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| carrobin |
 Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2022 2:32 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| Among TCM's holiday choices, I managed to catch the last part of "A Carol for Another Christmas," and I wish they had showed it again. I'm old enough to remember when it was shown originally, in the 60s, but of course I didn't remember much--and I caught only the "Christmas future" segment. The scene that really struck me was the arrival of the crowd's hero, Peter Sellers as a wild and crazy demagogue wearing a cowboy hat. He made a speech about the "Me's" (his audience) versus the "I's" (the opposition) that could have been an outline for Trump. I missed the ghosts of Christmas past and present, but found scenes from each on the TCM website. I hope they show it again--especially if Trump is still teasing another campaign. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2022 12:49 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6954
Location: Black Hills
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| Your Honor, the first season, is an absorbing drama, with a failing moral compass that shares some features (as well as its lead role) with Breaking Bad. A notable performance from Michael Stulbarg who plays a very serious man and New Orleans crime boss, whose younger son is killed in a hit and run accident. A district court judge (Bryan Cranston) carefully buries the truth and chaos and carnage ensue. Derivative in places, but it holds the attention in a firm grip. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2022 2:12 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Sorry, bart, couldn't disagree more. "Your Honor" was IMO one of the worst miniseries in memory, with the only bad performance ever delivered by Bryan Cranston. Not really his fault, since the only way to play this ridiculous part was to overact shamelessly, which he did. Stuhlbarg, meanwhile, didn't do himself any favors either. But they both looked award-worthy next to the horrific performance by the actor playing the son, whose name I have conveniently forgotten. Ugh. Again, sorry. I know we usually agree. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2022 12:04 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6954
Location: Black Hills
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Russian Doll is terrific. Like a dark and witty take on the theme of Groundhog Day which leaves no human pretense or foible unskewered. Laced with literary and psychological references that will slip past you if you're not paying attention. Natasha Lyonne is dark, damaged, astutely observant, and weirdly sexy.
If anyone figures out what that....thing on the bathroom door is, please let me know. Thank you. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2022 12:07 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6954
Location: Black Hills
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billyweeds wrote: Sorry, bart, couldn't disagree more. "Your Honor" was IMO one of the worst miniseries in memory, with the only bad performance ever delivered by Bryan Cranston. Not really his fault, since the only way to play this ridiculous part was to overact shamelessly, which he did. Stuhlbarg, meanwhile, didn't do himself any favors either. But they both looked award-worthy next to the horrific performance by the actor playing the son, whose name I have conveniently forgotten. Ugh. Again, sorry. I know we usually agree.
Quite alright. When I watched the next two episodes, I somewhat recanted on my favorable review above, and felt considerable disappointment. I shouldn't review until I've completed a season. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Thu May 05, 2022 9:10 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12902
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| I really wish Grey's Anatomy could convince Kate Walsh to be a regular on the show. It really needs a grown-up. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2022 11:45 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6954
Location: Black Hills
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The Netflix series, The Lincoln Lawyer, the first season an adaptation of Michael Connelly novel The Brass Verdict is watchable, with some good casting, but fans of the Micky Haller books (which start with The Lincoln Lawyer, and The Brass Verdict is the second in the series) may be disappointed that, because Amazon owns rights to the Harry Bosch character, Bosch is absent. Bosch plays a prominent role in the book, helping Mickey with a high profile homicide case, and turning out to be Mickey's half-brother. Somehow, that omission and other alterations (the movie mogul is now a game software CEO, Patrick Henson the driver is now a black woman) don't clash too much with the essence of the original story and I could enjoy the fresh take.
