Now Watching on TV

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Re: Now Watching on TV

Postby Geezee » 05 Sep 2016, 09:52

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Re: Now Watching on TV

Postby Spec » 05 Sep 2016, 10:45

Watching the final series of Parks and Recreation. Oh dear! What a shame that great series can decline so rapidly.

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Re: Now Watching on TV

Postby pcqgod » 17 Sep 2016, 19:42

"Portlandia" marathon on IFC.
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Re: Now Watching on TV

Postby Geezee » 11 Oct 2016, 09:34

Watched the Amanda Knox documentary - with some reservations - last night. I get the attraction to the Knox angle - and Count Machuki's infatuation is not unfounded :) - but often these kinds of documentaries are a bit jarring and forget the victim as much as the mass media do. And after the opening intro I did indeed nearly stop watching - I can't think of a more distasteful and inappropriate way to start a documentary like this...with the handheld camcorder recording of the murder scene complete with blood, body and everything else, then quickly juxtaposed by a really bizarre, off-putting and entirely incorrect monologue by Knox. It's really, really badly done, and the makers should be ashamed of themselves.

And as you'd expect (in fairness, the documentary is called Amanda Knox so you should definitely not expect anything else), Kercher is treated as a cursory figure, as is the man who is actually convicted of her murder. So the focus is squarely on her and, in fairness, her boyfriend Raffaele who gets alot of airtime and whose boyish, naive innocence is an incredible foil for the complexity of the Knox hysteria. It's easy to forget that they knew each of other for 5 days, and Knox had only been in Italy a couple of weeks, before all this hell breaks lose.

The two characters that stand out entirely in this documentary that brings it freshness and relevance are the journalist Nick Pisa and the prosecutor Giuseppe something. The interviews with Pisa are some of the most incredible documentary pieces i've come across - this is a totally affable, happy-go-lucky, charming guy...who may very well be the devil himself. I guess one shouldn't be surprised - he's a Daily Mail freelancer - but I guess I pictured these horrible people as misanthropic, ugly, fat, deeply unpleasant rats. Instead you have this horribly chirpy guy who in the same breath can talk about how Kercher's rape and murder story was "better than sex". He talks about this story with a bewildered awe and enthusiasm at how incredibly fantastic it all was, how it had all the perfect ingredients for everything, who could have wanted anything different!? "It couldn't get any better and then it does!" (speaking about getting access - god knows how - to Knox's prison diary where - having been deliberately misled by police that she has HIV, she lists all her sexual encounters)...and then the astonishing total lack of interest once the actual murderer is convicted ("we may have covered that, I don't remember"). It's as incredible a display of amorality or immorality as anything you are likely to see in Act of Killing.

And then the utter buffoon that is Giuseppe. He is a caricature, a prosecutor who thinks he's Sherlock Holmes (literally), complete with a pipe as he inspects the murder scene (without any protective clothing of course). He reminded me occasionally of Trump - he'd throw out an accusation, an horrific generalisation, and then backtrack by saying "maybe it so, but i prefer to stick to the facts". Before that, he'd just said "maybe all people from Seattle are crazy" - and he meant it, there is a clear hatred of all things American that runs through the case against Knox ("in 1308 Italy started the world's first law degree, when America was still painting in caves and here they are lecturing us about our legal system" one of the prosecutors says seriously and angrily). Giuseppe simply can't get over the fact that Kercher's body was covered by a duvet - this, to him, proves that it couldn't have been a man that killed her since a man would never think of that (literally). He calls himself a "prophet" (again, literally - and he's a deeply religious man so he doesn't say it lightly) based on the fact that people have come up to him on the street to thank him for his handling of the case. At times - notwithstanding the quite bizarre, contradictory (but still pretty much unexplained) "confessions" Raffaele and Amanda give about the murder - you really don't understand how there was ever a case against them, but with people with such a messiah complex at the head of the case i guess it isn't too surprising.

Ultimately, it's pretty clear that there is nothing that ties Amanda or Raffaele to the murder - the sheer absence of any of their DNA at the murder scene speaks volumes (and no evidence of a clean-up, quite the opposite) - so the main thing that the documentary reveals is the astonishing misogyny, sexism and hysteria that surrounds this case. That was pretty clear early on, but it's quite jarring to see it put together like this.
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Re: Now Watching on TV

Postby ... » 11 Oct 2016, 09:49

Geezee wrote:
Watched the Amanda Knox documentary - with some reservations - last night. I get the attraction to the Knox angle - and Count Machuki's infatuation is not unfounded :) - but often these kinds of documentaries are a bit jarring and forget the victim as much as the mass media do. And after the opening intro I did indeed nearly stop watching - I can't think of a more distasteful and inappropriate way to start a documentary like this...with the handheld camcorder recording of the murder scene complete with blood, body and everything else, then quickly juxtaposed by a really bizarre, off-putting and entirely incorrect monologue by Knox. It's really, really badly done, and the makers should be ashamed of themselves.



