What Are You Watching

[jlhoots]

On July 18, 2016 at 3:20 AM, kinuta said:

The Night Of   (HBO)

 

Excellent, gripping, great script, cast and cinematography.

Totally superior to the original BBC Criminal Justice in every way.

Must see.

The Night Of is excellent.

[A Lark Ascending]

13 hours ago, sidewinder said:

Two outstanding items on BBC last week - the documentary about The Somme and the New Zealand natural history series starter.

I  was thinking more of drama - there seems to be a steady stream of good documentaries and fortunately they get recycled quickly. Expecting Michael Gove's 'Great Assassins of History' pretty soon - I fear he'll do a Portillo/Mellor in order to get into the limelight again. 

I have the Somme on the recorder. Wasn't aware of the natural history programme. Meant to record the Brian Cox thing too but forgot - might need to do a rapid catch up before it vanishes.  

[jazzbo]

The Wire, Season 1, on Blu-ray.

[Jazzmoose]

I've been watching season two of the Rockford Files.  Someone who knew me better than I thought surprised me with the complete series set.

[sidewinder]

Will be checking this one out today - Channel 4 documentary, 'Ollie Reed meets Sadaam' !

Edited July 25, 2016 by sidewinder

[JSngry]

Finished Season 1 of Mr. Robot. Was kind of unsure when it added they psycho-drama element to the hacker-drama already in place, but the way they left it all hanging at the very end pulled it all together for me. Now on to Season 2 catch up (hello, On Demand) and then real-time episode watching, hopefully.

I like a show where nothing that happens is impossible, even when it gets really out there. In fact, sometimes the more out there it gets, the realer it seems to me. So, kudos for Season 1, and here's to hope for Season 2, because it's not a documentary, somebody still needs to write the shit, and that's where things can go bad. If it goes to 3 seasons, uhhhhhh....nobody quits while they're ahead, which is kinda relevant to the theme of the show, so be ready for irony, eh?

[Shawn]

Stranger Things (Netflix) 

Very enjoyable bit of early 80s nostalgia sci-fi/horror mash-up.  Imagine if Steven Spielberg and Stephen King had worked on a film together circa 1983.  

It's only 8 episodes and left me looking forward to the second season (already green-lit).  

 

[JSngry]

Got caught up on what there's been of Season 2 of Mr. Robot..."ambitious" is putting it mildly. There's gonna need to be on helluva payoff, we'll see.

Oh, anybody else notice how Darlene wears those heart shaped glasses? Does that make her Darlene Love?

[kinuta]

2nd episode of BBC The Somme: From Both Sides Of The Wire

My granddad, Fred fought at The Somme and had a scar across the top of his head to prove it.

The implications of the bullet or piece of shrapnel hitting him a cm or so lower are almost too much to grasp.

The series is excellent, recommended.

[jlhoots]

On July 27, 2016 at 6:32 AM, JSngry said:

Got caught up on what there's been of Season 2 of Mr. Robot..."ambitious" is putting it mildly. There's gonna need to be on helluva payoff, we'll see.

Oh, anybody else notice how Darlene wears those heart shaped glasses? Does that make her Darlene Love?

I'm watching this too - although I'm not sure what it all means.

Then I watch Queen Of The South which I understand completely!!

[JSngry]

I figure that what it all means will be whatever they wrap it up with, which is why I hope it doesn't go on too long and they have to start getting really out there just to have a show.

Right now, what I think it all means is about the basic divided soul that we probably have about self vs all and how fucked up either one of those gets when the inability of either to effectively check the other is removed.

At least that's what I think. Being a work of commerce dstill in progress. it could land anywhere before it ends.

[jazzbo]

I've started watching a parody of "LOST" on TBS called "Wrecked." Pretty entertaining.

 

Edited July 28, 2016 by jazzbo

[Shawn]

I've been binge-watching Top Gear on Netflix.  

[A Lark Ascending]

'The Secret Agent' (BBC1)

Can't say I enjoyed this a great deal. A worthy, well-filmed account of a 'classic' of literature but I kept going out of duty rather than compulsion. I read the book a long time ago - I recall it was a tough read (like I've always found Conrad). Perhaps too literary to translate effectively to the screen.

  

Really enjoyed the first three of these. Science for the viewer who was scared off science at school. I'm currently reading Bill Bryson's popular book on science so this re-enforces well. Superb photography in some strange places - those of a nervous disposition should not watch the ibex crossing a near vertical dam wall in search of salt. 

I like Brian Cox's delivery - really calm but bewitched by the wonders of the natural world. Failed politicians given TV documentaries should be made to watch him. They might learnt to stop shouting and waving their arms about all the time. 

Reliant on backed up programmes and things like the iPlayer for the next few weeks whilst the whole of BBC1, BBC 4 and great chunks of BBC2 are given over to egg and spoon races and the like.  

Edited August 7, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[kinuta]

Luckily the huge, 12 hour time difference makes it quite easy to avoid the Olympics.

Not that I'd bother even if they were shown during the day.

I had the same reaction to The Secret Agent.

