Current Watching

[WOM]

I will forever have soft spots for Brady Bunch and Partridge Family. I grew up on those. But yeah, poke around for the reno show on HGTV. They got it so right it's scary; right down to 'new old stock' carpets that matched the original, and reprinted wall papers and couch fabrics so everything was perfect.

[Sits]

Sounds fascinating. Clearly they overcame the fact that (I assume) the outside and inside layouts were inconsistent?

[Sits]

We just picked up on Criminal: United Kingdom on Netflix. Enjoying it after two episodes; I like this sort of claustrophobic character/dialogue based sort of thing. Performances are excellent across the cast, and it’s good to see Lee Ingleby in a “lead” role. He’s tended to play unsympathetic characters and is very good at them. Hayley Attwell is great in Ep2, although I’ve always had a soft spot.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Yes it could be an interesting concept, but we've seen C-UK and C-Germany, and though all the shows are watchable I'm not sure why there are four series set, supposedly, in four different countries. The actors, and the language they speak, are the only things that are different. The sets, and there are only three of them, are exactly the same. The writers may be different, it's hard to tell and I haven't checked, but otherwise there's little to distinguish one from another. Criminal: Germany has a story that plays on the effect the collapse of East Berlin had on a protagonist, so I guess that counts, but it felt a bit tacked-on TBH. I'll probably watch the other C-Spain and C-France as the stories and players are decent enough, but overall it seems like a bit of a wasted opportunity.

[Sits]

Maybe they don’t want to lose the market who can’t keep up with following the visuals and the subtitles at once, and also to use actors that would resonate more with the domestic audience? I will admit to being terrible with subtitles which sadly has limited my viewing experience.

[San Bernardhinault]

I watched a doc film called Maiden yesterday. It’s about Tracy Edwards’ first all women team doing the around the world yacht race. It’s very good, very watchable. It’s also amazing how the old sexists from the 80s seem to still be sexist when trying to be modern.

[Wouter D]

As a counterweight to the overwroughtness, I've started watching Lodge 49. I'm only three episodes in, but so far I very much like it. There's a little Lebowski-ishness to it, but not so much that it's full plagiarism. It's very low stakes, low drama, so far, but in a very enjoyable way.

Many thanks for this suggestion. My wife and I burned through all available episodes in record time, and we can barely wait until S02E09 is released this Monday. Good stuff.

Favorite moment was the bit of physical comedy where the main character jumps in front of his sister to take the hummus bullet in a one-directional food fight in S02E03.

[Nefertiti2]

I'm enjoying season 3 of The Good Fight

[Hot Pepsi]

I really like Goliath with Billy Bob Thornton as a recovering addict lawyer who fights for the little guy. The first two seasons were specifically about LA, but season 3 is mostly about water rights issues in the Central Valley. It’s got Dennis Quaid and Bo Bridges.

[Sits]

I'm enjoying season 3 of The Good Fight

You haven’t reached the Michael Sheen character yet have you, or the introduction of musical interludes? A major shark jump, but until then a brilliant show.

[Amor de Cosmos]

I quite like the musical interludes. Michael Sheen is a tad OTT but then again so is the present world they're satirizing

[Sits]

The second is a fair enough point, but he's dialled up to 11 the whole time. Apposite, but I find it grating.

And the music... maybe it's just me.

[San Bernardhinault]

Anyone else seen 'Booksmart'? I would normally start a stand alone thread for a movie but given this has been out in the UK for two months and is already almost disappeared from cinemas I doubt it would sustain one.

I finally saw it tonight and it was fantastic. Fantastically smart, funny script, great performances from a lesser known cast (a few cameos aside), quite touching in places and a killer soundtrack. I don't think I've seen any of the recent 'coming of age' movies it's been compared to like 'Superbad' because none of them came across with the wit and charm this one had even just from the trailer.

Anyway, thoroughly recommended when it ends up on streaming platforms and the like.

I finally got around to watching this last night. What a brilliant, hilarious and moving film. There were all kinds of ways it could have gone wrong, but they managed the balancing act beautifully.

Mrs SB said it was like a modern John Hughes film - I can see where she's coming from, but part of me thinks that's giving John Hughes too much credit.

Like Ray, I agree that it probably should have had a thread of its own, but it's too late for that now.

[Ray de Galles]

Ah, glad you enjoyed it. That's a good reminder to me that it's out on DVD and Amazon Video now. I need to have a second watch.

[Hot Pepsi]

I watched the new Spider-Man film. Wish I'd seen it in the theater. I was waiting to see it with a friend of mine and his kid, but then that plan never worked out.

It's not groundbreaking or anything, but very well done like the first two in this MCU version of Spider-Man.

And Sony and Disney have agreed to make a third one with Tom Holland, which this one sets up, so that will be nice.

[diggedy derek]

The new series of Motherland seems like extraordinarily thin gruel. Cartoon, clown characters.

[E10 Rifle]

Given that the quality of the first series fell off a cliff after a promising start, I thought last night's was a slight improvement. Dianne Morgan is inherently watchable, though we need less of one-dimensional creepy Kevin and perhaps more of the feckless husband who's always fucking off to Arsenal games or stag weekends.

[Ray de Galles]

I've now come across the opening episode of both series and never quite got enough from it to carry on.

[diggedy derek]

I look back so fondly on the pilot, it was amazing.

Lis is as inherently watchable as Kevin is inherently unwatchable.

[WOM]

Peaky Blinders' newest season. We're at Episode 5 of 6. Is this the most boring season ever? It feels like they had no ideas.

[Lang Spoon]

Is that the one with the Glasgow sectarian Billy Boys razor gang getting shoehorned in? Apparently the main (Irish?) Billy Boys actor's weegie accent is hilarious for teh Jock viewers.

[Lang Spoon]

AFAIK they were too busy being small time local extortion racket/enforcers for the prod and proud/anti Labour end of weegie municipal politics to ever bother giving it large on the streets of Brum. Catchy song but.

[WOM]

That's the one. And yeah, I do a better weegie accent than this guy. It's fucking dull. Nothing really happens. Unless it turns around sharpish in the final episode, this one's a dud.

[Satchmo Distel]

The final episode is even worse than the first five.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Cripes. I'm only on episode two, now I'm wondering if it's worth watching the rest.