What are you watching?

[Lofgeornost]

Last night, my wife and I started “Shooting the Past,” a BBC mini-series from 1999 (courtesy of Netflix). The premise is that a venerable and quirky photographic archive outside London has been purchased by a businessman who wants to sell off or destroy the contents, so that he can reuse the building as a ‘business school for the 21st century.’ So far we’re only one episode in, but it has good performances by Lindsay Duncan and Timothy Spall. One slightly galling element is that the businessman has to be (of course) an American—though he is played by Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth in AGot). But if you watch British TV you get inured to the ‘evil Yank’ routine.

 

[rumble]

Amazon Prime

Watching Bloody Hell. I don't know where it's going, but the first 10 minutes are brisk and engaging.

 

[Godfather Punk]

For international LGBTQ+ day I got invited (again) to the local cinema.
'Le Bleu du Caftan' is an intimate slice of life about a Moroccan tailor, his bossy wife and the new apprentice.
No explosions, wire-fu or car chases here. It's slow and beautiful, if you like minimalist cinema.

 

[chuckdee]

 

[Brock Savage]

I finished Breaking Bad and started Better Call Saul. Again, it is much better than I expected.

 

[soltakss]

Watched the Forest, an engaging French series about a missing teen in the forest, very enjoyable.

Then, I watched Betaal, an Indian vampire series about a crack police unit sent in to fight insurgents and help some corrupt politicians. It was pretty good, and had an interesting rationale.

Currently watching Blood, about a Vampire Doctor in a cancer hospital. I am not sure if I like it.

 

[rumble]

Paramount+

Finally watched Honor Among Thieves. 90+% for audience reviews? Ridiculous.
Was it entertaining? Sure. Generally coherent? Yup. Edited with snarled fishing line. Absolutely. The aggregate reviews settle in at a bit more sane 70-ish percentile.

The main character was kinda pointless. Maybe that was the point? The player at the table that rolls up their character and is pretty much out on a beer run for the rest of the game?

Also, dunno what level the characters were supposed to be, but that druid wildshape seemed a bit OP. I guess everyone else already knew that. Whatev.

 

[Voros]

I finished Breaking Bad and started Better Call Saul. Again, it is much better than I expected.

I actually like Better Call Saul more than BB. BB is great but Saul feels more grounded with less flights of toughguy fancy.

 

[rumble]

Amazon Prime

Watching Bloody Hell. I don't know where it's going, but the first 10 minutes are brisk and engaging.

Just finished. Solid entertainment, but the end was a bit weak.

 

[urbwar]

Watched a couple of episodes each of FBI International, FBI Most Wanted, and NCIS LA. Yesterday I watched the D&D movie and Evil Dead Rise. D&D was fun, but rumble summed up issues I had with it as well. Evil Dead was good, and I liked that no one was safe, including most of the younger members of the cast. Which really hit home that the demonic entity was pure evil. Some body horror too.

 

[3rik]

We added Glow Up and Love Wagon to our list of 'stupid show to watch when we don't feel like anything even moderately cerebral'.

Love Wagon turns out to be a really strange kind of show, part reality dating show, part documentary, part charity program. Only in Japan, I guess.

 

[Spellslinging Sellsword]

Just finished Night Agent on Netflix. Wife, son, and I thought it was good. Hopefully season 2 will be good.

 

[Dyrnwyn]

Watched Tár tonight; excellent movie. As much as Yeoh deserved her Oscar, if Blanchett had received it instead, I would have been OK with it too.

 

[urbwar]

Caught up with NCIS Hawaii, then finally jumped into Season 3 of Narcos: Mexico. Enjoying it so far

 

[chuckdee]

Started watching Houses of the Dragon after I finished Titans.

Titans squandered a lot, but I'm glad it existed.

 

[BedrockBrendan]

This week was an odd mixture of Austin Powers movies and Death Wish.

 

[sharps54]

This week was an odd mixture of Austin Powers movies and Death Wish.

They swear it wasn’t influenced by Death Wish but if you want a pretty great vigilante movie check out 1974’s Street Law with Franco Nero and Barbara Bach

Street Law (1974)

In this Death Wish-inspired thriller, an average Joe is hell-bent on carrying out his own brand of justice after he is brutally beaten up by thugs!

tubitv.com

Edit to add that it’s worth it for the soundtrack if nothing else but it is actually pretty great to watch Nero play a man out of his depth.

 

[Voros]

They swear it wasn’t influenced by Death Wish but if you want a pretty great vigilante movie check out 1974’s Street Law with Franco Nero and Barbara Bach

Street Law (1974)

In this Death Wish-inspired thriller, an average Joe is hell-bent on carrying out his own brand of justice after he is brutally beaten up by thugs!

tubitv.com

Castelleri is a very good Italian genre director, many of his best films are in the crime genre that exploded in Italy following Dirty Harry and Death Wish. I'd also recommend his High Crime and Sollima's Revolver, both up on Tubi.

