TV/Movies Megathread

[The Brain]

Elaborate on the Finnish Civil War episode.

Satan is a red monk.  He uses the schoolhouse to deliver red lectures to workers.  One of his converts lusts after the wife of a white communication officer.  One of the older men he ordered executed has a daughter who joins the white army.  The red convert rats out the white communication officer.  The red irregulars seize the white officer's house.  Red convert tries to rape white officer's wife, but Satan stops him, for the time being.  The reds order the communication officer to send a telegraph that would lead his comrades into a trap.  He refuses.  They order the wife to do the same, threatening to kill her husband.  She refuses.  They drag him outside to be shot.  Satan says that if she doesn't cooperate he'll have her children executed.  She prays for strength to resist temptation, and, in the lull as they wait for the firing squad to return, she stealthily grabs a knife and stabs herself in the heart.  Just as her husband is about to be executed the white daughter shows up and threatens to hand grenade the red firing squad unless they surrender.  They surrender and the white army shows up.  They and the husband go back to the home, capture the reds but find it was too late to save the wife.  Long live Finland!

Civil war is not nice.

FCW hijack.

[celedhring]

That would have made it more like your run of the mill TV biopic. It was more interesting that way.

It was dramatic, not interesting.

I liked it, it wasn't the movie I expected, and in a good way. I already know of Thatcher's time and politics

You do rememeber that my point was that this movie could really only be enjoyed by people that already knew those things right?

No, because that isn't what the movie is about. As you say, the politics and history stuff take backseat in favor of personal stuff; her mental and physical twilight, how her career affected the relationship with her family. What's there for the Iron Lady once she's no longer the Iron Lady.

So instead of finding a movie telling me something I already knew, I found a movie looking at the character from a different light. As said, a pleasant surprise.

But you can only appreciate that character study because you already know the background story.  It assumes the viewer can make sense of the various vignettes of her career because they already know what is going on.  Without that background knowledge the movie would make little sense.

You have a point there, but I think it is germane from the filmmakers to expect that somebody who might be interested in a character study of Margaret Thatcher would be familiar with his public life and achievements.

Mind, it isn't a perfect film by any means and possibly a better balance could've been struck, but I liked what they tried to do and I believe it resulted in a better film than if they focused on chronicling his political struggles and achievements. There's probably lots of great documentaries that already do that.

[garbon]

His public life?

Btw, I had originally been interested in seeing it but stayed away because of what CC mentioned. I don't actually know much about her though given that she falls right in that gap not covered by school of history around when one was born.

[celedhring]

His public life?

Ooops, I just spoiled the surprise ending 

[garbon]

His public life?

Ooops, I just spoiled the surprise ending 

[Josephus]

His public life?

Ooops, I just spoiled the surprise ending 

wasn't that much of a surprise really.

[Scipio]

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is the longest continuous bridge passing over water, the waters of New Orleans's Lake Pontchartrain to be exact. The bridge is so long that for 8 of its 24 miles, you can't see land in any direction.

yowza

It's not that impressive, because the fucking Hwy 11 bridge is right there next to it.

[jimmy olsen]

To me the issue with Lena is that she has created this delusional world in which a fat homely girl is pursued by a never ending stream of normal looking or attractive men.  Also that she's fat and homely.

How is that different from all the sitcoms where fat morons are married to beautiful women.

[CountDeMoney]

To me the issue with Lena is that she has created this delusional world in which a fat homely girl is pursued by a never ending stream of normal looking or attractive men.  Also that she's fat and homely.

How is that different from all the sitcoms where fat morons are married to beautiful women.

We've bashed that premise as well.

[Tonitrus]

To me the issue with Lena is that she has created this delusional world in which a fat homely girl is pursued by a never ending stream of normal looking or attractive men.  Also that she's fat and homely.

How is that different from all the sitcoms where fat morons are married to beautiful women.

I've recently seen that phenomenon a fair number of times in real life.

[jimmy olsen]

Watched Avatar for the first time - Great special effects and cinematography, but it was basically Dances with Blue Cat People in Space. The Navi were laughably generic Native American stereotypes.

B

Watched Dredd - Great action scenes, acting and most importantly atmosphere. It really sold the bleak despair of the future and Megacity 1.

A 

[Josquius]

To me the issue with Lena is that she has created this delusional world in which a fat homely girl is pursued by a never ending stream of normal looking or attractive men.  Also that she's fat and homely.

How is that different from all the sitcoms where fat morons are married to beautiful women.

The never ending stream I guess. Lightning can strike once

[celedhring]

Watched Dredd - Great action scenes, acting and most importantly atmosphere. It really sold the bleak despair of the future and Megacity 1.

A

One of the surprises of the last year for me. I almost missed it assuming it would be just another crappy B-superhero film.

[Josquius]

Ｙｅａｈ，　ｉｔ　ｗａｓ　ｇｏｏｄ，　ｗｏｎｄｅｒ　ｉｆ　ｔｈｅｙ'ｌｌ　ｄｏ　ａｎｏｔｈｅｒ

[Josephus]

I repeat myself.

Shameless (US) is worth watching. This season's been great.

The lead actress is no Lena Dunham, but she's still worth watching.