JUNE TV

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JUNE TV

1Carol420
Maio 31, 2020, 8:29 am



I Just Don't See What Humans See In This... Oh well...Tell us what you're watching in June.

2ScoLgo
Maio 31, 2020, 6:39 pm

We have been binge-watching Chuck. Relatively light spy-adventure dramedy. Good character arcs - even for the supporting cast. Fun show. Just finished season 4 last night & will dive into season 5 tonight. Not sure what's next since we have various tastes in our household and it's difficult to find a show that clicks for everyone.

3Carol420
Editado: Jun 1, 2020, 9:27 am

>2 ScoLgo: I also enjoyed this series. I don't watch much TV but I devour DVD's. The only bad thing about series is that sometimes they are cancelled with actually finishing...or you get so hooked on them that you find your are waiting for season 20 or so.

4JulieLill
Jun 1, 2020, 2:25 pm

>2 ScoLgo: I loved Chuck. One of those series I could over and over again along with The Office.

5JulieLill
Jun 1, 2020, 2:26 pm

We watched the Lance Armstrong documentary 30 for 30. It was on ESPN and it was a fascinating documentary on the man and the sport of cycling. It was 2 - 2hour segments but we ended watching it back to back. It covered him and the sport of bicycling. Towards the end of the second 2 hours it started to drag a bit but I highly recommend it.

6JulieLill
Jun 3, 2020, 11:13 am

Being home a lot - I have been lucky finding some great shows. We watched yesterday the 3 part series Grant on the History Channel. I guess I didn't know much about him but wow the series was amazing and so interesting!

7Carol420
Jun 3, 2020, 12:12 pm



Fracture (2007)
5/5

An attorney intending on climbing the career ladder toward success finds an unlikely opponent in a manipulative criminal he is trying to prosecute.

I had forgotten how much I liked this movie. The plot was 'I shot my wife. Prove it.' Ultimately, the film is smart and witty and keeps you intrigued the entire time as you try find a way to do what the tagline asks you to. Naturally, Anthony Hopkins can do no wrong and 'newbie' Ryan Gosling does really well. Together... these two are simply awesome.

8Carol420
Editado: Jun 6, 2020, 9:23 am



The Killer Inside Me - (2010) Based on the novel of the same title by Jim Thompson
2.5/5

A West Texas Deputy Sheriff is slowly unmasked as a psychotic killer.

I read somewhere that it took 20 years to make this film. I think they should have waited another 20 to release it. I really wanted to like Lou, the deputy but he was like oil and water in one body. The dialog was horrible also. Anyone that didn't know better would think everyone from Texas was an idiot or a "good old Boy". I haven't read the book and I'm not sure I can without visions of this movie interjecting themselves.

9Carol420
Editado: Jun 7, 2020, 6:58 am



F/X (1986)
3/5

A movie special effects man is hired to fake a real-life mob killing for a witness protection plan, but finds his own life in danger.

This was one that I had completely forgotten that I owned...and I didn't remember any of it. The interesting things about it were special effect creations that filled this mans life and what he could make them do. The story it's self was so-so. It's 1986 and the cell phone was a "new technology" that amazed everyone that came in contact with it and the computers had the old green screens. The biggest drawing card for this film was watching this man and his inventions work.

10Carol420
Editado: Jun 7, 2020, 7:04 am



F/X 2 (1991)
4/5

A special effects man helps his girlfriend's ex, a cop, with a sting operation, where the ex gets killed. Something's off and he investigates with help from an ex-cop PI friend.

Five years have past since the first one and cell phones are now not so amazing and the computer screens have lost the "seasick" appearance. The man's talents with his special effects are still incredible. The ratings for both films came from the presence of those effects...not from the story line. That remained very much like the first one 5 years ago...too bad they couldn't have come up with something even slightly different.

11JulieLill
Editado: Jun 14, 2020, 4:31 pm

Quiz
4/5 stars
I have been watching the 3 part British series about the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire scandal that happened in Britain. The last episode is on tonight. I am really enjoying it.

12JulieLill
Editado: Jun 17, 2020, 11:33 am

PBS presents a wonderful documentary on Mae West: Dirty Blonde. This woman was so interesting and who broke barriers for women in her own way.

