It seems that a substantial number of the 'decent' (decent being a relative term) TV shows from before the conorapanic either are canceled or still on hiatus and most of the new ones are horrid and/or corrupted with PC and CancelCulture bullshit. In either case, entirely unwatchable.
I've run through most of the old series I've got archived (for the umpteenth time). And I've watched enough Bollywood films that I'm dreaming in Hindi so I decided to give them a rest. So I'm on a reconnaissance mission, which is squarely in my boiler room, 'cuz I'm an old cavalry scout.
"Shameless" finished its last season. If you never watched it you missed one of the best-written comedies in the sistory of the boob tube. It went 10 seasons without getting stale but the 11th showed compromises driven by the need to propel all of the myriad of intersecting and diverging storylines to a fan-satisfying conclusion. But now it's gone and the world is a poorer place for want of it.
Anywho, just last night I found a series from Australia I'm finding entertaining. It's called "Mr InBetween," about an underworld type who specializes in acts personal physcial violence. And he's a remorseless killer but he's also very likeable. He favors Willem Dafoe with his head shaved and a wry smile and he's genuinely kind and benevolent to people who aren't in "the business." And for a thug he's just disarmingly polite.
The 'Strine accents aren't that pronounced but the jargon is, so bring your Ozzie slang dictionary. And they're half-hour episodes on a network that has commercial breaks every seven or eight minutes so it works out 22-24 minutes an episode. You easily can binge-watch the entire first (6-episode) season in one evening. There's two seasons in the can (2nd season is longer) and two episodes from the third. Find it wherever you watch pirated TV shows. It's on Fox in Oz and apparently was on FX in the US but I never got wind ot it.
And I've seen a whopping three films this year that didn't suck ass. One was "Drunk Bus," a low-budget Indie flick starring Charlie Tahan, who you might know from the Netflix series "Ozark" as the bright kid born to a trailer park trash criminal family who ends up shacked with the much older widow who murdered her heroin kingpin husband. I only opted to watch drunk Bus because he starred in it, and he didn't let me down. And the title is 100% accurate, it's about a guy who drives around campus giving drunk college kids a ride.
I actually know a college where they do that. Small (liberal art) college so it's really just a van but they'll come give you a free lift from anywhere to anywhere, even if you aren't drunk, and no repercussions if you are drunk, just to keep drunk students from getting behind the wheel.
Another was "French Exit," which is a term of unknown origin meaning to sneak out from a party (or other affair) without saying good-bye to the hosts. Stars Michelle Pfeifer and Lukas Hedges, who play mother and son. The personalities of their characters are diametrically opposed and I thought both were phenomenal, especially Hedges. But it's got the "neurotic Upper East Side trust babies" feel to it, which might not be your cuppa.
The real dark horse was "Nobody," a chop-saki, shoot-em-up action flick starring Saul Goodman from "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul," real name Bob Odenkirk. If you thought Odenkirk isn't action hero material, I'd have to agree but somehow he manages to pull it off. It's a brain twinky but it's also the best action flick I've seen in years, despite having the production value and "feel" of a "made-for-TV" film.
The others are sort of "taste-based" but take my word for it and watch "Nobody."
So what have you seen lately that wasn't a waste of time or an insult to your intelligence?
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Originally Posted by Beetlegeuse
