Sharing Time 👍👎

Nan Fun, Life, Opinion,

I’m going to go off the well-beaten path with this post and ask/talk about a topic that most all of us have taken part in and very likely have remarks and comments to share about it. At its core, it is not related to politics … religion … the “trans” debates … or the war in Ukraine.

Or Trump!

Are you breathless with suspense?

OK. The Big Reveal!

What kind of Movies and/or TV Series do you like (or dislike)?

Do you like to watch action, shoot-’em-up programs? Or perhaps … Sci-fi? Romance? Documentary? Mystery? War? History? Science? Or maybe you like old movies?

This is your opportunity to share with us some of your favorites — and not-so-favorites — and why. Do you have a preference in actors/actresses? (Is there a non-binary name for them nowadays? Maybe “performers”?)

When was the last time you went to a movie theater? Do you still use cable or satellite — or have you switched over to Roku or Firestick programming?

Personally, I’m a sci-fi fan — but not when it includes zombies or the “undead.” I like the ones that could potentially be possible … e.g., weather disasters, radioactive spills, viruses (hmmm). Not a fan of time-traveling movies. Pretty much all sitting-on-the-edge-of-your-seat type shows. (I was a big Star Trek fan … and Twilight Zone was also one of my favorites MANY years ago. Never liked the Star Wars series.)

So, what about you? When you sit back in your favorite chair to relax (or drive to a local movie theater), what tickles your fancy? Or what type of program do you definitely avoid?

62 thoughts on “Sharing Time 👍👎”

  1. Since I moved to the countryside, I rarely go to a cinema. The ones with good films showing are too far away. I still buy DVD films, still watch mainstream TV, and do not have Netflix.
    I have been a film fan all of my life, and have no particular favourite genre. But a good percentage of my DVD films are in a foreign language with subtitles.
    Listing my favourite TV would not mean a lot, as we have different shows in England. However, an American TV series is one of my all-time best, and that is The Sopranos. I watched every episode on TV, then bought the 4 box sets of the entire series.
    I also have an American film as number one in my top ten, and that is ‘Blade Runner’. Not the dire sequel, the original film.
    Best wishes, Pete.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  2. Science fiction
    Blade runner ( both)
    Alien.
    Back to the future ( all of them)
    Martian
    Interstellar
    Star Trek ( Old series, New movies)
    Star Wars. Prefer the original threem

    Action
    Mission impossible ( all of then)
    Bourne series.( All of them)

    Comedy
    Grumpy old men ( both)
    Big Bang theory ( series – watch it endlessly!)
    Groundhog Day.

    The reasons are numerous and varied.
    I like Matt Damon as an actor and love Sigourney Weaver!

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  3. Action
    Shawshank redemption
    Schindler’s list
    All the kings men (1948)
    John wick(all of them)
    Most of Denzels, Morgan Freeman and Neeson’s movies unless they are really bad.

    TV shows
    24
    Prison break
    Mentalist
    BBT
    The blacklist

    Of late i avoid series as much as possible. Just don’t have the time for them unless i can binge watch in one or two nights

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  4. We gave up on public (now known as pay tv) TV several years ago when it began to cost more than it was worth. Right now the only movies I see are the freebies on YouTube. Many of them, that I once watched on TV, have not worn well. Come to think of it, I’m a bit raggedy too, so…
    My all time favorites are: Casablanca, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Life of Brian, the Alistair Sim “Christmas Carol”, Star Wars, Back to the Future, Dirty Dancing, Fiddler on the Roof, Yankee Doodle Dandy, and Mister Roberts.
    I have no use for rom-coms, horror movies or anything with screams in it, religious movies (they always seem to bleed all over everything) or war movies, no matter who wins…

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • We’re in the process of eliminating pay TV as well. My other-half was hooked on a show that was only available via Dish, but it’s now on one of the apps so bye-bye Dish! And a beaucoup monthly bill!!! (Of course, if one subscribes to several apps, it’s almost as expensive.)

      Like

      Reply

  6. I watch almost no broadcast or cable TV anymore. I have Netflix, Amazon Prime and Paramount Plus, and that’s plenty for my watchlist. I like mindbending shows that make me think and I appreciate good screenwriting of almost any genre. I despise reality shows where people scream at each other. I get bored with action movies that have nothing else going on, and I have no interest in sports. I’ll bingewatch a whole series at a time, usually. Favorites from the last few years include Breaking Bad, Squid Game, and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Oh, and Star Trek Lower Decks is one of the best Star Trek series ever made.

