Movie/TV recommendations

[Twig]

Really? I don't remember being swept up in the setting for Brave as much as, say, Ratatouille, which felt vibrant and warm and romantic. Maybe I just prefer urban settings. I really like the kinds of large reflective stories that reflect off of natural vistas (the beginning of 2001is a prime example of that, as are many Mitazaki movies), but for close personal dramas I feel like cities tie it all together much nicer.

I'm not much of a fan of Ratatouille at all. U:

 

There's nothing like big, wide-open vistas to make me feel happy and, well, free. Which was kind of the whole schtick of the movie, too, she wanted to be free to do her own thing. Definitely cliche, but what're you gonna do.

 

I work in San Francisco, and while I love the city, it definitely makes me feel claustrophobic at times. All those tall buildings everywhere. Yuck!

[Max Ernst]

Big tip: I've heard from a credible source that if you don't watch HBO's Enlightened you are probably a big butt-crack and a loser. Good thing all of you watch and support Enlightened, huh?

 

Please watch this show before it is cancelled. I love it too much for it to go away, it has so much life left.

[Gormongous]

I thought this was a show about the great thinkers of the Enlightenment and got really excited for the time it took me to google it.

[Max Ernst]

Nope, it's about how people's jealous cynicism is poisonous to those trying to rise above depression. Sorry!

 

Just kidding. I am not sorry.

[Luftmensch]

I work in San Francisco, and while I love the city, it definitely makes me feel claustrophobic at times. All those tall buildings everywhere. Yuck!

I'd be glad to trade. I live in a small town without hardly any buildings over three stories tall unless you count church steeples. Plenty of golf courses and views of the largest urban forest in the world. It's gorgeous, but it's too small for me right now. Everyone my age is going somewhere, everyone who's staying already lived somewhere else.

Did you guys realize JJ Abrams wrote Regarding Henry? Weird how he's just considered the lens flare guy now.

So I want to watch something comforting right now. Either Ratatouille, Princess Mononoke, or Raising Arizona, since each of those are fondly on my mind. What do you all say?

[TychoCelchuuu]

Princess Mononoke is probably my favorite of the three but Ratatouille is the only really comforting movie in that trio.

[Twig]

I'd be glad to trade. I live in a small town without hardly any buildings over three stories tall unless you count church steeples. Plenty of golf courses and views of the largest urban forest in the world. It's gorgeous, but it's too small for me right now. Everyone my age is going somewhere, everyone who's staying already lived somewhere else.

I used to hate cities, but I definitely wouldn't trade it. I love the small-town, open space vibe, but being in the city, there's so much more to do.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Wow. Okay. Asking a dude to chill out is apparently a grievous sin, now. TP! WHY! JUST WHY!

Just calm your beard man.

I vastly preferred Brave to Wreck-It Ralph, almost entirely because of the setting. It's not really fair of me to prefer it for that reason, because I think it's a much weaker story than most of their other Good Stuff, but I did and I do! I think it's the best-looking movie Pixar has yet made. I did quite enjoy Wreck-It Ralph, though.

I hear Wreck-It Ralph is close to Toy Story 3 in quality, so I really wanted to see it. Sadly I missed it. Brave was fun, but it sounds like Ralph was better.

Still no idea why Purcell wasn't even MENTIONED by the two winners, though. Sounds very messed up.

[Lu]

I'm curious. Do you have a beard Thunderpeel? What about you, Twig?

[Ben X]

I hear Wreck-It Ralph is close to Toy Story 3 in quality

I agree, but not in the way you mean it

[Twig]

I'm curious. Do you have a beard Thunderpeel? What about you, Twig?

I want one, but am physically incapable of it.

[Luftmensch]

I grew my first beard when I was twelve, which was pretty ugly so I cut it off. I've grown it as long as 10", and tried going clean-shaven on-and-off, but I feel most comfortable with a clean-trimmed not-too-long full beard. I've always had issue with my mustache which grows in blonde and never really felt full enough for my liking.

[Twig]

I'd say the most challenging thing about The Tree of Life is understanding the quiet whispers drowning in an at-times overbearingly bombastic soundtrack. Jesus Christ.

