Movie/TV recommendations

[Grufff]

Does anyone else think Richard Hammond is completely different since his car accident/coma/brain damage stuff? I realise this is a slightly dumb question...

Prior to the accident I used to quite like the guy. Since the accident however, I can't stand him and am unable to watch anything that he presents. The only Top Gear presenter I don't mind is James May, but that's down to the other tv shows he's done rather than Top Gear.

[Wrestlevania]

Does anyone else think Richard Hammond is completely different since his car accident/coma/brain damage stuff? I realise this is a slightly dumb question...

He was very different to begin with, understandably. I would imagine most people would be after crashing a rocket car doing ~100mph.

He's back his cheese-mongering, Housewive's Favourite best though. Only difference now is his hair has become more stupid.

[syntheticgerbil]

*This* is a car review

Oh god, I guess this may be a strange type of prejudice, but I generally try to avoid being in the same lane as any SUV on the road. Too many bad experiences with either SUV drivers who don't care to check their blindspot and nearly kill me changing lines or just simply don't use their blinker and just cram their big fucking refrigerator wherever and whenever they fucking feel like it all over the road.

Other big problems are big Ford truck driving redneck assholes. They are obnoxious in their complete and unhinged aggressiveness, but don't usually handle around the road near as idiotic as a SUV driver. Then there's the BMW driver who drives very selfishly and without any kind of signals but is usually not there to be aggressive, but instead to just leave everyone in the dust.

God I hate driving at any time other than night.

EDIT: Oops, I just wrote this crap in Movie/TV recommendations. Oh well.

Edited July 13, 2010 by syntheticgerbil

[Nachimir]

EDIT: Oops, I just wrote this crap in Movie/TV recommendations. Oh well.

My bad. I'm learning a lot about what dozy fucks some car drivers are as a cyclist. Two arguments through the car windows of people who've almost killed me in three months of riding so far, and a couple of middle fingers delivered to abusive drivers as I overtake them in traffic jams.

Does anyone else think Richard Hammond is completely different since his car accident/coma/brain damage stuff?

I didn't notice, but probably watched too infrequently to. As Wrestle said, most people would probably be a bit different afterward, even if they are in front of a camera.

The major change I noticed was when Trinny and Susannah appeared to have got hold of him. Suddenly he was all stupid hair, pointy shoes and screen-printed suit jackets.

Edited July 13, 2010 by Nachimir

[MrHoatzin]

Oh god, I guess this may be a strange type of prejudice, but I generally try to avoid being in the same lane as any SUV on the road. Too many bad experiences with either SUV drivers who don't care to check their blindspot and nearly kill me changing lines or just simply don't use their blinker and just cram their big fucking refrigerator wherever and whenever they fucking feel like it all over the road.

Other big problems are big Ford truck driving redneck assholes. They are obnoxious in their complete and unhinged aggressiveness, but don't usually handle around the road near as idiotic as a a SUV driver. Then there's the BMW driver who drives very selfishly and without and kind of signals but is usually not there to be aggressive, but instead to just leave everyone in the dust.

God I hate driving at any time other than night.

EDIT: Oops, I just wrote this crap in Movie/TV recommendations. Oh well.

Dude, I drive into Houston happy and drive out of it wanting to murder someone. It is the most roadragey city on the planet. It doesn't help that it is the dumbest-planned city in the first world.

[Nachimir]

This was doing the rounds on Twitter last night: All of Tarkovsky's films are (in a legit way) online for free.

For a start, Stalker and Solaris were by him

[brkl]

I want Tarkovsky restored on Bluray :/

[Wrestlevania]

This was doing the rounds on Twitter last night: All of Tarkovsky's films are (in a legit way) online for free.

For a start, Stalker and Solaris were by him

Slightly aggrieved there's no download option, but a superb and wonderful act nonetheless.

I didn't know Solaris was a Tarkovsky film originally. I've been meaning to watch the Clooney remake for a long time.

[ThunderPeel2001]

This was doing the rounds on Twitter last night: All of Tarkovsky's films are (in a legit way) online for free.

For a start, Stalker and Solaris were by him

This guy keeps popping into my world. Apparently I need to watch his films.

[Patters]

I want Tarkovsky restored on Bluray :/

Doesn't need to be Bluray, just HD.

[dpp]

2 recommendations:

-Exam (2009), it's a British psychological thriller where 8 candidates are confined in a room and have to answer a question to get a much coveted job. Pretty interesting, nothing revolutionary but still worth watching IMHO.

