TV/Movies Megathread

[mongers]

Is 'Sicario 2: Soldado' worth watching?

I liked it. If you enjoyed the first one for all the tense moments and shootouts and cynical assessment of the guys in charge, you'll like this one too.

Finally got around to watching the rest of the film; holiday events messing with viewing etc.

Overall a good film, though the first 5 minutes are a trumpian wankfest, nearly put me off watching it then and there. 

[grumbler]

The special effects were never great even for the 90s, and haven't aged well at all.  Storyline season two onward is still great though.

Disagree about the special effects.  They started out kinda rough, because they were the first show to go to full CGI, but they got good enough that DS9 switched to the B5 effects people for their last 4 seasons.  You are correct about the storyline.  I advise people new to the show to start with season 2.

The problem with the CGI in the DVDs is that the CGI is blown up nd then cropped to fit widescreen, because WB lost the CGI and it couldn't be re-rendered in widescreen or HD.  The film stuff is all widescreen and HD, even though it was made when widescreen and CGI were in the distant future.

We are still waiting for the reboot, while they reboot a lot of shows that never deserved a reboot (Hawaii 5-0, I'm looking at you).

[Duque de Bragança]

The special effects were never great even for the 90s, and haven't aged well at all.  Storyline season two onward is still great though.

Disagree about the special effects.  They started out kinda rough, because they were the first show to go to full CGI, but they got good enough that DS9 switched to the B5 effects people for their last 4 seasons.  You are correct about the storyline.  I advise people new to the show to start with season 2.

The problem with the CGI in the DVDs is that the CGI is blown up nd then cropped to fit widescreen, because WB lost the CGI and it couldn't be re-rendered in widescreen or HD.  The film stuff is all widescreen and HD, even though it was made when widescreen and CGI were in the distant future.

It's even worse on PAL DVDs with the higher resolution of PAL, regarding the special effects. Re-doing the special effects can be done, as in the Next Generation on blu-ray, but it's expensive and Warner is not Paramount.

[The Brain]

They raped TNG?

[Duque de Bragança]

They raped TNG?

Nope, they just re-mastered them for high definition. We are not talking here about Lucas-like revisionist madness.
Star Trek TOS had effects redone more than remastered, but you could still choose the original effects.

[The Brain]

Finished The Borgias. Too bad they didn't get more seasons but oh well.

[Eddie Teach]

The one with Jeremy Irons or the dude from The Wire?

[The Brain]

The one with Jeremy Irons or the dude from The Wire?

Jeremy's Iron.

[Admiral Yi]

Ocean's Eight.  All chick Ocean's.  I was ready to be disappointed as with all chick Ghost Busters, but it was OK.

[Duque de Bragança]

Glass 2019

Last Monday at the Cinémathèque Française.
Some twists which Night Shyamalan himself made us promise not to reveal...
One door shuts, one windows opens.  Yes, this brings an acceptable end to the series begun with Unbreakable. Fans should watch it, after all, that's about super-heroes and way above the generic super-hero fodder. Wish I could have watched the three movies in a row which were screened that very day. [spoiler]Conspiracy theory fans will like it too but it's still a far cry from They Live.[/spoiler]
Bruce Willis does not phone in a performance, which is the first time in a long while. A great James McAvoy made me think of Macron with his persona's lisp.  Samuel Jackson still good.
Pretty good for Hollywood.

[mongers]

Glass 2019

Last Monday at the Cinémathèque Française.
Some twists which Night Shyamalan himself made us promise not to reveal...
One door shuts, one windows opens.  Yes, this brings an acceptable end to the series begun with Unbreakable. Fans should watch it, after all, that's about super-heroes and way above the generic super-hero fodder. Wish I could have watched the three movies in a row which were screened that very day.

Bruce Willis does not phone in a performance, which is the first time in a long while. A great James McAvoy made me think of Macron with his persona's lisp.  Samuel Jackson still good.
Pretty good for Hollywood.

Sounds like one should check them out.

[Savonarola]

Farenheit 451 (1966)

In a bleak, dystopian future people have stopped reading books and only follow the most puerile of entertainments.  Intellectual development has been so retarded that the people of the United States have elected a reality TV show star as President.  He "Governs" by Twittering insults seemingly at random...

Oops, sorry, that was the 6:30 news; in Farenheit 451 the government has to actively suppress literature rather than just letting cable television and social media kill off any interest in the subject.   This is François Truffaut first (maybe only? ) English language film.  He didn't speak English very well when he made it, but he directed a mostly English cast and he wrote some of the dialog.  The film does seem a little off; and I think that's why.

This film was presented by the Detroit Institute of Arts when they had an exhibition on Star Wars costuming.  I don't know if the costumes were a direct influence on Lucas; but they are a good example of what he was trying to accomplish.  The Firemen uniforms tell you everything about the Firemen at a glance.

[dps]

I didn't realize (or, I suppose I had known but forgotten) that Farenheit 451 was made that long ago.  I would have guessed it was made about 1973 or so.

I believe that you're correct that it was his only English language film.

[Savonarola]

Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001)

I avoided this when it was first at the theater as it was billed as a Mexican "American Pie."  American "American Pie" was bad enough, a Mexican knock-off sounds excruciating.  It turns out the movie was nothing of the sort; it's much closer in spirit to "Il Sorpasso" or "Easy Rider" than any teen romp.  (Of course billing a film as a Mexican "Il Sorpasso" would not have appealed to many people.)

I'm not a fan of voice over narration (unless it's done by The Amazing Criswell.)  Otherwise the film was good.  I really liked how they'd be traveling while scenes of random Mexicanness would play out around them (the police beating a man, a flea market, a man driving cattle down the highway) usually without the characters even noticing.  There's a good amount of truth to that, but it's also like the running gag in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, where the knights would "Ride" by people engaged in absurd activities.

[The Larch]

Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001)

I avoided this when it was first at the theater as it was billed as a Mexican "American Pie."

Who on earth thought of that promotional tactic?