TV/Movies Megathread

[crazy canuck]

The Expanse. [spoiler]Kinda sucks that Alex's death didn't merit screen time.[/spoiler]

They had no choice. [spoiler]A lot of the shots based around his death were re-shoots and shot after the season had effectively wrapped. They weren't exactly about to call the actor up again and offer him a chance for more work... [/spoiler]

I had wait what just happened moment and had to rewind, or whatever we call going back now.

[Tamas]

https://deadline.com/2020/06/the-expanse-star-cas-anvar-investigation-sexual-misconduct-allegations-1202971689/

Oh, right, thanks

[Savonarola]

1.)  CB and I were discussing this last night and we decided that Courier Font works well for manifestos as well as its primary purpose: enemies lists.

And what about movie scripts? 

I don't know, I've never written a movie script. 

[Savonarola]

I saw a documentary about Alice Guy-Blache (The Lost Garden: The Life and Cinema of Alice Guy-Blaché).  She was the first woman to direct a film and, in fact, one of the first directors since she started in 1896.  She was (probably) the only woman director for film's first director (the documentary kept insisting on the first 17 years of film, but I believe Dorothy Weber was making films as early as 1908.)

She made about 700 films, only about 50 survive.  They only showed brief excerpts from her films and even then had pretentious film historians plead for special consideration of her films.  (There is some justice to this, as she worked only until about 1919 and most films before 1915 had very different conventions than what we are used to - but they showed so little of her work that it would be hard to notice that.)  She moved to the United States and established her own studio in New Jersey when that was the film capital of the world; then everyone moved to Hollywood, her studio went bankrupt and her husband ran off with one of her actresses.  She returned to France and had difficulties even finding a proper publisher for her memoirs.  (Her contribution to cinema was eventually recognized and she was awarded the Légion d'honneur, putting her in the same distinguished company as Jerry Lewis.  )

[The Larch]

1.)  CB and I were discussing this last night and we decided that Courier Font works well for manifestos as well as its primary purpose: enemies lists.

And what about movie scripts? 

I don't know, I've never written a movie script. 

So about lists of enemies... 

[Grey Fox]

I've watched 1 and a half season of Breaking Bad. When does it get interesting? It is so slow.

[Admiral Yi]

I've watched 1 and a half season of Breaking Bad. When does it get interesting? It is so slow.

I really don't get it either.

[garbon]

Yeah I gave up about then.

[The Larch]

I quit at the start of the 3rd season myself.

[Syt]

I enjoyed Breaking Bad a lot, but I went in with no expectations. My main criticism would be that the series relies a lot on "how will they get out of this?" situations. The first season is IMHO by far the weakest as the series didn't quite know where to go yet, and how much comedic elements it wanted to have. I do think Better Call Saul is overall a lot better, though the first two season was also a tad aimless.

[Josquius]

Yeah, I saw Breaking Bad back when it was fairly new. I think series 2 or 3 had just finished when I started. I'd heard a bit of hype around about it being pretty good and gave it a go; yup, it checks out.
This was of course back in the days when this sort of HBO movie quality TV was still fairly new and novel.
Personally I loved the first few series, I'm glad I didn't watch when it was brand new as it was truly bingable stuff.

[Admiral Yi]

I agree Better Call Saul is better.  I went into Breaking Bad with yuge expectations.  The fact that Breaking Bad is the Gobi Desert when it comes to eye candy certainly doesn't help.

[Syt]

Yeah, I saw Breaking Bad back when it was fairly new. I think series 2 or 3 had just finished when I started. I'd heard a bit of hype around about it being pretty good and gave it a go; yup, it checks out.
This was of course back in the days when this sort of HBO movie quality TV was still fairly new and novel.
Personally I loved the first few series, I'm glad I didn't watch when it was brand new as it was truly bingable stuff.

That's a good point. I didn't watch it until the series was finished and could just binge it (which I did).

[Duque de Bragança]

As part of an ongoing Heroic Fantasy/Sword and Sorcery cycle:

Hawk the Slayer (1980)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080846

British low-budget [spoiler]those mattes![/spoiler] attempt at defining a soon to be born genre with Conan the Barbarian (1982) or even possibly Excalibur (1981).

Interestingly enough, the movie was renamed Voltan the Barbarian in some countries, following the success of the above mentioned Heroic Fantasy Classic. The antagonist Voltan being played by an overacting Jack Palance while the rest of the British cast is restrained. The only other US actor being the stoic hero, often wooden unfortunately.
Action sequences really have an old-fashioned, read amateur, feeling [spoiler]crossbow/bow repetitive action yikes[/spoiler], with a punchy kitsch electro-disco-orchestral-morriconesque stereo soundtrack.
Obvious Tolkien, Star Wars, Samurai or even Chambara film influences for a family-oriented film (here lies the problem?) but not always in an interesting way.
Very entertaining in a so-bad-it's good way though, with some scenes which have to be seen and heard to be believed.

Available on Blu-ray in the UK for cheap, the transfer is pretty good for a film shot in not exactly sun bright British woods with diffused light and filters (not to Lucio Fulci's Conquest level thankfully).

Mostly known nowadays for this punchline: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTDt5PuETLA

[Syt]

I need to check out The Archer: Fugitive from the Empire. Loved that movie when I was a kid.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082027/