TV/Movies Megathread

[celedhring]

Thanks for this Sheilbh, I knew I could rely on you on this matter

The Thin Man movies, unsurprisingly, become less good the less the main characters drink. But Myrna Loy as socialite-turned-amateur-sleuth is my new classic movie star crush.

[Duque de Bragança]

Rewatched the other day Chuck Norris' magnum opus on 4K / UHD, Invasion U.S.A, courtesy of Vinegar Syndrom (take that Criterion Collection and your pedantic and sleep inducing profs ! ©Savonarola).

Joseph Zito, the director (Missing in Action, Red Scorpion, Friday the 13th IV: the Final Chapter), states in the extras he was not intending to make a work of art.

Yet, he later quotes or paraphrases (François)Truffaut

Smaller but better. Or possibly worse

. 

I guess that's why he was chosen by the Pentagon post 9/11 for an anti-terrorist task force:

https://www.thewrap.com/hollywood-pentagon-secret-9-11-summit-oliver-stone-dick-wolf-david-fincher/

The Entertainment Industry Task Force 

For some reason, the linked article mentions Friday the 13th: the Final Chapter. 

[Savonarola]

Thanks for this Sheilbh, I knew I could rely on you on this matter

The Thin Man movies, unsurprisingly, become less good the less the main characters drink.

True; they tried to resurrect the series a couple times (even going so far as a television series in the late 50s), but without the 30s level of drinking it just didn't work.

But Myrna Loy as socialite-turned-amateur-sleuth is my new classic movie star crush.

 

She and William Powell are electric.  I think she's in about 15 minutes of The Great Ziegfeld (playing Billie Burke^1. of all people) and she still had (and deserved) star billing.

1.)  Florence Ziegfeld's wife, but you know her as Glidna the Good Witch

[celedhring]

The amount of booze in the first movie is absurd, and it would raise eyebrows even today

It resides in that magical brief moment in time after the end of prohibition but before the Hays Code came into force.

I think it's my favorite, to be honest. The second has probably the best structured script and mystery (and a James Stewart minor role!), and a bigger budget, but the chaos and booze of the first one just won me over. The third is still fun, but you can see them slowing down and relying on more conventional comedy and plotting. I'm not sure whether to watch the 1940s ones.

 

[Josephus]

Funny thing about Agatha Christie is that I remember being a huge fan of her stuff, especially the Poirot novels, when I was a pre-teen.
A year or so ago, I was watching a PBS documentary on her by Lucy Warsley, and I thought, you know what, Josephus, maybe I should re-read those books.

So I started off with the aforementioned Mysterious Affair at Styles (Poirot's first case) and couldn't get past half of it. It was dry, really boring characters, etc etc.

I tried a few others but meh...couldn't get into them.

If you do read one, though, I do recommend The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (my favourite Poirot book,).

And then Curtains, Poirot's Last Case, has a neat little twist.

[Sheilbh]

If you're looking for that sort of golden age style detective story it's worth having a look at Pushkin Vertigo. I've really enjoyed some from there - particularly Japanese detective fiction which apparently still has a really thriving "golden age" tradition. The Honjin Murders, for example, was great.

Never really managed to get into Christie (or Dorothy Sayers). But I do enjoy the TV adaptations

[Barrister]

Funny thing about Agatha Christie is that I remember being a huge fan of her stuff, especially the Poirot novels, when I was a pre-teen.
A year or so ago, I was watching a PBS documentary on her by Lucy Warsley, and I thought, you know what, Josephus, maybe I should re-read those books.

So I started off with the aforementioned Mysterious Affair at Styles (Poirot's first case) and couldn't get past half of it. It was dry, really boring characters, etc etc.

I tried a few others but meh...couldn't get into them.

If you do read one, though, I do recommend The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (my favourite Poirot book,).

And then Curtains, Poirot's Last Case, has a neat little twist.

My mother was big into murder mysteries when I was a kid, so I would read some of hers as well.  Generally enjoyed Agatha Christie and the like.

Not sure I have a huge desire to go back to them.  But then again in general I have little interest in reading about crime these days if I don't have to.

