Same here.
Midnight Mass
Absolutely, utterly magnificent mini-series.
Mike Flanagan always uses the horror genre in order to contemplate themes like redemption, love, loss, life and death. Now, he has included faith and religion, with the last one working against the former.
His filming style always adds to the narrative with long uninterrupted takes during which actors really get the opportunity to shine and the audience gets to fully immerse into the emotional situation of the characters while taking in the surroundings through slow, intricate camera moves.
Here, it is used to its fullest effect. Some reviewers criticized that the dialogue is too long in some scenes. Excuse me? There are characters who pour their hearts out, talk about their guilt, shame and fears. If someone considers that boring it only shows a lack of empathy, also a misunderstanding of what the horror genre should be about. Flanagan has never gone for simple jump scares or gore. For him horror is not a carnival of shocks but the chance to tell us something about life and death and how humanity is dealing with this.
„Midnight Mass“ is a fascinating, devastating, mournful look at how we try to find peace and make sense of tragedy. So often we can easily be led down the wrong path, especially by religion, and lose everything. Still, there is hope when human beings remember that what makes them human.
Amid the ensemble cast which is absolutely perfect the showiest role, Father Paul, goes to Hamish Linklater, and what he does with this is the best performance I have seen in ages, maybe one of the best in cinema history. How he manages to go from shy, nervous and sympathetic to menacing, desperate and terrifying and back, is simply an acting masterclass. The way he uses his voice and modulates it within seconds between extremes, is breathtaking.
Watch „Midnight Mass“. Don‘t read the spoilers, experience the many, many surprises and then watch it again, to savor the intelligent construction of it all.
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I felt that way about The Expanse until I watched a couple of YouTube videos explaining why they’re ending it and why it’s so short. Evidently, books 7-9 have a 30 year time jump. Amazon also didn’t get the big audience boost they were expecting, it was about the same as when it was on SyFy. They had a fixed budget for the season so the writers put more production on screen in each episode rather than spread it out.
That being said, Camina Drummer rocks! And Cara Gee just did a fabulous job with the TV incarnation of that character, conveying internal vulnerability behind a tough as nails exterior.
Belta Louda!
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I understand. I get that the show had to end the way it had yet, I wish it was just more full.
Someday I’ll get around to reading the books.
My Name - Netflix
Korean crime drama about a girl working for a criminal organization who goes undercover within the police department to find the murderer of her father. Typical plot but entertaining and worth a watch if you’ve got a free day.
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Reacher - Amazon Prime
It’s a good adaptation of Killing Floor. Alan Ritchson is a better Jack Reacher than Tom Cruise. There are flashcack scenes to flesh out certain characters and some liberties are taken but overall I was pleased. Definitely worth a watch and I look forward to more.
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Glad to hear this, the first season has been surprisingly brilliant.
I’ve heard good things but sadly this isn’t available to watch in the UK right now. That said I’ve watched the opening titles countless times as it’s amazing. Before this I thought TV title sequences were a lost art.
Not a fan of the novels, thought the first movie passable, with a great performance from Cruise, elevating the material, I approached Reacher with trepidation.
Oh my word, shockingly mediocre wish fulfilment. To the extent that 1 inch becomes an important distinction. All the worst traits of the books up there on screen, with a giant manbaby void at the centre. Couldn’t stomach more than 35 minutes of it. I’m sure countless others will love this facile and flacid piece.
But, I cannot see why.
I’ve enjoyed several of the Reacher books, but wouldn’t call myself an avid fan or anything like that, but Cruise did just fine as Reacher. Is he the mountain of a man that is depicted in the novels? No, but if that’s the only defining trait a character has, then it’s a weak character. Everything else about the character, he got spot on, I thought. The uproar reminded me a lot of everyone being pissed that Daniel Craig wasn’t going to darken his hair to play Bond. Cruise was absolutely believable as a guy who could impose his will on others in a fight, which I guess is probably the single most important trait that one would need to bring to the Reacher character on the screen. The first film was pretty good, but I never understood why they choose Never Go Back, which I found to be one of the weaker novels of the ones that I have read, to adapt for the second one. I think that decision, more than anything, is what led to the end of the Cruise films. Picking a stronger novel to adapt would have probably led to a better box office performance by the second film.
Haven’t checked out this new series yet, although I plan to. It’s been a long time, but I seem to remember Killing Floor being a pretty solid thriller, so it should make for an entertaining story on the screen.
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Looking forward to seeing the new version of The Ipcress File starting on ITV this Sunday. If not for EON it’s the way Bond might have gone.
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Ooo, lots of diagonal camera angles. I’m in! 
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3 episodes in and I’m really enjoying it. There’s more humour than I was expecting, much of it being the very dry wit of Palmer and Dalby.
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Dalby is a fantastic portrayal.
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Paramount picks up rejected 1965 pilot…
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… but this time the actors did know about it… right?
I do have high hopes for this one, by the way.
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Apple picked up Mick Herron‘s Slow Horses series and here‘s the result …
Theme tune by some Mick Jagger guy.
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Watching it now - half an hour into episode 1. The cast is brilliant and the script is witty, but I’m finding the reliance by Will Smith (the British comedian, not the one people watching the Oscar’s are pearl grasping about) on humour over plot distracting.
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