    Over on the RollToDisbelieve Discord Captain Cassidy hosts a Friday movie night, where a few of us get together on the voicechat and enjoy whatever the good Captain decides to show us.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Yes … “mindbending shows that make me think” pretty much fits my preferences as well. I also like “edge of your seat” movies. I recently watched a movie that I was literally TENSE throughout the entire movie. Unfortunately, I can’t recall the title –DANG! — and looking through the “movies watched” on Prime and Netflix isn’t helping. (Memory and old age do NOT go well together!)

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  7. What don’t I love might be easier.
    Musicals – so many great ones
    Disney/Pixar movies – rarely disappointed. Animated movies like Toy Story and Shrek are classics already
    Star Wars – anything and everything (finishing off the Bad Batch right now). I see this as its own genre.
    Independent movies – often foreign, often quirky, almost always surprising
    Historical movies and well done series – Band of Brothers, Roots to offer two
    Korean TV shows, often mushy, like Navillera, The Uncanny Counter
    Anything British comedy – I mean, what would life be like without Monty Python or A Fish Called Wanda? Worth living? I doubt it.
    Yellowstone series lately, especially 1883, but older Westerns like Paint Your Wagon, Shane, and my favourite Cat Balou. I can’t think of a movie with Lee Marvin I didn’t like.
    War movies like Longest Day, Battle of Britain, Dirty Dozen, Das Boot, Guns of Navarone and more modern ones like Saving Private Ryan, Good Morning Vietnam and in my mind Forrest Gump.
    Star Trek presents a very hopeful and great idea but captured only in moments by the various movies and series, but Sci-Fi in general reveals more about humanity than just about any other genre I can think of so I watch a lot of it – favourites being Battlestar Galatica and Dune (just about to start the Foundation series). In this same vein, fantasy also offers a panoramic view of the mythological story lines with jaw dropping scenes and intricate plots like Lord of the Rings.
    But I can’t go more than a year without revisiting Princess Bride.

    I’m probably forgetting many of my favs but this is at least a start!

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

    • Just watched the Guns of Navarone and das Boot for the umpteenth time. I too love the Princess Pride. It is actually one of the very few films with half decent fencing in it. I tried to watch the new Galactica, but got terribly bored and switched to the original series, that I find quite a lot more entertaining. I think it was a good idea to change Starbuck into a female character, but in my view they botched it by taking all the strenght, jest, guile and hidden morals out the character at the same time. I wonder, did those characteristics not fit their image of a woman?

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  8. I like sci-fi or sci-fantasy. I haven’t been to the cinema for about 50 years..
    Comedy like the Big Bang Theory is hard to beat any old film with Spencer Tracy or Katie Hepburn are unbeatable, especially together.My favourite fim might be The Inn of the Sixth Happiness or possibly To Sir With Love. Depends on my mood I suppose. Comedy is good but not Adam Sandler nor Jim Carrey.Will Ferrell, Steve Martin or Ben Stiller. Robin Williams wa good though/ Hugs

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  9. Mrs Desertrat and I could happily watch British police procedurals forever; just recently we caught an episode of Silent Witness (running since 1997??!!) and started hunting for it, and found the entire run on some channel on our Roku.

    We also got a Disney+ sub for Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars (the first episode of “Ahkosha’ drops tonight, and we just watched the whole run of ‘Rebels’ which was fortuitous since it’s importnt for her backstory.

    New season of Loki and Andor are anticipated, but everything else is clealry up in the air due to the strikes (PAY THE GODDAMN WRITERS!!!)

    The strikes are killing us, though…No late night TV…going through serious Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers withdrawal!!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  10. I loved Star Trek and I like a good adult sci fi. I also like crime dramas and mysteries. Liked Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Not a big comedy fan, although there are exceptions like “My Cousin Vinnie”.

    But my particular favorites are British TV shows, especially PBS and their Masterpiece Mystery series. There are some excellent masterful shows and to me, the British are far better acted, more depth, and the people look natural and not all made up and action filled like American TV. A few good movies over the years. I stream a lot and basically network TV is just the 630 news ABC and some MSNBC. I particularly like Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O Donnell.
    I even like some foreign series though you have to get use to closed captioning.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    • Closed captioning is my lifesaver! My hearing is not all that good anymore (even with aids) and while I can HEAR the voices, I can’t always tell what they’re SAYING. Of course this means I can watch foreign-speaking movies … and some of them have been quite good!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      • I have noticed a difference in captions on DVDs. Often the english captions disappear as fast as the person speaking stops, so one has to really watch them and be a relatively fast reader. All films are captioned here (as we are a very small language, we have a lot of imported films all over the globe) and the Finnish captions linger quite long after the speaker has stopped so one has time to look at both the events and the text.

        Oh, and to movie theater I last visited to see Skywalker Rising.