[Jacob]

My favourite murder mysteries are Brother Cadfael mysteries... probably mostly because the mystery seem mostly like an excuse for a cozy slice of life story in a charming 1100s Shropshire or environs.

[Sheilbh]

My favourite murder mysteries are Brother Cadfael mysteries... probably mostly because the mystery seem mostly like an excuse for a cozy slice of life story in a charming 1100s Shropshire or environs.

Another great, Sunday afternoon TV series starring Derek Jacobi as Cadfael.

I do always find it slightly weird that the UK has a tradition of "comforting" Sunday evening shows about murders: Cadfael, Midsomer Murders (weirdly popular abroad), Rosemary and Thyme etc Exactly what you say. There's a killing, but it's in a lovely building/bit of countryside

[frunk]

Another great, Sunday afternoon TV series starring Derek Jacobi as Cadfael.

I do always find it slightly weird that the UK has a tradition of "comforting" Sunday evening shows about murders: Cadfael, Midsomer Murders (weirdly popular abroad), Rosemary and Thyme etc Exactly what you say. There's a killing, but it's in a lovely building/bit of countryside

This reminds of a quote from a book about bad Mysteries called Gun in Cheek by Bill Pronzini.

There is a certain civilized quality to British mysteries, particularly those published prior to 1960, that makes them a consistent pleasure to read.  Murder may strike, all sorts of nefarious things may happen, but the reader knows from the outset that justice and order will prevail in the end.  No matter how much blood is spilled in the building and byways of London, on isolated and legend-filled moors, in the wilds of Scotland, in stately and quite proper country homes, the essence of jolly old England remains inviolate--the last bastion of reason and tradition in a chaotic world.

I think there's a similar comfort to things being figured out and fixed even if the situation is ostensibly horrific.

[grumbler]

My favourite murder mysteries are Brother Cadfael mysteries... probably mostly because the mystery seem mostly like an excuse for a cozy slice of life story in a charming 1100s Shropshire or environs.

I used to listen to them on tape  when I was travelling long distance.  Great stories and, as you say, a convincing (though I have no idea how accurate) setting.  I was sorry when I'd finished all of them

[Josephus]

/quote]

Makes sense.

[Syt]

Had way too much of a laugh at a joke in Disenchantment. Prince Merkimer (a nobleman transformed into a pig, long story) is to perform in a stage play, but butts heads with the director.

Director: If you're not happy, they're casting for Pork Chop Number Two at the butcher shop.

Merkimer: Pork Chop Number Two? I'm no common cutlet, I'm a leading ham!

Which is actually quite funny because Merkimer is voiced by super-ham (and "Toast of London") Matt Berry.

[Savonarola]

The Music of Regret (2006)

This is directed photographer and artist Laurie Simmons; and based on a 1994 MOMA show.  Her work frequently features puppets and dolls; in this case the work is divided into three parts each supposed to tell a story of regret.  The first part is a puppet show, where one puppet gets a promotion which leads to bitterness between the puppet and his family and his puppet rival for the promotion and his family; tragedy and regret ensue.  The second part chronicles a love affair between Meryl Streep and a puppet (yes, really and yes with the real Meryl Streep.)  The final part is an audition which features dancing objects, like a dancing cupcake, or a dancing house (that is a dancer wearing a Cupcake costume similar to the Old Gold Cigarette commercials of yore:
 

Although the dancers in this case came from the Joffrey Ballet, so they're quite a bit better than the dancing cigarette box.)  I'm not really sure how the last part was supposed to fit in with the theme of regret, other than the final dancer is a watch; so maybe it's a time is fleeting (or, how about, dancing away.)

The film is probably a little to consciously "Arty" for it's own good; but I did like the part with Meryl Streep.  It would have been even better if they had gotten Jane Henson for that role (no idea if she can act) or maybe Candice Bergen.

[Josquius]

Randomly started a show on Netflix.
Scavengers reign.
2 eps in.... Seems surprisingly very good.
It's an adult animation. A serious Sci fi rather than a family guy clone.
About a bunch of people who for some reason have ended up  stranded on a weird alien planet.