What are You Watching, 2021? Rating [*/5]

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Started Lilyhammer last night, four episodes in, and it's pretty damn good. The premise is that a gangster rolls over on a mob boss, and request to go to Lilyhammer, Norway for witness protection. He watched the Olympics there decades ago and liked it. While there, he shows those red tape lovin' Norwegians how to "get things done", and brings mobster ways to the icy North. It's really well written, mmmmm funny, and very entertaining. But, some of the jokes fall flat. As always, I think it needs more violence and graphic sex... but, for creativity and originality and great characters, I give it a 4.5/5 stars.

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prndl

Lifer
Apr 30, 2014
1,571
2,901
"Goliath". Amazon Prime.

The "final" season is a bit quieter than the other three but, Billy Bob is always a hoot and J.K. Simmons again gives a premiere performance.

4/5
 
An update on Lilyhammer…. One episode away from the last on season one. So many holes and mess ups in the plot, and such bad acting that I have to remove a star. Since when did NY hitmen already know fluent Norwegian one day into arriving in the land of Vikings? When the hitmen reveal that the cop was an Elvis impersonator to the Norwegian cops, how did they know? I can suspend my disbelief, but come on. The acting,,, don’t just read the lines, make me believe…. And Van Zandt comes across as more of a stereotypical 1950’s Jewish promoter or producer than an Italian hitman by episode 5. I’m not sure why anyone would really be afraid of him. He’s more comical than threatening. 3.5/5

But, if you are interested in Norwegian things, IF NORWAY is really this emotionless and the people this terrified of a vanilla bureaucracy, then it is at least interesting.
 

STP

Lifer
Sep 8, 2020
4,120
9,591
Northeast USA
Started Lilyhammer last night, four episodes in, and it's pretty damn good. The premise is that a gangster rolls over on a mob boss, and request to go to Lilyhammer, Norway for witness protection. He watched the Olympics there decades ago and liked it. While there, he shows those red tape lovin' Norwegians how to "get things done", and brings mobster ways to the icy North. It's really well written, mmmmm funny, and very entertaining. But, some of the jokes fall flat. As always, I think it needs more violence and graphic sex... but, for creativity and originality and great characters, I give it a 4.5/5 stars.

View attachment 104093
I binge watched this last yr. Agree, it starts out good, picks up in the 2nd season, but crashes in the third/final season, which is disappointing as it had potential. There are also a few Soprano connections in a couple episodes that I enjoyed.
 
Jun 9, 2018
4,077
13,150
England
The Phantom on Netflix. It's a documentary about Carlos DeLuna, he was a innocent man who was convicted of murder and later executed. It was a case of mistaken identity and the whole thing just reaffirmed my belief that the death penalty isn't a good idea.
Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of scumbags out there who deserve to be put to death but the problem is there's no way to correct a mistake.

A sad sad story.

Trailer:
 

STP

Lifer
Sep 8, 2020
4,120
9,591
Northeast USA
I watched The Forgotten Battle on Netflix last night. It’s a Dutch WWII movie based on the Battle of the Scheldt, which took place in southwestern Netherlands. If you like WWII movies, then check it out. 4/5 ?

61AEFE5C-1336-4D9D-AB23-2B148C6B24E1.jpeg
 
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ssjones

Moderator
Staff member
May 11, 2011
18,491
11,440
Maryland
postimg.cc
Kin - just finished the first series. 4.5 out of 5, each episode really improved as they progressed.
Only downside, the Irish brogue is so thick, I sometimes have no clue what was said.

Now onto McCartney 3,2,1 via Hulu
 
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jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,805
27,451
Carmel Valley, CA
My lady and I make use of CC when watching some Brit shows. Rather not, but it it beats sitting in a fog!

New to us season of Grantchester, (6?) 4.5/5 first ep.

Only reason I didn't like Ab Fab when I watched it originally is that the characters were too much like some Londoners I didn't care for. 3/5.
 

