Elliot’s Watching 2024 index

Slow Horses, Season 3, 2023, based on Mick Herron novels, Will Smith show runner, star Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb

Barbie (2023). DNF

The Crown, Season 6 starring Olivia Colman as Eliz and Peter Morgan writing all or part of all episodes. 

Good Grief (2023), Dan Levy. DNF

Past Lives (2023), Celine Song dir., Korean 

Boys State (2020), Jesse Moss and Amanada McBaine

Top Boy Series 1 (2011), created by Ronan Bennett 

Rose (2022), dir abd writer Niels Arden Oplev, star Sofie Grabol)

True Detective Season 4 DNF (2024)

Tore (2023). Swedish DNF

Panic in the Streets (1950) directed by Elia Kazan (writers Richard Murphy and Daniel Fuchs, story by Edna and Edward Anholt

The Zen Diaries of Gary Shandling, documentary by Judd Apatow (2018)

Verified Stand-Up, Netflix, 2023

Mississippi, documentary, 1983. Bertrand Tavernier and Robert Parrish

The Judge and the Assassin, 1967, dir. Bertrand Tavernier, with co-authors Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost.

American Nightmare (Netflix, 2024) documentary from Bernadette Higgins and Felicity Morris

Return to Seoul (2022) Davy Chou dir

February 2024

A Sunday in the Country (1984), Dir. Bertrand Tavernier, based on novel by Pierre Bost. co-author Solo Tavernier

The Greatest Night in Pop (2024)

 Chris Weitz’s Operation Finale (2018), written by Matthew Orton.

Bertrand Tavernier’s Spoiled Children (1977), which BT wrote w/ Charlotte Dubreuill and Christine Pascal

Bertrand Tavernier’s Death Watch. (1980) DNF

Elliot’s  Watching - February 2024 

Ben Lewin’s Falling for Figaro (2021, co-writer Ben Lewin)

Alfred Hitchcock’s Cold War drama Torn Curtain (1966, co-written with 

Willis Hall, Keith Waterhouse, and Brian Moore)

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1948 film Rope (based on Patrick Hamilton’s play adapted by Hume Cronyn and w/ screenplay by Arthur Laurents)

Carolina Cavalli’s debut production, Amanda (2022)

Kitty Flanagan’s 2021 Australian TV comedy, Fisk (Netflix) created with Vincent Sheehan and co-scripted with Penny Flanagan

The British 2024 series One Day (Netflix) - starring Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall

Lulu Wang’s  Expats, based on Janice Y.K. Lee’s novel The Expatriates. on Amazon Prime (2024).

Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt (1943), based on a story by Gordon McDonell w/ screenplay by Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, and Alma Revile

 Elliot’s  Watching - March 2024 

Mr. & Mrs. Smith by Francesca Sloan and co-star Donald Glover.(2024), inspired by Simon Kinberg’s same-titled work 

Ear for  Eye, written and directed by debbie tucker green used on her play, 2021, Criterion. 

Criminal Record (2024), an 8-episode series created by Paul Rutma, available on Apple. 

God Save Texas (2024, HBO) is a three-part series of documentaries about the state - each could reviewed separately, in any order, or on its ownA Week’s Vacation (1980), dir. by Bertrand Tavernier who co-wrote with Bertrand Tavernier and Marie-Francoise Hans, starring Nathalie Baye

Shoot the Piano Player, Dir. Francois Truffaut, co-aothor with Marcel Moussy, based on book (Down There) by David Goodis

American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders (2024), a Netflix documentary by Zachary Teitz and Christian Hansen

The Truth About Jim (2024) - Father accused of murdering daughter. DNF

Roald Dahl’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (1977), dir. Wes Anderson (2023), Oscar short live feature

The Undeclared War (1992), Bertrand Taverniere dir. and writes, with Patrick Roman, co-writer

Rain Dogs ,screenplay by Cash Calloway (2023, HBO

The Bed Sitting Room (1969), created by Richard Lester. DNF

L.627 (1992), dir. Bertrandf Tavernier, w/ Michel Alexandre (co-writer)

Daddy Nostalgie (1990), dir. Bertrand Tavernier. co-writer Colo Tavernier O’Hagan

The Gentlemen (2024), by Guy Ritchie with co-writing by Matthew Read

Elliot’s Watching - April 2024

 Let Joy Reign Supreme (1975), dir. Bernard Tavernier, co-written with Jean Aurenche

Comrades: Almost a Love Story (1996), directed by Peter Chan, written by Ivy Ho

The Tourist Season 2 (2024), written by Harry and Jack Williams and dir. Chris Sweeney - and providing another venue for the new indie star Danielle Macdonald

Curb Your Enthusiasm, Season 12 (2024), created by and starring Lary David. 

Captain Conan (1996), Dir. Bertrand Tavernier, co-wrote with Jean Cosmos, based on novel by Roger Vercel

Steve! (Martin): A Documentary in 2 Pieces (2024), dir. Ben Akers

The Zone of Interest (2023), dir and written by Jonathan Glazer, based on a novel by Martin Amis

Farewell, China (1990, dir. Clara Law

An Autumn’s Tale (1987), dir. Mabel Cheung, written by Alex Law

Ripley (2024), written and dir. Steven Zaillian, based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel (The Talented Mr. Ripley), on Netflix

Manhunt (2024, on Netflix), created by Monica Beletsky, based on the book by James L. Swanson 

DNF: Ministry of Fear, 1943.

