Posted on February 2, 2019 in Monthly Movies, TV
Movies
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (04 01 2019) – Finally got around to watching this. It was on the long side but enjoyed most of the movie and its characters.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (06 01 2019) – Very fun. I love the jokes about video games and its tropes. Jack Black really stole his scenes. The cast was all great except Kevin Hart played himself. Definitely in for a sequel.
Bohemian Rhapsody (19 01 2019) – The casting including the stellar Rami Malek and the last Live Aid scene was good, but this isn’t the best film I’ve seen in awhile. The script and directing were both lacking and I know Singer had to drop out (never liked him any way). The movie felt a bit staid bordering on having that manufactured biopic filming. I enjoyed it overall but it’s a testament to Queen’s music and the great cast.
Me Before You (25 01 2019) – Yes, it has taken me years to watch this film after reading the book. I liked the book and I adore Emilia Clarke, but I put this off because I knew the ending. I managed not to cry by basically watching most of this while preparing for and eating dinner. Then cleaning up. Clarke and Sam Claifin have a lot of chemistry. I’m glad they didn’t make the sequel as I hated it, but I wish Clarke and Claifin were in more things overall and together.
TV
I forgot to track this but I think I got most of it.
Tidying up with Marie Kondo (01-03 01 2019) – I liked the books. I found the show relaxing except for a couple of home owners. I wish there was more of Marie and Iida.
Strike (27 01 2019 to 01 02 2019) – All three series: Cuckoo’s Calling, the Silkworm, and Career of Evil. After reading Lethal White, I realized I hadn’t watched the BBC adaptation of the first three. I watched it with my SO and he’s never read the books but expressed an interest in the show. We really liked all three of them. I’ve always liked Burke and Grainger and I think the show did a good job of cutting out the angst of their relationships. It’s also an easy procedural to watch; maybe a bit too easy. It’s not trying to be cutting edge or different than other TV, but since it’s a BBC production, it’s still very good. I look forward to the Lethal White one.
Posted on January 10, 2019 in Monthly Movies, Movies, TV
It’s been awhile since I did these kind of posts. I haven’t really been watching as many movies or tv shows as I use to, but I’d like to mark it here on a seasonal basis.
September
“Bodyguard” Series 1 (BBC) – This is BBC’s most watched drama in years. I enjoyed it a lot. I like Richard Madden and I’m glad he gets to stretch some range with this role. My partner is a big fan of Jed Mercurio’s “Line of Duty” as well and I will start that soon.
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (21 09 18) – Reviewed here.
October
Ocean’s 8 (22 10 18) – I had moderate expectations going into this because I knew it was not the most critically acclaimed. I really enjoyed it because it looked good and the cast is extraordinary. It’s not as stylish as Soderbergh’s films but I like Gary Ross’s work. There is not much in the way of character development, but this is a fun movie. I actually hope there is a sequel.
“The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” Season 1 (Oct 2018) – A tad long side. Found the mortal/Sabrina friends storylines were dull but witch ones are fun. Good cast and styling.
November
Ethel & Ernest (03 11 2018) – Very lovely animated film about an English family in the early twentieth century
December
L Storm (12 12 2018) – I’ve developed a tradition of watching Chinese or Hong Kong movies on airplanes. Decent plotting and suspense, but not much in the way of character development.
Gravity (25 12 2018) – Really like Curaon as a director so been meaning to watch it. Quite nice and definitely a theatre movie but we only watched on our small screen. We watched Charade earlier the same day (one of my fav movies growing up) and it was jarring to see Clooney as a second rate Cary Grant.
Posted on June 10, 2016 in TV
The Night Manager (20-23 04 16) – You watch this mini series for two reasons: the scenery/cinematography and the actors. Hiddleston, Laurie, and Coleman are the stars. I think Coleman is the best actor, but Hiddleston and Laurie are excellent. Hiddles is just pretty. The story and writing have issues. It’s not something to write home about, but this is a pretty, pretty series.
Daredevil Season 2 (last week of May) – I think the first season of Daredevil was so excellent and so good in terms of being distinct. I loved the actions in S1 more. I find S2 hit or miss for me. The law drama aspect did not work. I liked the Punisher. I didn’t really care for the Hand stuff. I really liked Elecktra and Matt’s chemistry. I did feel that Matt got very annoying most of S2 as he kept lieing to everyone and himself. I look forward to Elecktra’s return, but I’m not sure Matt’s character development is moving at a good pace.
Jessica Jones (last week of May into first couple of days of June) – As a followup to Daredevil, I finally watched the first season of this show. It was good. I do adore David Tennant and he was chilling in this. I really liked the writing, but I did feel that the search for Kilgrave could have been cut short by one or two episodes. Still, a very strong start.
