Current Watching

[Nocturnal Submission]

NS, I think we have talked about ETTS on OTF before. I remained completely perplexed by what's going on and why we're supposed to care.

I just can't relate to any part of the programme.

For a start we have this vast selection of available French chateaux, that no-one apart from English people seems interested in, which are priced at about the cost of a Buckinghamshire semi.

Then the buyers, who often, if not always, seem to emerge from an upper-middle class milieu which provides them with huge amounts of free time, bottomless financial resources and an endless stream of work colleagues and university acquaintances who pop over to help with the renovations and provide assorted practical advice.

Some are hugely able, others hopeless chancers and bodgers who go about fixing up a huge, old building with the same sort of cheerful giveitagoery that most of us would apply to nothing more challenging than a wonky door handle. There was one guy on the episode that the missus was watching today, an absolute accident waiting to happen, who we saw climbing up a long, shaky ladder, being held by his wife, waving a chainsaw at a tree branch which then came down nearly wiping them all out. A bit later he attaches a large bag of gravel to the back of his car so that he can drag it along the ground to the appointed site, grinning wildly.

More unsettling is the unflappability. The moat is flooding the cellar, the foundations are crumbling, the 300 wedding party guests will be here in an hour and the east wing has just disappeared down a 100ft sinkhole - a wry grin and an ironic comment.

But it's sometimes just the people. Another one of today's couples was a man who looked like Gaston from the animated version of Beauty and the Beast and a woman who was the spitting image of a young Sara Crowe, just to really hammer home the Richard Curtis vibe. Another couple had two dogs by the names of Champers and Truffles.

If I was being really cruel I'd say that the fact that Dick Strawbridge's wife reminds me of Matt Lucas puts the tin hat on the whole bloody thing, but thank goodness I'm not that sort of a guy.

[Femme Folle]

I binged all of Dead to Me over the long weekend. It was better than I thought it would be. I knew it was dark comedy, but I wasn't expecting it to be so touching.

[Ray de Galles]

[Ray de Galles]

https://twitter.com/mwgonefishing/status/1597501146092142592?s=46&t=xmReIb6aZ48zQSU6cgoWqQ

[Snake Plissken]

Finished the first series of Slow Horses. Not particularly original, but very good at what it does. Gary Oldman is absolutely fantastic in it. Four farts in front of Kristin Scott-Thomas out of five.

[DCI Harry Batt]

Ooh, we're watching Slow Horses. Very unsure about it in episode 1, but it's grown on us.

[DCI Harry Batt]

I binged all of Dead to Me over the long weekend. It was better than I thought it would be. I knew it was dark comedy, but I wasn't expecting it to be so touching.

I keep forgetting S3 is available.

[Snake Plissken]

Ooh, we're watching Slow Horses. Very unsure about it in episode 1, but it's grown on us.

Slow start but stick with it. Only six episodes anyway.

[WOM]

Just started Wednesday, the new Addams Family joint on Netflix. I'm in love after one episode; my god is it gorgeous to look at and a ton of fun. ad hoc might know it's largely filmed in Romania, so anyone (else) trying to establish locations might be a bit stymied.

Also, just finished The English, which was great.

Almost wrapping up Friend of The Family (creepy, but satisfying) and White Lotus II, which I'm enjoying for the characters, but the storylines feel a bit listless this time around.

[hobbes]

Warrior Nun series 2 has dropped. Aces.

[ad hoc]

Just started Wednesday, the new Addams Family joint on Netflix. I'm in love after one episode; my god is it gorgeous to look at and a ton of fun. ad hoc might know it's largely filmed in Romania, so anyone (else) trying to establish locations might be a bit stymied.

Also, just finished The English, which was great.

Almost wrapping up Friend of The Family (creepy, but satisfying) and White Lotus II, which I'm enjoying for the characters, but the storylines feel a bit listless this time around.

Yes I haven't seen it, but know it was filmed here, mostly at Cantacuzino Castle I believe
https://www.cantacuzinocastle.com/homeeng

[Slightly Brown]

The Northman I saw it in the cinema when it came out. It was brilliant then, it’s brilliant now. Full-on Norse mythology done with heaving and muddy acting and violence. Everyone and everything are fully committed. There are no superfluous lines or scenes: the entire thing is built towards an end. And what an end.

[Amor de Cosmos]

I actually thought the ending was the weakest thing about the film

[Slightly Brown]

I just have a soft spot for bollock-naked volcano-combat.

[Hot Pepsi]

Just started Wednesday, the new Addams Family joint on Netflix. I'm in love after one episode; my god is it gorgeous to look at and a ton of fun. ad hoc might know it's largely filmed in Romania, so anyone (else) trying to establish locations might be a bit stymied.