Philosopiper

Starting to Get Obsessed
Aug 26, 2021
115
393
Rewatched a few great samurai movies. Kagemusha, Harakiri, and Samueai Rebellion. Harakiri is my favorite samurai movie. I highly recommend that classic. I watch samurai movies because of the cultural aesthetic. Specifically, there’s an ever present tension, of self-restraint, in the atmosphere of these movies. Harakiri is perhaps the best example of that.
 
Jun 9, 2018
4,077
13,150
England
Just watched the new trailer for the Disney+ series The Book Of Boba Fett. It's great to see the coolest character in the Star Wars universe getting his own show but whether it'll be any good is another matter.
Fingers crossed?

 
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alaskanpiper

Enabler in Chief
May 23, 2019
9,377
42,702
Alaska
Started Lilyhammer last night, four episodes in, and it's pretty damn good. The premise is that a gangster rolls over on a mob boss, and request to go to Lilyhammer, Norway for witness protection. He watched the Olympics there decades ago and liked it. While there, he shows those red tape lovin' Norwegians how to "get things done", and brings mobster ways to the icy North. It's really well written, mmmmm funny, and very entertaining. But, some of the jokes fall flat. As always, I think it needs more violence and graphic sex... but, for creativity and originality and great characters, I give it a 4.5/5 stars.

View attachment 104093
I liked this show a lot as well.
 
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Found this video on YouTube from 1982 of Orson Welles interviewing Andy Kaufman. Andy looks genuinely in awe of the great man, which is totally understandable.

4/5
Those of us who remember the Kauffman days, don't trust anything about him. Being disingenuous was his "thing." If he seemed to admire someone, he probably despised them, and if he seemed to despise someone he probably was their best friend. I still to this day do not understand how people thought he was funny.

I liked his character, Latki, on Taxi, but once he started doing stand up he just seemed to lose his charm.

Those that think he faked his death... I wouldn't doubt it at all. Just one more of his not funny gags. IMO
 
Jun 9, 2018
4,077
13,150
England
Those of us who remember the Kauffman days, don't trust anything about him. Being disingenuous was his "thing." If he seemed to admire someone, he probably despised them, and if he seemed to despise someone he probably was their best friend. I still to this day do not understand how people thought he was funny.

I liked his character, Latki, on Taxi, but once he started doing stand up he just seemed to lose his charm.

Those that think he faked his death... I wouldn't doubt it at all. Just one more of his not funny gags. IMO
I really liked Andy. His wrestling with women gimmick definitely wouldn't fly in today's world but it made me laugh. Not a comedian in the regular mold and he definitely lost his way a bit but he was the original troll and i'd loved to have seen what he would've done with a medium like Facebook. Probably would've got cancelled pretty quickly.
 

goldenmole

Can't Leave
Aug 4, 2019
344
3,381
Copenhagen DK
Discovered "What we do in the Shadows" on Disney+ recently, and binge watching it since.
A comedy about some slightly dim-witted Vampires living in Staten Island. Hilarious! Btw one of the characters is often seen sucking on an obviously empty pipe of some sort....
 
We watched Kodachrome last night. It was both heart warming and very thought provoking, but was not funny, even though it is listed as a comedy. Ed Harris did a great job at channeling his inner Robert Duvall, but Jason Sudeikis... is always just the same stick up ass Jason Sudeikis from The Hang Over. Is it even acting when you are always the same character? But, it was thought provoking. A dying father makes his son who hates him take him on a car trip across country to get some film developed for his art project which turns out to be just family snapshots after he is dead. Great dialog, two angry guys who just cut each other down for an hour and 45 minutes. As always, I was disappointed not to see Elizabeth Olsen naked, and although there is death, there was no car chases, machine guns, nor heads exploding. Wife picked it out, ha ha.

I give it a 3.5/5. Sudeikis needs to push himself a little more.

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