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Rate the latest movie you've seen.

Started by GalacticBusDriver, February 16, 2013, 12:37:09 AM

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Gawdzilla Sama

I had a library near me, so three channels seemed ridiculously limiting.
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

Baruch

Quote from: SGOS on June 17, 2018, 10:07:21 AM
They can be dated too, but seldom as glaringly as films.  I recently read For Whom the Bell Tolls, as I thought it was high time I become familiar with Hemmingway.  I guess he's classic American literature.  Maybe it was just his style, but he seemed terrified of profanity where it was entirely appropriate, although I know the censors were watching with a perverted sense of righteousness.  Maybe he could not have been published with actual battle language.  His romantic episodes were laced with almost embarrassing pet names for his love, on the order of "my little puddin' dumpling", although I can't remember his exact wording.  I just remember it didn't sound real, and in my opinion, they were inappropriate for the character.  Yet, Hemmingway is worshiped.

But most writing holds up surprisingly well over the years, and even writing from other countries, where you would expect some unusual phrases or word usages that sound unfamiliar.

Everyone knew Hemingway was gay ... so he had to be particularly careful ;-)  Also being a writer, he was trying to be popular, not edgy.

Actual battle is still pretty much censored ... by the combatants (PTSD) and by the censors.  But as an ambulance driver on the Italian front in WW I, Hemingway had seen some bad stuff.  How can one understand a period film/book without knowing the context?  Have you ever read about the Spanish Civil War?  And Hemingway was part of the post WW I Lost Generation.  I think "what was popular" is the part that is dated ... we won't even get the temporary cultural references unless we are students of history or film.  Gone With The Wind only makes sense from within post-Civil War Southern culture ... it isn't about Yankees at all.  I do think that with The Naked And The Dead we get the first realistic American war novel since Red Badge of Courage.  All Quiet On The Western Front was the most true WW I novel, and in German.  The Entente experience was different.  The Russian experience was way different.  Seven Pillars of Wisdom by Lawrence of Arabia ... is the most romantic of war memoirs, not fiction though.  Lots of memoirs were put out after WW II, but most are cover-ups or propaganda, even Churchill's work (no Ultra mentioned).  Another view of best American novels:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10605407/15-best-North-American-novels-of-all-time.html

Hemingway is an also-ran.  Not all of these were made into great movies, though The Color Purple was made into a great mini-series.

Those in the extended list made into movies that are favorites for me:
Grapes of Wrath, The Great Gatsby, The Color Purple ... all very American stories.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

SGOS

Gatsby didn't interest me, at least the movie.  Back in the 1960s, Grapes of Wrath sent me on a quest to read everything written by Steinbeck, but while his other stuff was very good, nothing that he wrote was as gripping or epic as Grapes of Wrath.  Of course, I had to eventually watch the movie, which did not have the visceral impact on me that the book did.  The movie felt like I was just watching people, but the book made me feel like I was living their lives.

I was in some little grocery deli looking at paperbacks in one of those rotating wire racks by the counter, when I saw Grapes of Wrath.  I was mildly curious about it, so I bought it, and immediately got interested.  It was hunting season, and I was on my way to Eastern Montana to hunt antelope and mule deer on the open prairie.  I was camping out, reading Grapes of Wrath at night, and when I got home, I couldn't find the book, half of which I hadn't finished.

I went to the local small town library, run by the iron fist of an elderly eccentric lady, but the book was not on the shelf.  I looked in the card catalog, and the book was listed as part of the Library contents.  After a couple weeks, the book still wasn't showing up on the shelf, so I asked the librarian's second in command about it.  She said, "Oh yes, we have the book.  We just don't keep it on the shelves, or check it out because," and then she lowered her voice and finished, "because it's..., well, you know.  But you can read it here in the Library."

I was fine with that.  In fact, I enjoyed checking in every day to read for a couple of hours, and then one day, the second in command said,  "I talked to the Librarian, and she said it would be OK to check the book out to you," but I was enjoying the Library atmosphere, and told her I liked our current arrangement.

I finished the book and a couple of weeks later, I noticed they had decided to put it out on the shelf.  I had wondered if they had actually read the book or not, because I could see no reason to keep it hidden under the checkout counter.  It was a lovely book.

