Watchable telly

[Tamworthram]

Not exactly watchable telly. In fact, quite the opposite. 
 

just watched the first episode of “Those about to die” on Prime. What a load of absolute tripe. Awful acting and CGI that makes the 1959 film Ben Hur look good. Anthony Hopkins must be desperate for money to have signed up for this.

Perhaps it will improve but I won’t be watching any more episodes to judge.

On the other hand, I am enjoying “Fallout” also on Prime. Good entertaining bit of sci-fi with a little bit of humour thrown in. Although not really my thing, the old time music sound track works well.

[AndyinLiverpool]

2 hours ago, Tamworthram said:

Not exactly watchable telly. In fact, quite the opposite. 
 

just watched the first episode of “Those about to die” on Prime. What a load of absolute tripe. Awful acting and CGI that makes the 1959 film Ben Hur look good. Anthony Hopkins must be desperate for money to have signed up for this.

Perhaps it will improve but I won’t be watching any more episodes to judge.

On the other hand, I am enjoying “Fallout” also on Prime. Good entertaining bit of sci-fi with a little bit of humour thrown in. Although not really my thing, the old time music sound track works well.

Those of us in pedants' corner would like to point out that Ben Hur always looked good.

[Elwood P Dowd]

On 19/07/2024 at 23:36, AndyinLiverpool said:

Those of us in pedants' corner would like to point out that Ben Hur always looked good.

I always liked Ben but I was never keen on Hur😂😂

The acting in Those about to die is a little wooden, the story line seems quite good…….so far.

 

 

[Bob The Badger]

Watched the final Presumed Innocent with Jake Gyllenhaal and Peter Saarsgard on Apple TV last night.

Overall I liked it.

JG and PS are fine actors, and both were very good. As was the entire cast tbf.

It's nothing remarkable. But because this kind of whodunnit courtroom drama has been done so many times, it was never going to be.

I was hoping for a better ending, but then again, I almost always am. I absolutely hated the ending of Anatomy of a Fall fo example and many loved it. But it was certainly interesting.

It's a solid 7/10, with the cast getting 9.5/10, and it is definitely worth checking out.

Back to season 3 of Boardwalk Empire now.

[Crewton]

On 17/07/2024 at 16:08, Anag Ram said:

Currently really enjoying End of Summer on BBC4.

Swedish drama with subtitles. If you can cope with that you’ll find a high quality watch. 

Story revolves around a grief counsellor who feels responsible for the disappearance/ death of her little brother 20 years earlier. The boy was her mum’s favourite.

A man wanders into one of her sessions and it transpires he is from the area, adopted and with sketchy memories of his past.

She begins to wonder if he could be her lost brother, much to the dismay of her family who have accepted he was abducted and most likely killed.

I find it gripping.
 

Just finished this. We both really enjoyed it. Almost an old-fashioned whodunnit, but with the Swedish twist. Thanks for the recommendation.

[Chester40]

8 hours ago, Bob The Badger said:

Watched the final Presumed Innocent with Jake Gyllenhaal and Peter Saarsgard on Apple TV last night.

Overall I liked it.

JG and PS are fine actors, and both were very good. As was the entire cast tbf.

It's nothing remarkable. But because this kind of whodunnit courtroom drama has been done so many times, it was never going to be.

I was hoping for a better ending, but then again, I almost always am. I absolutely hated the ending of Anatomy of a Fall fo example and many loved it. But it was certainly interesting.

It's a solid 7/10, with the cast getting 9.5/10, and it is definitely worth checking out.

Back to season 3 of Boardwalk Empire now.

I've a couple left to watch, but exactly how I see it.

Formulaic,  but good nevertheless, and great acting. Well worth a watch.

Edited July 25 by Chester40

[Stive Pesley]

Just finished season 3 of The Bear. Fair to say that it continued in the vein of the first 2 series by delivering some incredibly stressful episodes, but to then finish on a cliffhanger with none of the main storylines resolved is pure audience torture 😂

[Crewton]

Also finished the last ever series of Inside No 9, which I think has been up there with the best. End of an era but I hope they won't completely abandon the genre, because I think they do them really well.

[Bob The Badger]

13 hours ago, Stive Pesley said:

Just finished season 3 of The Bear. Fair to say that it continued in the vein of the first 2 series by delivering some incredibly stressful episodes, but to then finish on a cliffhanger with none of the main storylines resolved is pure audience torture 😂

I'm so tempted to sign up for Disney to watch that, but they have literally nothing else I want. They are weirdly off-brand with this one show. It would be like ITV making a fabulous sit com.

 

13 hours ago, Crewton said:

Just finished this. We both really enjoyed it. Almost an old-fashioned whodunnit, but with the Swedish twist. Thanks for the recommendation.

I have saved this, and it's up at the end of this Boardwalk Empire season for a change of pace. You and @Anag Ram had better not have let me down.

[Stive Pesley]

2 hours ago, Bob The Badger said:

I'm so tempted to sign up for Disney to watch that, but they have literally nothing else I want. They are weirdly off-brand with this one show. It would be like ITV making a fabulous sit com.

