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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Sept 27, 2010 15:49:12 GMT
It is quite striking how DiCaprio has matured into a very good, and quite versatile actor. A big contrast from the beginning of his career when he seemed to be getting cast simply because he was a pretty face. You obviously haven't seen him play the retarded kid in 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape'. www.imdb.com/title/tt0108550/awardsTotally deserved. Martin |
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Post by legios on Sept 27, 2010 19:47:46 GMT
I haven't, no. I shall have to add that to the Rental Queue of Doom and give it a watch in due course. Karl |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2010 18:04:13 GMT
I've started watching my DVD boxsets of Magnum PI again. It's been almost two years since I watched the final episode of the series (the last episode of season 8 to be precise) and so I decided to watch them all over again starting with the pilot episode of season 1. The plot of this pilot episode was an excellent one - far better in fact than most of the episodes found in seasons 7 and 8. The story went something like this.
Magnum discovers that one of his naval mates whom he served with in Vietnam is dead - killed by a few packets of cocaine that had burst in his stomach. To all intents and purposes it seems like the person was a drug mule and he accidently killed himself by overdosing. The case is closed but Magnum doesn't see it that way. He had known the deceased for many years and knew that he would never be a drug mule and kill himself with an accidental overdose so he sets out to find evidence that proves otherwise. After a lot of snooping around he discovers the truth. The deceased had done a mission prior to his death where he had located a sunken aircraft belonging to gold smugglers. The owners of the wreckage wanted everything to be kept quiet about this so they tracked down the men responsible for finding the aircraft and killed them. Magnums friend was ambushed, was forced to swallow the packets of drugs and then subsequently beaten up so that the packets intentionally burst in his stomach thus killing him and making it look like an accidental overdose by a drug mule.
Back in the 80's people considered Magnum PI to be a woman's show because Tom Selleck was a bit of a 'ladies man' actor but it can be enjoyed by anybody who enjoys American detective shows and the first few seasons are largely enjoyable with just a few silly episodes scattered amongst them.
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 8, 2010 18:07:40 GMT
I am quite enjoying the current series of Masterchef, though there isn't enough of India Fisher's filthy narration this series for my liking.
-Ralph
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Post by Bogatan on Oct 8, 2010 20:24:44 GMT
After The Shield I went for something completely different and am so far 2 and a half seasons into 30 Rock. For some reason the pilot didn't convince me (maybe because I was already a fan of Studio 60) but it's highly addictive and quite surreal.
I'm feeling the strong urge to track down some SNL now.
Andy
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 10, 2010 19:23:47 GMT
The iPlayer server appears to have died. Ah well, podcasts this evening instead...
-Ralph
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Oct 17, 2010 11:32:03 GMT
Any afficionados of horror should scope out BBC 4 at the moment. We have a three part documentary by Mark Gattiss about movie horror. Monday's which is on the Iplayer now is about the 30's Universal Horror, Hammer is on Monday (YAAAY). To boot we are getting a lot of classic horror films being shown as well.
Andy
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Post by blueshift on Oct 17, 2010 13:22:14 GMT
Any afficionados of horror should scope out BBC 4 at the moment. We have a three part documentary by Mark Gattiss about movie horror. Monday's which is on the Iplayer now is about the 30's Universal Horror, Hammer is on Monday (YAAAY). To boot we are getting a lot of classic horror films being shown as well. Andy Oooh is there anything decent lined up? I like a good horror film sometimes (something intelligent rather than mindless gore, that is) |
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Oct 17, 2010 13:39:15 GMT
Cat People (the 1941 version) was on and should still be on Iplayer as was Bride of Frankenstein. Brides of Dracula is on next week. Haven't checked past that to see what else is on. Reckon we may get Halloween (original one) the week after as I think the third Gatiss programme is focusing on the seventies horror boom.
