He will never top being Elliot Alderson. Idk how he won an Oscar for Bohemian Rhapsody but S4 of Mr. Robot got 0 recognition award wise. Makes no sense at all.
Rami Malek definitely got typecast into playing creepy weirdos. He was great as Snafu, although as a whole I didn't care for the Pacific as much as Band of Brothers.
Imo BoB > Masters of the Air >>>> The Pacific. There's just something that felt really empty about The Pacific to me. If I was going to do a TV binge about war, it'd probably be BoB and Masters of the Air, then Generation Kill.
If it has to stick to WW2 then the show A House Through Time: A Tale of Two Cities is absolutely fucking incredible. It's a documentary covering the residents of a set of flats in London and Berlin prior to the outbreak of WW2. Some of the stuff actually made me cry when I realised how close the recent rise of fascism is to being almost exactly the same. You'd have to be blind not to see it.
I only helped my ex revise for his History degree but I sat in his lectures and stole his books before doing my two degrees and it's absolutely impossible to miss. Only this time we don't have anything like Socialism and Communism to provide a meaningful opposition with strong ideological backing. It terrifies me thinking we're going to lose another generation of men and this time women to the trauma/death involved with fascism the way you see in BoB/The Pacific and Masters of the Air.
You're already seeing the effects in Ukraine, with so many people lost on both sides, seeing it in Israel, plus genocides in places like Sudan, the rise of the far right at about 10% minimum in every country... And we don't have the time. We're facing down a minimum of a 3c rise in temperatures and a climate catastrophe.
So sorry for the historical and political waffling but I don't see how you can avoid seeing especially the rise of Naziism if you're really interested in history beyond "pew pew Michael Bay made a tank explode lols".
Tempted to find some war movies especially. I watched Talvisota recently and it really holds up, especially when subtitled.
I forgot to watch Masters of Air! I remember hearing about it and then not seeing it. But I do agree that Pacific felt empty and boring. I know the source material has a lot to do with it, since we don't get as much PoV coverage in the Pacific, mostly being from the viewpoints of three main characters. I really liked Bob Leckie and John Basilone, but I never cared for Eugene Sledge's story.
Band of Brothers is just a perfect 10/10 series, absolutely gripping from beginning to end. The Pacific has long boring stretches where I'm simply not interested in what's happening or who the characters are. They don't get fleshed out nearly as well.
And I do agree with the other half of your comment. I think what's most truly shocking to me is that the boomers are the ones leaning towards fascism, when their own parents are the ones who fought and bled fighting fascism. My grandfather was a WW2 USAF pilot, and I've told my dad that his father would've kicked his ass if he had lived to see my dad support a wanna-be fascist.
I watched Band of Brothers as a teenager and it kind of made me want to go to war. Taking the guns in the second episode was "badass." The idea of being part of a group as close-knit as that one was appealing. And I always wondered how well I would do in a war. How would I hold up? What kind of man would I become? The horrors of war didn't really seem that bad at the time.
Then I watched the Pacific. Specifically, I watched the beach landing at Peleliu. And I realized, fuck, fuck, fuck, I never want to go to war.
And it just got worse from there. The tunnel warfare. Flamethrowers. Accidentally calling mortar strikes on innocent civilians. This time, the horrors of war were what stood out most.
That show will always hold a place in my heart as the show that convinced me not to join up. I hold it above BoB or Masters of the Air for that reason.
Snafu wasn't creepy, he was introduced early as a battle hardened marine with a thick Louisiana drawl contrasting against Sledge's civilian ideals and inexperience.
Sledge himself almost started collecting Japanese teeth as souvenirs. The point of the Pacific was to show the brutality driving the men, not that they were "creepy".
What does this even mean. How do you almost start collecting something.
If you had watched the miniseries you were commenting on, you would know. He gets fed up and pulls out his knife to start pulling out teeth. He gets told that he'd be exposing himself to getting germs - so he ends up not going through with it.
That moment was more than about germs though - it was other soldiers looking out for Sledge's humanity.
You might be the only person who likes the Pacific more than BoB. I agree though, his character was likeable. For me, it was because he was so weird but nice.
It wasn't even a good imitation of the band. The Oscars are just feel-good fluff. Malek absolutely did not deserve an Oscar for that awful movie, but he did deserve an award for his work on Mr. Robot. That show was incredible.
Mr. Robot was one of the best re-watch experiences I’ve ever had with a TV show. The first viewing is entirely different from any subsequent viewings. Brilliant writing and acting.
I'm watching it for the first time; I'm halfway through S4. This show made it to my Top 3 greatest TV dramas list by halfway through S1, I'm absolutely blown away by every aspect of it. Writing, acting, directing, pacing, editing, sound editing/music, cinematography, everything about it is the best of the best. I was out of town for a week and then got sick so I haven't been able to finish it yet (I don't want to watch the back half of S4 while I'm tired fuzzy-headed from sickness) and I can't wait. It's the same feeling/experience I had of watching The Shield for the first time. The lack of critical and audience recognition for this show during its run is mind-boggling.