[TheLastBaron]

Been watching a lot of Dragnet the past two days.  It throws me off so much by how it isn't like modern shows at all.  I keep expecting twists and stuff, but the guy who they think is the person who did it is the person who did it and that's it.  I enjoy that about the show. 

[elmuerte]

The Hobbit ...

How can this be 9 hours long!? Also... what happened to the colors, where are they.

[Brannigan]

The Hobbit ...

How can this be 9 hours long!? Also... what happened to the colors, where are they.

the goblin king stole them all and stored them in his chin scrotum.

[Luftmensch]

Because The Hobbit is actually a long indulgence into the appendices of The Lord of the Rings. I really enjoyed the first part a lot, it really gives Peter Jackson an opportunity to explore the depth in the world that you couldn't otherwise.

 

Honestly, I prefer it a lot over people trying to make 2-hour adaptations of 300 page novels. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? I kind of enjoyed both of the films, but I felt like neither had the chance to really develop the characters meaningfully, and they were too fast paced to really build up suspense (and here I was saying Ferris Bueller was too slow). I feel like some of the best film adaptations are based on short stories or novellas. The Shawshank Redemption and True Grit are good examples (the latter is so short, the Coen Brothers actually added scenes). Or they're based on a novel, their focus is so narrow or shifted that it barely resembles the source material (The Princess Bride). I think to actually adapt a novel without severely abridging it, you have to make a miniseries or a three-part monstrosity like The Hobbit.

[Brannigan]

I felt bored most of the time watching The Hobbit. I didn't hate it per say, but I left thinking "well that was a movie I guess!"

[ysbreker]

Back to the recommendation of decent movies and TV-shows:

 

 

I recently discovered Raising Hope. If you liked My name is Earl you'll love Raising Hope. It's smart, funny and charming. What I like most is that the characters aren't mean to eachother like in the League, It's always sunny or similar shows.

 

They also manage to be funny without resorting to poop jokes too much. It's made by the same people who made My name is Earl and recently they did a reunion of the My Name is Earl cast with a plot that was basically a MNIE-plot complete (not so subtle) hints to MNIE.

 

It also helps that Kate Micucci has a regular guest role

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y-9FuL5FP8

[brkl]

OH MY GOD THERE'S A TERMINATOR IN THE HOUSE

[ysbreker]

Yeah, and he's incredibly funny

[brkl]

So I'm watching the tenth episode of House of Cards. Did anyone watch this? It began with a lot of promise of Machiavellian scheming, which I love, and is very well directed, but I'm losing interest. The show seems to consist of Kevin Spacey's character  hatching clever schemes that only work through luck or the incredible stupidity of his opponents. Mediocrities clumsily scheming against each other is not much of a show.

[melmer]

I finished watching it a couple of nights ago, I really enjoyed it. I think he knows his plans involving a lot of luck and a gamble, and every now an then the gambl doesn't pay off like when

his wife double crosses him

my only wish is that they didn't bring

murder into it

[Argobot]

I was really hesitant to watch House of Cards at first, because shows/movies about politics have a tendency to really over dramatize and exaggerate how that stuff really works (note: I have never seen the West Wing, so I don't know if that show succeeds in being more realistic than others). House of Cards won me over, however, because it wasn't afraid to show the boring, negotiation side of politics. Making Kevin Spacey be the Majority Whip instead of Speaker was such a smart move, because I can guarantee that the majority of Americans don't know who the Majority Whip is or even what the Majority Whip does, so the show had more flexibility in setting Spacey up as a powerful, but largely background figure.

 

I was so in love with the first few episodes showing how little exchanges on things like which Navy bases get funding or specific details about unions in an education bill, can have these huge ripple effects that aren't immediately apparent to everyone involved. I was so completely invested in the show and Kevin Spacey's early scheming, that I didn't even mind when it went a little of the rails towards the end. When you realize what Underwood's real endgame is, I was willing to believe that he would do anything to get there.

[brkl]

I see the spoiler button, then click on it. Why? Anyway, I'll finish it of course, but it bothers me that apart from his wife, Underwood is the only one at all clever and in control of himself... and not always that.