Discuss your current viewing here.
What Are You Watching?
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Today I did something I haven’t done in almost 25 years and watched James Cameron’s Titanic in full. As a result I’ve revised my opinion of it considerably.
I had dismissed it at the time as corny romantic mush, and that sense had stuck with me through the intervening years.
But my daughter wanted to watch it as she’s studying the Titanic at school, and rewatching it today I realised just what a well-made film it is, with incredibly clear and effective storytelling and a real timeless romantic epic quality to it. And of course being Cameron it’s technically brilliant.
I also hadn’t remembered what a film of two parts it was – it’s pretty explicitly a romantic first half welded to a disaster epic of a second half. But weirdly it works together perfectly despite the tonal shift.
After all the naysaying about this film at the time (which Cameron ultimately proved wrong) it’s made me wonder whether we could be in for a similar surprise with the Avatar sequel.
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I started watching Station Eleven today, I read and loved the book when it came out so I had high hopes and thus far it’s delivering.
Some of the scenes in Year Zero are incredibly hard viewing given the last few years – especially the bits in the hospital in episode 1 and Kirsten getting the text in episode 2. But at the same time it makes the lighter and more hopeful moments shine even moreso, like Dan auditioning with the speech from Independence Day, or the bit where the guy from the Museum of Civilisation invites the Travelling Symphony to be the first to perform in their theater.And that jump cut about a minute in was fantastic, it was a bold way to open the show
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Recently watched “Inside Job”, a cartoon show about deep state conspiracy stuff. It obviously owes a lot of Rick and Morty, but either way I thought it was really funny and well done. Well worth a watch.
Oh, and I couldn’t get enough of the intro.
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Just finished the first season of Peacemaker. I had virtually zero expectations for this (other than thinking Cena did a good job in Suicide Squad) but I thought it was brilliant. Funny, exciting, absurd and occasionally serious, with a fast-moving plot and a great cast. Head and shoulders above most other superhero TV shows. Can’t wait for season two.
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I still think it should have been called Peacemaker and Eagley. That fucking bird deserves equal billing!!
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I watched the first episode and it didn’t grab me.
Booh! Booooooooh!
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I watched the first episode and it didn’t grab me.
It does seem that the humor, comedic structure and animation style of a lot of these new more adult-orientated cartoons are a bit too similar. Even the last couple seasons of Rick and Morty started to be too much like a rip-off of Rick and Morty.
Maybe there is a “story circle” mandate to all these shows now, but that tends to run into repetition.
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I watched the first episode and it didn’t grab me.
It does seem that the humor, comedic structure and animation style of a lot of these new more adult-orientated cartoons are a bit too similar. Even the last couple seasons of Rick and Morty started to be too much like a rip-off of Rick and Morty.
Maybe there is a “story circle” mandate to all these shows now, but that tends to run into repetition.
With Rick and Morty, one of the strengths of the series is that underneath comedy and silliness, it had a series dramatic component regarding the dysfunctional family dynamic. It hasn’t been as prominent in the later seasons as it was early on. It still has more higher level thinking episodes than most adult cartoons and is still funny.
I had tried two other Netflix animated series, Q-Force and Chicago Party Aunt. I watched a couple of episodes of Q-Force but it really fell into sitcom tropes fairly quickly. Despite its LGBT+ characters, the whole thing came across as pretty generic. With Chicago Party Aunt, I couldn’t even make it through the first episode before bailing. The characters were unappealing and uninteresting. It, too, went too much with worn out tropes.
I think series like Bojack Horseman, Tuca and Bertie, and Big Mouth succeed because despite their outrageous nature and comedy, there is an authentically serious component that feels genuine and thought out. You are presented with characters that you can truly identify with. It’s a very fine balance and when done well, it will truly elevate a series.
While not every series needs to have serious depths, a lot of adult animated shows do want to be more but don’t put in the work to get there.
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With Rick and Morty, one of the strengths of the series is that underneath comedy and silliness, it had a series dramatic component regarding the dysfunctional family dynamic. It hasn’t been as prominent in the later seasons as it was early on. It still has more higher level thinking episodes than most adult cartoons and is still funny.
The same is true with Inside Job, by the way. The dynamic is a bit too close to Rick and Morty maybe, but Lizzy being just as brilliant and crazy as her old man gives it a different spin.
Try a few more episodes! They’re short!
