What Are You Watching

[A Lark Ascending]

Missed this when it came out. Enjoyed it. Got confused when Pierre from War and Peace appeared as a nasty overseer. 

[kinuta]

Code Black

High powered, visceral and gripping , the best of last years new shows imo.

[Shawn]

Brilliant television. 

[duaneiac]

Yet another ham-handed "comedy" from Blake Edwards.  I do remember seeing this on TV as a kid and "Push the button , Max" bacame a catchphrase with me and my brother.  But there are few genuine laughs to be found in this beautifully filmed 160 minute movie.

[kinuta]

8 hours ago, Shawn said:

Brilliant television. 

 Indeed

[A Lark Ascending]

Nice scenery and passed the time but not one I'll remember for long. 

According to family myth my parents took me to see this when I was 4 or 5 and I sang 'True Love' to anyone who would listen for months afterwards. Louis Armstrong playing jazz and Bing playing concertina clearly influenced my musical taste. Did seem to be a 'rich people are human too' apology. What rot! 

Last part of War and Peace which was very good. Apparently the series has been a huge success in Britain (except, I suspect, in the Russian Lit-er-a-tuh Department at Oxford where they've had to get the defibrillators out). In fact drama is supposedly making something of a comeback after some years where it looked as if we were going to sink under game shows, reality TV and If You Aim For The Stars You Can Be Madonna type programmes (nothing wrong with those, but, proportion please!).  

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/feb/06/broadcasters-big-budget-tv-boom-drama-bbc-itv

Nice review here in the great British tradition of taking the p**s out of excessive intellectualism:

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2016/feb/07/war-and-peace-recap-episode-six-bows-out-with-a-bonkers-prisoner-beard

Edited February 8, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[kinuta]

Are you all set for Happy Valley 2, Bev ?  It starts tomorrow.

[jazzbo]

On February 6, 2016 at 4:59 PM, kinuta said:

 Indeed

WORD

[A Lark Ascending]

7 hours ago, kinuta said:

Are you all set for Happy Valley 2, Bev ?  It starts tomorrow.

I most certainly am - have the monster packs of pork scratchings and Vimto in already.

[jlhoots]

2 hours ago, A Lark Ascending said:

I most certainly am - have the monster packs of pork scratchings and Vimto in already.

Well guys - I'm finally starting season one of Happy Valley.

23 minutes ago, jlhoots said:

Well guys - I'm finally starting season one of Happy Valley.

BTW, what's the best flavor of "fizzy" Vimto? Apparently it is sold in the USA.

[kinuta]

3 hours ago, jlhoots said:

Well guys - I'm finally starting season one of Happy Valley.

BTW, what's the best flavor of "fizzy" Vimto? Apparently it is sold in the USA.

I'll leave the definitive answer to the more informed Bev, but I'd be aghast at any other flavour than the original bottled cordial.

[A Lark Ascending]

9 hours ago, kinuta said:

I'll leave the definitive answer to the more informed Bev, but I'd be aghast at any other flavour than the original bottled cordial.

Never drunk the stuff, I'm afraid. Don't ever recall seeing it to be honest - I only know about it from a couple of northern friends at (a southern) university in the mid-70s who used to bring bottles back after their return from the wilderness for holidays. I don't do Sellafield peas with mint sauce either!  

[A Lark Ascending]

'Happy Valley' Series II got off to a good start last night - my, Catherine is hard! Surprised to see Prince Andrei in prison...he only died on Sunday.

 

Michael Wood - The Story of China: Episode I (BBC 2)

Michael Wood first appeared as a new type of presenter for TV history the year I started teaching ('In Search of the Dark Ages', I think). He might be responsible for the presenter wandering around in every shot approach to TV documentary (or was that Alan Whicker?). Anyway, his series are always interesting and informative (and there's a motorway service station named after him on the M5 near Bristol). 

Enjoyed this one - suffered from that first-episode-of-a-series-covering-thousands-of-years-where-we-have-virtually-no-evidence problem of whizzing through a lot of change very quickly. I suspect it will slow down as we get into better documented times. Amazed to see how much of China's tradition has returned after the disruptions of the Mao/Cultural Revolution years. A bit like the return of prog rock after punk supposedly blow-torched the landscape. Beautifully photographed. And, mercifully, we got Wood rather than Michael Portillo.    

