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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Jun 2, 2011 19:11:44 GMT
...Springwatch.
Only dipping into it two or three times a week and not for the full hour, but it's always uplifting and never boring if you have any love for nature. Kids should enjoy it too.
Reminds me why I don't mind paying my licence fee.
Martin
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Post by blueshift on Jun 5, 2011 0:10:21 GMT
I've been watching through Sapphire and Steel, I thought I should give it a try and I found the series boxset for 18 quid.
Holy crap, I just finished Assignment Two. Aaeeghghghhaaagghhghghgh.
Late 70s ITV teatime drama should not make one feel so disturbed D: D: D:
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Post by The Doctor on Jun 5, 2011 10:52:26 GMT
It is splendid. I have yet to see the final story. DVD is round here somewhere.
Ordered cheap from the tinterweb is The Adventures of Sir Lancelot starring William Russell. There's bugger all of it online and I was curious. I look forward to giving it a go in due course.
-Ralph
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Post by legios on Jun 6, 2011 21:06:42 GMT
If Sapphire and Steel doesn't put the wind up you at some point then your sense of self-preservation may be dangerously impaired....
For my part I have just finished working my way through season four of The Shield, a show I never caught on UK broadcast due to it being on Five and therefore unavailable where I live. Very impressive series. It is one of the few shows that really manages to make characters morally ambiguous - bad people doing bad things certainly, but also bad people doing good things (but not always for the right reasons) and sometimes doing bad things for good reasons, good people doing bad things for bad reasons... Surprisingly morally gray and intriquing with it. Helps that it has a fantastic cast mind you - Jay Carns, CCH Pounder, Michael Chicklis and for this season we had Glenn Close. I've never really had an opinion of her as an actor before now, but that was a superb thirteen episode performance, she really seemed to be hitting on cylinders I'd never really known she had.
Topped off my recent watching with Zodiac - a film every bit as absorbing as I was expecting given that it was by David Fincher. A film about a real-life serial murder case that manages to be neither purient nor sensationalist, but instead a character study of how it affects those people who can't quite let go of the puzzle. Superb stuff - very, very absorbing and absolutely gripping.
I'm going to need to watch some sub-standard giant robot tosh for a couple of days this week though. I think my brain needs a bit of a rest and a palate cleanser.
Karl
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Post by The Doctor on Jun 10, 2011 19:33:48 GMT
It is splendid. I have yet to see the final story. DVD is round here somewhere. Ordered cheap from the tinterweb is The Adventures of Sir Lancelot starring William Russell. There's bugger all of it online and I was curious. I look forward to giving it a go in due course. -Ralph 2 episodes in and it is splendid tosh! Lots of quite modern humour, which surprised me. (after a stirring duel between them) SOUND FX: CRASH! BANG! Sir Lancelot: What's that? Knight chap (Tegana from DW's Marco Polo): What's what? Sir Lancelot: That noise! Knight chap: Oh it's just my castle being attacked again. Sir Lancelot: Well don't just dont stand there! Knight Chap: Oh, it's alright. It happens many times! -Ralph |
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Post by The Doctor on Jun 10, 2011 20:59:27 GMT
Patrick McGhoohan is in episode 4!!! With a beard!!!
-Ralph
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jun 10, 2011 21:21:58 GMT
I must own this.
Still waiting for ITV4 to repeat Randall & Hopkirk's The Ghost That Broke The Bank At Monte Christo
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Post by The Doctor on Jun 10, 2011 21:32:45 GMT
John Dearth was in episode 3! -Ralph |
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jun 11, 2011 6:43:30 GMT
Wow! BOSS!
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Post by The Doctor on Jun 11, 2011 8:22:14 GMT
Merlin is brilliant in this series. He has no magic powers and is just an old chap who is at it. He champions Sir Lancelot at every avenue so that he is not exposed as a fraud (Lancelot caught him making shit up).
In one episode, Sir Lancelot wants to have a kitchen boy he rescued be trained as a knight. But a chap protests, complaining that the boy has no royal blood. Merlin sidles over with a fabulous bullshit tale of how he has compiled a lineage that could prove that the boy may have royal blood. But of course, the written word is not kept in that part of the country so there is no way to verify it!
King Arthur (who has regenerated between episodes) demands to look at Merlin's chart.
KING ARTHUR: But this chart is blank!
Merlin: That's because it's written in invisible ink!
-Ralph
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Jun 11, 2011 8:57:46 GMT
Brilliant!
Andy
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Post by legios on Jun 11, 2011 10:04:20 GMT
That does sound rather fun.
Karl
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Jun 11, 2011 11:12:56 GMT
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Post by The Doctor on Jun 11, 2011 22:33:58 GMT
Watched The Social Network. Great dialogue and acting, but I couldn't get completely into it as the main character is such an unlikeable and unpleasant human being. I was rooting for him to fail yet knowing he destined to become a billionaire. Kudos for getting a watchable film out of people sitting round computers though.
