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Watch, Watched, Watching: Ringing in 2018


RedEyedGhost

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7 hours ago, ljkeane said:

Recently I've seen The Post which was very good and, probably not coincidentally, very on point for current events and Atomic Blonde which was a bit of a disappointment, a bit too much style over substance. It was also a bit confusing.

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She's a triple agent who's infiltrated MI6 for the CIA in order to betray them to the KGB to achieve what exactly?

I've also been watching Band of Brothers again over the last couple of weeks. It's still excellent.



I watched Atomic Blonde the other day and thought much the same as you. I mean, I did enjoy it on a purely style level but

my immediate thought was that she was originally meant to just be a KGB agent, the last bit felt so out of place. Then I checked and apparently it's based on a comic in which that is indeed the case. It's just tacked on with no thought to how it makes sense in the story. Really annoying, and the film would have been much better without it.

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Been watching FX's The People Vs. OJ Simpson this week.  Really enjoying it.  I was around eleven during the trial, so there's a lot I remember, a lot I don't, and probably plenty that I just wasn't old enough to comprehend at the time.  At any rate, great show, and they've done a wonderful job assembling a cast of doppelgangers for the people actually involved in the trial.  It's very interesting getting a more in-depth look at how the prosecution fucked this trial up.

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7 hours ago, briantw said:

Been watching FX's The People Vs. OJ Simpson this week.  Really enjoying it.  I was around eleven during the trial, so there's a lot I remember, a lot I don't, and probably plenty that I just wasn't old enough to comprehend at the time.  At any rate, great show, and they've done a wonderful job assembling a cast of doppelgangers for the people actually involved in the trial.  It's very interesting getting a more in-depth look at how the prosecution fucked this trial up.

The only one who really isn't a doppelganger is Cuba Gooding Jr as OJ, although he does a good job playing OJ's personality. But that didn't bother me much, since OJ isn't the main character. It's really mostly about Johnnie Cochran, Marcia Clark and Chris Durden, and all three actors' Emmys were very well deserved.

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Finally got round to watching Moonlight and was afraid it might have been overhyped somewhat but luckily it was absolutely brilliant, goes right to the top of my "2016 films that were released in the UK in 2017 that I eventually watch in 2018" list

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Been going through some HBO shows over the last couple months.  Watched all of Deadwood, which was awesome, then followed it up with the Sopranos, which was also awesome, but both shows has some serious flaws in characterization.  Both suffered from having moments where they were too much like caricatures of their role instead of real character building.  Followed it up with the Young Pope and really disliked it.  This one actually had some amazing characters and characterization, but was flawed in that the plot was convoluted and completely unbelievable from many fronts.  Now I'm watching Gunpowder, which has started off ok, but I'm glad it's only 3 episodes.

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1 hour ago, RedEyedGhost said:

I barely made it through the first episode and didn't bother even trying to continue. @Veltigar loved it.

I maybe didn't really love it, but I enjoyed it a whole lot, because it was really interesting.  I couldn't quite predict what the heck might happen next, and this was all the more fun because I had been reading histories of the popes since the beginning of the papacy, so I knew how truly weird things can get -- and even unpredicted by those who voted in some of the popes. It was acted by an excellent cast.  This doesn't mean I actually understood it. But then, who does actually understand the holy and the saints?

The Young Pope was such an excellent change of pace from so much prestige television.  As soon as I think of it, I can recall in sensuous detail the days of the early spring in which I watched it on dvd, and the discussions with all my amigas from St. Anthony's.

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Finished season 2 of Halfworlds, the HBO Asia dark fantasy series dealing with, so far, Indonesian and Thai mythology, mainly demons.  This second season took place in Bangkok and featured the peesaj from Thai mythology, whereas season 1 had the Indonesian demit. I preferred the 30 minute episodes of s1 to the 50 minute episodes of season2. The pace and story was tighter. There seemed to be a bit too much filler in the season 2 episodes. In addition to the tighter pace and story, I found the characters more interesting and the choreography was better. I still enjoyed season 2, but it fell short of season 1. I'm hoping there will be another season.

I'm now starting a rewatch of one of the finest programs in television history, Strangers with Candy.

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I watched the first couple of episodes of The Good Place on Netflix. I thought it was fun, I like the surreal silliness of it. I do associate Kristen Bell most with Veronica Mars where she showed some good comic timing, and I think she's brought it here as well even if her character is a bit shallow so far.

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I just finished watching A Futile and Stupid Gesture on Netflix. That was quite good. It was interesting watching Joel McHale play Chevy Chase - I think all of the actors playing all those ultra-famous actors did a really good job capturing their mannerisms. Definitely recommended.

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I saw Hostiles today. It was long and cliched at times but I liked it. After the first fifteen minutes, which are pretty intense, you kinda knew exactly what was gonna happen but the execution was enjoyable. The cast was really good (including an appearance from a certain actor I wasn't expecting) and the scenery was beautiful. 

It could've been trimmed down like 20 minutes and it wasn't a perfect film but I'd recommend it. 

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15 minutes ago, A True Kaniggit said:

Don't you get punished in the afterlife for falling asleep while Die Hard is on? 

I always thought the punishment would be falling asleep while Die Hard was on.

But yeah, Al just got his ability to kill people back! Victory!

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Finished the third season of The Americans last night

Thought it was a good season. Philip and Martha's scenes towards the end of the season were getting intense. I was waiting for Stan or some other agent to come in or confront Philip. Though I guess that happened in the first season with Amador kinda. Too early in the series for the Stan/Philip/Elizabeth showdown but I have to believe it's getting close. Paige reached the Pantheon of annoying kid characters this season. Not quite Dana from

Homeland, but she came damn close. Her relationship with the pastor is irking me. The biggest annoyance was how she demanded to know what her parents were up to, they tell her, and she acts like a brat about it for the rest of the season. Then she goes with Elizabeth to see her mom, and seems like she starts to have an understanding, and goes home and immediately calls the pastor. Starting S4 today. Looks like things will heat up quickly.

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Watched a really good documentary on Spielberg last night. We started watching it at Christmas but I think it started at 10pm and was on for three hours so we recorded it instead. Watched again from the start last night and it's really fascinating. There's lots of stuff about his own childhood and family life (with input from his family members) and how that relates to the types of films he made and the stories he wanted to tell, also the role of child actors in his films. There's also lots of the actors from his films talking about their experience. If you like films and film-making you should try to find it. I think it was on one of the BBC channels originally.

Also, young Stephen Spielberg was a rather handsome guy, kinda looked a bit like David Duchovny.

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