TV/Movies Megathread

[Ed Anger]

With luck, they'll use the Gwen Stefani track as a theme song!

[Neil]

Fucking hell
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/nov/19/its-a-wonderful-life-sequel

It's the downside to copyright expiry.  Schmucks get to fuck with the classics.

There's nothing especially wrong with that.  It's the way it should be.  The public should take care of shunning this abomination.

[Eddie Teach]

Jackson's Kong was perfect. I would never support another remake.

How about a King Kong vs. Godzilla remake?

[Eddie Teach]

Saw 4 minutes of Movie 43. Long enough to see Hugh Jackman with a pair of prosthetic balls hanging down his neck.

[lustindarkness]

I've made it to seaon 2 episode 10 of The Walking Dead, and to page 71 (end of Feb 2012) in this thread for TWD comments.

[viper37]

I've made it to seaon 2 episode 10 of The Walking Dead, and to page 71 (end of Feb 2012) in this thread for TWD comments.

Only 885 pages to go!

[lustindarkness]

I've made it to seaon 2 episode 10 of The Walking Dead, and to page 71 (end of Feb 2012) in this thread for TWD comments.

Only 885 pages to go!

216 pages to go , default

[viper37]

Revenge
I finally got it.  If I am to watch this show on fast forward, why do I bother?  So, it's the end of it.  Give me a medal of sommink

Almost Human
Watched the first 2 episodes.  Figure Hawaii 5-0, NCIS:LA but with a sci-fi setting instead of beach and sun and that's about it.

Marvel Shield
It seems to have gone a little better in the last two weeks.  Still well below average, imho.

Black Sails
Gotcha.  It only starts on January 25th   Looks to be good, probably similar to Spartacus in style, as this is from Starz too.  Hopefully, some Canadian network will carry it.

[Eddie Teach]

Marvel Shield
It seems to have gone a little better in the last two weeks.  Still well below average, imho.

Eh, the average show is completely unwatchable, so it's a bit above average.

[Scipio]

I think that SHIELD keeps getting better.

Peter MacNicol in the most recent episode is gravy for the supergeek.

[Savonarola]

The Spiders (1919)

Fritz Lang's earliest surviving film stars Carl de Vogt as the irrepressible Kay Hoog, millionaire adventurer.  This was supposed to be a four part serial, but only the first two parts were made.  The first one is like an Indiana Jones adventure; Kay travels to the land of the Inca where he finds a fortune in gold; but a sinister organization, the Spiders, are close on his tail.  Kay barely survives his encounter, and leaves with none of the gold; but he does rescue a priestess and finds that love is the greatest treasure of all.   

The second film starts to turn into Lang's more famous serial, Dr. Mabuse.  The Spiders are back (with just the beer light to guide them) but this time they have masters of telepathy and hypnosis.

The evil genius who leads the Spiders is a woman, Lio Sha (Ressel Orla.)  She wears a spider broach similar to one that my wife has...

[lustindarkness]

I've made it to seaon 2 episode 10 of The Walking Dead, and to page 71 (end of Feb 2012) in this thread for TWD comments.

And we watched two more. One more episode and we will be done with season 2. And it seems to be a good one.

[Capetan Mihali]

The second film starts to turn into Lang's more famous serial, Dr. Mabuse.

I enjoyed the first installment of Der Spieler.  The beginning is particularly memorable where Mabuse lambastes his assistant for sniffing cocaine on his lunch break.

[dps]

Fucking hell
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/nov/19/its-a-wonderful-life-sequel

What the fuck!

Fuck you, ZOMG KING KONG REBOOT #3.  You're the assfucks this shit is targeted at.

Jackson's Kong was perfect. I would never support another remake.

Jackson's version was meh, and not as good as the original, though it was certainly better than the 70's version, the only thing about which was good was Jessica Lange topless.

