TV/Movies Megathread

[katmai]

Caught 1st episode of True Detective on HBO.
Looked good and look forward to checking out next episode.

[Savonarola]

The Flapper (1920)

A daughter of a Senator (Olive Thomas) is bored by her life in small town Florida.  She's sent to Mrs. Paddle's School for Young Ladies (which is the greatest name imaginable for a girls' boarding school) in New York State.  Mrs. Paddle is a strict disciplinarian and the girls are very, very naughty and must be punished in the most humiliating way; or at least that's what would have happened if it had been my film.  In the film I actually watched wacky hi-jinks ensue as the girls try to emulate the flapper lifestyle and Olive Thomas tries to catch the eye of an older man (William Carleton.)

One night the charity pupil at Mrs. Paddle's school robs the place and escapes with her boyfriend (proving once again that you should never trust poor people or orphans.)  The couple lure Olive to New York City and then force her to take their pilfered loot back to Florida with her so that they can recover it later.  Their dastardly plan seemed horribly flawed, since there was nothing to stop Olive from ratting them out when they were out of sight; but she goes along with it.  She also pretends to be a wicked, worldly woman when she returns to Florida.  The ending resembles the end of an "I Love Lucy" episode where all Olive's troubles pile up at the last minute, but then are quickly resolved.

The star, Olive Thomas, lived a fascinating life.  She was from a small steel town in Pennsylvania.  Her father died when she was a child.  She married at 15 to an abusive man, and then divorced him when she was 17.  She went to New York City where she became a model (she was the first ever Vargas girl.)  She became a showgirl at the Ziegfeld Follies, had an affair with Florenz Ziegfeld.  She moved to Hollywood and married Jack Pickford (Mary Pickford's younger brother.)  She made a couple movies and died at age 25 from having accidentally drunk her husband's topical remedy for his syphilis sores.  That became Hollywood's first major scandal.

[Ed Anger]

That new Afghan war movie with Marky Mark. Acceptable towelhead killin'.

Rating:

[Malthus]

The Flapper (1920)

A daughter of a Senator (Olive Thomas) is bored by her life in small town Florida.  She's sent to Mrs. Paddle's School for Young Ladies (which is the greatest name imaginable for a girls' boarding school) in New York State.  Mrs. Paddle is a strict disciplinarian and the girls are very, very naughty and must be punished in the most humiliating way; or at least that's what would have happened if it had been my film.  In the film I actually watched wacky hi-jinks ensue as the girls try to emulate the flapper lifestyle and Olive Thomas tries to catch the eye of an older man (William Carleton.)

One night the charity pupil at Mrs. Paddle's school robs the place and escapes with her boyfriend (proving once again that you should never trust poor people or orphans.)  The couple lure Olive to New York City and then force her to take their pilfered loot back to Florida with her so that they can recover it later.  Their dastardly plan seemed horribly flawed, since there was nothing to stop Olive from ratting them out when they were out of sight; but she goes along with it.  She also pretends to be a wicked, worldly woman when she returns to Florida.  The ending resembles the end of an "I Love Lucy" episode where all Olive's troubles pile up at the last minute, but then are quickly resolved.

The star, Olive Thomas, lived a fascinating life.  She was from a small steel town in Pennsylvania.  Her father died when she was a child.  She married at 15 to an abusive man, and then divorced him when she was 17.  She went to New York City where she became a model (she was the first ever Vargas girl.)  She became a showgirl at the Ziegfeld Follies, had an affair with Florenz Ziegfeld.  She moved to Hollywood and married Jack Pickford (Mary Pickford's younger brother.)  She made a couple movies and died at age 25 from having accidentally drunk her husband's topical remedy for his syphilis sores.  That became Hollywood's first major scandal.

Clearly, they weren't joking when they said it was for "external use only". 

It is truly hard to believe that "Mrs. Paddle's School for Young Ladies" isn't a porno title. 

[Neil]

Caught 1st episode of True Detective on HBO.
Looked good and look forward to checking out next episode.

Yeah, I felt the same way.  Definitely worth seeing.

[CountDeMoney]

Caught 1st episode of True Detective on HBO.
Looked good and look forward to checking out next episode.

Very, very sharp.  I was impressed. 

[Darth Wagtaros]

Watching Leverage. I kind of like it. Silly fun.

Archer Season 4.  Gotten more of an edge.  Still good though. I hear weird things about Season 5 though.

[Liep]

I just saw the first episode of season 5, it was short, 19 minutes or so. It was weird, but still very Archery and fun. A beloved character dies.

[garbon]

I was a little confused as to why they showed us a montage of scenes for the eps for the coming season.

[Ideologue]

It's shorter.  Thanks to some brutal cuts, under 2000 words.

The capsule review is 61 words, in case you were wondering.

Spring Breakers (2013)

93 minutes of sound and fury signifying about 60 minutes of actual plot.  But between a heroic performance by James Franco, some inspired (let's say) physical acting by Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Benson, and genuinely fine cinematography, Spring Breakers is a more than worthwhile diversion, if you don't mind your hysterically socially conservative polemics delivered via a quasi-poetic, slightly-over-par gangster film.

There's a rumor in St. Petersburg

B+

I also changed the layout so it's black text on slightly gray background.  I liked the old one a lot better, but Lusti made a good point and I guess this is more conventional.

[katmai]

never fail to amuse Ide. A B+

[Ed Anger]

never fail to amuse Ide. A B+

Srsly.

[The Brain]

The geezer show, episode somethingorother. Like a headline I saw in London during the ground offensive of GW1: "War drags on".

[The Brain]

The geezer show, another episode. A camp episode.

[Ideologue]

never fail to amuse Ide. A B+

When I realized that Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Benson actually have characterizations and character journeys, if shallow ones--whether because Harmony Korine forgot that women have agency in the real world and you film them it comes off that way in a movie, or because he knows that women have agency and it terrifies him, it doesn't matter--I knocked it up to a B+.  I also liked the love story, and the colors already got it up to a C+ (see also, Only God Forgives).