Watched about five minutes of this and turned it off for pretty much the same reasons as outlined above. Watched the Kitty Genovese (The Witnesses) doc instead - ultimately a similarly biased but far more interesting watch.

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Re: Now Watching on TV

Postby Geezee » 11 Oct 2016, 10:26

fueryIre wrote:
Geezee wrote:
Watched the Amanda Knox documentary - with some reservations - last night. I get the attraction to the Knox angle - and Count Machuki's infatuation is not unfounded :) - but often these kinds of documentaries are a bit jarring and forget the victim as much as the mass media do. And after the opening intro I did indeed nearly stop watching - I can't think of a more distasteful and inappropriate way to start a documentary like this...with the handheld camcorder recording of the murder scene complete with blood, body and everything else, then quickly juxtaposed by a really bizarre, off-putting and entirely incorrect monologue by Knox. It's really, really badly done, and the makers should be ashamed of themselves.



Watched about five minutes of this and turned it off for pretty much the same reasons as outlined above. Watched the Kitty Genovese (The Witnesses) doc instead - ultimately a similarly biased but far more interesting watch.


Yes that is linked from the Knox doc and will probably end up watching that one as well!
It's such a strange and unnecessary way to start the documentary, a real shame, because undeniably there are very powerful and interesting things that it brings to the table. In some ways, if it was really about Amanda Knox, I think it may have been better served just focusing on her readjustment into "normal" life again. They touch on this a bit - and indeed on Raffaele's 6 months in solitary confinement - and you can tell the sadness and damage that it has caused. And if they wanted to focus on the crazy injustice, misogyny and media frenzy spurred by psychotic lunatics like Pisa, then the focus should really only have been on the Pisa and Giuseppe interviews and with the victim in plain sight. Instead, by essentially ignoring the convicted murderer and treating Kercher with such intense disrespect, the filmmakers are guilty of the same thing they are implicitly criticising by displaying Pisa's ramblings. They end up kind of throwing everything together into a mishmash, with no clear thread or focus - in what is undoubtedly a long and convoluted case, but in which case it should be called anything other than Amanda Knox, complete with a really eerie, intense close-up of her in the front cover.
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Re: Now Watching on TV

Postby Geezee » 11 Oct 2016, 10:35

"what am I supposed to do, double-check stories?" :D :shock: :x

Amanda Knox Netflix documentary: The journalist people are branding 'the real villain'

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 42376.html
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Re: Now Watching on TV

Postby Geezee » 17 Oct 2016, 10:42

Geezee wrote:
fueryIre wrote:
Geezee wrote:
Watched the Amanda Knox documentary - with some reservations - last night. I get the attraction to the Knox angle - and Count Machuki's infatuation is not unfounded :) - but often these kinds of documentaries are a bit jarring and forget the victim as much as the mass media do. And after the opening intro I did indeed nearly stop watching - I can't think of a more distasteful and inappropriate way to start a documentary like this...with the handheld camcorder recording of the murder scene complete with blood, body and everything else, then quickly juxtaposed by a really bizarre, off-putting and entirely incorrect monologue by Knox. It's really, really badly done, and the makers should be ashamed of themselves.



Watched about five minutes of this and turned it off for pretty much the same reasons as outlined above. Watched the Kitty Genovese (The Witnesses) doc instead - ultimately a similarly biased but far more interesting watch.


Yes that is linked from the Knox doc and will probably end up watching that one as well!


So I saw The Witness this weekend as well (I agree, actually it makes more sense to call it The Witnesses). It's definitely pretty gripping - a bit surprising that so many of the main people are still alive. At one point I thought this was going to unveil some gripping conspiracy of silence - they talk about the fact that neighbours actually did call the police, but that this was never recorded in any police logs or media coverage...which appears to imply that maybe the police had been called out, but didn't do anything until it was too late and instead they blame inactivism from the witnesses. That thread is never picked up on, probably because it would be impossible to prove, and ultimately doesn't really change the thrust of the story - and in particular that there were at least 3-4 critical witnesses who ultimately did do nothing and demonstrated remarkable indifference to her fate when clearly she could have been saved. The footage of her alive is really quite powerful - she seems to have been such a character - while the killer...it's scary to see how deluded he was right up until the end, how little responsibility people can take.

