spacemonkey
Full Member
Just got back into Slow Horses – S2 E1 and E2. Still funny and easy to watch. Oldman is brilliant. Only things I don’t like – and I know these feed the vibe – are Min is a d1ck and the hacker guy gets on my man8008s.

Slow Horses S2 has the challenge that the book’s a bit meandery and not very tight. It’s not bad by any measure, but compared to S1 and S3 it’s a little unfocused, so it’s interesting to see in the show where they made efforts to tighten it up and make it make more sense.

I must admit that the plotline in S2 made no sense to me whatsoever. S1 was outstanding though.

Another recommendation for Ted (TV series) here. A few jokes fall flat but overall pretty good.

Tried to watch Killers of the Flower Moon last night.

I’d actually never heard of it and my wife had got free apple so on it went.

Needed to be a mini series really – I mean the argument against that would be a loss of dramatic tension but it lost that a couple of hours in anyway so wouldn’t have made any difference.

Was a classic case of a film being less than the sum of its parts in our opinion. Some good characters and some great acting, especially from DiCaprio and Gladstone. Unfortunately I thought De Niro was hamming it up  – a bit too much meet the parents rather than James Conway. Superb cinematography/world building – really did feel like you were there

But ultimately gave up after 2.5 hrs – just not enough overall oooomph. Will probably finish it tonight but its a 5 out of 10 from me.

Killers of the Flower Moon

Has it’s own thread somewhere.. saw it at the cinema and felt similar, although swapping Dicaprio and de Niro, acting-wise. Made it to the end though, cos I’d paid 😄

Ted is just Peter Griffin as a teddy bear, I’m loving it so far.

Just finished Arctic Ascent. The scenery is unbelievable, but more unbeliveable is the idea of climbing those huge faces covered with crumbling rock. OK, my personal exploits extend to some VDiffs in the Peaks, so I am not well placed to judge, but it just feels mental !!

El Conde

Chilean black comedy about Augusto Pinochet as a vampire, narrated by a Margret Thatcher voice.

A gruesome satire.

“Past Lives” – read so much about it in the film mags – 5*s Empire, “a spine-tingling romance of lost chances” etc.. noticed it was on Netflix yesterday, so gave it a watch. It’s good. Beautifully shot, you’d never guess it was a director’s first film.
My spine didn’t tingle though, I didn’t blub (I am quite a softy), but it was a very nice film 🙂

Been trying to watch Criminal Minds, but it’s not a good story, they’ve got a decent cast, but the plot and how they get there is dire, stopped watching before the finale, as i thought they were going to do a clever twist, but they didn’t. Such a shame as it had a decent cast, money and apple tend to do good stuff, but this reminded me more of a Harlan Coben series than an apple one 🙁

Avatar: The Last Airbender live action series has landed on Netflix. Any good ?

Four episodes into ‘Constellation’ on Apple TV.

Really clever psychological thriller, but definitely not ‘brain out’ telly, although they do make an effort to explain quantum superposition to those who have just staggered in from the pub.

Noomi Rapace and Jonathan Banks (Mike from Breaking Bad) are excellent.

Apple TV seems to be consistently coming up with quality stuff. Just finished S1 of ‘Silo’ too, which started slow but really got going towards the end of the run.

Airbender… i lasted 15 mins… if my lad were still 11, then maybe… but i’m a no.

Still working through Dark Winds on Sky. It’s good, but probably more about the feel and atmosphere than the actual plot per se.
Also watching Mayor of Kingstown, and enjoying the shots of Hamilton, Kingston and Toronto. It’s heavy going at times though.
And enjoying The Dry on RTE – easy-ish 30 minute episodes of “comedy with feeling” a la Catastrophe or similar.

Interesting to hear views of Killers of the Flower Moon. Between it and The Irishman, it sounds like late era Scorsese could perhaps do with a really good editor and/ or slightly less free rein.

Apple TV do seem to like their lavish sci-fi series, really enjoying season four of Of All Mankind, a few to go, then will start on Constellation.

They have commissioned a second season of Silo too apparently.

We’ve just watched the first episode of the Gentlemen on Netflix and it’s absolutely bloody brilliant! Full on Guy Ritchie nonsense of the highest order! 😃

Yeah, we’re a couple of episodes in, it’s good fun.

Started Constellation last week, was somewhat miffed when I went to watch episode six on Thursday to discover it won’t be available until Wednesday. It’s quite eerie, I don’t watch much spooky stuff usually.

Gentlemen +1. Two episodes in and it’s great

Waiting with baited breath for Fallout on Prime. Slightly reluctant to get too excited, but as someone with too many hours invested in New Vegas and Fallout 4 it actually looks like it might be decent.

