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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 6947
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Tuesday, October 14, 2014 - 07:21 am:   

I just saw Gone Girl. It is fantastic.
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Stuart Wilson
Member
Username: Stuart

Post Number: 1076
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Friday, October 17, 2014 - 01:41 pm:   

A cool wee Scots lass blowing away the competition on Italian X-factor... great!!
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C Gull
Member
Username: C_gull

Post Number: 265
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Tuesday, October 21, 2014 - 11:22 am:   

With you on Gone Girl Padraig, two and a half hours whizzed by. Gripping stuff and I love it when films are still leaving you feeling a bit unsettled the next day.
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Andrew Kerr
Member
Username: Andrew_k

Post Number: 924
Registered: 04-2005
Posted on Monday, November 03, 2014 - 06:45 pm:   

Richard Linklater's "Boyhood"

- twice because it was so good! I would be interested to know if it has the same effect on people that are not parents...

Xavier Dolan's "Mommy"

The "enfant terrible" of French-Canadian cinema's fifth film and he is only 25 years old. Utterly utterly amazing piece of work. You sense that you are in the presence of a man who knows exactly what he is doing with the images, the dialogue, music and story. This is what film should be about.

Interestingly for a film that is supposed to be in French (albeit French Canadian) it has sub-titles in French ! I understood about 2 words out of 10 that were a French I recognised, 2 more that were English (often swear words) and the rest could have been Dutch for all I got.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 6972
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Tuesday, November 04, 2014 - 02:49 am:   

Parks & Recreation, season six.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 6988
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Monday, November 10, 2014 - 07:13 am:   

Kill The Messenger. I love films about journalism, and this is very, very good. It's almost two hours long but it flew by. It really could have done with another 20 minutes of explanation.
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Andrew Kerr
Member
Username: Andrew_k

Post Number: 928
Registered: 04-2005
Posted on Sunday, November 16, 2014 - 04:17 pm:   

The slammer Abd Al Malik's own adaptation of his autobiography "Qu’Allah bénisse la France".

A powerful tale of growing up in the "banlieu" of Strasbourg at a time when heroin was destroying the community. He took his own escape route through religion and poetry. A very interesting and articulate individual who argues that to be Islamic and be proud of France are not incompatible.

The film was in a pre-release showing at our local film festival which is organised by the pupils of the lycée in Sarlat (SW France).

The trailer is here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WROeWXhd5 nc
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Andrew Kerr
Member
Username: Andrew_k

Post Number: 930
Registered: 04-2005
Posted on Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - 06:36 pm:   

Courtney Barnett and Billy Bragg cover the Velvets' "Sunday Morning" on Australian TV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Yg6xDAe kPI

Quite lovely and it makes me want to dig out my Seekers records for some reason. Has Courtney ever expressed an opinion on Judith Durham ?
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Stuart Wilson
Member
Username: Stuart

Post Number: 1082
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Thursday, November 20, 2014 - 09:20 am:   

Yeah, there's a definite Carnival is Over tinge to her voice here & there... nice vid.
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Randy Adams
Member
Username: Randy_adams

Post Number: 3426
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Thursday, November 20, 2014 - 03:59 pm:   

Randy actually goes and sees a movie!

Nightcrawler

This comes off as a pretty good contemplation of the ethically vacant nature of this era of libertarian paradise in which you swing by your bootstraps, pal. The hideous repurposing of language that has been one of the main products of "business school" is well sent up here. I have to wonder how it will play for folks on the Continent, but this film is quite timely for the anglophone nations currently caught in the swoon of their social Darwinist hallucinations, i.e., the U.S., U.K. and Oz.

The only distracting irritant for me was the choice of setting. The scenes seemingly taken from the Los Angeles tourist office reminded me of just how much Los Angeles as a noir backdrop has been done far past exhaustion. The film would have been better if it had been set in Phoenix or Houston or some other large fly-over town.

