August movies, DVDs or other visual treats

Not that I've watched anything today, just wanted a fresh start. :)

To continue on, I just watched the YouTube trailer for BBC Sherlock and it does look good! I don't have tv at the moment *huge sigh* (I'm starting to suffer major withdrawal), but hopefully it'll come out on DVD soon. Thanks for mentioning it MrsLee :-)

I am hooked on Discovery Channel's The Colony.

My sister and I have started watching Stargate: Universe. I think we got through three episodes yesterday evening? We both quite like it so far.

#2 -I've watched the first Sherlock and really enjoyed it. I've dl'd the second but haven't had time to watch it yet.

The DH and I have just discovered Pushing Daisies and are enjoying that series via Netflix. Funny!

After hearing a review of it on NPR's Fresh Air, decided to check out the new series on AMC: "Rubicon," which just started on Sunday. Looks like it might be really good, and reminds me of Three Days of the Condor, one of my all-time favorite movies.

Inception is amazing! Don't miss it.

Just read that Carol Burnett will be making an appearance as Sue Sylvester's mother on Glee. I look forward to that!

If you are an Alan Rickman fan, he has a wonderful role in Bottle Shock as a snooty British guy (what a stretch) who owns a wine store in Paris and organizes a blind tasting of California and French wines. This is based on real events in 1979. You can catch it on DVD and one of the premium channels is showing it this month.

I enjoyed "Bottle Shock" when it came out. Thought Rickman was terrific, as usual.

#5
I have it on DVD, and I recently gorged on a pie-making... ahem, pie-makER marathon! :P

I also have Wonderfalls on DVD. I love Bryan Fuller's shows. I still haven't gotten Dead Like Me on DVD, tho, and I don't recall if I finished watching the series back when it was on-air.

As I said in the previous thread, I'm currently watching Castle (season 2) and Breaking Bad (season 1) on my laptop. I just heard there won't be any more BB episodes until July next year, so I have plenty of time to catch up on seasons 2 & 3!

I'm thoroughly enjoying Castle. Even if it's silly, and predictable, and cheesy, and the cases are paper-thin, and Castle always seems to know much more than the clueless detectives... I really enjoy the dialogue, and the way Nathan Fillion delivers his lines, and the rapport between the actors. Ohh and I also squee when I recognize a Whedonverse actor on screen! The other day was Buffy's boss, the handsome black guy who was the school principal, and then the last episode I've seen so far, it was Riley, yay! I'm just dying to see who else is going to guest star -- shush! no spoilers, please! ;)

Also, I just found this:
Comic-Con brings down CASTLE walls!! (interviews with the cast). Nathan was asked if he'd ask Joss to come direct an episode, but he just said "there comes a point when a man does so much for you, that you don't ask him to do anything else." Awwww!!!

So I'm still watching Babylon 5 and I have to say, one thing it does very well is dealing with time - time travel, a little (and exceptionally well done), but also showing flashbacks and precognitions in a much more coherent fashion than most things I've seen. I'm impressed.

It's nice to see a show that appears to have actually had a plan from the start. As much as I love some other tv shows, it can be painfully obvious when they're just making it up as they go along and trying to pretend they knew what they were doing all the time (Alias, I'm looking at you!).

I was watching ST:tOS last night. I watched The Corbomite Manoevre, which was delightfully silly in parts, and then the first half of the more serious The Menagerie. I'll watch the other half tonight.

Lovely way to spend an evening. I do so myself now and then. (Even though I know most of the dialogue by heart.)

You may want to check out the Science Channel. I love watching Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman. It's an AWESOME show if you haven't seen it. I also love Discovery Channel's The Universe!

Watched The Ruby in the Smoke tonight as I was prepping a new baking recipe. Very good.

Sunday night will be an episode of Inspector Lewis with more to come this month and September.

Coming this autumn will be Wallander and Sherlock.

YAY! Sorry, I've always loved the MYSTERY! series.

OH wonderful!!! Thank you OldSarge!! Hopefully by the time it comes to PBS we'll have satellite and I'll be able to watch Sherlock. Right now I'm missing Inspector Lewis, which we do enjoy *sigh*, but I really do think we're going to get satellite in September. Cool!! (I love Mystery! too)

>10 bluesalamanders: - I enjoy watching the whole Babylon 5 series every 2 or 3 years. I would have watched it this summer if it had been on Netflix's Instant Watch list.

Because of all the buzz about the Housewives of D.C., including a tiff between one of the wives and Whoopi Goldberg, I thought I would watch it. Now I know why I have never watched the other housewives shows and won't watch any more. I can't believe I watched it instead of Burn Notice!

If you haven't had enough of Gordon Ramsey, I saw a new series on BBC America last night where he is travelling around India to learn how to make an authentic curry. For once he wasn't yelling at other people. It was pretty good.

I stalled out somewhere in S4 of B5. I just couldn't take the bad music and horrible acting anymore, despite the promising plot. I really tried, but bad acting can really kill a work for me. I did like Billy Mumy and the one Cardassian-looking-but-actually-this-series'-Bajorans guy.

Actually, I think what finally killed it for me was that horrible romance between the commander and the cabbage-head chick.

I have several episodes of SciFi's Eureka saved on the dvr, so far I've only been able to watch the season opener.

Just watched Kick-Ass, and holy crap that movie rocks! Definitely not a kid's movie though. I've gotta say, the main reason KA gets his ass handed to him every time he tries to take someone on is training. He sees Batman and idolizes him, but doesn't bother with any of the training. He ignores the fact that not only does Batman have a couple Billion dollars at his disposal, he also has training. Bruce Wayne spent his life from the time his parents died to the day he took on the Batman identity training in martial arts, criminology, chemistry. Batman is an ass-kicker for the same reason Big Daddy and Hit Girl were able to kick ass. Training, knowing how to fight and outthink their enemies, not just swinging wildly hoping to hit someone.

and BTW, because EVERYBODY says this when I say this sort of thing: YES, I KNOW ITS A MOVIE, GET OVER IT.

I watched "The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice" last night. :) I enjoy these films.

