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Watched anything good lately?

Like seemingly the rest of the country I’ve watched Adolescence this week. My opinion more or less echos Martin’s above, the way it’s made and the way it’s acted really makes it top tier television, especially when combined with the heavy hitting subject matter.
 
I’ve been watching The Twilight Zone recently.

They’re all very well written, and because the series is an anthology, I don’t have to memorise or revise character names along with GCSE’s, so it’s a good low overhead watch if you are quite busy.
 
I'm just dropping in to say I've been on a Thunderbirds bender. I never really had an interest until a video about the Broadcast vs Continuity Order popped up on YouTube. I thought "alright then, why not?" then found myself blitzing the entire original series, the Anniversary episodes, the Filmed In Supermarionation documentary the two films, followed by the 2004 film and the first three Thunderbirds Are Go episodes in the space of a week.

Now I'm bouncing between Stingray, Captain Scarlet, Thunderbirds Are Go, many other Gerry Anderson projects which may or may not be connected to AP Films/Century 21 like the fantastic stop motion fever dream on the cheap Dick Spanner, P.I. and 'Making Of' YT videos like a total screwball! o_O (Sigh, it would be great if I could apply the level of hyper-fixation I have to my personal 'stuck in development hell' projects.)
 
Many years ago, they had an excellent "Thunderbirds & Co." exhibition on the prom at Blackpool for a couple of seasons.

You have excellent taste, running all the way home from school to make sure I didn't miss Stingray and Captain Scarlet, oh those were the days, back when I could run!
I watched them all, on regular repeats, around the time.
I'm an old old git, but Gerry Anderson was my hero of youth,
 
Going back to Thunderbirds, I didn't realise Blackpool was such a Mecca for space shit in general.
Space City (Space 1999), Thunderbirds twice, once in Winter Gardens for the Film version, World of Space/Space Models, and Dr Who's Tardis just round the corner from the waxworks, all between the seventies and nineties.
Did them all back in the day.
 
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I've also watched Adolescence. It was well-paced, and fairly gripping, with the third episode being my favourite. As for the acting, Stephen Graham was brilliant.
Overall, I would give it an 8.7/10.
 
The reaction to Adolescence now unfortunately has gotten very weird. Showing it in schools? Why? Kids know about this stuff, they're the ones living in it. There's literally a scene where a kid explains to the police officer what everything the kids are talking about online means.

The show doesn't have any political or practical solutions, it isn't about how to recognise you or your mate is going down the rabbit hole and how to get out of it or whatever. The closest thing to a resolution is a year on he decides to take responsibility and plead guilty, and even then it's probably just to get a lighter sentance. I'd get saying it's essential viewing for parents of boys in a "do you know what he's up to online and with his mates" and "are there any things he might be picking up from you" kind of thing, but let's be honest if a kid is already fallen down the rabbit hole, "forced viewing of a state approved story about how you're an incel murderer" is only going to make that worse.

The show isn't every really about teenage knife crime, beyond that being the set up, so focusing on that is a clever trick to get out of talking about the real central theme of misogyny, or other themes like how we're raising the next generation. Weirdly they're even missing a trick not to fall back into their obsession with social media seeing that's a big part of the show too.

Wouldn't be surprised if this is like how the big toothbrushing drive was a partnership with Colgate but with Netflix. All this government seems able to do is take corporate 'gifts' and it's easier to just say "watch this show" than actually do anything.

Of course, this response from the state doesn't mention the second episode, about how teachers are overworked and beaten down by a completely broken education system...
 
I’ve been cracking into White Lotus.

It’s certainly an interesting take on the rich white people murder mystery story; you spend the show not guessing who had killed, but who will kill and who will be killed, and instead of picking favourites, I hate everyone!

Dialogue seems naturalistic and believable, characters, no matter how despicable, are all well done and the plot is terribly engaging, seeing everything go wrong in this resort is a horrible kind of pleasure, like picking at a hangnail or a scab.

The GM is a very entertaining character, Jenifer Coolidge is hilarious and scarily reminds me of my aunt, and the guy who I recognise as playing Frank Heffley in Diary of A Wimpy Kid who’s name I can’t be arsed to google is too innocent for this whole debacle. Everyone else I want to drown, in the best way possible for the show.

I don’t know if I’m accidentally insulting some culture rich Hawaiian music, but there’s weird music that sounds like people panting for breath and I don’t like it.

I’m not far through, but It is very nice so far, would recommend.
 
Just seen Black Mirror Season 7, and all I have to say is wow. It’s clear how Black Mirror has learnt from other anthology series this season, such as Inside Number 9, but also has overarching themes across the whole season.

It continues the trend of a post-COVID Black Mirror that leans less into the bleakness of early seasons but also is still so punchy and poignant. It really grapples with the concept of AI agency for the whole season in a way that makes the discussion around morality in AI very visceral. A lot of Black Mirror fans are still upset that Netflix’s Black Mirror isn’t Channel 4’s Black Mirror but it actually integrates the optimism and pitfalls of AI together in a way the original run wouldn’t have.

You can tell the writer has also been thinking about the concepts of death as this a recurring secondary theme throughout the season. This season definitely benefits from tackling the same topic from different perspectives. Different beats that will hit with different people, whether that is the oldest or youngest members of this forum.

For the first time in the series there are returning characters from previous episodes and at no time does it feel gimmicky. It also reintroduces a lot of tech from previous seasons, particularly the Nubbin from The Entire History of You. All of this feels well-deserved without having the contextual understanding of the other episodes.

Into Infinity might be my new favourite Black Mirror episode now, it’s basically a sci-fi movie and sci-fi concepts to boot. Any sci-fi nerds, will fall in love with this. Although it’s even better when you watch USS Calister first. Was not expecting DanTDM to rock up yet again after seeing him in the Minecraft movie the other week.

I feel like Black Mirror is setting up for an ending at some point, and what an ending it will be. But I’ll be a bit sad because I don’t think I’ve ever resonated so strongly with a TV show before, both in its surface level references and its deeper themes.
 
The_bup said:
I’ve been cracking into White Lotus.

It’s certainly an interesting take on the rich white people murder mystery story; you spend the show not guessing who had killed, but who will kill and who will be killed, and instead of picking favourites, I hate everyone!

Dialogue seems naturalistic and believable, characters, no matter how despicable, are all well done and the plot is terribly engaging, seeing everything go wrong in this resort is a horrible kind of pleasure, like picking at a hangnail or a scab.

The GM is a very entertaining character, Jenifer Coolidge is hilarious and scarily reminds me of my aunt, and the guy who I recognise as playing Frank Heffley in Diary of A Wimpy Kid who’s name I can’t be arsed to google is too innocent for this whole debacle. Everyone else I want to drown, in the best way possible for the show.

I don’t know if I’m accidentally insulting some culture rich Hawaiian music, but there’s weird music that sounds like people panting for breath and I don’t like it.

I’m not far through, but It is very nice so far, would recommend.
Click to expand...

I've just finished series three of White Lotus too, loved it. Enthralling till the end.
I've heard others saying this last series wasn't as good as the previous but no such complaint from me, I say it was better then S2 with S1 still the strongest. The only storyline I don't think had it's due payoff was the asshole family, I really wanted to see how that revelation played out when they got their phones back. I'd happily watch a spinoff series of that.

And that theme is incredible! Showrunner and composer have fallen out (both sounding a bit childish about it) so seems it'll change for S4, but this full version is a banger.


From: https://youtu.be/Q-xTYfAjQEU?si=iE-k67VSnyeV85dC
 
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