Abhimanyu

You should try the Indian Postal Service. You guys have it good. I love USPS!

The guy still looks too much like the male model he used to be, added bulk or no. A role like this requires Arnold's gaptooth, misshapen face and lack of grace leading to combat tactics more akin to 'smash rock on head' rather than 'leap into the air and decapitate two people in one smooth stroke'. And yes, I know Robert Howard's Conan is supposed to be a graceful combatant. But as Avaunt says, Arnold owns the role.

That said, I'll give this a try. The fact that it's a PG 13 pretty much guarantees it won't be any kind of real Conan flick but it might still be fun.

Anyone have any recommendations from the work of Dennis Lehane and George Pelecanos? After their work on The Wire, I've been wanting to get into some more of their writing.

Another fantastic episode of Community this week. I was skeptical when I heard they were doing another Paintball episode but my doubts were unfounded.

Also, Alison Brie is way hot.

If you prefer episodic stories to long, drawn out elaborate plots that fizzle out into a daft anticlimax

So it wasn't just me.

Heard the same thing about SoA, but it sounds like it could be the contender. Treme gave off that vibe to me, what with the previews, so I downloaded each S1 episode as it came out, but never got around to watching them. I'm not really a sucker for sports underdog dramas, though I enjoy them if done properly. Is FNL heavy on the "USA!USA!" flag-waving go-getter can-do self-made malarky?

 

Haven't seen Spartacus, seemed like a cheapo 300 ripoff, I've yet to check out Rome, even though i have it on DVD for a fw years now, so maybe togas aren't really my thing? Though I, Claudius was one of my favorite shows while growing up. Is Spartacus a bit more than True Blood in Ancient Rome, sans the supernatural?

It all depends on what you're in the mood for, really. I enjoyed all the shows you mentioned.

FNL was really quite the revelation for me because I had to be dragged to it by my friends kicking and screaming. But I ended up loving it. However, as John says, there is an element of melodrama to it. What I found fascinating about it is the depiction of the Texas community (something you almost never get in mainstream media). There are some great performances too and an incredibly endearing pair of central characters in the Coach and his wife. And it's not rah rah USA at all. This is a show made by a bunch of liberals for the most part. Also, it really does not matter if you don't like/don't know about football. In fact, after season 1, I'd say that the football aspect is toned down considerably.

Boardwalk Empire was quite good but as Mickey Eye says, it takes a while to get off the ground. I did really enjoy the second half of the season. It is, however, very intricately plotted so if you're looking for something that won't tax your brain too much then this probably isn't a good choice.

Everyone said what's to be said about SoA already. Pretty good season 1, truly excellent season 2 and incredibly shit season 3.

Do yourself a favour and watch Treme at some point. It's great. I can absolutely understand why John couldn't get into it but if you give it a shot, it really grows on you. But you do, of course, have to be in the mood for something that heavily character and atmosphere-centric.

Spartacus is complete garbage but oddly watchable despite (or maybe because of) that. But really, any of the other shows you mentioned deserves being watched before it. It's nothing like Rome or True Blood. It is, as you said, an ultra-cheap 300 knockoff. It has more in common with the made for cable cheap Starz/Showtime softcore/sword and sorcery movies than it does with True Blood or Rome. Rome is in an entirely different league (and yet another show that you should check out immediately).

between Game Of Thrones, Justified and Treme, there's some awesome tv happening right now. the latest episode of Justified was fantastic. It's gonna end like season 1, right? with a massive shootout? or at least a whole lot of casualties.. which would tie in with the rumours about ss3.

Most definitely. The Killing is also excellent (though I did find the latest episode a bit tepid). I am absolutely loving Justified this season.

Christian, I think those plot holes you mention arise from the fact that the last 20 mins or so of the movie absolutely smack of studio interference. It's like a completely different film after that point and this soured me on the whole thing quite considerably.

For most of the film, it looks like the filmmakers are quite willing to go dark places with the characters and the plot. But then, suddenly, we take an abrupt left turn and it degenerates into an unforgiveably mawkish and sentimental rainy-day-tour-of-New-York happy ending. Bullshit. Given that the rest of the film is so different, I tend to believe that it was a studio mandated change and not the original vision of the filmmakers.

American Gods coming to HBO? Please let this happen.

If it works out, it would pretty much be an ideal way for American Gods to be adapted. With Gaiman co-writing and a no-compromises type cable network providing the home.

