General Open Thread – TV Shows (2)

Home Forums General General Open Thread – TV Shows (2)

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  • #53690
    Missy @missy

    @puroandson

    The odd ting is that the actual star – Billy Bob Thornton – cold bloodedly murdred people who annoyed him, and yet he was very funny too. Explain that?

    We mostly watched because both of us have a soft spot for Martin Freeman and were interested to see how he handled being a nasty piece of work for a change. He handled it very well, and frankly gave me the creeps.

    Never heard of ‘Leftovers’, but shall look it up on Google. thank you for the recommendation.

    Missy

    #53691

    @puroandson

    I think it would be legit to see Leftovers as an existential text, but I’d be minded let the story play out to its conclusion first.

    Have you got the the episode that focuses on Nora yet? Put some pillows on the floor to protect your jaw when it hits it.

    Carrie Coon is my almost-but-not-quite age-appropriate crush.

    Here is a number to ponder, lest anyone suggest that the 2% disappearance figure would be easy to recover from and why are these people still so traumatised, huh?: in WW1, only 5% of combatants were killed but that was enough put a war memorial every parish (bar 13) in the UK and throughout the Commonwealth.

    Was very concerned that Puricle would find it too-rich meat and delighted that he likes it.

    (And yes, I think Puro The Walking Medical Emergency will enjoy Fargo the TV series (although I have yet to catch up with S2))

    #53700
    ichabod @ichabod

    @puroandson  Bronchial Pneumonia, *away with you!!*  There.   That should help?!!  Or, alternatively, good chicken  soup, made with bones and veg and lots of garlic and a nice big puffy and garlicky dumpling in the middle.

    Now I’m hungry; at 10:30 pm, and whose fault is that, I ask you!

    I looked up Existentialism, since it’s a long long time since I’ve studied or even read about philosophy.  So here’s a quickie quote from Wikipedia:  ” . . . human beings, through their own consciousness, create their own values and determine a meaning to their life.”  You start with yourself, not your social role or status etc., and the world seems chaotic and meaningless, so you have to figure out what your authentic self is in that world, rather than letting some authority tell you what you’re supposed to be, and then by expressing that self in your actions shape your life.

    So to some extent, yes, I’d say that that part is something I agree with, although it’s not central to the way I think because there’s this other whole wodge of stuff that I’ve mumbled and bumbled together over the years according to which there is a strong, complex, and largely hidden spiritual dimension to the world/universe in which we shape our lives by what we learn from our choices connecting (and often colliding rather than colluding) not just the choices of everybody else, but also the rules of physics that give this universe its basic form.  When we’ve learned enough through a succession of human lifetimes, we’re done here an move on  to stages nobody knows much about, since we’re all still going through *this* process, the physical.

    So yes, I think we’re responsible for our own lives (always subject, however, to accidents and cross purposes to varying degrees); but no, I don’t think the universe is a chaos of meaninglessness, but rather a long education leading eventually back to reintegration into the Dao (the energy source that it all comes from and expresses).  It’s the kind of viewpoint that a person can develop from a sense that there’s more to experience than Materialism allows, but also and on the other hand that religious systems, stuffed with rituals, rules, and useless distinctions to fight over, are more of a hindrance than a help in figuring any of it out (I’m a bit of a Jungian, too, I suppose, since I believe that dreams can be revelatory — to the dreamer — about the whole situation).  It’s a mish mash, and there is no “ism” that fits it (that I know of).

    So, there’s a glimpse of how ichi sees the world; I don’t think it will help with either pneumonia or a wondy internet connection, but for what it’s worth, there you are.

     

     

     

     

     

    #53703
    Missy @missy

    Speaking of nasty diseases, there is a real nasty making its way around WA at the moment.

    Both my OH and I are still getting over it.

    Missy

    #53705
    Anonymous @

    @ichabod

    thanku for that definition of existent…

    I know ‘objects in space’ really explained it well too.

    @pedant

    walking medical emergency -LOL beat me to that particular phrase.

    we’re crazy in love with Leftovers.

    mum says it’s the first telly show she can’t predict anything. In fact she’s speechless -trust me that’s a good thing- basically, compared with the zomboid brainlessness of much of The Walking Dead, and Rick’s over acting: “Carl! Get back in the house” Justin Theroux as the Chief of Mapelton is incredible.

    we’ve seen an ep where Nora durst was very much central? Now, into season 2 Nora and the Chief are together with the baby.

    She wrote a note to him saying “Kevin, I love you and you loved me once too but I have to leave ..” Which told me more about her past, the anger with her husband, the brewing tension in her household and now MIT -whatever that is, sorry, – buying up her house as all three ppl had departed. This was straight into season 2. I think the episode is about Nora getting a job b4 the departure @pedant ?

    having said that, we’re right now into an ep where the new neighbour is recognising his daughter has gone down some earthquake made hole and Nora is terrified because Kevin has vanished…hang on now, he’s back. Ok, now I have NO idea what’s happening!

     

    we’ll get back to you on Nora’s story :

    puricle

    #53707

    @puroandson

    MIT

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the most important higher education institutions in the world.

    Nora getting a job b4 the departure

    Yup, at the conference. Superb piece of storytelling.

    It starts to get really weird now 🙂

    #53711
    Anonymous @

    @pedant

    thanku for that Mr P.

    imasked mum about MIT and she did the *eye roll* thing – so season 2 gets weird now?

    LOL don’t know how much weirder it could get?

    i think their neighbour will try to kill Kevin and the neighbor’s son will begin a relationship with the daughter.

    its great to the ex-wife supporting people who are leaving the ‘moonies’ and how awful that Liv Tyler’s character raped Tommy? What sort of vile group are they? At first mum was trying to understand this group, with their smoking, their signs saying ‘don’t waste your breath’, wearing white, giving up possessions… Coz that’s got to be good right. Other than smoking, which isn’t. I thought they were like a nunnery except standing outside people’s houses was wacky and ruining memorials was tacky.

