Current Watching

[WOM]

Anyone watch the 6-episode series Years and Years? It's a BBC/HBO joint and is very good and very upsetting. Basically, it's set 10 to 15 years into the future after Trump has been President twice, the US has nuked a thinly-disguised Hong Kong and technology has run more than a little rampant. Far fetched in places and shockingly 'yeah, I could see that happening' in others. It has flaws, but it's worth the time. I don't know where to find it...we had it on the PVR from last July.

[Hot Pepsi]

That sounds just too depressing.


I’m watching Living With Myself with Paul Rudd and Ainsling Bea.

The guy who plays the competitor executive that talks to Paul Rudd while taking a piss is somebody I used to work with names Chris Walker. He was an editor but has a theatre degree from Dartmouth. and did some voiceover work on the side for Discovery mostly. Really good guy. He was also on Veep in a very small role.

[Hot Pepsi]

Has anyone watched In the Name of the Rose yet? Is it any good?

As I recall, that’s on some weird channel I don’t have, but it sounds intriguing.

[Uncle Ethan]

Anyone watch the 6-episode series Years and Years? It's a BBC/HBO joint and is very good and very upsetting. Basically, it's set 10 to 15 years into the future after Trump has been President twice, the US has nuked a thinly-disguised Hong Kong and technology has run more than a little rampant. Far fetched in places and shockingly 'yeah, I could see that happening' in others. It has flaws, but it's worth the time. I don't know where to find it...we had it on the PVR from last July.

Been looking out for it as I like that sort of nonsense. Cannot find it on any streaming service. Even GY's excellent site (link posted a few pages back) can't locate it.

[San Bernardhinault]

I watched the very good Unbelievable on Netflix over the last few days. It handles its heavy material very deftly.

[Hot Pepsi]

Watchmen on HBO is off to a very promising start.

[WOM]

Yup. We both dug it.

[Ginger Yellow]

I'm intrigued by it, but I'm not sure it's good. It definitely has the potential to go off the rails, politically and narratively.

[Hot Pepsi]

Everything HBO does has that potential, I suppose.

[Amor de Cosmos]

I'm intrigued by it, but I'm not sure it's good. It definitely has the potential to go off the rails, politically and narratively.

I read a review that said it was incomprehensible if you hadn't read the original comic series. Is that true?

[Hot Pepsi]

I read a review that said it was incomprehensible if you hadn't read the original comic series. Is that true?

Not really.

And there are lots of online things that can give you a quick overview of the comic to fill that in. But you don’t really need to know it to understand the first episode. A lot of it isn’t clear anyway, but will no doubt be made clear as the story unfolds.

The key points about the alternate universe of the comic, which takes place in 1985:

Superheroes have been around since the 30s but are regulated by a federal law.

The only superhero with real powers is Dr Manhattan. A big blue guy with enormous power who allowed the US to not only win the war in Vietnam, but turn Vietnam and other places into US states and then Nixon changes the constitution and was in office for 30 years.

Ozymandius/Adrian Veidt is the smartest man in the world and engineered a giant space squid that landed in Times Square. It killed a lot of people but convinced the world we were under attack by interdimensional aliens, which caused the US and USSR to work together and it ended the Cold War. That’s why he did it.

In the film version, instead of the squid, there’s a big atomic blast blamed on Dr Manhattan. He’s happy to take the blame it if brings people together.

Either way, Dr Manhattan goes to live on Mars and be alone.

There are a bunch of other washed up superheroes that used to be called the Minutemen.

Veidt murdered his accomplices. He also murdered the ex-hero known as the Comedian because he had learned about Veidt’s plan.

A guy named Rorschach who has a mask with an ever changing Rorschach pattern is a right-wing psycho who just “wants to know the truth.” He’s the protagonist, but that doesn’t mean he’s a hero. He figures out Veidt’s plan and writes it all in a journal. He delivers it to a small newspaper. It sounds like batshit conspiracy stuff but in this world, it happens to be true.

The TV show seems to be a sequel to that, but in 2019. Robert Redford has been president for a while. Black people have received some kind of restitutions that some white people call “redfordtutions.”

There’s a white supremacist group that wears makeshift Rorshach masks and murders cops. Because of that, the cops wear masks, don’t reveal that they are police, and some of the cops are dressed as superheroes.

The comic was mostly in New York but the show is set in Tulsa.

Now you can watch.

[Ginger Yellow]

There's a ton of comic stuff that's alluded to, but I can't think of much that wouldn't make sense without comic knowledge. The Veidt stuff, maybe, but I can't say it makes a lot of sense in the show even having read the comic.

[WOM]

I don't know any of the comic story and we just enjoyed the show.

[Femme Folle]

Anyone else watching the YouTube series "Impulse"?

[Hot Pepsi]

No. What’s it about?

[danielmak]

The new Almodovar film came and went too fast from my local theater, but while checking listings I see that a Once Upon a Time in Hollywood extended cut is now showing. My bladder could barely make it through a non-extended cut. I'm trying to figure out how more screen time was needed. Has anyone seen this extended cut?

[Femme Folle]

No. What’s it about?

It's about a teenage girl whose body teleports whenever she gets scared. They say it's based on the same book that the film Jumper was based on, but it's not very much like Jumper. If you like the comic based shows, you might like this too. It doesn't have any really big stars in it, but you would probably recognize David James Elliott and Missy Pyle from other shows. If I had to wager a guess based on what I've seen you write here, I would probably say that you wouldn't really enjoy it. Might be worth watching the pilot episode to find out though--it's free.

(sorry, I'm not very good at writing these kinds of descriptions because I'm afraid of accidentally giving too much away)

[Hot Pepsi]

You had me at “teleports.”

[Ginger Yellow]

Dear God, I can't imagine watching an extended cut of a modern Tarantino film. It's not like the ordinary cuts are particularly lean.

[Levin]

I watched the first episode of In the Name of the Rose. It was decent enough. Good enough that I'll stick with it, although I'm not sure I would if I wasn't aware of the book etc.

From what I remember of the book it all happens in the one location but the TV series has bits before they get there and also lots of scenes in Avignon. I guess it helps explain the world but I'm not sure it's neccessary. The book was packed full of stuff so why not focus on getting that on screen?

Also, it has that mid budget thing of all interior shots have no windows or at least don't have windows you can see through. And exterior shots are mostly against a wall.

[Sits]

The movie was a mixed bag, IIRC.

[WOM]

Dear God, I can't imagine watching an extended cut of a modern Tarantino film. It's not like the ordinary cuts are particularly lean.

I'd have agreed for something like Hateful Eight, but I could have watched Once Upon A Time for hours more. Not that I'd expect 10 more minutes to add much to the story, but I'll bet it was pretty lush atmospheric stuff.

[Satchmo Distel]

A Very English Scandal was hugely entertaining but also informative. I particularly liked how Norman Scott progressed in the story to gradually becoming sympathetic, having a supportive network and even being rather heroic rather than being a pariah or purely a victim.

Thorpe was played correctly as a curious mix of incredibly self-entitled but also self-sabotaging in his desire for risk. The trial was a classic example of a Pyrrhic victory. The only query I have with Grant's performance was that he seemed to be playing it in the manner of Rob Brydon.

[Lang Spoon]

I'd have agreed for something like Hateful Eight, but I could have watched Once Upon A Time for hours more. Not that I'd expect 10 more minutes to add much to the story, but I'll bet it was pretty lush atmospheric stuff.

Same here. I'd easy watch the 4 hour 20 first cut. I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than watch another minute of Django again.

[Hot Pepsi]

I’m watching They Shall Not Grow Old