Current Watching

[Gangster Octopus]

Covid has finally filtered into my wife's favourite, NCIS...

[Ray de Galles]

Watched Moonfall to see just how awful it is. Was not disappointed. Absolutely bonkers with hints of several other sci-fi films and bonus Donald Sutherland. I enjoyed the stupidity and dreadful tropes/script immensely.

I saw it tonight and enjoyed it immensely. It's absolute tosh and feels like it might have been made as a result of a bet but is great fun and had me entertained for the full two hour running time.

It's been a long time since I've seen Airplane 2 but the "washed up pilot forced to fly Space Shuttle" plot line brought it to mind.

I should emphasise that it isn't a spoof and is largely played with a straight face (save for the traditional comic relief from John Bradley's character) but still had me laughing out loud in many places and certainly revels in its absurdity.

Perhaps it was seeing it on the big screen rather than Netflix but I enjoyed it more than, say, 'Don't Look Up'.

[Nocturnal Submission]

To my utter amazement I've chanced upon an episode of Peep Show on Gold that I haven't seen before.

[Patrick Thistle]

Mrs Thistle and I watched Singin' In The Rain last night. I was pretty sure I'd watched it as a kid but remembered nothing about it apart from the bit where Gene Kelly is singing in the rain, which has been on so many clip shows I can't say for certain I had actually seen it in the film.

It was great. Really enjoyed it.

[Mr Delicieux]

I can't think of anywhere more appropriate to post this - as I will be watching it - but 2X Scottish bafta award-winner Limmy is playing survival game 'Rust' on the streaming service twitch between 09:30-13:30.
I watched it yesterday and found it quite entertaining, and as you'd expect funny. He's developed quite the siege mentality and is being a bit of a paranoid hermit (I think it's the sort of game to bring such qualities out of a person).

[Sits]

I don’t know if anyone else is watching the latest series of Vera but COVID has played absolute havoc with the all-round production values.

[RobW]

I can't think of anywhere more appropriate to post this - as I will be watching it - but 2X Scottish bafta award-winner Limmy is playing survival game 'Rust' on the streaming service twitch between 09:30-13:30.
I watched it yesterday and found it quite entertaining, and as you'd expect funny. He's developed quite the siege mentality and is being a bit of a paranoid hermit (I think it's the sort of game to bring such qualities out of a person).

I watched YouTube clips of Limmy playing this odd online dating game. Very amusing

[RobW]

I saw it tonight and enjoyed it immensely. It's absolute tosh and feels like it might have been made as a result of a bet but is great fun and had me entertained for the full two hour running time. It's been a long time since I've seen Airplane 2 but the "washed up pilot forced to fly Space Shuttle" plot line brought it to mind.

I should emphasise that it isn't a spoof and is largely played with a straight face (save for the traditional comic relief from John Bradley's character) but still had me laughing out loud in many places and certainly revels in its absurdity.

Perhaps it was seeing it on the big screen rather than Netflix but I enjoyed it more than, say, 'Don't Look Up'.

I love how it stole little bits from every other sci-fi film. The start is Gravity, there's elements of Event Horizon, Terminator, Independence Day (naturally), 2001, even JFK with Sutherland's character and the conspiracy angle, plus a ridiculous car chase and the use of the Overlook Hotel carpet pattern from The Shining where all the weird conspiracy nuts meet. John Bradley seems to channel his inner Simon Pegg throughout. Such more better than po-faced sci fi fare like say, Ad Astra

[Ray de Galles]

I was trying to work out who Bradley's turn reminded me of and Simon Pegg is a good call. It would probably be even more accurate to say he's channelling Pegg & Nick Frost simultaneously.

[Hot Pepsi]

I love how it stole little bits from every other sci-fi film. The start is Gravity, there's elements of Event Horizon, Terminator, Independence Day (naturally), 2001, even JFK with Sutherland's character and the conspiracy angle, plus a ridiculous car chase and the use of the Overlook Hotel carpet pattern from The Shining where all the weird conspiracy nuts meet. John Bradley seems to channel his inner Simon Pegg throughout. Such more better than po-faced sci fi fare like say, Ad Astra

Inspired by the Big Picture podcast on "junk sci-fi," I watched Event Horizon for the first time. It is junk. Pretty good special effects for 1997, but still.

I don't plan to pay to see Moonfall.

[Felicity, I guess so]

I don’t know if anyone else is watching the latest series of Vera but COVID has played absolute havoc with the all-round production values.

Vera is terrible to start with, so I can only imagine how bad it gets.
And I say that as someone with friends and colleagues who have worked on/appeared in it

[Mr Delicieux]

I watched YouTube clips of Limmy playing this odd online dating game. Very amusing

Yes, that was quite enjoyable, and seemed to be an interesting use of full motion video in a game.
Very funny at times watching today's stream, somebody is toying with him and has picked him off a few times, and he's resorted to scurrying in and out of his hidey hole to scavenge items, which has earned him the nickname of ratboy.

[Sits]

Vera is terrible to start with, so I can only imagine how bad it gets.
And I say that as someone with friends and colleagues who have worked on/appeared in it

It out-rated Scott Morrison playing a ukulele in his dining room.