If you can track down his wild Spaghetti Western Johnny Hamlet with fansubs online, I thought it was terrific.

 

[sharps54]

Castelleri is a very good Italian genre director, many of his best films are in the crime genre that exploded in Italy following Dirty Harry and Death Wish. I'd also recommend his High Crime and Sollima's Revolver, both up on Tubi.

If you can track down his wild Spaghetti Western Johnny Hamlet with fansubs online, I thought it was terrific.

Great recommendations! Watcher beware that many Poliziotteschi are super violent but they are a really interesting cultural snapshot and have driving stunts that rival those of the great Hong Kong films of the 80’s

 

[sharps54]

Here’s a pretty fun documentary on the genre

Eurocrime! (2012)

A documentary concerning the violent Italian 'poliziotteschi' cinematic movement of the 1970s which, at first glance, seem to be rip-offs of American crime films like DIRTY HARRY or THE GODFATHER, but which really address Italian issues like the Sicilian Mafia and red terrorism. Perhaps even...

tubitv.com

 

[Spellslinging Sellsword]

Started watching Willow Disney+ series last night since they are pulling it this week.

 

[chuckdee]

Started watching Willow Disney+ series last night since they are pulling it this week.

They are pulling it? I wonder why?

 

[Spellslinging Sellsword]

Per one of the writers to avoid paying residuals, whuch is shifty since it's only been available for like 6 months.

 

[chuckdee]

Per one of the writers to avoid paying residuals, whuch is shifty since it's only been available for like 6 months.

Reading, also to reduce overhead from streaming and storage. They're removing quite a few.

 

[urbwar]

Finished Narcos: Mexico. Loved it. Also finished up NCIS: LA, which is sadly the last season for the show. I kind of hope they do a movie or something, cause it ended with a situation that could be considered a cliffhanger

 

[GianniVacca]

Started watching Willow Disney+ series last night since they are pulling it this week.

I liked the beginning and the end; the middle episodes are waaaaay too long. They could have made a good long film or a good short series out of it, but for some reason they preferred to make a meh long series.

 

[Godfather Punk]

I started watching Big Bang Theory. So far I only caught bits and parts here and there, but now I'm starting at S1:1.
As these are short episodes, I already finished season 1 and am now at S2 Spock&Lizard. I don't know if I'm going to finish the entire series (12 seasons of 20+ episodes; I have a life besides tv and many other shows to sample) but I'm liking it so far.

'Cloverfield Paradox' on the other hand, I could have skipped and not feel like I missed a lot. At least it wasn't one of those Found Footage abominations.

 

[chuckdee]

I liked the beginning and the end; the middle episodes are waaaaay too long. They could have made a good long film or a good short series out of it, but for some reason they preferred to make a meh long series.

I don't see where all of the hubub is about this being a mar against the original Willow movie (well, other than the obvious). I'm liking it so far (at Ep 3). Trying to get it done before it's off Disney+ even though I had to stop Bad Batch on a cliffhanger (I'm on Episode 8) to do it.

 

[chuckdee]

 

[Fenris-77]

I'm on a BBC kick (thanks to YouTube). I finished the run of Inspector Wexford movies and have started in on Jeeves and Wooster. Good stuff.

 

[Voros]

I liked the beginning and the end; the middle episodes are waaaaay too long. They could have made a good long film or a good short series out of it, but for some reason they preferred to make a meh long series.

This sums up a lot of tv series on streamers these days, except I'd say most of them would make a good shorter or medium length film.

 

[Voros]

Watched the Sundance channel's mini-series adaptation of John Le Carre's The Little Drummer Girl.

Directed by Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Thirst) and starring Florence Pugh, Michael Shannon and Alexander Skarsgard.



Great cast and director as you can see and this is a very good adaptation of a prime Le Carre novel that navigates the politics and characters with his usual skill. The central idea is a bit unlikely (they recruit an actress to infiltrate a terrorist cell) but I'm not a stickler for realism particularly when so much else rings true.

Wasn't sure about Shannon's Israeli accent but I'll leave that up to an Israeli to criticize, I don't think I'm familiar enough to comment intelligently on that.

Pugh is particularly excellent as the central character, if you haven't seen her outside of the MCU, she is one of the best young actors working today. Charles Dance (Game of Thrones) also appears in a memorable turn as a bitter British spy master, always a pleasure to watch him at work.

I also highly recommend the other recent Carre tv adaptation, The Night Manager, from AMC, with a similarly dynamite cast.

 

[chuckdee]

This sums up a lot of tv series on streamers these days, except I'd say most of them would make a good shorter or medium length film.