Enjoyed the Courtney Barnett/Billy Bragg vid btw.
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peter ward
Member
Username: Peter_ward

Post Number: 266
Registered: 06-2005
Posted on Thursday, November 20, 2014 - 10:45 pm:   

Thanks for Barnett/Bragg link Andrew.
I see your Sarlat refernce above - I was in your neck of the woods during the Summer, what a pretty town it is.
We were camping in Beynac and did a day trip there to a chaotic market that had some of the nicest foods I've tasted!
Also visited Domme, Lascaux and kayaked some beautiful villages along the Dordogne...stunning part of the country to live.
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Andrew Kerr
Member
Username: Andrew_k

Post Number: 932
Registered: 04-2005
Posted on Saturday, November 22, 2014 - 03:45 pm:   

Rewatched Jason Rietman's "Juno", which I saw at the cinema when it came out in 2007. A wee gem !

Glad that you seem to have had a good time "chez nous" Peter and please give me a shout if you come back. I've been here for 12 years now and still feel deeply privileged to live here. There are times when it feels almost like a paradise.

Henry Miller wrote "I believe that this great peaceful region of France will always be a sacred spot for man and that when the cities have killed off the poets this will be the refuge and the cradle of the poets to come. I repeat it was most important for me to have seen the Dordogne: it gives me hope for the future of the race, for the future of the earth itself. France may one day exist no more, but the Dordogne will live on just as dreams live on and nourish the souls of men."

Phew.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7001
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Friday, November 28, 2014 - 08:30 am:   

An Irish rom com called Standby. The first Irish rom com I've seen that wasn't excruciatingly awful (not that I've seen many). I shouldn't damn it with faint praise though; it was pretty good in both rom and com elements.
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Rob Brookman
Member
Username: Rob_b

Post Number: 1767
Registered: 08-2006
Posted on Sunday, November 30, 2014 - 01:22 pm:   

Wussy made their network broadcast debut yesterday morning on CBS. It was a really done piece, great performances and I'm super happy for the band. I expect it's gonna raise their profile here a ton.

I hope these links work outside the US.

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/critically -acclaimed-band-wussy-going-strong/

http://www.cbsnews.com/.../saturday-sess ions-wussy.../

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/saturday-s essions-wussy-performs-pizza-king/

They also played "Beautiful," but I can't find that link.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7006
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Sunday, November 30, 2014 - 01:51 pm:   

Good to hear Rob. I'll check out the links later. You're up early.
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Rob Brookman
Member
Username: Rob_b

Post Number: 1768
Registered: 08-2006
Posted on Sunday, November 30, 2014 - 04:06 pm:   

That's how I roll, Padraig. Actually had some work to crank out this morning.
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Rob Brookman
Member
Username: Rob_b

Post Number: 1769
Registered: 08-2006
Posted on Sunday, November 30, 2014 - 04:08 pm:   

I realize the middle link in the above post didn't paste entirely. Here's "Teenage Wasteland."

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/saturday-s essions-wussy-performs-teenage-wasteland /
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Rob Brookman
Member
Username: Rob_b

Post Number: 1770
Registered: 08-2006
Posted on Monday, December 01, 2014 - 12:15 pm:   

Not to clog up this thread, but I'm a completist. Here's "Beautiful":

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/saturday-s essions-beautiful-by-wussy/
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peter ward
Member
Username: Peter_ward

Post Number: 268
Registered: 06-2005
Posted on Wednesday, December 10, 2014 - 01:51 am:   

Rob,
Thanks for sharing, as close as I will get to seeing them live although I see they have played some dates as a duo in England in the past so here's hoping!
Andrew,
Thanks & I will make sure to give you a shout if I pass through that way again! Henry would surely have garnered a star from Tripadvisor with that one?! It is stunning for sure.
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Pat Boland
Member
Username: Pat_boland

Post Number: 77
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Thursday, December 11, 2014 - 01:41 pm:   

Bojack Horseman.
Portlandia.
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Lewisdhead
Member
Username: Lewisdhead

Post Number: 120
Registered: 01-2007
Posted on Monday, December 15, 2014 - 07:47 pm:   

Peaky Blinders. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2442560/
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7037
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Sunday, December 21, 2014 - 06:56 am:   

I saw fewer films this year than any year since probably sometime in the '80s. Hopefully I will see a few over Christmas. In the meantime, here's my top 5.

