What's in/on Your DVD/VCR/PVR etc

[R6GYY]

Ep3 of Citadel last night...

Ditto.

[Matt2112]

Frankie Boyle's Farewell To The Monarchy

Bit of a mixed bag this.  When he's ripping in to the monarchy as a concept and the moral turpitude of its family members it's superbly vicious - there's plenty of near-the-knuckle, slam-dunk zingers to give republicans a great deal of satisfaction here.

On the other hand, Boyle just can't help himself can he - there's a unnecessary and tangential segment on the history of colonialism and slavery where the usual laser-precision of his bon mots goes awry.

Overall though, a welcome antidote to the tsunami of saccharine sycophancy dominating broadcast media at the moment.

[Red Lenses]

Mandalorian Season 3 (Disney+), excellent 9/10.

Picard Season 3 (Amazon), if you have any love of Star Trek: The Next Generation then you'll absolutely lap this up 10/10.

Beef (Netflix), okay'ish with a very poor last episode 6/10.

Banshee Season 4, rewatching this season as I just fancied it again....still excellent.

[Fishy]

Couple of good things on iPlayer.. "When albums ruled the world" and a doc about the 70s group Fanny

[David L]

Couple of good things on iPlayer.. "When albums ruled the world" and a doc about the 70s group Fanny

I happened upon that doc about Fanny and pressed the record button instinctively. I've yet to watch it though (I've seen When albums ruled the world)

[Fishy]

Ep4 Citadel

[Matt2112]

Nope

Had very mixed reviews at the time of release but I quite enjoyed it.

It's a sort of sci-fi/Western/horror mash-up with heavy allegorical elements and all impressively crafted by writer/director Jordan Peele.

Its best sequences are superbly done, in particular an unforgettably disturbing scene with a rampaging chimp which is almost Kubrickian in how clinically, brilliantly disconcerting and creepy it is.

While I thought some of the plot points didn't stand up to much scrutiny, and the tone uneven at times, this was well worth a couple of hours of my time.

Rating: ***

[R6GYY]

Steeltown Murders on the Beeb.

Interesting to see a different take on this cold case centred in Port Talbot - not too far from my birth place.

We had already watched the "Dark Lands" series on BBC Wales about the solving (or not) of cold cases. One of these (possibly series 1 episode 1?) covered the same case, complete with the real people involved - Jackie Roberts and Paul Bethell in particular.

I've just checked, and sadly only series 2 is available to watch now.

Anyone interested can head here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000p5p8

[Fishy]

Yep we blitzed the Steeltown Murders last couple of nights.. it was very good

[Red Lenses]

Black Night (Netflix), trailer made this look far better than it is which is the job of a trailer - 6/10.

[Matt2112]

Apollo 11

A stunning achievement stunningly depicted.

The recovered footage looks extraordinary and the events are all the more effectively depicted by not having any intrusive narrative voiceover offering hindsight - it is all impressive and profound on its own terms; it's a triumph of the past speaking for itself.

It's almost perfection - my only issue was that the music didn't quite live up to scenes and events it accompanied; but still, there's plenty of gob-smacking moments that make this superb documentary essential viewing.

Rating: ****

[R6GYY]

If I remember correctly Matt - I think I saw that in the Imax.

Mesmerising. I think I commented at the time how wonderful the tracking shot was through the banks of equipment in one of the control rooms.

The music was performed on electronic equipment that was available, or would have been available at the time.

For anyone with the slightest interest in this period of space exploration, this film should be top of your must see list.

Remarkable.

[Fishy]

Ep5 Citadel

[R6GYY]

Citadel episode 5 on Friday night - and episode 2 of Steeltown Murders.

Saturday night we polished off the last 2 episodes of Steeltown Murders, and we found a new documentary on iPlayer too so we watched that as well. All good stuff.

Tonight - 1st 2 episodes of Annika. We are liking this.

[Matt2112]

If I remember correctly Matt - I think I saw that in the Imax.

Mesmerising. I think I commented at the time how wonderful the tracking shot was through the banks of equipment in one of the control rooms.

The music was performed on electronic equipment that was available, or would have been available at the time.

For anyone with the slightest interest in this period of space exploration, this film should be top of your must see list.

Remarkable.

Indeed, Reg. I noted in the credits that the hardware that generated the  music was literally of its time.