rose_griffes (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rose_griffes) wrote2020-11-23 10:19 pm
rose_griffes) wrote2020-11-23 10:19 pm
gadding about
I missed the release of a new Toby Daye book in September; I plowed through it in a few days last week and this week. A Killing Frost is the title--Seanan McGuire always uses some kind of 3-word Shakespeare reference for titles in this series, but I don't know which play or poem is the source. At any rate: McGuire continues course in an engaging book series. I don't think about these characters when I'm done with these books, but it's very immersive as I read.
Carnival Row finished stronger than it began, but it was still a bit of a mess. I enjoyed it; yes, it's a bit grim, but given that I didn't have a deep connection to the characters, it was tolerable. They got to a stopping point by the end of episode 8; it leaves plenty to explore in a second season without being an intolerable cliffhanger.
The show had not one, but two women written more in the mold of Lady MacBeth than as Jezebels. And both characters were played by excellent actresses, so it was fun to see.
Also on Amazon Prime: Hunters. I believe it wasfleurviolette who recommended the show. I've watched two episodes (of ten) and I'm very undecided. It's far more violent than my usual fare. As was Carnival Row, for that matter, but a story set in a thoroughly fictional world, with made-up countries and non-human characters, makes the violence feel less intimate. The visuals of CR played into that as well.
Hunters, on the other hand, is well-ground in the early 1970s, with some spectactularly well-done costumes and sets, a phenomenal musical score, and authentic songs from the era when appropriate. Even with all its flaws, it's a dazzling show. But I don't like the framing of the recurring villains, and as mentioned above, the amount of violence that accompanies them.
The concept is fairly direct, even though it unfolds slowly over the 90-minute opening episode: the good guys are hunting Nazis who have "made it" in America, their pasts hidden, and the bad guys are those Nazis, including glamourous Lena Olin as an unnamed Colonel and pretty-boy Greg Austin as a brutal young knight for the cause. The good guys get Al Pacino as a Holocaust survivor and capable Logan Lerman as the soon-to-be new recruit, plus a whole other posse of characters that get introduced comic-book style.
That's part of my problem with the show: it veers wildly from attempted absurdist humor in its own violence into flashbacks of concentration camps. It's as if the writers and director(s) aimed for irreverently cheeky, but they don't quite know how to hit that mark. Either that, or it's me as the audience: I don't really want irreverently cheeky violence, but most especially when the story is about something with as much weight on history as the Holocaust.
On the other hand: the leading characters are thoroughly compelling. Lerman is a revelation to me; I'm not sure if I'd seen him in anything else, but he's great in this role. The visuals are glorious. The soundtrack I mentioned is striking in its originality. I want to continue this--but at the same time...
Carnival Row finished stronger than it began, but it was still a bit of a mess. I enjoyed it; yes, it's a bit grim, but given that I didn't have a deep connection to the characters, it was tolerable. They got to a stopping point by the end of episode 8; it leaves plenty to explore in a second season without being an intolerable cliffhanger.
The show had not one, but two women written more in the mold of Lady MacBeth than as Jezebels. And both characters were played by excellent actresses, so it was fun to see.
Also on Amazon Prime: Hunters. I believe it was
fleurviolette who recommended the show. I've watched two episodes (of ten) and I'm very undecided. It's far more violent than my usual fare. As was Carnival Row, for that matter, but a story set in a thoroughly fictional world, with made-up countries and non-human characters, makes the violence feel less intimate. The visuals of CR played into that as well. Hunters, on the other hand, is well-ground in the early 1970s, with some spectactularly well-done costumes and sets, a phenomenal musical score, and authentic songs from the era when appropriate. Even with all its flaws, it's a dazzling show. But I don't like the framing of the recurring villains, and as mentioned above, the amount of violence that accompanies them.
The concept is fairly direct, even though it unfolds slowly over the 90-minute opening episode: the good guys are hunting Nazis who have "made it" in America, their pasts hidden, and the bad guys are those Nazis, including glamourous Lena Olin as an unnamed Colonel and pretty-boy Greg Austin as a brutal young knight for the cause. The good guys get Al Pacino as a Holocaust survivor and capable Logan Lerman as the soon-to-be new recruit, plus a whole other posse of characters that get introduced comic-book style.
That's part of my problem with the show: it veers wildly from attempted absurdist humor in its own violence into flashbacks of concentration camps. It's as if the writers and director(s) aimed for irreverently cheeky, but they don't quite know how to hit that mark. Either that, or it's me as the audience: I don't really want irreverently cheeky violence, but most especially when the story is about something with as much weight on history as the Holocaust.
On the other hand: the leading characters are thoroughly compelling. Lerman is a revelation to me; I'm not sure if I'd seen him in anything else, but he's great in this role. The visuals are glorious. The soundtrack I mentioned is striking in its originality. I want to continue this--but at the same time...
no subject
That sounds good! :D
I get what you mean about Hunters; I was sort of worrying about that from the trailer.
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Hunters would be much better if they'd gone for a more serious tone. There's already enough of an element of the seemingly absurd on the surface--Jewish Holocaust survivors who appear to be simple retirees and grandparents, but who hunt the Nazis who once tortured them. I would have LOVED a show that did a genuine focus on a group like that. (Not to denigrate Logan Lerman in his role; there could have been room for him as well.)
Still undecided if I want to watch more of Hunters. In lieu of deciding, I'm now watching The Queen's Gambit instead, which is going to break my heart.
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The Queen's Gambit was a joy!
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Yeah it’s a very thrilling and edgy show. The humor and violence is on par with The Boys, but it gets more interesting later on. That season finale was off the walls tho.
This is off topic but have you watched the Queen’s Gambit? That one, I highly recommend.
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I started The Queen's Gambit yesterday when I couldn't decide if I wanted to continue Hunters or not. QG is going to break my heart.
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Hi! Saw you on
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I haven't read ANY of the Henrys. Er, Henries? Not sure how one would make that plural, but you get the idea. My Shakespeare reading was focused on those top few plays and sonnets that are required reading in very common classes.