Watched three episodes of “Away” starring Hillary Swank but althoughit is amazing to watch, great filming and fx it is also a little OTT for me in the shmaltz dept. and a little contrived. I had hoped for more.
anyone seen Barry? https://www.hbo.com/barry
2 seasons, wonderfully dark and as a bonus stars Henry Winkler
other favourite is Arrested Development, very funny and really weird https://www.netflix.com/fr-en/title/70140358
Favourite TV has to be ‘My Name is Earl’ even if it’s old. Recommend digging it out but you need to start with the first episode.
For younger ones (but it also helps me learn French) ‘C’est Pas Sorcier’. I love it as much as our six year old son.
With reference to “Ratched”, After changing my brain to think David Lynch/“Twin Peaks” instead of “One flew…” I persisted and was glad I did! I loved the series of Twin Peaks!
Any new recommendations posters? 
We’re rewatching The Sopranos!
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Nous aussi! On series 2!! 
Also “Smiley’s People”, “The Spy who came in from the Cold” “The Italian Job” and “Lawrence of Arabia” - over 3 hrs long with an intermission! But all well worth watching again.
OH was given box set of the Sopranos and The Wire when he left his last job. They’re still in their plastic wrappers! Not had time yet, it’s only been 6 years 
. But we have got to series 7 of Spooks, although currently diverted by new series of Spiral (engrenages).
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We have also been watching Spooks from the very first episode - we are up to Series 8 Episode 4, so another couple of weeks to go.
Will be starting Engrenages again from scratch to culminate in the new series. Then the Shield
The Queen’s Gambit - one of the best TV series I’ve ever seen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDrieqwSdgI
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And only another few weeks to get through them!
I thought after episode 3 it got a bit repetitive.
A few people already mentioned it but Le Bureau is absolutely fantastic. I’d go so far as to say it’s up there with Breaking Bad as one of my favorite ever shows. Much like Breaking Bad, the characters have so much depth and evolve as the series progress, leading you to regularly question who you like and dislike. We’ve only got 3 episodes left of the final series though 
La Mante was enjoyable, so I recommend that too. Little bit gruesome but well written and decent acting. Not many episodes so not a huge investment in time needed for this.
Bit old now but my missus also liked The Tunnel. However I’ve only watched half the first series. Was a bit too joke-y for me. Think I prefer grittier stuff.
Oh and if I just want to watch mindless junk without having to think, I like watching Chasseurs d’Appart with Stephen Plaza.
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They usually complete all the episodes of a series before it is broadcast…
I have not had broadcast TV for 8 years now. Discs and boxed sets …
Movies:
La Balance. As gritty as French cop shows come. You can see how it might have become the template for ‘L’Engrenage’. Natalie Baye. Philippe Léotard, Richard Berry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy7X2aMN63s
Martin Guerre: Gerard Doopiedoo returns from the wars claiming to be the husband of Natalie Baye. Based on a real case of 16thC identity theft. A.A. for Best Costume design. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-l253ewkgQ
Confidences Tros Intimes: Another case of mistaken identity. Sandrine Bonnaire, instead of taking her appointment with a psychiatrist, mistakenly takes a seat in the office of Fabrice Luchini, a tax consultant. Dir: Patrice Leconte https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq77RqxLpEk
Subway “Set in Paris, the film stylishly portrays life underground for the denizens of the Metro. Christopher Lambert plays a thief who robs a house and hides out in the subway, only to discover a huge subculture existing under the Paris streets… Subway is an intriguing diversion and a chance to see the cutting-edge of contemporary French moviemaking. – Robert Lane” Dir. Luc Besson. Isabelle Adjani, Christopher Lambert. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdpLg2NHIco
Belle de Jour. Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel, Michel Piccoli, Genevieve Page, Pierre Clementi
Rated one of Luis Buñel’s masterpieces, I found I couldn’t get past about 20mins, after a gap of some 40 years since first seeing it not long after it was released in 1967. "Bored doctor’s wife Séverine Serizy (Deneuve) hears of a brothel operating near her home and, struck by a sudden desire, goes there to offer her services in the afternoons. While there she encounters a wide range of characters, only to eventually run into trouble with gangster Marcel (Pierre Clémenti) and her husband’s friend Husson (Piccoli) who has discovered her secret. ". I found the premise very dated.
