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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
 Posted - 08/10/2022 : 23:12:23
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I didn't know Vince Gilligan had been a (co-)producer on The X-Files - I kind of stopped watching that series after the first season really - mostly because I got distracted by the student nightlife of Manchester. I also think it went a bit downhill after S1 and I lost the plot there too after missing a few episodes.
The cryptic unfolding of plot in BSC was clever sometimes, other times I found myself sitting there not so much bothered about what was going on but instead wondering when we were going to get to the conclusion of the previous cliffhanger scene - and in many ways I think this often distracted me from the prevailing linearity of the story arc. I guess we could be here all day debating that particular point but as far as I could see BCS was jumping back and forward so much I just kind of got lost a bit, and it was only until about season 4 I think we I finally worked out that the opening B&W scenes were not occuring in the time before BCS but in fact after BB! Because Jimmy was a nobody before he became a lawyer, and the opening scenes depicted him as a nobody with a shitty job, therefore.. I suspect this was done on purpose to trick the audience, or it was done in such a way that maybe only the more focused audience would work it out I don't know..
We can argue over the semantics of what art or "craft" is till the cows come home - but an aspect of artistic expression can often be to decieve the audience in some way - to confuse and inspire some new ways to look at things?
Anyway word on the street is Gilligan's next project is going to lean more back towards the paranormal again I'm hearing? I think some new direction is a good idea since I think he's milked the whole BB franchise enough for now - and some more paranormal TV would be welcome since True Blood finished some nearly ten years ago now - I know there has been paranormal stuff, vampires and that but I find a lot of it quite bland. I think he should team up with Alan Ball - we don't seem to be getting much from Mr Ball these days and I've been a fan of pretty up everything he's done so far, including his last series Here And Now which sadly didn't get commissioned for a second series - I don't know why because Ball is considered one of the most innovative producers these days - some of his last series did seem to challenge modern woke ideologies though so many he got cancelled by a rainbow coloured unicorn TV exec? |
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Troubles A Foot
= Cult of Ray =
USA
965 Posts |
Posted - 08/11/2022 : 09:28:37
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quote:
Originally posted by pot
I also think it went a bit downhill after S1
Nothing could be farther from the truth...
Oh god, I hate Alan Ball's work. I hope Gilligan stays far away from him.
Wow, it never occurred to me people wouldn't know the black and white scenes were the present day. I don't believe the show was being cagey or mysterious about it at all. Saul jokingly said in one of his last Breaking Bad appearances that he's going to go work at a Cinnabun somewhere when this is all over. Plus there's tons of visual cues that it's the present, iPhones, etc, etc throughout these.
The very first scene is him watching tapes of his old advertisements when he had the Saul law firm. The show was not being intentionally misleading there. That is clear storytelling. |
Edited by - Troubles A Foot on 08/11/2022 09:36:08 |
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
Posted - 08/11/2022 : 09:38:58
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Man how am I supposed to remember he said he was going to work for Cinnabun and make that connection on BCS with the same relative ease you appear to have? Of course, not being American I don't know what a Cinnabun is either - whether it's even a real pastry shop - so maybe that's why it went over my head.
And how can you not like Alan Ball TV that much?
Oh well, we can't all agree to like everything I suppose.
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Edited by - pot on 08/11/2022 09:39:15 |
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
Posted - 08/12/2022 : 13:17:17
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Now I'm thinking I might remember Jimmy saying something about that but I don't know if it's a false memory because you told me about it.
Interested to know what Alan Ball series didn't rub off on you and fermented your opinion? I'm guessing it must have been either Six Feet Under or True Blood. I personally found SFU quite refreshing at the time - rather than watching drama with people arguing or fighting each other all the time here was a show that just depicted people being kind to each other - and it was quite off beat at times and explored some deep questions about the nature of consciousness.
Then there's Banshee - don't know if you ever saw any of that. Maybe, because I think it was filmed around the north east of America somewhere where you are based Troub. That was full on violence, but it was all fist fights mostly - extremely fucked up over the top fist fights where if it was real either person involved would probably have died fairly early on into the battle(s). That part of it was kind of boring but on the other side it really did have some memorable characters and the plots got better in season 3 and 4. |
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Troubles A Foot
= Cult of Ray =
USA
965 Posts |
Posted - 08/12/2022 : 14:51:43
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Well, like I said, he's shown watching tapes of his old commercials at the very beginning of episode 1, season 1. There's not really any other conclusion one can come to with that.
