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billyweeds
Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2016 7:17 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
I don't see anyone here picking up on The Night Of. Too bad. This is must-see television.
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bartist
Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2016 11:05 am Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
FWIW, many recommends made here I will later purchase on DVD, since we don't have cable (and our creative lives seem to require that we maintain this ascetic regimen, heh heh).

For example, I recently watched season one of Better Call Saul, on DVD, after it being praised here and elsewhere. I like the difficult relation between Jimmy and his hypochondriac brother, the nail salon office thing, all the machinations to drum up business, and Mike Ermentraut's backstory. In some ways, more purely enjoyable than the descent into darkness that was BB.

Similarly, I would likely have not seen Season 1 and 2 of Homeland, if not moved by the raves here.

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Ghulam
Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2016 1:42 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 4742 Location: Upstate NY
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HBO's "The Night Of" turned out to be excellent television. It was very well dramatized, had multiple foci of interest and many twists and turns in the story. Very worthwhile.



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billyweeds
Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2016 8:33 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
Ghulam wrote:
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HBO's "The Night Of" turned out to be excellent television. It was very well dramatized, had multiple foci of interest and many twists and turns in the story. Very worthwhile.



.


Word.
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bartist
Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2016 5:39 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
A must-see, now that I know it has Peyman Moaadi (star of A Separation, and About Elly) in a major role. I see DeNiro was replaced by Turturro due to schedule conflict...that seems fortunate, to me. Nothing against Tribeca Bob, but more a case of seeing too much of one actor and not enough of the other.

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Ghulam
Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2017 2:59 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 4742 Location: Upstate NY
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I really like Big Little Lies on HBO. Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman are excellent as mothers of third graders. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée whose direction was exquisite in 'Dallas Buyers Club'.


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billyweeds
Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 7:21 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
Ghulam wrote:
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I really like Big Little Lies on HBO. Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman are excellent as mothers of third graders. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée whose direction was exquisite in 'Dallas Buyers Club'.


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Totally agree about BLL. It also uses music better than any show since The Sopranos.. In the latest episode, Alexander Skarsgard dances with Nicole Kidman and proclaims Neil Young's surpassingly gorgeous "Harvest Moon" to be "the loveliest song in the world" or something that hyperbolic. In context, his characterization seems 100% accurate. Never has Neil Young sounded more seductive or more of a genius.
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Ghulam
Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2017 2:20 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 4742 Location: Upstate NY
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On Big Little Lies


http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2017/04/06/big-little-lies-sex-and-the-city-in-hell/


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bartist
Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2017 7:23 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
billyweeds wrote:
Ghulam wrote:
.
I really like Big Little Lies on HBO. Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman are excellent as mothers of third graders. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée whose direction was exquisite in 'Dallas Buyers Club'.


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Totally agree about BLL. It also uses music better than any show since The Sopranos.. In the latest episode, Alexander Skarsgard dances with Nicole Kidman and proclaims Neil Young's surpassingly gorgeous "Harvest Moon" to be "the loveliest song in the world" or something that hyperbolic. In context, his characterization seems 100% accurate. Never has Neil Young sounded more seductive or more of a genius.


Context can do so much to elevate a song like that. I like that song - solid backing vocals from Linda Ronstadt, nice mix, everything. I remember a context moment in the late 70s. A summer lawn party, and a friend's cousin from Yorkshire was visiting and I was sitting there smitten by her - possibly the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, with this lovely accent, and the radio starts playing "Dreams." FMac had just topped the charts with it that summer, and I hadn't really heard it, just caught snatches and not paid attention. Oddly enough, the sky clouded over as it played, and those minutes seemed mystically soundtracked. Then my ride tugged on my sleeve, said we had to go, and that the fair maiden of Yorkshire was getting married in the fall. Kind of broke the spell. When the rain washed me clean, I knew....

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billyweeds
Posted: Sat May 13, 2017 8:51 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
Netflix is really stepping up to the plate, with new series that rise far above the pack. The second season of "Master of None" is, as stated by the eloquent Matt Zoller Seitz, even better than the first one. I've just seen the first two episodes, but they vibrate with a mix of laugh-out-loud comedy and rueful melancholy not unlike the superb "Louie" but warmed up and sent to television heaven by the presence of star Aziz Ansari, for whom a new synonym for "adorable" must be found.

"Master of None" is a series populated exclusively by lovable people. This pits it against the other series the first two episodes of which I've sampled. Here we encounter three quite unbearable human beings, who nonetheless command our riveted attention. "I Love Dick" tells the story of a couple stuck in a loveless marriage who find their sex lives suddenly and cataclysmically revivified by the woman's obsession with another man. The men are Griffin Dunne as the husband and Kevin Bacon as "Dick" and the wife is the absolutely astonishing Kathryn Hahn. Hahn has proven herself over the last few years to be an amazingly versatile actor in such wildly diverse projects as "We're the Millers," "The Visit," "Transparent," and "Bad Moms," but here she outdoes herself in a mind-blowing display.

Both of these series merit the adjective "great." Netflix is right up there with HBO and Showtime and PBS and...you name it.
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Ghulam
Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2017 2:07 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 4742 Location: Upstate NY
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After seeing the first four episodes of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" I think this is probably its best season. The guest stars are especially noteworthy, including Salman Rushdie, Bryan Cranston and Jimmy Kimmel.

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bartist
Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2018 7:55 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
Westworld is astonishing.

A study of what it means to be human, of existential questions of freedom and meaning, of the little loops and repetitive scripts we get locked into. To what degree is suffering essential to consciousness? Forget any genre categories you may have seen this slotted into, the first season is transcendent.

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bartist
Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 8:59 am Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
Don't know if anyone still looks in here, but I'll post this, in case any Westworld fans lurk....


https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/arts/television/evan-rachel-wood-westworld-interview.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

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billyweeds
Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2018 9:55 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
Wonderful new movie on Netflix called “Come Sunday” tells the real-life story of preacher Carlton Pearson, who got in trouble with the church by opining that hell doesn’t exist. Fascinating story grounded and nailed to the wall by an award-worthy performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor, who here achieves a career peak. Ejiofor is always at least good, sometimes (check out his awesome villain portrayal in "Four Brothers") more, but here he's just plain transcendent.

And he is supported by several remarkable performances from Martin Sheen (as Oral Roberts), Danny Glover, Condola Rashad, and Lakeith Stanfield. Faith-based movies have justifiably gotten a bad rap, but this one is the exception that proves the rule. It's a must-see.

Will post this in Current as well, since Netflix seems to ride the line.
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bartist
Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2018 12:15 am Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
billyweeds wrote:
Ghulam wrote:
.
HBO's "The Night Of" turned out to be excellent television. It was very well dramatized, had multiple foci of interest and many twists and turns in the story. Very worthwhile.



.


Word.


We just watched the pilot. Outstanding. Sleep will not come easily tonight. At one point the young man tells the detective "I can't breathe." Spoke for this viewer as well.

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