Edited February 10, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[A Lark Ascending]

Right up my street - enjoyed this very much. Although I knew about the Hollywood 10 and HUAC I'd never heard of Trumbo before seeing the trailer last week, nor of the background to 'Roman Holiday', 'Spartacus' and 'Exodus'. 

Very prescient given the current antics of Dalton Trumbo's near namesake. 

[Shawn]

3 hours ago, A Lark Ascending said:

Right up my street - enjoyed this very much. Although I knew about the Hollywood 10 and HUAC I'd never heard of Trumbo before seeing the trailer last week, nor of the background to 'Roman Holiday', 'Spartacus' and 'Exodus'. 

Very prescient given the current antics of Dalton Trumbo's near namesake. 

I first heard his name because of this film: 

 

Metallica used footage from the movie for their music video "One" in 1989 which is how I first became aware of it.  

[jazzbo]

I read that book when I was a teenager. (Movie doesn't look anything like the book I read). A sort of avant grade novel, and scary as hell--it totally brought out the horror of war with unvarnished clarity. 

[Shawn]

24 minutes ago, jazzbo said:

I read that book when I was a teenager. (Movie doesn't look anything like the book I read). A sort of avant grade novel, and scary as hell--it totally brought out the horror of war with unvarnished clarity. 

Trumbo directed the movie.  The book is written in first person, the movie jumps back and forth between narration, flashbacks, fantasy sequences and the conversations of the doctors and nursing staff to tell the story.  The meat of the story remains the same.   

 

[jazzbo]

Thanks. I always like books more than movies made from them. . . this book moved me so much I'll stick with my memories of it. And may be brave enough to re-read it one of these days!

[Shawn]

It's always a challenge to adapt a first-person narrative to a visual medium.

[A Lark Ascending]

10 hours ago, Shawn said:

I first heard his name because of this film: 

 

Metallica used footage from the movie for their music video "One" in 1989 which is how I first became aware of it.  

I noticed yesterday that he wrote that as a novel. The book got some very good reviews on Amazon.  

[Jazzjet]

On 2/10/2016 at 7:23 AM, A Lark Ascending said:

'Happy Valley' Series II got off to a good start last night - my, Catherine is hard! Surprised to see Prince Andrei in prison...he only died on Sunday.

 

This is nothing to compared with all the Scandinavian TV series so popular nowadays. Nearly every reputable Danish or Swedish actor seems to appear in all of them.

[page]

4 hours ago, Jazzjet said:

This is nothing to compared with all the Scandinavian TV series so popular nowadays. Nearly every reputable Danish or Swedish actor seems to appear in all of them.

They are quite good indeed. More violent than most British series, although "Happy Valley" has shown a lot in the first series. I've enjoyed "Wallander" to name a nice Skandinavian series f.e.
I have enjoyed the first episode of "Happy Valley II" too thanks to you guys. I think we are in for a real scare again these series. Brr.

[A Lark Ascending]

2 hours ago, page said:

They are quite good indeed. More violent than most British series, although "Happy Valley" has shown a lot in the first series. I've enjoyed "Wallander" to name a nice Skandinavian series f.e.
I have enjoyed the first episode of "Happy Valley II" too thanks to you guys. I think we are in for a real scare again these series. Brr.

I've enjoyed most of those Scandinavian series. There was one about some people stuck on an island where people kept getting bumped off that I gave up on after an hour. And I never got beyond episode 1 of 1864 - why does every film about coming war start with two lads falling out over a girl!?

There's a new one this Saturday - will catch later on.

On the Brit front there's a new Le Carre coming in Two weeks; and one with a theme around the China one child policy on Wednesday looks interesting.

[kinuta]

4 hours ago, A Lark Ascending said:

I've enjoyed most of those Scandinavian series. There was one about some people stuck on an island where people kept getting bumped off that I gave up on after an hour. And I never got beyond episode 1 of 1864 - why does every film about coming war start with two lads falling out over a girl!?

There's a new one this Saturday - will catch later on.

On the Brit front there's a new Le Carre coming in Two weeks; and one with a theme around the China one child policy on Wednesday looks interesting.

I thought 1864 was good and well worth watching, although I do understand the  'who does she love and which one is coming home in a coffin ? ' cliche.  As mentioned Happy Valley started with a great first episode . 

[JSngry]

Four part series, now showing on Netflix, about, yes, the history of mathematics. Very entertaining, actually.