Watch, Watched, Watching: My Queen's Gambit brings all the boys to the yard

[Veltigar]

18 hours ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

The villain’s actor is more recently known as Garak from DS9

I hope he's more engaging there than in Dirty Harry. Although I guess fascism doesn't help people shine that much.

[Vaughn]

On 1/21/2021 at 5:32 PM, HelenaExMachina said:

Finished up the Crown, it was fine but I hate every single person on it.

 

Isn't that the logical conclusion about watching a series about the British royals and Thatcher? It's like watching 'Amistad' and being surprised to find that you don't like Van Buren.

[Derfel Cadarn]

58 minutes ago, Veltigar said:

I hope he's more engaging there than in Dirty Harry. Although I guess fascism doesn't help people shine that much.

He’s brilliant as Garak.

https://twitter.com/garakbashir4eva/status/1350139338852601860?s=21

[Zorral]

Discovery's 2017 Manhunt: Deadly Games, on Neflix as of December last year.

It was unexpectedly engaging, with excellent locations, talented actors, excellent momentum.  I don't know how historically accurate it remains after the focus switches from Atlanta, the 1996 Atlantic Olympics, Richard Jewell and his mother's ordeal, and the establishment that both the FBI and at least a particular journalist-'the media' are doofuses and scumbags.  Though we return to Atlanta regularly, we move pretty much to North Carolina and the community of Murphy the Nantahalla Forest, about the size of Rhode Island.

There's a lot more going on in this series than on the surface, and why the US is what is right now -- and even, how so'nso evoked cult devotion. However, again, I do not know how historically accurate this is, or how fictionalized. The real bomber fools the local militia and town just the way so'nso does, and screws 'em too. The difference is the town realizes it and changes sides.

The actors who play Richard Jewell, his lawyer, the Murphy-Nantahala sheriff, and, ATF bomb specialist Earl Embry played by Arlis Howard, are watching joy. Sheriff Thompson is played by Nick Searcy, who was the best character in Justified, Art Mullen. It's hilarious, but these are our romantic hero identification characters. They are so at home, so at ease, in their roles. Cameron Britton, who plays falsely accused and entrapped Richard Jewell, is heartbreaking, but he too is watch joy, as we see his inner hero-hood come through, not just once when he saves so many from the bomb, but when he has to endure the FBI, the national media, strangers and neighbors abuse him, threaten his life, and refuse to buckle under.  His only defender, other than his mom who is off-and-on about it, is a real estate lawyer, played by Jay O. Sanders, who's come to represent him.  In the end it's really clear this guy is thousands of time more talented as a lawyer than rudy giuliani.

Among other good things: as the FBI continues to eff up and step on its inflated dick, the NC Murphy militia plays The Misty Hills, on bagpipes. Shades of Diana Gabaldon’s North Carolina volumes in her Outlander series, in the books pre the Revolutionary War.  They got this right.  (Also, later, the Whiskey Rebellion.  All these long before the War of the Rebellion.) Even one of the shots in Deadly Games of the Nantahala Forest NC, has the long waterfall, from Jamie's favorite view to show off  Fraser’s Ridge to visitors, in the Outlander television adaptation series.  My head, attempting all that time travel simulataneous, from the isolated present, to the past of 1996, to the Whiskey Rebellion ... felt a little sea sick!

What also makes me at least feel sea sick is this is what I knew and still know about the  Atlantia 1996 Summer Olympics, and all I know certainly: 1) Richard Jewell was the hero; 2) then Richard Jewell was the bomber; 3) Then, sometime, I heard Richard Jewell didn't do it after all.

I had no idea who did do it until last night.  Never heard his name before.  He wasn't gotten until 2003.  So much had happened hadn't it, between 1996 when a man and his mother's lives were destroyed, and 2003. So it's still Richard Jewell's name than anyone has in mind when the Atlanta Olympic bombing comes up.  That's how media helps create revisionist history.

 

[Veltigar]

Watched the third episode of WandaVision today. I'm still struggling to get engaged with it, so I'm giving it another episode and if my feelings haven't improved after watching it, I'll graciously bow out.

Also watched Archenemy (2020) an independent superhero film. I usually don't watch anything new that has such a low critic score, but I gave this a chance and I'm glad I did. It's a huge mess full of plot holes, but I did like some of the visuals and the performances. The director managed to create something that was at least original and if he had been surrounded by more competent staff (and a bigger budget), I believe this could have been Shazam levels of good or perhaps even higher.