Thanks MrsLee :)

Going back to 247 of last thread, I saw Miracle at Saint Ana's sometime last year IIRC and was rather confused as to what the "miracle" was supposed to be. All I remember is a bunch of Nazis gunning down a crowd of civilians. If thats the director/screenwriter's definition of miracle, I think he needs to look up the definition in a dictionary, then get checked into a psych ward. And thats ignoring how completely unbelievable 90% of the movie was to begin with.

"Eclipse" starring Cieran Hinds. I like Mr. Hinds in anything (even when he is the only good thing in the movie). This one was actually a very enjoyable little independent film which involved a still healing widower, a lady author who writes about ghostly encounters, a couple of said ghostly encounters which startled me every time, a truly pathetic author with a crush on the lady, and beautiful scenery.

We saw The Kids Are All Right today and thought it wonderful. Julianne Moore, Annette Benning and Mark Ruffalo are all as good as you'd think they'd be in a movie that examines relationships in many different ways. All the main characters in the movie, except one, has their view of self challenged by someone with an opposite self concept. Amazingly the two adolescents manage rebellion in ways that don't make you want to smother them with a pillow, unlike most adolescents in books and movies these days. When did we decide that simple respect for others was an unnecessary human attribute?

Surprising to me was the number of older people in the audience. Benning and Moore both play women in their 50's but much of the audience was at least 10 years older. And there were more macho type guys there than I expected. This was a quite an unanticipated diversity, more than I think I've seen in any movie audience I've been in.

Finally managed to catch up with In Bruges last night and I wasn't disappointed. I enjoyed the dark humour, complex characters and interesting storyline. It had a great cast of actors too.

I've been re-watching the BBC's documentary series British Isles – A Natural History. It's on my iPad so I set it up on the table for my kid and I to watch while we eat dinner.

National Geographic Channel had a show last night about dogs. I think it was the first of a series. One of the most interesting facts was that Goldens were being used as service dogs for vets since they can sense when they are starting to panic or "go to a bad place" and will climb up in their laps and demand attention from them. What a perfect job for the perfect dog!

I told my dad about this program and he told me his theory of how wolves turned into dogs. One day, a long time ago, a caveman was walking in the woods and came across a wolf pup. He reached down and scratched the wolf behind his ears. The pup immediately thought, "I want to be a dog!"

It's been proven that a dog's sense of smell gives them the ability to detect changes in body chemistry when you sweat. They've done this with epilectics, to warn them that a seizure is coming on.

My dad's dog gets distressed when Dad's blood sugar is getting too low.

I watched a Korean movie that has been remade in America. The Korean version is "Addicted", the American version is "Possession". Both have the same premise, but different conclusions. A happily married woman faces a major emotional dilemma when her husband and brother-in-law are both in car accidents and end up in comas. The brother-in-law wakes up and insists he is her husband. Is he possessed? Delusional? Up to no good? Or seeking to remake himself and have a new life? I watched Possession first because it stars Sarah Michelle Gellar. However, I preferred how the Korean version brought the movie to conclusion.

I've been rewatching various DVDs here and there the last month when I can drag myself away from books and the internet. However, I have all four Phantasm movies on their way to me and will be watching them ASAP after they get here! :)

(And if I can find the box they're in, I have all the Hellraiser movies and want to rewatch them!)

I just turned some friends on to the Phantasm films.

The Science Fiction group has a whole thread devoted to Inception. Here's a funny video that "explains" it all. You probably shouldn't watch it if you haven't seen the movie:

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1939332

I took my friend to see it last night. We spent an hour talking about it afterward. She really did not like my take on the ending. I was surprised at the force of her conviction that my ending ruined the movie. :)

I watched The Road today. Not as emotionally engaging as the book, which I read yesterday.

I watched the dvd of the live action verson of "Blood: The Last Vampire" last night. Well, I watched it to the end, but I was surprised when I read up on it afterwards. Judging by the special effects, I thought it was older than it was. I still prefer the anime.
Tonight I probably will watch "Blood +", an anime series based on the original concept.

I work in a video store so I see a lot of movies that are blockbusters and also ones that nobody every hears about. Just recently we enjoyed Losers, Copout, and Death at a Funeral. However, there are a few "little" movies that are really great: Play the Game witih Andy Griffiths - it's very funny (they could have called it Sex and the Seniors) and you must watch all the way through the credits to the end; I Do and I Don't - also very funny; and My Name is Khan (no, it isn't Star Trek) - this is subtitled, something I'm trying to talk the customers into getting along with and it is very well done, it's a story about a Muslim fellow from India who has Asperger's Syndrome and what happened to him and his family in the US after 911. There's a lot of humour in it, also sadness, and it explains a lot about Autism.

We also loved Babylon 5 and Battlestar Galactica and I hope we can find other shows like those. I know people who really like Dexter, can anybody tell me about that one?

Mrs. Lee, I loved the ending of Inception, and I don't see how any interpretation of it could ruin the movie. The best thing about it is that it has so many equally strong possibilities.

#38 - Agreed.

*whispers* I saw "Expendables" tonight. I feel like I've wallowed in a pool of testosterone. My 17 year old son said it is perfect, just as if a 13 year old wrote it, or it was written for a 13 year old's fantasy. I think he has it about right. *Please don't tell anyone I know that I went to this.*

Quite a few movies being released about badass older men and women. The aging of America?

This looks interesting. The Illusionist

That does look good OldSarge, I hope it comes here.

I watched The Orphanage today, by Guillermo del Torro. Such a good ghost story. It's Spanish, with sub-titles, but it doesn't matter, it's such a great story, you get pulled in and don't realize you're reading after awhile.

I love "Good Eats" on Food Network! Alton Brown is a masterful genius of culinary expertise. Food is good.

"The Universe" is also wonderful - my brother is the astronomy nut in my family and he turned me on to it. It is very interesting and enlightening to watch.

I'm halfway through 28 Days Later. Not sure how I feel about it yet.

Watched La Vie en Rose ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450188/ ) with my daughter the other night because she loves Piaf's singing. Oy! What a depressing movie. The acting was fabulous (the star won an Oscar) but it was just too dark for my taste. :o/ My suggestion would be to listen to the soundtrack and skip the movie. My daughter felt the same way.

