TV/Movies Megathread

[Ed Anger]

Death wish 3. Clearly a warning from the past of New York post Bloomberg, where gangs rule the streets and gun less citizens are terrorized.

[Ideologue]

Man, I'm kinda pissed Upstream Color isn't out here till 4/22, and then only at the weenie arthouse theatre with a screen scarcely larger than my TV.  I guess that's still better than nothing (although I could just stream it on May 7 apparently. )

Watched Evil Dead, may talk about it later.

[katmai]

I am planning on catching it monday for matinee.

Evil Dead, not Upstream Color

[CountDeMoney]

Goddammit.

My Plasma TV, carted off to repair in early February, is now officially dead.  The power supply board is no longer in stock, and it can't be found online.  Looks like planned obsolescence is still alive and well.
Then again, it was about 6 years old, so I suppose it didn't owe me anything.

RIP, 42" Panasonic.

[katmai]

[CountDeMoney]

Pisses me off, because I don't like LED.  Any other fucking time, I'd drop $3,000 on a new plasma, but right now I may go the LCD route.  Ugh.  Slumming.

[viper37]

Pisses me off, because I don't like LED.  Any other fucking time, I'd drop $3,000 on a new plasma, but right now I may go the LCD route.  Ugh.  Slumming.

You could get a decent 50" plasma for around 2000$, you know.
Panasonic VT50

EDIT: closer to 1700$ actually.

[CountDeMoney]

Pisses me off, because I don't like LED.  Any other fucking time, I'd drop $3,000 on a new plasma, but right now I may go the LCD route.  Ugh.  Slumming.

You could get a decent 50" plasma for around 2000$, you know.

Meh, I have my living room exactly the way I want it, and have nowhere to put a 50".  My entertainment center is a perfect fit for a 42".  But I'm plasma snooping.
At the moment though, my personal finances would probably appreciate a $499 LCD bargain binner as opposed to a $2K drop.

[The Brain]

My entertainment center is a perfect fit for a 42". 

This.

[CountDeMoney]

My entertainment center is a perfect fit for a 42". 

This.

As small as my living room space is, anything bigger would be annoying.  Like sitting in the front row of a theater.  Bleh.

[Ideologue]

Couldn't you get an Obamaplasma?

Meh, I have my living room exactly the way I want it, and have nowhere to put a 50".

Also: is your living room not flexible enough to accomodate new things?

In all seriousness, that's a total fucking bummer dude.  I hope you get a new TV soon.  I dunno what your gripe is with LEDs (brightness and colors are good, but not +$1000 good).  I always liked 'em.

[CountDeMoney]

Also: is your living room not flexible enough to accomodate new things?

No, actually it isn't, because I've got furnishings. 
I will not disrupt my Fortress of Solitude's carefully orchestrated furniture feng shui for the sake of a television.  At least not at this time.

In all seriousness, that's a total fucking bummer dude.  I hope you get a new TV soon.  I dunno what your gripe is with LEDs (brightness and colors are good, but not +$1000 good).  I always liked 'em.

I've seen LEDs in action;  the resolution quality, while superior, is far too extreme for my tastes.  Looks fantastic for sports and documentaries, but I want movies to look like movies, not last Sunday's episode of Masterpiece Theater on PBS.   It's wholly unnerving.

[Grey Fox]

I want to buy a 32 for the upstairs living room. Fucking girlfriend not letting me do it.

[Tamas]

Pisses me off, because I don't like LED.  Any other fucking time, I'd drop $3,000 on a new plasma, but right now I may go the LCD route.  Ugh.  Slumming.

Ok so Pana plasmas were decent.

But Panasonic, EVEN PANASONIC is stopping making plasmas.

Plasmas are done. They are yesterday's technology, they have been far overshadowed by LCDs.

[Ideologue]

Evil Dead (2013).  A heroin addict is taken out to a decrepit cabin in the woods by her brother, his girlfriend, a nurse, and a surprisingly useful liberal artist for a dose of good old fashioned false imprisonment.  In relatively short order, though not short enough because the characters other than Mia (the heroin addict) and arguably LibArts are pretty flat, Evil Dead happens: a book is found, is foolishly read aloud, and at least one demonic spirit is invoked to take possession of the living until it turns them dead.  Mortification of the flesh ensues, and it's pretty fucking great.  Taken purely as a gran guignol it is probably better than the original Evil Dead, and is worth the price of admission to say the least.

It's unfortunate that I did not get a chance to rewatch the first Evil Dead before going to see the remake, so I can only compare and contrast my memories, which are not doubt corrupted by one of the sexiest movies ever made, the far better and wholly-different-in-tone Evil Dead 2.  Evil Dead 2013 hardly possesses the full measure of charm of that latter film, but at this point I find it difficult to recall if Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell brought that same amazing energy the first time around.  It is played very straight, and at times is unfortunately played almost sullen.

Which isn't to say, categorically, that director Fede Alvarez and Jane Levy as Mia don't put their hearts into this movie.  Jane Levy is excellent as, I think, the protagonist.  I sound uncertain because the movie doesn't seem certain either.  Mia is clearly the focus of the early character-building scenes; but she is also the first to be possessed; hence for a while she's the villain, and does a great job portraying, with a shivering intensity, a Deadite.  I can't quite decide whether this is a problem or not: on one hand, the course of events that ensues takes her out of what is apparently her own story; on the other, some of the more bravura scenes of hard-R violence are in this part.  Ultimately, I think it looks wonderful but feels a bit wrong.  The Evil Dead series (even Army of Darkness; maybe especially Army of Darkness) has traditionally had only one actual character--an attempt to have more than one, especially when it is, let's face it, a failed attempt, was a misstep on this film's part.

Never fear, it gets better, and except for one brief part where the lights go out and one realizes how shitty Evil Dead movies look in blue filter, leans to greatness toward the end.  The fun in Evil Dead (2013) is all the work of the Fede Alvarez' direction, Jane Levy, the amazing special effects team, and perhaps our own willingness to have our nostalgia buttons pushed... but it's still a lot of fun.

B+

P.S.: Did you know that a history degree grants its bearer a form of hilarious near-invulnerability?  I guess our secret's out.