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Stuff to avoid:
In From The Cold
This is mostly an entertaining spy and superpowers mash up that falls apart due to a final minutes cliffhanger.
That’d be OK except Netflix have a tendency of axing first series, even if they end on a cliffhanger – see Hit and Run.
Can’t say I’ve much confidence in a continuation, need to get in the habit of just watching Netflix’s films only. Adam Project was a lot of fun.
Cop Shop
Ye gods, how did they screw this up so bad? Good cast, bad plot, bad execution, terrible lack of resolution. It’s at best nihilistic trash, utter crap is more accurate.
Stuff that’s good:
The Protege
Samuel L Jackson, Maggie Q, Michael Keaton – they all collide in a fun enough action story.
Turning Red
Fun Pixar story executed well.
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Some fast ones:
Turning Red: Classic Pixar fun. Just what to expect from these people.
The Guard: Amazingly funny film, with Gleeson on top form.
A Serious Man: One of my favourite Coen movies, revisiting this one always sparks joy.
Jackass Forever: As a long-time fan of the Jackass films, reading fairly good reviews – I had high expectations. I was slightly let down.
24 Hour Party People: Okay, so… This movie wasn’t bad by any stretch, some moments were quite funny indeed, but I didn’t like it to the point I almost didn’t finish it (but I only had five minutes left when I realised I was just wishing for it to be over). I think it boils down to me really, really disliking the main character and thus not caring about him or his “friends” (albeit with a slight hope that everything will come crashing down in his face). Great acting throughout though. Coogan, Serkis (that was Serkis, right?), Harris, all great.
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Finally got around to watching THE GREEN KNIGHT on Showtime Anytime last night. Wasn’t sure what to expect going in, but I loved it. Such a visually stunning and exciting film, and a storyline that firmly established itself as folklore/fantasy early on. It is rife with symbolism and meaning that warrants rewatching; in fact I can see myself rewatching this every time I see it on television just to immerse myself in the story behind the story.
The only downside, which is entirely on me, is the amount of time I spent saying “Oh, that’s the guy from the last MISSION IMPOSSIBLE movie; oh, that’s the guy from THE ETERNALS; oh, that’s Catlyn’s sister from GAME OF THRONES, etc. etc. Perfect casting, perfect location shooting (the midlands of Ireland filling in for England), and excellent CGI and other SPFX.
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Hasbro’s YouTube channel recently posted the remainder of Season 2 of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero.
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Finally got around to watching THE GREEN KNIGHT on Showtime Anytime last night. Wasn’t sure what to expect going in, but I loved it. Such a visually stunning and exciting film, and a storyline that firmly established itself as folklore/fantasy early on. It is rife with symbolism and meaning that warrants rewatching; in fact I can see myself rewatching this every time I see it on television just to immerse myself in the story behind the story.
The only downside, which is entirely on me, is the amount of time I spent saying “Oh, that’s the guy from the last MISSION IMPOSSIBLE movie; oh, that’s the guy from THE ETERNALS; oh, that’s Catlyn’s sister from GAME OF THRONES, etc. etc. Perfect casting, perfect location shooting (the midlands of Ireland filling in for England), and excellent CGI and other SPFX.
The best movie I have seen in 10+ years. A poetic and visual masterpiece. Fully entrancing.
The lines are few and sometimes far between. There is little action. The bare bones of a story. And yet, it’s rich. Textured. Comprehensive. Full with life. Full with death. Full with wonder.
And the ending is absolutely wonderful. What a journey that movie is. The very last line is delivered magnificently.
“Now… Off with your head.”
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I’m rewatching Lost in Translation. I still think it’s quite a funny movie, but I can also see how some people thought it was offensively stereotypical of Japanese people. It’s too bad, really parts of the movie are quite nice and even poetic.
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God bless Twitter. This was fast.
https://mobile.twitter.com/AnthonyTilghman/status/1508322939288043521
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We binged The Afterparty over the weekend – really good fun, some big laughs in most episodes, and Ben Schwartz is an absolute star performer.
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24 Hour Party People: Okay, so… This movie wasn’t bad by any stretch, some moments were quite funny indeed, but I didn’t like it to the point I almost didn’t finish it (but I only had five minutes left when I realised I was just wishing for it to be over). I think it boils down to me really, really disliking the main character and thus not caring about him or his “friends” (albeit with a slight hope that everything will come crashing down in his face). Great acting throughout though. Coogan, Serkis (that was Serkis, right?), Harris, all great.
