Have not seen 'Life' or 'Hidden Figures' so no comment. Did not care all that much for 'Interstellar'; actually, just did not like the ending of 'Interstellar' which made it seem 'cheap' and sort of a good / evil movie to me.
The 'Butterfly Effect' I thought was excellent although like many good movies, it took some paying attention on my part to see the finer details that make it a good or great movie IMO.
Nothing about watching TV is sad IMO. It is a medium, and like most story delivery devices today, most of it is utter garbage IMO. That said, there is some truly excellent TV also. As far as using / enjoying / being involved with watching TV, why not? Nothing wrong with that IMO. In fact, there is enough good- to- great TV, including movies released on both broadcast and 'designer' tv avenues, to truly enrich a persons' cultural level IMO. I mean who said and who can prove that 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times' is somehow better than 'We're gonna' need a bigger boat!'? It is all part of our culture and I would venture to say that modern TV and movies (going back no further than color TV, say, 1965 or so) has had far more cultural impact, for both good and bad, then anything Homer or Shakespeare wrote.
If you look around and do your part (pay attention), there is a great deal of TV that is truly great IMO. And not just designer or 'high brow' stuff either- I personally think 'Everybody Loves Raymond' and 'The Simpsons' are in a class by themselves representing the highest form of television culture.
And BTW, good think you appreciate 'Aliens' or there could be serious repercussions.....
A great movie although in recent years, seeing a longer cut of Alien (the original, Ridley Scott version) I think I appreciate that one even more.
Nothing wrong with TV.... or bowling..... or painting as a hobby...... or playing darts at the local pub (more of a Brit. thing but it IS available here in the US) or anything else you care to do or are interested in IMO. Go your own way, enjoy that which you like and state it to the world (such as forums like this are 'the world'). And at least now there are a lot of much better series available then there were just a few years ago, at least that is how it seems to me; Fargo, House of Cards, Breaking Bad, maybe Westworld and a host of others. Sure they are mixed in with a tremendous pile of garbage but that is YOUR job, to pick the gold out of the sand....
BTW- I am re-watching 'Fallen' again as insomnia frolics with me. Still an outstanding movie IMO in almost all ways, but especially Denzel Washington playing.... well, I won't give it away but again, if you pay attention, a great movie IMO.
And just 'cause we are yacking about it, my two all- time favorites are 'The Usual Suspects' and 'Unforgiven'. Both relatively 'cheap' movies (made on relatively small budgets) but outstanding in plot, character development, etc. I had to watch 'The Usual Suspects' about 4 times, always asking the question.... what do I know (rather than surmise, think, suspect, etc.) for it to truly make sense.
Brian
Yeah, saw that a few months ago. Good.
Recently watched "Hidden Figures" and enjoyed that. Also, although Netflix thinks I would find it mediocre, I liked "Life" a lot more than it thought I would. It was certainly no "Interstellar", which was mind-blowing good, or "Aliens" (Alien 2), but decent stuff.
Then rewatched the incredible "Butterfly Effect" last night.
Yes, TV is most of my life. Sad