TV/Movies Megathread

[celedhring]

Ten years already? Damn, tempus fugit and all that.

[Savonarola]

Cottage on Dartmoor (1929)

The film opens with a jailbreak from Dartmoor prison, and then comes a long flashback about a man whose driven insane with jealousy to the point that he nearly kills his romantic rival.  The problem with this part of the film is that it plays out as a rom-com complete with romantic misunderstandings and lovable character actors.  Hitchcock might have been make something like this work; Anthony Asquith obviously could not.  It's a rather sharp turn when our put-upon romantic lead threatens to slit the throat of his rival.

The Kino version of this features a documentary about British silent cinema; which goes out of its way to prove that Britain had a major and influential silent film industry.  While some very early British films did feature some innovations (like the trick shot) this documentary took things way too far.  I began to feel genuinely sorry for the narrator as he was showing "The Great Train Robbery" side by side with something called "The Manchester Train Robbery"  .

[Eddie Teach]

Shaolin Soccer- has some funny bits and some uncomfortable ones.
Grand Illusion- French movie about POWs during the Great War. I found it interesting how well the prisoners and guards got along. Certainly a far cry from any WW2 POW movies I've seen.

[crazy canuck]

Shaolin Soccer- has some funny bits and some uncomfortable ones.
Grand Illusion- French movie about POWs during the Great War. I found it interesting how well the prisoners and guards got along. Certainly a far cry from any WW2 POW movies I've seen.

You obviously missed Hogan's Heroes.

[Eddie Teach]

Yes. I'm not very keen on old tv shows.

[Malthus]

Shaolin Soccer- has some funny bits and some uncomfortable ones.
Grand Illusion- French movie about POWs during the Great War. I found it interesting how well the prisoners and guards got along. Certainly a far cry from any WW2 POW movies I've seen.

You obviously missed Hogan's Heroes.

http://www.hogansheroesfanclub.com/images/magazineMad108January1967Page8Medium.gif

[Josephus]

33 was the show that got me hooked on that series. Never mind being one of the best pilots, it was one of the best sci-fi episodes ever

[Razgovory]

Jessic Jones Continues to amaze.

Man in the high castle..... not quite grabbing the same way despite all the elements being there.
It's a fantasy world. Of course it's not a viable alternate history.  But some things bother me. Like bibles being illegal. Just....wtf? That doesn't fit in with the nazis at all. It makes sense within their ideology that they could develop in an anti christian directon but it's hard to see them managing to get so far....

You need to bone up on Nazi ideology.  Particularly the works of the chief Nazi theorist Alfred Rosenberg.  I always thought he had a strange name for a Nazi.  In the US someone named "Alfred Rosenberg" would have been identified as a Jew.

Read what I said.
It makes sense ideologically things could go that way.
Though given their relationship with Christianity and that the series is set only 20 years down an alternate path it is difficult to see that completely flipping so quickly.

And I say you need to bone up what the Nazis actually wrote and were actually doing.  They were already suppressing the churches and reorganzing them in the National Church.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirchenkampf

[Josquius]

No. As per usual you need to do your research.
The nazis power base was heavily built on slightly less insane conservatives.  Huge amount of Christians amongst their number and some pretty tight relations with churches.

[Eddie Teach]

No. As per usual you need to do your research.
The nazis power base was heavily built on slightly less insane conservatives.  Huge amount of Christians amongst their number and some pretty tight relations with churches.

That's not really relevant. Once the Nazis were in power, they determined what direction the country went in and their supporters(as well as their opponents) had to resign themselves to it.

[Admiral Yi]

Sin City: A Dame to Die For. 

[garbon]

Daredevil certainly I felt to be rather crappy and mediocre after a few episodes. It took time to grow.
Jessica Jones though.... I don't know. I guess because I was expecting so little (a detective show that happens to be marvel )  even from the first episode I rather liked it.
The villain makes it.

Until, [spoiler]they start living together, David Tennant was my least favorite part. Evil villain made sure to be evil and completely unrelatable/essentially largely unknown.[/spoiler] Also that divorce plot.

[Syt]

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/dec/01/star-wars-the-force-awakens

Star Wars: The Force Awakens – is there any chance at all it could disappoint?

