What movies or TV shows are you watching now?

[BuddhistVirus]

Anyone watching this? Looks great.

The Knick

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2937900/

A look at the professional and personal lives of the staff at New York's Knickerbocker Hospital during the early part of the twentieth century. -- IMDb Plot: The Knick (2014)

[jope]

Anyone watching this? Looks great.

The Knick

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2937900/

A look at the professional and personal lives of the staff at New York's Knickerbocker Hospital during the early part of the twentieth century. -- IMDb Plot: The Knick (2014)

I heard, there are a few around here who do not find it too bad. (understatement of the week).

About to watch episode 4 and looking forward to it.

[jope]

The Bridge, s02 e09 SPOILER SPOILER! CAN"T HELP IT. Gotta Talk! Go no further if you ain't up to date. You were warned.

Almost a ruined episode due to the waste of time and insult to our intelligence, the bit about "The Chopper," abducting Sonya, taking her out to the desert, digging her grave while she is allowed to hop around unattended...Such bad writing. He seems like a moron. Can't believe Fausto is down to using a clown like this guy.

However, we got to see a lot of Eleanor (be still, my heart!) doing her evil stuff, and a brief Eleanor/Charlote girl fight (no contest there.)

Best of all...THE SHOOTOUT! Two minutes of legendary film that Sam Peckinpah must be smiling down upon, from the Theater in the Sky.

Dumbass Huge DEA Guy decides he's gonna take down Eleanor's crew, and then go right on over to lasso Fausto. Can you believe this clown? Eleanor sends him a text from Red Ridge. He runs out there with no backup, and Hank, usually such a straight-thinking Old School Lawman, goes along.

They go running in, unaware that THREE of Fausto's best asesinos are right behind them, fully equipped with assault rifles.

What a mess! The DEAD:

Two DEA guys, three Fausto guys, one innocent notary lady, and Chip the real estate agent.

Wounded: Hank (badly hit, escapes out the patio door) Charlotte, playing possum, Cesar knows, lets her get away with it. Oh, didn't you see her eye move? Her name is on the main credits, she can't get killed, yet. And where is that bum Ray, when you need him? Lyle Lovett stayed home, rolling fat ones and watching his band play on Austin City Limits.

Survivors: Eleanor, somehow un-scathed, YAY! Cesar (flesh wound,could get sepsis later) , and Jaime the Tool Boy, who eats all of Chip's store-bought crappy cookies.

Meanwhile. Marco rescues the ungrateful Sonya and easily kills the Chopper, just in the knick of time. And she's STILL giving him s--t about being a friend of Fausto! Does she ever say "Thanks, Marco, you saved my life AGAIN." Oh no, not her. And whenever she finds out Hank is 3/4 dead, clinging to life in the ICU, she'll probably still be breaking his balls, too, over shooting the unarmed (what a shame!) rapist/murderer of her very own sister, Jim Dobbs.

I love this show. Only four more to go. Unseen this time: Eva and Steve, Bob the Preacher, Ray the Useless Surfer, and those nosy reporters.

Good summary (as usual), BUT:

We should not forget that Sonya is a high functioning autistic. Gratitude is probably something she cannot "feel". Marco and Hank know about her emotional restrictions, so, their reactions towards her are rather restrained. She would not understand their anger or disappointment, anyway.

That was the only point I found totally implausible when I started watching the show. There are certainly things, which an autistic can do just fine, which would even allow for a career. But being a police officer is without doubt not one of these things. They showed it in season 1, when Sonya had to deal with the victim of a crime and messed it up quite badly. Well, Hank being all protective and responsible made her an officer of the law, nevertheless. Who knows how they choose applicants for the police in that little town near the Mexican border, anyway. Maybe "put your hand on the bible..." is all it takes.

I hope, I am completely wrong with my second objection. I immediately watched the shoot out again. Honestly, I could not see Charlotte's eye moving. When was that exactly?

I do hope, that she survived. Although she is only a minor character, I like her and her "associate" Ray very much. She might be a bit insecure, but in the end she probably thinks "What an idiot! How could I ever go out with this moron?". Ray on the other hand is not only very stupid but also hilarious. In season 1, when he went down on that female drug lord (would that be a drug duchess???) without hesitation, I knew he would be good for some entertainment and he has not disappointed, yet. I am looking forward to every appearance of Ray and I am afraid that once Charlotte is out of the picture he will be gone, too. It might not be essential for the development of the show but I would nevertheless regard it as a great loss in the entertainment department (in "Cougar Town" he played exactly the same kind of character, simply structured but fun and with a good heart).