It is Serkis, yes.
I love this movie but I do get the issue with Tony Wilson as a character, he was simultaneously rude, aloof and arrogant whilst also really in touch with what people were into and had a very socialist and moral business perspective. It’s a pretty unique combination in someone.
Even following him as I was growing up on various TV shows he came across as a dick while I was also rabidly consuming most of what came out of his record label. We were mystified at the time how this sneering news presenter was down with the Happy Mondays. I think it was easier to sympathise for me as outside the area covered by the film, in his later years, I think he became more self effacing and willing to laugh at himself which created a more sympathetic view but that is all context outside what’s shown.
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I love this movie but I do get the issue with Tony Wilson as a character, he was simultaneously rude, aloof and arrogant whilst also really in touch with what people were into and had a very socialist and moral business perspective. It’s a pretty unique combination in someone.
I remember when the movie came out one of the UK film mags did a feature where they interviewed the cast and asked them all the question: “Tony Wilson: genius or arse?”
Most of them answered “geni-arse” which says it all really.
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Finally watched Mute, the cyberpunky noir with Alex Skarsgard as mute guy whose girlfriend disappears. It was a weird movie. Felt like the whole cyberpunk setting was tacked on and there really wasn’t a reason for it – they could’ve just as well just set the story in the normal world. And Skarsgard is good as always, but some of the minor characters are awful (presumably because the actors are mostly German). But the best thing about it made it worth watching for me, and that was Justin Theroux and Paul Rudd as the villains. They’re both fantastic, and Rudd is just so happy to be playing the bad guy for once that he really gives it his all. He is as legitimately scary as is possible when you’re Paul Rudd.
Now, more importantly. Brand New Cherry Flavour on Netflix. It’s a traversty that this hasn’t taken off more. It’s set in the nineties, and it’s a weird horror mini-series set in the nineties starring Rosa Salazar as a young director who has one short that convinces a producer to take a chance on her for a full-length movie. Only he’s an asshole and tries to take the movie’s direction away from her, so she decides to put a curse on him with the help of a witch who kinda just popped up out of the blue. And then she starts vomitting kittens and stuff.
This could be just straightforward horror, but that’s really the least of it. It’s bizarre and funny and at points way to sexy in a Cronenberg kind of way. The movie namechecks Cronenberg and Verhoeven at the start, and they’re obvious influences, but most of all this reminds me of Lynch, mainly Twin Peaks. It’s just such a clever mix of the mundane and the supernatural, with great little dialogues that feel and make all the stuff with, you know, zombies and people clawing their eyes out and whatnot also seem perfectly normal. I’m almost finished and I think it’s fucking brilliant. Just stop whatever you’re doing and watch this.1 user thanked author for this post.
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Now, more importantly. Brand New Cherry Flavour on Netflix. It’s a traversty that this hasn’t taken off more. It’s set in the nineties, and it’s a weird horror mini-series set in the nineties starring Rosa Salazar as a young director who has one short that convinces a producer to take a chance on her for a full-length movie. Only he’s an asshole and tries to take the movie’s direction away from her, so she decides to put a curse on him with the help of a witch who kinda just popped up out of the blue. And then she starts vomitting kittens and stuff. This could be just straightforward horror, but that’s really the least of it. It’s bizarre and funny and at points way to sexy in a Cronenberg kind of way. The movie namechecks Cronenberg and Verhoeven at the start, and they’re obvious influences, but most of all this reminds me of Lynch, mainly Twin Peaks. It’s just such a clever mix of the mundane and the supernatural, with great little dialogues that feel and make all the stuff with, you know, zombies and people clawing their eyes out and whatnot also seem perfectly normal. I’m almost finished and I think it’s fucking brilliant. Just stop whatever you’re doing and watch this.
Yes, I watched this when it came out but I don’t know anyone else who did, which is a shame as it’s good. It’s definitely very Lynch, I enjoyed it quite a bit.
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I listen each week to a 90 minute podcast about the latest TV which covers a lot and have never even heard this show ever mentioned. I shall give it a go now.
Netflix do just drop some stuff and completely ignore it. It’s hard to fathom them sometimes but I guess to a degree we are still in the stage of making things up as they go along in streaming. Network TV had a very defined method of publicity and success, specific slots got most eyes on them, then ratings defined the price of ad spots and success.
