TV/Movies Megathread

[katmai]

someone clearly hasn't watched the wire

You are UNCANNY.

I think at this point, he never can (even if he wanted to)...it would destroy the paradigm.

I know, I was trolling.

[Ideologue]

Death Race 2000 (1975).  It really makes you ask yourself, why does The Hunger Games suck so much, when thirty years ago they made this vastly superior prototype?

What really struck me is how big Woody Allen's recent slapstick must have influenced it--it's highly reminiscent of Sleeper with cars and ultraviolence instead of orgasmotrons and inept nebbishes, and features a largely identical cartoon totalitarian government.  Death Race practically recapitulates the nose joke from Sleeper (although it's a hell of a twist and a pun that would make you lot weep first with joy at its utterance, and then sadness at the knowledge that all possibility of a better pun is now lost).  Beyond that, it repurposes the Howard Cosell gag (to immense effect) from Bananas.  Also, there is a lot more nudity in this than I remember from Sleeper or Bananas.  David Carradine is, objectively, terrible, but his simple screen presence is irreplaceable and his monotone reads hilarious.  And Sly in a early role?  Excellent!  This movie's really something, a lot more fun than the movie I watched before it...

The French Connection (1971).  But that's intentional.  This is a movie about cops, drug dealers, and Heisenberg's hat, back in the days when cops could be openly racist to everybody, even other white people.  It's pretty good, but honestly it is less than I expected given its hyperbolic reputation.  That said, the sniper scene, and the storied chase it leads into, is pretty great.  I also liked, I think, the weird ending where Popeye gets sent to Vietnam and Roy Scheider becomes a Senator.  I also want to say I love the editing on this thing--it's taut as a motherfucker, but not overdone, like it would be now.  It's way better than Bullitt, D'Antoni's previous production effort.  Indeed, it's quite fine, I liked it, and even if I maybe liked D'Antoni's follow up, The Seven-Ups, a little better, I'm sure The French Connection was far more deeply influential, which as I've explained to you lunkheads about fifty times does not affect its grade, so lay the fuck off me.

B+ and B respectively.

[katmai]

A B? wtf ide, i take back my earlier post today.

[Ideologue]

A B? wtf ide, i take back my earlier post today.

That's fucked up, man.

[Ideologue]

Also, is David Carradine not a 1970s demigod as Frankenstein?  He's so damned svelte.  Trim begets trim.

[katmai]

 

A B? wtf ide, i take back my earlier post today.

That's fucked up, man.

Just fucking with ya.

[Ed Anger]

Ide gets two free passes from me now.

Don't waste 'em kid. 

[CountDeMoney]

Not even going to comment.  Useless to argue with the obviously mentally incapacitated.

[Gups]

Yeah, I really can't think of another television drama that was done so well, from story to acting to continuity.  The Shield almost got there, but didn't carry to the end as strong, and never managed to stay as tight, or have such good acting.

Homicide: Life On The Street is probably a distant 2nd for me.  BB is probably the best television work ever done.

BB, the Wire, Sopranos. Hard to put a cigarette paper between them. They all very early as good as they could be. The Sopranos shows its age a little bit but is perhaps more sophisticated than the others. The Wire has greater scope that the other two but as a result is sometimes more disjointed. BB has by far the best story arc but is marred by occasional plot holes.  If we get a show as good as any of these in the next 5 years, we'll be very lucky.

Mad Men is a bit behind them but a way ahead of any others I have seen.

[Eddie Teach]

The place The Wire falls short of Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Mad Men and some other top shows is that it's just not as entertaining. It's worth watching, sure, but it doesn't keep you enthralled.

[Gups]

Disagree. I found the Wire entertaining and enthralling all the way through except season 5 whcih had some bad bits. The Sopranos has some dodgy episodes too. And I didn't bother re-watching "the Fly" on my second run through BB.

None of these shows are perfect. 70+ odd hours of TV vener will be, but they come close to it.

[garbon]

I still haven't gone back to the wire after season 1. Wasn't that interesting, though I know as one offs I'd seen interesting episodes from later seasons.

[lustindarkness]

The Wife is recording The Blacklist, we've been watching that, pretty good for a NBC show. James Spader's character is pretty bad ass.

[Eddie Teach]

pretty good for a NBC show

Talk about damning with faint praise. 

This week's episode made me about ready to give up on it.

[lustindarkness]

Don't expect too much of it, it can entertain you for a while. Of course, I also watch Call of the Wildman and Gator Boys on Animal Planet . So I'll watch just about anything.