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Ask Slashdot: What's a 2021 Movie or TV Show That You Enjoyed Watching? 192

Posted by msmash from the recommendation-time dept.
An anonymous reader writes: Haven't seen discussion on movie and TV shows recommendations on Slashdot of late. Could the fellow readers share some movies and TV shows and documentaries from this year that they really liked watching?
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Ask Slashdot: What's a 2021 Movie or TV Show That You Enjoyed Watching? More

Ask Slashdot: What's a 2021 Movie or TV Show That You Enjoyed Watching?

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  • Dune 2021 (Score:5, Interesting)

    by farble1670 ( 803356 ) on Friday November 19, 2021 @04:47PM (#62002821)

    Regardless of what some purist nerds are going to tell you this is an incredible sci-fi movie. My only complaint is that it very much feels like the first half of a movie, and not the first movie in a series of 2.

    • Regardless of what some purist nerds are going to tell you this is an incredible sci-fi movie. My only complaint is that it very much feels like the first half of a movie, and not the first movie in a series of 2.

      I wouldn't call it "incredible", but it was better than I thought it would be. The Atreides/Harkonens/Bene Gesserits were, in general, well-cast (except for Oscar Isaac, who just seems to young to be Duke Leto, despite the gray beard). But most of the Fremen thus far are underwhelming. Even Javier Bardem, who was supposed to be the star-power among the Fremen cast, is as dry as Dune itself, and underwhelming in the role. Daddy Skarsgard makes an inspired Baron Harkonen. And Chalamet is surprisingly good as

    • Regardless of what some purist nerdsare going to tell you this is an incredible sci-fi movie.

      I found it boring AF.

      • Full disclosure I haven't seen it but the trailers when I compare them to the David Lynch movie I grew up with really do make it seem kind of dry (no pun intended but I'll take it anyway). It's a thousand times more in line with the book and much more realistic but it's hard to top the shear insanity and spectacle of the 1980s movie. I keep mean to dig up the TV show as it looks pretty crazy too in terms of set design.

        • You might comsider looking up the fan edit, which combines movie and tv show to create a better narrative. The drawback is the varying sources give it a Saturday morning cinema kind of feel.

    • Well, I have read the novel (several times, most recently this summer.) It's clear this movie, at its pace, would only cover 1/2 of the book. And that's OK. I thought the acting was pretty good. My problems were with the sets (derivative from Star Wars) and particularly the sound track. The music was ok, but the "bass notes of doom" throughout the movie just got on my nerves. (I gave it 'barely 4 of 5 stars' but I grade on a bell curve.)

      Dune '21 is my answer to the base question. But then, I'm not a

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by flippy ( 62353 )
        Apple TV+ "Foundation" is good - just don't expect it to be Asimov's "Foundation". It's VERY loosely based on some of Asimov's ideas. IMO, it's well-done and interesting, it's just not Asimov's story.

    • Read all the Frank Herbert books more than a dozen times (I stopped counting then). Even read the terrible offshoot books by his son.

      As far as a I am concerned the 2021 movie is the most ideal adaptation I can imagine, even down to the place where they chose to break it for the 2nd movie.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Ichijo ( 607641 )

      It wasn't terrible. I liked the mouse, that was a nice touch. But it needs a narrator, or at least don't pretend like your audience has read the book and just came for the visuals. And speaking of visuals, the stupid sepia color grading got on my nerves, I just want to go in and fix it so everything looks real again.

    • After having watched some of my favourite books be very mis-adapted like the Ender's Game, or The Foundation series, I was not expecting much from this adaptation - even though I did like what Villeneuve did with Ted Chiang's novella giving us The Arrival.
      But, boy, what an experience that was. I mean the story adaptation was not perfect, there were some issues here and there, but the atmosphere, visuals & sound were out of this world - like REALLY out of this world, as they should!
      It helped that I was a

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Foundation was unexpectedly good too. Lee Pace was on form as Empire.

