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  • Jobi1
    replied
    Just watched the first couple of episodes of the new series of Big Boys – thankfully just as well written and acted as the first series so far.

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  • Bored Of Education
    replied
    Originally posted by ChrisJ View Post

    Fair enough. Still a corrupt, thieving shite, though.
    FFS, I was telling my wife how brilliant the casting was.

    Anyway, after that, we’ve binged Truelove. Very enjoyable

    Leave a comment:


  • Ray de Galles
    replied
    My wife and I saw 'Cat Person' on streaming last night. The film adaptation of a New Yorker short story that went viral a few years ago about the nightmare end of a relationship.

    I was intrigued by a very positive Kermode review when it came out late last year, a connection with the excellent 'Booksmart' (that film's writer directed 'Cat Person') and Nicholas Braun (Greg from 'Succession') as the male lead.

    It's very good - equal parts funny, sharp, ambiguous and deeply discomforting (especially when one is the parent of a 20 year old female university student which the main character is) though it loses the run of itself a little searching for a dramatic way to end the story which departs from the source material.

    Braun & Emilia Jones work well together as the central couple (though I was amazed by the latter actor's nationality and parentage when I found it out afterwards) and Geraldine Viswanathan is great in a supporting role.

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  • WOM
    replied
    Also, we watched Season 1 of Loudermilk. It's a bit over-written / over-acted, but decent. It's very much not L's thing, but she seems to have a soft spot for the cast, so we're staying with it.

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  • WOM
    replied
    Originally posted by Snake Plissken View Post
    Caught up with Reacher prior to the final episode this week. It's properly, properly stupid entertainment. A car chase, with automatic weapons, through an incredibly empty "New York", with no traffic, no one around and absolutely no consequences. It occurred to me that there are no extras in this, every person you see on screen either is a main character, plot point, exposition dump or cannon fodder for the good guys to despatch in a number of silly ways.

    Judging by the amount of humour - there are more jokes in one episode than the entire 20-odd books so far - I think everyone knows it, too. It's great stuff, but I can't justify it to anyone.
    Same. We caught up last night. And yeah, the empty streets are hilarious. Most of it is shot in Toronto's remote / industrial nether regions, but still.

    The line "we still have a bunch more bad guys to kill" was telling. No reason to recommend...but we enjoy it.

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  • Hot Pepsi
    replied
    It’s memorable.

    I didn’t think it was too long. The whole point was just the vibe, not the story. I watched it in a few sittings.

    I think a lot more films will be like that; the producers will correctly assume most people are going to watch it home.

    They could just skip releasing them in theaters, but the sort of directors who make movies like that will insist they be in theaters for a while.
    Last edited by Hot Pepsi; 15-01-2024, 19:45.

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  • WOM
    replied
    Finally watched Licorice Pizza, which is a very good PTA joint. Echoing what others have said on here, it's a nice, offbeat rom-com, but just too fucking long. 2 hours and 15 minutes for a retro-period rom-com? Fuck me.

    Also, it shot itself in the foot with the title. It says nothing, has no relevance to the movie, and frankly evokes an 'ew gross' mental image. (It was the name of a record store...get it...a licorice pizza...in LA in the '70s.)

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  • Snake Plissken
    replied
    Caught up with Reacher prior to the final episode this week. It's properly, properly stupid entertainment. A car chase, with automatic weapons, through an incredibly empty "New York", with no traffic, no one around and absolutely no consequences. It occurred to me that there are no extras in this, every person you see on screen either is a main character, plot point, exposition dump or cannon fodder for the good guys to despatch in a number of silly ways.

    Judging by the amount of humour - there are more jokes in one episode than the entire 20-odd books so far - I think everyone knows it, too. It's great stuff, but I can't justify it to anyone.

    Leave a comment:


  • Simon G
    replied
    Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View Post

    I assumed that would be because one of his parents were American or one of those Europeans that had such an affinity for a romantic idea of America that they overcompensated. For example, I discovered that the most vital rockabilly scene is in Europe.
    To quote my darts captain last Wednesday evening, "it's not a scene, it's a way of life".

    Leave a comment:


  • Hot Pepsi
    replied
    New season of TD tonight. So far, so good. It definitely helps disabuse me of the idea that living in the arctic might be cool.

    I think living on Mars might be better.

    Speaking of that, I finished the latest season of For all Mankind. I liked it. Not as much as the previous seasons, but it had some good ideas and some of the characters are still interesting.

    I hope it keeps going.

    Maybe they can turn it into a prequel for The Expanse. This season felt like the start of Belter culture.

    Leave a comment:


  • Uncle Ethan
    replied
    Over the hols I finally caught up with series one of True Detectives. Magnificent TV. I had stop watching the post office series - I'd have ended up putting a brick through the telly. My conversion to Ghosts was completed with a lovely series ending and Xmas special. Slow Horses was the highlight.

    Leave a comment:


  • Hot Pepsi
    replied
    Originally posted by diggedy derek View Post

    Not saying you’re wrong, but I really like how painfully normal the players on The Traitors generally are. Estate agents, vets, NHS workers, mental health service co-ordinators, etc. And whatever an National Account Manager is.
    Sales, I suppose. They sell something to some other business that sells nationally.

    Leave a comment:


  • Hot Pepsi
    replied
    Having missed it in the theater because I thought it would make me dizzy, I spent today, watching Oppenheimer off and on. I finished it.

    I wish I had seen in a theater, I suppose, but I still thought it was very good.

