TV/Movies Megathread

[viper37]

than an out-and-out race against the clock suspense.

I never felt that watching Homeland.  I found it quite the opposite actually, very, very slow pace.

[Savonarola]

The TAMI Show (1964)



This is a legendary concert video featuring a who's who of rock and R&B performing artists from 1964.  The house band is none other than The Wrecking Crew; (Phil Spector's band in the "Wall of Sound" years as well as the backing band on a number of other west coast musicians.)

This was made in the middle of the British invasion, shortly after the civil rights bill had been signed and in an era where Rock and Roll was still considered music for teenagers; (college students were more likely listen to jazz or folk.)  The audience was taken from the local high schools in Santa Monica and they scream and scream and scream throughout.

The acts were:

Chuck Berry was the opening number; he nearly derailed the show on his own.  The day of the show, a Sunday, he demanded to be paid in cash or money order before he would go on.  That wasn't so easy to do on a Sunday in 1964; but the show had big enough backers that they were able to do that.

Gerry and the Pacemakers played concurrently with Chuck, starting off with their version of "Maybellene."  One of the Wrecking Crew, and impossibly young and short-haired Leon Russell was on stage with them.

Next came out Smokey Robinson and the Miracles followed by Marvin Gaye and the Blossoms.  One of the Blossoms, Darlene Love, would go on to have a solo career of her own.  Some of the Motown road band played with them (and later with The Supremes.)  They were off camera, though.

The queen of teenage female angst, Leslie Gore, was on next.  In the commentary the director, Steve Binder, speculated that Leslie could have probably had even more hits had she not quit show business to go to college.  She was quite short; that's really brought out when she stands next to Jan and Dean.

Jan and Dean were both hosts for the show as well as an act.  They had little skits throughout the show.  One of their songs, "Sidewalk Surfin'" was "Catch a Wave" with lyrics about skateboarding.  Binder speculated that had Jan not been in the car accident they might have been much bigger stars, they were just getting ready to make a movie when that happened.

The Beach Boys follow Jan and Dean.  Even though Brian doesn't usually sing lead you can tell he's the band leader just in the way he stands out from everyone else.  (Even so Dennis was the real star as far as the girls were concerned.)  This would be one of the last live appearances of the original members Beach Boys and Brian would suffer his first nervous breakdown later that year and wouldn't perform live with them again for nearly twenty years.

Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas were on next; not only were all their hits, except "Little Children," written by Lennon and McCartney; John Lennon gave Billy J. Kramer his stage name.

The Supremes followed.  It struck me that Mary Wilson did have a lot of stage presence.  She didn't have Diana's voice, or those really big eyes, but it's not so much a surprise that they were able to soldier on after Diana Ross went solo.

The Barbarians were on next; they were a garage band out of Cape Cod who dressed like pirates, wore sandals and were led by a one armed drummer.  They have a couple songs on the compilation "Nuggets" but never really went anywhere.  It's too bad; they would have been the coolest band ever.

The hardest working man in show business, James Brown, was up next.  His performance is amazing, even by the standards of James Brown he was on fire that night.

The Rolling Stones close out the show.  Keith Richards said that following James Brown was the biggest mistake of their career.  Watching Mick Jagger try to dance after James Brown and the Famous Flames is indescribably sad.     Still they put on a decent show.  Jan announced that they were "Five Lads from Liverpool" at the show (this being the middle of the British Invasion, everyone was from Liverpool.)  They re-recorded the line to "Five Lads from London Town" in post production.

It's a great show and a must see for anyone interested in that phase of Rock and Roll or Rhythm and Blues.

[garbon]

G.B.F

I'm loving see Megan Mullay supporting (being supported by?) these kinda low rent gay teen comedies.

[Ideologue]

To Be Or Not To Be (1942).  They could've killed Hitler!  But they didn't?  A fun comedy-thriller-propaganda thing by Ernst Lubitsch.

B+

[Josephus]

than an out-and-out race against the clock suspense.

I never felt that watching Homeland.  I found it quite the opposite actually, very, very slow pace.

They dragged it out a bit but the last couple episodes of Season 1 were pretty suspenseful

[Josquius]

I've started watching the fargo tv series. It is really rather good. I didn't recognize Martin Freeman at first, he does a good job.

[Ideologue]

Scanners (1981).  So great.  Someone asked, so I'll say that there was nothing wrong with the Criterion BD, colors-wise, as far as I could tell.  (Bearing in mind that the other times I've seen Scanners have been on Youtube. )  It looked good, though; real good.  The box is a fucking treasure in itself (not unlike Criterion's Videodrome release).  Fantastic movie and a fantastic presentation overall.

