What are you currently watching?

[Hens Hall]

I would agree with you in some cases. As said above, I could not get into the books at all, so I am stoked to have been presented with Villeneuve's adaptation, which I have enjoyed immensely.

However, there are some literary greats whose work should not be adapted. Take Tolkien as an example. The LOTR films were excellent and kept largely to the books. The Hobbit, on the other hand, is only a small book which was stretched into three lengthy movies and Jackson took pieces of The Silmarillion to role into an epic story. Was he right? I am not too sure, but I still enjoyed it.

Herbert, like Tolkien, created a detailed universe that that leaves one in awe. To me, Herbert lacked the story-telling capability of Tolkien, and that is where Villeneuve's brilliance comes in to play - to present an immensely enjoyable view of Herbert's universe.

I am tempted to mention GOT, but Martin himself is responsible for how that turned out by not finishing his own story.

True, there is a line you can go over when adapting a book to a movie.

Jackson's version of the Hobbit was an absolute abortion of a movie(s) probably driven by the $$$ to get three rather than one 9maybe 2) at best.

 

[Crock]

Slow Horses follows the books pretty well (except you can imagine almost smelling Gary Oldhams farts in the series)
Also first series of Reacher did justice to the book. Haven't got around to the second series yet!

 

[Sturty]

Fallout - Loved how they took the world from the video games and made their own story within it.

 

[RustyHawk]

Season 2 of Blue Lights starts tonight on the main SBS Channel @ 9:20pm

 

[Off The Couch]

This is Us

I needed something I didn’t need to focus on. Easy watching - no thinking required

 

[Hens Hall]

Season 2 of Blue Lights starts tonight on the main SBS Channel @ 9:20pm

Really enjoyed the first season so looking forward to watching the 2nd.

Just finished Griselda. Ok, nothing special.

 

[MrPremiership]

Thought Baby Reindeer on Netflix was an interesting watch

 

[RustyHawk]

Just finished watching "Shogun" on Disney +.

What an excellent 10 part series based on the book of the same name by James Clavell.

The mini series follows the book and does it so well. Excellent.

They could not have cast a better Lord Toranaga than Hiroyuki Sanada. If you saw him in "The Last Samurai" (2003) you would remember his performance as a top warrior.

Unlike the film of the same name which starred Richard Chamberlain, this John Blackthorne is played perfectly by Cosmo Jarvis.

Tabanobu Asano is brilliant as Yabushige the loyal sometimes not so loyal chief of his lands.

Finally, the heart of the series, the lead female played by the beautiful Anna Sawai as Mariko. Now this is a strong female character who really steers this series without any of the woke BS that we see now days in films.

Happy to have watched. Sad that it has finished.

James Clavell has other great books on Asia, Tai-pan for one would be another epic mini series to produce and get right, like they did with this one.

 

[arupist]

Just finished watching "Shogun" on Disney +.

What an excellent 10 part series based on the book of the same name by James Clavell.

The mini series follows the book and does it so well. Excellent.

They could not have cast a better Lord Toranaga than Hiroyuki Sanada. If you saw him in "The Last Samurai" (2003) you would remember his performance as a top warrior.

Unlike the film of the same name which starred Richard Chamberlain, this John Blackthorne is played perfectly by Cosmo Jarvis.

Tabanobu Asano is brilliant as Yabushige the loyal sometimes not so loyal chief of his lands.

Finally, the heart of the series, the lead female played by the beautiful Anna Sawai as Mariko. Now this is a strong female character who really steers this series without any of the woke BS that we see now days in films.

Happy to have watched. Sad that it has finished.

James Clavell has other great books on Asia, Tai-pan for one would be another epic mini series to produce and get right, like they did with this one.

Agree 100%. This was brilliantly done. The only issue I had was having to wait for a week between episodes. This one is really set up for a binge night. Nothing more to add to your comment, really. Highly recommended.

As for Taipan, the original movie starred Australians, Brian Brown and John Stanton, as the two main antagonists. A novel such as this cannot truly be represented in a 2 hour movie, so an 10-episode version would be an exciting prospect.

Noble House was produced in an 8 (?) episode series starring Pierce Brosnan (who I always thought would make the perfect James Bond. Took years to eventually cast him in that role. From memory it was due to his commitments to Remington Steele.) Back to Noble House, it also was very well done, but again, would probably benefit from a remake.

