Streaming recommendations (including Netflix)

Colin in Black – Colin Kaepernick narrating his life story alongside the history of racism in the USA. Interesting content and interesting staging too.

Don’t remember if I recommended it here, but it’s great innit?

I’ve mentioned it a few times. The first and second series are still my favourite shows on the flix!! I liked the 3rd season too tbh but a bit self indulgent.

Has anyone given that Wheel Of Time nonsense on Prime a spin yet? Episode 1 didn’t leave me wanting to crack on with Ep 2 but I’ll probably give it a try to see if it clicks. Not optimistic so far tbh.

No love for “The Harder They Fall” on Netflix?
Great fun cowboy film, plenty of blood. Can’t take it too seriously what with the 21st century dialogue in places, often laugh out loud funny. Sort of wish I’d seen it at the cinema.

Inside Job? Basically Gravity Falls for adults. It’s all about the shadow government who control everything. So many great wee references to conspiracy theories and the like. I’m only three episodes in but I’m loving it.

Another vote for Maid. Felt like misery porn for the 1st episode but really picked up, brilliant acting, characters were very real. Andy Mcdowel was so good if totally nuts.

I am quite enjoying cowboy bebop so far, I like the atmosphere created by the soundtrack.

Some of the reviews criticise it compared to the original anime, but I haven’t seen that so am not viewing it through that lens.

Went to see ‘The Power of the Dog’ last night,fantastic. Out on Netflix 1st Dec.
I would say see it on the big screen if you can,the cinematography is superb.

Forgot to mention “The Harder They Fall” has a superb funk and reggae soundtrack. I was Shazaming a lot! eg. Let’s Start by Fela Kuti… Lovely.

I’ll admit to not being interested in anything Stephen King has done since I was a teenager, but seen a trailer for Midnight Mass, thought ‘that actually looks good’ and, er, it is.

More K Netflix, “My Name” is an brutal but entertaining watch, sound effects a bit OTT a bit formulaic but the fight scenes are well done if you ignore some of the obvious daftness

Red Notice
Nonsense but brilliant, the Rock is a comedy god lol.

Brain-holiday stuff and genuinely enjoyable. I was genuinely amazed at how the bad-guys always seemed to manage to survive an explosion with only mild concussion.

Really enjoyed it. Same (minus the comedy, but adding plenty of killing and vats of blood) goes for ‘The Old Guard’

Briefly: Small gang of mostly immortal vigilantes led by a (now world-weary) 6,732yrs-old ultra-warrior played by Charlize Theron. She’s not keen on carrying on the fight and would like to retire, there’s always something to spoil notions of retirement.

was Shazaming a lot! eg. Let’s Start by Fela Kuti

Watching a western was the last thing on my mind but would watch paint dry if it had a Fela soundtrack 🕺🎷🥁

I watched “Red notice” with my lad yesterday..
We both relaly enjoyed it!
Daft, but fun. which is what a movie should be sometimes! The chemistry with teh rock and Ryan Reynolds was brill (I’ve a man crush on Ryan!!)

DrP

Thought Red Notice was great. Dumb fun that passed the time very well indeed. The cast seemed to have a real chemistry.

But not a fan of ‘The Harder They Fall’ – thought it was pretty poor. Makes you appreciate how good the Spaghetti Westerns were 60 years ago. With all the tech and experience avaialable, it’s tragic that THTC was as bad as it was. I was happier watching The Good The Bad & The Ugly for the umpteenth time.

not a fan of ‘The Harder They Fall’

Oh dear…

Thought Red Notice was great

Ah. Phew.

Another vote for Maid. Felt like misery porn for the 1st episode but really picked up, brilliant acting, characters were very real. Andy Mcdowel was so good if totally nuts

Just finished Maid, not the sort of thing I usually watch but thought it was excellent.  Casting was spot on and really well acted, another nod to Andi McDowell for her performance, thought her daughter in the lead role was great too.

Midnight Mass was great, really enjoyed it. Just started The Chestnut Man which has started well, hope it continues. Hellbound and cowboy bebop next on the list 🙂

Up to ep7 of the new Narcos.

Even better than the previous seasons IMO, they’re going out on a high (pun intended).

I’ve a man crush on Ryan!

Same here since he took over my football team. Here’s a promo for Red Notice with an interesting spin:

Up to ep7 of the new Narcos.

Just finished it. I found the Scoot McNairy character really annoying, similar to that blonde guy in the first season of the original. They were just such typical dumb arrogant Americans, thinking they were saving the world when they were really just wreaking havoc everywhere they went. It was much better when the Pedro Pascal character was the focus.

I’m a huge fan of the original anime Cowboy Beebop, the atmosphere created with the visuals and soundtrack is incredible.
I’ve seen there was not a lot of love for the live action version, but I actually quite enjoyed it, although my son tells me twitter has had a meltdown over it?

We’re 7 episodes in on Arcane, which is an animated series based on the video game League of Legends.

I’m not a big fan of animated stories but so far, it’s been great.

