2perennialreader
I am watching Around the World in 80 Days, a series with David Tennant on PBS every Sunday night. Also, on the same channel on the same night, the series All Creatures Great and Small
3Aussi11
New series of Vera this evening ,also enjoying the third in series Why Women Kill
4Aussi11
New series of Vera this evening ,also enjoying the third in series Why Women Kill
6sturlington
Last night I watched Nightmare Alley on HBO Max. This is a rather long adaptation by Guillermo del Toro of the pulp novel, starring Bradley Cooper, Willem Dafoe, Cate Blanchett, and other recognizable stars. The first half is set in a carnival, and I thought this was the strongest section--maybe it went on for a bit too long, but the end was certainly a punch in the gut.
7JulieLill
>6 sturlington: Definitely on my list to see!
8sturlington
>7 JulieLill: Plan ahead. It is 2 1/2 hours! I will likely watch it again, though.
9JulieLill
Here Today
This was a very sweet film about comedy writer Charlie Burnz (Billy Crystal) who meets a street singer, Emma Payge and hires her to watch after him as he starts to develop dementia. This didn't get rave reviews but I thought it was very touching and I thought Billy Crystal did a nice job in his role.
This was a very sweet film about comedy writer Charlie Burnz (Billy Crystal) who meets a street singer, Emma Payge and hires her to watch after him as he starts to develop dementia. This didn't get rave reviews but I thought it was very touching and I thought Billy Crystal did a nice job in his role.
10featherbear
As I recall, picked up Lee Child’s Killing Floor at a newstand in the New Orleans airport waiting for a flight out many years ago. Certainly passed the time for a long flight & layover. Over the years read others in the series, which I recommend. The series has a following; many of the fans are women, which I find odd, seeing as the hero, Jack Reacher does quite a bit of bone breaking & eye gouging.
In the novels, Reacher is a big guy, 6’ 5”, ca. 250 lbs. He’s a former military policeman and quite the eccentric. He travels the United States, either on a bus, hitchhiking, or walking -- never by car. Sort of a tourist, sort of a hobo. With his only family a brother, he tries to lead as simple a life as possible: he never carries a change of clothes. When the T-shirt & jeans get too rank, he buys another shirt & pants & leaves the used clothes in the nearest trash bin. His only luggage is a toothbrush. He takes his coffee black & is a man of few words. Almost a parody of a gunslinger out of an old Western. He doesn’t go out of his way to avoid trouble, but he tends to rely on his huge fists & bulging pythons, though as ex-military, he can be quite proficient with small arms, no pun intended. Travelling by bus, he often stops in small towns, and part of the fun is the author’s (an Englishman) take on American small town life. These towns are quite the opposite of the quiet Kansas town in the HBO series Somebody Somewhere; Reacher keeps getting in trouble because he is always somehow discovering where all the bodies are literally buried.
Two films were made of Reacher’s adventures & strayed far from the books. They starred Tom Cruise (5’ 11” according to his publicist) who in addition seemed much too febrile for the stolid ex-MP. Fans of the books did not like Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher. Hard to imagine Reacher air guitaring to Old Time Rock and Roll in his underpants. Amazon saw a need and an opening, & created a Jack Reacher series for Prime Video. The new Reacher is one Alan Ritchson, at 6’ 2” not quite as big as Child’s bruiser, but with the body of John Cena (see HBO’s Peacemaker) he otherwise fills the bill. His fists aren’t the size of hams (I’m sure Child was exaggerating) but he can certainly pack a punch, and his upper body (he frequently takes off his shirt – cause he has to change when the old shirt gets too rank, remember?) certainly checks off the eye candy box. Despite his appearance, he has the razor sharp mind of a cop (?) or Sherlock Holmes, able to read clues in nature or bullet holes like the frontiersman Hawkeye in The Last of the Mohicans.
So I started watching Reacher the series, Season 1. The first season of Reacher covers all of Killing Floor. It’s in 45 min. episodes. Killing Floor was not exactly a doorstopper in length & I expected the season would wrap up in 2, at most 3 episodes, but there were 8 episodes! Despite that, I watched/binged the whole thing in one evening (what’s so suspicious about all that cattle feed when the mogul’s herd is so small?). Despite the language & considerable violence & gore, it has network television ethos, and most (not all) of the good guys escape horrible ends, and the bad guys have horrible ends (so somewhat more bloodthirsty than the average cop show on network TV). The producers added some additional story lines to fill out the secondary characters, and for the better, even though it meant extra episodes. There’s a kind of subtle sometimes macabre humor always in the background. The villains go to such elaborate, baroque lengths to silence people who might give their schemes away where a simple bullet would do the trick. The purported explanation is that They Want to Send a Message. To whom, one asks? The assassin seem to include everyone involved in the conspiracy. Too self-reflexive? Or how does Reacher receive multiple blows from a crowbar without a bruise in one of his epic fights? Does the firefight at the end recall the one at the end of Pineapple Express?
