Netflix recommendations

[Reno]

I really enjoyed it. Liked how it went between past and present and thus the community and Berlin, made the contrast stark. Loved seeing Berlin too; these bits were totally romanticised but I get that was part of the difference. Didn't realise til after that that bit was totally made up but can see why that was done and liked the explanation from the makers in the mini documentary on why Berlin and why the story there.
But the bits in the Hassidic community were the most interesting. Esty getting training on how to consummate her marriage was tragicomic.
What were the melodramatic contrivinces? The only thing that bothered me was the cliched rebirth in the lake. I would also expect a Hasidic Jewish woman to drown as would never have learnt to swim
Had never heard Catnapp's music before, it's beautiful.

Spoiler

Within a day or two of arriving in a new country she falls in with a group of friends of all races and sexual persuasions, so she gets handy life lessons in diversity. The mother couldn't just have left her community because she found it oppressive as a woman, she had to be gay as well, so we really get it. The husband has a Hassidic heavy with a gun in tow because this apparently needed a thriller element to artificially add suspense. When it turns out that her piano talents alone won't get her into the music school, which we've been told is very difficult to get in, she suddenly pulls a previously never hinted at talent for singing out of the hat which moves everything to tears and gets her in, which is the worst deus ex machina happy end I've seen in a while.

None of this happened to Deborah Feldman btw, whose story still was involving. I don't mind a bit of dramatic contrivance but this was overloaded with good intentions and that doesn't make for believable drama or for interesting characters. Once she moves to Berlin, her obstacles are like the manipulative mechanics of YA drama and those obstacles are too easily overcome because they aren't the actual problems immigrants and refugees face when they arrive in a new country.

 

[nagapie]

Reno, yes, I agree all of those examples are cheesy. The Berlin bit was saved by being Berlin. But I didn't mind it, I felt that it was supposed to be otherworldly and I'm not familiar with the genre of German TV you are talking about so there was no comparison for me.
I've not read the book, is the Williamsburg bit not autobiographical or are you saying the only true bit is that she left this particular community?
Actually I liked the character of Moishe and didn't find that bit cheesy. Also there are a lot of dodgy things that go on in that community.

 

[Reno]

The reason why i was so frustrated by this is exactly because the Williamsburg stuff felt authentic and involving and then it dropped the ball with the Berlin fairy tale. The New York sections stick to the story of the book, i think they should have just concentrated on that and her getting out.

In the early 90s I lived in Stamford Hill, which was surreal. It was like coming home to another country every day. At the time I found it interesting but it was obvious that there was lots of dodgy stuff going on in the Hasidic community.

 

[1927]

I know it won’t go down well on here, but I’ve just watched the second series of After Life. Personally I thought it was an incredible rollercoaster of emotions. I laughed til I cried, then just cried.

 

[Part 2]

I know it won’t go down well on here, but I’ve just watched the second series of After Life. Personally I thought it was an incredible rollercoaster of emotions. I laughed til I cried, then just cried.

Cheers for the reminder. Took me a while to watch the first series because Gervais...but thought it was really good. Will definitely give the second a watch.

 

[T & P]

Having exhausted everything on my ‘light, undemanding entertainment fodder’ category, I decided to give Outer Banks a go. It won’t win any awards but the first episode was watchable enough if your threshold for acceptable entertainment includes ‘Teenagers in treasure hunt mystery’ coming-of-age style series. Will probably resonate with your teenage kids at any rate.

Outer Banks (TV series) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[1927]

Cheers for the reminder. Took me a while to watch the first series because Gervais...but thought it was really good. Will definitely give the second a watch.

Im sure you’re one of millions who didn’t/haven’t watched because Gervais! Which is a great shame because I think it’s a brilliant piece of writing. I find it very thought provoking and incredibly emotional.

 

[nagapie]

The reason why i was so frustrated by this is exactly because the Williamsburg stuff felt authentic and involving and then it dropped the ball with the Berlin fairy tale. The New York sections stick to the story of the book, i think they should have just concentrated on that and her getting out.

In the early 90s I lived in Stamford Hill, which was surreal. It was like coming home to another country every day. At the time I found it interesting but it was obvious that there was lots of dodgy stuff going on in the Hasidic community.

That makes total sense. I thought you hadn't liked any of it from your first review. The Williamsburg stuff was really good.

 

[T & P]

I know it won’t go down well on here, but I’ve just watched the second series of After Life. Personally I thought it was an incredible rollercoaster of emotions. I laughed til I cried, then just cried.

On episode 4 and enjoying it. Don’t care much for Gervais’s character or what happens to him but much more invested in the lives and fortunes of the other characters

 

[T & P]

Finished it, and really liked it. Like many other people I have problems with Gervais because he’s always come across as a cunt, but once you put that to one side and judge this series purely on its merits, it is bloody good. Desperately sad at times but also funny in other places. Could have easily devoured another six episodes of it.

 

[bmd]

Just tried to watch the Tiger King programme everyone is going on about. Got about ten minutes in. Nope. Not for me. I’m out. Load of shite.

Blame Carol.

 

[danny la rouge]

Blame Carol.

Is Tiger King related to Carole King?

 

[donkyboy]

Extraction with Chris Hemsworth is an excellent actioner. It's been ages since I enjoyed a good action film. Highly recommedage

 

[equationgirl]

I've watched all three seasons of 23 reasons why this week. It's compelling and handles issues such as sexual assault, bullying, drugs, high school well. But it can be dark, and graphic, so take care if those things are traumatic for you.

There's also the 2017 reboot of cold case files which was very well done, and a great shame they didn't do more.

Lots of interesting documentaries: how to fix a drug scandal and the pharmacist give an insight into drug issues in the US.

