TV/Movies Megathread

[Liep]

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Funniest Netflix comedy yet, and BoJack Horseman wasn't not funny.

[Capetan Mihali]

Pity you didn't like Whiplash.

Honestly, what was there to like?  I apologize if you reviewed it already, I haven't skimmed back; but the few professional positive reviews I read were really pretty vague in what made this a good movie...

[CountDeMoney]

I really think Whiplash got hamstrung by having to cast an actor that could play the drums convincingly, leading to a rather weak casting of Miles Teller--who wasn't bad, but didn't have a whole lot of depth to him.

Capetan Mihali just doesn't appreciate the concept of "suffering for one's art" to achieve perfection, as he's never had to suffer to be perfect. 

[Capetan Mihali]

Perfection has been its own curse.

But that's my basic gripe with the movie: why does this generic 19-year-old drive himself to the edge of sanity to become a great jazz drummer in 2014?  All you get for color is that he's kind of dick and snob at times (extended family dinner scene), but also kind of a nice guy (early relationship) but also kind of a sociopath (end of relationship)...??

[Ideologue]

In its closing moments, Whiplash reveals itself as what it always was, beneath the music, beneath the rhetoric: a love story, shared between monsters who deserve each other.

That's what I liked about it--the utterly dysfunctional relationship between two total assholes.

I don't think praise was that split (although it was polarizing, if you skip out on the praise and read Richard Brody and Glenn Kenny, who hated it with a passion).

At the very least, it was an Oscar nominee with some personality, something you could only say about half 2014's Best Picture nominees.

[Admiral Yi]

Another thing about French Connection: when Popeye tails the two Frenchies to the French restaurant, they order Onion Soup.

[Capetan Mihali]

Best scene in that movie is when they shake down the bar in Harlem.

[Capetan Mihali]

In its closing moments, Whiplash reveals itself as what it always was, beneath the music, beneath the rhetoric: a love story, shared between monsters who deserve each other.

That's what I liked about it--the utterly dysfunctional relationship between two total assholes.

I don't think praise was that split (although it was polarizing, if you skip out on the praise and read Richard Brody and Glenn Kenny, who hated it with a passion).

At the very least, it was an Oscar nominee with some personality, something you could only say about half 2014's Best Picture nominees.

No, the praise seemed near-unanimous, I just meant that I only read few of the reviews.  Your interpretation is plausible and certainly more interesting than my experience of the film, but may be ultimately too much of a stretch for me.

[The Larch]

Was any of those Borgia shows good?

I preferred the Euro version rather than the American one. The acting is more subdued and not as hammy (Jeremy Irons is a superb scenary muncher, though, if that's what you enjoy), and the plots are not as sensationalistic (decadent nobles with degenerate hobbies galore in the American version), and it seems that there's more historical detail sprinkled here and there. The American version has much better production values, though, and some familiar faces pop up here and there (it was funny when the actor that plays Sam in Game of Thrones turns up as a teenage Florentine bishop, largely the same role  ), which add some fun to the mix.

[The Larch]

Also, although both have 3 seasons each, the US one was intended for 4 seasons but cancelled before that because of its high cost, so it was cut short.

If you want to judge based on the prettiness of the cast, here's the Lucrezia Borgia for each version:

Euro (portrayed by German actress Isolda Dychauk)





US (portrayed by British actress Holliday Grainger)

[Queequeg]

The Uke-German looks extremely period appropriate. 

[CountDeMoney]

In its closing moments, Whiplash reveals itself as what it always was, beneath the music, beneath the rhetoric: a love story, shared between monsters who deserve each other.

That's what I liked about it--the utterly dysfunctional relationship between two total assholes.

Well, it is jazz--arguably the most creative, organic and individualized of the performing arts--yet also the most noxiously self-centered, ostentatious and the most preening.  It's an art where the artists are measured by specific performances, and where no two performances of the same old standards are ever the same, the most exceptional and unique of which are honored and revered by fans, jazz critics and musicians like timeless works of art.  Talk to any hardcore jazz fan or musician, and it's never just "Miles Davis"; it's ""Miles Davis produced by grumbler with the Languish Studio Band over the course of 3 days in '68", or "Miles Davis live at The Capri in '66, with Ideologue on percussion with Capetan Mihali on trombone."  That's why the end of Whiplash works so well--jazz is about the performance, not the performer.

But I would rather sit through 8 hours of nonstop suicide-inducing poetry recitals by the Sullen Sorority Sisters of Sylvia Plath than deal with 20 minutes with jazz musicians.  Such assholes.

[The Minsky Moment]

.  Talk to any hardcore jazz fan or musician, and it's never just "Miles Davis"

Not just hardcore.
The Miles Davis that played in Charlie Parker's quintet, the Miles Davis of Birth of the Cool, the Miles Davis of the first "___'in" quintet, the transitional Miles Davis of So What, the Miles Davis of the second quintet, the Miles Davis of the fusion period, and the "Tutu" Miles Davis of the 1980s are very different and the differences are immediately apparent to anyone.

[Eddie Teach]

Jazz was a lot more fun before Miles Davis came around.

[The Brain]

Paradise Lost (West Memphis Three stuff). Didn't see the whole thing back in the day. Rock music seems to be a horrible thing.