Baruch

Had to read Grapes of Wrath in HS, as well as Lord Of The Rings.  I enjoyed the movie much better having read the books involved.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

trdsf

Quote from: aitm on June 16, 2018, 09:21:06 PM
I like to watch "old" movies of the 50-60's the so called"golden age of television".....by god there were truly awful actors....even those I loved when I watch today...whew.....pretty lousy acting. Musta been a whole lot of "me too's " back then.
I love the sci-fi movies of the 50s -- monster suits that make some of my old Halloween costumes look classy, acting so wooden you could build a bookcase out of it, props that made my Cape Canaveral Playset ("by MARX!") look like accurate scale models.

Our local CBS outlet, back when local programming was more than the news and TV stations actually signed off at night, had the best afternoon moviesâ€"and they showed damn near everything, from unquestioned classics to the bottom of the grade-Zs.  I couldn't have asked for a better introduction to cinema… although of course my favorite theme weeks were when they were doing sci-fi, either the good ones like War of the Worlds and The Day The Earth Stood Still, or the barrel-bottom scrapers like From Hell It Came and Bela Lugosi meets a Brooklyn Gorilla.

And, of course, the anticipation of being called on 'Dialing for Dollars'.  :D
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

SGOS

Quote from: trdsf on June 17, 2018, 04:07:35 PM
I love the sci-fi movies of the 50s -- monster suits that make some of my old Halloween costumes look classy, acting so wooden you could build a bookcase out of it, props that made my Cape Canaveral Playset ("by MARX!") look like accurate scale models.
Do you remember Captain Video and His Video Rangers?  I do, but I was less than 10.  Little did I know that I was experiencing the cutting edge of TV's first science fiction series.  Yes, apparently I was there to see the beginning of it all.  I used to talk about it with my friends.  It seemed important, but I can't remember what actually happened. 

So I looked it up on Wiki.  I certainly don't remember it being as "wonky" as Wiki describes it:  Futuristic space explorers  traveling about the galaxy, but interspersed with old totally irrelevant cowboy movies, which were explained away as "Captain Video's secret agents on Earth."  WTF??  Apparently the cowboy films were just thrown in because of a tight budget and they needed to fill the half hour.  So they called them secret agents!  The last couple of years the nightly installments were cut to 15 minute shows.

Entire Wiki Article
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Video_and_His_Video_Rangers

Excerpts:
Quote
Captain Video and His Video Rangers was an American science fiction television series aired on the DuMont Television Network, and was the first series of its genre on American television.

The series aired between June 27, 1949, and April 1, 1955, originally on Monday through Saturday at 7 p.m. ET, and then Monday through Friday at 7 p.m. ET. A separate 30-minute spinoff series called The Secret Files of Captain Video, aired Saturday mornings, alternating with Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, from September 5, 1953, to May 29, 1954, a total of 20 episodes.

Researcher Alan Morton estimates there was a total of 1,537 episodes (counting the 20 Saturday morning episodes), although few of them exist after the destruction of the original broadcasts, which was commonplace at that time. Sponsors included Post Cereals, Skippy Peanut Butter, DuMont-brand television sets and Power House candy bars. Premiums sold via the show included a flying saucer ring, a "secret seal" ring, cast photos, electronic goggles, a "secret ray gun," a rocket ship key chain, decoders, membership cards, and a set of 12 plastic spacemen.

QuoteThe long-running series, set in Earth's distant future, tracked the adventures of a group of fighters for truth and justice, known as The Video Rangers. They were led by Captain Video (no first name ever was mentioned). The Video Rangers operated from a secret base on a mountaintop whose location was unspecified. Their uniforms resembled U.S. Army surplus with lightning bolts sewn on. Captain Video had a teenage companion known only as The Video Ranger. The Captain received his orders from "The Commissioner of Public Safety," (surname Carey) whose responsibilities took in the entire solar system as well as human colonies on planets around other stars.

Quote"Captain Video" was broadcast live five to six days a week, and was popular with children and adults. It even earned a special mention in the very first episode, TV or Not TV, of the phenomenally popular Jackie Gleason sitcom series "The Honeymooners" in which the character Ed Norton wore a space helmet while watching the show.[1]

Because of the large adult audience, the usual network broadcast time of the daily "Captain Video" series was 7 to 7:30 p.m. EST, leading off the "prime evening" time block and giving parents a chance to get home from work before the show began. For its last two seasons the show still aired at 7 p.m. ET, but was reduced to 15-minute segments.

