What are you binge watching? | Page 62 | The Boneyard

What are you binge watching?

I've been waiting for Bad Monkey (Apple) all summer. I've been reading Carl Hiassen's novels since 1986 and own all of 'em. I've always thought his comedic crime novels would result in great movies like Elmore's have, but that hasn't been the case so far. Striptease failed because of bad casting (or bad acting or a combo) and there hasn't really been another attempt even though there are a dozen books to choose from.

After two episodes, I'm very hopeful this is the time for Hiaasen to finally get his due. The dialogue is crisp, the characters ring true to the book, Hiaasen's South Florida setting is a character in its own right, and the pacing is good - the material is better suited to a miniseries than a 2 hour movies as there are many characters and many story arcs. Vince Vaughn and John Ortiz are great together, Michelle Monaghan is in a fun role, and so far the rest of characters aren't playing too broadly or are in on the joke (a problem with Striptease). For HIaasen fans like myself, this one is hitting all the right notes so far. Wish I didn't have to wait till next Wed for the 3rd installment.
 
Rewatching Silicon Valley on Max. Truly a funny show.
 
Currently bingeing The Looming Tower on HULU. It stars Jeff Daniels (The Newsroom) & is about the competition between the FBI & the CIA to capture Osama bin Laden starting in 1998 and the failure of these two agencies to transparently share information. It insinuates that if they HAD shared intelligence the 9-11 disaster may have been avoided.
The Looming Tower
2018 HULU 1 season 10 episodes
I just finished this. It was pretty good. It received 8.0 on IMDB but I didn't think it was exceptional. If the events between the CIA and FBI are factual it is very disturbing. The cast was excellent. I'm now looking for my next fix.

Jeff Daniels plays John O'Neill, an FBI counter-terrorism expert who left the FBI to work as head of security at the World Trade Center.
 
The Looming Tower
2018 HULU 1 season 10 episodes
I just finished this. It was pretty good. It received 8.0 on IMDB but I didn't think it was exceptional. If the events between the CIA and FBI are factual it is very disturbing. The cast was excellent. I'm now looking for my next fix.

Jeff Daniels plays John O'Neill, an FBI counter-terrorism expert who left the FBI to work as head of security at the World Trade Center.

I read the book. Interesting how they made it into a show.

If everyone read this book people would stop saying lots of nonsense about 9/11, Al Q and OBL.
 
I've been waiting for Bad Monkey (Apple) all summer. I've been reading Carl Hiassen's novels since 1986 and own all of 'em. I've always thought his comedic crime novels would result in great movies like Elmore's have, but that hasn't been the case so far. Striptease failed because of bad casting (or bad acting or a combo) and there hasn't really been another attempt even though there are a dozen books to choose from.

After two episodes, I'm very hopeful this is the time for Hiaasen to finally get his due. The dialogue is crisp, the characters ring true to the book, Hiaasen's South Florida setting is a character in its own right, and the pacing is good - the material is better suited to a miniseries than a 2 hour movies as there are many characters and many story arcs. Vince Vaughn and John Ortiz are great together, Michelle Monaghan is in a fun role, and so far the rest of characters aren't playing too broadly or are in on the joke (a problem with Striptease). For HIaasen fans like myself, this one is hitting all the right notes so far. Wish I didn't have to wait till next Wed for the 3rd installment.

I watched the first two episodes. I think Vince Vaughn is great and carries the show. But it just seems like this isn’t new territory. Like there are lots of shows about rogues and man children.

The Fishing Guide/Captain badly needs to be Sam Elliott. Badly. As the narrator his voice is not good. It’s like oh whoop de doo, gee I guess it’s all part of the same story, it’s all connected. What a shocker.
 
I watched the first two episodes. I think Vince Vaughn is great and carries the show. But it just seems like this isn’t new territory. Like there are lots of shows about rogues and man children.