[jope]

It is with great enjoyment that I can take notice of the fact that the final season of „Boardwalk Empire“ will premiere tonight.

Come on, Nucky! You can do it! There is a life after bootlegging.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDRcAWjyUYM

[jope]

Speaking of Steve Buscemi, I saw him in „Living in Oblivion“ at the Berlin Film Festival in 1996 for the first time. The film was not shown in the Competition but on a sub-section called „Forum des jungen Films“, which gives young directors the chance to show their work to an international audience. Often, that is more exciting for the audience than for the director because the „Forum“ shows everything from total crap (I mean, seriously, total utter crap) to highlights you do not forget.

„Living in Oblivion“ was such a highlight. The film is about making a film and all the things that go wrong while trying to make it. In the interview afterwards, the director Tom DiCilio admitted that it had autobiographic elements in it. The film was hilarious and I liked Steve Buscemi, of whom I had not heard before, ever since. BTW, the film director seems to have become rather successful, too. Also in that film: Peter Dinklage as a dwarf in a dream sequence (with anger issues: „I don't even have dreams with dwarves in them!").

Edited September 6, 2014 by jope

[Will27]

It is with great enjoyment that I can take notice of the fact that the final season of „Boardwalk Empire“ will premiere tonight.

Come on, Nucky! You can do it! There is a life after bootlegging.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDRcAWjyUYM

I really enjoyed BE.

Season 5 was a another good one.

Sorry to see it go.

[Ulysses G.]

I really like Steve Buscemi and I am interested in the era that Boardwalk Empire is set in. I was really looking forward to the show before it started, but once it came out, I found it really boring. Go figure.

[Frank James]

The Bridge trivia:

El Paso is NOT a small town.

"El Paso is the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. As of July 1, 2013, the population estimate from the U.S. Census was 674,433, making it the 19th most populous city in the United States. Wikipedia"

Ciudad Juárez (Juarez City), known in the past as Paso del Norte (Pass of the North),^[3] and commonly referred to by locals as simply Juárez, in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Juárez's estimated population is 1.5 million people.^[4] The city lies on the Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte), south of El Paso, Texas. Ciudad Juárez and El Paso comprise the second largest bi-national metropolitan area on the Mexico-United States border (after San Diego–Tijuana), with a combined population of over 2.7 million people.^[5] --From Wikipedia of course.

Sonya is an OK cop, rather a lineal thinker, with little apparent imagination, except perhaps in the sexual area. On the IMDB forums for this show, she is the most frequently criticized character. Lots of people don't "like" the character, and many more don't like Diane Kruger's portrayal of her. I think Diane does a fine job with the somewhat difficult role. Not everybody can be as twitchy and weird as Noomi Rapace in the original Swedish version of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I can't wait to see the inevitable showdown scene between Sonya and Eleanor. I hope they have written a lot of cool dialog for that.

Sonya really needs to stop asking sketchy characters like Jack Dobbs to semi-strangle her while they are making love. I can hear his "explanation" to Hank in the interrogation room, as his lawyer frantically tries to get him to shut up : "Well, she more or less asked me to kill her, was what I heard. So, I did."

Jope, maybe I'm seeing things, but I detect about a 0.25 second eye twitch from Charlotte, just as Cesar kneels down to check her out. Cesar knows she's alive. Before that, Hank pushed her down to the floor, and sort of gave her the "stay her, play dead" sign. We may need to send a clip to FBI lab in Quantico for analysis. What a crime scene for the cops to sort out! Red Ridge doesn't look like such a sound investment for that guy who just bought it. And then some more cops are going to have to go check out the Chopper. We never saw what Marco did with that guy who showed him where Chopper was. Cabrones!

Meanwhile, Fausto is back at the Bar-B-Que, doing a slow burn, thinking what he's going to do to Sebastiano, Robles, and Eleanor. He has commissioned a song about his glorious rise and fall as The Poor Chihuahua Home Boy Who Rose to the Top, and then Went Down in a Fiery Shootout. The kid who escaped his vengeance at the clubhouse will now rise up and...The Beat Goes On!

[Frank James]

I really like Steve Buscemi and I am interested in the era that Boardwalk Empire is set in. I was really looking forward to the show before it started, but once it came out, I found it really boring. Go figure.

This show has had some great moments, but has not lived up to the hype. It must have been very expensive for HBO to keep it going for all this time. I think they were hoping it would make history like The Wire and The Sopranos. I don't think anybody would rate it up there with those shows.

