TV/Movies Megathread

[Ideologue]

I think I did catch the ending of it once, long ago, and it seemed okay.  But I've never seen the whole picture.

I might check these things out, because if they're any good, Lost World aside, the price is right and I REALLY WANT Duel, which is very possibly--hell, probably--the best car chase film made until Death Proof.  Maybe not in terms of technical prowess (that'd likely be Gone in 60 Seconds '74), but it also functions as one of my favorite thrillers, too.

[Ideologue]

Oh, and speaking of new discs, I received today and yesterday:

The Double--one of 2014's great movies
2010: The Year We Made Contact--so deeply in Kubrick's shadow, but a more than worthy film, if not a fully worthy sequel
Dial M For Murder--obscenely priced, but, as I've said, Hitchcock's second best film of the 26 or so I've seen; and, hey, maybe if I befriend someone with a 3D TV I can get the full use out of it
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein--Kenneth Branagh is an American treasure
The Royal Tenenbaums--caught the Criterion for $20; Rushmore was $22, sad to say, and it's not Dial M, so I'll just wait till November

Tried to get To Catch a Thief, but someone stole the last immediately available copy from my very shopping cart.  Maybe next week.

[mongers]

'The Zero Theorem' - pretty thin fare, especially from the director of Brazil.   

[Kleves]

I watched the new Amazon Pilot Hand of God starring Ron Perlman. It wants to be a Breaking Bad/True Detective kind of thing. I am not sure it will get there, but I did enjoy the pilot, and if it gets picked up I will give it a watch.

[celedhring]

Since we were talking the other day of governments offering tax breaks to big Hollywood productions to shoot in their countries, Australia has just approved a $20m one for Disney to shoot Pirates of the Caribbean 5 there.

Now, that's the kind of huge amount I'm not sure they'll recoup.

[Eddie Teach]

It's not just the money they spend there, it's also advertising.

[jimmy olsen]

Some pretty cool behind the scene shots of major films

https://imgur.com/gallery/TI1m2

[Syt]

Some pretty cool behind the scene shots of major films

https://imgur.com/gallery/TI1m2

Possibly my favorite Planet of the Apes photo.

[Liep]

This one gives me the chills

[Josquius]

That is awesome.

[celedhring]

My favorite The Shining behind the scenes photo is this:

[Ideologue]

It Came From Outer Space (1953).   An interstellar incident with both sides to blame, but seen through self-loathing eyes; an allegory for overcoming intolerance, marketed largely upon its horror elements.  Like capitalism, it continues to fail to collapse under its own internal contradictions; unlike capitalism, it is pretty darned good.  Happy Labor Day!

Cardboard Science: No, Ray, I fear the spider because I do understand it

A

So I've been feeling better, and I've started a Jack Arnold 1950s retrospective.  You may or may not know the name, but he's done a lot of SF stuff you've heard of, and competes--probably beats--George Pal as the most important SF director of the decade (unless you count Fred Wilcox or Robert Wise as "important SF directors," which may be true in Wise's case).  He helmed Creature From the Black Lagoon, Tarantula, and The Incredible Shrinking Man, amongst others, as well some Westerns that sound really cool and I intend on taking a look at as well, and of course my recent personal fave, The Glass Web.

Creature's next.

[CountDeMoney]

Creature From the Black Lagoon was an all-time favorite of mine as a kid on Saturday afternoons;  the local TV station would make a special broadcast of it for Halloween in 3-D, and the 3-D glasses were available at participating stores.

[Ideologue]

I think it's my third favorite Universal Horror movie from the big eight (counting Phantom '25 as the real Phantom and not the homoerotic comedy one from '43 that Universal insists upon in their collected editions--because apparently people who like movies from the 30s hate silent films?).  Hard to say--individually, it's better than Frankenstein or Bride of, but combined those movies are better, if that makes sense.

If you don't count Phantom '25 (or Frankenstein: Vols. I and II as a single unit), it's my second, after the unimpeachable Invisible Man.

[Syt]

Saw Guardians of the Galaxy at the imax last night.

Fun, fast paced, irreverent roller coaster ride - 8.5/10 on first viewing. I'm curious to see if it holds up on multiple viewings. A beautifully bizarre ride (though a passing familiarity with Marvel's space setting helps in finding your bearings - not required, though).

I went into this expecting a tone similar to Firefly. I was wrong.

During the movie I found that the movie's tone reminded me A LOT of classic Farscape episodes. Which, for me, was a very good thing.

For most of the story you could easily replace Quill with his loose mouth and pop culture references with Crichton. The serious warrior chick who used to work for the enemy and joins the heroes? Aeryn Sun. The proud, honorable warrior with a tragic family history? Ka D'Argo. The pint sized big mouth mostly looking out for #1? Rigel (if Rigel wasn't a coward most of the time). The monomaniacal adversary who'll do anything to destroy his arch enemy? Scorpius (though Scorpi isn't quite as uptight as Ronan). Can't quite place Groot, though. Zhann, maybe ([spoiler]she was a plant, too and sacrificed herself for the crew [/spoiler]- and she was the "good person" who was the moral compass)?

I'm not sure how many of the characters are older than Farscape, so there might be a hen/egg situation here.