TV/Movies Megathread

[The Brain]

Tokyo Trial. Learned men from different parts of the world come together to judge Japanese leaders after WW2. 4 episodes. Focus is on differences of opinion among the judges and the discussions and maneuvering these lead to, not on details regarding the crimes or accused. I think limiting the scope makes sense, or it would have to be a lot longer. Not a masterpiece, but can be helpful if you know nothing of the trial and want to have names and themes in place for reading on the subject.

[The Brain]

Jennifer's Body. Hot chick in small town America develops abnormal appetites. Totally OK. One small comment: what happened to "show, don't tell"? Specifically when Megan Fox talks about how she lost her buttginity. [spoiler]There is lesbian kissing.[/spoiler]

[Malthus]

Tokyo Trial. Learned men from different parts of the world come together to judge Japanese leaders after WW2. 4 episodes. Focus is on differences of opinion among the judges and the discussions and maneuvering these lead to, not on details regarding the crimes or accused. I think limiting the scope makes sense, or it would have to be a lot longer. Not a masterpiece, but can be helpful if you know nothing of the trial and want to have names and themes in place for reading on the subject.

I'm disappointed. [spoiler]You didn't give us any report on whether there was any lesbian sex. [/spoiler]

[The Brain]

Tokyo Trial. Learned men from different parts of the world come together to judge Japanese leaders after WW2. 4 episodes. Focus is on differences of opinion among the judges and the discussions and maneuvering these lead to, not on details regarding the crimes or accused. I think limiting the scope makes sense, or it would have to be a lot longer. Not a masterpiece, but can be helpful if you know nothing of the trial and want to have names and themes in place for reading on the subject.

I'm disappointed. [spoiler]You didn't give us any report on whether there was any lesbian sex. [/spoiler]

A valid complaint. I apologize. [spoiler]There is no lesbian sex.[/spoiler]

[Caliga]

Any of you seen the Russian series Life and Fate on Amazon Prime (or elsewhere)?

Very interesting... I loved that book.

[The Brain]

Castlevania, S3. As always the plot and characters are a bit meh, but I enjoy the environments. And you finally [spoiler]get to see some boobs.[/spoiler]

[The Brain]

Zoolander. Still good.

[Habbaku]

Zoolander. Still good.

[Syt]

Updated spaghetti western trailer for The Mandalorian:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJH_RbnrGUs

[celedhring]

Updated spaghetti western trailer for The Mandalorian:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJH_RbnrGUs

I felt slightly bad for checking whether Season 2 had wrapped filming before Covidmaggedon. 

It has (although I presume it will still be delayed).

[The Larch]

Updated spaghetti western trailer for The Mandalorian:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJH_RbnrGUs

I felt slightly bad for checking whether Season 2 had wrapped filming before Covidmaggedon. 

It has (although I presume it will still be delayed).

The shooting of the 2nd season of The Witcher got stopped when one of the actors (the one who played Thormund in GoT) tested positive

[Malthus]

Any of you seen the Russian series Life and Fate on Amazon Prime (or elsewhere)?

Very interesting... I loved that book.

Definitely should check out the series if it available - I'm in the middle of it now, and it is awesome. Really well acted, the battles look frighteningly realistic, all the period details are amazing (even down to the faded, tattered, multi-layer propaganda posters on the walls). It's just really well done, I thought.

I haven't actually read the book yet (I'm going to) so I don't know how closely it follows - the situations the characters get in are like a Soviet version of Saving Private Ryan combined with Kafka. Certainly keeps you on the edge of your seat.

[Savonarola]

Riso Amaro (Bitter Rice) (1949)

Neo-realist film which borrows heavily from Hollywood's Film Noir.  The film reminded me of Goddard's "Breathless" (À Bout de Souffle); in that it was a European take on a Hollywood movie, a main character is a small time hood who wears a Fedora and the film one ups Goddard by featuring two girls with guns.  (There is no jump cutting or anything like that, in a lot of ways it is very much a neo-realist film with its commentary on the immediate post-war society and voyeuristic view of daily life.)

The film deals with rice planting in the Po valley; a job that was done exclusively by women at the time.  Vittorio Gassman and Doris Dowling play two small time thieves whose heist has gone awry.  Dowling joins the rice planting group and Gassman hides out in the granaries planning his next heist.  Dowling loses interest in the life of crime, but nineteen year old Silvana Mangano starts taking an interest in Vittorio leading to the inevitable cat fight.

The film also serves as a record of the rice planting; not only how it was done, but also how women would sing messages to other gangs or to the foreman.

The title is a pun, as "Riso" means both "Rice" and "Laugh" in Italian.

[The Brain]

Manhunt: Unabomber. Profiler profiles, [spoiler]catches[/spoiler], the Unabomber. OK. The hot chick should have gotten a [spoiler]sex[/spoiler] scene though.

[Josquius]

Mind hunter s1- decent. Nice to see the main guy slowly reveal he is cut from the same cloth as the killers. Interesting the intro weirdo remains unresolved.

Altered carbon s2- Meh. Watchable. Though not brilliant. Big drop vs s1