Let me begin by saying that I'm likely to be a good candidate for some kind of hearing aide soon. I've noticed a problem, especially when watching certain TV programs.
Voices range from easily understandable to impossible to decipher. Usually I get a few words, then miss the four or five words that would convey the meaning of the sentence, come-back or joke. Some womens' voices are most difficult, perhaps because of the high pitch. Increasing the volume doesn't always help.
Among the impossible to understand are Megan Mulally on Will and Grace, Melissa Rauch on Big Bang Theory, and Minnie Driver on Speechless. I'm also having trouble with Modern Family and New Amsterdam (with the irritating background music/noise). Most of the time I just give up, turn to my computer for entertainment while Leon watches the shows (which we record on TiVo so we can skip all the commercials and watch a 30-minute show in 20).
When English, Scottish, Australian or similar accents are involved, (Minnie Driver among others) it is so much more difficult to understand. (See recent review of Deep Water - a great drama but I had to have closed captions on in order to follow the story).
So last evening we watched Outlaw King on Netflix.
High marks as far as spectacular scenery, cast of thousands, period costumes, Medieval castles, ariel views of the English and Scottish countryside, and bloody battles.
Otherwise I found the story difficult to follow, 1) because it was difficult to understand the actors' speech and 2) I couldn't always figure out who were the English, who were the Scots on the side of Robert the Bruce and which ones were his rivals; or who was fighting whom.
I wondered how the Scots and the English distinguished who to impale with a sword in the chaos of battle. I also wondered how they filmed the many horses going down, hopefully without harming a single one. Unless you are a great fan of Medieval English/Scottish history, this one may not be worth spending two hours watching - not even for the few seconds of Chris Pine naked.
We got through it. Leon did not give it great reviews either.
In the total opposite direction is Kominsky Method, a Netflix series starring Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin. It is smart, warm, funny and entertaining. Someone called it Frankie and Grace for guys.
Episode 2 is precious, especially the funeral scene.
Looking forward to seeing the rest of the series. Recommended.
3 comments:
I just heard about The Kominsky Method today -- thanks for posting the trailer. It does look good. That last scene with Danny DeVito cracked me up!
I hadn't heard of the Kominsky Method but thanks for the tip. We enjoyed the first two seasons of G&F - especially Sheen and Waterston as the (old) gay couple - but the third season got too sombre and we stopped watching.
We watch everything now with subtitles. Jerry misses so much otherwise and I have to constantly pause the action to catch him up. His hearing tests perfectly. His listening? That’s another story. And he has a terrible time with accents.
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