Corpsey

bandz ahoy
I think I found the villain becoming a little bit too pretentious. Which was sort of the point of that character but that's what I remember being a bit wince inducing
 

version

Well-known member
That didn't bother me too much, but I know what you mean. He talks as though he's perpetually on the verge of launching into a monologue on Ancient Greece.
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
Gomorrah - escalating body count, dream sequences spilling over into Italian nightmares at night. Guess it means it’s working
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Billions... how have the mighty fallen. Was so good at first but by season 4 it was so bad I vowed not to watch season 5, but they cunningly left such a big gap before anyone told me about the new one that I couldn't believe that it was as bad as I remembered and now we're watching it again! And it is very bad - we keep laughing at the bits that are supposed to be serious.
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
Caliphate - still in mourning over Gomorrah (s5 is on the way, go on Genny son)

A mix of Scandi polis procedural and a terrorist plot to target Sweden. Bit wooden at times but it has chutzpah too, 7 episodes to go
 

Leo

Well-known member
Caliphate - still in mourning over Gomorrah (s5 is on the way, go on Genny son)

A mix of Scandi polis procedural and a terrorist plot to target Sweden. Bit wooden at times but it has chutzpah too, 7 episodes to go

I recommended caliphate last year, thought it was pretty great. gets a bit intense in parts.
 

catalog

Well-known member
i'm a big fan of the wire and during lockdown have taken to watching short clips on youtube of some of the iconic scenes. These are a few highlights:


I was thinking about watching the whole thing again but I must've seen it 3 or 4 times in full and the last one was only a few years ago so I went for "The Corner" instead, having never watched it in full.

It's the older, 6 part miniseries that came just before the Wire. Very similar really, but I did try watching the first episode years ago and found it pretty unrelenting grimness, so never bothered with the rest. But this time, I have watched all 6 and can recommend.

It definitely is more downbeat, with the focus more on a family and their bouncing in and out of addiction, so it lacks some of the drama of seeing all the "bad guys" on the wire.

But good to spot some of the actors in different roles eg the woman who plays the very clean cut marla daniels in the wire as a party mate of on of the main characters.

and clarke peters (lester freamon in the wire) as dope fiend fat curt

clarke-peters-as-fat-curt.png


some interesting "techniques" that were later dropped for the wire - there's this breaking of the 4th wall thing going on, with people being interviewed in a sort of fly on the wall / mockumentary way.

and also there's lots of flashbacks to the past to show the contrasts.

Neither of these techniques work very well, they serve to dissipate the focus a little, so i can see why they dropped them for the wire.

The mockumentary thing does work for the ending, which is quite powerful, as the actual people are revealed and interviewed briefly.

Good show overall though, the whole thing is up on youtube.
 

sufi

lala
i got hooked into watching a few episodes of sopranos at the weekend via clips on yt - still pretty fantastic
beginnning to feel like a pre-9/11 artifact tho
 

catalog

Well-known member
it is amazing how quickly these things date. the corner is 2000, but written in mid 90s, it feels quite antique. no phones at all.
 

Leo

Well-known member
started watching series 2 of "before we die" from Swedish, just as intense as the first. recommended.
 

catalog

Well-known member
cheers leo - might check that one out.

anyone watched the newish "top boy" that's on netflix? I remember watching it a few years ago when it was on channel 4 or BBC, thought it was OK.

This series is similar, but they seemed to have upped things a bit, particularly as the episodes progress. The acting is phenomenal in places, particularly this girl who plays one of the mid-level dealers

ECqEig5WkAU6Npb.jpg


It does have a problem (for me) in that a lot of scenes are shot like they are music promos or adverts... i wonder if this might be a result of a lot of the crew making it maybe coming from those backgrounds (promos not film), so they use a lot of gimmicks and tricks... also possibly the target audience would appreciate that sort of thing.

eg like this scene


would much prefer it if they went full "Wire" and lost any additional music in the scenes (even though some of the tracks are really good).

but yeah, good series, would recommend. think it's getting another netflix series.
 

Leo

Well-known member
started watching series 2 of "before we die" from Swedish, just as intense as the first. recommended.

goes without saying but have to watch series 1 first. I recall thinking the first episode was ok, then it really takes off.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Luka absolutely hates Seinfeld. But I love it.

I've been watching "The Fall" on Netflix. The one where Gillian Anderson is a detective dispatched to Northern Ireland to catch a serial killer, played by Jamie Dornan, who has a wife and kids (who he seems to genuinely love) but is also obsessed with stalking, home-invading and strangling women.

I'm up to Season 2. I feel like it's beginning to get a bit silly. But the first series is excellent and genuinely disturbing.
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
Pile of wank, it gets worse (no offence)

Seinfeld I could never get into a groove with. Conversely, CYE has genius in the mix - “I’ll fuck the Jew out of you”, all the characters are spot on too. Could ramble on.....
 

catalog

Well-known member
Yeah I love curb, that's why I was thinking of going back to Seinfeld. I started watching "it's always sunny in philadelphia" cos people say it's similar to curb but didn't seem like it to me
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Pile of wank, it gets worse (no offence)

Seinfeld I could never get into a groove with. Conversely, CYE has genius in the mix - “I’ll fuck the Jew out of you”, all the characters are spot on too. Could ramble on.....
Yeah I love Curb but find Seinfeld really annoying... I can see there is something of the same humour in there but I struggle to sit through a whole episode of it.
 
Top