Saw 'Gravity'. Really liked it. 8

Just watched 'Thor' last night. It was ok. 7

I didn't like gravity so much, although I like the look of Sandra B.

Gravity gravdigr ? Coincidence?

diggity diggity

Okey dokey.

Nebraska was really good. Funny. Great acting and cinematography. I haven't yet seen Gravity but I don't really understand how a space movie can win a cinematography Oscar over a film like Nebraska...which is shot in black and white and makes the bleakness of parts of Nebraska and Montana just beautiful. And like, it's actual real scenery. Oh well...I was glad to see Bruce Dern get a good role like that. (see Who Is This thread.)

I'm getting close to the end of Breaking Bad. I don't want it to be over. Is there a discussion thread on this series? I don't want to go there yet, since I've not seen the ending yet, but it would be fun to discuss the character development in THAT series! Just, wow.

And as I was watching Nebraska with a friend I was saying "that guy...the other son Ross, he's been in a bunch of stuff but I'm not sure what offhand." Well DUH...he plays SAUL GOODMAN. Bob Odenkirk.

Now I get Dana's usertitle Better Call Saul. Makes me giggle. Damn he's got some funny lines in that show. So I hear tell that he's getting a spinoff series called Better Call Saul that chronicles his life leading up to opening the law office in the strip mall in Albuquerque. Hmm...should be interesting.

Last of the Mohicans, again. On TNT, actually, although I have the DVD.

Daniel Day-Lewis is this movie.

Not quite fair ... the movie is perfect, and every actor/actress is necessary.

Homefront - meh. Cinematography is awful.

More GoT! Time to take a break from writing papers.

Finally saw Slum Dog Millionaire. It was better than I thought it would be, based on all the overwhelmingly positive reviews.

I saw 'The Wolf of Wall Street' last night. Goddamn, that quaalude scene...I don't know if I've ever laughed that hard. When that scene was over I was exhausted. Overall, an 8.75 out of 10.

Also watched 'Odd Thomas'. Not as good as the book(s), of course. Still pretty good, though. You'll like it more if you haven't read the books. A 7/7.5 outta 10.

Watched RED the other night and U 571 or something like that. RED was great. I could see it as a mini series if it had good writers. U 571 kind of sucked, there are so many better WWII (the big one) movies. Too much of the plot rested on one captive who was inexplicably determined and tenacious for an electrician, and who was also rather casually restrained.

I give it three donkeys.

Watched "American Hustle" last night. The cure for insomnia has been found.

Jeez, what a complete, and total turd. 1 out of 10

I liked "U-571" ok. But, I really like submarine movies.

I like sub movies too, I guess my hopes were too high.

watched The Wolf of Wall Street. I enjoyed it.

also watched Dallas Buyer's Club. Excellent, Oscar was deserved.

OK fine. I was wrong. WRONG WRONG WRONG.

On the advice of a friend whose opinion I value, I bought the first season of The Walking Dead. Then I bought seasons 2 and 3. Then I bought season 4 an episode at a time until I got to episode 11, which was still playing on free on demand. Then I watched the last two eps on TV like normal folk.

It's rather soap opera-ish. I like that it's not all about the zombies, and running from zombies. Zombies aren't carrying on love affairs or fooling the pretty girls with their beautiful selves. You know a 'walker' when you see one, you don't have to be all 'OMG that walker is SO cute why does he have to be a bad walker?'

I got all caught up in the characters. And the underlying apocalyptic 'good vs evil' theme...well, there's nothing new under the sun but this is a nice spin on that concept.

I love Rick. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Daryl. I love Michonne. I grew to love Carol. Carl is about the cutest kid on earth. It's just fun!

On the advice of another person whose opinion I typically agree with, I got the first season of Justified. I'm just not getting into it. I may try again. I wasn't in the right frame of mind when I started watching Breaking Bad and got seriously hooked on that later.

Meanwhile I'm waiting for the final season of Mad Men to start.

I just started watching the 4th season of Arrested Development produced by Netflix. I want to like it. I liked the first 3 seasons, and it's OK, but really not as great as I remember.

I found Justified hard to get into. J raved it to me. I had exactly the same experience of Breaking Bad as you did Inf - didn't catch initially, then went back to it and was blown away. Mind you, I didn't instantly get into Walking Dead either. I watched the first ep, really enjoyed it, thought it was very well done, but wasn;t compelled to watch the next. I think was something like 18 months later that i gave it another go and was hooked big time stylee.

