Current Watching

[nmrfox]

Appreciate that it's not exactly current, but BBC4 repeating Boys from the Blackstuff over the past couple of weeks, I'd forgotten how unremittingly bleak it all was. Definitely worthwhile (re)watching if you haven't already done so.

[Eggchaser]

I liked it. A lot of people seem down on the Marvel shows and latest Marvel films. I’m not. Almost all of them are still well above replacement level for an evenings entertainment.

The only duds were Eternals and Moon Knight, and both of those were at least trying to do something new. I don’t regret watching them.

I don’t care about “diluting the brand.” I’d rather they try a lot of things and hope a few are really good than only do films with the “a list” characters every year or two.

Moon Knight wasn't a dud for me, it tapped into my teenage years when he was in the West Coast Avengers team.

I will admit I found Ms Marvel a little harder to get on with, I'm not lacking in the ability to empathise with characters and heaven knows I had my teenage angst, but it's a bit of a stretch (ha ha). I think the lack of a single villain with a defining goal didn't help, but there was a lot of world building and path laying for The Marvels and other stuff with Damage Control and the like. Certainly my wife could sympathise much more with the issues faced by the children of immigrants, and the whole Partition/random "aunts"/social expectations/community cohesion in a new land struck a chord, even if for Goans it wasn't quite the same as for those from colonial India.

Twitter went rightly bonkers over the two stingers. I had to rewind the musical one to check I heard it.

Roll on She Hulk: Attorney At Law!

Eternals was a mess, I think everyone agrees on that.

[Hot Pepsi]

Moon Knight wasn't a dud for me, it tapped into my teenage years when he was in the West Coast Avengers team.

I will admit I found Ms Marvel a little harder to get on with, I'm not lacking in the ability to empathise with characters and heaven knows I had my teenage angst, but it's a bit of a stretch (ha ha). I think the lack of a single villain with a defining goal didn't help, but there was a lot of world building and path laying for The Marvels and other stuff with Damage Control and the like. Certainly my wife could sympathise much more with the issues faced by the children of immigrants, and the whole Partition/random "aunts"/social expectations/community cohesion in a new land struck a chord, even if for Goans it wasn't quite the same as for those from colonial India.

Twitter went rightly bonkers over the two stingers. I had to rewind the musical one to check I heard it.

Roll on She Hulk: Attorney At Law!

Eternals was a mess, I think everyone agrees on that.

There were two stingers? I missed the second one. I also left before the second stinger on Thor. They need to keep it to one.

[Eggchaser]

The first one was in the show itself.

****SPOILER******



When Bruno mentions a "mutation" in her genes, the riff from the 1997 animated X-Men show played.



******SPOILER ********

[Hot Pepsi]

The first one was in the show itself.

****SPOILER******



When Bruno mentions a "mutation" in her genes, the riff from the 1997 animated X-Men show played.



******SPOILER ********

Oh, I see.

[Patrick Thistle]

I guess now we have the Marvel Cinematic Multiverse, all the X-Men movies are canon.

[Hot Pepsi]

The old ones are not canon. They will start over.

[danielmak]

I love it when I can put the dedicated VPN to use and watch the BBC iplayer. Sherwood was an excellent show, writing was excellent and the acting was wonderful. Thanks for the tip on this one.

[Eggchaser]

I guess now we have the Marvel Cinematic Multiverse, all the X-Men movies are canon.

Multiverse, innit.

Even Professor X from the last Dr Strange film had his floating wheelchair from the animated series.

Which begs a nasty question for the Wanda that was possessed. How is she going to deal with, at a minimum, the combined extremely pissed off forces of the X-Men, the three remaining Fantastic Four (plus presumably Franklin Richards, uber powerful mutant), the Inhumans, the Sorcerer Supreme Mordo and other miscellaneous superheroes annoyed their mates have been killed.

She'd better hope someone realises what went on.

And in all those multiverses, no Vision survived? Dude can't catch a break.

[RobW]

Started watching Westworld today and ploughing through season 1

[Satchmo Distel]

The Responder (which I'm still finishing) has some great Bleasdaleish dark humour in the dialogue. I'm very impressed with it but couldn't binge watch as Ms F finds it a bit grim

It's very Bleasdale with the addition of some amazing performances by the women actors* (especially Rita Tushingham, but all are very good) and Freeman does eventually pull off that great feat of making you forget which actor you're watching.

The problem was that the cop-out ending was even more ridiculous than normal. The last episode does a total 180 U-turn and the plot holes that already existed become chasms. None of the protagonists make plausible decisions in the final scenarios, even within the limits placed on their characters by the choices they make in the early episodes.

*Julie Walters was given three great roles by Bleasdale but in the main he was writing about masculinity in the 80s.

[Slightly Brown]

I got sunburned yesterday, so Blister in the Sun popped in my mind, so I watched Grosse Pointe Blank. Man, there are so many good things in that film.

[Simon G]

Completed The Umbrella Academy last night.

It kept me going until the end, but if they do a series 4, and I'm not convinced they will, I'm not so certain I'll be bothered to watch it.

[Hot Pepsi]

I got sunburned yesterday, so Blister in the Sun popped in my mind, so I watched Grosse Pointe Blank. Man, there are so many good things in that film.

Indeed. I’ve seen it four or five times.

[Tratorello]

Started watching Westworld today and ploughing through season 1

Please let us know how you get on as I have a LOT of thoughts on that show.

[Tony C]

I really enjoyed ‘Roadrunner’ the Anthony Bourdain documentary on Netflix. The voice over ‘controversy’ doesn’t bother me at all.

[Hot Pepsi]

I liked that too. I mean, it was hard to watch at times but it was well-executed.

[Tony C]

Mark Cousins’ ‘The Story of Film: The New Generation’ is now on Netflix and it’s superb. It’s essentially a collection of scenes from world cinema in the new millennium with Cousins voice over offering technical and emotional observation. I understand that Cousins is a fairly intense and deeply analytical individual but I found this thoroughly engaging, hugely informative and beautifully put together.

[WOM]

If you need a laugh, watch the new DB Cooper documentary on Netflix. Part history on the hijacking (good), part observation on people who invest A LOT of time and emotion in a very specific thing (sad / fascinating).

[Sits]

Just finished Detectorists. What a lovely series.

[WOM]

Just finished Detectorists. What a lovely series.

Yes!

[Toby Gymshorts]

I got sunburned yesterday, so Blister in the Sun popped in my mind, so I watched Grosse Pointe Blank. Man, there are so many good things in that film.

It's one of my favourite films, if not my actual favourite. Both Cusacks put in star turns, Dan Aykroyd is suitably unhinged and the soundtrack is magnificent.

[Hot Pepsi]

It's one of my favourite films, if not my actual favourite. Both Cusacks put in star turns, Dan Aykroyd is suitably unhinged and the soundtrack is magnificent.

I can't believe that film is 25 years old. Somehow I remember it being much more recent. I've seen it four or five times.

A third Cusack, Ann, is also in the film, but in a small role.

[Slightly Brown]

I can't believe that film is 25 years old. Somehow I remember it being much more recent. I've seen it four or five times.

A third Cusack, Ann, is also in the film, but in a small role.

her angry call about making soup while setting fire to the office is one of the many genius moments.

[Toby Gymshorts]

Carrots and celery are just the base of a soup!

<PEDANT> She's not setting fire to the office in that scene, she's bawling someone out about missing ammunition.</PEDANT>