The Most Recent Movie You've Seen on Streaming, Broadcast TV, or Movie Theater?

I seen Oldboy a while back and yes it's a good film in its own right but the premise of the film kinda creeped me out.


This could make my top 5, Wes Andersons the French Dispatch.

Saoirse Ronan.

The BBC normally does a ghost story over Christmas. This year they've adapted a PDJames short story The Mezzotint.

Only half an hour long and a bit disquieting, but very good.

It's about the curator of a museum who obtains a mezzotint of a country house, a very dull picture, but then it starts to change, a figure appears that wasn't there before.

I didn't get to the flickers at all this year so my movie choice is pretty limited.

Top 5 Movies 2021. (In no particular order.)


Old Henry. (Best western of the year with Tim Blake Nelson excellent as Old Henry.

The French Dispatch. (Wes Anderson at his best with an ensemble cast with a special mention for Benicio Del Toro, grrr.)

No Time To Die. (Had not seen any Daniel Craig Bond films so I binge watched them finishing with No Time to Die, the best of them all.)

The Tomorrow Wars. (Action, aliens, time travel, what more do you want.)

Jungle Cruise. (Had to throw in a family friendly funny adventure movie.)

I think we missed out on a lot of ongoing shows in 21 due to covid.
Good thing is most of them will be back this year.

Top 5 TV Series 2021. (In no particular order.)


Foundation. (First off kudos for attempting Asimnov's behemoth, secondly kudos for pulling it off.)

Fear the Walking Dead. (2nd half of season 6 and 1st half of season 7 aired in 21. I've followed this from the start, love the show and the characters.)

Godfather of Harlem. (Season 2. A lot of the story centres around the feud between Bumpy Johnson (Forrest Whitaker) and Vincent “The Chin” Gigante (Vincent D'Onofrio) two heavy weights, literally. Great show.)

The Wheel of Time. (Fantasy with Rosamund Pike with sword and sorcery aplenty.)

The Expanse. (Season 6. The final season 7 is airing now, haven't watched it yet. Sci-Fi at its best following the crew of the Rocinante as Earth, Mars and the Belters compete against the backdrop of a discovery of an alien biohazard.)

It looks like we'll be spoiled for choice in 22 with a return of all the shows meant for 21.

Here are some shows airing in early 22.

The Walking Dead. Part 2 of season 11 returns Feb 20th.
After Life. Season 3 (final season) returns Jan 14th.
Raised by Wolves. Season 2 returns Feb 3rd.
Outlander. Season 6 returns Mar 6th.
The Orville. Season 3 returns Mar 10th.

Still no release date on season 6 (final season) of The Peaky Blinders.

Thanks, Euro! We agree on some. Here’s my picks (it was hard because 2021 was a good year for movies and tv):


TV:
Mayor of Kingstown-
Jeremy Renner is perfect as the “mayor” - a title he was given by the thugs and convicts he acts as liaison for.

Ted Lasso-
An American football coach is recruited to coach a British soccer team and hilarity and other stuff ensue.

Hawkeye-
Jeremy Renner reprises his role as the Avengers master archer. But he has a kick -ass sidekick

Godfather of Harlem-
Forest Whitaker and Vincent DinOfrio are must see tv as rival gang leaders

Ozark -
A mild mannered clerk becomes drug boss working for the cartel. Can’t wait for season 2 soon.

Movies:
No Time to Die-
Knocked my socks off

King Richard-
Will Smith deserves an Oscar for his turn as the dad to Venus and Serena

A Quiet Place 2-
One of the best done horror/sci-fi movies ever

Swan Song-
A Sci-fi tearjerker that made me think

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings-
It’s Kung Fu and Wizardry done well.

As for my top 5 films of 2021.

West Side Story - holds my attention much better than the 1961 version, and it has actual Latinos in the film instead of most of them being white actors in dark make-up.

Titane - a female serial killer has sex with a car and goes into hiding by pretending to be the long lost son of a troubled firefighter. It is surprisingly heartwarming.

Spencer - a fictionalized stylized account of Princess Diana's Christmas Day in 1991, when she decides to leave Prince Charles. Kirsten Stewart is phenomenal as Diana; I had to double-check online if she was American or British. (She was born in California)

Encanto - Disney animated film about magical family in Colombia. My nieces and nephews like it a lot, and the songs are great.

The Suicide Squad - a vastly improved sequel to the terrible similarly named 2016 film.

