TV/Movies Megathread

[viper37]

You can get Birth of a Nation on blu-ray so I think Gone with the Wind is safe

That one was ultimately boring, after such hype.

Oh.  You mean the other one?  Never seen it
I read so much about it that it's like I've seen it two dozen times though. 


EDIT:
I checked and it's indeed on Amazon, 2 copies left.  I was surprised by the mostly 438 positive reviews, so I went and read it:

I wasn't interested in this film until I happened to catch a preview. The acting is compelling, and the characters (on "both sides") are well-drawn and sympathetic. I honestly hadn't planned to watch it all the way through in one sitting, but got hooked quickly, and couldn't stop until the story was told. While it's very much a tragic story, it's very informative as to why American slavery was so deeply corrupted an institution. Clearly Nat Turner was a good man who did what he believed he had to do. His motivation could not possibly be misunderstood, and was very much about higher principles. Much more than a story of revenge --- a story about what it means to be human, and to stay human.

It seems Amazon has a slight problem with attributing the proper review to the proper movie

[viper37]

HBO have taken it down while they add some contextual material. The sort you get at screenings/viewings of Birth of a Nation. It will then go back up.

I can't stand the book - I remember getting a copy because someone I knew said it was the favourite book and, God, it was bad.

Well, any book/movie portraying the KKK as valiant heroes protecting the good white folks from the hordes of degenerate blacks has got to be somewhat tedious to read.  I remember to be really excited about reading Mein Kampf, and have a better grasp on the rist of national-socialism, but god was it boring to read.

[Sheilbh]

Oh sorry, I meant Gone with the Wind.

[The Brain]

The Whole Truth. Keanu defends kid who has killed his dad. The kid's dad, not Keanu's. Totally OK.

[Duque de Bragança]

(Region B-locked before Viper asks  ).

I'll try to ask an european "cousin" to "lend" me his copy

I need to check on a blu-ray player to be sure. It was announced as Region-B only then showed up region-free on other sites.
Faulty announcements happen all the time.
French title : Requiem pour un Massacre.

[Duque de Bragança]

You can get Birth of a Nation on blu-ray so I think Gone with the Wind is safe

The best edition in the US was released by Twilight Time, a label which went under recently though so enjoy it while you can. 

[celedhring]

Season 3 of The Sinner. I'm a sucker for procedurals, and this one has a unique enough premise to stand out. Every season you know who's the murderer right away, and the season is about uncovering the motives. Bill Paxton as a sexually deviant murder detective is oddly likeable 

[Savonarola]

It's true that, in part because of Disney, copyrights were extended by 20 years in 1998.

But they were not further extended in 2018.  And no further extensions have been proposed.  As such in 2024 Steamboat Willie will hit the public domain, so that early incarnation of Mickey Mouse will be free to use.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/01/a-whole-years-worth-of-works-just-fell-into-the-public-domain/

Hurrah!  So you just need to make it to 2035 for Gone with the Wind to be public domain (in the United States), Viper.

[Duque de Bragança]

It's true that, in part because of Disney, copyrights were extended by 20 years in 1998.

But they were not further extended in 2018.  And no further extensions have been proposed.  As such in 2024 Steamboat Willie will hit the public domain, so that early incarnation of Mickey Mouse will be free to use.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/01/a-whole-years-worth-of-works-just-fell-into-the-public-domain/

Hurrah!  So you just need to make it to 2035 for Gone with the Wind to be public domain (in the United States), Viper.

Hopefully enough time for a re-release of Gone with the Wind, in UHD. 

[Valmy]

Cool I will finally be able to make a non-racist cut of Gone with the Wind. It will be only 30 minutes long but 30 glorious minutes of the Hollywood Golden Age.

My non-racist Birth of a Nation was just a a few minutes of Confederate soldiers being shot in the war.

[Duque de Bragança]

Cool I will finally be able to make a non-racist cut of Gone with the Wind. It will be only 30 minutes long but 30 glorious minutes of the Hollywood Golden Age.

My non-racist Birth of a Nation was just a a few minutes of Confederate soldiers being shot in the war.

We all know you are joking, however I am not about the following: there is a post-ww2 German cut of Casablanca with most of the nazi references removed. 

Warner Brothers released a heavily-edited version of Casablanca in West Germany in 1952. All scenes with Nazis were removed, along with most references to World War II. Important plot points were altered when the dialogue was dubbed into German. Victor Laszlo was no longer a Resistance fighter who escaped from a Nazi concentration camp. Instead, he became a Norwegian atomic physicist who was being pursued by Interpol after he "broke out of jail." The West German version was 25 minutes shorter than the original cut. A German version of Casablanca with the original plot was not released until 1975.[98]

Wiki source but I can confirm it from a Deutsches Film Museum program since it was screened some years ago at the Frankfurt Deutsches Film Museum Cinematheque but I could not be there.

[celedhring]

Cool I will finally be able to make a non-racist cut of Gone with the Wind. It will be only 30 minutes long but 30 glorious minutes of the Hollywood Golden Age.

My non-racist Birth of a Nation was just a a few minutes of Confederate soldiers being shot in the war.

I remember how when I was at uni (in Spain) our professor made us watch Intolerance instead because of how ridiculously racist BoaN is. Oddly enough, Columbia was much more casual about it (although the professor still gave a warning before showing some scenes).

[Sheilbh]

Not quite a cut but there have always been responses to it. I think one of the earliest African-American films - Within Our Gates - was, in part, a direct response to Birth of a Nation. Available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtwrCto9az0

It includes scenes towards the end of a lynching and an attempted rape (by a white man), which caused a number of American cities to refuse to allow screenings in case it provoked racial violence.

There's also a great Spike Lee story of when he was at film school in the 70s and he did a small student film called "The Answer", which was a response to Birth of a Nation. Apparently it outraged faculty who nearly kicked him out for, from their perspective, trying to take down one of the great founders of cinema

[viper37]

Oh sorry, I meant Gone with the Wind.

Ah.  Yeah, the book is a lot more racist than the movie, by today's standards.  It does reflect the views of an american author raised in the early 20th century though, there's no denying that.

[viper37]

(Region B-locked before Viper asks  ).

I'll try to ask an european "cousin" to "lend" me his copy

I need to check on a blu-ray player to be sure. It was announced as Region-B only then showed up region-free on other sites.
Faulty announcements happen all the time.
French title : Requiem pour un Massacre.

I'll keep it in mind.  I only see the DVD right now.