DNF: Mr Bates vs The Post Office (2024). 

 Raging Bull (1980).  See Elliot’s Watching (elliotswatching.blogspot.com)  July/August 2022 for comments on Raging Bull.

DNF Nolly, on PBS, despite have Helena Bonham Carter in the lead, is an unwatchable send-up of daytime soaps and their work environment and personal lives. Dreadful.

DNF Norma, Santiago Girault’s 2023 film from Argentina. Not much going for this straßined story of a wealthy woman in despair. 

Baby Reindear, created by Richard Gadd (2024) 

May 2024

Full Moon in New York (1989), dir. and writer Stanley Kwan, writers 

Kang-Chien Chiu and Achen Zhang

It All Starts Today (1999), dir. and writer, writen w/ Tiffany Tavernier, co-authors Dominique Simper & Tiffany Tavernier.  

Unfrosted (2024), Jerry Seinfeld dir. and writer along w/ Spike Ferestan, Andy Robin, and Barry Marder

Canadian film in English, So Much Tenderness (2022), w & d by Lina Rodriguez

French film Safe Conduct (2002), dir and co-written(w/ Jean Cosmos) by Bertrand Tavernier

The Asunta Case (2024, TV mini-series from Spain, on Netflix), by Ramon Campos, Jon de la Cuesta, and Gema R. Naira

Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs (1992)

DNF: Masters of the Air (Apple)

DNF. Bodkin (Netflix)

DNF Boiling Point (Netflix) 

DNF Ivy Metropol’s documentary After the Bite (2023)

DNF Three of Us (from India, 2023 - dir and written by Avinash Arun, with co-writers Omkar Achyut and Aprila Chatterjee)

Musica (2024), written, directed, starring in Rudy Mancuso (co-written with Dan Lagana)

The Jinx: The Life and /death of Robert Durst, Part Two (2024), by Andrew Jarecki, Marc Smerling, and Zac Stuart-Pontier, with additional writing Sam Neave 

Stax: Soulsville U.S.A., by James Wignot (2024) 

The Sympathizer (HBO 2024) miniseries by Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar, based on the novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen

About Dry Grasses (2023), by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, with co-authors Ebru Ceylan and Akin Aksu, Turkish

June 2024

700 Sundays, staring Billy Crystal and based on his book and on his Broadway show, written by Crystal with Alan Zweibel and directed by Des McAnuff (2014, HBO)

DNF Abi Morgan’s Netflix series Eric (2024), with Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead and the main reason to watch this tired series - amazing how well he does an American accent - does a good job re-creating the look and despair in NYC in the early ‘60s but the story feels manipulative and predictable and at least for me not worth the investment of time. 

Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me, by Drew Denicola (2012). The rise and fall of the eponymous band. 

Julio Torres’s comedy Fantasmas (2024), wow!, gets 87 percent positive reviews on Meteoritic, usually my barometer and 8 is abuts high as it gets, but this spacey,, stoner film about a guy in search of a piece of jewelry somewhere in Manhattan has many trips encounters en route notably, for ex., the letters of the alphabet come alive with Queen disturbed by her obscurity and demanding a better placement and, oh, well, I’m far too old and out of touch on this and cannot possibly sit through a 2nd episode, but that’s maybe just me (and M.). DNF

13 Bombs in Jakarta (2023), from Anggua Dwimas Sasongko

Maryland (2023, PBS) . by Susanne Jones and Anne-Marie O’Conner (dir. Susan Tully) is an all unhappy families are alike (melo) drama that’s particularly strong in its portrayal of two close but rival sisters. 

Hit Man (2023,Netflix) w&d byRichard Linklater with writing from Glen Powell, based on the magazine article by Skip Hollandsworth

Crisis, a Swedish film (1946) that was Ingmar Bergman’s first directed film (he also wrote the screenplay based on a book/play by Leck Fischer); the film is atypical of IB’s work but shows some imaginative cinematography and a sympathy for the suffering of ordinary people in a tranquil, conventional Swedish village. 

Ingmar Bergman ’s A Ship Bound for India (1947 - Bergman W&D, based on a play by Martin Soderhjelm) shows us in his 2nd film his interest in staging scenes of high emotional drama and obsession. Stans up well after nearly 80 years. 

Ingmar Bergman’s Thirst (1949), screenplay by Herbeert Gravenius, based on stories by Birgit Tengrof), is a disjointed account of the willowing and suffering of two marriages as the 4 central characters travel by train (to nowhere) in post-war Europe. 

The first season of Your Honor (2020 premier, now on Netflix) , based on the Israeli series by Ron Ninio and Schlomo Mashlachand developed by Peter Moffat) is a first-rate legal crime feature win which there are numerous crises at which various characters face wrenching moral decisions the outcome from which will determine their families, profession, actual life - very well crafted, brings many of the cultures of its setting. New Orleans, to life - impossible to fully like or fully hate any of the main characters. Looking forward to watching Season 2, also on Netflix ( very good series to binge as it’s complex plot will be hard to retain over the course of 10} weeks of streaming).

Ingmar  Bergman’s Port of Call (1948, w & d) based on the novel by O;;e Lansberg