    Then I wanted them to drop dead -evidently did half the town too. If a person believes in something then so be it but forcing it on others is terrible. When Liv Tyler’s character finally whacked at the tree and smiled we both went “oh yessss”. Later, we wondered why we’d done that? Were we glad she’d surrendered? Was it good she could finally smile ?

    I don’t know why it seemed a good thing. As they made masks of people’s families that’s when I was outraged at their planning and systematic design to smash people in their hearts. It felt like David Coresh – sorry can’t spell his name -bu the Branch Davidians who did that type of thing too in true cultish manner. Now that Laurier is out of that group and trying to write a book although it won’t be published as she had a nutty in the publishing house and bit the fool who said “we want to feel your experiences”, I’m not sure how she’ll support herself. It looks like Kevin will stay in the safe town with Nora. Kevin sure appears confused a lot of the time!

    thankyou, Puricle.

    PS @missy I hope you and your husband are feeling better from your flu. It certainly is bad in QLD too. We feel your pain.

    @arbutus hope you enjoyed the holiday and congrats to the medal winners in Canada. To all the American members like @tardisblue and @lisa you got a lot of medals so congrats too. I now hope that Hillary Clinton wins the election! I think I’ve spelt her name correctly  🙂

    <waves and hugs from Puro>

    #53715
    Missy @missy

    Puricle.

    Thank you. It’s the depression you are left with that’s the real killer!

    We heard that it was rife in Queensland too. A good friend of ours has escaped it’s grasp – so far.

    Missy

    #53717
    ichabod @ichabod

    @missy  Gawd, sounds awful — a flu-like thing, is it?  Ugh.  Sympathies, especially for the depression after-gloom.  One good thing about having been officially grounded for most of this year (by post-op medical considerations) is not gadding about and coming home with illnesses from hot spots elsewhere in the country.  It’s been a healthy year for me, apart from the detached retina and the parathyroid gland the size of a large grape (they showed me a photo of the thing, as it was impressive enough to be recorded).

    Feel better soon, me dears!

    #53721
    Missy @missy

    @ichabod

    Bloody hell! You have been in the wars m’dear. You are the one who has a right to be depressed, not me.

    What are they doing about your thyroid?

    We are better – thank you. *blows kiss*

    Missy

     

    #53725
    ichabod @ichabod

    @missy  Hugs and all; it gets a but rocky up here in the mid-plus seventies, but f**k it, I ain’t dead yet!  2 miles on the treadmill at the gym Friday, that much at least tomorrow, trying to get the bones back in shape after lots of calcium loss.  Sleeping life away, as calcium is a soporofic, so . . . dopey, sleepy, lotsa coffee (great little shop three minutes away by car, lovely artsy kids all sweet and pretty and tattooed to pieces serving the most yummy espresso, though they *will* call me “Susan”, which is not my name).

    Ah, well.  What’s in a name, right?  We tell each other our dreams, now and then, and they always have a copy of the NY Times that I can sit and read, lovely hum of conversation around me, art on the walls, what a pleasure.  I am SO LUCKY I can hardly bloody stand it, sometimes.  And will not *dare* complain, when the luck turns, as in time it must.  Can’t believe this lifetime is almost run!  Seriously — 77 in October, hard to believe.  What am I doing hanging out with these sweet, pretty children?  Talking about dreams, the news, TV, their kidlets.

    Never imagined I would be so — happy, getting old like this, and with a husband slowly sinking into Alzheimers death.  It’s the damnedest thing — my dreams tell me a final efflorescence is coming.  Yeah, well, maybe . . .  if I don’t fall down the damn front stairs first!  We shall see.  Must admit, I’m a teeny tad drunk tonight . . . the Docs want me to take Fosamax or another drug of that class, to remineralize my arms and spine, but I say it’s spinach and I say the Hell with it — that stuff invites mandibular necrosis, or death of the jawbone, and can also have the exact *opposite* effect of the one intended, making weakened bones even weaker.  Screw that.  I’m going the Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine route, and see where that takes me.

    Is okay regardless — another decade, and I’m done and glad of it.  Too old to take on the wretched mess my generation has left to our posterity, poor things.  MUST sleep — thanks, missy, for your good wishes and concern, and kisses right back.

    #53733
    Missy @missy

    @ichabod

    We are on the wrong thread I fear. shifting to Fox Inn

     

    Missy

    #53739
    ichabod @ichabod

    @missy  Thanks; of course!  See you over there.

     

    ichi

    #53768
    blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave

    BBC One have just announced that they are planning seven new Agatha Christie adaptations. As an Agatha afficiando I am obviously pleased, but adapting Christie can be tricky. I thought the recent adaptation of “And then there were None” was brilliant, but the recent attempt to do some Tommy and Tuppence stories was woeful; a complete misinterpretation of the characters and the stories. And Christie is so much more than clever plotting. In her best works she is a marvellous commentator on the naunces of class in inter-war Britain, for example. Clever adaptations can still communicate that to a modern audience, but lazy adaptations jettison that and so much more. Still, the prospect of expanding my Agatha DVD collection is irresistible!

    #53778
    Anonymous @

    @blenkinsopthebrave

    that’s terrific news!

