TV/Movies Megathread

[The Brain]

the old official excuse for not banning gays from government work: that they were easily blackmailed and thus a higher security risk.

Government is famously retarded.

[Martinus]

John Oliver is awesome.

[KRonn]

Watching The Imitation Game. Exactly what I expected from the trailer.

Yep. Two hours of exactly what you'd expect with a fabricated Soviet spy thing thrown in to make it a little more exciting.

It was made by that British cottage industry of underwhelming award nominees that no-one ever re-watches

The Imitation Game was also extremely dishonest with its portrayal of history. The descendants of the character portrayed by Charles Dance made an official complaint about how they represent him in the movie, and they also downplayed a lot the presence of women in Turing's team, as well as the way they worked, downplaying the contribution of others while making Turing the "tormented genious" responsible for everything.

It seemed to me to be too much about a few people and lacked telling the grand achievement that it was, and that many people contributed to. For instance, when they finally break the code and get a message of a U-boat attack they argue among themselves as to whether to tell their military/civilian leaders about it so as to preserve the secrecy. I have to think that all was planned in advance by the leadership and those decisions would be taken up by the leaders, not a few code breakers.

[Martinus]

This *was* a movie about a few people (or more specifically about Turing). It was a psychological drama based on a fabularised book about Turing. 

It's like complaining that "I Claudius" focuses too much on Claudius and people around him and does not show battles in Britain - you just missed the fucking point of the movie.

[Ideologue]

I didn't like the "oh, yeah, and then he died" part where they all but skipped over the most interesting parts of Turing's life to make a good but broad procedural thriller.

[KRonn]

This *was* a movie about a few people (or more specifically about Turing). It was a psychological drama based on a fabularised book about Turing. 

It's like complaining that "I Claudius" focuses too much on Claudius and people around him and does not show battles in Britain - you just missed the fucking point of the movie.

Whatever the point, the huge WW2 event could have been done up much better, even given it was mainly about Turing. As I said/felt, the movie tended to show him and his group make decisions on how/where the info was used, make it seem like that was the norm, but it was the allied high command. So it could have been a lot more powerful if it showed more of how enigma info was used, even while focusing on Turing.

[The Brain]

I'm not convinced that making a movie that glorifies a sex criminal is a great idea. The law isn't a smorgasbord where you can pick and choose the parts you like. If you feel that the law should be changed you can write your MP.

Lots of laws are horrible and retarded. Deal with it.

[Eddie Teach]

You're trying to get someone to post that Eurythmics video. Well, I won't do it! 

[The Brain]

Short hair on chicks is HOTT.

[Sheilbh]

This *was* a movie about a few people (or more specifically about Turing). It was a psychological drama based on a fabularised book about Turing. 

This was a movie about a plucky/arrogant underdogs who for whatever reason has to struggle to achieve glory but manages it. It's no different than Billy Elliot, Chariots of Fire, The Full Monty or even the King's bloody Speech. It was so conventional that he even got the girl.

This is what we do in this country. In the same way that James Bond massages our ego about imperial decline, we now make films about underdogs still achieving great things despite the obstacles. Their subsequent award ceremony success reinforces the message of the films with breathless news reports live from LA that 'the Brits are coming' every single year.

As Ide says the really interesting story is following his arrest. But that's treated perfunctorily. Instead we get A Beautiful Mind with a bad score.

It's like complaining that "I Claudius" focuses too much on Claudius and people around him and does not show battles in Britain - you just missed the fucking point of the movie.

With the exception of the gay issue which I think is problematic, my big issue with the Imitation Game as I said is it's predictable, mediocre British Oscar bait that no-one re-watches and that does well because the accent makes people think it's cleverer than it is

Tonight I watched Interstellar. Liked it a lot. The whole Matt Damon sub-plot should have been cut. His daughter in the middle section reminded me a lot of young Julia Roberts.

Edit: Also after this and the lip sync battle Anne Hathaway has won me back over, she'll be relieved to hear.

[Grallon]

Another strong beginning for 'Game of Thrones'; I watched the first two episodes of season 5 and now I'm in 'unkonwn' territory as I stopped reading after book 3.  The Dhaenerys plot seems stronger than I remember from the books.



G.

[KRonn]

I forgot to watch GOT but recorded it, plus it'll be on repeats again. My most favorite show and I forgot that the series was starting up again.   

[crazy canuck]

Another strong beginning for 'Game of Thrones'; I watched the first two episodes of season 5 and now I'm in 'unkonwn' territory as I stopped reading after book 3.  The Dhaenerys plot seems stronger than I remember from the books.



G.

A lot has been simplified but books 4 and 5 were terrible so I am looking forward to the screenwriters' take on it

[Barrister]

Question about Marvel's Daredevil tv show, after watching the first episode:

The legal procedural aspect of the show had me rolling my eyes.  It's not a criticism of the show, not at least for others, but a side effect of being a Crown had made legal thrillers unwatcheable to me.

However, the rest of the show showed promise.  I generally like what Marvel has done in tv/movies.

So here's my question fo those that have gone further: is this more of a legal procedural with a side of superheroes, or a superhero show with a side of legal procedural?

[katmai]

Question about Marvel's Daredevil tv show, after watching the first episode:

The legal procedural aspect of the show had me rolling my eyes.  It's not a criticism of the show, not at least for others, but a side effect of being a Crown had made legal thrillers unwatcheable to me.

However, the rest of the show showed promise.  I generally like what Marvel has done in tv/movies.

So here's my question fo those that have gone further: is this more of a legal procedural with a side of superheroes, or a superhero show with a side of legal procedural?

Very little legal procedural in rest of show.
much more ass kicking of russian, japanese and other nationalities gangsters