Recently watched
With (almost) everything closed again, I spent a lot of time in front of the screen and here are some things I've watched.
"The Normal Heart" - a movie with Matt Bomer, Mark Ruffalo, Jim Parsons and Julia Roberts (and apparently Johnatan Groff whom I know from "Hamilton", but didn't recognize without the king's outfit and singing). I think dieastra told me about it a long time ago, and after rewatching "Magic Mike XXL" I wanted to see more of Matt. I'm glad I could see a movie where he's got more to play than just a pretty boy; some scenes were very emotional. Also, I knew a lot of people suffered from AIDS in the eighties, but I thought first cases had been documented earlier than 1981. Those few years from 1981 to 1985 seem to last forever in the movie where every day counts for the sick and their partners, but from the historical point of view, the reaction and development seems... accurate. In the movie, there's that thought and accusation that everything would have gone faster if it were straight people who got ill, but I'm not sure one could prove it. But, I can totally imagine there would be conspiracy theories about the government releasing the virus to kill gay people. Some things don't change.
"The Crown" season 4 - which continues to be a very well done series with excellent cast. I realised I knew less about Diana than I thought and the same goes for Margaret Thatcher, the latter I hope to change. I'm sad it was the last season with Olivia Colman and Tobias Menzies, but I'm curious about how Imelda Staunton will play the queen.
And speaking of the queen, "The Queen's Gambit" is just beautiful. I love 1960's fashion and Beth's clothes are gorgeous. And there's Tobias Brodie-Sangster who's apparently thirty now, but still looks 16 so I see him as a teenager pretending to be an adult.
I've watched the entire "Rick and Morty" series. It has better and worse episodes but can surprise you and I like being surprised.
Unexpectedly, I'm watching season 2 of "Lucifer". I watched season 1 a long time ago, was disappointed that it was just a detective series with someone who calls himself the devil but the series doesn't have any interesting ideas how to explore the whole "devil on vacation on Earth" thing and gave up after the finale. Now when I knew what to expect and what not to expect, I came back and am currently near the end of season 2. I think when you accept the fact that you're not going to get anything deeper than more or less funny jokes about hell, devil, God etc., it can be decent entertainment. Still, it feels a bit like guilty pleasure to continue watching it.
I also watched a play called "Lem vs P. K. Dick". I went to see it in Cracow in October before the lockdown and two weeks ago, it was available to watch online. It's a pretty weird play about two talented writers, Stanisław Lem and Phillip K. Dick who were opposites of each other: Lem was a rational atheist and Dick was a drug user who believed in conspiracy theories. They wrote to each other but never met and the play was about what could happen if they did. It was good to see the play again and bring back memories.
"The Normal Heart" - a movie with Matt Bomer, Mark Ruffalo, Jim Parsons and Julia Roberts (and apparently Johnatan Groff whom I know from "Hamilton", but didn't recognize without the king's outfit and singing). I think dieastra told me about it a long time ago, and after rewatching "Magic Mike XXL" I wanted to see more of Matt. I'm glad I could see a movie where he's got more to play than just a pretty boy; some scenes were very emotional. Also, I knew a lot of people suffered from AIDS in the eighties, but I thought first cases had been documented earlier than 1981. Those few years from 1981 to 1985 seem to last forever in the movie where every day counts for the sick and their partners, but from the historical point of view, the reaction and development seems... accurate. In the movie, there's that thought and accusation that everything would have gone faster if it were straight people who got ill, but I'm not sure one could prove it. But, I can totally imagine there would be conspiracy theories about the government releasing the virus to kill gay people. Some things don't change.
"The Crown" season 4 - which continues to be a very well done series with excellent cast. I realised I knew less about Diana than I thought and the same goes for Margaret Thatcher, the latter I hope to change. I'm sad it was the last season with Olivia Colman and Tobias Menzies, but I'm curious about how Imelda Staunton will play the queen.
And speaking of the queen, "The Queen's Gambit" is just beautiful. I love 1960's fashion and Beth's clothes are gorgeous. And there's Tobias Brodie-Sangster who's apparently thirty now, but still looks 16 so I see him as a teenager pretending to be an adult.
I've watched the entire "Rick and Morty" series. It has better and worse episodes but can surprise you and I like being surprised.
Unexpectedly, I'm watching season 2 of "Lucifer". I watched season 1 a long time ago, was disappointed that it was just a detective series with someone who calls himself the devil but the series doesn't have any interesting ideas how to explore the whole "devil on vacation on Earth" thing and gave up after the finale. Now when I knew what to expect and what not to expect, I came back and am currently near the end of season 2. I think when you accept the fact that you're not going to get anything deeper than more or less funny jokes about hell, devil, God etc., it can be decent entertainment. Still, it feels a bit like guilty pleasure to continue watching it.
I also watched a play called "Lem vs P. K. Dick". I went to see it in Cracow in October before the lockdown and two weeks ago, it was available to watch online. It's a pretty weird play about two talented writers, Stanisław Lem and Phillip K. Dick who were opposites of each other: Lem was a rational atheist and Dick was a drug user who believed in conspiracy theories. They wrote to each other but never met and the play was about what could happen if they did. It was good to see the play again and bring back memories.