TV/Movies Megathread

[mongers]

Quick question, is 'Black Death' with Sean Bean worth 1h30m of my view time ?

It's all right.

Yeah I watched it, ok, but nothing at all special.

[CountDeMoney]

Quick question, is 'Black Death' with Sean Bean worth 1h30m of my view time ?

It's all right.

Yeah I watched it, ok, but nothing at all special.

What did you think about Flightplan?

[mongers]

Quick question, is 'Black Death' with Sean Bean worth 1h30m of my view time ?

It's all right.

Yeah I watched it, ok, but nothing at all special.

What did you think about Flightplan?

Heh, well remembered, I got about 20minutes in and gave up as I felt it a bit creepy and wasn't too keen on having to view something from a women's perspective. 

I shall attempt to return to it at another date.

[Scipio]

Last day of class in Early American Constitutional Development, a class where I've been teaching the warts and all theory of American history.  Capped it off by showing the students the first two episodes of John Adams.  They about choofed when the guy got tarred and feathered, and everyone got a little weepy at the connubial bliss of John and Abigail.

[CountDeMoney]

Heh, well remembered, I got about 20minutes in and gave up as I felt it a bit creepy and wasn't too keen on having to view something from a women's perspective. 

Weirdo.  Sounds like something derspiess would say. 

[mongers]

Heh, well remembered, I got about 20minutes in and gave up as I felt it a bit creepy and wasn't too keen on having to view something from a women's perspective. 

Weirdo.  Sounds like something derspiess would say. 

No just at the time I'd got feed up with female 'sixth sense'/'intuition'/Madness*




* delete as applicable.

[Sophie Scholl]

So... anyone else still watching Arrow?  I'm loving it.  It's also amusing to see actors from other shows I watch/have watched pop up (Once Upon a Time and Spartacus).

[Eddie Teach]

Anyone else watching The Americans?

Yup.

[LaCroix]

i've been watching the shield. decent enough show, though the internal police politics is a joke compared to the wire. what happens to aceveda in S3 was actually pretty shocking!

[The Larch]

[Rec] has two sequels, in case you're interested. Btw, the guy who plays the monster is a buddy of a friend of mine. Really creepy looking dude with some kind of congenital disease that makes him look weird.

There's also The Others, directed by Alejandro Amenábar, even if it starred Nicole Kidman and was set on the English Channel. Many other films of this kind used American or British casts and settings, so that might have made them slip through your radar. We're sneaky like that. You might want to check Amenábar's two previous films, Thesis and Open your eyes, as they also have some horror elements, even if they're more like thrillers IMO.

Also, I wouldn't say that Acción Mutante is a horror film, it's more of an action-comedy film IMO. I wonder if you got the tons of references to Spanish stuff that Álex de la Iglesia managed to put in there.  Did you watch his next film, Day of the Beast? It's also a similar action-comedy film, this time based around the coming of the Antichrist.

Haven't seen the [Rec] sequels, as I usually presume that sequels/remakes of successful horror movies suck.

I haven't seen Day of the Beast or the other movies, but I'll check them out. I probably got none of the Spanish reference stuff in Accion Mutante. But then again I grew up with F. Ibanez comics and had a blast with them (German versions of Mortadelo y Filemón, Pepe Gotera y Otilio and 13, Rue del Percebe made it to Germany, with the former having quite a cult following).

The first sequel is set up in the same building right after the first movie, and deals with the clean up by police and an undercover priest investigating the case. The second sequel is different from the first two, and it's more of a slasher zombie flick set up during a wedding party.

Good to know that you're an Ibáñez fan, I think you mentioned Mortadelo y Filemón at some point.  Do you know that there are two live action films about them done in the last few years?

[The Larch]

Ide, out of curiosity, what is in your mind the "Spanish type of horror"? Creepy kids? Dark houses?

Well, that was mainly a throaway joke about del Toro (who produced Mama, and directed Pan's Labyrinth), and The Orphanage, which are similar movies.  STILL, if I had to defend it--I don't know if what I've observed is particularly Spanish, but it does have a bit of atypicality to it--a focus on children as characters, children's views of the world, and childhood fears (here, being taken from one's parents, even if that parent is a CGI ghost).  Also, less interest in serious gore (Mama's PG-13, I think maybe the Orphanage was?) than in creating an atmosphere of dread, and presenting upsetting imagery that totally counts as body horror, but not in the anatomical, goopy Cronenbergian vein (I could point to a few dozen frames of this movie that sort of made me want to cry ).

Anyway, yeah, like Shaun said.

Did you watch The Others? It can be considered to be the film which started this trend.

Btw, CGI ghost? I checked Mama on wiki and I found that the "Mama" character is played by the same guy I mentioned before that was on the Rec movies.

[LaCroix]

Well, that was mainly a throaway joke about del Toro (who produced Mama, and directed Pan's Labyrinth), and The Orphanage, which are similar movies.  STILL, if I had to defend it--I don't know if what I've observed is particularly Spanish, but it does have a bit of atypicality to it--a focus on children as characters, children's views of the world, and childhood fears (here, being taken from one's parents, even if that parent is a CGI ghost).  Also, less interest in serious gore (Mama's PG-13, I think maybe the Orphanage was?) than in creating an atmosphere of dread, and presenting upsetting imagery that totally counts as body horror, but not in the anatomical, goopy Cronenbergian vein (I could point to a few dozen frames of this movie that sort of made me want to cry ).

Anyway, yeah, like Shaun said.

hated pan's labyrinth with a passion. i was glad when (spoiler) the girl died at the end

though i have hopes for pacific rim!

[Phillip V]

'The Walking Dead' television episode tomorrow.

I spent the mid-season break playing 'The Walking Dead' video game and reading the 'The Walking Dead' comics. All good.

[Duque de Bragança]

Day of the Beast is a much better movie than Acción Mutante IMO. Specially if you're a metalhead
Bit disappointed when I went recently to a rare screening of Acción Mutante which is more of a draft of all Alex de la Iglesia themes to come in his later movies (Social comment on trash tv, retro sci-fi vibe and tributes to the post-nuke genre. etc.). Worth a watch though, after all Almodovar helped produce it.
Iglesia's "Balada triste de trompeta" deals with the Spanish Civil War and Franco's regime which is quite a departure for la Iglesia but you still find his touch. Goes a bit overboard in the last third, however.
Requires some knowledge of Spanish history, though.

[garbon]

Went to see the broadway revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Very good though I thought the actual moments of physical violence were a bit weak. Woman who played the young wife was great at playing someone drunk.

In the theater just a few seats ahead sat Judith Light of Who's the Boss (some theater acting, and great stint on L&O:SVU) fame.