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Watch, Watched, Watching: November Rain

Ramsay B.

By Ramsay B.,
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JGP Council Member

JGP

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2 minutes ago, Veltigar said:

Haven't had much time to watch much of anything lately. Patiently waiting for the time, I need to binge Emily Blunt's The English Western on the BBC. 

I crushed this series over the weekend. Understated twists [nothing jaw dropping or completely unexpected] but they were set up well and handled more in a character revealing way as opposed to plot shocks. Nothing felt forced, or overtly graphic [ie: massacre porn] and end sequence hit me surprisingly hard.

Blunt and Spencer as the leads were great and had good chemistry.

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Ran Council Member

Ran

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A couple of podcasts (Blank Check's Kubrick series and Screen Drafts's latest episode on Akira Kurosawa) led to some rewatching on my part:

 

Full Metal Jacket -- As good as always, especially the first act at boot camp in "Parris Island" (actually the UK, everything was within 20 or so miles of where Kubrick lived). This is maybe the first time I've seen the film in the last 10-15 years, so the podcast made me aware that Jack's dad from Lost, John Terry, was the Stars and Stripe officer/editor in the second act.

One Wonderful Sunday -- This ended up being picked on the draft, to the shock of many listeners no doubt (no Seven Samurai, no Rashomon, no High and Low -- quirky list!) and it was an early Kurosawa film I'd never seen or even really heard of, a fact that was noted by both drafters. And... gosh, I think this is definitely minor Kurosawa, which means it's good, certainly, and worth seeing, but it wasn't what I expected. 

In brief, it's a romantic drama about two young lovers struggling in post-war Japan. Inflation is high, they are impoverished, their dreams of marriage being put off by the war and then the lack of economic security. They can only meet once a week on Sunday. On this particular Sunday, they have only 35 yen between them to enjoy the day with (the equivalent of maybe $20 today), and we follow them through Tokyo as their efforts to enjoy themselves are thwarted again and again, and the question of whether they should give up on their plans and accept reality looms ever larger. Yuzo, the man, is clearly wrestling with depression and what's probably PTSD from having fought in the war, while Masako is the optimist of the pair. There's some nice segments of life in Tokyo at the time -- people flocking to a Schubert concert (only for scalpers to buy up all the cheap general audience tickets and jack up the price), kids playing stickball in the streets, the novelty of a cabaret club (run by a war buddy of Yuzo's, but when he tries to meet him the staff assume he's a vagrant or perhaps a minor hoodlum and fob him off to the kitchen where they give him food, booze, and an envelope with some cash) -- and the leads are likable but not especially remarkable.

The best bit was a very unusual moment for Kurosawa, when at a key moment Masako looks into the camera and directly addresses the audience, begging for their applause to help her and Yuzo make it through their dark time. Very much pulls at the heart strings, and I imagine it would have been very effective to stir the crowd in a movie theater. It's very saccharine, I admit, but it was nice to see something so different and earnest.

In any case, as the only romance Kurosawa ever directed, it's worth seeing, but it's definitely not among his best works.

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Tywin et al. Council Member

Tywin et al.

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I will always maintain that Catherine Zeta-Jones is one of the ten most beautiful women I've ever seen on either the big or small screen.

You're god damn right I watched The Mask of Zorro!!! Put that on the list of movies I've watched too many times. Also on that list, The 13th Warrior, Interview With the Vampire and two of the movies in Robert Rodriguez's Mexico trilogy, so maybe I have a thing for Banderas as well. Sue me. 

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Underfoot Council Member

Underfoot

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Watched S2 of Warrior Nun and I enjoyed it a lot less than s1. Not sure if I was just in the wrong mood, but I remembered the first season as having very Buffy-wsque vibes, campy in a good way and with some emotional depth. Everything this season felt forced. Disappointing, especially given it's good representation.

I also watched Station Eleven and liked it a lot. Crazy to think it had to stop filming due to covid. I liked most of the changes from the book.

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Jaxom 1974 Council Member

Jaxom 1974

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Honestly...where does The Crown Season 6 go...?  Peter Morgan covered Diana's death and the immediate aftermath pretty comprehensively I thought with The Queen...unless they spend more time with Fayed's father...but then it isn't a show about the Crown...

