Amazon Originals

[flyonthewall2983]

A look at their fall slate of pilots. Edge looks good.

[Murdoch]

I haven't been impressed with any of Amazon's original content (although Catastrophe had enjoyable enough moments largely because of its leads' chemistry) and Edge didn't break the mold. I made it maybe ten minutes into the pilot before switching it off so it could become amazing afterward, I don't know. From what I saw it comes across as a straight-to-DVD attempt at riffing on Tarantino, with hyper violence but instead playing off the bloodshed with an action blockbuster's indifference to it. I shut it off after the main character kills the deputy of a town and is immediately deputized by the sheriff while the body lies between the two men, both chuckling over the encounter. It's a scene that could be dripping with dark humor but instead just comes across as hastily written to show the main character as someone not to be trifled with and get him into his new position all in the span of minutes. If I try my hand at it again it will only be in the kind of masochistic hate-watching that these binge-able shows sometimes inspire.

[flyonthewall2983]

Prime has added Showtime and Starz among other networks as add-ons to their service.

[flyonthewall2983]

Details of new shows picked up and renewed, including Trial, the new show from David E. Kelley starring Billy Bob Thornton, which is being picked up for a full season bypassing the pilot stage.

[flyonthewall2983]

Finished the 2nd season of Bosch. It upped the ante a little, and kept my attention, but it's definitely following a stricter formula than comparatively more compelling programming.

[flyonthewall2983]

Highly recommend Mad Dogs

[flyonthewall2983]

Amazon is now offering monthly subscription packages. The standalone Prime Video service is 8.99 a month, while the full package is 9.99.

[mfunk9786]

Full Prime is actually $10.99 per month, not $9.99.

[flyonthewall2983]

3 new pilots went up today, including The Tick. I watched and quite liked it, and think it will be a no-brainer to go to series.

[flyonthewall2983]

Goliath

[flyonthewall2983]

The first season of Patriot is an excellent mix of humor, quirk and intrigue. The whole cast is good, but this might stand up as some of Kurtwood Smith's best work.

[The Narrator Returns]

Amazon has canned David O. Russell's Weinstein-produced, $160 million(!!!) TV series before it's started production

[flyonthewall2983]

Is it bad that my first thoughts on this went towards the possibility of a sweet sale for Prime members?

But seriously, I'm kind of glad this got canned. The rep on Russell is just as awful as Weinstein's, and hopefully will come more to light next.

[swo17]

Has Russell been accused of rape?

[The Narrator Returns]

He was accused of groping his 19-year-old niece, but I don't know of anything besides that.

[domino harvey]

Julia Roberts and Sissy Spacek starring in new Amazon series Homecoming

[flyonthewall2983]

The fourth season of Bosch may be it's best yet. It cut a lot of the fat you occasionally had to sit through from the first season on, and might have some of Titus Welliver's best acting in the whole series.

[flyonthewall2983]

The first season of Patriot is an excellent mix of humor, quirk and intrigue. The whole cast is good, but this might stand up as some of Kurtwood Smith's best work.

It's 2nd season amps up those three elements but also goes down a darker emotional path. The addition of Debra Winger was quite welcome too.

[Matt]

Julia Roberts and Sissy Spacek starring in new Amazon series Homecoming

Anybody else here seen this? I would have thought with all its echoes of noirs and 70s paranoid thrillers and its exclusive use of vintage film scores on the soundtrack, everyone would be all over it. Well, I thought it was great. Sam Esmail’s auteurist flourishes can be a bit much at times, but the performances are uniformly great, as are the production values. I never thought I would find myself liking anything based on a podcast.

[flyonthewall2983]

I kind of breezed through Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan over the week. On the periphery it feels like a TV-MA CBS procedural, but it has enough going on to separate itself from the limitations of those shows that I accepted it. John Krasinski and Wendell Pierce have good chemistry and are believable in these roles despite the big holes left by Harrison Ford and James Earl Jones.

[Persona]

Julia Roberts and Sissy Spacek starring in new Amazon series Homecoming

Anybody else here seen this? I would have thought with all its echoes of noirs and 70s paranoid thrillers and its exclusive use of vintage film scores on the soundtrack, everyone would be all over it. Well, I thought it was great. Sam Esmail’s auteurist flourishes can be a bit much at times, but the performances are uniformly great, as are the production values. I never thought I would find myself liking anything based on a podcast.

Esmail's about a gimmick a minute, isn't he? Which, even with half hour episodes, means a heck of a lot of gimmicks.

Esmail's Fincher love is also abundantly clear, once again. But it's a fairly interesting story with some solid performances and its unique aesthetic approach, while sometimes overbearing and not entirely effective, does at least maintain one's interest over the likes of similar programming.

[flyonthewall2983]

Al Pacino nearing a deal to star in his first television series The Hunt, produced by Jordan Peele for Amazon

[flyonthewall2983]

Fifth season of Bosch is very good. As I said earlier it's following a very strict formula, but a relatively grounded one that doesn't leave you out of sympathy for it's characters. Some nice bit performances including Jamie Anne Allman playing yet another junkie, and C. Thomas Howell looking as far removed from his 80's roles yet still recognizable.

[Kat]

Julia Roberts and Sissy Spacek starring in new Amazon series Homecoming

Anybody else here seen this? I would have thought with all its echoes of noirs and 70s paranoid thrillers and its exclusive use of vintage film scores on the soundtrack, everyone would be all over it. Well, I thought it was great. Sam Esmail’s auteurist flourishes can be a bit much at times, but the performances are uniformly great, as are the production values. I never thought I would find myself liking anything based on a podcast.

streamed it in the last fortnight, also thought it was great, took a to third episode to really click, but lovely