Current Watching

[Ray de Galles]

I've just watched Ocean's Eleven for the first time.

Don Cheadle's Cockney accent is really a thing of terrible beauty.

I also watched 'Ocean's Eleven' for the first time last week and at the start George Clooney leaves prison after a 4/5 year sentence in a tuxedo.

I know it serves only to establish Danny Ocean/The Cloon as a suave motherfucker (he even has the bow tie undone for full Rat Pack effect) but are we going to believe that even if he was arrested for the original heist in a tuxedo and was never bailed before trial that he didn't get a change of clothes to appear in court?

He also leaves prison at the end of the film in a tux but given he had been arrested for parole violation wearing it then it does have some kind of internal logic that he would be taken straight to jail in the clothes he was standing up in.

[Hot Pepsi]

Perhaps he didn’t get bail.

[ursus arctos]

It is not terribly unusual now for prisons to allow inmates to have someone bring them a change of clothes for their release.

[Ray de Galles]

Perhaps he didn’t get bail.

Yes, I've addressed that but still feel he would have arranged a change of clothes for the trial.

It's the one hole in an otherwise entirely plausible film for me.

[Fussbudget]

Off topic, but I've only recently realised that prisoners in the UK usually wear their own clothes rather than prison uniforms. Obviously I've watched too many US/Ossie prison dramas.

[ursus arctos]

I think that is common in most of the "civilised" world.

[Ray de Galles]

Off topic, but I've only recently realised that prisoners in the UK usually wear their own clothes rather than prison uniforms. Obviously I've watched too many US/Ossie prison dramas.

...and 'Porridge'.

[Hot Pepsi]

Yes, I've addressed that but still feel he would have arranged a change of clothes for the trial.

It's the one hole in an otherwise entirely plausible film for me.

Maybe he plead and there was no trial.

[elguapo4]

Off topic, but I've only recently realised that prisoners in the UK usually wear their own clothes rather than prison uniforms. Obviously I've watched too many US/Ossie prison dramas.

From the amount of parcels that I've processed going to prisons in the UK and Ireland, grey tracksuits and white runners are the fashion statement of your average criminal, I've never seen a tuxedo going through.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Watch The Vast of Night movie on Amazon Prime, that Ray mentioned.

I was impressed by the technical details and homage to The Twilight Zone - especially the long tracking shot in the middle. But I found the story rather slight, and had to use the subtitles for the machine-gun dialogue from the beginning.

Watched this tonight and was impressed all round - the nods to The Twilight Zone (the intro, the town being called Cayuga) and War of the Worlds (the name of radio station) were well done and the story built nicely. I haven't seen any of the latest reboot of The Twilight Zone (don't know if we even get it here) but The Vast of Night was a better go at capturing the spirit of it than some of the official attempts. As someone said on another thread it's good that Amazon are picking up these festival-type small budget movies (though I did have to go looking for it, they don't seem to be pushing it).

[Hot Pepsi]

I saw some of the new Twilight Zone. Not worth subscribing to CBS All Access.

[tracteurgarcon]

Watched the first two episodes of "Space Force" tonight and didn't laugh once. I'm a big fan of "The (US) Office" and so was expecting big things from Daniels and Carrell but it seems really laboured and unfunny. Carrell dancing to the Beach Boys? Really? Is a US general dancing supposed to be inherently funny? It seemed very out of place and just an excuse to get Carrell to dance because that's worked in the past.

Also is Carrell's character an idiot? A Trump devotee? Or just someone who's been promoted above their ability? From the first two episodes I couldn't tell. I mean he's a 4 star general who has flown every fighter plane since the F-14 and pilots have to be pretty sharp but then in the 2nd episode he's an idiot who is trying to direct a chimpanzee on a spacewalk.

It just doesn't seem like they'd nailed down his character. I guess they didn't want him to be a carbon copy of Michael Scott but wouldn't it have been better to have him as the intelligent boss surrounded by idiots? A competent general trying his best to execute ridiculous and contradictory orders from an out of control POTUS? And the occasional Trumpisms, like the mistrust of Chan because of his Chinese name, to me, came across as mean rather than just misguided when he was the goofball office manager.

Also the comedy Russian, who's obviously a spy, was just annoying and the running joke of his PA guy just letting everyone into his office without telling him was tedious the first time, let alone the fourth or fifth. Fred Willard, in his last ever role, was easily the best thing in it and he only had a few lines.

Overall its a shame as its got a great cast and there's plenty of comedy pedigree involved but unfortunately, for me, it fails to leave the launchpad.

[danielmak]

I finished Neighor on Netflix last night. It's a short series and I assume not exclusive to Netflix in the US. There's a Deadpool feel to it since a dumb guy becomes a super hero. But it's not really a super hero show; mostly a sitcom about a variety of oddballs who live in or around the same apartment building. That's the best I can do while avoiding spoilers.

I also watched Handsome, which kind of fits in with oddball/stoner detective movies (The Nice Guys, Inherent Vice, The Big Fix) Although this is a comedic mystery starring a cop, not a private detective and he's not a stoner, the general thrust is similar to the films I just mentioned so I think you would like this one if you liked any of these other films.