The whole reenactment of the murder is properly, properly fcked up. What on earth is hoping to achieve with that?
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Re: Now Watching on TV

Postby ... » 17 Oct 2016, 11:37

Geezee wrote:
Geezee wrote:
fueryIre wrote:
Watched about five minutes of this and turned it off for pretty much the same reasons as outlined above. Watched the Kitty Genovese (The Witnesses) doc instead - ultimately a similarly biased but far more interesting watch.


Yes that is linked from the Knox doc and will probably end up watching that one as well!


So I saw The Witness this weekend as well (I agree, actually it makes more sense to call it The Witnesses). It's definitely pretty gripping - a bit surprising that so many of the main people are still alive. At one point I thought this was going to unveil some gripping conspiracy of silence - they talk about the fact that neighbours actually did call the police, but that this was never recorded in any police logs or media coverage...which appears to imply that maybe the police had been called out, but didn't do anything until it was too late and instead they blame inactivism from the witnesses. That thread is never picked up on, probably because it would be impossible to prove, and ultimately doesn't really change the thrust of the story - and in particular that there were at least 3-4 critical witnesses who ultimately did do nothing and demonstrated remarkable indifference to her fate when clearly she could have been saved. The footage of her alive is really quite powerful - she seems to have been such a character - while the killer...it's scary to see how deluded he was right up until the end, how little responsibility people can take.

The whole reenactment of the murder is properly, properly fcked up. What on earth is hoping to achieve with that?


Yeah, I couldn't understand the point of the reconstruction - especially as he'd apparently told everyone who lived in the surrounding buildings what was happening. While it would doubtless have been a fuckload more difficult to arrange (and a lot, lot more contentious/insensitive to actually do), I wonder if the filmmakers ever considered arranging the reconstruction so no one - apart from those manning the 911 hotlines - would know?

While it was a pretty sombre affair, the bit that I thought was quite amusing was the "jeez-here-the cracked old fucker-goes-again" look his nephew gave him towards the end of the film.

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Re: Now Watching on TV

Postby Geezee » 17 Oct 2016, 13:27

fueryIre wrote:
Geezee wrote:
Geezee wrote:
Yes that is linked from the Knox doc and will probably end up watching that one as well!


So I saw The Witness this weekend as well (I agree, actually it makes more sense to call it The Witnesses). It's definitely pretty gripping - a bit surprising that so many of the main people are still alive. At one point I thought this was going to unveil some gripping conspiracy of silence - they talk about the fact that neighbours actually did call the police, but that this was never recorded in any police logs or media coverage...which appears to imply that maybe the police had been called out, but didn't do anything until it was too late and instead they blame inactivism from the witnesses. That thread is never picked up on, probably because it would be impossible to prove, and ultimately doesn't really change the thrust of the story - and in particular that there were at least 3-4 critical witnesses who ultimately did do nothing and demonstrated remarkable indifference to her fate when clearly she could have been saved. The footage of her alive is really quite powerful - she seems to have been such a character - while the killer...it's scary to see how deluded he was right up until the end, how little responsibility people can take.

The whole reenactment of the murder is properly, properly fcked up. What on earth is hoping to achieve with that?


Yeah, I couldn't understand the point of the reconstruction - especially as he'd apparently told everyone who lived in the surrounding buildings what was happening. While it would doubtless have been a fuckload more difficult to arrange (and a lot, lot more contentious/insensitive to actually do), I wonder if the filmmakers ever considered arranging the reconstruction so no one - apart from those manning the 911 hotlines - would know?


My interpretation on this is that he wasn't actually interested in what the responses looked like - by then I think he's long since accepted that the apathy among the neighbours was not as pronounced as legend would have you think. I think it's more disturbing than that, that he actually wanted to immerse himself into the murder as much as he could by replicating the conditions and hearing the screaming to get a connection with his sister.
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Re: Now Watching on TV

Postby Goat Boy » 19 Oct 2016, 12:34

Vic Reeves Big Night Out

I’m watching this for the first time.