    Dad will be thrilled and actually me too. We watched an Agatha Christie about three months ago.  I believe it was the original ‘And then there was one’?

    i loved it.

    but then I also liked The 39 Steps -the earlier version! I’ve lost track of how many remakes they have credited. The tone of that reminded me of And Then There Were None – I can see above I’ve typed was instead of were. Oops! Puro won’t be happy. I’ve spent a lot of time watching television in the past two years and I blame all of you for introducing me to The Leftovers, Rectify, Buffy, angel, Farscape -the last one grew on me and it took a while. I’ve seen a lot of Capra movies, but  I haven’t watched The Godfather or even Back to the Future – I’m told its terrific, at least the first film in the series. 🙂

    can’t wait! I know Mr @pedant introduced Puro and me on this Forum (as did Mr @jimthefish) to some great horror movies   – like Friday the 13th, Halloween, Jaws, Vertigo (I bought my own copy of a limited edition of Vertigo as well as Psycho and The Birds. Tippi Hedron I’m crushing on and my mates think I am very weird as I don’t enjoy movies like The Suicide Squad! Ms @arbutus do your boys or girls enjoy movies like The Suicide Squad? It opened in Aus last week and was basically just shooting guns and really silly unfunny jokes!  I can understand, though, that people like to see a film that doesn’t engage their brain so they can veg out and I totally get that. I did that with Boston Legal which was a bit of fairy floss for the mind but interesting anyway)

    thank you for reading , Puros Son

    PS yes, thank you @arbutus I think mum is mourning the loss of Stellar. I’ve said “just get a new one Mum” and she looks sad and eyes the floor where it still sits and sighs and shakes her head saying ” stellar gave us 6 long, good loyal years” I said. “Maybe we should have a memorial service for the laptop” and she laughed so that’s a good sign. Maybe we’ll get another one on Saturday . I think Stellar back in 2010 cost nearly $2000! Amazing. The same thing will now cost under $1000 I think. It won’t last as long . Still mum still laughs and says ‘it will last longer than me’ so, I can see mum is, you know, coming to terms with that situation and smiling which is really good. Anyway, boy am I on the wrong thread now ……

    😈

     

    #53782
    Arbutus @arbutus

    @puroandson       My boy (I shouldn’t really call him that, he’s 17 years old and 6 foot 3, but I can’t help it!) seems to have a very broad taste in TV and film. He does enjoy action-type things, especially if spies or heists are involved and some humour thrown into the mix, but the last movie he saw was actually Woody Allen’s Cafe Society, which he said he really liked and recommended that I should see it. Some of his favourite movies are classics like Casablanca and The Sting, but he does go with his friends to see what I can only describe as frat-boy flicks, and seems to enjoy those, too! I think he had expressed an interest in Suicide Squad, but he hasn’t seen it yet. He does all his TV watching on Netflix, and his current pleasure is a cop-comedy called Brooklyn 99. I haven’t seen it, myself, but he thinks it’s pretty funny.

    Personally, my list of flawless films would include The Princess Bride, Casablanca, My Favorite Year, Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner, and The Blues Brothers. There are probably others. I really liked Midnight in Paris and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and I’ve always had a great affection for The Hunt For Red October, and the stupidly funny Big Trouble in Little China. So I guess, in terms of breadth, I’m not that different from my son after all!  🙂

    Please give your Mom a big hug from me. I am nursing along my old laptop, which is called Salento, trying to eke another year out of it. I took Flash off because it tires out the hard drive and makes the fan come on, and have learned which websites it just doesn’t like. For videos or youtube, or browsing the more active websites, I stick to the iPad.

    #53786

    @puroandson @arbutus

    The trick is, indeed, to foster a wide range of tastes. Life is more interesting when you find yourself unexpectedly absorbed in an off-the-beaten track discovery.

    But also, make sure there is room for bubble gum. I will happily watch a bunch of episodes of Gilmore Girls because, despite sparky and quick-fire dialogue combined with comic chemistry between Lauren Graham and Scott Petersen,  its main virtue is that it doesn’t, in any way, require me to engage my brain. It is predictable, linear and wholly lacking depth – and deployed possibly the worst male Mary Sue(1) I have ever seen – but sometimes that is what you need for what ails you.

    The Marvel/ DC movies are much the same – I don’t really care about watching them in order and not even Joss Whedon can overcome their essentially formulaic nature (it is a well hidden formula, but it is a formula).

    Having said that, Guardians of the Galaxy was a hoot.

    As was The Hunt for Red October, a near-perfect action thriller.

    And The Princess Bride simply transcends.

    Have always been able to take or leave Agatha, though. See also James Bond.

    And always remember what the Romans knew: only the Gods are perfect.

    It is time Puro the Statistical Anomaly  went Mac. Nice little MacBook air would do the job.

     

     

    1. For the benefit of Spawn, a character inserted into a story as wish fulfilment by the author, usually a thinly-veiled author or a thinly-veiled author’s conception of Mr/ Ms Perfect.

    #53788
    Anonymous @

    @pedant

    oh gorn 🙂

    just purchased some metal flip laptop which doesn’t need to air out -due to the metal composite .

    my habituation with Microsoft meant the guy wandering around with JB – Hi Fi lanyards laid a claim. I listened to him count off his just graduated marketing skills by stating ” little lady, (he was younger than me ) you need to tell me the three Ps : price, performance and practicalities and then we can go from there”

    he looked super jigged. I said, “-are u hearing impaired, because you are yelling”

    he was taken aback.

    i like ppl to be ‘aback’.

    in fact, fellow Microsoft sales persons were watching him with horror as he unveiled the computer I liked and then said, ” ah but wait THIS is what you really want. See how light it is? See how it folds over and it’s METAL”

    I bought the thing. Just to get out and he did drop $ 200 off the price so you know, props to him.

