What Are You Watching

[HutchFan]

12 hours ago, A Lark Ascending said:

Also episode 2 of War and Peace the night before - proving enjoyable if not one of BBC's great recreations of lit-er-a-tuh.  

Over here in the USA, the Lifetime Network (!) will be showing the new BBC War & Peace adaptation. It starts on Monday. I'm looking forward to it -- though I suppose I shouldn't expect too much with "only" six hours!  

Besides, I'm sure the new series will hardly compare with the BBC's wonderful War & Peace adaptation from the early 1970s.  Aside from one of the three main characters who is badly miscast (Morag Hood in the role of Natasha), it's some of my all-time favorite television.  Anthony Hopkins is PERFECT as Pierre Bezukhov -- even Hopkins himself has said that the role was some of his best work -- and Alan Dobie is an admirable Andrei Bolkonsky.

[A Lark Ascending]

13 hours ago, Jazzjet said:

I'm sort of enjoying 'War and Peace' but I think it suffers by being squeezed into 6 one hour episodes. I've never read the book and it took me quite a while to get a grip on who the various characters were, without any of the usual exposition.

It's nearly 40 years since I read it (well, all but the last 150 odd pages which turns into an interminable philosophical treatise) so I can't talk with any precision but I'm pretty sure you're right about a lot being lost in reduction. Best to watch it as a TV drama (aimed at an audience that is unlikely to pick up the novel but would still enjoy the tale) rather than an attempt to realise all the highbrow stuff on TV. It suffers with that breathless thing about so much TV in recent times...a fear that if the action doesn't move quickly enough people will turn over. I've only ever read a couple of Dickens novels (under duress) but I generally enjoy the TV serialisations. Thinking back I recall the BBC version of 'Middlemarch' did the novel proud; I don't think this adaptation is on that level. 

As for getting a grip on characters, I find that all the time e.g. in Spin. Doesn't help with names that are so unfamiliar.    

11 hours ago, HutchFan said:

Over here in the USA, the Lifetime Network (!) will be showing the new BBC War & Peace adaptation. It starts on Monday. I'm looking forward to it -- though I suppose I shouldn't expect too much with "only" six hours!  

Besides, I'm sure the new series will hardly compare with the BBC's wonderful War & Peace adaptation from the early 1970s.  Aside from one of the three main characters who is badly miscast (Morag Hood in the role of Natasha), it's some of my all-time favorite television.  Anthony Hopkins is PERFECT as Pierre Bezukhov -- even Hopkins himself has said that the role was some of his best work -- and Alan Dobie is an admirable Andrei Bolkonsky.

Never saw that. I remember it being broadcast for the first time in late 1972. My parents ran away from me in my last year at school  and left me with a little old lady. I was too scared to ask to watch it even though I was dying to see it (I was just at that stage of experimenting with 'improving' books!). Watching the series subsequently would probably have triggered a traumatic attack.  

Edited January 15, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[A Lark Ascending]

An extra cinema visit this week:

Meant to see this before Xmas but life got in the way. Thought I'd have to wait until DVD release but stumbled on it playing in the big Sheffield Dorchester Hotel multiplex. More expensive than where I usually go but they seem to have enough screens to show films well after their usual runs.

I thought this was excellent. Right up my street, having taught the Cold War to A Level students for 15 years (hope the ones I left behind have seen it). Well acted, tense, good story-line. A bit sentimental - Hanks as the embodiment of true American values when faced with the marginally dodgy judiciary and CIA!!!! James Ellroy it ain't. 

Brought home why Deutschland '83 is disappointing. Different league.   

Edited January 15, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[A Lark Ascending]

Loved this - perfect Sunday afternoon watching. I hardly know Sondheim apart from the obvious things (not many of his pieces seem to lead a life beyond the actual musicals). But I got curious watching the 'Broadway' documentary series. Will have to rent the Seurat musical next.  

[jazzbo]

Finished Vikings, Season 3 on Blu-ray. Really enjoyed it.

On to the second half of Better Call Saul, Season 1 on Blu-ray.