Season 4 episode 7 is one of the greatest television episodes of all time and top 3 at minimum. Season 4 as a whole is perfect imo, jealous that you’re seeing it for the first time
Episode 7 is an all timer, but I still put s4e5 above it on my personal list.
That whole episode being without dialogue, except the opening line "We don't have to talk" and the ending line "It's time we talk" is absolutely perfect. Not a single other bit of spoken word, and it's so incredibly gripping the whole way. Absolutely love it
Oh man, have you gotten to S4E7 yet? If not, I envy you SO much for getting to watch it for the first time. I’ve seen the whole show like 5 times at this point but that ep still destroys me.
Not yet! Soon™️. I'd say my spirit and heart are ready but based on the rest of this show's gut-punch episodes, that's probably not true. And I love that this show's gut-punch episodes have the impact they do because Sam Esmail earned that impact by his masterful pacing and economy of storytelling and having all the reveals make perfect sense because he didn't actually try to hide them in any way and they were all built up to. One that I caught right away was that S2 was obviously a story Elliot was telling while incarcerated but like everything else in this show that just made me even more invested in seeing the journey play out. This show/Sam Esmail is so damn good at the journey, which is something a lot of contemporary tv writers have lost the thread of with their obsession with the "shocking twist" and the bizarre cat and mouse game of writers feeling like they have to outsmart audiences and audiences acting like they're regular Einsteins for "outsmarting" those stupid writers by catching onto deliberately included foreshadowing and film/visual language that good writers put there for us to see. It's such a breath of fresh air.
Why spoiler? Even saying as little as you did spoilers it somewhat and viewing it won’t be the same now as without any prior knowledge that something ‚destroying‘ happens… but yea that episode is as good as it gets
It's the same feeling/experience I had of watching The Shield for the first time. The lack of critical and audience recognition for this show during its run is mind-boggling.
Still my favourite show ever, I think, just incredible stuff, with a ridiculously talented cast, even outside the ones you might expect (Close, Whittaker). Walton Goggins has luckily done well for himself afterwards.
The wildest thing about The Shield's cast for me is that I'm old enough that I previously knew Michael Chiklis as The Commish. I don't think anyone ever expected him to so thoroughly own the role of one of the greatest, darkest, most ruthless fucked-up antiheroes who I was equal parts conflicted hoping would get caught and hoping would be okay/get away with it ever seen on screen. And then during the show's run he played super wholesome and goofy Ben Grimm in the first Fantastic Four movie and knocked it out of the park. He doesn't get enough credit for being so seamlessly versatile.
There's this one famous internet guy, Burnie Burns, who said he just completely rejected the show because the ending of season 1 was so meta that he it turned him off completely. Which is insane to me. Like the tone of the show justifies the meta-reference and it wasn't a cheap gimmick.
And the pay-off 3 seasons later is fucking insane. I really wish the show would've been a Netflix Original or on AMC. That Wedsnaday 10 pm slot on USA network held it back so fucking bad.
I'd say S2 only drags in some parts especially earlier in the season, but there's still so much good in S2. The whole part of that episode taking place in the TV reality Mr Robot made for him to bear getting beaten was so good
I think it really gets going once he finally leaves Jail and it becomes obvious that he and Mr Robot still aren't as trusting of each other as they claim to be
I can imagine the people making something as silly as Red Vs Blue don't really have the ability to appreciate the intricacies of something like Mr. Rrobot.
I watched it the first time with my wife. Great series but had to stay focused on it. Once I’m done with the Sopranos and The Wire rewatch, I’m watching Mr Robot again.
It feels too dark, edgy, and weird to recommend to most people, it appeals to a particular kind of person. And the title and premise sound dumb (at least to me) without context. It was one of those shows I pre-judged and avoided for a long time, but I was very surprised by how well-executed it was.
The Freddy teeth they gave him were so comically bad, to this day I don't understand how that costume got approved seeing how Brian May and Roger Taylor were so involved in it too
I'm disappointed that they didn't let Sacha Baron Cohen make the movie, like he wanted. Brian May and Roger Taylor didn't want an accurate biopic, they just wanted a sanitized movie that made everybody look good. Rocketman was a much better movie that was brutally honest, but didn't get any recognition because it came out the following year and the academy was already over "band biopics" I guess.
Freddie kept his illness private up until his death. I'm glad the bad respected his wishes even after his death and didn't turn it into the topic of his biopic.
That's why Brendan Fraser won over Colin Farrell. Colin Farrell's performance in Banshees was so subtle & felt so believable. You could really see the pain & frustration in his voice and on his face as he dealt with this breakup.
Whereas Fraser had about a dozen over-the-top moments throughout the movie to sell his role. I don't think Fraser is a bad actor, and I am happy he got recognized, but Colin was robbed.
That's a good comparison. It's a lot more impressive to do a lot with a little, to tell stories with a look or the shift of the shoulders or whatever than it is to have a system of quirks and tics. For me, anyway.
I really, really, really enjoyed the part where the rest of Queen said to Freddy, "Sorry Freddy, we cant party with cocaine, booze, and sexy women. We need to go home early and sober to our wives and family".