Andy
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 17, 2010 16:14:15 GMT
I shall have to check that out. BBC4 are showing First Men in the Moon at some point soon. I have no idea when so those who of you check TV listings please let me know!
-Ralph
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Oct 17, 2010 16:38:38 GMT
I shall have to check that out. BBC4 are showing First Men in the Moon at some point soon. I have no idea when so those who of you check TV listings please let me know! Starts this coming Tuesday 9pm, Ralph. Martin |
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Oct 17, 2010 17:19:23 GMT
Yup, have that on the planner to record. Also there's a docu about HG's idea for one world nation.
Andy
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 17, 2010 18:49:13 GMT
I shall have to check that out. BBC4 are showing First Men in the Moon at some point soon. I have no idea when so those who of you check TV listings please let me know! Starts this coming Tuesday 9pm, Ralph. Martin Excellent. I shall catch it on the iPlayer this week then. -Ralph |
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Post by legios on Oct 17, 2010 20:04:26 GMT
I've been enjoying some recent SF films over the last few days courtesy of my rental queue.
The end of last week I was watching District Nine - and a cracking good film it was too. Using aliens as an method of satirising Apartite-era South Africa is the kind of thing that the genre is for in many ways, and it succeeds at it very well. The lead actor gives an absolutely fantastic performance, managing to make it obvious that his character is initially part of an institutionally racist society who sincerely believes that he is an enlightened man without losing audience sympathy - and he plays the way his character develops as he gets brought up against reality really well. Even the last twenty minutes where it flips over into an all-out action flick is wonderfully directed and works in context. It also looks absolutely stellar considering the relatively modest budget - there is a very deft use of both physical and digital effects (it is lovely to see so much use of physical and prosthetic effects in a modern film).
This evening I have sat down and watched Surrogates - a film whose too-brief theatrical run I sadly missed last year. An interesting premise - concerning itself with the effects on society of the development of (effectively) remotely-piloted perfect replacements for people and what happens when people start to live their lives through these Surrogates instead of in the flesh. An interesting film, which manages to have something to say about the virtualisation of life as well as to deliver an effective thriller. A good cast - Bruce Willis, Rahda Mitchell and a small but impressive role for James Cromwell. It manages to actually be thoughtful on occassion and have something to say for itself. (Decent director commentary on the DVD too).
Karl
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2010 19:43:48 GMT
I shall have to check that out. BBC4 are showing First Men in the Moon at some point soon. I have no idea when so those who of you check TV listings please let me know! -Ralph I have that film on DVD as it forms part of my Ray Harryhausen collection. I might also catch it on TV whenever it is shown. |
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Oct 20, 2010 6:03:26 GMT
I shall have to check that out. BBC4 are showing First Men in the Moon at some point soon. I have no idea when so those who of you check TV listings please let me know! I haven't read the original story, but this is supposed to be more faithful than previous screen adaptations. Watching with interest, since I'm currently reading 'From the Earth to the Moon' and 'Around the Moon' by Jules Verne, which were written more than thirty years before H.G. Wells wrote his version. Martin |
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 20, 2010 10:06:00 GMT
I shall be watching it tonight.
Second part of A History of Horror was good with due respect to the late great Peter Cushing though sadly no mention was made of the greatest British horror of all: Scream and Scream Again!
-Ralph
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Oct 20, 2010 13:21:34 GMT
It was indeed a good installment.
Shame we didn't get a clip of scream and scream again, but we did get a wee sight of Asylum and a young Robert Powell.
Andy
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 20, 2010 18:36:31 GMT
I found First Men In The Moon to be deeply boring and switched it off half-way through.
-Ralph
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2010 20:08:34 GMT
I watched about five minutes of it, realised it wasn't the Ray Harryhausen classic and switched over!
