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Netflix recommendations


The Plagues of Breslau

Polish serial killer film. I thought this was really good. It wasn't quite what I expected.

Reminded me of the Chinese film " A touch of sin". Not the same genre. But about one of the little people whose finally had enough.

A serial killer is on the lose in Polish town. Appears to be commiting murders which follow ( fictitous) mediaval cleansing of a city by publicly executing sinners.

In present day Poland its bullying bosses, landlords, politicians and those who exploit the powerless in society.

Basically all well deserved cases for the chop. And the killer is very inventive. No quick ending for this list of societies oppressors.

Its also got a feminist message in it. Won't spoil the ending.

Which isn't Hollywood where everything returns to nice liberal conclusion.

Well acted and paced. With a lot of twists and turns.
 
We were going to start on that one, but something happened and I never got around to it. So I’m also wondering if it’s worth investing time into.

It's about money laundering, but is far better than that sounds. It starts well and gets better with every series. And you'll love Ruth. One of the best things to come out of netflix.
 
While we were looking for something new to watch yesterday my daughter came across Pop Team Epic. Anyone seen it?
Pop_Team_Epic_volume_1_cover.jpg

Bit surreal.
The first episode opens as if it is a completely different (and quite run of the mill) anime. Intro and titles . . . then it's all a bit weird. Then at the end of the show the whole thing repeats with the only difference being the main two characters voices.

We just watched episode two (or was it 3) and it also repeated but with tiny changes here and there, most noticeably in the first skit, which was actually hilarious in it's pay off. Shame the rest of the repeated episode wasn't as good.
 
Same here. Didn't enjoy it as much as Season 1.

I've seen 3 or 4 (not sure where we are up to) eps so far (difficult to find time to watch TV with OH who also wants to see it, we need some stuff to watch together when we have time so are tackling it slowly) and so far I agree with this.

Still good mind you! Looking forward especially to seeing what unfolds with Alan's side of things.
 
Three Identical Strangers.

Our Father.

Watched these two docs over the past few days. Both involve re-united siblings who didn’t know about each. Both reveal more sinister forces at play as they unfold. Both are fascinating.

Although, concerning Our Father, Lucy Mangan’s review is spot on:

It’s an undeniably gripping story. But Our Father is content merely to tell it – to wring every ounce of shock value without adding anything of greater value. It is stuffed with superficial testimonies from traumatised mothers and children. These are, by their very nature, repetitive, which quickly leads to diminishing returns, and does their suffering a disservice. It gives too little space to the unresponsiveness of the district attorney’s office – alerted by Jacoba early on – and the extraordinary fact that it was impossible to prosecute Cline over what he did to the women because none of that amounted to a crime under the then-current law.
 
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Three Identical Strangers.

Our Father.

Watched these two docs over the past few days. Both involve re-united siblings who didn’t know about each. Both reveal more sinister forces at play as they unfold. Both are fascinating.
I was listening to TIS (not watching) as a sleep aid so switched tapped out quite early (drifting in and out and not really following clearly after the first meeting). I'll have to give it a proper go.
 
“Trust no one: The Hunt for the Crypto King” - loved it. A gripping doc following the story of the mysterious death of the founder of a crypto currency exchange and the suspicions that he might still be alive and simply have run off with the money.

Really enjoyable and certainly enough to put you off investing in crypto via an exchange.
 
Three Identical Strangers.

Our Father.

Watched these two docs over the past few days. Both involve re-united siblings who didn’t know about each. Both reveal more sinister forces at play as they unfold. Both are fascinating.

Although, concerning Our Father, Lucy Mangan’s review is spot on:

It’s an undeniably gripping story. But Our Father is content merely to tell it – to wring every ounce of shock value without adding anything of greater value. It is stuffed with superficial testimonies from traumatised mothers and children. These are, by their very nature, repetitive, which quickly leads to diminishing returns, and does their suffering a disservice. It gives too little space to the unresponsiveness of the district attorney’s office – alerted by Jacoba early on – and the extraordinary fact that it was impossible to prosecute Cline over what he did to the women because none of that amounted to a crime under the then-current law.
Yes. Just watched and it made me utterly furious. And how is it still not a law in every state? I wonder if it’s illegal here?

Fucking power trip. Absolutely sexual, getting off on their unknowing compliance. And with him knowing about the autoimmune heritability… Rotten, foul man.
 
Yes. Just watched and it made me utterly furious. And how is it still not a law in every state? I wonder if it’s illegal here?

Fucking power trip. Absolutely sexual, getting off on their unknowing compliance. And with him knowing about the autoimmune heritability… Rotten, foul man.

Also the prosecutor saying that a jury would think there was nothing wrong, as the patients wanted a baby and got a baby. I'd like to think that a UK jury would think the doctor's behaviour was utterly repulsive.

I can't help but think that the legal authorities weren't looking very hard at how to interpret the law and get him in to court. Status, apparent respectability, church position, etc
 
Yes. Just watched and it made me utterly furious. And how is it still not a law in every state? I wonder if it’s illegal here?

I thought about this. The most obvious basis for criminal liability would be battery, i.e. unlawful, non-consensual touching. Although the victims consented to be injected with semen, they would not have consented to be injected with the doctor's semen. This is a pretty minor offence though (max 6 month jail sentence).

Alternatively, this could be assault by penetration or sexual assault under the Sexual Offences Act. The tricky issue for those prosecutions would have been whether the doctor's activity was 'sexual' in nature. That wasn't completely clear, at least from the documentary.

Perhaps the most plausible offence currently on the books here would be offence of causing Ill-treatment or wilful neglect, which applies to health professionals.