  • Boss Level (Score:4, Informative)

    by ffkom ( 3519199 ) on Friday November 19, 2021 @04:50PM (#62002841)
    "Boss Level" looks like a shallow action flick in the beginning, but actually has an interesting plot, great effects and black humor.
    • I'll have to check that out.

      Myself?

      For 2021, I've largely been watching OLD shows on Hulu...classics that are just kinda innocent like Mary Tyler Moore Show, and the Bob Newhart show.

      After that, watching shows like Married With Children that just couldn't likely be made today at all with the politically correct cloud over comedy today.

      Sad how we've regressed so much today on what can and can't be said.

      Frankly, I don't know how in hell Family Guy is still on the air and gets away with what it does.

      A si

      • After that, watching shows like Married With Children that just couldn't likely be made today at all with the politically correct cloud over comedy today.

        Yes, making fun of Al's masculinity or his failed attempt at NOMA'AM, Bud's pimples and how Jefferson was always getting the short end of the stick by Marcy would certainly run afoul of political correctness. Not to mention Al earning enough as a shoe salesman to own a three bedroom home outside Chicago for the four family members. Granted, they didn't eat

        • Not to mention Al earning enough as a shoe salesman to own a three bedroom home outside Chicago for the four family members.

          Keep in mind that this show depicts the nineteen hundreds, when a dollar was still almost forty cents. Factory workers (who didn't all live in Seoul back then) could afford a house on one income.

        • After that, watching shows like Married With Children that just couldn't likely be made today at all with the politically correct cloud over comedy today.

          Yes, making fun of Al's masculinity or his failed attempt at NOMA'AM, Bud's pimples and how Jefferson was always getting the short end of the stick by Marcy would certainly run afoul of political correctness. Not to mention Al earning enough as a shoe salesman to own a three bedroom home outside Chicago for the four family members. Granted, they didn't

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by jbengt ( 874751 )

            . . . watching shows like Married With Children that just couldn't likely be made today at all with the politically correct cloud over comedy today.

            . . . making fun of Al's masculinity or his failed attempt at NOMA'AM, Bud's pimples and how Jefferson was always getting the short end of the stick by Marcy would certainly run afoul of political correctness.

            . . . Al's constant jokes about fat women in the shoe store, the occasional jokes about looking 'gay' (when Al's barber died and he had to go to a hair sa

            • I don't think any in this thread is remembering just how controversial the show was at the time it first aired. There were plenty of people screaming about how terrible it was to have a show like this on the air at the time.

              Indeed there were [fandom.com].

              On a side note, every time someone mentions Al (Bundy) my brain reflexively expands it to "artificial intelligence."

            • I don't think any in this thread is remembering just how controversial the show was at the time it first aired. There were plenty of people screaming about how terrible it was to have a show like this on the air at the time.

              Oh I do remember.

              But for reasons different that what would set things off today.

              The biggest stink about MWC was a lady that was. complaining about how much "sex" content was on there...especially the fairly early show when Al and Steve went to "Francine's of Hollywood" to buy Peggy ne

      • There used to be a weekly TV program called "Father knows best." Now mind you, I think the title was a bit of a joke--I think the father often clearly did not know best--but can you imagine even that title being allowed today?

    • It was fun and original, and the director and star reunited for another entertaining movie this year: Copshop, well done police thriller also featuring a badass young policewoman and an unforgettable psycho.

  • Not overly long at 7 episodes with a nice horror angle. Saying more would spoil it.

  • Arcane (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Tough Love ( 215404 ) on Friday November 19, 2021 @04:55PM (#62002859)

    Arcane is pretty damn good. Production values excellent, graphic style tasteful, engaging backstories, excellent character development of admittedly shallow characters.

  • Pig, Oxygen, 7500, Run, The old guard, Free guy, The silencing, The quarry...

  • Weep for us!

