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Post by Mr. FOLLARD on May 25, 2019 8:47:52 GMT
I finished watching that four-parter on the Hatton Garden heist last night. It was OK but you realise after watching HBO/US dramas that in the UK we tend not to bother (or don't have the budget) to do anything more than tell a story with decent actors. It's not like the direction or the photography is poor, it's just not there at all. Totally flat and unengaging apart from the BIG MOMENTS.
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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2019 13:42:10 GMT
Watched Summer of Rockets on BBC iplayer. Not in the habit of watching too many series, and this is why. Fucking awful. Ludicrous plot with simplistic sympathies and cardboard characters - and just in case you didn't know who or what to throw all your anticipation behind, it's layered thick with mawkish strings. Total waste of a strong cast.
Looked up the writer - Stephen Poliakoff. I'll make sure to avoid in future.
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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2019 13:55:56 GMT
I finished watching that four-parter on the Hatton Garden heist last night. It was OK but you realise after watching HBO/US dramas that in the UK we tend not to bother (or don't have the budget) to do anything more than tell a story with decent actors. It's not like the direction or the photography is poor, it's just not there at all. Totally flat and unengaging apart from the BIG MOMENTS. I think I enjoyed it more than you did. I take your point on the direction, which was pretty prosaic. However I also think the emphasis here was on the performances and characterisation, which were very strong. I liked how it portrayed them as hardened, ruthless criminals, rather than some Ealingesque portrait of doddery old lags, which is what you had in some of the other portrayals of Hatton Garden. I found the inter-relationships between the criminals pretty gripping to watch.
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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2019 14:02:18 GMT
Watched Summer of Rockets on BBC iplayer. Not in the habit of watching too many series, and this is why. Fucking awful. Ludicrous plot with simplistic sympathies and cardboard characters - and just in case you didn't know who or what to throw all your anticipation behind, it's layered thick with mawkish strings. Total waste of a strong cast. Looked up the writer - Stephen Poliakoff. I'll make sure to avoid in future. All of his stuff is like that..strangely mannered and stilted. This was actually a lot better than some of his other recent ones (Close to the Enemy was one of the worst things I've ever seen). At least it was gorgeous to look at and had interesting themes, even if the plot got a bit ridiculous. It's best not to take him too seriously I think.
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Post by Mr. FOLLARD on May 28, 2019 14:13:03 GMT
and I'll say it one more time - if you're not watching Chernobyl then you're missing out on the finest drama of our time. It currently has the highest rating of any TV series ever on IMDb.
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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2019 14:18:52 GMT
Watched Summer of Rockets on BBC iplayer. Not in the habit of watching too many series, and this is why. Fucking awful. Ludicrous plot with simplistic sympathies and cardboard characters - and just in case you didn't know who or what to throw all your anticipation behind, it's layered thick with mawkish strings. Total waste of a strong cast. Looked up the writer - Stephen Poliakoff. I'll make sure to avoid in future. All of his stuff is like that..strangely mannered and stilted. This was actually a lot better than some of his other recent ones (Close to the Enemy was one of the worst things I've ever seen). At least it was gorgeous to look at and had interesting themes, even if the plot got a bit ridiculous. It's best not to take him too seriously I think. Stylistic and not being particularly serious? No, no that isn't excuse enough for how shite it was. Of course that's just my opinion but at least I'll not be fooled by a good cast into watching his stuff again. I'd wonder who this crap gets commissioned but there must be people who lap this stuff up. Poldark (I watched the original series as a child and enjoyed it so I tried the remake) is 2-d and dreadful too but very popular.
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nolamike
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Old Fart At Play
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Post by nolamike on May 28, 2019 19:14:52 GMT
Lately I've gotten a lot of enjoyment from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, an Amazon Prime show. The Palladinos, who created the Gilmore Girls, are the ones behind it, which had me skeptical going in (I never cared for that show, despite my wife's love of it). The show follows a 1950s Jewish housewife in New York who experiences some upheavals in her life, which leads to her becoming a (shockingly obscene, at least for the time and her place in society) comedienne.
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Post by Mr. FOLLARD on Jun 4, 2019 2:36:37 GMT
and I'll say it one more time - if you're not watching Chernobyl then you're missing out on the finest drama of our time. It currently has the highest rating of any TV series ever on IMDb. I stayed up to watch the last one, which has just finished. It left me literally breathless. It has to be the most relentlessly depressing drama I've ever seen, but it was made with such dedication to putting forward the truth (whether the details were absolutely accurate is moot) that nobody watching could be in any doubt that the producers' goal in making this show was political. And nobody watching could feel anything other than disgust towards the way the Soviet machine handled the whole thing. It was only really with the epilogue when we were told and shown what happened to the protagonists that there was some light. But not much.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2019 5:15:05 GMT
I took a quick look for it - it's only on Sky isn't it? So we won't even get to see it.
