What are you watching in (late 2025 and) 2026?

[jian]

I watched the first episode and found it to be getting a little too soap-opera for my taste. Maybe I should give it another try.

It’s definitely quite soapy in a good way, that reminds me of the 80s. Also, a lot of bonking and adultery.

Apart from the latter it reminds me a fair bit of The Gold, probably because of the constant 80s pastiche.

 

[AnotherGuy]

Watched Daniel Craig's run of 007. I had only seen Casino Royale and Skyfall previously.
I enjoyed the 5 movie contained storyline encompassing James Bond's entire story - Origin, 007isms (car, gun and drink), Lost Love, M relationship, Felix Lighter friendship and his history with Spectre.
Really liked how they fleshed out Moneypenny and Q. Q gave me Richard Ayoade vibes - which is always good.
Do hope they don't go too young with the next Bond.

 

[Thierry-Advent]

Tried the second season of Laura Croft Tomb Raider. Very generic, predictable and boring. Stopped after 3 episodes. The only interesting part was the Benin African Gods, but I can read on that on Wikipedia, since I want to know more.

The first season was far more interesting for us. It had psychological drama and tension.

 

[jian]

Watching series 2 of Rivals and it’s still pretty good, though I’m surprised they got my old school uniform wrong (there should be a waistcoat and you never button up the jacket) in one episode. Same year I went up, too.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I’m surprised they got my old school uniform wrong (there should be a waistcoat and you never button up the jacket) in one episode.

I haven't seen S2 of Rivals yet but that sounds suspiciously like how an Eton uniform is worn! Not that I don't know a couple of old Etonians (hell one of them is in my main RPG group - he always plays rogues and similar, make of that what you will!).

I did enjoy S1 so I shall have to get around to it.

Personally I've been catching up on various shows (may mention later) but one in particular:

My Adventures with Superman - I didn't expect to like this. I put it on because it sounded non-threatening and I just wanted something to watch whilst eating supper. It's actually really good - I didn't realize it's kind of a more-different retelling of Superman, more streamlined in a good way, and with some different lore takes to what I've seen previous (albeit still well within the great Superman realm of possibilities). Plus the villains and antagonists are a lot better handled here than any other Superman property I've seen, with much more actual motivation and a sense that they're people rather than just props or obstacles. It is definitely "What if Superman was almost an anime", and that includes the villains, it being willing to be a bit cheesy (which is a must for any Superman thing imo), and the general aesthetic (of course even BTAS back in the day was "what if we incorporated anime ways of handling action and visual design into a US cartoon", so it's a long trend - hell BTAS even had the first "Akira slide" tribute in 1993!).

On top of all that it's just charming in the way the characters behave and treat each other, and has a good attitude. I'm excited to see how they handle the Death of Superman arc next season.

 

[jian]

I haven't seen S2 of Rivals yet but that sounds suspiciously like how an Eton uniform is worn! Not that I don't know a couple of old Etonians (hell one of them is in my main RPG group - he always plays rogues and similar, make of that what you will!).

Yes, that’s right. It was weird of them to have got it wrong.

 

[jian]

I haven't seen S2 of Rivals yet but that sounds suspiciously like how an Eton uniform is worn! Not that I don't know a couple of old Etonians (hell one of them is in my main RPG group - he always plays rogues and similar, make of that what you will!).

I did enjoy S1 so I shall have to get around to it.

Personally I've been catching up on various shows (may mention later) but one in particular:

My Adventures with Superman - I didn't expect to like this. I put it on because it sounded non-threatening and I just wanted something to watch whilst eating supper. It's actually really good - I didn't realize it's kind of a more-different retelling of Superman, more streamlined in a good way, and with some different lore takes to what I've seen previous (albeit still well within the great Superman realm of possibilities). Plus the villains and antagonists are a lot better handled here than any other Superman property I've seen, with much more actual motivation and a sense that they're people rather than just props or obstacles. It is definitely "What if Superman was almost an anime", and that includes the villains, it being willing to be a bit cheesy (which is a must for any Superman thing imo), and the general aesthetic (of course even BTAS back in the day was "what if we incorporated anime ways of handling action and visual design into a US cartoon", so it's a long trend - hell BTAS even had the first "Akira slide" tribute in 1993!).

On top of all that it's just charming in the way the characters behave and treat each other, and has a good attitude. I'm excited to see how they handle the Death of Superman arc next season.

I do think MAwS is pretty great, from the first season alone, and do think of it as a good model for “first supers campaign” in terms of how to introduce characters and to portray a world which is only just starting to deal with supers. Looking forward to catching up with S2 and S3 when I’ve got a moment.

 

[Vael]

In weird rewatch news ... Prime just put up Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which I remember loving back in the day, so I've started rewatching that randomly. Lena Headley does a good Sarah Connor, I'm a little sad that Summer Glau is kinda just replaying River Tam from Firefly as the Terminator, but it is fun to see her go toe to toe with Terminators in that same slugfest style.

Watched Once a Thief, a somewhat obscure John Woo film from 1991, and sadly I can see why it’s obscure. It’s an interesting premise - heist action comedy thriller, more than a few references to the Hitchcock and Cary Grant film* of the same name, and of course you’ve got Chow Yun Fat, the Chinese Cary Grant in his prime, as one of the leads along with Leslie Cheung and Cherie Chung, not to mention Kenneth Tsang as a very hissable villain. Locations in Paris and HK.

But honestly Woo wastes all that with sentimentality, slapstick, stupidly frenetic action, and a lot of mugging and clowning from Chow. It weirdly makes many of his heroic bloodshed films look worse in retrospect because it shows up their kinetic gunplay sequences as obviously artificial and never more than a moment away from turning into Buster Keaton. Or maybe Feng Shui should have rules for slapstick comedy.

Probably the best thing about it is that it somehow got adapted into a Canadian TV series for one season, but I’ve never seen the series and have no idea how good it was.

*I’m quite wrong about this, I was thinking of To Catch a Thief.

I loved the show, never seen the movie. It's got Nicholas Lea, Krycek from the X-Files, and I just found it jaunty and fun. I dug the love triangle that should obviously just become a throuple dynamic.

 

[Clint_L]

I'm now well into season 3 of Strange New Worlds (thanks, whoever recommended it!) and it is now my favourite Star Trek, and by a good margin.

 

[Ryujin]

I'm now well into season 3 of Strange New Worlds (thanks, whoever recommended it!) and it is now my favourite Star Trek, and by a good margin.

For me it's the first real successor to TOS.

In weird rewatch news ... Prime just put up Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which I remember loving back in the day, so I've started rewatching that randomly. Lena Headley does a good Sarah Connor, I'm a little sad that Summer Glau is kinda just replaying River Tam from Firefly as the Terminator, but it is fun to see her go toe to toe with Terminators in that same slugfest style.

It's been up or a few weeks now and I keep meaning to start a rewatch, but currently in season 3 of "Lexx" on Tubi.