Talking of WD: Ohmigod, the season finale!

Rick and Daryl, best characters in it. Though love many of them. I could watch Those two all fucking day.

I love that so many of the female characters are great characters in their own right as well. They're not just there as attachments for the male characters. And the kids too: really impressive young actors. Carl especially has been joy to watch. And the elder of the two sisters (can't recall her name). What a journey she went on.

I don't want to wait until October to find out how badass Rick gets! Screwing with the wrong people indeed!

I agree about the kids. Good actors, all. I loved going back to the beginning to see how much Carl has grown since then.

The sisters, do you mean Lizzie and Mika (the two little girls?) Or you might mean Maggie and Beth. Of course, Maggie is an adult and Beth is almost 18. Good characters, all. Re: Lizzie and Mika...Carol had to make the hard decision, as you well know, and in that new frontier I think she did what she had to do.

eta: Lizzie losing it at Carol about her 'friend' was great acting.

You're right on about the female characters. They're not whining and hiding behind a man. Well, Lori sort of did...but.... ;) Though I'd hide behind Rick or Daryl any day of the week! I didn't know I'd end up loving Daryl...he is just so awesome, then I started looking around on line and saw that loving Daryl is a 'thing.' So much so there is a t-shirt available that reads: If Daryl dies, we riot!

"47 Ronin" - meh. 4 outta 10

The one with Keanu Reeves, btw.

I never got this show. There was the occasional line that would make me snort (I especially remember "These are illusions. Tricks are what a whore does for money.") But overall, I didn't think it was nearly as funny as other people said it was. Didn't enjoy Parks & Recreation at all either.

Dana: omg I'm so dumb! I was looking at Andrew Lincoln on IMdB and realized he played Mark on Love, Actually. I did not put that together, and I am known to some friends as uncanny in my ability to place actors from other shows or movies...like "oh, that lady was in that one show...what was it, it'll come to me...OH she played So and So in Such and Such!"

I mean, he was good-looking in Love, Actually but the older scruffier Andrew Lincoln, as Rick, is way yummy.

I just wanted to mention my revelation...we've talked before about how we like Love, Actually.

I'm jonesin' for some WD. I started going through the earlier episodes, sometimes skipping ahead, but often thinking about the character development from then to now...going "OH, there's some foreshadowing I missed."

Mad Men doesn't start up again until next Sunday. Does anyone watch that? I look forward to seeing the path Don Draper takes now.

Not a DVD but last night I caught The Bad Seed on PBS. Damn Eileen Heckart was a great actress.

Watched the red wedding episode of thrones last night. I knew it was coming because Martin hurt my feelings with the book but brutal just brutal.

Season premiere was awesome.

on DVD
Kick Ass2, not bad, if you liked Kick Ass , you'd proabably like this too.

Netflix streaming

Stand Up Guys Pacino and Walken is all you need to know, this was a random pick from the list when I saw these two were starring and was not dissapointed.

They are former partners in crime, Pacinos's character has been in jail for 28 years, Walken meets him on release and they go hang out. They're old dudes, but they still have the moves.

The grandkids are stuck on Frozen, so we watch it every time they come over, 4 - 5 times a week. Before that my grandson was stuck on Polar Express for about 3 years and about 4 - 5 times a week. At least they are nice movies with good music.

What is your impression of "Let It Go"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkKg2IYQsYU

I have decided that Star Trek: Into Darkness is horrible travesty. If I could use the slingshot effect to warp backwards in time I would hunt down JJ Abrams and encourage him to pursue a fascinating and exciting career in chartered accountancy.

Iron Sky is a complete and total wrongness. I hear there is talk of a sequel. I can't wait.

last night: Walter Mitty. Twil and I both enjoyed it. It exceeded my low expectations; low because a little bit of Ben Stiller goes a long way for me. But I have seen a number of films with him in them since I formed my rather strong negative opinion. My tolerance seems much higher than it used to be.

this night: 47 Ronin. We'll see. I was tipped to Keanu Reeve's "other" movie, .. .. Tai Chi Man (?) and I enjoyed that one.

Not sure your tolerance is higher V, he was very un-stiller like in Mitty. I enjoyed it.

I would have seen 47 Ronin by now if it wasn't Keanu, did it come off alright?

