advertisement


Recommended movies etc on Netflix/Amazon Prime III

Creepy guy, I choose not to watch it, Tracy did, she did say I wouldn't have liked it.
Watched 'Anatomy of a Scandal' over the past couple of nights, pretty good, quite enjoyed the elitist brats getting what they deserved in the end, if only it reflected reality.
I've been watching 'Top Boy' recently, gritty, brutal drama set in the heart of social deprivation, a harrowing story line with some great acting (especially the two little lads) , I'm about 6 episodes into the first season.
 
"We Own this City" (HBO).

Cops, politics and drug gangs in Baltimore and produced by David Simon and George Pelocanos. So basically The Wire 2.0. First episode was ace.
 
Another plug for Slow Horses.

Last year I wanted to read something vaguely spookish, to fill in the gap left by the late, great Philip Kerr whose Bernie Gunther novels were excellent with a tremendous lead character.

With that in mind I read the first Jackson Lamb/Slow Horses novel and then the following five in sequence.

Mid way through I found out that Apple were involved in the series and a notable cast was involved too, including a local lad from Oxnam here in the Scottish Borders. As luck would have it I bought a new iPad and have Apple TV on a free 3 month try out.

I digress, very accomplished show, fresh, terrific dialogue, big budget, a certain Mr Jagger singing the theme tune.

Roll on the Dead Lions.
 
We actually watched Dirty Harry last night at a friend's place to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the film.

Our friend is an Eastwood fanatic/collector, so we had a presentation before watching the film complete with a look at some of his Dirty Harry memorabilia, including a go with his 44 Magnum, which I could barely lift.

The film remains extremely cool visually, if politically a bit suspect both now and at the time.

Fun Fact: Originally, Frank Sinatra was pencilled in to play Harry Callahan, but broke his hand shortly before filming was due to start, opening a window for Clint to pick up the role.
 
I watched the Book Thief on Disney + yesterday well worth a couple of hours of your time, the actors are all excellent and I also started watching Terrence Malik's A Hidden Life, the cinematography is beautiful, stunning in fact.

A Hidden Life is a 2019 epic historical drama film written and directed by Terrence Malick. It stars August Diehl, Valerie Pachner, and Matthias Schoenaerts with both Michael Nyqvist and Bruno Ganz in their final performances. The film depicts the life of Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian farmer and devout Catholic who refused to fight for the Nazis in World War II. The title is taken from George Eliot's Middlemarch, which in turn derives it from a phrase in the New Testament, the Epistle to the Colossians 3:3: "For you died, and [now] your life is hidden with Christ in God."
 
'Julia' on HBO-Max. I was not expecting to enjoy it as much as I have. An excellent period piece, with a great cast.
 
'Julia' on HBO-Max. I was not expecting to enjoy it as much as I have. An excellent period piece, with a great cast.

My Mum loves this and is hooked. Anything with Sarah Lancashire in is a must see and I hope this brings her to a wider US audience.
 
Last edited:
With the lack of any new quality Sci-Fi/Fantasy I have revisited old friends on Amazon prime UK.

'Frell' and 'In Valen's Name!" they are even better than I remembered.

Finished Farscape and wow! the sheer sublime madness and the love story and the way they built all the relationships.
What was a surprise was I preferred the cinematography with the 4x3 AR (more intimate) compared to the final season 16x9 AR and even though the final two chapters of the 'PeaceKeeper's War' helped finish the main story arc there were obvious smaller story arcs squeezed in to a few minutes that spoilt the flow.

Now on to Babylon5 and the new transfers from original stock to 4k and down-sampled to Hi-Def with the CGI algorithmically improved and all kept at 4x3AR (not the 16x9 of the DVD I have with mastering artifacts and the very poor CGI).
The quality of all this is excellent for the visuals and the 4x3AR isn't an issue at all.

The stories hold up really well especially with how episodic the first season is before the main theme and overall arc sets in.
There are in almost all first season early episodes little drips of information for what will take off in season two you just are not aware of this if you are watching for the very first time, keep your eyes peeled.
 
We actually watched Dirty Harry last night at a friend's place to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the film.

Our friend is an Eastwood fanatic/collector, so we had a presentation before watching the film complete with a look at some of his Dirty Harry memorabilia, including a go with his 44 Magnum, which I could barely lift.

The film remains extremely cool visually, if politically a bit suspect both now and at the time.

Fun Fact: Originally, Frank Sinatra was pencilled in to play Harry Callahan, but broke his hand shortly before filming was due to start, opening a window for Clint to pick up the role.
"Well, I'm all broken up about that man's rights".
 


advertisement


Back
Top