Some things I’ve been watching lately, aside from the usual TV shows I follow:
For some reason, I watched two biopics this month. The first one is Hidden Figures, about three black women who were instrumental during the early days of NASA leading up to the Friendship 7 mission piloted by John Glenn. The movie is fairly interesting if you are even remotely interested in either the challenges faced in black history or math and science or the early days of the space program competition between the USA and Russia. It feels even more appropriate to have watched this since it helps me appreciate the recent Insight mission. (The Oatmeal has a fun preview of this event.)
The second biopic was Bohemian Rhapsody. This was a magnificent film, both for the music and the Freddie Mercury story. I guess it appeals more to those who are familiar with Queen music though. I’ve read that the movie isn’t super accurate especially with regards to the timeline, but I think it’s fine. Both the liberties they take and the music serve to construct a compelling narrative. The movie ends with a ten-minute recreation of the 1985 Live Aid concert and they do a good job of communicating the insane energy at Wembley Stadium back then.
In less-biographical movies, I also watched Teen Titans Go To The Movies. I’m not a fan of Teen Titans Go, it’s way too silly and it’s obviously for kids, I much preferred the previous Teen Titans series. I only got a copy of this movie because my niece said they watched this all the time back home, so now they can watch it when they’re over here either. I did enjoy the ridiculous plot and the Stan Lee cameo, but this isn’t something I would have watched in the theatre.
In rewatch land, since I finished the Spider-Man PS4 game lately, I also watched Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3, and Amazing Spider-Man, they’re nice movies to have playing in the background while you’re working on other stuff. Tobey 2 was pretty good and I think it aged well, I’d say comparable with Tobey 1 even. Tobey 3 was trying to do way too much what with Venom and Sandman and Harry-Goblin. Andrew 1 had a lot of potential, but I think this series leaned too much into the dark and mysterious and sinister plot route.
TV-wise, nothing much other than the usual superhero series, though I’m still behind on Gifted and Doctor Who. I caught Trevor Noah’s new Netflix special, it was okay, but too exceptionally. Netflix also added a couple of “best of” seasons of Jeopardy which I thoroughly enjoyed. Watching these makes me think I’d never be able to win an episode of Jeopardy, but of course I don’t think it’s fair to compare myself to some of Jeopardy’s all-time champions.
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