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Magpie
Immortal
Jul 7 2014, 4:00am
Post #2 of 31
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Helix, True Detective, Sherlock 3/1, Under the Greenwood Tree
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I thought I'd give two new (from this last year) tv shows a try.
The first disc of Helix made a so-so impression on me. First, it's a little more graphically 'bloody' than suits me. Next, I didn't think it was all that well written. But I'll likely stick it out for the whole season. I would call this a twist on zombie movies. They aren't zombies. But they might as well be.
From articles at io9, I was getting wind of the buzz surrounding True Detective. I try to remain as spoiler free as possible but I did get a general hint on the direction the show was taking. The presentation is set up in an interesting and fairly unique way. It's, on the surfaces, a detective procedural drama. Beyond the surface, it's a bit talky - with lots of philosophy - although I may be misusing that term. The talk stuff defines the characters though so I think it's appropriate.
To 'spoil' just a tidge more in the interest of providing more info... it's a bit nihilistic. The crime, which is revealed in the first 5 minutes, is a seemingly ritualistic murder which is likely the work of a serial killer. In some ways, this reminds me of the NZ thriller, Top of the Lake (which I talked about a little here in the past) and that reminded some people of Twin Peaks. The location and the people that inhabit it are a major part of the story. The setting is the south coastal region of Louisiana with mostly small towns and small town people.
And, to provide another layer of 'spoil,' to provide another layer of info.... it's, apparently, influenced by "weird supernatural horror genre" - of which Lovecraft is perhaps the most well known writer.
I've never delved into Lovecraft or anything like it and I've never had an interest to. So this show shouldn't appeal to me. I'm mostly checking it out because of the buzz. That said, it is compelling to watch in the same way other HBO shows that are also 'tough' to watch are/were such as Game of Thrones and Deadwood. Matthew McConaughey nails his character. The writers consider the audience intelligent and they provide lots to notice and ponder and they don't assume you need it all laid out on a platter.
I'll let you know how I feel about it when I finish the season.
I finally got around to watching the first episode of Season 3 of Sherlock. It was okay. Watson was fed up with Sherlock and I could have slapped him myself. I don't know. I feel like I should like this more than I do.
And I watched Under the Greenwood Tree after discussing it here in the last few weeks. It was okay. I was a tiny bit disappointed not to see true English Country Dancing but that's not unpredictible for a theatrical production. I couldn't figure out where I'd seen Dick Dewey before and had to look it up: Primeval. :-)
LOTR soundtrack website ~ magpie avatar gallery
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(This post was edited by dernwyn on Jul 7 2014, 3:55pm)
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Kim
Valinor
Jul 7 2014, 4:45am
Post #3 of 31
(969 views)
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Yep, Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto did very well. But I dunno, I just didn't get pulled into the story, I think in part because I found the jump cut style of filming distracting.
Agree with you on Sherlock, I found it a little frustrating the first time I watched it. And I too found Under the Greenwood Tree just ok, I didn't know the story before I watched it, but it just felt kinda meh to me, like it wasn't really going anywhere.
Thanks for the info on Helix - sounds like it might be a little too far into the horror genre for me. Too bad, I like Billy Campbell.
"Jagatud rõõm on topelt rõõm - a shared joy is a double joy". ~Estonian saying
“As such, you will address His Majesty as His Majesty, the Lord of Silver Fountains, the King of Carven Stone, the King Beneath the Mountain, the Lion of Erebor, the High King of the Dwarves, the True Treasure of Erebor, the Face that Launched 10,000 Sighs, or Thorin the Majestic..."
http://newboards.theonering.net/...forum_view_collapsed
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Starling
Half-elven
Jul 7 2014, 5:51am
Post #4 of 31
(955 views)
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I haven't seen this since it screened on TV when I was a child, probably around 1974. I have extremely vivid memories of two of the more severe bullying incidents that were portrayed in the programme, and I have had these pictures in my head for 40 years.
I am three episodes into the five episode series. What I have found to be a lovely surprise is how good this series is. I often watch things like this from a nostalgia point of view, and some of these 70's productions can be rather slow. But this moves at quite a cracking pace, the script is excellent, and villains and heroes are equally skilled in their respective roles. Iain Cuthbertson seemed to be in everything I watched as a child, and he is great as the somewhat liberal principal of Rugby School. I think I had a bit of a crush on him when I was little. Oh, and the bullying is still horrible.