[CountDeMoney]

FADE OUT

Syd Field, Author of the Definitive Work on Writing Screenplays, Is Dead at 77
By WILLIAM YARDLEY

The term "plot point" appeared in The New York Times fewer than 10 times during the century or so before 1979. Since then, it has appeared more than 200 times.

It happens that 1979 was the year Syd Field published "Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting," a book that over the next three decades became widely regarded as the "bible" of screenwriting, the paperback enabler of Hollywood dreams.

"Screenplay" has sold millions of copies; been translated into more than a dozen languages; served as a reference for James Cameron, Judd Apatow, Tina Fey, Frank Darabont and scores of other successful screenwriters; and inspired plenty of sneers from those who insist that art is born of inspiration, not what Mr. Field, who died on Sunday at 77, argued in "Screenplay" is the crucial stuff of a good screenplay: plot points.

Surrounded by Act I, also known as "the beginning" or "the setup," and Act III, also known as "the ending" or "the resolution," plot points are Act II, the moving middle, the decisive developments that propel characters through events dramatic, tragic, comic, nuanced or outrageous. Mr. Field liked the way they kept things rolling in "Chinatown." And as he updated his book over the years, he had kind words for "Thelma & Louise," "The Matrix" and the Tom Cruise vehicle "Collateral."

See for yourself, he would say. Go the movies and look for decisive points of action about 20 to 30 minutes into a film, then look again about 90 minutes into the film.

"It's an excellent exercise," he wrote. "The more you do it, the easier it gets. Pretty soon it will be ingrained in your consciousness; you'll grasp the essential nature of the relationship between structure and story. "

Many people took his advice, even some who might have initially been reluctant to. Mr. Cameron said "Screenplay" helped persuade him to make films. Mr. Apatow recommended it often. Ms. Fey was the head writer for "Saturday Night Live" but struggled writing the script of her 2004 comedy, "Mean Girls." Then she picked up "Screenplay."

"Just to keep a story moving forward was all new to me," she told The Times in 2004.

"I did a million drafts," she added. "And I did the thing everybody does. I read Syd Field and I used my index cards."

Sydney Alvin Field was born on Dec. 19, 1935, in Hollywood. His wife, Aviva, said he died at his home in Beverly Hills. The cause was hemolytic anemia. In addition to his wife, survivors include his daughter, Lisa Arcos, and a brother, Dr. Morton Field.

Mr. Field acted while majoring in literature at the University of California, Berkeley. Then, at the suggestion of one of his instructors, the filmmaker Jean Renoir, he entered film school at the University of California, Los Angeles.

An uncle, Sol Halprin, the Academy Award-winning head of the camera department at 20th Century Fox, helped him find a job at the television company Wolper Productions. Mr. Field started in the shipping department but eventually helped produce the company's documentary series "Biography," hosted by Mike Wallace.

He eventually left to pursue his dream: writing screenplays of his own. Yet while he did write original work, including scripts for television shows like "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." and "Batman," he never had a hit of his own. Over time, while writing reviews of screenplays and reading thousands of poorly conceived works submitted to another production company he worked for, he decided aspiring writers needed help.

He updated "Screenplay" several times and went on to write other books, including "Going to the Movies: A Personal Journey Through Four Decades of Modern Film."

Mr. Field taught at several major universities and served as a consultant to Hollywood studios. He once advised scientists, under the aegis of the Pentagon, on how to write screenplays to stir interest in science as a career. He was elected to the Screenwriting Hall of Fame of the American Screenwriting Association. Critics sometimes cast Mr. Field as teaching a formulaic approach to writing. Now computer programs that are fed story elements can churn out scripts in minutes — a development he detested.

"Syd was the pioneer of the study of the screenwriting form," said John Truby, a prominent writing teacher who sometimes taught seminars with Mr. Field. "He was the first to challenge the old romantic notion that writing a good script was a gift of divine intervention and instead showed that it comes from a craft that can be learned."

The license plate on Mr. Field's BMW: "PLOTPNT."