If nothing else, they put Dogmeat in there!

Gentleman was ok, typical of a guy ritchie plot but with different actors, just for once I wish they’d portray growrooms as they are in reality, and without the stereotypical stoner grower.

Watched Captive State on Netfiix. Very low budget sci-fi  about insurgents trying to overthrow an alien invasion some years after the event. Wasn’t well reviewed and has a low rotten tomatoes score, so I wasn’t expecting much. But its pretty good, got a great cast, they work well to make the alien presence alien “enough” given the limited budget and the plot’s believable, the lead isn’t a superhero, or super smart, he’s just a dumb kid and the acting is first rate, and it’s not flabby.

If you enjoyed Monsters (the 2010 Gareth Edwards film) I think you’d enjoy this.

Fallout trailervlooks good. But we’ll see.

Another vote for The Gentlemen. It drops off a bit in places, almost like they’re wondering how to fill 8 episodes but generally it’s excellent.

Has anyone seen Damsel yet? It’s gets some very mixed reviews… Wondering whether to give it a go or if it’ll be a waste of 2hrs!

Paramount+

Mayor of Kingstown, good cast, lots of action

I’m enjoying Shogun on Disney+

Boy Swallows Universe is good. Surreal/comedy/tragedy growing up around drugs and violence in Aus in the 80s. There’s a novel. Reported to be based on his life. Lots of mullets.

I’m quite enjoying The completely made up adventures of Dick Turpin on Apple TV. Lots of recognisable faces and just plain silly. 😀

I’m quite enjoying The completely made up adventures of Dick Turpin on Apple TV. Lots of recognisable faces and just plain silly. 😀

Also really liking the Gentlemen.   I do like the way Vinnie Jones is kept in the background, kinda adds a surreal sinister element to the plot.

Anyone else find Suzie rather attractive in a Lily Allen kinda way?

Also really liking the Gentlemen. I do like the way Vinnie Jones is kept in the background, kinda adds a surreal sinister element to the plot.

Giancarlo Esposito appears to be a little typecast though 😉

The Gentlemen is very silly, and very entertaining!

Giancarlo Esposito appears to be a little typecast though

And Ray Winstone.   Still, a good series and I’d watch the second one.   I reckon a 3rd could be a bit formulaic though….

Watched the first episode of the Gentlemen last night. I quite enjoyed it – amusing, stylishly filmed and complete nonsense. So, yeah, I enjoyed it. Mrs BC less so though.

I noticed yesterday also that American Fiction has dropped on Prime. Missed it in the cinema but it looked like a film worth watching.

Has anyone seen Damsel yet? It’s gets some very mixed reviews… Wondering whether to give it a go or if it’ll be a waste of 2hrs!

Answering my own question – it was just about OK.
Very “girl-power” kind of film featuring a dragon with excellent command of the English language and a lot of running from it and screaming.

Ray Winstone has clearly been busy on Netflix cos he’s in Damsel, he’s in The Gentlemen and I’m sure there’s another current film that he’s in too.

We’re currently enjoying Shameless (US version) on Netflix. Never watched the original UK series and only stumbled across this by accident. Only on season 3 out of 11 though! Some great performances in there, and good to see that Jeremy Allen-White chap from The Bear playing a central character, though i think the casting throughout has been ace so far.

Also, +1 for the Dick Turpin thing with Noel Fielding. Silly, and getting better with each installment…

the gentlemen all a bit ‘ackneyed by the end.

I got to episode 6 of DARK on Netflix and i have no clue what’s going on… So it’s being binned.

They have commissioned a second season of Silo too apparently.

Should hope so. They only got half way through the first book of the series, Wool. There was a lot of padding in the programme, to arrive at the climax of the season. Looking forward to season 2 to see how closely it follows the books.

I got to episode 6 of DARK on Netflix and i have no clue what’s going on… So it’s being binned.

I think Dark was one of the best things I’ve seen on Netflix. We watched all three seasons twice. You have to concentrate really hard on it though. Slight lapse in concentration and you’ve had it 😃

I enjoyed Dark, but the constant need to get the actors to talk in semi-nonsensical philosophical mumbo-jumbo, vis; “It is time that you and I can redeem the subjective freedoms that we’ve allowed to permeate the void”  and so on grates after a while and the makers of the thing needing  to tie-up Every. Single. Plot Point. At. The. End.  Yes, you wrapped everything up in a very neat bow. No, knowing what happened to the penny didn’t add anything to the experience as a whole.