uncool2pillow Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 On 3/25/2025 at 8:54 AM, Chez said: Just watched a four-episode drama on Netflix - Adolescence. Fantastic. This is as brilliant and unsettling as television gets. As a middle school teacher, so much of it rang true. I fear for this generation, especially the boys. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beltmann Posted March 30 Author Share Posted March 30 I tend to like Jason Statham movies, but A Working Man is colossally bad, a tired, by-the-numbers stump that is substandard in every which way. Each scene is presented as if the script never evolved past the outline stage. There's no personality, no style, no suspense. But it's worse than that: The last thing we need right now is a dopey cartoon that glorifies extralegal measures and knowingly stokes the same fears that are currently being used to justify such authoritarian impulses. "It's just entertainment," you might say, and I hear ya. But right now, I can't help but feel that "escapism" as an excuse is simply not good enough. It may just be a movie, but in this all-hands-on-deck moment, it feels like a movie that has deserted its post. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
theashtraysays Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 Watched Conclave on a flight last week. I thought it was quite good - did a nice job of showing the catholic church as a troubled institution with many sincere people within. I liked the acting and the Hollywood twisties. But having Stanley Tucci’s character named “Bellini” was pretty doggone epic. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Albert Tatlock Posted April 29 Share Posted April 29 Binging the 4 series of Slow Horses on a one week free Apple TV trial. I don’t know of anything else good on Apple TV. I have missed Spooks being off the screen and this takes it up a level. Also always enjoy seeing the City and places I know (and the continuity errors when chasing around streets etc. where the locations are not actually next to each other). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brian F. Posted April 29 Share Posted April 29 Apple TV+ has an excellent track record of quality over quantity. There are a number of acclaimed shows on the platform. I personally have enjoyed For All Mankind, an alternative-fiction history of the era of space exploration. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SarahC Posted April 30 Share Posted April 30 AppleTV is great. I definitely think the storytelling is better on there than a lot of the other services at the moment. I really enjoyed Severance (though, it does start sow, and is pretty dense, so you really need to watch it without distractions. It took me 3 tries to get into it), Shrinking is a great comedy, and Harrison Ford is excellent in it, Ted Lasso is another really great feel good comedy. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
calvino Posted April 30 Share Posted April 30 Last night we finished up Adolescence on Netflix -- e-gads. A great four episodes. I watched the show with my 15 year old son -- it was his idea to watch it. After the first episode, I told him please don't murder anyone --- I guess I assumed it was already understood, but I just want to make it clear. I have never been on any social media (other than this board and another board, I guess) -- so it is somewhat foreign to me. Honestly, I just don't get the point of it. The show definitely brought out good conversations with him, myself, and his mother-- so that is good. Great performances by the actors, as well as, the director. Well worth watching, even though it was depressing as all hell. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Analogman Posted April 30 Share Posted April 30 Did you finish Dark? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
calvino Posted April 30 Share Posted April 30 Not yet --- Middle of season 2. Really great -- but man it is tough to follow at times. Just keeping all the characters straight and such. Really, really cool show. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Analogman Posted April 30 Share Posted April 30 I only watched it once. I am thinking about watching it again this summer. I like those European show. The Mire, Signs, Detective Forst, The Woods, The Chestnut Man, Cassandra, Black Spot, etc. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
uncool2pillow Posted May 2 Share Posted May 2 No discussion about Sinners here yet? Fantastic! Don't miss the credits!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
calvino Posted May 2 Share Posted May 2 Hoping to catch Sinners this weekend. Though the 5 yards of mulch just delivered may put it off. Just read that Buddy Guy has a role - the NY Times has a great piece with Buddy, regarding Sinners. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Albert Tatlock Posted May 15 Share Posted May 15 Shogun. A visual and cultural treat - stunning. A nice twist towards the end so it was not all about a 'big final battle scene' as lots of these blockbuster productions always are. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Albert Tatlock Posted May 25 Share Posted May 25 Will be watching:- Been a big fan of Tim Key's radio show for ages. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03pn5pl/episodes/player?page=3 Funnily enough I have ruminated for a while on the idea of bringing Augie March to the UK if ever I won the lottery. It would be at a normal smallish venue, but I would have a guaranteed good spot up front. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Boss_Tweedy Posted May 29 Share Posted May 29 I finally went to see Sinners. I was always the kid in school who, when asked for my interpretation of a story or a poem, was way off. The same goes for this movie, which has a lot more going on than I initially picked up on. It's a very good film with a lot of substance and unexpected turns. The cameos by real-life bluesmen (at least one of which will only be caught by big blues fans - I may have missed some myself) were a nice bonus. I need to see it again because I missed the post-credits scene. This will easily be among my favorite movies at the end of the year. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Oil Can Boyd Posted July 19 Share Posted July 19 Going to see Apocalypse Now tonight and Heart of Darkness (the documentary about the making of Apocalypse Now) tomorrow. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beltmann Posted July 20 Author Share Posted July 20 Eddington A bumper sticker masquerading as a provocation masquerading as an X-ray. Its dubious premise--the pandemic as ground zero for American pathologies like polarization, extremism, conspiracies, buffoonery and dysfunction--is a classic case of mistaking a symptom (cough, cough) for the disease. It's also about how technology and religion now ramp things up at warp speed, even encouraging people to live in separate realities, but is it an echo or an oversight that the story takes place in an American small town with dynamics that literally exist nowhere? (Perhaps John Waters could convince me this empty, dusty New Mexico town contains parades of white woke teenagers reading Angela Davis and Ibram X. Kendi, but Ari Aster can't.) The vague, doomscrolling screenplay feels cobbled together verbatim from the worst corners of the Internet without synthesizing those sicknesses into something credible or useful. I suspect the explosive third act will be the dividing line for audiences, the point where the movie (finally, at long last) hones its thesis or curdles beyond redemption. I'm clearly in the second camp, maybe because I prefer my artists to be closer to sharpshooters than shitposters. "You're Being Manipulated!," reads one of the endless signs and banners in this movie (seriously, "font selector" should have been in the credits), but it feels less like a satirical analysis and more like a heads-up. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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