-Ralph
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Jun 12, 2011 7:16:37 GMT
Worth fans of Arthurian stuff catching this on 4oD. It's quite close to Malory, and very much made for a different audience than the 6pm 'Merlin' crowd. Well produced, and with some fine performances. But it's 100% serious, so don't go in seeking any campy humour! Probably limited to the one 10-part series (of which these were two parts strung together). At the end of which, nearly everyone will probably die. The only time it comes close to humour is the heckling yokel expressing his doubts during the highly original new twist on the sword-in-the-stone scene. Martin |
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Post by legios on Jun 14, 2011 20:41:39 GMT
Worth fans of Arthurian stuff catching this on 4oD. It's quite close to Malory, and very much made for a different audience than the 6pm 'Merlin' crowd. Well produced, and with some fine performances. Just caught up with the opening episodes this evening. Rather good I would agree. I'd agree that it seems like a good cast. I liked their take on Merlin a lot, very much the man with the plan but not always comfortable to be around. Just as he should be. I loved that sequence, it was a clever bit of reinvention of the material that rather appealed to me. The Naysayer (and yes, he is credited as such) made for a great counterpoint there. It is still up on 4oD for a few days, and is well worth giving a go. I shall definitely be sticking with it for the next few episodes at the very least, and probably all the way. Karl |
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Post by blueshift on Jun 15, 2011 17:40:33 GMT
Watching Camelot. It's getting better, but there's a bit much gratuitous sex and violence for me
EDIT: Ok the guy playing Arthur is really wet so far, and I'm totally on Morgana's side, she seems to have the rightful claim, the only thing standing in her way is that she has boobies not a willy.
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Jun 19, 2011 21:09:50 GMT
Eva Green is superb in Camelot, and Joseph Fiennes as Merlin is also the tops. I shall keep watching the series for the scenes they are in. The other leads have yet to convince, but the story's decent enough.
Today's films on television, new to Martin:
Tales from Earthsea - dull as ditchwater.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (remake) - quite decent, with a more intelligent story than the likes of Independence Day - deserves more than the two stars given it by Radio Times.
Martin
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Post by legios on Jun 19, 2011 21:48:11 GMT
Watching Camelot. It's getting better, but there's a bit much gratuitous sex and violence for me Given the subject matter then a fair amount of violence is inevitable - the whole central idea is of Arthur's reign being a flawed beacon of hope in a sea of brutal, nasty warlords. Given that the other central theme is of an ideal undermined and brought down by man's "baser" instincts I can't really see how you can do a satisfying post-Mallory version of Arthurian myth without addressing sex as an important theme. Karl |
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Post by blueshift on Jun 19, 2011 22:12:37 GMT
No I understand that, but why do people keep needing to flop their tits out at the slightest provocatation and dream about having graphic sex, it is madness.
End of ep 2 where Morgan meets a wolf in the dark and gets her tits out, I started laughing.
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Post by Bogatan on Jun 20, 2011 5:56:28 GMT
I honestly believe, its a response from TV makers to being straitjacketed for decades by network TV.
Then again sometimes its sticking close to the contents of the source material. (Game of Thrones)
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Jun 25, 2011 21:33:48 GMT
Another powerful episode of Camelot that leaves BBC Merlin eating its dust. Unfortunately, Morgan is feeling out of sorts and doesn't get much chance to shine this time round, but Merlin's quest for Excalibur is a powerful and dark twist on the traditional tale of the Lady of the Lake. Here he uses his magic for the first time, and it's devastating and spectacular, but leads to terrible tragedy. His closing speech at the end of the episode is especially poignant.
Highly recommended.
Martin
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Post by The Doctor on Jun 26, 2011 18:10:01 GMT
In today's episode of Sir Lancelot, our valiant hero goes off to fight some Romans in an especially mental episode. Yes, Romans.
