krankydoodle

I got around to watching Grace with John Simm, which I thought was just ok, but I finished the first episodes of 2 other crime dramas that are off to excellent starts. They're a lot grittier than what I usually watch and both happen to be about fathers searching for their missing daughters. I gave Baghdad Central (Hulu) a shot because it stars Corey Stoll and Bertie Carvel, but the whole cast is great, especially lead actor Waleed Zuaiter. It's set in 2003 Iraq where Zuaiter is an ex-cop searching for his daughter, who had been secretly working as a translator for the US-led coalition forces. It's violent and grim but very compelling. Save Me (Peacock) stars Lennie James (who also created and wrote) as a guy who has a history of petty crime and a teen daughter he hasn't seen in years. When she's lured away from home by someone claiming to be him, he goes looking for her. This also has an impressive cast that includes Suranne Jones and Susan Lynch.

This has been getting a lot of attention. It sure seems like a vanity project, but I haven't seen or read anything from them so 🤷‍♀️

Universal Will Release New Exorcist Trilogy I thought David Gordon Green's Halloween was just ok (though to be fair, I'm not a big fan of slashers), but Ellen Burstyn's involvement has me interested. I really liked The Exorcist tv series from a few years ago, so think a reboot/sequel could work.

Agreed! It has its own forum: https://forums.primetimer.com/forum/4564-this-way-up/ I was excited to find out that Garth Marenghi's Darkplace is finally available to stream in the US (on Amazon Prime). I love it for not only being so funny and bizarre and for poking fun at my favorite genre, but also for introducing me to Richard Ayoade and Matt Berry.

I thought this lost some steam in the last episode or two (though maybe that's just because I tend to zone out during courtroom scenes), but I really enjoyed this show. The cast was fantastic, even the smaller roles like the circulating nurse in the early episodes and the various patients and their relatives. There were some things I wanted to learn more about, but please let me know if we did get answers and I just missed them: Someone mentioned this in an earlier episode thread, but there was no explanation for why negative stories/reviews about Duntsch apparently disappeared from the internet when one of the hospitals was looking to hire him. Jerry mentions having IT contacts so I figure he hired someone to scrub them, but it seemed odd to bring it up and then not provide an answer. I assume Duntsch's mom died (maybe in 2014 or so?), but I don't think it was explicitly stated and IIRC she wasn't mentioned after the character's last onscreen appearance. More about what happened with Discgenics and how that affected his relationship with Skadden. Because he was played by Kelsey Grammer, I thought we'd see at least one scene showing Skadden pulling away from Duntsch. Other thoughts: Joshua Jackson was great, but I don't think the prosthetic makeup showing his weight gain worked well. His face looked off because the skin tone and texture of the top half of his face didn't match the lower half. It looked rubbery. I didn't realize until looking at Wikipedia that Jerry Summers died in Feb 2021 of complications from Duntsch's botched surgeries. The scenes depicting what happened after his operation were heartbreaking. One of my main takeaways from this show is that I really need to take better care of my back.

I like that they seem to be using the author's name as Dexter's alias, but I'm surprised they mention the dark passenger in the trailer since IIRC that wasn't something that came up much in the show.

With the hammering and bone cracking surgery, the tense dinner, the infected surgical site, and the lead-up to poor Jerry's ill-fated operation, this episode was the hardest to watch so far.

This was one of my issues with the season. I had a hard time getting past the fact that apparently no one in the group made an effort to better dispose of the body in all the years after the murder.

I hadn't even planned on watching this show because I thought it would make me too anxious, but not only did I get sucked into binging the first 3 episodes, I've now subscribed to yet another streaming service so I could see the rest. Anyway, the directing in this episode (by Jennifer Morrison!) seemed much flashier than in the previous 3. It didn't all work for me, but I did like the ending with the time lapse of the Duntsch file getting gradually buried at the DA's office cutting to a flashback of Duntsch leaving for his first day at Baylor-Plano.

The opening scene with Christian Slater explaining what had happened to the patient was horrifying. When she finally tried to respond and he revealed that Duntsch had cut her vocal cords, something they couldn't fix, it was a real gut punch. Slater and Alec Baldwin make for an entertaining odd couple. I wish they had more scenes with Kelsey Grammer, but maybe he'll come back in a later episode. And even though I'm not as down on Jamie Dornan as I was before Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar, I'm glad Joshua Jackson ended up in the lead role. His Duntsch is slippery and arrogant but also pathetic and occasionally even charming.

The Empty Man popped up on HBO Max recently. I hadn't heard anything about it, but gave it a shot because of the cast: James Badge Dale, Marin Ireland, and Stephen Root. Ireland and Root have relatively small roles, though, and it's really Dale's movie. This mixes up a few different horror subgenres to interesting but maybe not entirely successful effect. It's 2+ hour runtime is too long and while I think James Badge Dale is an incredibly compelling actor, the opening act which don't include him is probably my favorite part. Anyway, I think it's worth watching.