1 Locke
2 Good Vibrations
3 Gone Girl
4 Calvary
5 A Most Wanted Man
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7049
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Saturday, December 27, 2014 - 10:45 am:   

Irish man Eoin Morgan batting for Sydney Thunder. He's also captain of England's one day side. Third Irish man to captain England.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7052
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Monday, December 29, 2014 - 07:58 am:   

St Vincent. I loved it. Hilarious, poignant and did not let its sentimental finish cross the line to mawkishness.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7055
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Tuesday, December 30, 2014 - 12:23 pm:   

Utopia. Not John Pilger's Utopia, or the Australian public service comedy of the same name, but the British conspiracy thriller drama. It's brilliant.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7065
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Sunday, January 04, 2015 - 10:51 am:   

Imitation Game, which is about a true British war hero who was persecuted for his sexuality. It is superb. What the law did to gay men (and it was only men, the law never applied to gay women) in the UK for so long was just horrific. It happened in most other countries too of course, and is still happening in many countries. It makes me so mad. Go see this film if you can.
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Randy Adams
Member
Username: Randy_adams

Post Number: 3445
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Sunday, January 04, 2015 - 05:05 pm:   

Yeah that was an enjoyable film Padraig. It was also great for me caught up in my current phase of anglophilia. If you read about Turing, of course it turns out that the film vastly oversimplifies the story of cracking the Germans' code system.

As far as the persecution of homosexuals, as I get older I become more fascinated with the pathologies that result from it. I have a friend I've known about 12 or 13 years whose last name I still don't know. He's a U.K. citizen by coincidence, but resides here in the States. He works for a Christian-run foreign aid agency, raising funds and overseeing projects in Africa and South America. It is so crucial that neither his employers nor his sponsors nor his clients ever discover he is a gay man that he's never been able to consider a relationship and I don't know the name of the organization he works for or his last name. I've joked with him about not knowing his last name after all these years, but he still doesn't tell me. It's sad to see someone sacrifice himself so thoroughly for people who don't deserve it. He accepts their attitudes as immutable fact.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7066
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Sunday, January 04, 2015 - 08:42 pm:   

That is very sad about your friend, Randy. He must really love his work.

I'm sorry to hear that the film vastly oversimplifies the cracking of the Enigma code. Seeing as I'd figured out that using the common words was key to it all a half hour before Turing/Cumberbatch did in the film, I had myself down as a code breaking genius. Alas, it's not to be.
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C Gull
Member
Username: C_gull

Post Number: 270
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Friday, January 09, 2015 - 05:34 pm:   

Finally finished Breaking Bad. Now have a small hole in my life next to a similar one for The Wire.

Oh well Fargo next - managed to get through eight episodes in six days. Then House of cards, possibly Boardwalk Empire Series 3....
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7069
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Saturday, January 10, 2015 - 01:51 pm:   

Have you seen Utopia? I think you'd like it. I've just watched the first three episodes of the second season. I want to watch the next three right now, but I also want to save them till tomorrow night.
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C Gull
Member
Username: C_gull

Post Number: 271
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Saturday, January 10, 2015 - 09:36 pm:   

I'll add it to the list Padraig. Thanks for the tip.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7072
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Monday, January 12, 2015 - 02:13 pm:   

Charlie, episode two. It's a series of three 90 minute dramas about the late Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister), Charles Haughey. This was much stronger than the first episode, which in itself was very good. I'm looking forward to the third episode. Aiden Gillen is excellent as the titular Charlie.
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Stuart Wilson
Member
Username: Stuart

Post Number: 1095
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Monday, January 12, 2015 - 05:39 pm:   

Six easy pieces – a beautifully deft HBO documentary homage to the wonderful Stephen Sondheim, craftily built up from a host of interviews over the last fifty or so years – the editor deserves a medal. Side by Side by Sondheim was one of my favourite albums as a young chap, when I was going through a big musicals phase which had my mother very worried. So, today, resting up, watched a lot of Tony, Emmy & Oscar showstarters featuring Patrick Harris, Jackman and the like. Highly entertaining. Another medal to the (probable) team of lyricists who worked on them. “Hats off to Berry Gordy, he runs Motown like a boss, he dominates Top 40 and he banged Diana Ross…”
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Randy Adams
Member
Username: Randy_adams