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/mae-west-dirty-blonde-about/12370/

13JulieLill
Jun 17, 2020, 11:33 am

Since we are home so much I have been watching some really great programs. CNN is doing a six part series on the Windsors. So far four have aired and all of them are fascinating. So if you are into English royalty -check out this series.
https://www.cnn.com/shows/the-windsors-cnn-original-series

14Carol420
Editado: Jun 17, 2020, 1:32 pm

>13 JulieLill: This is on DVD. My mother and I watched it a couple of times. You're right. It is really good. Some on the newer Royals are out also that are good. I always felt so sorry for Queen Elizabeth's father. He was never meant to ever be King and he didn't want to be King. If you haven't seen it...watch the DVD "The King's Speech".

15JulieLill
Jun 18, 2020, 4:24 pm

>14 Carol420: We just re-watched The King's Speech- a wonderful movie!

16aussieh
Jun 23, 2020, 11:24 pm

Really enjoying Baptise on ABC TV a french thriller.

17featherbear
Jun 25, 2020, 3:40 pm

My cable service is offering free promotional access to one of its pay channels, Stingray Jazz. The shows I've been watching are primarily archival jazz performances. Although I recognize many names (mostly from my record collection), I often had only a vague idea of what the artists looked like, much less their performing style, so many of the shows have been a revelation to me late in life. To note some at random:

Ray Charles Live at North Sea Jazz (25 min.). Clips from a 1979 concert of RC and his (very brassy) orchestra at The Hague, Netherlands. Including: Let the Good Times Roll, How Long Has This Been Going On, Oh What a Beautiful Morning, Georgia On My Mind, Feel So Bad. Charles transforms the standards -- didn't realize he was doing the Rogers and Hammerstein song until he hit the chorus -- and in live performance he is particularly good at extensive vocal improvisation at the codas, i.e., the end of the numbers. His physical performance can be a little distracting -- he jerks his body to the left almost compulsively, almost as if he was possessed -- but I rather enjoyed his enthusiastic attempts to dance while sitting at the piano!

Art Blakey Live in 1965. (50 min.) Live performance in France. Aside the Blakey, the only artist I recognized and remembered (senior memory) was Freddy Hubbard on trumpet. I believe Reggie Workman was on bass and Jaki Byard on piano. (If I get a chance to watch it again, I'll update if necessary). A very nice hard bop concert; the time flew by.

Charles Mingus and Eric Dolphy live in Liege. (33 min.). The "live" is a little misleading; the playing seems to be taking place in a recording studio. Probably my favorite so far. I've never seen any of these artists perform. Jaki Byard, piano, Clifford Jordan, tenor saxophone, Dannie Richmond, drums. First time I think I've heard Mingus play extensively. The reed players were a study in contrast. Jordan played fairly standard hard bop, but then Eric Dolphy did the second solo and wow! Dolphy started on alto sax, then switched to bass clarinet, then flute. The flute playing was fairly conventional, but on sax and bass clarinet he was on another planet in comparison to Jordan; he seemed to be channeling demons. In my youth I played alto and bass clarinet and Dolphy's virtuosity was eye-popping. Odd thing about the direction/framing -- initially you only see Byard, Jordan and the rhythm section -- Dolphy was left out of the frame. I'd never seen Jordan before and I'm thinking this can't be Dolphy, whom I know from photographs and recordings. Only when Dolphy began to solo does he appear, almost isolated in the frame. In some ways Mingus's compositions seem to be balancing Jordan's style with Dolphy's -- the pieces start off somewhat conventionally, and then get quite experimental. My first experience with Dannie Richmond's drumming, which seemed a little showy to me.

Two more popular groups I enjoyed. Comblain-la-Tour Jazz Festival: Jimmy McGriff Trio. (1964) and The Crusaders: Estival Lugano 1987. Organ trios are a weakness of mine (trios are usually Hammond organ, drums, and guitar or sax), probably because I got into jazz via the blues, and the trios (others include Jimmy Smith & Jack McDuff) either do straight up blues or standards "bluesd up." The McGriff concert was very grainy but the sound was pretty good.I haven't been a big fan of the Crusaders, but the concert was fine, though I don't think the personnel (with the exception of Joe Sample) were the "originals."

