Streaming recommendations (including Netflix)

Surprised nobody’s mentioned Shadow and Bone yet? Proper fantasy but still believable. Has magic, but they treat it like science. Has a big scary rift across the land, full of monsters. Has a proper 19th century Russian vibe. Is a Netflix original. Should probably be terrible but is actually brilliant.

Any love for Snowfall on BBC

Yep. Excellent stuff. New series (3?) has not long started on normal BBC and seems even better than previous.

Mare.. kept me riveted til the end.

…Until the movie thread gets warmed up – I went to see Those Who Wish Me Dead at the flix.

Maybe I cut it too much slack as I’d not been in the cinema since Tenet but I loved it. Taylor Sheridan can do no wrong on my eyes – this was pulpy 90s action stuff and very tense too.

Easy to pick apart but I enjoyed the Montana Setting and the particulary nasty bad guys. The forest fires were very well done too. Angelina Jolie does this stuff very well and haven’t seen her on the screen in ages.

Looking forward to Yellowstone S4 by the same writer. Proper modern-western family troubles!

Army of the Dead is not a great film, but has an astonishing (long) opening sequence as Vegas falls to the Zombies. I wish I’d stopped watching it after the wall had gone up because it was pretty dire thereafter, save for the room full of Elvis impersonator zombies. That was quite good.

Thought Nomadland was okay.

Pretty undramatic, if quietly addictive viewing.

Waste of good landscape though.

Some interesting characters but mostly felt a bit vague to me.

Army of the Dead is not a great film, but has an astonishing (long) opening sequence as Vegas falls to the Zombies

Agree on this.

I thought they wasted the setting for the rest of the film.

Army of the Dead is not a great film

Army of the Dead pitch meeting

That pitch meeting is great

A great last episode of Mare Of Easttown IMO. As a limited series it’s up there with Chernobyl and Unbelievable.

I’ve not been back to Underground Railroad after the first one, it’s too dark for my current frame of mind.

Any love for Snowfall

It’s a decent show, good cast. Season 4 came out last month in the U.S., has been renewed for season 5.

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Thought Nomadland was okay.

Agree with your mini-review there. Preferred The Rider from Chloe Zhao and Three Billboards.. from Frances McD 🙂
Nomadland would no doubt have been better in the cinema, but I saw on a telly.

Yeah, Nomadland didn’t really stick with me.

Good film but not great.

Perhaps slightly hindered by Frances McD being a bit typecast as “contrary old woman”, even though she’s very good at it?

Agree with your mini-review there. Preferred The Rider from Chloe Zhao and Three Billboards.. from Frances McD 🙂

Need to go and watch 3 Billboards again, was a truly surprising/shocking film.

Now so many films are premiere streaming / cinemas are open do we start a movies 21 thread?.

By the way £20 for that Cruella is a bit miserable – on top of a sub.

Anyone seen it?

By the way £20 for that Cruella is a bit miserable – on top of a sub

I suppose if you would otherwise have taken a family of 4 to a cinema it doesn’t stack up too badly for value, plus you’re spared the pressure to bend over for the snacks and drinks. Even so, £20? Cripes.

It’s not new or an obscure little gem, but Mean Girls is on Netflix now and is still hilarious and very clever.

Arguably the most important film of the 21st century, so far.

Do it in a triple bill with Eighth Grade and Booksmart.

I watched Rocks on Netflix at the weekend and really enjoyed it. The young cast are fantastic, so good that at no point do you actually think you are watching actors.

I see that ‘Midsommar’ is getting released in a bit – as a big fan of ‘Wicker Man’ I’ll be giving it a watch.

It’s very good.

Make sure you have time to finish it though, I didn’t want to stop watching and stayed up until 3am.

I thought Midsommar was excellent, great soundtrack by Haxan Cloak too.

My ten-year old daughter just binge watched Sweet Tooth if you’re into family fantasy-drama stuff.

I’ve been binge watching Fargo series 4 on more 4.

Being a fan of the previous series (less so the film) I found ep 1 very slow. Thought about knocking it on the head but persevered. Ep 2 got better and then boom! I’m drawn in and hooked.

The best series yet IMO. Just incredible.

We’ve been watching “Bitter Daisies” on Netflix, a Spanish drama about a missing girl and a network of sexual exploitation. You may start watching and think “that’s a pile of sh1te”, and you’d be right, but the story sort of works in the end.

(Second season is a bit less satisfactory!)