Posted on April 6, 2016 in TV
House of Cards (March 25?-29, 2016) – A good season of the show. I enjoyed it. Maybe a bit more than the last. I love how the characters are fascinating, vulnerable, and vile at the same time. Claire’s mother was a great addition to it.
Cooked (March 29-April 3, 2016) – A Netflix documentary series based on Michael Pollan’s book Cooked. I have been more into food than ever lately if you’ve noticed so this was right up my valley especially the episodes about bread and fermentation. It was not the best documentary series I’ve seen about food, but it is a great companion to the book in many ways. I think most people interested in food would like it and definitely for those of us who have read the Pollan book.
Posted on March 1, 2016 in TV
Mr. Robot (Feb 3-5, 2016) – I had heard a lot about this show when it was airing last summer, and I kept seeing Rami Malek photos. He is photogenic and has a certain quality about him. There is something mesmerizing about him. He’s amazing in this and deserved all the praise. I really hope he gets more high profile roles. The soundtrack is one of the best I’ve heard from a TV show. Let’s get with the Positives: Rami’s acting; the music; the female characters and their interactions with one another; interesting shooting style; a couple of twists; Tyrell and Joanna for the most part and general creepiness. Christian Slater is decent, not fantastic. Writing is fine. Not-So-Good: Angela’s storyline; drug dealer storyline; how Tyrell and Joanna’a storyline ended, and the finale was a bit anticlimactic. It was a good show and very addictive. I adore Rami, but I don’t necessarily feel this should be watched by everyone. Watching the show makes you very paranoid though. It is very creepy.
The Good Wife (Feb 9-19 , 2016) – See here.
The Duchess of Duke Street (Feb 18-27, 2016) – A 1970s period piece show I knew almost nothing about before I started it. This is an enjoyable show. The protagonist Louisa Trotter (née Leyton) can be an abrasive and blunt character, but somehow Gemma Jones gives her enough pathos, charisma, and vulnerability to make you root for her every time. I admired the character actually. I think the show was best when it was focused on Louisa’s life especially the romance and relationship with Charlie. I loved how the show was able to convey their relationship over years and the impact they had on one another. There was that one strange episode which was basically Jane Eyre, but otherwise, I adored this show. I wish I had someone to share it with.
Posted on February 24, 2016 in TV
Posted on October 2, 2015 in TV
Select TV shows, more specifically marathon TV shows, that I watched in August and September. I am going to try to limit myself to one to two (if I have holidays) TV series a month from now on unless I am sick or on holiday.
Episodes (August 2015) – As someone who isn’t a completeionist and find it difficult just to make time for all my consumption and hobbies, I dropped this after watching two seasons. Yes, it had funny moments and I did enjoy the acting. However, I grew a bit wary of the industry jokes and watching Leblanc’s character make an arse of himself. I’ve heard the later seasons get even better so maybe I will revisit. In the mean time, I do think it’s an enjoyable and underrated comedy.
Breaking Bad (August – 20 September 2015) – This show grew on me. I know a lot of people loved it, but I was not particularly engaged with it the first couple of seasons. In fact, I felt like I was watching more because of its place in pop and TV culture rather than because I liked it. It isn’t to say that I disliked it in the beginning, but I didn’t love any of the characters. I think I started to like the show with S3 and S4. The latter is my favourite season because I liked the Gus and Mike characters. At this time, I had grown to appreciate the Jesse Pinkman character and Aaron Paul’s acting. I really liked the characterization and acting in the series. Even the sparse, southwest landscape and direction grew on me. I even managed to feel pity for Walt in the last two episodes! From the beginning, I found him weak and immoral. I never rooted for him until the last episode. I didn’t enjoy the villains or the bleakness of S5, but I did really like the ending. I do not necessarily think it’s the best show ever or even for everybody, but I am glad that I watched it.
Ongoing Shows this month:
- Great British Bake Off
- Great British Menu
- Switched at Birth – I’m back at it, though I still think the show still has many issues
- The Flash – A couple of reruns so that I am caught up for S02. New show for me.
- The Muppets – It’s not perfect, but I’m enjoying it a little bit. It’s got major nostalgic factors for me.
Posted on February 16, 2014 in Books, Fitness, Knitting & Crafting, TV
Hello, everyone!
I have not been reading very much lately. I’ve been too busy and tired to read most days. Some readers like to read to unwind, but I am really active and like a book to take me away for hours and hours. Time of which I do not have lately.
