TV/Movies Megathread

[Sheilbh]

Just started Friday Night Lights.  Writing is quite good, and as expected, the eye candy is strong.

It's superb - one of my favourite TV shows.

Seriously? There are not Italian actors qualified for the role?

I could see a Stanley Tucci Mario.

[The Brain]

Stanley Tucci is American. It's not even 100% sure he has heard of Italy.

[garbon]

I wasn't sure if Jake was serious given the voice of game version Mario.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martinet

1. Not Italian.

2. Voice actors don't automatically work well as a "normal" actors for the same role.

For sure on both accounts. But also why not sure why role would need to go to an Italian.

[garbon]

Stanley Tucci is American. It's not even 100% sure he has heard of Italy.

Wiki says as a child he lived in Italy for a year.

[Admiral Yi]

It's superb - one of my favourite TV shows.

Hey Shelf, a coon dog's age ago you asked general population for advice on what kind of jacket to buy to replace your worn out jacket, I said get a letterman jacket, a US HS jock thing, and you said that was weird.

Do you see my point now?  It's a cool look.

[The Brain]

Stanley Tucci is American. It's not even 100% sure he has heard of Italy.

Wiki says as a child he lived in Italy for a year.

No doubt saying gracias to the waiters.

[Eddie Teach]

Well, that's just common courtesy.

[Maladict]

It's pronounced 'grat-zee' in proper American.

[The Larch]

Don't know if it's the right place to put it, but it sorta fits.

"Crumbly Pipes", a parody of a classic British sitcom, by Alasdair Beckett King. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ1sg1ypWVE

[Savonarola]

The local independent movie theater (in the sense that it doesn't belong to a chain, not that it shows art house flicks) showed the extended versions of Lord of the Rings over the past three weeks.  I had never seen the extended editions before so it was pretty cool to see them on the big screen.  The additional scenes, I thought, added much to the atmosphere of Middle Earth; but did tend to slow the action down.

I had heard that Christopher Lee was upset that his death scene was cut from Return of the King.  I had thought they had filmed the scouring of the Shire and was dreading an even more drawn out ending to the film; so I was relieved when he died at Isengard.  (I think that scene should have been left in, as it ties up a major loose end and explains how Pipin found the Palantír.)

I thought the CGI held up remarkably well for a 20 year old film (in part because Jackson used practical effects whenever possible) the one exception is the Army of the Dead which looked like they had escaped from Disney's Haunted Mansion.

Overheard this as I was leaving ROTK: "No, The Two Towers is my favorite one; The Return of the King is the best one."  Also there were a couple tween boys arguing over who was more annoying, Frodo or Gollum - I thought that was great that they held such strong opinions about a movie that was released before they were born.

[Sheilbh]

Getting my fancy-pants cinema membership again (post-pandemic-ish) - so plan to go and watch Green Knight and maybe something else tomorrow

[Sheilbh]

I thought the CGI held up remarkably well for a 20 year old film (in part because Jackson used practical effects whenever possible) the one exception is the Army of the Dead which looked like they had escaped from Disney's Haunted Mansion.

Overheard this as I was leaving ROTK: "No, The Two Towers is my favorite one; The Return of the King is the best one."  Also there were a couple tween boys arguing over who was more annoying, Frodo or Gollum - I thought that was great that they held such strong opinions about a movie that was released before they were born.

Yes. I haven't watched the Extended Edition or seen any of the films in the cinema since they came out - but I probably re-watch once a year (normally at Christmas at home or if there's a shitty bank holiday weather-wise) and they hold up really, really well compared to other far more recent films including, generally, the CGI.

[Malthus]

The army of the dead business was one of the missteps in the series, which I agree otherwise holds up really well.

Not just because the special effects don't work as well as the others, but the whole business of them eating the giant elephant things looks very absurd.

In the books, they don't eat anyone, they just fill the enemy with terror and cause a panic, if I recall correctly.

Another problematic bit was how Denathor, the Steward of Gondor, was treated: there appears to be no particular reason given for his odd actions. In the book, he acted weird because he had one of those seeing stone things and he had been using it to see stuff, which Sauron used to mess with his mind. They really should have included some hint of that in the movie, after all they had a whole plot about how those stones were dangerous. As it is, he just seems like a jerk who hates his second kid and then goes nuts for no particular reason.

[The Brain]

There are all kinds of problems with the movies, but the special effects generally hold up well.

[Sheilbh]

There are all kinds of problems with the movies, but the special effects generally hold up well.

Not least of which is that Sam was clearly on a promise and I think it's a very poor show from Frodo