Movie/TV recommendations

[Roderick]

Tina Turner made Mad Max 3. And it's still a kick-ass song.

 

Romancing the Stone is pretty cool. If you want a more horrible desert action/comedy, try (don't try) Ishtar. But don't.

[Merus]

Aunty Tina Turner and the Thunderdome were cool, yes, but also only the first act of the film. It really feels like they've got lots of great ideas that never quite gel.

 

I think it's also one of the first treatments of post-apocalyptic tribes that has a language and history that's clearly drawing from the past but is also starting to shed its origins. I imagine there's sci-fi books that do it, but it's harder in a book because you don't have the visual and aural components.

[Erkki]

I liked all of the Mad Maxes when I last saw them (probably 10+ years ago). The Road Warrior was my favorite and a perfect example of how to make a good sequel. But I think it was also rather different in tone from the first one, which I didn't see until much later after I saw the two sequels. When I used to watch movies mostly from TV, they were airing 2 and 3 way more than 1. And when I first saw it I didn't really appreciate it a lot. Maybe it was too dark or too obscure for me back then. The three are like completely different movies, but still feel like a series, which is great.

 

I just watched the first one now and I'll see if I still feel the same about how different the sequels are.

[Ben X]

I saw Whiplash. Not really spoilery opinions:

 

I enjoyed it but felt it was pretty slight. I'd pretty much seen the entire movie in the trailer, and for once that wasn't the trailer's fault. That whole last scene was fantastic, though.

 

The lead, Miles Teller, is playing Mr Fantastic in the new Fantastic Four movies!

[Merus]

I wonder how the environment of the first one plays for foreigners. To me it feels like it's in the Australian countryside, small towns dotting the landscape, except with these weird fascist hints here and there.

 

2 is weird because it's super 80s, with the Cold War and the assumption that gasoline is a constant. (It's charming that everyone calls it 'guzzoline' because the actors would know it as 'petrol'.)

[YoThatLimp]

Has anyone been watching The Knick? If not I've seen the first few episodes and it is very well made. If you haven't seen the terrific first couple of seasons of Hannibal, I feel, so far, like The Knick is a cross between Hannibal and House. Also Soderbergh is a pretty damned good director and is the lone director for the entire series, so if you liked Side Effects or Contagion I feel like he goes to a lot of the same thematic places.

 

My wife loves The Knick, will have to check out Hannibal.

 

We are currently halfway through Season 5 of The Wire, I know this is a super unpopular opinion but that show is pretty good. 

[Erkki]

I enjoyed it but felt it was pretty slight. I'd pretty much seen the entire movie in the trailer, and for once that wasn't the trailer's fault. That whole last scene was fantastic, though.

Yeah, that's exactly my opinion as well.

There came a point in the movie when I realized how little it went beyond the trailer, and it got boring to watch. Picked up again at the end, though. And the final scene was really great to watch and hear.

[Erkki]

I wonder how the environment of the first one plays for foreigners. To me it feels like it's in the Australian countryside, small towns dotting the landscape, except with these weird fascist hints here and there.

Yeah, when I first saw it [Mad Max] as a kid, the environment made it really creepy to me. Perhaps because I'd already seen the more fantastical geography, architecture and inhabitants of the sequels, it really creeped me out to see the same character in a real-ish environment, and to see normal people in it, who could have been from the real world. It was like this half-step between the normal world and the full-on crazyness that had taken over by Mad Max 2.

[Bjorn]

I wonder how the environment of the first one plays for foreigners. To me it feels like it's in the Australian countryside, small towns dotting the landscape, except with these weird fascist hints here and there.

 

2 is weird because it's super 80s, with the Cold War and the assumption that gasoline is a constant. (It's charming that everyone calls it 'guzzoline' because the actors would know it as 'petrol'.)

 

From what I remember, the environment of 1 wasn't that weird to me, because it's not that much different than a big chunk of the Midwest in the US.

[Erkki]

Whoa, just saw Drunken Master II. Some amazing (fighting) scenes in that one. The first half of the movie is the best.

[BusbyBerkeley]

Wetlands is fucking good. Its REALLY gross, but that's part of the charm. I love how frank it is about sex and bodies. You should definitely watch it if you aren't too queasy about like, anal fissures or public toilet seats or vaginas. Currently streaming on Netflix.

[Ben X]

streaming

 

Ew!

[Bjorn]

I watched the 2004 Stepford Wives tonight, and quite enjoyed it! The Internet had led me to believe that it was an awful tragedy that should never have been filmed, and once filmed, should have been buried and forgotten. The finale is by far the worst part (and it is bad) but the rest of it is solid, and at times fabulous. It seems the main complaint is that it isn't as dark or horror themed as the 70s version...but so what. We already have the 70s version, isn't it better to try something new?

And it opens with what is essentially the Misandry Network. All they needed was a Kill All Men show. The opening practically justifies the whole show.

[Erkki]

Seems I missed White God in cinemas and there don't even seem to be any torrents available. And I'm not going to use (suspicious) VPNs to pretend to be from a country where I could view it online.

 

On the other hand, I learned today that Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog was based on an old French movie Le Samouraï (1967), and watched that just now. It was quite good. It starts strikingly similarly to Ghost Dog, but a way in it becomes clear that while Jarmusch made a lot of references to it, he wasn't really copying it. Ghost Dog is clearly an homage, though and I might just rewatch it. It was my favorite movie for a few years.

[juv3nal]

On the other hand, I learned today that Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog was based on an old French movie Le Samouraï (1967), and watched that just now. It was quite good. It starts strikingly similarly to Ghost Dog, but a way in it becomes clear that while Jarmusch made a lot of references to it, he wasn't really copying it. Ghost Dog is clearly an homage, though and I might just rewatch it. It was my favorite movie for a few years.

 

Jean Pierre Melville is pretty great. Bob Le Flambeur, Le Doulos, & Le Cercle Rouge are worth checking out. edit: oh Un Flic as well.

[Merus]

A review of American Sniper.

[SecretAsianMan]

I don't know if this is applicable to everyone, but I just checked the offers available on my Chromecast and got the first X-Men movie for free.

[BusbyBerkeley]

Finally got around to Adam Wingard's The Guest  last night and HOLY SHIT it's fucking good. It's a great thriller with a killer synth as fuck score. Dude is clearly influenced by Carpenter and it's fantastic. highly highly recommend weveryone seek this out. Top five of last year for me, easy. It's got a really fun plot so I'd advise going in blind, but I'm sure it will still be a blast even if you read up on it. So fucking good.

 

Also You're Next, also from Wingard is a really fun horror flick and it's on Netflix instant. I love this guy.

[Gwardinen]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good adaptation of Hamlet?

[Bolegium]

That link is a keeper, thanks Merus.

[thefncrow]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good adaptation of Hamlet?

The Branagh version is good, if you have the time for it. That one is using the unabridged text, which pushes the run time to right at 4 hours. The biggest complaint I have with it is that the final scene gets kinda ridiculous to the point of being silly, but overall it's very good.

[TychoCelchuuu]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good adaptation of Hamlet?

In addition to the Branagh, there's the 1948 one with Olivier and a 2009 BBC TV movie with David Tennant and Patrick Stewart.

[TheLastBaron]

So an episode of Where in the World is Carmen San Diego was on when I turned my TV on last night so I watched it. I definitely don't remember the opening song being that awful.

[Brannigan]

oh, it definitely was.

[Bjorn]

Fuck, was the Rockapella version not just used throughout the entire run? That's the only song I remember.