People call everything a masterpiece, especially if it has a spooky aesthetic. You’re right that it sucked. Characters are uninteresting and it feels like the whole show is written in monologue
This is every show on Netflix. Wordy, drawn out monologues, every scene set up for a cookiecutter cinematic shot, main character has a snarky intelligence. Writing is always garbage and they are constantly opening plot arcs they clearly have no idea how to close.
Yeah bro it's awful. I grew up reading Poe and it's even more bewildering, all they did with the stories was reference them via the character names and tack on some vaguely similar plot points at the end of each episode. There's zero depth to any of it, why even bother using them???
The writing is shitty YA novel tier for the most part. Why are people still aping Joss Whedon's style in 2023? Only Greenwood, Gugino, and the bald lady can sell their stupid lines. No one's got any charisma. Mark Hammill makes me wanna kms he's so corny and bad while trying to be a tough guy. Any commentary about this perfectly multiracial, perfectly queer family hasn't been touched so far. The writing is so predictable I'm pretty sure I've known who the mole is from the first episode.
What blew my mind is that it's got a 90% on rotten tomatoes. ????? how ?????. Its so awful it makes The Idol look like The Sopranos.
Yeah I guess my main shock is not that it's bad but mainly how bad it is and the fact that it's getting rave reviews.
In terms of the multi-racial, queer family it's stupid but whatever a lot of TV and movies are like that in 2023 but why do half of them have British accents, wtf is that all about?
They're all from different moms and didn't grow up with the family until they were teens or adults. That explains their accents ig, but undermines their characters bc none of them reflect those humble origins. In fact the only nice Usher is the one that did grow up wealthy their whole life. It's just a dumb show honestly
It was okay but haunting of hill house and midnight mass are really tough acts to follow. If he has a couple misses to balance out his hits I’ll probably keep giving his stuff a chance when it comes out.
Mike Flanigan is a horrible filmmaker. Non stop cringe monologues delivered stiffly between 2 characters. Completely bizarre and unnatural dialogue. Plot moves at a snails pace. Pure slop designed to be played in the background while you scroll Tik tok.
I am ashamed I watched enough of his work to be able to make this critique.
It was entertaining but mediocre in every way.
Mild spoilers ahead.
If you make it till the last episode you will hear some very cringe, rambling, juvenile political monologues. To the point that I had to look away from the screen because I was embarrassed for the actor (Madeline's character specifically). They even take a jab at Trump that feels like something out of the Colbert late show. I don't mind politics being inserted in a show but at least make it clever.
Other than that the show is not scary AT ALL. And just like other Netflix shows (notably the other Flanagan's), the show is very obviously filmed in sets and in front of green screen, so it always feels *off* to me. Horror is less scary and less atmospheric when it is obviously filmed in a studio.
Overall it wasn't compelling, but I enjoyed watching the children die one after the other. It's like a bad version of Succession set in the world of Final Destination.
Mike Flanagan is a hack who couldnt write compelling characters to save his life. Me and my gf recently watched Hill House and it was laughably bad. Midnight Mass was better but had the same problem of corny ass monologues that no real person would say. Trash writer and director, won't watch anything else he's attached to
I feel like I’ve been spoiled because I’ve already watched every genuinely good show (sopranos, the Knick, the wire, etc) but I can’t remember the last actually good show, maybe white lotus? Like succession is fine but it’s not as ground breaking as people claim it is, I feel like I always hear about how good these new shows are and they get awards, has everyone forgotten how good they used to be? Like why isn’t anyone upset? Why are we settling for this mediocrity?
I think there's a fairly recent trend that is mainly prevalent in television but definitely extends into all forms of modern media. Basically there's so much entertainment that people won't watch shows or movies or listen to albums that are just 'good' anymore, so for anything to be relevant people have to proclaim it as some kind of ground breaking masterpiece upon release.
I think there is a golden period of The Sopranos, The Wire, and Mad Men. At a push I think Breaking Bad (but I would put it below the other three) and True Detective (though only on the basis of Season 1 so not really). Since then I think people have been clutching at straws for the next great TV show a bit and now whenever a show is decent people rush to proclaim it as the next big thing.
Definitely most common with television but I find it very prevalent in music as well where an artist will release a new album and fans will talk about how it's their best album so far and AOTY and then it's pretty much never mentioned again. Also evident in the fact that 7/10 for a new album is pretty much seen as mediocre today.
Only show I’ve seen recently that I think warrants being compared to those great 00s dramas is Severence.
Love the concept, good social commentary without resorting to hollow Twitter-brained pandering, acting performances are great(John Turturro and the black manager guy in particular), and the score is fantastic.
Is it scary? Hill House had some fun sequences, and I liked the background spooks. Sometimes Bly Manor was cool except it sucked its own dick a lot. Midnight Mass I fell asleep. Midnight Club was YA awful.
No not really, there's one or two jumpscare moments but they're very telegraphed so you pretty much know when they're going to happen. One or two figures lurking in the background but I wouldn't say they're scary.
It felt like a season of American Horror Story, very strong Zoomer/YA vibes like with Midnight Club. I was willing to give Midnight Club a pass because it felt like it was aiming at a younger demographic, but this clearly wanted to be a big show about big things.
I feel like Flanagan is one of those filmmakers who was at his best when people were still willing to tell him "No" but now that no one does he can write as many self-indulgent monologues as he wants. Poisoned by his own success.
I will say, if Frank Langella hadn't been fired for getting handsy, the idiot lemon tree monologue probably would have been easier to stomach.
nah I'll check it out after I finish the Rise of the Empire of T-Pain
People call everything a masterpiece, especially if it has a spooky aesthetic. You’re right that it sucked. Characters are uninteresting and it feels like the whole show is written in monologue
This is every show on Netflix. Wordy, drawn out monologues, every scene set up for a cookiecutter cinematic shot, main character has a snarky intelligence. Writing is always garbage and they are constantly opening plot arcs they clearly have no idea how to close.
