The episodes back in October were the “Noodles” series. The 4 episodes I described dropped on Netflix on 11/27/2024.
1 Like
This is one of our favorite movies of all time, and a set tradition to watch every year for xmas.
2 Likes
Oh, I really love this one.
A holiday horror that isn’t krampus (not that there’s anything wrong w krampus) and has the right sort of black humor to make it work.
Two mangled, frost bitten thumbs up, and possibly snapped off.
2 Likes
As mentioned here almost a year (!) ago.
Time really does fly 
I never watched it either. I thought “been there, done that” I don’t need to watch, but I’m thinking I might give it a try.
Oh, I watched it & absolutely loved it. It’s worth it for all the things I mentioned and then some. It is a really, really good show.
Which is why I’m considering rewatching. Like The Sopranos, The Wire, or Six Feet Under.
1 Like
Gladiator 2 (2024) - dir. Sir Ridley Scott
“Are you not entertained?” Yes. I am reasonably entertained. Am I blown away? Not really. Scott certainly knows how to stage a spectacle. The opening battle scene is more or less a perfect example of that sort. There’s blood and sacrifice and rousing speeches and bravery and loss and TREBUCHETS(!!) and ships on fire and hails of arrows and it’s everything you want in this sort of historical epic. Instead of Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix, we have Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, and having the absolute time of his life, Denzel Washington. We have insnae Caligula-like twin emperors. We have the shadow of Marcus Aurelius’ “Dream of Roam”. We have naval battles in the Collosium (which really happened!) with FRIGGIN’ SHARKS (which probably didn’t happen). There’s just enough plot to keep the fight scenes coming and not get in the way of things too much.
I would write more, but honestly, this review by Drew Magary says it all far better and more amusingly than I could. I wholly endorse it.
https://www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/article/gladiator-2-review-19910270.php
If you liked the first and want more, this will deliver. If not, this will do nothing to persuade you.
3 Likes
I LOVED
Six Feet Under
Shameless
Orange is the New Black
(The older Asian woman who manages to escape during the riot … I think she was the actress in the latest Ted Danson series.)
3 Likes
Ah, see… I was set to love Shameless bc I love Bill Macy, but I couldn’t get into it. Might have to give it another shot.
OITNB lost us in season 3, I think. I could no longer watch that annoyingly whiny and self-indulgent main character, plus some of the other women seemed a little overdrawn — but I realize I may have missed some good moments in the following seasons.
The new Ted Danson sounds a little too sweet for me, like Ted Lasso after its brilliant first season.
I thought the new Ted Danson show was trite.
The others I mentioned: not every single show was GREAT but enough were. Shameless deserved a much better ending.
1 Like
I missed the rewatching, read as watching. I already added it to my Prime.
1 Like
I’m jealous that you get to see it all for the first time. It is really incredibly well done.
A lot of themes that aren’t fit for discussion here.
I heartily endorse Six Feet Under. Among the series, following The Sopranos, that helped crown HBO the king of prestige TV (those were the days, but that’s a different rant. Fucking Zaslav). Peter Krause, Ruth Gordon, and especially Rachel Griffiths are notable among a uniformly excellent cast. Also noteworthy as being a series that absolutely sticks the landing.
I’ve watched it at least three times all the way through.
2 Likes
The guy who played Maude’s husband?? I think you meant William H. Macy!
Shameless: I loved the Joan Cusack character. In one show she’s doing hospice care out of her home (she has agoraphobia) and her patient is Louise Fletcher.
I love Bill Macy, and it gives me an excuse to encourage everyone to try and dig up a copy of Serial, the 70’s movie that 70’s the hardest of any 70’s anything ever, based on a serial story run in the Marin Sun newspaper. Having lived in Marin through the 90’s amd 2000’s, well, some stereotypes have truth at their core.
1 Like
I think you mean Frances Conroy, 'cause Ruth hasn’t done much acting since her death in 1985.
2 Likes
You are correct. I DID mean Conroy. I can’t believe I mixed up those names.
Yup. We’re buds, so I call him Bill, and he calls me Tash 
The pilot alone is worth watching, and the finale catapulted Sia to international stardom.
I though the story line where the brother is kidnapped a total misfire, though. Annoyingly unrealistic and stupid. But loved the rest. Rachel Griffiths character was a piece of WORK 
1 Like