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Post by alejandro on Jun 4, 2019 6:58:19 GMT
and I'll say it one more time - if you're not watching Chernobyl then you're missing out on the finest drama of our time. It currently has the highest rating of any TV series ever on IMDb. I stayed up to watch the last one, which has just finished. It left me literally breathless. It has to be the most relentlessly depressing drama I've ever seen, but it was made with such dedication to putting forward the truth (whether the details were absolutely accurate is moot) that nobody watching could be in any doubt that the producers' goal in making this show was political. And nobody watching could feel anything other than disgust towards the way the Soviet machine handled the whole thing. It was only really with the epilogue when we were told and shown what happened to the protagonists that there was some light. But not much. Absolutely superb, and some of the finest TV ever crafter for certain. But there is a "fatal flaw" in the series to my eyes, which is crux to its discourse and relevance to modernity. I'm not about to defend the Soviets for the absolutely horrifying management of the whole affair, but nevertheless I believe there's a serious issue in assuming that this sort of reckless mismanagement and concern for saving face over solving a crisis could have only specifically happened in the USSR, or under a Soviet-like state/environment. At first I felt this could be an issue where the series lended itself to be "misinterpreted" in that fashion way too easily, but then upon hearing a few Craig Mazin interviews it's clear he likewise believes the same, when as a matter of fact, from a historical perspective this is actually wrong. To quote an article on the series by Aaron Bady:
The series works best when removing the discourse from one aimed towards defenestrating a *specific* ideology or system and rather a set of characteristics that we see repeated across several systems regardless of their facade; but the issue is that the series doesn't make it easy to veer one's attention to the more global cautionary tale instead.
On this matter too, what frightens me about all this is that Argentina itself has three nuclear power plants, one of them built and opened during the most recent Kirchnerist administration - the same who are currently being held on trial for massive charges of corruption, accused of having taken about U$S 300 billion through means such as inflated budgets for public works (including several inexistent public works at that), who've had a history of manipulating official indexes and outright lying to the public, and who have generally shown much of that miserly, greedy, two-faced attitude the Soviet machine was depicted with throughout this series. It makes me a little fearful on my end, knowing I could well be within Exclusion Zone distance of the next nuclear disaster.
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Post by Mr. FOLLARD on Jun 4, 2019 8:02:00 GMT
I took a quick look for it - it's only on Sky isn't it? So we won't even get to see it. I'd guess one of the terrestrial channels will pick it up within a year or so.
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Post by Mr. FOLLARD on Jun 4, 2019 8:08:35 GMT
I stayed up to watch the last one, which has just finished. It left me literally breathless. It has to be the most relentlessly depressing drama I've ever seen, but it was made with such dedication to putting forward the truth (whether the details were absolutely accurate is moot) that nobody watching could be in any doubt that the producers' goal in making this show was political. And nobody watching could feel anything other than disgust towards the way the Soviet machine handled the whole thing. It was only really with the epilogue when we were told and shown what happened to the protagonists that there was some light. But not much. Absolutely superb, and some of the finest TV ever crafter for certain. But there is a "fatal flaw" in the series to my eyes, which is crux to its discourse and relevance to modernity. I'm not about to defend the Soviets for the absolutely horrifying management of the whole affair, but nevertheless I believe there's a serious issue in assuming that this sort of reckless mismanagement and concern for saving face over solving a crisis could have only specifically happened in the USSR, or under a Soviet-like state/environment. At first I felt this could be an issue where the series lended itself to be "misinterpreted" in that fashion way too easily, but then upon hearing a few Craig Mazin interviews it's clear he likewise believes the same, when as a matter of fact, from a historical perspective this is actually wrong. To quote an article on the series by Aaron Bady:
The series works best when removing the discourse from one aimed towards defenestrating a *specific* ideology or system and rather a set of characteristics that we see repeated across several systems regardless of their facade; but the issue is that the series doesn't make it easy to veer one's attention to the more global cautionary tale instead.
On this matter too, what frightens me about all this is that Argentina itself has three nuclear power plants, one of them built and opened during the most recent Kirchnerist administration - the same who are currently being held on trial for massive charges of corruption, accused of having taken about U$S 300 billion through means such as inflated budgets for public works (including several inexistent public works at that), who've had a history of manipulating official indexes and outright lying to the public, and who have generally shown much of that miserly, greedy, two-faced attitude the Soviet machine was depicted with throughout this series. It makes me a little fearful on my end, knowing I could well be within Exclusion Zone distance of the next nuclear disaster.
I'm not sure the writers wanted to make the point that it could only happen in Soviet Russia - it was just that this particular show was about Chernobyl. Although I think deception at this kind of level was typical of that particular state. The podcasts with the creators of the show are interesting: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUeHPCYtWYQ
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2019 17:44:22 GMT
Deadwood Movie...Freakin' amazing...you'll need to be up to speed with the previous seasons to enjoy it fully, though...
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2019 20:57:48 GMT
and I'll say it one more time - if you're not watching Chernobyl then you're missing out on the finest drama of our time. It currently has the highest rating of any TV series ever on IMDb. It's wonderful
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Post by Mr. FOLLARD on Jun 4, 2019 21:11:25 GMT
Where are you with it now, Carol?
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