-Rurouni Kenshin Trust and Betrayal / Samurai X Remembrance (different names, same thing), it's a 4-episode OAV of the very famous series, it tells the origin story of the main character. It's a very adult and emotional story, opposite to the main series. I watched it back when I was an anime buff, in another lifetime. Recently someone was asking me for a recommendation, so I watched it again because I remembered it to be one of the best and it certainly is. Highly recommended, but bear in mind it's an anime.

[toblix]

Just watched Exam.

Like Cube and another film I can't remember the name of right now, it's the kind of film that immediately gets me hooked because of the weird setting, the puzzle-ness of it, small hints of a larger story and the promise of some final revelation. Of course that last thing is always what ultimately kills the whole thing in the end, as everything turns to shit and the ending ruins everything by explaining too much.

It really reminds me of how much I love closed room puzzles in games, though.

[toblix]

Speaking of which, I just saw the trailer for the next M Night. Shyamalan film. The premise: Five people stuck in an elevator. Also, one of them is The Devil!

Oh, also:

[Lu]

So is it confirmed that one of these people is the devil... Or is the elevator the devil?! That could be the twist.

[toblix]

Or maybe the title is just a red herring and it's just a film about a poorly maintained elevator.

[Squid Division]

Stalker was such a boring movie. Virtually nothing happened between the good opening sequence and good ending sequence. Even the much-touted hallway scene didn't make much since to me since

there was never any proof in the entire movie that the zone could actually do anything, it was all 'don't go off the path or something COULD happen', but nothing ever did. It was the same for the sewer crawl. They mention someone's brother (?) died there, but since there isn't any proof of anything earlier in the movie, I had no reason to believe the hallway would be any different.

The whole thing just seemed like cinematic masturbation to me, with little in the way of anything happening, but each scene meticulously shot and set up.

[DanJW]

...little in the way of anything happening, but each scene meticulously shot and set up.

That's kind of the point. It's an exercise in tension and restraint and the detail that a long shot can find.

Anyone brought up on Hollywood cinema is going to find it pretty hard to watch, since the pace is so unfamiliar to us. I found the tension too unbearable to view it all in one go.

[elmuerte]

And the end of the movie it is revealed

that the devil is actually a wizzzaaaard!!!

[Squid Division]

I'm no stranger to long shots, and I don't feel that Tarkovsky ever really established any danger in the Zone, so a long shot where you're supposed to feel tension, but have no reason to since there's no reason to believe there's any danger, is boring other than admiring the camera work.

[brkl]

I'm sure a gory Hollywood remake will come by eventually with all that.

[Wrestlevania]

For the very little it's undoubtedly worth, I found Stalker generally quite uncomfortable to sit through from beginning to end. Not because it's badly made, but because of how subtly I think it torments the viewer.

Right from the opening shot, taking in the consummately bleak outlook for the main character and then slowly drawing out into the devastation and oppressive military presence clearly evident throughout the first half really weighs in on the viewer--and without any real release.

And then the film abruptly shifts into colour, as they enter the Zone, which only further sets your sense on edge I found; it's masterfully done, in my opinion.

I'll admit this is coloured somewhat by having read the original fiction, and having spent a fair amount of time playing the first game beforehand. But it's the way the film shifts between it's dream-like states and nightmare schizoid episodes for the lead character that really got to me.

It just builds and builds with no release.

I was climbing the walls by the time the finally got to the Room, nevermind when they started fighting about who would or wouldn't actually go in.

[MrHoatzin]

I watched the first four hours of Stalker five years ago… I keep meaning to go back and watch the rest one day. :/

[Nachimir]

The whole thing just seemed like cinematic masturbation to me

No, that would Michael Bay. If you can't cope with uncertainty, tension, or interpretability, then Stalker is a very bad film for you. I liked it.

Stalker is more about the characters, and how they behave under pressure, than it is about The Zone. Having them find bodies, skulls or special effects littering the area would add nothing to that, it's about how they react to the threatening lore surrounding the place.

It's been under a military blockade for so long, and trips into the zone are so isolated and unobserved, that the surrounding environment is a perfect one for gossip and exaggeration to spread. Just like the characters, we never find out the truth. Even in the final scene,

the girl may be moving the glass with her mind, or it may be the passing train

.

[Ben X]

Labyrinth, 1530 today at the Prince Charles today! PM me if you fancy David Bowie's balls and a few beers...

[Thyroid]

I've been watching the Futurama movies. Not as good as Seasons 1-3, but they had their moments. I think the last one is my favorite, because I have a thing for a bittersweet ending.