I still maintain the ‘season drop’ model has far more downside than upside (and other streamers like Disney+ and Apple seem to agree) but I think they are ideologically wedded to the idea because they invented it.
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It’s doesn’t help that Netflix has gone from being the company that publicly complained about making too many good shows that it couldn’t possibly cancel any of them to just cancelling seemingly anything that isn’t immediately a big hit within two days. Makes it difficult to want to get invested in anything.
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Would it kill them to make a fourth and final season of GLOW? Hell, I’d even settle for a movie to wrap things up.
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The only downside, which is entirely on me, is the amount of time I spent saying “Oh, that’s the guy from the last MISSION IMPOSSIBLE movie; oh, that’s the guy from THE ETERNALS; oh, that’s Catlyn’s sister from GAME OF THRONES,
First one I noticed looking at the cast was the girl from Falcon and Winter Soldier. Not my type of movie so I won’t watch it but I normally like recognizing people from other TV/Movies.
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I’ve watched two episodes of the HBO series OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH. A historical comedy series about Stede Bonnet, aka The Gentleman Pirate, with Rhys Darby as the titular character and Taika Waititi as Blackbeard.
It’s quite funny. High production value. Obviously a lot of green screen for some of the locations but it’s not particularly dodgy, effect-wise. The costumes look great, and there’s plenty of talent around the cast.
I do recommend it. Reminds me a bit of What We Do In The Shadows.
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Sonic the Hedgehog
This should be an absolute disaster but is getting a sequel, how? Because it’s bloody good, that’s why.
Good cast, good story, doesn’t take itself too seriously. With some excellent speed sequences too, with Sonic’s home planet being a brilliantly rendered Green Hill Zone.
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We saw Sonic 2. Good fun and a great action movie for kids – my two really enjoyed it. Lots more videogame stuff in there than in the first movie, but maybe a little less heart. Still a good watch though, and all the kids in the cinema loved it.
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I went to the local cinema yesterday and saw Transphobic Beasts: The Secretions of Dumbledore.
I wasn’t to keen on watching that particular movie, but I really wanted to go the cinema and see something. The only other available movie was Sonic 2 and I probably would’ve gone for that if it weren’t for the fact that it’s dubbed to Swedish. Understandable, it’s a kids movie after all.
Beasts 3 was also a kids movie, at least in my eyes. Not quite as bad as the second one, but nowhere near as enjoyable as the first one. The ending felt really rushed (I was completely unsurprised to learn JK herself wrote the script) and didn’t make much sense to me even within the Wizarding Worlds internal “logic”. But that said, I did feel entertained throughout most of it. It certainly didn’t feel like 143 minutes.
Mads was good, although for consistency I would’ve appreciated it if they kept Depp in the role. Really felt to me like they portrayed two different characters rather than the same one. But I’m not knocking the performance of Mads. He was menacing, albeit in a different and more restrained way than Depp was.
I probably won’t come back for number four, at least not in the cinema.
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I rewatched Face/Off, got hungry for it after seeing that Nicolas Cage AMA.
I’m almost speechless.
It’s so much better than I remembered. So much so that I’m a little bit ashamed of myself.
Cage and Travolta are astonishing here, firing on all cylinders. It’s so very obvious they both play the same characters, and the way they do it is operatic in the best possible sense for this movie.
An amazing film. If you haven’t given this one a rewatch in 10+ years, like me – treat yourself. Great movie.
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I rewatched Face/Off, got hungry for it after seeing that Nicolas Cage AMA.
I’m almost speechless.
It’s so much better than I remembered. So much so that I’m a little bit ashamed of myself.
Cage and Travolta are astonishing here, firing on all cylinders. It’s so very obvious they both play the same characters, and the way they do it is operatic in the best possible sense for this movie.
An amazing film. If you haven’t given this one a rewatch in 10+ years, like me – treat yourself. Great movie.
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Thank you, Todd, for supplying a new thumbnail for my discord server.
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My pals and I spent ages looking for a shirt and coat that could channel to the ones Cage wears on the airport tarmac in that super-cool slow-mo scene.
Did you find any? If yes, then… pic or it didn’t happen.
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I watched “Don’t Look Up” a while back. It’s pretty much perfect at what it does, and there are a ton of great performances. As an analogy on climate change, it’s also fucking depressing, but then it’s supposed to be.
