TV You Have Watched

[Atticus]

I just stared the second season of Only Murders in the Building. It might not amazing in the storytelling department but it is very watchable. I'm a sucker for the uptown New York vibe and Martin and Short are brilliant.

[Neon Ignition]

Ms Marvel
I know it's been pulled up for being too kiddie but to be honest it's fairly Spider-Man: Homecoming in tone. It's a bit curious how they make no reference to local superheroes or events which is an oversight and the show is pretty weak at establishing her powers. They seem to invent abilities on the fly with zero context or rules to them never to be used again etc. It's sloppy in that way but Kamala, specifically the actress playing her, carries the show. She's incredibly likeable but it raises the spectre again that perhaps Marvel are making series for characters and storylines that don't necessarily warrant it as there's nothing really special about the show or very critical. It's a nice bit of a fluff but nothing begging for a second run.

[fallenangle]

Been watching Sanditon on ITV1 mainly because there was nothing else that took my fancy on Friday evenings at that time and I had not seen it first time round in 2019.

Quite enjoying it; it's like Pride & Prejudice meets Poldark but the key element is Andrew Davies' screenplay adaptation of Jane Austen's unfinished novel manages to spice up things up in a genteel kind of way. Which leads onto the belated sequel series due to start after this rerun.

I just happened to get a newspaper yesterday which previewed it in an interview with Rose Williams, who plays one of the key characters. Apparently that rumpy-pumpy element has been toned down which is odd for Andrew Davies and as it was not explicit in the least. A bit of (male) nude bathing and distant shots of a couple humping in the woods and that's pretty much it.

The very thing that made it unique dumped - sounds like a mistake but we shall see.

[Dogg Thang]

I burned through seasons 2 and 3 of The Boys. Overall, I loved it. It's entertaining throughout. I found that the main new focus character of each season could have done with a little more time or development so that reveals carried a bit more weight. And I did find things got a little bit self-indulgent in season 3, with the musical sequence and cartoon stuff taking me right out of the show.

And for that last part...

->Open Spoiler<-

I felt it was a particular shame because it would have been amazing to get a real sense of Black Noir after being such a mystery and I found I just didn't get that.

Nevertheless, I think it's a brilliant show and I think Homelander is one of the best and most interesting characters to ever make it to screen. He is fascinating and amazingly well performed.

Edit: Oh, I also feel the Deep should have been written out a few episodes into season 1 if they couldn't find anything to do with him other than fish-sex jokes. He really played no role of any note in season 2 and 3.

[Neon Ignition]

Agreed about the Deep, it's been a long journey with that character that hasn't really gone anywhere. It might have been better to swap him out in the first season with the invisible superhero as there could have been invasion of privacy etc angles on that one

[QualityChimp]

I think the point of The Deep is to show that the "heroes" don't have remorse and it doesn't matter how much soul-searching, religion, marriage and Hallmark documentaries you have, as soon as you get that power back, you start abusing it (and octopeds).

[Dogg Thang]

I think the point of The Deep is to show that the "heroes" don't have remorse and it doesn't matter how much soul-searching, religion, marriage and Hallmark documentaries you have, as soon as you get that power back, you start abusing it (and octopeds).

Yep. Although I feel that was muddied by having the religion and marriage so obviously weird and creepy. Like that whole thing was going to build into a plot point that was more important than the Deep himself. But it didn't really. It remained pretty disconnected throughout and then just sort of fizzled out. it's not a big thing overall. The show is still great.

[fuse]

The Boys S3 - would agree that it's treading water, but yeah I've enjoyed this season a lot. The send-ups actually have some bite, and are funny! Imagine that. Would also agree that Homelander is an excellent character who has been cast superbly.

Stranger Things S4 - there's many moments of greatness in there but honestly I struggled with it. It doesn't just need editing, its entire scope needs reigning in. I feel the same way about this as I do with Tarantino at this point, except I'm invested now so am unlikely to break free of it. I am very concerned as to just how self-indulgent another season might get.

Archer S12 - the non-themed seasons like this one definitely feel like the strongest ones but that is honestly about as far as I can bring myself to offer actual critical thoughts. It's just total comfort food for me now; ridiculous set ups, and daft jokes that absolutely appeal to my sensibilities littered all over the place.

[fallenangle]

Looking forward to the start of the second series of The Great with Elle Fanning playing Catherine the Great which begins on C4 27th July.

The first series was great fun and often hilarious, think Blackadder III with a big budget, so if the second is even half as good it'll be worth watching.