It’s set in Galicia, which looks fabulous but has a murder rate higher than St Mary Meade.

I’ve been binge watching Fargo series 4 on more 4.

Being a fan of the previous series (less so the film) I found ep 1 very slow. Thought about knocking it on the head but persevered. Ep 2 got better and then boom! I’m drawn in and hooked.

The best series yet IMO. Just incredible.

ive enjoyed all the Fargo seasons so far but the over stylisation of it is wearing a bit thin “antecedentely on Fargo” – just say “before on Fargo.” it looks great though – i’ll let it off. But can get a bit annoying – the ‘true story’ thing at the start is bollox and is just an affectation

season 4 – great that timothy Olyphant and Chris Rock are in but the Italian brother is chewing the scenery so bad* its embarrassing and weird, I don’t know if its another affectation again or if he has just screwed up his approach, as he’s apparently a renowned actor.

Chris Rock’s number 2 guy is really good

* reminds me of Homer Simpson “I literally ate the scenery”

the Italian brother is chewing the scenery so bad* its embarrassing and weird,

I thought this fargo was great and the genni/samouri gomorrah/suburra crossover nicely cheeky. Took me a while to realise whishaw was in it.

ive enjoyed all the Fargo seasons so far but the over stylisation of it is wearing a bit thin

I guess I must have watched S3 before this just got too much for me. I can’t be bothered with it anymore.

That Army of the Dead Pitch Meeting is so spot on 🙂 🙂 The only way my son and I got through watching it was by ripping the urine out of it in every scene. I enjoyed Fargo 4 a lot ,some of the characters were excellent…Oraetta Mayflower 🙂 .I re-watched Fargo 1 and 2 a few weeks before Fargo 4,still good (IMO).

…and whilst I’m at it: Ragnarock on netflix I thought was great for what it was: teen drama with norse gods set in a multicultural, pansexual, industrially polluted Norwegian fjord, which I’m sure they all mainly are.

I’ve been binge watching Fargo series 4 on more 4.

Just saw the trailer for this last night. I’d forgotten that it had been released last year, but it’s on our list – as the wife said, S3 was probably Ewan McGregor’s best acting ever

‘The Outpost’ on Amazon is an astonishing piece of war film-making.

Another based on true events but my god – Americans stuck in a pit of hell – a hidden valley in Afghanistan as they try and defend their base from the Taliban.

Plenty of shades of grey in all characters involved. And many shocking turns of fate.

The final battle is as gut wrenching as I’ve ever seen. Brilliantly shot.

Takes a bit of time to establish itself ,and can seem confusing with all the characters but very much propels itself into a relentless final act.

This missed the cinema release due to the pandemic. I can’t imagine the intensity at the cinema.

Scott Eastwood and Orlando Bloom star.

Sounds good. Will check it. 🙂

‘The Outpost’ on Amazon is an astonishing piece of war film-making

There’s a few iffy bits but agree on the whole it’s very good. I had to search for the 4k version though (one of my pet peeves about Prime)

Watched ep1 and ep2 of Time on iPlayer this week. A Jimmy McGovern jobby, so it’s pretty grim. Not sure how ep3 is going to wrap things up – can’t see a positive outcome for anyone.

Also watched The Pact a while back – better than expected after a very generic ep1.

Part 2 of Lupin is out.

yeah watched all 3 eps of Time in one hit. crackin stuff.

My ten-year old daughter just binge watched Sweet Tooth if you’re into family fantasy-drama stuff.

It’s very watchable but I can’t decide if it’s crap or not. The main villain looks like Dr Robotnik and the plot basically boils down to Sonic the Hedgehog too. Man steals animals, other animal attempts to rescue 😀

One Cut of the Dead is up on Channel 4 for another week. People filming a zombie movie during a zombie infestation, based on a true story.

One Cut of the Dead is indeed fantastic. One of the better films I’ve seen this year. If you’re not sure after the first 30 minutes just stick with it, honestly……

Binge watched Sweet tooth this week. Started good but i did rather lose interest half way through. Imagine kids would love it though. Have just started Anne with an E..feature length 1st episode and just what I wanted on a rainy, tired Friday, heart strings pulled, escapism and what an engaging young woman and beautiful scenery. I am also several episodes into Halston, Ewan McGregor is very good and it’s a fun sometimes dark foray into a world of fashion, drugs and gay sex in the 70’s/80’s.

Part 2 of Lupin is out.

I quite enjoyed the first half, second half was pish, that final episode was awful writing.