I'm not into sports but am fascinated by Olympics-related chaos/nonsense. This was unexpected, though: Cornelius resigns from Tokyo Olympics gig after history of school bullying resurfaces The abuse he inflicted on his classmates is truly horrific.

Sorry, the additional details aren't setting off any bells. I finished watching the whole season and while I still enjoyed it, I'm not sold on the ending. I'll be interested to read opinions here since some TV reviewers I usually agree with loved it.

On the same subject, I think news of a new adaptation of Tony Hillerman's crime novels was already shared here, but this article goes into some detail about the struggle to get it made: The Decades-Long Road Behind AMC’s ‘Dark Winds’ Native American Drama Series. I remember enjoying the PBS movies and being surprised they never went beyond 3. I'm really excited for this, though. I might have to give in and subscribe to yet another streaming service to watch this.

Do you remember anything about the kinds of shows she was in? It was refreshing to see that unlike the case in a lot of crime dramas, Cassie's boss was supportive of her and seemed sincere about wishing he could do more to help. I'm also happy that all (or at least most) of the supporting cast members seem to have returned this season. The scene between Elizabeth (Susan Lynch) and her mom (Sheila Hancock) was hard to watch but their dynamic is interesting.

Charlie’s Angels Crew Member Shares What Really Happened in Lucy Liu, Bill Murray Conflict It sounds like things didn't get physical, which was the prevailing rumor. I'm surprised no one tried to correct at least that part of the story earlier.

Dan Harmon: 'Gears are turning' on Community movie, despite 'philosophical question' he hasn't answered Like with Hannibal, I'm torn on whether or not I want Community to come back in some form. I was pretty happy with where the show ended, but love it so much that I can't help wanting more while also being worried that a botched revival would affect my enjoyment of the show as a whole (which is what happened for me with Veronica Mars).

I liked the English-French version The Tunnel, but love Bron/Broen. For some reason, the 4th season doesn't seem to be available to stream in the US. I don't see it listed on Topic or Amazon and only the first 3 seasons are streaming through my library's Hoopla subscription, so please let me know if you find it somewhere. I watched Murder on the Blackpool Express and Death on the Tyne on BritBox. These are 90-minute long mystery-comedies focusing on tour bus operators who keep stumbling across murders. I thought they were kind of terrible. That being said, I'll probably also watch the third one Dial M for Middlesbrough because I'm also kind of terrible. For what it's worth, these did well enough that more episodes are being made so what do I know?

It's in the same vein as season 1's ending with a potentially relationship-ending development. I didn't see anything, but it doesn't come out in the UK until next week so maybe the viewing figures there will have to be taken into account before a decision is made?

Ooh, I didn't know there was a dedicated topic for this! The second season just popped up on Hulu. I was going to take my time but couldn't resist and ended up binging the whole thing. It was so good but ended with a cliffhanger of sorts again, so I'm already impatient for season 3.

I guess I'm out of the loop because I hadn't heard of 2017's Cat Person, but writer Alexis Nowicki shared that Kristen Roupenian took some details from her life for that short story: "Cat Person" and Me. It was apparently inspired by a relationship Nowicki had as a teenager with an older man named "Charles" who Roupenian later dated and who died in 2020. I stumbled across the article last night when I couldn't sleep, got sucked in, and spent a few hours reading more about it. Hearing other authors weigh in has been interesting, but the speculation about Charles's death is uncomfortable. I'm curious how things will play out since a movie adaptation was recently announced.

Fascinating read from the NYTimes: Is There a Right Way to Act Blind? Activists slammed the TV show In the Dark for casting a sighted actress in a blind lead role. But what if blindness is a performance of its own? One of the interesting insights from the article about how blindness is portrayed:

I was happy to see that Paramount+ finally added a watchlist feature to their platform and was going through their movie collection since they recently added a bunch (some greats but also a lot of junky looking ones) when I get an error saying I had reached my limit and had to remove items from my watchlist before I could add more. Why?!? 😖

I just finished episode 3 and am really enjoying this even though the characters can be kind of inconsistent and the way scenes flow sometimes seems choppy. And while the plot is bonkers in a fun way, the horror elements are effective: Sole suddenly cutting through her own cheek, Elena realizing Vergara is a mirror person when she notices his wristwatch runs counterclockwise, the monstrous baby toddling around in the first episode while his adoptive mother coos at him, etc. I love mirror world stories so episode 3 is my favorite so far, especially the scenes with Elena and Paco on the other side of the mirror.

Ooh! I thought Halloween 2018 was fine, but didn't plan on seeing the sequel. They got me with that trailer, though. Interesting that this starts up right after the events of the first film just like Halloween 2, and that this seems to involve a supernatural element when 2018 was more grounded in reality (well, as much as this type of movie can be anyway). I'm surprised by how many deaths are shown in the trailer, but I love seeing Jamie Lee Curtis in this mode and am really curious to see how things play out in this one. Candyman is still my most anticipated horror movie of 2021, but I think this has become #2.