        I guess it is because I like to sit upfront to feel like I am inside a movie, that the 3D did not work at all, since sitting there I could not turn my head to look at the edged without splintering the vision. We went to see the Avatar in 3D. Also, the things you could see as in inside the theatre broke the immersion for me. Adding insult to injury the glasses were terribly heavy and hurt my nose, as I am not accustomed to wearing any, while my wife who does, had trouble wearing both, so that was a one off for us. Is it still a thing?

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

        • I haven’t seen or heard about any 3-D movies for a very long time. Of course, that might not be saying much since I don’t pay any attention to indoor theater movies. From my perspective, they were fun/different at the beginning, but it didn’t take long for them to lose their appeal.

          Liked by 2 people

          Reply

        • The few 3-D movies I ever saw were entirely too gee whiz for me and since the newer movies have come out I can no longer use the glasses since I lost the sight in one eye, and that sort of messes with 3-D anything…
          And anything with guttural screams is out. Just no. Had a neighbor who invited me down to a “movie party” when you could rent movies, and when I got there she said “I have to warn you these are all horror movies”. I left after the first gurgling scream.

          I think most of my favorites are the ‘serious’ movies from the mid-forties. They didn’t preach at you, but you could get the message very clearly.

          And we’ll always have Life of Brian…

          Liked by 2 people

          Reply

          • I had a couple of friends who were really into horror flicks. I watched a few with them, but I got really bored by the endless and pointless zombies. In one film (the name of wich does not deserve to be remembered) a dude shot a zombie right into the torso with a shotgun from a couple of metres and left a gaping hole in the body, but the zombie kept coming like the “love handles” of skin and grease could hold the upper body afloat. It was so stupid, I chose not watch any more of the same crap. I never really regretted the descion, though I watched one “zombie apocalypse” movie years later – the I am Legend and it was actually quite good (but I have liked all Will Smith movies I have seen, I Robot and Wild Wild West being particularly exellent) However, I find the zombie genre interresting in the sense, that it is largely based on an idea, that a pandemic could be repulsed by shooting the infected. In that widespread cultural view a gun seems like a necessary tool of survival of the collapse of society. It works as some sort of safety handle for all occasions and a lot of fearfull people buy one for all possible threatening occurences just to feel safe, even though they have no training on how to use it. It is like making an entire industry of b-movies about escaping from a meteor with a motorbike, or something equally ludicurous. Nobody thinks zombies are real, but the notion of guns being usefull under any dangerous situation is still confirmed.

            I just watched Les Maudits a French movie from 1946 about a bunch of Natzies trying to escape Europe at the end of WWII in a submarine and it is now one of my favourites, right there with the Seven Samurais and The Dictator. But I also like a bunch of more recent films.

            Liked by 1 person

  11. For those who might like British and foreign, Acorn TV and BritBox have some excellent shows. “Line of Duty”one of the all time best. Police procedural mixed with crime.
    When I had Amazon and Netflix, I liked Goldfinch, The Queen’s Gambit.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  12. I don’t watch ANY television except the British series “Coronation Street” that my daughter got me hooked on. And I watch very few movies … I think the last one was “Inherit the Wind” about the Scopes Monkey Trial a few months ago. So … I don’t really have anything to contribute, but love the idea of tossing out a question that is “off the beaten path”! Perhaps I’ll try it someday, for you seem to have gotten many varied responses!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  13. I avoid politics (except for this blog) and other depressing crap. No dystopia or anything with “way too much,” constant action (OD on chases). Yet, the Bourne series w/Matt D. were good.

    I like Vietnam War movies (Platoon) and hope to watch Blackhawk Down soon, but wife veto’s too much violence (for her) and usually I agree. There are exceptions.

    I abhor any forms of violence against women and children. Not so much men (no idea why). No rape – period.

    Stuff we’ve binged on:

    Madam Secretary. Suits. Designated Survivor. Bosch. Lincoln Lawyer. Great Brit. Baking Show. Repair Shop. I like Brit stuff (the Crown was great). Wife loved Downton Abby, but it bored me. We watched some WWII (Brit) movies lately (old ones) and they were great.

    I know there is more, but ATM, I’m blanked out. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I cannot remember the last time I was in a theater, but it’s been well over 30 years. Around here most movie theaters have gone the way of driveins, and I suspect people are more comfortable with Netflix and such. I keep wavering…

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  15. My alltime favourite TV series is Robin of Sherwood. Nicholas Grace as the sherif of Nottingham is brilliant. These days I only watch TV online from Finnish national broadcasting company YLE. We pay taxes to support it wether we watch it or not, but they put out more good stuff to watch, than one has time. Quality documentaries, domestic and international entertainment, new and old movies. I do not even own a television set, instead I watch everything from my fairly big computer monitor.

