I was given a bunch of box sets as a gift. The Wire was one of them. Once you start, you can't stop. It was, for me, the break-out "cool" series. It was very contemporary. Full of attitude. Switching the traditional good guy/bad guy ethic on its head. No cliched plotting. All character development. Very street, very real. And stellar performances.
My favourite show recently was Manhunt: Unabomber, made for Discovery Channel. The number of episodes allows you to explore the characters in a way like never before and when you, like the FBI agent investigating him, start to sympathise with him, you know something extraordinary is unfolding.
The all-time great show, however, is True Detective. A cop procedural that channels the black holes of the universe.
There's way too much to watch. But can you ever get too much of a good thing?
South African cinema remains a pariah in the world. The "dark" continent scares them. They try, sometimes successfully, like Beasts of No Nation or... hold on, I can't think of any others. The danger of providing content for Netflix, say, is they prefer more generic material that fits into the American version of things.
There are no forbidden subjects anymore. There's a show to cater to your every need and desire, no matter how twisted...
I just finished an uber-cool horror movie. Ster-Kinekor won't release it. "Horror films don't do well" - except for It and The Conjuring and Anabelle ... Right! But you'll see it on Netflix soon. Watch this space...