another british mystery done.. Murder before Evensong mini series, 6 ep.. interesting outcome..


Feb 23rd brings S02 of Paradise

Feb 15th brings S04 of Dark Winds another

just FINALLY finished watching season 1 of The Institution .. meh.. not as good as I would have hoped..


seems I can't make coherent sentences today.. probably cuz I didn't sleep much last night.. maybe I DO need it to snow so I can tire myself out with shoveling

Whew!
In order to avoid another negligent 2¢ worth comment I actually speed-read all 45 pages here.

Kreist, ye ken ye watch too much TV & movies when you can honestly say you've seen almost every series and movie put forth so far & this thread only goes back to 2018.

At 70+ I have the opposite kind of memory problem most older folks suffer from - I can't forget.
I still remember YUGE swaths of the 1st SCI-Fi book I ever read, in the 6th grade (Starman's Son: 2250 AD by Andre Norton).
Forget trying to get me to watch a movie or TV show less than 20-30 years old, I can practically lip-sync the dialogue from end-to-end.
(A wee bit of exaggeration, but not much of one.)

SparklingCrystal, I think I've sussed out what grabs you favorably, so what I'm going to do is toss some stuff at you that might pry you loose a bit more from your "preferred" consumption.
I agree with plenty you do like, though having seen practically anything worth watching produced on 3 continents and some from S.America & Asia too, I find almost all of it tiresome recycling of shows that have already been done (something Hollyweird seems especially hooked on, re-booting movies for the 3rd, 4th, or even 5th time - like Dracula, A Star is Born, etc.)
I ABSOLUTELY agree, "Dracula Untold" was the best version of Bram Stoker's tragedy ever made.

I also agree in general that BBC/UK police procedural shows are far superior to American-made crap.
(Line of Duty, Luther with Idris Elba, DCI Banks, Ripper Street, Unforgotten-has Nikola Walker EVER done less than stellar in ANY role she's inhabited?, Tom Burke's "C.B. Strike", & looking forward to more of D.I. Ray.)
If it's a UK procedural, it's somewhere on my 24TBs of hard-drive storage (7x4TB in a PC tower).

I believe the reason is not better scripts, it's the fact that English/UK/Irish actors tend to walk the boards long before they ever do a TV series & have earned/learned to project "Presence" in their roles - and in general shorter "series" runs of 4-6 episodes per issue, which allows tighter focus on the case at hand & avoids 16 episodes of drift from "fillers" until they get the baddies.

igotthegirth was also correct (5 times) about "Hell on Wheels" being A-1+ fare, particularly in the Westerns/Civil War era genre.
SF doesn't get any better than the "Battlestar Galactica" reboot with Eddy Olmos.
Throw in "Babylon 5" & "Crusade" for good measure.
Straczynski has crafted a 123 eps.+6 movies feast running over 5-years in 2 separate but intertwined series.
A galaxy-&-time-spanning political extravaganza covering millennia of wars & a veritable UN of Aliens.

Horror is something I gather really isn't your cuppa but I believe I can actually change your opinion in a limited fashion.
Eldest & I have taken to watching a number of "Nazombie" flicks (WWII movies with zombi-fied Nazis).
Start with the 3-part series of "Outpost" movies;
•Outpost (2008)
•Outpost: Black Sun (2012)
•Outpost: Rise Of The Spetnaz (2013)
Then move on to the Dead Snow series;
•Dead Snow (2009)
•Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead (2014)
If those five movies don't have you howling with laughter while also actually tense with a bit of dread, you are a lost cause.

Milla Jovovich, Oded Fehr, Iain Glen, James Purefoy, & a host of A-List appearances across the franchise keep it fresh & spice up what would normally be just zombie comic book fare in the "Resident Evil" movie series.

For good measure throw in a small Michael Mann film HE would rather forget but I found to be one of my favorite movies of all time, in ANY genre.
•The Keep (1983)
The Keep is very hard to find but www2.putlocker.digital does have it in 360 & 480p (check the gear wheel for settings).

I also did not "See" (see wot I dun dere?) anyone mention "Black Sails" (8+3x10 eps.)
John Malkovich's 1-off 9 ep. season, "Crossbones", is a nice companion piece to "Black Sails".
Zack McGowan does for 18th century piracy what Anson Mount does for the 19th century transcontinental railroad era ("Hell on Wheels").

Rob Roy is a better Scottish movie than Braveheart, even though the latter stole all the awards.

A particular favorite of mine was the 5-year run of "Person of Interest" starring Jim Caviezel ("Outlander" [2008]) & Michael Emerson ("Lost").
Something about it reminded me a bit of "The Pretender" series which ran 4 seasons in the late '90s - stoic ledes by Weiss & Caviezel I suppose.

"The Man in the High Castle" (4x10 eps.) is a brain stretcher alt-history/multiverse series based on a P.K. Dick novelette that might not really fit you, but it's worth a look-see (see wot I dun dere -AGAIN?)

There's been a ga-jillion Star Wars TV spinoffs but "The Mandalorian" (4x8 eps.) is by far the best of them.
The Book of Boba Fett (7 eps.) is a companion piece prelude but not strictly necessary.

