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Magpie
Immortal
Sep 22 2014, 4:16am
Post #1 of 67
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What movies, tv shows, etc. have you watched recently? The US Fall tv season starts this week!
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tell us about them here.
I've got my eye out for these shows premiering this week:
Monday
Gotham premieres - looks stylish and the actor playing the Penguin looks intriguing. Sean Pertwee and Donal Logue are also in this.
Sleepy Hollow returns - it mostly works for me but I love the character of Icabod so much I gotta watch.
The Voice - I would actually be interested in seeing how Gwen Stefani and Pharrell Williams do but I'm more interested in Gotham and Sleepy Hollow.
Tuesday
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D returns
Forever - This actually premiered last week and I didn't catch it. I'm not that interested but it does have Ioan Gruffudd.
Wednesday
Survivor - I've gotten so I don't watch till a few weeks in and people have been culled from the herd. My interest wanes with each new season.
The Middle ~ The Goldbergs ~ Modern Family - I love Modern Family and I caught some episodes of The Goldbergs over the summer and it kind of charmed me. The Middle pretty much holds its own, as well. It's not destination TV for me but I do enjoy episodes when I catch them.
Thursday
I'll watch streaming, DVDs, or go to my second run theater. Nothing on tv that interests me.
Friday
Oh Frickin Dang! I forgot that they moved Amazing Race from Sunday to Friday. The bad part about Sunday is it always started at odd times after football ended. The bad part about Friday is it's kind of my night with the Mister. Oh well... we'll see. Perhaps I can watch it online over the weekend.
Sunday
The Good Wife is back and I'm committed.
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Magpie
Immortal
Sep 22 2014, 4:53am
Post #2 of 67
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Secret Life of Walter Mitty - I liked it well enough. I can't say I remember enough to comment on it.
Orphan Black - I finished season 2 and I loved it. This show just hits all the right notes for me. I love the humor and we laugh a lot. My favorite characters are definitely Helena and Felix. Mild Spoiler regarding Helena - highlight to read >>> There was a really tense moment when I said, "Ooh... he turned his back on Helena" (who Henrik thought he'd knocked out) and sure enough... up rises Helena's head behind him and... that was that! LOVED it. <<<
I took to reading episode recaps at the AVClub which I enjoyed, as well. There was some intelligent stuff in those articles.
I watched the extras and it continues to blow me away that Tatiana plays all these parts. Like I said a few weeks ago, in my head... I know she does. But then they mention that they regretted not getting a scene with Tatiana (playing Allison) acting with Kristian Bruun (playing Donnie) into the finale and I kind of went 'oh... that's right. That's Tatiana playing with Kristian in those scenes. I get that she's the different clones but I kind of don't think about she's the one being Felix's sister AND she's the one kissing Delphine AND she's the one fussing with Donnie. And how hard is it for Jordan Gavaris to play Felix acting a scene with Tatiana first as she plays Sarah and then as she plays Allison?
Impressive all around.
Continuum - it did pick up a little the last few episodes. It's just hard for this to stand up in comparison to Orphan Black for me.
Broadchurch - I really liked this series. I'm not sure how well it will hold up for a second season as they go through the litigation of the crime (rather than the procedural part) but this show wasn't really about 'the crime'. The murder was a MacGuffin to tell the story of the people in the town. So perhaps they can pull it off another season.
Babylon 5 - I'm continuing to watch this with my son who was a big fan of it. Can I just whisper here that ... I'm really not all that impressed with this show. I get that it probably hit a lot of people just right. But it's not hitting me. I have a friend who was a HUGE Farscape fan and I couldn't get into that, either. I just finished the part where they fought the Shadows (and the Vorlons) and won. For all the set up the resolution just seemed rushed and I can't really relate to any of these characters.
Hinterland/Y Gwyll - I watched one episode of this show (available on Netflix streaming) which apparently was shot in Welsh and in English. I'm definitely intrigued and will watch the rest of the episodes. I watched the English language version and it's hard to catch all the Welsh words and names and the closed captions are awful. The same Welsh name might be captioned in two or three different ways, some completely off from what they should be. I have a slight hearing loss that is aggravated by accents and I don't think the speakers we're using are all that great for voices so when I really struggle, I put on headphones. I definitely needed the headphones and I needed to concentrate on the voices.
