Current Watching

[Pérou Flaquettes]

I wouldn’t be too quick to big up the likes of Abercrombie, their new town/peripheral estate utopias just banilued problem classes away from the douce urban centres of Scotland.

And weakened Glasgow’s political and economic power by halving it’s population in the name of urban clearance. Only Liverpool/Merseyside experienced something similar post-war.

I didn't particularly want to big up Abercrombie as such, just wanted to give him his due for stopping the obliteration of Glasgow centre (even if he did go to town – no pun intended – over his satellite town projects). If it hadn’t been for the likes of Abercrombie, Bruce would have got his way and the stunning Glasvegian Victorian architecture mentioned in the programme (the Mackintosh School of Art, the Central Station, the Alexander "Greek" Thomson's buildings, the City Chambers etc.) would be no more as these fabulous places were all on Bruce’s hit list (ditto Corbusier and his Plan Voisin, the whole of the 3rd and 4th districts would have been bulldozed).

The new towns project wasn't a bad idea to solve the terrible overcrowding and dreadful living conditions that the programme highlights (from the 1920s onwards, the Paris/Corbs or the Glasgow example in the prog), but the main problem is that most of these new towns have been very poorly designed.

[hobbes]

Watched Annihilation on Netflix. It was pretty decent.

[Pérou Flaquettes]

They're repeating the terrific series "Art of Spain" on BBC4 (#1 last night): https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...-moorish-south

[Tramp The Dirt Down]

Just started the first series of The Detectorists. Favourite characters so far are Simon and Garfunkel.

I envy you SD. A superb programme.

Just finished watching Spike Lee's documentary on Michael Jackson - From Motown To Off The Wall. A great reminder of what a talent he was before we knew what was to follow post Thriller.

[Tramp The Dirt Down]

Forgot to add it was on BBC4 and is still on the iplayer

[Hot Pepsi]

I, Tonya is a good film.- Very sad, really.

The Disaster Artist was remarkably dull. I gave up on it partway. About a couple of people who are just completely divorced from reality. That’s not funny or even interesting, really.

[Ginger Yellow]

Then don't watch Tommy Wiseau doing a Joker audition

[Aitch]

Paterson. We've all seen Paterson, haven't we? By far the best film of 2016 bar none, second only to Manchester by the Sea. But John Carroll Lynch’s Lucky pips it. It’s like watching Paterson yet again but seeing a different film, which it is. Completely different. So, Paterson leaves Paterson after his marriage breaks up and moves to Arizona, ditches the poetry, accumulates a new routine and thinks it a life, a philosophical poem about nothing and more. And that’s where the similarities end. What a delight.

[San Bernardhinault]

I, Tonya is a good film.- Very sad, really.

I, Tonya is a really good film.

I watched The Florida Project on the plane last night.

I think those two films were way better than a whole bunch of the Oscar Best Picture nominations.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Yeah. I flagged The Florida Project up-thread*. Wonderful little movie. One of the few films I can recall that captures childhood as it's lived, rather than as something imagined by adults.

*Actually on the Oscars thread.

[Satchmo Distel]

Just started Babylon Berlin. Good but very bleak.

[Satchmo Distel]

The musical number at the end of episode 2 of Babylon Berlin is amazing.

[Haddock]

Duncan Jones’s cyberpunk-ish Mute, which was commissioned directly by Netflix has had a proper hammering from the critics but has at the same time been championed by William Gibson, who’s not unknowledgeable about the genre. I watched it yesterday and it’s... ok. I wish it had had the budget of one episode of Altered Carbon as it’s a bit spit and sawdust at times, which is quite a drawback in this type of film. The main storyline is noir-like in a rather more straightforward way that the original Blade Runner, but there are shaggy dog diversions that don’t add very much. An at-times-interesting failure, for me. I do wonder what finance Jones will get for his next project.

[Amor de Cosmos]

'd

The musical number at the end of episode 2 of Babylon Berlin is amazing.