We watched Date Night last night with Steve Carell and Tina Fey. It was funny and light and sweet. Good movie!

Robert Ryan was the focus last night on TCM. Watched two superb films. The Set-Up (1949) and Billy Budd (1962).

Tonight it's Gene Tierney in Leave Her to Heaven (1945) and Dragonwyck (1946) both of which also happen to have Vincent Price, one of the greatest actors who ever lived.

I've been watching the live-action Death Note movies. The first and second ones were great. The third spin-off was good, but just because of the character it focused on. The plot was pretty weak.

Other than that, I Netflixed The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which should be here *today*, and I saw Inception twice. :D I'd go again right now if I could.

#46 - Oh, I remember Dragonwyck! Vincent was hot in his yoot. Loved him as the pretty but 'bad' boy toy in Laura. Wasn't that Gene Tierney, too?

We watched Michael Clayton last night. Great movie with awesome performances.

I may try to watch Dragonwyck tonight, if only to be able to figure out whether or not this is one I have seen or only one I *think* I remember. Based on IMDB, the story reminds me a lot of a LeFanu novel I read.

I was watchign Richard Curtis movies last night: Four Weddings and a Funeral, and then The Boat that Rocked. I like his style. It's fun.

I loved the music from The Boat That Rocked so much that I bought the soundtrack CD!

I discovered a cure for monotonous knitting tonight. Watch a strange, enigmatic, foreign movie with subtitles. I watched the Korean movie "The Uninvited" and managed to knit about 6 inches of scarf without getting bored.

I went into it thinking it would be a horror film and it is not really horror. Although there a few benign ghosts, a psychic, and strange flashbacks.

Dragonwyck was excellent. Vincent Price was sinister, charming, and quite mad. A possibly cursed and haunted mansion. Very gothic, what more could you want.

Reminded me slightly of The Innocents (1961).

Dragonwyck is so great. It got me hooked on Anya Seton - I read all her books when I was a teenager after watching that movie with my mom.

After you mentioned it OldSarge, I watched Leave Her to Heaven yesterday. I love Gene Tierney, and you're right, Vincent Price was just such a great actor. Another favourite movie of mine is The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, not quite so gothic, but Rex Harrison is wonderful in it.

katylit

I love The Ghost and Mrs. Muir too.

TMC just finished a group of Norma Shearer movies. Oh, my. I love Barretts of Wimpole Street. I do own the book, but the movie is wonderful. And The Women! What a treat.

#54 - I read a bunch of her books, too. I loved Katherine, but I think my favorite was Green Darkness! I still have some copies of her books, but I see I didn't add any of them to my LT library. Odd. Probably because they didn't have ISBNs and I was feeling lazy when I added that shelf.

Yes! I'm sitting here nodding with all of you :-) I know we're not alone pppaper, I'm pretty sure there's quite a few fans of Mrs Muir, such a wonderful movie. And I love Norma Shearer and The Barretts of Wimpole Street! I found the book in our store the other day and got totally wrapped up in it. It had great old photographs from the stage play with Katherine Cornell.

And I read Katherine and Green Darkness a few times and then researched all I could about John of Gaunt - he fascinated me. I have my mom's old BOMC copies.

katylit: I have exactly the same book!! How cool!

(Barretts...

:-D !!!

we watched most of the first DVD of the tv series Damages

Wow, not your average show about lawyers, that's for sure.

Also enjoying the new series Rubion

I love, love, love cyphers and puzzles, so it is right up my alley.

ETA: er, Rubicon

I really liked Damages and was bummed it didn't go into a 3rd season. Glenn Close was amazing in it.

Damages did have a 3rd season, and has been picked up by some other network, I can't remember which, to do a 4th and 5th season. Personally, I liked the first season only of that show, and won't go looking for more.

I haven't decided if I like Rubicon yet. It's pretty slow, but that can be ok if it all comes together later. And the costume designer really must have it in for Miranda Richardson; just about every outfit she has worn so far is unflattering.

Oh really? I didn't know. Must be the underground network because I'd never seen it advertised anywhere either in magazines or on TV. Will see if I can find it.

#40
That looks wonderful, OS, thank you!

Continuing my trend of getting caught up in TV series from the 90s that everyone has already seen... (heh, I'm a late bloomer, I suppose) I'm now into the fourth episode of Twin Peaks.

I can't believe how I managed to remain unspoiled for 20 years, but I was. And I'm loving the show so far. Definitely not your average television...

Oh it's funny that you'd mention Twin Peaks Delirium. The other day at the bookstore I was tidying up the shelves and found a Diary of Laura Palmer in the Biography section!! LOL! I took it out and put it in the fiction section, although I seriously doubt anyone will buy it these days, but perhaps, out of nostalgia...

eta, we loved Twin Peaks when it first came out - so bizarre eh?

#64 Per wikipedia: On July 19, 2010 it was announced that DirecTV had picked up Damages for two more seasons, consisting of 10 episodes each, to air on their The 101 Network.

ah. That explains why I haven't seen or heard of it. I'm not a directv customer anymore.

We watched Shutter Island on dvd, and thought it was okay, but nowhere near as good as the book.

I watched Being John Malkovich yesterday. Such a delightfully weird film. Today I plan to watch Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.

I just watched Whip It, which I loved. However what is more exciting is that Max Headroom just came out on DVD and sitting at home waiting for me! I loved the show when it was on, and am not even remotely ashamed to admit it.

I decided to try Stargate Universe yesterday. I didn't hate it. I don't like it as much as SG1 and Atlantis, it takes itself too seriously for one thing. However, it is watchable. Nice to have a menacing, rude and mysterious doctor, and the boy, Eli is very good.

#72 I also find Stargate Universe sexist. Especially with regard to the annoying Senator's daughter. What a worthless creature (written as someone who's watched every episode).

#70
In my list of films that I wish to forget I've seen only to have the pleasure of seeing them again for the first time, Being John Malkovich is one of the top titles. :)

And this coming from someone with a terrible memory. That's why I can enjoy re-reading/re-watching favorite books/films/shows over & over: I forget most details over time.

