TV/Movies Megathread

[Razgovory]

It's remarkable how effective classical conditioning is.

[jimmy olsen]

Damn that's an intense trailer...but what is the movie going to be about? Them slowly going mad as they suffocate to death? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4pcg7bXgmU

[CountDeMoney]

Damn that's an intense trailer...but what is the movie going to be about? Them slowly going mad as they suffocate to death? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4pcg7bXgmU

I blame the Chinese and their ASAT tests.  Little yellow space polluting shits.

[Savonarola]

I watched American Psycho again.  The movie works only because of Christian Bale's performance as Patrick Bateman.  He said he based his portrayal of Patrick Bateman on Tom Cruise, who seems friendly but if you look in the eyes there's nothing behind them.

The rest of the movie has issues.  The directors focus on the men's misogyny seems heavy handed, and distracts from the satire.  In the book it's obvious throughout that Patrick Bateman is an unreliable narrator, in the film that's not at all obvious until the end.  That makes it seem like a cheat, rather than something planned out.

The director did keep enough of the lines from the original to give the movie some bite.  I still chuckle at Patrick's heartfelt concern for all the trouble in the world:

...We have to end apartheid for one. And slow down the nuclear arms race, stop terrorism and world hunger. We have to provide food and shelter for the homeless, and oppose racial discrimination and promote civil rights, while also promoting equal rights for women. We have to encourage a return to traditional moral values. Most importantly, we have to promote general social concern and less materialism in young people.

[Ideologue]

I need to watch American Psycho again.  It's been years.

Watched Yomjimbo (1961) and Sanjuro (1962).  Yojimbo's pretty good--I'm sure it's all kinds of pioneering and I know it's iconic and influential and shit, but it's a bit hamstrung, just as Fistful of Dollars Is, by the state of its technology (and/or budget?), preventing it from being as bloody as it needs to be except in very key scenes.  Also, it's not as well constructed as Fistful is--the woman stolen from her family by the youngest, pistol-wielding brother of the Ushitora gang, who shows her face in like the first two minutes of Fisful, appears literally out of nowhere here.  Sanjuro never connects with her like Joe does.  Also Joe's breakout scheme relies a lot less on the Mexicans being retarded than Sanjuro's does viz. the Ushitoras.

On the other hand, they're both pretty equal with how credulous both sides are for trusting the stranger in the first place, since both Sanjuro and Joe are obviously bad news, with wheels-within-wheels plans constantly turning.

I dunno whether I like Eastwood's man with no name or Mifune's better, though.  Replace squinting and smoking with sneering and constantly checking for skin parasites and make your own determination.

.5 points higher than Fistful for not having that terrible edit instead of one long take when Joe is crawling out from under the porch, for the burning of Sebei's house and the subsequent slaughter coming off as a lot less ridiculous as the slaying of the American gang, and for being first to bring the classic, oft-repated and ofter-referenced story to the screen

The sequel Sanjuro, though, is--just like For a Few Dollars More--a bit better, because aside from more/better action, sounder and somewhat more plausible plotting, more laughs, and at least as-good photography, it has a moral about reckless action and a really, really, really cool final battle.  Still needs more blood in general, but maybe, you know, a little less in certain parts.  WOW.

B+s

[Josquius]

Life of Pi- I didn't get caught up in the fuss about this film when it was new. It just really didn't appeal to me and I didn't go to see it. Now I  have seen it...yep. There's nothing to it. I suppose when you have your 3D glasses on and you're watching the big cinema screen it might be pretty but as a stand alone regular film its pretty meh.

Valentino- Dutch film. A Moroccon guy spends his life somehow managing to pretend to be Italian. It comes to time to marry his girlfriend however and the secret has to come out. Kind of amusing.

Wall-E- Finally saw this for the first time. I get why kids don't like it, its a very adult film, quite artsy. Pretty good.

A Good Day to Die Hard- Meh, meh, meh.

[Viking]

Orange is the New Black - TV worth watching.

[fhdz]

Life of Pi- I didn't get caught up in the fuss about this film when it was new. It just really didn't appeal to me and I didn't go to see it. Now I  have seen it...yep. There's nothing to it. I suppose when you have your 3D glasses on and you're watching the big cinema screen it might be pretty but as a stand alone regular film its pretty meh.

Life of Pi was a giant, fluffy pile of shit.