Then there were the first two episodes of Godless (2017), a mini-series with the guy from 101 Dalmatians cast as a raging psychopath. I'm not exactly blown away by it yet, but given that I liked most of the performers and the critical praise this got I'll probably continue next week.

4 hours ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

He’s brilliant as Garak.

https://twitter.com/garakbashir4eva/status/1350139338852601860?s=21

I believe you. I'm just going to use this reply as an excuse to snipe a little more on DIrty Harry. This was supposed to be a stone-cold classic, but it's such a dreadfully dull piece of work. This should be peak Clint Eastwood, but instead it feels like a movie he made right after he stopped talking to that chair in support of Mitt Romney back at the Republican Convention.

It's very rare that I get to see a classic film like this and just completely fail to understand what the fuzz was about. There are plenty of films that aren't as exciting now as they were back then, but most of the time you can still discover a spark of what made it special. This however, was just a jawn fest. The questionable politics I could have forgiven, but the fact that the film was boring as well is just unforgivable

/rant over, sorry Derfel. I just had to shit some more on the movie. I was even planning on seeing the sequels but I guess I'll bail on that now.

[TheLastWolf]

Anyone watched The White Tiger? I've read the 2008 novel and it's pretty good. The Netflix adaptation has good ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, etc but I'm looking for reviews... 

[DireWolfSpirit]

9 hours ago, Zorral said:

Discovery's 2017 Manhunt: Deadly Games, on Neflix as of December last year.

It was unexpectedly engaging, with excellent locations, talented actors, excellent momentum.  I don't know how historically accurate it remains after the focus switches from Atlanta, the 1996 Atlantic Olympics, Richard Jewell and his mother's ordeal, and the establishment that both the FBI and at least a particular journalist-'the media' are doofuses and scumbags.  Though we return to Atlanta regularly, we move pretty much to North Carolina and the community of Murphy the Nantahalla Forest, about the size of Rhode Island.

There's a lot more going on in this series than on the surface, and why the US is what is right now -- and even, how so'nso evoked cult devotion. However, again, I do not know how historically accurate this is, or how fictionalized. The real bomber fools the local militia and town just the way so'nso does, and screws 'em too. The difference is the town realizes it and changes sides.

The actors who play Richard Jewell, his lawyer, the Murphy-Nantahala sheriff, and, ATF bomb specialist Earl Embry played by Arlis Howard, are watching joy. Sheriff Thompson is played by Nick Searcy, who was the best character in Justified, Art Mullen. It's hilarious, but these are our romantic hero identification characters. They are so at home, so at ease, in their roles. Cameron Britton, who plays falsely accused and entrapped Richard Jewell, is heartbreaking, but he too is watch joy, as we see his inner hero-hood come through, not just once when he saves so many from the bomb, but when he has to endure the FBI, the national media, strangers and neighbors abuse him, threaten his life, and refuse to buckle under.  His only defender, other than his mom who is off-and-on about it, is a real estate lawyer, played by Jay O. Sanders, who's come to represent him.  In the end it's really clear this guy is thousands of time more talented as a lawyer than rudy giuliani.

Among other good things: as the FBI continues to eff up and step on its inflated dick, the NC Murphy militia plays The Misty Hills, on bagpipes. Shades of Diana Gabaldon’s North Carolina volumes in her Outlander series, in the books pre the Revolutionary War.  They got this right.  (Also, later, the Whiskey Rebellion.  All these long before the War of the Rebellion.) Even one of the shots in Deadly Games of the Nantahala Forest NC, has the long waterfall, from Jamie's favorite view to show off  Fraser’s Ridge to visitors, in the Outlander television adaptation series.  My head, attempting all that time travel simulataneous, from the isolated present, to the past of 1996, to the Whiskey Rebellion ... felt a little sea sick!

What also makes me at least feel sea sick is this is what I knew and still know about the  Atlantia 1996 Summer Olympics, and all I know certainly: 1) Richard Jewell was the hero; 2) then Richard Jewell was the bomber; 3) Then, sometime, I heard Richard Jewell didn't do it after all.

