TV/Movies Megathread

[Savonarola]

If I don't get around to reviewing it, know that Preston Sturges' Sullivan's Travels (1941) is fantastic, a nearly-perfect blend of humanism, humor, and class war.  I like how John Sullivan gets out of jail for nearly killing a man pretty much entirely on the basis that he was rich and famous.   I really need to watch The Lady eve.  9/10

Sav, didn't you watch this lately?

I watched "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" recently.

[Savonarola]

Down by Law (1986)
I scream-a, you scream-a, we all scream-a for ice cream-a

Undoubtedly Robert Benigni funniest film; this is another Jim Jarmusch off-beat character study.  John Lurie (Jack) is a pimp who was set up by a rival; Tom Waitts is a DJ, set up to take a murder rap, and Bob (Robert Benigni) an up-beat Italian immigrant who killed a man with a pool ball.  They develop an odd bond in prison and somehow manage to escape.  Hilarity ensues as they travel through the bayous of Louisiana.

Having been to Colombia, I can now identify with Bob's bewilderment over the English language idioms and prepositions.

[Ideologue]

If I don't get around to reviewing it, know that Preston Sturges' Sullivan's Travels (1941) is fantastic, a nearly-perfect blend of humanism, humor, and class war.  I like how John Sullivan gets out of jail for nearly killing a man pretty much entirely on the basis that he was rich and famous.   I really need to watch The Lady eve.  9/10

Sav, didn't you watch this lately?

I watched "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" recently.

Not as good.  You should watch more old movies.

[Savonarola]

If I don't get around to reviewing it, know that Preston Sturges' Sullivan's Travels (1941) is fantastic, a nearly-perfect blend of humanism, humor, and class war.  I like how John Sullivan gets out of jail for nearly killing a man pretty much entirely on the basis that he was rich and famous.   I really need to watch The Lady eve.  9/10

Sav, didn't you watch this lately?

I watched "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" recently.

Not as good.  You should watch more old movies.

Things are looking up; my parents got me a collection of Harold Lloyd movies for my birthday.  CB has really enjoyed them so far.

[Ideologue]

If I don't get around to reviewing it, know that Preston Sturges' Sullivan's Travels (1941) is fantastic, a nearly-perfect blend of humanism, humor, and class war.  I like how John Sullivan gets out of jail for nearly killing a man pretty much entirely on the basis that he was rich and famous.   I really need to watch The Lady eve.  9/10

Sav, didn't you watch this lately?

I watched "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" recently.

Not as good.  You should watch more old movies.

Things are looking up; my parents got me a collection of Harold Lloyd movies for my birthday.  CB has really enjoyed them so far.

Bitchin'.  Love that Lloyd.

Got around to reviewing Mission: Impossible--Ghost Protocol.  I think I underrated it the first time I ever talked about it; it's quite sublime.  Maybe it helped that I got to see it on my dad's projector?  (Not HD, however--we're not Malthus Rich.)  Now, it's not quite as good as the original, but it's really very much in the same ballpark.  10/10.

[Ideologue]

I thought he got out of jail on the basis of being innocent, rich and famous.

Oh, yeah, I meant to reply to this.  He was certainly not innocent of beating that railway employee half to death, nor was he innocent of jumping the train in the first place.

That said, he might've been able to get his verdict vacated and a new trial, at which point he might've been found not guilty because of his temporary involuntary mental state, which would've obviated intent.

[Eddie Teach]

I thought he got out of jail on the basis of being innocent, rich and famous.

Oh, yeah, I meant to reply to this.  He was certainly not innocent of beating that railway employee half to death, nor was he innocent of jumping the train in the first place.

I believe he was charged with killing the other guy.

[Ideologue]

He confessed to the murder of the presumed-dead Hollywood director John Sullivan.   "How do you get your picture in the paper?"

[Malthus]

Well, I was on a (90s) Luc Besson kick, and I decided that - just for contrast - I would watch Lucy by way of contrast, to see what he had been up to more recently.

Lord, was it bad.

It was almost bad enough to travel back in time and retroactively make all his *other* movies into stinkers.    Though apparently it made a megaton of money, so what the hell do I know?

The funny thing is that you could almost make a *good* (albeit very short - like hour long TV episode short) movie out of it simply by editing out all the exposition. Just get rid of any hint of explaination as to WTF is happening - get rid, in particular, of the (truly cringe-worthy) 'science-y' speeches the director forced poor Morgan Freeman to make - hell, get rid of him altogether. Get rid of anywhere where they explain what the blue stuff they sewed into her was and what it was for. Leave all that to the imagination. 

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

I knew Lucy was going to be horrible as soon as they referenced the "humans only use 10% of their brain" myth in the trailer.

[Syt]

I knew Lucy was going to be horrible as soon as they referenced the "humans only use 10% of their brain" myth in the trailer.

[celedhring]

I knew Lucy was going to be horrible as soon as they referenced the "humans only use 10% of their brain" myth in the trailer.

Worst trope ever, indeed.

Unrelated, I found out about this: http://www.history.co.uk/shows/the-great-martian-war

A History Channel alt-hist doc about WWI, but with Martians instead of Huns. Since it's History Channel it's probably crap, but I must watch this thing.

[Malthus]

I knew Lucy was going to be horrible as soon as they referenced the "humans only use 10% of their brain" myth in the trailer.

If they merely mentioned that particular bit of myth in passing it would have been foregivable. But they go on and on about it, building on more - and dumber - additions and amplifications that make no sense - like if you use 50% of your brain, you can basically work magic.

[Ideologue]

As bad and hackneyed as its dumbassed sci-fi is, the worst part of Lucy is how it abandons all dramatic stakes by about the halfway point.  It's just so Goddamned boring.

[Malthus]

As bad and hackneyed as its dumbassed sci-fi is, the worst part of Lucy is how it abandons all dramatic stakes by about the halfway point.  It's just so Goddamned boring.

Yeah, it is kind of hard for Chinese gangsters to pose a truly credible threat to what amounts to a god.