It’s OK, you’re among friends.
G
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Given the paucity of decent films being aired on TV this year, I thought I’d watch the original Die Hard, after a gap of 20 years or so. Oh how I wish I hadn’t bothered! Alan Rickman’s wonderful performance notwithstanding, I really didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I was going to. I’d forgotten how the Americans simply have to have their huge portions of schmaltz!
I had to go and look that one up…
schmaltz
noun
informal
noun: schmaltz; noun: schmalz
- excessive sentimentality, especially in music or films.
Yep I 100% see where you’re coming from.
We’ve just about given up with trying to find anything new(ish) that we want to watch. Simply too much ‘celebrity this-and-that’/‘reality this-and-that’/‘classics redone for the modern era’/‘bish-bash-bosh shoot-n-blow them up’ films with masses of cgi. The oasis of sanity each night is University Challenge; gosh those youngsters are damn bright but at least with the ‘older’ contestants we can answer a few questions - I managed five correct the other night! We’re also sticking to rewatching bbc classics such as the Vicar of Dibley which harks back to a more pleasant period in telly.
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Also 300
Christmas Day afternoon, we had the delights of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which was perfect while preparing dinner (you know the story, the songs)
It celebrated a 50th Anniversary this year
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I’ve just found this years version of David Copperfield on Amazon Prime, so will give that a try later.
Best Christmas Movie? 
Oh, very easy to answer. 
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I think catch-up TV, streaming etc has simply made many of us not even bother with festive output as we prefer to watch things we know we’ll like instead. As a consequence I suspect the broadcasters have lowered their standards as they know people now view differently.
It’s quite depressing considering quite how many VHS tapes, DVDs, BluRays etc I’ve bought over the years when the majority of it is now available via a quick search on a streaming platform, often with better than DVD quality though unlikley to match BluRay/4k optical discs due to lower bitrates, but to be honest I doubt it matters for most content.
Even more niche items are starting to appear on platforms like Britbox, and I’ve enjoyed watching some shows which aired before I was born, The Persuaders for example recently appeared on Britbox, along with Gerry Anderson classics and these simply amaze me with the pre-CGI imagination and interesting plots. I was amazed to see that Terry Nation had a role in The Persuaders (scriptwriting I think), let alone all his Dr Who stuff and Blake’s 7 (one I’d resisted getting on DVD, but the stories are very gritty).
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Watched it last year and forgot how good it was. A classic.
Canadian Broadcoasting Corporation aired A White Christmas on Christmas eve, and it kept me awake until 2 am! I had never seen that classic, which of course ends up with the iconic song. Brilliant programming!
Claude
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Long time since I watched that - White Christmas was first sung by Crosby in the earlier movie Holiday Inn from 1942 I think. I’d not realised it was actually in the movie White Christmas itself as well!
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That sounds utterly bizarre. I think the wikipedia entry has too many plot spoilers.
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I’d like to have Britbox but it sticks in the craw the idea of paying a second time for the content.
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I know what you mean, however it’s not too expensive - if I consider the amount I’ve spent on BBC DVDs over the years it’s probably the cost of a couple of DVD boxsets per annum.
There are also things on there I’d like to watch but would stop short of buying the DVDs or BluRays as I might not like them.
There’s a lot of content there that I don’t think you’d ever get on Netflix or Prime Video let alone physical DVD releases or on-air re-runs though I confess I rarely watch normal TV these days.
There’s a lot of dross on there such as soaps and reality/celebrity TV shows but that’s the same on all platforms and many must love that kind of content even if I don’t.
There are also several classic British movies available, it’s not just TV Shows.
There’s a 30 day free trial, and also a 3 month half price offer (£2.99/month) until 10th Jan.
Miracle on 34th Street - the 1947 version:
If you have dry eyes by the end, it’s proof you’re a killer cyborg.
Mark
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Or an actuary
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What’s the software like compared to iplayer? With iplayer I’ve noticed that if it’s a busy time of day/popular programme (e.g. when Boris was up on his hind legs the other day) then it can’t keep up with breakouts and lost video. At the same time I try a HD film on netflix and it’s perfect so I know it’s not my end with the issue. tbh this is a complaint I often hear with other users - perhaps their servers don’t have enough capacity?
tbh I’m being lazy… for the trial/£2.99 I could try it myself - just checked and it’s one of the apps showing on my TV.
It’s generally very stable, the interface like Netflix can be tricky to navigate at times with items duplicated under different categories sometimes, but I find this with all the streaming platforms when browsing and much simpler I find to do a manual search.
I agree Netflix is generally pretty flawless in terms of playback even at low bitrates.
One thing to perhaps remember with BritBox is that lots of the historical studio material will be in SD and 4:3 (hopefully), so quality will not necessarily match modern shows, however many older series shot on film is in HD - the old Gerry Anderson stuff looks great as do many other titles (even the ‘kids’ stuff) - I had U.F.O. on BluRay and it looks little different on Britbox.
It’s a shame, but I can’t see they’ve got a page listing content before subscribing. They’ve added a lot in recent months, but hard to know if you’d enjoy the content depending on what your viewing preferences are - I tend to feel stuck in the 70’s and 80’s as I’ve paid little attention to much live TV since the 90’s - probably missed a lot but many modern comedies just don’t work for me.
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Miracle on 34th Street (original),Brief Encounter,Zulu to name three!
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