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TV/film I've seen recently
Sep. 12th, 2022 07:52 amI saw Fire Island and enjoyed it -- it's been a while since I watched a Pride and Prejudice adaptation and this one was charming and cutting. Leonard has never seen nor read P&P, so I got to spot parallels and pause to tell him about them. Leonard once wrote of It Happened One Night that
and there's a similar balancing act to the role of Darcy, or the Darcy-alike in any P&P adaptation.
My household has now watched seasons 1 and 2 of Only Murders in the Building. A fun show! We are Steve Martin fans here and enjoy Columbo and Murder, She Wrote for popcorn-type everyday viewing, and the performances, characters, jokes, and twists keep us engaged. A big Manhattan apartment building sure gives you a lot of opportunities to bring in new characters whenever you like and tangle up the neighbor-web further. This is one of the few shows we like where Leonard is willing to watch, like, 3 episodes in a row instead of stopping after two, so I think it finds a rare mix of humor, suspense, and (usually) manageable intensity/violence.
I'm now caught up on Welcome to Wrexham, perhaps otherwise known as the "waiting for the next season of Ted Lasso" placeholder. I wrote a bit about my mixed reaction on MetaFilter's FanFare, about how I sort of wish it were more of a Ken Burns-style or Jon Bois-style documentary instead of the specific kind of sports documentary/reality TV it is. One thing I didn't mention there but will add here: would the supporters' trust have been nearly as welcoming to these complete outsiders if they had the exact same plans yet were not white? Probably not. (I'm guessing this from the reactions I think I've heard about when rich Chinese or Middle Eastern people buy interests in European sports concerns. But maybe I'm wrong.)
Last year, with a friend, I saw the first few episodes of the old BBC TV version of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. This past weekend I finished that up. I think when I was a kid, reading the books, I found the idea of the restaurant at the end of the universe elegant and silly, but -- as an adult, and watching the TV version -- I grasp better the emotional tone, the desire for a really decadent oblivion. The emcee looks like he's taking a break from Cabaret.
I tried the 2016 Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency adaptation but stopped halfway through the first episode. Gently is so obnoxious and boundary-trampling, and I just have such a low tolerance for bullying that the narrative seems to be fine with. He's way more out-of-line in the show than I remember him being in the book (at least the first time/s we meet him). However, there is a cop played by Richard Schiff (Toby Ziegler from The West Wing) -- he and his partner are fun to watch.
I've also now seen the first episode of Avenue Q, Armando Iannucci's space fiasco comedy. I liked The Thick of It and The Death of Stalin and I think Avenue Q is along the same lines plus gets us new worldbuilding (e.g., the moon is now a giant jail??) so I'm curious to watch more.
Clark Gable rides the knife-edge between "romantic lead" and "obnoxious jerk" in a way that guarantees lesser actors will spend the next 80+ years trying to surf this wave and falling down on the "obnoxious jerk" side. Really enjoyable to see someone who can pull it off, though.
and there's a similar balancing act to the role of Darcy, or the Darcy-alike in any P&P adaptation.
My household has now watched seasons 1 and 2 of Only Murders in the Building. A fun show! We are Steve Martin fans here and enjoy Columbo and Murder, She Wrote for popcorn-type everyday viewing, and the performances, characters, jokes, and twists keep us engaged. A big Manhattan apartment building sure gives you a lot of opportunities to bring in new characters whenever you like and tangle up the neighbor-web further. This is one of the few shows we like where Leonard is willing to watch, like, 3 episodes in a row instead of stopping after two, so I think it finds a rare mix of humor, suspense, and (usually) manageable intensity/violence.
I'm now caught up on Welcome to Wrexham, perhaps otherwise known as the "waiting for the next season of Ted Lasso" placeholder. I wrote a bit about my mixed reaction on MetaFilter's FanFare, about how I sort of wish it were more of a Ken Burns-style or Jon Bois-style documentary instead of the specific kind of sports documentary/reality TV it is. One thing I didn't mention there but will add here: would the supporters' trust have been nearly as welcoming to these complete outsiders if they had the exact same plans yet were not white? Probably not. (I'm guessing this from the reactions I think I've heard about when rich Chinese or Middle Eastern people buy interests in European sports concerns. But maybe I'm wrong.)
Last year, with a friend, I saw the first few episodes of the old BBC TV version of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. This past weekend I finished that up. I think when I was a kid, reading the books, I found the idea of the restaurant at the end of the universe elegant and silly, but -- as an adult, and watching the TV version -- I grasp better the emotional tone, the desire for a really decadent oblivion. The emcee looks like he's taking a break from Cabaret.
I tried the 2016 Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency adaptation but stopped halfway through the first episode. Gently is so obnoxious and boundary-trampling, and I just have such a low tolerance for bullying that the narrative seems to be fine with. He's way more out-of-line in the show than I remember him being in the book (at least the first time/s we meet him). However, there is a cop played by Richard Schiff (Toby Ziegler from The West Wing) -- he and his partner are fun to watch.
I've also now seen the first episode of Avenue Q, Armando Iannucci's space fiasco comedy. I liked The Thick of It and The Death of Stalin and I think Avenue Q is along the same lines plus gets us new worldbuilding (e.g., the moon is now a giant jail??) so I'm curious to watch more.