Post Number: 3450
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - 03:24 am:   

Very funny comment Stuart. My college roommate was a big Sondheim fan, but he was the right demographic. I've always thought Sondheim a big influence on Cathal Coughlan's solo work, especially "Black River Falls" and "The Sky's Awful Blue"--at least as much of an influence as Scott Walker.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7073
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - 04:32 am:   

Broadchurch, series 2, episode 2. Brilliant.
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Stuart Wilson
Member
Username: Stuart

Post Number: 1096
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - 10:44 am:   

Juxtaposing Sondheim & Coughlan (who I admit I lost track of after Microdisney) seems so challengingly ingenious that it must be investigated! Both albums on the way...
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Randy Adams
Member
Username: Randy_adams

Post Number: 3451
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - 04:33 pm:   

Those are still my two favorite Coughlan albums Stuart, (well maybe not . . . there's "Rancho Tetrahedron") but there's much to appreciate on all of his albums. By the time of "Foburg" he seems to have delved deeper into theater music, more in the direction of Brecht. However, the opening track--"Ophelia Crescent is Burning" still sounds very Sondheim to me. Sadly, no one has posted it on youtube.

I didn't realize you hadn't heard Coughlan's solo work. You might find his a very rewarding musical seam. The only things I simply cannot hang with are the Fatima Mansions. I tried; I can't stand it.
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Andrew Kerr
Member
Username: Andrew_k

Post Number: 947
Registered: 04-2005
Posted on Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - 06:00 pm:   

Abderrahmane Sissako’s film « Timbuktu », which got great reviews when it was shown at Cannes in 2014. By coincidence the showing in my local cinema, presented by an expert in the Arab world, was the day after the terrible killings in the offices of Charlie Hebdo.

The film, based on real events, shows the arrival of the jihadists in the Malian town (described by the presenter as the “Vatican of Black Islamism”) and their imposition of of Islamic fundamentalism on the local Muslim population. There are a couple of very emotionally demanding scenes, but the film is extremely beautifully shot and has a great sense of humanity. The jihadists are in no way demonised and the complete inconsistency of what they are doing is portrayed with a lightness of touch.

And the couple of scenes featuring the local music (banned by the jihadists) are very moving. A father just picking out a line on a guitar while his wife sings and daughter claps along...you really feel as if this is something profound that has to be worth protecting.

Awful as the events in Paris were last week, let’s not forget what the fundamentalists are doing elsewhere in the world to their fellow Muslims; 2000 slaughtered in Nigeria last week ? A bomb set off in a market attached to a 10 year old child in Nigeria also ? Beyond comprehension...
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7078
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - 11:08 pm:   

Watching Australia score four goals, two games in a row, in the Asian Cup.
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Andrew Kerr
Member
Username: Andrew_k

Post Number: 949
Registered: 04-2005
Posted on Wednesday, January 14, 2015 - 05:24 pm:   

Mike Leigh's "Mr. Turner"

Brilliant and Timothy Spall gives a wonderful performance as the eccentric artist. Some of the finest grunting yet seen on the big screen !
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Andrew Kerr
Member
Username: Andrew_k

Post Number: 950
Registered: 04-2005
Posted on Thursday, January 15, 2015 - 05:56 pm:   

Forgot to say that when you hear the dialogue in "Mr. Turner" you really feel that we have lost so much from our everyday English.

