ysbreker

Movie/TV recommendations

Recommended Posts

Just caught up on the last couple pages of this thread. Two things I wanted to add: The Lost Room is freaking great, and the stuff that Gormongous and Tycho have said articulates better than I ever could my problems with the whole "I Fucking Love Science" mentality that's cropped up on the Internet over the past few years.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Science doesn't suck but there's a kind of self-righteous attitude about it that's started cropping up lately that certainly does (suck).

 

Back on TV...I'm slowly/finally getting through the first season of House of Cards. It's good but it's maybe a bit more cynical than I think I'm in the mood for, and the impression I get is that the second season goes a bit off the rails plot-wise. I'll probably stick with it though. And speaking of cynicism, if they wanted to accurately show life as a congressman, it would be 90% scenes of Frank Underwood either attending fundraisers or on the phone asking for campaign contributions.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Godzilla

 

So this was a lot cheesier than the trailers would lead you to believe. It's an actual Godzilla movie! And that honestly made it kind of hit and miss until the finale. Ken Watanabe spend the entire movie with a stupid, befuddled look on his face, and all of the humans are pretty worthless. But it had been a while since I've seen people actually cheer in the middle of a movie, and that big ending did definitely put a smile on my face.

 

Fun for what it is, a big screen event kind of thing and an amusing way to spend 2 hours, if rather disappointing in terms of both the anticipation from the trailers and the sheer amount of effort director Gareth Edwards obviously put into it. I'd really like to see him take on a better script than this one at some point in the future.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites



I am pretty on board with what this trailer is teasing.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I am also teased by that Interstellar trailer.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I haven't watched it yet, but it expires in three days and I want to make sure that I do.

http://video.pbs.org/video/2365227336/

 

Yo! Thanks for linking that, I love Independent Lens. I'll be watching this tomorrow.

 

Today, I watched Guillermo del Toro's first feature length film, "Cronos", and "Buena Vista Social Club", a documentary about forgotten Cuban musicians from the 40s and 50s and the album they created in 1998 that lead them to do a final concert in New York and Amsterdam in 1999.

 

"Cronos" is classic del Toro, mixing heavy religious allusions and imagery, Mexican folklore, and other mythological ideas to create a clever and deeply personal spin on vampire stories. Beneath the horror film aesthetic and look is a simple film about an old man and his granddaughter coping with the idea of never seeing each other again. If you're looking for a subtle film, you won't find that here (the main character's name is " Jesùs Gris", literally translated to "Grey Jesus", and he basically "resurrects" from his old self to a newer self), but that's the point: much like "Pan's Labarynth" and "The Devil's Backbone", it's a dark fairytale that uses all of these religious motifs to create context and texture to an otherwise very simple story. 

 

"Buena Vista Social Club" is a fantastic movie if you want to hear good Cuban and Latin Jazz music, and hear the stories of forgotten artists and their rise to stardom in their youth. The thing that made me most happy about the film is that it's a testament to these people's absolute genius and passion. A well deserved last hurrah to these great people. This is my favorite song in the whole film and album.

 

 

Also, they perfectly translated every song to English subtitles in the movie, so extra bonus there. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

...it's a dark fairytale that uses all of these religious motifs to create context and texture to an otherwise very simple story. 

 

[unrelated stuff]... if you want to hear good Cuban and Latin Jazz music,

 

Have you seen Black Orpheus

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Have you seen Black Orpheus

 

I have not! But I heard plenty of good things. I started two weeks of free Hulu Plus when the Thumbs mentioned it and if I find it there, I'l definitely see it. I'm gunna go through the Criterion collection as well.

 

That reminds me, Hulu Plus has the bullshit Raymond Burr version of the original Godzilla movie. And not the original classic! What a travesty, I say.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I just saw Godzilla.

 

Yo that movie fuckin' sucks!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I just saw Godzilla.

 

Yo that movie fuckin' sucks!

 

Oh c'mon. Ok the humans are stupid as crap. But I bet the audience cheered when

 

Godzilla.... Wins, FATALITY 

 

It definitely wasn't the movie I wanted based on the trailers, but it can still be fun if you just accept it as being stupid. Like, cheesy bad but the movie kinda knows it stupid.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Nobody cheered. Who cheers at movies?