  • Foundation (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Lije Baley ( 88936 ) on Friday November 19, 2021 @05:06PM (#62002915)

    Was a bit slow at first, but now I'm really sad that the season is already ending.

    • Foundation is a bit of a mess. Never mind following the books, they’ve dropped most of the central premises as well. Didn’t hold my interest enough to watch the next season.

      Another adaptation of a somewhat famous series of books, Wheel of Time, is showing promise after 3 seasons though.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Ecuador ( 740021 )

      They didn't have to change THAT much of how the Foundation universe works though. I always go with an open mind, e.g. I am an avid trekkie who actually LIKED the JJ version - it is just a completely different style of movie, but I found it quite annoying at times to have basic things being different for no apparent reason, it makes me wish I had not re-read the books recently enough to remember them. Or if they could have just used a different title, call it something else?
      If you haven't read the books it's

      • Expanse, at least, is self-consistent. It laid out rules early and followed them. Foundation is all over the place. It's just a mess.

    • We did not enjoy Foundation. Nothing to do with following the books. It's obviously its own thing, loosely based on some ideas and character names from the books.

      The biggest problem I have is that we spend too much time watching filler. Conversations tend to rehash the same points. The camera pans over an object, and then pans over it again, and again, and again, but isn't in any way pivotal to the story.

      We got an entire episode of the Gaal Dornick character freaking out. You could see the writers goin

  • Movies, TV ... and music (Score:3)

    by Anonymouse Cowtard ( 6211666 ) on Friday November 19, 2021 @05:10PM (#62002923) Homepage
    What about new music? Melvins released a 2.5 hour, 36 track acoustic album. It contains some of their best songs and includes a couple of covers.

  • Marvel on Disney+ (Score:3)

    by neilo_1701D ( 2765337 ) on Friday November 19, 2021 @05:15PM (#62002951)

    WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, What If?

    My wife is decidedly not a Marvel fan, but really liked Loki. WandaVision started off interesting enough for her, but she lost interest towards the end. Did NOT like TFATWS, and found What If too patchy (and far too much prior knowledge required).

    • Not a fan of either Marvel or DC, but I too did enjoy Loki. That show got a lot more hate than it deserved.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      WandaVision was really good. The ending left a bit too be desired but the series as a whole was a really strong start for the new Disney/Marvel TV stuff.

      Loki started a bit wobbly but got really good in the middle, then the end was a damp squib. Falcon was okay, a bit meh.

      What If I didn't really enjoy that much, the individual stories were not that good and tended to end just as they got interesting.

  • I enjoyed Loki on Disney + a lot. I need to get caught up on WandaVision as both of these series are supposed to lead into the upcoming Dr. Strange movie. Black Widow is getting pretty good, but I haven't watched that one all the way.

    Looking forward to the new Matrix Resurrections movie on HBO Max!!! Woooot!

  • My recommendations: "Ted Lasso" on Apple and "Shameless" on Netflix. The latter has been going on for many years now, but a new season was just added.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Ecuador ( 740021 )

      Loved the first season of Ted Lasso. Did not like the second though, I just didn't find it funny at all and Nate's "transformation" was as smooth as Daenerys' in the 8th season of GoT.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      For All Mankind on Apple. It's a what-if where the Russians got to the Moon first, and the space race never ended. It's a bit silly in places but enjoyable.

  • None of the above (Score:2, Interesting)

    by shanen ( 462549 )

    I think "None of the above" should be an option, but it might be just me. Most TV makes me nauseous, though I feel sort of forced to watch the news "to keep up". Movies? I didn't watch one this year. Or last. And nothing I've heard about any of the new movies has motivated me towards watching them, even if Covid-19 weren't an inhibiting factor. Only a couple motivated me enough to read the books.

    However I don't think it's a "just me" thing. I really think we've passed a kind of threshold. The amount of old

    • The new stuff is mostly repetitive or redundant or worse. Some of it is just trying to make bigger explosions or other flashier special effects. Not better, just noisier and brighter.

