TV/Movies Megathread

[garbon]

We're that considerate!

[CountDeMoney]

Not like that Ideologue. 

[katmai]

He's a right cunt.

[Darth Wagtaros]

21 Jump Street was crap. 

[Ideologue]

Not like that Ideologue. 

WTF did I do?  All my posts about Django were properly redacted.

[CountDeMoney]

i.e. HOLY SPOILERS Clarice throwing off the shackles of bullshit to join Lecter in a goofy serial killer marriage--fifteen years later, and I still don't know what I think about how Harris ended it).

Then again, I suppose there's a statute of limitations on spoiler tags.

[Ideologue]

For comparison, The Sixth Sense came out the same year.

Looking it up, ran across a fun fact--almost all (with only one exception) of Harris' books have been Hannibal Lecter-related.  Huh, I always thought he was more prolific.  I certainly expected, at least, that there would be a string of unsuccessful novels between Silence of the Lambs in 1988 and returning to the well with Hannibal in 1999, but nope.

[Habbaku]

i.e. HOLY SPOILERS Clarice throwing off the shackles of bullshit to join Lecter in a goofy serial killer marriage--fifteen years later, and I still don't know what I think about how Harris ended it).

Then again, I suppose there's a statute of limitations on spoiler tags.

I figure 1-2 years is plenty of time.

[Ideologue]

March 13, a 4-disc BD set for Wyler's Ben Hur (1959) and deMille's The Ten Commandments (1956) comes out for $15.  This free advertisement brought to you as a public service, because that's a steal.

Unfortunately, it won't have the 1925 Ben Hur like the 4-disc Ben Hur 50th anniversary set does, nor some (but not none) of the extras available in that collection, but I think the 1925 film is public domain anyway?

So far as I can tell, the two Ben Hur disc appear to simply be the first two discs from the 50th anniversary set, and it'll have all that nice restoration and the original 2.77:1 presentation, which is cool although crazily narrow (n.b. the Ten Commandments is, as it originally was, in 1.85 which is more ideal from an HDTV standpoint).

El Cid, the other Heston epic I grew up on, is meanwhile only available on Region B (or, perhaps, for exorbitant price, on Region A secondhand).  That's pretty lame.

P.S. from the reviews of Ben Hur on Amazon:

Great movie. Love Charlton Heston. Arena scene never gets old. Bought it for my nephew for Chrstmas, he loves gladiator/warrior movies.

I'll bet he does at that.

[Martinus]

I read an opinion that since there is no evidence of mandingo fights actually happening, a movie depicting them is tantamount to blood libel. While my gut reaction is to disagree, there is some logic in it. What do you think?

[Josquius]

So, in my search for other shows to follow, I stumbled upon Shameless (US). The pilot was cool. Views from anyone who has seen both seasons?

Its brilliant. Perhaps even better than the UK one. Has a much more serious and gritty tone. But then my memory of the British one might be tarred by it being long past its prime but refusing to go away.

[Josephus]

For comparison, The Sixth Sense came out the same year.

Looking it up, ran across a fun fact--almost all (with only one exception) of Harris' books have been Hannibal Lecter-related.  Huh, I always thought he was more prolific.  I certainly expected, at least, that there would be a string of unsuccessful novels between Silence of the Lambs in 1988 and returning to the well with Hannibal in 1999, but nope.

No, he's not exactly prolific. I keep waiting for new material from him.

[CountDeMoney]

I'd rather see someone less prolific and actually good, than somebody that's more prolific and feeling compelled to read crappy books.

There's good prolific, like Le Carre', and then there's bad prolific, like <insert many writers here>.

But yeah, Harris has certainly taken his time over the years.  Then again, he is in his 70s, so maybe he's done and enjoying life.

[Malthus]

I read an opinion that since there is no evidence of mandingo fights actually happening, a movie depicting them is tantamount to blood libel. While my gut reaction is to disagree, there is some logic in it. What do you think?

I dunno about "mandingo fights" per se, but raising slaves to fight for gambling did in fact happen. The issue as to whether they were (on occasion) to fight to the death is of course a bit hazier, but the bare-knuckle fighting they engaged in was pretty damn brutal, even among non-slaves.

To give a known historical example, a Black slave named Tom Moleneux was raised by his owner to be a fighter (allegedly came from a whole family bred for fighting), won a major slave-fight and earned his owner $100,000 (huge cash those days) and his freedom, came to England and came within an ace of winning the boxing championship of the day (allegedly, he was cheated of the title by blatantly unfair calls). The fights were horribly bloody affairs - they were, allegedly, so mauled that you couldn't distinguish their features.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1338673/200-years-ago-Black-Ajax-Thomas-Molineaux-cheated-British-heavyweight-title.html

I read a book on him once (historical fiction but very well researched - by the same authour who wrote the Flashman novels, and he's generally reliable). According to that at least, some of Tom's fights as a slave - well, his last fight - was to the death. It was unusual in the high stakes involved though.

The book in question is called Black Ajax by G.M. Fraser.

[Queequeg]

Is the wine-drinking criminal in RoboCop some kind of joke about how it's Detroit and because of 80s racial politics they have make the Detroit crime scene diverse?