I have been watching the original Addams Family episodes and Blood + on Netflix. From campy wickedness to dark anime. It helps to alternate the two. :)

I don't like ANY incarnation of Stargate...

Normally I don't watch much film, or TV. My life is jam packed with other things. But sometimes I need a diversion so I've watched Avatar and LoTR recently. Not to forget a French documentary about the history of aeroplanes, and another one about the Hubble telescope.
And if we 're talking sexist I think LoTR qualifies. But I still get goosebumps at the same scenes every time - death of Boromir, lightening of the beacons, Aragorn gets his sword from Elrond (even if it's not the way it REALLY happened it's a good scene, lol), Pippin sings for Denethor while Faramir rides into death, Aragorn makes his "this is not today" speech in front of the Black Gates...

#73 - I did have higher hopes for Chloe, and she (the writers) have consistently disappointed me. I don't know that it's truly sexist, I'm afraid there really are girls/women who are like that or have been raised to be like that. There are some very powerful and intelligent women on the show.

Another Korean movie from Netflix. This was an "oriental western" - that is their description. It was "The Good, The Bad, and The Weird".
It was actually quite fun if you have fond memories of spaghetti westerns. It was set in the 1940's in Manchuria. A bounty hunter, a hit-man, and an amusing criminal are all hunting each other and chasing after a map to a mysterious treasure. Oh, and the Japanese army, rebel factions for an independent Korea, and various other gangs and interesting characters all want the map too. Most of them do not know what is on the map, they just know it must lead to something good since the other guy wants it.

Just watched HEAT again for the millionth time or something. Blu-ray. Is awesome. I just love it. Can do almost all the scenes, but it never gets old. Deniro & Pacino were just at the top of their games.

Watched Invictus on DVD - very enjoyable. The BBC Sherlock is brilliant - updated very cleverly and if you are a Sherlock Holmes nerd like me, you will spend half your time recognising the lines from the stories and their alterations and sometimes racking your brains to remember the original line.

Watched Rollerball (1975) last night. I haven't seen this in so long that I had forgotten it. Wow. Some films were rather prophetic without realizing it in their social commentary.

Although it is funny to look at how sci-fi films made in the Seventies saw the near future which we live in now. Especially the technology, which has far surpassed what it was imagined to become.

I remember watching these films as a child and not wanting to become an adult in the "future" because life looked so lame. Especially the clothes which were only a slightly modified version of what was unisex fashion in the Seventies.

We watched the Pirate episode of Mythbusters last night. It was a lot of fun.

#82 Arrrgh. I love the one about the eye patch.

Woohooo! Just received a ton of new(used) DVDs from Amazon, yay!

I went a bit crazy and got various films/series with Simon Pegg in them (SPACED!), plus the Python films (because I didn't have them yet!) plus Dollhouse! (can't wait for October when season 2 comes out, I've already pre-ordered my copy, complete with the exclusive comic!)

I now officially have more stuff to keep me entertained than actual time in which to get entertained by it.

We watched Sword and Sorcerer last night. Fluffy, fun Flynn-like film.

Watched the last Sherlock episode last night. Now I have to sit on the edge of my seat until more are released. Someone loaned my daughter Band of Brothers to watch, so I may start those this week.

BoB is superb. I watched it once. It will be a long time before I watch it again though for reasons I'm sure you understand. They don't sugar-coat war in it.

I am currently watching Spirited Away.

Interesting. I think what I've seen so far of Stargate: Universe has been excellent, for the most part. My main issue with it wasn't sexism, which I didn't notice particularly (I just didn't really like Chloe); it was how they dealt with the lesbian couple. That was a little disturbing.

I really liked the new BBC Sherlock miniseries - at least, the first and third episodes. The second episode was a bit race-fail-y and also seems superfluous.

#84 - hope you enjoy Spaced - it's one of the best sitcoms I've ever seen, and you're lucky to be encountering it for the first time! My favourite character is Marsha, the inebriated landlady ("Fancy a little dab of Rioja?").

89 - That seems to be the consensus for Sherlock, that the second episode wasn't of the same calibre as the other two. Their facts were mostly correct, at least. I recognised the code immediately (though not the meaning).

#88
I love Spirited Away. The animation that comes out of Studio Ghibli is incredible!

#90
Oh, I have seen it like three times already. I only got it on DVD because I want to watch it yet again with the homage-o-meter on and don't want to borrow my friend's super abused DVDs. Plus, I wanted my own copy. No matter how many times I watch this show, I never get bored.

Marsha is excellent. Sometimes I greet my friends with "Hullo, Brian!" (none of them are called Brian, though) and try to imitate her accent but fail completely.

My Neighbor Totoro is another good one from Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.

Totoro is a great film but I think my favourite of Miyazaki's movies would be Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

I've had some serious Van Dammage going down, since I have this DVD box set I got at Target that has most of his best movies. Four discs, but no Street Fighter or Kickboxer. It does have however, Blood Sport, Cyborg, Death Warrant and Double Impact.

I HATED Cyborg for the same reason I didn't like my own country's Mad Max too much - Damme (pun) it's a dark movie, Van Damme gets beaten up A LOT, and I mean A LOT as in he's almost a bloody pulp by the end. The post-apocalyptic scenario isn't really explained well, and even Mad Max gave you the back story in The Road Warrior at least, whereas the setting in Cyborg is just used as an excuse to explain why Van Damme gets beaten up a lot before he triumphs, just like any other Van Damme movie. Good Lord. Am I starting to see the hermeneutic code of the postmodern lens applied to Van Damme's body of work?

Bloodsport and Death Warrant were much better movies, for one thing they were more believable and the fighting scenes has legitimate context instead of just being thrown in there just because.

Am yet to watch Double Impact. As a twin I suspect I will be able to relate to Van Damme's gripping tale of twin sibling rivalry... or maybe not.

93 - After the last bits of Dr Who I've been greeting a few friends with "Hello Sweetie!" It gets me odd looks from others on occasion.

