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Blnq
Like so many others I find that I am watching far fewer movies in favor of TV shows. I suppose it has something to do with the kind of in-depth character development that only TV series can offer. We befriend our favorite characters and we care about their fictional dilemmas and wonder how their fates will play out.
My all-time favorite series would be a tie between Breaking Bad and Deadwood. My favorite film is probably Lawrence of Arabia (the Blu-ray is amazing)
I am currently liking The Leftovers (I have no ideas what it all means but I just don't care, I love the writing and the symbolism and the depth of the characters).
I also really like Masters of Sex, The Bridge and Penny Dreadful.
I am looking forward to catching Fargo which isn't available to me yet in my region of Canada.
Are we in the Golden Age of TV ? Maybe. The best of it is pretty damn good (and more to come I think).
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An error has ocurred. Please try againI have seen more great TV in the last decade (probably starting with the Sopranos) than in the previous 40 years combined. Correct, I AM old and I started watching TV in 1959. There have been some great shows along the way but the current landscape of 10-13 episodes seasons on premium cable and Netflix are just producing some of the most interesting and challenging TV I have seen. This list is just the recent stuff that comes to mind and is not exhaustive by any means as I don't have many of the wonderful shows in the 60's to 90's.
Reviews
True Detective: Night Country: Part 6 (2024)
Pulled the Plug
20 minutes into the last episode I realized I didn't really care what happened to any of the characters and I just bailed.
Just an awful series.
Cold, ice, polar bears, and endless darkness are all good backdrops for a creepy series.
But you have to have a good script and characters to care about. Season Four of True Detective doesn't have either.
Jodie Foster and John Hawkes are predictably both pretty good but they can't save this hopeless mash of weirdness disguised as a real detective story.
As I said, I got about 20 minutes into the last episode and just really didn't care what happened so I quit, too bad.
No Man's Land (2020)
Riveting from Beginning to End
Wow. One of the best series I have seen this year. Complex and thrilling. Acting is first rate all around and there few wasted moments through all 8 episodes. Every episode is strong start to finish. A fascinating and credible look at how ISIS operates and a thrilling spy story at the same time. Could not recommend it more highly.
Stowaway (2021)
If You Really Need A Monster This isn't For You
A profound and moving film that moves far beyond all the usual tropes of catastrophe's on the spaceship.
About character and ethics and the difficult emotional challenge of actually going to Mars with limited resources and few options if things go badly wrong (they do).
How will you react when hard choices have to be made ? Stowaway gives a really serious look at why astronauts must be carefully chosen and why they train so hard and ultimately why character matters so much on these really challenging missions.
A quiet understated and thoughtful film.
No monsters, sorry about that.
The Handmaid's Tale: Chicago (2021)
Episode 5 and the Shark has been Jumped
Seriously? Chaos confusion and war and Moira just happened to walk down a random alley and guess what ? There's June !
Honestly, just too much.
Season 4 has no idea where it wants to go.
The Victim (2019)
Extraordinary ... should be an 11
Stunning performances from the two leads. Great writing. Suspenseful right to the end and really believable, a rare combination. Easily one of the best short series I have seen in a long while. Highly recommended.
Tehran (2020)
Slow Start ... Strong Finish
First episode very good. Next 6-7 mediocre. Last couple are excellent. Very last episode is truly great. Can't wait for season 2.
Joker (2019)
A Dark but Compulsively Watchable Film
I am not a comic book movie fan with the exception of some of the Batman films. Joker is certainly either the best or one of the very best of the Batman franchise. It is dark, painful, grimy, harsh and sometimes almost impossible to watch due to the suffering and pain of the central character. Joaquin Phoenix just torches the screen with an undeniably great performance. Is the film a masterpiece ? Not sure. Is his performance a masterwork of the art of film acting ? I think so. You cannot take your eyes off Phoenix and especially his kinetic serpentine performance. Never have I seen a film role with such intense physicality. Turn off the sound and the film would likely make complete sense, so visual is the main character at conveying meaning and emotion. The Oscar went to the right guy this time for certain. I think Phoenix really sits at the apex of great film actors working today. He reminds me of Brando in terms of sheer intensity and focus. A really excellent film and a stunning performance by the lead character.
Cold Pursuit (2019)
Nothing New Here
That this got a 70 on rotten tomatoes shows us how starved film critics are for a decent gangster film. I could watch this thing 5 times and not see a single frame that I haven't seen in about a dozen other action/gangster/revenge flicks. I have seen most of Liams\'s action spectacles and liked a few quite a bit but this just struck me as so tired and predictable. It continues in a long, long tradition of Hollywood screwing up and dumbing down good European cinema. Oh well.
Gunpowder (2017)
Slow and Ultimately Tedious
Very hard to get enthusiastic about this mini-series. Just a dull historical melodrama that ticks all the boxes for "authenticity". So we have to wade through several detailed scenes of torture that mostly seem oddly unconnected to the central events and thus almost entirely gratuitous. The writing is dull though the actors are earnest enough. Kit Harington seems to have about 3 degrees of emotional heat and mostly just spends 3 hours looking pained and confused. Liv Tyler also just seems like she is running in place. In retrospect I am surprised I made it all the way through.
Jack Ryan (2018)
You have seen this before...
Cliches abound. The terrorist / jihadis seem hopelessy stereotyped. The plot could be switched with a couple dozen similar "get the middle eastern angry jihadis before they get us" movies or tv series. John Krasinki looks sound asleep throughout at least the first 4 episodes (after which I have pulled the ripcord) and either can't act or is getting terrible direction or is stuck with a bad script, or maybe all three. Did Jack Ryan save Western Civilization on looks alone ? Who knew ? I really cannot think of a single thing in this series that I haven't seen countless times before. Maybe watch Zero Dark Thirty instead ?