Somebody ought to make a series out of the story of the rise and fall of the current day Atlantic City. Maybe if they got too close to the truth, bodies would start washing up instead of all of those whiskey bottles around Nucky's wing tips. Casinos and hotels are folding every day in AC, as neighbor states have all jumped onto the gambling gravy train.

[i claudius]

Next wednesday Scott and Bailey starts another season for anyone who is interested ,last night watched the first episode of The Zoo ,switched off halfway through ,not my cup of tea.

[JSixpack]

I really like Steve Buscemi and I am interested in the era that Boardwalk Empire is set in. I was really looking forward to the show before it started, but once it came out, I found it really boring. Go figure.

Me, too. Was hoping for greatness but it just wasn't there for me. Seemed to be hittin' the usual buttons w/o making us much care about the buttons. Glad others enjoyed it though I bailed early.

[Will27]

 

Trend Setters

Am halfway through an English crime series called Suspects.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00IJZZ8W8/ref=s9_dcbhz_bw_d53_g74_i1_nw?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-4&pf_rd_r=16KWGYST2H9Z02SBARGZ&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=458843727&pf_rd_i=283926

Like a lot of English shows I've watched lately, not great, but pretty darn good.

There are 2 short series available and I've nearly finished season 1.

I'd give it a solid 7 to 7.5.

 

I'm on it!

If anyone is contemplating this one, I'm please to say that season 2 is really good.

[Will27]

Watched a real good documentary today called Taxi to the Dark Side.

Won an Oscar for best doco in 2008.

IMDB: An in-depth look at the torture practices of the United States in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay,

focusing on an innocent taxi driver in Afghanistan who was tortured and killed in 2002.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0854678/?ref_=nv_sr_1

[jope]

Just watched the finale of „The Leftovers“, another show not many people around here seem to care for that much. But I will tell you anyway :

It was quite the ride!

A few things the Guilty Remnand did in previous episodes make sense now (in the most perverse and craziest meaning). And it is chaos, full blown anarchy! I feel for you, Chief Garvey, but I must say it : „You need therapy, man, long hours of bloody therapy.“ On the other hand, don’t we all?

HBO renewed the show for a a second season. Count me in!

[BookMan]

Ray Donovan is kicking off!

Episode 9 out today.

All happening.

[Frank James]

The Knick finally re-appeared with a strong 4th episode. Now we know who all of the main characters are. Still rather a mystery to me, the relationship between Dr. Thack and that poor lady with the absent nose. Can you imagine having to endure a reconstruction like that? Oh c'mon, that's not a spoiler. If you're watching, you know, if you're not you don't care, and if you're curious, now you might take a look. Clive thanks you.

I just wish they would lighten the scenes just a bit. It's so dark on this show, and not just in the hop joint.

Good stuff. I say 9/10.

[Frank James]

Am I the only male around here who likes Masters of Sex? Should I consider gender reassignment surgery? I'm in the right country for it, but I'm much to ugly and old to be a lady.

[jope]

Am I the only male around here who likes Masters of Sex? Should I consider gender reassignment surgery? I'm in the right country for it, but I'm much to ugly and old to be a lady.

You know, it is not about outer appearance, but how you actually feel (inside, I mean, as a woman an' all)

[jope]

The Knick finally re-appeared with a strong 4th episode. Now we know who all of the main characters are. Still rather a mystery to me, the relationship between Dr. Thack and that poor lady with the absent nose. Can you imagine having to endure a reconstruction like that? Oh c'mon, that's not a spoiler. If you're watching, you know, if you're not you don't care, and if you're curious, now you might take a look. Clive thanks you.

I just wish they would lighten the scenes just a bit. It's so dark on this show, and not just in the hop joint.

Good stuff. I say 9/10.

Also worth mentioning (and disturbing): the rat-scene. As there was no TV or internet at that time, I guess, people were looking for entertainment wherever they could find it. In this case, a rather unpleasant thought, though.

If someone is interested in the music of the show and why it is as it is, the creator looses a few words about it here:

Surgical Instruments: The Knick's Cliff Martinez on Creating the Show's Musical Heartbeat

It could also explain the lightning of the scenes (or the lack thereof): with this show, we are still in the dark ages of surgery. With Dr. Thackery making more and more progress in modern science medicine (with the help of Dr. Edwards, no doubt) the scenes might receive more brightness?

[GrantSmith]

Ray Donovan is kicking off!