 

[kropotkin]

Im sure you’re one of millions who didn’t/haven’t watched because Gervais! Which is a great shame because I think it’s a brilliant piece of writing. I find it very thought provoking and incredibly emotional.

I was fully prepared to hate this, but was very moved by the first series. He's clearly very talented despite being a cunt. I'm also enjoying this series, but it's a bit slower

 

[moonsi til]

I've watched all three seasons of 23 reasons why this week. It's compelling and handles issues such as sexual assault, bullying, drugs, high school well. But it can be dark, and graphic, so take care if those things are traumatic for you.

There's also the 2017 reboot of cold case files which was very well done, and a great shame they didn't do more.

Lots of interesting documentaries: how to fix a drug scandal and the pharmacist give an insight into drug issues in the US.

Hi , do you mean 13 Reasons Why?

 

[equationgirl]

Hi , do you mean 13 Reasons Why?

Yeah, can't type it appears!

 

[T & P]

Extraction with Chris Hemsworth is an excellent actioner. It's been ages since I enjoyed a good action film. Highly recommedage

Thanks for that, watched it today and fully agree.

 

[Me76]

Finished Sex Education today. I really enjoyed it although I found it being set in the UK with lots of US school tropes a bit jarring. All the acting is amazing and some great story lines.

Also did all of After Life s2. Very good.

 

[Cloo]

Liked Unorthodox... gsv and I were quite enjoying picking out Yiddish words between my German, and both of our vague Hebrew. I'm guessing my dad could probably understand most of it without subtitles. Great performances by everyone and the details seemed to be spot on from what I know of that community.

 

[donkyboy]

finished Time to Hunt - Korean movie. over 2 hours long. didn't think it was all that, tbh. reminded me of Judgement Night (1993) with Cuba Gooding Jnr and Emilio Estevez

 

[DexterTCN]

As said Extraction is an excellent little action movie. The sequences are generally of a much higher quality than normal and reminded me of The Villainess and John Wick, without the colouring or soundtrack.

Bloody good action film.

 

[sojourner]

Liked Unorthodox... gsv and I were quite enjoying picking out Yiddish words between my German, and both of our vague Hebrew. I'm guessing my dad could probably understand most of it without subtitles. Great performances by everyone and the details seemed to be spot on from what I know of that community.

That was a real eye opener for me. I knew nothing about the community. Have also now watched One Of Us, which is really disturbing.

 

[Cloo]

That was a real eye opener for me. I knew nothing about the community. Have also now watched One Of Us, which is really disturbing.

Yes, I saw that one it first came out - heartbreaking how few people manage to leave the community, and what happens to mothers who leave (and what the courts let the community get away with on that front). I remember there was the one young guy, very handsome lad, who you just know isn't going to make it

 

[equationgirl]

The Keepers - a seven part series which starts with the murder of a nun in 1970s and peels back the layers of the mystery to show corruption of the Catholic Diocese in Baltimore and it's involvement in the cover up of an abuse scandal.

It contains people giving accounts of their abuse, sometimes in harrowing detail, and crime scene pictures of the injuries sustained by the murdered nun. It's gripping stuff and very sensitively handled by the documentary makers.

 

[planetgeli]

Finally finished Ozark last night. Great season 3 and a fantastic last 2 episodes. Penultimate episode was a real headfuck that took time to walk away from and the ending of the final one was...well, you'll know if you've watched it. Great stuff.

 

[Sweet FA]

Finally finished Ozark last night. Great season 3 and a fantastic last 2 episodes. Penultimate episode was a real headfuck that took time to walk away from and the ending of the final one was...well, you'll know if you've watched it. Great stuff.

Yeh, caught up last week - excellent telly. Wendy acted the shit out of that episode re: the brother, (although from the moment he walked on screen, I guessed what might happen.) Loved the Byrdes getting back together; "I need you to get out of bed now". Ruth still steals every scenes she's in. The final scene was perfect* and the set up for S04 is great. I want to see what happens to the kids. Plus the redneck heroin/KC mob thing could be really entertaining.


*The tune at the end is blinder too (the video's well worth a watch for its own sake):

 

[Sweet FA]

The spoiler thing... I guess it's only a spoiler if you haven't seen it yet Reno. I ignored the thread for a bit while Ozark was up for discussion and have just caught up - your post a few pages back was way more spoilery than what had come before. I'm not having a go; I guess there's always a chance it's going to happen on TV discussion threads, particularly when most of us have got time to binge. I had to do the same around the time The Irishman came out (but chat was generously moved to a dedicated thread then).

Is there a statute of spoiler limitations? Or should we all just use the spoiler tag for the first few weeks that something's out? Or just call each other cunts when it happens again; The Urban Way?

 

[Reno]

The spoiler thing... I guess it's only a spoiler if you haven't seen it yet Reno. I ignored the thread for a bit while Ozark was up for discussion and have just caught up - your post a few pages back was way more spoilery than what had come before. I'm not having a go; I guess there's always a chance it's going to happen on TV discussion threads, particularly when most of us have got time to binge. I had to do the same around the time The Irishman came out (but chat was generously moved to a dedicated thread then).

Is there a statute of spoiler limitations? Or should we all just use the spoiler tag for the first few weeks that something's out? Or just call each other cunts when it happens again; The Urban Way?

Is this going to get warmed up forever now ? I already admitted I misunderstood something and offered an apology. Read the whole thread before chipping in.

That said, Ozark probably deserves its own thread by now, this would be better just for recommendations rather than the discussion of specific shows. Maybe we can do that for the more popular Netflix shows from now on.

 

[Sweet FA]

Is this going to get warmed up forever now ? I already admitted I misunderstood something and offered an apology. Read the whole thread before chipping in.

Always lovely to chat