What are you watching?

[Aruntraveller]

Watched "Sunset Song" a 2015 film directed by Terence Davies based on a 1932 novel by Scottish writer Lewis Grassic Gibbon.

Not sure what to make of it. It looked beautiful, and there was a fine central performance from Agyness Deyn, but it felt too disjointed to me.

There were almost three separate films. The first part being pretty much full on misery in the shape of the father, the second part joy with the marriage of Christine to Ewan, and then back to misery and despair with the third part at the onset of the 1st World War. Even within the three parts, it felt disjointed.

I thought it was well done but I have issues with the director's approach.

This was on TUBI, which I wasn't aware of until recently, but it is a free streaming channel which has some decent stuff on it.

On reading reviews of the film, I have found out that there is a BBC adaptation dating from the early 70s that is available on BBC Iplayer, which might be worth a punt as the general consensus seems to be that it is better than the more recent film.

[Nearly Sane]

Watched "Sunset Song" a 2015 film directed by Terence Davies based on a 1932 novel by Scottish writer Lewis Grassic Gibbon.

Not sure what to make of it. It looked beautiful, and there was a fine central performance from Agyness Deyn, but it felt too disjointed to me.

There were almost three separate films. The first part being pretty much full on misery in the shape of the father, the second part joy with the marriage of Christine to Ewan, and then back to misery and despair with the third part at the onset of the 1st World War. Even within the three parts, it felt disjointed.

I thought it was well done but I have issues with the director's approach.

This was on TUBI, which I wasn't aware of until recently, but it is a free streaming channel which has some decent stuff on it.

On reading reviews of the film, I have found out that there is a BBC adaptation dating from the early 70s that is available on BBC Iplayer, which might be worth a punt as the general consensus seems to be that it is better than the more recent film.

I think the 1971 adaptation is better but as is obvious ot is a dour watch. A novel, abd a trilogy of novels, more to very admired than enjoyed. Because of reading them at the same time and watching the TV adaptations i have this entwined with Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth

[Aruntraveller]

i have this entwined with Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth

I can see how that would happen. Indeed, while we were watching it prompted a conversation about T of Y.

[Nearly Sane]

Watched The Assassin with Keeley Hawes, very odd programme. It felt like the bastard test tube baby of a hundred other programmes. And Freddie Highmore has an outre superpower of annoying me for no reason.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Assassin_(TV_series)

[Steve H]

'Bodies' on Netflix. This was the second time I'd watched it. It's a science fiction detective series set in 1890, 1941, 2023 (the year it was first broadcast. so effectively the present) and 2053. The naked body of a man - the same man in each case - turns up in the same place in each year. I'll say no more about the plot, but it's pretty gripping, and very original. Wikipedia article, if you want spoilers.
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodies_(2023_TV_series) For some reason, the link won't work, because the closing bracket isn't included, but there's a "Did you mean..." link, which does work.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodies_(2023_TV_series)


Moderator Note I have put in link that works, when you have a wiki link with brackets at the end click on the url icon, the ine with an earth below.the italis icon, and paste between the two bracketed urls that will appear

[ad_orientem]

Just watched Sneaky Pete on Netflix. Thought is was quite fun.

[Nearly Sane]

Because if a reference to it on a site about things thar scarred you for life from TV, just watched this from Crown Court. Rather good.


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=F-leZpB-I0U

[Nearly Sane]

Watching Bookish with Mark Gatiss on Now, first couple of episodes OK but maybe a bit too clever clever.


https://m.imdb.com/title/tt32066226/

Finished this yesterday. In the end perhaps not clever enough. It seemed less than the sum of its parts, a phrase thar comes to mind a lot watching TV. The plots in terms of the crime seemed almost afterthought to trying to get the backstory in covering the lavender marriage of the two main characters and the surrounding issue of being homosexual at the time of the Second World War and just after. It reminded me a bit of Grantchester but it confronts issues more head on, and it's plots are better.

The main nag was that the bookish aspects of it seemed underdeveloped in the plots with books being tangentially rather than centrally involved.

[Nearly Sane]

Catching up with later series of Fake or Fortune, some excellent programmes. Often the fakes, or the ones that are not identified as genuine, are even more interesting than the fortunes. I'd really like a programme on the history of forgery.


https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b01mxxz6/fake-or-fortune?seriesId=b01mxxz6-structural-11-m00239k4

Latest one, Portrait of A Lady  - in Pittsburgh? was interesting though I think the decision seemed a bit cowardly.

[ad_orientem]

Watching Red Dwarf.

[Nearly Sane]

The Thursday Murder Club film has all the cinematic flair of an ITV2 serial from 2006


Well  that's surely what the book is aiming for but it does it with more detail

https://archive.vn/yrwO7

[Nearly Sane]

The Unborn from BBC2 Playhouse in 1980.