Also watched “Kate” (and I think I haven’t mentioned it yet?). I love Winstead, and the setting was nicely stylish. Some of the action scenes were amazing, too. But the plot is very predictable, and the quality of the action isn’t kept up enough to avoid a little boredom creeping in.
Oh, I also didn’t mention Archive 81, did I? That one managed to build an atmosphere of creepiness that I haven’t seen in a long while. It was genuinely scary in places, even though it didn’t manage to keep that up quite until the end there. But it’s well worth watching for a bit of old-fashioned horror.
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No pics – it didn’t happen.
I’ll settle for a dog picture.
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Yeah, Severance is definitely one I’ll watch when it becomes available to stream/buy somewhere else. I don’t get Apple+, but I do want to watch this, and the Foundation series, too.
Doesn’t look like it’s going to happen anytime soon. Apple has had no non-Apple releases of any of their exclusives, AFAIK. Even CODA, which won Best Picture, hasn’t had a physical media release.
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To the Torrents Christian.
I think Paul is right that Apple +has no interest in licensing its content or selling hard copies in any way, they have a shitload of money and the idea is to tie people into Apple hardware (you get Apple + free when you buy a device).
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Teen Titans Go! To The Movies
I came for Nicolas Cage. I stayed because this movie is absolutely amazing. I’m really glad it’s managed to elude me this far. I needed this today.
Thank you @davewallace
Is the TV series this good? Asking for a friend.
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But the show is well worth checking out – it has great writing, inventive plots, fun characters, loads of nice deep-cut DC references, and crams it all into tight ten-minute episodes.
Thanks, I’ll definitely check this out. I’ll start from the beginning though, I like to keep it relatively orderly. But I appreciate your recommendation nonetheless!
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Yeah, Severance is definitely one I’ll watch when it becomes available to stream/buy somewhere else. I don’t get Apple+, but I do want to watch this, and the Foundation series, too.
Doesn’t look like it’s going to happen anytime soon. Apple has had no non-Apple releases of any of their exclusives, AFAIK. Even CODA, which won Best Picture, hasn’t had a physical media release.
I’m keeping my nose clean. If I have to, I’ll get apple tv for a month in the summer holidays and binge. There’s no rush, I can’t keep up with TV as it is.
Speaking of which, I am currently watching Fargo season 4. It’s not as strong as the other seasons, but still very good.
One thing that puzzles me is the casting/acting on the Italian side. I am not sure whether I am supposed to take Jason Schwartzman seriously as a somewhat-in-over-his-head mafia don or whether his performance is supposed to be a bit ridiculous, which is kind of hardwired into Schwartzman’s acting. Also, his opposite number, the cousin fresh off the boat from Italy, also irritates me because his bug-eyed intensity is also confusing me as to whether it’s supposed to be scary or ridiculous.
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Yeah, Severance is definitely one I’ll watch when it becomes available to stream/buy somewhere else. I don’t get Apple+, but I do want to watch this, and the Foundation series, too.
Doesn’t look like it’s going to happen anytime soon. Apple has had no non-Apple releases of any of their exclusives, AFAIK. Even CODA, which won Best Picture, hasn’t had a physical media release.
Of all the pirate pictures you could have used, you chose him?
Someone is upset, and probably crying quite a bit because of it:
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Ultraman series 2
It’s only 6 episodes! aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Picking up some time after the end of series 1, a new alien threat has arrived on Earth, abducting a bunch of people from New York, and then again from Tokyo – including Shinjiro. The leader of these new aliens demands the people of Earth hand over half the planet to them, or he’ll kill half the population and it’s up to the remaining Ultramen, joined by new comrade Kotaro Higashi to figure out what’s happening and save the day.
So, I didn’t enjoy this as much as series 1. Part of that is the short episode count, part of it is the single story arc with Shinjiro sidelined for much of the story instead of giving us multiple adventures, and part of that is that there’s not much to learn about the world any more, this is just an adventure for the characters. But it’s a very fun adventure, everyone has stuff to do, none of the Ultramen are shoved out of the spotlight to make space for Taro, the action is great, there’s some really fun moments and very impressive fights. My main problem is that I wanted more!
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Yeah I was surprised to see it was only six episodes. I wonder if they actually ordered 12, but they’re just splitting them into separate seasons. They’ve done that with other animated shows.