I'll see whether I can use the phrase "Brook thy ire, Sir!" at least once a day.
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Stuart Wilson
Member
Username: Stuart

Post Number: 1102
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Tuesday, January 20, 2015 - 12:54 pm:   

Zaz busking Je veux in the streets of Montmartre... I do love her voice so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ9zeDd0 mpg
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7118
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Thursday, January 29, 2015 - 12:12 am:   

Tell Me Do You Miss Me, a film about Luna and their farewell tour. It's very good, and quite touching in parts.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7123
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Friday, January 30, 2015 - 12:15 pm:   

Pulp Fiction. I think it's at least 15 years since I last saw it. What a great film. I wrote a college paper about it when I first saw it 21 years ago.
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Stuart Wilson
Member
Username: Stuart

Post Number: 1105
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Friday, January 30, 2015 - 03:27 pm:   

Watching various Oz stuff on TV, it seems that Australians are no longer ever "blissfully happy" or "full of joy" but "rapped". "I'm rapped," one will say, beaming cheerfully. Where on earth did this develop from??
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7124
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Friday, January 30, 2015 - 07:34 pm:   

I've often wondered that too, Stuart. It's been around a long time, by the way. I've thought, in the past, that maybe it was a corruption of 'rapture', but I think now there is probably a far more plebeian explanation, such as a Home and Away scriptwriter inventing it for fun.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7130
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Saturday, January 31, 2015 - 02:14 pm:   

I'm back from Stadium Australia after seeing Australia beat Korea 2-1 after extra time. What an enthralling game. Australia scored, against the run of play, just before half-time. Then Korea scored in added time at the end of the second half to send it to extra time. Australia went 2-1 up just before the end of the first half of extra time, and kept it that way for the last 15 minutes. Perhaps the players were inspired by a breaking story that the Arab nations want Australia kicked out of the Asian Football Confederation.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7133
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Sunday, February 01, 2015 - 03:29 pm:   

More football, this time courtesy of the BBC website. Celtic 2 - Rangers 0.
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Randy Adams
Member
Username: Randy_adams

Post Number: 3455
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Monday, February 02, 2015 - 04:27 pm:   

"Il Sorpasso"--Dino Risi's 1962 masterpiece. An old-car friend of mine turned me on to this film via a squished-up video of the final segment of the film, a road scene. I promptly ordered a DVD which arrived this past week and I popped it into my crappy missing-its-remote all-regions DVD player Sunday night.

This Italian comedy from the great postwar boom is about two days in the life of a young introverted and uptight law student (Jean-Louis Trintignant) after he is virtually abducted by a sleek and handsome, impulsive but street-smart Lothario (Vittorio Gassman) with a predilection for racing other motorists in his battered partially primer-grey Lancia Aurelia. It's a funny but also unsettling study of the contrasts between flamboyant extroversion and repressed, socially-awkward introversion, with maybe a little homoeroticism thrown in.

There are gags that survive my language barrier's dependence on the subtitles such as the Catholic priests in their disabled car asking our (anti)heroes in Latin whether they have a car jack.

There is the exaggerated La Dolce Vita glamour of the Italy I've always wanted to see, where all of the young women are sultry and everyone except the "clodhoppers" appear to be at least stylish if not rich, where a comparative handful of tiny Fiats are present only as foils for the seemingly dominant Fiat 2300's and Lancia Flaminias (and Gasso's four-year-old Aurelia), the latter in reality produced in tiny numbers and often exported because they were expensive and Italy was NOT wealthy. I'm surprised there wasn't an appearance by Mina.

The end is suitably shocking.
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Stuart Wilson
Member
Username: Stuart

Post Number: 1106
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Monday, February 02, 2015 - 05:07 pm:   

What a great film! One of the delights of coming to Italy was discovering Italian cinema comedy from that particular period, early fifties to sixties, which never really made it over to the Uk as opposed to the big arthouse stuff of Fellini, Visconti,Antonioni, etc, most of which, I confess, left me cold. And in that pre-tourist era the country, Rome above all, just looks so gorgeous, even a minor work can yield visual riches.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7134
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Monday, February 02, 2015 - 07:54 pm:   

Randy, Stuart, you've made me want to see this film.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7137
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Monday, February 09, 2015 - 08:56 am:   

Better Call Saul, episode 1. A magnificent start.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7139
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Tuesday, February 10, 2015 - 09:36 am:   

The second episode of Better Call Saul. Not as good as the first, but still vastly better than almost anything else out there.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7140
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Wednesday, February 11, 2015 - 05:48 pm:   

Foxcatcher. It's the darkest Hollywood film I've seen in years. The three leads are superb, as is the script, which is minimalist, but says so much.
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Andrew Kerr
Member
Username: Andrew_k

Post Number: 957
Registered: 04-2005
Posted on Wednesday, February 11, 2015 - 08:17 pm:   

An excellent first film by a young woman (Lucie Borleteau), "Fidelio, l'odyssée d'Alice". Very focused, beautifully acted, a very mature début. The director was present, for this showing in my local cinema and told some fascinating tales about the making of her film. Interestingly, given several quite sexually explicit scenes, there was a showing for local schoolkids (lycéens) today...

