Movie/TV recommendations

[DanJW]

http://geeksofdoom.com/2008/04/07/remake-madness/

NO! Bad movie execs! Bad! Go to your bed.

Please, please be nothing but rumours.

[brkl]

Why can't everything have John Malkovich?

[Nachimir]

The idea of Bill and Ted being defiled by a remake justifies a full on weepy ;_;

Short Circuit should not be remade for very different reasons. It should instead be defiled in any way that keeps it out of the public eye, then buried.

[Scrobbs]

Watched 'The Orphanage' last night. Guillermo Del Toro again doing what he does best! Pretty damn spooky at some points...

[DanJW]

The idea of Bill and Ted being defiled by a remake justifies a full on weepy ;_;

Short Circuit should not be remade for very different reasons. It should instead be defiled in any way that keeps it out of the public eye, then buried.

Yeah I was pretty much referring to the B&T remake. Short Circuit seems pointless, but not as outrageous.

[miffy495]

As long as they're excellent to each other...

[eljay]

Watched 'The Orphanage' last night. Guillermo Del Toro again doing what he does best! Pretty damn spooky at some points...

Guillermo Del Toro didn't really do much in that movie, he just "presented" it. An annoying directors trend seemingly started by Quentin Tarantino. Put a label on the movie essentially saying "This famous director you know and like enjoyed this film" ..... oh good....

[twmac]

It was a rip-off rather than an official remake.

Well he would say something like Seingfeld inspired it.

Sorry, you are right they didn't buy the franchise and remake but they did intend to make Friends for an English audience.

I have a friend who worked on the program and the original premise was 'Friends, but racy... And funny in an English way'.

[DanJW]

To counteract the above remake awfulness, here is some potentially awesome news.

[Nachimir]

A Children of Men series sounds like it could actually be interesting!

it's about how, when you don't have a responsibility to the next generation and you're free to do whatever you want, where do you draw the line?"

Eick added that Children of Men will question how society defines responsibility, freedom and a sense of values when it doesn't necessarily believe humans will survive as a species.

It's become quite common to examine those kind of issues through the lens of a single (possibly psychopathic) character, and the film stuck with me so much because it was doing the same with a whole society. It felt really brief though - so much thought provoking stuff just flashed by in the background.

I'd like to see a TV series do more with it, but wonder if it could sustain the same kind of intensity and future shock?

[syntheticgerbil]

That's a pretty interesting idea. Now that you mention it, it would be better as a TV series.

Props to them putting the Jarvis Cocker song in the credits.

[Wrestlevania]

Children of Men TV series makes a lot of sense. Will be looking forward to that one.

But tonight, we dine on Battlestar! Hoping to suck Mrs V back into the series too, after watching season 3 without her and she not missing an awful lot as a result.

We finished watching Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Sunday last and decided it's a bit, well...

[ysbreker]

wrestle, I've been meaning to ask you this since you've changed your avatar. but is that Amsterdam, from the series New Amsterdam?

[n0wak]

wrestle, I've been meaning to ask you this since you've changed your avatar. but is that Amsterdam, from the series New Amsterdam?

I can't speak for him, but I'm sure it's not. I'm quite sure it's Aaron Eckhart, quite possibly from Thank You for Smoking .

[Wrestlevania]

No, it's Nick Naylor from the excellent film Thank You for Smoking.

[LOPcagney]

We finished watching Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Sunday last and decided it's a bit, well...

Yup

I was really disappointed with the pilot and stopped after the first episode.

On a totally different note, but also through my utter love for Firefly, I've tried a couple episodes of Buffy and absolutely can't get into it. Can anyone speak in it's defense?

[miffy495]

I really enjoyed Buffy, but it depends a lot on where you happen to come into the series. It's one of those things that's kind of hard to just jump into. When I was 15 I happened to be channel surfing one night and came across and episode. Watched it for the hell of it, and started really liking it. Later it turned out that that episode I happened to see was a rerun of the third episode of the first season, so a good part of why I liked it so much was that I hadn't missed anything.