    I understand why people think the last third was a bit off the rails. The whole business of him losing his clearance and the confirmation hearing for Strauss was a bit complicated. His ambivalence about the whole project and changing perspective and the back and forth in time is all a bit much to follow.

    I like that it wasn’t just the simplistic answer, “Red Scare.” Im’m not sure I fully followed it all, but it does seem like maybe JRO wasn’t the best judge of who is or who isn’t a spy and maybe wasn’t a guy who should be in charge of something top secret.*

    I understand the complexity is the whole point, but it’s hard to get one’s brain around. Maybe that’s also the point.

    I also imagine a lot of the audience found all of that to be just not very interesting compared to actually setting off a bomb. And the ending was a downer.


    But so many great performances and great scenes!

    Just an unbelievable murderers row of white actors. They pretty much emptied the bench, so to speak.

    And so many characters! I kept having to pause to look up who was who. But ultimately, it didn’t matter. Almost all of them were elite physicists. But I’ve given up caring about physics, so I don’t know who was who.

    If it wins the Oscar, it will reinforce the idea that the Oscars love complicated White men doing big things. For that reason, it might be better if Killers of the Flower Moon wins, which I thought was fantastic. But that is also a bit of a big win for white guys because the director and two of the three big stars are well-liked white actors (3/4 if you count Jesse Plemons), even though the film is mostly about the Osage people.

    But there really isn’t any Moonlight or Parasite to offer an alternative to the traditional Big Epic Oscar Bait film. Poor Things has some momentum coming out of the Golden Globes, but I suspect that is too weird and off-putting to win Best Picture.


    * Truman comes off as a real idiot. He really thought the Soviets couldn’t build a bomb without stealing the idea?

    I don’t get that. Wasn’t the Bomb a bit like the four-minute mile? Once it was proven possible, others could figure out how to do it?

    Leave a comment:


  • diggedy derek
    replied
    Oh yeah totally. I think the fewer reality TV shows one watches the better for your life as a whole really

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  • Jobi1
    replied
    Originally posted by diggedy derek View Post

    Not saying you’re wrong, but I really like how painfully normal the players on The Traitors generally are. Estate agents, vets, NHS workers, mental health service co-ordinators, etc. And whatever an National Account Manager is.
    Yeah it's entirely a personal thing. I just don't like those kinds of game (reality?) shows, can't get invested in the format at all. I can appreciate why people get really into them but they do absolutely nothing for me.

    Leave a comment:


  • Hot Pepsi
    replied
    Originally posted by ad hoc View Post

    I would have been amazed to learn that someone called Harlan Coben was any other nationality
    I assumed that would be because one of his parents were American or one of those Europeans that had such an affinity for a romantic idea of America that they overcompensated. For example, I discovered that the most vital rockabilly scene is in Europe.

    Leave a comment:


  • ad hoc
    replied
    We watched Maestro tonight. It took me about half an hour to get into it, but once I did, I actually thought it was excellent. Carey Mulligan is utterly brilliant.

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  • diggedy derek
    replied
    Originally posted by Jobi1 View Post

    Nope, you're definitely not. I'm usually the grumpiest of TV pop culture refuseniks (I can't do The Traitors because I find the people and production too hysterical, and not in the funny sense), but I bloody love the Masked Singer - innocent, joyously silly entertainment.
    Not saying you’re wrong, but I really like how painfully normal the players on The Traitors generally are. Estate agents, vets, NHS workers, mental health service co-ordinators, etc. And whatever an National Account Manager is.

    Leave a comment:


  • WOM
    replied
    Originally posted by ad hoc View Post

    I would have been amazed to learn that someone called Harlan Coben was any other nationality
    This.

    Leave a comment:


  • ad hoc
    replied
    Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View Post
    I’ve never seen or read anything by him before. I was surprised to learn he’s American.
    I would have been amazed to learn that someone called Harlan Coben was any other nationality

    Leave a comment:


  • Hot Pepsi
    replied
    I’ve never seen or read anything by him before. I was surprised to learn he’s American.

    Leave a comment:


  • Simon G
    replied
    I watched the first episode of Fool Me Once last night as well - I'll watch the rest as the wife sees it as something we can both watch, but you can tell already it's standard Harlan Coben stuff really.

    Leave a comment:


  • Hot Pepsi
    replied
    Originally posted by WOM View Post

    Yeah, this. 8 episodes is far too long. And there’s really no way to solve it yourself before the ‘big reveal’ episode. I don’t think we’ll be entering Mr C’s universe again.
    I watched the first episode but then lost interest. It felt like it was trying too hard.
    Last edited by Hot Pepsi; 14-01-2024, 16:13.

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  • WOM
    replied
    Originally posted by Sits View Post
    Everyone here seems to be watching Fool Me Once, including us; nearly finished it. All very good but it’s very Harlan Corben. All his series are quite similar, becoming interwoven enough it’s hard to predict the outcome so you stay till the end to find out. It’s all very melodramatic but not quite as clever as it thinks it is. I appreciate his stuff is massively popular.
    Yeah, this. 8 episodes is far too long. And there’s really no way to solve it yourself before the ‘big reveal’ episode. I don’t think we’ll be entering Mr C’s universe again.

    Leave a comment:


  • Jobi1
    replied
    Originally posted by Disco Child Ballads View Post
    Gladiators followed by the Masked Singer is perfect Saturday night TV viewing. I realise I may be alone in liking the latter.
    Nope, you're definitely not. I'm usually the grumpiest of TV pop culture refuseniks (I can't do The Traitors because I find the people and production too hysterical, and not in the funny sense), but I bloody love the Masked Singer - innocent, joyously silly entertainment.

    Leave a comment:

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