    Right, agree- every Christmas we watch Hunt For Red October. Princess Bride was my favourite film when I was 21 . I agree, veggy telly is important. I think the Puricle might be pooing marble soon, he’s so up the mountain. When I suggested Pitch Perfect his lip curled.

    so I made him wash all the dishes.

    he can read ‘1’ as I’m not quite following the thinly veiled author -unless the author is barely an author at all? Therefore thinly veiled.?

    gawd, I’m not doing ‘subtle ‘ very well am I ? 🙂

    #53789
    Anonymous @

    @pedant

    spking of telly, there’s a film with Tom Hanks where he turns into a child?

    this remains one of my fav film (therefore I be on the wrong thread ).

    these days not much of Tom Hanks impresses me, but the sheer fun of that film was contagious.

    #53790
    Anonymous @

    @arbutus

    yes, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner -wonderful.

    now, people will crack up but I did like planes, trains and automobiles, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and ……Ghost busters, the first, the only, the original !

    thank you for the hugs:)

    i have a weird relationship with computers. I use Apple and Soft equally but mainly my work was always done with Microsoft. Schools have no choice but to give out Microsoft as well and I end up habituated to it which annoys me as it’s so rotten with errors and drivers which no-one recognises.

    yes, the fan issue! It ‘s like a helicopter 🙂

    the Puricle will need a MacBook for year 10 but it’s hired from the school. Funny that when a certain school decided to trial iPads hundreds of them ended in the bin or were left on buses because they were so light and often ignored. The trial was a bust.  (*|*)

    #53792
    Anonymous @

    @pedant

    what did you do to us?

    Hey?

    I remembered tWW and loved BtVS more than anything but The Leftovers? That’s television on a whole different level. I am saying that here on this Forum  -any loyalty to Doctor Who is unquestioned of course.

    The last 20 mins of the last episode I chucked up – the baby, the bomb {I predicted the B*** thing} and the bath {three bath scenes or two scenes and one story?}. It was just -to me at least -very emotional.

    By the time Garvey /Harvey was singing I was sobbing along!

    “every day’s an endless stream of cigarettes and magazines…..Home where my thought’s escaping, Home where my music’s playing, Home where my love lies waiting –

    Silently for me.”

    A-men 🙂

    Finally mastered my little ASUS laptop. All metal. I need a name: metal head?

    Metallia? Metial? Mental?

    I think Astatine might work as it means ‘unstable’ and that fits what with wobbly computers and wobblies in general.

     

     

    #53793
    Anonymous @

    no subtitles for Rectify!!

    Darn….

     

    #53798

    @puroandson

    what did you do to us?

    I’m mean that way 😉

    no subtitles for Rectify!!

    So pay attention then!

     with Tom Hanks where he turns into a child?

    Big.

    There is a similarly themed and (imo) superior movie call Vice Versa with Judge Reinhold and Fred Savage.

    And of course there are the two version of Freaky Friday (Jodie Foster and a surprisingly affecting Lyndsay Lohan, respectively)

    #53816
    Anonymous @

    “What fucking coke fuelled moron came up with the idea of criticising the concept of time while watching a show about the concept of time?”

    Aden  Young *-* responding to critics of Rectify.

    I’m in love with Young, Sundance Productions, even Tawnee.

    Frickin awesome.

    The Hairdresser scene.

    What The Hairdresser’s Husband should have been all those years ago.

    PuroS

     

    #53817
    Anonymous @

    Ah, I apologise, I missed in the ‘tag info about Reinhold and Vice Versa.

    Honestly, Rectify is mesmerising telly. Every stroke is stupendous without some arcane and telescopic production ego-thing which it could have been.

    Freaky Friday. Gosh, a long time since that popped up in the memory banks.

    #53964

    @puroandson

    You must watch Stranger Things. It’s on Netflix (being a Netflix show).

    It has Winona.

    It has a proper early 80s feel.

    It has, in Millie Bobbie Brown, a crop-hair 12(-ish) year old with actual, real, 100 degrees proof spirit charisma.

    (You will barely recognise Winona at first, then the camera catches her at an angle and you see the Those Eyes. That might just be a me thing.)

    #53965
    Anonymous @

    @pedant

    I’m one of the few who don’t have Netflix -as yet.

    I haven’t seen Winona in much at all recently. Perhaps I didn’t like some of the stuff she was in at the time?

    Possibly she was in Scissorhands though I aint sure of that -and I liked it a lot.

    Right now I’m watching, at the request of Baby Puro, a three hour epic disaster film called The LA Earthquake.

    I will, however, check Stranger Things..

    I have an issue with that title (because I’m nuts) …”Stranger Things”….have happened??

    “Stranger Things Than Wot?”

    I know, <<-_->>

    #53966
    Anonymous @

    We are steadily working our way thru the most spectacular of shows in addition to Leftovers and that’s Rectify. I can’t stress enough how magnificent it is. There’s so little speechifying -as one might expect in such a programme. A beautiful and prosaic explanation using humour, irony and tragedy to magnify characters’ em0tions, articulation of experiences and softly calibrated by Aden Young (who hasn’t been on screen enough, imo, since The Black Robe when he would have been barely 20).

    However, we’ve hit a small roadblock as Baby Puro has discovered The Horse’s Head in The Godfather and also S11 of Supernatural. Real ‘vegetating’  🙂  Then there’s Under the Dome, s3. Yawn!

    Now, he DID watch The Outlaw Josey Wales and as The Railway Children is scheduled for this evening I’ll give him a pass. That and a ridiculous set of tests in Year 9 which took several hours each in Science and Math and for the former, an unfortunate D+ -along with (nearly) every OTHER person in class (new teacher). However, there was one A+ from “resident nerd” and seven Es from the “resident idiots.” (a)

    Puro Solo

    (a) words spoken by Baby Puro

    #53967

    @puroandson

    She was, indeed, in Scissorhands. Also Mermaids, BeetleJuice, Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael, Girl Interrupted, Age of Innocence and the sublime Heathers. More recently, Black Swan and Spock’s mum in the Star Trek reboot.

