| Author | Message | ||
     Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8649 Registered: 05-2005 |
Designated Survivor, season 1. The plot twists don't always make much sense, but sometimes it's good to just watch something that doesn't tax your brain too much. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8660 Registered: 05-2005 |
Get Shorty, season two. Even more hard boiled than the first. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8663 Registered: 05-2005 |
The latest episode of Better Call Saul, which is one of the finest hours of television I've ever seen. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8674 Registered: 05-2005 |
After watching more episodes of Designated Survivor, the fact that it's aimed at people of below average intelligence is really annoying me. Every time a plot point happens that anyone of average intelligence could understand, at least one and generally two characters will explain what just happened (eg "So you're saying she knows someone is in custody, but not who?" "Yes, she knows someone is in custody but not who it is." - actual dialogue). That's the difference between shows such as this versus, say, The Sopranos or The Wire. Designated Survivor assumes you're too thick to understand obvious plot points without having it spelled out, the best TV programs give you credit for having a brain and being able to add 2 + 2. Oh, well. I'll watch it until the end, but won't be taking any more risks on network shows aimed at halfwits. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8699 Registered: 05-2005 |
I went to a Lebanese film called The Insult last night. It's superb, and my Lebanese friend vouched for its accuracy. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1237 Registered: 04-2005 |
The latest by Jacques Audiard (Un prophèt, De rouille et d'os….), « The Sisters Brothers » an existentialist western ?! A excellent film, his first in English...beautifully acted. John C Reilly is superb. Highly recommended ! | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1238 Registered: 04-2005 |
The Big Gold Dream documentary told the story of the start of Scottish independant music, but focussed more on Edinburgh and Fast Products. Up on Vimeo (https://vimeo.com/231628936) to watch free is the self styled “B side” : the film “The Glasgow School” is composed just of interview footage, but for a Postcard afficiado it is a sheer delight. That Malcolm Ross, what a lovely man ! There is a brief mention of the Go-Betweens turning up in Glasgow and standing out amongst all those dour angst-ridden young Scottish musicians. Some great anecdotes from Campbell Owen, Davy Henderson, David McClymont, James King, Rose and Jill from Strawberry Switchblade amongst many. In the end the fact that people are still talking about the enigmatic Alan Horne and his various projects shows that he clearly had something. And “The Angels Know” is a great record. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxVNm-30 Oqk | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3997 Registered: 03-2005 |
Thanks for the vimeo link Andrew. And for the young James King link. I hadn't heard that one. You are aware that James King & the Lonewolves did a reunion album a handful of years ago, right? I have it. It's surprisingly good, one of my favorite "old guy" records. Perhaps a bit lumbering but very elegiac and soulful. They redo a bunch of their old numbers but I think a few things are new (or were not released way back when). Here is one of my favorites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOZbpj99 6II And for good measure, here's another: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxSF42Yl eXg | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 1250 Registered: 08-2004 |
Planning on watching the Big Gold Dream doc in the near future. Have recorded a film about Edwyn Collins too. I forget the title.I Last night I caught about half of Bowie's Glastonbury headline set from 2000. The first time it's been shown in full. The delay of the broadcast is explained here: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/o ct/25/david-bowie-lost-glastonbury-headl ine-set-bbc | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8721 Registered: 05-2005 |
I went to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 11/9 this afternoon. Wow. Just wow. If it's on anywhere near you, go see it. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8729 Registered: 05-2005 |
Just back from seeing Bohemian Rhapsody. It's great. I know they compressed a lot of things, but it's a drama, not a documentary. As for all those reviewers who say it glosses over Freddie Mercury's "dark side", well, no it doesn't. It shows him as being a gay man with a complicated life, and does not use that as something to titillate the audience. It doesn't shy away from Aids. It does shy away from drugs, mostly, but it's a PG13 film, not a hardcore arthouse film. To all those film reviewers who reviewed the film and not what they wanted the film to be, I salute you. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 557 Registered: 08-2005 |