Review in English here http://variety.com/2015/film/reviews/fil m-review-fidelio-alices-journey-12014093 19/
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Simon Withers
Member
Username: Sfwithers

Post Number: 244
Registered: 08-2005
Posted on Friday, February 13, 2015 - 08:28 am:   

Magnum P.I. It's 8.30 in the morning and I'm having my toast and hummus before my croissant. It is a truly dreadful programme...
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Randy Adams
Member
Username: Randy_adams

Post Number: 3463
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Friday, February 13, 2015 - 03:13 pm:   

Yes it is. My mother used to watch it religiously. It's every bit as bad as 1970s era American cars, clothing and (if you ask me) most of the music.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7144
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Friday, February 13, 2015 - 07:45 pm:   

Stop dissing Magnum PI. (Next you'll be saying The Incredible Hulk loses its magic once your age has two digits.)
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Simon Withers
Member
Username: Sfwithers

Post Number: 245
Registered: 08-2005
Posted on Saturday, February 14, 2015 - 06:50 pm:   

Just because I diss it doesn't mean I don't watch it (when I'm at home 'working', writing as a freelance journo). Occasionally it throws up decent episode, and Tom Selleck is genuinely very good - but the show itself is poor, and not a patch on Kojak, which was also on rotation on ITV3 or 4 for a while. The Professionals has also aged badly...

When I was younger we never or rarely watched ITV - so that meant no Six Million Dollar Man, Hulk, Lost in Space etc. Not a great loss in most cases...
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Randy Adams
Member
Username: Randy_adams

Post Number: 3464
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Saturday, February 14, 2015 - 08:51 pm:   

The thing I can say for "Lost in Space" is that I consider it a very helpful thing to have in your background when you approach the Soft-Hearted Scientists.
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Simon Withers
Member
Username: Sfwithers

Post Number: 246
Registered: 08-2005
Posted on Saturday, February 14, 2015 - 11:08 pm:   

Just watched 'Hearts in Atlantis' with Anthony Hopkins. I really like its understated nature, find it very moving. My wife was less convinced...

(It was much better than Magnum PI!)
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Jerry Clark
Member
Username: Jerry

Post Number: 1149
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Sunday, February 15, 2015 - 02:51 pm:   

Fortitude on Sky Atlantic. Mystery and mayhem in the snow. Could be the new Fargo.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7151
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Monday, February 16, 2015 - 12:54 am:   

I just watched it on ABC, Jerry. An intriguing opening episode.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7152
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Monday, February 16, 2015 - 04:24 am:   

"Watching" (through updates on smh.com.au) the Ireland vs West Indies World Cup Cricket match. I wish I had the channel that is showing it on TV, but I don't. Come on you boys in green.
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Stuart Wilson
Member
Username: Stuart

Post Number: 1112
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Monday, February 16, 2015 - 10:01 am:   

Fortitude, hmmmm...

“Hey, I’ve got a great idea for a new TV series… ok, ok… listen… some place in the frozen north, lots of gorgeous snow, right?... and a population of really good actors, you know, really international, maybe we could get that lass from the Killing, some Shakespearian Brits, maybe a gutsy Yank like that Gucci guy… Tucci?? Yeah, ok, him…and there’s a murder, right… and polar bears… hey, did I mention the snow?... and, well, that’s it… a script?... you really think we need one?...”
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7155
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Monday, February 16, 2015 - 07:34 pm:   

Patience, Stuart. Shakespearean polar bear murder dramas require patience.
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Stuart Wilson
Member
Username: Stuart