But really, Connelly is so page turningly readable that you could just as well go back to the book and make a nice movie in your head. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2023 10:09 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12902
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| I'm watching My Life Is Murder, with Lucy Lawless as a retired detective who has gone on to a life baking bread, except she keeps getting called into cases by a detective who knows how to push her buttons. Three major characters: Lucy's Alexa, Ebony Vagulans as Madison, her young accomplice/apprentice, and Bernard Curry as Kieran Hussey, the detective for whom Alexa consults. That's enough; it's a fine series and the three leads are great. And very attractive to the appropriate viewers. I have a feeling these actors and the guests are much better known in Australia. The series is set in Melbourne, which looks beautiful. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2023 8:25 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12902
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| Elijah and Monica on "The Rookie" are having a movie night. He just showed her the wood chipper. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2024 4:25 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6954
Location: Black Hills
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| Ripley is a series that I imagine Hitchcock would have liked, and some episodes (the fifth in particular) owe much to his influence. While I found the early episodes dragged in places, the series was never boring and at times spellbinding, and even the slow stretches offer a kind of immersion in a sixties Italy seen through a distorting American lens. Andrew Scott, an Irish actor who played Moriarty in the BBC series Sherlock, plays the title role, and manages a range of moods, from chilling to lighthearted to sadly empty, always skirting some kind of abyss effortlessly, as if being Mr Ripley was a stroll in the park. Moments of dark humor and wit also resonate with the long shadow cast by Sir Alfred. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2024 8:24 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Either of you two sciency guys into Rick & Morty?
I think the first 4 seasons are terrific.
Well, a bit uneven, but maybe 1/3 terrific a d 1/3 good episodes.
What I like is even the episodes with goofy or dumb premises go somewhere interesting. When we get into multiple Ricks & Mortys, especially when some get killed off, it can be disconcerting.
Probably my faves are the muliplicity ones such as the Council Of Ricks and when Morty becomes president. If you guys have watched some of R&M, we can discuss. S5 & S6 have moments and a classic episode or two, but are mostly inferior featuring a lot more frenetic action and overstuffed plots, and less character development. |
Last edited by gromit on Thu Apr 18, 2024 8:38 am; edited 1 time in total
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2024 8:30 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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| gromit |
| Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2024 8:41 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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| I scrolled back a few pages to see if we already talked about Rick & Morty. And noticed I was on a Dr. Katz Professional Therapist binge just pre-Covid. I almost forgot about that. Good animated Bob Newhart ripoff. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2024 9:47 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12902
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Currently streaming "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" off Netflix. This is a Korean legal drama (with lots of humor) featuring Park Eun-bin as autistic attorney Woo Young-Woo (which is the same flipped) who didn't speak until she was five, when she witnessed her father being attacked by a neighbor who thought his wife (Young-woo's babysitter) was having an affair with him. She suddenly starts reciting verbatim the legal code for physical assault. It develops that when her father is out, she's been reading his legal textbooks (he was a law student), has a photographic memory, and, amazingly, understood them. She eventually graduates summa cum laude from the top law school in Seoul but can't get a job for several months until the head of a legal firm realizes that her human resource department (and the HR departments of other firms) passed over a sure, if unusual, winner. And Woo Young-Woo soon proves herself to be, well, extraordinary and a wild card, with her encyclopedic knowledge of law inspiring unorthodox solutions.
Oh, and she also has an encyclopedic knowledge of whales, which she will share with an audience until they beg her to stop. Whenever she has a bright \idea, her eyes open wide and we see a whale sounding. (Also check out the sky in the opening credits. I took it for granted for three episodes.)
Check it out. It was a phenomenon in South Korea, for good reason, and I wish it wasn't a limited run series. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2024 12:18 am |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12902
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| Several of my shows disappeared with the new season. The Rookie and Resident Alien I apparently have to wait for, But I picked Up Brilliant Minds and Doctor Odyssey. I finally watched an episode of the former, which is based on the case studies in Oliver Sack's books such as The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. Finally watched an episode tonight which was fun, somewhat silly, and ended ten minutes before the end of the episode, which they spent working out plot threads I haven't seen yet. This time they were trying to figure out why five of the students at a local school simultaneously had false pregnancies. Doctor Odyssey has the problem that it is a medical dramedy set aboard a cruise ship and if you have that many dramedies aboard a cruise ship, it would get shut down. Also the female lead is maybe 10% as sexy as the new cook. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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