What program/film/documentary are you watching now?

[shunwick]

For anyone interested...

Dr Who Classic Marathon begins on Twitch Tv in 45 minutes...

https://www.twitch.tv/twitchpresents?ttid=56274f88dc

500 Classic Dr Who episodes over the next 7 weeks. Enjoy.

Best wishes,
Steve

[TulliusDetritus]

ORIGINAL: RFalvo69

For a seldom seen war in the desert from the Italian point of view, there is "El Alamein: the Line of Fire", a very good Italian movie. It is on Youtube in original language with English subtitles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfSv87ZuJf4&t=1272s

I started watching, excellent stuff, thank you [&o]

I will recommend a little gem: a little British film from 1993, Gengis Cohn. A very original Holocaust, ghost story. Daniel Craig is in it, but his role is minor (not the star he became later). Divided in 8 parts IIRC. Truly a gem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9_icGly3E4

[Kuokkanen]

On YouTube I have recently watched epic documentaries of 3 epic games:
Wolfenstein 3D
Doom
Quake

[Chickenboy]

Watched Come and See this weekend. Interesting. And worthwhile. But I can't say it's the 'greatest war movie'.

What I thought was well done: The cinematography was well done. Great Belarussian countryside, forests, villages and plains put you in the right frame of mind. Some of the realism was top notch-they used live artillery (!) for the bombardment scenes and real machine guns for some of the scenes-with live rounds. I've never seen a really-o truly-o cow hit by a burst from an MG42 before and die on screen, with the actor comforting the cow during its death throes.

The village scene near the end was terrible to behold, but riveting and well done. Showed the horrible inhumanity treated upon the peasantry and villagers of Bellorussia by the German army and, in particular, the SS / SD. The movie didn't deal with the Einsatzgrupen genocidal pogroms, which I thought curious. If you're going to tell a movie about the pain and agony of Bellorussia in 1943, shouldn't there be at least some reference to this?

What I thought was overdone: The main protagonist was a good actor. The film intended to follow his change from immature adolescent to war-weary and aged young man over a few months. I get it. But the constant facial reaction shots, nonstop crying and wide-eyed forced perspective wore a bit thin. In the end, the overuse of makeup stood out quite prominently.
The seemingly incessant ventures through the mud / into the mud seemed overdone. The last scene with the replay of Hitler's life (in reverse) while Flyora empties a magazine into a portrait of Hitler was formulaic.

The film succeeded in portraying a Hellish landscape under German occupation and portraying war as a dirty, stinky, messy business. I think that's where most of the good reviews from veterans come from. I think Hollywood war movies from the 40's-relatively recently tended to overlook the unpalatable and the unsightly. As an example, I find myself thinking about John Wayne in "The Sands of Iwo Jima". Shot bloodlessly as he ascended Mount Suribachi. Not blown into component pieces in the mud and sand. Not bleeding out on the beach from artillery shrapnel wounds. But dying-heroically as only John Wayne can-while attacking the enemy. "Come and See" had none of that triumphalist nonsense.

This brings up a question in my mind. "What is a war movie"? Does "Schindler's List" count? It's treatment of Schindler's Jews and the concentration camp system was outstanding. But there was little other reference to the war per se. Is a 'war movie' any movie that deals with events surrounding warfare or a particular war? Or does there have to be a significant focus on military struggles?

[Orm]

Re-watching Narcos.

[warspite1]

Versailles (series 3 just started), Westworld (series 2 and totally and utterly lost as to what the hell is going on) and Billions (series 3 and totally and utterly brilliant - and a fourth series has been commissioned - huzzah!).

Just finished the BBC 3-parter A very English Scandal. This was an excellent re-telling of the story of how British politician (and leader of the Liberal party) Jeremy Thorpe allegedly tried to have his ex-lover Norman Scott murdered by a hitman. Definitely one of those truth is stranger than fiction situations. The summing up by the judge in the subsequent trial was a total shocker.

Superbly scripted, and with fine performances from Hugh Grant and Ben Wishaw (both excellent casting) and a strong supporting cast - thoroughly recommended.

[terje439]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Westworld (series 2 and totally and utterly lost as to what the hell is going on)

Yeah, the creators are a little too smart in this season. I also feel that they are trying to tell too much in too little time... Still sort of enjoying it, but not sure why tbh.

[Chickenboy]

Really enjoying the last few episodes of this season's (Season 3) The Expanse. Doing justice to the books.

[kentcol]

Black Sails

[RFalvo69]

I'm being disappointed by George Lucas in the order he artistically choose (Cit.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7esb4SPJc_U

[OldSarge]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

Really enjoying the last few episodes of this season's (Season 3) The Expanse. Doing justice to the books.

The Expanse is quickly becoming my favorite SF series! I have seasons 1 & 2 on DVD and am planning on picking up season 3 as soon as its available. I was disappointed when I heard the SyFy was canceling the series, but delighted when it was confirmed that Amazon was going to pick it up. I don't have a proper streaming setup so would have to wait for the season to come out on DVD, but that works better for me anyway.

