TV/Movies Megathread

[Darth Wagtaros]

21 Jump street movies? They trust someone who was involved with that with an important franchise?

Fantomas was eclipsed by his descendent, The Phantom Limb.

[Syt]

I read an argument recently that 4 billion for Lucasfilm et al was a bit low, considering that Minecraft pulled 2 billion alone, and that Disney is easily going to recover the money with movies and merchandise.

[Josquius]

Was it just a flat 4 billion or war there something in there about Lucas getting a share of the profits?

[celedhring]

Was it just a flat 4 billion or war there something in there about Lucas getting a share of the profits?

Half of the deal was paid in Disney shares. I think he owns 1% of the company IIRC, which is very little or a lot, depending on how you look at it.

[Norgy]

Just watching "The Wire" again. The re-mastered version.

Not a lot's been better television-wise than "The Wire". Has to be up there with the French "Spiral" and HBO's other whammy "The Sopranos".

I wish we did real huge productions here too.

[Ideologue]

21 Jump street movies? They trust someone who was involved with that with an important franchise?

Miller and Lord are just about the best filmmakers to have come around in the past ten years.  That said, I think they're wasting their talents in live action,,since they're demonstrably the best animation directors to have come around since Clements and Musker.

[Ideologue]

Also, Channing Tatum for Han Solo.

Just kidding. I think.

[Savonarola]

The Rabbi's Cat (2011)

This is a French cartoon based on a comic book (or "Graphic Novel" if you must) about a cat which gains the power of speech.  It's set in the early part of the twentieth century in Algeria.  The cat engages in lengthy discussions of religion with his master, the Rabbi, and lusts after the Rabbi's nubile daughter.  (Maybe those things together appeal to the French...) That drags on for about a half an hour until the Rabbi discovers a young Russian émigré fleeing communism.  Things pick up significantly as the Rabbi, the émigré, a white Russian soldier and a Sufi cleric with a talking donkey all go out searching for the lost children of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.  This is a great adventure yarn, but, unfortunately, seems rushed especially given the glacial pace of the first part of the film.

[Eddie Teach]

Just kidding.

One hopes.

[Ideologue]

Maybe for Chewie.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Just kidding.

One hopes.

You jinxed us.

[Admiral Yi]

A goodly chunk of Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out.

Learned a few things I hadn't known before.

The girl was really, really young.  She wasn't mature for her age, she was a little kid.

Swiss German sounds nothing at all like German German.  I thought they were speaking Dutch.

Mercedes makes a minivan.

[Syt]

Swiss German sounds nothing at all like German German.  I thought they were speaking Dutch.

It's more of a throat infection.

[Josephus]

Kinda like a Quebecois speaking French

[Savonarola]

The Lost Boys of Sudan (2003)

This documentary follows two young refugees from the Sudanese Civil War as they adjust to life in the United States.  It's done in a cinema verite style without any voice over.  It's best to exercise cautious with what's shown in this sort of documentary; but there were a number of things I found interesting.  The most notable, for me, was that the boys always talk about how we have no time in America; and that seems to be what they miss most about Sudan.  All the Sudanese seemed to develop a prejudice against African-Americans immediately; yet complained about experiencing racism.  The filmmakers showed the enormous gulf between the well-meaning Americans trying to help and the refugees.  This is driven home near the end where a girl interviews one of the refugees for their high school newspaper and he starts talking about being attacked and fleeing for his life while she just stares blankly.