I watched all of Six Feet Under and hated every minute of it. I can't even believe I watched the whole thing but, 1) I had heard it had an incredible ending (no it didn't), and 2) it was a time in my life that was kind of lonely and less busy, where I laid in bed and marathoned TV shows all the time. I think I got through it in a few months, just curious where it was all heading.
I hated the characters, I hated the writing, I hated the stories, I hated the tone, I hated everything about it. I could be more specific if it was closer to the time I watched it but so much of the show has left my memory. But at the time I would rant to people about all the things that bother me. Maybe I made an old post online somewhere...I do remember absolutely despising the first episode and taking a long break as I waffled on whether to keep going or not. I asked around and many of my coworkers said they love it, it gets better, the ending is amazing, etc.
After going through that I just made a mental note to never check out anything by Alan Ball ever again. The fact that Six Feet Under is often spoken of in the same breath as something like The Sopranos or The Wire is just shocking to me.
I also think American Beauty is pretty bad. |
Edited by - Troubles A Foot on 08/12/2022 14:52:50 |
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
Posted - 08/12/2022 : 15:09:56
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There are literally thousands of possible explanations for whatever was going on at the start, hypothetically. I thought BCS was going to be more like a standalone episode series like Rake or something and next thing I'm getting this black and white scene showing a guy sitting on a chair next to a wheelie bin eating a sandwich for like 3 minutes or something?
Sorry you hated SFU so much but respect for at least watching the entire series maybe if involuntarily. The ending was shit - or just so what who cares. Did we get a spin-off series about Claire's life in New York after that? No - so what was so great about it? Nothing. But it doesn't really matter because it was the end of the series.
Name me a series that had a really great ending that was so good you actually didn't want it to go on any longer? I'll say Travelers for that - about the most perfect ending for a series I've ever seen I think - I think there should be an Emmy category for that and they should have won it that year. or also not because awards ceremonies are fake.
Also trying to get through The Sopranos - watched the first couple of eps at my Mum's on Sky but it's there and I can only get through so many eps when I'm there. It's 20 years old and you still got to pay for it so it must be good, huh? |
Edited by - pot on 08/12/2022 15:14:12 |
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2022 : 03:19:14
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What did you think about True Blood then Troub? Or did you skip it altogether because it was Alan Ball maybe?
Seems a shame if you did because (in the first 4 seasons anyway) it was really great - so long as you don't take it too seriously it was kind of half comedy/tongue in cheek maybe and I found it immensely entertaining. Lot of folk are pining for it's return, and I'd love to see that too but it would have to be Alan Ball in charge or else it'll be wank.
We've also lost probably widely regarded as the most popular character - Lafayete played by Nelson Ellis so that kind of ruins a TB reboot as well. Gay characters who are also hard as fuck seem to be a recurring theme of Ball's TV I've noticed? I don't know if that's a reflection of the type of character he is himself in real life - with all the Kevin Spacey stuff going on as well I'm wondering how that is all reflecting on Alan Ball, not wishing to cast any aspersions.. Hollywood seems to be a magnet for predatory types in general. |
Edited by - pot on 08/13/2022 03:31:01 |
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2022 : 12:41:20
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| Just watched Moonfall on Am Prime - pretty fun sci-fi disaster movie with a bit of an old skool feel to it and some edge of your seat jaw dropping CGI! It's a bit cheesy as you might expect but it's not too bad and manages to avoid ruining some scenes with ill-thought out anachronisms as they usually do with blockbusters. Get the popcorn out, crack open a bottle and put your feet up and enjoy a two hour thrill ride. |
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
Posted - 08/18/2022 : 08:30:47
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Holy Guacamole! I thought the season finale of Better Call Saul was last week? There's still one more espiode to go - woohoo!
I kind of though the final scene was a good way to end it - but apparently there's still more.. |
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Troubles A Foot
= Cult of Ray =
USA
965 Posts |
Posted - 08/25/2022 : 14:59:39
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Moonfall was one of the funniest bad things I've ever seen! I mean, I had a fun time laughing at it with my friends, but I was shocked throughout how awful it was on every level. There's a shot of the main guy standing in a dumpster with such bad green screen that it looked like an SNL sketch. I just started laughing in the theater. A movie really crapped out without any care for anything except sucking up to China.
