Current Watching

[Uncle Ethan]

Only Murders in the Building on Hulu is great. Steve Martin, Martin Short, Tina Fry, Selena Gomez, Amy Ryan, and oddly, Sting.

Excellent tip. Really enjoying it.

[Ray de Galles]

Also saw Shang Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings last night. Good fun.

I saw it tonight with my younger two and it's largely OK with some good bits.

It tries to cover too many bases (like a lot of origin stories) ending up like two or three films strung together. I have no problems with long movies per se but this one felt all of it's two and a quarter hours running time.

Probably the least obviously Marvel-y of the MCU movies yet with this & Black Widow it does feel like the franchise is treading water (and bits of the films's finale seem like recycled outtakes from Black Panther's) though that may be because covid has stemmed its momentum a bit.

There is a scene-stealing turn (and return) from a surprise source though and an absolutely great film reference gag.

'The Suicide Squad' is by far the best comic book move of the year...if not the last few years.

[Eggchaser]

The BMW product placement was pretty strong, although it was nice to see murderous assassins are now choosing EVs as their pimped out ride of choice.

[Sunderporinostesta]

So the second series is not a patch on the first. It's all gone a little bit Marcella for my taste. I'll stick it out (because there is a bit from series 1 that isn't resolved until series 2,but I much preferred series 1)

Thanks for the tip. As a Depor enthusiast whose only been to La Coruna once I’m getting on this.

[Sunderporinostesta]

Anyone else seen The Burnt Orange Heresy? It's a four-hander about how corrupt the art-world is. there's an interesting double twist at the end which I shouldn't talk about without resorting to spoilers. Otherwise it's a bit dull, except for Mick Jagger, who's really, really, good! I don't think I've seen him in a film for donkey's years (Ned Kelly?) but he gives a clever, creepy performance that's makes the whole enterprise worthwhile.

Jagger was in Enigma for a few seconds. He produced it and TBOH.
I read TBOH years ago yet have no recollection of it other than it’s set in the art world. Willeford without Home Moseley just never does it for me.

[ad hoc]

Thanks for the tip. As a Depor enthusiast whose only been to La Coruna once I’m getting on this.

The second series is city based but it's in Lugo not A Coruna

[Amor de Cosmos]

Last night's episode of Scenes From a Marriage was utterly draining. I wondered why they broke the fourth wall at the beginning by filming in the crew and actors getting into position. I now believe it was an underlying reminder that this is just a story, not really happening. It was so harrowing La Signora swears she won't watch any more episodes. That's a shame because, other considerations aside, it is extraordinarily well done.

[Hot Pepsi]

Yeah, I gave up on that mid-episode. It was very sad, and yet I can't relate to any of the characters' experience at all, so an all around unpleasant experience.

To save time, I've decided I'm not going to watch things I don't actually enjoy just because they're well made.

I know it was originally a Scandinavian show or film, right? It looks like it should be one of those plays where there's a sofa in the middle of the stage the whole time.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Yeah, it was originally a series directed by Ingmar Bergman.

Individually, we could very much relate to the characters, having both been through separation/divorce. Personally I can set that aside to some extent. However watching, reading and listening to material that challenges and/or illuminates ones own experience is very much what art is supposed to be about isn't it?

[Hot Pepsi]

It is supposed to be about that, but I'm getting older and time feels short.

I have some curiosity about why other people get married and why some of those other people choose to blow up their marriages, because I'm completely alien to all of that even though its going on all around me. It's like the popularity of fantasy football. I just don't get it.


I liked A Marriage Story and generally like Noah Baumbach's sad tales of broken marriages, but that was shorter and more intense than this series.

I also recently watched Kramer vs Kramer for the first time because it's one of those films people talk about. That's a particularly interesting snapshot of divorce among that class of people in that time period and the changing assumptions about the gender roles. There might be some interesting compare/contrast to Scenes from a Marriage.


Not sure why all of these films have to be affluent people with cool jobs. Perhaps because the set-dresser union has a thing it's contract that insists it gets to do "kitchen porn" in 75% of films.

[Heliotrope]

Not sure why all of these films have to be affluent people with cool jobs. Perhaps because the set-dresser union has a thing it's contract that insists it gets to do "kitchen porn" in 75% of films.

