The Television and Movie Recommendation/Discussion Thread!

[umgaynow]

I watched Children of Men...excellent movie...very Bradbury-esque

I definitely recommend it!

Now cough...what do you taste? Strawberries...that's what it's called, Strawberry Cough

[Ben Varkentine]

I saw Milk a few days ago and it was excellent. FWIW, here's a blog post I wrote that night:

http://tinyurl.com/98g5dt

And BTW, about the Mickey Rourke thing I talk about in the opening of my post. Here's an interview with Sean Penn. He talks vey movingly about the tragedy of Milk's death and his own hopes for the film.

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=119823

Which suggests to me that Rourke is full of shit.

[Alcy]

I've seen the new Harry Potter twice and I have to admit that I was kinda bored both times. I can't put my finger on what it was exactly, but I think it has a bit to do with the fact that it was all about Harry at the end. I want more Hermione dammit!

It was dark, a little spooky in places, had some good humourous moments but it definitely didn't approach the magic that was 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.'

On the other hand, I watched the Dutch film, 'Black Book' for the first time and was riveted to my screen. What a great film, I didnt realise that the Director of Basic Instinct and Starship Troopers could turn out such a great film (Not that there was anything wrong with Starship Troopers!).

[JustSkipIt]

We watched a really fucking terrible movie called Running on Empty Dreams from Netflix the other night. I guess it was a lesbian movie but it was so horrible that even that doesn't redeem it. If you want a lesbian movie, just watch D.E.B.S. or Imagine Me and You for the millionth time. Much better off. Or Better than Chocolate. Just not this piece of crap.

We also watched Hancock recently. It was much, much, much better than I expected. The first half is sort of exactly what you think it will be but the 2nd half was very different and quite touching and thoughtful.

And yesterday we went to see UP. I loved it. I missed the climax because my son needed to go to the potty but I really loved the humor and the message of the movie.

[Alcy]

I've now seen the new Transformers movie twice and it was soooo cool both times. I went in with decidedly low expectations and came out very happy. It was funny as hell, there were lots of explosions and Megan Fox couldn't act her way out of a paper bag...good times.

I also watched a really great French movie called Les Femmes d'hombre (called Female Agents in it's English title which is the lamest title ever) with Sophie Marceau who is gorgeous. It was a great film, I'm glad I gave it a chance.

Can't wait to see G I Joe when it comes out on August 6th. I'm such a nerd I have booked the day off work.


A

[restlessminds]

Loved Frozen River. A beautifully shot, wonderfully acted, poetic affair from first-timer Courtney Hunt. Won the Grand Jury prize at Sundance, and no wonder. We need more films like this.

[Zooeys_Bridge]

I guess this isn't a recommendation per se since the film hasn't been released yet, but I thought I'd post a link to a new featurette with Maurice Sendak, Spike Jonez, and Dave Eggers about the upcoming Where The Wild Things Are. It looks very interesting and full of integrity, I'm excited.

[veiled isis]

I know this is probably a silly suggestion cos of how massive this film is and the fact that everyone has probably seen it already....but Avatar completely rocked my world! I LOVE fantasy stuff like that and first of all when i realised how much it took to make i was like, ' seriously know, is that really necessary?' ha ha but OHMYGOD its huge! Its long but boy does it take you and suck you in. The details and colours are out of this world. Never seen anything like it. Its gona be a huge film to follow...this is what its all about and maaaaan...i wanna live in their world and be blue! Soooo cool

[veiled isis]

