TV/Movies Megathread

[dps]

Fucking hell
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/nov/19/its-a-wonderful-life-sequel

What the fuck!

Fuck you, ZOMG KING KONG REBOOT #3.  You're the assfucks this shit is targeted at.

Jackson's Kong was perfect. I would never support another remake.

Jackson's version was meh, and not as good as the original, though it was certainly better than the 70's version, the only thing about which was good was Jessica Lange topless.

[CountDeMoney]

FADE OUT

Syd Field, Author of the Definitive Work on Writing Screenplays, Is Dead at 77
By WILLIAM YARDLEY

The term "plot point" appeared in The New York Times fewer than 10 times during the century or so before 1979. Since then, it has appeared more than 200 times.

It happens that 1979 was the year Syd Field published "Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting," a book that over the next three decades became widely regarded as the "bible" of screenwriting, the paperback enabler of Hollywood dreams.

"Screenplay" has sold millions of copies; been translated into more than a dozen languages; served as a reference for James Cameron, Judd Apatow, Tina Fey, Frank Darabont and scores of other successful screenwriters; and inspired plenty of sneers from those who insist that art is born of inspiration, not what Mr. Field, who died on Sunday at 77, argued in "Screenplay" is the crucial stuff of a good screenplay: plot points.

Surrounded by Act I, also known as "the beginning" or "the setup," and Act III, also known as "the ending" or "the resolution," plot points are Act II, the moving middle, the decisive developments that propel characters through events dramatic, tragic, comic, nuanced or outrageous. Mr. Field liked the way they kept things rolling in "Chinatown." And as he updated his book over the years, he had kind words for "Thelma & Louise," "The Matrix" and the Tom Cruise vehicle "Collateral."

See for yourself, he would say. Go the movies and look for decisive points of action about 20 to 30 minutes into a film, then look again about 90 minutes into the film.

"It's an excellent exercise," he wrote. "The more you do it, the easier it gets. Pretty soon it will be ingrained in your consciousness; you'll grasp the essential nature of the relationship between structure and story. "

Many people took his advice, even some who might have initially been reluctant to. Mr. Cameron said "Screenplay" helped persuade him to make films. Mr. Apatow recommended it often. Ms. Fey was the head writer for "Saturday Night Live" but struggled writing the script of her 2004 comedy, "Mean Girls." Then she picked up "Screenplay."

"Just to keep a story moving forward was all new to me," she told The Times in 2004.

"I did a million drafts," she added. "And I did the thing everybody does. I read Syd Field and I used my index cards."

Sydney Alvin Field was born on Dec. 19, 1935, in Hollywood. His wife, Aviva, said he died at his home in Beverly Hills. The cause was hemolytic anemia. In addition to his wife, survivors include his daughter, Lisa Arcos, and a brother, Dr. Morton Field.

Mr. Field acted while majoring in literature at the University of California, Berkeley. Then, at the suggestion of one of his instructors, the filmmaker Jean Renoir, he entered film school at the University of California, Los Angeles.

An uncle, Sol Halprin, the Academy Award-winning head of the camera department at 20th Century Fox, helped him find a job at the television company Wolper Productions. Mr. Field started in the shipping department but eventually helped produce the company's documentary series "Biography," hosted by Mike Wallace.

He eventually left to pursue his dream: writing screenplays of his own. Yet while he did write original work, including scripts for television shows like "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." and "Batman," he never had a hit of his own. Over time, while writing reviews of screenplays and reading thousands of poorly conceived works submitted to another production company he worked for, he decided aspiring writers needed help.

He updated "Screenplay" several times and went on to write other books, including "Going to the Movies: A Personal Journey Through Four Decades of Modern Film."

Mr. Field taught at several major universities and served as a consultant to Hollywood studios. He once advised scientists, under the aegis of the Pentagon, on how to write screenplays to stir interest in science as a career. He was elected to the Screenwriting Hall of Fame of the American Screenwriting Association. Critics sometimes cast Mr. Field as teaching a formulaic approach to writing. Now computer programs that are fed story elements can churn out scripts in minutes — a development he detested.