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9sgARZfm--c

[Nearly Sane]

Halfway through this on Netflix. Really enjoying it, very different pacing from most things.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truth_About_the_Harry_Quebert_Affair_(miniseries)

[Nearly Sane]

Halfway through this on Netflix. Really enjoying it, very different pacing from most things.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truth_About_the_Harry_Quebert_Affair_(miniseries)

Finished it. Really liked it. Slow, thorough, haunting. Hints of Twin Peaks, Donna Tartt's The Secret History, Harry Mulisch's The Discovery of Heaven. It felt as if it were a European production that had subtitles at times.

[Nearly Sane]

The Thursday Murder Club film has all the cinematic flair of an ITV2 serial from 2006


Well  that's surely what the book is aiming for but it does it with more detail

https://archive.vn/yrwO7

So watched it and it was actually not too bad imo. Yes, Brosnan's accent is weird, and yes there's a few changes, though some seemed to  e quite good, abd it's far from as detailed but the prrformances are generally good, with Imrie and Mirren working well together. I think that their roles were better written than the male leads, .

[Nearly Sane]

On the third series of The Diplomat, as ever the tone just seems a bit off even if it's entertaining

[Nearly Sane]

Watched Fearles

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fearless_(British_TV_series)

And The Capture, first series,over the weekend

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Capture_(TV_series)


Both in the genre of the state being dodgy, hardly news, one looking at the past, one at the future. Fearless benefits from a great lead performance by Helen McCrory but is overloaded with story. It is not exactly nuanced in its treatment of politics.

The Capture has a decent central idea but the plot revolves around a technology way too dependent on human guessing as to be effective. The idea presented later tgat it's a essentially a prototype gives the idea a bit more oomf but ends uo stretching the plot a bit thin. It has a lot more ambivalence than Fearless and because of that may just edge it.

[Aruntraveller]

Watching Murder before Evensong on C5. Lightweight but enjoyable Christie-ish stuff from Richard Coles. Looking forward to The Forsytes which is starting this evening on the same channel.

[Nearly Sane]

Watching Murder before Evensong on C5. Lightweight but enjoyable Christie-ish stuff from Richard Coles. Looking forward to The Forsytes which is starting this evening on the same channel.

The first adaptation of the Forsytes is one of my first TV memories, not so much watching, as my mother talking about it. Seems astounding that Susan Hampshire will be in this version.

[Aruntraveller]

The first adaptation of the Forsytes is one of my first TV memories, not so much watching, as my mother talking about it. Seems astounding that Susan Hampshire will be in this version.

My mother also watched and talked about the first version. Being a bit older I can remember it vaguely. At the time it was one of those things I just had to  sit through. Either that or go and freeze in the front room - no central heating then.

[Aruntraveller]

So I watched the first episode of the Forsytes last night.

Either that wisteria has to go, or I do.

The scriptwriters have made quite a few changes to, or taken liberties with, the original story. This episode appears to be acting as a kind of prequel with things that are not in the original book or other TV versions. It felt overly US soapy to me, even though it is ostensibly a UK production (with US money). IT all feels a bit meh to me. Perhaps it will improve as it moves into the real story.

Not as good as the previous two versions imo, although I will no doubt stick with it, even if it's only to make sure that the wisteria does change with the seasons. It hasn't yet.

[Nearly Sane]

Both previous versions have to me depended upon Soames being well cast. Damien Lewis was mesmerising in the last one, and I could always elicit a horrified loom from my mother talking about how evil Eric Porter was in yhe first. I think the Lewis portrayal made him slightly more sympathetic and it was necessary for the time. I await further updates with interest. 

[Aruntraveller]

I caught Call My Bluff on BBC3 last night. OH how I used to enjoy that programme, and still do.

[Nearly Sane]

Watched Fearles

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fearless_(British_TV_series)

And The Capture, first series,over the weekend

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Capture_(TV_series)


Both in the genre of the state being dodgy, hardly news, one looking at the past, one at the future. Fearless benefits from a great lead performance by Helen McCrory but is overloaded with story. It is not exactly nuanced in its treatment of politics.

The Capture has a decent central idea but the plot revolves around a technology way too dependent on human guessing as to be effective. The idea presented later tgat it's a essentially a prototype gives the idea a bit more oomf but ends uo stretching the plot a bit thin. It has a lot more ambivalence than Fearless and because of that may just edge it.

The second series of The Capture was better. Nice ending.

Be interesting to see what the 3rd does

[Nearly Sane]

A little late for Halloween but here is the ITV 1979 version of Casting The Runes by M R James - which was also the base story for Night of the Demon


https://youtu.be/gtz9l0gEH0A