Once Upon a Time - watching season 3 that just became available on streaming. Not sure why I watch this show but I do.
Land Girls - I had a bout of insomnia this morning and put Land Girls on to watch for the first time. It kind of reminds me - in tone - to Lark Rise to Candleford. I like it well enough but it's a tidge too soap opera-ish for my taste.
That's a lot of tv!
But I watch some of this when I can't sleep at night and the rest of the family is in bed. I watch some while I'm doing dishes or cooking. And there's been nothing on broadcast tv recently as the summer tv season was ending but the fall season hadn't yet begun.
And with the change of seasons, I find I have very low ambition. :-)
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Elizabeth
Half-elven
Sep 22 2014, 4:56am
Post #3 of 67
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14 hours of fascinating, absorbing, wonderful history. We recorded it all, and are watching about one hour every night. Superb!
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Ataahua
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Sep 22 2014, 5:01am
Post #4 of 67
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Finally I can get behind this series of Dr Who! I've been waiting for it to chime with me, and Listen did it - a great spooky episode (the creature under the red blanket was really quite freaky) and Moffat once again used time travel to expand the story really well. And for me, this was the first time that Capaldi felt natural in the Doctor's shoes rather than just filling a role.
I know Listen has had really mixed reviews but I loved it. 
BTW Twitter has a parody feed by 'Queen Elizabeth', and her comment on the latest series is: "This is the strangest episode of The Thick of It that one has seen." 
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
(This post was edited by Ataahua on Sep 22 2014, 5:04am)
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Patty
Immortal
Sep 22 2014, 9:45am
Post #5 of 67
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I'm glad I saw your post about Agents of Shield!
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I had no idea it was about to start back up. Thanks a million!
Weel, I've been watching Outlander, ye ken. I was disappointed with the way the last episode went, in how some dialogue I had wanted to hear from the books was left out. But basically, they are doing a good adaptation.
Rewatched "Matilda". Such a sweet little movie.
Permanent address: Into the West
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Kelly of Water's Edge
Rohan
Sep 22 2014, 10:18am
Post #6 of 67
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just in time for many of the network shows to start up again. I think Ken Burns' vision was that the story of the family was in part the story of the first half of the last century. Teddy, Eleanor and Franklin were deeply flawed in some ways - There's no getting around that Teddy was disturbingly bloodthirsty, Eleanor was too emotionally walled in due to an extremely unpleasant childhood, and Franklin was a selfish narcissist - but each also had good traits which made them, on a whole and for the majority of Americans with some very important exceptions, the right people at the right place and time in history for the country.
I was aware of Teddy's double-whammy of his wife and mother dying the same day (from Burns' National Parks), and that Franklin was notoriously unfaithful to Eleanor, but was unaware of the drama of the Sagamore Hill Roosevelts after Teddy's death.
I can't imagine how scary polio was at the time. It's incredible, really, what FDR accomplished in spite of it. My Godmother (Mom's best friend) had it, and she's now on the medically uncharted journey of Post-Polio as the survivors wait to see how age will affect them.
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dubulous
Rohan
Sep 22 2014, 10:59am
Post #7 of 67
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I felt like Listen was the first really strong episode of the season, and it was followed this week with Time Heist, which I liked even more (also making time travel as part of the story in more than just "let's go to year x to meet person y" kind of way). I feel like the new season is really starting to kick off now after a couple of, not necessarily bad, but a bit average episodes, and Peter Capaldi is coming to his own as the Doctor (which I never doubted he would, but it always seems to take a couple of episodes, even for the best).
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Dame Ioreth
Tol Eressea
Sep 22 2014, 12:16pm
Post #8 of 67
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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is on the same time as NCIS: New Orleans. I really liked the crossover/introduction episodes of NCIS:NO last Spring and I'm intrigued with the new characters enough to want to watch it again this year live but I think I may end up watching SHIELD live just because ABC sets up all that silly sign in with your cable provider etc to watch it online. I don't have not do I want HULU so jumping through online hoops is my road if I miss it live.... and I just can't miss it with everything that happened last year! I will be switching from NCIS over to SHIELD though. Gotta see what Gibbs is up to this year.