James Clavell is up there in my favourite authors, so I would look forward to any dramatization of his work.

One book I would love to see in a mini-series is Aztec, by Gary Jennings. It is a story about life before, during and after the Spanish invasion of the Aztec Empire told through the eyes of an Aztec survivor.

 

[RustyHawk]

Agree 100%. This was brilliantly done. The only issue I had was having to wait for a week between episodes. This one is really set up for a binge night. Nothing more to add to your comment, really. Highly recommended.

Totally agree. That week's wait was annoying.

Just finished "The Gentlemen" Thankfully you can binge that show.

Good show, if you like that sort of genre, (and I do). Ended with a nice segway into a 2nd series.

The lead female fact: Kaya Scodelario spent some time in Melbourne in 2014 filming "The Kings Daughter" (2022) not released until 2022 to some pretty average reviews. Whilst in Melbourne she hooked up with her co star Benjamin Walker with the 2 going onto marry and have 2 children before separating this year.

 

[arupist]

Wasn't going to post about this but then I thought I may as well.

I watched the first episode of House of the Dragon Season 2. 100% bat-shit boring. Highly predictable. The season will be one long tit-for-tat revenge killing and court intrigue. I won't bother watching again until episode 8 to see who is still alive. If Rhaenyra is not queen by then, I will give the remaining seasons a total miss.

I will say, though, I think Rhys Ifans does a pretty good job as the arch-villain. Takes over the role-type that Charles Dance created in GOT - totally unlikeable arseh*le. His early roles were pretty good, particularly in The Replacements.

Matt Smith is still very ordinary.

 

[Sturty]

The Boys Season 4

 

[Philhawk]

Wasn't going to post about this but then I thought I may as well.

I watched the first episode of House of the Dragon Season 2. 100% bat-shit boring. Highly predictable. The season will be one long tit-for-tat revenge killing and court intrigue. I won't bother watching again until episode 8 to see who is still alive. If Rhaenyra is not queen by then, I will give the remaining seasons a total miss.

I will say, though, I think Rhys Ifans does a pretty good job as the arch-villain. Takes over the role-type that Charles Dance created in GOT - totally unlikeable arseh*le. His early roles were pretty good, particularly in The Replacements.

Matt Smith is still very ordinary.

Wait till you hear about what the plot should have been, as per the books.

Blood and Cheese

✓ Blood and Cheese are minor characters in the A Song of Ice and Fire franchise and the television adaptation House of the Dragon. They are a duo of assassins who were hired by Prince Daemon Targaryen to murder one of the two sons of King Aegon II Targaryen, in revenge for the murder of Prince...

villains.fandom.com

This should have been a “red wedding” esque episode and they absolutely botched it.

 

[arupist]

Wait till you hear about what the plot should have been, as per the books.

Blood and Cheese

✓ Blood and Cheese are minor characters in the A Song of Ice and Fire franchise and the television adaptation House of the Dragon. They are a duo of assassins who were hired by Prince Daemon Targaryen to murder one of the two sons of King Aegon II Targaryen, in revenge for the murder of Prince...

villains.fandom.com

This should have been a “red wedding” esque episode and they absolutely botched it.

Nothing surprises me after the GOT balls-up. Makes you wonder why the scriptwriters think they can do a better job than an award-winning author.

I am about to start reading A guide to Wood Finishing For Beginners that I found online. I will then settle in to Atoms And Molecules in Electric Fields, which has been on my MUST READ list since it was released in 1976.

 

[arupist]

Two new releases for Star Wars fanatics, both on Disney:

The Acolyte - scripted series dated a couple of centuries before the movies. Not bad, and is improving every episode. Two twins from some Witch order are separated at about 10 years old, each believing the other was dead. One ends up training as a Jedi, but leaves to follow her own path. The other turns up years later bent on killing Jedi.

Star Wars: Tales of the empire - animated. DOn't know much except it follows two Jedi on different paths at the time of the Galactic Empire.

You would have to be a fan.

 

[Sturty]

Two new releases for Star Wars fanatics, both on Disney:

The Acolyte - scripted series dated a couple of centuries before the movies. Not bad, and is improving every episode. Two twins from some Witch order are separated at about 10 years old, each believing the other was dead. One ends up training as a Jedi, but leaves to follow her own path. The other turns up years later bent on killing Jedi.