In addition, Seasons 4 and 6 are incredibly weak compared to the others. If you caught one of the poorer episodes from those two and had no context, I can easily see why you wouldn't like it. If you started from the beginning, it's just weird campy fun for a good while, and doesn't really start to get serious at all until season 2, but I still find those episodes good in their own right. Firefly is the superior show, and though it's kind of cool to see Nathan Fillion playing a villain in the last bit of season 7, if you weren't that drawn in, don't worry about it too much. Just make sure that if you're interested you give it a proper shot and rent/download the first season to try and see some in context.

[Nachimir]

Weird campy fun pretty much nails it, and yes, season 4 was shit. I found Buffy great to switch off to after work about 8 years ago, but Firefly is an altogether better piece of TV.

[Mel]

Miyazaki!

In the past few weeks I've seen Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away and tonight I'm watching My Neighbor Totoro. I haven't been in the mood to watch too many movies and these did the trick.

[LOPcagney]

I really enjoyed Buffy, but it depends a lot on where you happen to come into the series. It's one of those things that's kind of hard to just jump into. When I was 15 I happened to be channel surfing one night and came across and episode. Watched it for the hell of it, and started really liking it. Later it turned out that that episode I happened to see was a rerun of the third episode of the first season, so a good part of why I liked it so much was that I hadn't missed anything.

In addition, Seasons 4 and 6 are incredibly weak compared to the others. If you caught one of the poorer episodes from those two and had no context, I can easily see why you wouldn't like it. If you started from the beginning, it's just weird campy fun for a good while, and doesn't really start to get serious at all until season 2, but I still find those episodes good in their own right. Firefly is the superior show, and though it's kind of cool to see Nathan Fillion playing a villain in the last bit of season 7, if you weren't that drawn in, don't worry about it too much. Just make sure that if you're interested you give it a proper shot and rent/download the first season to try and see some in context.

Well, here's the thing. I started with the first episode and didn't enjoy it too much. But I love the musical episode, Once More With Feeling. It sounds kind of funny singling out one episode like that, but I really did enjoy it. Those are the only two I've seen. OMWF has some interesting arc plot points that interested me as well: The whole villain-romance thing with Spike is a brilliant idea, and all their talk about mortality and what it means to be alive. I kind of wish I could love it. Should I give season 1 another chance? I've heard some people suggest that newcomers start with season 5...

[miffy495]

Season 5 is said to be the best, as it's also where the Spike thing starts to get really fleshed out. Actually, the best thing that could be said for season 4 is that it brought Spike back (from his previous Season 2 Big Bad status) and introduced that aspect of the story in the first place. Again, you can see how it all links back to itself. OMWF is the standout from an otherwise mediocre 6th season, but if you don't mind having to catch up on everything as you go, there are far worse places to start than season 5. Don't worry if it's not your thing though. I know that when I was going through the DVDs last year, everyone told me to let them know when I got to OMWF. When I did, there were about 10 people around the TV. Every other episode it was just me. That seems to be the one that everyone likes, even if they can't stand the series itself.

[DanJW]

Don't forget the Emmy award winning episode, Hush (in the otherwise meh season 4). That really is excellent directing.

Season 5 is Glory, right? I didn't rate that, besides the occasional stand-alone episodes within it. On the other hand I liked Willow's fall from grace arc in Season 6. I guess everyone has their own preferences.

The pilot episode isn't that great really. Watch a few more of season 1, there's some good episodes in there, even if it prefers a "monster of the week" approach rather than the grand arcs that made the later seasons so great.

For me, it was the humour that pulled me into the show. It doesn't take itself too seriously (always a good thing when dealing with the potential emo-fest of vampire TV - see Angel).

[brkl]

Mel, see Porco Rosso. It's fantastic. Like a cartoon Casablanca.

[DanJW]

My Neighbour Totaro is my favourite. It makes me feel all warm inside.

[Wrestlevania]

I'm planning to show My Neighbor Totaro to the little Vanias very soon.