      I find lots of stuff to enjoy. Perhaps I don't mark as hard, or maybe I just have trashy tastes, since I'm enjoying the hell out of Succession. That said, (and although it's not from 2021), I loved Russian Doll. I think it's a brilliant and perverse take on the "Groundhog Day" genre. And then there's The Good Place, also from an only-slightly-earlier time; outstanding IMHO.

    • TV has become a vast wasteland. As for movies, I haven't seen anything even worth downloading for free. Covid put the brakes on the industry for two years and the stuff that is trickling out is really, really poor quality.

  • ..still to come: Get Back
    I have full trust in Peter Jackson to deliver the Beatles (to use the schtick) "as we've never seen them before".
    This interesting review of the upcoming extravaganza covers it pretty well:
    https://www.smh.com.au/culture... [smh.com.au]

  • Ghosts (Score:4, Interesting)

    by sconeu ( 64226 ) on Friday November 19, 2021 @05:45PM (#62003081) Homepage Journal

    Yeah, it's broadcast. But I find it entertaining.

    • Star Trek - Lower Decks starts off a little weak, but does a great job of poking fun at the absurdities in TNG-era Trek
    • Taskmaster (UK Version) this is the funniest show I've ever seen. The humor isn't in the tasks themselve, but the bantor between contestants.
    • Invincible
    • Selena + Chef
    • Resident Alien
    • Dune
    • Bill Bailey: Larks in Transit
    • Loki

    • I was surprised how good Resident Alien was.The dry voiceovers reminded me of the ones used in Dead Like Me.

  • Got some younger kids so the spouse and I have been trying to find shows that our younger kid can enjoy but are fun and worthwhile for adults. So some of this goes back later than 2021, for TV shows I mean.

    Owl House - phenomenal show

    Kiko and the Age of Wonderbeasts - we watched this show through TWICE because it was so good

    Avatar (TLA and LotK) - much older but never gets old and great for kids and adults. LotK has criticisms that, while I believe are valid, are also because it's a very different sho

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Masters of the Universe was good, and the second part drops next week.

      They weren't released this year but Carmen Sandiego and She-Ra are both genuinely great.

      • We didn't get into Masters of the Universe. I was hoping for more but it was just not... engaging. Not because of the whole Teela-being-the-main-character thing, but because, I don't know, it took itself a little too seriously?

        You're entirely right about She-Ra and Carmen San Diego; I forgot to mention those. We were all sad when we finished those shows; they were awesome.

  • I am in fact on the cinema toilet right nowmtrying to get my emotions under control.

    Not only was this movie awesome in its own right, it was an honest to god great sequel.

    And for once, even to my autistic standars, I feel like they didn't piss all over my childhood for money.

    • I am glad to hear it. The trailers looked good, and I was planning to risk it. Good to hear at least one positive review.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Kokuyo ( 549451 )

        I don't know, from what my wife tells me, the non-professional reviewing crowd is either pretty stoked or at worst thought the focus on family matters was a bit out of place.

        I can only assume that the negative reviews you're referring to come from the Rotten Tomatoes / IMDB crowd and frankly who the hell would ever listen to those creeps?

        All I can say is, trying to not spoil the movie because in my book, that would be a sin: The people who made this film loved the old movies and had their hearts in this one

  • We’ve only had the first 3 episodes of this but it’s showing a lot of promise. Production values are good, maybe not top shelf but certainly good enough, and the same can be said for the actors. Most importantly, they found a rare competent writer, who knows how to adapt a book to the screen rather than just steal the name and a few ideas. The pacing works, there’s enough happening to keep each episode interesting, while leaving enough time to build out the characters and the world. IMHO

  • Basically every time they announced some sort of reboot, I watched a movie by the same name from some former times that was a lot better.

