Martin Freeman News

[Arcadia]

Thanks, Camper. I looked it up and found several free shows, all old, but I'm assuming you pay for new stuff? I didn't have time to really explore the site. Oh, wait, maybe you just have to sit through commercials?

[Carol the Dabbler]

... maybe you just have to sit through commercials?

That's my best guess. I believe I read somewhere that it's free. Guess we'll find out on Tuesday.

[Arcadia]

Tuesday? Oh dear, I hope it's something you can watch when you want ... I work Tuesday nights. But I assume internet-only shows are play on demand? (If that's even a term?) Gawd, I'm so far behind on this interwebs stuff......

[Carol the Dabbler]

I'm guessing that they have each episode up for a week, though I haven't found any such information.

[Boton]

I watched the first episode of Start Up last night.

 

First, Crackle appears to be releasing a few episodes at a time (or maybe that's all of them?) that are play on demand.  It is a free service, so you can't FF through commercials.  At least on my end, the commercials were really distracting, because they didn't seem to be built into the show broadcast; rather, the show would pause, go back out and retrieve a small "behind the scenes" clip and a commercial, and it would play them twice.  But, what do you want for free?

 

I think the show has promise.  Freeman is really the stand-out in the first episode.  He has one or two of the mentioned sex scenes, and while they aren't the most graphic things I've ever watched (although they are graphic), they are certainly noticeable.  He's playing a far grittier character than I, personally, have seen him do.  I'm a bit mesmerized by that.

 

I'll have to weigh in later on the plausibility of the plot.  Right now, I am not so savvy about finance or tech that anything really bothered me; basically, all you need to know is that this smart young woman has developed an alternative to Bitcoin that, thanks to the backend coding, is untraceable and unable to be adulterated by either businesses or governments.  Which, in itself, is an interesting commentary on our society and its current worries.  

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I'll have to weigh in later on the plausibility of the plot. Right now, I am not so savvy about finance or tech that anything really bothered me....

It might pay you to remain ignorant, and just go along for the ride. Tonight we watched an episode of Monk, which was probably just as good as they usually are, but I was distracted because one plot point hinged on a character's rare blood type, which they repeatedly described as "AB negative, with the D antigen." If I knew nothing about blood types, I'd have been fine with that and probably would have enjoyed the show more. But I do happen to know that "D antigen" is another name for the Rh factor. If you have AB blood and the D antigen, then you're AB positive. If you're AB negative, then you do not have the D antigen. No wonder the character's blood type was so rare -- it doesn't exist!

 

So I don't plan to read up on virtual money. It might ruin what I'd otherwise consider a really good show.

[J.P.]

I hate when something like this happens. It absolutely ruins the show. Which is even worse if the show is good.

[J.P.]

Back on track:

Just close your eyes and listen

[Arcadia]

 

 

A very Happy Birthday today to the most excellent Martin Freeman!

 

View the full article

[Arcadia]

Back on track:

Just close your eyes and listen

 

 

Pretty good, isn't he! :d

[Carol the Dabbler]

Yup.  (Would love to see him play Harold Hill in The Music Man.)

[Arcadia]

Oh, that would be a great role for him, wouldn't it? Who would play Marian, you think? Una Stubbs could be one of the Grecian Urn ladies.... :d

[Carol the Dabbler]

I think Marian's songs are written for a soprano, so that role calls for a *really* good singer (since hardly anyone is a natural soprano). Otherwise I'd nominate Amanda Abbington, who has a nice alto (I think) singing voice. Plus of course, whoever plays her has to do an Iowa accent (whereas Professor Hill isn't even really from Gary, Indiana, so he just needs some sort of generic American accent).

 

And yes, I'd love to see Una Stubbs as Eulalie Shinn! The role requires a tremendous amount of presence, but I do believe she has it. She could even use a British accent (preferably RP) if she doesn't do American, since Eulalie is quite the snob (and I believe Hermione Gingold was British, so there's precedent).

[Arcadia]

I'm trying to think which ladies can both act and sing well, but I'm drawing a blank, unless it's whats-er-name from Les Miserable? Not quite the right type, mebbe.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Afraid I'm no help there -- it's been so long since I've heard of a new musical that I wanted to go see.