Definitely recommended.
Warning: contains bad wigs and strange pants.
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Jul 7 2014, 6:10am
Post #5 of 31
(970 views)
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This is a "based on a true story" modern-day pirate movie, about Somali pirates vs. an American cargo ship. The ever-wonderful Tom Hanks plays the cargo-ship captain, and the actor playing the pirate captain is wonderful too. It's a tense thriller, but not too gory. I read later that the crew members said the movie made the American captain out to be more of a hero than he really was.
There were a couple of what tvtropes calls "armor piercing" moments. One was when the Somali captain says "I made 5 million dollars last year." The American captain says, "Then why are you back here?"
And then when the American captain says, "You're not just a fisherman, are you? Isn't there something else you could do [besides piracy]?" The Somali captain frowns and says, "Maybe in America."
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"For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century."
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"A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories
leleni at hotmail dot com
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Elizabeth
Half-elven
Jul 7 2014, 7:20am
Post #6 of 31
(955 views)
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It was really excellent. There were some wonderful British series on PBS in those days. Where did you find this?
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Magpie
Immortal
Jul 7 2014, 12:44pm
Post #7 of 31
(962 views)
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I was a bit unclear in my post and have asked for an edit
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I wrote one paragraph about Helix.
The next paragraph, I've started talking about True Detective.
I've asked the mods to edit it so it's not so confusing.
sorry for any confusion and differentiating between Helix and True Detective might make Helix sound a little less daunting.
But Helix is also, imo, way less 'impressive' as a show than True Detective. I was kind of disappointed to see Ronald D Moore's name attached to Helix because I gained a lot of respect for Moore in Battlestar Galactica. But apparently his involvement he just let them run the concept past him and he pitched them some ideas. So he's credited as an executive producer.
LOTR soundtrack website ~ magpie avatar gallery
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Elberbeth
Tol Eressea
Jul 7 2014, 2:53pm
Post #8 of 31
(945 views)
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A series of hour-long documentaries on CNN, The Cuban Missile Crisis, The War on Vietnam, Long Walk to Freedom, and Television Comes of Age, done along the lines of Ken Burns and Tom Hanks was one of the producers. Really interesting for someone who remembers these things happening, but only from the viewpoint of a child. For instance, I was never aware of: how close we came to disaster during the Cuban crisis; how Vietnam became a sinkhole morally and politically, the anguish of President Johnson and McNamara; and the wrenching civil rights battle. The television one was mostly just fun seeing the likes of Johnny Carson, the Smothers Brothers and Rowan and Martin, but also how it brought the war in Vietnam into everyone's living rooms.
"There are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse, even though the end may be dark."
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Annael
Immortal
Jul 7 2014, 3:24pm
Post #9 of 31
(944 views)
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Hypnotic, romantic, sexy, with only rare moments that remind you these are vampires, after all. (The final shot still rings in my mind). Everyone in the movie is excellent: Tilda Swinton (who is either naturally ageless or truly a vampire), Tom Hiddleston, Anton Yelchin, Mia Wasikowski.
To be sane we must recognize our beliefs as fictions.
- James Hillman, Healing Fiction
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
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Kim
Valinor
Jul 7 2014, 6:49pm
Post #10 of 31
(916 views)
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Ah, thanks for the clarification
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now True Detective sounds a little scary for me. 
"Jagatud rõõm on topelt rõõm - a shared joy is a double joy". ~Estonian saying
“As such, you will address His Majesty as His Majesty, the Lord of Silver Fountains, the King of Carven Stone, the King Beneath the Mountain, the Lion of Erebor, the High King of the Dwarves, the True Treasure of Erebor, the Face that Launched 10,000 Sighs, or Thorin the Majestic..."
http://newboards.theonering.net/...forum_view_collapsed
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Ataahua
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Jul 7 2014, 7:19pm
Post #11 of 31
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1hr 40m of The Wolf of Wall Street.
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That was all that I could stomach. I kept expecting the long set-up of DiCaprio's character to end and the story to move on from callous debauchery and casual cruelty, but the scene in the airplane was beyond my limit. So those who saw the entire film: Did it continue along the vein of celebration of a truly horrible character, or did the movie change tone later on?
Celebrimbor: "Pretty rings..."
Dwarves: "Pretty rings..."
Men: "Pretty rings..."
Sauron: "Mine's better."