95 - I loved Nausicaa, and thought the Spirited Away was its equal. Howl's Moving Castle was a wonderful film, but I'm yet to see Princess Mononoke.

I watched Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason last night. Oh golly some of it made me cringe. That is, of course, what it's designed to do, but still, yikes!

#90 - yes, Spaced does bear repeated re-watching - there's so many things you miss the first few times ... (And I'm not very good at doing an impression of Marsha, either - well, apart from usually having a large glass of red in my hand!)

I have adored every Miyazaki I've ever seen. The first I ever saw was Nausicaa - this was before it was dubbed into English back in the 80's or 90's. The latest was My Neighbor Totoro a few weeks ago. I've also seen Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Kiki's Delivery Service and Castle in the Air.

I can't pick a favorite.

They're all good. Ponyo was the first one I haven't liked as much, although it had its moments.

I watched The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit last night - Gregory Peck *sigh*, what an actor!! I did have to chuckle though, as his character leaves his current job paying $7000.00 US for a new job at $10,000.00. This in 1956, and he had a wife that didn't work and 3 kids, sort of like my dad. It never ceases to amaze me how much the value of money has changed over the years.

One of my favorite Gregory Pecks is Gentleman's Agreement about antisemitism among the upper class. Hm, I didn't realize until I touchstoned it that that was a book by Laura Hobson. I'll have to see it it was the same story as the movie.

We went to see The A-Team for a "last day of summer vacation" thing. It was fun! Nothing cerebral, but that was hardly a surprise, and it did go on a little too long for me. My favorite line:

Face to Murdock: You speak Swahili?
Murdock to Face: Doesn't everyone?

We took my grandson to see "The Expendables" while we were on vacation because the projector was broken on the movie we wanted to see, "The Other Guys". We were of 3 opinions: my grandson thought it was worse than he expected, my daughter thought it was about as she expected it would be, and I thought it was better than expected. Of course, I thought it would be complete crap. It offered aging action stars a good paycheck and many opportunities for stunt people. Even I, however, can't believe it's the number 1 movie two weeks in a row. What are people thinking?

We are getting hooked up to satellite tomorrow! Just in time for the Formula 1 race in Spa on Sunday, and PBS Mystery series Inspector Lewis will be starting soon, and then a new Wallender too and then the new Sherlock! :-)

And best of all, TCM again. Yay!!!

Just watched a documentary called, "Reclaiming the Blade" about the history of swords. Loved it! Not just because it had Viggo Mortensen, Karl Urban and John Rhys-Davies in it, and John Howe and people from Wetta Workshop. That was all just frosting on the cake. I loved what it showed about finding the history and uses of the Western Martial Arts. I still want a sword, and I know, I could just buy one, but that would be the end of the wanting. Also it would be a commitment, because I don't just want one to hang on the wall.

I just signed up for Netflix because they just released an app where you can watch on your Ipod/Iphone/Ipad.

I have started re-watching on my touch the series Yes Minister and Red Dwarf

Have a lot more in my instant queue, and have the DVD of My Dinner With Andre coming in the mail, so I can re-watch it too.

So far everything has been a replay for me.

We saw Middle Men today. A very interesting movie that I think conveys the message that it's not entirely healthy to be involved in the pornography industry. Who knew?

Plunkett and Macleane is a hilarious movie. Recommended.

My kids watched Muppet Treasure Island again today. Still love that movie!

Damn! Has anyone else seen this yet? A six episode mini-series from AMC this autumn called The Walking Dead.

http://www.amctv.com/originals/The-Walking-Dead/

>111 OldSarge: Frank Darabont has done a great think with the source material, methinks. Can't wait for Halloween.

Last night I watched Bad Universe on the Discovery Channel. It was nice to see actual science on the Discovery Channel once again.

The local PBS station, during a fundraiser, ran the wonderful Ann of Green Gables series starring Megan Follows.

Yesterday we watched a documentary on DVD called Babies (not the one in the touchstone!) It was about 4 babies from birth to standing up: one baby in Namibia, one in Mongolia, one in Tokyo and one in San Francisco. It was sweet and funny and interesting to see how very different the lives of these babies were, especially the two in Namibia and Mongolia.

My husband watched a DVD movie about a Japanese-American regiment fighting in WW2. It was apparently the most decorated unit in the US army. He said it was very good, but we can't remember the name, only that "Brave" was in the title.

And, fleela, you are so right - it WOULD be nice to have Science on the Discovery channel again! I was going to watch some science shows I'd taped a few months ago, but Charlie beat me to it with his wrestling so I'm doing the next best thing by reading LT. It's too hot to be working today.

I too saw the movie Babies and thought it wonderful. It's one I'd like to own. But didn't you think it strange that the hip California couple didn't have a home birth?

115> Yes I did think it strange. Did she breastfeed? Wasn't it amazing how long and naturally the Namibians breastfeed? My friend remarked on how surrounded the Namibian baby was by family and how the Mongolian baby was left alone - so different they all were, yet all babies were healthy and happy.

I just realized how this movie contrasted with The Backup Plan with Jennifer Lopez. Did anyone see THAT birth scene in the big tub? That was the best part of the movie!

nhlsecord, she did breastfeed, as I remember. She did all the expected hip California stuff except birth in a hospital.

I hated, hated, hated the birth scene in the Backup Plan. I just thought it was vile, but then I'm very natural birth centered. I think of it as a beautiful rite of passage, and there was no beauty there.

Breastfeeding is a hip California thing to do?

I just watched "The Importance of being Earnest," the one made in the 50s, I think. I liked it very much, the best part being the dresses of the two London women. Wow, I could look at them all day and never catch all the details. For my part, I prefer the more modern version, just because I love the two modern Earnests so much.

It's always great when the best thing is the hip thing, isn't it?

Recommended:

Moon (Sam Rockwell)
Shutter Island (Leonardo DiCaprio)
Temple Grandin (Claire Danes)

Date Night (Tina Fey and Steve Carrell, a good team) had some laughs and was better than I expected. It's hard to find watchable comedies.