As for True Blood, no I never watched it. I had a friend who at the time told me it was awful. It just didn't seem like something I'd enjoy. |
Edited by - Troubles A Foot on 08/25/2022 15:18:10 |
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
Posted - 08/25/2022 : 23:05:18
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True Blood was great - but it did receive a fair bit of negative criticism. It was completely over the top - lots of daft vampire special effects and stuff but if you looked beyond that it was more than your average supernatural TV series - it was basically a comedy and at the time I likened it to Being Human which was airing in the UK which was also some kind of off-beat comedy drama about vampires and werewolves living normal lives. Then the US got it's own spin-off version of Being Human which was complete crap.
Ah well, if you don't give a go then you'll never know. If Homeland Security ever let me in the US for a bucket list trip I've bookmarked in Bon Temps for a visit (or whatever the actual place is called). |
Edited by - pot on 08/25/2022 23:05:54 |
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Troubles A Foot
= Cult of Ray =
USA
965 Posts |
Posted - 08/27/2022 : 10:19:28
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| Checking out Severance. Two episodes in and enjoying it. But part of me thinks "this should have just been a movie" and I also wonder why they use CGI for stuff that would be so much more effective practically, like black goo dripping down someone's desk. Just put some goo on it! Jesus christ. Laziness. |
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Troubles A Foot
= Cult of Ray =
USA
965 Posts |
Posted - 09/03/2022 : 17:34:14
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Finished Severance, really loved where it went. I highly recommend.
I have COVID this week and feel miserable. You'd think it would be a good time to watch a lot of movies or binge a TV show but my fiance is so busy she can't really do much, and it's hard thinking of stuff to watch without her that she's not interested in. And the stuff I do watch without her isn't that great. So it's been kinda shitty. |
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Bedbug
> Teenager of the Year <
3167 Posts |
Posted - 09/06/2022 : 03:08:07
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The Humanity Bureau starring Nic Cage.
Cage makes about 5-6 films a year these days, and this one is a bullseye. Dystopian government conspiracy mystery fabric of time love story sentimental confusion. 90 minutes well spent |
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
Posted - 09/13/2022 : 02:52:36
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Well I personally think Paddy Considine is nailing it playing King Visceris Targaryen in the new GoT series House Of The Dragon. I mean, the guy is usually pretty much amazing in anything he’s in - especially Dead Man’s Shoes - a very adept and versatile actor indeed. All hail the king!
Totally forgot about the GoT Panto as well lol - very good latest ep 4 |
Edited by - pot on 09/13/2022 03:29:13 |
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Bedbug
> Teenager of the Year <
3167 Posts |
Posted - 09/13/2022 : 04:08:25
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| Succession won the big prize last night, and I would definitely recommend it for those who haven’t seen it |
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Troubles A Foot
= Cult of Ray =
USA
965 Posts |
Posted - 09/13/2022 : 18:02:42
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I want to watch that show very badly.
Watching and enjoying House of the Dragon. I'm not a big Game of Thrones fan but for some reason I was really in the mood to be in that world again and the show is well made and feels like back to what made the first several GoT seasons interesting.
We also just started The Prisoner, which is really cool so far. |
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Bedbug
> Teenager of the Year <
3167 Posts |
Posted - 09/17/2022 : 19:10:15
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| Finally watching Mad Men and loving it |
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Troubles A Foot
= Cult of Ray =
USA
965 Posts |
Posted - 09/17/2022 : 19:47:15
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| Yes...That is a show that will stick with you. I feel like me and my fiance bring up Mad Men every few days in conversation. |
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
Posted - 09/18/2022 : 00:00:05
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| Mad Men is pure class - thoroughly enjoyed that show - disappointed we never got a spin off though? |
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Troubles A Foot
= Cult of Ray =
USA
965 Posts |
Posted - 09/18/2022 : 08:05:39
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The thought never occurred to me of even wanting/needing a Mad Men spinoff...I feel like generally all the character arcs felt pretty concluded in an emotional sense.