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Oct 22, 2010 6:45:32 GMT
I found First Men In The Moon to be deeply boring and switched it off half-way through. I suppose the fact that it is first aired on BBC4 rather than 1 or 2 tells you how highly the BBC think of it. It felt like a sub-standard and over-long episode of Doctor Who to me, especially the second half where the Selenites start talking and the giant brain alien decides to invade Earth in flying saucers and wipe out humanity, leaving it to the clever human to agonise over destroying them all with a bit of technobabble to stop them. Enjoying the Verne novels much more. Basically the Gun Club of America gets shooting withdrawal after the end of the American Civil War, and as an alternative to invading th rest of the world they set themselves the task of building a gun capable of hitting the moon. When the massive cannon is nearly ready a mad French bloke turns up and says he want to ride inside the hollow bullet, and he and two others (the Gun Club President and his arch-rival who creates the super armour plating) all get blasted into space - accelerating instantly to faster than the speed of sound with the initial explosion, never mind what that would do to a human passenger in the real world. They spend most of the rest of the story whizzing around the moon in their projectile with no means of steering or propulsion, entirely at the mercy of gravitational forces, debating points of physics and occasionally opening and shutting the outer hatch (quickly, so as not to lose too much air, you understand) to take the temperature of space, dispose of their dead dog, etc. I've just finished a chapter where they discuss what it must be like to be an alien living on the far side of the moon who knows nothing of the Earth's existence, and who wanders around to the near side suddenly finding this massive blue thing permanently dominating the night sky. There's not much left to read, so I'm assuming they don't actually get to land on the moon, or prove the (non-)existence of life there. Anyway, I now return you back to the topic. Martin |
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Post by Hero on Oct 22, 2010 8:46:30 GMT
I managed to get ahold of a pre-air download of Walking Dead (ok... I torrented it!  ). I am not really into the whole Zombie apocalypse / survival horror thing, but I got this out of curiosity and also because the main lead is an alum of the school I used to work at (the dude that used to play Egg in This Life. If you like zombie stuff or a fan of the comic series, this is a definite watch. I think this show is going to do pretty well. I am also watching Lie To Me Season 3, Two and a Half Men Season 8 and Zudobug's post has reminded me that I have a season boxset of Magnum PI to I need watch |
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 22, 2010 9:46:44 GMT
Via the broadband channel I am enjoying Stargate: Universe season 2.
-Ralph
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Post by legios on Oct 22, 2010 12:14:24 GMT
Currently I am watching Castle on Alibi on Wednesday nights. As much as I like my grounded, real-world inspired crime drama like The Wire, sometimes there is a place for a light, fluffy cop show. Nice to see Nathan Fillion getting a chance to do a charming, funny leading man role at last, seeing as he is quite well suited to that sort of thing.
Also enjoying Stargate Universe on Sky, tonally very different to the other Stargate series it actually reminds me a lot of the first season of the new Battlestar Galactica (like that show can sometimes go so much for the grim it feels like the whole show is grinding its teeth - but in an entertaining way). Good cast too - they do a good job of making very badly-flawed people into surprisingly interesting characters.
No longer watching the new Nikita series. I gave it two episodes but then made my escape and melted quietly into the background. I have nothing against the general idea of the show - given that there have been two film versions and a TV series of the concept before they needed to change it a bit and doing it is a semi-sequel to a notional "Point of No Return" remake is not a bad idea in itself. Unfortunately it lacks any of the moral ambiguity that the previous TV series version managed to create, and the Europunk aesthetic that made it distinctive. All that is left is a sort of empty slickness that makes me feel like they really wanted it to be like Alias and, well, I didn't like Alias and if I want slick handful-of-folk against powerful conspiracy nonsense then Burn Notice exists to do the same thing only with more wit.
Karl
(Must give the "First Men in the Moon" thing ago on the Iplayer this weekend. I like Wells - well, except "Things to Come" which I never managed to finish so I will give it a swing at bat.)