Deniro, what was Moon like? I haven't seen it and I've hesitated making the time for it. Can you describe it a little? There is a little comedy (some of those little-known movies are very good) called "Play the Game" with Andy Griffith, and another called "Two Men Went to War". Those were both good, and also "I Do and I Don't" which was ridiculous but entertaining.

Citizenjoyce Yes that birth scene was vile, but very funny. That actress sounded like the T-rex in Jurassic Park!

Moon is amazing. I'm curious to see how anyone manages to describe it, because I'm not sure I could say much of anything without giving too much away.

Yes, Moon is fantastic. I agree, bluesalamanders, describing it too much/well might give things away.

#117 - WARNING! TMI ahead! If you think that you're welcome to change experience with me, because it was a true nightmare, starting three months prior to actual birthing, caused by a blood pressure so low I was forbidden to leave our flat without company to care for me if I fainted (work was naturally not in the cards) and continued with the worst pain in history (and more stitches than you'd thought would fit) and an inability to walk more than a couple of hundred metre for almost three months, due to intense pain caused by healing.
So while I haven't watched that particular birth scene I think people who think birthing to be a beautiful experience are heavily biased, especially when enforcing their views on other people, marking us as of lesser worth. Having a child changes your life, however it gets there.

Had the birthing of my son not been at a hospital both he and I would had died. So I'm biased the other way. And have room for all views, as long as they're not judgemental. But dying is never beautiful.

Busifer, well, dying can be beautiful The most beautiful death I've seen was by a really reprehensible man. Go figure.

I'm sorry about your horrible experience, seems like the reprehensible man experience in reverse. But I have both had and seen some truly wonderful births. I hate to see the experience cheapened by ugly jokes in movies and books.

Aye, but a beautiful things is still beautiful, even if some people makes jokes about it.

Dying, though... no. Peaceful, perhaps, and worthy ending of a good life, maybe. But most don't get that kind of death. Most suffer indefinitely, if nothing else from decaying vision and hearing but also from various ailments and pains connected with a body slowly passing its best-before date.

(I haven't watched anything worth mention in a while or I'd get this thread straight back on topic!)

124> I'm so sorry for your bad experiences; however, I didn't take CitizenJoyce's comments as extraordinarily forceful. I also had a difficult experience with childbirth, but I have found most people's bad memories fade over time. I hope your's can also. And if I were you, I wouldn't watch The Backup Plan!

I'll give you the Amazon description. It's cerebral sci-fi, like Solaris.

"Rockwell plays Sam Bell, an employee of Lunar Industries, the company responsible for mining a fusion energy source called Helium-3, which is vital to Earth's efforts to reverse a serious energy crisis and can only be found on the far side of the Moon. Sam is all by himself, and as he nears the end of his three-year contract, the solitude is starting to get to him ("Three years is a long haul," he says. "Way, way, way too long. I'm talking to myself on a regular basis"); his only contact with his wife and daughter back home comes through the occasional video messages he exchanges with them, while his sole interaction on the Moon is with GERTY 3000, a computer voiced by Kevin Spacey (and an obvious parallel to 2001: A Space Odyssey's HAL 9000). Things start to go seriously sideways when Sam crashes his vehicle while out inspecting one of the giant Helium-3 harvesters. He comes to in the base infirmary, seemingly none the worse for the wear; but an unnerving surprise awaits him when he goes back to check out the accident site, and the resulting complications occupy the rest of the movie."

Well, I'm going to have to give it a try. Maybe I'll pick it up tomorrow when I go to town. Thanks!

Kevin Spacey as a computer. You don't need much else.

I watched "The Dresser" last night. It was a good movie, but the wrong kind for the mood I was in. Albert Finney was wonderful, well, so were the others, but I love watching/listening to him.

Just watched the H.M.S. Pinafore and Trial by Jury by Gilbert and Sullivan. It was by Opera Australia, I think they were excellent. But let's just say that the operetta did not exceed my expectations. Not by a long way. I enjoyed the satire in it, but, well, is it just me, or do all the songs in those things start to sound the same after a bit?

ETA to fix booboo

Watched Men Who Stare at Goats, which was pretty good, but Netflix said it was a comedy and it was anything but that. It was very distracting that George Clooney kept looking like Tom Selleck throughout, but I managed. Ewan McGregor never disappoints.

Then I watched Buckaroo Bonzai. I loved it. Just what I needed to end my day with. Can you tell I have the house to myself and don't have to be at work at 6 in the morning? I don't have to go in until 9, so, three extra hours of sleep for me.

ETA: Trying to get movie title correct.

To MrsLee: "It's not my planet, Monkey Boy!"

Anyhoo, for those of you who care, here's some info on the soundtrack for Season 1 of Treme.

#107 I love My Dinner with Andre! It always makes me want to have long dinner parties, and then it makes me want to watch Diner.

To MrsLee and littlegeek:
"Wherever you go, there you are."

Buckaroo Banzai (or to give it the proper title The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension is one of my favourite movies - maybe a bit of a guilty pleasure, but I can re-watch it at least once a year. My kids just roll their eyes when I refer to it as "the docudrama."

134 & 136 - This was my first viewing, I gotta tell ya, I sat there through the first 45 minutes with my jaw hanging down in awe that someone had made such a film. It has no shame and made me very, very happy.

Watched Kickass last night.
Wow. Hit Girl is my hero!!!

I was toying with the idea of a September movie thread, but perhaps this one is not unmanageable yet?

Anyway, watched the first six episodes of Black Books and laughed quite a bit. Honestly, Black is just like several used bookstore owners I've run into.

Watching season 2 of True Blood, which hubby and I are enjoying very much. Have to power through it though because the dvds are borrowed from the library and they have to go back on Tuesday.

Watched The Blind Side last night and quite enjoyed the movie but dislike it when someone's life story is given the Hollywood treatment.

Watched 44-inch Chest with the incomparable Ray Winstone last night (also with Tom Wilkinson, Ian McShane and John Hurt as an ultra-foulmouthed bonus) and liked it although I don't know why I had it pegged as a light-hearted movie. It isn't by any stretch. Surreal and violent, but kind of touching in a weird way.

Watched The Losers on dvd last night and don't recommend it. How can an action movie be that boring?