    I think you are supposed to have an issue with the title (stylistically it is very much a homage to John Carpenter)

    SPAWN!!! What did you think of Josey Wales?

    Could not get past the 1st episode of S2 of Under The Dome (and only finished S1 out of morbid curiosity).

    #53970
    ichabod @ichabod

    @puroandson  @pedant   I have yet to start Rectify; I have a sort of visceral recoil reaction to American southern accents, believe it or not, cuz it always sounds like beastly Texas to me, and I’ll have no truck with that place that I can avoid.  But will turn to Rectify before long, given the enthusiasm here for it.

    As for “Under Done”, what a worn and weary load of — Come ON, a sealed off town with a big mean greedy car dealer, or whatever that guy was, called “Big Jim”?  Not another demonstration of how bullies stomp their way to the top in any encapsulated “representative” population . . .  I went out and skimmed the book in the bookstore to see if the story went anywhere, and it did sort of, but so what.  Urgh.  Just so *annoying*.

    I love Billie Bobby Millie Brown in Stranger Things — I want lots more Millie Billie, lots.  And what I want to know is, when the heck is The Leftovers coming back?  Did anyone see “The Night of . . . “, a closed series based on a UK original, the name of which I don’t know.  It was ruthlessly grim and sad, but the writing and the cast were wonderful.  Right now — the Swedish original “Wallander” series, very good; “Sense8”, went action-hero nuts late in the 1st series, but I’ll finish it; watching series 4 of “Longmire”, filmed locally from good modern western novels by somebody Johnson, but the 4th season went to Netflix, which I didn’t subscribe to at the time, so I’m catching up.

     

     

    #53974
    Anonymous @

    @ichabod @pedant

    Yes, Ichabod I agree -the whole Big Jim thing is terrible.

    You see you need to know that before I watched Buffy the only good TV I remembered was Doctor Who and a series called State of Play and also Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and the English House of Cards.

    Everyone needs to know that Mr P gave me and Mum a list of the best things to watch -not just horror or thrillers which I personally love -Mum doesn’t love to be scared as much as me!

    I owe him a lot as he introduced me to new discoveries in telly as well as @jimthefish whose blogs on Buffy taught me or at least helped me to write in my real ‘world’ of school.

    I watched Under the Dome in its first series as it was given to me by a mate on my 11th birthday. I thought it rocked!

    Then Buffy changed my life !

    Mr P sorry for not getting back to you -I LOVED Josey Wales. Loved it!  I have the Railway Children to watch too.

    Mum ordered the next DVD set of the Walking Dead. Due to a bad sales rep from the laptop we were given a $400 gift card from that store (to keep us quiet) and so we got Supernatural and Under the Dome and the three Godfathers as well as some more Hitchcock and I think Dad bought some more Dirty Harry movies.

    I only thought there were like 4 Dirty Harrys? But I think there could be 6. It’s hard to know whether it’s just a ‘clint eastwood’ movie or not.

    ALso, not related but I’ll mention it -Mum is NOT a fan of Tom Hanks but I want to see Sully? The guy who landed the plane as it crashed and got an award of distinction I think?

    Has anyone seen it? @ichabod do you know the movie I mean?

    I am on the wrong thread.

    I’m going to the pub probably. Mum has said that a few of the mods have disappeared and she’s worried that they are not OK?

    Thank you,

    Puros Son

     

    #53975
    ichabod @ichabod

    @puroandson  Hi, Son Of, I do know the movie you mention — I’m not a Hanks fan, although I appreciate some of his work.  This movie, about the emergency passenger-jet landing on the Hudson River, has been getting very enthusiastic reviews here. It’s apparently *not* a slam-bang thriller-type approach to the situation but a down-to-earth take on an event in which *many* people just did their demanding jobs well, contributing to a successful resolution.  I’m definitely up for that one, which just arrived here in my city.  I enjoy stories about people working together toward a worthy goal instead of stories about The One, the Only, the Special Special Hero who sets things to rights single handedly, usually by blowing things up and slaughtering people.

    That’s why I like DW so much — light on the up-blowing and slaughter, focus on the figuring-things-out and seeing more than one side of a situation stuff.

    “House of Cards”, English original, was wonderful in a squirmy, witty way — aaarrgghhh, politics!  Can’t live with it, can’t live without it . . . might as well have some fun!  And Buffy was an eye-opener for me, too — as was The West Wing.  We do get some very good entertainment these days, and, thanks to the internet, also the fun of discussing it and enhancing the pleasure of it, on boards like this.

    #53978
    RorySmith @rorysmith

    House of cards is creepy as the current election cycle shows.

    I want to se Sully. A great corporate mess made by comon sense thinking people defying the bad ideas and choosing what they believe story.

    #53980
    winston @winston

    Right now I am going through all the series and specials of Absolutely Fabulous , good for a few giggles and a bit of distraction. I am watching them all in preparation for the new movie that just came out. It is great to watch all these talented women who seem to be having a lot of fun.

    #53988
    Arbutus @arbutus

    @puroandson   @ichabod

    I’ll probably see Sully at some point. I think the first clue regarding the “down to earth” take on the story was the casting of Tom Hanks, who tends to get the “everyman” role most of the time. I admit I like him and have seen a lot of his work. (Other than some of the really depressing ones; as I’ve gotten older, I find I have very little interest in feeling terribly sad at the end of a movie. I can get there all by myself pretty easily! I’d rather come away smiling.)

