The Great Recommendation Thread (Movie, TV, Anime, Cartoon)

[SurgicalSteel]

Thanks, those are fantastic suggestions. Unfortunately I've seen both (and was surprised how close The Crazies was to what I'm looking for). I, don't really want to list every scary movie I've ever seen, maybe I'll just list the major/fitting points (i'll also copy this into the my previous post.

Seen:

Spoiler:

The Orphanage
The Devil's Backbone
Session 9
Event Horizon
The Descent
The Crazies
The Ring (Japanese)
Acacia
Ju-On
Pulse
Shutter
Shiver
The Dark
Dark Water (American)
The Shining (every version)
The Thing
Paranormal Activity
Paranormal Activity 2
The Mist
The Eye

Thanks again.

[el_loco_avs]

I've recently watched all of The Pillars of the Earth and am following Game of Thrones.
I want more in this general direction though. Love fantasy series, used to watch Xena and Hercules.

Is Spartacus as good as the first two series I mentioned? Anything else I might want to look into?

[SecondTalon]

Thanks, those are fantastic suggestions. Unfortunately I've seen both (and was surprised how close The Crazies was to what I'm looking for). I, don't really want to list every scary movie I've ever seen, maybe I'll just list the major/fitting points (i'll also copy this into the my previous post.

Pandorum, maybe? (First bits from the Wikipedia page as there's spoilers in there, but this one's more or less spoiler free)

Spoiler:

Corporal Bower (Ben Foster) wakes up from hypersleep to find himself alone, with no memory of who he is or what happened to the crew of the 60,000-passenger sleeper ship, Elysium. He proceeds to wake up Lieutenant Payton (Dennis Quaid) who is also suffering from amnesia. They are unable either to access the ship's bridge or to communicate with anyone else, including the three-man flight crew team they are supposed to relieve. With the ship wracked by power surges from a failing reactor, Bower assumes he must be a technician automatically awakened by the principal on-board computer in order to affect repairs.

Bower begins exploring the spacecraft under Payton's radio guidance. Noticing odd physical symptoms, Bower talks with Payton about Pandorum, a psychological condition brought on by extended periods of deep-space travel and hypersleep. Its symptoms and effects include severe paranoia, vivid hallucinations, and homicidal tendencies. Payton recounts the story of another ship, the Eden, which was destroyed when a crazed member of the flight crew jettisoned 5000 hibernating passengers into space, killing them.

As Bower continues searching the ship - partially in hopes of finding answers, and partially to find his wife - he encounters dead bodies and fast-moving humanoid creatures. Escaping from one of the creatures, he encounters other survivors: Manh (Cung Le), a Vietnamese man working in Agriculture, and Nadia (Antje Traue), a genetic engineer safeguarding millions of samples of plant and animal life from Earth. All these samples will be destroyed if the ship's reactor fails.

On the flight deck, Payton discovers another crew member, Corporal Gallo (Cam Gigandet), who reveals that he was part of the flight crew that received the final message from Earth. He claims that his other two crew mates suffered from an onset of Pandorum, and that he had to kill them in self-defense. Payton is wary of Gallo, noting his strange behavior.

[headprogrammingczar]

Second Pandorum, with the caveat that it kind of falls apart in the second half. The beginning is brickshittingly tense,

Spoiler:

and the rest is kind of a zombie movie.

[Deep_Thought]

Okay, probably best to post here rather than start an entirely new thread, but I want to rave about The Shadow Line.

It's a new cop show on BBC1 over here in the UK. I don't know if it's showing on BBC America yet. We are now 5 episodes into a 7 (1 hour each) episode series and each has been fantastic. Very tense, with excellent dialogue and a plot with tonnes of characters and interlinking lines. It can get a bit full of itself, with many dramatic pauses (and that excellent dialogue I mentioned can spill over a bit at points), but it's the first thing on British TV I have watched in years that can compete with the slickness of something from the US.

If you want to know a bit of the plot:

Spoiler:

It starts with the murder of a major drug-dealer who only hours before was released early from prison in very suspicious circumstances. Both the police and his cartel are investigating his murder. To make it interesting, the investigating police officer was shot in similar circumstances only months before but has no memory of the event, while the cartel have to cope with the fact that one of them had set up a multi-million pound drug deal and has disappeared shortly after the shooting. Oh, and the drug-dealers psychotic nephew was released from prison at the same time as him. There's also very strange political pressure coming from the top on the police. Then there's the mysterious Gatehouse, who despite being 10 years older than anyone else in the story and sporting a neat line in hats seems to be more dangerous than the rest of them put together.

