[incandescent rage]
WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE’S ALREADY A FOURTH SEASON OF BABYLON BERLIN THAT’S BEEN AVAILABLE FOR MONTHS IN EUROPE AND ELSEWHERE BUT NETFLIX ISN’T GOING TO GET IT???
Are you seriously telling me that there’s nowhere for Americans to watch Babylon Berlin season 4??? 
Grrrrr. This is why I don’t own firearms.
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Anyone catch Feud: Capote and the Swans? We watched half the first episode (got interrupted – not because we didn’t like it), and I’m not sure about it. Watching rich people wallow in their supposed misery is not my favorite genre, but I have to say Tom Hollander is doing the best Capote I’ve seen. Better than Philip Seymour Hoffman and Toby Jones.
For All Mankind
My wife and I are on season 2 of this show and it is really good. I found the first 3-4 episodes only OK, but once people were stuck on the Moon for awhile, it improved a lot.
I like to pretend it is a prequel to Babylon 5.
It’s possible that For All Mankind is a prequel to Star Trek.
Watched the first few episodes of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. It is a kind of strange, oddly paced show. Extremely slow paced awkward conversation for large stretches punctuated by murder and mayhem. It is like somebody shuffled together scripts for Who’s Afraid of Virhinia Wolf and a Tarantino movie.
Convince yourself that there are only 2 seasons and you will be happier for it.
I’ve watched the first episode and loved it. I have always been fascinated by Truman Capote and his life, so I am a target audience member for the show. I have also read a little bit about the events depicted, so I probably have a leg up on people who come into it cold on Capote and the women he surrounded himself with.
I also don’t normally like watching programs about the wealthy bemoaning the minor inconveniences of their lives, but I don’t think this will be about that in totality. I’m looking forward to depictions of the Black and White Ball and the debauchery of Studio 54.
I noticed a couple of anachronisms in the first episode though. During the dinner party in the Caribbean, Tru makes a crack to Bill Paley about having “the boys at 60 Minutes” pick up on some piece of gossip he spilled. The scene takes place in 1955, over a decade before 60 Minutes debuted. I also almost laughed at the pristine subway car Truman and John O’Shea were riding in after the lunch with the Swans; in 1975 New York, there wasn’t a single subway car that wasn’t covered in graffiti.
So, I’m three episodes into Masters of the Air (Apple TV) and I have yet to see anything that strays from the dozen or so stereotypes that characterize this genre. I think the only one left is a gunner shooting down a fellow bomber. It’s a shame, because the effects and cinematography are great (and look kind of expensive) but there are absolutely no compelling characters or original story ideas to this thing.
Two weeks ago, I found out I had Disney+ (along with Hulu, which I was paying for already, and ESPN+, which I would have really like to have during Bowl season) included as part of my cell plan for the past year and change (D’oh!). I had already made the conscious decision not to pay for Disney+ (because Marvel has gone down the tubes, Star Wars was already waiting for Marvel’s refuse to join it in the sewers, and don’t even get me started on the main-line Disney content, like poorly conceived and worse-written live action w/ CGI remakes of classic animated films), but there was one series that I had told myself, if I ever had the chance, I might at least give it a try: Andor.
I have to say, 3 episodes in (and really, from the beginning) I have not been disappointed. I really like it. I had heard some criticisms that it was a bit slow paced, but FWIW I’m not seeing that, and I’m especially enjoying the world building and the sociopolitical commentary. I especially like that the (so far) principal antagonist is presented as more than just a one-dimensional mustache-twirling villain: he actually has some depth to him, and it’s even possible to see him as not such a bad guy, just someone who was brought up within a bad system. At true believer, he just doesn’t realize that what he believes in is, at base, underpinned by corruption and evil: he still sees himself as the good guy, and not entirely without reason. He’s the most human Star Wars villain since Admiral Piett at least, and with a lot more screen time. So maybe the best of all.
Assuming the rest of the season plays out as well as the first few episodes, I’ll be pleased to watch the newly-announced second season.
