Movie/TV recommendations

[Erkki]

The wikipedia entry for Palo Alto is weird

[Gwardinen]

It's pretty strange that it doesn't summarise the plot, it just describes almost the entire film.

[Twig]

I like the new Doctor, but the first two episodes were kind of shitty. The season opener was probably the worst Intro To New Doc episode since the series' renewal, and the second one featured Daleks whom I hate and wish they would go away permanently.

 

But then the Robin Hood episode was a completely ridiculous and mostly comical take on the new guy's paranoia and suspicion and I loved it, and then last night's episode was a really tense and creepy way of showcasing the new guy's paranoia and suspicion and I loved it. More of that, please, and less of the first two eps. Phew.

[Roderick]

I rather liked the first episode, though I agree about the second. I haven't watched the creepy ep yet, I'm afraid I'll be thoroughly creeped out. Whenever they start going for the nursery rhymes it sets off all my creep alarm bells.

[Twig]

Haha. It was definitely creepy, though sort of a rehash of former creepiness. I liked it though.

 

I think I liked everything about the first episode except for the actual plot. Or maybe I'm just tired of that trio of characters, I don't know. Potato head is always funny but every time we see them it's the same thing.

[JonCole]

I just got finished watching World War Z... and I actually found it pretty good! I don't have a whole lot to say about it, I guess that the hype curve involved with production hell and deflated initial opinions left me in a good place to just enjoy it for what it was. It's kind of amazing that a coherent movie actually came out of switching writers several times and having Damon Lindelof's company finish it up.

[Bjorn]

Out of curiosity, had you read the book?

[JonCole]

Yeah... it's kind of a shame that the movie is even associated with the book, because their similarities are so minimal. My recollection of the book isn't so hot, but from all that I remember even the way that the zombies work isn't the same. Granted, I actually think the way the zombies work in the movie is good, I just think that there are two different philosophies going on entirely and it's odd that they're connected at all.

[Bjorn]

That was my issue with it, not that it's a terrible movie (though I'm not a fan of it), but that the book is an examination of how an apocalypse would affect the entire world, ranging from very small stories of individuals surviving up to how governments reacted to it, told through a documentary style.  There's a great film in there, they just decided to buy the name and make a different (and overall less interesting) movie. 

[JonCole]

I think it'd actually make a far more interesting television series than movie, but yeah it definitely deserves something more adherent to the original work. I have to imagine that this movie has kinda made it so that it won't be adapted again any time soon, if ever. And that's the biggest disappointment of the whole thing, really.

[tegan]

I'm watching Ghost Rider. The best thing about this movie is that Nicolas Cage is basically playing himself: a distant weirdass rockstar figure who makes incredibly poor decisions. You ever see some of the stuff that Nicolas Cage has bought over the years? Crazy shit like a dinosaur skull or a haunted house. The only difference is that here he's a skeleton who is also on fire.

[Bjorn]

  On 9/15/2014 at 11:34 PM, JonCole said:

I think it'd actually make a far more interesting television series than movie, but yeah it definitely deserves something more adherent to the original work. I have to imagine that this movie has kinda made it so that it won't be adapted again any time soon, if ever. And that's the biggest disappointment of the whole thing, really.

 

Totally agreed.

[shammack]

  On 9/15/2014 at 11:56 PM, tegan said:

I'm watching Ghost Rider. The best thing about this movie is that Nicolas Cage is basically playing himself: a distant weirdass rockstar figure who makes incredibly poor decisions. You ever see some of the stuff that Nicolas Cage has bought over the years? Crazy shit like a dinosaur skull or a haunted house. The only difference is that here he's a skeleton who is also on fire.

 

On one of the Futurama commentary tracks, David X. Cohen tells a story about how he went to a trilobite auction because he wanted to buy a trilobite, but Nicolas Cage outbid him and got the trilobite he wanted as well as every other trilobite in the trilobite auction.

[Brannigan]

  On 9/15/2014 at 11:56 PM, tegan said:

I'm watching Ghost Rider. The best thing about this movie is that Nicolas Cage is basically playing himself: a distant weirdass rockstar figure who makes incredibly poor decisions. You ever see some of the stuff that Nicolas Cage has bought over the years? Crazy shit like a dinosaur skull or a haunted house. The only difference is that here he's a skeleton who is also on fire.

Look up the bonus features for ghost rider 2 on youtube.  He insisted on wearing voodoo skull facepaint for filming even though he didn't have to at all because his face would be replaced.  They show some of that footage and he looks appropriately insane.

[tegan]

  On 9/16/2014 at 2:53 AM, shammack said:

On one of the Futurama commentary tracks, David X. Cohen tells a story about how he went to a trilobite auction because he wanted to buy a trilobite, but Nicolas Cage outbid him and got the trilobite he wanted as well as every other trilobite in the trilobite auction.

 

I REMEMBER THAT!

 

Those commentaries are the best.

[brkl]

  On 9/16/2014 at 2:58 AM, Brannigan said:

Look up the bonus features for ghost rider 2 on youtube. He insisted on wearing voodoo skull facepaint for filming even though he didn't have to at all because his face would be replaced. They show some of that footage and he looks appropriately insane.

Ghost rider 2 is so much fun. Very self-aware, much better than the first.

[Twig]

The Strain is really good I am liking this.

[jmbossy]

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

[Brannigan]

  On 9/16/2014 at 6:57 AM, brkl said:

Ghost rider 2 is so much fun. Very self-aware, much better than the first.

I shockingly haven't seen it. Just that footage.  

[ANTVGM64]

I think I'm going to Marathon Magic Mike and Boogie Nights today. 

 

I don't know what's the better order to go on and which one will make me feel wildly insecure more. 

[Gwardinen]

I'd probably do Boogie Nights first, not just because it was made first because it's also set first. It's very much about the time it's in during some scenes.

[Roderick]

Yesterday I saw La Grande Bellezza. It was like a goddamn tonic to me. I had forgotten that a film could actually have amazing observations to make, proffer intruiging ideas and juxtapositions at every turn, and all the while not really care about anything so ordinary as a coherent plot.

[Ben X]

I finished the first season of Utopia (UK) - loved it! Looks great, dark and tense but not too grim, a nice gradual unfurling of mysteries and characters. The one thing I thought didn't really get explained very well towards the end actually

  Reveal hidden contents

(ie Milner seeming to have too much agency and to be damage-proof) turned out to be the massive twist!

[melmer]

Utopia You need to get on and watch season 2

 

[Professor Video Games]

  On 9/20/2014 at 6:30 AM, Roderick said:

Yesterday I saw La Grande Bellezza. It was like a goddamn tonic to me. I had forgotten that a film could actually have amazing observations to make, proffer intruiging ideas and juxtapositions at every turn, and all the while not really care about anything so ordinary as a coherent plot.

 

Yeah this movie is really good. That opening party scene is hypnotic.