    • Exactly, most of this stuff sans a few series I like, i.e., "The Expanse" isn't worth your time. I will see GBA this weekend but it's already been somewhat downplayed by The Critical Drinker but it's definitely better than that 2016 Shite!

  • Here are a few I really enjoyed (Score:3)

    by Camembert ( 2891457 ) on Friday November 19, 2021 @06:38PM (#62003323)
    I agree with other recommendations of Boss Level, Dune, and Foundation. These were not yet mentioned:

    - The White Lotus: bone dry humor and drama about awful rich people not enjoying their holiday, and the hapless hotel staff catering to them. Very well acted
    - Hacks: funny and melancholic, about a canceled young scriptwriter who accepts a job writing jokes for an ageing stand up comedian lady (actress won an Emmy for her role). Also very well acted.
    - Mythic Quest season 2 (and season 1 if you missed it): funny and sometimes touching show about a dysfunctional computer game studio. A few incredible standalone episodes in it as well, like a work from home episode, and one about young SF writers ca 1970.
    - Tehran. Suspenseful Israeli spy thriller
    - The Queen's Gambit, about the growth of a young chess prodigy in the 1960s, probably inspired by Bobby Fischer despite the gender switch
    - Trying, season 2, and 1 if you missed it. Funny and touching, very British look at the difficulty of adopting in UK. Excellent chemistry between the leads and fun supporting characters. - Invasion, still ongoing, lowborn about the first days of an alien invasion. Maybe too slow for some, yet I love its characterisations, and it does gradually become pretty compelling and suspenseful. Beautiful cinematography too.
    • some kind of autocorrect typo creeped in: lowborn should be slowburn

    • +1 on Queens Gambit - excellent limited series.

      If you can take lots of violence, Squid Game is a pretty well written and very well acted show, though I thought the premise quite a reach. I understand that a lot of the allegory of income inequality in the original Korean will go right over English-speakers' heads in either dubs or subtitles, tho. They've teed it up for another season, which is kind of a shame - it didn't need one.

      Have enjoyed Stranger Things season 1, though the plot is kind of a sieve. Regu

      • Honestly, I hated Squid Game and I found that the allegory you mention was both obvious and ham-handed. Almost every character is doing stupid things constantly, merely to service the plot and lampshade the notion that their regular lives are no different than the Squid Game. Once you spot that, it's like seeing the zipper in the costume in a B-movie, you just can't take it seriously any longer.

        The MC manages to survive purely by dumb luck, despite a long series of moronic decisions. I imagine he'll grow

  • At first I hated Lower Decks, but it grew on me. Season 2 this year was much better than season 1, and had some genuinely decent stories. The finale in particular was great.

    It's all canon too, stuff that happens in it is part of Trek lore now.

  • People didn't like it because it takes a long time to pay off but if you can stick it out it has one hell of a payoff at the end. Plus super cute glasses girl.

    Digimon Ghost Game is way better than it has any right to be, which is kind of par for the course for Digimon anime. Also once again I'm surprised what Japan will let young children watch.

    I need to go back and finish up takt op Destiny. I really only watch the first app but again it was far better than it had any right to be as I gather it's ba

  • Batwoman was pretty good. Season 2 was always going to be difficult because the lead actress left, and she was great in the role. In particular she had a great rapport with the villain, Alice, who was also brilliant and came over as genuinely dangerous.

    Somehow they managed it though, and season 3 is airing now and is on form.

  • What We Do in the Shadows (Score:3)

    by VeryFluffyBunny ( 5037285 ) on Friday November 19, 2021 @06:48PM (#62003371)
    Everyone knows a Colin Robinson. There are definitely a few on /.
  • Is good every season, including this year's.
  • If you're into schadenfreude & enjoy watching a billionaire media mogul family tear itself apart, Succession's entertaining. Every character in it is a complete & utter asshole. I have no sympathy for any of them.

  • Resident Alien - sci-fi dark comedy - a genocidal alien crashes in a remote town and starts sort-of becoming humanized while trying to blend in. Starring Pirate Steve. I love watching the kids getting the best of him, and some of his alien reactions to human things are hilarious, but the drama works too.

