TV/Movies Megathread

[celedhring]

Ah shit - that's really annoying.

Unfortunately think it is probably a film worth seeing in a cinema if you can

Definitely, I just need to find a few friends fond of body horror and make a trip to downtown BCN. 

[Admiral Yi]

Fail Safe 1965.

B&W drama of systems failure leading to a nuclear strike.  Dr. Strangelove played straight.

[celedhring]

Fail Safe 1965.

B&W drama of systems failure leading to a nuclear strike.  Dr. Strangelove played straight.

Odd coincidence. I just watched it last week.

It's a decent enough nuclear existential dread thriller, the problem is that Strangelove did the same exact plot as a farce (main difference is the reason the bombers get their orders, and the ending), and it's genius.

Kubrick sued them for plagiarism and ultimately had the studio buy the movie so it was released after Strangelove.

[Admiral Yi]

Why is that a problem?  Strangelove says laugh your way to the bunker, Fail Safe says let's find ways to mitigate the risks.  They're entirely different movies.

[Sheilbh]

You don't want two films coming out about the same thing near each other - and also I'm not sure you can have the nuclear existential comedy come out after the realistic depiction of what could go wrong (unless it's consciously parodying it).

[The Minsky Moment]

You don't want two films coming out about the same thing near each other -

That's the CW but is it true?
One year, I recall that two movies came out that were both period pictures about turn-of-the-century European stage magicians.  I think they both did very nicely at the box office.

[The Minsky Moment]

Fail Safe 1965.

B&W drama of systems failure leading to a nuclear strike.  Dr. Strangelove played straight.

I saw it as a teenager, became mini-obsessed enough to read the original novel.

[Sheilbh]

That's the CW but is it true?
One year, I recall that two movies came out that were both period pictures about turn-of-the-century European stage magicians.  I think they both did very nicely at the box office.

Maybe not. It could well be overstated.

Although the ones that spring to mind for me are Braveheart and Roby Roy, the two Capote films and the two Steve Jobs films - and feel like in all those case there was a definite winner and loser.

But it is also very, very possible that Kubrick just went into an obsessive spiral

[grumbler]

Why is that a problem?  Strangelove says laugh your way to the bunker, Fail Safe says let's find ways to mitigate the risks.  They're entirely different movies.

Strangelove started as a serious movie called Red Alert, based on the novel of the same name.  Fail-Safe (the book) came out in 1962, while Red Alert was first published (under a different name) in 1958.  When Fail-Safe (the book came out) there were rumblings of plagiarism, but the Red Alert author couldn't afford to pursue it and his tiny publisher was uninterested.

So Fail Safe (the movie; note the lack of a hyphen) and Red Alert (the movie) were in pre-production at about the same time.  Red Alert became Dr. Strangelove when Kubrick realized that the story made better sense as a dark comedy than a thriller and hastily re-wrote the script with the help of Terry Southern.  He decided to keep all of the actors hired for the drama (none of whom had worked in anything remotely comedic) and hired Peter Sellers to add some comic acting chops.  When Seller broke his leg, Kubrick brought in serious actor Slim Pickens.  Pickens was not told that the movie was a dark comedy.

In the event, Kubrick DID have the money to pursue plagiarism against the authors of Fail-Safe, and part of the settlement was that Colombia take over the release and not release it until eight months after Strangelove.

There are lots of bizarre stories about the filming of Strangelove.  More, I think, than for any other movie I know of.

[celedhring]

That's the CW but is it true?
One year, I recall that two movies came out that were both period pictures about turn-of-the-century European stage magicians.  I think they both did very nicely at the box office.

Maybe not. It could well be overstated.

Although the ones that spring to mind for me are Braveheart and Roby Roy, the two Capote films and the two Steve Jobs films - and feel like in all those case there was a definite winner and loser.

But it is also very, very possible that Kubrick just went into an obsessive spiral

Deep Impact/Armaggedon comes to mind. Deep Impact came first and made less money than Armaggeddon, and had a fraction of its cultural impact - besides establishing Morgan Freeman as the go to actor for wizened above the fray political figures - but it was a success.

Regarding Strangelove, I think the parody aspect pre-empted the serious approach of Fail Safe, and made it more memorable. And it's just a better movie, anyway (again, Fail Safe is more than decent, Sidney Lumet was an excellent  director himself).

[The Brain]

Started on Those About To Die. I was surprised by the Elder Scroll. Nice crossover.

Oh my gawd SO BORING

Also I wonder if the slaves going everywhere they please including and especially other families' homes is historically accurate. Same question about the Nubian matriarch pwning the Romans in math and stuff.

Watched the second episode, and I realized what's so bad: the writing. The dialogue in particular is just horrible.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Larry Hagman was in FailSafe.  Maybe he made a wish he could get away from Dr Bellows and wound up in a WWIII alt world.

[Tamas]

Started on Those About To Die. I was surprised by the Elder Scroll. Nice crossover.

Oh my gawd SO BORING

Also I wonder if the slaves going everywhere they please including and especially other families' homes is historically accurate. Same question about the Nubian matriarch pwning the Romans in math and stuff.

Watched the second episode, and I realized what's so bad: the writing. The dialogue in particular is just horrible.

True.

[Josquius]

So joker 2 seems to be a flop.
Got to say, I was surprised to hear of its release a few weeks ago as I thought it had long since been out. Something went weirdly wrong there.

[Darth Wagtaros]

That mean we won't see The Joker cinematic universe?