Random movie and tv thoughts

[KnightWing]

It the show hasn't needed Pierce for a long while now. Troy is more of a blow, but at the same time, he's not entirely necessary for the show to function.

[Venneh]

Troy's still gonna be in the season, just not as much.

[dc20willsave]

[JackFetch]

http://youtu.be/6QRvTv_tpw0

[dc20willsave]

It really depends on how the movie is received but I could see Phoenix getting an out of the blue Oscar Nomination. It looks quirky but still emotional.

[Stavros]

Watching Green Hornet. Seth Rogan is very much a square peg in a round hole. I can see what they're going for with this, the story arc is solid thing about redemption and posthumous reconciliation but there's something off in every scene, like they tried to make soup out of sugar.

I'm a big Michel Gondry fan but in this case him trying to add flair only hampers the thing. Like with the fight scenes, it's interesting to see something fresh but the end result is much less enjoyable than a simple demonstration of martial arts. I mean, I get no-one can live up to Bruce Lee but you could step towards rather than away from that.

[Kenny Evil]

Finished the mass rewatch of Buffy yesterday. Overall, Season 2 works the best. Angelus was the best villain the show had, the sword fight at the end was truly epic (even if it was obvious that they were using stunt doubles at several points) and the build was fantastic.

Christophe Beck and Jeff Pruitt are truly the unsung heroes of the entire series. Beck came in in season 2 and immediately the music improved tenfold. Most of the memorable pieces were developed in the second series and, after he left full time, he came back for some of the more important episodes like "The Gift" and especially "Once More With Feeling". Jeff Pruitt, meanwhile, really helped develop the fight scenes and put them so far above what other weekly TV series were doing, it defies belief. Even now few weekly TV shows can touch Buffy's action scenes.

Season 4 and 5 were a lot better than I remember them, with 4 having some of the best episodes of the series and 5 having a much stronger structure than I remembered. Adam was an incredibly boring villain though. Glory on the other hand was remarkable from the beginning where she was comically sneaking up on Buffy to the end where Buffy smashed her into a fine paste with her Troll hammer.

Season 6... As depressing as I remember it, but with some fine work mixed in as well. The magic as drugs metaphor was far too unsubtle, and went a bit Reefer Madness when Willow was driving the car while high. With the benefit of age, I understand better why Buffy was the way she was during that season and they did some great work depicting someone who's chronically depressed. Unfortunately there's a fine balance with doing that because, one of the things about dealing with a friend who is depressed is that they can be very hard to stick by. If at least one of Willow or Xander wasn't acting like a complete arsehole through season 6 maybe it would have been better.

Speaking of Willow: rant time! Had she been unable to resurrect Buffy or had she been forced to kill her if she came back wrong, what the fuck was her plan? She basically moved into Buffy's house rent free, took the biggest bedroom and took over the dining room as her office. Meanwhile she was still attending UC Sunnydale, so had no visible source of income. After bringing Buffy back from the dead (which even if she had been in Hell, would have been an incredibly traumatic experience) and went "welp, we've run out of money. Time for you to get a job." And all of this is before she starts getting mega hooked on the magics. What a complete shit of a friend!

Season 7 got a bit too heavy on the speeches at times, but I like that they recognised that with Andrew in storyteller. Caleb should have gotten involved a lot sooner than he did and it's pretty obvious that evil only lost because it's stupid. There were a couple of points where Caleb could have outright killed Buffy but chose not to for... some reason... despite the fact that her death wouldn't activate another Slayer (as Faith seemed to be the only active slayer between her death and resurrection). The final episode was great, though I think they should have added a line about the Ubervamps being weaker in their own realm to explain why the potentials could harm them before they gained powers and why attacking them in there made sense in the first place.

One of the things I did love about the series is that, even at its darkest and most depressing, they took the time to add some humour in there. It's not stated enough but it really was a very funny show. Here's to the next rewatch in 5 years time!

[Stavros]

Yes on the entire Willow rant. The worst thing about her is that she never EVER seems able to admit that she's in the wrong or even have empathy for someone else and their views. There's just this sudden shift in season 4 where she goes from wallflower and best friend to person who knows best. In fact, that change happens precisely in The Yoko Factor where she stands up to Buffy (over basically nothing, I mean, Spike's lies yes but she seems to think they've been growing apart which hasn't been evident at all). As soon as she becomes the socially dominant member of a relationship she goes from just voicing her concerns and opinions to never being wrong.

It's the Cordy problem all over again. By the end of the show it's like all traces of who that person was have been so obliterated that you can't enjoy them anymore. Buffy stays Buffy for the most part, Xander stays Xander, Giles stays Giles but Willow is just completely somebody else. If that someone else was mopey/fun/witchy season 4 Willow fine, but the change doesn't stop.

