Oh, man, I love that series to death. I wish it would pick up again and go on forever.
We started American Primeval from the beginning again, after loving the first 1.5 episodes so much we decided to save it for our projector/screen setup at home. The cinematography is incredible & of course more enjoyable than on the measly MacBook we had in Berlin, and Betty Gilpin (Nurse Jackie et al) is excellent. It is pretty violent, so for those who can’t handle that it may not be ideal.
It’s funny — western is probably one of my least favorite genres, but there have been some phenomenal shows lately. Godless was great, too.
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I loved Godless.
I probably like both shows bc they have strong female characters, which is unusual for that genre.
The Ladies of La Belle was my favorite episode.
I rarely remember any details of any episodes I’ve watched of any show past a few days (meals, OTOH… 
), save for very few exceptions. No doubt it was good.
And how could I forget The English?
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28 Years Later (2025) - Danny Boyle
Back in 2002, Danny Boyle took the basic idea of the zombie apocalypse and gave it a twist. Instead of the undead rising from the grave and shuffling their decaying corpses through the world, the ‘zombies’ would be the product of biological research gone awry. Scientists attempting to ‘cure’ violent behavior create a virus that supercharges it, turning its victims into mindless rage monsters. These are whole, living people, so they move just as fast as anyone else. They can run. They can exhibit at least some human intelligence (they will climb a ladder, for instance). This and Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake in 2004 heralded the era of ‘fast zombies’. But the 28 films are, more than any other of the genre, about the breakdown and rebuilding of society. 28 Days is the immediate aftermath. 28 Weeks tries to imagine what ‘getting things under control’ might look like (and how fragile it is). 28 Years tries to get at what that might mean for an entire generation.
The idea which opens the film is that the Rage epidemic has been beaten back and eliminated in all of Europe (and presumably the rest of the world), with the UK being locked down and placed into indefinite quarantine. The virus is still evident on the mainland, and new versions of the infected have cropped up: Alphas, which seem to keep more of their intelligence, and for whom the virus has steroid-like effects, making them especially strong. And there are the “Slow-Lows”, who have lost their intelligence, but who aren’t as openly hostile, and are mostly content to crawl around, like human slugs, looking for bugs, worms, and other easily available food.
Off the coast of Scotland, a small community lives on a tiny island, free of the virus, and connected to the mainland by a causeway accessible only at low tide. Jamie is a father to 12 year old Spike, and married to Ilsa, who has some sort of illness that’s affecting her mind. After Spike’s first trip to the mainland to practice killing the infected, he takes it upon himself to try to get his mother to a doctor on the mainland he thinks might be able to help her. But it’s not clear that the doctor could help, even if he wanted to.
There is a LOT of social commentary going on here, and much of it seems to me to be particularly English. In fact, I’d be very curious for an actual English person’s perspective (@Harters, if you have any interest in this sort of thing, I’d love to hear your take). The script was written by Alex Garland, who has had a hand in some of the strangest and most thoughtful sci-fi of the last decade or so. His other credits include Ex Machina, The Beach, Annihilation, and the absolutely whacked out Men, so it should come as no surprise when the last 3rd of the film goes in a wholly unexpected and pretty disturbing direction, looping back to an opening sequence that was, 'til this point, seemingly unrelated to the main plot.
28 Years Later lives in that fuzzy zone where it contains all the parts of a horror movie, and has the aesthetics of a horror movie, but isn’t QUITE actually a horror movie. Or at least, is very much trying to be something in addition to presenting a typical horror scenario. How much you’re willing to go along with that will likely indicate your ultimate opinion of the film. It may not be something you’re on board with. If it is, though, it’s a pretty entertaining two hours with some interesting ideas.
3 out of 5 hand-fletched arrows.
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The latest episode of Stick (#8), is the best one of the series so far.
The Last Showgirl, with Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kiernan Shipka and Billie Lourd. Not many big revelations here, but the performances are all very affecting, and the themes - aging, ill-advised choices, the lure of sequins - are universal. It’s not exactly a “dark underbelly of Las Vegas” movie, but it is marinated in the guilt of paths taken that turn out to be dead ends.
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I used to watch him religiously. He didn’t teach me a thing, but he was funny.
Same. The stories were the draw.
We finished American Primeval, which was great to the end.
Started the highly entertaining BBC 3 show Such Brave Girls, which has won 2 BAFTA awards. Happy to see the second season just started up.
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New Michael Connelly, Ballard, just dropped on Amazon prime. Getting great reviews.
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I know you asked Harters, and not me, but I thought I’d jump in here to correct you: The island where the survivors have their village is off the NE cost of England, not Scotland (although the film starts in the Highlands).
As for the film. it is a distinctly British film with British commentary and I’ve wondered how Americans were dealing with it or how they were able to decode it. It seems to have commentary on the little Britain Brexit mentality with the village, mostly white and working in a very male driven society, operates with a tattered St George’s flag (not to mention all that archival footage).
The appearance at the end of a particular group made me wonder in particular if Americans understood what was being presented. I think it some ways this film was a very smart reflection on national identity and the state of Britain (especially given that Danny Boyle is responsible for the anti-national national film of Trainspotting and also did the opening cermonies for the London Olympics. But for that reason, I wonder if Americans are aware of what a rich text it is.
But do feel free to ignore this since it’s Harters you really wanted to hear from 
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I only called out @Harters by name since he was the only Onion I knew right off hand was English. Depending on what threads we read, we may have more or less info about one another. Please be assured it’s not personal! I welcome the perspective.
I hadn’t even thought about Brexit angles, though of course that would HAVE to figure in any sort of current social critique of the modern UK. And an excellent pointing out the St. George (that is, English) flag.
I recognized the ending group as meaning to evoke famed tv star (and voracious sexual predator) Jimmy Savile , though I confess I was puzzled by what that was supposed to mean in the context of the film. Maybe, given the events of the film, the revelations about him never surfaced and he’s still considered a role model? Or that the group imitates him BECAUSE he’s now a dangerous persona? Lots of questions, which require context I suspect I lack to properly answer.
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We recently finished Duster and really enjoyed it, so I was disappointed to read that it is only getting one season this morning. Boo.
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I really enjoyed Duster also, and am very disappointed that it was cancelled as well.
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I guess I should spoiler-protect this:
Maybe, given the events of the film, the revelations about him never surfaced and he’s still considered a role model?
That’s definitely part of it: With the rage virus hitting in the early 2000s, there was no posthumous revelation of crimes (and the BBCs complicity in coverup) in 2011. This would mean his performed memory would still circulate (although as pointed out, the Jimmys we see are more Millennials and they would have been more shaped by Teletubbies). That said, it is a fascinating combination of “Jim’ll Fix It” fantasy and the menace that comes from what we as spectators bring. I think it also speaks to the uses of archival footage throughout (where these images of the past, whether fantasy/fiction or reality/newsreel are all mixed into these projections of how to be.
OK, I sputtered off there because I don’t have the energy right now to explain myself.
An interview Boyle gave confirms that this is, indeed, the intended interpretation. That fact will, supposedly, be explored in the planned sequel. Evidently, Boyle and Garland have mapped out a three film sequence starting with this one. There are also some indications of a religious/cult sort of aspect given Jimmy’s loony preacher father from the opening sequence, the odd masks folks wear on the island, and Ralph Fiennes ritualized memorial.
I’m a touch irritated at the idea that, once again, we get a film that is some fraction of a story, rather than something narratively complete in itself. But Garland has earned at least a little leeway.
For any Larry David fans out there this should make you happy 
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