Still haven't finished performances by Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, and Dexter Gordon. Especially liked it that the rhythm sections got to stretch out, especially the drums.

With the exception of the Ray Charles and the Crusaders concerts, the performances were black and white with highly variable quality. The cable company accesses the Stingray Jazz channel via internet, and there were frequent dropouts and skips in the streaming that were disappointing.

18JulieLill
Jun 25, 2020, 5:47 pm

Wonderful PBS series about Toni Morrison-
Toni Morrison -The Pieces I Am About
https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/toni-morrison-the-pieces-i-am-about/123...

19featherbear
Editado: Jun 29, 2020, 11:40 am

Last day of the Stingray Jazz promotion on my cable provider. In the last couple of days:

Charles Mingus: Live in Belgium '64. B&W, 120 min. Title is misleading re location. Compilation of 3 concerts. Includes the Liege live/studio performance reviewed above, plus a concert before an audience in Paris, and finally, one in Sweden, on stage without an audience. The France and Sweden performances adds trumpeter Johnny Coles to the Belgium quintet of Mingus (string bass), Eric Dolphy (alto sax, bass clarinet, flute), Dannie Richmond (drums), Jaki Byard (piano), and Clifford Jordan (tenor sax). I hadn't realized Dolphy only had about 3 months to live (treatable diabetes messed up by a European hospital if I recall). Treasurable recordings; extraordinary playing by Dolphy in all sets. Good contributions from Coles. I got a better sense of Mingus and Byard through the additional concerts, and Richmond, if somewhat flashy, was nevertheless entertaining and enthusiastic.

Jazz Greats: Miles Davis, Episode 3 B&W 60 min. Live performance in France, Oct. 11, 1964. Personnel: Miles Davis (trumpet), Herbie Hancock (piano), Tony Williams (Drums), Wayne Shorter (saxophones), Ron Carter (bass). Probably the best Davis group other than the one with John Coltrane, and just starting at this point. The beginning of a long and celebrated collaboration. Hancock is very young, looking like a high school nerd, though his playing is way ahead of his years. Hadn't realized Ron Carter was so big and tall. Shorter hasn't changed much physically. Quite a difference in style from Coltrane or Sonny Rollins for that matter -- Shorter even then seemed to favor relatively short phrases with space between the phrases. Coltrane and Rollins played long uninterrupted lines that seemed to erupt from their horns. Visual quality was not good; looked like security camera tapes. Sound was OK except for the drums, which seemed to be too much in the background. Excellent music even in this early period, as Davis' jazz is becoming much more abstract in contrast to the group with Coltrane & Paul Chambers, maybe culminating in the Plugged Nickel live recordings. Wonder who was the greater influence: Davis on Shorter or vice versa.

Fred Hersch Trio. Jazz à Ramatuelle. 2017? Color, 91 min. Hard to believe Hersch is now 63 years old. Last time I saw him he was in Jane Ira Bloom's group sometime in the '70's, when he was just a kid and I actually went to concerts. I don't know whether he is now based in Europe, but the close interaction with bassist John Hebert could hardly be pick-up rhythm backing. Hersch plays quiet, thoughtful piano. Not avant garde, but not mainstream either. Hard to pin down, but worthwhile listening. Reminded me a little of Keith Jarrett.

Carla Bley Sextet live at Estival Lugano. Color, 47 min. Restrained fusion-type jazz. Noteworthy personally was seeing Steve Swallow, heard in college in the '60's in Gary Burton's group. Interesting that Swallow effectively opens the set playing bass guitar but effectively the lead, with guitarist Wayne Krantz playing rhythm (Krantz gets in his chops in the later numbers; he's very fleet). Piano: Larry Ridley; organ: Carla Bley, Percussion: Victor Lewis & Don Alias, guitar: Wayne Krantz (?). I think of Bley as an avant garde composer, but this set was entirely pop-y -- the guitarist & piano player sound like session players from Steely Dan or practitioners of "smooth jazz." I found it quite entertaining as late '70's/early '80's pop music.

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