TV/Movies Megathread

[Syt]

Durrr.

[Josephus]

Started to watch Prisoners of War, the original, Israeli, version of Homeland. Two episodes in. Quite different from Homeland so far.

[celedhring]

Thanks for the car chase film tips, people.

[Eddie Teach]

The Last Ship. Not as horrible as CDM said. Still, I kinda doubt I'll be watching it a month from now.

[CountDeMoney]

The Last Ship. Not as horrible as CDM said. Still, I kinda doubt I'll be watching it a month from now.

No, you won't.  Just like the writers did with Last Resort, they will box themselves in with the plot with nowhere to go.  Stupid Michael Bay. 

Read the book instead. 

[CountDeMoney]

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

It's just OK.  Low on the Great Gangsters Film Meter, though.

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.  )

No, there's nothing fair about it.  You can't weasel yourself out of this one.

[Eddie Teach]

Malcolm X suffers from being a biopic. Such an annoying narrative structure. But yeah, you should see it anyway.

[Admiral Yi]

I vote better than OK for Gangsters.

[Duque de Bragança]

Patton at the Cinémathèque in a not-so-common 70 mm print. The way it's meant to be seen. A classic!

[Ideologue]

I'm planning a "great chase scenes" sort of theme for films to watch in the following weeks. This is what I'm including so far:

- The French Connection
- Bullitt
- Duel
- The Italian Job (old one)
- The Driver (one of my favorite flicks)
- The Seven-Ups (if I can locate the DVD)
- The Blues Brothers
- To Live and Die in LA
- Ronin

Any suggestions? Most of the stuff I came up with is from the 70s, and it's all films I have already seen, there's probably some good stuff out there that I don't know.  I haven't seen a single of the Fast and Furious films, for example, but I don't know if the films are too shit even if the car scenes might be good. I also have not seen stuff like all those redneck-themed stunt driving films from the 70s.

That's a good list.  I'm glad someone recommended Duel, because it is spectacular, very possibly the best thing Spielberg ever made, and is scarier than Jaws.  The Seven-Ups is by far the best of the Philip D'Antoni-produced trilogy of chase films, including the overrated The French Connection and the egregiously overrated Bullitt.  It's also better than The Conversation.

(But TFC is still pretty decent.  Bullitt, on the other hand, is extremely boring and the chase, while decent, does not live up to its reputation as ONE OF TEH BEST EVAR.  If you didn't live in Spain, I'd happily mail you my copy as a freely-given gift.)

The Fast films, at least the latterday Fast films, are such weightless CGI cartoons that even though they're a lot of fun I barely concede they're in the same genre as movies like The Seven-Ups.

To echo Syt's suggestion, I really adore the original Gone in 60 Seconds.  It's weird as hell, terribly-made in any scenes that involve its vague story, and is practically outsider art, but it's also so-bad-it's-good at the same time its ultra-extended chase scene is legitimately amazing.

I'm sure you've seen Death Proof, but if somehow you haven't, it has the single most stunning chase scene I've ever seen and probably ever will see.

Vanishing Point, by contrast, isn't half the chase film qua chase film Tarantino's heavy references build it up to be; but it is a nice, brooding piece of 70s ennui (albeit with some potential tone problems).

Not really a chase movie, but Death Race 2000 is a hoot.

Yeah, it's not, but it is just wonderful.  Whenever I work up the stamina to do a race movie series (so, does Malcolm X ever drive a car? ), it's gotta be in there.

[Ideologue]

I'd heard tell of this one.  You're weird, Sav.  "If you watch just one movie made in your lifetime..."

I feel this movie more than justifies my decision to stick with the silent era.   

You might get some mileage out of this in an Ide review.  The corporate capitalist message is blatant and appalling (going so far as to equate generic store brands with National Socialism.)  Still the movie is so awful that I can't recommend it.  I like a lot of B movies, but this is all but unwatchable.

Are you aware of the production history?  It was made in 2002 then the hard drive the animation was on was "stolen."   It's a possibly Producers-esque scam, but eventually the insurance company finished it (since the celebrity voice work was done and represented an enormous sunk cost with some possibility of return, I suppose).

I listened to an in-depth podcast review (We Hate Movies is a pretty great program, especially if you work at a boring job) and know the film pretty well.  How does a tiny cartoon person sexually please Nazi scientists?

[Eddie Teach]

It was made in 2002

That would explain the casting of the Duff sisters.

[Kleves]

Transformers: Age of Extinction. Aggressively stupid and a Chicom co-production. Not even the Dinobots can save it.

[Ideologue]

So it's not the Mature Michael we hoped for, huh?  Bummer.

Was supposed to see it yesterday, but my friend bailed on me for something dumb like his brother's birthday.  Which is why I usually go to the movies by myself and not dependent on other worthless meatbags, but now I'm supposed to reschedule and I don't even feel like it today.

The big enthusiasm-killing thing for me is that with trailers it's three hours long.  I guess that's, er, value?

[celedhring]

I'm planning a "great chase scenes" sort of theme for films to watch in the following weeks. This is what I'm including so far:

- The French Connection
- Bullitt
- Duel
- The Italian Job (old one)
- The Driver (one of my favorite flicks)
- The Seven-Ups (if I can locate the DVD)
- The Blues Brothers
- To Live and Die in LA
- Ronin

Any suggestions? Most of the stuff I came up with is from the 70s, and it's all films I have already seen, there's probably some good stuff out there that I don't know.  I haven't seen a single of the Fast and Furious films, for example, but I don't know if the films are too shit even if the car scenes might be good. I also have not seen stuff like all those redneck-themed stunt driving films from the 70s.

That's a good list.  I'm glad someone recommended Duel, because it is spectacular, very possibly the best thing Spielberg ever made, and is scarier than Jaws.  The Seven-Ups is by far the best of the Philip D'Antoni-produced trilogy of chase films, including the overrated The French Connection and the egregiously overrated Bullitt.  It's also better than The Conversation.

(But TFC is still pretty decent.  Bullitt, on the other hand, is extremely boring and the chase, while decent, does not live up to its reputation as ONE OF TEH BEST EVAR.  If you didn't live in Spain, I'd happily mail you my copy as a freely-given gift.)

The Fast films, at least the latterday Fast films, are such weightless CGI cartoons that even though they're a lot of fun I barely concede they're in the same genre as movies like The Seven-Ups.

To echo Syt's suggestion, I really adore the original Gone in 60 Seconds.  It's weird as hell, terribly-made in any scenes that involve its vague story, and is practically outsider art, but it's also so-bad-it's-good at the same time its ultra-extended chase scene is legitimately amazing.

I'm sure you've seen Death Proof, but if somehow you haven't, it has the single most stunning chase scene I've ever seen and probably ever will see.

Vanishing Point, by contrast, isn't half the chase film qua chase film Tarantino's heavy references build it up to be; but it is a nice, brooding piece of 70s ennui (albeit with some potential tone problems).

Not really a chase movie, but Death Race 2000 is a hoot.

Yeah, it's not, but it is just wonderful.  Whenever I work up the stamina to do a race movie series (so, does Malcolm X ever drive a car? ), it's gotta be in there.

I have seen Vanishing Point, and indeed was a bit disappointed by it, given its fame. I was utterly bored by Death Proof, and the chase scene isn't enough for me to justify a rewatch.

I loved both Bullitt and TFC, but it's been ages since I last saw them. Actually this started a just a rewatch of those two films but then I decided to go on and make a thematic week(s) out of it.

Will try to get hold of a copy of Gone in 60 Seconds, but I'm not even sure it's gettable around here.