I recently watched a movie from the 70s I'd never seen before, Aloha, Bobby and Rose. It was OK, but the thing that struck me most was how not-fancy everything looked. It was a B-movie, but it seems like there was a turning point sometime in the 80s or 90s when things in TV and movies became more heightened. I remember seeing a bunch of posters in a train station around 2012 or 2013 for the new seasons of series on ABC Family--Pretty Little Liars, The Lying Game, Switched at Birth--and all of these shows geared toward teenage girls had casts that looked like models, which must have been so intimidating. In my day, the teenage girls on TV were normal cute, like Valerie Bertinelli, Kristy McNichol, and the sisters of Eight Is Enough.

[S. aureus]

Katla is not bad. It's super bleak looking. But if you're into Icelandic horror concerning dead people returning to life after being buried under an erupting volcano, it's definitely your bag.

In similar, but lighter, vein (heh!) Post Mortem: No One Dies in Skarnes, is a charming little vampire series from Norway. Not really gory and quite whimsical.

Enjoyed both of these, particularly No One Dies in Skarnes. Thanks. I don't know that Katla will be doing anything for the the Iceland tourist industry, though.

[Sunderporinostesta]

Over on ITV I’m enjoying Martin Clunes in this based on a a couple of true South London stories thing Manhunt. Enjoying is probably the wrong word. Respecting. I believe his Mrs produces a lot of his stuff, which isn’t great I suppose but it’s decent enough.

[Hot Pepsi]

I recently watched a movie from the 70s I'd never seen before, Aloha, Bobby and Rose. It was OK, but the thing that struck me most was how not-fancy everything looked. It was a B-movie, but it seems like there was a turning point sometime in the 80s or 90s when things in TV and movies became more heightened. I remember seeing a bunch of posters in a train station around 2012 or 2013 for the new seasons of series on ABC Family--Pretty Little Liars, The Lying Game, Switched at Birth--and all of these shows geared toward teenage girls had casts that looked like models, which must have been so intimidating. In my day, the teenage girls on TV were normal cute, like Valerie Bertinelli, Kristy McNichol, and the sisters of Eight Is Enough.

Valerie Bertenelli was “normal” cute?

[Amor de Cosmos]

Oh normal or abnormal she was definitely cute. She went down a few pegs in my estimation after marrying Eddy van Halen though.

[Hot Pepsi]

Not a great decision, but he was a very good guitarist, to be fair.

[Ginger Yellow]

Archer's last but one season just landed. Other than that, not a lot recently. Luckily I have an extensive backlog.

Spoke a bit too soon. Season 3 of both Final Space and Sex Education dropped last week, as did Korea's answer to The 100, The Squid Game. Enjoying the latter so far, though I'm not sure it's actually good.

[WOM]

We're on S3 E7 of Sex Education and this season has been a big, fat nothing.

[matt j]

I'm enjoying it, but I think Asa Butterfield just does an amazing job in the series so I'm willing to overlook a lot that frustrates me.

[WOM]

I'm feeling that a lot of the charm is absent, and I'm really not clear on the 'why' of this season. It's just....more.

[Trevor Red]

We're on S3 E7 of Sex Education and this season has been a big, fat nothing.

I thought it had its moments (the Adam/Eric stuff worked well most of the time) but I thought most of it was plot contrivances and dull subplots, all for the sake of keeping the two leads apart. It's a cheap and unoriginal way of maintaining dramatic tension.

[WOM]

I just read the Guardian review ("the spark is gone") and agree with most of it.

[Felicity, I guess so]

I went to see the Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark last night and it was pretty good, slightly surprisingly given some of the reviews.
I was with my former office mate, a Sopranos obsessive, and Ms F, who watched it along with me in a patchy and less committed way.
Difficult to discuss sans spoilers, but the central performance is very good and the knitwear action outstanding.

[Tony C]

Over on ITV I’m enjoying Martin Clunes in this based on a a couple of true South London stories thing Manhunt. Enjoying is probably the wrong word. Respecting. I believe his Mrs produces a lot of his stuff, which isn’t great I suppose but it’s decent enough.

This is the second series of Clunes playing this character and both were very good. Clunes was excellent in both, balancing the fine line between obsession and world weariness that I can imagine many older detectives have to negotiate. I had no idea his wife was involved in the production, but if her influence generates performances like this from him it can only be a good thing.

[ad hoc]

Watched Clickbait on Netflix. Good premise, well designed as a series, lots of twists, but all a bit meh. Somehow something less than the sum of its parts. Never went beyond the surface I felt