Ooooh also...Venice the Series is a MUST! The amazing woman that is Crystal Chappell along with a few friends have put together this web series where Crystal a.k.a Gina, is a lesbian and focuses on her life and the lives of her friends and family and relationships, one of those relationships involving 'Natalia' otherwise known as the lovely Jessica Leccia, who also happens to be a lesbian and crazy in love with Gina and seems to be the only one so far that seems to have opened up that guarded little heart of hers. There's gonna be angst cos there not together as yet but they so will be and best of all its gonna be one of those nice intense slow burners that will have a happy ending. The woman aint silly. She put the whole thing together as a result of Otalia, she realised there's a huge hole in the market for this kinda story and wanted the freedom to take it where she wanted, hence why its on the web. Total freedom. Can only lead to good things.
You do have to pay to subscribe but its only 10 dollars per season and you can watch it online as much as you want and there's other bonus footage and stuff.
Definitely recommend that sh...er..stuff

[Alcy]

I've been watching Venice too and it's more than worth it for the scenes with Crystal Chappell and Jessica Leccia. Those two have such amazing chemistry, more than most real life couples I would say!

Web series are such a great way to develop this sort of independent show and I'm pleased that the producers saw fit to continue the awesome relationship that these actresses have.

The writing of the show is a little clunky at times, and it drags a bit when the story focuses on characters other than Gina (Crystal) or Ani (Jessica). However the overall tone of the series is warm, intimate and so very, very gay!


Alcy

[veiled isis]

Oh my they really do! Its bloody explosive the chemistry they have. How are they not together?? Baffles my little brain. I'd definitely say they have tonnes of fun being together on screen though! ha ha Its wrong the things that run through my little head sometimes when it comes to those two! lol naughty me.
Yeah i agree, when its not focused on them together or at least either one of them it doesnt seem to flow as well....but then that could just be because i wanna....no i need to see em all the time!! Im a little obsessed. Im happy with it though

[Hemiola]

HBO is showing an interesting film tonight (Saturday 2/6). It's about Temple Grandin, a high-functioning autistic woman who, in spite of her condition, managed to earn a PhD in animal husbandry, and is now one of the most valued consultants in the field (this is a true story).

Strongly recommended for those interested in the story of a woman who, in spite of a serious handicap, overcame enormous odd.

[Artemis]

*waves hands* Thread necromancy!

Not really worth its own thread, but Power Rangers is actually pretty good. I never watched the show much - the first connection my brain goes to is actually that the Pink Ranger was on Felicity - and the first trailer for this new film looked a bit dire (ooh it's so gritty and grounded and reimagined), but the second trailer got me interested, and having seen the film, is a fair representation. It's not so bright and happy as I gather the show was - the Rangers are various social-outcast/misfit types, which feels almost inevitable nowadays, but it's handled with a light touch that makes them fun to follow and easy to sympathise with. Trini being gay is very coyly alluded to - that's had some attention from reviewers, so honestly I was expecting at least confirmation, whereas it's really left up in the air - but in a way it kind of works that none of the Rangers really raise an eyebrow that she might be, and the issue (which they entirely sympathise with) is that her parents give her grief for not fitting into the (somewhat vague) labels they regard as 'normal'. Billy being on the autism spectrum is, I thought, actually handled kind of well - he provides plenty of laughs, but none of it feels mean-spirited, and he's absolutely the heart of the team and the most noble character.

The film takes a while getting to the costumes and fights - they don't even suit up until the last act - but they find out about the whole Power Rangers thing early, so it's not a case of just killing time with random teenage angst until the plot kicks in; the character-based scenes that make up most of the first two acts are in the context of them dealing with this crazy sci-fi stuff they've blundered into, so it's not a Godzilla kind of scenario. And when they do get into their colour-coded suits and the mechs and all that, it's got the same kind of light touch as the 'angst' is handled with earlier - it's a real battle with serious stakes, but it feels more like adventure than being hit over the head with grimdark. When they all charge out in their Zords, the soundtrack shifts into the classic theme song, with lyrics.

So, yeah, I had a great time - this is what I wish the Transformers films were like.

Also saw Logan, and that's just like everyone's been saying - depressing as heck, but top quality. Dafne Keen (Laura, the girl) is amazingly good, and the only issue is it'd be a criminal shame not to have her in the regular X-Men movies, but with this being set in the future I don't quite see how they can do that. I kind of hope they just mutter 'alternate timeline' and put her in the cast even though it doesn't even make alternate-timeline sense.