In the novels, Reacher is a big guy, 6’ 5”, ca. 250 lbs. He’s a former military policeman and quite the eccentric. He travels the United States, either on a bus, hitchhiking, or walking -- never by car. Sort of a tourist, sort of a hobo. With his only family a brother, he tries to lead as simple a life as possible: he never carries a change of clothes. When the T-shirt & jeans get too rank, he buys another shirt & pants & leaves the used clothes in the nearest trash bin. His only luggage is a toothbrush. He takes his coffee black & is a man of few words. Almost a parody of a gunslinger out of an old Western. He doesn’t go out of his way to avoid trouble, but he tends to rely on his huge fists & bulging pythons, though as ex-military, he can be quite proficient with small arms, no pun intended. Travelling by bus, he often stops in small towns, and part of the fun is the author’s (an Englishman) take on American small town life. These towns are quite the opposite of the quiet Kansas town in the HBO series Somebody Somewhere; Reacher keeps getting in trouble because he is always somehow discovering where all the bodies are literally buried.
Two films were made of Reacher’s adventures & strayed far from the books. They starred Tom Cruise (5’ 11” according to his publicist) who in addition seemed much too febrile for the stolid ex-MP. Fans of the books did not like Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher. Hard to imagine Reacher air guitaring to Old Time Rock and Roll in his underpants. Amazon saw a need and an opening, & created a Jack Reacher series for Prime Video. The new Reacher is one Alan Ritchson, at 6’ 2” not quite as big as Child’s bruiser, but with the body of John Cena (see HBO’s Peacemaker) he otherwise fills the bill. His fists aren’t the size of hams (I’m sure Child was exaggerating) but he can certainly pack a punch, and his upper body (he frequently takes off his shirt – cause he has to change when the old shirt gets too rank, remember?) certainly checks off the eye candy box. Despite his appearance, he has the razor sharp mind of a cop (?) or Sherlock Holmes, able to read clues in nature or bullet holes like the frontiersman Hawkeye in The Last of the Mohicans.
So I started watching Reacher the series, Season 1. The first season of Reacher covers all of Killing Floor. It’s in 45 min. episodes. Killing Floor was not exactly a doorstopper in length & I expected the season would wrap up in 2, at most 3 episodes, but there were 8 episodes! Despite that, I watched/binged the whole thing in one evening (what’s so suspicious about all that cattle feed when the mogul’s herd is so small?). Despite the language & considerable violence & gore, it has network television ethos, and most (not all) of the good guys escape horrible ends, and the bad guys have horrible ends (so somewhat more bloodthirsty than the average cop show on network TV). The producers added some additional story lines to fill out the secondary characters, and for the better, even though it meant extra episodes. There’s a kind of subtle sometimes macabre humor always in the background. The villains go to such elaborate, baroque lengths to silence people who might give their schemes away where a simple bullet would do the trick. The purported explanation is that They Want to Send a Message. To whom, one asks? The assassin seem to include everyone involved in the conspiracy. Too self-reflexive? Or how does Reacher receive multiple blows from a crowbar without a bruise in one of his epic fights? Does the firefight at the end recall the one at the end of Pineapple Express?
11sturlington
I watched The Power of the Dog again last night since it got nominated for so many Oscars. The scenery is stark and beautiful and probably better seen on the big screen. The story is very subtle and benefits from a second viewing. There were some important things I missed the first time that made the movie much better for me, and even more dark and chilling. It's on Netflix.
12sturlington
Last night I watched The Mitchells vs. the Machines with my son. This was an enjoyable movie about family and the robot apocalypse that was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Movie. It's on Netflix.