"Syd was the pioneer of the study of the screenwriting form," said John Truby, a prominent writing teacher who sometimes taught seminars with Mr. Field. "He was the first to challenge the old romantic notion that writing a good script was a gift of divine intervention and instead showed that it comes from a craft that can be learned."

The license plate on Mr. Field's BMW: "PLOTPNT."

[Kleves]

Jack Reacher. Meh. Rosamund Pike.

[Eddie Teach]

Battleship Potemkin. I liked it. Not as much as the movie critics who make "Best Ever" lists, but it was interesting.

[Scipio]

Jack Reacher. Meh. Rosamund Pike.

There were some serious flaws in the writing of Jack Reacher, but overall I thought it really worked.

And Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins, and surprise Robert Duvall were excellent.

[lustindarkness]

I enjoyed Jack Reacher.

[viper37]

Marvel Shield
It seems to have gone a little better in the last two weeks.  Still well below average, imho.

Eh, the average show is completely unwatchable, so it's a bit above average.

Well, looking at network shows like Dracula or Hannibal, this product is certainly inferior.  Compared to all variants of NCIS and Hawaii 5-0, I'd say it's inferior too, and I consider this to be average (funny, but really, the plot lines are über predictable and similar from one of these shows to the other).

[garbon]

Marvel Shield
It seems to have gone a little better in the last two weeks.  Still well below average, imho.

Eh, the average show is completely unwatchable, so it's a bit above average.

Well, looking at network shows like Dracula or Hannibal, this product is certainly inferior.  Compared to all variants of NCIS and Hawaii 5-0, I'd say it's inferior too, and I consider this to be average (funny, but really, the plot lines are über predictable and similar from one of these shows to the other).

Is it possible to be inferior to Dracula? Granted I only watched it once.

[Eddie Teach]

Well, looking at network shows like Dracula or Hannibal, this product is certainly inferior.  Compared to all variants of NCIS and Hawaii 5-0, I'd say it's inferior too, and I consider this to be average (funny, but really, the plot lines are über predictable and similar from one of these shows to the other).

Then why the heck are you still watching it?

I disagree, btw. It's definitely more interesting than your typical murder-of-the-week cop show.

[Sheilbh]

I like the new series of Ripper Street. Still love the show.

[viper37]

@Garbon: I think Dracula is worth watching as a series.  If you don't you don't

Then why the heck are you still watching it?
I disagree, btw. It's definitely more interesting than your typical murder-of-the-week cop show.

Ah, the humor.  The plot lines, I find them silly an predictable.  Unlike shows like, say, Game of Thrones or Spartacus, you know exactly what's going to happen.  But they are definately verry funny shows, and it's all about the interaction between the characters more than the plots in themselves.

As for S.H.I.E.L.D., I think it's improving slightly, wich is why I keep watching it.

[The Brain]

The Spartacus rebellion is [spoiler]defeated[/spoiler].

[viper37]

The Spartacus rebellion is [spoiler]defeated[/spoiler].

[spoiler]Also, he dies in the end and Ceasar survives.[/spoiler]

[Savonarola]

King Lear (1916)

Rumble thy bellyful! Spit, fire! spout, rain!
Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire are my daughters.
I tax not you, you elements, with unkindness.
I never gave you kingdom, call'd you children,

That and all the other monologues and dialog are the part that is missing from this silent adaptation of William Shakespeare's immortal play.  Instead they mime out the action (occasionally there's a title cut with one of the bard's lines.)  Frederick Warde plays Lear; he was a stage actor, and presents Lear with the same broad movements that he would have used on the stage.  On a film it just looks hammy.

There were a number of plays filmed in the silent era.  Some work; I saw a silent film version of Lady Windermere's Fan that I enjoyed more than the play, but this one does not.

[Sophie Scholl]

I like the new series of Ripper Street. Still love the show.

Agreed.  The new season has been quite good so far.
Garbon:  Dracula has become somewhat more interesting as things have gone on.  I'd suggest giving it to say... episode 3 for a final decision.