Anything that doesn't involve Brexit, and I'm a real news obsessive. Except at the moment I can't deal with the self-induced destruction that is presently engulfing my nation. So at the moment I'm watching an episode of Family Guy that riffs on Stand By Me, a film I've never seen. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4006 Registered: 03-2005 |
Simon, when you're up to it see if you can get watch this . . . . https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/12/opini on/russia-meddling-disinformation-fake-n ews-elections.html?action=click&module=O pinion&pgtype=Homepage | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1930 Registered: 08-2006 |
Loudon Wainwright III's "Surviving Twin" performance/documentary film, now on Netflix. I saw the show live - it's him performing songs interlaced with recollections about his father, LW, Jr., and recitations from his dad's columns from Life magazine. It's terrific. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1248 Registered: 04-2005 |
Two films in the same evening in the wonderful Utopia cinema in Bordeaux. First off was Pawel Pawlikowski’s « Cold War », the Polish director’s 5th film I believe. Visually absolutely stunning on the big screen...beautiful black and white images...but for a story of passion it seemed to be lacking...well, passion ! The recreations of 50s Paris jazz club life are very well done though. Secondly was the first film of French director Claire Denis that she has made in English, « High Life » starring Robert Pattinson. Denis’ films are always original and offbeat and this is certainly no exception. Not sure that the plot stands up to much analysis, but I really enjoyed it. The film takes place in space, at some undefined point in the future and they receive beamed images from earth...at some point there is “Flower of Scotland” being sung and the footage is from a Scotland football match. Slightly surreal ! The cinema also has a catalogue of films that you can download onto a USB key and I came away with the Scottish film maker Bill Douglas’ 1986 work “Comrades”, which tells the story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs. They were transported to Australia in 1834 as convicts for their efforts to form a trade union. I love Douglas’ trilogy about his childhood, but have never seen this film, which seemed to vanish not long after its release. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1500 Registered: 10-2006 |
Two of my favourite TV programmes, Italian X-factor and Masterchef Australia, both of which exude a genuine sense of solidarity in these testing times – no bile between contestants, but a lot of sharing, laughter and group togetherness. X-factor has two amazing 16 year old girls this year who are both wildly talented, one a sort of cross between Kate Bush and Bjork, the other a tiny, confidant rapper with a soaring singing voice as well. There is also an Iranian trio, a sort of low key Morcheeba, playing an odd assortment of instruments and really opening up the programme to new sounds. Meanwhile, as cameras sail over gleaming downtown Melbourne and a rich ethnic mix of chefs cook and hug, it’s hard to believe that an elderly Italian bar-owner was recently stabbed to death not so far away. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8759 Registered: 05-2005 |
Stuart, I've only seen your post above now. I know that restaurant, Pellegrini's, in Melbourne well and have gone there every time I've been in the city since I first went there in January 1992. The second last time I was there, I had a good chat with Sisto, the man who was murdered. I was with my daughter and Pellegrini's was packed and I said to Sisto we'd come back later. He said "come with me". So we followed him into the kitchen where we sat at a small table and had our lunch there. It was a wonderful experience for us. As I was leaving I told him we were heading to a football game. I assumed, being Italian, he would be a big football fan, but to my surprise he was much more of a rugby fan. So we spoke for a bit about rugby and we were late for the football. The madness of random violence is amplified so much when you have some connection, however small, with a victim. Thousands upon thousands of people would have felt the same way about Sisto Malaspina, because he was a genuinely lovely man. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1507 Registered: 10-2006 |
That’s what came across in all the articles I read, Padraig. And to think he ran out of his restaurant, believing it was a car crash, to give a hand to the guy who then killed him. While there have been no ISIS related attacks as yet in Italy, Italians have been killed elsewhere, in Germany, in France, young reporter Antonio Megalizzi just a few days ago in Strasbourg. “Italians go everywhere”, said my wife, with tears in her eyes. And, as with Sisto, they often build something which is loved, and are loved themselves, cliché though it may be, for their gregarious and warm-hearted approach to life. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4026 Registered: 03-2005 |