The Fishing Guide/Captain badly needs to be Sam Elliott. Badly. As the narrator his voice is not good. It’s like oh whoop de doo, gee I guess it’s all part of the same story, it’s all connected. What a shocker.
Pretty much no show breaks new ground these days, especially crime shows. What Hiaasen is known for is the absurdity of what happens in Florida between vanity, greed and stupidity. All his novels are set in Florida, he was a columnist for the Miami Herald for years and a lot of his plots and characters are based on really stupid crimes and political plots that he reported on. And that small matter is really what makes the difference for me between his books and others.

Granted, you can probably classify me as a fan boy, but I love Hiaasen's humor and sense of the absurd. And in pretty much all his novels, the "hero" is someone who's trying to protect the "old" Florida. So far, through two episodes, it's all there, so I'm delighted with it and hope it leads to more of his books being optioned for screen.
 
.-.
Pretty much no show breaks new ground these days, especially crime shows. What Hiaasen is known for is the absurdity of what happens in Florida between vanity, greed and stupidity. All his novels are set in Florida, he was a columnist for the Miami Herald for years and a lot of his plots and characters are based on really stupid crimes and political plots that he reported on. And that small matter is really what makes the difference for me between his books and others.

Granted, you can probably classify me as a fan boy, but I love Hiaasen's humor and sense of the absurd. And in pretty much all his novels, the "hero" is someone who's trying to protect the "old" Florida. So far, through two episodes, it's all there, so I'm delighted with it and hope it leads to more of his books being optioned for screen.
Bad Monkey
Is this a one season deal? I need to binge watch, I'm not sure I have the patience to wait for the next episode anymore. I could probably do a one season show although I don't think I can get it on my tv anyway. Vince Vaughn is always entertaining in his kind of way. Especially when it comes to playing couples games.

vince vaughn motorboat GIF
 
Bad Monkey
Is this a one season deal? I need to binge watch, I'm not sure I have the patience to wait for the next episode anymore. I could probably do a one season show although I don't think I can get it on my tv anyway. Vince Vaughn is always entertaining in his kind of way. Especially when it comes to playing couples games.

vince vaughn motorboat GIF
Yes, it'll be one season, 10 episodes.
 
Pretty much no show breaks new ground these days, especially crime shows. What Hiaasen is known for is the absurdity of what happens in Florida between vanity, greed and stupidity. All his novels are set in Florida, he was a columnist for the Miami Herald for years and a lot of his plots and characters are based on really stupid crimes and political plots that he reported on. And that small matter is really what makes the difference for me between his books and others.

Granted, you can probably classify me as a fan boy, but I love Hiaasen's humor and sense of the absurd. And in pretty much all his novels, the "hero" is someone who's trying to protect the "old" Florida. So far, through two episodes, it's all there, so I'm delighted with it and hope it leads to more of his books being optioned for screen.

Yeah. I gathered that. The Key Deer snd turtle references abound.
 
FOYLE'S WAR available on Acorn TV through Amazon Prime. Episode One Season One is available free, just to get you hooked. First week on Acorn is free, $7.99 a month there after. 9 Seasons, four episodes per season, one and a half hours per each stand alone episode. Let me share another user's review, which is stated much better than I could:

Much more than a detective drama...
Foyle's War follows the life of a detective and his team based in Hastings in the south of England during the Second World War.

Although he is obviously called on to investigate crimes, the program deals with so much more - there is a real feel for what it must have been like to be in Britain when it stood alone against Hitler, when the outcome was not just uncertain, but may well have meant invasion and persecution. The period is therefore much more than a "backdrop". For instance, Foyle's son is in the RAF, and his sergeant was seriously wounded in Norway.

The scripts are intelligent, the plots engrossing and, with casts drawn from the cream of British actors, the performances are impeccable.
 
.-.
Foyle's War might be my favorite mystery show of all time.
FOYLE'S WAR available on Acorn TV through Amazon Prime. Episode One Season One is available free, just to get you hooked. First week on Acorn is free, $7.99 a month there after. 9 Seasons, four episodes per season, one and a half hours per each stand alone episode. Let me share another user's review, which is stated much better than I could:

Much more than a detective drama...
Foyle's War follows the life of a detective and his team based in Hastings in the south of England during the Second World War.