Also, just finished The English, which was great.

Almost wrapping up Friend of The Family (creepy, but satisfying) and White Lotus II, which I'm enjoying for the characters, but the storylines feel a bit listless this time around.

Wednesday does look good, but I it didn't really keep my interest. So much exposition.
It would be a good series to watch on a plane.

As mentioned, I couldn't follow the plot of The English. I think I really might have ADHD.



I like the new Willow series on Disney. I never saw the original film when it was released in the 80s*. I watched it recently and thought it was ok, but hard to overlook the relatively primitive special effects.

The show is getting bad user IMDB reviews, I think, because it has a romance between two young women. And I think some people, accustomed to GOT, now want all fantasy to have a lot more filth, gratuitous violence, sex, and British accents with Victorian language. I really appreciate that this doesn't have that. It's pitched more to kids, I think, and uses contemporary music and idioms in some places. I'm fine with that.

The Northman I saw it in the cinema when it came out. It was brilliant then, it’s brilliant now. Full-on Norse mythology done with heaving and muddy acting and violence.

Yeah, see, I'd like a bit less mud and blood.



*From about the 8th grade until age 40 or so, I always had a few months where I saw no movies and had no idea which movies were coming out interspersed with months where I saw every movie and read every review. Like, why did I not see Goodfellas until 1997? I can't remember.

[Lang Spoon]

Oh boy The Watcher is a pile of catshit, but entertaining catshit. I can only assume the director is deliberately trying to bring out the worst in everyone, which the knowing turns from Coolidge and Christopher McDonald (is he channeling Trump?) seem to confirm.

Incredibly the always terrible Bobby Cannavale isn't the most wooden thing on screen, not while Mia Farrow is showing why it's been so long since she's been in anything. Noma Dumezweni Is playing it with the irritating mannerisms of 80s ITV after school drama, Naomi Watts seems to be confirming for the 100th time that no, she is in fact a terrible actor who was transcendent one time only. I'm not sure those three are playing it with a hyper stylised wink, or are in fact shit.

but still I will be watching this stupid ridiculous saga till the end.

[Femme Folle]

I started watching Behind Her Eyes on Netflix yesterday based on an NPR review that said as soon as I finish it I'll want to watch it all over again. We'll see about that. Two episodes in and I'm not fully committed. I hope things get interesting soon.

[Nocturnal Submission]

Just watched Three Days of the Condor.

Boy, was that ever a film of its time. Pretty good though.

[Sits]

Series 2 of The Capture is silly but fun, like Spooks on steroids.

[Femme Folle]

Season 3 of His Dark Materials just started on HBO Max and it's been so long since season 2 that I can't remember anything about it, or indeed if I actually watched it and liked it.

[Sam]

We're mostly rewatching B99 all the way through after finally being able to watch the final series a couple of months ago when it arrived on local Netflix. There were some very long gaps between series becoming available during our watching of it the first time round, so being able to just binge it now is resulting in a much better handle on each character's arc and frankly no fewer laughs, because we've forgotten so many of the specifics anyway.

We've also watched the first two episodes of FIFA Uncovered, which is well done and interesting, albeit slightly light on specifics for me, as someone who was of course following the whole thing when it happened. I've not learnt anything from it so far, but my girlfriend (who has no interest at all in football) is finding it simultaneously interesting and depressing, and cannot understand for the life of her why Sepp Blatter agreed to be involved in it. She keeps asking me, 'Doesn't he realise he's coming across like a total prick?' and I keep having to insist to her, 'No. He really thinks this is making him look good.' I've already told her about United Passions and might have to sit her down to watch it when we've finished this, now she's familiar with most of the characters.

[Sean of the Shed]

The English was an excellent series, highly recommended.
As an added bonus, the final episode begins with an absolutely luscious track by Rodriguez.

[Nocturnal Submission]

I watched the BBC documentary about Alcoholics Anonymous last night.

I didn't know much about the organisation and its philosophy other than in very general terms, but it seems to have been able to develop a programme of understanding and support which has proved to be remarkably effective in helping sufferers.

The participants were articulate and there was a lot of selflessness, reflection and gratitude on show.

All quite inspiring.

[Hot Pepsi]

Season 3 of His Dark Materials just started on HBO Max and it's been so long since season 2 that I can't remember anything about it, or indeed if I actually watched it and liked it.

I found season 1 to be like eating raw vegetables. It seems like a good idea, but there was no joy.

[Satchmo Distel]

We started on White Lotus season 1 last night. I couldn't really get into it as it seems to me that there are already numerous real-life Americans who behave as absurdly as these do and I spend my vacations dodging them but not always successfully. I will give it another go tomorrow because my wife likes it.