TV/Movies Megathread

[celedhring]

Ready Player One - I thought it was ok. Fun, light and enjoyable. Nothing more, but nothing less either. [spoiler]The Shining scene was by far my favorite, Kubrick must be plotting some nasty afterworld vengeance[/spoiler].

[Admiral Yi]

It seems 2 episodes of Silicon Valley have already aired.  Watched one on HBOGO yesterday.  Has this show lost its buzz?

[Liep]

It seems 2 episodes of Silicon Valley have already aired.  Watched one on HBOGO yesterday.  Has this show lost its buzz?

1st episode was the worst yet but 2nd episode was much better.

[Eddie Teach]

I haven't had HBO for a couple years. Sad!

[Josquius]

Holy crap. I missed it but "The City and the City" miniseries started today

[Josquius]

Holy crap. I missed it but "The City and the City" miniseries started today

Verdit: pleasantly surprised. It's looking good. I wonder what people who haven't read the book will make of it.

[Maladict]

Watched the first two eps of Civilisations. Not bad and it looks fantastic, but not great either.

I never thought Simon Schama and Mary Beard would annoy me.

[frunk]

Saw ready player one. It was ok.

I agree.  The nostalgia triggers for the most part fell flat.  Some of them were well done but they didn't have much depth to them.  The interactions between the characters on that score didn't go much beyond shared lists and trivia contests.  Like the Buckaroo Banzai suit.  He could choose to look like anything, why not actually go as Peter Weller.

[celedhring]

David Simon is developing a series following American volunteers in the Spanish Civil War 

'The Wire's' David Simon Developing New Series Set During Spanish Civil War (EXCLUSIVE)

"The Wire" creator David Simon and Spain's Mediapro ("The Young Pope") are in early development on "A Dry Run," a drama series following members of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion who came to Spain from the U.S. to fight fascism during the Spanish Civil War.

The scripts have been outlined, and George Pelecanos and Dennis Lehane, both of whom worked on "The Wire," have committed to "A Dry Run" as writers. The show is so far conceived as a six-hour miniseries, though that could change as the stories develop, said Mediapro founder Jaume Roures.

Simon and Mediapro are seeking to raise the necessary funds both in the U.S. and Europe.

"A Dry Run" will follow the Abraham Lincoln and George Washington Battalions, both part of the International Brigade that fought in the Spanish Civil War, from their arrival in 1937 and first bloody battle in the Jarama Valley until their departure in 1939. The show offers a "compelling and tragic narrative," Simon said, adding that the "Spanish struggle against fascism and the misuse of capitalism as a bulwark to totalitarianism" represent "the preeminent political narrative of the 20th century and of our time still."



Added Roures: "'A Dry Run' is really one of the great projects for the coming months. Not only for the story...but also for what it means for us to work with David Simon, one of the best scriptwriters of recent years."

Simon, whose current show, "The Deuce," is advancing toward a second season on HBO, has written "an extraordinary document that describes the project. When you read it, you can perfectly picture any of the characters of the series," Roures said.

Simon has also visited battle sites where the Abraham Lincoln Battalion fought. The series will be shot mainly in English, the language of the main characters.

That seems inevitable given Simon's passion for authenticity. "The style of any work we do bears a basic similarity," Simon said. "We are interested in realism. And we don't sell much in the way of redemption or happy endings. And, well, 1939 was no happy ending. Nor was it redemptive."

The Spanish Civil War was "a dry run for the maelstrom to come," Simon said, indicating the origin of the series' title. "But more than that, the events of 1936 to 1939 made clear that capitalism – while it may be an elemental tool for generating mass wealth – offers no moral answer to how people can live or how societies thrive."

For Simon, "when the Spanish Republic was threatened, capitalism chose tyranny. So the better men who could not abide that choice came to Spain [to fight]. Today, that same choice confronts us again."

