Category: TV

Queen’s Gambit ➙ book & TV series

On By Rick McIn books, TVLeave a comment

You don’t need to like nor know anything about Chess to enjoy this TV series.

It’s 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

On October 28, 2020, it was the most watched series of the day on Netflix.

The Queen’s Gambit is an American drama television miniseries based on Walter Tevis‘s 1983 novel of the same name.

I read the book, as well. Excellent.

Though written long ago, it still feels contemporary.

Themes of adoption, feminism, chess, drug addiction and alcoholism.

Bruce Pandolfini, a US chess master, consulted on the chess positions prior to the book’s publication.

… a fictional story that follows the life of an orphan chess prodigy named Beth Harmon from the age of eight to twenty-two during her quest to become the world’s greatest chess player while struggling with emotional issues, with drug and alcohol dependency. The story begins in the mid-1950s and proceeds into the 1960s.

The Queen’s Gambit is sheer entertainment. It is a book I reread every few years—for the pure pleasure and skill of it.
— Michael Ondaatje (cover of Vintage paperback edition, 2003)

All the acting is good in the TV show.

I probably enjoyed Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Benny Watts best.

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Inside Man – season 1

On By Rick McIn TVLeave a comment

I recommend this 4 episode drama — though it’s only 67% on Rotten Tomatoes.

VERY intense, at times.

I’d call it a black comedy. Very funny at other times.

A twisty thriller.

Inside Man is a thriller drama television serial developed by Steven Moffat.  (Sherlock, Doctor Who 2010–2017).

Stanley Tucci as Jefferson Grieff, a former criminology professor on death row in an Arizona prison. Always excellent on screen.

David Tennant as Harry Watling, a British vicar forced into a difficult situation

A prisoner on death row in the US and a woman trapped in a cellar under an English vicarage, cross paths in the most unexpected way. 

Atkins Estimond as Dillon Kempton, a serial killer on death row in Jefferson’s prison who acts as Grieff’s assistant, is excellent, too. Very memorable.

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The Dead Zone by Stephen King

On By Rick McIn books, movies, TVLeave a comment

The Dead Zone by Stephen King was published 1979.

He was already an excellent story teller.

The story follows Johnny Smith, who awakens from a coma of nearly five years and, apparently as a result of brain damage, now experiences clairvoyant and precognitive visions triggered by touch. …

The novel also follows a serial killer in Castle Rock, and the life of rising politician Greg Stillson, both of whom are evils Johnny must eventually face. …

… the first of his novels to rank among the ten best-selling novels of the year in the United States.

Christopher Walken played Johnny Smith in Cronenberg’s film adaptation.

In the book there is a new politician who acts like a clown. Says outlandish things. An evil guy.

King was already predicting Trump in 1979.

As we did in my High School in the 1970s, they debate whether they’d be willing to go back in a Time Machine to kill Hitler in the crib.

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Anthony Michael Hall played Johnny Smith in the TV adaptation. It had 6 seasons starting 2002.

The Diplomat – season 1

On By Rick McIn government, TV1 Comment

Rotten Tomatoes 83% — but I’d rate it higher.

For an American show, it’s surprisingly surprising. Non cliche. And the plot almost makes sense. 😀

Debora Cahn is an award-winning writer/producer known for The West Wing (1999) and Homeland (2020).

The Diplomat is an American political thriller television series …

The series centers on Kate Wyler, the new United States ambassador to the United Kingdom, as she helps to defuse an international crisis, forges strategic alliances and adjusts to her new place in the spotlight. She also manages her deteriorating marriage to fellow career diplomat Hal Wyler. …

Ato Essandoh as Stuart Hayford, deputy chief of mission of the US embassy in London, is very good. You really feel sorry for the poor guy.

Actually, the entire cast is excellent.

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I’d complain it drags some in the final episodes.

A cliff-hanger ending.

Hopefully season 2 will be a little faster paced.

Less emphasis on the romances.

The Simpsons LIVE Opening – People

On By Rick McIn humour, TVLeave a comment

From Season 17, Episode 15. “Homer Simpson, This is Your Wife”

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It’s very close.

Click PLAY or watch Original V.S. Real Life Comparison on YouTube.