[Shawn]

Watched an interesting documentary on the Raiders called "Straight Outta L.A." (from NFL films) which was directed and narrated by Ice Cube.  The documentary approaches the tenure of the Raiders when they played in Los Angeles from the viewpoint of the low-income people in South Los Angeles (primarily black and latino) who grasped onto the team.  That same era also birthed Gangsta Rap which embraced the silver and black Raider image and pirate logo.  The documentary also talks about the gang activity that began to become a blight on the Raiders games at the Coliseum when violence frequently erupted.  The Los Angeles riots of 1992 are also covered.    

 

[A Lark Ascending]

Deutschland 83 Episode 3 - it doesn't get any better. Breaking into NATO bases?....easy. 

War and Peace - really enjoyed episode 3. They've done a good job on this and the photography is sumptuous (though I somehow doubt Russian villages in 1807 looked quite as neat and tidy). Aesthetes will moan (when don't they) but War and Peace is a great story regardless of its status as 'great lit-er-a-tuh'. Most viewers wouldn't even dream of reading it so a compact serialisation like this brings the tale to many more people.

BBC4: Moguls and Masters of pop Part 1 - very interesting documentary about pop/rock music managers from Elvis to Bieber. The section on Don Arden was especially good. I rather took to Ozzy Osborne and Sharon Osborne (didn't realise she was Arden's daughter). 

Deadline Gallipoli - an Australian two parter (100m each) about the journalists following the Gallipoli campaign. Sentimental and with a number of stock scenes but I really enjoyed it.  Tucked away in the UK on one of those channels that usually recycle old TV programmes.   

Edited January 20, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[sidewinder]

Saw some of that Gallipoli prog when I was in Aus/NZ a year ago. As you can imagine, it was very big over there. I fell asleep..

Edited January 20, 2016 by sidewinder

[jlhoots]

Going to watch London Spy (tomorrow) on BBCA.

Hope it's good.

[A Lark Ascending]

It is. 

[A Lark Ascending]

13 hours ago, sidewinder said:

Saw some of that Gallipoli prog when I was in Aus/NZ a year ago. As you can imagine, it was very big over there. I fell asleep..

I suspect it was sidelined in the UK to the Drama channel because of its unflattering portrayal of St. Winston. I liked the way he looked like Dave-boy. 

I'm intrigued by which corporation made it. One of the heroes of the film was Rupert Murdoch's father!  

[A Lark Ascending]

Interesting documentary, reminding us how the standard rock narrative completely misrepresents what most people were actually listening to in the 60s/70s. Left me with no desire whatsoever to explore Kaempfert, Conniff, Last or Clayderman. But there's a place for Jimmy Webb, The Fifth Dimension, The Carpenters, Herb Albert etc in my world (not that I'd have admitted that at the time).  

I imagine the standard reaction to this was 'Not as good as Alec Guinness' but I've never seen the latter's versions so really enjoyed this. Two things struck me outside the storyline:

1. Interesting to compare with 'Bridge of Spies' where you have a clear 'good guy' righting wrongs on behalf of the true heart of America; in the Le Carre you're in a world of complete moral neutrality. 

2. Why do they always make the 70s look so dowdy? Yes, there was political and economic unrest and uncertainty. But at the time Britain actually looked rather shiny with all this exciting new technology coming in (fridge freezers, calculators, hi-fi etc, not to mention the moon missions). It's as if film makers create the appearance of 70s from what they've seen in a junk shop or the remains or a house that has been left unaltered for 45 years. The 60s are generally portrayed very differently.  

Edited January 23, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[Jazzjet]

1 hour ago, A Lark Ascending said:

Interesting documentary, reminding us how the standard rock narrative completely misrepresents what most people were actually listening to in the 60s/70s. Left me with no desire whatsoever to explore Kaempfert, Conniff, Last or Clayderman. But there's a place for Jimmy Webb, The Fifth Dimension, The Carpenters, Herb Albert etc in my world (not that I'd have admitted that at the time).  

I imagine the standard reaction to this was 'Not as good as Alec Guinness' but I've never seen the latter's versions so really enjoyed this. Two things struck me outside the storyline:

1. Interesting to compare with 'Bridge of Spies' where you have a clear 'good guy' righting wrongs on behalf of the true heart of America; in the Le Carre you're in a world of complete moral neutrality. 

2. Why do they always make the 70s look so dowdy? Yes, there was political and economic unrest and uncertainty. But at the time Britain actually looked rather shiny with all this exciting new technology coming in (fridge freezers, calculators, hi-fi etc, not to mention the moon missions). It's as if film makers create the appearance of 70s from what they've seen in a junk shop or the remains or a house that has been left unaltered for 45 years. The 60s are generally portrayed very differently.  

