TV/Movies Megathread

[Syt]

In the case of Desire who is androgynous (or hermaphrodite? I forget) in the comics this feels warranted.

[Admiral Yi]

It's a brave new world.

[Savonarola]

Did you know that the ninja costume originated as a convention from Japanese theater?  In fact black is not the best color to blend into the shadows with; the best is fire-engine red at least according to the film

Elektra (2005)

Jennifer Garner is an assassin who sneaks around while wearing bright red lingerie and kills people with her sais.  She also carries heavy burden of a terrible secret: ninjas killed her family!

The movie actually manages to be even sillier than its premise.  The ninjas that killed her family aren't ordinary ninjas, they're the type that explode into a cloud of green smoke when you kill them.  Some of them have amazing powers like they can kill people with a kiss or their tattoos come to life.  In any event Garner is given an assignment to kill the obnoxious teenager who lives next door and her hunky father.  She just can't do it; so the magic ninjas who Garner's family are brought in.  Garner protects the obnoxious teenager and her hunky father and, wouldn't you know it, the obnoxious teenager is the chosen one who was prophesied to bring balance to the force.  (Or something like that, there was probably a different wording, but she is Anakin Skywalker for this movie.)

With such a story you might think this film would be light and cartoony.  It isn't.  It's dark, ponderous and dwells heavily on Garner's loss and inability to come to terms with the death of her family.  This is made worse because Jennifer is able to convey all the range of emotion that we've come to expect from Steven Segal.

The fight scenes are well done (they were cribbed from better movies from Hong Kong; but at least the director knew enough to do that.)  Garner does get to fight with the boys in this one; she isn't just there to kill the girl ninja (although that there isn't a sai wielding girl ninja who wears blue lingerie while sneaking about is one of the more unforgivable failures of the film.) 

[KRonn]

Jennifer Garner also starred in a TV series "Alias" in the early 2000s. I used to watch that show, liked it.

Sep 30, 2001 · Created by J.J. Abrams. With Jennifer Garner, Ron Rifkin, Carl Lumbly, Kevin Weisman. Sydney Bristow is an international spy recruited out of college, trained for espionage and self-defense.

[Eddie Teach]

She also stars in a number of highly regarded Capital One ads. 

@Syt- any announcements regarding Morpheus?

[Syt]

No idea.

There's been some of the expected "why is Death black?" (She's mostly depicted as a goth girl in the comics.) However, the comics go out of their way to show the Endless being amorphous and changing appearance depending on situation (including Morpheus himself appearing as black in the context of his African lover), so it seems especially silly this time.

[Liep]

Your Name (2016)

The plot isn't easy to follow at first but it pays off and I got surprisingly invested in the story. Also has a nice soundtrack and is beautifully animated.

[garbon]

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/may/26/vanessa-redgrave-kevin-spacey-film-franco-nero

Vanessa Redgrave no longer set to appear in Kevin Spacey film
Actor had been linked to her husband Franco Nero's Italian drama, set to be Spacey's comeback after sexual misconduct accusations

Vanessa Redgrave will not be starring in a new film alongside Kevin Spacey despite previous reports attaching her to the project.

The 84-year-old actor had been linked to her husband Franco Nero's Italian drama L'uomo che disegnò Dio, translated as The Man Who Drew God, but in a new statement from her representatives, she is now no longer involved.

"Vanessa Redgrave's name is being included in recent stories relating to the casting of the upcoming film The Man Who Drew God," the statement read. "While there have been discussions about the possibility of her joining the cast, she will not appear in the film."

The announcement of the project, set to feature Spacey's first performance since he was accused of sexual misconduct and fired from House of Cards, has been met with backlash online. More than 20 men alleged sexual misconduct by the actor when he was working at the Old Vic in London between 1995 and 2013.

Actor Anthony Rapp has claimed that Spacey made a sexual advance when he was 14 and Spacey was 26. Spacey claimed not to remember the encounter but added: "... if I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior." Spacey denies all other accusations of misconduct.

As well as being taken out of the final season of the Netflix drama, Spacey's role in Ridley Scott's All the Money in the World was reshot by Christopher Plummer.

Earlier this week, Louis Nero, the film's producer, said the allegations were of no concern. "In Italy, we don't know details on everything, so we don't speak about what we don't know about," he told Entertainment Weekly. "I cannot speak about these things. I only know that Kevin is a great actor. That was my concern, and no more than that."

He had also confirmed to Variety that Redgrave would be starring in the film if she was able to travel from England to Italy. She would have played a small role as a piano teacher.

The film is set to star the disgraced actor as a police officer investigating the case of a man – played by Franco Nero – who can draw people by listening to their voices, despite not being able to see. Earlier reports claimed the film was also about child sex abuse which has now been labelled as incorrect. "It does not involve paedophilia, as I've read in the media," Louis Nero said. "This is wrong."

Deadline has confirmed that Franco Nero is still attached to the project. "I'm very happy Kevin agreed to participate in my film," Nero said to ABC News. "I consider him a great actor and I can't wait to start the movie."

Quite the change in details from when initially in the news.

[Eddie Teach]

Barry Lyndon. Not a bad way to spend three hours.

[Syt]

It's such a gorgeous movie

[Josephus]

In "Are you feeling old yet?" news: the finale of Star Trek: Voyager aired yesterday 20 years ago in the US.

meh...watch the Friends reunion. If that doesn't make you feel old (assuming you are), nothing will.

[Josephus]

I never had a VCR growing up. Skipped entirely over that technology.

You missed the 80s. The decade when you watched porn on a pirated video tape that was taped over 10-11 times.
Yes, we didn't have pornhub

[Syt]

In "Are you feeling old yet?" news: the finale of Star Trek: Voyager aired yesterday 20 years ago in the US.

meh...watch the Friends reunion. If that doesn't make you feel old (assuming you are), nothing will.

I'm not nostalgic for friends. Never like the show much.

[Duque de Bragança]

I never had a VCR growing up. Skipped entirely over that technology.

You missed the 80s. The decade when you watched porn on a pirated video tape that was taped over 10-11 times.
Yes, we didn't have pornhub

VHS was still going strong in the '90s. Actually, crappy VHS lasted too for long, only disappearing in the 2000s.

[viper37]

I never had a VCR growing up. Skipped entirely over that technology.

You missed the 80s. The decade when you watched porn on a pirated video tape that was taped over 10-11 times.
Yes, we didn't have pornhub

VHS was still going strong in the '90s. Actually, crappy VHS lasted too for long, only disappearing in the 2000s.

Apparently, there's a market for some VHS movies, highly expensive, like in the thousand of dollars, for an identical movie available on DVD or Blu Ray, except for the cover.