Chatterbox - still talking nonsense

Adults:  I just caught up with this comedy after getting loads of recommendations.  I thought it was going to be Friends-lite, and it sort of started off that way but then it becomes its own thing, and it’s great.  Sweet and funny, with a mix of the odd curly-toes cringy laugh, but also a lot that comes from character, interspersed with the occasional mic-drop funny.  I love the development of  characters especially in season 2, where they all have their moments, and there is subtle slow burn yearning going on too.  As each episode is just over 20 minutes I ended up binging it in just a few evenings.  I’m assuming they are aiming for a season 3 but it would be ok if it ended where it is I think ( TV series streaming on Disney+) Colin from Accounts:    People have been recommending this Australian romcom/drama to me for years, and I finally got around to watching it.  It’s an intelligent, sharp, and emotionally satisfying story named afte...

The summer is always weird for telly as there’s a lot more to do outside.  But I did watch a couple of things. Ride or Die: Another women led action adventure, with cast, production and writing all covered, and I’m here for it..  With the magnificent Hannah Waddingham as an assassin and Octavia Spencer as her best friend, this is a lot of fun as the duo run rings around the Albanian mob with the support of a couple of green flag men in secondary roles.  I love the middle aged female friendship being displayed here, but it’s also great that women can be proper baddies and not just in a girlie way.  Some of the plot and dialogue is a bit iffy, but this is funny and engaging, and generally a cut above the majority of action adventures so I definitely recommend. (TV series streaming on Prime) Silo: series 3 of this sci-fi dystopian book adaptation has been drip fed over the past few weeks.  Rebecca Ferguson is still fab, and it is still largely sticking to the boo...

I am spotting a bit of a theme in my January telly. Fellow Travellers:  this lush and steamy romance between two men over decades from the 50's to the 90s, is hidden away a bit at the moment on Paramount+ and I watched this on a free trial (which I then forgot to cancel of course!).  Whilst the romance creates the heart of the story, it is a vehicle for looking at civil rights abuses and battles over the years.  Hawk (Matt Bomer) is a war hero and a State department official, whilst Tim (Jonathan Bailey) is a congressional staffer working for Senator McCarthy.  The story spends a fair chunk of its time on the McCarthy years, focusing on the persecution of LGBTQ+ people alongside anyone with slightly leftish tendencies as 'fellow travelers' of communism. The accompanying racism and sexism and bigotry of the time in general is brought to life through the secondary characters - what must it have been like to be gay and Black, and maybe also a woman?  The kafkaesque...

Fantasy/Sci-Fi Agatha All Along:   A spin off from Wandavision, I was interested to see this for a couple of reasons; firstly, Wandavision was genuinely original and so I was keen to see what they did next.  Secondly, with Joe Locke and Kathryn Hahn leading I thought this had a lot of potential.  I wasn't at all disappointed.   I really enjoyed the opening episode with Agatha as a character in a police procedural, enjoying making a bit of fun of the various detective tropes whilst also taking it pretty seriously and still moving the narrative along.  This time I was looking out for the tricks though, and spotted the bleeding through of the 'real world' and discrepancies quicker than if I had come into it cold.   I understand that this is the first properly queer Marvel project and that was also presented as an integral part of the characters and their storylines, rather than something remarkable, so much so that I hadn't even noticed until I read ...

Another week without theatre because I got my live cultural fixes this week from London Pride then Wet Leg and Pulp all on the same day.  All lovely experiences although it reminded me how annoying other people can be*, despite the uplifting experience of a crowd cheering or singing in unison.  I can report Pride still keeps a tiny beating heart of protest in there despite the size of the crowds and corporate-ness.  Wet Leg were as entertaining as I hoped and Jarvis has definitely still got it.   What I have done though is watch some films and tv on streaming so here are my ramblings about those instead. God’s Own Country Brokeback Mountain with a Yorkshire accent.  I really enjoyed this redemption story from 2017 about a trapped young man (Josh O'Connor) keeping the family farm together in desperate circumstances and with a coping strategy involving alcohol and casual sex.  He is saved in more ways than one by a Romanian farm worker (Alec Secareanu) who co...