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

[agnosticpipe]

We just discovered Poldark on BBC. They're showing all of them from the first season on. My wife likes period pieces like this, and it's kind of interesting. 4/5
Also started watching the science fiction series Debris on network tv. So far 4/5, but I like science fiction.

 

[STP]

The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart. I’ve see countless music documentaries, and this is one of the best. A good rise and fall, and rise and fall again story... 5/5?

 

[ssjones]

The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart. I’ve see countless music documentaries, and this is one of the best. A good rise and fall, and rise and fall again story... 5/5?
View attachment 72563

We really enjoyed that one, but like the Glen Campbell doc, a somewhat bittersweet ending.

 

[mawnansmiff]

Once the news is over my evening's entertainment will be Supertramp: Live In Paris 1979 DVD.

Regards,

Jay.

 

[ssjones]

I just started watching Season 3 of American Gods. Apparently its sort of a reboot and so far, it's much better than Season 2 which appeared to lose its way.

 

[gervais]

Currently watching Smallville. That ought to keep me busy the rest of the year

 

[mawnansmiff]

For tonight's viewing pleasure I have my newly arrived Joe Bonamassa 'Live At The Greek' DVD.

I'm a huge fan of JB so expect a thoroughly entertaining evening ahead

Regards,

Jay.

 

[STP]

I saw Hillbilly Elegy listed on Netflix several weeks ago and passed... kept seeing it over and over again, but found the subject matter uninteresting. I finally succumbed due to absolute boredom and was pleasantly surprised (I love when that happens). This is a very good movie, with outstanding acting... and Ron Howard/Opie has a pretty good track record as a director. 4.5/5 ?

 

[STP]

We really enjoyed that one, but like the Glen Campbell doc, a somewhat bittersweet ending.

I just saw the Glen Campbell documentary. I thought it was good, but was somewhat conflicted with the family’s decision to release certain footage, which seemed exploitive, vs. the educational value of Alzheimers. Nonetheless, it’s truly a sad story and a devastating disease when you can’t recognize your love ones and all of your memories are erased.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

A car buff friend of mine recommended the Joe Bronco docudrama to me.

It had it's moments that I laughed until I had tears in my eyes, and moments when I just rolled my eyes back into my head. I hate the main character as a human, but it was still interesting. By the end, it was so ridiculous that I just turned it off.
But, if you're an automobile aficionado, you'll probably enjoy it way more than I did. I just don't like Broncos.
But, I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars. The moments when I did laugh were side splitters.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I just started watching Season 3 of American Gods. Apparently its sort of a reboot and so far, it's much better than Season 2 which appeared to lose its way.

The book is very much all over the place also. It is like three different books crammed together into one. Then they added bits from his other books to the series to include more of Neil Gaiman's God legacies. Having read all of his books, it helps to expect the story to meander a bit.

 

[tbradsim1]

Debris is interesting, Oldest Son told me about it, Binged watched The Serpent on Netflix last night. Very good series, both of them.

 

[mawnansmiff]

Having just come to the end of my third watching of the terrific Deadwood box set I will now start on the 33 disc Dexter box set I bought back in September last year.

The reviews are very good so I expect some great viewing over the next few evenings.

Regards,

Jay.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

We started watching the BBC series Grantchester, and finally a British TV show that doesn't seem like it was made as a high school project, ha ha. It is not like most series nowadays, where a whole season is one long movie, but it is broken up like an actual TV show, with a different mystery being solved each episode. Pretty good, but needs more pipesmoking. 4.5/5 stars.
It actually appeals to a more American palate of TV shows, IMO. The videography and sound is very professional. And, the acting and writing is very good. Hard to believe it is a BBC, ha ha.

 

[jpmcwjr]

My Lady and I loved Grantchester! 5/5 for us.

 

[autumnfog]

Unknown Soldier, based on the novel by Väinö Linna. 4.5/5.

The Unknown Soldier (2017) ⭐ 7.7 | Drama, War

2h 12m

www.imdb.com

 

[kcghost]

You know it is April so I'm watching baseball. After the tough winter we had it is nice to watch a baseball game or three.

 

[mso489]

I thought the PBS Ken Burns documentary on Hemingway was incisive and well done. I've read quite a bit of his work and along with several people in the show, I think "A Farewell To Arms" was his best novel, followed closely by "A Son Also Rises," "For Whom The Bell Tolls," and the short stories. "A Moveable Feast" is his best non-fiction, although mean toward some of his "friends." I liked the clear-eyed connection of Hemingway's use of cadence in his prose with that of Gertrude Stein, and his formative admiration of Theodore Roosevelt and his adventuring and big game hunting. He was good at forever falling in love and not good at all being married. But he got the writing done. The scene where the protagonist and his woman friend simply row away from war (since his own side is executing their own troops, not knowing who might be enemy impersonators) is perhaps the best anti-war scene in American literature. The tragic ending is needed for literary gravitas (pregnant girlfriend loses infant and dies). But the book can end with the rowing, and it would be a grand statement without the mandatory tragedy. I think he was done in by head injuries and alcohol as much as suicide which was a product of those burdens and genetic depression.

 

[prndl]

"Nomadland". Hulu.

This is a good film, well written, acted and directed.

That said, it is long, long on character and short, short on plot. Somewhere in the first half of the movie, you may even wonder if there is even a point to it all. As well, I did find it ironic that the characters eschew capitalism, yet take advantage of it whenever it suited them. However, Mrs. McDormand somehow brings the theme together in the final scenes.

Some "shakey-cam".

4/5.

 

[prndl]

"The Irregulars". Netflix.

If you click on this movie thinking you've finally found a great storyline around the Baker Street Irregulars, you're gonna be really pissed. In this rendition, (which plays more like "Scooby-Doo vs. the Werewolves of London"), Sherlock is a drugged-out, weak-spined has-been, Watson is a black homosexual and Wiggins is now a brilliant Asian girl who never gets any credit for solving Sherlock's cases. This isn't a series, this is silliness that has nothing to do with Sir Arthur's characters or stories.

This is also what happens when the "woke" defines your institutions.

On the bright side, there is very little "shakey-cam", so i'll have to give credit for that.

1/5.