[Artemis]

Just finished watching season two of The Expanse last night, and that's worth a recommendation - especially if you tried the first season and found it a bit too slow and meandering, my god season two picks up the pace. For those who haven't seen it at all, it's fairly respectably hard sci-fi with Earth and Mars politically at each other's throats and the Belters, who work the asteroid belt and outer planets for resources and are exploited colonial-fashion, getting seriously fed up with being caught in the middle all the time, and a potentially game-changing discovery has everybody scrambling and war looking about five seconds from breaking out. The traditional rag-tag band of well-meaning screwups tootling around the outer system in their spaceship getting into every bad situation going are good stuff (and as a science nerd, the zero-g space battles are amazingly cool), but the government side of the plot (which becomes a lot more prominent in season two) is worth the price of admission alone, because that's where Shohreh Aghdashloo is striding around swearing and being magnificent at everybody. So yeah, check that out.

[Artemis]

Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 is definitely worth a watch - just short of 'loved loved loved' owing to being a bit crowded with subplots for the various characters that don't quite mesh as fluidly as one might hope (although they're all worthwhile in their own right). Solid 8 out of 10 though for bringing back everything that was a joy in the first Guardians film - zany outer space setting, lively humour, colourful characters that have genuine depth without needing to be grim and sober. Yondu steals the show, and Kurt Russell as Ego the Living Planet does a great job too. And best of all (Marvel seems to be good at this) none of the trailers I saw gave anyway anything of consequence to the actual central story.

[Artemis]

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is alright - not great, still not a match for the first one, but I think the best of the sequels, mainly on the strength of the new youngsters, and the villain. Henry and Carina are kind of Will and Elizabeth redux, but there's enough different about them (critically, Jack doesn't behave towards them in the same way he did Will/Liz) that they don't irritate on that score, and they're well played. Javier Bardem's Salazar is probably as good a villain as you're going to find in a by-the-numbers sequel - certainly better than the mess they made of Blackbeard, and if his backstory and goals are more simplistic than Davy Jones, at least it means the movie doesn't start collapsing under the weight of a convoluted plot like 2/3 did. They did at least remember to put in some ship combat, which I still can't believe 4 straight-up forgot. I kind of feel like Jack Sparrow's the weak link (but then I've had that feeling since Dead Man's Chest), the most forgettable parts of the film are there mainly to justify 'Jack does something goofy' scenes - this seems like it'll make money so there may be another one, and (while it'd probably seem risky to the executives and therefore unlikely to happen) I hope they relegate Jack to an obligatory cameo, a la Wolverine in First Class, and do something fresh.

[Artemis]

Spider-Man Homecoming is really pretty good - not quite 'great', but certainly with great bits in an overall good film, and I can't think of anything that really deserves to be called 'bad' in it. Tom Holland is excellent, the supporting cast all step up and have their own little quirks that make them seem more three-dimensional than just 'supporting cast', Iron Man is well used (and I think very satisfying as part of the overall Iron Man character story) but used sparingly and doesn't ever risk overshadowing Spidey in his own film, and Michael Keaton's Vulture is maybe my favourite Marvel villain (aside from Loki, who's had more films to play with) - admittedly that's an underperforming field, but he really had some great moments. My only worry is that Sony will get all overconfident again and yoink the franchise back under their own roof, when really keeping the Spideyverse within the MCU would be a terrific thing for both of them.

[DarkWiccan]

Baby Driver is a ton of fun. An excellent summer popcorn flick with a kick-ass soundtrack and some gorgeous stunt driving. It's largest flaw is a WTF character-reversal at the end that had zero foreshadowing, but I was having too much fun to care.

Next on the summer movie list for us is Atomic Blonde - which I'm certain will contain at least one dead lesbian (dammit) - but it's Charlize Theron kicking ass and kissing chicks... so... I'm in.