Despite its popularity, throughout its run the production was hampered by a very low budget. Until 1953, Captain Video's live adventures occupied only 20 minutes of each day's 30-minute program time. To fill out the rest and save money, about 10 minutes into each episode a "Video Ranger communications officer" popped in to show about seven minutes of old cowboy movies described by the otherwise-extraneous officer "Ranger Rogers" as the adventures of Captain Video's "undercover agents" on Earth. No explanation ever was offered to viewers as to why these paddings were used.

Baruch

Johnny Quest in original B&W.  And Top Cat.  But no Captain Video.  Captain Kangaroo however we did get.  Missed Howdy Doody, and the original Soupy Sales show.  And saw the Mouseketeers in reruns.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

trdsf

Quote from: SGOS on June 17, 2018, 05:15:36 PM
Do you remember Captain Video and His Video Rangers?  I do, but I was less than 10.  Little did I know that I was experiencing the cutting edge of TV's first science fiction series.  Yes, apparently I was there to see the beginning of it all.  I used to talk about it with my friends.  It seemed important, but I can't remember what actually happened. 

So I looked it up on Wiki.  I certainly don't remember it being as "wonky" as Wiki describes it:  Futuristic space explorers  traveling about the galaxy, but interspersed with old totally irrelevant cowboy movies, which were explained away as "Captain Video's secret agents on Earth."  WTF??  Apparently the cowboy films were just thrown in because of a tight budget and they needed to fill the half hour.  So they called them secret agents!  The last couple of years the nightly installments were cut to 15 minute shows.
Captain Video was a little early for me, and no one in our market was syndicating or rerunning it, so far as I know -- I was born in '63. I do remember sitting in my dad's lap watching Star Trek in its first run.
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Baruch

Quote from: trdsf on June 18, 2018, 02:41:58 AM
Captain Video was a little early for me, and no one in our market was syndicating or rerunning it, so far as I know -- I was born in '63. I do remember sitting in my dad's lap watching Star Trek in its first run.

Pretty young to be up that late ;-)  Yes, watched the premier of Star Trek, an Time Tunnel, with my Dad.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

SGOS

I missed the original runs of Star Trek completely.  Years later, I was hanging out with a buddy in grad school, and we started this daily ritual of grilling hamburgers at his apartment while watching 5:00 pm reruns of Star Trek.  That was my introduction.   And years after that, I rented the series from Netflix.  The first one I watched was the pilot.  While the production values of the original were about par for the time, the pilot was poorly done.  One scene has Spock walking down an Enterprise corridor, and you can see another actor standing in a side corridor, who promptly starts walking briskly through the scene as if he's going somewhere.  At that point, you can also see that there is no actual side corridor.  He was just hiding behind some fake superstructure of the set.

Baruch

Yeah, the official pilot was the second studio pilot.  The original studio pilot was incorporated into a two part special episode later.

We watched Star Trek reruns 4pm weekday afternoons at the fraternity when I was an under-grad.  Had buttered cinnamon toast.  Our most advanced fraternity brother had his own terminal in his room connected to the campus computer network.  He later went to work for Sun.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Sal1981

Ready Player One - 7/10

Good overall, but pretty much overhyped.

Gawdzilla Sama

Black Panther: Old enough to nitpick. When T'Challa sees T'Chaka in the ancestral plane T'Chaka's left eye is noticeably lower than the right and shifted outward. Rather freaky when you notice it.
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

SGOS

Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on June 19, 2018, 05:51:48 AM
Black Panther: Old enough to nitpick. When T'Challa sees T'Chaka in the ancestral plane T'Chaka's left eye is noticeably lower than the right and shifted outward. Rather freaky when you notice it.
Now that's nitpicking!  I could expect this to describe Forest Whitaker maybe, but T'Chaka?  I'll be watching for this.

Gawdzilla Sama

Quote from: SGOS on June 19, 2018, 06:24:56 AM
Now that's nitpicking!  I could expect this to describe Forest Whitaker maybe, but T'Chaka?  I'll be watching for this.
How about having an important character spout epithets?
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers