Fargo's just finished an entertaining run. I wasn't sure about the finale, but I'm going to watch it again now I know what they were going for (also, it had so many fade-to-blacks for what would be an ad-break that that I thought 'is this the final scene?' about 5 times).
True Detective's back! Sort of: there was a clearly a show called Night Country that's been Cloverfielded into the franchise. But Jodie Foster's awesome (obvs) and the first episode was good, slightly spooky, fun.
I've got about 10 minutes left of ep 1 of Monsieur Spade - it's handsome stuff, but required more concentration than I had last night.
Season 4 of Taskmaster New Zealand is really funny. If nothing else, someone like Bubba shows how comfortably middle-class the UK version has got.
Oh, and I've downloaded - but not watched yet - a show called Criminal Record (it's got Peter Capaldi in it)
Not much these days at all. I'm not sure if less stuff is just coming out, or I'm interested in less of the stuff that's coming out, but the last six months or so has been pretty dire. Looking at my tracker the last episode of a new show I watched was the finale of Archer in mid-December. I don't even particularly like Archer. It used to be I'd basically track what day of the week it was by what show just dropped an episode.
Film highlight - Talk Radio (1988) - which I had not seen before. Outstanding first scene - both for the cinematography of what was shown and in holding off from showing the protagonist for so long. And then a great, absorbing and intense continuation through the rest of the film. Bogosian both starred and co-wrote the original play and this script - doing all those extremely well.
TV highlight - Criminal Record - Capaldi at his most sinister and some fine direction take this one up a few ranks. So far I am not entirely convinced by Jumbo's relationship with Moore, but will definitely be continuing.
Just watched the 2023 Japanese film Monster. This went under my radar until my wife suggested it. Very great film, and I love the execution of pov/perspective changes for each character as they all tie in together near the climax. The ambiguous ending was kinda weird for me. Not that I don't like ambiguous endings, it's just that this one was a tad bit too ambiguous. It reminds me of an old Mads Mikkelsen film that I won't say so it doesn't spoil you. It's a good idea to go into this film blind. 8.5/10
Also started watching Season 4 of True Detective, which is one of my most anticipated shows this year. The pilot was good. I like how they're bringing back the supernatural vibes similar to season 1. Cast is pretty good so far. Can't really say much yet since it's only been one episode, but it looks to be a good show.
Just finished Alice in Borderland and started Six Feet Under to replace it. Have an episode or two to go in Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.
Our bedtime shows are currently Classic Doctor Who, Torchwood, Stargate SG1, Loki, Monk, and Batman Beyond. Echo will probably replace Loki after we finish the last episode.