As for my book of today, I am still undecided. I could read my Classics Spin book (Kim by Rudyard Kipling), but I think I will err on my two pile of library books. Goodness, I am glad I have not bought any fiction for awhile. I’m trying to hold out until June as well.
One of my reading goals this year is to read more out loud. I think it’s an interesting exercise as it could help improve my public speaking and normal conversation. It seems a lot of words and stories were written to be read out loud such as poetry. I hope to do more of that this year.
Knitting: Haven’t started. The chart is the most complicated one I’ve encountered yet. I gave up colour coding it. I think I will cast on today or this week to get it started.
In terms of fitness, I signed up for a 10KM next month. I don’t have the proper time to train for it and complete it to the best I could. I am running more though. This week, I ran 6k and 5k. Perhaps by the time the race arrives, I can do that three times a week. Swimming is not going as well as I would like. I can just barely front float and glide. No actual swimming to be done yet. I’ll be glad when the snow starts melting so I can ride my bike again and run more without muddy shoes.
This weekend, I watched season 2 of “House of Cards” which I enjoyed even more than S1. You can see my review of House of Cards season 1 and a review of the British series.
What are you doing this weekend?
Posted on February 3, 2014 in TV
My third Netflix show this month. I’m just going through them based on recommendations and why not, so far all of them are entertaining,
In general, I do not like prison shows or movies. They can be excessively violent, but I heard great reviews of this show. Furthermore, I heard it wasn’t too violent and that it was humanistic. I’m also interested in female centric shows. There are a lot of male centric or shows with large male casts, but this show is a rare thing which is rather sad. Besides Captain Janeway is in it!
If you enjoy good acting and good character development, this is a great show. It is real and tells stories of women who are marginalized in society. It does not make them into stereotypes or tropes. There are strong friendships and relationships. There is a large cast of characters and I was interested in almost all of them except one notable example. This is rather rare for me because I often find that with ensemble shows, I only really like a couple of characters and am largely indifferent to the others. With this one, I was engaged with most of the characters early on.
Notably, as much as I find Piper the protagonist annoying, we are supposed to and the show does not hold back from being critical of her. I’ve never warmed to Laura Prepon even though I adored “That 70s Show,” but I think the casting worked perfectly for her here. I adore Kate Mulgrew so she was pitch perfect here as the matriarchal Red. There a slew of great characters and actors. I think the only one who truly fell short for me was the born again Christian meth head girl who came off as one note for me. The writing also kept pushing her as an antagonist. The character was overdone and I am not enamoured by the actor either.
All in all, this is probably the best of the Netflix shows I’ve seen in terms of writing. While it is intense at times, it is done because it is real and honest. I look forward to where they will take the show the next season.
Watched January 26, 2013.
Posted on January 19, 2014 in Books, Fitness, TV
Hello, everyone! It’s been a busy time for me, both with work and personally. I have been recovering from this cough that I’ve had for a month. It was very cold earlier in the month, but we had a milder week. Still, I’ve felt a touch of the January blues with my work load and personal responsibilities.
Today, I am going to read John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars.
Yesterday, I went on my first run in about 5-6 weeks. It felt good, but the last 1km of the 6km was a bit tiring! I hope to get back to shape for my first 10km race in two months time. I started swimming lessons which were really difficult for me. I didn’t go this week, but I really hope I get proficient soon as I want to become at least decent at it.
In book news, I read Georgette Heyer’s The Talisman Ring over a week ago. It was average and had some nice Heyer moments, but nothing worth a blog post.
This week, I watched Netflix’s Norwegian-American comedy show “Lilyhammer” based on a friend’s recommendation. It is quite funny and I enjoy watching a foreign show with a touch of American influence. Sometimes, it was a bit too violent and dark more than funny, but still entertaining.
How is your January shaping up?
Posted on January 10, 2014 in TV
This post reviews both the original UK “House of Cards” trilogy and season one of the American (2013) version.
House of Cards Trilogy (1990-1995)
The first series in this trilogy is a perfect miniseries. Francis Urquhart as played by Ian Richardson is one of the best antihero characters on TV. He is perfectly smooth, Machiavellian, and yet rootable for me. It is simply amazing how he played this part. It’s pitch perfect and nothing is wasted in the first series. I definitely think the first series is one of my favourite mini series ever and Urquhart is one of the most interesting TV characters.
Posted on December 23, 2013 in Books, TV
I had somewhat high expectations for this novel given how much I liked Agnes Grey and the style of Anne Bronte’s writing overall. I found my expectations were not quite met. In general, this is a good novel and like Grey, it is a very interesting view about Victorian marriage. As a proto-Feminist novel, I can appreciate it as well.
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