I really don't know what's happened to Ang Lee. First that awful rendition of the Hulk and now this?

[Ideologue]

Wall-E- Finally saw this for the first time. I get why kids don't like it, its a very adult film, quite artsy. Pretty good.

I know why adults like it.  They love unacknowledged plagiarism, inexplicably gendered robots, and uncommented-upon authoritarianism.  Pretty, though.

[lustindarkness]

The only thing I did not like about Wall-E was that it turned to be a tree hugger movie.

[Savonarola]

The Avenging Conscience (1914)

This early film by DW Griffith is sort of a cross between "The Tell Tale Heart" and "Annabel Lee."  There's a boy who loves a girl and his uncle forbids the relationship so the boy kills him and entombs him in the wall.  He becomes overwhelmed by guilt and starts hallucinating.  The hallucination scenes would become a huge influence on German expressionist films.

Griffith is still limited to a static camera at this point.  He overcomes this by changing the shot rapidly, which works pretty well.  It doesn't feel stage bound the way some early silent films do.  The ending drags a bit, which is unusual in a Griffith film.

[Eddie Teach]

Man of Steel, Iron Man 3, and A Good Day to Die Hard. All have the virtue of being better than the previous film of the franchise, but that's a pretty low bar. Superman B, Iron Man B -, Die Hard C-. Willis should have stayed on vacation.

[Queequeg]

I need to watch American Psycho again.  It's been years.

Watched Yomjimbo (1961) and Sanjuro (1962).  Yojimbo's pretty good--I'm sure it's all kinds of pioneering and I know it's iconic and influential and shit, but it's a bit hamstrung, just as Fistful of Dollars Is, by the state of its technology (and/or budget?), preventing it from being as bloody as it needs to be except in very key scenes.  Also, it's not as well constructed as Fistful is--the woman stolen from her family by the youngest, pistol-wielding brother of the Ushitora gang, who shows her face in like the first two minutes of Fisful, appears literally out of nowhere here.  Sanjuro never connects with her like Joe does.  Also Joe's breakout scheme relies a lot less on the Mexicans being retarded than Sanjuro's does viz. the Ushitoras.

On the other hand, they're both pretty equal with how credulous both sides are for trusting the stranger in the first place, since both Sanjuro and Joe are obviously bad news, with wheels-within-wheels plans constantly turning.

I dunno whether I like Eastwood's man with no name or Mifune's better, though.  Replace squinting and smoking with sneering and constantly checking for skin parasites and make your own determination.

.5 points higher than Fistful for not having that terrible edit instead of one long take when Joe is crawling out from under the porch, for the burning of Sebei's house and the subsequent slaughter coming off as a lot less ridiculous as the slaying of the American gang, and for being first to bring the classic, oft-repated and ofter-referenced story to the screen

The sequel Sanjuro, though, is--just like For a Few Dollars More--a bit better, because aside from more/better action, sounder and somewhat more plausible plotting, more laughs, and at least as-good photography, it has a moral about reckless action and a really, really, really cool final battle.  Still needs more blood in general, but maybe, you know, a little less in certain parts.  WOW.

B+s

What the fuck is fucking wrong with you?  Jesus.  First you convince me to rent Sinister, and now you slam fucking YOJIMBO and SANJURO!?

[Ideologue]

What the fuck is fucking wrong with you?  Jesus.  First you convince me to rent Sinister, and now you slam fucking YOJIMBO and SANJURO!?

I didn't slam anything.  I liked both a great deal.  But outside their historical context, are they that fucking great?  No, but really entertaining and totally worth owning at a reasonable price, which is to say not the price Criterion charges (around $47 for both).  In other words, fuck Criterion, these are not obscure titles that need to be saved for film historians in a pretty meaningless prestige format, they're movies everyone knows and, yes, the average guy should enjoy outside of their cultural importance.  As I did.  See also: The Killing, Paths of Glory.

Sorry you didn't like Sinister, dude.  I appreciated the use of many different film media, the sound design, and the inner conflict of the central character.  It's got some narrative flaws, but not enough to really dent my love of it.  But here's a question: do you even like haunted house movies?

[jimmy olsen]

What the fuck is fucking wrong with you?  Jesus.  First you convince me to rent Sinister, and now you slam fucking YOJIMBO and SANJURO!?

B+ is a slam?