TV/Movies Megathread

[Eddie Teach]

For once in my life I decide to be nice & respect spoilers sensitive bullshit & Martinus laugh at me.

No more! NO MORE.

Marty doesn't even watch the show, no known gay male characters.

[garbon]

For once in my life I decide to be nice & respect spoilers sensitive bullshit & Martinus laugh at me.

No more! NO MORE.

Marty doesn't even watch the show, no known gay male characters.

There were some rumors in the last couple months that they might reveal [spoiler]Daryl[/spoiler] as gay.

[celedhring]

I hear Agents of Shield is good now? I quit halfway season 1.

[Savonarola]

Just for fun, was watching some early Betty Boop shorts on Youtube.

In the first two I saw, the humour mostly derived from (1) surrealism; (2) Jazz; (3) drug references; and (4) attempted rape.   

I can see why the censors in the 30s had a problem with this ...

The Hays Code was the end for Betty Boop (and the beginning of the end for Fleischer Studios.)

The shorts have a lot of surrealism in them because Dave Fleischer demanded that ever scene have a gag in it.  With a demand for that many gags surrealism was the only thing that was going to work.

They were the first studio to figure out how to get characters to move in time with the music; jazz gives the cartoons the feel that they have.  They were also the first studio to do rotoscope and panoramic shots as well.

Fleischer Studios would go on to have some hits (Popeye and the 40s era Superman), but they'd never again have anything as wild as the original Betty Boop shorts. 

Did  you see "Snow White" (1933)?  I think that's one of the greatest cartoons ever made.

[11B4V]

Watched the first five episode of Arrow...meh

It picks up and gets better.

Seems to be.

However I found out what bothers me about this show. They're all too pretty. The mole on the moms lip is bugging the shit otta me too.

[Malthus]

Just for fun, was watching some early Betty Boop shorts on Youtube.

In the first two I saw, the humour mostly derived from (1) surrealism; (2) Jazz; (3) drug references; and (4) attempted rape.   

I can see why the censors in the 30s had a problem with this ...

The Hays Code was the end for Betty Boop (and the beginning of the end for Fleischer Studios.)

The shorts have a lot of surrealism in them because Dave Fleischer demanded that ever scene have a gag in it.  With a demand for that many gags surrealism was the only thing that was going to work.

They were the first studio to figure out how to get characters to move in time with the music; jazz gives the cartoons the feel that they have.  They were also the first studio to do rotoscope and panoramic shots as well.

Fleischer Studios would go on to have some hits (Popeye and the 40s era Superman), but they'd never again have anything as wild as the original Betty Boop shorts. 

Did  you see "Snow White" (1933)?  I think that's one of the greatest cartoons ever made.

The ones I saw were "Old Man of the Mountain" (very rape-y - the Old Man is depicted as raping anything that moves, including a sad hippo with three "old man" babies - he chases Betty and rips off Betty's clothes, but she gets them back and avoids his advances); "Red Hot Mama"; one where Betty was sexually assaulted by a circus manager and saved by the clown before the manager could "take her Boop-a-Doop away" (needless to say, rape-y  ); and one where Betty runs away from home with her dog-boyfriend to (apparently) do lots of drugs, only to be scared back home by a jazz walrus.

Will check out "Snow White".

[viper37]

I hear Agents of Shield is good now? I quit halfway season 1.

it got way better toward the end, now it's a pretty decent show, maybe slightly above average on television

It's very predictable though, save for last year's surprise twist that seemed like it was retconned rather than planned from the beginning.

[Eddie Teach]

it got way better toward the end, now it's a pretty decent show, maybe slightly above average on television

I still find it odd you kept watching it when you felt it was average or below. You realize how many shows they're making these days? Every cable network worth its stripes has a half dozen original series or more.

