Tom Harelip Burke plays a private dick in contemporary London … stories apparently based on J.K. Rowling books she wrote under a pseudonym, and originally a BBC production? … they give old Tom a CGI stump leg (lost in Afghanistan) and a rock star dad … he has a pretty, perky temp who becomes his partner in the business … made it through the first episode, but no interest in continuing since it’s formula TV, and I have 285 Original HBO series to work my way through by year-end.
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HBO Shows Watched -- Luck
I re-watched this recently and it holds up well. It was released in January 2012, but was cancelled after one season since some horses died during the making of it (it’s about horse racing). A David Milch (Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue, etc.) creation. It’s sort of a pity the show never had a chance to play out.
I liked the horse racing, I liked the crew of misfit degenerate gamblers including Jerry, their brilliant handicapper, who was unfortunately a bad poker player. I liked the Oxy-snorting, hard-drinking, hard-screwing jockeys. I liked grumbling Nick Nolte as a trainer. There were a number of story lines they were developing that looked promising: Turo and the beautiful vet, Ace’s relationship with Joan Allen (“that ship has sailed”), Ace’s grandson and his Jewfro (“you look like a baboon”).
Dustin Hoffman’s backstory isn’t clear though… yes, we know he’s a Jewish mobster, but his past isn’t fleshed out enough. Michael Gambon overplays his evil Robert Maxwell role (but I’ll always love him no matter what because of The Singing Detective). That whole rivarly / partnership gone bad was no doubt going to be revealed in later seasons.
Weronika Rosati, a Pole, plays Jerry’s beautiful poker dealer girlfriend Naomi… she has a great bod to boot. Dennis Farina as the aged muscle.
HBO Shows Watched -- Perry Mason
This was like a full employment act show for old HBO cast and crew … it had that fake, digitized look to it that I see (and hate) in all the newer TV shows … it’s so heavily manipulated in post-production that it loses its soul. Forced myself to sit through one entire episode and regret it.
HBO Shows Watched -- Deadwood
Tried to watch this … couldn’t even get through the first half of the first episode, I just wasn’t interested.
“It is 1876 and the richest gold strike in U.S. history draws a throng of restless misfits to an outlaw settlement in the Black Hills of South Dakota.”
I Finally Cancelled Netflix
Netflix cost $25 a month (after tax) and I never watched it and my wife never watched it and even my kids never watched it, so I decided to cancel it. My buddy Dave recommended Ripley in a last ditch effort to get me to stay, but I hated the artificial digitized quality of it (I guess it’s a Showtime show, but still, it had that weird NFLX post-production look) and that sealed the deal for me. We’ll see if anyone misses it.
Had to click that last page many times before it finally went through, so it was more like cancel your membership in ten clicks.
TV Watched -- The Sinner S04 E01
I loved the first season of The Sinner and tolerated seasons two and three, so I’ve just started on season four and here are my brief stream of consciousness bullet points on episode one (SPOILERS):
Bill Pullman still squinting and wincing full time, that’s called acting
PTSD panic attacks from previous seasons
Sonya has fat black buddy on island in Maine?!? Makes no sense but they’re ticking boxes
“Greta,” whom we later learn is a lesbian in addition to being fat and black (tick another box), has a million dollar house despite being a “broke artist” … don’t worry, we never see her again
Chinese invasion angle, threatening Maine lobster operations, again makes no sense
Bill off his anti-depressant zombie meds so the panic attacks are pretty bad
Angular faced Jewish hippie chick from Orange is the New Black appears (I couldn’t stand that show), she is 32 years old
Very awkward old folks sex scene (Bill Pullman is 68 and Jessica Hecht is 57!!) … That Ship Has Sailed, I don’t care that she’s on top, and what’s with the choking, egad
Going to heavy blue camera filter for anti-depressant withdrawal dream? sequence scenes
Ineffectual, slouching country sheriff, needs Big City Bill’s help
Crusty old angular face grandma, “she could get ya back to port in any storm!”
Why do none of these people have Maine accents?
Tokens left near suicide jump site, an air of mystery
Local dive bar has hottie singer with giant mouth (Jessica Marie Brown)
Neo-Nazi homesteader with neck tats looks like zombie, sort of collapses out of camper trailer but remains standing, an air of danger. “I likes just me and da posums out here in da quiet!”
NONE of the Muldoons sound like they are from Maine
Unabomber hoodie captured on CCTV footage
Bill explores weird wailing and moaning he hears from million dollar porch, Blue Filter alert
Oh my god, it’s a coven of naked witches! Led by Grandma Muldoon?!?
Tune in for episode two!
Find me, Bill!
Ozark S03 E10 Curse Count
I tried to watch Ozark season one years ago and didn’t like it. Twitterers said season three was amazing, especially the last episode, so I just watched it and wasn’t thrilled … lots of portentous piano and violin music, capped off with an act of violence that made me flinch (wearing headphones didn’t help).