The Smell Of… seems positively professional and big budget compared to this. At first its amateurishness bothered me. I mean, they fluff their lines all the time – some of it has to be improvised as well - but after a while I sorta adapated to the anarchic rhythm and it started to fall into place. I think it takes a while to warm up though and so far the second series has been better than the first but there’s lots of great stuff in here (Lister, Les, Wavey Davey, Judge Nutmeg) and some crap too (Talc and Turnip). Of course there’s always crap with Vic and Bob, which is inevitable given their approach, but it doesn’t really bother me. The other night I watched the episode with Morrissey the consumer monkey and I was in tears laughing. Obviously time removes context but I can understand why it was so fresh and invigorating. I honestly can't imagine how annoying all that 80s right on comedy shite must have been.
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Re: Now Watching on TV

Postby clive gash » 19 Oct 2016, 12:49

I think the right-on-ness of 80s comedy only overwhelmed it when it became the be-all and end-all of the thing, probably late 80s/early 90s Mark Thomas, Jeremy Hardy, Mark Steel bollocks.

The original lot had a streak of anarchy underpinning the seriousness, a lot of silliness, even someone like Alexei Sayle heavily leant on Monty Python. As a 12 year old it was the fannying about and violence of Rik & co that attracted me. When Vic and Bob turned up it was a callback to those days, pure joy and stupidity.

I'm seeing then in Newcastle soon, stoked.
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Re: Now Watching on TV

Postby naughty boy » 19 Oct 2016, 19:51

clive gash wrote:I think the right-on-ness of 80s comedy only overwhelmed it when it became the be-all and end-all of the thing, probably late 80s/early 90s Mark Thomas, Jeremy Hardy, Mark Steel bollocks.

The original lot had a streak of anarchy underpinning the seriousness, a lot of silliness, even someone like Alexei Sayle heavily leant on Monty Python. As a 12 year old it was the fannying about and violence of Rik & co that attracted me. When Vic and Bob turned up it was a callback to those days, pure joy and stupidity.

I'm seeing then in Newcastle soon, stoked.


Let me know how it goes - got tickets for Blackpool on 3rd December.
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Re: Now Watching on TV

Postby pcqgod » 20 Nov 2016, 15:07

I watched the episode of "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" on BBC America last night after the "Doctor Who" special. I understand that it was the fifth episode, but I was totally lost as to the characters and story, and what I saw didn't really draw me in and want to understand it better. And Homo Erectus did not wipe out the Neanderthals, ffs.
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Re: Now Watching on TV

Postby driftin » 25 Nov 2016, 13:12

"Jim – The James Foley Story", a documentary about the life of James Foley and his eventual capture and recorded execution by ISIS. I was expecting misery porn but I got something that was actually celebration of his life and the good shared memories from his family, friends, and colleagues.

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Re: Now Watching on TV

Postby ... » 25 Nov 2016, 13:49

Anyone here still watching the Walking Dead?

Having not seen it for a couple of seasons since Neil Morrisey was The Governor, just tuned in on Monday night. It's exactly the same as it's always been - Rick and the gang go into a seemingly happy community, expose some problem no one was bothered about until they arrived, ruin said community and then come face to face with a bullying psychopath who they are initially powerless before and need to off before they can continue on to the next happy community - repeat ad infinitum until show's cancellation

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Re: Now Watching on TV

Postby borofan » 27 Nov 2016, 16:02

fueryIre wrote:Anyone here still watching the Walking Dead?

Having not seen it for a couple of seasons since Neil Morrisey was The Governor, just tuned in on Monday night. It's exactly the same as it's always been - Rick and the gang go into a seemingly happy community, expose some problem no one was bothered about until they arrived, ruin said community and then come face to face with a bullying psychopath who they are initially powerless before and need to off before they can continue on to the next happy community - repeat ad infinitum until show's cancellation

David Morrissey.
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Re: Now Watching on TV

Postby ... » 28 Nov 2016, 16:57

borofan wrote:
fueryIre wrote:Anyone here still watching the Walking Dead?

Having not seen it for a couple of seasons since Neil Morrisey was The Governor, just tuned in on Monday night. It's exactly the same as it's always been - Rick and the gang go into a seemingly happy community, expose some problem no one was bothered about until they arrived, ruin said community and then come face to face with a bullying psychopath who they are initially powerless before and need to off before they can continue on to the next happy community - repeat ad infinitum until show's cancellation

David Morrissey.


You're right. Wonderful actor he is, too. Lucky enough to see him in
Hangmen in the West End last Xmas and am just watching him in
S2 of The Missing.

He's come a long way from Men Behaving Badly that's for sure!

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Re: Now Watching on TV

Postby naughty boy » 29 Nov 2016, 09:59

clive gash wrote:
I'm seeing then in Newcastle soon, stoked.


Tomorrow night?
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Re: Now Watching on TV

Postby clive gash » 29 Nov 2016, 14:58

Yes 8-) 8-)
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