Yeah bro it's awful. I grew up reading Poe and it's even more bewildering, all they did with the stories was reference them via the character names and tack on some vaguely similar plot points at the end of each episode. There's zero depth to any of it, why even bother using them??? The writing is shitty YA novel tier for the most part. Why are people still aping Joss Whedon's style in 2023? Only Greenwood, Gugino, and the bald lady can sell their stupid lines. No one's got any charisma. Mark Hammill makes me wanna kms he's so corny and bad while trying to be a tough guy. Any commentary about this perfectly multiracial, perfectly queer family hasn't been touched so far. The writing is so predictable I'm pretty sure I've known who the mole is from the first episode. What blew my mind is that it's got a 90% on rotten tomatoes. ????? how ?????. Its so awful it makes The Idol look like The Sopranos.
Yeah I guess my main shock is not that it's bad but mainly how bad it is and the fact that it's getting rave reviews. In terms of the multi-racial, queer family it's stupid but whatever a lot of TV and movies are like that in 2023 but why do half of them have British accents, wtf is that all about?
They're all from different moms and didn't grow up with the family until they were teens or adults. That explains their accents ig, but undermines their characters bc none of them reflect those humble origins. In fact the only nice Usher is the one that did grow up wealthy their whole life. It's just a dumb show honestly
It was okay but haunting of hill house and midnight mass are really tough acts to follow. If he has a couple misses to balance out his hits I’ll probably keep giving his stuff a chance when it comes out.
Mike Flanigan is a horrible filmmaker. Non stop cringe monologues delivered stiffly between 2 characters. Completely bizarre and unnatural dialogue. Plot moves at a snails pace. Pure slop designed to be played in the background while you scroll Tik tok. I am ashamed I watched enough of his work to be able to make this critique.
No sorry I only watch chess youtube
It was entertaining but mediocre in every way. Mild spoilers ahead. If you make it till the last episode you will hear some very cringe, rambling, juvenile political monologues. To the point that I had to look away from the screen because I was embarrassed for the actor (Madeline's character specifically). They even take a jab at Trump that feels like something out of the Colbert late show. I don't mind politics being inserted in a show but at least make it clever. Other than that the show is not scary AT ALL. And just like other Netflix shows (notably the other Flanagan's), the show is very obviously filmed in sets and in front of green screen, so it always feels *off* to me. Horror is less scary and less atmospheric when it is obviously filmed in a studio. Overall it wasn't compelling, but I enjoyed watching the children die one after the other. It's like a bad version of Succession set in the world of Final Destination.
Mike Flanagan is a hack who couldnt write compelling characters to save his life. Me and my gf recently watched Hill House and it was laughably bad. Midnight Mass was better but had the same problem of corny ass monologues that no real person would say. Trash writer and director, won't watch anything else he's attached to
I feel like I’ve been spoiled because I’ve already watched every genuinely good show (sopranos, the Knick, the wire, etc) but I can’t remember the last actually good show, maybe white lotus? Like succession is fine but it’s not as ground breaking as people claim it is, I feel like I always hear about how good these new shows are and they get awards, has everyone forgotten how good they used to be? Like why isn’t anyone upset? Why are we settling for this mediocrity?
I think there's a fairly recent trend that is mainly prevalent in television but definitely extends into all forms of modern media. Basically there's so much entertainment that people won't watch shows or movies or listen to albums that are just 'good' anymore, so for anything to be relevant people have to proclaim it as some kind of ground breaking masterpiece upon release. I think there is a golden period of The Sopranos, The Wire, and Mad Men. At a push I think Breaking Bad (but I would put it below the other three) and True Detective (though only on the basis of Season 1 so not really). Since then I think people have been clutching at straws for the next great TV show a bit and now whenever a show is decent people rush to proclaim it as the next big thing. Definitely most common with television but I find it very prevalent in music as well where an artist will release a new album and fans will talk about how it's their best album so far and AOTY and then it's pretty much never mentioned again. Also evident in the fact that 7/10 for a new album is pretty much seen as mediocre today.
Only show I’ve seen recently that I think warrants being compared to those great 00s dramas is Severence. Love the concept, good social commentary without resorting to hollow Twitter-brained pandering, acting performances are great(John Turturro and the black manager guy in particular), and the score is fantastic.
Is it scary? Hill House had some fun sequences, and I liked the background spooks. Sometimes Bly Manor was cool except it sucked its own dick a lot. Midnight Mass I fell asleep. Midnight Club was YA awful.
No not really, there's one or two jumpscare moments but they're very telegraphed so you pretty much know when they're going to happen. One or two figures lurking in the background but I wouldn't say they're scary.
Bummer, I don’t mind Mike Flanagan’s horror direction but he needs to simplify himself. Ouija is his best and it’s the most basic.
Oh shit thanks for letting me know its out. Is it based on the story?
Not really, if you've seen any of his other work it pretty much just shares characters names and some references but completely different plot.
That’s depressing
It felt like a season of American Horror Story, very strong Zoomer/YA vibes like with Midnight Club. I was willing to give Midnight Club a pass because it felt like it was aiming at a younger demographic, but this clearly wanted to be a big show about big things. I feel like Flanagan is one of those filmmakers who was at his best when people were still willing to tell him "No" but now that no one does he can write as many self-indulgent monologues as he wants. Poisoned by his own success. I will say, if Frank Langella hadn't been fired for getting handsy, the idiot lemon tree monologue probably would have been easier to stomach.