TV/Movies Megathread

[Josephus]

Back in my 20s I went to watch Fantasia after ingesting some shrooms. As one did when one's in their 20s.

[Darth Wagtaros]

I watched Bedknobs and Broomsticks every moment I could as a kid, think it was one of the first VHS tapes I rented.

Watching it again now can be a bit of a chore, but it is still mega good.

[The Minsky Moment]

The best part in the Napoleon comedy was when Scott has the French dragoons just haplessly circling the British square until they get shot down.  Scott seems to think that Napoleonic cavalry attacked infantry like the Plains Indians attacked the wagon train in the old TV shows (only without actually trying to hurt the guys in the square).

That's exactly what I thought when I saw that - Ridley Scott must have watched a ton of westerns.  I half expected to see Jimmy Stewart in a red coat firing a Winchester.

[celedhring]

Napoleon is one of those movies that while I didn't hate watching it, I still don't know what was the point. And I hope that it's not "Napoleon did everything he did because he was sexually obsessed with Josephine".

[Valmy]

Napoleon is one of those movies that while I didn't hate watching it, I still don't know what was the point. And I hope that it's not "Napoleon did everything he did because he was sexually obsessed with Josephine".

The movie implying that he returned from Egypt and escaped Elba because of Josephine was a little odd.

And the movie never really committed to giving another reason for why Napoleon did what he did. There was some diplomatic stuff, but it was very slight and never really seemed to go anywhere. Maybe in some directors cut they do more of that, but while it wasn't a bad movie I don't really feel the need to watch a 5 hour version or whatever.

[Neil]

Napoleon was a movie that didn't know what it was or what it was focusing on.  It wasn't really a character study of Napoleon, since so much of it was dramatized and fictionalized (and flanderized).  It wasn't a war movie, lavishing detail on the great battles of Napoleon, or even the ebbs and flows of politics.  It doesn't even seriously look at the relationship between Napoleon and Josephine, as the two of them are caricatures.  I wanted to like the movie, and I did enjoy some of the visuals, the pomp and circumstance of the whole thing.  But it just seemed to lack any kind of point or purpose that connected up the narrative.  Compared to Scott's other historical epics like Gladiator or Kingdom of Heaven, rather than focusing on a hero, his story, his accomplishments and his goals/ethos, building a myth, instead it was more interested in tearing the myth of that character down. 

I didn't hate watching it, but I doubt I'll rewatch it.

[Josquius]

Wait. What. Neil?

[grumbler]

Napoleon was a movie that didn't know what it was or what it was focusing on.  It wasn't really a character study of Napoleon, since so much of it was dramatized and fictionalized (and flanderized).  It wasn't a war movie, lavishing detail on the great battles of Napoleon, or even the ebbs and flows of politics.  It doesn't even seriously look at the relationship between Napoleon and Josephine, as the two of them are caricatures.  I wanted to like the movie, and I did enjoy some of the visuals, the pomp and circumstance of the whole thing.  But it just seemed to lack any kind of point or purpose that connected up the narrative.  Compared to Scott's other historical epics like Gladiator or Kingdom of Heaven, rather than focusing on a hero, his story, his accomplishments and his goals/ethos, building a myth, instead it was more interested in tearing the myth of that character down. 

I didn't hate watching it, but I doubt I'll rewatch it.

Who the hell are you?

[Valmy]

Napoleon was a movie that didn't know what it was or what it was focusing on.

Yeah. Like it started with Marie Antoinette being executed and had Napoleon there in person. Why? What was the point of that? Was the idea that witnessing that influenced Napoleon to want to be authoritarian or something? Why was the execution moved to before Napoleon was at Toulon, when Napoleon was in the south with the army at the time?

Just some very specific artistic choices made that were not historical for no clear reason. And That is just the beginning, so many scenes have this same kind of puzzling decision making.

It looked kind of cool though, despite Napoleon looking 50 instead of 23 or whatever he was.

[Josquius]

Saw the first ep of the reboot of gladiators. Loved that show as a kid. Amusing family fun.


Interestingly one of the old presenters, ulrika Johnson, was in the press moaning about how woke the reboot is ergo rubbish . And well, it is super diverse yes. And a contestant on the first episode was openly gay. They're giving the weights of gladiators in stones though so... Not totally in the 21st century.

Funnily later in that interview this ex host whinged about how the remake  has two male hosts and no women. Woke is only bad when someone else benefits you see.

[Sheilbh]

On reality TV - second season of the Traitors as good as the first.

And yet again there's a strong middle aged woman with a regional accent for The Gays to rally behind

[Savonarola]

Suzhou River (2000)

The second film by Lou Ye, this is sort of a quirky Indie film with a slow pace and a lot of scenes of characters staring off into space.  It reminded me of Wong Kar-Wai, but stylistically different and Ye's primary theme is obsession rather than incomplete relationships.  The story seems mundane (motorbike courier gets mixed up with the mob and kidnaps a girl which he had a crush on; after the ransom is paid she runs off and jumps off a bridge, her body is never found, courier goes to jail and sees a girl who looks exactly like the one who jumped off the bridge; are they actually the same person, or do they all look alike?) but the censors didn't think so.  The film was banned and Ye was banned from making films for two years.

Spring Fever (2009)

Made after Ye was coming off yet another ban, this film seems like a big FU to the censors.  Woman suspects here husband is having an affair and she hires an out of work photographer to follow them around.  It turns out the man is having an utterly torrid affair with another man.  The woman is devastated, the photographer tries to remain objective, but how long can he hold out before being driven into the exhilarating madness of the affair? and will his girlfriend understand?  The film wasn't banned, so maybe the Chinese censors are more open to homosexuality and drag than I would have thought.

[Syt]

In S4 of Cheers, Nancy Cartwright (now mostly known as the voice of Bart Simpson) shows up as girlfriend of psycho killer Andy-Andy. Later in the season there's a brief appearance by a character called Bert Simpson ...

Also, the episode she appears in is called "Diane's Nightmare." A few episodes earlier we met Woody's hometown sweetheart Beth, played by Amanda Wyss who a year earlier appeared in - A Nightmare on Elm Street (you may recall her getting slashed while stuck to the ceiling of her bedroom).

COINCIDENCE?

[viper37]

I can't remember if I posted about this series before.

Warrior.  Coming from an 8 page Bruce Lee concept he wrote that became Kung Fu with David Carridine because the studio execs didn't think a tv show with an Asian lead could work.

His daughter has partnered with Justin Lin (Fast and Furious franchise) to produce the series.  The lead actor really channels Bruce Lee.

This is a clip of season 2.  Probably the best fight of the series, but there's a ton of fights in this series and a lot of dark humour.

It is set in San Francisco during the Thong Wars, when the Chinese gangs were going at each others and there were lots of racism due to Chinese workers being employed at low wages compared to Irish and other white workers.  The historical background make it quite interesting to watch, on top of the fight scenes.

The series was on HBO Max, soon to be on Netflix for the 3 seasons so far.  HBO has cancelled the series, there is hope that it will do well on Netflix and that a 4th season will be announced.

[Josquius]

I struggle with kung fu movies these days. CGI has killed even low CGI action for me.
Though that does sound like something that would have teenage me excited so shall hunt it out