I've saw new episodes of Call the Midwife and Land Girls listed on Netflix and thought I had a treat waiting but it turned out to be the most recent season. I must have caught them somewhere else before. Still, I love both for their characters and storylines and The period detail (funny how something my parents were alive for is now "period") so I watched a few episodes of both. It's always so much fun to spot the actors and try to remember where I've seen them before.
My other can't miss show doesn't premiere until late October for some reason - Elementary. I'll give myself a quick refresher before the premiere but that can wait.
I also watched all of the Scottish referendum on independence on BBC World News. That was fascinating to watch given we are coming up on midterm and in our state gubernatorial elections in less than 2 months. We had Shepard's Pie and Bannocks for dinner and watched Brave the day after. I love the animation in Brave but Merida is not one of my favorite characters. Still, after hearing my illustration daughter wax poetic about the animation of Meria's hair (She got to meet and talk with a few of the animators at school), I can watch it an appreciate the artwork.
I also got back into watching All Creatures Great and Small. I"m not a big animal person - even though I love our cats (now cat) I've never wanted to be a vet. But somehow James Herriot's stories pull me in and makes me want to ramble the dales with him, meeting the people and making his mark on the community. And who can resist TrickyWoo and his flop-bot. 
Where there's life there's hope, and need of vittles.
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
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Elarie
Grey Havens
Sep 22 2014, 1:49pm
Post #9 of 67
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A South Korean film in limited release at theaters, about a famous 16th century naval battle between Korea and Japan in which the Korean admiral, with only 12 ships left in his fleet, defeated and turned back an invading Japanese fleet of over 300 ships after luring them into a narrow strait full of crazy currents and whirlpools. The battles scenes were epic, the costumes were gorgeous (although they don't hold up under close-ups like the Hobbit and LOTR costumes do) and the actors were wonderful. There were some great lingering, close-up shots of beautiful swords, which were cool, and the ships were interesting and impressive, but very odd looking to modern eyes.
The story itself is pretty straightforward and centers mostly on the Admiral and his struggles against huge obstacles, and the actor who played this role, Choi Min-sik, was stupendous. The film itself is apparently the current most watched film in South Korea and has passed Avatar as the box office champ there. I thought it was terrific and recommend it to anyone who likes these big, epic battle movies and has the opportunity to see it.
__________________
If this is to end in barrels, then we will all shampoo together.
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Eowyn of Penns Woods
Valinor
Sep 22 2014, 2:03pm
Post #10 of 67
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Just a friendly warning that there may be trouble in paradise, because things might soon get loud enough to become public knowledge. :/
I didn't think you wanted to be kept too much in the loop anymore, but things might become news anyway. Nothing worth worrying about at this point, but that doesn't mean it won't get reported somewhere! =)
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Patty
Immortal
Sep 22 2014, 2:07pm
Post #11 of 67
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Oh, golly...you've GOT to tell me!
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Send me a P.M. PLEASE!
Permanent address: Into the West
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Eowyn of Penns Woods
Valinor
Sep 22 2014, 2:17pm
Post #12 of 67
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I'll get back to you later in the day.
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It takes me forever to compose these things. It's the OCD. =)
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STV: NARTT
NABOUF
Not a TORns*b!
Certified Curmudgeon
Knitting Knerd
NARF: NWtS Chapter Member since June 17,2011
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Patty
Immortal
Sep 22 2014, 2:23pm
Post #13 of 67
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And I still like being in the loop. I'm just not on here is so much anymore because my computer is jacked up. It is windows XP. I'm on the iPad a lot, but Siri isn't very good about being accurate to what I say and I don't like to type it on here the iPad keyboard.
But I'm a big outlander fanI am really upset that they have divided the season like this. Hoping it comes out on blu ray soon. The scenery is gorgeous.
Permanent address: Into the West
(This post was edited by Patty on Sep 22 2014, 2:26pm)
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Elberbeth
Tol Eressea
Sep 22 2014, 2:40pm
Post #14 of 67
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and I can't help being struck by the parallels to our modern-day issues. We seem to have taken several steps forward and almost as many back.
"There are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse, even though the end may be dark."