Cunk on Earth – Eat THIS, David Attenborough 😀

On By Rick McIn Art and beauty, education, humour, TVLeave a comment

Very. Funny.

On Rotten Tomatoes, 100%.

Cunk on Earth is British mockumentary TV, brilliantly skewering everything and everybody historical. 

… stars Diane Morgan as Philomena Cunk, an ill-informed investigative reporter …

The series introduces subjects such as the development of agriculture and early civilization, the rise of Christianity and Islam, the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, the First and Second World Wars, the Cold War and the Space Race.

With an eye to the future, Cunk concludes the series with a speculative comment on the possibility of AI takeover. …

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Wednesday – season 1

On By Rick McIn TV1 Comment

Normally I would not be much interested in another reboot of the Addams Family (1964).

BUT got intrigued when I first saw the dance scene.

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It’s a tribute to the original Wednesday dance.

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This is a Tim Burton project. Therefore skillfully done.

Sounds like Burton is a long time Addams Family fan.

A coming-of-age supernatural comedy horror. There are parallels with Harry Potter and some of the superhero schools.

Students are  “outcasts“. The rest of the town’s citizens “normies“,

All good — but I’d say the casting is the highlight for me.

Of course, Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams, carries this show. I can’t see how anyone else could do it better.

The creative team met with her first via Zoom, concluding “nobody else on this planet” was better suited to the role.

Emma Myers as Enid Sinclair, Wednesday’s roommate
Joy Sunday as Bianca Barclay

The entire cast is good.

A good call ➙ Christina Ricci as Marilyn Thornhill / Laurel Gates. Ricci played played Wednesday Addams in the film The Addams Family and its sequel Addams Family Values (1993).

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Lupin – 17 episodes

On By Rick McIn books, TVLeave a comment

93% on Rotten Tomatoes. Everyone likes this show.

70 million households streamed it within the first 28 days of release.

Lupin is a French heist TV series. Very entertaining.

17 episodes over 3 parts available on Netflix as I post. MORE are planned.

Omar Sy in the role of Assane Diop is charming.  An over-the-top, funny French version of James Bond.

Diop emulates a  fictional gentleman thief and master of disguise named Arsène Lupin.

Author Maurice Leblanc featured Lupin in 17 novels and 39 novellas.

The story follows professional thief Assane Diop, the only son of an immigrant from Senegal who had come to France to seek a better life for himself and his child.

Assane’s father is framed for the theft of an expensive diamond necklace by his employer, the wealthy and powerful Hubert Pellegrini, and dies in his prison cell, leaving the fourteen-year-old Assane to fend for himself on the streets of Paris.

Twenty-five years later, inspired by a book about gentleman thief Arsène Lupin his father had given him on his birthday, Assane sets out to get revenge on the Pellegrini family …

The hilariously bad voice over and subtitles in English didn’t bother me (for a change). In fact, it almost adds to the silliness of some of the plot lines. 😀

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

related – Rolling Stone review – The Good Thief of ‘Lupin’

television’s most charming new antihero

Harry Wild – season 1

On By Rick McIn TVLeave a comment

A recently retired English professor discovers a real knack for investigation and cannot help but interfere with the cases assigned to her police detective son.

IMDb

Only 50% on Rotten Tomatoes. With critics.

77% audience rating.

An entertaining comedy, as far as I’m concerned.

Episode 7 is particularly good.

Jane Seymour was born 1951 (now age 72). She looks GREAT in this show released 2022.

She was a Bond girl in Live and Let Die (1973).

A Playboy model, 3rd time at age-67.

I really like her sidekick, Rohan Nedd. This young man is a star.

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The Night Agent – season 1

On By Rick McIn books, TV1 Comment

Surprisingly good. 

And much better than the book.

More believable dialogue than most predictable, explosion-filled, cliche Hollywood thriller TV.

78% on Rotten Tomatoes is about right. Worth watching.

Some interesting characters.

FBI Agent Peter Sutherland is thrown into a vast conspiracy about a mole at the highest levels of the United States government.

To save the nation, he plunges into a desperate hunt for the traitor, while protecting former tech CEO Rose Larkin from the people who murdered her aunt and uncle. …

Wikipedia

I like how Peter is a rule follower with a strict moral code — in the midst of all this corruption.

A second story line involves the Vice President’s daughter. 

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