[A Lark Ascending]

"Cold Feet"

Never saw this when it was mega-popular 20 odd years back  (though I still somehow developed a crush on Helen Baxendale). A frothy rom-com - sex amongst the Manchester yuppies - but very enjoyable and rather touching in places (though 'This is England', it ain't). Been through series one this week and just started 2 on the ITV 'on demand' channel - 24 days to get through the lot! With the usual channels I watch lost to the Olympics should fill in the gap before the autumn schedules start. 

"The 80s with Dominic Sandbrook" Episode 1

His analysis seems a bit glib - it wasn't about Thatcher, it was about us (our desire for consumer goods and our aspiration) - and he races through events (The Falklands in 30 seconds) but it's fun watching the events, clothes, hairstyles etc. The 80s still sound to my ears like the decade music forgot but it seems to be regarded as a golden age by others (based on the views of the younger colleagues I used to work with).    

 

Edited August 12, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[A Lark Ascending]

Virtually nothing but 'Cold Feet' over the last week or two - sentimental, improbable but utterly engaging. 

 

Genius of the Modern World - BBC4

Three part series fronted by Bettany Hughes about Marx, Nietzsche and Freud. Relatively familiar with Marx and Freud but Nietzsche I only know from his collisions with other things I've read/heard. Subsequently, despite an attempt on 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' when I was 18, I've only had a fragmented understanding of what he was about. This one gave a nice, potted account of his life, the developments in his thinking and the way his ideas were subsequently manipulated and distorted. I now see where D. H. Lawrence's assault on Christianity came from - recall being very troubled by his fury at compassion and meekness during my Lawrence phase in the mid-70s. Glad I didn't get hooked on Nietzsche as an 18 year old.            

Edited August 23, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[jlhoots]

Line Of Duty - season 3, episode 1

[A Lark Ascending]

The utterly heartbreaking last two episodes of 'Cold Feet' - pleased to see they avoided tying everything up at the end. Be interesting to see how they do the 'decade plus later' series due on TV soon.

'The Childhood of a Leader'

My first trip to the cinema in a while. Enjoyed this - slow moving, superb photography, engaging tale, strong musical score (Scott Walker...THE Scott Walker I discover on checking up). Not quite sure what it was getting at though - badly behaved children growing up in emotionally unstable homes and who subsequently learn to manipulate the adults around them might become dictators? As an historical-based film I thought it came off well - glancing at major events rather than trying to squeeze lots of big moments in; but as an analysis of the origins of dictatorship (even got a bit Freudian in places) it was pretty wide of the mark. Maybe that wasn't its intention. Anyway, it kept you brain ticking over trying to work out the allusions.   

Of course, it could have been all about The Donald. 

Edited August 27, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[jazzbo]

PBS broadcasts of the second season of Doc Martin. God I love this show.

[kinuta]

The Night Of

The final episode was excellent.

For me it was the best series I've seen since Happy Valley.

[A Lark Ascending]

On 8/28/2016 at 2:04 AM, jazzbo said:

PBS broadcasts of the second season of Doc Martin. God I love this show.

My parents used to love that. I've only seen the odd episode but found it very entertaining. The village it's based in - Port Isaac on the north coast of Cornwall - is a lovely place. Milks the Doc Martin connection for all it's worth these days (understandably). 

BBC 4 documentary about 'Pet Sounds'. Very enjoyable. Especially when they played with the faders and isolated parts of the tracks like the bass and, above all, the glorious harmony vocals. 

[paul secor]

I've been watching series 2 and 3 of the Swedish Wallanders recently. I had no idea, until I watched a set of interviews that was included, that Johanna Sallstrom, who played Linda Wallander in series one. had taken her own life. She had a haunted look in her eyes that I assumed was part of the role she was playing, but obviously there was more to it than the role. The producers tried to replace her with the characters of Isabelle and Pontus in series 2, but they were just pretty faces. The character of Linda returned in series 3, played by Charlotta Jonsson (the character almost had to return, given the circumstances of Kurt Wallander's health), but it wasn't the same.

Kinuta was right - "Krister Henriksson  is Wallander.

Kenneth Branagh is a British actor pretending to be him. No comparison at all."

I have no desire to see any of the Branagh Wallanders that I've missed.

[kinuta]

I don't think you're missing very much.

The final three episodes that appeared this year were borderline unwatchable.

[A Lark Ascending]

I gave up on Branagh after a couple of episodes of the first series. I've nothing against Branagh but just found them way too dour. I liked both the Swedish series but agree the later one was the most engaging. 

Been watching 'Victoria' over the last couple of nights. Not the sort of thing I usually watch - it's essentially 'Downton Abbey' with proper royals. Simple plot lines, pantomime villains, lots of frocks. Jenna Coleman looks very lovely throughout and not at all as I imagine Victoria. Enjoyable enough though I'll be glad when they get on to some proper history so I can start tutting. All palace intrigue so far. 

After seeing some very good reviews I've also been watching a very dark comedy series called 'Fleabag' about a rather disturbed young woman and her family/sexual relationships. Rather different and clearly heading somewhere very bleak. Gives the warnings of 'strong language and scenes of a sexual nature' a whole new meaning on prime time BBC.