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Loresilme
Valinor
Sep 22 2014, 2:53pm
Post #15 of 67
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I don't know why so many reviews for The Giver were so unfavorable. I read the book as well, and I thought both were excellent. The book was very intimate, most of the events are low key and much of the conflict takes place inside the main character's head, and it was written in a style that conveyed a lot of information through exposition. It all worked in the book, but for a movie, I understood and agree with their approach.
They were very true to the story and characters, for instance, they did not 'invent' a movie-convention antagonist, they did not radically change any of the characters in order to follow any typical movie convention. Instead they just introduced a little more external tension in the events and expanded upon the existing characters in order for the audience to understand what was going on.
I found the film as moving and as thoughtful as the book was. I thought it stayed true to the main ideas of the story and I liked it very much.
(This post was edited by Loresilme on Sep 22 2014, 2:54pm)
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Annael
Immortal
Sep 22 2014, 3:16pm
Post #16 of 67
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This week:
The Big Bang Theory
NCIS
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Next week:
Once Upon a Time
Castle
October:
The Flash
Arrow
Constantine
Gotham
I might look at Forever too. Also looking forward to the return of NCIS, Continuum, Orphan Black, and Defiant.
And I'll be watching a bit of football. Not a real football fan, but: Seahawks. (I am a baseball fan, but my hopes that the Mariners will get themselves into the playoffs are thin at this point.)
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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Magpie
Immortal
Sep 22 2014, 3:27pm
Post #17 of 67
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Ken Burns and associates on Face the Nation
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I haven't watched the specials. It's my intention to do so when they become available on DVD or streaming.
But I caught Ken Burns along with Geoff Ward, who wrote "The Roosevelts" and has worked with Ken on many projects and Doris Kearns Goodwin, the historian, who wrote both "The Bully Pulpit" and "No Ordinary Time" and contributed to "The Roosevelts" when they were on Face the Nation (text in italics copied from FtN transcripts).
The other comments on the documentary (in this thread) made me think of portions of this panel's discussion. You can read the transcript here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/...cdonough-gillibrand/
Do a page search for "Ken Burns" to find the segment on "The Roosevelts".
One point they made was that the press had kind of an honor code not to focus on or discuss Franklin's physical limitations and that Franklin provided extensive access to the press of himself and the White House. Over time, the increasing scrutiny we give politics and politicians have resulted in politicians developing this protective bubble that isolates them from the public and isolates the public from the people in and the process of politics.
from the transcript, Burns speaking: This is a man who had 998 press conferences. Those reporters and the people who were around him saw all this stuff, saw the huge effort, but also had a kind of intimate access to him as the chief executive.
And so I think, you know, we sort of think that it's really good that we know everything, it may not be really good that we know everything. And because we know everything, there is now a moat around the presidency and our great leaders that then removes us from the possibility of truly knowing them.
But he had access. He fancied himself a newspaperman and -- and knew them by name. And I think they not only saw the arduousness and the sacrifice and didn't write about it, but they had a much clearer idea of all the other things that were going on at the time, in a way that we don't now. We -- we're still talking about the bubble and how much the person gets isolated in the bubble and that we are unaware of what's really going on...
It's just interesting to look at how things change or stay the same and what thing influences what other thing. It's a good example of how looking at where we've been can help us understand where we are and where we hope to go.
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(This post was edited by Magpie on Sep 22 2014, 3:28pm)
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Magpie
Immortal
Sep 22 2014, 3:35pm
Post #20 of 67
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not in Oct.
I forgot to mention that we're catching up on season 2 of Arrow on DVD. I decided I just couldn't make sure I saw it every week in real time so I just wait for it to come out on DVD or streaming.
Because of Arrow, I'm somewhat interested in how The Flash turns out. I would probably watch that second hand if it looks good. The same with Once Upon a Time. That show conflicted with Amazing Grace and (depending on football) The Good Wife on Sundays so I never watched it in its first run.
