What Are You Watching

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Those three are my go-to series! I always return to them!

I also enjoy returning to Midsomer Murders - my enjoyment varies with the changing of the sidekick sergeant - I enjoy the first idiot the most.

Yes, I rather preferred Troy, but...you get what you get. Something clearly happened with the Sgt. Scott one--the guy that was the whole "fish out of water" guy, who fit so badly with the area there; he didn't even get a goodbye episode, like Troy did.

I freely admit, I have struggled with it, since Neil Dudgeon took over, but, it's a bit like Murder in Paradise; you just keep watching, lol. It's not Dudgeon's fault--the primary producer also retired (the guy that always had the horses in the first few scenes) and some of the writers. The mysteries don't seem to be quite as mysterious now. But, hey! More new MM in just what, two weeks, on Acorn, I think it is? Huzzah, Christmas comes and with it, more Midsomer Murders.

Joan Hickson--oh, I've yet to see anyone come as close as she to embodying Miss Marple! And I just...even though I liked Jonny whatsits as Holmes, in Elementary--I thought he did a passable job--he ain't Jeremy Brett. While I cut my Holmesian teeth on Basil, I still love Brett the best.

Suchet? Hell, what's to say? Until those last few odd seasons and movies, where they started messing with the storylines and adding oddball crap, Suchet was the master at Poirot. (And inarguably, still is. I do have weak spots for Ustinov's silly movies!).

It's much how I felt about Edward Petherbridge, as LPW, compared to Ian Carmichael. I simply thought that Peterbridge sort of conveyed Peter a bit better, but honestly, right now, I'd love to rewatch either/both of those! (And the Bunter dude was awesome.)

Hitch

[DiapDealer]

Just wrapped up Derry Girls. I quite enjoyed it. The silliness is a ruse.

[Rumpelteazer]

I'm currently half way through season 10 with my MM rewatch. I need to get back to it, even if it's just one or two episodes a week. It's great for when I'm cross stitching.

I also need to catch up with the two latest seasons of Brokenwood and two seasons of Vera (though I think I'll start from the start with the latter).

My mother recently discovered Elementary, it's now being aired on two Dutch tv channels. I often catch bits and pieces of it. I agree with Hitch that Watson is less sympathetic now than during my first time watching it.

Tonight I'll finish 1899, then I might start either with The Peripheral or Devil's Hour.

[mlewis78]

Recently watched the Disney animated Christmas Carol (Jim Carrey, Colin Firth). I saw it at a theater when it came out in 2009. My favorite Scrooge is the 1951 version with Alastair Sim and I watch it every year.

Last night I watched the Howard Stern interview with Bruce Springsteen on HBO Max. Very good. Bruce sang/played quite a bit, using guitar or piano. I am not a fan of Howard Stern, but this was good.

Watched The Lake House (2006) on Netflix tonight and started Noel Diary on same.

[Hitch]

I don't know if this thread is typically used this way, but what the heck, I can get mod-slapped if not:

What--which version--is everybody's favorite A Christmas Carol?

Is it Scrooge, (the original, only 6-7 mins long, or the 2nd one in 2970, with Finney)?

Mr. Magoo? (An entirely acceptable answer! I loved the Mr. Magoo one for ages, as a kid!)

Patrick Stewart? Muppets? George C. Scott's version? Scrooge (1935)? I think Henry Winkler has one? (LOL, the more I think about that...)

Nope, it's not a poll, just a discussion-starter, if anybody else is remotely interested.

Just curious. I usually watch one-two, each year, occasionally more, (in addition to, yes, yes, yes, I confess it, a perma-recording of the classic claymation "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," complete with The Island of Misfit Toys!!), to sort of try to get in the spirit. Ever since I relocated to the high desert--no snow, no fall colors, Santa in shorts at the local mall--I have to admit that moving my spirit into Xmas just seems not to happen.

So, I was sitting here, you lucky folks and wondered which Scrooge, which ACC, appeals?

Hitch

[issybird]

^^My favorite Christmas Carol is the George C. Scott television movie cited. His Scrooge is a lot more nuanced than typical and David Warner’s performance as Bob Cratchit is a gem. Tiny Tim is unfortunate.

I also love Mr. Magoo which is amazingly close to the text except for switching the order of the ghosts. I can still sing all the songs. It’s vastly improved when you skip the fore-and-aft relating to the putative Broadway performance.

I loathe the Muppets and Mickey Mouse.

[poohbear_nc]

I love the Muppets and the Mickey Mouse version. Goofy as Jacob Marley falling down the stairs can still make me laugh out loud. And Rizzo's pratfalls (literally) are similarly hilarious.