[gjw100]

We've just finished 'The Responder', having rationed ourselves rather than binge it over a couple of evenings. Like everyone else here, I enjoyed it tremendously, even though at times the tension seemed almost unbearably relentless. Martin Freeman was excellent throughout, as has been noted upthread, and I'd be surprised if he isn't a leading contender for this year's various 'Best Actor' awards. Although Freeman was obviously front and centre, the rest of the cast around him were great, from the rookie female copper and the drug-dealer best mate down to the likes of Michael Starke and David Bradley in small but important cameo roles. Special mention too to Josh Finan (Marco) and Emily Fairn (Casey), who were entirely believable as the two young scallies caught in the middle of it all. My only gripe, and it's a small one, is that I didn't quite buy the ending and ***SPOILER ALERT*** it slightly smacked of a decision to keep things open-ended for a second season rather than concluding with a more believable (and likely) outcome.

[WOM]

We ended up sticking with Inventing Anna. It wasn't awful, but I can't recommend it. Julia Garner's accent will drive you mad. Anna Chlumsky...former charming child actor...turns in one of the worst performances I've ever seen, and that includes community theater. And it's bloated and overlong and strays a good distance from the 'truth', apparently. But as a bit of fun over a few nights....it's a bit of fun.

[Ray de Galles]

Went on a half term family outing to see the new 'Death On The Nile' tonight as my wife and younger daughter were keen.

It's OK but there's a lot of the Nile before you get any death.

Branagh is on reliably good form, I wasn't a fan of his 'Murder On The Orient Express' (which I can recall next to nothing of, tellingly) so this is probably an improvement.

[Amor de Cosmos]

There've been so many film versions of this, and MotOE, I don't really see the value in cranking out another one. particularly when half the potential audience all ready knows whodunit.

[Ray de Galles]

Well, one reason is that I had an 18 year old and 15 year old with me tonight and they were at least partly attracted because they knew the cast from Tenet, Wonder Woman, Black Panther et al as there is a new audience who haven't seen the previous films.

My daughter's read some Christie so may have known the basis of the story though she become interested in her writing because of the 2017 ''Murder On The Orient Express' (or another new adaptation) so there's clearly value in those too.

I really enjoyed the recent version of 'A Star Is Born' despite knowing what was going to happen in the end because of the previous ones. It was worth redoing and rewatching.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Well, one reason is that I had an 18 year old and 15 year old with me tonight and they were at least partly attracted because they knew the cast from Tenet, Wonder Woman, Black Panther et al as there is a new audience who haven't seen the previous films.

I suppose, but collectively do they and their peers constitute enough of an audience to justify the expense? I guess we'll find out.

I really enjoyed the recent version of 'A Star Is Born' despite knowing what was going to happen in the end because of the previous ones. It was worth redoing and rewatching.

That's a little different though, mainly because there's no mystery component. For fans I guess it's also a buzz to compare and contrast the the lead characters in the context of their time. The Christie stories OTOH are locked irrevocably into a particular period.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Ring-a-ding-ding! Mrs Maisel's back.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Went on a half term family outing to see the new 'Death On The Nile' tonight as my wife and younger daughter were keen.

It's OK but there's a lot of the Nile before you get any death.

Branagh is on reliably good form, I wasn't a fan of his 'Murder On The Orient Express' (which I can recall next to nothing of, tellingly) so this is probably an improvement.

I went to see it last week, and despite the sniffy reviews I'd heard before going, I enjoyed it enough to warrant the effort. as Amor suggests there isn't a lot that can be done differently with the story itself (and the other Christies), the plot is full of holes and coincidences, so it becomes more like a long running theatre show where you are watching the cast and the production rather than the story. Branagh is obviously hamming it up and clearly enjoying himself, but Mark Kermode's theory that this coming out at the same time as Belfast has pissed on his chips* in terms of his chances of getting Oscars for the latter seems a bit harsh.

*paraphrasing

[Ray de Galles]

I think Kermode said others had theorised that Branagh had "done an Eddie Murphy/Norbert" but Kermode himself didn't agree he'd actually harmed himself that much with award voters.

[San Bernardhinault]

I managed to get through the first 15 minutes of Branagh's Murder on the Orient Express but it wound me up massively. It was so hammy and with so many forced and silly accent that I couldn't handle it. It looked like it was 2010s production values with a 1950s artistic mentality. I will be giving Death on the Nile a, er, wide berth

[Slightly Brown]

I liked the first one, mostly for Branagh’s performance. He got the hammy/fussy part at the start of the journey, then the anger part when folks are dicking him about.

That said, the moustache was ridiculous/distracting and I don’t care what the rationale was. I mean, I know in one book he says they are false. Not false, but that he has to stay into brush them or something. Fair enough. But false or not, Ken’s are a Czarist travesty.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

I think Kermode said others had theorised that Branagh had "done an Eddie Murphy/Norbert" but Kermode himself didn't agree he'd actually harmed himself that much with award voters.

Yeah that might be more accurate actually, I just remembered some discussion around it and thought he subscribed to the theory as well.