I'm nearing the end, and I haven't seen any fluff there- there's some things that are not as action oriented, but I think they add background to one character or another, and don't see how it could have been cut. The only one where I thought it dragged was the second episode. Since then, I've been invested.

 

[Voros]

I'm nearing the end, and I haven't seen any fluff there- there's some things that are not as action oriented, but I think they add background to one character or another, and don't see how it could have been cut. The only one where I thought it dragged was the second episode. Since then, I've been invested.

Most times I'd rather have more character scenes rather than action.

The problem of a lot of MCU films for me is the last 30-45 minutes is an uninspired CGI-fest vs. boring enemies.

The original Willow's biggest flaw imo is too many mediocre action sequences.

I love pure action films but I think classic 70s/80s HK films have spoiled me in that regard.

 

[GianniVacca]

I don't see how it could have been cut.

Good for you if you're enjoying it fully

I found the whole stay in the forest with the bad-guys-who-are-actually-good-guys was uninteresting.

 

[rumble]

Disney+

Couldn't sleep. Watched Quantumania.
Not sure why I did that to myself.
Still couldn't sleep.
Disney has perfected that formulaic commercialism plus nauseous cringe.

Uneven script, mediocre plot, horrid characters.

 

[rumble]

Netflix

Watched Yakitori over the last few days.

I imagine the extended pitch went something like this:

"We wanna make a morally meaningful sci-fi bug-hunting anime with techno music."

"Sure. We've got some budget for that. But the exec producer's spouse is a furry, so no bugs. Everything has to be furries."

"What?... Uh, okay, we can work with that."

"And our next highest producer's middle schooler gets to build out the tracks. He's only got an entry level drum machine and a basic sequencer-synth, but that's where the money is, so..."

"Um, these numbers are a bit low to hire voice talent."

"Well, we might be able to talk to another producer, but they'll insist on a diverse cast with...um, 'traditional' personalities. And since it's anime, we'll want to be sure to have twice as many Japanese characters as any other nationality."

"We were hoping to have a more fleshed out culture for the bugs -- er, furries. Can we get a language developer?"

"Sorry, the production timeline won't support that."

"How about language or accent coaches for the voice actors?"

"Nah, let's just roll with it."

"Okay... And, by the way, we may need a little classical music--"

"Wait, I thought you said techno."

"Well, yeah, but you need background music as a counterpoint, and we thought classical would be a nice homage to..."

"Jesus Christ, this is getting a bit much. Look we can probably get some Mozart for you. We should have a loop of Eine Kline Nachtmusik... here it is."

"But this is disco..."

"Take it or leave it."

 

[Godfather Punk]

I just watched the first episode of FUBAR.
Jack Bristow is about to retire when, on one last mission, he discovers that his daughter Sidney is a secret agent too.

The episode starts in Antwerpen, a city I visited last weekend though I didn't have the same beer Arnold drinks here.
Already I have the impression Arnold Schwarzenegger is getting too old for this shit; his acting is very wooden. And his Dutch could really use a language coach.
The rest of the episode is kinda cliché, not necessarily a bad thing, and the other actors pull their weight, but it all just felt a bit... off. The lines or the pace or the editing... I wondered for a moment if this series would have benefited from a laugh track, because the comedy is there but just didn't land for me.

I'll give it another 2 episodes to see if I will finish the season.

Edit: episode 2. Arnold's line delivery is terrible. For the rest it's a standard relation comedy, with action and explosions. And cliffhangers... now, like Alias all those years ago, I have to watch the next episode.

 

[chuckdee]

Good for you if you're enjoying it fully

I found the whole stay in the forest with the bad-guys-who-are-actually-good-guys was uninteresting.

I though that Jade finding out about her past was very well done, and it gave a different perspective on one of the villains of the original story. Also, it gave a hint about the twist at the end that I'm upset about not seeing coming. Finished it, and thought that Airk got a short shrift in the whole thing, especially given how long he held out- but i guess that's one of the things that many are upset about - that the male characters were sidelined, even in the end when Willow says he has the girls.

Disney+

Couldn't sleep. Watched Quantumania.
Not sure why I did that to myself.
Still couldn't sleep.
Disney has perfected that formulaic commercialism plus nauseous cringe.

Uneven script, mediocre plot, horrid characters.

I thought Kang was amazing, but let down by the script. Apparently they reshot it also which is one of the reasons it was uneven - some parts, audiences needed to be told instead of just getting it, so they rewrote it to take those parts out.

 

[rumble]

Netflix

Blood and Gold is excellent.

Better than Sisu (not on Netflix) . I mean, they're different kinds of movies, of course.

Sisu is more stylistic--a Tarantino-esque grind house.

Blood and Gold is is a far more well-rounded / plotted Tarantino film.

Really worth watching, IMO.