Post Number: 1113
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Monday, February 16, 2015 - 08:02 pm:   

When three hours of expensively produced TV can produce neither one memorable line of dialogue nor one remotely interesting character, then I get the feeling it's in a bit of trouble. The hot Latina is certainly striking, however.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7156
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 - 12:03 pm:   

Oh, I've only seen the first episode. I'll let you know how I feel after further episodes.
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Andrew Kerr
Member
Username: Andrew_k

Post Number: 959
Registered: 04-2005
Posted on Wednesday, February 18, 2015 - 05:43 pm:   

Teaser for the 2 documentaries that are to come out on Scottish post-punk and indie music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RMZ-6l5 _II

PS Disclaimer : my name features in the Archive credits at the end. I've finally made it !!! My name in the same list as Davy Henderson, Malcolm Ross and Paul Haig.
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Randy Adams
Member
Username: Randy_adams

Post Number: 3465
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2015 - 03:13 am:   

You got me hooked Andrew. I look forward to the release of the both.
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Jerry Clark
Member
Username: Jerry

Post Number: 1150
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2015 - 09:45 am:   

Fortitude aside, which it seems divides.

Kraftwerk: Pop Art on BBC4. Only ruined by Coldplay.

Also Bowie's Glass Spider on Sky Arts 1. Which is phenomenally badly brilliant. Like a Duran Duran video in a theatre. Bits of Michael Jackson, U2, Cameo, Prince, Springsteen etc permeate.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7157
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2015 - 10:47 am:   

Well done on your documentary career direction, Andrew!

Last night I watched Better Call Saul, episode three and Broadchurch, season two, episode seven. Both were great.

Soon, I will watch Hiding, episode three on ABC iView. It's a good Australian crime drama.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7159
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2015 - 12:14 pm:   

Very good episode of Hiding.
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burgers
Unregistered guest
Posted on Wednesday, February 18, 2015 - 10:54 pm:   

Some really good stuff in there, Andrew but it's totally incoherent. Needs a new editor.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7163
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Friday, February 20, 2015 - 01:48 pm:   

Twin Peaks: Firewalk With Me. I'd never seen it before. It's a different tone, and darker, than the TV series. I only saw the full second series in 2007, and had managed not to find out who killed Laura Palmer till then (this, no doubt, was due to there being no www in 1991). The forthcoming follow-up series, 25 years on, will be interesting.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7167
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Saturday, February 21, 2015 - 01:16 pm:   

Birdman. It's superb.
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cosmo vitelli
Member
Username: Cosmo

Post Number: 953
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Saturday, February 21, 2015 - 07:39 pm:   

agree on Birdman, dizzyingly brilliant, rhythmically perfect, cinematically superb, Keaton should get the Oscar
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7171
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Sunday, February 22, 2015 - 12:23 pm:   

Episode two of Fortitude. Two hours in and still not one likeable character, except maybe the mother of the stricken boy. I'll give it two more episodes to pick its act up.
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Stuart Wilson
Member
Username: Stuart

Post Number: 1120
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Monday, February 23, 2015 - 10:35 am:   

I liked the wee blonde policewoman, mainly for her accent, which seems a bit Shetlandish, although it turns out the actress was born in Pisa. Grasping at straws really - at the beginning of the original Killing, I remember, how great it was enjoying the density of characterisation, especially the relationship between the cops Lund and Meyer. Here, zero. Some fun in watching Gambon trying to squeeze a little interest out of his lines, and that's about it. Meanwhile, the Honourable Woman has started, and deeply confusing it is too, with some scenes none to clear as to when or where they are actually taking place and even which character is being shown - making an already tricky plot virtually impenetrable so far. Good stuff from the Gyllenhaal and the always excellent Andrew Buchan.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7179
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Tuesday, February 24, 2015 - 11:05 am:   

Better Call Saul, episode four. The funniest one yet.
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Pádraig Collins
Member
Username: Pádraig_collins

Post Number: 7181
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Thursday, February 26, 2015 - 10:20 am:   

Bowie's career in one minute. This is very funny. http://www.avclub.com/article/david-bowi es-career-explained-one-minute-long-take -215758

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