I’ve completely forgot what happened in season 1 so I’m going to give that a rewatch first.
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Someone is upset, and probably crying quite a bit because of it:
Oh god, I really hope they make a second season.
I read an article that said it had some of the best viewership on HBO MAX. I would say Season 2 is a safe bet.
It seems to be up in the air; Taika and the showrunner have said they don’t know anything: https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2022/04/13/our-flag-means-death-season-2-renewal-an-update-from-the-showrunner/?sh=517f3d2e6965
Waititi: “I don’t know anything. I just think that they should because it makes sense. Also, I need to know what happens next. [Laughs]”
Jenkins: “It’s a rough one to not pick up on after what happened at the end of it. It’s a particularly rough one. I hope they figure it out. I hope they want to do more. I know everyone in the show wants to. Just to go on [social media] and see it trend for like two weeks feels unreal. It’s so gratifying, even not knowing if you’re renewed, to see that people liked it that much.”
From what I read, the demand for it was very low at first, but increased hugely as the season went on.
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I saw The Northman tonight. I thought it was tremendous – gripping, well-acted by a fantastic cast, and with a great story and characters to get your teeth into, and with some unexpected twists and turns along the way.
It’s pretty brutal in places but beautiful too, with a magical fantasy quality to some of it (with a nicely preserved sense of ambiguity about what you’re seeing) and some amazing moments visually.
I feel like this is one of those movies that’s really going to stick in my mind.
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I saw The Northman tonight. I thought it was tremendous – gripping, well-acted by a fantastic cast, and with a great story and characters to get your teeth into, and with some unexpected twists and turns along the way.
It’s pretty brutal in places but beautiful too, with a magical fantasy quality to some of it (with a nicely preserved sense of ambiguity about what you’re seeing) and some amazing moments visually.
I feel like this is one of those movies that’s really going to stick in my mind.
Yeah, I saw it last night. I didn’t love it as much as The Lighthouse, but it’s a great movie. I hope it does well enough that he can keep making the movies he wants to do; I really hope his Nosferatu remake happens.
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Started rewatching The Kids in the Hall ahead of the reboot. Still fantastic.
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Interesting to read Dave and Paul’s take on the Northman because all the little bits on it I’ve seen pass by online have been very negative so I’d kind of written it off. I must have been looking at the wrong places as now I check the Rotten Tomatoes critic score is 89% which is very respectable.
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Robotix (1985)
Friday, I watched about four hours of intros to mostly 1980s cartoons. One of them was for Robotix. I hadn’t seen the show since it originally aired. I decided to give it a watch.
It was a typical 80s cartoon designed to sell toys. It was really a poor man’s Transformers. I remember at the time thinking it was okay but nothing great. That opinion still holds true.
Here it is in case you want to watch it:
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I watched the first two seasons of For All Mankind on Apple+ over the last couple days and it’s some fantastic telly. Really engaging characters, it’s got that Apple money so it looks great and it flies through story that most shows would drag out over multiple seasons.
Looking forward to season 3 and beyond. The plan to have each season move a decade ahead in time will be cool see play out.
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Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)
Loved this movie to bits. It’s quite hard to pin down, the tone veers from extremely silly to deeply philosophical, mixes the mundane with the fantastical, is an emotional family piece and more. It’s a real breath of fresh air and I highly recommend it (it now has a release date in the UK, May 13).
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Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)
Loved this movie to bits. It’s quite hard to pin down, the tone veers from extremely silly to deeply philosophical, mixes the mundane with the fantastical, is an emotional family piece and more. It’s a real breath of fresh air and I highly recommend it (it now has a release date in the UK, May 13).
I’ve been looking forward to this immensely, so I’m happy to read a good review from a trusted source. Thanks, Gar!
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I’ve been looking forward to this immensely, so I’m happy to read a good review from a trusted source.
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The unbearable wait for The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent…
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I would add the movie was a bit too ‘out there’ for my wife, she thought it was too crazy “even Bollywood doesn’t go that mad”.
However one small bit we loved the same was the use of language. For people that are brought up in bilingual households you will know the ‘lingual shifting’ they use in the film, the main characters are a Chinese American family and they move between Chinese and English rapidly and randomly. Unlike many films where this is delivered mainly for the audience (e.g. two Russian people switch to English for no logical reason other than reducing subtitles) here it is very similar to how it works in my house here and did back in Wales in a bilingual setting. Audrey was also able to spot what I couldn’t that they also shifted between Mandarin and Cantonese as well as English. This happens in her family get togethers.