What makes this tough, I expect, was that many of these crimes were committed in the 80s (or 70s?) when some of the laws that could possibly have addressed this issue were not on the books.

In both the US and the UK there are private courses of action called 'wrongful birth' (where a parent can sue for the additional costs of raising a disabled child born as a result of medical negligence) and 'wrongful life (where the disabled child can sue themselves). Given the congenital diseases the doctor caused I wonder whether he could have been sued? I'm surprised that was not explored in the doc.
 
FINALLY made the decision to download season 1 of Ozark after hearing so much positive news about this show. Two episodes in. Not bad at all. Best thing about coming so late to shows is that you can binge watch.
 
I realise it's been on there for a long while, but I've only just got into Mindhunter. About the start of the FBI's serial killer psychological profiling. Which sounds mind-numbingly dull, but manages to be really quite interesting.

It's not the sort of thing I'd usually watch. The mrs is well into her cop/FBI stuff and had just started this. I walked by the screen, looked at it, and thought "Fuck me, that looks expensive!". It just so happens that it's also quite interesting. (And it was apparently quite expensive. It looks it.)
 
Just seen this clip from Ricky Gervais's new stand up show (which I probably won't watch):



This neatly captures why I think Gervais went off the rails and became a bit of a reactionary prick. At best his misunderstands the critiques of his humour and at worst misrepresents them. Everyone gets that this style of humour that utilises 'ironic' sexism - and racism, ableism and the like - is meant to be 'ironic'. The thing about 'ironic' bigotry - as well as being lazy, uncreative and boring - is that there's no clear line of demarcation between it and actual bigotry. It can easily be interpreted as bigotry, felt as bigotry and used as a cover for actual bigotry, whether it's ironic or not. Many comedians used to do this style, but most moved on. Gervais chose to get defensive instead of reevaluating. This is partly because of his ego and partly because he's a pretty lousy stand up.

Rant over.
 
Started Lincoln Lawyer.
Lead Mickey Halle reminds me of Jim Rockford.
I have only watched the first 15 mins. Love that he takes the lettuce out of his sandwich.

Could be good.
 
I realise it's been on there for a long while, but I've only just got into Mindhunter. About the start of the FBI's serial killer psychological profiling. Which sounds mind-numbingly dull, but manages to be really quite interesting.

It's not the sort of thing I'd usually watch. The mrs is well into her cop/FBI stuff and had just started this. I walked by the screen, looked at it, and thought "Fuck me, that looks expensive!". It just so happens that it's also quite interesting. (And it was apparently quite expensive. It looks it.)

I fucking love Mindhunter, I just wish they'd done another season as it's clearly not fucking finished :( (Sorry if that ruins your enjoyment, but maybe better forewarned)

One of the best things on Netflix IMO, it hits the spot perfectly in just about every regard - pacing, script, acting, direction, atmosphere - all spot on.

Now do the next bloody season you bloody bastards! :mad:
 
I realise it's been on there for a long while, but I've only just got into Mindhunter. About the start of the FBI's serial killer psychological profiling. Which sounds mind-numbingly dull, but manages to be really quite interesting.

It's not the sort of thing I'd usually watch. The mrs is well into her cop/FBI stuff and had just started this. I walked by the screen, looked at it, and thought "Fuck me, that looks expensive!". It just so happens that it's also quite interesting. (And it was apparently quite expensive. It looks it.)


Yup.
It's excellent if a bit gruesome. Especially when you know that the cases are real.
 
Just seen this clip from Ricky Gervais's new stand up show (which I probably won't watch):



This neatly captures why I think Gervais went off the rails and became a bit of a reactionary prick. At best his misunderstands the critiques of his humour and at worst misrepresents them. Everyone gets that this style of humour that utilises 'ironic' sexism - and racism, ableism and the like - is meant to be 'ironic'. The thing about 'ironic' bigotry - as well as being lazy, uncreative and boring - is that there's no clear line of demarcation between it and actual bigotry. It can easily be interpreted as bigotry, felt as bigotry and used as a cover for actual bigotry, whether it's ironic or not. Many comedians used to do this style, but most moved on. Gervais chose to get defensive instead of reevaluating. This is partly because of his ego and partly because he's a pretty lousy stand up.

Rant over.

Spot on. The guys a prick.
 
We’ve watched the first four episodes of The Lincoln Lawyer, and it is actually very watchable once you get through the first episode. Not a vintage television series for the ages by any means, but still fairly enjoyable fodder, in particular if you are in need of things to watch. Thoroughly recommended as a void-filling TV trope.
 
We’ve watched the first four episodes of The Lincoln Lawyer, and it is actually very watchable once you get through the first episode. Not a vintage television series for the ages by any means, but still fairly enjoyable fodder, in particular if you are in need of things to watch. Thoroughly recommended as a void-filling TV trope.

Yes...I feel I agree with you.

My focus is on figuring out just how closely the lead resembles Jim Rockford. I wonder sonetimes if he is trying to be like him? The eyebrows etc...
 
Tonight my daughter suggested a 2020 film called Run.
I can't say too much about it because it would ruin it a la Moon.

Anyway it was good.
 
It's pretty appalling.
And brutal.

It also not as representative of Irish Travellers as it claims. There are some feuding families but not all are fighting.
I dint think it ever claimed to be representative, I think the film maker was quite clear in what the film was about.
 
Started Lincoln Lawyer.
Lead Mickey Halle reminds me of Jim Rockford.
I have only watched the first 15 mins. Love that he takes the lettuce out of his sandwich.

Could be good.


This just gets better.
I love that he isnt so swish and he really reminds me a lot of Jim Rockford. He even looks like him stands like him..eyebrows like him..

Love it.
 
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