^ That's probably up next for me after I finish Better Call Saul. Loved the movie but never got around to the show.

If anyone was hesitating to recommend House of the Dragon before, I don't know what's stopping you now. It's worth watching just for Matt Smith's performance as Daemon alone.

The Lighthouse

Excellent and unconventional horror film with top notch acting and cinematography. Very creepy and atmosphere so thick you could cut it with a knife.

I also love the guts they had to make a movie in black and white 4:3 ration and mono sound in 2019. It wasd the right choice; wouldn't have been nearly as claustrophic and alienating in colour/widescreen/surround sound.

Yep it is fantastic. I don't even know how to classify the humor lol. It isn't exactly Dark and it isn't exactly light hearted either lol.

• For All Mankind, finished I up S3 (I’ve watched S1 three times and S2 twice). The show is probably my favourite thing on right now, replacing Better Call Saul and The Witcher. For anyone not familiar, it’s an alternative history about the space race, asking the question “What if the space race didn’t end in 1972?” the show begins with a certain event in the 1960s (I won’t spoil it, and I recommend going into the series without spoiling it), the show moves into the 70s by episode 3, and then S2 is in the 80s, S3 the 1990s, and S4 begins in 2003 (in the real world this was when the US invaded Iraq). Technology, politics, and even the nations of the world, are quite a bit different than the real world, but some events repeat themselves, but in different and interesting ways. The further we get from the change in timeline, the more different things become, so S2 was a departure, but S3 was a much bigger departure as we’re already ahead of the 2020s by 1992 in terms of space tech: computer/phone technology is also about 15 years ahead (like ~2005 level), everyone is using iPhone-form factor smartphones by the early 1990s, likely based on iPhone prototypes, flat screens, etc… so I’m looking very forward to S4 which will be out around Summer 2023.

• Better Call Saul, I have yet to see the final portion of it, but I will once it gets to streaming services.

• The Boys, another one of my favourites, I’m currently rewatching the whole series before getting into the latest episodes released earlier this year. Anyone not familiar with this, it’s a story about what super heroes would probably be like, and takes the focus from a super hero group and instead puts it onto a rebel anti-super hero group—led by Billy Butcher, a British badass played by Karl Urban who calls everyone a cunt—one of the gags is how he switches it up as a term of endearment and an insult through the series, and this confuses the hell out of some of the characters. If you liked the tone of the film Watchmen, you’ll probably love this—it’s a little bit different as Watchmen is heavily film noir inspired and the Boys is more In Bruges, but has a similar kind of grit.

• It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, hands down my favourite comedy show currently on. Currently in the middle of a long rewatch. Up to S6. It’s one of those shows where I have so many favourite episodes I can’t choose, unlike say The Office where it is clearly “Dinner Party” and that IMO is like an average Always Sunny episode. Just me, this type of crass and “offensive” humour isn’t for everyone. :)

• Rings of Power, is my current “show I’m most excited about” because it’s just starting, going to watch the new episode tonight, loved the first two. Right now, it’s definitely taking place in the middle of the second age unless they crunch the timeline - which IMO makes the most sense to get all the notable characters in the show because it doesn’t look like they’re going the anthology route. So, right now they’re just before canon stuff, Galadriel canonically is the only one who seems to be doing anything about what happens - also, expect a romantic story between her and Celeborn, Elrond also gets with Celebrian around this time. Celebrimbor, much like his grandfather Feanor, is an arrogant prick who falls head on into Annatar’s trap. Speaking of Annatar, I believe the meteor man is either Annatar or Gandalf - both are spirits of fire, one is sent to combat the darkness of Sauron, the other is tricking the elves into thinking he is a giver of gifts. It sounds like it’s possible Celebrimbor has already met Annatar by the hints. Will be watching the episode later.
Stranger Things will be in October for me.
Witcher Blood Origin in December.

