TV/Movies Megathread

[Admiral Yi]

I watched Wolf Hall. Finished the first series. It's pretty slow and plodding at times and takes some liberties with history

I thought that was the entire point of the exercise: that history is to a large extent a matter of narrative choice and interpretation and malleable.  Up to Wolf Hall the standard narrative was that Thomas More was a principled saint and Cromwell a slime.  Wolf had upended this narrative using, AFAIK, the same historical facts.

So I'm curious what liberties you thought they took.

[Josephus]

I think Carry-On was easily one of the worst films I've seen in some time.

When I was very young I snuck into Carry On Girls but got kicked out

[Darth Wagtaros]

Kinds of Kindness.  Not sure what to make of it beyond it being long as fuck.

[Josquius]

I watched Wolf Hall. Finished the first series. It's pretty slow and plodding at times and takes some liberties with history

I thought that was the entire point of the exercise: that history is to a large extent a matter of narrative choice and interpretation and malleable.  Up to Wolf Hall the standard narrative was that Thomas More was a principled saint and Cromwell a slime.  Wolf had upended this narrative using, AFAIK, the same historical facts.

So I'm curious what liberties you thought they took.

Oh yeah I get it was an alternative take from Cromwells POV.
Though they sort of overdid a bit with him being absolutely innocent and pure in everything and basically every woman right up to queens and princesses having the hots for him
Honestly though this slant on history does make a lot of sense as it would be expected some upstart commoner would get a bad writeup, is all to blame for misleading the dear king, etc...

In terms of liberties with history what I meant was they shifted around the timing of some events, compressed timelines, had some altered relationships (one that i can recall is Mary Boleyn as this forever doomed to be unmarried  super slag when she was actually married), and that sort of thing.

[Duque de Bragança]

Saw Gladiator II. Wasn't expecting much....but literally jumping the CGI shark?

Fixed! The alien mutant baboons were even worse. So bad that the US identity politics appropriation (black North African Macrinus) went almost unnoticed. Denzel Washington was also in a full American Gangster II mode, very entertaining. 

[Josephus]

Yeah the alien mutant baboons were bad, but laughable.

[Duque de Bragança]

Well, most of it was bad but laughable. Not as laughable as Ridley Scott's Robin Hood, however.

Probably going to rewatch the Duellists next Saturday since there is a screening in a arthouse (formerly grindhouse). After Highlander and before The Man who shot Liberty Valance. 
Yes, it's a special duel cinema-club.

[garbon]

I watched Wolf Hall. Finished the first series. It's pretty slow and plodding at times and takes some liberties with history

I thought that was the entire point of the exercise: that history is to a large extent a matter of narrative choice and interpretation and malleable.  Up to Wolf Hall the standard narrative was that Thomas More was a principled saint and Cromwell a slime.  Wolf had upended this narrative using, AFAIK, the same historical facts.

So I'm curious what liberties you thought they took.

Oh yeah I get it was an alternative take from Cromwells POV.
Though they sort of overdid a bit with him being absolutely innocent and pure in everything and basically every woman right up to queens and princesses having the hots for him
Honestly though this slant on history does make a lot of sense as it would be expected some upstart commoner would get a bad writeup, is all to blame for misleading the dear king, etc...

In terms of liberties with history what I meant was they shifted around the timing of some events, compressed timelines, had some altered relationships (one that i can recall is Mary Boleyn as this forever doomed to be unmarried  super slag when she was actually married), and that sort of thing.

Welcome to historical fiction?

[mongers]

Man, gotta love some 70s TV, things were so different then, like this Parkinson chatshow episode from 1974, worth watching the first ten minutes, to get the picture:

Parkinson - Michael Caine and Helen Hayes

And Also Michael Caine is very entertaining even though he's not promoting anything and just seems along for a chat!

[HVC]

There was an xmen marathon on tv today. Caught about half of apocalypse. I mean, it's not great cinema by any stretch, but it passes the time.  I started thinking about X-men dark phoenix. I didn't watch it when it first came out, either in theater, or streaming, because the reviews were so bad. But it came out just before peak pushback on superhero movies and thought maybe critics were extra, well, critical.

