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It took me a long time to finally sit down to watch this and really I enjoyed it, it's an incredibly funny watch. It's a mockumentary following the haphazard antics of a fictional rock band. The problem is that the line between fact and fiction is so blurry here that you struggle to believe this is fake! It's that well done.

There were times I was in hysterics, and with the recent final gig by Black Sabbath and the passing away of Ozzy Osborne, well this mockumentary is like a glimpse into the past of that era now ended.

You got to hand it to these guys, it really hasn't aged much at all in its humour (only the look & music). Everyone watching it in the retro viewing in the cinema with me was laughing out loud.

If you've not seen it before you have got to watch it, it's really that good. It's not some crude poor tate parody, it's actually a full force satirical insight on rock music.

Post showing they revealed that a sequel is being released soon! Not sure it was needed but it's par the course for it all now. Whether the sequel will be Cobra Kai brilliant or Willow sequel rubbish, well we'll need to wait for & see. They've had enough time to think of the new jokes to fit in this era. Think I'll give them a chance.

You got to hand it to the Streaming companies. Whilst they might be often (rightly criticised) for a lot of their output, sometimes they do come out with some right incredible productions which will not only surprise you but make you concede that likely only they could make these types of shows.

This is a closer adaption apparently of the actual classic novel (which I'll admit upfront I've yet to read despite having a copy) than that of the well celebrated film from the 1990s (Matt Damon adaption). What we have is our anti-hero outsmarting the undeservedly youthful rich & powerful for his own vanity & selfish ends. He's an amoral sociopath with the taste for the sophisticated highlife.

What sets this apart from it's more celebrated earlier adaption is that with the ability of duration, set over 8 episodes, it has the ability to stretch out and dive further into depth on the characters & story. Really the dialogue is splendid and very rich, but the real dialogue is unspoken in the settings. Filmed in black & white (or "chrome"), Italy to me has never looked more incredible (and I've visited the country on various occasions times). The settings speak for themselves, and thankfully they allow the locals to speak in their local dialects instead of some cod-English, which further adds to the quality of the show.

The acting is sublime, albeit our lead (Andrew Scott) was probably too old for the role, but that goes over your head in time and can be ignored. Dakota Fanning as Marge is brilliant, and thankfully with her measured performance doesn't go into melodrama which was possible here, shows such a mature performance.

Yet for all that, there was something for me still missing. Maybe part of the problem is that I already knew how this was going to pan out, having already seen & loved the Matt Damon adaption. So that took out a lot of the tension I guess. I think one problem for me was that really it was hard to get engaged with the characters as they were portrayed so coldly, whilst there was some unnerving warmth about them in the Matt Damon film. Maybe that portrayal is closer to the source in fairness.

Another issue is possibly the length of the series, I think they did over stretch it by a couple of episodes, not exactly an uncommon occurrence on Netflix in recent times.

Despite that, I'd still recommend it. It's different, engrossing and a great interpretation of the original book which is as highly welcome as the film was too.

This final season (supposedly) of Squid Game undoubtedly arrived on a far lower key than the last after the very poor reception of the second season (and I agree). Anyhow, this season is a pickup in form, but to be honest, it doesn't fully recover all the goodwill lost.

We're back on the island, and our remaining characters after the failed violent putsch are resigned to continue with the games. Everyone's favourite Korean cop is out there still sailing around in circles with his motley crew trying to find the island whilst the rest of the world remains oblivious of the games.

One major problem is that possibly there is little new that can be done any further here. So many plot points in this season had me thinking that this reminds me of this or that from season 1 and so on. The games are new but frighteningly violent as before. As before, we have the empathetic crew and a crass, selfish crew, it's much the same really.

Despite that, there's still much good too, in particular the acting and the emotive moments really are visceral. The settings & games are disturbingly immersive, and there's some neat twists too.

Yet overall it never reached the heights of the first season despite some very emotive moments. It's still worth a viewing, but probably they'd already hit a glass ceiling in the first season and will likely not come close to hitting it again.

Just be prepared for some follow-ups and spinoffs.