There’s a lot of great stuff on right now, and I’m not even into the HBO stuff yet. I used to only watch films, and very little TV, but I’ve been switching it completely around in recent years. TV has got so much better! Not to say there aren’t any brilliant films/filmmakers out there - I’m a big fan of Robert Eggers (The Witch, the Lighthouse), Adam McKay (The Big Short, Vice, Don’t Look Up, Anchorman), Ari Aster (Hereditary, Midsommar), and others - but I don’t really like most blockbuster films, and I feel TV show makers have really stepped it up. I see Ronald D. Moore (For All Mankind) and Vince Gilligan (Better Call Saul) as two of the pioneers… Vince broke in with X-Files, and Ron with Star Trek The Next Generation - but it was really their shows Battle Star Galactica Remake and Breaking Bad that really broke in… in my opinion, the major pioneer is JMS (J Michael Stranczynski) who created Babylon 5 back in the 1980s years before it got to TV in the 1990s. Babylon 5 was also a massive influence on Ronald D. Moore who was on the writing team for Deep Space 9 - which is heavily based on B5 - they came out around the same time, but the Star Trek guys were looking at the B5 package years earlier when JMS presented the show to their production company.

Of course, there was soap operas, which were ultimately the main inspiration, but they’re a bit different in nature since they’re much like pro-wrestling (also based on the soap opera model) where they generally go back to status quo in the fourth act, while the JMS model is more like a novel where things keep increasing until hitting a major climactic moment. The difference between JMS and Moore/Gilligan is that JMS unveiled his universe with episodic work with only a single thread connecting them, before adding in more strands and getting into the story proper by the end of S1. This became the general model for sci-fi (Stargate, Farscape, etc…); the Moore/Gilligan model goes full into novel mode by the end of episode 1, and the universe sort of expands from there. Gilligan was originally a lot better than Moore at this, but Moore has really sharpened his craft since BSG and Caprica.

Anyway, just my thoughts.

I just saw the new Bill Skarsgard horror film, Barbarian in the theater, loved it. This movie's filled with surprises, which was a huge breath of fresh air for horror as they've become way too predictable. This movie's very cleverly-written with surprise horror twists, I was eagerly anticipating what batshit crazy supernatural shit they were gonna throw next. And Bill Skarsgard wasn't playing a menacing clown this time, but he still knocked it out of the park. He serves as the catalyst for all the insane horror twists, which I'll refuse to say anything more out of not wanting to spoil a thrilling horror from start to finish.

I also wrapped up the Pretty Little Liars horror spin-off, Original Sin on HBO Max a few days ago, which I also quite enjoyed. I'll admit, I've never seen the original PLL and couldn't tell you a single thing about any of the original cast, but I still loved it. It takes pages from Scream with mentioning horror tropes and the progression of the story is also nicely built-up. If you're into horror and especially slasher-type stuff, I would definitely check this out on HBO Max.

Better Call Saul: Altogether I found the subject matter of crooked lawyering a bit less interesting than building a drug empire from scratch, but the craftsmanship on display is even better; truly some of the best in all of television. I can't wait to see what Gilligan and co. make next.

Robert Eggers is IMO one of the most interesting people in the overall horror genre right now. He only has two right now, the other one is The Witch. His genre, Arthouse horror/Art horror, is probably my favourite film genre right now. It’s a genre that wasn’t terribly popular for around 30 years (from about 1980 to 2010ish), there were a few notables, mainly from David Cronenberg and Lynch, but it’s seen a come back in recent years, even pop-horror film makers like Jordan Peele are taking a stab, coming off of two highly successful conventional films (Get Out and Us) and releasing his first Arthouse horror film, Nope.

So, what happened with the horror genre before this time? Filmmakers like John Carpenter and Wes Craven struck gold with the slasher genre, and those films seemed to keep doing well through the 80, quickly established the slasher as the dominant sun genre. Dark comedy is a big part of the gen x experience, and slashers tend to be dark slap-stick comedy. Almost all horror films in the 1990s were slashers. By the 2000s they’d become more blockbusterish, and we had something more like action-slasher-thrillers.

Australian filmmaker James Wan became a popular horror film maker in the early 2000s with his film Saw. Critics were mixed on it, feeling he went too far, attributing its success with the fans to feeding into their bloodlust. James Wan felt critics weren’t giving his films a fair chance because there was a lot more psychologically going on. This led to his 2010 experimental film Insidious, no gore or violence, low budget, very scary, very successful. And he started a revolution. Many filmmakers began going in all sorts of different artistic directions with their films. While James Wan’s films are conventional (in the broad sense) they bucked the horror industry trends and opened the door to much more experimentation, and we began seeing a lot more arthouse and fewer conventional type horror films in the coming years.