 

Y'know, it's amazing how many of the classical musicals are real downers (e.g., West Side Story, Oklahoma, South Pacific). You hear the songs and think that sounds like fun, so you go see it, and come out all depressed. I prefer comedies (with some substance -- or dramas with some levity) anyhow, and somehow a musical tragedy just seems wrong (Madame Butterfly not withstsnding). So The Music Man is one of my favorites.

[Arcadia]

Oklahoma's a downer? I know I never liked it much, maybe that's why. I don't remember how it ends.

 

Anyway ... ahem ... back to Mr. Freeman.....

[Carol the Dabbler]

I don't recall how Oklahoma ends, either. But I do remember how disappointed I was when I finally saw the movie (in my mid-twenties) after having grown up with the songs. Guess I should have paid more attention to "Poor Jud is Dead."

 

So I'd much rather Martin Freeman was in The Music Man. (There!)

[Arcadia]

Whew! xd

 

[Boton]

Finished Start Up last night. I'm guessing, from where they left it, that they plan on a second season.  MF's character seems to get stronger and more nuanced the more episodes into it we got, until he was really the most compelling character for me by the end. 

[Arcadia]

I agree that it gets better as it goes along and they stop trying to define their characters by how they have sex. I'm struggling to finish it though ... I'm caring less and less what happens to these people, and the two young people are just bland. (Edi Gathegi is fantastic, though. I hope there's a scene between him and Martin coming up. I want to see those two guys try to out-menace each other. ) I'm only hanging around for Martin, to be honest.
 
When I was searching for it initially, I ran across this review, and it sums up my feelings about the show pretty nicely ....
 

... “Startup” is playing with pornographic imagery because it assumes that is what makes a drama “prestigious,” when in fact it is padding its episodes with pointless, male-gazing sex scenes ...

The odd thing, too, is that Freeman, as the show’s Big Bad, is largely superfluous. The prestige drama tropes swirl around him — antihero! repression! good cop gone bad! — but the actual story seems to run in the other direction. 

 

...When “Startup” manages to leave its sex scenes behind and gets to creating storytelling around largely unexplored territory in the cinematic universe, it is its smartest and most compelling. The Cuban-American family dynamics and the status of Haitian immigrants in Miami are intriguing; even the cybercurrency babble is at least educational.

... “Startup” otherwise meanders forward with all the grace of a sex-starved teenage boy, skidding from the exotic to the illicit — strip clubs, gangs, prostitutes, cocaine, semiautomatic weapons, and the vaguely rendered imagery of “hacking” — all accompanied by a score that anticipates every major moment with jumpy, excitable strings.

http://variety.com/2016/tv/reviews/tv-review-startup-crackle-martin-freeman-adam-brody-1201852471/

 

She does laud Martin's performance, though.

[Boton]

Well, I don't think I paid any attention whatsoever to the sex scenes the first time out (not sure quite what that says, other than that my knitting is really interesting right now....), but I'll have my chance shortly.  Mr. Boton came in on the last two episodes and wants to start the series again, so I'm up for round 2.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Sounds like this is worth watching, so I sure hope it comes out on DVD soon. I believe there's a way that Alex could hook up a laptop to the TV so we could watch without hunching over a computer monitor, but as I recall that leaves us using the keyboard as the "remote" -- awkward at best.

[Arcadia]

Well, it automatically starts the next episode (if you don't mind waiting through the credits) so all you really have to do is start and stop. It even remembers where you stopped, and offers to start it again at that point. I really don't think the laptop-as-remote would be too cumbersome; if our TV were recent enough to have the proper ports, I'd be tempted to try it. Not for this particular show ... not the kind of show I want to watch with family!

 

There are ... or were ... devices that, um, stream (?) the, er, broadcast (?) directly (?) to your TV. My brother was given one, but he said it kept buffering (then something happened to their TV and he just went back to watching everything on his laptop). But I notice he doesn't have a very strong wifi signal, that might make a difference (?) If I'm not mistaken, my nephew watches everything via the internet; regular TV episodes, direct-to-DVD programs, live broadcasts, the works. How, I couldn't tell you. He explained it to me but I didn't understand a word.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Precisely my problem. I understand roughly what's doable, but haven't a clue how to go about doing it. And it hardly makes sense to learn, because they'd just go and change it. (Kinda like trying to maintain my Facebook page -- even though I haven't added anything for ages.)

[Arcadia]

Oh, don't get me started on Facebook! Rrrghhhhh......