I remember when a newlywed Italian couple were run down by a mentally ill person in a car in Venice Beach here in LA a half-dozen or so years ago. They were on their honeymoon. Horrible story about the Sisto Malaspina, Padraig. Last night I took advantage of the rare showing of a good film at my super-local Kino (which usually shows comic book blockbusters). I saw Alfonso Cuaron's "Roma." The only other film of his I have seen is the sci-fi flick "Children of Men." I have not been to Mexico City and the scenes of the 1970/71 era in beautiful black and white are striking. Inevitably it reminded me a bit of Buenos Aires where I have been. Substantively, this is a brilliant and (for me as a male) depressing film about just how undependable men can be. It's striking just how much this film is almost a feminist movie, albeit by a man. It is also an interesting depiction of the relationship between the indigenous people of central America and the European-descended privileged class. When I was in Buenos Aires, now long ago in 2008, I remember one weekend when there was a big demonstration. Huge numbers of rural people came into the city. It was unmistakable how different their bloodlines were. They looked a great deal like our indigenous here in the U.S. while the city dwellers of BA were overwhelmingly of European--or at least mixed European/indigeous--lineage. The movie left me with many things to think about. In other words, my kind of movie. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4027 Registered: 03-2005 |
Oops, "the" was not supposed to be in front of Sisto's name. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8762 Registered: 05-2005 |
Randy and Stuart, that is interesting about what happened in Venice Beach, because the killer of Sisto Malaspina also had a history of mental illness. He shouted out some Isis-inspired slogans, but the police said his actions were caused by his illness, not terrorism. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1508 Registered: 10-2006 |
From tragedy to comedy, as I try to catch up on as much Philomena Cusk stuff as I can. I often forget how wonderful British comedy can be and after about two minutes of Cusk on Britain was in a painful contortion of tears and writhing. The writing is beautiful but it's the delivery that makes it: finally the Bolton accent has found its sublime raison d'etre. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8772 Registered: 05-2005 |
All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records. Very good documentary. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1256 Registered: 04-2005 |
Watched the beginning of the Apartments live in Lyon...Lovely version of "Mr Somewhere", but I did miss seeing the full band on this tour. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWUtGS3N aDQ Beautifully filmed in B&W (or perhaps more accurately a B&W filter was applied ?!). | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 1260 Registered: 08-2004 |
I quite enjoy Masterchef Australia too. My wife is a big fan so I pick uo a lot of it by osmosis while doing whatever it is I do. The problem with that show is how huge it is. Every season becomes a drawn out marathon and we end up looking up who wins and don't bother watching the last few weeks. Also the presenters are constantly exploiting the pressure that contestants are under to make them cry. Which is an annoying constant on modern reality Tv Just recovering from shift work so I'm uo early watching terrible horror films. Today was Shocker a Wes Craven film from 1989 starring Peter Berg. Really bad hokum. Lot's of similarities between this and the Denzel Washington suoernatural thriller Fallen. Shocker is kind of glossy teen movie, whereas Fallen was kind of a claustrophobic, dark detective film. Kind of styled in the David Fincher success model post Se7en. I guess Wes Craven couldn't subvert or parody the slasher genre every time and make something successful or even ironically enjoyable. | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 1263 Registered: 08-2004 |
Me again. Watched 3 episodes of Sunderland Til I Die on Netflix. Which is a fine documentary about AFC Sunderland 's terrible season last year and the impact it has on the people of the town as well as the staff at the club. Shows beautifully Where sport hits on community and society just as it should. Rather than the global brand ideal of modern footy that clubs tend to strive for. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8805 Registered: 05-2005 |
You just have to look at this. It is Brexit explained in 24 seconds. And it's the funniest thing I've seen in a very long time. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/offbeat/ this-could-be-the-funniest-piece-of-brex it-news-so-far-this-year-1.3777305 | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8806 Registered: 05-2005 |
Springsteen on Broadway on Netflix. Rob, I’m so envious you got to see this show in the flesh. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1937 Registered: 08-2006 |
It was a hell of thing, Padraig, and well worth the time and treasure. The Netflix rendering does it proud, though. I'm super glad they didn't try to tart it up. This a faithful rendition of the show I saw, just from an improved vantage point. But there's no denying it was special to be in the room. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4054 Registered: 03-2005 |
Stay warm Rob! |