[karlo_98]

The Skeleton Twins is good


Don't forget to comment mine , it's on the sig

[Sunderland 4ever]

Hey, that's Cassie from Skins, right?

[Allstar]

Originally posted by Sunderland 4ever

Hey, that's Cassie from Skins, right?

Yes

[Allstar]

#25 - The Strain

By now you might have understood how I'm holding a slight grudge towards mystery shows. Someone once told me they're all just farces and as much as I wanted to disagree - I couldn't. It's true that all mystery shows keep promising you answers through their sole existence and almost none will ever deliver.

'The Strain' could have just as easily been a post-apocalyptic show like 'The Walking Dead' but it didn't want to be. It intentionally wanted to embrace the genre of mystery & sci-fi and therefore we have to view and judge it as such. But I don't want to get stuck on that now because ironically (or not if we're being honest) the show was at its very best whenever it departed and felt more like an outbreak fiction of vampires and not like a show that has a huge conspiracy planned behind that outbreak. This show was best in its mid-season for me during times when the cast was stuck almost an entire hour at a gas station, times when it truly felt cinematic and spooky. Unfortunately, that were the only times I found this show to be good. Its start, while captivating, was very bumpy and its finish line wasn't even just bumpy anymore but like I said I won't delve into those aspects of the show now.

What made the even pretty bad episodes enjoyable was its always present comic-vibe that somehow seemed to be the perfect excuse for all the awful dialogues or its poor consistency in so many
If we're all being honest, though, 'The Strain' wasn't just one of the most enjoyable things to watch all summer but one of the most gripping things to watch all year. And if that wasn't enough for some of us, the sole existence of an apocalyptic vampire show that is such a fresh twist on the tv landscape and horror genre should be good enough.

Best Episodes: "Occultation"; "For Services Rendered";

[Allstar]

#24 - Happy Valley

'Happy Valley' was one of the surprise British releases this year that turned out to be really, really good. Gripping, tense with clever social commentary and a strong character study supported by a killer lead performance.

Yet, it's the lowest ranked British crime show I've watched this year on my countdown. That doesn't say much, however, because it's really good. Its setting and premise are somewhat so familiar that it surprised me just how unique the show actually was. Just like others it has that extremely depressing mood about itself and is filled with hopefulness always on the search of trying to make humanity look even more frustrating and evil. But amidst all that was our protagonist's arc and own involvement in the depicted crime that added a fresh, personal note most other crime ficitons don't have. What stood out most for me about th ending was the bittersweet, yet bright note about the way it concluded so perfectly.

Unfortunately, I don't see how a second season makes sense but that doesn't matter at this point yet. 'Happy Valley' only takes a backseat behind other British shows on my countdown because they personally resonated much more with me. Important to mention, though, is that all of them are arguably about as equally good. They just focus on differen things. What definitely sets this show apart from the others is its - as previously mentioned - final conclusion that leaves the audience with no questions and satisfies all of their desires while still sticking to its well-balanced simultaneously depressing and hopeful mood and notions.

I can't really write a lot about it without spoiling. Besides, it's hard to do the show justice through writing in here. If you want a crime show, watch it.

Best Episodes: "Episode 1"; "Episode 4"; "Episoe 6"

[Allstar]

#23 - Homeland

Yes, that's right. After the awful slump that 'Homeland' was last year - tricking its audience with horrendous gimmicks, treading into territory of the worst kind of conspiracies and even delivering surprisingly stale acting from such a great cast (which no doubt was the material's fault) - it has somehow redeemed itself this year.

Unlike popular belief, 'Homeland' is not the best it's ever been but it's gotten back on track. Getting rid of a major character who only dragged the show down the longer he's been present in it, since he was initially planned to die in the first season already, the show could finally move on towards what used to make it so great - Carrie. There's no doubt about it that 'Homeland' could have never improved the way it did this year if it wasn't for Claire Danes' impressive performance. She knows just how well and when to express emotions and without the pressure of bad material and gimmick-y twists she was given much more freedom this time around.

Most likely, it's never going to become as good as it once was. Way too many mistakes have happened on the way that can't be undone. This fourth season had to suffer the consequences and while the show sometimes knows how to make the best out of a not convenient situation there's no denying it would be so much better left without them. Subsequently, the writers had to use cheap tricks like almost always giving Carrie easy opt-outs - whenever something bad happened she had somewhat caused some sudden event turned it around so she wouldn't have to deal with the guilt or fallout of anything. While that's a very lazy and dishonest way of writing a show it sure did help to make Carrie a stable character the audience wants to root for again. Guess it's the best we could've hoped for in an already not ideal situation.

The plot this season wasn't complicated or original. The fact it was nothing new, though, gave the writers the opportunity to work with things they're familiar with. Almost '24'-like the entire season focused on a specific ark trying to nail down the bad guy. So obviously in typical Homeland-style we were flooded with twists - some of which were better than others - to spice up the show. Same settings and same thematics made it hard to feel the tension the show wanted us to feel at times. Whenever it reached noteworthy moments they had to destroy it with some of their upscale twists reaching way too high just for that shock factor. The season finale has me very worried that it's all been a fluke and they'll fall back into the hells of staleness and repetetiveness again.

But let's not worry about next year just yet. To sum up, 'Homeland's finally been gripping again this season. It's not reached the cleverness or the complexity it once used to have and I doubt it will ever be able to recapture that but at least it's been a solid show again with a few sharply written and smart scenes in-between. There are almost no other shows that have decreased this much in quality and been able to reinvent themselves one year later to find a solid footing again. And that's something to be proud of.

