TV/Movies Megathread

[DGuller]

I just watched the next-to-last episode of Dexter.  I can't think of any other show that started off so brilliantly, and declined so precipitously.  I'm just going to mentally block out the fact that the last 4 seasons ever happened, in case I want to re-watch the first two seasons down the line.

[Eddie Teach]

I just watched the next-to-last episode of Dexter.  I can't think of any other show that started off so brilliantly, and declined so precipitously.

Prison Break is the poster child for that.

[Tonitrus]

Though I still like Ide's theory on Breaking Bad....

[spoiler]Doing some more thinking...with this episode, and Walt seeming content with escape...I think it's going to take more than Hank's death to push him to return.  I wager Lydia freaks out and tries to have the aryans do a cleanup of Walt's family.[/spoiler]

[Admiral Yi]

Just watched Argo.  Nice little feel good movie.

[Josephus]

I just watched the next-to-last episode of Dexter.  I can't think of any other show that started off so brilliantly, and declined so precipitously.  I'm just going to mentally block out the fact that the last 4 seasons ever happened, in case I want to re-watch the first two seasons down the line.

Dexter v. Breaking Bad.

Examples of how not to make a series finale, and how to do one.

[Josquius]

 Oblivion- Decent film. Sci-fi is always welcome. Buttt.....I remember last year when it  was new and it was being promoted. Spoilers if you were lucky enough to miss all that/haven't seen the film-
The entire twist that the Scavengers weren't aliens but in fact a human resistance was utterly given away in all the promotion. True, the cloning thing  wasn't mentioned and was kind of unexpected given how cliche and overdone it is, and that the aliens would be in space rather than other humans was a change from what I expected. But still..... Kinda ruins things a little.
Watching it fresh in several years without having heard of it before it might be better. Too late for me.

[garbon]

http://blogs.amctv.com/the-walking-dead/2013/09/amc-announces-plans-for-a-the-walking-dead-companion-series/

AMC Announces Plans for a The Walking Dead Companion Series

AMC announced today that the network is in the initial stages of developing a companion series to its original drama series The Walking Dead, which premiered on AMC in October of 2010. The Walking Dead is currently the #1 show on television among adults 18-49.  Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd and David Alpert are on board as executive producers, with AMC Studios set to produce. The companion series has a target on-air date of 2015.

"Building on the success of the most popular show on television for adults 18-49 is literally a no-brainer," said Charlie Collier, AMC's president and general manager. "We look forward to working with Robert, Gale and Dave again as we develop an entirely new story and cast of characters. It's a big world and we can't wait to give fans another unforgettable view of the zombie apocalypse."

"After 10 years of writing the comic book series and being so close to the debut of our fourth, and in my opinion, best season of the TV series, I couldn't be more thrilled about getting the chance to create a new corner of The Walking Dead universe," said Kirkman. "The opportunity to make a show that isn't tethered by the events of the comic book, and is truly a blank page, has set my creativity racing."

In addition to Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Hell on Wheels and Low Winter Sun, AMC recently greenlit two new drama series for 2014, Halt & Catch Fire and Turn. The network today began shooting a new pilot, Line Of Sight, directed and executive produced by Jonathan Demme, and has a licensing agreement with Sony Pictures Television for a spinoff series of Vince Gilligan's landmark Breaking Bad, based on the Saul Goodman lawyer character with the working title Better Call Saul.

Season four of The Walking Dead returns to AMC on October 13. The Walking Dead is based on the comic book series created and written by Robert Kirkman and published by Skybound, Kirkman's imprint at Image Comics.

[Eddie Teach]

In addition to Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Hell on Wheels and Low Winter Sun, AMC recently greenlit two new drama series for 2014, Halt & Catch Fire and Turn.

If only that sentence meant there'd be more Breaking Bad in 2014. 

[KRonn]

Oblivion- Decent film. Sci-fi is always welcome. Buttt.....I remember last year when I was new and it was being promoted.