    Last week, with Mr. Arbutus away, the offspring and I brought in sushi and watched a movie. He suggested one of his favourites, Catch Me If You Can, the story of master cheque forger and fake artist Frank Abignale (who I must say Young Arbutus admires a bit too much for my comfort! 🙂 ). I had never seen it as I am not a fan of Leo DiCaprio. But I enjoyed him in this, and Tom Hanks was excellent as the hard luck FBI agent trying to capture him. What I noticed at the time was the way Hanks never let his portrayal get overly emotional, which it could have done. He made him very matter-of-fact, doing his job, trying to get the bad guy, but a pretty sympathetic character in an understated way. Also there was the value-added of listening to Hanks do his fabulous New England accent, which never gets old for me!  🙂

    @ Winston     I loved Absolutely Fabulous, great show!

    #53989
    ichabod @ichabod

    @arbutus  “Catch Me” is a good pic, too.  And Ab-Fab is something my husband and I used to watch with delight and quote lines from, as my whole family used to do with the Goon Show!

    #53990
    Anonymous @

    @arbutus @ichabod

    Definitely with the Goons and Ab-Fab. Some years ago I discovered that my mother, a rather conservative woman on many levels loved Ab Fab (I believe a film is in store, as it were?). She actually purchased several seasons on DVD for me. In this home I’m the only one who watches it, I’m afraid though the actors are all respected ladeez in many other movie or telly shows

    PuroSolo

    PS: I’m going to the pub

    #53997
    Missy @missy

    Anyone fancy “Miss Peregrines’ Home for Peculiar Children?* We hope to see it in the next week or two.

    Missy

    #54054
    Anonymous @

    @missy

    I haven’t seen the one you mentioned I’m afraid?

    @cathannabel I know that I mentioned to you I’d loved TWD in its first few series: mesmerising telly.

    Now that I’ve finished S6 I really have changed my mind about the show.

    Even young Puro isn’t thrilled with it anymore -which is saying something since it’s his friends top series of all time -they cried every time a character died. even a relatively minor one.

    Still, it has become a circular show with the same patterns and very little time to effect a love/hate relationship with any of the major or minor characters -imo. The problem is one whereby its no longer the Walkers who are the problem (not that this concept wasn’t easy to assume fairly early on) but that one large cartel manages to over-run everything Rick and his ‘people’ have created.

    Rick’s group fights them to win/survive, or fights them and loses from which they ultimately still manage to survive thru treaty, escape or whereby another similarly reckless group with the help of a previously missing character (ie Morgan and/or Carol) are able to watch this ‘new’ entity, bide their time and strike them down just before an entire group of original and favourite characters are about to be slaughtered -the latter entry where Carol/Morgan/etc.. are equipped with serious ammo or Aikido -like wooden poles occurs just seconds before throats are slit or walkers are used as part of an execution style process or even a medieval-style public death scene.

    It’s all really gross! (but that’s to be expected).

    As I watched an analysis of the series on youtube I did see some interesting elements such as the focus on particular individuals each episode which did create a more layered interpretation than I’d originally understood.

    What are your thought on it, Cath? You have an academic mind set as well as one attuned to clever cinema and telly and I’d like to hear your input if you have time, that is?

    Kindest, Puro xx00 and Son

    <son is waving -I did the typing for Mum who was getting a bit weak so any punctuation and grammar mistakes are all mine and not mums!>

    #54059
    Missy @missy

    @puroandson; Sorry, I put this on the wrong thread, should hsve been in films/cinema.

    We are seeing it on Wednesday.

    Missy

    #54060
    Cath Annabel @cathannabel

    @puroandson Re TWD, yes I have lots of thoughts!  I had a lot of problems with the last series, although nothing on this earth would stop me watching the next one…  I’m attempting to gather those thoughts and write something moderately coherent, so (assuming I can still get in to the site – it’s a bit hit and miss even via VPN!) will post later.  But I agree the circularity is a problem and I’m not sure how they will get out of it – was having just that conversation with my son recently on one of our walks – along with the increasing tendency for members of Rick’s group to behave with utter stupidity and recklessness, quite out of character, which has us all shouting at the screen in frustration.  Anyways, more later, I hope!

    #54062
    Cath Annabel @cathannabel

    @puroandson

    Re TWD, I think the fundamental problem is that it’s hard to see a long-term arc.  We’ve established that not only those who get chomped on but anyone who dies joins the ever-growing ranks of the undead, so it’s hard to see how any future series can do anything other than go round the same loops.  Unless there’s some really creaky phlebotinum (sp?  as it’s a made up Whedon word, only he can adjudicate I guess)/deus ex machina to be invoked. We’re pretty sure by now that there is no group of scientists stashed away in a bunker somewhere working on a cure, and whilst I guess it might be the case that Judith and other children conceived after the outbreak might be immune, we have no reason to think that, nor could that be a major plot development unless we jump forward a fair number of years.

    SPOILER ALERT – if you haven’t seen all of S6 look away now…

    It’s fine that the focus is not on the actual dead but on the survivors (and there’s always that ambiguity as to which lot are in fact the WD), and the threat from groups who take advantage of the absence of infrastructure to make their own rules to their own benefit.  There’s a lot of potential interest in that, which has been explored over past series, in terms of the ways in which different groups attempt to structure themselves and deal with threats (Terminus, Woodbury, Alexandria, Hilltop, etc).

    But Negan’s lot have been imbued with almost supernatural strength and knowledge, and simultaneously Rick’s lot have undergone a sudden tendency both to hubris (did it not occur to anyone that the base they attacked might not actually contain the entire Saviour crew?) and to recklessness (let Alexandria’s only doctor off on an unnecessary reccy – sure, what could possibly go wrong?  All the group’s big hitters go wandering off in search of Carol or in search of the first lot who went in search of Carol, leaving Gabriel in charge – sure, what could possibly go wrong?).  The problem with this is that we’ve previously seen Rick’s group as having what it takes to survive, in contrast to the Alexandrians, and yet now they seem to walk into the most obvious traps.    Characters who have previously been shown as sensible and cautious now behave like idiots, for no reason other than to ensure that the entire cast (more or less) can be in mortal jeopardy at season’s end.