TELEVISION FROM 2021
1. Only Murders in the Building (2021– )
2. Loki (2021– )
3. Reservation Dogs (2021– )
4. Wandavision
5. The Great North (2021– )
6. Super Cub (2021– )
7. Inside Job (2021– )
8. Horimiya (I) (2021– )
9. Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro (2021– )
10. Kid Cosmic (2021–2022)
11. Odd Taxi (2021– )
12. Dogs in Space (2021– )
13. Squid Game (2021– )

MOVIES/1 FEATURE-LENGTH DOC FROM 2021
1. Josee, the Tiger and the Fish (2020)
2. Drive My Car (2021)
3. Licorice Pizza (2021)
4. Nightmare Alley (2021)
5. The French Dispatch (2021)
6. The Mitchells vs the Machines (2021) ~ Rewatched it last night and moved it up one spot.
7. The Sparks Brothers (2021)
8. Dune (2021)
9. Pig (I) (2021)
10. Flee (2021)
11. Encanto (2021)
12. In the Heights (2021)
13. Riders of Justice (2020)

I watched Swan Song. Interesting concept but very sad.
Mahershala Ali is a great actor.
I thought there was going to be some big reveal at the end when the doc told him he was the third one and then he meets the second one. I was thinking is Poppy the first one or maybe the doctor but in the end it never came up.
Very good movie.

After seeing Spider-Man: No Way Home (which was excellent) I have watched 4 consecutive bad movies at home.
The Matrix Resurrections - unnecessary dumb sequel
Venom: Let There Be Carnage - shitty sequel
Wonder Woman 1984 - shitty overly long sequel
The Many Saints of Newark - boring pointless Sopranos prequel

Oh dear. I haven't seen the Sopranos movie yet. I was hoping it would be good. I'll still see it though.

My youngest likes his action, and Keanu Reeves, we have seen the first Matrix film but that's it.

If you like gangster films you should like Peaky Blinders. The final season is out sometime this year and I'm really looking forward to it.

It's set during the same time as Boardwalk Empire, just after WW1, but instead of prohibition it's revolution. The main character broke into the BSA factory in Birmingham to steal luxury cars but ended up with a load of guns meant for Libya.

The communists want them, the IRA want them and a real nasty bastard police officer played by Sam Neill has been sent to get them back.

It felt a lot grittier than Boardwalk Empire but might just be down to the fact that it's closer to home.

FYC. Belle (2021), IMAX, (10/10)
A drop-dead, gorgeous original musical take on the Beauty and the Beast tale.

Best Picture (likely never happen ... but I can dream).
Best Cinematography (likely never happen ... but I can dream).
Best Original Screenplay (likely never happen ... but I can dream).
Best Animated Feature

It's a deadly shame that it hasn't been shortlisted for Best Score or Best Song

I'm so glad to hear Peaky Blinders is coming up. We watched all of the episodes and became addicted. I hate to admit this, but I had to use closed captions for the first 3 or 4 episodes to get adapted to the accents and some of the unfamiliar terminology/slang. I'm also looking forward to Sam Neill, he is very talented.

I did enjoy Boardwalk Empire, but at that time the Irish were gaining ground in that area and were desperate to be establishment and government folks. Didn't mean they gave up all the scams/rackets/other drama....that's the reason some of it looked very smooth and quasi docile. It wasn't really truly civilized.

Sam Neill died at the end of season 2.

It's set in Birmingham, pronounced Birmingum. The Brummies have their own accent which is rarely heard outside of the area.

If you're not used to something you will need help, and most English accents heard on American telly are either posh or cockney(ish.)

If you really want a challenge go on to youtube and enter "auf weidersein pet oz"

Oz is a Geordie, from Newcastle upon Tyne in the North East, lots of English people have trouble understanding it.

Apparently after this season there will be a film or two or maybe even a spinoff.

Tom Hardy's Alfie Solomons is a fantastic character well deserving of his own series, Jewish and Cockney in equal measure.

This morning I watched the Joel Coen movie adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, called The Tragedy of Macbeth. It stars Denzel and Francis McDormand in the roles of the tragic King and his wife.

I am not blessed with a mind that can seamlessly comprehend Shakespearean prose (it often leaves me confused), so I had a modern English version of the play open as I watched the movie - just to ‘translate’ the parts that threw me.

It so happened that was a good idea for me - It’s the first time I was able to take in the whole sad story and appreciate it.

An “elegant spectacle” is the description of this movie that comes to mind. Very strikingly filmed in black and white.

To further tell on myself, I probably wouldn’t even have been watching a movie adaptation of a Shakespeare play, had it not been that Denzel was the lead. He has very rarely (if ever) disappointed me.

I'm anxious to see Macbeth, love Denzel and very fond of Francis.........she's played in some strange as hell movies that I loved.

It's pretty good. Denzel doesn't bother trying an accent. I rated it an 8/10.
Apparently I never seen Macbeth prior to this watch.

Do you know whether the other actors who’ve portrayed Macbeth “bothered” to try a Scottish accent?

I'm not good at accents but Brendan Gleeson, King Duncan, is Irish. I think he stuck with his Irish brogue.

I don't think Francis McDormand didn't try an accent either. The three witches had distinctive voices but I won't swear they attempted a Scottish accent.

Otherwise, the acting was incredible.

Here's the best Scottish accent.