13featherbear
Paddington 2 (2017) Haven’t seen the first one, but after a couple of starts I got into it. The final scene I found surprisingly moving, even though it was all CGI (the animals are CGI; the people are actors). The book series was written for children, so didactic in a Pollyanna-ish way & upbeat, appropriately. Hugh Grant in the role he was meant to play (he’s the villain). Like Pollyanna, Paddington is a guest from elsewhere staying temporarily with a family (mother is Sally Hawkins, of the Mike Leigh films, but not at all dowdy), and soon makes friends of with all the neighbors. Paddington’s quest is for a pop-up book of London landmarks. He covets the book as a birthday present for his aunt, who is approaching her 100th but who has always longed to visit London but can only afford to send Paddington there. He doesn’t have the money to purchase it, so he does odd jobs to accumulate enough cash to buy it. When he & the family visit a travelling carnival, he meets Grant, a former theater star now working as a magician, who learns about the book & the bookshop where it is held. Turns out the pop up book is a treasure map, with clues that lead to hidden treasure. Grant steals the book with Paddington hot on his trail, but the police mistake Paddington for the thief & he is sent to prison, where he eventually wins over the convicts. Not to give things away, but eventually the tables are turned, Paddington escapes, and Grant ends up in the clink with the convicts, where he gets to do a musical number with them during the end credits. Saw this on HBO-Max; I believe the movie will be rotated off the streaming service soon, but it may be available elsewhere or in your local library.
The first season of Peacemaker is short and sweet, and the sixth & final episode just aired on HBO-Max last week. The object is to destroy the aliens’ food source & involves Leota (Danielle Brooks) becoming a human torpedo, along with much mayhem. Best scene is Detective Song (Annie Chang), whose body has been taken over by one of the aliens, trying to persuade Peacemaker (John Cena) to join her/it in the aliens’ crusade to save humanity from themselves. The critics & the comments on one of the reviews interpret this as an ethical dilemma, though no one seems to have suggested that the alien might be – maybe? – lying. Second best scene: John Economos (Steve Agee) has to explain why his whiskers are a beard of many colors. The whole series is full of crude & snarky jokes (don’t quite get the Aquaman joke though), and mayhem, of course, and characters who are both comic and in some cases surprisingly sympathetic, and I recommend it especially if superhero movies aren’t your cup of tea. HBO-Max.
Somebody Somewhere (also HBO-Max) has not yet reached its finale. The most recent episode takes place when a cyclone hits the area. Joel (Jeff Hiller) is trapped in his car with a little pup he didn’t really want who now threatens to do #1 or #2 on his recently cleaned rear seats,, and Sam (Bridget Everett) and sister Tricia (Mary Catherine Garretson) are trapped in a barn where Sam brings the bad news of Tricia’s husband’s infidelity with her best friend. In both cases, bonding takes place. The series continues to be enjoyable.
The first season of Peacemaker is short and sweet, and the sixth & final episode just aired on HBO-Max last week. The object is to destroy the aliens’ food source & involves Leota (Danielle Brooks) becoming a human torpedo, along with much mayhem. Best scene is Detective Song (Annie Chang), whose body has been taken over by one of the aliens, trying to persuade Peacemaker (John Cena) to join her/it in the aliens’ crusade to save humanity from themselves. The critics & the comments on one of the reviews interpret this as an ethical dilemma, though no one seems to have suggested that the alien might be – maybe? – lying. Second best scene: John Economos (Steve Agee) has to explain why his whiskers are a beard of many colors. The whole series is full of crude & snarky jokes (don’t quite get the Aquaman joke though), and mayhem, of course, and characters who are both comic and in some cases surprisingly sympathetic, and I recommend it especially if superhero movies aren’t your cup of tea. HBO-Max.
Somebody Somewhere (also HBO-Max) has not yet reached its finale. The most recent episode takes place when a cyclone hits the area. Joel (Jeff Hiller) is trapped in his car with a little pup he didn’t really want who now threatens to do #1 or #2 on his recently cleaned rear seats,, and Sam (Bridget Everett) and sister Tricia (Mary Catherine Garretson) are trapped in a barn where Sam brings the bad news of Tricia’s husband’s infidelity with her best friend. In both cases, bonding takes place. The series continues to be enjoyable.
14Aussi11
>11 sturlington:
The Power of the Dog
The novel is one of my favorites, I will not be watching the movie as it would not be possible to capture the whole content of the novel.
Do you have any thoughts as to why the title ?.
In time if you are able to obtain a copy I am sure that you would enjoy.
The Power of the Dog
The novel is one of my favorites, I will not be watching the movie as it would not be possible to capture the whole content of the novel.
Do you have any thoughts as to why the title ?.
In time if you are able to obtain a copy I am sure that you would enjoy.
Devenir membre pour poster.