Yeah it's very odd. We signed up for the kids as they have all ten billion episodes of the Simpsons, all the Star Wars and Marvel stuff and we didn't watch anything on there for ages

Now we've watched a fair few things

The Bear

Only Murders In The Building (quite silly by Martin Short & Steve Martin are excellent comedy spoils)

Shrinking (still can't recommend this enough - comedy about a therapist trying to put himself back together after his wife dies. Harrison Ford is amazing in it)

Dave (if you like your comedy on the slightly gross side at times)

What We Do In The Shadows (it is a couple of series ahead of what's been on the BBC)

But otherwise, yes it doesn't seem to have the amount of new content as the other streamers. LOTS of old classics though (24, Prison Break, My Name is Earl, Lost , The Americans, X-Files etc etc)

 

[NottsRam]

Fugitive: Mystery of the Cryptoqueen, on Channel 4.  Fascinating documentary following the rise and disappearance of Ruja Ignatova, founder of Onecoin which rivalled bitcoin as one of the major crypto currencies.  It was a huge scam which turned over billions of dollars.  Well worth a watch.

[Tamworthram]

2 hours ago, NottsRam said:

Fugitive: Mystery of the Cryptoqueen, on Channel 4.  Fascinating documentary following the rise and disappearance of Ruja Ignatova, founder of Onecoin which rivalled bitcoin as one of the major crypto currencies.  It was a huge scam which turned over billions of dollars.  Well worth a watch.

Finished it last night. There’s also a good BBC podcast about her.

[therealhantsram]

3 hours ago, Stive Pesley said:

Yeah it's very odd. We signed up for the kids as they have all ten billion episodes of the Simpsons, all the Star Wars and Marvel stuff and we didn't watch anything on there for ages

Now we've watched a fair few things

The Bear

Only Murders In The Building (quite silly by Martin Short & Steve Martin are excellent comedy spoils)

Shrinking (still can't recommend this enough - comedy about a therapist trying to put himself back together after his wife dies. Harrison Ford is amazing in it)

Dave (if you like your comedy on the slightly gross side at times)

What We Do In The Shadows (it is a couple of series ahead of what's been on the BBC)

But otherwise, yes it doesn't seem to have the amount of new content as the other streamers. LOTS of old classics though (24, Prison Break, My Name is Earl, Lost , The Americans, X-Files etc etc)

 

I've really enjoyed Shogun and Wanda Vision (a clever slow burn mystery, not your normal super hero guff. Each episode in the style of a different old sitcom. If you are old enough to remember shows like Bewitched and Happy Days you'll enjoy the references and irony).

Shrinking is Apple isn't it? Or has it moved?

MoonKnight too is a bit different and enjoyable.

Edited July 26 by therealhantsram

[Stive Pesley]

3 hours ago, therealhantsram said:

Shrinking is Apple isn't it? Or has it moved?

D'oh - yes of course. As you were. I'm an idiot

[Gaspode]

Probably needs to be in a thread called 'Unwatchable telly' but the Olympics opening ceremony is a real load of pish.....

[i-Ram]

5 hours ago, Stive Pesley said:

D'oh - yes of course. As you were. I'm an idiot

Never had you down as self aware. 

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

2 hours ago, Gaspode said:

Probably needs to be in a thread called 'Unwatchable telly' but the Olympics opening ceremony is a real load of pish.....

Happened across it and there was some bloke dancing in front of the Eiffel Tower in a suede suit looking very wet, then they cut to a very wet Carl Lewis waving whilst desperately trying not to fall in the Seine, cut back to bloke in suede suit still dancing but the rain had soaked into his trousers, back to Carl Lewis.  I assumed there was a technical problem.  It was actually an hour of organised cack.

[Chester40]

6 hours ago, Gee SCREAMER !! said:

Happened across it and there was some bloke dancing in front of the Eiffel Tower in a suede suit looking very wet, then they cut to a very wet Carl Lewis waving whilst desperately trying not to fall in the Seine, cut back to bloke in suede suit still dancing but the rain had soaked into his trousers, back to Carl Lewis.  I assumed there was a technical problem.  It was actually an hour of organised cack.

I actually thought it was pretty well done. Large bits are tradition that you can't change and so slightly boring,  but some the visuals were great. Really ambitious if not all of it successful.

[Tamworthram]

32 minutes ago, Chester40 said:

I actually thought it was pretty well done. Large bits are tradition that you can't change and so slightly boring,  but some the visuals were great. Really ambitious if not all of it successful.

As with all opening ceremonies these days it seems, it lasted too long and was too full of theatre as each event tries to out do the previous ones.

The athletes on the boats was different but I don’t really think it worked very well. Not a patch on the site of the athletes entering the stadium, parading around the track and then all gathering together in the centre field.

Sorry but I am one of the boring traditionalists.

[therealhantsram]

6 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

As with all opening ceremonies these days it seems, it lasted too long and was too full of theatre as each event tries to out do the previous ones.

The athletes on the boats was different but I don’t really think it worked very well. Not a patch on the site of the athletes entering the stadium, parading around the track and then all gathering together in the centre field.

Sorry but I am one of the boring traditionalists.

I pretty much agree with this. It was good to try something different, but it didn't really work. 

The problem was that everything was so remote it felt cold. There was no crowd atmosphere for the performers or athletes to vibe off, and everything was shot through a long lens which meant a lack of intimacy and emotional connection with the performers and athletes for us TV viewers.

I commend the organisers for experimenting, but I think it should be back to normal next time.

(I did like the assassin's creed segments though)

Edited July 27 by therealhantsram