-Ralph
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Post by legios on Jun 26, 2011 19:33:27 GMT
In today's episode of Sir Lancelot, our valiant hero goes off to fight some Romans in an especially mental episode. Yes, Romans. -Ralph Actually makes more sense than you might think.... Given that some tellings of the Arthurian stories suggest that Arthur's period away from his realm was whilst he was off beating up and conquering the Roman Empire.... Can't really go wrong with William Russell beating up Romans in any event. (Haven't seen this weeks Camelot yet. I was otherwise occupied and I'll pick it up on 4oD later in the week) Speaking of Empires and their Emperors, I have just got around to watching the Jackie Chan film "The Myth". I knew that the signs were hopeful when I saw that the director was Stanley Tong - usually any time he and Jackie team-up the result is good. And so it was on this occassion - I liked the conceit of having parallel but related stories in two time zones - allowing Jackie to do a wu xia-esque love-story role as a General in the service of the First Emperor, falling in love with his master's favourite concubine, whilst the modern era storyline gave us Jackie as an action-archeologist not entirely dissimilar to his previous "Asian Hawk" character. An interesting mix of tones too - with the past sequences being played much straighter than the present day stuff, which gave us the slapstick comedy and joyously ludicrous fight scenes that Jackie is so good at. All told a very entertaining film. (Nice to see that another grand Jackie Chan tradition was still in full effect for this film - he does tend to end up appearing alongside some of the loveliest leading ladies imaginable.) This evening I have been watching the first couple of episodes of Treme (that's pronounced "Tre-May", just for reference) - David Simon and Eric Overmeyer's series for HBO set in a just post Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. An intriquing show in conception - a drama series about New Orlean's culture, what came back as the city rebuilt and what was lost, and what makes the city what it is seen through the prism of the Treme neighbourhood. Rather than the high melodrama of The Wire, Treme is a show built more around small moments in peoples lives. (And also firmly rooted in New Orleans musical culture - I can see how this would not be an easy show to watch for people who don't like Jazz music. My mother would simply not be able to watch it at all.) It has a great cast, supported by a lot of local talent from Treme area and the local music scene. One of the standouts so far, based on the first couple of episodes, is Jon Goodman - who is eminently watchable whether he is losing his temper with a British news crew and trying to throw their camera(man) in the canal or ushering his wife (Melissa Leo, who along with Goodman has managed to create one of the most natural and credible screen married couples I have seen in a long time) out of the door to work then trying to reason their daughter out of a tantrum about having to leave the city to go to school. The same strength of observation and grounded characterisation that has marked pretty much everything that David Simon has written for television seems to run through this and, with the rest of the first season currently sitting in my rental queue, I am very much looking forward to seeing where this goes. Karl |
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Post by legios on Jun 30, 2011 20:59:31 GMT
I have now seen episode four of Camelot.....
I quite liked Gawain - nice to see them playing up the idea of him being a little bit rough around the edges. I liked the fact that he was teaching the proper use of the small shield - it isn't just a means of defence, it is part of your armament. I just wish they had found a way to demonstrate that he was a master swordsman other than giving him a two sword style. Historically it borders on nonsense (there are very few recorded instances of the use of two long blades, as opposed to one long and one short, or two short blades, in actual combat) and it is in danger of becoming a bit of a cliche.
I'm not entirely convinced that they are on the right track with what they are doing with Arthur and Guinevere either. At the moment it makes Arthur look less tragically flawed, and more like a bit of a brat.
Also, I am not normally too bothered by people bending, folding or spindleing Arthurian mythology (except for that french interloper who I have little time for) but something about assigning the names of the king's sword to people seems a little odd to me.... Although the idea that we could propose that Caliburn and Excaliber have a relative named Caledfwlch amuses me more than perhaps it should. As ever, Morgan and Merlin remain the most watchable things in the show - they do seem to be walking off with it and leaving everyone else milling around aimlessly in the background.
Karl
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Jul 3, 2011 7:12:27 GMT
Camelot episode 5 is a thought-provoking one. Merlin only gets a small role this time sadly, but the main plot is well handled, as Arthur imposes on villages by force laws that we would consider just, while Morgan seeks support from the people by giving them the unjust laws that they are calling for. It's almost benevolent dictator versus corrupt democracy, but the point isn't forced down viewers' throats. Interesting to see how it all pans out in future episodes.
One thing I love about this series is that it's all story arc, no filler episodes, unlike BBC Merlin which was almost all filler episodes. Mind you, I am now not so sure it will all be wrapped up in this one 10-episode series.
Martin's mini-league table of Arthurian screen adaptations:
1. Merlin (Hallmark 3-hour mini-series) - Sam Neill is my favourite Merlin, and this is the story of his life, with magic from start to finish, and a supporting cast that includes Miranda Richardson, Rutger Hauer, Helena Bonham-Carter and Martin Short
2. Camelot (Channel 4) - an intelligent thought-provoking version for adults - Eva Green is the best Morgan
3. King Arthur (Clive Owen) - a 'historic' Arthur set in Roman times, sadly with no magic
4. First Knight - Sean Connery is my favourite actor in the Arthur role - again, no magic
5. Merlin (BBC) - too much padding, and while it's an interesting idea, the young Merlin concept isn't good enough to justify so long a run in my view
Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Camelot the Musical, Excalibur and Disney's The Sword in the Stone come lower down, though MP&THG is the tops in purely comedy terms.
Merlin's Apprentice comes out at the very bottom of the pile.
Martin
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Post by The Doctor on Jul 3, 2011 10:12:36 GMT
I have yet to see Camelot though will at some point. Just too much in my 'to watch' pile at the moment.
Starz (the US channel which produce it) have decided not to make a second series so enjoy it while it's on, alas.
-Ralph
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Post by The Doctor on Jul 7, 2011 22:49:57 GMT
Question Time was interesting today. Jon Gaunt was a king twat, the Tory squirmed and Hugh Grant became a hero for our times.
-Ralph
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Jul 8, 2011 0:27:23 GMT
Hugh Grant was fantastic I thought. Gaunt started off reasonable, but the mask slipped as the show went on. The Tory was indeed squirming and evasive.
Andy
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Post by blueshift on Jul 24, 2011 13:46:29 GMT
Oh Camelot. How fast can one tv show fall off a cliff?
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