TV/Movies Megathread

[Josephus]

18 to 34 is the key demographic. Just the way it is.

[Savonarola]

I watched a collection of "Our Gang" shorts that had a selection from the silent period until the end of the Roach era.  The one silent feature they had, Dog Heaven is one of the stranger films I've seen.  In it Pete the Pup tries to hang himself, and falls into "Low company," and starts drinking hard with other dogs.

The transition to sound was rocky; it took Hal Roach a while to figure out how to get the children to work with sound.  He also had some odd idea,s in Teacher's Pet for instance he has these two blonde girls come out and introduce the film (0:07-0:37 on the link I posted.)  This is largely the impression I get whenever Monkeybutt talks about his twins.  That generation has some of the funniest rascals; Jackie Cooper, Farina and Mary Ann Jackson; but a lot of times the gags aren't well set up or the films just don't work.

The majority of the cartoons featured the last generation of Roach rascals, Spanky, Darla, Alfalfa, Buckwheat and the like.  That had to be a strange life; Spanky, for instance, starred in the shorts from the time he was three.  By age 14 he was all washed up.  A lot of the rascals died relatively young; Hal Roach (who lived to be 100) outlived all but a handful of them.  (Waldo was one who outlived Roach.)

[Josquius]

I watched a collection of "Our Gang" shorts that had a selection from the silent period until the end of the Roach era.  The one silent feature they had, Dog Heaven is one of the stranger films I've seen.  In it Pete the Pup tries to hang himself, and falls into "Low company," and starts drinking hard with other dogs.

I find silent films too scary to watch a whole one but.
1: WTF? That is...bizzare. Why?
2: Is the dog's owner Cartman from South Park?

[Eddie Teach]

I find silent films too scary to watch a whole one

Man up.

[Savonarola]

I watched a collection of "Our Gang" shorts that had a selection from the silent period until the end of the Roach era.  The one silent feature they had, Dog Heaven is one of the stranger films I've seen.  In it Pete the Pup tries to hang himself, and falls into "Low company," and starts drinking hard with other dogs.

I find silent films too scary to watch a whole one but.
1: WTF? That is...bizzare. Why?
2: Is the dog's owner Cartman from South Park?

Heh, every generation of rascals had a fat kid (as well as a black kid, a girl and the ringleader.)  That is the first fat kid, Joe.  The most famous is probably Porky from the Buckwheat/Alfalfa/Spanky/Darla era.

While I think Parker and Stone were influenced by The Little Rascals; I think it's jut a coincidence that they put in a fat kid.  Cartman doesn't behave like any of the Rascal fat kids.

[Josquius]

Not just the fatness, they look rather alike i think, got the same hat.

[dps]

Lots of older folks go to the movies too.  I am just entering the demographic of no longer having much responsibility regarding children and so Mrs. CC and I now have time to go see movies again. When we went to see the Martian last weekend the crowd in the theatre was predominantly our age and older. 

Sure, but we're talking about averages, here.

[garbon]

Since the coming of age of the VCR in the mid-80s, movie-going has increasingly been more of a social activity rather than just being about seeing a movie.  Before then, if you wanted to see a movie, you needed to see it in a theater, because there was no way to know when or if you'd see it on TV.  Now, you know it's going to be out on DVD within a couple of months or so, so there's no reason to see it in the theater unless you're going with a group of friends or you're on a date.  By the time you're 30, it's increasingly difficult to get together with a group of friends, and most people are married and not dating anymore, so yeah, in movie-going terms, an average age of 34 would be an older audience.

With the exception of being able to talk about it after, I've never quite understood why a movie is a good 'social activity'. Let's stare at a screen in the dark for a couple hours and not talk to one another, ok?

[Admiral Yi]

With the exception of being able to talk about it after, I've never quite understood why a movie is a good 'social activity'. Let's stare at a screen in the dark for a couple hours and not talk to one another, ok?

It's a good place to make out if you're a kid.

[garbon]

With the exception of being able to talk about it after, I've never quite understood why a movie is a good 'social activity'. Let's stare at a screen in the dark for a couple hours and not talk to one another, ok?

It's a good place to make out if you're a kid.

Fair but then I don't think that's the only reason people view movies as a social activity.

[dps]

Since the coming of age of the VCR in the mid-80s, movie-going has increasingly been more of a social activity rather than just being about seeing a movie.  Before then, if you wanted to see a movie, you needed to see it in a theater, because there was no way to know when or if you'd see it on TV.  Now, you know it's going to be out on DVD within a couple of months or so, so there's no reason to see it in the theater unless you're going with a group of friends or you're on a date.  By the time you're 30, it's increasingly difficult to get together with a group of friends, and most people are married and not dating anymore, so yeah, in movie-going terms, an average age of 34 would be an older audience.

With the exception of being able to talk about it after, I've never quite understood why a movie is a good 'social activity'. Let's stare at a screen in the dark for a couple hours and not talk to one another, ok?

Yeah, when I went to movies with friends, we usually hung out together afterward, maybe got something to eat.  The social part of it was being able to talk about it when everyone had just seen it, as opposed to being in a group where maybe some had just seen it, some had seen it a few weeks earlier, and some hadn't yet seen it at all.  The actual view of the film wasn't generally the focus of the evening;  sometimes it was more of excuse to get together than a reason.

[viper37]

With the exception of being able to talk about it after, I've never quite understood why a movie is a good 'social activity'. Let's stare at a screen in the dark for a couple hours and not talk to one another, ok?

You get lunch with friends before you go.  You grab a drink or two with friends after you've seen the movie.  You chat before the movie begins.  It lets you see distant friends/family that you would not otherwise see because your schedules are complicated.  It's a bigger incentive to drive 1h30 to grab lunch in a good restaurant + watch a movie than simply drive over there to eat.

[jimmy olsen]

Will we get the full Jar Jar Binks legacy story in the new movie? 

We all know who's really behind the Empire now that Palpatine is dead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=5qAKXK_aLeA#t=86

[Savonarola]

Spangles (1926)

Everyone loves Spangles (Marian Nixon) () the circus bareback rider; including the bullying circus owner, the boorish chariot racer and the wrongly accused fugitive.  Eventually the love quadrangle is resolved with the help of the elephants.  (At first lions are used to defend the protagonist; but anyone who's seen their O-line in action this year knows how that turned out.)

The story isn't all that great, but the 20's era circus is pretty cool; unfortunately I saw it on another awful Televista print.

[Syt]

Spangles (1926)

Everyone loves Spangles (Marian Nixon) () the circus bareback rider; including the bullying circus owner, the boorish chariot racer and the wrongly accused fugitive.  Eventually the love quadrangle is resolved with the help of the elephants.  (At first lions are used to defend the protagonist; but anyone who's seen their O-line in action this year knows how that turned out.)

The story isn't all that great, but the 20's era circus is pretty cool; unfortunately I saw it on another awful Televista print.

Several men after a hot lady, culminating in elephant climax? Sounds like the premise for Hatari.