Un long dimanche de fiançailles Audrey Tautou refuses to believe her fiancé was killed in WW1. An intriguing search results. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyU8eQiJfsk
Hors de Prix. Audrey Tautou. Gad Elmaleh. “A young gold digger mistakenly woos a mild-mannered bartender, thinking he’s a wealthy suitor”. An ice-cream of a movie. Perfect for a wet afternoon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVL0UmPb2sw
La Grande Bouffe. Marcello Mastroianni. Michel Piccoli. Philippe Noiret, Ugo Tognazzi, Andrea Ferreol. Dir: Marco Ferreri. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fzLb1_kxs8
You need a strong stomach for this one. Four very successful men - High Court judge, airline pilot, TV director, chef de cuisine - are so bored with their lives they decide to get together in Philippe Noiret’s house and eat themselves to death. “Vulgar vaudeville on an epic scale. A mordant, chilling, hilarious, dirty movie” [New York Times].
I first saw it at The Electric Cinema Club on Portobello Rd. At the end, leaving the cinema, the audience split into two groups: those who went straight into the chippy two doors down and those who crossed the road to avoid it.
Round Midnight. The Best Jazz Movie - No question. Dir: Bernard Tavernier. Dexter Gordon, the great tenor sax player, plays himself, AKA Dale Turner.
AA and BAFTA for Best Original Score - Herbie Hancock
AA Nomination Best Actor in a Leading Role - Dexter Gordon
" Real-life jazz legend Dexter Gordon brilliantly portrays the fictional tenor sax player Dale Turner, a musician slowly losing the battle with alcoholism, hanging on by a thread in the 1950’s New York jazz world. Dale gets an offer to play in Paris, where, like many other black American musicians at the time, he enjoys a respect for his humanity that is not based upon the color of his skin. A Parisian man who is obsessed with Turner’s music befriends him and attempts to save Turner from himself. Although for Dale the damage is already done, his poignant relationship with the man and his young daughter re-kindles his spirit and his music as the end draws near. *[Written by Siddy DeRosser]
The band behind Gordon! Jazz A-List! Herbie Hancock, Bobby Hutcherson, Ron Carter, Billy Higgins, John Mcloughlin, Tony Williams, Cedar Walton. Martin Scorsese makes an appearance.
Doopiedoo as Cyrano de Bergerac
The Story of Adele H. Francois Truffaut’s dramatisation of the true story of Adele Hugo, the daughter of French author-in-exile Victor Hugo, and her romantic obsession with a young French officer. It’s a cinematically beautiful and emotionally wrenching portrait of a headstrong but unstable young woman.
Box Sets
Montalbano and Young Montalbano. Sicily and food passed off as a cop show. Rome - tits and togas. The Tudors - tits and tights. Yes Minister/Prime Minister. House of Cards [original with Ian Richardson]. Musketeers. Swash that buckle. Peter Capaldi as Cardinal Richelieu is the essence of scheming evil with the murderous Mamie McCoy to do his dirty work whilst looking stunning in obligatory heaving-bosom costumes.
Golden Oldies. The Duchess of Duke Street and For Love of Lydia. The BBC knew how to make 'em, back in the day
now xmas is over and done thoughts turn to Easter…
Never seen the film but love the book (I’m one of those that is often disappointed in the film / series after reading the book!).
Loved the Outlander book series and the TV adaptation is pretty good too (although still no where near as good as the books!).
I liked The Lollipop Shoes even better! And Gentlemen and Players was wonderful.