Mediapro is beginning to present the project to potential co-producers. In addition to co-producing HBO's "The Young Pope," the company has produced three Woody Allen movies, including "Midnight in Paris," and has partnered with Netflix on Daniel Burman's "Edha" and with Amazon Prime Video on soccer documentary series.

[Malthus]

David Simon is developing a series following the Lincoln Batallion in the Spanish Civil War 

'The Wire's' David Simon Developing New Series Set During Spanish Civil War (EXCLUSIVE)

"The Wire" creator David Simon and Spain's Mediapro ("The Young Pope") are in early development on "A Dry Run," a drama series following members of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion who came to Spain from the U.S. to fight fascism during the Spanish Civil War.

The scripts have been outlined, and George Pelecanos and Dennis Lehane, both of whom worked on "The Wire," have committed to "A Dry Run" as writers. The show is so far conceived as a six-hour miniseries, though that could change as the stories develop, said Mediapro founder Jaume Roures.

Simon and Mediapro are seeking to raise the necessary funds both in the U.S. and Europe.

"A Dry Run" will follow the Abraham Lincoln and George Washington Battalions, both part of the International Brigade that fought in the Spanish Civil War, from their arrival in 1937 and first bloody battle in the Jarama Valley until their departure in 1939. The show offers a "compelling and tragic narrative," Simon said, adding that the "Spanish struggle against fascism and the misuse of capitalism as a bulwark to totalitarianism" represent "the preeminent political narrative of the 20th century and of our time still."



Added Roures: "'A Dry Run' is really one of the great projects for the coming months. Not only for the story...but also for what it means for us to work with David Simon, one of the best scriptwriters of recent years."

Simon, whose current show, "The Deuce," is advancing toward a second season on HBO, has written "an extraordinary document that describes the project. When you read it, you can perfectly picture any of the characters of the series," Roures said.

Simon has also visited battle sites where the Abraham Lincoln Battalion fought. The series will be shot mainly in English, the language of the main characters.

That seems inevitable given Simon's passion for authenticity. "The style of any work we do bears a basic similarity," Simon said. "We are interested in realism. And we don't sell much in the way of redemption or happy endings. And, well, 1939 was no happy ending. Nor was it redemptive."

The Spanish Civil War was "a dry run for the maelstrom to come," Simon said, indicating the origin of the series' title. "But more than that, the events of 1936 to 1939 made clear that capitalism – while it may be an elemental tool for generating mass wealth – offers no moral answer to how people can live or how societies thrive."

For Simon, "when the Spanish Republic was threatened, capitalism chose tyranny. So the better men who could not abide that choice came to Spain [to fight]. Today, that same choice confronts us again."

Mediapro is beginning to present the project to potential co-producers. In addition to co-producing HBO's "The Young Pope," the company has produced three Woody Allen movies, including "Midnight in Paris," and has partnered with Netflix on Daniel Burman's "Edha" and with Amazon Prime Video on soccer documentary series.

Heh, only "capitalism"? No mention of the way the war highlighted the tyrannical, totalitarian aspects of "communism" at the same time?   

Clearly not a fan of Homage to Catalonia. 

[celedhring]

The Spanish producer in that series is a self-professed communist (and millionaire  ).

That said, Simon has always struck me as a writer that understands the complexity of the situations he deals with, and I hope that happens here too. Even though it wasn't involved in the May Days (what Homage to Catalonia mostly deals with), the Lincoln Batallion was almost completely made up of American socialists/communists so it's going to be nearly impossible to avoid the ideological fuckup the SCW became.

[crazy canuck]

Finished the second season of Occupied -  I think it was even better than the first season. 

[11B4V]

Altered Carbon:B-

[11B4V]

The Post: C

[Gups]

It seems 2 episodes of Silicon Valley have already aired.  Watched one on HBOGO yesterday.  Has this show lost its buzz?

Was not impressed by episode 1. Not sure how the show will cope without Ehrlich.