Although he is obviously called on to investigate crimes, the program deals with so much more - there is a real feel for what it must have been like to be in Britain when it stood alone against Hitler, when the outcome was not just uncertain, but may well have meant invasion and persecution. The period is therefore much more than a "backdrop". For instance, Foyle's son is in the RAF, and his sergeant was seriously wounded in Norway.

The scripts are intelligent, the plots engrossing and, with casts drawn from the cream of British actors, the performances are impeccable.
It's amazing. One of the best shows of any kind.
 
I'm excited for Slow Horses season 4, coming soon. This is such a good show, Gary Oldman is just brilliant.
 
A number of shows now on Netflix I wanted to try out. Watched 1 episode of "Monsieur Spade." Starring Clive Owen as Sam Spade in his later years, retired in France. It was glacially paced, I'm not sure if I'll try more or not.

Just got done with a couple episodes of "Into the Badlands." Interesting enough, I'll definitely check out more of that.

Haven't tried the other one yet, but it sounds intriguing. "UnReal" is a fictional drama that is a scathing critique of reality shows from what I gather, or maybe even an expose of how manipulative the producers of those shows are.
 
It's amazing. One of the best shows of any kind.
To elaborate for those who don't know the show, Michael Kitchen is Detective Chief Inspector Foyle, posted to Hastings on the south coast of England during WWII. While the country is focused on the war, crimes still occur, some taking advantage of the chaos. Often these are complex mysteries, but over time there's also a pattern of sorts creating a larger picture leading back to London. Some are directly connected to the war.

Foyle is quiet, calm, entirely honest and incorruptible. He's smarter than pretty much everyone he encounters, but they don't realize it. So he's underestimated by criminals that see him as a cop stuck in a backwater part of the country. Yet the southern coast of England is rather important at this time.
 
.-.
A number of shows now on Netflix I wanted to try out. Watched 1 episode of "Monsieur Spade." Starring Clive Owen as Sam Spade in his later years, retired in France. It was glacially paced, I'm not sure if I'll try more or not.

Just got done with a couple episodes of "Into the Badlands." Interesting enough, I'll definitely check out more of that.

Haven't tried the other one yet, but it sounds intriguing. "UnReal" is a fictional drama that is a scathing critique of reality shows from what I gather, or maybe even an expose of how manipulative the producers of those shows are.
Give Monsieur Spade a chance. I’m through 2 episodes and loving it.

I’m an action junky, but this detective mystery, although a bit slow at times, is splendid.
 
Tried another show "Dark Winds." From AMC but now on Netflix, 2 seasons. Only watched 1 episode so far, but it pulled me right in. A lot happening, a bunch of threads that will probably come together eventually. A police procedural set during the 70s on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico.
 
Tried another show "Dark Winds." From AMC but now on Netflix, 2 seasons. Only watched 1 episode so far, but it pulled me right in. A lot happening, a bunch of threads that will probably come together eventually. A police procedural set during the 70s on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico.

'Dark Winds is very good.
 
Just finished Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War (Netflix). Really disappointing because of how inaccurate it is. The true story of this war is mostly pieced together through interpretation of various sensationalist local newspaper stories of the time and some interviews with participants that had a strong incentive to shade the truth. There are a lot of pieces of the true story that are unknown. But of all the articles I have read about that war, in none of them is Ike Clanton the puppet master like he is portrayed in this documentary. In real life, he was at best a senior foot soldier in the gang, with Curly Bill Brocious and Johnny Ringo definitely more leaders of the gang, much as they were portrayed in the movie "Tombstone". There were other leaders of the gang, but Ike Clanton was not among them. He is most famous because he fled, abandoning his brothers to be killed at the shootout at the OK Corral.