As for a few movies I specialize in uncovering but which few people ever "see" (did it again LOL) - I guarantee they are worth the watch;
•"Quigley Down Under" (Tom Selleck)
•"The Grey Zone" (concentration camp)
•"Rabbit-Proof Fence" (trackers chase abo escapees from a Native resettlement camp across OZ for 1,600 km - true story)

Two unusual detective flicks with Jean Reno ("The Professional" aka: "Léon:The Professional") in the lede.
•"The Crimson Rivers" (FR-2000)
•"Crimson Rivers II: Angels of the Apocalypse" (FR-2004)
There is a 4x8=32 eps. spinoff TV series, "The Crimson Rivers" (2018-2022), but Reno plays no part in it.

My wife had a few favorites as well, though she was inclined to romantic movies & B&W films AND had what we laughingly referred to as "Video Voodoo", whereby every unknown VHS movie she picked out at the rental store was HORRIBLE! (mostly).
She did know good acting, good scripts, & good directors, better than anyone else I've ever met though.

She watched good movies over & over, which for me would be cruel & unusual punishment.
•"The Good Earth" (1937-Paul Muni)
•"The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946-returning WWII vets)
•"The Helen Morgan Story" (1957-Paul Newman)
•"Spender in the Grass" (1961-though she detested Warren Batty, she loved this movie & "Bonnie and Clyde" [1967])

She was a bootlegging gangsters aficionado & also cultivated more mental ephemera about that era than anyone else I ever met and which helped me immensely in my research into Organized Crime's reach into the NFL (fully half the Owners are mafia/criminal underworld-adjacent if not outright involved, like the SF DeBartelo family, the NYG Maras & PIT Rooneys) - but I digress.


Finally, I remember you saying something about not reading books.
Is there anyone who doesn't like "The Age of Sail" genre?
For those who do AND hold Sci-Fi to no longer be "low-brow" entertainment, I present to you a pair of authors who combine the both of them with great storytelling;
•David Drake: the Republic of Cinnabar Navy (RCN) series which is currently 13 volumes and won't be more as Drake passed in 2023.
•David Weber: the Honor Harrington universe with 16 main-line books & 28 (& counting) splinter volumes about service in the Royal Manticoran Navy or being allies/enemies with Manticore.

I swear to you, both series will have you itching for more once you let yourself immerse in those worlds & start running a sync-ed movie of the adventures in your mind.
I have already seen the movies, at least how I would direct, cut, & edit them, were I to be tasked with turning them into films.
Oddly enough, I really admired what I thought I knew about Weber from his prodigious 100+ books output, but after watching the horseshight he spouts on his FaceBook account these past couple of years, I find myself in the awkward position of still loving the crimes while simultaneously very much not-loving the criminal.

Sorry if that was a long read but I tried to edit in sufficient breaks to get you through it without ending up with "Lazy Eye" & "Cross-Eyed" afflictions.

A long read indeed, hihi.
I did watch "See", cannot remember if it was mentioned or not, nor if why not.

Some of the things you mentioned I tried but gave up on. One of which is "Person of Interest". I got fed up with it, and even Jim Caviezel's good looks and sexy voice couldn't keep me captivated, hihi.
I do love this movie he did in 2008, "Outlander". Absolutely wonderful!

I don't read much because I have a neck injury and causes me trouble in that sense.
A real pain in the neck -literally- as I used to LOVE reading!! I'm a real bookworm, have been ever since I learnt to read way back when.
Unfortunately not so easy anymore due to my neck. But the amount of books I've read in my life, unbelievable!
I still read, but have to limit it, so it's only books I really want in physical form, not as E-book.

I don't watch really old movies. I sometimes re-watch some great movies from the 90s, but nothing older than that. E.g. Men in Black, The Fugitive, US Marshals. Great movies!

Horror or WW1-2 stuff really isn't my thing. The first lowers my vibration/energy too much, the 2nd I simply don't like.
One war series I DO love is Tour of Duty. Got that on my HD. Absolutely brilliant series! (Vietnam war).

There are a few things you mentioned that I'll look up :)
Cheers for your input!

Dracula Untold was good.. although not a horror fan usually myself.. but I do like this genre.. including Interview with a Vampire.. the original only.. not the TV series.. <-TV series


Line of Duty, Tom Burke's "C.B. Strike", Dalgliesh, Ellis, Karen Pirie, Marble Hall Murders, Mistletoe Murders, Professor T, the Marlow Murder Club, the Good Ship Murder, the Madame Blanc Mysteries & D.I. Ray are all good shows.. IMO

My life is Murder and The Brokenwood Mysteries are aussie but very good shows as well..

I feel the British shows/films are better because (as previously stated) they're written in such a way that doesn't divulge much until the end-ish (unlike those from the USA)

I enjoyed Babylon 5, so-so Battlestar Galactica.. and I have all the Resident Evil movies (go figure lol)

Oh yeah.. good call on Black Sails and Crossbones.. liked those quite a bit..

watched all the Person of Interest, have all the OUtlander series even the newest one.. Michael Emerson also played in "evil" which was interesting..

The Man in the High Castle lost me after awhile.. even though I did watch it all.. wasn't a keeper for me.. The Mandalorian, Obe-wan-kanobi and Boba Fett were good.. (I'm a bit of a Star Wars/Star Trek fan)

The Professional" aka: "Léon:The Professional was good..

anywho.. figured I'd add MY 2¢ worth on yours