I had no idea who did do it until last night.  Never heard his name before.  He wasn't gotten until 2003.  So much had happened hadn't it, between 1996 when a man and his mother's lives were destroyed, and 2003. So it's still Richard Jewell's name than anyone has in mind when the Atlanta Olympic bombing comes up.  That's how media helps create revisionist history.

 

Nice review and agreed, it's full of fine acting and I especially enjoyed Arlis Howard's swag as that ATF Bomb Specialist.

[Vaughn]

Agree to disagree - Dewey Crowe was the best character on 'Justified'.

As for the Jewell case, I recall the the real culprit, Eric Rudolph, being covered by the media pretty well as he was a fugitive for five years. There was a lot of conjecture that he was able to avoid capture for five years in spite of the fact that his general location was know through help by locals. Which, full circle, could easily have been a 'Justified' plot.

'In and of Itself' on Hulu is good.

[Zorral]

When the Atlanta bombing happened, there was a protracted dying going on in the family, along with other significant deaths -- family and friends -- clustered together in the same two years. I was flying back-and-forth cross country, and then writing eulogies and obituaries. Kinda went into a depression after that.  Then came 9/11. So was fairly checked out of the world at large from then and after the real bomber was caught, tried and convicted. Plus, you know, I don't have television or even own a tv. And before the internet and all the news services becoming online venues too.

Thus this was all fresh to me, and also no idea what was true and factual and what was scripted drama "inspired by real events." The actor who played Jewell's mom was also very good, just pitch perfect, it seemed to me.

However, what I do know the series got wrong a lot of the time was the women's clothes (Unless they were using the reporter's clothes etc. as a comment that the Atlanta market really is provincial and not the Big Kids like D.C.?) and cell phones.  They played fast and loose with that, as so many shows do now,  Especially the women's shoes and the shoulder pads which was a 1980's thing and gone by the later 1990's, certainly 1996.

 

 

[Argonath Diver]

 My folks have been pestering me to watch Lupin for two weeks. Dad loves anything French, they know I enjoy nearly anything heist-ish. 

I don't know what to say. Each episode I thought 'okay this is just act 1, next ep will convert me'. It never happened, alas. Sleek and stylish, I dig what they're going for with the character, but for each bit I really enjoyed, there was another that had me annoyed.

Spoiler

I'm not sure if I wanted more grand twists,  though I suppose it's a vaguely more 'realistic' depiction of a master thief who isn't actually masterful. 

I suppose it 'tricked' me thinking surely there'd be a twist that the rich daughter was conning the father etc, and not just a rich criminal patriarch as the baddie.

The cliffhanger episode that resolved absolutely nothing was really grating.

Rare for me to be dismissive of a popular show in a genre I like, but I won't pursue a second season, despite a likable style, charming lead, and strong acting. 

[HexMachina]

I’m watching Bridgeton. Its not mind blowing television but its what i want right now to cheer me up during long, cold winter days stuck inside through lockdown.

Also, @Buckwheat i’m kind of loving the show because it gives me a sense of: what if it was Liveships but we saw all of Malta’s courting and suitors? And now I need a Liveships series, as I have said far too many times!

[Heartofice]

20 hours ago, Argonath Diver said:

 My folks have been pestering me to watch Lupin for two weeks. Dad loves anything French, they know I enjoy nearly anything heist-ish. 

I don't know what to say. Each episode I thought 'okay this is just act 1, next ep will convert me'. It never happened, alas. Sleek and stylish, I dig what they're going for with the character, but for each bit I really enjoyed, there was another that had me annoyed.

  Hide contents

I'm not sure if I wanted more grand twists,  though I suppose it's a vaguely more 'realistic' depiction of a master thief who isn't actually masterful. 

I suppose it 'tricked' me thinking surely there'd be a twist that the rich daughter was conning the father etc, and not just a rich criminal patriarch as the baddie.

The cliffhanger episode that resolved absolutely nothing was really grating.

Rare for me to be dismissive of a popular show in a genre I like, but I won't pursue a second season, despite a likable style, charming lead, and strong acting. 

I said upthread but I suspect this is getting hyped up simply because it’s French and that makes us all think it must be something special if English speaking audiences are watching it.

It really isn’t special though, it’s very run of the mill, and were it in English nobody would be talking about it.

I found the last episode an improvement but really regretted starting to watch it two episodes in.

[Buckwheat]

19 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

I’m watching Bridgeton. Its not mind blowing television but its what i want right now to cheer me up during long, cold winter days stuck inside through lockdown.

