TV/Movies Megathread

[CountDeMoney]

Yeah, you know [spoiler]he was bound to go out:  I just didn't think he'd go out like that.[/spoiler]  Concepts like [spoiler]"redemption"[/spoiler] and [spoiler]"sacrifice"[/spoiler] didn't seem to be part of his operational vocabulary.

[spoiler]Nice last words, though.[/spoiler]

[Habbaku]

Speaking of zombies...

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/tvnews.php?id=101945

Amazon Studios, the original movie and series production arm of Amazon.com, today announced it will add "Zombieland" to the line-up of pilots already in production for Prime Instant Video. "Zombieland," which is the seventh comedy pilot added to Amazon's pilot line-up, will be made available (along with the other six comedy pilots and six children's pilots) for free on Amazon Instant Video and LOVEFiLM UK. Customers are invited to view the pilots and then review them on the site; customer feedback will help determine which of the 13 pilots Amazon Studios will make into full-season productions, to air on Prime Instant Video.

[HVC]

I didn't see what happened in the recent Walking Dead as that big of a shock, after all [spoiler]Merle was bound to go out sooner or later, and he got in much more a blaze of glory than I would have anticipated.  Daryl is going on a Governor-manhunt for sure, tho.[/spoiler]

[spoiler] he was gonna die, and he was gonna die bloody, so that wasn't the shock, it was more the way he died (both times), and his last minute redemption[/spoiler]

[Ideologue]

Part II of the Ten Commandments.

There's one shot in particular I want to note: after the tenth plague, Rameses has called Moses to tell him, finally, yes, he will let his people go.  Moses has been conflicted about the indiscriminate slaughter till now, but in the light of Israel's freedom, he is compelled to praise God and His power, walking, almost dazed, from the pharoah's throne room.  The camera follows Moses only for a moment; still he speaks of the greatness of his Lord, but he moves out of the frame, the focus now on Queen Nefertiri descending the staircase from her chambers, with the prince, her son, dead in her arms; Moses' voice becomes distant and his words of thanksgiving lost; there is, for this moment, only tragedy, horror, and murder.  This is great filmmaking.

Makes me forgive the dozens of terrible edits that plague the production like frogs (which we do not get to see!).

The second part, drawing its material more from the HOLY SCRIPTURES than from the smaller-fonted "modern writings" that told the untold story of Moses' young adulthood, is perhaps slightly weaker for its constraints--it really gets a little silly by the fourth plague or so that Rameses has not given in, and get sillier still when Dathan (Edward G. Robinson at his sleazy best) still doubts the power of I AM even after the flight from Egypt, when HE VERY CLEARLY IS--but Heston, the magnificent one, never once loses the thread of his character, and the questioning nature that drove him out of Egypt in the first place.  I'm gonna give the whole package an A+.

[11B4V]

Is that the first time you've seen it?

[Ideologue]

First time in about twenty years.

It's funny, I remembered it being almost more Yul Brynner's movie than Heston's, and that Rameses was a significantly more layered character, but my memory was very wrong.  Maybe I was thinking of Rameses in Prince of Egypt?

10C's Rameses II is pretty one dimensional and black hat throughout, and while such headwear suited Brynner when he'd don it a few years later, Chris Adams had far more dimension to him, and it's really a bit of a weakness that they didn't let Brynner shine a bit more in what is perhaps his iconic role.  You can definitely see him in a few scenes trying to develop some depth, except in a few scenes at the beginning and the one at the end that depth is just lacking in the material; however, as Rameses must go hard and soft based on the whim of YHWH, this is surely not unintentional.

Actually, I guess A+ is too high; on reflection, the first part was an A+, and the rest a B+, so an A overall.  I think the plus came from the part where Moses chucks the commandments at the golden calf like a pair of Hellfire missiles.  Nevertheless, it's still a great triumph of the 1950s-style epic, the likes of which we are unlikely to see again, unless Ridley Scott's got one or two more in him before he retires.  I fear it's all 300 clones from here on out, and while the initial inspiration was a pretty fine film, the subgenre already degenerated into garbage like Tarsem's nigh-unwatchable Immortals, a two hour film that feels about twice as long as The Ten Commandments or Gladiator.

Oh, and MB: Ben Hur totally came with it!  I'll be watching that tomorrow, or whenever.  Happy Easter everyone!

[Ed Anger]

Eat peeps and eggs while watching it.

[CountDeMoney]

I remembered it being almost more Yul Brynner's movie than Heston's,

That's because Heston wasn't fit to carry Brynner's jock.  Ever.

[Syt]

http://project.efg1914.eu/

EFG1914 is a digitisation project focusing on films and non-film material from and related to World War I.  It started on 15 February 2012 and runs for two years. 25 partners, among them 20 European film archives, are working towards the following  main goals:

- To digitise 654 hours of film and ca. 5.600 film-related documents on the theme of the First World War
- To give access to the material through the European Film Gateway and Europeana
- To build a virtual exhibition using selected objects digitised in EFG1914


EFG1914 covers all the different genres and sub-genres relevant in that time: newsreels, documentaries, fiction films, propaganda films. Moreover, EFG1914 will also give access to anti-war films that were mainly produced after 1918 and which reflect the tragedies of the 1910s. This material is of special importance since only around 20% of the complete silent film production survived in the film heritage institutions. Therefore, EFG1914 set out to digitize a crucial part and a critical mass of these remaining moving image records, mostly undiscovered by the public.

EFG1914 is the follow-up project of EFG – The European Film Gateway (2008-2011). The main outcome of the EFG project is the online portal The European Film Gateway, which gives access to several hundreds of thousands photos, films, texts and other material preserved in European film archives. More information on the initial EFG project can be found here.

[11B4V]

I remembered it being almost more Yul Brynner's movie than Heston's,

That's because Heston wasn't fit to carry Brynner's jock.  Ever.

You should go sit it the corner for that remark 

[Liep]

Ascenseur pour l'échafaud. Great little crime film and a great soundtrack. I really only watched this one because I heard a snippet of Miles Davis' trumpeting from this film on the radio. 9/10

[Sheilbh]

I remembered it being almost more Yul Brynner's movie than Heston's,

That's because Heston wasn't fit to carry Brynner's jock.  Ever.

Agreed. Except for Planet of the Apes I never really got the Heston love while Brynner's awesome.

[Ed Anger]

Omega Man is awesome. Heston talks to himself and shoots vampire hippies while wearing a track suit.

[Admiral Yi]

Omega Man is awesome. Heston talks to himself and shoots vampire hippies while wearing a track suit.

IIRC, first on-screen interracial kiss.

[Sheilbh]

Omega Man is awesome. Heston talks to himself and shoots vampire hippies while wearing a track suit.

Good point.

I think my problem is that Heston's in a lot of epics with someone else who's kind-of out-acting him. He just needs to be stoic and heroic while they've got a lot of work to do, and God do they do it (Brynner especially).