"Ah, how ironic, the addictive qualities of Sauron’s master weapon led to its own destruction. Which just goes to show, kids - if you want two small and noble souls to succeed on a mission of dire importance... send an evil-minded beggar with them too." - Gandalf's Diaries, final par, by Ufthak.
Ataahua's stories
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Starling
Half-elven
Jul 7 2014, 8:08pm
Post #12 of 31
(906 views)
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I can find nearly everything I want to watch this way.
My sister and I were talking about Tom Brown's Schooldays and remembering how the same effort was put into children's TV as it was into adult programming in those days, so they really do stand the test of time. Actors, directors and production crew of high calibre were often involved in the children's programmes.
One of the most notable examples of this is Follyfoot, with both Michael Apted and Stephen Frears directing episodes.
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squire
Half-elven
Jul 7 2014, 8:35pm
Post #13 of 31
(910 views)
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Did you ever see "Tomkinson's Schooldays"?
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It was a post-Flying Circus send-up of "Tom Brown's Schooldays" by the Monty Python comedians.
I remember the "Tom Brown" series with fondness, but as high-Victorian drama it is utterly unironic and thus has always been ripe for a ribbing by post-Victorian Brits. Michael Palin wrote "Tomkinson's Schooldays" with perfect pitch: the school bully always answers his phone with "School Bully", and gives his job to the put-upon hero Tomkinson when he is promoted to Eton ("Where's Eton's bully, then?" "Got a position in Government.") The Headmaster's school prayer is "Oh Lord, we give thee humble and hearty thanks for this, thy gift of discipline, knowing that it is only through the constraints of others that we come to know ourselves, and only through true misery can we find true contentment."
There's also George MacDonald Fraser's "Flashman" series, in which our beloved villain Harry Flashman, Tom Brown's nemesis, after expulsion from Rugby becomes the anti-hero of a wild series of British Empire escapades.
squire online:
RR Discussions: The Valaquenta, A Shortcut to Mushrooms, and Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
Lights! Action! Discuss on the Movie board!: 'A Journey in the Dark'. and 'Designing The Two Towers'.
Footeramas: The 3rd & 4th TORn Reading Room LotR Discussion and NOW the 1st BotR Discussion too! and "Tolkien would have LOVED it!"
squiretalk introduces the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: A Reader's Diary
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Starling
Half-elven
Jul 7 2014, 8:49pm
Post #14 of 31
(903 views)
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It was great. We even had the 'Ripping Yarns' book.
I haven't seen the Flashman series though.
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Magpie
Immortal
Jul 7 2014, 9:09pm
Post #15 of 31
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so far (three episodes in), it is a 'little' scary but it's not anywhere near the intensity of lots of other shows I watch.
But then, I think we're just getting started so ... watch this space for how I feel about it after watching more episodes.
I did a site search and two people have reported watching it. Both loved it. But I think both(?) compared it with Game of Thrones so that, perhaps, gives you an idea of 'intensity'.
I should say, this is HBO. There are the HBO-obligatory sex scenes. :-)
LOTR soundtrack website ~ magpie avatar gallery
TORn History Mathom-house ~ Torn Image Posting Guide
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Kilidoescartwheels
Valinor
Jul 7 2014, 9:43pm
Post #16 of 31
(903 views)
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Finally watched it - I really appreciated the storyline, and it made me want to go on my own adventure!
Also the latest episode of "Halt & Catch Fire." Lee Pace is a sexual beast, and I can't tell if things are hitting him or not. His character is a total narcisist who may not be capable of telling the truth, but honestly I think in this episode something may have finally gotten through to him.
As for "Sherlock" Season 3, I can agree that perhaps the season isn't as good as the first two, but still liked it anyway. My biggest complaint (SPOILER ALERT!!!) is that they wasted a perfectly good villian in the last episode, oh, well.
Also my obligatory re-watching of the Hobbit DoS - lost count of how many times I've seen it, I'm a little psychotic in this regard, and totally smitten by Thorin/Richard Armitage  (kind of creepy, I admit!).
(This post was edited by Kilidoescartwheels on Jul 7 2014, 9:48pm)
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Kimi
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Jul 7 2014, 10:44pm
Post #17 of 31
(897 views)
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We stayed up foolishly late watching this series, as it was just too hard to stop. Gripping, engrossing, powerful. Dark, but not gory; shocking in places, but with surprising moments of light. An exquisite (in more than one sense) exploration of grief. Parallels and foreshadowing left for the viewer to notice (or not).