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2010 17:15:28 GMT
Zudobug's post has reminded me that I have a season boxset of Magnum PI to I need watch Which season is it Ken? I have all eight seasons and my opinions of the episodes on them vary. The early seasons are actually quite good barring the odd silly episode while the last two seasons are almost unwatchable. During season 7 (the penultimate season) Magnum presumes that Higgins is actually Robin Masters. If this was just a throw-away gag I could have lived with it but it is strung out time and time again throughout seasons 7 and 8. Furthermore, we also have the silliness of Magnum waking from his coma in the opening episode of season 8. At the end of season 7 the producers killed off Magnum and we see him having an out-of-body experience before he walks up the 'stairway to heaven' at the end of the episode. He was killed off because the producers had been told that the series was going to be axed but, after the season was broadcast the TV network told the producers that they wanted another season making so hastily, they woke Magnum up from his coma suddenly in the opening episode of season 8 and wrote a string of largely terrible episodes. Anyway, I think I might watch another episode of season 1 tonight with a few beers. |
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Oct 23, 2010 8:55:45 GMT
Tonight, 5.10pm, Channel 5.
"Broadsword calling Danny boy..."
Best war movie ever.
Then Sleepy Hollow on Film4 at 9.
(Hot Shots also on Film4 at 7.20pm, but I saw that earlier in the week.)
Saturday night sorted.
Martin
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Post by legios on Oct 24, 2010 20:21:57 GMT
I found First Men In The Moon to be deeply boring and switched it off half-way through. I suppose the fact that it is first aired on BBC4 rather than 1 or 2 tells you how highly the BBC think of it. With some justification to be honest. I thought that it began a little bit loggily - especially in making Cavor a little too ridiculous. Yes, he's supposed to be doddery but he felt like a steampunk stereotype. I watched it this afternoon and was less than impressed. I thought the first half-an-hour was poor, parts of the middle were ok and then.. Yes, that got some pained head-scratching from me as I tried to work out what they were intending with that. It almost felt like Gattis had decided that "Two blokes go to the moon, discover a species of socialist ants and - British Empire-types being what they are - the contact doesn't really go so well" needed to be jazzed up, hence the sudden "And now they are going to invade and their will be a war between the worlds" ground which was already covered by Cavor's speech about the competition between the Empires spilling over onto the moon and devastating the poor Selenites. The less said about the very ending shot the better in that context. Sadly I felt it was very lacking. Good Wells adaptations remain somewhat thin on the ground. I have fond memories of reading those books at a young age - one of the great advantages of a surprisingly varied library was that I got to read a lot of classic SF from those ages right through to the 60's and 70's. Yes, a lot of Verne's science was proven to be a little dodgy by time, but I do like the sense of him actually trying for some veneer of scientific legitimacy. (Using a gun almost makes a kind of mad sense when no-one in the West had done any real thinking about multi-stage rockets - shame his G-compensation measures were..... a little hopeful.) Very readable books they are too. (I have found Verne to be one of those writers who was very good at connecting with the reader). Karl |
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Oct 25, 2010 6:34:11 GMT
Yes, a lot of Verne's science was proven to be a little dodgy by time, but I do like the sense of him actually trying for some veneer of scientific legitimacy. (Using a gun almost makes a kind of mad sense when no-one in the West had done any real thinking about multi-stage rockets - shame his G-compensation measures were..... a little hopeful.) For "G-compensation measures", read "a lot of decorative cushions". I love Jules Verne. So far ahead of his time. Martin |
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Post by legios on Oct 27, 2010 12:21:53 GMT
Last night Colditz started airing on Yesterday, I hadn't seen it so I decided that I would take a look at the first episode. Glad I did because it is good stuff. Does a creditable job of establishing the atmosphere of time and place and the cast are fantastic (Edward Hardwicke in the lead role, Michael Sheard in a guest role in the first episode).
They are apparently airing the whole of both seasons straight through at a rate of one episode every night at 10pm. I think that sorts out my evening viewing for the next month or thereabouts.
Karl
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 27, 2010 16:33:42 GMT
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).