"Better TV/Movies Than They Have Any Right To Be"

[Older Beholder]

The 21 Jump Street movie was surprisingly not terrible and I'll re-watch it anytime it comes on TV.

 

[HawaiiSteveO]

Best cop show EVER, on Netflix (Canada) and itunes etc. Season 6 out now, have to wait - sigh!

Crazy twists and turns, tension, uncomfortable storylines, great acting. Watched a few times.

Bent coppers!

BBC One - Line of Duty

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Best cop show EVER, on Netflix (Canada) and itunes etc. Season 6 out now, have to wait - sigh!

Crazy twists and turns, tension, uncomfortable storylines, great acting. Watched a few times.

Bent coppers!

BBC One - Line of Duty

I agree 100% LoD is a damn good show, but I don’t that has the right ingredients for this thread.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I agree 100% LoD is a damn good show, but I don’t that has the right ingredients for this thread.

Yup, as the BBC's flagship drama it is supposed to be quality.

 

[Gradine]

Riverdale: This is one of those very polarizing shows. Some people completely deplore this show, but for those who like it, it should not work, its crazy....bonkers really, with a plot that looks like three writers got black out drunk in a room one night and then picked up the pieces of the stuff they thought was too out there. And yet....its just works somehow, and its insanely engaging. Its very hard to explain.

The one reason this show works is that there is no status quo. The pacing is... frankly, intoxicating is the word I'd use. And they always, ALWAYS escalate.

Archie Season 1: I have to choose between football and my music. Also, I'm sleeping with my music teacher, so that's drama

Archie Season 3: I just broke out of juvie during an illicit underground prisoner boxing match, and I have to flee to Canada because my girlfriend's drug kingpin father wants me dead but I just got mauled by a freaking BEAR

It should be noted that Archie's arcs are almost always the least important part of the show at any given time. The rest of Season 3 is basically "what if the D&D satanic panic was real?" And that's not even including the cult/organ farm.

This show is the best kind of buckwild. It's perfect. It makes no sense, nothing makes any sense, what the hell are they even doing? It's perfect.

Dear CW: Where's my gritty reboot of the Hex Girls?

I also like his work in What Dreams May Come, which is a polarizing movie that a lot of people seem to have very strong opinions about.

Robin Williams was an incredible talent and the world is a significantly worse place without him in it. Insomnia is an underrated little title that shows off his darker chops. That said, WDMC is quite possibly the worst film I've ever scene, and thinking about anything in it makes me beyond angry. And the acting, directing, and especially design and cinematography at all top notch too. It's just... they make so many wrong choices along the way. Ugh.

 

[Gradine]

As for the OP, one movies springs immediately to mind: Real Steel

Rock'm Sock'm Robots: The Movie? Jerkass father figure and precocious child on a road trip. Like, even if the robot fights are cool, which 9/10 times is going to be phoned in CGI abominations in movies like these, the rest of the movie should be an utter tedious disaster. But they decided to make a good movie. The fights are awesome. Hugh Jackman + smartass kid is something we now know is a winning combination, but it was a gamble back then and darn if they didn't both come off as charming as hell

 

[DammitVictor]

Lucifer. We're going to adapt Neil Gaiman's comics about divine forces for television? And turn it into a buddy cop procedural?

 

[MGibster]

Role Models (2008) starring Stiffler from American Pie and Paul Rudd about two energy drink salesman sentenced to community service for some offenses. That community takes the form of each one of them becoming mentors to two boys in a Big Brother type organization. I'm not saying it's a great movie, but it was much better than it had any right to be and Jane Lynch was just delightful as always.

 

[MGibster]

Is Demolition Man good though? It's certainly enjoyable . . . can a film be not-good yet enjoyable? If so, that's Demolition Man!

I tend to judge movies based on what they're trying to accomplish. Demolition Man tried to be a good action movie with some comedic elements (the three shells) and they absolutely nailed it. Cobra (1986) also starring Sylvester Stallone is an action movie and it's just plain terrible. It's not even good by action movie standards.

 

[Undrave]

Speaking of Robin Williams, I'm surprised Hook worked so well! Not the best movie ever but it's still flled with the same sort of charm an animated movie would have. I'd rather have that kind of live action take on classic characters than whatever Disney's doing lately...

Is Demolition Man good though? It's certainly enjoyable . . . can a film be not-good yet enjoyable? If so, that's Demolition Man!

The term for a movie that's 'not-good yet enjoyable' would be nanar .

Be careful not to confuse the folks in the US who do not have access to that. lol

Star is the Disney+ section for normal, adult-aimed movies that is only available outside the US.

So Star is just what you guys get on Hulu??

Dear CW: Where's my gritty reboot of the Hex Girls?

Speaking of, it's surprising how many of the Scooby Doo movies are genuine good fun! It's kind of a gamble but the characters are just so archetypical at this point that the movies never have to waste time introduce the Scooby Gang and can just give us a solid cast of secondary character and a fun adventure. Scooby Doo & KISS : Rock & Roll Mystery and Scooby Doo & Batman, The Brave and the Bold are favorites of mine. I hear Moon Monster Madness is excellent too.

And as for something to bring to this...hmm... Down Periscope? Kelsey Grammer as a maverick submarine captain? Really?! Rob Schneider's best role somehow?!

How about Thunderbolt Fantasy? A glove-puppet show made in 2016 by masters of the craft from Taiwan written by a Japanese writer responsible for the Fate franchise, and with character design influenced by the Nendoroid company is somehow an AMAZING wuxia franchise?! And can be ridiculously bloody?!

It's mindblowingly good and way more straightforward than Uroboshi's other works. You could easily mine that first season for a DnD adventure, for exemple...