Current Watching

[Nocturnal Submission]

Having a bit of a BBC history blitz at the moment, so I've just watched Berlin 1945 and I'm half way through The Road To Partition.

[Benjm]

Blimey, BBC1's scheduling is zigzagging like mad in the 9pm Sunday slot from Line Of Duty to The Pursuit of Love to this new Jimmy McGovern prison thing. So far it makes Papillon look like Notting Hill.

[Benjm]

I enjoyed the BBC Celtic-noir The Pact, set at a brewery in Wales, over the last few weeks. There's a lot of good acting from a cast I don't know much of, and Adrian Edmondson plays an absolutely magnificent cameo.

I really enjoyed the series overall but thought that the last episode was all over the place after the big reveal. Completely agree about Adrian Edmondson and the rest of the cast.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

I think I'd rather go to prison than watch the next episode of the Jimmy McGovern thing. Bleak? Fucking hell.

[Felicity, I guess so]

Bollocks, it was great

[danielmak]

I haven't been able to get through the most recent season of Fargo. I'm not sure why. I just don't find it compelling at all, Jesse Buckley's greatness aside.

I'm in the same boat. Watched two or three and gave up, which is disappointing because I really enjoyed the first three series and the film. But for me, series 1 was the best so it has been in decline more generally after that series.

Finished Mare, which was great. Really enjoyed that one. And I started the Bureau on Amazon Prime. I think season 1 is the only free season and after that, yet another streaming service is needed. I'm already paying for too many so probably will only watch this first season. But I'm digging it so far.

[Hot Pepsi]

I’ve spent the weekend not feeling too well so I’m just watching the last three Mission Impossible films again, the Bourne films and some of he last few Bond films.

[Benjm]

I had thought that Time, while accomplished, was a little bleak for a Sunday night, but then I saw this glimpse through the gates of Hell from the preceding TV Baftas show...

[Benjm]

I might have watched Football's Gambling Addiction on Channel 4 tonight if it wasn't fronted by Ruth Davidson. Yes, the Scots Tory Ruth Davidson. I even checked in case some blameless reporter had the misfortune to share a name with her.

[ursus arctos]

She is evidently remaking herself as a television presenter, which is unfortunate

[hobbes]

Been watching Sweet Tooth on the 'Flix. Another one of those "if it weren't for Netflix it wouldn't have been made" comic book adaptations.
Some good performances and an interestingly weird premise. Not sure there's enough there to carry it any further than one season though.

[Hot Pepsi]

Watching Scanners because I’ve never seen it before. I’ve only seen the part where the guy’s head explodes.

[Benjm]

Watching Scanners because I’ve never seen it before. I’ve only seen the part where the guy’s head explodes.

Ha, when I watched it on a UK channel (Horror or Talking Pictures, can't remember which) a couple of years ago they showed a version with the business end of the exploding head scene edited out.

I'm currently watching an old episode of Man v Food. The eating challenge sections wear, erm, thin but the exploration of local comfort food traditions around the US is interesting.

[Gangster Octopus]

Hendrix on Lulu...

[Sits]

Watching Scanners because I’ve never seen it before. I’ve only seen the part where the guy’s head explodes.

Back in the early 80s when I was in my teens, a mate’s Mum or Dad had a contact who used to get us tickets for preview screenings in one of the smaller Leicester Square cinemas. It was a real event for us as a trip to London was pretty special in itself. The ones we attended were Outland*, Altered States~, The Thing^ and Scanners*. It’s fair to say we knew what we liked.

*Films featuring exploding heads
^Film where something grows out of someone’s head
~Film where decidedly weird things happen to someone’s head

[Lang Spoon]

She is evidently remaking herself as a television presenter, which is unfortunate

She worked for BBC Scotland before she went full time evil Tory.

[Hot Pepsi]

I gave up on Scanners, for now at least. Just wasn’t into it.

I had the same reaction to The Warriors. It just dragged. I know it’s a cult classic but I didn’t care how it ended.

I watched the long directors cut of Doctor Sleep along with IT and the sequel. Meh

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

After an admitted seven hours solid of tennis and football Signora Rogin is going to put me through the ordeal of episode two of Time. I'm hiding behind a blanket.

[Sits]

Happy to see we have a new (final) series of Jack Irish on the ABC. Stars Guy Pearce as a lawyer turned debt collector and features assorted scrapes with the underbelly of Melburnian society. What sets it apart from the endless stream of relentlessly serious Australian drama is that it’s laced with humour, well scripted, doesn’t try too hard and features an excellent cast. There’s not a huge pool of really good TV actors here, but many of them are in this.

Not sure if it’s been syndicated anywhere else, but if you get a chance, try it.

[hobbes]

Been watching Sweet Tooth on the 'Flix. Another one of those "if it weren't for Netflix it wouldn't have been made" comic book adaptations.
Some good performances and an interestingly weird premise. Not sure there's enough there to carry it any further than one season though.

I was wrong. Very much looking forward to season 2 after quite the cliff hanger.

[Hot Pepsi]

I watched Singing in the Rain. Never saw it before. 1952 was different.

[Felicity, I guess so]

Took me a couple of minutes to realise it was Guy Pearce in the 1st episode of Mare of Easttown

[WOM]

We're in S4 of 6 of Justified. Sort of a modern take on a Western drama, ostensibly set in Harlan Co, Kentucky. Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins are, respectively, a US Marshall and a local crime figure who grew up together and took separate paths. Lots of criming and shooting and woman trouble, etc. But really well written and incredibly enjoyable. As with all good shows, it's about people and the decisions they make.

[Incandenza]

We're in S4 of 6 of Justified. Sort of a modern take on a Western drama, ostensibly set in Harlan Co, Kentucky. Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins are, respectively, a US Marshall and a local crime figure who grew up together and took separate paths. Lots of criming and shooting and woman trouble, etc. But really well written and incredibly enjoyable. As with all good shows, it's about people and the decisions they make.

I brought up Justified on here last year when I watched it all. Such a good show. Season 4 was a really good season.

[Incandenza]

Finished Starstruck last night. A really entertaining and well-done romantic comedy, six episodes long. Rose Matafeo is a woman in her late 20s floundering in some low-paying unrewarding jobs. On New Years' Eve she goes home with a guy she met in a bar...in the morning she discovers he's a movie star. The whole arc of the show might be a bit predictable--crossed emotional signals leading to conflicts that should be easily resolved but lead to both people rejecting each other, will they/won't they, etc.--but Matafeo's screen presence is worth watching alone, and it's funny without being overly sweet or mean to its characters. Some really nice cinematography and an occasional jazz score that I liked.