TV/Movies Megathread

[garbon]

But come on - Washington fighting a war against demons in the guise of the British. 

Sounds about right.

[Syt]

Fury Trailer

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi4154436633/?ref_=tt_ov_vi

According to IMDB the German title is "Heart of Iron."

[Habbaku]

Fury Trailer

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi4154436633/?ref_=tt_ov_vi

I came.

[celedhring]

Watched the first 3 Sleepy Hollow eps (they showed them in a row). It's indeed quite silly, but I guess it's decent enough as harmless entertainment.

My favorite part of it so far is Ichabod Crane's take on the "fish out of the water" archetype. Loved the bit where he's confronting a big bad witch and drops his gun because he believes that it only has one shot, like XVIII century pistols.

[Ideologue]

How the hell is Wall-E fascistic? 

Maybe read the two sentences right next to where I call it fascistic.  One guy decides to radically reshape society based upon a romantic vision of an agrarian past and uses the literal machinery of the state to force them into it, without a vote, and destroying the ineffectual technocrat that tries to stop him?

How isn't Wall-E fascist?

I don't know what's worse, if your way of interpreting things or your political references.

The captain (not one random guy) decided to change route back to Earth because he found proof that it was habitable again, which was completely in line with the objectives of the original inhabitants of the ship-ark.

He's a random guy as far as making decisions that need to be put to vote is concerned.  Those original inhabitants are dead.  Their descendants, singularly unsuited to any sort of rough life, were not given a chance to argue or debate.

Cel: if we must agree, surely you can concede it's an authoritarian use of his power?  I think it's straight-up fascist for the reasons I noted.  Did Falangism not have a weird romantic fixation on the "good old days" and an attraction to agrarian existence in opposition to modernity?

[celedhring]

No, Fascism saw itself as *the* modern ideology. The original Fascist Manifesto was co-written by Marinetti, the visible head of the Futurist Movement.

Fascism, of course, went on to draw on tradition as representing the "purity" of the nation, but you can't deny the fascination of Fascism and Nazism by the modern industry and certainly modern weapons. You can't say the fascistic utopia is an agrarian society.

[Razgovory]

No, Fascism saw itself as *the* modern ideology. The original Fascist Manifesto was co-written by Marinetti, the visible head of the Futurist Movement.

Fascism, of course, went on to draw on tradition as representing the "purity" of the nation, but you can't deny the fascination of Fascism and Nazism by the modern industry and certainly modern weapons. You can't say the fascistic utopia is an agrarian society.

Well Fascism is sort of a mixed bag.  It's a hodgpodge of ideas tossed together.  Hitler envisioned a race of "peasant-soldiers" settling out in the Russian steppe.  So you can have fascination with industry and a strong agrarian focus.

[Duque de Bragança]

No, Fascism saw itself as *the* modern ideology. The original Fascist Manifesto was co-written by Marinetti, the visible head of the Futurist Movement.

Fascism, of course, went on to draw on tradition as representing the "purity" of the nation, but you can't deny the fascination of Fascism and Nazism by the modern industry and certainly modern weapons. You can't say the fascistic utopia is an agrarian society.

Well Fascism is sort of a mixed bag.  It's a hodgpodge of ideas tossed together.  Hitler envisioned a race of "peasant-soldiers" settling out in the Russian steppe.  So you can have fascination with industry and a strong agrarian focus.

Yep, the first Greens were Blut und Boden (purity of the blood and soil). Kind of a romantic rejection of modernity as well.
Something the Greens don't like to be reminded of.

[Ideologue]

No, Fascism saw itself as *the* modern ideology. The original Fascist Manifesto was co-written by Marinetti, the visible head of the Futurist Movement.

Fascism, of course, went on to draw on tradition as representing the "purity" of the nation, but you can't deny the fascination of Fascism and Nazism by the modern industry and certainly modern weapons. You can't say the fascistic utopia is an agrarian society.

I think what we can't say is that fascism was a coherent ideology.  Like Raz said, there was--at least in the German brand of fascism--tremendous appreciation for family, for peasant smallholding, for the agricultural lifestyle, and for the romanticized past in general.

Which is not to say that it also did not have a great fascination with industrial modernity and monumental urbanity, too.  It's kind of like how the Tea Party, until maybe very recently, worked to implement the values of both a nostalgic, rural, Christian Americana as well as those of godless, globalized capitalism.

Individual fascists, like individual Republicans, are probably more coherent in their values.  Though it isn't clear Hitler was.  He liked jet planes and he liked guys working on farms fertilized with Russian corpses.  I guess he was a complicated dude.

[11B4V]

Another I'm kinda looking forward to.

The Equalizer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAI7rF0eQyQ

[Ideologue]

I think it'll be fun, or has the potential to be.

[11B4V]

I think it'll be fun, or has the potential to be.

My favs of his are American Gangster and The Mighty Quinn.

[Ideologue]

I need to check out American Gangster sometime.  Denzel, Scott--how bad can it be?

Also Malcolm X.  (I know I should've seen it, but in fairness it came out when I was ten and I sort of forgot about it till just now.  )

Training Day's so good.

His last movie was shit, though.

[Ideologue]

The Fury (1978).  Michael Douglas is blessed with a talent for telepathy and telekinesis, and he's been stolen away by a shadowy organization to be trained to fight Communists, or possibly just Arabs, or possibly just people who happen to be dressed in the most stereotypical Arab garb this side of Lawrence of Arabia.  But his father, Kirk, is looking for him, and enlists an insanely well-built young woman with her own psychic gifts into a death ride on the secret facility where the director of the organization, as well as several well-regarded films, has corrupted Michael with sex and patriotism.

And then they ran out of money, or Brian De Palma was arrested, or went into a coma, or something.

This movie is moving, it's grooving, flying through the air with the greatest of ease--literally--when it decides [spoiler]the best way to kill a character, DEMONSTRATED IN THE PREVIOUS SCENE to have the power of flight, is with A FALL.  It's like Scanners, if Revok tripped down some stairs before Cameron even got to his office.  In other words, it's like Scanners, if it sucked.  It's not even a well-staged narratively idiotic scene.[/spoiler]

And then, there's actual last scene, specifically the last dozen shots.  That was the best thing I've seen in a while.  My oh my.

But it's nonsense and stupid and I kind of hate The Fury for being really awesome, edging on great for a full hour and a half, before just pissing everything else it had promised down its leg.

B

P.S. The editing is just superb.  There's one the most memorable cuts I've ever seen short of The Empire Strikes Back.

[Syt]

According to IMDB Michael Douglas is not in this movie.