Ripley, Episode 5
A nosey new landlord, and then Freddie comes (in this version androgynous), being too sure of himself. Again, Hitchcock would have loved this. So do I.
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Ripley, Episode 6
The Police begins to investigate, and suddenly the noose around Tom´s neck becomes tight.
I actually never really liked Scott before. But in this… yes, I think he is fantastic. The way he can hold still during moments in which other actors would revert to mannerisms is quite impressive, and just slight changes in his posture and his eyes signal everything you need to know. Of course, brilliant writing is essential for that, and Zaillian delivers.
Only two more episodes left, and I already have withdrawal symptoms. So weird, after my initial reaction I never would have thought this possible.
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Ripley, Episode 7
Okay, I had some time on my hands - so I watched the penultimate episode, too.
Ripley´s lies begin to catch up with him - until Marge does something even worse: she tells the truth.
Really enjoyable, and the way the police thinks they are catching the killer is very amusing.
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Ripley, Episode 8
Caravaggio. Venice. A disguise. Marge. The ring. The father. The private detective. The other forger. Picasso. And then Marge´s book. To be continued?
A worthy finale. A really good series. Surprisingly so.
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I will need to check this out. I had zero interest in it but given your high praise, it is most definitely worth my while.
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Subjectivity is a strange thing and also a beautiful thing in all forms of art.
In deference to @secretagentfan, I have persevered with Ripley. I have found myself dialoguing with myself as Ripley does whilst watching - why do I hate it?, is it me ?, is it you Ripley?..
The Good
The black and White photography is stunning, the natural language is a good choice ( though it’s done better imo in the American Friend ) Johnny Flynn is excellent though one can’t help compare him to Jude Law, who stays long in the memory as Greenleaf. Dakota Fanning is excellent as Marge, there is a preening desire for self service underneath her exterior which is a great explanation for her failure to protect Dickie from the predator she knows Tom to be.
The Bad
Andrew Scott - too old, too arch, too glib, too Andrew Scott. Herin lies the problem and the beauty of subjectivity… I cannot separate my impression of him as an actor from my personal knowledge of him as a person ( admittedly 25 years ago ) does it cloud everything about the show for me… Perhaps but then I adore Spectre and as C he’s bearable.
But it doesn’t excuse the Ugly
The Ugly
Glibness and self satisfaction seeps through every frame, it is an arrogant show, reflected in that cameo, I thought Dennis Hopper in CGI might be revealed as the police captain. It made me glad that the similar Skyfall cameo never happened.
AHH subjectivity - thank you though @secretagentfan, because, I enjoyed the time reflecting on what I was disliking in real time.
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Wonderful, and I agree with everything you said about the Good 
The cameo, by the way, I loved because frankly he is one of those actors I always enjoy. And since I‘ve never seen „Ripley‘s Game“ (which is supposed to be excellent) it made me order the hard to get DVD. Rumor has it New Line had so much PR work to do for „The Lord of the Rings“ they dropped promoting that „little crime drama for the arthouse“ that year.
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Tragically it wasn’t theatrically released in the states. It’s very good. Not as good as Der Amerikanische Freund " but little is
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‘The Gentlemen’ - as could be expected, this is some vaguely entertaining crime farce of the Guy Ritchie flavour. Three episodes in I’m thankful it dialled back on the ultraviolence. It’s not entirely without entertainment value; somewhere in there there’s even a bit of charm in the erotic sizzling of the will-they/won’t-they tension of the two main leads. Ritchie evidently discovered the other half of the population as potentially strong characters, kudos!
But all in all it comes across as a kind of sick Bond screen test for Theo James, particularly episode two. One can see why his fans were furious when that ATJ story broke. Otherwise, it’s once more an extended Barbour commercial, Netflix must have a deal worth several millions with them.
I suppose Ritchie fans will love it; those who hate him not so much. The general public will probably be moderately entertained.
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Agreed. The first film I ever saw at the New York Film Festival. A Saturday with my dad.
Wenders’ most recent film PERFECT DAYS is its equal.
It is. Also seen at Lincoln Center during a Liliana Cavani retrospective.
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I was oddly surprised at finding myself enjoying it. The tone, i guess was better, but I couldn’t put down why I found this the best Guy Ritchie work in years (I don’t count Aladdin or the Sherlock Holmes films as they could not be more prouder lead if they tried, @secretagentfan will get my point)
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It’s time and again undercutting audience expectations, especially in the latter episodes. There are plenty run-of-the-mill action cliché scenes we expect to be solved in a certain manner - and they play out in unforeseen and surprising ways. That’s a huge bonus.
Plus, the main characters, while mostly serving their purpose, do have certain redeeming qualities raising them above the usual two dimensional types of the genre. It’s nice having an ensemble not entirely wallowing in the deeper end of human depravity for once. While there are plenty of unsavoury characters most are not of the monster variety we frequently encounter in this genre.
That said, the end is a bit of a letdown. Ritchie was actually trying to channel the old ‘The Rogues’ tone, likeable ‘good’ villains up against disagreeable ‘bad/much worse’ villains. The end would in general support this development - but the last five minutes somehow go against that aim and the characterisation of most of what came before. Don’t particularly like that.
But overall it was a mostly entertaining, at times even enjoyable eight episodes.
Ending transparency about one’s earnings - always a good sign for a company…
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/19/media/netflix-subscription-numbers/index.html
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Superman and Lois, season 2
After the great first season this show tackles the Bizarro world to explore themes of identity with every character, in such an intelligent and engaging way that I remain absolutely impressed. Every aspect here is top notch work, and while I will always keep Christopher Reeve and the first film on a pedestal, Tyler Hoechlin is the second best Superman ever, and this show probably understands the character better than every attempt after the Donner film.
Gunn really has to be persuasive with his film which I understand put an end to this wonderful show.
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I don’t have any streaming services. I think I have BBC iPlayer but don’t use it.
Tell me: am I missing out?
(NB I have no interest in Star Wars).
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I have several streaming services - but I begin to question myself: do I really need any of them?
There is not too much (worthwhile) to watch on them. It´s just that the programs that I’m interested in are spread thinly over too many services. So basically I pay for tons of stuff I would (ugh) never watch, only to pick put a few I like.
If only there were a way to just pay for the ones you want. Then again… capitalism.
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I only pay for 1 service at a time. The 1st of the month I pick one and immediately upon starting it I hit “cancel” which allows me to keep watching for the month I just paid for but makes sure it won’t renew. I have each of the services’ subscription pages bookmarked in a folder so doing this takes about 20secs. Works very well for me.
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Arbogast–trendsetter as always.
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Thanks for the heads up - I thought the streamers would notice and then make it impossible to sign up again.
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