Watch it. You know you want to.
/Gushing praise review over.

[modularblues]

Planet Earth: The Complete Series (BBC production) Stunning footages of nature. And awesome soundtrack to boot. Currently watching the whole thing on DVD.

[archeleus]

Throw me a TV show set in the medieval period with realism and with fantasy material such as magic(?) and/or mythical creatures like dragons. (It's for a friend, as for myself I'll wait for Game of Thrones season 2 which he doesn't like)

Thanks.

[roband]

Throw me a TV show set in the medieval period with realism and with fantasy material such as magic(?) and/or mythical creatures like dragons. (It's for a friend, as for myself I'll wait for Game of Thrones season 2 which he doesn't like)

Thanks.

The BBC did a show called Merlin. Family friendly type thing, not amazing, IMO.

[adrianhon]

Try Ultraviolet - not the movie, but the British Channel 4 miniseries. One of the best vampire, most intelligent vampire dramas out there, sadly underrated. I quite liked the way they never (or at least, rarely) every mentioned the word 'vampire' in the entire show...

[NotlimTheGreat]

Some people will disagree with me, but I highly recommend the scifi movie Sunshine. Every synopsis I've read has had spoilers, so I guess I can throw in my own. The movie starts off in Icarus II, a ship heading straight for the sun with a small crew on board. Their mission is to inject something into the sun to 'restart' it. After watching the commentary that part becomes a bit more believable, but simply put the sun is dying out and Icarus II is the last chance before the sun-and thus the earth-dies out. That is the backdrop for what I felt like was a gripping drama.

The reason so many people seem to dislike it is that they feel the movie switches genres at some point in the movie, but I both partly disagree and also find it irrelevant to whether it makes it a good movie or not. While its not the same sort of turn, if you hate movies like pandorum because of its change of pace/mood/etc then you might not care for sunshine, but i would suggest it nonetheless. I think what brought Sunshine home for me was how well the actors portrayed themselves as highly intelligent scientists/psychologists/biologists yet still human without overdoing either side.

[SurgicalSteel]

I actually quite liked Sunshine except the part most people hate, but even that part I didn't hate so much as to ruin the movie for me. I still recommend to someone looking for something in the sci-fi horror genre. That being said, I absolutely hated Pandorum. That's not what the fast forward button is for!

[Parrothead]

I just watched "Late Spring" by Yasujirō Ozu. I'm not an otaku, but I lived in Japan for two years (JET programme) and currently study U.S.-East Asian history in grad school, so I have an interest in Japanese films. This movie was an eloquent depiction of a small, broken, but overall well-adjusted family in occupied Japan. It explored parent-child, brother-sister, sister-sister, and husband-wife relationships. The dominant theme was the way that traditional and modern impulses coexisted and competed, not just between family members, but within each member of the family in unpredictable, but somehow intuitively understandable, ways. For example, the two daughters in the film are simultaneously more conservative and more progressive than their widower father and each other. The film contributed to my understanding of postwar Japanese society, and I expect to benefit from my exposure to it for the rest of my life.

Roger Ebert, who in addition to his full-time social media career is a rather well-respected movie critic, once said something to the effect of, "All film lovers sooner or later discover Ozu." I am one who discovered him later rather than sooner, but I'm glad I did.

[Nerd Mike]

Freeze Frame
I highly recommend the movie Freeze Frame. A small Irish film from 2004, it stars Lee Evans (the pizza guy from Something About Mary, if you can believe that) as a man who claims he was wrongly accused of murder 10 years ago, and is convinced that the authorities are still out to get him. Therefore, he has filmed himself 24/7 for the last 10 years and archives every bit of footage to ensure that he has an airtight alibi at all times.

Evans is great. He is utterly convincing, and I was sucked right into his paranoia from the opening scenes. Ultimately we have a mystery that plays directly into Evans and his peculiarities, and the film pulls it off extremely well. This was a movie that had the possibility for an unsatisfying ending written all over it, but at the very end, it didn't cop out in any way, and I was very happy with the whole thing.

It's available on Netflix Instant Watch. Check it out. I was pleasantly surprised.

[Deep_Thought]

it stars Lee Evans (the pizza guy from Something About Mary, if you can believe that)

He's also the "Cabin Boy" on the luxury star-liner in The Fifth Element. For anyone in the UK used to his stand-up career, both roles provoke severe cognitive dissonance.

[Nerd Mike]

it stars Lee Evans (the pizza guy from Something About Mary, if you can believe that)

He's also the "Cabin Boy" on the luxury star-liner in The Fifth Element. For anyone in the UK used to his stand-up career, both roles provoke severe cognitive dissonance.

