I’m watching: Sense8, Mr. Robot & more…

Sense8 - Netflix

Sense8 is about eight strangers from around the globe (Mexico City, Nairobi, Mumbai, Reykjavik, Seoul, Berlin, Chicago, and San Francisco) who are telepathically connected. As the show goes on, they share emotions, skills and can even travel through time and space to *visit* each other when needed.

I have to say the first 2 episodes are pure WTF-ery. I had no clue what was going on, who anyone was, or what the point of this show was. If you can make it to episodes 3&4 you’ll start getting (a few) answers and become attached to the characters enough to keep going. If you don’t like it by episode 4 I would say you probably should give up. It doesn’t really change in tone and it’s a wildly uneven series. Some episodes are pure brilliance while others drag so you have to feel invested enough to watch.

Diversity is the selling point for this show. It’s breathtaking in scope. I felt like I was plunged into other countries and cultures with each episode. The show occasionally gets caught up in it’s own high concept, lingering on scenes for too long just to make a point but it’s hard to fault a show for pushing the envelope this way.

For a while I couldn’t understand why I kept watching when I’m SO impatient with other shows this confusing but I realized that Sense8 takes a different approach to showing humanity. While most shows – especially on cable – show the worst of us and glorify that, Sense8 shows the best of us. 8 wildly diverse strangers, seemingly unconnected, fight to help each other and figure out their predicament. Are they perfect? Not at all, but it’s nice to finally have characters you feel good rooting for. 

I also had to surrender and read Wikipedia to finally learn everyone's names lol

Heads up: There is a graphic sex/nudity but I didn’t find it to be *gazey* or exploitive so it didn’t really bother me.

This is a fun article with 29 Powerful Quotes From Sense8 on BuzzFeed

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Mr. Robot – USA

Elliot Alderson (Rami Malek) works as a cyber-security whiz kid by day at Allsafe and is a vigilante hacker by night until the Fsociety – led by Mr. Robot (Christian Slater) – recruits him to join his team of hackers in taking down E-Corp – the company he’s paid to protect in his day job.

I’m not sure I understand all the intricacies of the hacking, E-Corp, or Fsociety yet but Elliot as a morphine fueled, unreliable narrator (anti?) hero is fascinating. He’s socially awkward and uses his hacking to feel closer to people and avenge his friends. What he’s doing is obviously wrong yet who wouldn’t want to see a cheating asshole or child porn perpetrator taken down. You’re never quite sure if what’s going on is real or an exaggeration of Elliot’s drug fueled mind.

I also like the way the show has portrayed the women in Elliot’s life so far. Although they are there because of Elliot – they have their own personalities and flaws.

I can’t say I’m 100% hooked yet but it’s got enough going for it, especially with Rami Malek, to keep me watching for now.

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Summer movies…
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl – I didn’t love the book all that much but I enjoyed the movie more. It was VERY quirky – hit or miss but cute.

Jurassic World – Decent summer popcorn movie. I went to see Chris Pratt but they didn’t really give him much to do and I didn’t hate Bryce Dallas Howard’s character as much as everyone else seemed to. Yeah – she started out uptight but then got pretty badass IMO.

Inside Out – Adorable! Younger kids will love all the bright colors and slapstick jokes but I think this one was secretly made for adults. It brings up a lot of bittersweet memories of youth and will probably make parents with kids tear up a few times as they think about their babies growing up.

Spy – I thought this movie was going to one big fat joke at Melissa McCarthy’s expense but thankfully it wasn’t. Loads of fun – lots of laughs. Make sure you stay for the credits. GREAT blooper scene with Melissa and Jason Statham.

Mad Max: Fury Road – I didn’t like this movie. There – I said it! lol I think I’m the only one (other than 3 people I saw it with – they didn’t like it either).

DVD/Cable
The Duff – So different than the book – which is fine but it lost it’s heart IMO. It was an ok movie and very well cast but it ended up being just another generic teen movie that I’ve seen dozens of times already.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day – A fun, silly, slightly over-the-top family film!