Beautiful scenery, wonderful performances - and lovely to hear David Tennant speaking in his Scottish accent!
A scene near the end is stunningly lovely, and made me weep tears that were most definitely not an evil (it's also very reminiscent of a moment from "The Two Towers" movie).
The Passing of Mistress Rose
My historical novels
Do we find happiness so often that we should turn it off the box when it happens to sit there?
- A Room With a View
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Meneldor
Valinor
Jul 9 2014, 4:19am
Post #18 of 31
(864 views)
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1964, James Garner & Eva Marie Saint. Decent suspense/drama about an American with D-Day info resisting Nazi interrogators. James "Scotty" Doohan has a quick cameo, and John "Sgt Schulz" Banner is unintentionally hilarious as a corrupt German guard.
They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep.
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grammaboodawg
Immortal
Jul 9 2014, 7:34pm
Post #19 of 31
(862 views)
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The Syfy Channel did themselves proud this weekend!
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I had so much fun watching their made-for-tv movie, "The End of the World"
It's got the usual science-fiction, "OMG! It's the end of the world!" situation, but the protagonists are workers from a video store who are massive sci-fi/fantasy geeks that toss in so many movie references you could drown in them! It was GREAT! If you did a drinking game for every reference heard, you'd be drunk by the end. They were actually using situations from movies they'd seen to deal with the oncoming apocalypse.
  
The lead character is Greg Grunberg (airline pilot from LOST) AND features Brad Dourif (Wormtongue). J.J. Abrams once said Greg was one of his favourite people to work with.
It was exactly what I needed in a weekend full of *kaff* cleaning house! It's going to be on again August 15th... so I'm definitely recording this one!
6th draft of TH:AUJ Geeky Observation List - November 28, 2013
4th draft of TH:DOS Geeky Observation List - May 15, 2014
"There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West."
I'm SO HAPPY these new films take me back to that magical world!!
TIME Google Calendar
TORn's Geeky Observations Lists for LotR and The Hobbit
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Meneldor
Valinor
Jul 10 2014, 3:57am
Post #20 of 31
(850 views)
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First episode of the A&E miniseries from 1999. Some of the ship model fx shows that they didn't have a huge budget, but the stories and CS Forester's immortal characters carry the day.
When I grow up, I want to be Captain Pellew.
They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep.
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Kim
Valinor
Jul 10 2014, 5:14am
Post #21 of 31
(847 views)
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Just got done watching the first episode - pretty solid pilot. Definitely interesting enough to get me to continue watching.
"Jagatud rõõm on topelt rõõm - a shared joy is a double joy". ~Estonian saying
“As such, you will address His Majesty as His Majesty, the Lord of Silver Fountains, the King of Carven Stone, the King Beneath the Mountain, the Lion of Erebor, the High King of the Dwarves, the True Treasure of Erebor, the Face that Launched 10,000 Sighs, or Thorin the Majestic..."
http://newboards.theonering.net/...forum_view_collapsed
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smtfhw
Lorien
Jul 10 2014, 9:14am
Post #22 of 31
(840 views)
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Waiting for the DVD Release now...
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Saw this a few months back and loved it utterly and unreservedly. I still think it possible that Tilda Swinton is actually not from the same planet as the rest of us... Also the sountrack absolutely blew me away.
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Meneldor
Valinor
Jul 11 2014, 3:32am
Post #23 of 31
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With special guest star Denis "Wedge" Lawson, not wearing an orange flight suit. When an enemy ship appeared, I was a little disappointed that he didn't say, "Look at the size of that thing!"
They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep.
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Elizabeth
Half-elven
Jul 11 2014, 5:01am
Post #24 of 31
(833 views)
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The period from the mid-60's to the mid-70's was one of the most dramatic, with so many events that totally changed the arc of history. I was mid-20's to mid-30's then, and both working at and attending UC-Berkeley (an epicenter of much of the action). Some of those moments are just burned into my mind.
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Annael
Immortal
Jul 11 2014, 2:59pm
Post #25 of 31
(818 views)
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yeah, I think this is on the "buy" list
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I imagine I'll see new things every time I watch it. Alas it's already left my little town's theater or I'd go right back & see it again.
To be sane we must recognize our beliefs as fictions.
- James Hillman, Healing Fiction
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
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