As others say, Red Notice was actually quite good to watch, not trying too hard to take itself seriously, and possibly the first big budget streaming film i’ve seen that i liked, they always seem to implode or have horrific scripts, but this one worked for what it was, and actually just used the big 3 actors to their ability, instead of trying to change them, i always laugh when someone sees a movie and says it’s basically Ryan Reynolds being himself, or the Rock being the Rock, that’s what you go for, Reynolds being the stereotypical cynical wise cracking guy, or the rock being the man mountain with a heart of gold.

As for other stuff, i thought that Shang-Chi was a good watch as well, which was a surprise, especially after the first ten minutes with his ‘comedy best friend’, but they actually worked that into the movie well and other things, it was a bit weird that it probably didn’t have a real bad guy in the movie, but that was more about the audiences it was aimed at i guess.

Oh yeah, Wheel of Time on Amazon, 3 episodes in and it’s not very good, honestly it is just a mess and feels so small and boring, it’s making the likes of the Lord of the Rings look like a fast paced thrill a minute movie!

I know it’s not Netflix, and probably lauded / panned somewhere up the thread, but big <thumbs up> for Succession (again). Episode 6 of S3 was particularly brilliant.

A slow burn to get into Succession during S1, but S2 and early S3 are superb.

PS loved the homage to small businesses in Wrexham above.

Has anyone given that Wheel Of Time nonsense on Prime a spin yet?

dreary rubbish, makes the witcher look like high art.

makes the witcher look like high art.

Speaking of which, season 2 comes out on December 17. Hopefully it’ll be as hilariously stupid as season 1.

I really enjoyed Cowboy Bebop and Red Notice. On Episode 2 of Arcane now and it’s pretty good so far.

F is for Family is dross though.

Watched ‘Surge’ last night. I like the odd dialogue lite film. Really good although not for everyone. Like a UK Falling Down, with a bit of ken loach realism

Narcos really was good, I’ll miss it, the femicide and narco juniors* storylines really added to the mix, and the press storyline was a bit Wire season 5

*The cartel S Club juniors

Watched Hellbound over the weekend – thought it was pretty good and an interesting concept (be warned though there’s a lot of graphic violence in it), looking forward to season 2. Tried it dubbed in English for a bit but no lip sync when people talk just drives me nuts so reverted to the original Korean + subtitles.

I really enjoyed Cowboy Bebop and Red Notice.

The original anime is brilliant. The live action remake should never have happened, it’s a pale shadow of the original.

F is for Family is dross though.

Obviously a matter of taste. I thought it was brutally funny.

the press storyline was a bit Wire season 5

We don’t talk about the Wire Season 5 in polite society… 😉
But its press storyline was actually pretty interesting

the press storyline was a bit Wire season 5

We don’t talk about the Wire Season 5 in polite society… 😉
But its press storyline was actually pretty interesting

As a former news journo myself, I felt crushingly disappointed by the final series of The Wire. Newsrooms just aren’t like that in real life.

Perhaps the ideas were interesting, but the execution was very “Hollywood” compared to the rest of the show. David Simon was a news reporter himself, so I don’t know how he could allow himself to strike such a false note.

In contrast, the Narcos newsroom is quite convincing. Though they should still show the characters writing up more dreary press releases in between chasing leads on the drug traffickers.

David Simon was a news reporter himself, so I don’t know how he could allow himself to strike such a false note.

This was the problem as far as I could see. He obviously had an axe to grind with the industry, probably quite justifiably too, but he let his personal distain get in the way and it turned into a cliche of a heroic newsman against the corrupt and incompetent management.

Looking forward to Nimsdai’s 14 peaks later

We’ve been watching Dopesick over the last fortnight. Bloody excellent, even more so as it’s based on true events. Very sinister, in they way that only US Pharma can conjure up.

Might give that a go, but is it very depressing?

If you have Prime then “9 Pefrect Strangers” is worth a watch. Some great performances, notably from Melissa McCarthy and Michael Shanon. Kidman is good but the accent is dodgy at times.

We’ve been watching Dopesick over the last fortnight.

Same here although its on Disney+ not Netflix.

Might give that a go, but is it very depressing?

Well the subject matter isn’t a laugh a minute but what I found fascinating is how inventive and completely unethical Purdue Pharma’s marketing was and how long they were allowed to get away with it for so long. They even invented a new medical condition to allow doctors to prescribe higher initial doses of Oxy.

Meanwhile back to Netflix. If you haven’t already seen them I can recommend Johnny Mnenemonic and Moneyball which are both release this month.

Looking forward to Nimsdai’s 14 peaks later

I enjoyed it, the issue with these sort of programmes though is they struggle to get across just how hard it really is (or at least I assume it is, I’ve never done any mountain climbing myself…). So one minute you’re thinking that’s insane (as the camera pans up what looks like an endless sheer ice cliff) and then the next scene he’s on the summit. But an awesome story none the less and he’s tough as nails (as were his climbing team)