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

[pxr5]

Finished The Witcher series 3. This was so frustrating - you can see the money was spent on effects, costumes and scenery, but, oh dear, the script and story were appalling. And it appears it is to continue with Liam Hemsworth playing The Witcher. Henry Cavill made this series and they'll really have to turn it round an awful lot to improve it in anyway. 4/10 for SE03

[R6GYY]

Last night The Escape Artist part 1. Gripping stuff and we will watch part 2 tonight.

When that is done, will move on to series 1 of Guilt.

And also continue with Shooter season 1 which is our weekly Sunday night viewing at the moment.

[Thenop]

Finished The Witcher series 3. This was so frustrating - you can see the money was spent on effects, costumes and scenery, but, oh dear, the script and story were appalling. And it appears it is to continue with Liam Hemsworth playing The Witcher. Henry Cavill made this series and they'll really have to turn it round an awful lot to improve it in anyway. 4/10 for SE03

Will finish it this weekend. Was aware Cavill won't continue, was nor aware Hemsworth would step in. Not so sure I want to see that...

[pxr5]

I'm half way through Twisted Metal. It's loosely based on an old Playstation game (I admit I've not heard of). 10 shortish episodes - from IMDb: Follows a motor-mouthed outsider offered a chance at a better life, but only if he can successfully deliver a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland. It's a blast - violent, funny and action packed from the word go. Think of it like a cross between Mad Max and Damnation Alley. The acting and editing are a bit ropey buy you hardly notice as there's so much going on. Anthony Mackie is surprisingly good and keeps the comedy flowing throughout. And Sweet Tooth the mad clown is violently bonkers but hilarious too (voiced by Will Arnett but played by an ex wrestler, but seamless). It's trash of the highest order, easily 9/10.

[dom]

Flying through Painkiller. This has already been done very recently with Michael Keaton in Dopesick, but I can't get enough of this story. Worst excesses of corporate greed.

[pxr5]

We finished Twisted Metal last night. A great show and an intriguing ending which leaves more to come - hopefully.

[dom]

Finished Painkiller - In hindsight I think Dopesick covered the story better but Painkiller was excellent as well.  What a fecking awful family the Sacklers were/are.  How they are not all in prison amazes me.

[Fishy]

Finished Painkiller - In hindsight I think Dopesick covered the story better but Painkiller was excellent as well.  What a fecking awful family the Sacklers were/are.  How they are not all in prison amazes me.

We've just rattled thru Painkiller.. was very good preferred Dopesick I think..

[Fishy]

Started  the new Beeb drama Woman in the Wall

[R6GYY]

Finally got around to the first series of Guilt. Watched 2 episodes tonight. Excellent stuff.

[Matt2112]

X

Was meaning to watch this for ages and with its prequel Pearl just being released I was spurred into action.

This is a slasher horror based in 1979 and shot as if it was made in that year - and quite brilliantly so.

But this has many other things that sets it apart from inevitable comparisons to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and the current crowded retro-horror field as it deftly weaves through various themes and tonal shifts.  There's buckets of blood and gore (not for the squeamish), scares (not cheap jump-scares) and a terrific sense of the uncanny while it somehow manages to deconstruct itself the way the Scream franchise once did quite successfully, whereas where Scream relies on audience knowledge, this assumes audience intelligence.

It's very well performed by all the cast and Ti West's skilful direction is very impressive indeed.

For me this is one of the best horror films of the 2020s and highly, enthusiastically recommended. (Available on Amazon Prime).

Rating: ****

I re-watched this on Prime this evening ahead of watching its prequel Pearl, the bluray of which dropped through my letter box from Cinema Paradiso recently.

I won't repeat myself - suffice to say my original appraisal definitely holds. 

[R6GYY]

Half way through series 2 of Guilt now. Fantastic stuff.

[pxr5]

The Last Voyage of the Demeter  Most people are likely to recall the ship, the Demeter, that brings Count Dracula to England that is found washed up on the coast of Whitby with all crew missing apart from a loan sailor dead, and strapped to the wheel. Well this story tells of that fateful journey from Romania. Dracula here is not all suave and sophisticated, rather a monster much like the beast from Nosferatu. It progresses as you'd expect with the unfortunate sailors being taken out one at a time to provide sustenance to the vampire during the trip. It's well done and has that necessary scariness all throughout the movie. It won't win any awards but it's a great idea for a film and it's a surprise this part of the story hasn't been told before like this. 7/10

[R6GYY]

Watched the last 2 episodes of Guilt series 2 tonight.

So well written. I hope the 3rd series keeps it up.

[pxr5]

Invasion  SE01 This one totally passed me by (2021), but I started with 2 episodes tonight. It's a slow burner for sure and it's purely character driven, so don't expect martians and ray guns and tons of shitty CGI. Follows individuals from all over the world as they are slowly experiencing the commencement of an alien invasion: An old retiring sheriff from Idaho, a Japanese JASA comms expert, an Indian-American doctor dealing with an unfaithful husband, a bullied English schoolboy and a Navy Seal in Kandahar. I love shows like this and series 2 has just started as well - great stuff.