This preview of the first series here will give you a good idea of whether or not its going to be your cup of tea:-

[Finsbury Girl]

finished The Terminal List - overall I enjoyed it although I was disappointed they used the old

->Open Spoiler<-

best mate is the bad guy trope

seriously pls. Liked some of the action and stuff it was pretty cool. Not sure how

->Open Spoiler<-

a sequel is set up with him having a brain tumor and all that

but hey let's face it

->Open Spoiler<-

he fell off a cliff about 20m and his back hit a rock that would've broken an elephants femur so anything would be believable at this stage

Looking forward to The Old Man next

[QualityChimp]

I finished off The Midwich Cuckoos (NowTV) last night and thought it was decent.

The B&W film always stuck with me and I'm always interested to see how John Wyndham's works, like Day of the Triffids, get reinterpreted with different generations (like H.G. Wells).
There were some interesting moments in John Carpenter's Village of the Damned, but it was pretty forgettable.

Rather than a film, this series had a bit more time to breath, but also the option to move time on.

The basic premise is that the small English country town of Midwich experiences an event where everyone simultaneously blacks out.
When they wake up, all the women are pregnant.

We then follow the development of the children and how they interact with their "parents" and each other.
The short version: they're creepy little gits.

A contrast to the high-budget CGI stories I've consumed recently, this was a claustrophobic tale of control in a leafy English town.

Side note: I got in trouble with the wife for carrying on with this, when I thought she wasn't bothered, so maybe this is an option as a "couple watch". I think there's about 28 days left to watch it.

[QualityChimp]

Onto another show last night.
I tried watching inside, but the combination of the stifling weather, the projector and the PS4 churning out heat, I sat in the garden to start watching Alice in Borderland (2020 via Netflix).

It starts off as a whimsical comedy about three dopey mates who are unlucky in life, but always have each other's back.
Then the tone suddenly shifts and the three find themselves alone in Tokyo at the normally heaving Shibuya Crossing.
It's a really well done scene, like 28 Days Later or similar, but before long they find themselves drawn into a game of survival as they're forced to escape a series of puzzles.

It reminded me of a wealth of other films/shows like Cube, Gantz, Squid Game, Escape Room and so on, but managed to be its own thing too. Looking forward to more!

The scene at the empty Shibuya Crossing was done on a set using a combination of physical and CGI backgrounds and was very convincing!

[Neon Ignition]

Arcane: Season 01
There's two points on this one. The first is that in terms of animation and how it's directed it's relentlessly stunning. The second, its plot is decent. There are lulls and a certain beat of predictability to it but when it peaks it's very good.

[Finsbury Girl]

First episode of The Old Man - Jeff Bridges great, John Lithgow suitably menacing, 2 gorgeous dogs. Some nitpicks around the plot but overall looking forward to next episodes!

[Neon Ignition]

Only seen the first episode but we're giving Bel Air a go

Jabari Banks (who you have to love has Banks as his real last name) plays Will Smith, the rebooted character of Will Smith that was famously played by Will Smith who based his incarnation of Will Smith on his own public personality of Will Smith with this new Will Smith largely being surprisingly similar to the old Will Smith with the marked disadvantage against the old Will Smith that Will Smith played being that the new Will Smith isn't in fact played by Will Smith and the end result therefore being that Jabari... actually nails it.

It doesn't feel like a Will Smith impersonator and yet he has multiple traits down pat out of the gate, particularly the crying scenes and the more ott exclamations of the character. From their first appearance too the new Hilary sits well and the actress playing Aunt Viv absolutely out of the park home runs her role which is very clearly steered closer to the OG Viv. Ashley, as always, is just kind of there whilst Jazz isn't too far removed from his original incarnation either so far. The drama and grit are dialled up but not to the extent of making it dour even if it isn't a comedy anymore either.

The big two... Uncle Phil. He's not there. I get what they're aiming for and first impressions soon give way to the potential that they will land this character as the episodes go on.

Carlton... if there's a swing and a miss it's this one. He's almost a completely different character designed to be Will's foil. The intention could be to veer him eventually away from being so dislikeable but the actor screams that this is the angle they've gone with and something softer wouldn't suit him which will be interesting to see as whilst it means Will is now given tons of avenues to go down by having a more regular opposing force against him much of the original dynamic rested on the pairing of them actually being so close too so the jury is out on this one.

Overall the episode is a bit on the long side but I was braced for much worse, there's potential that they might land another Cobra Kai win with this one. Plot wise, well, the show is about a story about how Will's life gets flipped-turned upside down...