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  #16  
Old 12-31-2016, 12:48 PM
ewalling ewalling is offline
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Originally Posted by Haasome View Post
Yes, modern times. Recommending books and movies is tricky because what one person might love another person hates. In general I like crime type series. Some other Netflix offerings I liked included "River" which I thought was outstanding. Marseille, Broadchurch and Doc Martin (comedy) were also enjoyable. We just started watching Nobel, which might make the cut too. We watched The Crown -- I liked it, but not as much as my wife did.
Very true what you say. Still, I'll check out some of those titles.
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  #17  
Old 12-31-2016, 12:50 PM
ewalling ewalling is offline
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We tried to watch "Versailles", lasted about 20 minutes and stopped it. Not for us.
Did the first 20 minutes feature the rather gruesome torture scene? If that's what put you off, that scene is not representative of the series at all. The violence in subsequent episodes was actually pretty mild by today's standards.
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  #18  
Old 12-31-2016, 01:03 PM
Glennwillow Glennwillow is offline
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Did the first 20 minutes feature the rather gruesome torture scene? If that's what put you off, that scene is not representative of the series at all. The violence in subsequent episodes was actually pretty mild by today's standards.
Yes, the gruesome violence was certainly one reason. My wife's reaction was, "This is just a "Game of Thrones" wannabe. I'm not watching this!" (We didn't last very long with "Game of Thrones," either, particularly because of the high levels of violence and brutality.)

So, wanting to get along with my wife, we found something else to watch.

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  #19  
Old 12-31-2016, 01:16 PM
ewalling ewalling is offline
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Yes, the gruesome violence was certainly one reason. My wife's reaction was, "This is just a "Game of Thrones" wannabe. I'm not watching this!" (We didn't last very long with "Game of Thrones," either, particularly because of the high levels of violence and brutality.)

So, wanting to get along with my wife, we found something else to watch.

- Glenn
That's a pity because it's not a violent series; in fact, one of the more dominant strains is that of intrigue/murder-mystery. There is a plot to derail Louis' plan to move the court from Paris to Versailles, followed by a more insidious one to destroy the royal family itself. There is extended dialogue, and a chance to 'get inside' certain characters. People, though, are often not what/who they seem, and there is a web of intrigue/subterfuge that my wife and I found really compelling.

Maybe they threw in the torture scene at the beginning to hook the Game of Thrones crowd, not that I didn't like Game of Thrones, I hasten to add!
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  #20  
Old 12-31-2016, 02:49 PM
Dan Carey Dan Carey is offline
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I see "Versailles" and all I can think of is Versailles KY. Worked at TI in Versailles in the 90's!
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  #21  
Old 01-11-2017, 06:19 AM
ewalling ewalling is offline
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I've added 'Crown' to the title, as this is the latest series my wife and I are watching, mainly on the recommendations of a few posters here. I didn't think I was going to like it on account of it being perhaps too recent history - after all, a number of the characters are still alive if not exactly kicking - but like it we do. One thing we felt, though, is that the directors/producers have really put all their eggs in the catastrophe basket, focusing on all the calamities that beset not only the royal family, but anyone else in their sphere. The Queen is alone and bearing a terrible responsibility, the Duke is chronically frustrated and not really in love with his wife, Margaret's profound love for Townsend is sacrificed at the altar of traditional respectability, and Churchill is a man living on past glories and gradually falling apart through old age. Even his young secretary gets run over and killed in the fog epidemic of the early 50s!

Maybe the series is testimony to the belief that there's no fun in joy, at least not when we want entertainment!
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  #22  
Old 01-11-2017, 07:23 AM
amyFB amyFB is offline
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I enjoyed the Crown very much and hope they add more shows


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  #23  
Old 01-11-2017, 07:33 AM
ctgagnon ctgagnon is offline
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Versailles and Crown: Sounds like an upscale cop show.
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  #24  
Old 01-11-2017, 09:28 AM
RustyAxe RustyAxe is offline
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Originally Posted by Glennwillow View Post
I thought "The Crown" was excellent and very well done. We tried to watch "Versailles", lasted about 20 minutes and stopped it. Not for us.
Ditto. But I'm not sure we made 20 minutes.
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  #25  
Old 01-11-2017, 09:30 AM
ewalling ewalling is offline
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Ditto. But I'm not sure we made 20 minutes.
The torture scene?
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  #26  
Old 01-11-2017, 10:42 AM
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Jim Owen Jim Owen is online now
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Yvonne and I just watched Adams last year--I reckon we were too impoverished to watch it when it was on HBO.

It's very powerful--and I think I've gained a deeper understanding of the first few years of US history.

I've got another tip--the BBC series "The Hollow Crown" takes Shakespeare's History plays in chronological order from Richard II through Richard III--though I admit it will be a bit too gruesome for some watchers. I'm glad I didn't live through the War of the Roses.

The acting is top drawer--Jeremy Irons as Henry 4, Tom Hiddleston as Hal, Benedict Cumberbatch as Richard Crookback.
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  #27  
Old 01-11-2017, 11:08 AM
Glennwillow Glennwillow is offline
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Yvonne and I just watched Adams last year--I reckon we were too impoverished to watch it when it was on HBO.

It's very powerful--and I think I've gained a deeper understanding of the first few years of US history....
I felt that way, too, Jim. As an interesting twist on the John Adams series and the American Revolution, our daughter who lives in Massachusetts sent me Sarah Vowell's new book about La Fayette. Somehow my historical understanding is so much better when it's approached from more than one viewpoint.

okay, okay... back to "Versailles"...

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  #28  
Old 01-11-2017, 12:55 PM
ewalling ewalling is offline
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okay, okay... back to "Versailles"...

- Glenn
What the heck - the thread is proving an interesting one for picking up suggestions about other good series.
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  #29  
Old 01-11-2017, 12:59 PM
RustyAxe RustyAxe is offline
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The torture scene?
No idea ... I must have put it out of my mind. I've been known to walk out of theaters five minutes into a movie I paid $12 to see. They too were forgettable.

EDIT: Nope, didn't get that far (I checked). I think it was the amateurish acting an dialog that turned me off. The settings and costuming were superb, though.

Last edited by RustyAxe; 01-11-2017 at 01:05 PM.
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  #30  
Old 01-11-2017, 01:42 PM
ewalling ewalling is offline
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No idea ... I must have put it out of my mind. I've been known to walk out of theaters five minutes into a movie I paid $12 to see. They too were forgettable.

EDIT: Nope, didn't get that far (I checked). I think it was the amateurish acting an dialog that turned me off. The settings and costuming were superb, though.
Amateurish acting and dialogue? Really? I thought both were excellent. What I, personally, found skillful and engaging about the acting was the way in which, by our modern standards, people with very questionable lifestyles and standards could engage both my interest and concern, and this is always going to be a challenge, I think, with historical drama because people living hundreds of years ago did not share the kinds of sensibilities that we have. In this case, as the series progresses, I found that even the violent and paranoid chief of police had at least some redeeming qualities. He was, for example, genuinely dedicated to protecting the king and as sharp as a tack at connecting dots and solving conundrums. I even found myself in sympathy with him when an attempt was made on his life!

In stark contrast, for me, was Game of Thrones. I've enjoyed it a lot through the sheer scope of imagination, settings and drama, but the characters themselves ... they're so one-dimensional (okay, maybe two ...) that I found myself not caring much whether any of them lived or died. Do we really care when Rob Stark is shot full of arrows or Jon Snow assassinated? Perhaps for an audience that's drooling over Jon Snow's looks, that wouldn't be the case!
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