Johnny Ringo, who was likely the leader of the cowboy gang and a total psychopath in real life, is not even mentioned in this documentary. The documentary focuses so much on Wyatt Earp, and makes him this two dimensional killer, where most reports of him from the time describe him as charismatic, and the complex relationship between Earp and Doc Holliday is kind of glossed over. The documentary also inexplicably anglicizes Holliday's Hungarian girlfriend, who was also portrayed more accurately in Tombstone.

Despite what the documentary claims, the war continued after the threat of Federal intervention, and both the Earp/Holliday gang and the Ringo/Brocious gang had been deputized by various authorities. The war really ended with Brocious' and then Ringo's death. I had hoped the documentary would dig into Ringo's death, which is a mystery to this day. It was ruled a suicide at the time, but that was a politically convenient assessment given that the Earp side had won the war with Ringo's death, and was trying to escape without consequences from a body count that had gotten huge. The movie Tombstone posits that Holliday killed Ringo. It could have been Holliday, or Earp, or someone else from their gang, but I think there is no way Ringo killed himself. Prior to his death, his side was at worst even, and possibly even winning the war. I think it is unlikely that a soulless killer like Ringo just gave up in that situation. Yet the documentary kept elevating Clanton rather than discuss one of the most interesting aspects of the war.

I find that fictional portrayals in film and TV are often more accurate than Netflix docu-dramas, and this is another example of that. The movie Tombstone is both more entertaining and more historically accurate, and I recommend watching it again rather than this documentary.
 
Tried another show "Dark Winds." From AMC but now on Netflix, 2 seasons. Only watched 1 episode so far, but it pulled me right in. A lot happening, a bunch of threads that will probably come together eventually. A police procedural set during the 70s on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico.

'Dark Winds is very good.
 
I really enjoyed Horizon an American Saga Chapter 1. Currently streaming on Netflix with Chapter 2 due to launch in theaters soon. Not critically acclaimed, but I love westerns and Costner is great in his roles as director and actor.
IMHO.

 
.-.
I really enjoyed Horizon an American Saga Chapter 1. Currently streaming on Netflix with Chapter 2 due to launch in theaters soon. Not critically acclaimed, but I love westerns and Costner is great in his roles as director and actor.
IMHO.

Sorry…it’s streaming on Max, not Netflix.
 
Mad Dogs on Amazon Prime. Apparently it's a remake of a British show. Killer cast- Steve Zahn, Michael Imperioli, Romany Malco, Ben Chaplin, Billy Zane, Allison Tolman, Ted Levine.

Four old college buddies go to visit their friend in Belize and all hell breaks loose. Nothing great here but a pretty fun ride. Was slated for more seasons but it's just one season which seems to work okay because it's all pretty much wrapped up by the end of the first season.
 
Mad Dogs on Amazon Prime. Apparently it's a remake of a British show. Killer cast- Steve Zahn, Michael Imperioli, Romany Malco, Ben Chaplin, Billy Zane, Allison Tolman, Ted Levine.

Four old college buddies go to visit their friend in Belize and all hell breaks loose. Nothing great here but a pretty fun ride. Was slated for more seasons but it's just one season which seems to work okay because it's all pretty much wrapped up by the end of the first season.
Saw that…good watch.
 
Give Monsieur Spade a chance. I’m through 2 episodes and loving it.

I’m an action junky, but this detective mystery, although a bit slow at times, is splendid.
Watched the series. It sucks.

Sorry

Back to CR drama
 
Nine Perfect Strangers
Hulu, 2021, Season 1, 8 Episodes, Season 2?
Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy, Michael Shannon, Luke Evans. Asher Keddie, Samara Weaving, Melvin Gregg, Grace Van Patten, Tiffany Boone, Manny Jacinto, Regina Hall
This turned out to be a very intriguing series. Nicole Kidman looks amazing and the entire cast is very strong. I wouldn't say it was great but it did keep me interested throughout.
"Nine people gather at a remote health resort. Some are here to lose weight, some are here to get a reboot on life, some are here for reasons they can't even admit to themselves."
 
.-.

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