That is part of the strange shifts in the movie, where they have characters with hot dogs for hands or use a ‘fanny pack’ as a lethal weapon, they also have one of the most realistic depictions of a multilingual family I’ve seen on film.
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The first episode of Clarice. Maybe I’m the wrong audience, because I don’t have complete devotion to the godlike awesomeness of The Silence of the Lambs (it was an ok thriller, but I don’t see why it’s held in such reverence; I can’t even remember many specific details from it now).
So maybe Clarice is actually a great sequel to the movie, and fans are lapping it up. But I was left unimpressed.
I like the approach to the character. The fact that she’s completely broken by the events of TSOTL, and the fact that those events have made her into a reluctant celebrity. It’s not a bad premise for a series.
But apart from that, everything was a by-the-numbers procedural, hitting all the required points very efficiently but very uncompellingly, with everything being too earnestly depressing, all heightened by far too much “look how earnest and cool we are” cinematography.
I can’t see myself sitting through another episode.
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Clarice will always look bad because Hannibal is standing next to it, vibrating with exquisite visuality and passion.
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Saw the first two episodes of season six of Better Call Saul. What can I say? The show continues to improve upon the quality of Breaking Bad. Saul’s gold club scheme doesn’t really stand up to scrutiny but nonetheless the acting, directing and cinematography here continues to impress.
Also – gold toilet.
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A new series of Inside No.9 started last night. You don’t need me to tell you that it’s great. But it is. I’m constantly impressed by how much they manage to pack into each episode, and how they’re able to tell a complete and satisfying story in just 30 minutes. It’s some of the best writing on TV.
I still haven’t watched a single episode of this show. I don’t think it’s anywhere in my streaming offers, either. But I really should get started on this one of these days.
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A new series of Inside No.9 started last night. You don’t need me to tell you that it’s great. But it is. I’m constantly impressed by how much they manage to pack into each episode, and how they’re able to tell a complete and satisfying story in just 30 minutes. It’s some of the best writing on TV.
I still haven’t watched a single episode of this show. I don’t think it’s anywhere in my streaming offers, either. But I really should get started on this one of these days.
I think you’d like it, it’s very cleverly written but they’re also really compelling stories too.
It was on Netflix here for a while but a lot of the older BBC shows are now on Britbox (and/or the BBC iplayer), so it could be there.
There are also DVDs available I think.
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Saw the first two episodes of season six of Better Call Saul. What can I say? The show continues to improve upon the quality of Breaking Bad. Saul’s gold club scheme doesn’t really stand up to scrutiny but nonetheless the acting, directing and cinematography here continues to impress.
Also – gold toilet.
Yes, it was a wonderful pair of episodes. Beautifully shot in particular, and even when the plot seems to rely on a lot of (fairly uncertain) aspects all falling into place, the performances are so good that it’s hard to complain too much. I’m going to miss this show, which for me is now head and shoulders above BB.
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Inside Number 9 can be found on Amazon (including in Germany) but it’s not included with Prime, one of those you have to pay for individually.
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Started watching the second season of Russian Doll, after enjoying the first one when it came out.
If the first season was a twist on the Groundhog Day concept then this second one is more Goodnight Sweetheart, with a touch of Quantum Leap thrown in. Not sure at this point whether it’s going to capture the same appeal as season one, but we’ll see.
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Started watching the second season of Russian Doll, after enjoying the first one when it came out.
Oh, that’s out now? Cool, I loved the first season. Sounds interesting, and it’s probably a good idea that they didn’t just do the Groundhog Day thing again.
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Being on Netflix and aimed at kids sadly means it has to lose the swearing from the comics, which is a shame.
I listened to an interesting discussion around that on the Pilot TV podcast (not that they’d read the comic to know the original had swearing in it). That this is the first TV show they can think of with a gay romantic theme that a teen could sit down and watch comfortably with the family.
Considering it’s adapted by the original author and Netflix are known (albeit they can be quick with the axe) not to interfere very much with the creative side, then it looks like that could be a deliberate intention. .
