TV/Movies Megathread

[viper37]

From what I've seen of ncis and its derivatives, there's not much difference from law & order. 

they're all one step above General Hospital and Days of Our Lives.  Then again, Star Trek The Next Generation was the same and now it's looked at like a classic, so I'm not taking any chances

They're more action (as in, over the top, especially Hawai 5-0, don't know about Magnum PI, haven't watched the reboot) oriented than the Law & Order I remember from the 80s/90s, but I haven't watched a lot of that show.

I don't know why I keep watching NCIS, I find it mostly boring, yet I can't miss one of its hyper predictable episode.

[Savonarola]

Rear Window (1954)

One of Hitchcock's best.  I think the most clever scene comes when we see "Miss Lonelyhearts" line up all the sleeping pills, but then the camera focuses on Grace Kelly.  I think almost everyone feels anxiety at this point; underscoring that we're as much voyeurs as Jimmy Stewart's character.

The other part I thought was good is that Hitchcock uses the characters that Stewart is spying on to reveal his anxieties about his relationship with Grace Kelly.  Anxieties that, I think, are completely justified.  I don't think that was Hitchcock's least believable on screen pairing (Farley Granger and Ruth Roman deserve that for "Strangers on a Train" (though, to be fair, Farley Granger and Robert Walker in the same movie are one of his most believable couples)) but it's the relationship that I think is least likely to work out.

I saw this on the big screen.  Edith Head's gowns really shine through in that format.  I read that Edith wore those blue tint glasses in order to see how a dress would look in black and white.  I don't know what she did for color films.

[Oexmelin]

I don't think that was Hitchcock's least believable on screen pairing (Farley Granger and Ruth Roman deserve that for "Strangers on a Train" (though, to be fair, Farley Granger and Robert Walker in the same movie are one of his most believable couples))

I don't think I ever saw Strangers on a Train. But Paul Newman and Julie Andrews in Torn Curtain do not work very well with each other either.

[mongers]

Are either 'Berlin Station' or the new Sean Penn Mars astronaut series worth watching?

[Liep]

Daredevil season 3: decent, but it's giving too many easy outs for the bad guys to drive the plot along. No fight scene has any consequence for named characters to the point that 20 hits to the face isn't noticeable because convenience.

[celedhring]

First Man - 80% of the movie is Ryan Gosling being inexpressive and an asshole in order to portray, dunno, something something inner pain. The rest are some fantastic space scenes. The Gemini 8 mission scene probably makes the whole thing worth it.

[Josephus]

Are either 'Berlin Station' or the new Sean Penn Mars astronaut series worth watching?

I watched both seasons of Berlin Station; it's OK. Standard CIA-Mole-Conspiracy stuff. Ensign Ro is in it.

[celedhring]

Watched the first season of Berlin Station myself. Neither bad nor good, you'll like it if you dig espionage shows. Rhys Ifans is rather good in it.

[Savonarola]

I don't think I ever saw Strangers on a Train. But Paul Newman and Julie Andrews in Torn Curtain do not work very well with each other either.

I haven't seen "Torn Curtain," but in most of Hitchcock's films the romance subplot just doesn't work; usually either the couple isn't believable or the love story happens by fiat.  There are a couple exceptions; "To Catch a Thief," I think is plausible, largely because Grace Kelly plays her character a little nutty.  "Rear Window" isn't entirely implausible, but the characters are from such different worlds that it just doesn't seem likely that it's going to work out.  Jimmy Stewart says as much, and Hitchcock seems to as well in the final scene where Kelly puts down the book on the Himalayas to pick up Harper's Bazaar once Stewart falls asleep.

[mongers]

Are either 'Berlin Station' or the new Sean Penn Mars astronaut series worth watching?

I watched both seasons of Berlin Station; it's OK. Standard CIA-Mole-Conspiracy stuff. Ensign Ro is in it.

Thanks Josephus, I'll give it a go for a while. can't be worse than the last season of Homeland that seemed to have jumped the shark rather.

[mongers]

Watched the first season of Berlin Station myself. Neither bad nor good, you'll like it if you dig espionage shows. Rhys Ifans is rather good in it.

Thanks for that, Celed.

[Oexmelin]

I haven't seen "Torn Curtain," but in most of Hitchcock's films the romance subplot just doesn't work; usually either the couple isn't believable or the love story happens by fiat. 

I think Torn Curtain is worth it if only for the murder scene. It stayed with me far longer than any other aspect of that movie.

[dps]

I haven't seen "Torn Curtain," but in most of Hitchcock's films the romance subplot just doesn't work; usually either the couple isn't believable or the love story happens by fiat. 

I think Torn Curtain is worth it if only for the murder scene. It stayed with me far longer than any other aspect of that movie.

I agree.  The rest of the movie is nowhere near Hitchcock's best work.

[Savonarola]

Beetljuice (1988)

Not much a performance by the greatest actor in the world; but otherwise a great deal of fun.  Tim Burton was wise to use Michael Keaton sparingly; he's only in the film for about 20 minutes, but any more than that and he would have become annoying. 

I saw this on the big screen; that allowed for some of Burton's weirder vision to shine through.  I especially like the scene in Sylvia Sidney's office where a group of skeleton's seem to be watching the film from... the other side.   Tim Burton may have made better films than this but I don't think he ever made a more Tim Burtonesque film (maybe Edward Scissorhands.)

[celedhring]

I haven't seen "Torn Curtain," but in most of Hitchcock's films the romance subplot just doesn't work; usually either the couple isn't believable or the love story happens by fiat. 

I think Torn Curtain is worth it if only for the murder scene. It stayed with me far longer than any other aspect of that movie.

I agree.  The rest of the movie is nowhere near Hitchcock's best work.

It's a bit like Frenzy, a rather average film (coming from him) with a genuinely shocking murder scene.