SCFZ

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Saw the first series of Fleabag (BBC) last Friday. I enjoyed it, though the heroine irritated me at times. The constant breaking of the 4th wall is overdone and very quickly lost its humouristic value for me. I nearly abandoned the series at one point but kept watching it once Olivia Colman began appearing. Now into the second series, and both the first and second episodes of it were delightful (cut to me looking directly into the camera: Well, almost) and, to this day, the best things I've seen in the whole Fleabag saga. So I'm hanging out for S02E03 next week. I hope Olivia Colman features prominently again. She's excellent as the mean, extremely passive-aggressive stepmother.
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Watched first episode of the handmaids tale. Its way too depressing

Glad king of the hill is over -- I don't want to think of hank as a trump supporter!

Stop the politics.

go make australia great again

rischka wrote: ↑Sun Mar 17, 2019 4:40 pm

Glad king of the hill is over -- I don't want to think of hank as a trump supporter!

bobby wouldn't let him!

rischka wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2019 1:06 am go make australia great again

It's absolutely horrifying, rischka, we have the same kinds of deplorable people here too, except they're not yet as dominant. I'm so ashamed and sad.

pabs wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2019 4:41 am

rischka wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2019 1:06 am go make australia great again

It's absolutely horrifying, rischka, we have the same kinds of deplorable people here too, except they're not yet as dominant. I'm so ashamed and sad.

i'm sorry to hear it pabs. the fight is everywhere. stay strong

nrh wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2019 2:54 am

rischka wrote: ↑Sun Mar 17, 2019 4:40 pm

Glad king of the hill is over -- I don't want to think of hank as a trump supporter!

bobby wouldn't let him!

yeah bobby's a good kid. he's probably protesting climate change now

Mentioned mainly because I'm using it to watch on my TV -- anybody else using the Criterion Channel? Nice selection, including the old favorites. Nice to finally check out the new restoration of MIRROR.

watching house of cards, wherein every single sexual innuendo by kevin spacey is now extra hilarious

I'm giddy about the Criterion Channel. Watched Murder by Contract and Along the Coast for '58, and there are plenty of other '58s available, including Conflagration, Equinox Flower, Stolen Desire, The Lineup, Elevator to the Gallows, Big Deal on Madonna Street, The Hidden Fortress, Ivan the Terrible Part II, Mon Oncle, A Night to Remember, etc.

I think I'm going to pay for the Criterion Channel. I've haven't had time to browse in depth, but what I've seen is really good.

Still, not a fan of the UI, it doesn't let you browse through all that's available. Only the sliders with what they want to highlight in Netflix style and the search function.

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I just saw the final episode of BBC 3's Fleabag that was broadcast last night. I became very fond of the main character and the series, so I'll miss it a lot.

Highly recommended!



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thoxans wrote: ↑Tue Apr 09, 2019 1:28 pmhouse of cards

pretty dumb overall. everyone is stupider than frank underwood, when it serves a purpose. then cue a random character out of nowhere who seems smart for just long enough to last a few eps, and boom, that random character also ends up being stupider than frank underwood. surprise surprise. doug stamper is cool, but the rest of the show can be watched while you're doing other things, not really paying attention (like most of the rest of tv)

thoxans wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2019 11:50 pmpretty dumb

and it just keeps getting dumber. like a stupid person's version of a smart show. veep is better, and even veep is basically whatever. bleh i'm bout done after two seasons

thoxans wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2019 11:50 pm

thoxans wrote: ↑Tue Apr 09, 2019 1:28 pmhouse of cards

pretty dumb overall. everyone is stupider than frank underwood, when it serves a purpose. then cue a random character out of nowhere who seems smart for just long enough to last a few eps, and boom, that random character also ends up being stupider than frank underwood. surprise surprise. doug stamper is cool, but the rest of the show can be watched while you're doing other things, not really paying attention (like most of the rest of tv)

Ever seen the original British version, with Ian Richardson as Francis Urquhart? Much funnier and meaner, and not as burdened with Fincherian GLOOM and you don't have to look at that Spacey vermin. Well worth checking out.

i have not but i oughta cuz i luv me some political intrigue and the uhmurican version seems to have a hard time staying intriguing

The British versions, I think, get gradually less interesting. The first one is brilliant, the second one (TO PLAY THE KING) slightly less so, and the third (THE FINAL CUT) reaches a bit too far out. Still, Ian RIchardson's Francis Urquhart is one for the ages.

