What are You Watching?

[Springer]

Switching from TV to Movies, like so many others I saw JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH (2025) this weekend. . . . . did not care for it. It did not feel like a Jurassic Park film to me. It felt like a dinosaur Science Fiction film that tried to force itself to fit into a Jurassic Park mold.

I saw it this weekend too and like you I did not care for it. It committed the cardinal sin of making a dinosaur film boring. The previous film, Dominion, wasn't very good, but at least it was fun and there was a lot of charisma from both the old and new cast. I didn't care about any of the characters in Rebirth one bit, and adding that random family felt like I was watching two films mashed together into one. And enough with the genetically enhanced dinosaurs – despite what the films keep trying to insist, ordinary dinosaurs are not boring and we don't need the made-up monsters, but it feels like that's all the last few films have done.

Is it just me, or is all the really strong storytelling in TV these days as opposed to film? I've seen a handful of good films of late, but it seems like TV is now the long form medium that allows for more creative freedom.

I don't know, I've seen very little on film or TV that piques my interest. Stuff at the movies seems terribly derivative. Stuff on the TV seems too far up its own backside for its own good – I stopped watching The Expanse, for example, as it became too self-important.

Plus I find there's too much dystopia in both film and TV. Reflects our modern times, I suppose, but I could do without it.

 

[Ubik]

I saw it this weekend too and like you I did not care for it. It committed the cardinal sin of making a dinosaur film boring. The previous film, Dominion, wasn't very good, but at least it was fun and there was a lot of charisma from both the old and new cast. I didn't care about any of the characters in Rebirth one bit, and adding that random family felt like I was watching two films mashed together into one. And enough with the genetically enhanced dinosaurs – despite what the films keep trying to insist, ordinary dinosaurs are not boring and we don't need the made-up monsters, but it feels like that's all the last few films have done.



I don't know, I've seen very little on film or TV that piques my interest. Stuff at the movies seems terribly derivative. Stuff on the TV seems too far up its own backside for its own good – I stopped watching The Expanse, for example, as it became too self-important.

Plus I find there's too much dystopia in both film and TV. Reflects our modern times, I suppose, but I could do without it.

I think you need to push a bit beyond 'regular' cinema to find the real gems. Whilst the mainstream occasionally delivers something of worth, most of the best stuff lurks under the surface or elsewhere geographically. I often find myself just investigating films from other countries. Asia has a really rich mine of great stuff.

I spent a lot of last year watching Yasujirō Ozu (Japan) films made between 1950 and 1970.

Some of the best new SF TV I saw was the little know 'Scavengers Reign' animated series (one season only sadly, but it works as a stand alone). Some incredibly cool ideas around alien ecology. There's aheavy Moebius / Jean Giraud influence, but it really had it's own original premise and world building. They have gone on to do 'Common Side Effects' with Mike Judge contributing, very different feel, but also great stuff.

 

[Looney]

Sadly I just really don't have time for much "DEEP" meaning or plot anymore. I find my TV viewing has become part of multi-tasking, which is another reason why I am taking so long to finish Blake's 7. I'm trying to focus on only the episodes when I watch them. Most actual things I can sit down and focus on are either what's new at my multiplex (which is always just the most mainstream films) or what I end up seeing when I'm around my father - which is not usually anything other than mysteries and old classics (BUT he did just decide he wanted to see THE WIRE so I've started watching that once a week or so.)

 

[Ubik]

Sadly I just really don't have time for much "DEEP" meaning or plot anymore. I find my TV viewing has become part of multi-tasking, which is another reason why I am taking so long to finish Blake's 7. I'm trying to focus on only the episodes when I watch them. Most actual things I can sit down and focus on are either what's new at my multiplex (which is always just the most mainstream films) or what I end up seeing when I'm around my father - which is not usually anything other than mysteries and old classics (BUT he did just decide he wanted to see THE WIRE so I've started watching that once a week or so.)

The Wire is definitely in my Top 5 shows of all time. Superb stuff. Requires some patience. It's a slow burn... but so worth it.

You CAN make a conscious decision on what media you choose to consume and I find most Cinemas now do interesting throwback screenings or occasional one offs, alongside the Hollywood dreck. There's so much amazing cinema from the past that I haven't seen, I feel bad spending time on anything new that's clearly sub-par. A bit of trashy easy watching stuff has it's place, but I do my best to see things that will broaden my horizons.

 

[Looney]

I should clarify. I go to the multiplex as a social function not necessarily out of a great desire to see everything that comes out. As a for instance, I went to see I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (2025) Thursday night. I did not go because I really wanted to see it. I went because the person in the group who chose that title RARELY chooses what movie the group sees. It is a real conundrum because this person also RARELY goes with us, but does go more often than I think he would if we didn't do this as a sort of group activity. I also know everyone who works at the multiplex and in all honesty this is really my only real social activity, so I see a lot of stinkers. Thankfully Looney is often able to turn Looney's brain off. And Looney can usually find something good even in a stinker.

And yes my multiplex does offer classic film viewing on Sunday and Wednesday nights. Unfortunately the titles they show are mostly Hollywood Classics everyone has seen MANY times and the members of the group rarely want to pay to see things they likely already own. I don't attend these screenings nearly as often as I would like, but as mentioned above they rarely show films I don't already have in my home library and that makes motivation after a long day at work very difficult.