I thought I’d do a curse count for the episode, so here it is:
“fucking, fucking, fucked, fucking, fucked, fucking, fucking, fucking, fucking, fucked, shit, bullshit, fuck, fuck you, fucking, fucking, fucking, fucking, fucking, fucking, fucking, fuck, fucking bitch, fucking, fucking, fucking, fucking, fucking, fucking, fuck, fuck, fucking, bat-shit, fucked, fucking“
2020 Media Consumption Diary -- February
2020.02.29 … Watched … The Killing (1956) | Stanley Kubrick
2020.02.28 … Watched … Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner (2007)
2020.02.27 … Abandoned … House of Games (1987) | David Mamet
2020.02.26 … Watched … Possessed (1948) | Curtis Bernhardt
2020.02.24 … Watched … Thieves’ Highway (1949) | Jules Dassin
2020.02.22 … Watched … The Big Clock (1948) | John Farrow
2020.02.20 … Read … Be Cool (1999) by Elmore Leonard
2020.02.19 … Watched … The Naked City (1948) | Jules Dassin
2020.02.18 … Watched … Nightmare Alley (1947) | Edmund Goulding
2020.02.17 … Watched … Call Northside 777 (1947) | Henry Hathaway
2020.02.16 … Watched … Crossfire (1947) | Edward Dmytryk
2020.02.13 … Watched … Brute Force (1947) | Jules Dassin
2020.02.12 … Read … Rum Punch (1992) by Elmore Leonard
2020.02.10 … Watched … Kansas City Confidential (1952) | Phil Karlson
2020.02.09 … Watched … The Maltese Falcon (1941) John Huston
2020.02.08 … Watched … Murder, My Sweet (1944) | Edward Dmytryk
2020.02.07 … Watched … To Have and Have Not (1944) | Howard Hawks
2020.02.07 … Watched … Sorry, Wrong Number (1948) | Anatole Litvak
2020.02.05 … Watched … Raw Deal (1948) | Anthony Mann
2020.02.04 … Watched … T-Men (1947) | Anthony Mann
2020.02.03 … Abandoned … Fail-Safe (1964) | Sidney Lumet
2020.02.02 … Watched … Safety Last! (1923) | Fred Neymeyer
2020.02.02 … Read … Beautiful Boy (2008) by David Sheff
2020.02.01 … Watched … Kiss Me Deadly (1955) | Robert Aldrich
2020 Media Consumption Diary -- January
January
2020.01.31 … Watched … Dark Passage (1947) | Delmer Daves
2020.01.30 … Watched … He Walked By Night (1948) | Alfred Werker
2020.01.28 … Watched … The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) | Lewis Milestone
2020.01.27 … Watched … Kiss of Death (1947) | Henry Hathaway
2020.01.26 … Watched … My Darling Clementine (1955) | John Ford
2020.01.25 … Watched … You (2019) | TV S2E10
2020.01.24 … Watched … You (2019) | TV S2E9
2020.01.23 … Watched … You (2019) | TV S2E8
2020.01.22 … Watched … You (2019) | TV S2E7
2020.01.21 … Watched … You (2019) | TV S2E6
2020.01.21 … Read … Bomber’s Moon (2019) by Archer Mayor
2020.01.20 … Watched … You (2019) | TV S2E5
2020.01.20 … Watched … The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) | Tay Garnett
2020.01.19 … Watched … You (2019) | TV S2E4
2020.01.18 … Watched … You (2019) | TV S2E3
2020.01.18 … Watched … Shane (1953) | George Stevens
2020.01.17 … Watched … Detour (1945) | Edgar Ulmer
2020.01.17 … Watched … You (2019) | TV S2E2
2020.01.17 … Read … Good Girl, Bad Girl (2019) by Michael Robotham
2020.01.16 … Watched … You (2019) | TV S2E1
2020.01.13 … Watched … Booksmart (2019) | Olivia Wilde
2020.01.12 … Watched … The Stranger (1946) | Orson Welles
2020.01.10 … Watched … Double Indemnity (1944) | Billy Wilder
2020.01.09 … Watched … High Noon (1952) | Fred Zinnemann
2020.01.09 … Read … The First Rule (2010) by Robert Crais
2020.01.08 … Watched … I Wake Up Screaming (1941) | Bruce Humberstone
2020.01.07 … Read … Suspect (2013) by Robert Crais
2020.01.06 … Watched … Blow Out (1981) | Brian De Palma
2020.01.05 … Read … The Wanted (2017) by Robert Crais
2020.01.04 … Watched … Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) | Jack Arnold
2020.01.03 … Read … Taken (2012) by Robert Crais
2020.01.02 … Watched … The Marriage Circle (1924) | Ernst Lubitsch
2020.01.01 … Watched … Hustlers (2019) | Lorene Scafaria
2020.01.01 … Read … The Sentry (2011) by Robert Crais
TV Shows Watched -- Prime Suspect (1991)
Around 3.5 hour running time … I re-watched the original season of Prime Suspect that aired nearly 30 years ago now, and it stands the test of time, largely because of Helen Mirren’s performance … interesting to see younger Tom WIlkinson and a very young Ralph Fiennes … the rented garage with the clamps on the wall has long scarred my memory … deservedly considered a classic; see it if you haven’t. I don’t think I’ve seen one of the later seasons.
Someone at the Guardian said it well: “Bleak, brutal and beautifully rendered, this was British crime drama at its absolute best.“
George has always been a bit of a lad.