The Night Of - anyone else watching this?

..and why not?
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The Night Of - anyone else watching this?

Postby ... » 02 Sep 2016, 20:37

For once splendid US adaptation/"re-imagineering" of an non-US show - BBC"s Criminal Justice from about three years ago. Excellent main performance by John Turturro as the low-rent lawyer. That said, it's hard not to picture James Gandolfini (whose next project this was supposed to be before he died) from time to time. It's also got the best supporting performance by a cat since the Coen Bros' Inside Llewyn Davies.

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Re: The Night Of - anyone else watching this?

Postby Dr Markus » 02 Sep 2016, 20:42

I coulda swore DeNiro was suppose to take Gandolfini's spot in this. Still I like Turturro, so it's not a bad replacement.
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Re: The Night Of - anyone else watching this?

Postby yomptepi » 03 Sep 2016, 09:35

I have recorded it, but we watched the first half hour and found it very boring,
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Re: The Night Of - anyone else watching this?

Postby ... » 03 Sep 2016, 10:04

yomptepi wrote:I have recorded it, but we watched the first half hour and found it very boring,


Give it a couple of episodes, it's very good. Did you see Criminal Justice, the original Peter Moffatt one-off BBC drama that it's
based on, Chris?

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Re: The Night Of - anyone else watching this?

Postby Polishgirl » 05 Sep 2016, 13:36

I just watched the 1st episode, as recommended by another boy at work, and because I have already given up with Preacher.

I liked it a lot. It started off feeling rather formulaic, but the sense of something different builds up from about half way through. I'm intrigued enough to keep going.
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Re: The Night Of - anyone else watching this?

Postby driftin » 09 Sep 2016, 09:05

Very solid throughout but having said that I can’t help but feel that after starting absolutely brilliantly with that tense opening episode, there is a gradual decline in the quality of the story (if not the storytelling) afterwards. The characters are strong, the directing and aesthetic choices are ultra-cinematic, but the story itself just starts to lose steam. It adds tonnes of story strands and characters that aren’t fully explored and the 90 minute final episode cuts short so much potential and is ultimately unsatisfying. It also rarely steps away from the usual formula of cop procedurals. Even worse, the victim at the heart of the story is reduced to a mere cautionary tale device rather than an intriguing and sympathetic character - despite all the tales the various people tell that are uncovered through the usual detective work.

I'm all for ambiguities as well as somewhat downbeat endings but I just feel like there should've been more here. Perhaps the moral is that the criminal justice system is messy, it changes the lives of many, and it is ultimately unsatisfying for both the prosecution and defendant.

It’s good, occasionally very good and in the very first episode truly great. Highly recommended most of all for the brilliant performances across the entire board. The actual story itself grabbed me from the beginning but over 9ish hours it slowly started to dissipate into by-the-numbers routines and dead ends but still well worth a watch for a bit of escapism.

Overall I give it a 7 or maybe an 8 out of 10.

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Re: The Night Of - anyone else watching this?

Postby sloopjohnc » 09 Sep 2016, 22:12

I liked it, but it takes some illogical and improbable turns at the end. The first couple episodes were great though.
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Re: The Night Of - anyone else watching this?

Postby Spec » 28 Sep 2016, 16:38

Just finished it. As others have said the first episode was good but then the next 2 or 3 had me struggling. Picked up after that. Great acting but, again as others have said, too many bits just left hanging. Rare to say it but it actually needed another couple of episodes to allow the [very unemotional, unpassionate] court scenes to be expanded.

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Re: The Night Of - anyone else watching this?

Postby ChrisB » 28 Sep 2016, 17:14

Mostly enjoyable, Turturro brilliant throughout. Wouldn't want to go to prison though if you can go from being a relatively clean living student to a crack head, tattoo covered thug in the space of a few weeks.

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Re: The Night Of - anyone else watching this?

Postby Dr Markus » 18 Nov 2016, 13:37

I watched the whole last in one go. Thought it was very very good. The lead actor was brilliant, bright future I think. The twists and turns were will thought out, although it did seem a little rushed at the end.
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Re: The Night Of - anyone else watching this?

Postby driftin » 21 Nov 2016, 10:23

The Great DeFector wrote:IThe lead actor was brilliant, bright future I think.

Well he is in the new Star Wars which is out next month. I guess that's okay.

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Re: The Night Of - anyone else watching this?

Postby Snarfyguy » 23 Nov 2016, 14:18

slightbreeze wrote:Mostly enjoyable, Turturro brilliant throughout. Wouldn't want to go to prison though if you can go from being a relatively clean living student to a crack head, tattoo covered thug in the space of a few weeks.

I think they were supposed to have been smoking heroin, if that makes any difference (probably not).

I found it mostly quite enjoyable. Turturro is dependable, as always.

The courtroom scenes were preposterous though, with non-verbal responses from the witness stand and no objections to outrageous statements/questions from adversarial attorneys about things not in evidence. I was surprised to see Richard Price wrote it; he's usually good for gritty realism.

Anyway, decent enough. On to Narcos!
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Re: The Night Of - anyone else watching this?

Postby Dr Markus » 23 Nov 2016, 15:20

It's always the plea bargins that get me in shows like this. I'm innocent, but I admit it doesn't look good. 10 to 15 years in jail and you say you did it, even though you didn't, that's the best offer. FUUUUUUUUCK. This shit happens every day in the courts.
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Re: The Night Of - anyone else watching this?

Postby Spec » 24 Nov 2016, 09:38

The Great DeFector wrote:It's always the plea bargins that get me in shows like this. I'm innocent, but I admit it doesn't look good. 10 to 15 years in jail and you say you did it, even though you didn't, that's the best offer. FUUUUUUUUCK. This shit happens every day in the courts.


It's fascinating and terrifying. How many people are doing time for something they didn't do because it was the better option?

Can you imagine being faced with that choice: "look the evidence is against you, even though you didn't do it, and you're likely to face 30 years at least. But if you plead guilty you will only need to do ten, and you may even be out in eight"? Everyone will think they'll fight their corner because they know they're innocent but under pressure and being told by a lawyer that there is no way you're going to get off.... Horrible thought.

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Re: The Night Of - anyone else watching this?

Postby ... » 24 Nov 2016, 12:09

Spec wrote:
The Great DeFector wrote:It's always the plea bargins that get me in shows like this. I'm innocent, but I admit it doesn't look good. 10 to 15 years in jail and you say you did it, even though you didn't, that's the best offer. FUUUUUUUUCK. This shit happens every day in the courts.


It's fascinating and terrifying. How many people are doing time for something they didn't do because it was the better option?

Can you imagine being faced with that choice: "look the evidence is against you, even though you didn't do it, and you're likely to face 30 years at least. But if you plead guilty you will only need to do ten, and you may even be out in eight"? Everyone will think they'll fight their corner because they know they're innocent but under pressure and being told by a lawyer that there is no way you're going to get off.... Horrible thought.


What's even worse is the poor fuckers whose chances of any kind of early release are scuppered because they genuinely didn't do something, refuse to take a deal and then can't get parole because they won't express remorse

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Re: The Night Of - anyone else watching this?

Postby Snarfyguy » 28 Nov 2016, 14:17

Further reading on the topic of plea bargains in the U.S. criminal system - by a federal judge I admire a lot: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2014/1 ... ad-guilty/
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