Your film or TV series recomendations (2021 TV binge)

I forgot about Walking Dead, I believe we are waiting on the last few of the most recent series but they didnt’ put it out because of Covid? We also liked Fear the Walking Dead also very good.

The Detectorists. Screen Shot 2020-08-31 at 13.58.13

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Upload, is the name of another tv series that my husband and I enjoyed.
Screen Shot 2020-08-31 at 14.03.35

Upload official trailer

It is a very gentle and thoroughly enjoyable comedy.

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Watch Breaking Bad first then follow that with spin off series Better Call Saul… both are absolutely brilliant.

We watched Hollywood recently during lockdown which was okay too, based on true events.

As mentioned by someone above, Ozark is also well worth watching, all of these series are on Netflix.

You’re right Jane. I just asked my wife and we’ve seen series 7. It looks like series 8 airs this September. I generally prefer to wait until the DVD release. It makes bingeing easier. We’re started a little binge on Mrs. America last night.

I’m not sure a Saudi film is my thing Jane. I despise the place and it’s regime. There is nothing, and I mean nothing light about Saudi. It’s a police state that chops people’s heads off. It’d be like a romcom in Pyongyang.

But do you despise all the people? Especially those who are trying to open up arts and culture and find ways to get issues debated? I wouldn’t visit the country and try to avoid doing things that support the regime, but I don’t turn my back on it and am happy to listen to what their people have to say.

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No, I don’t despise the people and I’d be happy to support any attempt to overthrow the despicable Regime. But anybody doing anything in the Country “to open up arts and culture and find ways to get issues debated” is either in prison or a stooge. I’m not going to support anything that portrays the Country in anything but a realistic light.

BTW, up until recently as a woman you couldn’t visit Saudi (unless you wanted to be an abused maid on slave wages), even now I wouldn’t recommend you bother. Why anybody would want to visit Riyadh is beyond me. It has all the charm of 1975 East Berlin, including it’s own Stasi. Jeddah is a very interesting city and more relaxed than Riyadh but that’s not saying much :roll_eyes: Under a more benign regime Jeddah would be wonderful destination.

I don’t particularly want to disagree with your views on Saudi, as the regime is disgraceful, but I do disagree about making sweeping statements about everything and everybody in a country? How long did you live there, and when?? And without seeing a film how can you say it is not realistic?

Where did I do that Jane? What I was trying to say is that no debate is tolerated in Saudi (indeed not even by Saudis living abroad now) so IMO anybody producing a film which the Government approves of, is a stooge. Maybe harsh, but that’s my view.

My assessment of the movie was based on watching the trailer and your evaluation of it being " charming. Light". There is nothing charming or light about Saudi Jane.

The reality I wrote about is beheadings after Friday prayers for unrepresented people condemned in bogus courts. It is hand amputations for theft, now performed by doctors no less. It is wrapping women in a shroud, burying them up to the waist in sand and then pelting the with stones as the shroud turns red with blood until the struggling woman finally expires. It is beating and raping foreign maids who through lack of money and confiscated passport cannot return to their own countries. It’s a man saying “I divorce you” three times and his wife spending the rest of her life begging. Oh and BTW, she has to buy a daily license to beg. One could go on but what’s the point?

I’ve known some very wealthy Saudis, even one of Juffalis and some of them were well educated, cultured and compassionate men. But when in Saudi they all toe toe the line.

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Season 3 now watched… Season 4 next

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And I added “although with more serious undercurrents, and engaging.”

I don’t think torture and chopping off people’s heads is an “undercurrent” Jane. It’s BAU.

It’s hard to describe or convey in short posts. Because everything about the regime is so alien to our values it’s difficult to grasp just how bad it is. It took me years of visiting the place. It’s not Belarus bad, it’s Nazi Germany bad. All this smoke screen of faux liberalisation only conceals an actual hardening of the police state.

I’ve upset myself enough thinking about the bloody place again, it makes me very angry. So, I think I’ll leave it there :slightly_smiling_face:

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So, if you’re after a bit of nostalgic Yorkshire entertainment, why not watch the new series of All Creatures starting at 22:00 (CET) on channel 5 (UK) Tuesday - can it be as good as the original?

Summary

Adaptation of James Herriot’s books about life as a vet in the Yorkshire Dales. Fresh out of veterinary college in 1937, James Herriot struggles to find work in his Depression-struck home town of Glasgow. Seeking new opportunities, he pursues a position in the remote village of Darrowby working for eccentric local vet Siegfried Farnon, who is less than impressed by his early efforts. However, a difficult calving gives James a chance to prove his worth. Starring Nicholas Ralph, Samuel West and Diana Rigg.

In Edit: after watching it - pas mal! Will watch the rest of the series :+1:

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It is unfortunate that your experiences of Saudi were “bad”.

Like everywhere else there are good and bad people.

I lived and worked in Saudi – Jeddah – for three years, only leaving the country for two fortnightly holidays. My then new wife joined me part way through those three years.

During that period I worked and socialised with people from all over the world including Saudis. Like most expats there, in public we followed their customs and culture and encountered hardly any problems. 99% of the Saudis that we engaged with were respectful and ‘normal’.
As Jeddah is a port, the gateway for the Haj, and whose inhabitants belong to a different tribe to the ruling family, the outlook there is more tolerant. I should also add that Jeddah offered us (my wife and I) unrivalled opportunities for water sports such as scuba diving, windsurfing and sailing.

Who has some more recommendations of FILM or TV shows! :slight_smile:

@james

Jeddah is a different world Nigel (as I mentioned in a previous post). I’ve had dinner with Sami Jufalli in his mansion and sat, sipping excellent whiskey overlooking the Red Sea. All very pleasant. But that’s only a veneer.

My wife, daughter and I lived in Dubai and we also respectfully followed local customs. My daughter’s best pal was the daughter of two Emirati doctors and she stayed with us on many occasions. My daughter is still in touch with her occasionally.

The first year or so of visiting Saudi (I was once a bit bored and decided to count the Saudi visas in my passports, I stopped at fifty) I really didn’t pay too much attention. Saudi was only part of my large territory and I was used to dodging bullets in Beirut and bombs in Islamabad. Riyadh and Jedda and the odd trip to Dammam seemed calm by comparison. I had two large IT contracts there worth about $150M which had my focus and kept my team in Riyadh busy.

Then I started to look around and to get more feedback from my team and to explore a bit more with, for example foreign staff working for our local sponsors. I learnt about Wahhabism and started to see through the veneer of Saudi respectability. That was when I started to develop my views on the Country and the Regime and, if anything, given Saudi behaviour, over the years since then my views have hardened.

You’re right James, it’s just a touchy subject for me :roll_eyes: I’ll really stop now.

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Mortimer and Whitehouse go fishing…that’s it. You don’t have to like fishing to enjoy it!

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Thanks @John_Scully