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BBC River

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03471/river2_3471697b.jpg

Brilliant first episode.

Watched it last night - superb. I normally steer clear of anything involving ghosts and the paranormal (I know they were just representations of the main character's mental anguish here) but this was compelling and very unusually plotted. Excellent camera work giving a strong impression of London. 

Also watched:

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The Great British Year: Spring. Which just had me awestruck. The scenes with the young guillemots taking their first flight were amazing. Had me pining for spring!  

Edited by A Lark Ascending
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  • 2 weeks later...

Code Black

http://thumbnails.cbsig.net/CBS_Production_Entertainment_VMS/2015/05/13/444620355703/CBS_CODE_BLACK_CUTDOWN_master_559134_640x360.jpg

I quite like this; terrific grungy set design that reflects an ER under constant heavy use, a good cast of non super fashion model babes and chiselled male models who manage to inject some character into the action that all takes place with minimal to no distracting back stories.

All those factors probably mean it won't be around long.

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On 10/25/2015, 9:45:41, kinuta said:

Keith Richards Under The Influence HBO

http://cdn.pastemagazine.com/www/articles/keithrichards%20lead.jpg

It's always a pleasure to listen to Keef.

Interesting items in his vinyl box, Satch Plays Fats, Sarah Vaughan After Hours, Best Of Billie Holiday, Billy Eckstine The MGM Years.

In the bio he talks of the influence of his mother playing music like that when he was a kid. 

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I know very little about Hockney but have enjoyed some of his recent landscape paintings; so I thought I'd find out more. Very interesting video - Hockney seems pretty down-to-earth for someone living in an anything but down-to-earth world. 

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I loved this. Can't remember the last time I had to keep my emotional snorts under control in a cinema for most of a film...Schindler's List, perhaps.

The inevitable historical telescoping - the key antagonists (Maud Watts and the nasty intelligence chap) turning up at all the key moments. But it had the good sense to confine itself to a short period (1912-13) using the Derby of 1913 as the emotional climax. I thought Carey Mulligan was brilliant in the key role. 

Can imagine this will get much use in British schools. I could just see the impact it would have on many of the kids I used to teach. And not just about political rights in the olden days.

Meanwhile, back in the real world....

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Well, that was jolly!

Good film but I could have done with subtitles. Shakespeare's language and syntax have your brain working overtime in normal circumstances, given how quick things move. There was a fair bit of mumbling here meaning you lost bits of sentences making it even more of an effort to hold on. 

Perhaps I should have waited for the DVD - but then you'd lose the wide screen backdrops which were spectacular. Don't think the sun ever came out. 

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Got behind while away but catching up with:

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Last episode ever next week it seems. Then, I suppose, it will be 'Hathaway'.

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I think this is brilliant. Tom Courtney is especially good. Trevor Eve's nasty self-made millionaire has me thinking Alan Sugar every time I watch it.

Last episode next week. 

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The Arne Dahl series from Sweden currently in the Scandi spot on BBC4...though I'm four episodes behind. Watchable but not the best that has come from that direction. Apart from the inevitably messy personal lives they're all a bit goody two shoes. 

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The God of Hell-Fire in free bus pass years.

Psychedelic Britannia BBC4

Nothing new but an enjoyable hour looking at 1965-70 with the usual suspects interviewed - Pete Brown, Arthur Brown, Joe Boyd, Robert Wyatt, Gary Brooker, Justin Hayward, Barry Miles and the very posh Emily Young who was supposed to be the inspiration behind 'See Emily Play'. Nice to see footage of the Pink Floyd and Soft Machine in their early days. 

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London Spy

London Spy (BBC 2)

Another new thriller with Ben Whishaw and Jim Broadbent. Slow moving but kept my attention. 

The Guardian liked it; The Telegraph didn't.

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/nov/10/london-spy-tv-review-thriller-love-story

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/tv-and-radio-reviews/11985109/London-Spy-episode-one-review.html

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On 2015/11/10 17:40:40, A Lark Ascending said:

London Spy

London Spy (BBC 2)

Another new thriller with Ben Whishaw and Jim Broadbent. Slow moving but kept my attention. 

The Guardian liked it; The Telegraph didn't.

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/nov/10/london-spy-tv-review-thriller-love-story

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/tv-and-radio-reviews/11985109/London-Spy-episode-one-review.html

The Telegraph has no idea about anything.

I thought it was great and not in the least slow.

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2 minutes ago, kinuta said:

The Telegraph has no idea about anything.

I thought it was great and not in the least slow.

The last couple of paragraphs betray a multitude of prejudices:

"Perhaps once the espionage plot has kicked in, London Spy will finally leap up off the treatment table. This was a first script by the novelist Tom Rob Smith (Child 44) who, it says here, lives with Ben Stephenson, until recently the controller of drama commissioning at the BBC.
I spy with my little eye. Something beginning with Q. (Quota.)"

To me it was slow until the last ten minutes; but in the good sense. Allowing an atmosphere and storyline to build. So many TV programmes seem to operate on fast forward. I think I first noticed it on 'Spooks' ten years back or so. The early series were normally paced and then it came back and everything was happening a mile a minute. 

I've only seen 'Downton Abbey' a couple of times (not looking for connoisseur points there!!!!) - everything seemed to fly by. A bit odd for something you'd have thought would bask in the landscape and life of the leisured classes. 

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That Telegraph review is a disgrace, and would be laughable if not so obnoxiously snide, as it betrays so many prejudices in the reviewer's mind.

I enjoyed the first episode mainly because of the pacing. I was a little unconvinced by Wishaw's acting, not the character, but his interpretation thereof 

What concerned me much more was the very obvious parallels with the "spy in the bag" case from a few year's ago. It has to be the inspiration but I worry that it's too soon to be making entertainment from such a tragic case. I can't begin to think what family and friends of the victim in that case must be living through again because of this drama

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Lost track of this when away but caught up on episodes 2-4 this week. Really like it - a very unusual way of doing a detective programme. Interesting article here:

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/oct/06/bbc-drama-river-abi-morgan-explore-mental-health-issues

"BBC1 controller Charlotte Moore said the drama pushed the cop show genre “in surprising ways” and promised last month that every new commission on the channel would look to “break the mould”."

Well, the Tories' attack on the BBC on behalf of Murdoch and their other media mogul controllers has achieved one thing... 

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Ended last night on ITV. Rather than an all fireworks crescendo, a lot of resolution and redemption (even Alan Sugar saw into his heart of darkness before hanging himself in prison).

There's to be another series. Not sure that's a good idea. But then there are strong character here so maybe that did not just want to waste them.  

 

 

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Ash vs Evil Dead season 1.

An book bound in human flesh and inked in blood that is a gateway to hell is used to summon a deadite plague and all sorts of demons. And, no, it's not on BBC News 24.

"The book itself is harmless, unless wielded by someone either very evil, or very stupid."

Edited by erwbol
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