I've always wondered what Matthew Weiner's next show The Romanoffs was like. It got pretty bad reviews, as did a film he made right after Mad Men. I wonder what happened? I swear one day I will watch The Romanoffs. |
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
Posted - 09/18/2022 : 09:06:01
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| There was talk of a Mad Men spin off but I guess it got binned for whatever reason - I think they were talking about something with Joan? |
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Troubles A Foot
= Cult of Ray =
USA
965 Posts |
Posted - 09/18/2022 : 12:14:04
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| I'm googling it but all I really see is that the actors just joked about spinoffs in interviews, and that AMC was hoping for a Mad Men spinoff. But nothing actually serious. |
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2022 : 01:02:41
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| That’ll be it then |
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Troubles A Foot
= Cult of Ray =
USA
965 Posts |
Posted - 10/16/2022 : 13:57:22
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We're watching the stupidly named Dahmer: Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story on Netflix.
It's mostly REALLY good. Very well made. Scary and suspenseful and kind of morbidly funny with some great performances. What annoys me is after I watch an episode I look up what was fictionalized and that always irritates me. And the truth is always more crazy/funny/ironic/fascinating than the fake stuff these kinds of shows make up. Why not just do it as truthful as possible?? Worried the story of JEFFREY DAHMER isn't interesting enough?!?
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
Posted - 10/17/2022 : 05:39:50
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| Ugh I watched the first one of that - bit too 50 shades of gay for me. Then in episode 2 it went all flashbacky and I got bored and tuned out. Preferred the Dennis Nilsen one with David Tennant |
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2022 : 14:51:39
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| The Devil's Hour is soo good. Just watching it on Am Prime now - I'm only on ep 5 so still no idea what the twist in the end will be, but I'm sure there will be one? They just played "I Know There's An Answer" by The Beach Boys which sounds a lot like Hang On To Your Ego (something I've never noticed or realised but no doubt is common knowledge round here - it's the same freaking song but with different words) Or am I just tripping out man - this series is extremely weird and dark and menacing but also weirdly more positive and very ambiguous - some kind of psychological thriller with elements of The Shining in it (owing to a very talented child actor performance from the young boy) All the acting is outstanding, so it doesn't matter that you can't really follow the plot and it jumps back and forward in time a lot (something that tends to put me off things but this series gets away with it in a very interesting and creative way) If only Peter Capaldi had beed more like this in Doctor Who it might have been worth watching. Reminds me of his performance in an episode of Psychos (edgy offbeat Ch4 drama set in psych ward in late 90's in Glasgow that got cancelled after real psych professionals complained - so we didn't get a second series!) Jessica Raine, the guy who played Trevor the wide beater in Eastenders in the early 00's? Big fat hairy cop now who likes to bend the rules, would be perfect for a reboot of Cracker I think he's not a cop to be messed with? Sylvia Chambers, Ravi Dhillon and others. Top notch |
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Bedbug
> Teenager of the Year <
3167 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2022 : 19:05:18
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| Columbo |
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Troubles A Foot
= Cult of Ray =
USA
965 Posts |
Posted - 11/18/2022 : 20:09:01
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| I love the Chucky TV series. Season 2 is nuts. |
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Stevio10
* Dog in the Sand *
United Kingdom
1122 Posts |
Posted - 11/19/2022 : 11:36:23
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quote:
Originally posted by pot
The Devil's Hour is soo good. Just watching it on Am Prime now - I'm only on ep 5 so still no idea what the twist in the end will be, but I'm sure there will be one? They just played "I Know There's An Answer" by The Beach Boys which sounds a lot like Hang On To Your Ego (something I've never noticed or realised but no doubt is common knowledge round here - it's the same freaking song but with different words) Or am I just tripping out man - this series is extremely weird and dark and menacing but also weirdly more positive and very ambiguous - some kind of psychological thriller with elements of The Shining in it (owing to a very talented child actor performance from the young boy) All the acting is outstanding, so it doesn't matter that you can't really follow the plot and it jumps back and forward in time a lot (something that tends to put me off things but this series gets away with it in a very interesting and creative way) If only Peter Capaldi had beed more like this in Doctor Who it might have been worth watching. Reminds me of his performance in an episode of Psychos (edgy offbeat Ch4 drama set in psych ward in late 90's in Glasgow that got cancelled after real psych professionals complained - so we didn't get a second series!) Jessica Raine, the guy who played Trevor the wide beater in Eastenders in the early 00's? Big fat hairy cop now who likes to bend the rules, would be perfect for a reboot of Cracker I think he's not a cop to be messed with? Sylvia Chambers, Ravi Dhillon and others. Top notch
