TV/Movies Megathread

[Admiral Yi]

Why are they showing a Silicon Valley repeat tonight? 

[Savonarola]

The Vagabond Lover (1929)

Rudy Vallee (sort of the Justin Bieber of the late 20s) stars in his first motion picture as a small town band leader.  His band goes to Long Island in order to meet and impress a famed saxophone correspondence course instructor (just play along with the premise.)  The correspondence course instructor, tired of being bother runs off, leaving the band in his home.  A wealthy matron mistakes Rudy Vallee for the correspondence course instructor and all sorts of wacky hi-jinks ensue.  Best line:

Rudy:  Are we going to hide behind a woman's skirts? 
Entire band:  YES!

Musicians never change, anyhow Rudy is pretty wooden as an actor in the film.  He got quite a bit better as his career progressed, ultimately staring in "The Palm Beach Story."  His singing was the reason everyone went to see the show; he was one of the very first crooners.  Prior to recorded sound and radio, singers had to have powerful voices to fill a concert hall.  With the new technology a softer croon became all the rage.  During the non-singing parts Marie Dressler steals the show as the eccentric matron.  She'd go on to have character parts in a number of early 30s films (she had a career as a silent actress too, she's "Tillie" in the very early Charlie Chaplin films.)

[Savonarola]

The Phantom in the House (1929)

An early talkie featuring Henry B. Walthall (The Little Colonel from "Birth of a Nation") plays an inventor who takes the rap for his wife killing a man.  Fifteen years later he returns to find his wife has made a fortune on his patents.  She's angling for a title for her daughter, but she loves another boy.  With a stern talking to from the inventor she's brought into line; then backslides, then gets another stern talking to; oh and there's a murder.

This film has its problems, with characters who change dramatically without any reason and most of the action scenes taking place off screen (the latter works well in "Little Caesar", but not so much here.)  There is one surprise in it; the daughter (Nancy Welford) turns out to be the heroine who solves the murder and captures the villain (off screen.)  I'm not familiar with another movie from the era where a woman is the action hero.

[celedhring]

Rewatched "Munich" yesterday. I still kinda tuned out through the middle of it - it's sooo long, and with some unnecessarily focus on tangential stuff like the French confidants - but I found myself liking it more than the first time I watched it. It's so well directed, and it's probably the most nuanced political/historical Spielberg film (and that's mostly because there's little nuance to be found in the Holocaust, before you raise Schindler's List).

[viper37]

The new Trek series will be shot in Toronto this fall.  I wonder if there will be some sort of trek pilgrimage there.

[celedhring]

Zodiac. Extremely well-crafted, but long and boring. Ted Cruz doesn't show up in it.

[Savonarola]

Lucky Star (1929)

This film deals, like most Frank Borzage films, deal with a young couple whose love overcomes adversity.  (In fact the couple is Borzage's go to actors in the period, Charles Farrell and Janet Gaynor.)  The plot is a little thin, Tim is crippled during the First World War and comes home to find companionship with a young girl.  Love blossoms, but her mother forbids her from marrying a crip and the handsome village lout has also just returned from the war, whom the mother favors.  Can true love overcome paraplegism?  [spoiler]You bet it can![/spoiler]

It is better than most Hollywood movies from 1929 in that it's a silent movie.  While 1939 is often regarded as Hollywood's best year, 1929 was probably its worst.  Sound pictures were all the rage, but the sound was primitive and directors didn't have a good idea how to use the technology yet.  Some of the movies of the era are just people sitting around talking, others are more... visionary... The Great Gabbo, for instance.

[Savonarola]

High Voltage (1929)

Yet another awful talkie from 1929; this one features a group of people from various backgrounds taking a bus through the High Sierras.  They become stranded and are forced to take refuge in a church where they meet a mysterious man with a stock of food.  It's sort of like "Stagecoach", except two thirds of the films dialogue is:

Character 1:  Oh yeah?
Character 2:  Yeah!
Character 1:  Oh yeah?
Character 2:  YEAH!

or

Character 1:  Maybe I will
Character 2:  Maybe
Character 1:  Maybe

or

Character:  Never mind about that

It's like listening to grade school students try to pick fights.  One of the reviewers on IMDB say that everyone in the film sound like they took elocution lessons from Oliver Hardy (); that's pretty apt.

Everyone's career recovered from this turkey (well, except for Dianne Ellis who died of a tropical disease in 1930 while honeymooning in India.)  Two of the characters would go on to be big stars in the 1930s; screwball comedianne Carol Lombard and Hopalong Cassidy star William Boyd.

[Martinus]

After years of rumours, Colton Haynes (Arsenal from "Arrow") finally came out.

[garbon]

After years of rumours, Colton Haynes (Arsenal from "Arrow") finally came out.

See you corrected to get the last name correct.

And yeah about time. I guess he got more attention being coy though.

[The Brain]

High Voltage (1929)

Yet another awful talkie from 1929; this one features a group of people from various backgrounds taking a bus through the High Sierras.  They become stranded and are forced to take refuge in a church where they meet a mysterious man with a stock of food.  It's sort of like "Stagecoach", except two thirds of the films dialogue is:

Character 1:  Oh yeah?
Character 2:  Yeah!
Character 1:  Oh yeah?
Character 2:  YEAH!

or

Character 1:  Maybe I will
Character 2:  Maybe
Character 1:  Maybe

or

Character:  Never mind about that

It's like listening to grade school students try to pick fights.  One of the reviewers on IMDB say that everyone in the film sound like they took elocution lessons from Oliver Hardy (); that's pretty apt.

Everyone's career recovered from this turkey (well, except for Dianne Ellis who died of a tropical disease in 1930 while honeymooning in India.)  Two of the characters would go on to be big stars in the 1930s; screwball comedianne Carol Lombard and Hopalong Cassidy star William Boyd.

Invite their zombies to Languish?

[Martinus]

After years of rumours, Colton Haynes (Arsenal from "Arrow") finally came out.

See you corrected to get the last name correct.

And yeah about time. I guess he got more attention being coy though.

Yeah, although I liked following Gus Kenworthy's shirtless pics more.

Incidentally, I think heteros should now accept that if there are persistent rumours about a male celebrity being gay, there is a 99.99% chance he is gay and it's not our "wishful thinking".

[The Larch]

The actor for the Young Han Solo spin off has been chosen, it will be Alden Ehrenreich, seen in the latest Coen Bros film Hail Caesar.

[Eddie Teach]

After years of rumours, Colton Haynes (Arsenal from "Arrow") finally came out.

Arsenal? Not familiar with that one.

[The Brain]

After years of rumours, Colton Haynes (Arsenal from "Arrow") finally came out.

Arsenal? Not familiar with that one.

From "arse" and "anal". It's a Brit thing.