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Watch, Watched, Watching: TV controls the world

JonArryn

By JonArryn,
in Entertainment

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Teng Ai Hui Council Member

Teng Ai Hui

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Finished watching the season 25 finale of Amazing Race. The season as a whole was very bland. For next season, it seems they are finally going to do something that I have been hoping to see; some of the racers will be teamed together after having never met before.

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JonArryn Council Member

JonArryn

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Beasts of the Southern Wild.

I've been meaning to see this for a long time and I shouldn't have. Because DAMN. What a genuinely amazing and beautiful movie.

It's been a long time since I cried to a movie but this really moved me and I cried a bit. For me this movie deserved the Oscar for 2012, not the bland and boring Argo.

This is art and it has so much heart, so much emotion packed into its little narrative. It's one of the better movies I've seen all this year. This is how indie movies should be made.

It's actually a bit similar to the New Zeeland movie Whale Rider from 2002 which also is a great movie btw.

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Nictarion Council Member

Nictarion

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I think I'm going to go through Band of Brothers slowly. Perhaps an episode a day. Don't want to go through it too fast.

In addition I'm rewatching Shameless in preparation of the new season.

BoB is one of the all time greats. If you haven't seen The Pacific, it's pretty good too.

Can't wait for Shameless to come back on. Emmy Rossum :wub:

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RedEyedGhost Council Member

RedEyedGhost

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BoB is one of the all time greats. If you haven't seen The Pacific, it's pretty good too.

But do not watch it directly after BoB. The Pacific is amazing, but while it's obviously quite similar to BoB, it's also remarkably different. It goes some dark places and can be uncomfortable to watch, but it's totally worth it.

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Veltigar Council Member

Veltigar

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Well, everyone was right. Pusher II is a lot better than the first Pusher, which is already a very good movie. You can really see that Refn has learned a lot as a director since the first Pusher. It's still gritty and realistic, but also very easy to look at. The music is great as well, there aren't any famous songs on the soundtrack, it's all underground stuff.



The story is also amazing, it perfectly builds up to the final revelation. The ending is absolutely fantastic, with some great symbolism taking place. I also feel like the movie gives a very accurate depiction of these types of lowlevel criminals. You would not want to hang around with these junkies. The way they use drugs and booze, mistreat their kids and each other, get into fights, it strikes me as very realistic.



Mads Mikkelsen, per the usual, was brilliant as the protagonist. I love it when he has a part in a series or movie that is worthy of his acting genious. He gives such a layered and nuanced performance, he totally makes the character his own. There really is nothing this man can't do. Hannibal, Le Chiffre, Tonny, One-Eye, Lucas are all such great performances and they are all so different. I wish more actors could handle such a diversity in roles.



I must say that Refn as a director keeps on impressing me. I think I have seen every big movie of his besides Pusher III and Bronson and I have yet to find a bad flick in there. In fact I would argue that the man has made two stonecold classics with Drive and Pusher II. And Only God Forgives and Valhalla Rising, though more artsy, are definetely worthy of classic status as well.



If anyone is looking for some good gangster flicks (don't look for glorification though, that's not present here), certainly check out the Pusher films. They're all stand-alones, with only a couple of references and characters returning. So, you can jump in anywhere. Pusher II is the best flick, but I would still advise you to watch the Pusher I first, so that you get the sly nods.


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Veltigar Council Member

Veltigar

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I didn't really love the first Pusher, I'll have to watch the second one then. I did always plan to, it's just that my DVDs are in a different country to me except when I'm home for the holidays.

Yes, certainly watch the second one. It's great :)

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Davrum Council Member

Davrum

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I remember the summer I first watched Band of Brothers was the same summer I played the first Call of Duty (late 2003). In the evenings my little brother and I would watch an episode and then play a stage of the game.



Good times.


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Veltigar Council Member

Veltigar

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Saw the director's cut of Amadeus last night. Very few movies deserve to be 180 minutes. Amadeus isn't one of them. I wish I had just watched the theatrical cut. Cutting twenty minutes would have improved the pace greatly and I don't feel like the extra scenes added anything. A shame really, because their is a lot to like about this movie. Whenever the music kicks in, Amadeus comes alive. It really sells you on Mozart's brilliance. I also really liked the final flashback. In the beginning, I wanted to punch Mozart in the face, but Tom Hulce's performance creeps up on you. F. Murray Abraham was good as well. I also liked the attention the costumes and locations. You can really see that they didn't use many sets. I'm particulaly a fan of Mozart's wigs, which just looked that much more frivolous than any other. Really in line with the character.



Now the things I didn't like. Besides the glacial pace and the unnecessary scenes (probably better in the theatrical cut), there were some other things that bothered me. I did not care for the framing device. Everything in flashback was great, but the scenes with old Salieri were such a bore. The old man make up was horrendous, the voice-over bugged me a little and the guy who played the priest was really just windowdressing. I also didn't like Elizabeth Berridge. She dragged the movie down a little.



All in all, this was a good flick. I wouldn't say it's one of the greatest of all time though. Definitely not in the director's cut.


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JonArryn Council Member

JonArryn

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Watched Grand Budapest Hotel yesterday. First time I saw a full Wes Anderson movie and I enjoyed it. I will definitely check out more of his works.

He was kind of reminiscent of Tarantino in the way that they both have so unique movies.

Now, GBH wasn't brilliant but I definitely think it was good. Ralph Fiennes was great and I kind of enjoyed the morbid and macabre kind of humor.

Will put Tenenbaums and Life Aquatic in my to watch list and see after that.

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Davrum Council Member

Davrum

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Will put Tenenbaums and Life Aquatic in my to watch list and see after that.

Those are great films. Watch Rushmore too. In fact, maybe watch that one first, especially if you're still at school. For me it's not quite as good as Tenenbaums or The Life Aquatic but people who watched Rushmore while they were at school seem to choose that as their favourite even years later.

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Nictarion Council Member

Nictarion

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Love Wes Anderson. He's probably in my top 5 of director's working today. He has one of the most distinctive styles in the business. You can literally look at one frame of a Wes Anderson movie and identify who made it. I love the look and feel of his movies, and most of them have a lot of heart.

I'd rank them;

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Rushmore

The Royal Tennebaums

Moonrise Kingdom

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

Bottle Rocket

The Darjeeling Limited

I haven't seen Fantastic Mr.Fox.

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