Best Episodes: "Shalwar Kameez"; "Halfway To A Donut"; “There’s Something Else Going On”

[Allstar]

#22 - Boardwalk Empire

For me personally, 'Boardwalk Empire' has long been past its peak in the second season. Three years now to be exact. Our protagonist Nucky just isn't as compelling, as complex or as ambiguous of an anti-hero to observe and analyze weekly such as Tony Soprano was or Walter White recently has been.

The show used to have two protagonists to carry it and so many of its flaws, such as the very stale pacing, were never as imminent as they were after they killed of one of the two. Thus, the show had to gradually suffer and decrease in quality which was quite sad considering its initial potential of becoming one of HBO's finest of all time. Sure, 'Boardwalk Empire' stayed a good show until the very end but that original, insane level of quality was something the show failed at maintaining for several seasons. Those days are long gone.

But make no mistake as the show still secured a spot inside my Top 25. Like I said, it stayed good - good enough to be this high. Its fifth and final season stood apart from the previous two because the handful of episodes that were good, well weren't just good but pretty amazing, actually. We've gotten a satisfying conclusion for this great series in the end and had a final season with some strong episodes the show can count amongst its very best. There's not really much more one could have hoped for.

Besides, the to me very compelling message that this journey of Nucky's we've followed for so long hasn't really been about power much moreso than its been about heartbreak and love felt convincing to me as it erased some of the doubts about Nucky not being as intriguing as some of his tv peers. He never really was supposed to be in first place. He was less a gangster than he was a person like all of us and why shouldn't that be enough in the end?

Best Episodes: “Devil You Know”; “Friendless Child”; “Eldorado”

[Allstar]

#21 - The Walking Dead

Yeah, I kinda used to be the biggest hater of this - apart from the first season, that is. It used to be completely overrated and I was very frustrated by the fact that its so extremely successful and record-breaking existence stole the spotlight of other much more deserving shows. Lazy characterization, ineffective character developments, boring & very formulaic storytelling that often led nowhere and extremely tiresome settings made up the core of this show. Even the action sequences were totally unoriginal and repetetive. A zombie-apocalypse drama that was actually boring. I suppose that's a noteworthy achievement, as well.

The fifth season, however has been good.... actually, it's been great even. And I couldn't believe myself when I had to admit that already during its first few engrossing minutes of its premiere. Not only did this half of the season make up surprisingly well for all the lack of insight we've gotten into our cast at that point it also tightly picked up the story by giving its characters a point of moving forward for the very first time since the first season.
We as an audience were always secretly aware that there's not really any hope for them to actually find a cure but it made us so much more connected to the variety of figures this show's collected over the seasons. They caught two birds with one stone because not only did they throw in a "higher" purpose but also had a reason to not stay glued for half a season at the same setting. This episode didn't have one entire episode set up at the same location and that alone was so refreshing.

We've gotten episodes that have only focused on selected cast members in all seasons. And everytime but once the writers failed at creating any smart dramatic dynamics which makes it all the more stunning how this season's character studies have been extraordinarily sharp. Whether it be the hospital hour that made Beth feel like an actual person for once or Carol's and Daryl's city trip that delved deeper into their motivations and past than any other installment has done ever before. The introduction of new themes or so desperately needed adding of new layers (it is a drama after all) was effective, progressing and raw. Yet, that wasn't all TWD has improved in - finally the action/horror genre of this series is rightly represented with some of the most tenseful and creative zombie sequences some of which felt like throwbacks to past zombie film classics while others had yet to be seen somewhere else providing the show with a very original note.

Of course, 'The Walking Dead' is still not the best show on air. Far from being that, actually. Its mid-season chapter fell back into both boring, predictable and gimmick-like territory. Maybe the writers don't know how to efficiently work with all characters at the same time and if that's the case they should at least use the formula that did work so well this season - focusing on different members but not entirely splitting them up for pacing's sake.
However, for the first time I didn't feel disgust about it being an undeniable tv classic to go down in history because for once this series didn't just deliever all the elements a classic should have on paper but actually brought them into execution better than it had done ever before.

Best Episodes: "No Sanctuary"; "Four Walls And A Roof"; "Self Help"; "Consumed"

[Rider]

Ok I only know TWD here
I should watch that

[Kang.]

I liked the scene where they were in the car and had to use their body weights to push it over the bridge and hit the zombies

[Allstar]

Originally posted by Kang.

I liked the scene where they were in the car and had to use their body weights to push it over the bridge and hit the zombies

Did you notice the 'Lost' references in that one?

[Kang.]

Originally posted by Allstar

Did you notice the 'Lost' references in that one?

No. I need to be a more critical TV watcher.

And that's the only scene I caught from the entire season.

But OK the greatest television show of all time still rubbing off on the flakes.

[AshleeSimpsonFan]

I loved the books, that's why I really want to watch The Strain and TWD is good too.

[Regina George]

TWD its amazing, I should watch The Strain

I wonder whats on the Top 20 now that TWD its out

[Drowned_World]

I really have to watch The Skeleton Twins sometime. Your description has me intrigued.

[Allstar]

Another movies and TV batch today

[katyperryismylife]

Originally posted by Allstar

#30 - The Leftovers

Best TV show of all time. I'm sorry for you because you clearly don't have the capacity to understand the complexities and intricacies of this television marvel.

[Allstar]

DRAG ME. Movie batch on the next page guys!

[Rider]

[Rider]

Here for another batch of unknown, obscure movies.