I agree about the way the 70s are presented. Apart from anything else colourful hippie fashions only started to spread across the country (from a relatively small clique in London) in the very late 60s and well into the 70s, ie the 60s actually happened in the 70s. It's true that there was also a lot of orange, brown and beige about and maybe that tends to create a limited spectrum. My guess is that most of these recreations are put together by people who weren't even around in the 70s and that they lazily tend to copy each other in perpetuating essentially a myth.

[duaneiac]

On 1/17/2016 at 10:11 AM, A Lark Ascending said:

Loved this - perfect Sunday afternoon watching. I hardly know Sondheim apart from the obvious things (not many of his pieces seem to lead a life beyond the actual musicals). But I got curious watching the 'Broadway' documentary series. Will have to rent the Seurat musical next.  

If you liked the Disney version, you may want to compare it to the videotaped version of the original Broadway cast.  It's also available on DVD and is quite excellent in its own way and there is a major plot difference since the movie version had to cut out the role of the onstage narrator who also played another important character in the show.

And have you checked out "Sweeney Todd"?  The Johnny Depp / Tim Burton version is good, but again, there is an original Broadway cast version which is quite good.  Angela Lansbury in particular was outstanding (as always).

Those are probably the two most accessible Sondheim shows.

On 1/17/2016 at 10:11 AM, A Lark Ascending said:

Loved this - perfect Sunday afternoon watching. I hardly know Sondheim apart from the obvious things (not many of his pieces seem to lead a life beyond the actual musicals). But I got curious watching the 'Broadway' documentary series. Will have to rent the Seurat musical next.  

If you liked the Disney version, you may want to compare it to the videotaped version of the original Broadway cast.  It's also available on DVD and is quite excellent in its own way and there is a major plot difference since the movie version had to cut out the role of the onstage narrator who also played another important character in the show.

And have you checked out "Sweeney Todd"?  The Johnny Depp / Tim Burton version is good, but again, there is an original Broadway cast version which is quite good.  Angela Lansbury in particular was outstanding (as always).

Those are probably the two most accessible Sondheim shows.

[A Lark Ascending]

6 hours ago, duaneiac said:

If you liked the Disney version, you may want to compare it to the videotaped version of the original Broadway cast.  It's also available on DVD and is quite excellent in its own way and there is a major plot difference since the movie version had to cut out the role of the onstage narrator who also played another important character in the show.

And have you checked out "Sweeney Todd"?  The Johnny Depp / Tim Burton version is good, but again, there is an original Broadway cast version which is quite good.  Angela Lansbury in particular was outstanding (as always).

Those are probably the two most accessible Sondheim shows.

Thanks for the recommendations. 

I'm actually waiting for the release next month of a 2CD overview of Sondheim (suspect it's actually a reissue) so I can get a broad feel for his music. Then I'll try some of the other shows on DVD (if I can hire them). 

7 hours ago, Jazzjet said:

I agree about the way the 70s are presented. Apart from anything else colourful hippie fashions only started to spread across the country (from a relatively small clique in London) in the very late 60s and well into the 70s, ie the 60s actually happened in the 70s. It's true that there was also a lot of orange, brown and beige about and maybe that tends to create a limited spectrum. My guess is that most of these recreations are put together by people who weren't even around in the 70s and that they lazily tend to copy each other in perpetuating essentially a myth.

I once stayed in a house overnight in Norwich which had been left by a family who'd gone to New Zealand some years before. It was like a time capsule - looked like nothing had been altered since 1975. It had the feel of those dowdy retrospective views of the 70s. But the main reason was that everything had become worn, colours had faded etc. 

Cliches stick fast. The Sixties were swinging (for most of us they weren't); the Seventies were a dull fashion disaster (although the story has been revised slightly in the last fortnight...we now know Bowie provided the one point of light). 

In fact for most people (in Britain) there was little different between both decades (as you've said before, much of the Sixties actually happened in the Seventies). In the interpretation favoured by the entertainment industry it was all about protest and Vietnam and three day weeks and unstable governments. For most people it was about getting on with your life and taking advantage of the new technology on offer and, above all, the riches that flowered from the creation of the Welfare State.  