Some of my favourites of the past decade and a bit:

Jennifer Kent - The Babadook - another Australian filmmaker, this one spins depression and delusion with horror.

Ari Aster - Hereditary and Midsommar. Hereditary, IMO, feels like The Shining for the current era, it is one of my favourite films of recent times—and has one of the most horrifying scenes, ever; it made me feel sick for like 20 minutes - I was not fucking prepared as I had no idea what the film was about when I walked in - only that it was kind of like The Shining. Midsommar is a film about a cult in Sweden. If you’ve seen Aster’s short films, this is more along those lines of ultra-dark comedy. I loved the weird Disney-ish singing during that one drugged out sex scene. Midsommar is the more unconventional of the two films, as I can say if you like The Shining then Hereditary is a no-brainer. Midsommar, there’s nothing quite like it out there. Midsommar is also a visually stunning film.

John Krasinski - A Quiet Place - a silent film with an explanation of why it’s silent. Making noise has a high chance of attracting something. I don’t want to spoil the film.

Mike Flanagan - Hush and Gerald’s Game - Hush is another silent film, the main character is deaf. It’s a fairly simple premise, a woman in a large house in the woods, she’s deaf, someone is out there… I enjoyed the crap out of that one. Gerald’s Game is a Stephen King adaptation, it shifts back and forth between different time periods, and nothing is quite as it seems. The premise is a couple suffering marital difficulties goes to a cabin and plays a kinky sex game where she’s cuffed to the bed, and her husband dies on top of her… then all sorts of insanity happens as she starts to hallucinate.

Jordan Peele - Get Out, Us, and Nope. Get Out is easily the most popular and also the most conventional film of everything I’ve listed, although I think it’s popularity is in spite of its conventionality and has a lot to do with sinking effectively into the political climate of its time. Us and Nope make no such attempts on politics, but I found to be more interesting films and mark substantial growth for Jordan Peele as a filmmaker. Us is the most thrilling of the three, with a lot of late Gen X feeling slasher elements and dark comedy fit into a mystery-thriller plot—and Peele keeps it fresh by making things a bit less conventional, more original feeling so it has the spirit of a late-70s and early 80s slasher with modern film tech. Nope was where he really let go of the conventions and is much more of an art house horror film, with a lot of Gen-X influences from the 70s and 90s. It follows an episodic plot that shifts sub-genre, and incidentally enough, so does the antagonist of the film. Nope also brings in 80s and 90s references from animes as Neon Genesis and Akira.

And while not Arthouse horror, I thought I’d bring up James Wan.

James Wan - Conjuring I and II. Insidious kind of felt like a jumping-off point for a deeper dive into the genre. The Conjuring films, IMO, are to this day the most thrilling horror films I’ve ever seen. James Wan uses audio, creepiness, and tension to build some really terrifying moments. My personal favourite is Conjuring 2 of his films. One of the few sequels I like better than the original… and I like the original a lot. I miss Rose Byrne from Insidious, though—she’s one of my favourite actresses.

Just some films you may or may not like, as they all are quite different from one another. I like them all, but I don’t know many others who do, but I do know people who like at least a few of them. The James Wan films and Get Out are fairly universally liked by horror fans—I mean, there will always be the contrarians who don’t like things based on the fact that they’re popular. Fear is a very subjective feeling, but I found the scariest film on the list is Conjuring 2, Get Out was the least scary (incidentally, also the most popular film), and Hereditary is the most disturbing… I find people often say The Babadook is the scariest film of all time, and I can see that as well, there’s a lot of bizarre stuff in it and I probably rank it in second as the most disturbing.

EDIT - also, check out the Charlie Brooker series Black Mirror, not all of them are horror, but it’s basically The Outer Limits/The Twilight Zone for this era.

Just started watching a show yesterday called "Upload" and it's honestly pretty great imo. It's about a heaven-type place where dead people's consciousness' are uploaded. It's kind of a combination of comedy, sci-fi, and mystery, but imo it's extremely well done. Just started watching it on a whim and so far I'm extremely impressed. Haven't heard of it before and I think it deserves to be more popular. The humor is on point.

Yeah, that one's a sleeper but soon you get really invested in the characters. Good stuff.