[wodin]

Fear Walking Dead has taken over from Walking Dead by a long way. Though neither essential viewing.

Watched Deadpool 2. I loved the first and this is more of the same.

Started a binge boxset of Breaking Bad..got to season 4 and became bored and lost interest.

Watched Journeys End. I think this went straight to DVD. Not a bad little film. To me it could have been a much bigger film, feels maybe budget etc may have been holding it back. Still lack of any decent WW1 films makes it worth watching. I'd say in recent years Regeneration and the BBC three part series have been the best WW1 films to date, oh and Birdsong was excellent aswell.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: wodin

Fear Walking Dead has taken over from Walking Dead by a long way. Though neither essential viewing.

Watched Deadpool 2. I loved the first and this is more of the same.

Started a binge boxset of Breaking Bad..got to season 4 and became bored and lost interest.

Watched Journeys End. I think this went straight to DVD. Not a bad little film. To me it could have been a much bigger film, feels maybe budget etc may have been holding it back. Still lack of any decent WW1 films makes it worth watching. I'd say in recent years Regeneration and the BBC three part series have been the best WW1 films to date, oh and Birdsong was excellent aswell.

I tried to enjoy Walking Dead and did so for the first two seasons. Then I kind of lost interest. Never got into Fear of the Walking Dead.

The last two seasons of Breaking Bad were phenomenal. I agree, Wodin, it kind of lagged about midway through. But the last season-and its set up are mandatory viewing as far as I'm concerned.

We're going out in a few hours to catch a matinee of Incredibles II with the family. I'll report back. [8D]

[Chickenboy]

Went to a matinee of Incredibles II with the Chickenboy Juniors and The Missus yesterday. It was very well done and a worthy sequel. Strongly recommended. [8D]

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

Went to a matinee of Incredibles II with the Chickenboy Juniors and The Missus yesterday. It was very well done and a worthy sequel. Strongly recommended. [8D]

warspite1

Can't wait to see this next month when it opens here. It's been a long time coming so let's hope its worth the wait.

Seen the trailer for Wreck-it Ralph II and the new live action Winnie the Pooh. Really looking forward to these two too.

[warspite1]

Billions comes to an end. Oh boy I simply can't wait for Season 4 - this is a totally brilliant series and the quality has remained at its initially high level over 3 series.

[warspite1]

Season 2 of Westworld came to an end this week. At least some bits started to make sense by the end but it really needs to reign back on the overly clever (ridiculously complicated) story lines.

The Affair Series 4 started this week - still sticking with this for now.....

[wodin]

Fav novel about Italians in WW2 is The Red Horse by E Corti. His memoir about the retreat on the East Front Few Returned is superb aswell.

ORIGINAL: RFalvo69

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: RFalvo69

For a seldom seen war in the desert from the Italian point of view, there is "El Alamein: the Line of Fire", a very good Italian movie. It is on Youtube in original language with English subtitles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfSv87ZuJf4&t=1272s

Better than Captain Correlli's Mandolin, I hope? [;)]

God forbids! [X(]

No. It is a very good Italian movie: grim, cynic and very true to the actual events.

I have a book called "Fronte d'Africa: C'Ero Anch'io" ("African Front: I Was There"), sadly never translated in English. It is a great collection (700+ pages) of testimonies, diaries and letters of Italian soldiers that fought in the Western Desert. What hit me was the dignity shown in these tales (*). IMHO the movie used the book as his main reference in recreating the lives of the Italian soldiers just before - and then during - El Alamein.

(*) What really hits the reader of the book is following the life of a soldier through his diary from, maybe, his arrival in Africa, to the life in his regiment, the first important battle, to...

...To nothing. The diary ends with his name and a Christian cross. A note tells how the document was preserved by a friend. The last annotation is about how finally they had good food in preparation for the skirmish to follow, and how he feels optimistic about the capabilities of his brothers in arms. And then...

In war, death doesn't follow "story arcs": the picture goes away all of sudden and that's it. Many a diary in the book ends like that.

[terje439]

A show on Netflix called "Churchill's secrent agents : the new recruits".

It takes people from ordinary lives in todays world and put them through the SOE training of the 1940s using the tactics and training used during the war.
Not a reality show I must add at this point.

I find it kind of interesting as you get to watch how SOE would filter out the agents they deemed unworthy.

It also tells short stories of real WWII SOE actions, and tells about weaponry used by SOE, so there is something here for the WWII nerds like me.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: terje439

A show on Netflix called "Churchill's secrent agents : the new recruits".

It takes people from ordinary lives in todays world and put them through the SOE training of the 1940s using the tactics and training used during the war.
Not a reality show I must add at this point.

I find it kind of interesting as you get to watch how SOE would filter out the agents they deemed unworthy.

It also tells short stories of real WWII SOE actions, and tells about weaponry used by SOE, so there is something here for the WWII nerds like me.

I watched the first two episodes of that yesterday too. Enjoyable and interesting. The voiceover by "Merlin" is good too. [8D]