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Old Toby
Grey Havens
Sep 22 2014, 4:52pm
Post #21 of 67
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I've been heading to the indie films theaters here lately, not finding anything I've wanted to see in the usual commercial ones. I saw a little film called We Are Northern Lights. Here's the description the Movie Museum had:
"WE ARE NORTHERN LIGHTS (2013-Scotland) 95m *** 1⁄2 D: Nick Higgins, David Graham Scott. For this ex- traordinary documentary 50,000 ordinary Scots submitted a total of 300 hours of footage which was then pains- takingly edited into a composite portrait of Scotland. From the Borders to the Highlands to the Western and Northern Isles, the funny, friendly, down-to-earth Scottish per- sonality pervades this inspiring film. Nominated for a BAFTAAudienceAward."
It was an interesting view of Scotland, to be sure. Not your usual landscape-laden travel film, but one from far more personal perspectives. More about the people who make the place, and, not surprisingly, how they are pretty much just like everyone else you know. One thing I learned though: the weather there is absolutely relentless!!
And my favorite part was done by an older man who worked at a stone quarry. His video was hysterical and done very straight tongue-in-cheek. He showed rocks of various sizes and shapes. One shot was of a small rock covered with moss sitting on top of a larger rock, also covered with moss. His comment was: "This wee stone is camouflaged. To protect it from predators."
"Age is always advancing and I'm fairly sure it's up to no good." Harry Dresden (Jim Butcher)
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Kelly of Water's Edge
Rohan
Sep 22 2014, 5:23pm
Post #22 of 67
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when reporters took the president's PR at it's word about his personal life, and people felt it was none of their business so long as it didn't affect the presiden't job. The public didn't find out about certain things like extramarital affairs until well after the fact - often not during the president's lifetime. I think things really started up again around when Gary Hart lost his shot at the job when his affair was revealed, although I could be wrong.
Interestingly, this is nothing new. Alexander Hamilton never got higher office than the Secretary of the Treasury because his enemies exposed his adultery after digging because they couldn't find proof that he did anything wrong in the capacity of his job, and rumors flew about Thomas Jefferson's relationship with his slave Sally Hemmings even at the time. William Safire wrote a very interesting historical novel called "Scandalmonger" about the mudslinging that wen on during the first few presidencies.
I'm not sure what I think about it. On the one hand, I do think that - unlike celebrities - the personal lives of political candidates are fair game because you can't get a sense of what they might do about issues that matter to you if you don't know about parts of their lives they may be trying to hide which might inform decisions which might affect you. On the other, a politician can be a crummy spouse, parent or child, but still enact great legislation. It can be really hard to strike a balance.
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Annael
Immortal
Sep 22 2014, 5:36pm
Post #23 of 67
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I have choir, but also a DVR, yay. I record all my favs and watch them when I have time (weekends mostly).
"Once" turned out to be much better than I would have guessed from the initial trailers. As a mythologist I'm usually quite happy with what they do with it.
I'm interested in "Gotham" mostly because it looks like Sean Pertwee is in it, and I always watch Sean Pertwee.
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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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Sep 22 2014, 5:41pm
Post #24 of 67
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This is another multi-platform Internet show by Pemberly Digital, the folks that brought us the Lizzie Bennet Diaries and Emma Approved. The mad doctor is a young woman in this adaptation, and she's trying to resurrect the corpse of a friend who died in a climbing accident, using modern technology like 3D printing and gene splicing. It took me a while to warm to it, but I do love the actress. There are some gory bits, which isn't really my cup of tea, and the science is pretty flaky. But she's cute and her assistant Iggy is fun too. My favorite line so far: Iggy says "I have a Dark Lord for my lab partner." (referring to Victoria.)
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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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(This post was edited by Aunt Dora Baggins on Sep 22 2014, 5:43pm)
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Magpie
Immortal
Sep 22 2014, 5:46pm
Post #25 of 67
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It's weaving the fairy tales together that keeps me interested
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I have only minimal patience for the main characters although I think they suffer by trying to fit the tropes/stereotypes they are intending to fit. So it's hard to fault them too much. Snow and Charming drive me nuts with their Disney chirpiness.
But I do enjoy watching how the extended worlds are created and populated by characters we're all familiar with.
When I read picture books to students, a very good portion of the books fell into the fairytale, legend, folklore, folktales, and myth categories. And I enjoyed looking at variations of those tales whether they be ethnic/cultural/geographic variations or just fun, parody, and/or contemporary variations.
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