I just watched The Story Of Luke on Netflix.

I cried.

a little.

go figure.

never heard of it before but apparently it's IMDB rating is 7.3 so I guess I'm not alone.

MY wife got us started watching Friday Night Lights about a month ago. I remember when this was on TV. I'd flip by and it looked stupid. But it's not so bad. We're half way through season 5 of 6. Like so many drama TV series, it's just a well done prime time soap opera.

I like the idea of finding an old show and doing a marathon viewing for a few weeks.

Ender's Game was far better than I expected, even if the kids were too old.

Riddick. Oh yeah!

Finished streaming all of Inspector Lewis.

Wish all of Inspector Morse was available for prime/netflix.

Agreed. That's what I did with Breaking Bad, and up to current Walking Dead. You have to be careful of accidentally hearing spoilers though. I've also watched Six Feet Under and Sopranos all the way through on DVD, though I'd seen all but the last season of Sopranos when it was on HBO.

So, in light of that, I just finished the first season of The Wire. It is really good, as I'd heard, but I initially had a hard time keeping all the players straight and figuring out the meaning of a lot of the lingo,of both the drug dealers and the cops. Looking forward to Season 2 though, I'm pretty into it now.

Oh I really loved series 1 of the Wire. I fell off it during series 2 though. Might go back and rewatch!

You know the actor who plays McNulty is English right? Also Stringer Bell.

The Wire is interesting because it jumps around Baltimore telling the same grand story from different points of view in the city, finally bringing it all together in the final season.

I think season 2 is the one that takes place down at the docks. It's an abrupt change, but stay with it.

Sat in on "Lone Survivor" the other night. I think Wahlberg spends about ⅝ of the movie in mid-air, falling. And another ⅛ bouncing off rocks/cliffs he has just fallen onto.

All in all, I give it a 6 out of 10.

And they're both GORGEOUS! Dominic West has that sumpin' sumpin' je ne sais quoi thing that makes me say "well, hello there!" ;)

I knew they had referred to McNulty as Irish in the first ep. I wasn't sure his nationality because he's got the dark hair and eyes.

Two of the actors were in Oz, too. Seth Gilliam (Ellis Carver on The Wire) played the rogue guard Clayton Hughes, and J.D. Williams (Bodie on The Wire) played inmate Kenny "Bricks" Wangler. Great acting.



Yes, I saw on the back of the season 2 box that McNulty is now on Harbor Patrol. When I took it up to pay for it, the young man working said "YEAH!" and I told him I'd just seen the first season and I was loving it. He said it's one of his favorites, that not enough people see it, and he thinks the 2nd season is the best.

I told him "I kind of live for this stuff" and he says "I know, right?" :) I love the young folks. I could be one, if it weren't for my age. :lol:

one of the best things about Netflix and Roku, binge viewing. They know it too:

Attachment 47980

I can't remember what season it is, but there's an episode where McNulty goes "undercover" with a Brit accent, and they all tell him it's terrible and completely unbelievable. Funny stuff.

We just watched episode 1 of Sherlock season 3 tonight. Excellent.

That's racist. Or nationalist. Or nationist. It's somethingist, I know that much.

You had your chance.



:p:

Watched the new 'Robocop' the other night. 5 outta 10.

Given that the original was 10/10 for me, I'm not surprised.

I watched Thor Dark World. Not bad.

Dear netflix,

"Are All Men Pedophiles?" is really, really creepy. It's like an hour long PSA for pedophiles.

Being unemployed has afforded me more time than I care to have watching Netflix:

--The 4400
--Knight Rider
--Original Twilight Zone
--Orange Is the New Black
--The Art of Rap
--Forgotten Planet
--Wilfred

We watched Super 8 last night and it was pretty good, except...
the mm, 7, was SO FREAKED out by the zombie in the kid's film she was crying inconsolably and insisted we leave the house. We went out for a walk and she was running from the place like it was on fire with hungry wolves being held back by the flimsiest of leashes. After a long walk she still didn't want to go home but I finally convinced her. We watched Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium in hopes of displacing the 5 seconds of zombie. Sort of worked but she had to sleep in my bed and before she fell asleep she asked if her brother was going to be safe, all alone, in his room.

Holy crap. It was the cheesiest zombie ever and she's seen MIB a few times, tons of other crap much worse, but the zombie really scared her. Maybe because it was a kid zombie.

