Movie/TV recommendations

[brkl]

The Girl in the Fireplace would be my recommendation. But no reason to keep watching if it isn't doing anything for you.

[Nappi]

I watched The Girl in the Fireplace, Blink, and Silence in the library / Forest of the Dead before jumping to Matt Smith episodes. I have watched a couple more of David Tennant episodes since then but I didn't enjoy them that much. Series 5-7 are really good in my opinion.

[toblix]

Yeah, «The Girl in the Fireplace» was great. I'm not sure I know what to make of all the guide's comments, like «SWEET JESUS MARY AND JOSEPH,» «fap fodder,» which makes it seem almost like a JOKE GUIDE, but it's worked pretty well so far (though of course I don't know how well I would've liked the episodes I skipped...) Anyway, just watched «Silence in the Library,» so the next one should be good.

 

In other news, you can say a lot of things about J.J. Abrahams, but you gotta love Alfonso Cuarón:

[toblix]

That guide is spot on, Toblix, although I disagree on Vincent and the Lodger (perhaps he got his colours mixed up?).

 

So you're saying I should see both, maybe?

[Hermie]

Holy shit, I did not realize Red was played by Captain Janeway!!

Finished Orange is the new Black yesterday. It's pretty damn great. It gets a bit too cute at a couple of places, but it's worth it for when it reaches the sweetest or most dramatic moments. And man, that ending. Too long to wait for the second season..

 

Yeah, it misses some beats at times, and some character choices are clearly made just to advance the drama, but I really enjoy the way the power struggle plays out between the various groups inside the prison, and how that effects the individual characters in different, meaningful ways. 

[Ben X]

So you're saying I should see both, maybe?

Well, I'd say you may as well watch The Lodger as I remember it being pretty good, but not Vincent as I thought it was massively over-rated.

I don't think it's a joke guide. The JESUS MARY JOSEPH note is for an infamously dreadful episode. And fapping because internet nerds.

[pabosher]

I watched The Girl in the Fireplace, Blink, and Silence in the library / Forest of the Dead before jumping to Matt Smith episodes. I have watched a couple more of David Tennant episodes since then but I didn't enjoy them that much. Series 5-7 are really good in my opinion.

You missed easily the best episode(s) in Human Nature/Family of Blood. In my opinion it's the best Doctor Who.

[Nappi]

You missed easily the best episode(s) in Human Nature/Family of Blood. In my opinion it's the best Doctor Who.

 

Oh yeah, I watched that as well. It was good, but not one of my favorites.

[Ben X]

Pacific Rim - terrible script, accents; amazing everything else, definitely worth watching on the big screen in 3D. Otherwise, not so much.

 

The World's End - great start, gets a bit unimaginative and clumsy in the second half. However, I didn't appreciate the first two Cornetto films until the second viewings so hopefully I'll love it in a year or so.

[BigJKO]

Haven't seen World's End, but I remember the other two in the 'trilogy' also feeling a tad clumsy in the second half. And yes, especially with Hot Fuzz, I appreciated them much more on a second viewing. Can't wait to see World's End.

[TheLastBaron]

Dear Lord

 

http://www.cwtv.com/cw-video/perfect-score/the-rules-of-love/?play=85d7d2e7-9c03-4cc3-8d2d-571497e07c8b

 

The guy that won is someone I know.  That being said I'm not going to watch the whole episode.

[Frenetic Pony]

Trance:

 

Damn it James McAvoy you're better than this! I mean, it starts out well enough.

 

There's a plot to heist a painting, it goes wrong, the guy who's hidden the painting gets clocked on the head. Brain damage, he can't remember where the painting is, a hypnotherapist is brought in to help him remember. The guy is played by McAvoy, he's not exactly 'the good guy' but he's empathic and protagonist and average enough that we can get behind him. Then it starts to draw out and out, and hypnotherapy is played out as some kind of mind control thing.