My favorite 'serious' version is the 1951 version with Alastair Sim.

[issybird]

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by issybird

^^My favorite Christmas Carol is the George C. Scott television movie cited. His Scrooge is a lot more nuanced than typical and David Warner’s performance as Bob Cratchit is a gem. Tiny Tim is unfortunate.

Yes, I'm a sucker for the GCS version, too. And yes, Tiny Tim is unfortunate, but one rarely gets everything. Edward Woodard, though, was the Ghost of Christmas Present!

I also love Mr. Magoo which is amazingly close to the text except for switching the order of the ghosts. I can still sing all the songs. It’s vastly improved when you skip the fore-and-aft relating to the putative Broadway performance.

LOL, yes, the Magoo version--I can probably say the words. Ha!

I loathe the Muppets and Mickey Mouse.

I've tried loving Scrooged, (Murray) too. Perhaps I just hold Dickens and Scrooge a bit too tightly to "sacred cows," but then again, yup, love that Magoo! I must be somewhat flexible, somewhere...

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

I love the Muppets and the Mickey Mouse version. Goofy as Jacob Marley falling down the stairs can still make me laugh out loud. And Rizzo's pratfalls (literally) are similarly hilarious.

Oh, no, dueling Scrooges! Ye Gods, the humanity....

My favorite 'serious' version is the 1951 version with Alastair Sim.

OMG, how the hell did I forget to mention Alistair! Also a childhood fave, that I used to watch on...gosh, WPIX, in NYC, in the Saturday morning reruns, near Xmas? I'm not even sure that's still the name of the station--used to show on...channel 11, methinks.

I suspect with my sleep annoyances kicking in of late, I'll be watching all or most of these, lol. God bless TCM's sort-of-half-baked streaming that they still have on Roku....(I wish they'd made a better effort with their "real" streaming platform--you know, even as a dedicated TCM watcher, I didn't tknow that they had a streamer, until they didn't? Sheesh!)

Hitch

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Hitch

What--which version--is everybody's favorite A Christmas Carol?

I can vaguely remember we had the Mickey Mouse one on VHS, which I thought was okay. I've probably seen other version, but none of them made much of an impression on me, I'm afraid.

We've never been a family that's into Christmas movies.

[Rumpelteazer]

Hitch's post made me think about what I think of as Christmas movies and most of them aren't even proper Christmas movies. There's Mary Poppins, I think this movie is still aired around Christmas on Dutch TV, like The Sound of Music on January 1st.

Weidly, also Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I might have seen it when it was in the cinema (in the Netherlands it was released mid November 1988), but I'm not sure. But for whatever reason it's still a movie I like to watch around Christmas time.

Also, not a film but a TV series, ITV's 1984-1986 Robin Hood/Robin of Sherwood series. For years they aired that series during the Christmas holidays.

Of course there's Home Alone and Die Hard, but those were never my type of movies.

What are the non-Christmas Christmas movies you like?

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

Hitch's post made me think about ...snippage...

Of course there's Home Alone and Die Hard, but those were never my type of movies.

What are the non-Christmas Christmas movies you like?

DIE HARD! LOL, now, to me, that's Christmas. Die Hard and of course The Thin Man. Our Christmas morning isn't complete without Nick shooting the balloons off the tree in his penthouse--and missing.

"Come out to the coast, we'll get together, have a few laughs..." ha.

Hitch

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

What are the non-Christmas Christmas movies you like?

My two favorite non-Christmas Christmas movies are Bachelor Mother with Ginger Rogers (her first film after breaking up with Fred Astaire) and David Niven and Miracle of Morgan’s Creek by the incomparable Preston Sturges.

[Rumpelteazer]

Last night I watched Troll on Netflix and I really liked it. I liked how they used myth and lore as a base.

I also started Jurassic Park Dominion, I finished it tonight. It was okay, but nothing more. The usual complain for many of these blockbuster action movies is the unbalanced sound; sound effects and music are loud, whilst the dialogue is very quiet. I was glad I had subtitles, but I still had to keep the remote close to turn the volume up and down constantly.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

Last night I watched Troll on Netflix and I really liked it. I liked how they used myth and lore as a base.

I watched that too and I liked it more than I expected. I agree that the switch, for those of us especially on this side of the Big Pond, to different folklore was really fun.

Heavens, and I know this makes me sound like a two-year-old, but in the last movie, when all the dinos were left to be consumed by lava, man...nope, that didn't set too well with me. I know, such a kid.

Hitch