Be Excellent To Each Other

Season 2 of Gomorra is brilliant. Also Trapped on Amazon seems pretty decent so far too.

Deutschland 83 was excellent. Well worth the time to watch.
Hopefully they'll make a sequel.

Surprised we've not done this yet!

I need to watch 'Deutschland '83'. Loved the first one but yet to get round to watch the rest.

I can heartily recommend '1864'. Some of the battle scenes are mind-blowing.

I watched the 2 "Monkey Magic" films that have been released over the last few years from China

Used to love the show that was on BBC2 when I was a kid so it was a trip down memory lane more that anything.

Not usually a fan of subtitles but found it was fine with these films

Nothing terribly new here, but this is the forrin muck I've been goggling at lately/in the not too distant past.

The Bridge - easily one of the best thrillers around, and neat Danish/Swedish concept.

Spiral - very good, solid police & court procedural. Benefits from a spectacularly endowed red-head barrister, but draws a blank on the Craster scale.

Thicker than Water - started watching but couldn't be bothered to finish. Admittedly pretty drama set in a family-run guesthouse in Sweden. Nobby siblings are brought back together following the suicide of their mother, whose will bequeathes the guesthouse to them - provided they all work at the house over the summer. Japes! Lots of stupid, unbelievable plot devices cranking away to try and make it interesting. But it's just stupid, boring and all the characters are nobs. And you're better off watching Bloodlines, which covers similar dysfunctional-family-guesthouse ground and features zero sub-titles, the excellent Ben Mendelson, Fright Night Lights' Coach and her off Freaks and Geeks.

A really excellent series, and really interesting to see a German-made program that addresses the issues of when Germany was divided into two (enemy) countries.

Couple of alright forrin TV series we watched or are watching lately. "The Break" which is a Belgian show about a glum Belgian plod who is losing the plot and solving a murder. Glitch is an Aussie thing about a bunch of dead people who dig their way out of their graves. Seems ok so far although still reserving judgement. There's also Braquo season 3 to watch but it's been so long since we saw the second one that it might be a bit hard to pick up all the threads.

I have just started watching Samurai Gourmet on Netflix. It's about a newly retired company man, who finding himself with free time spends the day wandering about looking for places to eat. If I was asked to describe it, it would be a "Magical Realist version of The Trip".

For instance in the first episode he goes to a restaurant for lunch and orders a pork dish, wondering what he should do next he decides he would really like a beer but cannot order it as he is concerned the other diners will consider him some kind of degenerate. At which point his 'Wandering Samurai' spirit guide (for want of a better term) shows up in the cafe, orders food and a beer...makes the proclamation that beer tastes better in the afternoon and hi-jinx ensue.

It is very Japanese and rather charming, each episode is less than 20 minutes long so it doesn't outstay its welcome.

Money Heist is pretty great but fuck me, from the title onwards the translation really badly needed some proof reading.

Is it actually a reality TV show starring the cast of the PG Tips ads living together in a tower block?

The original title is "La Casa de Papel", it's a gritty Spanish remake/reboot of Last Of The Summer Wine.

The misadventures of El Compo and Noreaga Batty.

Deutschland 86 is now available on Amazon.de or the internetz if you don't happen to be German.

Beforeigners is superb.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8332130/

People from three different time periods start appearing in the water all over the planet.

What service / channel is it on?

It doesn’t appear to have a UK home yet.

It’s got HBO written all over its IMDb page

Is there a UK HBO service?

Doesn't Sky Atlantic via Now TV cover most of the HBO stuff?

I doubt this will stop Grim...

It didn’t stop me.

My sis-in-law bought me the book for my birthday, a few years ago.

I have no idea why and I didn't read it. My usual wish list was for the latest Terry Pratchett or some scifi, so I don't know what she was thinking.

If you are interested, I can provide a link.

Started watching Squid Game (Netflix) last night, and saw the first three (I think) episodes. It’s quite gory with lots of expressive Korean acting performances, and very compelling. Fans of Battle Royale or The Cube would very likely enjoy it.

Is that the weird “set in a game show” one?

Is that the weird “set in a game show” one?

It is indeed. Well kind of.

There’s a narrative outside of the game (not sure it’s a game SHOW as such as we haven’t seen anything of it being broadcast, yet) but it’s about a group of people who find themselves in this situation where they have to compete to win six games for money to pay off debts.

We did the whole lot on Sunday. Really enjoyed it, but it is VERY Korean!

I watched the first 10-15 minutes (to when he is in line to place his second bet on the last race) and just really couldn't handle his over-reacting. So stopped watching.

I would say give it more of a chance now you know what to expect. He is much more understated as the episodes go on.

I think the facial melodrama is a feature of the acting style. Though Russell is right and the character becomes less manic in future episodes, other characters do not and more that make up for the wildly expressive face movements. If you can look beyond this as an international industry difference, though (in the same way we accept Bollywood tropes) and just allow the story to take you along, it’s great. If you think that it is a complete barrier to your enjoyment, however, then don’t bother persisting with watching it as I’d say there are other actors in it that make the lead character’s style look subtle.

I love how they just don't care when it comes to casting choices.

We need a street tough! Whack a fake tattoo on that 5’1” 80lb dude in the corner and get him to grimace, would you.

The marbles episode is one of the hardest things I have ever watched. I had to abandon it last night and I’m trying to get through it now but it’s a lot.

Is it all Japan's fault?

Could probably still beat me up tho.

I watched all of Squid Game... Didn't like it.

So there.

Well I watched it and liked it so this must mean that you're a bad person or there's something wrong with you.

I didn't watch it at all and have no opinion therefore you're both wrong.

Finished it last night. Bloody great that.

It was great.

We finished it a few nights after we struggled through the marbles episode. It was great TV, though very difficult at times. Im glad that the final episode .

It’s certainly set up for a second series, too.

Not quite completed watching through it yet and have not watched the dreaded marbles episode yet, but I have to be getting close now.

I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far!

Honestly, the marbles episode isn’t shocking and it may not affect you at all, I just couldn’t stand to watch it and it made my heart feel very heavy. It took us a few sittings for me to make my way through it.

Just watched the marbles episode, I can understand why it was difficult for some to watch!

I thought it was okay. The people that are losing their minds over it (not anyone here) need to check out this cool new thing called "anime" for more of the same.

Losing their minds as in thinking it’s awful/too much or losing their minds as in they think it’s amazing?

The latter. If it was the former they probably shouldn't go looking for more stuff like it.

Oh, I'd also like to add it was very well drawn then too.

I wasn’t sure if you meant in a ‘well, if they thought that was bad then they should should see some of this stuff!’ kind of way.

Not anime, but it reminded me of what I remember of Battle Royale. I guess you found say Hunger Games too, but the psychology seemed closer to the ideas in Battle Royale.

We finished it off last night and I thought it was alright, not too bad but not as great as everyone's (not here ofc) harping on about!