TV/Movies Megathread

[Ideologue]

That's because it's you.

Yeah, well, whatever.

I'm awfully tempted to get the Steven Spielberg blu-ray set Universal's putting out.  Jaws, sure, I'd like that; E.T., fine; Jurassic Park, right on, man... and, most importantly, motherfucking Duel.

Unfortunately, there are three films included that I haven't seen nor particularly care about.  These are 1941, Always, and Sugarland Express, which no one really discusses these days (1941 more than the others, though I'm not sure when they do they're proving the adage about how there's only one thing worse than being talked about).  And finally there's The Lost World, which I have seen, and... fuck that.  The real question is how Schindler's List and Munich get left out--they're Universal releases, and also movies that might make people give a shit.

Hell, I dunno.  Maybe there's somebody who's been waiting with as much excitement as I've been for Duel, but for Sugarland Express.  Honestly, it sounds like Bonnie and Clyde or Natural Born Killers--just another entry in the white-trash-criminals-have-a-joyless-adventure genre, without the cinematic importance to buoy it on one hand or the stylistic excess and media satire on the other.  I reckon it's better than Bonnie and Clyde, but that's not very hard to be.

I'm really hoping they offer a standalone of Duel at some point.  It's almost certain they will.  I think they did that with the new-to-blu-ray films they transferred for the Alfred Hitchcock collection, like Rope and even Topaz--apparently under the misapprehension that anyone would ever buy Topaz if they didn't have to.

[Ed Anger]

I fucking love 1941.

[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.