Oh right! I completely forgot about that, and I've only seen Fifth Element about 11 times.

The interesting thing for me on seeing Freeze Frame is that I had no idea that Evans was English. I recognized him right away, and my wife asked where we had seen him before. Without thinking I replied, "He was the guy in Something About Mary with the fake English accent," and then immediately realized it wasn't fake.

I've never seen his stand-up, and I'm kind of a stand-up nerd. I'll have to check it out. Thanks.

[Deep_Thought]

Warning: His most famous skit is him repeatedly singing "I've got a song that will get on your nerves, get on your nerves, get on your nerves..."

[roband]

Warning: His most famous skit is him repeatedly singing "I've got a song that will get on your nerves, get on your nerves, get on your nerves..."

That, and sweating. Boy, does he sweat.

[dubsola]

Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad is the story of Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a struggling high school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with advanced lung cancer at the beginning of the series. He turns to a life of crime, producing and selling methamphetamine with a former student, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), with the aim of securing his family's financial future before he dies.[1]

Breaking Bad has received widespread critical acclaim, particularly for its writing and cinematography, in addition to the acting ability of its cast. It has won six Emmy Awards—including three consecutive wins for Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Cranston—in addition to numerous other awards and nominations.

[The Moomin]

I'm looking a for a decent scary movie to watch. Past favorites have included Session 9, Event Horizon, The Descent, The Orphanage, The Thing, The Dark and Paranormal Activity. As you can probably tell, I'm ok with some blood in the film, but I'd rather it not be the focus. I prefer atmosphere and characterization. I'm not looking for shock fests or splatter films, more something really creepy or mind-bending. Thanks.

Seen:

Spoiler:

The Orphanage
The Devil's Backbone
Session 9
Event Horizon
The Descent
The Crazies
The Ring (Japanese)
Acacia
Ju-On
Pulse
Shutter
Shiver
The Dark
Dark Water (American)
The Shining (every version)
The Thing
Paranormal Activity
Paranormal Activity 2
The Mist
The Eye

I would recommend "The Nameless" if you can get hold of it, it's a spanish horror film based on the book by Ramsey Campbell.

[lucrezaborgia]

Marjoe (1972) Child evangelist grows up and shows a camera crew his trickses and fully admits to being a fraud.

[dhokarena56]

For anybody who is even slightly a history geek, I cannot recommend Ric Burn's New York: a Documentary Film highly enough.

[mmmCatSoup]

Evil Dead 2 (1987) A so bad it's good B-horror movie. Ash must defend himself against evil demons in the woods, including his severed hand.

[JesseScottOwen]

ENDGAME is an awesome new show on Hulu.

[sugarhyped]

I'm looking for a fun whimsical detective show. Preferably where the detectives aren't in the police force it makes them less constrained. The shows don't have to be particularly amazing or without annoying plot holes as long as the plot holes dont completely ruin the show.
Shows I have seen and want to be inspiration for the suggestion:

Spoiler:

Psych
Monk
White Collar
Endgame
The Finder
The Unusuals
The good guys
Bored to death
21 jump street
eyes
raines (meh)
Snoops (like 10 years old but if I recall it was painfully corny. That's okay as long as the characters are likeable)
breakout kings

Not as whimsical, Luther
not as detective-y but, leverage (and hustle)
breaking in

I hope my list gives good ideas. I like story of the week stuff, or that's just the mood I'm in.
I'll be sure to check out ultraviolet. That sounds interesting.

[headprogrammingczar]

Definitely Castle. It doesn't entirely meet your requirements (most of them are cops), but the cases are always strange and awesome.

[roband]

Definitely Castle. It doesn't entirely meet your requirements (most of them are cops), but the cases are always strange and awesome.

Was going to say this. Then didn't. But yes, I agree. Lots of cops, but they're fun. Ryan and Esposito are a constant source of humour.

[Jesse]

Columbo, simply the greatest detective show of all time.

[sugarhyped]

Yeah I do like Nathan Fillion. I'll give that one a shot. I only ever saw the sniper episode which I've been told is the least Castle-y episode of them all.

[headprogrammingczar]

For extra fun, there's an actual book, written by "Richard Castle" (read: the show's writers). It's about as bad as they could possibly make it. :D

[roband]

For extra fun, there's an actual book, written by "Richard Castle" (read: the show's writers). It's about as bad as they could possibly make it.

I was intending to grab one of those at one point. They're bad? Haha.