Episode 9 out today.

All happening.

Just finished watching it.. Poor <deleted> Bunchy!

My wife's enjoying it without enjoying it, constantly wishing Abby would just <deleted> and listen to Ray..

Annoyingly good watching!

[Ulysses G.]

Am I the only male around here who likes Masters of Sex?

I like it too, but I have not finished with season one yet. I watch the manly stuff first.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Boardwalk empire, season 5, just started.

[Frank James]

Am I the only male around here who likes Masters of Sex?

I like it too, but I have not finished with season one yet. I watch the manly stuff first.

Oh, Quite, yass yass, the Manly Stuff! That's the ticket. Here's our song, for Manly Men everywhere:

[jope]

Am I the only male around here who likes Masters of Sex?

I like it too, but I have not finished with season one yet. I watch the manly stuff first.

Oh, Quite, yass yass, the Manly Stuff! That's the ticket. Here's our song, for Manly Men everywhere:

Nice one!

Haven't seen that in a while.

[GrantSmith]

Boardwalk empire, season 5, just started.

Just finished the 1st episode..

Hopefully will get better, didn't really jump out of the blocks but more set the scene..

[jope]

Boardwalk empire, season 5, just started.

Just finished the 1st episode..

Hopefully will get better, didn't really jump out of the blocks but more set the scene..

Except for that one bit in Havanna when Nuckys new companion intervened and picked his trophy afterwards. I find this scene rather typical for the show. Suddenly out of the blue something electrifying happens. I did not see that coming.

Otherwise, I agree, they were just showing which main characters are still in the game and at what point of their life they are. I guess it will speed up now. Waiting for former Agent van Alden to appear. There is always blood and violence around him. Interesting development of the character.

[GrantSmith]

Boardwalk empire, season 5, just started.

Just finished the 1st episode..

Hopefully will get better, didn't really jump out of the blocks but more set the scene..

Except for that one bit in Havanna when Nuckys new companion intervened and picked his trophy afterwards. I find this scene rather typical for the show. Suddenly out of the blue something electrifying happens. I did not see that coming.

Otherwise, I agree, they were just showing which main characters are still in the game and at what point of their life they are. I guess it will speed up now. Waiting for former Agent van Alden to appear. There is always blood and violence around him. Interesting development of the character.

Spoilers aside, that was the highlight, the trip down memory lane (not a previous season recap) was boring

I thought the crazy ATF-Agent-turned-Hoover-salesman-turned-thug-turned-bootlegger-turned-whatever he became was knocked off last season? Or did he do a Houdini and got out of dodge?

[jope]

Boardwalk empire, season 5, just started.

Just finished the 1st episode..

Hopefully will get better, didn't really jump out of the blocks but more set the scene..

Except for that one bit in Havanna when Nuckys new companion intervened and picked his trophy afterwards. I find this scene rather typical for the show. Suddenly out of the blue something electrifying happens. I did not see that coming.

Otherwise, I agree, they were just showing which main characters are still in the game and at what point of their life they are. I guess it will speed up now. Waiting for former Agent van Alden to appear. There is always blood and violence around him. Interesting development of the character.

Spoilers aside, that was the highlight, the trip down memory lane (not a previous season recap) was boring

I thought the crazy ATF-Agent-turned-Hoover-salesman-turned-thug-turned-bootlegger-turned-whatever he became was knocked off last season? Or did he do a Houdini and got out of dodge?

Well, he was in the season 5 trailer (even a few times). And in one short scene one can see what his current status is.

I'd say, this and everything else is vague enough to not count as spoilers. But if anybody disagrees, please let me know.

[jope]

Various sources report that there might be a third season of "The Dome".

It seems, that CBS announced s02e13 as "season finale" and not as "series finale". That is interpreted as a hint for a season 3. CBS has not taken a decision, yet.

But so far, it seems clear that season 2 will end in a huge cliffhanger. And the writers have already announced that they stretched the original story over 5 (!) seasons hoping that CBS will play along. I guess, If it comes to that, the Oxford Dictionary will give the word "surprise" a new definition.

[BookMan]

Ray Donovan is kicking off!

Episode 9 out today.

All happening.

Just finished watching it.. Poor <deleted> Bunchy!

My wife's enjoying it without enjoying it, constantly wishing Abby would just <deleted> and listen to Ray..

Annoyingly good watching!

The behaviour of Abby doesn't sit with me that well. All those years with Ray I don't feel she'd put the family at risk like she does

Edited September 8, 2014 by BookMan