    The Witcher - fantasy action/drama - I'd love to recommend it without reservation, but honestly the first season's a hot mess of unnecessarily shifting time periods made confusing by immortal characters.

  • The Courier: 10/10. Excellent performances, production, set, costume, lighting, and sound design. True to the spirit and history of the time. Did I mention performances? A masterâ(TM)s class in facial acting.

  • The Expanse (Score:4)

    by AncalagonTotof ( 1025748 ) on Friday November 19, 2021 @07:34PM (#62003533)
    Close enough to the books so far (much more than GoT).
    S05 is (almost) a year old. S06 is closing in.

    • It's a well-written show, a lot of writers and producers could learn quite a bit about plot and character development by watching it *cough* Disney Hacks *cough*

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by clovis ( 4684 )

        It's a well-written show, a lot of writers and producers could learn quite a bit about plot and character development by watching it *cough* Disney Hacks *cough*

        Expanse fans here. It's our favorite of the sci-fi type shows.
        My wife claims that there must be only one good team of writers for each streaming service, and that team writes the first few episodes of a new show and then they are pulled off to start some other new show. But that didn't happen with The Expanse for some reason.

        Other shows we liked in the order they popped into my head.
        Green Eggs and Ham on Netflix (watched it twice)
        Dickinson on Apple+
        Counterpart (J K Simmons)
        The Witcher
        LoveCraft Country (wtf

  • There are way too many out right now. :/ I watch more Internet videos than on TV.

  • On Netflix, The Dig was a good story without swords and sorcery, car chases, or gore, and with archaeologists. The Defeated (series) was rough with violence and gore, but these were instrumental in telling an engaging story in post-war occupied Berlin. The Last Days (2021 remaster from 1998 film) was excellent with interviews of Holocaust survivors and perpetrators. On some other service, I was fascinated by Soldier Boy (Russ. translit.: Soldatik), about an orphaned kid who is adopted by a Red Army unit
  • I can get today's concerns and obsessions anywhere. I enjoy stories set in other times.

  • I can very much recommend a series that I had no idea would impact me so much.

    Maid

    There, I said it. One of the best TV series I have watched this year, if not the best.
    It really stood out amongst the crowd of usual suspects.
    No special effects, no car chases, not sci-fi, not a crime drama.
    Just a real life story - and so wonderfully shot and acted.

  • Kind of like a Russian Batman movie, but a bit more complicated than that. I really enjoyed this movie.
  • Interesting movie, based on a true story. Good to have reminders of things in the past so we can compare to the present.
  • Invincible is an incredibly good super hero cartoon series. It's got so much drama and action in it, and some parts of it just left me speechless. Everyone I know who's seen it go out of their way to encourage others to see it.

  • John Dillermand (Score:3)

    by Corbets ( 169101 ) on Saturday November 20, 2021 @03:31AM (#62004307) Homepage

    If youâ(TM)ve got kids and want something unique, John Dillermand might be a TV show for you. Itâ(TM)s very⦠Danish⦠though.

  • Live Action Cowboy Bebop anyone? (Score:3)

    by skam240 ( 789197 ) on Saturday November 20, 2021 @10:40AM (#62004797)

    It literally just just dropped the day Slashdot posted this but the live action Cowboy Bebop Netflix just released was so much fun to watch for me I binged the first 5 episodes and loved it.

    It's definitely done on a tight budget as the camera shots are all pretty tight, likely to make the most of minimal sets but what you do see does look good (although with a bit of a stylized look some might not like). The cast though does a fantastic job and the sound track is just as amazing as the source material (and I frequently don't enjoy anime sound tracks very much). Faye Valentine's character is especially a ton of fun.

    If you're a fan of the original anime the show should do you well, meanwhile I think the show should be very approachable to those who haven't seen it.

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