[Laragh]

Baby Driver is a ton of fun. An excellent summer popcorn flick with a kick-ass soundtrack and some gorgeous stunt driving. It's largest flaw is a WTF character-reversal at the end that had zero foreshadowing, but I was having too much fun to care.

I went to see this purely because there was nothing else on but I really enjoyed it. Loved the soundtrack. I don't think I've ever bought a non-musical soundtrack but I'll buy this one.

[Artemis]

I saw The Lego Ninjago Movie today, and honestly, it was pretty good. I think part of the reason the reaction seems to be disappointment is that we kind of know what we're getting from a Lego movie now - gorgeous visuals, constant jokes, unashamed sincere emotion in the finale - and it doesn't do anything different. Plus it's Ninjago, which even among Lego fans is kind of only if you're the right age (I mean, even I've never bothered getting into it, apart from buying a couple of the sets just because the Japanese design is something I don't have much of from other sets), so it's not at all surprising that it's not connecting with the masses the way Lego Batman did; objectively I feel like those two films are about even on most terms, it's just that Batman's Batman. So it was fun, I'm glad I saw it, but it's basically a well-done movie for its target 8-14 that fits into the overall Lego movie series.

That said, that's three in a row of these things that have boiled down to father-son relationships, can we get one with a female lead? That'd be nice.

[Artemis]

Went to see Blade Runner: 2049 tonight, and... it was okay. Visually lavish as the trailers promised, and in terms of design a proper sequel to the original (with all the anachronisms that entails, since it's a sequel to what the 80s thought 2019 would look like, not what 2019's shaping up to look like, assuming we don't obliterate ourselves by then, which you'd think would be short notice but these days... anyway, the look and feel of the world is intriguing in that regard), some really good performances, thought-provoking in some areas... but not so much where it counted. I don't want to give spoilers, because it is worth seeing if you're at all interested (I'm not really that much of a fan of the original, to be honest), but let's just say there's no equivalent to Rutger Hauer delivering a monologue that will live forever.

Quite a lot of nipples too, but you hire a French-Canadian director, that's what happens. At least none of them were Jared Leto's.

[Artemis]

Justice League was actually pretty good. Not great - 'good enough' is mainly where I'm settling after having a think about it, but in the cinema it really was a lot of fun, and overall it made me optimistic that maybe DC can keep getting better from here, and eventually the rest of their ramshackle cinematic universe will catch up to Wonder Woman in quality. Speaking of her she was great of course, and played well with the other heroes. Batman still felt a bit shallow, but at least he showed there's more to him than the single note he hit in BvS. Flash was mainly comic relief but has mountains of likeability, so that works, Cyborg was kind of low-key but pulled his weight, and Aquaman maybe could have benefited from a few more scenes, but established himself well. Following in Marvel's footsteps the villain was pretty forgettable, but they compounded that by making him a CGI character (for no reason, really) which just sucked out any gravitas Ciaran Hinds' voice might have given him. Still, in the end, it felt like a Justice League comic - maybe just a so-so few issues, but at least it's something workable to build on.

(Everyone should expect them nowadays anyway, but since it's not Marvel and guaranteed - yes, there are post-credits scenes, one mid-credits, one right at the end.)

[Artemis]

Saw Star Wars last night - no spoilers: very good, not perfect, but very good, and very surprising. I know all everyone from the production has been saying is 'it's not what you expect', 'it takes risks', 'it's different', I still expected a really entertaining but basically middle-of-the-road adventure, maybe with a twist or two but essentially predictable, and this movie was just, nope. There's a lot of excitement in the film itself, but I feel like what they've also done is laid important groundwork for the next film to really pay off strong (and I just hope it does, since it's JJ back at the helm and he's not the most innovative guy out there).

The one down side - the idiot a couple of rows back who, whenever a big reveal or line was about to drop, couldn't stop himself from whispering to his friend what it was going to be. And getting them wrong most of the time, too.