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Oh boy as part of my list building thing, I’ve been watching a lot of the more indie SH movies I hadn’t seen, and some others that aren’t really SH, but anyways, I watched:
– American Hero: I rewatched this to refresh my mind, and yeah it’s still a pretty good movie for a low budget thing. Solid acting, not amazing effects, but expected… and honestly it’s used well and sparingly, so the CGI isn’t an issue. The story is fine. Great acting/Decent VFX/Good production.
– Drive Angry: Also rewatched this to confirm my memories about it and yeah, it’s basically a discount Ghost Rider movie of sorts… I was surprised by how fuckin bad the CGI is despite probably having a larger budget than a lot of the indie stuff I watched… but hey, it’s Nic Cage doing bat shit crazy, so yeah… Good acting/Bad VFX/Decent production.
– Wolfcop: Wanted to see if this could be considered a SH movie, and I guess it is… it’s basically what it says on the tin. Quite low budget but some pretty cool practical effects/costume… well made too. Decent acting/Decent VFX/Decent production.
– Officer Downe: That was basically Robocop without the Robo bit… it’s silly and over the top… very juvenile, but again, rather well made. Decent acting/Decent VFX/Decent production.
– Velocipastor: Damn, this is not really a SH movie, rather a sort of REALLY dumb, REALLY low budget spoof movie… it’s the kind of movie that is really bad on purpose and it kinda works, but it’s not thaaaaat great… but if you like on-purpose shitty movies, I guess you can have fun with this. Horrible acting (on purpose)/Horrible VFX (on purpose)/Horrible production (on prupose).
– Spaghettiman: In the same vein as Velocipastor, a really low budget spoof, except here the acting is bad and not on purpose… I mean, most actors are good, but the sidekick guy was fuckin awful (one of the writers, probably inserted himself as an actor… he shouldn’t have). It has its fun moments, but I don’t know if it’s even worth putting on the list… could’ve been much better without some scenes. Some good acting, some REALLY bad acting/No VFX/Decent production.
– Max Steel: I dunno, it’s a mess, but it’s not as bad as people say (it’s got a 0% on RT which is bullshit). The pace is very bad, the script is a mess, but otherwise it’s fairly decent. Good acting/Good VFX/Good production.
– Electrawoman & Dynagirl: This is a well made SH indie movie, but honestly it’s whatever… it’s a comedy but it’s not as funny as it wants to be, and ultimately completely meh. Decent acting/Decent VFX/Decent production.
– Sleight: Well made drama with a few SH elements, it’s worth a watch. Great acting/Decent VFX/Great production.
– Superbob: Good and charming british SH romcom, quite similar to American Hero, rather good if you like corny romcoms with some VERY british humour injected into it, I’d recomend this one. Good acting/Decent VFX/Good production.
– Fast Color: It’s okay, nothing ground breaking but again, a solid drama movie with SH elements and good production overall. Good acting/Good VFX/Good production.
– Higher Power: This one is interesting in that it’s basically a sort of discount Watchmen type of movie… the editing is quite bad (probably done to mask the lack of budget, like with a lot of these indie movies) but the VFX can be quite amazing, considering the type of movie. The acting is solid enough too… the plot is… interesting in a way. Decent acting/Great VFX (sometimes)/Meh production.
– The Scribbler: Damn, this was like “CW: the movie”… tons of recognizable TV actors, kind of okay story (almost like an hour long pilot for a CW show), but yeah, it’s not great… the VFX is pretty bad… but it’s not bad either… probably worth a watch if you like all those actors I suppose. Solid acting/Meh VFX/Okay production.
– Accident Man: The premise was very good, but then it kinda turned into a bland action movie, which is not surprising considering the cast… too bad though, it had more potential. Still, at least the action is very well made (which is not surprising considering the cast). Decentenough acting/Decent VFX/Decent production.
– The Hyperions: Probably one of the best of the bunch… it’s charming and retro, kinda reminded me of Bioshock and Fallout games (in terms of the retro aesthetic) and it was simply a very solid SH movie… also made me think of the Incredibles… this is probably worth a watch too. Great Acting/Decent VFX/Great production.
That’s it for now, I still got a few to watch… I’m kinda getting fed up though… oh well, it’s for the good of science I guess… =P
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But you could easily skip the first episode of the One Game and start with the recap at the top of the second episode and miss nothing of substance.
Better than a lot of modern Netflix shows, where you could skip the entire first season without missing anything (and then the shows are cancelled after that season anyway).
Never heard of Forces TV, looks like another UK station that got kicked off Sky Ireland post-Brexit.
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