[annarose]

The Guild has to be one of my favourite shows. For one because I'm a big RPG nerd, and for another because it is the best show I've found that was made exclusively for the internet (I'm not really sure why we havn't moved all tv to the web yet instead of paying for an internet connection AND cable, so I'm glad Felicia Day is showing everyone that it can be done, and you don't have to have tonnes of annoying ads to make it profitable). Looks like the new season is starting in April, I can't wait!
Does anyone have any recommendations for other great webtv?

[The Moomin]

I'm looking for a fun whimsical detective show. Preferably where the detectives aren't in the police force it makes them less constrained. The shows don't have to be particularly amazing or without annoying plot holes as long as the plot holes dont completely ruin the show.
Shows I have seen and want to be inspiration for the suggestion:

Spoiler:

Psych
Monk
White Collar
Endgame
The Finder
The Unusuals
The good guys
Bored to death
21 jump street
eyes
raines (meh)
Snoops (like 10 years old but if I recall it was painfully corny. That's okay as long as the characters are likeable)
breakout kings

Not as whimsical, Luther
not as detective-y but, leverage (and hustle)
breaking in

I hope my list gives good ideas. I like story of the week stuff, or that's just the mood I'm in.
I'll be sure to check out ultraviolet. That sounds interesting.

See if you can get the four episodes of Dirk Gently that were recently shown on BBC4 in the UK.
He's a private detective unrelated to the police and Steven Mangan nicely brings Douglas Adams' character to life I thought.

[Angua]

I'm going to recommend Lost Girl. It's a Canadian show with a succubus as a main character and it's awesome.

[sugarhyped]

See if you can get the four episodes of Dirk Gently that were recently shown on BBC4 in the UK.
He's a private detective unrelated to the police and Steven Mangan nicely brings Douglas Adams' character to life I thought.

I'm going to recommend Lost Girl. It's a Canadian show with a succubus as a main character and it's awesome.

Both sound good, many thanks.

[Queen Arasene]

I would recommend Mel Brook's Spaceballs to anyone who likes a good parody.

[modularblues]

Humanity Has Declined (Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita) is the closest thing to the loopy/ meta/ parodical humor to the likes of Nichijou. I still like Nichijou better. But the fairies are awesome with their wide frozen creepy grins.

In that vein, Colin Quinn's Long Story Short is a funny parody of the entire world history... reminiscent of Hetalia, just without all the bishounens but with lots of snark sauce.

[ocean_soul]

In the category of awesome movies nobody has seen I would like to recommend The Fall. The story is somewhat surreal, because it is imagined by a child (that's not really a spoiler, by the way). But if you can live with that, it's an amazing film. It also has some of the most beautiful cinematography in any movie.

[ocean_soul]

Throw me a TV show set in the medieval period with realism and with fantasy material such as magic(?) and/or mythical creatures like dragons. (It's for a friend, as for myself I'll wait for Game of Thrones season 2 which he doesn't like)

Thanks.

Look at the Television section on this page: http://fantasy100.sffjazz.com/lists_books.html. You'll probably find what you're looking for in the Swords & sorcery section.

[EdgarJPublius]

I need a couple of recommendations.

First: Voyager or Enterprise? Consider that my favorite Star Trek is Deep Space Nine.

Second: I'm looking for a good short-form (20-30 minutes) show to watch on netflix while killing time/doing household stuff. Usually I'll just rewatch a few episodes of something light like Futurama or Community, but it's come to the point where I've rewatched all the good stuff (aforementioned, plus Better Off Ted, the IT Crowd, Venture Brothers, Archer, Dilbert, Spaced, Red Dwarf, etc.) beyond where it's even useful as background noise anymore.

Consider I'm looking for something new, probably something not super plot-heavy would be better, so I don't miss much if I tune it out while focusing on something else. Though I did have success in College watching Gundam Wing while writing papers, because it took so long for anything of importance to happen that I could tune out for entire episodes and not miss any of the essentials.

Caveat: I tried watching the Guild, but I could not stand it, so not that.

[Nath]

First: I'm on the second season of both shows, and I like Voyager a little better. Then again, I hear Enterprise gets better with each season, with more multi-episode arcs, so maybe that'll appeal more to a DS9 fan. Voyager is basically TNG but not as good.

Second: currently alternating between Spy and Whites on Hulu. Dorm Life and Battleground were also fun. But you asked about Netflix, so Peep Show, Black Books, holy-crap-I-just-noticed-you-haven't-listed-Arrested-Development-so-Arrested-Development, Louie (warning: slightly depressing), Bob's Burgers. Fawlty Towers, if you haven't seen it. There are also a bunch of watchable newer American sitcoms up there, but I'm guessing you've heard of them, so I won't list them.