Tag Archives: Netflix

How Better Call Saul got great.

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This show took a LONG time to get going but bloody hell once it did … oaft!

It finally shrugged off the tedious, totally unnecessary and frankly plodding shite with Saul’s brother, and now Saul is firmly in the criminal underworld (rather than dipping in and out) things have been much more tasty. There is also another reason for its current awesomeness: Lalo Salamanca.

He is by far the most charismatic ‘villain’ from both Saul and Breaking Bad, and the proof that moustaches aren’t just for novelty value. The bloke needs a spin-off show from this spin-off show. It’s an obvious statement, but characters make shows. And the lack of them in their dimensions is why most of the stuff out there is garbage. Stringer Bell in The Wire, Ralph Cifaretto in The Sopranos, Lalo is up there.

I think I am in love.

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The Last Dance is magnificent.

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I know zilch about basketball, though I have seen Space Jam (1996) four times. Apparently, The Last Dance has just broken viewership records on Netflix, and it comes as no surprise. The series is a masterpiece in the assembly of archive footage, modern-day interview, and appropriation of soundtrack-ready tunes that I suspect can make taking a shit in a pre-lockdown Burger King somehow transcendental (my new ‘life goal’). This stunner, for example:

There is a current debate as to whether this is ‘real’ documentary or not as Michael Jordan had editorial control, but this an afterthought; it’s entertaining as hell, and I venture that all documentary is representation. The mere sight of a nonchalant Jordan sat there on a leather throne with his tumbler of whisky, in hysterics as he views on an iPad disparaging statements made against his worship by teammates and opponents, warrants an entire episode.

Not a very likeable bloke, but an entirely admirable one – he is scores above his supporting cast, and doesn’t seem bothered that he is derided as a prick. I’ll never understand the baying criticism of ruthless athletes; the sports supermen aren’t signing death warrants or invading countries, and one could argue that Jordan’s will to win put trophies in the hands of mediocre colleagues.

And for the record, I almost purchased a £6.99 basketball in Home Bargains last week. But I didn’t (there was no hoop available).

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Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.

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I am fond of the cheese that is alliteration – the bombast of these doc titles grabs my attention. You are usually guaranteed a slice of the surreal, and Tiger King features some of the oddest (real-life) characters Netflix has ever plucked from the fringes. One baffling subplot after another shocks as it entertains, and there are moments that are so … frankly nuts one questions the verisimilitude of it all. The resultant memes have been off the scale.

And this song is an addiction:

Further reading:

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/tiger-king-netflix-joe-exotic-carole-baskin-theories-a9421711.html

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a31925589/tiger-king-netflix-tweets-memes/

https://www.gamesradar.com/tiger-king-netflix-true-crime-documentary-joe-exotic/

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Safe – relishing the ridiculous.

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More highly addictive utter trash binged on Netflix again, this eight-episode thriller a cross between a ’90s peak Joe Eszterhas number and those seedy Hollyoaks specials that were broadcast after the watershed. The appeal of this kind of show is in its cliffhanger formula; every chapter has a spanner chucked in the works or a new revelation.

Unadulterated rubbish it may be, but the sordid spectacle is worth it for trying to pinpoint where the fuck in England Michael C. Hall’s ‘accent’ is meant to descend from. It’s eight different counties mixed in a verbal blender, Owen Hargreaves meets Gillian Anderson.

Bizarre.

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The Stranger – another wasted (Netflix) marathon.

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This started off so well. For seven episodes I was gripped. It was so intricately put together and had a masterful Breaking Bad cliffhanger quality to it. Like most contemporary dramas, though, it crumbled into the nonsensical at its denouement. The last episode was so dire it ruined the preceding madness. Depression kicked in and I was then reminded of how Lost completely … lost the plot.

Stay away from this rubbish. Anyway, there’s always a good doc about Nazis to help ease the melancholy.

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Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting An Internet Killer.

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Watching this was a regret – I hated every minute of it but was compelled to witness the ghastly proceedings unfold. I usually have a weekday curfew of 11:00 p.m. but here I was lucid way into the wee hours with a WhatsApp cat topic frenzy on the go. Lesson learned: Do not ever Netflix (verb) when it’s dark.

The Internet is the Digital Frontier and all that, and now it appears to be the case that the apotheosis of human endeavour is an outlet for almost every single looney with a vengeance; the World Wide Web and the sociopath are meant to be.

The online sleuths in the three-episode show are more competent than the cops meant to be doing the basics of their jobs as professionals, which says rather a lot. The only reason I kept on watching was how in the fuck they managed to uncover the things they did. It is must-see detective work.

Further reading/viewing:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/on-demand/0/luka-magnotta-dont-f-with-cats-netflix-documentary-true-story-killer/

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/dont-fuck-with-cats-netflix-luka-magnotta-baudi-moovan-documentary-a9259076.html

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The Irishman (2019) is extraordinary.

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I finally signed up for the Netflix 30-day free trial – just for Scorsese. The three-and-a-half hour running time was well worth the two nauseating minutes it took to register. Bloody hell is it sublime. Scorsese pulls out all the stops in his … Scorseseness, yet the movie is something more than a swansong to the gangster epics that have served him so well.

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De-ageing VFX.

Elegiac, somber, the last half-hour is a strong contender for most tragic epilogue of the 2010s. It reminded me a bit of Once Upon a Time in America (1984) but without the sprawling romanticism shaped mainly by Ennio Morricone’s iconic score. De Niro here gives his best performance since Heat (1995), which is understandable since he’s spent two decades being Dirty Grandpa or Paul Vitti or tormenting a pratfalling Ben Stiller.

More importantly, Joe Pesci is back and he is majestic. You need to see him in this. You need to see this film.

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