though:

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Anyway, I did like the movie.  Maybe I'll do a proper reaction post later.