We currently live in a country that is just as restless; but most people's everyday lives are about getting on with things. Unless you are at the sharp end of terrorist attacks or children in the military posted abroad or on the direct receiving end of the austerity cuts, all of that is largely a backdrop to your life. I wonder how they'll portray now in 30 years. I imagine the major political events will take centre stage.  

[Jazzjet]

Musically, at least, it's arguable that the 80s was the last decade that was recognisably distinct in its sound and style. I find it very hard to distinguish any popular music from the 1990s and the 2000s up to date and to pin it down to a specific period. Maybe this view could be extended to social history and culture as a whole. Of course, the unknown is whether we are too close to the recent past to distinguish periods in this way. However, I recall that it was very clearcut in the 80s when you listened to music of the 60s or 50s.

[A Lark Ascending]

I suspect those who have grown up listening to the music from the 90s and later can hear distinctiveness. I know some of the 30 somethings I used to work with pined for Brit-pop. And isn't Rap (sorry...don't know the right genre names there) a distinctive music from what preceded it. Having said that, my ears don't pick up on anything; more recent rock pop that I've enjoyed tends to relate to music of the 60s/70s. But that says more about me than the music. 

 

Corny but fun. I now realise what Channel 5 is for. 

Episodes 1 to 4. Read some unenthusiastic reviews of this but I've enjoyed it so far (leaving aside the improbabilities that run through all previous 5 series as well). 

Edited January 24, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[page]

Finally able to see the first series of "Luther", have followed series 2 and 3.

So watching series 1 and 4 at the same time which I'd preferably not have done, but... well am curious about series 4 and Alice there.
While the Luther series is extremely violent, which I don't really like, I really like Idris Elba in his role. So I try to watch it not too late to make sure I don't dream about it, lol. I've skipped some Norvegian series for that reason.

Also watching Doctor Foster series 1 which one of you did mention before. Nice series indeed. Suranne Jones is really good again in these series. "Scott and Bailey" is still one of my favourite series and I did see her on another series at the BBC which I can't recall the name of right now.


Last but not least, "London Spy",


Just have seen a few episodes yet, but it is intriguing. I'm curious how this will develop.
 

[A Lark Ascending]

7 hours ago, page said:

Also watching Doctor Foster series 1 which one of you did mention before. Nice series indeed. Suranne Jones is really good again in these series. "Scott and Bailey" is still one of my favourite series and I did see her on another series at the BBC which I can't recall the name of right now.

She had a walk on role in the first episode of 'Brian Pern' last week (a Spinal Tap-like spoof on Prog-rock). Not great TV but good for a few chuckles. 

Suranne Jones along with Nicola Walker will always get me watching an unfamiliar TV series. Two of the most powerful British actors on TV at present.   

[sidewinder]

Brian Pern is one of the very funniest things on BBC in recent years.  They should put out a CD of his and Thotch' 'hits' and maybe a 'Day Of The Triffids' concept album.

Edited January 26, 2016 by sidewinder

[A Lark Ascending]

I do like the not very subtle references to Genesis and Peter Gabriel...a very funny send-up of the Gabriel/Kate Bush song last week. My favourite is the manager. "You've been offered £10 million to play a personal concert for William and Kate. I told them to f.o." (not a direct quote...just his style).  

[jlhoots]

New X-Files mini-series. I'm confused, but I'll stick with it.

[jazzbo]

I just finished watching the second episode of the new X-Files. I almost gave up after the first episode, but the second was a distinct improvement!

[catesta]

A Christmas gift from my wife. It was always funny to me but seems even funnier now. Richard Mulligan was a real comedic actor.

 

[A Lark Ascending]

Before watching this I only had a 1% understanding of what happened in 2008. I now have a 5% understanding. The reviewers in The Guardian and New Statesmen were pretty snooty about it but I found it compelling. Recommended if you like muttering 'b*****ds' repeatedly under your breath (don't think I've done that since 'Bambi'). 

For the first time ever I was the only person in the cinema. Probably helps explain why it's all happening again. 

****************************

And 'Happy Valley: Series 2' arrives in a fortnight on BBC1.

 http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/jan/26/happy-valley-realistic-tv-bbc-crime-drama-second-series

If it's half as good as series 1 it'll be worth the watch. Eeee, it's grim up't North. 

Edited January 26, 2016 by A Lark Ascending