Why I’m done with watching dross…
WOODY Allen once said after watching a bad Michael Caine movie: “If I had to live my life all over again, I’d do everything exactly the same, with the exception of watching The Magus.”
I can totally relate after watching some of the turkeys Netflix served up as their Christmas fare, which had me reaching for the sick bag.
Leonardo Di Caprio’s dire satire Don’t Look Up fell flat on its face.
It’s somewhat ironic that it died a quick death at the cinemas seeing as it’s about the end of the world.
I’d recommend Don’t Look Now... because Leo’s latest offering is a real horror show.
Benedict Cumberbatch’s dragged-out western The Power Of The Dog was a boring tall ‘tail’, like watching an oil painting dry with its endless shots of rugged landscapes. I’m sure it was the same old story on Amazon, NOW, Apple TV and Disney+.
I have decided to stop spending good money on streaming services now that the penny has finally dropped.
I was wasting too much time on the rubbish they spoon-feed us, fattening us up for the kill.
These streaming sites are a glorified form of clickbait, yet hugely profitable. Netflix’s net worth is a mind-boggling $266.85billion.
It’s all about the bottom dollar for them and not cultural merit like with the BBC, who’ll even go the extra mile when turning their hand to popcorn TV; think Dracula, Doctor Foster and Killing Eve.
You cannot say the same about RTE because Love/hate was their last decent series since Strumpet City.
Ireland needs a proper public service streaming platform like an “Eireflix”, because web TV will be the only show in town in the future.
Any streaming platform worth its salt should put their best foot forward at Xmas.
It speaks volumes about Netflix’s money-grubbing approach when they held back all their best new shows until January.
It was a cynical ploy to keep viewers tuned-in at a time when they might be contemplating tuning-out as their New Year’s resolution.
I’ve never been happier since going cold turkey. I’m reading more books and seeing more classic movies, which you can pick up in charity shops.
Going forward I might take out a one-month Netflix subscription every six months, which should ensure there’s enough decent new things to see.
I was sick to the stomach bingewatching all these mediocre TV box sets.
James Nesbitt’s latest detective series Stay Close is a good example of bad TV.
In the same way paper never refused ink, Netflix and their ilk never turn down cheap rubbish to peddle as exclusive “original content”.
They can only make such claims because most of it wouldn’t get green-lighted if pitched to the Beeb or HBO.
They really don’t give two toots that a threehour movie should’ve been edited down to 90-minute.
Film directors wouldn’t have gotten away with murdering scripts when the cinema was king and each movie had to live and die by the sword.
We no longer need to count sheep at night because they’ve turned us all into one.
We’re falling asleep on our sofas, watching cliffhanger crap no better than Flash Gordon from the 1950s.
It reminds me of this old joke, which went like: “I want to die peacefully in my sleep just like my grandfather… not screaming in terror like the passengers on his bus!”
That punchline has run out of steam because most fares on a CIE bus would also be out cold from watching dross on their smartphones.
We all need to wake up and smell the coffee.
I was sick to the stomach watching mediocre TV box sets I wasted too much time on the rubbish they spoon fed us