    I like sci-fi too. Some of my favourites are dystopian like Robocop, because it depicts the dangers of privatization of key seevices. Starship Troopers, as it shows how easily a seemingly democratic society may slip towards Fascism through militarization. Karl Urban is simply superb in Judge Dredd. I also like space opera, like Babylon 5, that deals in many subjects.

    Tora Tora Tora! is one of the best war movies, as it shows the war from both sides and tries not to paint one as dehumanized evil. 9th Legion is a Russian movie about their war in Afganistan and it is brutally honest. Winter War, is a Finnish film, that deconstructs one of our most dangerous national myths by being a realistic depiction of war.

    My favourite fantasy movies are Excalibur for the truly dreamlike fairytale ambience. I love the Lord of the Rings for exactly the opposite reason. It is almost realistic and plausible presentation of the imaginary world in one of my favourite books.

    I would love to see well done historical films, or at least some that have been put an effort to like the HBO series Rome, The Messanger (about Jean d’Arc), both versions of the Lion in Winter and the long version of Kingdom of Heaven (the theatrical version is crap, because it lacks plot characters and does not explain the backstory of the main character).

    I watch too much British detective stories like Endeavour, Morse and German Der Alte.

    British comedy appears to fit Finnish sense of humor. Apart from the obvious Monty Python and Mr Bean I have over the years watched a ton of UK schetch shows.

    Then there are films that are hard to gatecorize, such as Life Aquatic by charming Wes Anderson, Red Dawn by bloodthirsty John Milius and Dr Strangelove by very perceptive Stanley Kubrick just for example.

    “Reality” shows and musicals are not for me.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  16. I haven’t been to a movie theatre in ages, and when I do go I have to be sure that there’s little to no “action”. I find most movies overload my senses and it seems a waste of money having to leave the theatre before half way through because I’ve become so disorientated by what’s going on onscreen. It’s better to wait until it comes out in a form where I can watch it on a small screen, where I can better regulate the level of sensory input.

    My favourite genre are sci-fi and fantasy, especially sword and sorcery, and if it includes a touch of humour, so much the better. So TV series such as the original Star Trek, Orville, Merlin, Xena: Warrior Princess, Legend of the Seeker, The New Legends of Monkey, Dark Knight, and Farscape.

    In my current watch list are shows such as The Witcher, Locke & Key, God’s Favorite Idiot, Wednesday, Lockwood & Co, Creamerie, Shadow Bone, The Witcher: Blood Origin.

    I also enjoy detective mysteries such as Midsomer Murders, Lewis, My Life Is Murder, Inspector Morse, Brokenwood Mysteries, Death In Paradise, Vera, Bones, etc

    Finally, I enjoy panel shows such as QI, 8 Out Of 10 Cats, Would I Lie To You, Patriot Brains, Taskmaster.

    Can’t say any particular movies or TV series are my favourite, and generally I’m not interested in watching anything more than once (with a few exceptions – Life of Brian for example)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  17. Not much of a filmgoer. But, I remain obsessed with the Sergio Leone trilogy. And I baggs watched the eerie beginning of Once upon a Time in the West so many times i lost count.

    On the less prestigious side, I enjoyed the ridiculous but so stylish John Wick series.

    For TV, I loved Boardwalk Empire. Sopranos…and my favorite, Peaky Blinders.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  19. Longstanding sci-fi and action-adventure fan, but lately I have been enjoying Korean productions (procedurals, even romantic comedies). I want the Korean language to come through with just English CCs. Their culture is quite different from ours. In theirs superiors seem to feel free to physically strike inferiors! I also like Korean food shows, by restaurateur Pak, and others. (So, now I am cooking Korean dishes, drinking Soju, etc.)

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  20. I watch a lot of documentaries, mostly about history. I have Amazon Prime & I subscribe to the BBC channel, PBS documentary channel & several other channels of that ilk. I also like classic movies & TV, especially film noir, so I subscribe to those channels where I can stream the shows I like to see. I also enjoy foreign films. & murder mysteries. I can really get into a good murder. LOL

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • All titles unfamiliar to me so I did a quick Google search … you like crime shows! And it seems preferably British. Yes? Definitely not my cup of tea. But as has already been shown via the various comments, we are all a bit unique.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  23. My tastes run along the same lines. Big sci-fi fan, but no zombies. Sorry, zombies are just boring. I’m enjoying Wheel of Time. Miracle Workers is a big fave. Not exactly sci-fi, but not a sit-com either. I also like the latest Star Trek with Captain Pike. A little heavy handed on the moral of the story, but fun on the way there.

    I haven’t been to a theater in a long time. Didn’t go often before Covid, and have not been since Covid. It got too expensive, even if we did smuggle in our own snacks and drinks.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Don't Be Shy -- Tell Us What You Think!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.