Finished this the other night, thoroughly enjoyed it. Wasn't sure exactly where it was heading until the last couple of episodes but didn't expect it to head in the direction it did - which is a great credit to the writing. Agree on the acting quality, all good and nice to see Trevor from Eastenders again - he was great in Chernobyl! The mum / son relationship was intense, as a parent to a non verbal autistic child myself, I found myself relating to some of those emotions. I digress but yeah Peter Capaldi character very interesting - I hope there will be other seasons / spin offs / prequels or sequels - there's a lot that could be explored. |
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Stevio10
* Dog in the Sand *
United Kingdom
1122 Posts |
Posted - 11/19/2022 : 11:37:37
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quote:
Originally posted by Bedbug
Columbo
Ah Colombo, love it. The episodes with guest appearances from Johnny Cash and Billy Connolly are two of my faves. |
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
Posted - 11/19/2022 : 12:14:02
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quote:
Originally posted by Stevio10
Finished this the other night, thoroughly enjoyed it. Wasn't sure exactly where it was heading until the last couple of episodes but didn't expect it to head in the direction it did - which is a great credit to the writing. Agree on the acting quality, all good and nice to see Trevor from Eastenders again - he was great in Chernobyl! The mum / son relationship was intense, as a parent to a non verbal autistic child myself, I found myself relating to some of those emotions. I digress but yeah Peter Capaldi character very interesting - I hope there will be other seasons / spin offs / prequels or sequels - there's a lot that could be explored.
It surprised me towards the end at how deep and intruiging it all was turning out to be. I though Jessica Raine gave an amazing hearfelt performance - I think I started to fall in love with her while I was watching it actually. The final episode was actually a little bit emotionally difficult to deal with in such a profound way - it basically took an interesting ontological hypothesis and ran with it - I'll be very interested to see what the producer of this series does next? Some guy called Tom Moran - I wonder if any relation to Bob Moran (the disgraced political cartoonist who was sacked from the Legacy Media for not following the narrative on COnVID; who is now 10 also times more famous/notorious and probably making more money than he did before anyway)? Funny seeing Steven Moffat as one of the exec producers on this too - he ruined Doctor Who basically so no idea what his involvement with this project was? Shite people can sometimes become good people
Defo one to hit up for a second helping I'd say
Still waiting for Chernobyl to come up on a Netflix or summat - Trev from Eastos is bad ass |
Edited by - pot on 11/19/2022 12:19:52 |
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
Posted - 11/28/2022 : 13:53:41
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| The Forgotten Battle on Netflix is a pretty good WW2 drama - if you liked 1917 which isn't a bad film then this is better - a snapshot of the lives of some people at the end of WW2 - set mostly in Zeeland and featuring a 50:50 of English and Dutch/German - not too much to make it a chore reading the subs though. Focuses more on the characters and individual lives than the politics of the war - got more substance to it than 1917 - very moving at the end. Terrifying also to think that this hole of corruption over in the Ukraine right now is filled with Nazi battalions and god knows what else now running around with a ton of our dirty money and all sorts of weapons, so strange and uneasy times to be watching stuff like this. But check this out anyway it's very good. |
Edited by - pot on 11/28/2022 13:54:20 |
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Troubles A Foot
= Cult of Ray =
USA
965 Posts |
Posted - 12/02/2022 : 07:41:58
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STARTED THE SHIIIIEEEEELD!! I've been trying to make this happen with my fiance for YEARS!
No spoilers. NONE. That's all! |
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
Posted - 12/22/2022 : 12:59:36
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| Just finished the new Netflix series 1899 - wow! Drags on a little bit sometimes but if you stick with it there are rewards - even though the ending is kind of predictable it was still pretty epic and the whole thing is a cinematic masterpiece with some great acting. Think Lost on a ship. No more spoilers other than to say Emily Beecham is pure sex. |
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What are you watching?
