Black Cat Bone

Just watched 1-6 (of 10) of this :



It's a good overview of Al-Qaeda's rise right back to the formation of Israel up to 9/11, but does anyone else find the rather one dimensional characters somewhat unbelievable?

Just watched all of this over the weekend too :



Which I found captivating, with the cross/double cross storyline and great acting by all of the cast.

Watched The Looming Tower, thought it was excellent. The Jeff Daniels character was pretty much accurate according to what I read afterwards.

Jeemo wrote:Watched The Looming Tower, thought it was excellent. The Jeff Daniels character was pretty much accurate according to what I read afterwards.

I enjoyed it, but FFS, what a cynical picture it portrayed.
Not really surprising, but it just makes you wonder at how things could have been different.

Has anyone read the book? I have it on my kindle, but don't know if it's worth reading, having seen the tv show.

I knew just by clocking the title that Summer of Rockets would be a Stephen Poliakoff offering.
Sadly, he's never matched his earlier masterpiece, Shooting the Past (1999) - Do see it if you have the opportunity.
I can't watch anything with Keeley Hawes in - she gives me the pip - which is a shame as he's assembled other great actors for the series.

I did begin with "The Looming Tower" and watched four or five episodes.
Fascinating subject matter and some scenes were gripping and tense ( there was a great scene where the officer lulled a suspect into giving him the crucial information), however it seemed really padded out and there were too many unnecessary distractions from the main theme and plot. In particular it devoted lots of time to the love lives of the main characters -this wasn't interesting at all and felt like trying to give it a soapy appeal.
Shame, it could've been a terrific four parter.
I'd probably be interested in reading the book though.

Jeemo wrote:Watched The Looming Tower, thought it was excellent. The Jeff Daniels character was pretty much accurate according to what I read afterwards.

That was O'Neill, the FBI guy wasn't it? His character was so ridiculously OTT (James Bond on steroids) I figured it just had to be true.

Samoan wrote:I knew just by clocking the title that Summer of Rockets would be a Stephen Poliakoff offering.
Sadly, he's never matched his earlier masterpiece, Shooting the Past (1999) - Do see it if you have the opportunity.
I can't watch anything with Keeley Hawes in - she gives me the pip - which is a shame as he's assembled other great actors for the series.

I shall look out for Shooting The Past thank you.

Keeley Hawes was excellent in this though.... in fact the whole of the cast were. Strange how some people just never gel/connect with people - we all have those.

Diamond Dog wrote:

Jeemo wrote:Watched The Looming Tower, thought it was excellent. The Jeff Daniels character was pretty much accurate according to what I read afterwards.

That was O'Neill, the FBI guy wasn't it? His character was so ridiculously OTT (Janes Bond on steroids) I figured it just had to be true.

The names Bond, Janes Bond

I shall correct! lol

It's a great book Looming Tower. The book is non-fiction btw. But I think it's more based on Steve Coll's Ghost Wars, also non-fiction. The characters are sometimes fictionalised, sometimes not, but the issue being made about the damaging competition between US security services leading to 911 is one of many that the book covers.

I saw The LoomingTower when it was first on and even though it's a TV drama and, I believe, some of the characters are combined and even invented the whole narrative seemed credible. it was incompetence and lack of communication that allowed it all to play out. I've no doubt that the 'truthers' will see it as a load of bollocks and explosives were planted in the buildings on every floor before 9/11.

Summer of Rockets, I enjoyed too. I did wonder how it was going to all tie up at the end. I won't spoil it but I'm not sure it did.

mentalist (slight return) wrote:It's a great book Looming Tower. The book is non-fiction btw. But I think it's more based on Steve Coll's Ghost Wars, also non-fiction. The characters are sometimes fictionalised, sometimes not, but the issue being made about the damaging competition between US security services leading to 911 is one of many that the book covers.

The book was very, very good indeed. While good, the series which I saw on Amazon about a year ago doesn't really compare due to the fact that so much stuff obviuosly had to be cut out in order to keep the drama flowing.

The Prof wrote:Summer of Rockets, I enjoyed too. I did wonder how it was going to all tie up at the end. I won't spoil it but I'm not sure it did.

Ah good... I thought that was just me... as you say.. the whole thing reached a conclusion that was settled just a little too easily. I thought.

Diamond Dog wrote:

The Prof wrote:Summer of Rockets, I enjoyed too. I did wonder how it was going to all tie up at the end. I won't spoil it but I'm not sure it did.

Ah good... I thought that was just me... as you say.. the whole thing reached a conclusion that was settled just a little too easily. I thought.

Never been able to get away with Poliakoff. Always strikes me as pretentious and overblown. Baffles me that the BBC have indulged him with huge budgets for all these years, when he consistently produced such empty nonsense.