We saw The Switch with Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman yesterday. It was quite enjoyable with a very cute, talented little boy played by Thomas Robinson. I have to think we'll see more of him.

I enjoyed viewing "The Day of the Triffids" miniseries. It was much truer to the book than the old movie (but I still like the old movie).

I just saw Men Who Stare At Goats and loved it. I like George Clooney but seldom like his movies as much as the rest of the world does. I'm glad this was an exception (or did the rest of the world consider it a bomb?)

#146 - I kind of heard it was a bomb, but I wonder if that was because it was marketed incorrectly. It wasn't what I expected, but I thought it was a very good movie.

We watched Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie tonight. It was not my favorite of their productions, but it had its moments.

I zapped through channels last night - husband's away up north /or he's monopolising the remote, lol/ and I did feel like I'd need some mindless entertainment - and happened upon the first of the Pirates of the Caribbean films. It was just as stupid as the first time I watched it but for some mysterious reason I watched it again anyway.

Busifer, I like the swash buckling action myself...everytime Depp is in that spinning wheel I have to peak through my fingers. yikes!

I picked up the DVD set of Tales of the Gold Monkey today at about 40% off. Enjoyable 1982 or '83 television series that didn't make it because of the production costs involved.

I just finished reading Daddy Long Legs which I loved for it's insightful commentary on education, religion, politics, charity and forced gratitude. Then tonight I watched Daddy Long Legs the movie with Leslie Caron and Fred Astaire. Everything meaningful from the movie was missing, it was a lovely romance with dancing. It was fine as a stand alone but very disappointing in relationship to the book.

Watched "REC" on Friday. Good horror movie (Spanish with subtitles), some gore but not too much for me. I could not have watched it in the theater. The bouncy "hand-held camera" style of filming gives me a headache on a big screen, but watching it on a small screen left no aftereffects.

edited to remove link to periodical - RLA

The wife and I watched The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo last night. It was very good, although pretty graphic in spots.

I could watch Hairspray over and over again.

#153 I've just finished reading that book and had been wondering whether I would want to see much of it portrayed on the screen. Since you thought the movie was good I'll steel myself for "gruesome".

We saw Going the Distance today and it was surprisingly good. The whole audience was laughing in spots, though I can't really quote the best lines. Drew Barrymore once again knows which movies to pick.

#156 MS. B should know which movies...it's in her blood.

We saw Easy A last week and enjoyed it. Emma Stone, who plays Olive, is as cute as a button as the good girl who pretends to be bad in order to be noticed. Patricia Clarkson as her hippy dippy mom is flat out crazy, and there's kind of an unusual role for Lisa Kudrow. Well worth seeing, though there were only about 40 people in the theater.

#139
I can watch and rewatch Black Books episodes for hours on end and still laugh every time. :) Dylan Moran is a comedic genius, but his co-stars aren't too shabby either!

#152
My friends insisted on renting REC a while ago and even though I knew I was going to hate it, I went along anyway. I was one against two, so... And yes, I couldn't watch it through to the end. It wasn't only the shaky camera style, which always gives me nausea and a throbbing headache (I remember I had to throw up after seeing Blair Witch Project at the theater!), but also the girl who was the protagonist, who kept shrieking at the top of her lungs. Ugh.

It isn't that I hate horror movies, because I really enjoy the good ones. It's just that the "documentary style" gimmick is overdone already. Same thing happened when I tried watching Cloverfield. I had to go lie down because of vertigo. Thank goodness I was at a friend's house instead of the movie theater!

I've been recently going through a Simon Pegg stage. I rewatched Shaun of the Dead plus some episodes of Spaced. And saw for the first time 1) How To Lose Friends and Alienate People -- what an awfully bad film, only saving graces were Simon and Gillian Anderson, who stole the show; 2) Run, Fatboy, Run -- story was a bit so-so and predictable (I expected much more because it was co-written by Simon), but as usual I LOVED both Simon and Dylan Moran; and 3) Big Nothing -- a surprisingly good little film that also stars David Schwimmer, whom I usually dislike but was good in this role. Alas, Simon does an American accent (a really good one, too!) in this and not his adorable British one, but I still love his deep voice. :D

And lastly, night before last I watched Death at a Funeral, the original British one, not the American remake. Alan Tudyk was hilarious in this, just lovely, but that's to be expected of him. AND also Peter Dinklage, whom I just adore.

New Glee last night! I'm a Gleek, yes. There were a few weird bits, but some exciting talent shown. I wish they'd tone down the autotune a little, but otherwise, I love the overdrawn drama.

I rented the Monk Season 2 DVD and we've been systematically going through the whole thing. I just love that show! Makes me laugh so hard. And then we watched Oscar with Sylvester Stallone tonight. So dang funny! Tim Curry plays such a nerd in this one. Really good.

I watched Glee, too! It was the usual fun. I have no idea what autotune is. That new blond boy was SUCH eye candy and Sunshine has a wonderful voice. I liked how the football coach had a tender side. Caught my heart.

Girl with a Dragon Tattoo was disturbing (of course) but really well done. The Swedish casting was excellent, especially for Lisbeth and Blumqvist. Excellent movie.

Oops, how did we not start a September movie thread? Oh well, a bit late now. I just watched Hawaii 5-0 and liked it quite a bit. Loved that they have the same theme song, the pilot was a bit choppy, but it seemed like they wanted to get through the intros rather quickly. I'm a bit skeptical that the team could be put together that quickly and with those parameters, but then, it's TV. Loved the cast.

Oh, and I'm watching the second season of Murdoch Mysteries from Netflix. I really enjoy them.

I went & saw Tomorrow When The War Began last week & loved it! I havent read the books so didnt have to worry about comparisons in my head, but once I've seen all the movies (how ever many there end up being) I'll definitely hunt down the books...

I'm wondering if this movie is being shown anywhere outside of Oz? Its the first Australian movie I've seen in a while where I havent been bothered by really fake accents & it didnt even feel like an australian movie, just felt like a well made movie - despite a couple of smallish plot holes (***spoiler alert - like how did they survive standing so close to explosions? & how did they manage to set up such a good campsite in such a short time with so few supplies?)...

