STREAMING/BINGING and what’s left of Network Television
Slow Horses – 10
There are 6 episodes in each of the first four seasons of this British series on Apple+ and once we got started, boom, we watched them straight through. Usually, I lose interest after a season or two, because they are usually so good at the beginning, then they fade. Not this one. It gets better and better and the fourth season is so good, I’m a little surprised they are even going to do a fifth. The fourth season is a fantastic story - complex, compelling, and it's going to be hard to top.
Gary Oldham won an Oscar playing Winston Churchill, but here he plays a polar opposite, Jackson Lamb an old, but deceptively brilliant MI-5 agent. Calling him cranky would be a wild understatement. He is in charge of Slough House, where agents who have royally screwed up are sent to be under his charge. They are called the slow horses. Except they’re not. They solve things the best can’t solve. Jackson Lamb scolds them so viciously for their missteps that it’s almost a badge of honor, showing them he cares. His acerbic British wit makes the show, and is like a great narration. It’s one of the Apple+ shows that are piling up in an HBO-like vault of greatness. At the very least, if you love the streaming world, it’s worth a month or two of subscription.
Silo (Season 1) – 10
Here’s another Apple+ winner. One of my favorite actresses is Rebecca Ferguson whom I first saw in the Mission Impossible movies. Silo is now in its second season, and it took me awhile to get to it, but now I’m all in. Nothing I like more than when a movie creates an unfamiliar world and thrusts us into it. Here, the world is a huge silo, housing 10,000 people, sometime in the future. It seems logical that in the aftermath of a nuclear war, someone built an underground silo for people to live in. It is assumed that outside is unlivable.
There is a form of government. The Silo is ruled by something called The Judiciary. The Silo has evolved into a caste system, from top to bottom, and there is occasional unrest because some believe it is safe to go outside. The law enforcement is carried out by the Sheriff. When the Sheriff has to be replaced he nominates as his replacement an obscure engineer from the mechanical section, Jullette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson). Nichols starts out as an amateur, but soon is embroiled in controversial investigations that threaten the peace. The first season just gets better and better as it goes along and becomes one of the most enthralling things I’ve seen in awhile. The set, or the CGI, whatever it is that creates this Silo, is incredible.
The Diplomat (Season 2) – 10
Netflix’s premiere espionage series features Keri Russell as the Ambassador to
England who has been trying to find the person responsible for a bombing of a
British ship, while she is being courted as a possible Vice Presidential
candidate back in the states. The first
season was good, but the second season is a wow, particularly with a
great ending.
Allison Janey has joined the cast as the actual VP and as the season winds up,
she comes across the pond to visit and size
up her possible rival. Janey is at top
of her game and the tension between the women culminates in one of the best
surprise endings I’ve seen. Can’t wait
for season 3.
The Penguin – 9
Colin Farrell gives an recognizably immersive performance as
a forgotten Gotham villain, in this HBO series.
Cristin Milioti is up to the task as his rival and the two slash and
burn their way through the murky Batman-less underground world. There are the usual great HBO production
values combined with a dark and often ugly story. It’s well done but pretty hard to watch at
times. Creepy is the word I’m looking
for. Definitely not for everyone.
DOCUMENTARIES
Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary – 8
There’s something inherently silly about retroactively naming an era of music, the way some have referred to the “soft rock” of the 70’s and 80’s with the label of “Yacht Rock.” The two pillars of this seem to be Steely Dan and Michael McDonald, with many in between. However, the silliness of it all doesn’t make it any less entertaining and nostalgic. This is an affectionate look back at those days when we waited for song to play on the radio.
Untold: The Murder of
Air McNair 8
Way more sordid than you would think, this will never make the rotation on The Hallmark Channel. Mississippi’s own Steve McNair went on to fame and fortune as an NFL Quarterback, coming within about a yard of upsetting the Rams in the Super Bowl. Along the way it seems McNair picked up a beautiful wife, a family, and apparently several girlfriends. When one of them began to fall out of favor with Steve, she grabbed a gun and ended her life and his. Shocking, but simple, and this was informative and well, sordid.
Philadelphia’s sports fans are infamous.
My one visit to a Philly sports event was not a pleasant one, as they
take sports way too seriously. This
short film chronicles a weekend when they d3ecided to be nice to their slumping
superstar shortsop Trae Turner. An
online campaign to get fans to cheer him rather than boo him shook him out of
his slump, and was the nicest thing to happen in Philly since they invented the
cheesesteak. This is a 20 minute short on Netflix.
CLASSICS
Wanda - 6
Barbara Loden directed one film in her life.
This 1970 movie flew so far under the radar that I’d never heard of it,
but its reputation has grown to the point I thought I’d check it out. I didn't get much out of it, but it may interest you.