 

That movie sucks. The humans were worthless and the monsters made up like 25% of the movie and like 5% of that was an actual monster FIGHT and they cut away from at least two monster fight scenes and just SKIPPED THEM. Movie sucks.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Everyone I know who saw it liked it, but I'm not paying $12-20 for a movie so there's no chance I'm watching it in theatres.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I finally saw Frozen! I liked it, and it's easily the most interesting in-house thing Disney's done in ages, but I feel like it's still shy of greatness. Three points:

 

1) what was with the first fourty minutes or so being nonstop musical numbers and then never doing one again? Not even a reprise at the end or something.

2) I really liked the tiny changes to Elsa's appearance and mannerisms when she goes off on her own. It was a good way to visually hint that she might in fact be the villain, a theme that they call back to a few times even if it never actually comes to fruition. There's a little bit of Malificient in her by the time "Let it Go" finishes.

3) making that goddamn snowman sound like a normal person and not give him a goof voice made him way, way more tolerable than expected; even if it seems to contrast with his look.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Everyone I know who saw it liked it, but I'm not paying $12-20 for a movie so there's no chance I'm watching it in theatres.

I know! Its amazing! Usually I'm the one incredibly tolerant of shit but goddamn I just don't get how anyone thinks the movie is good, or even okay.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I finally saw Frozen! I liked it, and it's easily the most interesting in-house thing Disney's done in ages, but I feel like it's still shy of greatness. Three points:

 

1) what was with the first fourty minutes or so being nonstop musical numbers and then never doing one again? Not even a reprise at the end or something.

2) I really liked the tiny changes to Elsa's appearance and mannerisms when she goes off on her own. It was a good way to visually hint that she might in fact be the villain, a theme that they call back to a few times even if it never actually comes to fruition. There's a little bit of Malificient in her by the time "Let it Go" finishes.

3) making that goddamn snowman sound like a normal person and not give him a goof voice made him way, way more tolerable than expected; even if it seems to contrast with his look.

 

I just watched it, too!  It had a scattered plot, I didn't like any of the characters save the snowman, and the world felt limited and unimaginative.  It felt like a half-baked movie to me.  The music lacked a stylistic cohesion, but I knew coming in that there's not much of a chance of a modern Disney movie having music I'll enjoy.  I think I had set my expectations too high, having heard people proclaiming its greatness.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So I watched the trailer for Gotham and dear lord it's a mess.  For one thing, well all know Gordon wasn't the detective on the Wayne murders!  Everyone knows it was Slam Bradley!  What's wrong with giving Slam Bradley his own show?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

In fairness, they have to make it about a character that even people who aren't super familiar with the Batman universe will recognize. With them going for something aimed more at the justice system in Gotham, and not about Batman himself, that kind of only leaves them with Gordon.

That said... I'm still not interested enough in Gotham to bother watching it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

In fairness, they have to make it about a character that even people who aren't super familiar with the Batman universe will recognize. With them going for something aimed more at the justice system in Gotham, and not about Batman himself, that kind of only leaves them with Gordon.

That said... I'm still not interested enough in Gotham to bother watching it.

But it seems like they are making it about Batman.  It also seems like they're not actually making it about the justice system, they're making it about a whole bunch of origin stories for every single Batman villain happening at once.  They took Gotham Central and then just kind of completely changed it to shoehorn in a bunch of shit.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Gotham seems like "Batman Babies" or something. Meet all the famous Batman characters! When they were kids! I'm glad to see Donal Logue has a job though. Terriers is one of my favorite shows and it died because people only watch shitty TV.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I would watch a show about Renee Montoya, just FYI.

If they had kept it Gotham Central you would have gotten one. If you like here you should check out the second trade/arc of the series as she's the main character in it (she's a main character in the whole series, but I mean the plot specifically revolves around her). The series won an Eisner for that specific arc.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I kind of want The Wire, set in Gotham. How did this city manage to break down so badly that dressing up as a bat and punching mobsters could do more good than harm? I want to see that story.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

A while ago I watched Hustle and Leverage, which were pretty much the same show. Their format was a highly episodic 45 minute heist movie with a strong focus on the conman aspects. Are there any other shows like this (focus on conmen optional)? It seems like its own genre, but it's one that's hard to Google.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now