Checked out the first episode of CATCH-22 on Hulu, and it's a mixed bag. The decision to straighten out the novel's chronological games and present the storyline(s) from start to finish feels like a missed opportunity, in light of the timeline games played in WESTWORLD. The high level of the production and performances (with one glaring exception in the person of George Clooney) keeps the interest going even as I sit there shaking my head and scratching my head at some of the decisions. Making Yossarian kinda sorta indirectly responsible for another character's death just makes no sense at all. One review I checked out said that the more you know Heller's novel, the more likely you are to be shouting at the screen, and well yeah, the decision to introduce Yossarian, via onscreen text, as "Yo-Yo" gave me, a great fan of the novel, an idea of what to expect. I'll probably keep going for more of Kyle Chandler's Colonel Cathcart, and frankly for the astonishing display of male bodies onscreen.

Oh yeah, and GAME OF THRONES came to an end, satisfyingly to me at least. Some bumps, a certain character's decided turn in a specific direction seemed rather sudden on a first viewing but seemed better set up on rewatching the episodes building up to it.

It was a decent show for the first four seasons, but then decided to be something else entirely, and only managed a few good episodes/ideas after as far as I'm concerned. The last few seasons have felt like an entirely different, and much lazier show, than they started with.

Chernobyl, HBO. Very commendable. A tad on the nose at times, but its bravery when it comes to narrative and formal choices more than makes up for it.

CATCH-22 on Hulu -- well, in Episode Two they botched the soldier in white, they botched the Texan, they botched Major Major, and the botched the old man in the brothel (despite the inspired casting of Giancarlo Giannini) and when Yossarian actually introduced himself to another character as "Yo-Yo" I tuned out, probably for good.

I'm going to start watching the new 5-part series Chernobyl tonight. It has some amazingly good reviews.

edit: oops, I just noticed Z mentioned it too.

have little to no knowledge about or interest in cricket the sport, but found the 1984 australian mini-series bodyline totally fascinating, as hugo weaving's increasingly obsessed captain jardine pushes forward controversial bowling tactics (essentially pitching the ball directly at the body of the batters) to beat the more technically skilled australian team and their brilliant batter don bradsman.

george miller's production company produced it, and his longtime dp dean semler shot the whole thing; there's a wonderful attention to texture and mood, to the tactics of the match and the personalities at play. one of the better tv productions i've seen in a long time.

yo anyone seen the deadwood movie? i think i might watch that fucker

Hope to see it this week! I don’t actually think the series needed a follow-up - I thought the anticlimactic ending to Season 3 was perfectly in line with the show’s unorthodox nature - but I won’t pass up more of one of the best shows ever.

reading some articles to catch up, i think i only saw season 1 and i've forgotten most everything but swearingen and wild bill. and the pigs

LIKE I KNEW NOTHING OF CALAMITY JANE'S LOVE STORY also i forgot how much i love john hawkes yeah this is gonna be fun

not sure i saw any of the hearst episodes though. i think i woulda remembered major dad okay i'm ready. i think

edit: THE DOCTOR

CHERNOBYL was amazing. Acting was brilliant! The story was well told and very cannily structured.

The cost of mismanagement and lies can be unimaginable. The current sarcophagus covering the reactor will need to be completely overhauled and rebuilt every 100 years to stop huge amounts of radiation leaking out again. Between 3,000 and 80,000 people have died as a result of mismanagement at one nuclear reactor. The officially recognized total is still only 31 deaths.

That radiation will continue to be produced for the next 24,000 years.

Yes, that's twenty-four THOUSAND years.

hordes of people are trying to get there to take selfies now https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-48608713

what a fun vacation idea deadwood: about what i expected which is no bad thing. unnecessary probably but the characters are a joy forever