[slackster]

I May Destroy You (bbc, and hbo I think), written by and starring Michaela Coel looks good. Coel is a very talented writer and actor - see Chewing Gum and Black Earth Rising if you can too - and this is shaping up to be both a funny and harrowing account that centres on a young woman who’s had her drink spiked and pieces together what happened.

I was quite taken aback by the “edgy” (consensual) sexual activities and drugginess of the main hipsterish players, but must be even more of a boring old fuddy-duddy than I realised, as my 22yo daughter said none of that looked ridiculously far-fetched to her.

This old fart also learnt a new word looking at Coel’s wiki page: Aromantic. Nothing to do with Aroma, I should add...

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Watched Irish coming of age / coming out comedy drama Dating Amber last night, which has gone straight to Amazon. Apparently it was earlier known as Beards, which is a more accurate description of the content, but perhaps Amazon didn't like that (I'm only guessing). Anyway worth a watch, the school stuff was well observed, a couple of missteps along the way but pleasant enough light viewing to fill half an evening.

Otherwise ploughing through the final season of Buffy - in the last episode I watched the subtitles explained that the music playing in the club was by The Breeders, which wasn't a surprise as they tended to be quite good at selecting music for the rock club they occasionally hung out in, but then the camera panned round to reveal The Breeders playing live in the club, while the main characters chatted away fairly oblivious to what was going on in the background - another endearing trait because a lot of other shows would have forced a whole plot around the appearance of a guest band.

[Amor de Cosmos]

The Polish adaptation of Harlan Corben's The Woods is pretty darn watchable. Only six episodes as well, so it doesn't tie you to the couch too long.

[Ray de Galles]

Watched Irish coming of age / coming out comedy drama Dating Amber last night, which has gone straight to Amazon. Apparently it was earlier known as Beards, which is a more accurate description of the content, but perhaps Amazon didn't like that (I'm only guessing). Anyway worth a watch, the school stuff was well observed, a couple of missteps along the way but pleasant enough light viewing to fill half an evening.

I watched that last night too. It's OK, quite sweet and well played by the two leads but the story itself is pretty slight.

Ffion O'Shea played a superficially similar character in 'Handsome Devil' a few years ago which I remember as dealing with the same themes rather better. Lola Petticrew looks a real find though, she really lit up the screen.

[Hot Pepsi]

Watched Irish coming of age / coming out comedy drama Dating Amber last night, which has gone straight to Amazon. Apparently it was earlier known as Beards, which is a more accurate description of the content, but perhaps Amazon didn't like that (I'm only guessing). Anyway worth a watch, the school stuff was well observed, a couple of missteps along the way but pleasant enough light viewing to fill half an evening.

Otherwise ploughing through the final season of Buffy - in the last episode I watched the subtitles explained that the music playing in the club was by The Breeders, which wasn't a surprise as they tended to be quite good at selecting music for the rock club they occasionally hung out in, but then the camera panned round to reveal The Breeders playing live in the club, while the main characters chatted away fairly oblivious to what was going on in the background - another endearing trait because a lot of other shows would have forced a whole plot around the appearance of a guest band.

I saw the Breeders open for Nirvana.

[WOM]

I saw the Breeders open for Nirvana.

...and then left. <flicks cigarette>

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

I saw the Breeders open for Nirvana.

Buffy and Willow still would have been too cool to look up from their sodas even for that bill.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

I'll be f-ing damned, Aimee Mann is on stage in this episode. This time it's Spike who is indifferent, he's too busy getting hammered out of a hip flask and calling women "pet".

[Hot Pepsi]

Buffy and Willow still would have been too cool to look up from their sodas even for that bill.

That was kind of the vibe of much of the audience at the show, as I recall. 1994 was like that.

[MsD]

I can't find the second remote so have ended up watching Dogging Tales on Channel 4. Weird.

[danielmak]

I May Destroy You (bbc, and hbo I think), written by and starring Michaela Coel looks good. Coel is a very talented writer and actor - see Chewing Gum and Black Earth Rising if you can too - and this is shaping up to be both a funny and harrowing account that centres on a young woman who’s had her drink spiked and pieces together what happened.

I was quite taken aback by the “edgy” (consensual) sexual activities and drugginess of the main hipsterish players, but must be even more of a boring old fuddy-duddy than I realised, as my 22yo daughter said none of that looked ridiculously far-fetched to her.

This old fart also learnt a new word looking at Coel’s wiki page: Aromantic. Nothing to do with Aroma, I should add...

I started watching this one on HBO. It's good. I completely stumbled upon it so had no expectations at all, but figured young, multi-cultural London could be interesting. Was a bit shocked by the turn it took with the spiked drink. I think I'm 2 or 3 episodes into the show.

[Incandenza]

2 episodes in to Succession and I enjoyed both, far more than any of Ozark. On the other hand, my wife, who got hooked on Ozark, tells me "I don't really like any of these people" after the second episode. I've found the characters far more entertaining than any on Ozark.