No, but I read all about that nonsense in Anderson Cooper’s book “Vanderbilt”. Like you, the supposed miseries and trials of the uber-rich do nothing for me.
Seconded-it’s kinda weird and not as action-y as I hoped and expected.
Hmm… rather than being disappointed every week (as I was when I watched the initial two-episode premiere), I think I’m just going to hold off on watching episodes 3 and beyond until the full series is streaming. Then maybe I’ll have it on in the background while I’m playing computer games or something. If it pivots and turns out good, great. If it doesn’t, well, at least I’ll have something else to do.
As it stands, I get a sense that the entries series is like a highlight reel of 1990’s Memphis Belle. A fifteen minute highlight reel that has been chopped up into its discreet highlights and then spread out over the course nine one-hour episodes of television, with 8 hours and forty-five minutes of filler to connect the dots. Oh, and I gather from the opening credits/trailers, a couple minutes from 1995’s The Tuskegee Airmen’s highlight reel. Because that’s basically the only way filmmakers know how to tell a story about African Americans in World War Two: shoehorn in an appearance for the Tuskegee Airmen, as if that was the sole contribution of African Americans made to the war effort, and their are no other stories to be told. Just a handful of fighter pilots and their ground crews.
Oops! Meant to post in the recent movies thread.
The Tourist has made it to Netflix. First episode is promising. A man wakes up in a hospital with amnesia after a car accident, and has no idea why people are trying to kill him. Australian.
I just started Locke & Key. I’m three episodes in and I’m interested in seeing more, but it will need to find a direction soon.
I watched Bullet Train yesterday. I enjoyed it, in spite of how ridiculous it is.
After reading the book, I had semi-high hopes for Masters of the Air. So far, it’s just okay. The production values are good and the combat sequences are well done but I don’t find the characters all that compelling. I find myself comparing it to the movie and series Twelve O’Clock High. It’s been many years since I’ve seen either of those, but they basically tell the same stories (and with real B-17 crash landings).
A good companion read is the story of B-17 pilot John Luckadoo: “Damn Lucky: One Man’s Courage During the Bloodiest Military Campaign in Aviation History”. Masters Of The Air author Donald Miller did an interview with him at the WWII museum. At 100 years old he’s still sharp and has vivid memories of his combat tour .
More anime! You know you love it.
Have you ever said to yourself, “Gosh, I wonder what it would be like to see an anime version of Harry Potter, but with Harry himself replaced by Saitama from One Punch Man”? Well if so, 1) you are a very strange person and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter, and 2) wonder no more, because Mashle: Magic and Muscles has got you covered!
In a world where everyone except protagonist Mash can do magic and has interesting facial markings, Mash has instead devoted his time growing up to physical training to a ridiculous degree. He is blackmailed into joining a magic school, where he manages to best everyone (despite still having no magical ability) by feats of physical strength. Like OPM, there are many scenes involving evil antagonists monologuing evilly about their evil plans, and then getting punched in the face. Sometimes multiple times. The series is also filled with a bazillion references to the HP stories, often for pisstake purposes.
Also: Mash is obsessed with cream puffs (or “profiteroles”, for you European types). I don’t know why but hey, cream puffs are nice.
I know, right? I mean, there’s Buck, and Bucky (and I don’t know which is which!), and some navigator who gets air sick, and… a bunch of other dudes?
Co-signed. I quit Disney+ not too long ago but am planning to re-up to watch Andor season 2 when it gets there. (Having the wonderful Anton Lesser in a minor role doesn’t even make the top ten among things I like about the show, which is setting the bar pretty damn high.)
You may enjoy blogger/SF commentator Abigail Nussbaum’s remarks on Andor (as of Nov. '22), but beware of spoilers if you’re still early in the series:
Tried to start “Harlan Coben’s Shelter” yesterday but quit on the first episode. The cryptic bits were forced, with people starting a conversation and either wandering off or just refusing to explain what they mean, with no one calling them on it. And the background characters are straight from Central Casting.