What are you Watching Today Part 2

[Dunners]

Also a recent convert to Barry. Just two episodes in but I can tell that this is going to be great.

[Max Fowler]

Fall on Netflix.

Horrible watch, should have turned off after the first death in the first few minutes.

[Dunners]

Fall on Netflix.

Horrible watch, should have turned off after the first death in the first few minutes.

I stopped watching when they got to the top of the comms tower. The way it is filmed is incredible, as it really gives you a sense of height, but I was starting to feel physically sick.

[Max Fowler]

It gets a whole lot worse after that but I was too far in to turn it off, and you know how much I hate wasting my time.

[Long slender neck]

Beau Is Afraid

Strange but enjoyable film 8/10

[FrankOFile]

The Last King of the Cross on Sky, marvellously brutal. The Aussies do some good stuff like The 12 and Jack Irish (I wanna be one of the bar blokes….) but the shows and films show they have a comparatively small pool of Actors.

How many of our dramas have you watched? Martin Compston, Siobahn Finneran, Lee Ingelby and Nicola Walker pop up in every second series.

Oh and Keeley Hawes too.

Plenty, thanks for asking.

No problem. Happy to help.

[Max B Gold]

[FrankOFile]

Well worth a quarter or two.

[tuffers#1]

Far too much noise of a Morning

[tuffers#1]

Once upon a time in Northern Ireland , for me an emotional watch but left with a feeling of hope & aspirations for the untold stories of all .

[Long slender neck]

Succession- completed it mate. A very tense ending, dont fully understand why x did what they did.

Barry- completed it mate. Tempted to start it again.

[Dunners]

I'm just catching up on loads of stuff.

Barry - Just finished S1. Agree with everything posted so far, as this show deserves a lot more attention than it's getting. Simply brilliant writing.

Succession - Just finished S1 too. This is great, and there's so much to love to hate about all of the characters. So far I'm loving the Tom character played by Matthew MacFadyen. He's often in the background of scenes using nothing more than facial expressions to convey the inner-workings of his scheming mind.

The Last of Us - I'm not into gaming, so had no prior knowledge of this. My take is that it's a wonderfully shot piece of television, with some okay acting, but also some stilted writing and characterisation.

Take the Kathleen character in Ep4 as an example - the way she was portrayed just didn't seem realistic or believable. Pedro Pascal appeared to nail the part of Joel, but some of the dialogue he was written seemed ham-fisted.

Also, the writers seem to have fallen into the "modern audiences" trap a bit when writing the Ellie character. There's a new female character trope that you will often see in many modern films and television series. It can take different forms, but is usually built around a cocky, arrogant, know-it-all, strong-female-character, who is bestowed with confidence, knowledge and wisdom way beyond their years and to whom adults seems to be oddly differential.

And they are usually the most awesome at whatever they do (shooting, fighting, light sabreing) without minor things like opposition body mass, learning curves and character development arcs bothering them. To be fair, the Ellie character isn't the worst of these, and she does go through a bit of an arc (and the performance from Bella Ramsey is fantastic).

Overall, TLOU is an above average post-apocalyptic zombie thriller. I like the fact that it hardly ever relied on the zombies and instead focused on the humans as the real threat. I'd have liked it if the show had explored more into how the kids born after the apocalypse had adapted and differed from their previous generation. And the episode with Bill and Frank is worth the cost of subscription on its own.

[Long slender neck]

As someone who played both games, I feel a bit meh about the series. The games were a lot more brutal of course, the series lacked action.

[CEB]

What made the game work is that in that final “mission”, the player really, really doesn’t want to be doing what you have to do

[Long slender neck]

For me it was more about the survival and brutal journey through the post apocalyptic world. I hope you've played part two?

[CEB]

I have, yeah. Really enjoyed the twisty nature of it and the shift in perspectives

[Long slender neck]

I played most of part 2 using my psvr headset in the tv/cinema type mode. Made it more of an intense experience.

[CEB]

I find I can’t quite play games that way - I move my head as if that’s how to look around
Poor confused brain

[Dunners]

That episode is one of the greatest 30 mins of recent TV, imo.

Agree. It’s kind of jaw dropping how they just lean right into it from the moment she goes on all fours and hisses. And the scene in the car before the drugstore is just perfect

Finally caught up and watched all of S2 of Barry. That episode, and the remainder of the series, was brilliant. I cannot believe how little attention this show is receiving right now.

[Dunners]

I know I'm way behind everyone else, but I've finally finished watching all of Succession.

That was brilliant. Great writing and some fantastic performances. I was team Disgusting Brothers all the way.

[Constanza]

Best thing I've watched apart from Paddington 2.

[Chelmsford Swimmer]

Can't get enough Traitors. Just finishing Australian Traitors on I Player.

[Rich Tea Wellin]

A couple of things on iPlayer which are really well written and similar theme.

- Best Interests - Fairly traumatising so maybe read up on the premise before watching but well worth it. Gut wrenching all the way through. Whatever Sharon Horgan is in seems to be good.
- There She Goes - not sure how this past me by. Dark comedy about parents dealing with a heavily disabled kid. David Tennant and the brilliant Jessica Hynes.

[The Mindsweep]

Went to see The Pillowman in the West End last night, found it very problematic. Interesting concept but it was caught between a serious piece and a black comedy. The subject matter was horrific and I found it troubling that the staging and script led some of the audience to laughing at those events. The language used with regards to a disabled character was unnecessary at the very least and the stereotyping in the story of a Chinese boy and man cringinly outdated.

[Dunners]

Went to see The Pillowman in the West End last night, found it very problematic. Interesting concept but it was caught between a serious piece and a black comedy. The subject matter was horrific and I found it troubling that the staging and script led some of the audience to laughing at those events. The language used with regards to a disabled character was unnecessary at the very least and the stereotyping in the story of a Chinese boy and man cringinly outdated.

I had a similar experience recently, when I went to see Village Idiot which was playing at Theatre Royal in Stratford. It was a good production of a comedy, but there were elements that I found uncomfortable.

One of the actors was a young woman with Downs. Obviously it's great for her to get an opportunity like this, but so much of her involvement seemed to be about generating laughs due to that fact that she swore a lot and was... er, basically very randy.

I'm not convinced that her lines or actions would have generated any response if her character was played by an actor without such a condition, which suggests that her condition was the butt of the joke (not that this may have been the intention). Also, I have previous experience of safeguarding and the vulnerabilities that young adults with Downs can face, so I kept questioning to what degree it was possible for her to have truly consented to this.

Especially in one scene, when she was having her breasts fondled by her opposite male love interest. It was meant to be a "funny moment", but I know I wasn't the only one shifting uncomfortably in my seat and what laughter was generated was awkward.