TV/Movies Megathread

[viper37]

A better line of attack would be to point out that whatever the author of that text was talking about, it doesn't really match with the later iconography of the Devil.

What was the traditional representation of the Devil in Judaism, pre-Christianity?  (corrolary: did it change since the year '0' ?)

[Razgovory]

You know who that is right?

Uh, yeah, you been pushing that "Misquoting Jesus" for years now.

[Razgovory]

A better line of attack would be to point out that whatever the author of that text was talking about, it doesn't really match with the later iconography of the Devil.

What was the traditional representation of the Devil in Judaism, pre-Christianity?  (corrolary: did it change since the year '0' ?)

I don't think there is one.

[Savonarola]

Amy (2015)

You know the scene in "Snatch" where Brad Pitt gives a completely unintelligible monologue?  Well some joker decided to make an entire movie like that.   



Everyone's favorite train wreck of a star, the incomprehensible Amy Winehouse is the subject of this documentary.  It's an episode of "Behind the Music" without the final act in which the band cleans up and becomes high on life.  There's a lot of archival film and voice overs of the people who knew Amy.  The most interesting part is how her father tried to cash on her celebrity.  He had demanded (and received) cuts in the film because he felt it had portrayed him as too much of a villain.  The film still doesn't show him in a favorable light in any way; so what was in there originally must have really been bad.

[Savonarola]

I liked Dornan a lot in The Fall, but then again his character is pretty circumspect and emotionless in there.

I haven't seen The Fall.  I suspect that no one could have made the role of Christian Grey work; but learning that Jamie Dornan was a Calvin Klein underwear model proved too much for me to resist. 

He should be a shoe-in for actor slash male model of the year; but I'm afraid he'll lose male model of the year to Justin Trudeau.   

[Savonarola]

Did it have vampires?

No, in the original fanfic "Christian Grey" is Edward Cullen.  I don't know if he was a vampire when EL James first wrote it or if he's a non-vampiric Edward Cullen.  That's one mystery that I'm happy to leave unsolved.

[The Brain]

Saw 2 movies Saturday: Moby Dick (Gregory Peck as Ahab) and 2010: Moby Dick (Barry Bostwick as Ahab). The old one is still great, I love the Pecker. It's easy to completely dismiss 2010: Moby Dick as ridiculous, and of course it largely is. However, on a very basic level they're true to the story and they use a lot of Melville references and use many lines from the book. A person who knows nothing about Moby Dick and who watches the movie will come away with a basic understanding of the story and recognize the names of the characters. There are certainly movies that are a LOT worse than 2010: Moby Dick.

[celedhring]

State of Play - one of those political thrillers that tell a rather trite story, and try to dress it up with a bunch of twists and turns and over-laboring everything.

[Savonarola]

The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared (2015)

Swedish film based on a novel by Jonas Jonasson about a, well, 100 year old man who climbs out of the window of his retirement home and disappears.  As he's on the run he ends up with a suitcase filled with 50 million Krona and a gang of bikers in pursuit.  At the same time he reflects on his life, and all the important events he's bumbled through (the Spanish Civil War, the Manhattan Project, a Soviet Gulag and the cold war.)  The film is a dark comedy on which most of the humor relies on people dying suddenly.  I thought it was funny, but it's not going to be for everyone.

The film was nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling (which it lost to Mad Max.)  Robert Gustafsson had to go through several hours of being made up for the scenes where he was 100.

[Malthus]

Saw Zootopia on the weekend, with the kid; everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. Anecdotally, this film looks like it's on its way to making a mint of cash - every showing that day was sold out in the theatre I went to.

Anyway, it has all the basics down pat: it's a Disney film, so the animation is of course excellent, but also it has appealingly well-developed characters and a plot with some genuine twists (not always guaranteed with Disney products). Not as innovative as last year's Inside Out, but probably has wider audience appeal.

Not for the younger kids though - there were some toddlers in the audience that had to be taken out at the showing I was at, with the screaming meemies. Too intense in places, with some frightening imagery and situations.

The movie is, no doubt, perfect (or is that furpect?  ) for furries. 

[Norgy]

The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared (2015)

Swedish film based on a novel by Jonas Jonasson about a, well, 100 year old man who climbs out of the window of his retirement home and disappears.  As he's on the run he ends up with a suitcase filled with 50 million Krona and a gang of bikers in pursuit.  At the same time he reflects on his life, and all the important events he's bumbled through (the Spanish Civil War, the Manhattan Project, a Soviet Gulag and the cold war.)  The film is a dark comedy on which most of the humor relies on people dying suddenly.  I thought it was funny, but it's not going to be for everyone.

The film was nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling (which it lost to Mad Max.)  Robert Gustafsson had to go through several hours of being made up for the scenes where he was 100.

It was excellent, in my opinion. He kind of loses his shit when the cat's taken by a fox.

A cute, feel-good movie.

[Josquius]

Yes. I saw it a few months ago. Pretty good. Struck me as some kind of bastard offshoot of Amelie, Forest Gump and Snatch

[Capetan Mihali]

Did it have vampires?

No, in the original fanfic "Christian Grey" is Edward Cullen.  I don't know if he was a vampire when EL James first wrote it or if he's a non-vampiric Edward Cullen.  That's one mystery that I'm happy to leave unsolved.

I just missed Nosferatu (Murnau's) at the theater with live accompaniment tonight.   But I did finally mail back the DVD of Caligari to my friend (now in California) 5 years after I borrowed it, without ever watching it, seeing the movie six months ago on the big screen instead.

[Savonarola]

I just missed Nosferatu (Murnau's) at the theater with live accompaniment tonight.

There's a lot of bad prints of Nosferatu out there.  All the ones that I've seen that refer to the lead characters as John and Mina Harker (rather than Hutter and Elen) have been awful.  (Presumably if it was accompanied by a professional orchestra it had a decent print.)

But I did finally mail back the DVD of Caligari to my friend (now in California) 5 years after I borrowed it, without ever watching it, seeing the movie six months ago on the big screen instead.

If you get a chance see "The Doll" directed by Ernst Lubitsch.  While the tone is about the opposite of Caligari; you can see the same sort of stylized stagey-ness was already part of the German film lexicon before Caligari.

[Eddie Teach]

Saw season 2 of The 100. The last 5 minutes took a really weird turn.