    And the other thing is the reluctance to allow core cast members to be killed off (of course who knows if that is about to change…).  This not only stretches credulity beyond snapping point, but cheapens the emotional charge of the drama – why weep for Glenn when odds are he will be back?  There’s always been an element of this, as with all long-running dramas (the old Star Trek red uniform signalling that a character is cannon fodder, whilst we know the main guys are safe and will dodge death repeatedly and improbably).

    At its best, there is real depth of character development – Carol and Daryl in particular, though the latter in particular has been wasted this last season.  And it’s not been afraid to subvert the narrative structure to explore a bit of back story or whatever.  There have been stand-out episodes that I will never forget – the one in the prison where Herschel is desperately trying to treat those who’ve got the fever, the one where Carol tells Lizzie to look at the flowers, and so on.

    I cannot imagine stopping watching it as long as it is being broadcast, so I hope that there is good stuff still to come – and I’d be ok with losing even some of my favourite characters in the interests of getting out of some of the ruts it has got into.

    Long-term it is not really sustainable I think.  I’d favour calling it a day after this series – resolving some of the character arcs and leaving the survivors on the road once again, heading for who knows what – but networks don’t tend to like those open, ambiguous endings.  So series either tend to be cut off in their prime (Firefly RIP) or go on and on and on long past the point when they have anything to say.

    Still, I’ll be on the sofa, breath bated and so forth, for the season opener…

     

    #54063
    mightythorpe @mightythorpe

    i have a theory guys . what if Jim Moriarty from BBC’s Sherlock is actually the master.

    Here’s my thinking,  When it was revealed that Missy was the master regenerated it is also said that she has been on earth for a long time collecting for the army of the dead.  It is never actually stated that it was the only regeneration from the john simm master to the mistress so what if there was one before. If you watch both characters they’re very similar in character… crazy, hugely intelligent, good at manipulating/controlling people even there mannerisms are the same.

    Obviously the master is keeping a low profile  in London as to not to draw attention to the doctor. Of course a psychopath like the master will get bored really quickly so he assumes the identity of Jim Moriarty and begins to run a criminal organisation where he comes in contact with Sherlock Holmes.  The two clash in a game of witts until the master/ Moriarty gets bored again and decides to play one last prank on Sherlock. He Places him in a no win situation to end things once and for all. Moriarty shoots himself without hesitation because he knows he will simply regenerate and have the last  laugh. when Sherlock jumps he regenerates into the mistress and goes back to planning the cyber man attack

    #54079
    Anonymous @

    @cathannabel

    yes brilliant summary of S6 and its woes. I agree re: Darryl. ******spoiler alert S6 tWD*****

    Great understated character with little of the slightly overacted nonsense that the actor playing Rick occasionally plummets into.

    Carol’s arc has been wonderful and I couldn’t agree more. As to simply allowing the doctor to leave and then have her speechify in the middle of the train track leading to an arrow…that WAS ridiculous. The other issue was the same conversation in the woods with Glenn surrounded by trees (could be filled with enemies of one kind or another) was also lame and led to yet another ‘whistle’.

    The fact that insanely large group bothered to chop down trees equidistantly and lay them over the pathway also annoyed me: I understand the point was to weaken the confidence of Rick’s Merry Men, but honestly all I could think of was “why did no-one hear this happening? why are the trees so neatly cut and perfect in length?”

    Silly questions all!

    Then the bloomin’ trickery.

    Glenn not dead! Darryl who looked to be beaten to death isn’t?

    The thing with ‘cheap tricks’ is they cheapen the essence of those left alive and make any future investment in the characters worth little more than the houses screwed by sub prime mortgage frauds (or ones sitting on a hell mouth)

    Kindest, Puro

    PS: @pedant I think you gave up on tWD about 3 series prior to this? 🙂 Saw it coming?

    #54082
    ichabod @ichabod

    @missy  “Miss Peregrine” opens here this weekend, and I’m going to see it asap — Burton’s work is always worth a look, IMO.  And after “Penny Dreadful”, I’d follow Eva Green anywhere — well, almost.

    @cathannabel  @puroandson  The zombie theme has always seemed to me to be hermetically sealed with nowhere to go but in circles, so I steer clear.  Zombies now strike me as less entertaining versions of Audrey the carnivorous plant, “Feed me!  Feed me!”  And snapping and snarling all the time — what the heck?  Predators on the hunt don’t indulge in frenzied threat-display; they sneak up and pounce, or charge and grab, with as little fuss and unnecessary expenditure of energy as possible . . . but of course Zombies have no physical energy economies (since they can keep going, while also rotting to bits, with or without food; whereas even vampires famish and fail if they’re prevented from feeding).  But rational thinking doesn’t really apply, so never mind.

    I love ghost stories, though, if they’re good.  They offer much more interesting takes on post-death existence, and are damned hard to do well, too.  Thinking of “The Woman in Black” as a recent example, “The Sixth Sense”, “The Devil’s Backbone” (a wonderful piece by del Toro, an early one), e.g.  Ghosts have missions, persistence, urgency, goals even.  They stick around because they have something to communicate, which means *they* have stories.  That’s what makes them interesting, to me.

    I guess I’ve always been more a fan of speculation about the supernatural, paranormal, or alien, than of plain old horror tales of the pursuing monster variety.  Strokes and folks, as always.

