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My fairly regular look at TV series and films I've seen recently, with mini reviews, my star ratings, and the trailers. For more of these posts, please click the 'Lately I've Been Watching' tag at the end. I've watched a lot of stuff!!
3 Part Series: Black Mirror (Season 5) Netflix
Charlie Brooker never disappoints, and these three hour long dramas were totally up to standard. The first was a clever and amusing look at virtual reality video games, while the second two were set in the present rather than the future, and showed the dark side of our technological advances, and social media. As technology becomes ever more invasive and impossible to hide from, I found the second of these stories the most frightening; it depicted the influence of social media, and also showed how much information we leave about ourselves online. BTW, if you think the hologram Miley Cyrus on tour was far-fetched, think again; it's already happening. Not with her, but others. 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Series: Billions (Season 4)
I just adore this high-finance-in-the-fast-lane series, and the twists and intrigue don't slow down for a minute in Season 4. Although incredibly fast-paced, with never a moment of downtime, the dialogue and acting is so good that the characterisation doesn't lose out for a moment. Damian Lewis as Bobby Axelrod is my favourite, as ever. Ended on the perfect 'end of this phase but what's coming next looks even better' cliffhanger. Excellent - if you've never seen it, start at the beginning! 5 stars plus ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Netflix Film: I Am Mother
SciFi/Post Apocalyptic film - human life is said to be extinct, but in a secure unit, thousands of human embryos are kept by 'Mother', a droid who chooses those to be born. 'Daughter' is happy in her life, but longs for brothers and sisters; as she gets older, she becomes more curious about what lies outside. Then, one day, she hears a real human being crying for help...
I enjoyed this film a lot; it's unpredictable, and the suspense side of it is edge-of-your-seat stuff. Nice one. 4.5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Series: 3%
Brazilian series, with moderately good dubbing. In an un-named place, 97% of people live in the broken-down, slum-like 'Inland'. When Inlanders reach the age of 20, they can register for the yearly 'process', which, through a series of tests, picks 3% of those who apply to go to live in the luxurious 'Offshore'. But not all the Inlanders are in favour of the 'process'; these are the anarchists who work for 'the cause'; they wish to infiltrate the process and destroy its unfairness in order to establish equality. I'm half way through Season 3; I liked Season 1 the best, as it dealt mainly with the candidate test, which was fascinating, but the characters and plot are developing in an interesting fashion. 4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Series: Dark (Season One)
German, dubbed well. In the small German town of Winden, ancient caves hold a secret - a wormhole that allows travel in time, back in 33 year periods. People go missing, never to be seen again. Soon, lives start to crumble as the ties become evident between the missing children and the history of the town and its citizens. The story is great, and I enjoyed seeing the characters deal with life back in 1986 and then further back, in 1953. However, it can be hard to keep up with who is who in their past/future lives, as different actors are used for the younger versions, rather than the same ones ageing up or down; the plot threads and relationships between the large cast of characters are very complicated as it is, without having to remember who is supposed to be who - not easy, as the different versions have different faces. I tried to watch a couple of episodes one night when I was tired, and found I couldn't keep track of it. I'll watch the second season when it comes out, if I can remember what was going on. 4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Film: Deadwood The Movie
I liked the Deadwood series, though it wasn't one of my favourites. This is a good film, and I am sure anyone who loves the series will enjoy it very much; it's a continuation.
3.5 stars (3 stars for how much I enjoyed it, but 4 stars from an objective viewpoint!) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Fabulous true life tragic and amazing adventure starring Daniel Radcliffe - loved it so much I could have watched it again straight away, and now want to read the book.
Liked this series much more than the first. Sci-Fi series set in 1984. Gives me the feeling of curling up in bed reading comics, as a child. Love that it's not all about today's technology; will appeal to the oldies like me! 4.5 stars 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟
The long-running comedy series starring Larry David, who created Seinfeld. I watch a few episodes of this whenever I feel like something light; always great.
4.5 stars 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟
Fearless - serial drama Lawyer tries to prove the innocence of a child killer and opens up a whole can of worms. I did like it, but don't think I would have remembered it if I hadn't made a note of it straight away. It's worth watching.
3.5/4 stars
🌟 🌟 🌟
Doomsday ~ post apocalyptic film from 2008 The first five minutes showed great promise. After that it was preposterous rubbish, mostly. Gangs of unruly punks in forgotten Scotland, who all happen to be really great looking with great bodies despite living on a diet of human flesh. Breakaway gang of immunes live in a castle, and for some reason all dress in medieval attire. Scantily clad girl beats huge man in full body armour in battle. You get the picture. Some good music, though.
Mostly preposterous rubbish, but I watched it to the end, possibly because it starred the bloke out of Banshee who is totally hot. Includes token beautiful, successful professional woman who happens to be a lesbian, as is usual in TV drama these days (nb, this is not a slur against the LGBTQ community, but a criticism of the patronising tokenism present in the TV industry).
I love autumn. It's my favourite season, right from the smell in the air first thing on mid-August mornings, through to dank and chilly late November. As today is particularly lush, I decided to get away from the laptop and go for a walk over the park. At last ~ no more summer clothes, time to wear my over-the-knee boots and a jacket again!
Under the trees, the view as I looked up was so gorgeous that I just had to lie down amongst the fallen leaves and twigs, and look up at it for ten minutes or so. One woman came over and asked me if I was alright. I said yes, I was just enjoying the beauty of nature. She gave me a half smile, half weird look, and went back to her phone.
(I didn't have a camera with me and don't possess a smartphone, so these are not my pictures, btw). On the way home I passed a garden with a lavender bush that smelled wonderful as I walked past. I broke a tiny sprig off and put it behind my ear, and could smell it all the way home 😌 (where I discovered that the washing line had broken, and my washing was all over the garden. Ah well).
Note Sept 23: re the phone thing, on the Metro yesterday my companion and I looked around and every single person apart from one lady of around 70 (and us) was staring at their phones. Reminded us of Nosedive, from the Charlie Brooker Black Mirror series, in which one's whole life depends on one's star rating....