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Heartofice Council Member

Heartofice

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19 minutes ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

Honestly...where does The Crown Season 6 go...?  Peter Morgan covered Diana's death and the immediate aftermath pretty comprehensively I thought with The Queen...unless they spend more time with Fayed's father...but then it isn't a show about the Crown...

I haven’t finished this season yet but I guess they need to start dealing with the next generation, William and Harry and what the royal family is about at this current point. How much they will actually be able to tell about that story is very unclear. How does it conflict with Harry’s Netflix deal?

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Jaxom 1974 Council Member

Jaxom 1974

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9 minutes ago, Heartofice said:

I haven’t finished this season yet but I guess they need to start dealing with the next generation, William and Harry and what the royal family is about at this current point. How much they will actually be able to tell about that story is very unclear. How does it conflict with Harry’s Netflix deal?

How do you squeeze 10 episodes out of the last 25 years? Has there been that many interesting things? (Likely there is plenty that most people don't realize), but other than the Olympics in 2012 and Harry's terrible Halloween costume choices, is there enough drama pre-Meghan?

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Heartofice Council Member

Heartofice

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30 minutes ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

How do you squeeze 10 episodes out of the last 25 years? Has there been that many interesting things? (Likely there is plenty that most people don't realize), but other than the Olympics in 2012 and Harry's terrible Halloween costume choices, is there enough drama pre-Meghan?

True, maybe it's not a full season, though the Crown often jumps into realms not totally royal, and there have been quite a few big events in British history in the last few years.

I don't think they would go too current, but they could start to hint at the tensions between William and Harry and his breakaway from the royals, how much can they hint at Andrew and his...'behaviour'. William being such a bore is not very helpful for them however, but I think there is something to say in that final season about how the Royals fit in modern society and have had to adapt. 

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Deadlines? What Deadlines? Council Member

Deadlines? What Deadlines?

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44 minutes ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

How do you squeeze 10 episodes out of the last 25 years? Has there been that many interesting things? (Likely there is plenty that most people don't realize), but other than the Olympics in 2012 and Harry's terrible Halloween costume choices, is there enough drama pre-Meghan?

Season 6 will likely focus on Dianas life and death. Beyond that they could go back to the previous seasons' plot device of having the royal families stories intersect with other historic events.  There have been a few. 

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Gigei Council Member

Gigei

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Just finished Interview with the Vampire. It was okay, but I read the books so it was really weird for me since they pretty much changed everything about it. Why even license a story when you're just going to make it totally different?

The standout is Lestat though, which is exactly as it should be.

I don't hate it.

:read: I will refrain from spoilers so here are some general thoughts:

  • I understand why they changed Louis, but it just didn't work for me. All of Lestat's lovers have been "good" people so making Louis into a brawler pimp doesn't do it for me.
  • They aged up Claudia which drastically changed her story. Or maybe just the dynamic. She can kinda pass for an older teen with some makeup and whatnot which was impossible for book Claudia who was only 5 years old.
  • Vampires in the tv version can have sex, and I'm okay with that.

The only thing I'm concerned about is that Claudia is way too old.

Book spoiler:

Spoiler

The whole reason she was killed was because it's forbidden to make a vampire child. TV Claudia simply isn't young enough fro this to be a concern so how are the gonna handle her death?

 

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RhaenysBee Council Member

RhaenysBee

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I absolutely love this show. Everybody is messed up and that makes me feel like less of a messed up freak. And helps me find humor in being a messed up freak too, I suppose. 
there’s of course different levels and ways of messed up which makes the show so interesting and dynamic and relatable. 

Spoiler

The Mossbacher parents are the most normal people and Quinn and Belinda are also both quite all right. But the rest, wow. All kinds of f-ed up. Rachel, Shane, Armond, Tanya, Paula, Olivia. Incredible :lmao: 

Oh it’s incredible, everybody is absolutely insufferable in season 2 as well. :lol: 

Spoiler

This new person, she’s worse than Olivia, I don’t know her name yet, the one played by Aubrey Plaza, sooooo bad. 

 

Edited by RhaenysBee
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