It must be an age thing.
I find I have very little patience with TV shows and films these days. If I don't like them I react very quickly and I ditch 'em pronto.
There are many good shows and films out there of course - Doctor Foster, Deepwater Horizon, Spotlight - but its the reasons for bad ones I'm on about now, bad ones, when really they should be good in my personal opinion.
1. Electric Dreams: a new TV series based on Philip K. 'Blade Runner' Dick short stories, which I was genuinely looking forward to. The first was the Hood Maker. I sacked it off after 15 minutes as I just couldn't stand to watch it any longer. The acting was terrible and the whole thing was drenched in unnecessary loud music from start to finish. I couldn't hear the dialogue! Besides that there were a million people in the first scene and they never left. Far too busy with weak acting.
2. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell: this was a DVD box set I rented. Six hours worth of a sumptuous TV period drama made on location near our house in West Yorkshire! To be fair we got it for that reason and sadly it wasn't strong enough a reason to endure it after the first sixty minutes. A shame really as the premise of the series was quite interesting, the fall and rise of practical magic in Victorian England. Missus Moonbase and I were bored senseless!
3. La La Land: we bought this DVD in a charity shop largely because of the rave reviews and the trillion oscars it won. It must be good thought we. Nope. It was tedium with a soundtrack. Neither Emma Stone nor Ryan Gosling can sing or dance and barely act. Mister Gosling has the stage presence of a gnat and is only capable of a single facial expression, which I can't actually describe. What the hell happened to expressive leading men like Steve McQueen or Jack Nicholson? They probably couldn't dance but by God could they act. Why did La La Land sweep the board at the Oscars? Were the judges asleep?
Are you impatient with TV shows and films readers or is it just me?
I spend more time listening to old shows, often radio shows while working. There are many good plays and series from the radio on Youtube, including audiobooks and SF series.
ReplyDeleteOne worth a mention here is the BBC adaptation of Asimov's Caves of Steel, which has Ed Harris in a title role, and according to the accompanying text, also Matt Zimmerman!
Sorry, totally missed the Blog party till it was all over. Thanks for a cornucopia of articles!
don't worry about the blog party Andy. You've been around since the start so you get time off for good behaviour! ha ha. I'll have a look for Caves of Steel. I like Ed Harris and Scott Tracy has to be good! I don't listen enough to the radio at all. My Missus listens to a podcast every night to fall asleep to!
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