What are you watching?

[Gillianren]

It's not a documentary; it stars Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz. But, yes, about Margaret Keane and her paintings. And "greed, lust, avarice, or ambition" pretty well sums up Walter Keane, it seems.

[grant hutchison]

Do you know what it's about? The title makes almost literal sense.

Yes, I know what it's about - I actually knew about the film without knowing the title.
To me, the fact that the title matches the content doesn't really help, when the words are freighted with other meanings, too. Probably it's just me - I thought Jumper and Slavers were hilariously badly chosen movie titles, too.

Grant Hutchison

[grant hutchison]

It's not a documentary; it stars Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz. But, yes, about Margaret Keane and her paintings. And "greed, lust, avarice, or ambition" pretty well sums up Walter Keane, it seems.

Yes, that seemed like a play on words that had been deliberately chosen, if I understand the film's story correctly.
It was the other assocations that seemed ... unwanted.

Grant Hutchison

[Solfe]

I saw the end of Iron Fist last night and intensely disliked it. It follows the trope of a bad guy who threatens to kill the hero, then shoots at the unarmed hero, then the hero does something remarkably innocuous, maybe even lame that results in a fatal wound to the villain. "Oops. I killed you by accident. Er. Ah. I wasn't even trying to kill you. Sorry. Karma did it."

What is particularly nasty was what happened next. "Hi, I like to spend the rest of my life in therapy."

[CJSF]

I've been watching About A Boy (the TV series - I haven't seen the film adaptation, nor read the book), and it's pretty good. I don't have much viewing experience with Minnie Driver, so it's been interesting watching her. I was wondering, as I got toward the season 1 finale, why it was cancelled after season 2. From the way the finale ended (that's not as redundant as it seems), it seemed clear that they didn't expect a renewal. Now that I've started season 2, I think part of it is they cast Benjamin Stockham a year or two too late. His voice dropped between the two seasons, and you can see he's looking less child-like. I don't think the show "works" with Marcus as a pubescent teen. I don't know if this is exactly why it was cancelled, but I don't think the show had a long future in any case.

Are the book and/or film recommended?

CJSF

[jamesabrown]

I thought the film was an interesting experiment, but I didn't think the story itself merited all the award buzz that it generated.

[CJSF]

I was just watching Irma's squalls fling by at 50mph at the leeward side of my house. We're far enough east to probably elude the hurricane force winds, but she's still roaring pretty loud out there right now. We also had a tornadic cell go by a bit ago and had to sit with my spouse and cats (in a soft kennel) in the hallway by the bathroom (our most interior and protected area in our small house) while it passed. We could hear it, but I don't know if anything touched down and if so, where. Fun times.

CJSF

[The Backroad Astronomer]

Saw Orvilles first episode tonight and liked it, they had to use quantum to describe their version of the warp drive.

[The Backroad Astronomer]

Also saw the last Endeavour for the season, what a way to finally get his sergeants.

[The Backroad Astronomer]

I was just watching Irma's squalls fling by at 50mph at the leeward side of my house. We're far enough east to probably elude the hurricane force winds, but she's still roaring pretty loud out there right now. We also had a tornadic cell go by a bit ago and had to sit with my spouse and cats (in a soft kennel) in the hallway by the bathroom (our most interior and protected area in our small house) while it passed. We could hear it, but I don't know if anything touched down and if so, where. Fun times.

CJSF

Hopefully everyone who is in danger decided to leave, all the best to you.

[Jim]

I was just watching Irma's squalls fling by at 50mph ... Fun times.

Hopefully all you'll get from this is a bunch of "Back in my day" stories.

I've been watching the coverage and marveling at the reporters who insist on standing out in the storm, for visual effect. One amusing moment came when a reporter - standing in a driving rain with gusts over 100mph - put on a pair of glasses and stared into the wind. He then took them off and remarked to the meteorologist in the studio, "You told me not to waste my money on these hurricane glasses and you were right."

[Gillianren]

I thought the film was an interesting experiment, but I didn't think the story itself merited all the award buzz that it generated.

I think you're thinking Boyhood.

[jamesabrown]

I think you're thinking Boyhood.

Oops. You're right.

[CJSF]

I was going to ask what was experimental about it!

CJSF

[Solfe]

My daughter was home sick today, so we watched Disney's Moana. Mid-movie, my daughter took off for the computer to look something up. She came back looking rather unsatisfied. Later, my son came home and they watched Moana again. Again, mid-movie they paused the film and looked something up.

My son, not one to take no for an answer, asked, "What does 'you can't expect a demigod to beat a decapod, look it up' mean?" I asked where he got that line from and he said Moana. I explained that Hercules fought a hydra and a crab (decapod), and killed them both. But Hera placed the crab in the sky as the constellation Cancer. Which brought up why Hera would do this. She was mad at Zeus and by extension Hercules, Hercules killed his wife Meg after being driven mad by Hera and was trying to atone for it by doing heroic tasks. Since he had help in defeating the hydra, it didn't count so he lost on a technicality.

My daughter complained that the crab wasn't in the Disney version of Hercules, so it was wrong. My son objected on the grounds that the whole story is wrong for a Disney film. My daughter scoffed and popped in The Fox and the Hound and said, "Let me tell you how the book ends..."