No. It's just bad. Sad when the 6 year old actor is a better Jean Grey the the adult. Also, weird and oddly placed rah rah women stuff peppered in ("should be called x-women!). So that's two swings and two misses on the phoenix saga. Wonder if they'll ever try a third.

[HVC]

Man, gotta love some 70s TV, things were so different then, like this Parkinson chatshow episode from 1974, worth watching the first ten minutes, to get the picture:

Parkinson - Michael Caine and Helen Hayes

And Also Michael Caine is very entertaining even though he's not promoting anything and just seems along for a chat!

A lot of those actors grew up to be weird, and/or despicable ... oh, the actual 70s. Never mind.

[Barrister]

So I was at home with my two younger boys yesterday.  I saw something that WWE Monday Night Raw is now on Netflix - first show that night!  So what the heck, I put it on.  I've gone through two wrestling phases in my life - as a kid in the 80s, then again in my 20s in the late 90s / early 2000s.  I haven't seriously watched wrestling in many years though.

So WWE is definitely pulling out all the stops tonight.  First out - The Rock!  He talks for awhile.  My kids know who he is of course, but don't know him as a wrestler so his catchphrases go over their heads.

Then we go to a match between Roman Reigns and some other Samoan guy.  I didn't know any of the storylines here, but solid match.

Then we get - John Cena!  Again, my kids know who he is.  Apparently he's going to wrestle in the Royal Rumble.  (Hey - where are PPVs these days then?)

Then a women's match for the women's title.  Again no idea who these women are or what the storyline is, but really solid match.

Oh and Logan Paul makes an appearance too.

But here's the thing.  We're about an hour and a half in and we've had two matches.  I check - there's still another hour and a half to go?  When did Raw go to three freaking hours?

I might have watched for another 30 minutes just to see the end, but not another 90.  So that's where we shut it off.  Apparently in those 90 minutes I missed two more matches (Jey Uso vs. Drew McIntyre, CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins), plus a Hulk Hogan cameo.

So - WWE are definitely masters at putting on a live visual spectacular - show looks great.  When The Rock came out to pyro my son Josh was surprised that they had fireworks indoors - I said "buddy you have no idea".  But because it was their first on Netflix it was extra-heavy on talking and self-congratulations, and at three hours it felt pretty bloated.  I can't imagine myself becoming a regular viewer - even with the advantage of streaming and being able to watch any time.

[Grey Fox]

I watched some of it too. It's been years I had seen any wrestling since it's availability in Canada has always been spotty. I found the wrestling boring & they talk too much. Maybe it'll better when the Quebec french commentators show up (they were only hired recently).

The good news is that in Canada everything WWE is on Netflix. The former-PPVs, Smackdown, NXT & Raw. I look forward to see what Smackdown looks like nowadays, it's been 20 years.

Over the Xmas break my son & I watched WrestleMania 15 (from 1999). Mankind vs The Big Show and The Rock vs Steve Austin  with HBK feuding with the McMahons. I was filled with nostalgia.

[Admiral Yi]

Pro wrestling is synchronized swimming for men.

[Barrister]

I watched some of it too. It's been years I had seen any wrestling since it's availability in Canada has always been spotty. I found the wrestling boring & they talk too much. Maybe it'll better when the Quebec french commentators show up (they were only hired recently).

The good news is that in Canada everything WWE is on Netflix. The former-PPVs, Smackdown, NXT & Raw. I look forward to see what Smackdown looks like nowadays, it's been 20 years.

Over the Xmas break my son & I watched WrestleMania 15 (from 1999). Mankind vs The Big Show and The Rock vs Steve Austin  with HBK feuding with the McMahons. I was filled with nostalgia.

Everything is on Netflix?!

Wow.

I did note that they listed it was "Season 33 Episode 1", but no idea the previous seasons were on there.  Yeah, there are a few old matches out there I wouldn't mind watching again.  The only PPV I ever actually paid for in my life was Wrestlemania 18 which had The Rock vs Hulk Hogan.  It was maybe not an all-time technical wrestling classic, but the atmosphere was amazing.