Anyway F- for dad's parenting skilz this weekend.

Watched several episodes of "A Young Doctor's Notebook" starring Daniel Radcliffe and Jon Hamm the other evening.

Different.

I wonder if Netflix has it?





ETA: It appears that I watched the four episodes that constitute Season 1. Netflix has those, I recommend them. There is a Season 2, that Netflix does not have.

Nah. She went back in the house, din't she? She went to sleep, din't she? She was even still worried about Bro, wan't she?

C- at the worst.

Don Jon, RFN. Will report later.

RE-watched
Grouchy Tiger, Livid Dragon still great
Liar Liar - I forgot how funny What's his name can be. I think he's Mr. Cranky Pants lately, though.

Grand Budapest Hotel - Terrific

Don Jon was good, exceeding my modest expectations. While there's plenty of porn in it, all of it is just out of direct view. It figures prominently in the story arc, so it's not just gratuitous skin. I winced at several scenes, but that's just my own PTSD talking. Recommended.

Also watched:
The Enemy. We rented this from Redbox and after watching it, I seriously considered returning the disc to the garbage as a public service. Avoid with extreme prejudice, despite Jake Gyllenhaal's star billing.

Angel's Share. Awesome movie. Lighthearted caper set in Glasgow and Edinburgh about some young people in a community payback program. The title suggests the Scotch at the center the caper. Highly recommended! Best movie of the weekend. BTW, this was streamed via Netflix; though it is presented in English, the built in subtitles were indispensable. I *love* listening to the dialog with those accents, but without the subtitles I could only get a portion of was said. Delicious.

In The Loop. Political farce where a surprise foreign policy question asked of a minister of public health sets alight a fuse to a powder keg of conflict. Watching the Hawks and Doves and headless chickens swoop and strut around the sparking, smoking trail of misinformation incompetence provides ample opportunity for plenty of self satisfying schadenfreude.

Jack Ryan, Shadow Recruit. Entertaining, somewhat predictable. Kevin Costner and Kenneth Branagh and young Captain Kirk are all fun to watch.

The Sightseers. This was on Twil's list, and available to stream, so we queued it up. WTF. Pretty weird. Kind of like Hot Fuzz, superficially normal, but only superficially. I liked it.

Lovelace. Netflix. I don't know much about Linda Lovelace, except about her place in the history of pornogaphy (and I haven't seen her film), so I can't comment on the fidelity to the facts this biography represents. It is nevertheless an interesting and sad portrayal of an interesting and strong woman. Recommended.

I used to think he was the greatest comic actor ever...

...and then he started trying to tell me how I should think (about guns).

I change the channel as soon as I see him now.

Lately, I think he's Mr. Oh Him, Fuck Him, We Ain't Hiring Him.

You know that's taken from a TV series (The Thick of It)? And the actor who plays Malcolm Tucker is now the Doctor.

The tv series is a little sharper than the movie - more room to manouevre on a tv series. For the movie there was more of an effort to make it accessible for non-brits - if you want to know how politics actually works in the UK, watch the tv show :P

From the last series and the fall of Tucker as he gives evidence to an inquiry into press leaks - audio only but it's a truly brilliant speech:



Btw the creator of Thick of It (Armando Iannucci) is the creator of Veep.

My son loves Top Gear UK, so I wind up watching a lot of it with him by default.

I can't remember when I lost the love, but I feel the same way now. What is his position on guns? Dare I ask?

He don't like them, and, he don't think you should either.

He made a 'music video' making fun of Charlton Heston's 'From My Cold, Dead Hands' speech, that's when he lost me.

That's sacrilege, man.

So - it's ok for an actor to tell everybody what they should think about guns as long as they're pro-guns, but not if they're anti?

I strongly support the 2nd Amendment, but fuck Charlton Heston...he helped set the stage for the current gun lunacy in this country.

Heh Heh Heh. You catch on quick. ;)

I'm really on the fence re: any actor spouting their moral and philosophical opinions. Often, even when I'm in agreement with them :p:

How is it that being an actor suddenly adds weight to a person's opinion? Does it work in both directions? Should pundits show up on sets and start telling people how to act? I think it all goes back to Reagan and Thatcher and deregulation. Anybody can do anything.

OH and I watched K-19 the other night and it was pretty fecal.