The penultimate scenes [ Spoiler : where the Giant sacrifices himself to save the town ("Superman!") ] actually brought a tear to my eye.

 

 

I think this merely counts as proof that you are, in fact, human. I'm really not sure what I'd say to anyone who claimed not to have been moved by that bit.

 

Just so. I teared up too!

And I second removing the qualifier 'kid's movie'. If there ever was a movie for everyone to enjoy in equal doses, it's The Iron Giant.

I saw Hobo With a Shotgun. It's exactly what you'd expect from a movie of that name. Gratuitous gore/violence, a punked up 80s schlock aesthetic and all round psychopathy in pretty much all the characters. Fun in the right setting/mood.

The pilot of AMC's new show The Killing was rather good.

 

 

Is this anything to do with the Danish series that's been shown recently on BBC4?

 

I only caught a couple of the later episodes and wish I'd seen the whole series. It was pretty fucking good.

Yeah, I think it's an English language remake of it.

The pilot of AMC's new show The Killing was rather good. Nothing groundbreaking and it tends toward some quick and easy emotional manipulation now and then but generally quite involving. Will stick with it.

gotta go for that Borgias show. I don't think it'll be as good/screwed-up as the Jodorowsky/Manara graphic novels though.

Nowhere near that level of debauchery. But I enjoyed it far more than Camelot (which I just now saw). You were right about Eva Green though. She's something else. But the show around her was pretty boring.

I'm going to give Camelot a try too. And ss2 of Bored to Death.

I caught the pilot of Showtime's new series The Borgias and quite enjoyed that too. Nothing extraordinarily great but it's well written, produced and acted. Solid bit of entertainment.

 

A Superman reboot makes sense, for a variety of reasons.

Not one that is directed by Zack Snyder though. I was watching Sucker Punch and thinking about just how clueless a person would have to be to write and direct a movie like that. I think I would prefer this Batman reboot idea to Superman falling into the hands of Snyder.

I've just started The Passage by Justin Cronin. A sort of Post-Apocalyptic vampire story. I've just gotten done with the big apocalypse part of the story, and it's jumped about 90 years into the future. It's super good so far, i hope it holds up.

I'd be curious to hear what you think about it. I didn't really enjoy the future stuff. I loved it until the bit where you are now. But the book got so much praise that I'm thinking maybe I missed something.

The Big C

 

It's good telly.

 

Ienjoyed the first few episodes, but I have to agree with Abhi that Linny's character grows less likable over the course of the season. the season finale was really good though.

Yeah. Her behaviour grows so outrageously unsympathetic over the course of the show that I tuned out. Not to mention how the unsympathetic behaviour is interspersed with bursts of saccharine sentimentality. The performances are good but the actors just don't have much to work with. I'll stick to Breaking Bad when it comes to stories about terminally ill parents turning into assholes!

Anyone been watching Season 2 of Bored to Death? Worth picking up on?

That was pretty amazing.

Even aside from the realism of the gang angle, my main issue with that aspect of the film was the atrocious acting of pretty much all the Hmong actors. Clint clearly had good intentions in wanting to employ Hmong-American actors but the ones involved were in the film were almost uniformly bad. The gangsters especially looked like the cartoon gangsta archetypes you'd find in those early 90s made for video gang thrillers like Death Wish 4 and its ilk.

Thanks, Dog and Metanoia. Will get on finding those books.

Anyone here read any John Crowley? Opinions?

The actress from How I Met Your Mother is thinner than Adrianne Palicki if anything. So for those saying the latter's too fragile looking for the role, Cobie Smulders wouldn't be much better. Too bad the second pic's a photoshop job!

The problem's the costume - Mark hit the nail on the head with his description.

 

Gran Torino, while well made and a proper send-off for the Clint, also felt a bit self-indulgent. B+

 

I failed to see what's so special about Gran Torino. It was terribly acted and a horribly obvious story.

Terribly acted? I beg to differ! I'm not saying it was an earthshaking story, but I really liked seeing (in effect) Dirty Harry as a grumpy old pensioner, arriving, finally at the opposite solution to the vigilante-glorifying stories he himself acted in.

And I thought it was well-directed.

Clint was very good in it but the kids were awful. Ditto the cartoon gangsters.

Yes, that isn't news. I was being rhetorical when I mentioned bafflement.