I saw Oblivion and liked it ok.

[Liep]

Any good Scarlett Johansson movies after 'Lost In Translation' and 'Girl With a Pearl Earing'?

The Prestige is one of the best movies post-2000 and Nolan's best. Vicky Cristina Barcelona is also good.

EDIT: Match Point is another Woody Allen/Scarlett film worth watching.

[Eddie Teach]

The Prestige is one of the best movies post-2000 and Nolan's best.

Wrong, Ide.

[Tonitrus]

In addition to Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Hell on Wheels and Low Winter Sun, AMC recently greenlit two new drama series for 2014, Halt & Catch Fire and Turn.

If only that sentence meant there'd be more Breaking Bad in 2014. 

Better call Saul.

[Ideologue]

Any good Scarlett Johansson movies after 'Lost In Translation' and 'Girl With a Pearl Earing'?

The Prestige is one of the best movies post-2000 and Nolan's best. Vicky Cristina Barcelona is also good.

1. FUCK YOU TEACH.
2. The Prestige is indeed awesome, but Johansson is a real secondary character.

[Savonarola]

A Man Escaped (1956)

Obviously, given the title, there's no surprise ending in Robert Bresson's jail break movie.  This is based on the story of an officer in the French Resistance, Andre Devigny, who was imprisoned in Lyon.  The film was shot in the Lyon Prison and the real Devigny donated his make shift ropes and grappling hooks to add even more authenticity.

The setting is stark, there's almost no dialogue, there's only occasional music from Mozart's Requiem.  Somehow Bresson manages to make a film about a man scraping at a door with a spoon an incredibly gripping film.

Unlike most other movies in the genre there's little interaction between the guards and the prisoners.  The faces of the Germans are never shown.  There's some interaction with the other prisoners, but for the most part the principle actor is alone.

[Ideologue]

Tone:

[spoiler]I'm second-guessing myself now, too.  I was not prepared for how vile Walt was or could be to Jesse.  Even accounting for the fact that he said what he did about Jane in the heat of the moment, I wonder if that's the final break on his end.  Killing him was one thing--Walt has always done what he had to do, and Jesse did make it just about unavoidable.  But that was so pointlessly cruel I wonder if he ever cares anymore.

That said, I think that might be Gilligan's trick, misdirection and a true rock-bottom moment for Walt--the only way he could get lower would be to kill Skyler as he threatened, but I think we all understand that to be a ruse to try to make it look like she was a prisoner to Walt's evilosity, rather than a really shitty co-conspirator who never got the "full measures" speech she needed.

I'm not prepared to say that Walt Jr., Marie, and even Holly* are not going to be killed in part or in whole; I certainly agree that they will be put in harm's way.  I do think that the death of non-combatants is the one thing we have left that retains the ability to shock.

However, once they're either 1)dead or 2)dead to Walt, I still believe--and the fact that he lives suggests it strongly, because there is no obvious plot role remaining for Jesse unless his imprisonment motivates Walt--that Walt will reconsider what he's done to Jesse.

The other alternative is that instead of being rescued, Jesse saves himself in a Heisenberg-esque fashion.  We've seen how much smarter he's gotten in the last season.  The big set-pieces were both Jesse's plans, not Walt's--Walt just handled the technical aspects.  Instead of a last-minute redemption, they may wind up killing each other.

(I mean, either way, Jesse will kill Walt.  The question is really whether Walt's gonna see it coming or just let him.)

Anyway, I don't understand why Uncle Heinz from the Panzerarmee did what he did.  It seems like it would only serve to make Walt angry, while failing to neutralize him even to the extent he can't, well, go out and buy machine guns (and tracer ammunition, such as might ignite fires in, say, a vehicle convoy, or a meth lab).  I don't get that at all.  Is it the White Power code or something?

*Btw, it's actually a little unnerving the sheer number and volume of the scenes where Bryan Crantson and Anna Gunn are shrieking at each other in front of that poor baby. [/spoiler]