After a long, long time of watching this, as our normal habit is to intersperse seasons of different television shows so we’re not just bingeing through one, we’re finally done with all six seasons of The Americans and I can now write about it. I noted the existence of the series since its debut and the rave reviews it quickly garnered but I decided a while back to only start watching it after it had finished aired. It turned out to be the right decision as this is a great series from the beginning to the end.
New author for me time, with Daniel Abraham being today best known as one half of the duo who write under the pen name James S. A. Corey and are responsible for The Expanse series. I’ve never read that either but I love the televisions series. This novel was his debut and was recommended by many, being the first book of a quartet. Unfortunately while the world he creates here is indeed intriguing, I ended up not really liking this novel and I doubt I’ll read the rest of the series.
This was Ben Affleck’s directorial debut back in the day and given his celebrity status, it was quite a high profile release. Starring his own younger brother Casey Affleck, it was quite well reviewed and uses the same Boston setting that he seems most familiar with. Unfortunately while it is not a bad film, I didn’t find it to be a good one either due to how it is completely driven by its overly complicated plot that is accompanied by neither good character development nor a coherent theme.
So this was very badly reviewed but it does look slick enough and every once in a while I like to add a standard action movie into our queue because we don’t usually watch enough of them. I have no familiarity with the original source material at all but from what I understand it is supposed to be a lot more philosophically challenging than what we get here. Instead what we get is a retread of tropes we’ve been familiar with since Robocop and it’s not even an effective action movie.
This probably marks the last of the old films by Hou Hsiao-hsien that we’re likely to watch as the rest are not as significant but it actually predates the rest and was the first in which he establishes the style that he would be known for. In a way it also acts as a compressed version of his later Coming of Age trilogy as it contains nearly all of the same basic ingredients. Critics liked this for its authenticity and groundbreaking rawness at the time but I think I like the later, more refined films much more.
I’m always open to new and interesting videogaming experiences and I’ve heard good things about this cyberpunk horror game by a Polish developer. They even managed to get Rutger Hauer to star as the protagonist and all but shouts out its Blade Runner influences. Unfortunately while its production values are indeed top notch, it is a very linear game and I’ve come to find that scary scenes have limited effect on me once I realize that whatever I see have no impact in terms of gameplay mechanics.
This is the first film by Joanna Hogg that we’ve watched and she is an up and coming British director whose name often pops up. But it’s also notable as the first significant performance by Honor Swinton Byrne who plays the lead here while her mother Tilda Swinton takes on a supporting role as the main character’s mother. Unfortunately I don’t like it much as it feels so indirect and seems to leave so much unsaid. Then after reading how it’s at least partially autobiographical on Hogg’s part, it’s easier to understand how painful it must have been to confront these issues head on.