    #54083
    janetteB @janetteb

    @ichabod

    I agree with you entirely re’ zombies verses ghost stories. The original “I walked with a Zombie” was interesting with a novel story but “Day of the Dead” turned the zombie into slasher horror and there it has stayed. I love a good ghost story however. I really enjoyed “the Living and the Dead”, earlier this year.

    I do like ghost stories where there is a rational explanation leaving the viewer to decide if supernatural events were afoot or not though I can’t think of any examples right now.

    I was disappointed by the recent Del Toro Crimson Peak. I thought it veered to much into visual shock effects at the expense of story. I have not see The Devil’s Backbone.

    Cheers

    Janettte

    #54084
    Cath Annabel @cathannabel

    @ichabod @janetteb @puroandson

    I get what you say about zombies not being inherently interesting – they have no motivation, no malevolent intent, they just exist and eat.  The terror lies in their insensate inexorability, rather than in any notion of evil.

    For me TWD is less a zombie drama than a post-apocalyptic drama.  The focus is on what happens when some catastrophe overtakes us and all of the structures and protections that society has put in place collapse, and how individuals then form groups and attempt to build structures and protections for this new world, and how moral and political beliefs adapt (or not) to it.   The zombies are the context rather than the content I would say.

    Thus, as I said to @puroandson, I have no problem with the biggest threat in TWD coming not from the zombie hordes but from other groups of survivors who have left any principle other than survival for their own group far behind.  In Rick’s group there is debate and discussion – if they encounter someone new, how do they ascertain whether this is someone who could join them or someone who is purely a threat?  when and how can it be justifiable to kill another person? what is leadership?  etc etc.  In Negan’s group, not so much…

    The repetitive nature of the plot is an inherent problem with post-apocalyptic drama, where the threat is ongoing rather than a one-off disaster from which society can rebuild.  But rather than it making it less interesting as a premise, for me it just means that it should be on a limited lifespan and not go on forever like the walking dead themselves…  There have been other flaws in the most recent series in particular that they need to address, even if they do draw things to a close of some kind at the end of the next.

     

    #54085
    blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave

    @cathannabel, @puroandson, @janetteb, @ichabod

    I can take or leave zombies, unless there is something truly brilliant, like this clip from “Cockneys v. Zombies” with (I think) the final performance of the wonderful Richard Briers:

    #54092
    ichabod @ichabod

    @janetteb  I was disappointed by the recent Del Toro Crimson Peak.

    Haven’t seen it yet — I was put off, really, by an interview with this director before CP was released, about how deeply involved he’d become in just playing around with monsters and horror scares on film.  I think he told his one big story — and it is a big one — in “The Devil’s Backbone”, and again, more luridly and flashily and popularly, in “Pan’s Labyrinth”: the monstrosity and corruptive nature of Fascism and the legacies of the Spanish Civil War.  But maybe I just prefer my zombies if they have a more focused political and cultural resonance.

    @cathannabel  The zombies are the context rather than the content I would say.

    That hits the nail on the head, and also the problem, for me: the onus is then on the writers and actors to present human characters who are complex enough to interest me enough in their fates to care.  Clearly, TWD does this for a great swathe of tv watchers — it has a huge following.  So I guess all I can say is, I’ve been pretty much immune to it — probably from reading so much SF, the best of which is so often about a group of people trying to survive (and more) in a context of alien encounters and dangers that are themselves compelling puzzles in various ways (even Ripley’s monstrous alien makes a bit of sense when we realize it’s a mother monster defending her eggs).  There’ve been so many zombie movies about the sociological ebb and flow of human “politics” in the face of societal and infrastructure breakdown — “The Road”, “Escape from New York”, “Mad Max”, etc.  Adding zombies as the cause (or maybe the major effect?) doesn’t grab me.  Some of comic turns around the idea have been entertaining, though.

    Oh, except where the zombies themselves have an arresting context.  I’m thinking of — was it, “The Serpent and the Rainbow”?  A film about encountering vodun and zombies in Haiti?  Sorry, my memory of the details is gone, but the look and feel of that movie were rich and scary enough to stay with me.  A farmhouse on a hill with some assorted and drearily “representative normal people” inside and zombies roaming around outside doesn’t do it for me.  It’s “Under the Dome” with monsters, gnashing what’s left of their teeth, outside.

    “Zombies vs. seminarians”, now, that could be interesting.  And I did like the first season of “The Return”, the French version — because it was so *French*, with long pauses for (I suppose) contemplating the tristesse of it all, and lots of hanging about smoking — or did I fill that part in on my own, from just about every other French film I’ve ever seen?  Anyway, I think you’re right — the only cure for the eventual, inevitable Doldrums of the Living Dead is a closed-ending series, even if doesn’t actually arrive anywhere significant before the final fade.

    There’s a small amateur-made (I think) movie I came across online, about a guy who’s been zombie-bitten and is struggling to carry a child (his?) to safety in an enclave of live people — before he himself becomes a zombie (and, presumably, eats the kid).  I found it affecting, in a “Flowers for Algernon” way, because of the poignant tension between the inexorable extinction of his humanity pitched against his fatherly love.  That’s a story, and a good one, IMO.  But it’s about a dying human, not a boring, lurching corpse.

    @blenkinsopthebrave  I love Briers, too — and what a great clip!  Shamble, shamble, clump clump clump . . . !

    #54095
    Cath Annabel @cathannabel

    @ichabod Yes The Returned was wonderful.  And v v French as you say!  I loved the second series too – it didn’t provide neat explanations or resolutions (which made some viewers rather cross), and the ending left us with mysteries and ambiguities, as well as an acknowledgement of the circularity of the process of life, death, birth and rebirth.  I hope there won’t be a series 3 – it doesn’t need one, and perhaps French tv is slightly less prone than British or American to carrying on beyond the point when the ideas have run out .

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