Yeah, it's stunning. I linked to it somewhere (?) Coming up (e4 perhaps) there's a totally mad dance sequence in a different club which I'd also like to have captured.

Liv Lisa Fries, who plays Lotte is also in Counterpart, which is currently running over here. She's definitely someone to watch.

[Lang Spoon]

There is a 2000AD doc on Film4. Braw.

[Satchmo Distel]

[Hot Pepsi]

Trying to get back into the Americans. Slow going.

[Satchmo Distel]

Counterpart has hit its stride now, with the characters and their dramatic dilemmas clearly established. The leading women all seem to be as ruthless as the men, if not more so. Episodes 7 and 8 both featured a woman committing a murder. Emotion almost becomes weakness for these women, so any attachment to a lover or a child puts them in a vulnerable position.

It's a very well thought out series but the exposition before Episode 7 was very drawn out and sometimes dull and perplexing. I think the revelations in Episode 7 might have been better to do earlier, because a lot of episodes 4-6 felt over-complicated, whereas 7 felt truly dramatic and gripping.

[slackster]

Watched Annihilation on Netflix. It was pretty decent.

Watched this last night on Netflix too. Quite surprised to see this sort of film not given a cinema release outside the US, but it seems to be a new trend. I also thought it pretty good. Deals with some big philosophical issues in the Heart of Darkness/2001 vein, but without getting overly didactic or clunky, or reaching a too-neat conclusion. Tempted now to read the book(s) it was based on.

[Satchmo Distel]

'd

Yeah, it's stunning. I linked to it somewhere (?) Coming up (e4 perhaps) there's a totally mad dance sequence in a different club which I'd also like to have captured.

Liv Lisa Fries, who plays Lotte is also in Counterpart, which is currently running over here. She's definitely someone to watch.

Her Counterpart character is called Greta, which ironically is also the name of Lotte's best friend. The actress has the same length hair in both shows, and quite similarly styled, so it's clearly her "look", and part of why she's so magnetic on screen, alongside such an open face and exuding a lot of life force.

[Stumpy Pepys]

The Disaster Artist was remarkably dull. I gave up on it partway. About a couple of people who are just completely divorced from reality. That’s not funny or even interesting, really.

Several of my favourite films involve people completely divorced from reality.

I really enjoyed The Disaster Artist, as did Fräulein Pepys, who'd never seen The Room. The 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes suggests I'm not the only one.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Her Counterpart character is called Greta, which ironically is also the name of Lotte's best friend. The actress has the same length hair in both shows, and quite similarly styled, so it's clearly her "look", and part of why she's so magnetic on screen, alongside such an open face and exuding a lot of life force.

I wondered about her hair too (details... details!) It isn't always that short (see below.) It could just be that Counterpart came right after Babylon Berlin and she left it as it was. Considering her age (27), and that she spent a year in China, she has a very healthy number of screen credits. Counterpart appears to be her first non-German production however.

[Satchmo Distel]

Are you persevering with Counterpart and The Chi, Amor? I am enjoying both, although they can also drag a bit (the sideline with the schoolkids in The Chi shows the creator's self-indulgence, for example).

I will definitely watch all 16 episodes of Babylon Berlin but spread them out. It's not a bingeable series (for me).

These are easily best three shows on my radar right now IMHO.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Yes, we're watching both The Chi and Counterpart. I agree with you. They lack a bit in the climax department but are well acted and produced. I think The Chi picked up when Quentin (Steven Williams) seriously moved into the frame. He's the type of actor that can fill the screen when needed, (I'm not saying the others are poor, just that they don't have the same presence.) Generally it's not as depressing as the first couple of episodes led me to expect. I'm with you on Counterpart too. It seemed to be marking time until the last couple of weeks, now it's shifted a gear or two.

[Satchmo Distel]

Bryan Ferry Orchestra is supplying the jazz tunes on the Babylon Berlin soundtrack, such as the Episode 6 one accompanying the Wannsee lake scene. Lotte in the swimsuit