 

Anyway, McAvoy remembers where the painting is and suddenly turns into a murdering psychopath for no reason, kills a bunch of people, kidnaps the therapist and head criminal dude, and goes to get the painting. Along the way it turns out McAvoy was dating the hypnotherapist and got all creepy with her and so she hypnotized him into forgetting about her but gave him back his gambling addiction and then hypnotized him into stealing the painting in the first place. Oh and she's banging the head criminal honcho who is a guy who rips people's fingernails out. McAvoy continues his craziness, tries to burn the criminal dude alive while ignoring the therapist because reasons, and the dies and the movie ends.

 

It really felt like a waste of talent.

[BigJKO]

Type spoiler, not spoilers, in the tag

[Frenetic Pony]

Type spoiler, not spoilers, in the tag

 

Ah, there we are, added an s at the end to the front tag. Oops

[tegan]

I had already seen the 1986 version, but I finally got around to seeing the 1958 version of The Fly. If the remake is about watching a loved one die of a terminal disease, then the original is about assisted suicide. Just a few observations (gonna' spoil a fifty year old movie, just FYI):

 

• The makeup effects on the fly head still look really good. Specifically it's the way that its mouth moves that gets me.
• It really bugs me when a story told through flashback includes details that the one telling it couldn't possibly have known.
• dude straight up murders his own cat and does not give a fuck. Even though we've been told about his compassion for all living creatures.
• the infamous ending scene is really goddamned weird. By all means modern audiences should find it comical, but the fly screaming for help is legitimately horrifying.

[Roderick]

Here's a surprising recommendation: The Wolverine. I was expecting dumb fun, turns out it carries a little more weight than that [for a Wolverine film, of course]. Even wrote the FIlmadeus review right away: http://www.filmadeus.com/2013/07/the-wolverine-james-mangold-2013.html

[gregbrown]

Calling it right now: movie of the year.

And my favorite:

[DaveC]

Calling it right now: movie of the year.

And my favorite:

 

Did the CG-ness of that first trailer bother anyone else?

 

Cuaron seems to get a mega-boner from single take stuff, but that's only impressive to me if it's a real camera filming real people in a real place. Having CG puppets keyframing around the scene is a really good way to get me to not care about the scene. 

 

The 'drifting' trailer is badass though. 

[Ben X]

Cuaron seems to get a mega-boner from single take stuff, but that's only impressive to me if it's a real camera filming real people in a real place. Having CG puppets keyframing around the scene is a really good way to get me to not care about the scene. 

 

I haven't watched those clips, but I think a long-take with lots of CG help can still be impressive for its choreography and pacing and being something so authored without destabilising the movie. But yeah, I know what you mean, even the Children Of Men stuff isn't the same as Touch Of Evil or The Player or Boogie Nights, once you know a lot of it wasn't in-camera or was stitched together.

[Ben X]

Having said that, I now want to watch Children Of Men again.

[Patrick R]

Yeah, part of the reason a huge Cuaron fan like myself isn't freaking out about Gravity is because in previous movies I loved how he uses those long takes to specifically explore real sets and environments, whereas that obviously can't be the case here. But on the other hand, it seems like a pretty bold formal gamble regardless, so it's definitely gonna be worth checking out. Also, all early word is that it's incredible.

[Roderick]

I think we're glossing over my post about The Wolverine with all this talk about Alphonse Cuaron's Gravity starring George Clooney. Let's not mix up our priorities here.

[Patrick R]

On a scale of 1 to snikt, how snikt is The Wolverine?

[Gormongous]

I haven't watched those clips, but I think a long-take with lots of CG help can still be impressive for its choreography and pacing and being something so authored without destabilising the movie. But yeah, I know what you mean, even the Children Of Men stuff isn't the same as Touch Of Evil or The Player or Boogie Nights, once you know a lot of it wasn't in-camera or was stitched together.

 

Yeah, but if you want the technical achievement of a long take, you just watch Russian Ark instead (and are incredibly bored). The way that Cuarón uses long takes to explore a space and draw the viewer in is nothing short of masterful. I actually just rewatched Children of Men last night (a friend had never seen it and wanted to) and was shocked at how good it still is after seven years. Except for a few flat lines from Clive Owen and the last forty-five seconds, it's a perfect movie.

[Patrick R]

What don't you like about the last 45 seconds?