[Savonarola]

The ones I saw were "Old Man of the Mountain" (very rape-y - the Old Man is depicted as raping anything that moves, including a sad hippo with three "old man" babies - he chases Betty and rips off Betty's clothes, but she gets them back and avoids his advances); "Red Hot Mama"; one where Betty was sexually assaulted by a circus manager and saved by the clown before the manager could "take her Boop-a-Doop away" (needless to say, rape-y  ); and one where Betty runs away from home with her dog-boyfriend, only to be scared back home by a jazz walrus.

Will check out "Snow White".

I've seen "Red Hot Mamma," and I think I've seen that last one too; but I don't remember what it's called.  I'll check out "Old Man of the Mountain."

"Bimbo" is the name of her dog-boyfriend.  He had a very short run, as Wikipedia explains:

He appeared in Fleischer cartoons from 1930 to 1933, when he was eliminated from Betty's series by the Production Code censorship laws, since a dog with a human girlfriend gave implications of bestiality.



"Snow White" features Cab Calloway singing "St. James Infirmary Blues."  Cab is rotoscoped in as Koko (though with some astounding changes); if you watch closely you can see him do the moonwalk.

[The Brain]

"Man is the warmest place to hide" was actually used in marketing The Thing?

[viper37]

I still find it odd you kept watching it when you felt it was average or below.

I can be patient.  Babylon 5 wasn't that good when it started in its first year.  By the mid 3rd season, I was really hooked.

You realize how many shows they're making these days? Every cable network worth its stripes has a half dozen original series or more.

And I watch those I consider the best, those I have access to.  There's a lot of shows out there I have watched and decided to stop.

See, I watched the pilot episode for Stalker. Decided it was below average and unlikely to get better.  Dropped it.
I watched two episodes of Constantine, realized it can't get better than that, so I dropped it.
I watched the 100, found it could get better and it indeed got better, so I'm glad I stuck with it.
I watched 8 episodes of the Vampire Diaries, knew it was a Twilight rip-off without ever watching Twilight, dropped it.
I watched the entire 1st season of Dominion hoping it would get better, it never did and the finale was so stupid I decided to drop it.
I watched half an episode of Blue Bloods, wasn't impressed.

The quality of a show depends on a few things:
1) character interactions.  This is what you get in NCIS, Hawaii 5-0, S.H.I.E.L.D.  The characters aren't extremely original, but they're somewhat intelligent, act in a realistic manner, don't contradict themselves every 2 episodes and the banter is fun to watch.
2) plot.  You need a coherent plot, an arc, going through all the episodes accross seasons, so you get a feeling the show is going somewhere.  NCIS and Hawaii 5-0 don't have that.  BSG had it, B5 had it.  DS9 had it for part of the series, the best part imho, once they really introduced the Dominion.  Hannibal has that, but character interactions, except for Will and Hannibal are pretty weak.
3) originality.  NCIS, NCIS:LA, NCIS:NO, CSI in all its variations, Hawaii 5-0, they're all very similar police dramas, so they lose a lot of points there.  That doesn't mean they aren't fun to watch, but they're not as good as other shows out there.
4) character definition.  Hannibal.  He's smart.  He's always two steps in front of everyone.  You know he's a psychopath, but he's not unidimensional.  He escapes detention not because those chasing him are complete and utter morons but because he's simply that smart.  And that's something I like to see.

If I take all these criterias and rate every show I watch, Game of Thrones gets the best score for now.  It's original, the characters are interesting to watch interact with each another, they are well defined and not totally unidimensional and they evolve through the series.  It's also pretty original and doesn't look like a police drame from the 80s, very episodic like.

Unfortunately, it lasts only for 10 episode, starting from April.  And it's only one show.  Name me other shows as good as this that?  How many can you name, 2, 3, maybe?

[Eddie Teach]

Brain, I suppose you know a warmer one.

Viper, that's an awfully high bar. But there's a lot of room between "not quite as good as Game of Thrones" and "average".

[The Brain]

Brain, I suppose you know a warmer one.

Detonating H-bomb.

[Eddie Teach]

Sure, if you're Dr Manhattan.

[The Brain]

I'm a moderate drinker.