Star Wars: Tales of the empire - animated. DOn't know much except it follows two Jedi on different paths at the time of the Galactic Empire.

You would have to be a fan.

When the Acolyte had lesbian witches moaning under the moonlight using the force to get pregnant lost me.
Woke rubbish show unfortunately

 

[Ashman23]

The Boys season 4 is on Prime.

 

[grumbleguts]

3 body problem is pretty awesome.

 

[Roddy]

When the Acolyte had lesbian witches moaning under the moonlight using the force to get pregnant lost me.
Woke rubbish show unfortunately

When people default to mindlessly reeling out that tired, meaningless piece of propaganda nonsense known as 'woke', that's when they lose me.

I'm one and a half seasons into the german/Austrian serial killer series 'Der Pass', AKA 'Pagan Peak'. Have rarely seen anything quite so dark and gripping.

 

[arupist]

Dredged up an old series from 2008-13 called Fringe. Stars John Noble

2

John Noble

Age

28

Ht

180cm

Wt

72kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.3

4star

K

9.2

4star

HB

7.1

4star

M

3.5

4star

T

2.0

4star

MG

186.1

3star

D

14.2

3star

K

7.7

3star

HB

6.5

4star

M

3.2

3star

T

1.8

3star

MG

149.7

3star

D

18.8

5star

K

11.0

4star

HB

7.8

5star

M

4.0

4star

T

2.2

4star

MG

229.8

4star

(Denethor in LOTR Return Of The King) who is excellent as the "nutty professor". Follows an FBI Agent (Aussie actress Anna Torv) who enlists the help of a genius scientist but must get him released from a psychiatric hospital. Series opens with an innternational flight landing on autopilot at Boston airport. Everyone on board has died horribly. The weird shit keeps on coming for 5 seasons.

Leonard Nimoy makes one of those rare appearances without the pointy ears.

For those who have not seen it, please hunt it down and watch. Highly recommended. For those who have, it is well worth a binge night re-watch.

 

[arupist]

Vikings Valhalla Season 3 is out. Bingeworthy. Given the greater information about the characters in this series, it does provide a fair amount of historical accuracy, although it does deviate in a few minor areas.

For those who don't know, the lead actor is Aussie Sam Corlett who grew up on the Gold Coast.

SO many Aussie stars have popped up as TV series leads - notably Travis Fimmel and the previously mentioned Anna Torv. Then we had Sullivan Stapleton in Strike Back and Teresa Palmer in A Discovery of Witches. Liam McIntyre in Spartacus. The original Spartacus, Andy Whitfield was born in Wales but moved to Australia before he began his acting career.

I am sure there are many others but I cannot think of them off the top of my head.

 

[RustyHawk]

SO many Aussie stars have popped up as TV series leads - notably Travis Fimmel and the previously mentioned Anna Torv. Then we had Sullivan Stapleton in Strike Back and Teresa Palmer in A Discovery of Witches. Liam McIntyre in Spartacus. The original Spartacus, Andy Whitfield was born in Wales but moved to Australia before he began his acting career.

I am sure there are many others but I cannot think of them off the top of my head.

Sarah Snook. A good Adelaide woman who has made it big. She has so much power now that she can dictate where her next tv series is to be made!!

 

[Crock]

SO many Aussie stars have popped up as TV series leads - notably Travis Fimmel and the previously mentioned Anna Torv. Then we had Sullivan Stapleton in Strike Back and Teresa Palmer in A Discovery of Witches. Liam McIntyre in Spartacus. The original Spartacus, Andy Whitfield was born in Wales but moved to Australia before he began his acting career.

Eliza Taylor and Bob Morley in "The 100" (who have since got married).
Daniel MacPherson followed Sullivan Stapleton in the last couple of series of Strike Back

 

[arupist]

Just for want of anything better to watch, I had a look at episode 1 of Time Bandits (Apple). Several episodes are directed/written/created by Taika Waititi. Stars a still ditzy Lisa Kudrow (Friends) and a little fella named, I kid you not, Kal-el Tuck. Shaun Micaleff appears in one episode.

This is for kids only but it really is crap.

 

[eldorado]

Rachael Gunn 'breakdancing'