@Katrina - you're welcome. I also found Amazon Prime video has Jeff Beck Live at Ronnie Scott's, one of my favorites, and Live In Tokyo (more recent) which I have not seen yet.
I know amc2 and Mrs amc2 liked Downton Abbey. We went to see the film last night - if you are a Downton fan it is a must, but I'm not sure if you'd enjoy if you do not have the TV series background.
Has anybody already binge watched the second season of Altered Carbon. I just watched the first episode of S2 and it was awful, then skimmed through EP2 and it was even worse. They stripped that show of everything that made it cool and fun for S1. I mean, it's awful. Somebody want to convince me to stay patient and keep watching?
I really liked S1. I mean, it wasn't deep or anything, and the storyline got a little contrived toward the end, but it was a decent Netflix-original type of show. But S2 is awful. Actually the quality drop-off from S1 to S2 of Altered Carbon is as jarring as it was for True Detective. But unlike True Detective, where I kept giving it the benefit of the doubt all through the second season because of how strong S1 was, Altered Carbon ain't getting extended that same benefit of the doubt... not unless someone convinces me otherwise.
S1 reminded me in terms of setting loosely of Blade Runner but did not give me a sense of actually caring about the human beings involved as much. Blade Runner was dark and had sleazy background, but all the people represented felt as if they mattered. AC/S1 felt more glossy/surfacey. (I like Blade Runner.) Since I only got a few episodes in I could be misjudging, but to that point it gave me a more cynical vibe.
No, many of your comparisons/criticisms are valid. Blade Runner is great on many levels. Altered Carbon, like many cyberpunk shows/movies that followed it, clearly borrow from it. One thing that does emerge from Altered Carbon, however, is the class structure and societal impacts of it... S1 does have a political/philosophical angle, which I appreciated. But, truly, even S1 of AC, which I really enjoyed, if I had to sum up my like of it, I would probably say "It was fun to look at." I'd say if the first few episodes of S1 weren't doing it for you, there's not much sense in continuing. The season, which I enjoyed, definitely got a bit contrived toward the end. It was like the show tried to evolve into something, but the writers (or maybe the producers) forced it into a direction they wanted it to go instead. I'm glad I watched S1, but I can't imagine I'd ever actually watch it again.
The movie Snowpiercer is pretty silly. The premise is that the world freezes over and some rich dude builds a train that carries the remaining members of humanity endlessly around the world. There's some of the common rabble that hop aboard the tail cars, but the rest of the train are comprised of the super-rich who could afford the luxury class cars up front and the service class who work for their seats and reside in the less fancy middle cars. There is class warfare and political intrigue and violence, but, ultimately, it's a pretty stupid movie. However, it's good stupid. The kind of fun, stupid movie that made Netflix worth subscribing to. I enjoyed the movie. As a kid, back in Chicago, I loved going to the RV/Boat shows and geeking out on all the ways the engineers built in luxuries into an RV or van or boat. The trains in this movie (and the subsequent TV show) appeal to me that way, too. Also, I'm a sucker for winter scenes, so the movie had plenty of that, too.
When I saw there was a TV show based on the movie, I knew right away that was a bad idea. It's the same silly premise, and since the 60-90 minutes runtime of the movie was barely short enough for me to suspend my disbelief, I figured the TV wasn't going to be particularly successful in that regard. I'm surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
The premise is still as dumb as it was in the movie. But they put class warfare and political intrigue off for a few episodes (kind of), and start the show as a detective procedural. That, in my opinion, was a crafty move.
The acting was better than I expected. Jennifer Connolly puts in a stellar performance that this silly storyline didn't nearly deserve. There's a bunch of actors/actresses that you'll see and think, hey, I've seen them in something else... and you won't remember what until you IMDB their names. By and large, they also put in some solid appearances.
The set design is awesome. All the ways they have rooms and access corridors and mechanical structures and science labs built into the train cars is way cool. I geeked out on that, big time.
The TV show, ultimately, is pretty silly, just like the movie. But it's better. The movie was fun bad. The TV show is good. It's entertaining. I'm looking forward to seeing Season 2. Figured I should mention the show, since I can imagine it's the kind of thing that most people would quickly pass by. (I say that without any handle on pop culture, so for all I know, this show has been all the rage these past years).
Comments
ah, jonahpwll, you never cease to amuse.
Well....another season of Beat Shazam, I'm happy watching Jamie Foxx & his cutehead daughter.
Contestants won the $1M tonight!
"Alice??"