ETA - whats autotune Will? Is that something to do with why it sounded so odd to me? At times didnt sound like it was actually them singing...

There's a decent WP article: Autotune

It's used to good effect in a lot of pop music to get interesting variations in tonality and pitch-twitches that a human voice can't actually do. Unfortunately it's also used to regulate a not-so-good singer's voice in concert or in postproduction. It's often really noticible as a tinny edge to the voice, and when it's done callously it can take away the humanity of the voice.

Like I said, it can be a really interesting thing on music, and takes things in a new direction, but not always good.

Agreed, the songs sounded off. I didn't know it was Autotune, but they messed up, I think. On the other hand, when Taylor Swift was on Saturday Night Live, and also at the Emmys, Autotune wasn't used and she really sounded flat.

I watched Thelma and Louise for only the second time last week. What a great movie.

Today we say You Again. It was cute, good to see Sigourney Weaver and Jamie Lee Curtis aging as humans should age, well with help from lots of exercise. The people behind us seemed to be a little slow. They were surprised by everything. That does make a movie more enjoyable.

I got Founding Brothers from the library and was watching it today. I'm enjoying it, but wow, the casting is awful! The actor they got to portray George Washington looks NOTHING like him! He's this tubby, middle-aged guy in a white wig. But I am enjoying it anyway. And I got a Poirot DVD, which is always good. One I hadn't seen a million times before, too. Nice to take it easy and watch a good show today.

We've been watching some old SF/F/horror movies and I haven't been all that impressed; however, we watched We Worlds Collide this weekend, and I found it quite enjoyable.*

*Except for the very last scene where the matte background was SO bad, I burst into laughter.

We saw The American yesterday with George Clooney. Quiet, intense movie. Some people left before the end, obviously not their kind of show. We enjoyed it, subtle tension, not a lot of dialogue or music. George Clooney. Works for me.

I watched Ghostbusters the other night. Nice memories. Which reminds me, I recently bought Evil Dead 1&2 + Army of Darkness on DVD, so a marathon has got to be planned...

#165
Oh, I wanted to watch Hawaii 5-0 last Monday but it was on the same time slot as Castle! And James Marsters was guest starring! How could rivaling networks make me choose between Captain Tightpants and Spike? NOT fair! :( That reminds me, I need to download that Hawaii 5-0 episode...

#167
Argh. Autotune is the most dreadful thing that could have happened to music in the history of EVER. Blech. I despise it.

Case in point (two, actually -- or what we say in Spanish: para la muestra un botón -- here's a button to illustrate :P), various awfully bad songs by Kanye West and that song by Cher, what was it, Believe? Argh. I want to pierce my ears whenever I hear it!

We watched the new Robin Hood. My fella kept saying "This isn't Errol Flynn" in an ominous tone. It wasn't as much fun as I'd hope it would be, but when it was over Charlie and I both ran for our computers to look up the history of Richard and John. So I'd say it was pretty good except for the fact that it wasn't Errol Flynn.

There's a lot of interesting history and interesting people involved in that time.

Speaking of aoutotune... did anybody see How I Met Your Mother last night?

NPH first showed off, as usual, singing... and then used autotune hilariously. :D

174 - I haven't seen that, but I'm minded of NPH's use of it in Commentary: The Musical.

#175

Oh you have to, have to, have to watch that episode! Even if you don't regularly watch the show.

And yes, the commentary! NPH's solo is one of the highlights for me.

---

Last night I went to a screening of the French film Un prophète at an indie/bohemian-sort-of-dinner-and-a-movie-club in the fashionable Old Quarter.

It's an excellent crime thriller by director Jacques Audiard. According to Wikipedia, it was nominated for the foreign-language Oscar this year, but lost to Argentina's "El secreto de sus ojos."

It was a bit too long for me, however. At a running time of 2.5 hours, it wasn't that it was super long, but I wasn't sitting on the most comfortable of positions. :( Then again, it's unlikely I would've had a chance to see the film at a regular movie theater.

Plus, dinner, wine, good company... it all made up for it. :)

ETA: forgot to add my rave, rave reviews for the film's protagonist, Tahar Rahim. The guy is an AMAZING actor. Really, really, really good. Considering he speaks three languages (Corsican and Arabic, as well as French) in the film, well, that puts him above quite a few actors in his generation. And the way his overall demeanor changes from the beginning to the end of the film, as his character progresses... Wow.

Old Spice guy was on Chuck the other night! Hee Hee, we did a double take when we first saw him "Hey! isn't that...?" And sure enough it was! Glad to see he's moving on from Old Spice to cameo roles. Maybe he'll have a starring role in something soon.

He was impressive shooting labels across the store and sticking them perfectly to boxes, and advising the little boy to stay in school. :-)

Well, of course he was impressive, he's the Old Spice guy (and you're not). When I told my daughter to make sure to watch Chuck because he was on, I couldn't remember what he advertised. I said, "You know the 'now I'm on a horse' guy. That's so often true for great commercials, love the commercial, forget what it's for.

Just watched Groundhog Day again. Sappy, but I like it.

I tried to watch "Don't Look Now" a movie from the 70s with Donald Sutherland in it. I could not. I made it past the part where their little girl dies (though I almost couldn't watch that far, knowing what was coming), but then, when they got to Venice, I had to quit. I vividly remember the Daphne Du Maurier story, one of her most creepy, and I couldn't do it.

We saw The Social Network tonight, and it was great. Jesse Eisenberg is perfect as Mark Zukerberg, who comes off less sleazy than I thought he would. He's pretty Asperbergery, and his brilliance just shines. The sleaze king is Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker, the founder of Napster. I wonder if he was able to be so supremely sleazy because he was playing the guy who so screwed the record business. Armie Hammer played the Winklevoss twins, I didn't even think they looked identical. My favorite lines came close to the beginning when Zukerberg insults his girlfriend, Erica Albright (played by Rooney Mara) over and over, absolutely unconsciously, and she says something to the effect of, "I want you to know girls don't reject you because you're a computer nerd, we reject you because you're an asshole."