They've never seen The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which is probably a more screwed up Disney-fication film.

[Gillianren]

Why does your daughter assume that Moana and Hercules take place in the same universe? Actually, I thought the "look it up" line referred to what a decapod even is. But there's a reason I haven't seen the Disney Hercules, and it's how obsessed I was as a child with Greek mythology. The movie came out when I was in college, and I knew I'd spend it yelling about everything they got wrong.

[schlaugh]

We saw The Orville last night. I got a few snorts and chuckles out of it. The previews for new shows almost makes it look like a serious sci-fi adventure.

I need to re-watch the show but I think there are more than a few homages to other sci-fi shows; such as one fellow in a brief appearance who looks a lot like the David McCallum character in The Sixth Finger from the original Outer Limits series.

[Mareykan]

Orville seemed decent, better than a bad episode of Star Trek (tho that doesn't say much).

[CJSF]

Orville seemed decent, better than a bad episode of Star Trek (tho that doesn't say much).

Since it's a satire, that metric might involve some nuances. I won't really know until we get our power back and I stream the episode on demand.

CJSF

[The Backroad Astronomer]

The skeptics guide to the universe is doing a live podcast on facebook this afternoon.

[Gillianren]

I have one episode of Twin Peaks left. One of the episodes I watched the other night is dedicated to a character who dies in it--because the actress who played her was dying and in fact died before most of the series was filmed. Her only appearance on the show, which was the first stuff filmed, is her talking on the phone to another character. She looked every bit as sick as she was, which Miguel Ferrer--also on the show, and also dead before it aired--did not.

[ozduck]

Monthly "Classics of the Silver Screen" was on today. Started off with a Pink Panther cartoon, then a late 1950's travelogue about the London "portion" of the Thames River. It was in very good colour and actually fairly fascinating as a record of past times of marine transport - no container or RoRo ships and wharfies/lumpers/stevedores carrying frozen cuts of meat etc.

The picture while not exactly a classic - The Belles of St Trinians (1954) - is still good for a laugh and starred two excellent, and always reliable, performers in Alistair Sim (in a dual role as brother & sister) & Joyce Grenfell. Plus a host of reliable British character players like Sid James, George Cole and Richard Wattis.

For Dr Who fans Robert Delgado, who was the first actor to portray the "Master", also had a bit part. Looking him up I see that his birth name was truly magnificent - Roger Caesar Marius Bernard de Delgado Torres Castillo Roberto. Yet, he could legitimately claim to be a cockney as he was " born within hearing of Bow Bells."

[Mareykan]

I am tempted to make a "Rick and Morty" thread, but I am not sure if many people watch it here.

[pzkpfw]

I am tempted to make a "Rick and Morty" thread, but I am not sure if many people watch it here.

It's awesome. But I have friends who just don't get it (for whatever meaning of "get") so it certainly doesn't have universal appeal.

It and Bojack Horseman have made me feel more than much of what I've watched lately.

[Jim]

There's only one episode left in this limited series, but I've been watching The Sinner. Jessica Biel and Bill Putnam are great. Both of their characters are majorly flawed, yet still sympathetic. It's a dark, dark drama and very intense; when the episode ends, I can't believe an hour has passed.

[Gillianren]

Watched the last episode of Twin Peaks. Now, I'll have to go read all the spoiler conversations to see if anyone spotted the two things I did in the final scene.

[Jeff Root]

I've never seen 'Twin Peaks', and I don't even recall ever seeing
promos for it. I've heard it mentioned a lot over the years, though,
as being different or remarkable in some way. Can you describe
what kind of program it was without referencing other programs
of its kind (if such exist), since I probably know even less about
those other programs.

As an indicator of the depth of my knowledge, I gather that
'Twin Peaks' is the name of a fictional town somewhere in
or close to the Cascade, Sierra Nevada, or Rocky Mountain
ranges in the northwestern US or possibly southwestern
Canada. Somewhere north of San Fransisco, south of Juno,
and west of Yellowstone.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

[jamesabrown]

Try the wiki page for it.

Space for summary, in case it's too revealing:

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The series follows an investigation headed by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) into the murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) in the fictional town of Twin Peaks, Washington. The narrative draws on elements of crime drama, but its uncanny tone, supernatural elements, and campy, melodramatic portrayal of eccentric characters also draw on American soap opera and horror tropes.[12][13][6][14] Like much of Lynch's work, it is distinguished by surrealism and offbeat humor, as well as distinctive cinematography.[15] The show's acclaimed score was composed by Angelo Badalamenti in collaboration with Lynch.

[Gillianren]

The city in Alaska is Juneau. But yeah, Twin Peaks is allegedly in the far northeast corner of Washington State (it was all filmed in Western Washington and looks it). I can't really compare it to shows like it because there aren't any. A little The X-Files, but not much. While it is in theory about the death of Laura Palmer, as the Wikipedia page says, in practice, it's about the town and both its residents and the supernatural entities that emerge in the region. The return is even weirder than the original, and the finale of the return is controversial. As was the finale of the original, come to that.

[Trebuchet]

I've never watched either version, but supposed to be set in the northeast corner? The trees will be all wrong. They have pines over there. This side is fir and cedar.