Hence you get her moving in to Buffy's home when she dies, only it's Tara who's playing mother, Willow still plays friend and doesn't take any responsibility. You get her sprawling out in this huge house where I doubt she's paying much in the way of rent, and telling Buffy she needs a job because they've spent all her money. Why don't her and Tara get jobs? Was the main upshot of bringing Buffy back that they'd get to keep the house without having to work at the Doublemeat Palace themselves?

Even bringing Buffy back was hugely selfish, I mean if they can do it I'm pretty sure they can use some spell to try and locate her, especially if the death was mystical (although I argue a 100ft fall is a 100ft fall). Maybe double check before you create some elaborate fantasy based on nothing that she's in hell.

Willow just argues, sulks, lies and steals her way through the last 3 seasons, and that's without taking into account her whole going evil thing.

[JackFetch]

Pixar's upcoming movie Inside Out is about what goes on inside a little girl's head. It comes out in 2015. This is the first concept art:

From left to right that is Fear(Bill Hader), Sadness(Phyllis Smith), Joy(Amy Poehler), Disgust(Mindy Kaling), and Anger(Lewis Black).

[Molly]

Anger (Lewis Black)

I find this accurate.

[Pan-dub]

Currently watching 'The Host'. This thing is an entry in the Tranquil Tirades Wiki waiting to happen.

[Molly]

I watched that film last night, and I wouldn't wish it on James and Dubs. The Twilight films are fun, with how awful they are, there were only evil shenanigans in The Host

[Pan-dub]

It started with an interesting enough idea about body snatching and human resistance and still managed to turn it into a love triangle. A bad one with rapey undertones.

[Kenny Evil]

New Monday night routine: Grillstock and Breaking Bad. Goes without saying but this week's Breaking bad was fantastic.

I loved that they didn't fuck around and had the hank Walt confrontation in the first episode. They don't have time to go through a cat and mouse routine and Hank punching Walt was glorious. "Then maybe you should tread lightly." can go with "I am the one who knocks." as a badass line from this show

[Stavros]

Netflix just sent me an email saying they've added a movie I might like- Transformers: Dark of the Moon

[slothian]

Netflix know you well.

[Stavros]

Netflix knows nothing about me. It's top ten recommendations list right now is appalling. Louis Theroux? Aries Spears? My Hero? It spend the last three months insisting I try the Keith Lemon movie.

[Guest]

I have an entire category full of stoner comedies with one star ratings every time I sign in. I've never liked the way Netflix has been organized.

[Missy]

Is JJ Abrams directing The Crow?

[Stavros]

So I'm not a huge supporter of the live events portion of modern cinema since in the UK it includes zero sports (I'd give a lot to watch UFC on a cinema screen) but this drew my eye- Coriolanus, presented by the national theatre starring Tom Hiddleston and Mark Gatiss. Not out until January but it's going to be worth a look I'm sure.

[dc20willsave]

That sounds pretty awesome. Coriolanus is one of the Bard's more underrated works. That cast makes me wish that we had access to it in the states.

[slothian]

So I'm not a huge supporter of the live events portion of modern cinema since in the UK it includes zero sports (I'd give a lot to watch UFC on a cinema screen)

You philistine, Hemmings!

I saw a recording of 'Faustus' with Arthur Darvil as Mephistopheles performed at The Globe from a cinema screen in Newcastle. They even give you an interval AT the interval!! It's an experience I well recommend.

Tried to do similar for the Danny Boyle Frankenstein performance, in which Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller alternated roles between Dr Frankenstein and the Creature, but that was sold out in every North East cinema that was participating.

[JackFetch]

I think we are running out of things to put in horror movies.


And here is the teaser:

http://youtu.be/vJrYE7TLJq4

[Gareth]

I think we are running out of things to put in horror movies.

Birds is one of the greatest horror movies of all time. The problem isn't with the idea, it's with the filmmakers.

[Stavros]

Since dropping Big Brother Channel 4 here in the UK has suffered a slide in the ratings to the point where they're currently the 5th placed terrestrial behind Five. So they're sorta in the hunt for big shows. Hence the news that they've picked up Agents of Shield. It's very outside of their usual MO, US Drama imports usually go to Sky, Five or on rare occasions the BBC or ITV, with 4 tending towards the US sitcoms.

Mind you, there hasn't been a US import with the name recognition like Agents of Shield before. I'm really interested to see how they schedule this, is it a Saturday night competitor or a weeknight mainstay? Tough to slot something like this in UK programming, since first run US shows that are actually destination programming are usually cable stuff and thus fall after the watershed. This is Prime Time stuff.