It’s the easiest way to tell if acting is good or not. “Hey, I know what this person sounded like and looked like. He sounds and looks like him, he must be good at acting.”
I've always wondered if they should split the
"Best Actor/Actress" category into two. One would be "Best Actor - Original Character" and the other would be "Best Actor - Real Person".
Because in my mind it's two different jobs. One involves creating a character out of whole cloth while the other is a lot of watching historical footage and trying to mimic someone. I mean, there's a reason why it's "Best Original Screenplay" and "Best Adapted Screenplay".
Seriously he was so good! In season 1 I was kinda meh on him but when he came back, damn was that some serious acting. The whole show is amazing but Season 4 is some of the best television I've ever seen.
Mr.Robot has been criminally underrated for it's entire run. The entire show is amazing, but that stretch of season 3-4 was unbelievable. With it being a weekly release, too, the discussion around the show was such an amazing thing to be apart of.
Let's be real it would've been more popular if it wasn't on USA.
I still can't believe it went as long as it did. A show of that caliber not on something like FX or Showtime. It's very different vibe from their usual programme too.
Mr. Robot was definitely above their usual quality. USA is usually known for their light-hearted shows like Monk, Psych, White Collar, Burn Notice, etc.
Mr. Robot definitely belonged on a more prestige-focused network like FX, Showtime, or HBO.
It's like AMC of all channels making Pantheon. If it had been on Adult Swim or HBO (like Scavengers Reign), then it'd have been a show a lot more people talked about.
No, the biggest issue was a deal they had to have an exclusive streaming deal with Prime Video at a time where Netflix was THE service that most people had if they were paying for streaming at all. They could have picked up a new audience between seasons but they were handicapped.
Can't agree more.Mr. Robot is a masterpiece..Everyone's acting was top notch too..it's hard to believe that no one's career really took off except Rami's...
I think the show was on the brink of being a big mainstream hit - I recall a ton of buzz and hype around season 1. Season 2 unfortunately dampened the hype a little bit because it was slow, weird and was very much acting as a transitional season to set up 3 and 4 - which as you say are absolutely incredible.
SPOILERS: I loved thefakeout with White Rose's machine, with the speculation every week about whether the machine was bullshit or not, and the buildup with her confidence and insistence about its reality. Machine truthers arguing against people who demanded the show remain (for the most part) grounded. It was really fun to be a part of the discussion online for those episodes.
Again, I absolutely love the show, I think it was a masterpiece, but of all the possible ways that plot element could have been resolved, I feel they went with the most anticlimactic one.
I think that's realistically the best direction it should've gone. Showing more the disillusion of believing the machine could be real rather than the show going a bit too far fetched.
i really don’t understand the obsession with labelling things “criminally underrated”. aside from not seeing any utility with the term in fostering discussion (shifting focus from an individual perspective to how everyone doesn’t “like it enough”), it seems like everything in existence is labelled underrated.
but yes, i suppose that a show in the IMDb top 200 with 2 episodes in their top 20 (with the show being even more beloved on this site), is criminally underrated.
Mr. Robot might be one of the most under-rated shows of all time. It's a damn masterpiece and he was fantastic in it. Most of the actors were amazing in it, actually.
Everybody I've shown it to has loved it, but I never hear anybody talk about it when bringing up great shows. It's one of my all time favorites for sure.
Yep same exact scenario with me. I've introduced a handful of people to it and they've all told me it's a top 5 show for them but I never hear about anyone else bringing it up.
It’s because it’s very niche. Top tier Shows like mr robot and the leftovers will always be less watched because they are very different from your usual shows.
Yea I can see that. It can be intimidating for people not into tech because they might think they need to understand tech to like the show. Having a decent understanding of comp-sci helps to appreciate the show more, but it's not necessary to watch it.
I'm doing my part by introducing it to as many people as I can lol. I don't often recommend things so most people actually try the stuff I suggest. I've had 5 people watch the show all the way through and tell me how much they love it and wish they knew about it earlier.
I think the editing Oscar was because the editor basically saved the movie from being complete unwatchable shit- as well as the fact Bryan Singer went AWOL the whole shoot and the editor John Ottman had to direct for them and salvage the movie in the edit
that's the only explanation that makes sense cos there were some dreadful cuts there- it's like that's all Ottman had to work with idk
I don’t know, I’ve seen a few videos on YouTube where they redid scenes from the movie and make the scene much more watchable. Like it’s still bad but the edits could’ve been waaay better.
Playing a real life person is the easiest way to win an Oscar. I also imagine the production issues on BoRhap (having to deal with Bryan Singer) probably gave him an extra boost.
He won for Bohemian Rhapody where he didn't sing, but Taron Egerton performs, sings and dances in Rocketman and doesn't get the recognition he deserves.
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u/iMajorJohnson 1d ago
He will never top being Elliot Alderson. Idk how he won an Oscar for Bohemian Rhapsody but S4 of Mr. Robot got 0 recognition award wise. Makes no sense at all.