Anticipation for JJ Abrams's continuation of the space super-saga has reached fever pitch. Surely it will meet fans' expectations, but what if it's a load of Sith? Two writers raise their lightsabers and face off

There is no way it can disappoint, says Luke Holland

July 16, 1999. It's finally here. A frisson of hushed anticipation hangs in the cinema. The sparkly "Lucasfilm" logo. That music. The epic, declarative opening text crawl. Holy shit, it's Star Wars! Yes! It actually is! Hang on... taxation of trade routes? What? "Debates"? Huh. Jedi are pretty boring actually, aren't they? Do-gooding galactic prefect dullards. Is this Jar Jar Binks jebend going to be in the whole film? Did Darth Vader just say "Woohoo!"? The Force is actually a load of tiny blobs called "midi-chloreans"? No. No, this is all wrong. This won't do at all.

That disappointment, that betrayal, we all remember. We were there. And do you know who else was there? Who else pined to see Jar Jar's stupid CGI face punched right out through the back of his head? JJ Abrams. He was there. He's one of us. Only, instead of bitching about the prequels on Reddit under a misogynistic pseudonym, the renowned superfan spent all the time between then and now getting himself into a position where he could actually do something about them. That's an alarming level of commitment.

As a toy-owning, Chewie-loving fanboy, JJ knows what made the original trilogy so magical. More so, as a film-maker, he knows what made the prequels exactly as enjoyable as soiling yourself at your own wedding. He hasn't put a foot wrong so far, either – original cast: in. The old ships: in. A robot that's basically a whizzy little ball: in. No Jar Jar. And, instead of eminent tree stump-impersonator Hayden Christensen, we have John Boyega, who, revolutionarily, can act. The co-writer of The Empire Strikes Back is involved. John Williams is doing the music. Make no mistake: these are all the components that will make up a great Star Wars film. The whole doesn't even have to be greater than the sum of its parts. If The Force Awakens just is the sum of its parts, we stand to get the very thing we've been waiting for 32 years. Don't worry, everyone. The Force is strong with this one. WWRROOWW! (Chewie noise).

There is still a chance it could all go horribly wrong, says Joel Golby

Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens can only disappoint, and here's why: George Lucas, with his little beard-that-ends-at-his-neck, has taken a back seat, handing over to JJ Abrams, with his I-enjoy-podcasts designer glasses and his competent directorial CV. This can only fail. The pure element of chaos that Lucas brings to proceedings is gone.

's hard to narrow down the dirt-worst line of Star Wars dialogue ever, but it's almost certainly something Anakin said, like: "I wish that I could just... wish away my feelings!" or on learning Padme died in childbirth because he was too mad about losing a fight: "Nooooooooo!" That's what Lucas brings to the table. Lucas looks at the most irritating lizard invented and goes: 'Yeah, good.' Lucas, twiddling a pen in a meeting, going: "What should we call baby Jedis? Jedinis? Jedi-ettes? Oh, got it: younglings." Lucas thinks it's OK to start a triple trilogy on the fifth movie. His mind works along a different axis to everyone else's on Earth. That's what makes Star Wars so fun to watch.

Will anyone wrestle a snake in a trash compactor in Episode VII? No. Will Qui-Gonn Jinn gamble an Empress's spaceship on the outcome of a nine-year-old's first pod race? Also, no. One of the most threatening bad guys in the previous Star Wars canon was Jabba the Hutt, an immovable, asthmatic slug. Nothing about that makes sense! I guarantee you every single one of the bad guys in the new movie will have at least two arms, and definitely legs. I don't want to see that.

Appalling dialogue and disordering storyline subplots are what keeps the high space opera of Star Wars rooted in our real world. If the film is good then it's not really a Star Wars film, is it? It's just a glossy box-office hit and those are 10 a penny. Take your well-rounded storylines and twisting character arcs, and throw them in the bin. I'll take a montage of Luke training with Yoda on his shoulders like a wise little backpack over all that.

[Monoriu]

I can't believe that George Lucas isn't the one doing the latest Star Wars films.  That's just wrong 

I'll still go watch the films.  And probably love them. 

[garbon]

I like what Joel Golby has to say.