Andor leads right in to (the previously released film) Rogue One …
Day of the Jackal. The old bits are the best bits, and the new bits are…not. The focus on family life is an unwelcome addition that bogs the story down, on both sides, and it ultimately is an unsatisfying element that lowers the overall quality. Redmayne has some good moments as the lead, but his weakest scenes are also his most expressive, which is unfortunate. Far too much of the show detracts from its core; a killer methodically hunting a target, while being hunted. Not as bad as the The Jackal, not as good as the 1973 original.
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They added to the source material and made it worse?!?
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Caught up with Murderbot so far - seriously, what is it with this one- episode-per-week retro bullshit? - and I think it is pretty good. It’s true to the spirit of the books, and only 3 things annoyed me: (1) the portrayal of PreservationAux as basically hippies, which is just lazy shorthand for Not Corporate; (2) the “filthy bodies” comment that @OhBollox screenshotted; Murderbot is annoyed by humans, but not contemptuous or repelled, and this comment is literally out of character; and (3) having to explain what the blank spots on the map are. The novella doesn’t go into this, and writers with a bit more courage might have also left it open. As it is, we now have a pointless McGuffin which at best won’t really affect the plot.
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Time is apparently up for Wheel of Time:
“Most TV shows either launch strongly before slowly fading, or they build an audience over a few seasons and then fade after reaching their peak. Game of Thrones defied these trends, and each new season drew a larger and larger viewership even as the show’s quality (arguably) dipped over time.”
GoT’s quality declined a little each season and then went off a cliff in its last season. I haven’t seen all of S3, but WoT seemed to finally be getting better, the way most Star Trek shows did back in the day. I think we may have reached a point where shows just will never have that kind of time to properly develop. You need to nail the first season now, which would have doomed Next Gen and DS9.
Quality of acting and production certainly improved, but writing remained pretty awful across all seasons.
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Gannibal. Addictive viewing. Police officer gets transferred to an idyllic village in the country. Village turns out to be a bit weird. Police officer turns out to be a bit of a hard case. I am bingeing this because the setting is just different enough to make the story feel different, but the overall structure is comfortably familiar; Japanese society is so different, and yet so similar, in many ways, that is alternately alien and eerily reminiscent.
If I want “police officer gets transferred to an idyllic village” it’s going to be Hot Fuzz🤣
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Death Valley. Some nice gentle comedy and unchallenging investigation, as a detective and an actor pair up to solve murders. Timothy Spall finally getting more of a leading role, character actors deserve it.
Mr Inbetween. Lacking a lot of connective tissue so at times it feels disjointed and more like a series of little shorts in an episode, grimy comedy series about an Australian hitman with a temper problem. They got a lot of the attitudes correct, and some of it is genuinely funny.
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Severance. Just finished season 2.
Although season 1 was the most evocative series I’ve seen in a while, and I could not wait for season 2 to continue and hopefully conclude the story, I had a hard time starting it when it actually streamed.
I always found myself not in the right mood; avoiding, almost loathing its depressing tone and its effect on me.
When I finally found the ‘guts’ (and the right mood) I was instantly attracted to it again.
I had to re-watch season 1 all over again, as I had forgotten so many details since I’ve seen it and it was great. I even noticed things I can’t recall to have noticed the first time though, but it could be just my bad memory.
Anyway, season 2 is very good as well, but not as good as season 1 IMO. To be fair, it’s very difficult to reach its heights, as for me, season 1 gained much of its attractiveness from its novelty. Still the love the team has put into producing this is heartily felt, but I just wished they would’ve ended it there. I do not think there is much left in story to justify another season into this depressive, yet attractive world.
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