TV/Movies Megathread

[Savonarola]

Night on Earth (1991)

Has its moments (notably in the Rome scenes where Roberto Benigni explains his... uhm... love of pumpkins) but overall too long and too much of a film school project.  This feels like a step back from Mystery Train.  Jarmusch would regain his footing in his next feature film, "Dead Man."

[Savonarola]

cameos from the stars of the original trilogy, which grossed a collective $1.12 billion worldwide.

Somehow I doubt they mean Frank Sinatra.

I had to look that up, but one of the original Eleven, Henry Silva, is still alive.  (Angie Dickinson is too.)

[frunk]

Night on Earth (1991)

Has its moments (notably in the Rome scenes where Roberto Benigni explains his... uhm... love of pumpkins) but overall too long and too much of a film school project.  This feels like a step back from Mystery Train.  Jarmusch would regain his footing in his next feature film, "Dead Man."

I'm trying to think of an anthology movie that is consistently good.  Even though I like Night on Earth, it suffers from a lot of weak points.  The only ones that I can think of that maintain a high quality are the comedies, like Meaning of Life or the early ZAZ movies.  Maybe Holy Motors?

Film anthologies strike me as being at a disadvantage to written anthologies as they are expected to be consumed all in one sitting and in a specific order.  I can pick and choose the time and order of reading short stories depending on my mood, while movies typically aren't viewed that way.

[celedhring]

I'm trying to think of an anthology movie that is consistently good.  Even though I like Night on Earth, it suffers from a lot of weak points.  The only ones that I can think of that maintain a high quality are the comedies, like Meaning of Life or the early ZAZ movies.  Maybe Holy Motors?

Film anthologies strike me as being at a disadvantage to written anthologies as they are expected to be consumed all in one sitting and in a specific order.  I can pick and choose the time and order of reading short stories depending on my mood, while movies typically aren't viewed that way.

I'd advance Relatos Salvajes (Wild Tales) as an anthology that manages to keep a high standard throughout all the stories. Otherwise I admit I'm drawing a blank.

[Admiral Yi]

Twilight Zone was OK.

[CountDeMoney]

Yeah, anthology movies are usually miss-and-miss;  I liked the first story of Stephen King's Cat's Eye--James Woods quitting smoking--but the other stories kinda sucked.  Even New York Stories was average. 

Twilight Zone was a decent rehash of the Gremlin, and Kathleen Quinlan was still very much in early-80's Fuckable mode.

[Sheilbh]

There's a few great horror portmanteaus. Dead of Night is excellent though one of the tales stands out by some distance, not least because some are played for laughs which sets a false atmosphere. I remember absolutely freaking out watching it because a couple of the tales are comic - still good but sort of Ealing Studios does horror - and I assumed that nothing from a 1940s British studio could be really terrifying and then at least one of the stories genuinely is.

I'm quite fond of Creepshow too and Tales from the Crypt but they are acquired tastes.

Edit: Looking it up, and despite the joke above, of course Dead of Night literally is Ealing Studios doing horror

[Sheilbh]

Oh and half way through Stranger Things and loving it. Though I was wondering why American 80s suburbia is still the perfect setting for this sort of film?

[celedhring]

New Rogue One trailer 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=120&v=frdj1zb9sMY

Looks decent.

[Josquius]

Oh and half way through Stranger Things and loving it. Though I was wondering why American 80s suburbia is still the perfect setting for this sort of film?

I watched the first episode and am underwhelmed. Everyone says it's great but they said that about making a murderer too, which seemed inexplicable

[Josephus]

Stranger Things.

Meh. Everyone raved about it. I guess I was expecting more. It was a pretty ho-hum sci fi series. As Shelibh pointed out, being set in the 80s did nothing for it. The Americans does a far better job of integrating 80s pop culture into the show than this series did. Really this could have been set in 2016. Otherwise this show had the same tired cliches. Small town America. Sheriff and bumbling assistants. Evil Government Building Doing Naughty Things (TM), Nerds vs. Bullies and of course......the high school science teacher who knows everything including how to build a sensory depravation tank.

I also hate child actors and these guys did nothing to change my mind, other than the girl, I thought she was pretty good.

[Savonarola]

The Apache Kid's Escape (1930)

In no way connected to the historic outlaw The Apache Kid; this Apache Kid was born near the Apache reservation, but was not an Apache himself.  This is one of the first sound westerns released by a poverty row studio.  Even the major studios were struggling with sound at this point; but they were far ahead of this one.  The plot is painfully stupid, the movie looks like it was shot on the cheap, almost everyone sounds like they'd never seen the script before and are reading the dialogue directly off of cue cards.  The only plot twist is that the Apache Kid does not end up with the girl; in fact he seems more taken with the girl's 10 year old sister - a touching tribute to Charlie Chaplin if there ever was one.

The Adventures of Texas Jack (1934)

Supposed to be part of a serial, but wasn't.  This hits almost every western cliche in the space of 15 minutes.  There's the hero, Texas Jack, his lovable sidekick, his trained horse, bandits, a sheriff, a spunky telegraph operator, and a villainous banker.  All it needed was Indians and the cavalry.  Anyhow there isn't much of a story and the budget was so slight that they reused stock footage from silent films.

[The Brain]

Devil's Advocate was on TV and I ended up seeing it again. Some nice pussy in there. But talk about ball and chain. Jesus.

[FunkMonk]

New Rogue One trailer 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=120&v=frdj1zb9sMY

Looks decent.

Looks great. 

[Razgovory]

New Rogue One trailer 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=120&v=frdj1zb9sMY

Looks decent.

Meh.  Seems awfully serious for a movie about space-wizards.