It also comes with Cronenberg's first feature film, Stereo, which I haven't seen, but to which I am looking forward.  I wonder if Shivers will get a Criterion disc by itself or if it'll be a feature on The Brood.

A+

[celedhring]

The Grandmaster (2013). Wong Kar Wai does wuxia, what's not to like? This is the biopic of the guy that eventually trained Bruce Lee and that's a bit of a folk hero in China. Despite being based on a real character, this is classic wuxia, with over the top fight scenes and a lot of the genre tropes.

It's a strange film, an In The Mood for Love where people also come to blows. The main drive is the romance between the (married) protagonist and the daughter of the grandmaster of a rival martial arts school, with the backdrop of WWII and the post-war. It's narrated very much in Wai's hyperstylized yet intimate style, which you may love (I do), or hate. He also attempts to apply it to the martial arts scenes, which are narrated in a very intimate way that probably works a bit against the flamboyant wuxia choreography. Lots of close-ups and attention to the characters faces and reactions - I liked it, to be honest, it's certainly unique.

As a curiosity, the Chinese mainland (this is an HK film) also produced another flick about the same character, depicting some of the very same events, with a pretty over the top nationalistic bent.

[Ideologue]

It's narrated very much in Wai's hyperstylized yet intimate style, which you may love (I do), or hate. He also attempts to apply it to the martial arts scenes, which are narrated in a very intimate way that probably works a bit against the flamboyant wuxia choreography. Lots of close-ups and attention to the characters faces and reactions - I liked it, to be honest, it's certainly unique.

It's exactly why I hated it, yes.   It's practically chaos cinema.  (With some pretty gorgeous exceptions where Wong steps back and lets shit happen.)  The story is also atrocious, the storytelling moreso, with important events that are 1000% more interesting than anything seen on screen being related by title card, not just anticlimactically but in a manner calculated to destroy climaxes to come.

Funny, though, I liked 2046 and In the Mood For Love.  Maybe because those movies didn't place demands that Wong's style couldn't satisfy?

[celedhring]

It's narrated very much in Wai's hyperstylized yet intimate style, which you may love (I do), or hate. He also attempts to apply it to the martial arts scenes, which are narrated in a very intimate way that probably works a bit against the flamboyant wuxia choreography. Lots of close-ups and attention to the characters faces and reactions - I liked it, to be honest, it's certainly unique.

It's exactly why I hated it, yes.   It's practically chaos cinema.  (With some pretty gorgeous exceptions where Wong steps back and lets shit happen.)  The story is also atrocious, the storytelling moreso, with important events that are 1000% more interesting than anything seen on screen being related by title card, not just anticlimactically but in a manner calculated to destroy climaxes to come.

Funny, though, I liked 2046 and In the Mood For Love.  Maybe because those movies didn't place demands that Wong's style couldn't satisfy?

Aye, I agree that Wai's narrative talents are probably a mismatch for this kind of film. He ignores some important events (like pretty much all the Japanese occupation) to jump to smaller ones or even just vignettes that interest him more. It works well on his romance films, but it's awkward in this one. Again, I liked it probably because how much different it is to your regular wuxia flick, but I concede it's definitely an acquired taste.

The story makes sense if you approach it as the tale of why Ip and Gong can't be together, which is a Wong Kar Wai staple.

[LaCroix]

re-watching the sopranos. i forgot just how good its first season was, some technical issues and AJ aside

[celedhring]

Also, Ide, I suppose you watched the butchered American version, right? The one I saw is the regular one, which is 20 minutes longer and I read fleshes out stuff that it's explained through title cards in the yank one.

[Ideologue]

Well, I saw it in the theaters.  I've considered revisiting it with the longer cut.  I might get around to it one of these days.  I'm dubious as to whether it restores enough to make the whole endeavor worthwhile--but I'm also aware that it is almost certainly at least better.

[dps]

To Be Or Not To Be (1942).  They could've killed Hitler!  But they didn't?  A fun comedy-thriller-propaganda thing by Ernst Lubitsch.

B+

Much better than the Mel Brooks remake.

[Ideologue]

I think that's in my Mel Brooks Collection, but I haven't watched it.  (Iirc, he just stars, but did not direct or write.)

Watched half of Weekend.  Am taking a break before tackling the other.  Jesus fucking Christ.