My dad turned me onto Loudermilk. It’s not a 10/10 but it definitely has its moments. I think it struggles a lot to know exactly how serious of a story it’s trying to tell. There are episodes where it feels like the writers really wanted to create an emotional moment and then they are punctuated by some Family-Guy-levels of crude and immature humour. All in all though I do like it and I enjoy seeing Ron Livingston in something since I like him so much in Office Space.
Even though musicals are my life, I don't see every movie or TV musical in the same obsessive way that I see every stage musical that I can. To me musicals usually work so much better as live theatre. Also, I have a bias against jukebox show - I prefer original songs written specifically for the story. So it's taken me almost 12 years to catch up with Pitch Perfect. But I have to say I really enjoyed it. In some ways it's a standard, very predictable underdog story. (I think I was surprised by only one small thing - that the girl everyone thought was a lesbian actually did turn out to be a lesbian - I thought the twist would be that she was straight). But that predictability didn't spoil my enjoyment. Definitely a case of "it's not where you end up, but how you got there". I was most impressed by Anna Camp as the primary antagonist. She could have played the role in a very straight-forward, bitchy. even over-the-top way (much like Adam Devine played the secondary antagonist), but she gave her line readings an earnestness and undercurrent of insecurity that made her interesting and not unlikeable.
Also watched the fourth season finale of For All Mankind. Overall a better season than season 3 (because of less family soap opera) but not as good as the first two seasons. Still one of my favourite shows currently in production and I hope it gets a fifth season.
Just finished Alice in Borderland and started Six Feet Under to replace it. Have an episode or two to go in Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.
Our bedtime shows are currently Classic Doctor Who, Torchwood, Stargate SG1, Loki, Monk, and Batman Beyond. Echo will probably replace Loki after we finish the last episode.
Currently watching: My Three Sons (Classic TV - Pluto)
Background noise while at work. Looking for something new to watch/binge
Most recently watched movie: The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent (Nicholas Cage and Pedro Pascal in a buddy comedy/action)
On the cusp of greatness. Always a Nick Cage fan. Wife enjoyed it even though she thought Pascal was Banderaz initially.
Most recently completed binged series: Bodies (Netflix)
Interesting concept/show, would be interested in a second season of it.
Just watched the 2023 Japanese film Monster. This went under my radar until my wife suggested it. Very great film, and I love the execution of pov/perspective changes for each character as they all tie in together near the climax. The ambiguous ending was kinda weird for me. Not that I don’t like ambiguous endings, it’s just that this one was a tad bit too ambiguous. It reminds me of an old Mads Mikkelsen film that I won’t say so it doesn’t spoil you. It’s a good idea to go into this film blind. 8.5/10
Also started watching Season 4 of True Detective, which is one of my most anticipated shows this year. The pilot was good. I like how they’re bringing back the supernatural vibes similar to season 1. Cast is pretty good so far. Can’t really say much yet since it’s only been one episode, but it looks to be a good show.
The books are really good, but TBH it's not the end of the world if you don't catch them right away. For its milieu, the show is even better than the books are for theirs. There is the usual extra detail, deeper insight, and unlimited budget of the books, but the casting and performances really elevate the show, and a few characters (Drummer, Ashford, and Errinwright come to mind) come out of the adaptation process really well. People go on about how great it was that the authors were involved in the show, and that's true, but critically, they understood that a different medium needs slightly different things.
I'm not an audiobook person, but if you are, I understand the ones for The Expanse are absolutely top-notch.
Catching up on Our Flag Means Death. The second season is very good.
A little late but just started Wheel of Time. As someone who never read the books I’m interested so far. It definitely pushes its budget sometimes but that’s nothing that can’t be overlooked.
I’ve also been catching up on Star Trek Strange New Worlds. I’m nearly done with the second season and it’s some of my favorite Trek ever. I think it’s good enough I’ll go pick back up Discovery.
Discovery is almost more interesting as a meta-text at this point, though I think it takes more guff than it deserves. The tonal (and temporal) whiplash is a window into the creative process and audience feedback the churn of writers and shifting directives from Paramount.
Only one thing is constant: MICHAEL BURNHAM'S DRAMAWHISPERS!
Film highlight - Talk Radio (1988) - which I had not seen before. Outstanding first scene - both for the cinematography of what was shown and in holding off from showing the protagonist for so long. And then a great, absorbing and intense continuation through the rest of the film. Bogosian both starred and co-wrote the original play and this script - doing all those extremely well.
TV highlight - Criminal Record - Capaldi at his most sinister and some fine direction take this one up a few ranks. So far I am not entirely convinced by Jumbo’s relationship with Moore, but will definitely be continuing.
Fargo’s just finished an entertaining run. I wasn’t sure about the finale, but I’m going to watch it again now I know what they were going for (also, it had so many fade-to-blacks for what would be an ad-break that that I thought ‘is this the final scene?’ about 5 times).
True Detective’s back! Sort of: there was a clearly a show called Night Country that’s been Cloverfielded into the franchise. But Jodie Foster’s awesome (obvs) and the first episode was good, slightly spooky, fun.
I’ve got about 10 minutes left of ep 1 of Monsieur Spade - it’s handsome stuff, but required more concentration than I had last night.
Season 4 of Taskmaster New Zealand is really funny. If nothing else, someone like Bubba shows how comfortably middle-class the UK version has got.
Oh, and I’ve downloaded - but not watched yet - a show called Criminal Record (it’s got Peter Capaldi in it)
Not much these days at all. I’m not sure if less stuff is just coming out, or I’m interested in less of the stuff that’s coming out, but the last six months or so has been pretty dire. Looking at my tracker the last episode of a new show I watched was the finale of Archer in mid-December. I don’t even particularly like Archer. It used to be I’d basically track what day of the week it was by what show just dropped an episode.
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