Also, @Buckwheat i’m kind of loving the show because it gives me a sense of: what if it was Liveships but we saw all of Malta’s courting and suitors? And now I need a Liveships series, as I have said far too many times!

Hey, same!  I watched a few episodes of Bridgerton during the weekend.

It is ... not particularly historically accurate.

It didn't remind me of Liveships in any way though.  @RhaenysBee said it was like ... something combined with Gossip Girl (that I never watched), but I don't remember what.

Bridgerton is very y.

[RhaenysBee]

1 hour ago, Buckwheat said:

Hey, same!  I watched a few episodes of Bridgerton during the weekend.

It is ... not particularly historically accurate.

It didn't remind me of Liveships in any way though.  @RhaenysBee said it was like ... something combined with Gossip Girl (that I never watched), but I don't remember what.

Bridgerton is very y.

I thought it was smart of Bridgerton to set itself in a fictional period and basically do whatever the hell they wanted visually and social structurally. In this setup I didn’t crave or mind historical accuracy. In this sense, it reminded me of The Great which is also barely historically accurate but makes a point of not being so. 

I don’t remember what I said before either but a period version of Gossip Girl is certainly what comes to mind. And Reign, when it comes to historical accuracy (though Reign is about real historical events and people, which makes its design choices a bit more difficult to accept). 

[Cas Stark]

29 minutes ago, RhaenysBee said:

I thought it was smart of Bridgerton to set itself in a fictional period and basically do whatever the hell they wanted visually and social structurally. In this setup I didn’t crave or mind historical accuracy. In this sense, it reminded me of The Great which is also barely historically accurate but makes a point of not being so. 

I don’t remember what I said before either but a period version of Gossip Girl is certainly what comes to mind. And Reign, when it comes to historical accuracy (though Reign is about real historical events and people, which makes its design choices a bit more difficult to accept). 

Agree.  The alternate reality was a masterstroke.

I must confess, I didn't even make it through an entire episode of Reign.  The outfits, um, so like 1990s prom dress meets goth meets something something Tudor sort of??????, the accents, again, bizarre, acting, mediocre, I didn't even last long enough to decry what I'm sure was a butchering of the history.  

[RumHam]

Watched the first couple episodes of The Great North. I'm a huge fan of Bob's Burgers so I wish I liked it more than I did. Wasn't terrible though and these things do tend to improve over time. I'll keep watching. 

[RhaenysBee]

1 hour ago, Cas Stark said:

Agree.  The alternate reality was a masterstroke.

I must confess, I didn't even make it through an entire episode of Reign.  The outfits, um, so like 1990s prom dress meets goth meets something something Tudor sort of??????, the accents, again, bizarre, acting, mediocre, I didn't even last long enough to decry what I'm sure was a butchering of the history.  

I watched Reign and after the initial struggle of accepting its surreality I found it entertaining. Bridgerton, however, is a far better constructed and executed story in every regard. It’s pulp fiction but absolutely great at that. 

[Martell Spy]

On 1/23/2021 at 9:09 PM, TheLastWolf said:

Anyone watched The White Tiger? I've read the 2008 novel and it's pretty good. The Netflix adaptation has good ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, etc but I'm looking for reviews... 

I did not know it's a novel. I may well check that out.

Just watched White Tiger. An excellent movie. Really gets down in to the grit and realism of what it's like to be really poor in India....and the crimes that must be committed to escape what the character calls the rooster coop.

"A good servant must know his masters from end to end, from lips to anus."

 

[Ghostlydragon]

I finished x files season 8 recently and was quite happy with it. It's known for being the season where things start changing but I found that to be a good thing. After seven years shows need to start changing things to stay fresh and they did a great job. Robert Patrick was a great addition to the cast.

Next up is Better Call Saul season 3. Then Cobra Kai season 2 and then X Files season 9.

[Isis]

Started watching Requiem which is a BBC mini series I've had on my Netflix list for ages. It's a dark, spooky mystery set in Wales. Strong cast of vaguely familiar actors, including Bella Ramsey (Lyanna Mormont). Might even be a bit too spooky for me to watch on my own.

ETA: I finished watching Little Fires Everywhere and it had a strong conclusion with some impressive performances. Kind of sad and depressing on a deep level.

no resolution for poor Izzy :(