[Closed] Recent Viewing Part III

I'm not quite sure their premises appeal to me (unlike BREAKING BAD, which immediately jumped at me), but still...I gotta see what all the fuss is about.

In one word: Tense!

It's about a middleaged high school chemistry teacher who gets diagnosed with cancer, and then decides/falls into a situation where he makes metamphetamine for the mob. While at the same trying to be a family father. And then everything just escalates from there throughout the seasons.

Indeed. Which is why I probably stayed away from it for a long time. But then I started watching, and boy....was I hooked! Far more than LOST, which -- although great in individual episodes -- wrote itself into a corner early on, from which it never recovered.

Dr No

Rather quaint in places (well, it is 50 years old) but still very enjoyable. Pity about the (with the obvious exception) terrible score, which makes it worse than it otherwise would be.

Casino Royale

Certainly the best Bond film this side of Sean Connery. I wonder... could it be the best Bond film of all?

I like Casino Royale a lot, but there's quite a few Bond films I (greatly) prefer over it, if only because I think a Bond film requires a great villain.

Bond films can only be as good as the villain.

I love Louis shows

I'm wondering what you made of When Louis met Jimmy Saville? You may not be aware of how huge Saville was on British TV during the 60's and particularly the 70's and 80's but here the media is overflowing with scandal about the recently deceased star.....turns out he liked girls under 16 yrs old.

There's something so utterly bizarre about the whole Jimmy Saville thing. I mean, I remember someone telling me about him when I was about 8 - and if the news spread to me, how can it possibly not have spread to the police!? Because nothing happened about it, I had come to assume that it must have been some vicious rumour that was spread - and now all this stuff is coming out of the woodwork - horrible for all the victims, but why did nobody pursue it at the time?

It's hard to top that list.
As far as henchmen go, no argument whatsoever. Odd-Job and Grant take it hands down! Excellent executioners, with a true sense of menace.

With the villains, it's slightly tougher. I'd say
Hugo Drax
Sevalas' Blofeld
Aristotle Kristatos
Auric Goldfinger
Alec Trevelyan (an underrated Sean Bean, I find!)
Dr. Doom

Dutch glory. :proud:

Saw tonight: KILLING THEM SOFTLY (Andrew Dominik, 2012) ***

As an exercise in style, this is competent filmmaking. However, in terms of narrative it's so slight, Andrew Dominik needs to force a political message down your throat to give his work some substance. Which is fine right after you delivered your masterpiece, but released 5 years after The Assassination of Jesse James, this does not live up to expectations.

As of Mark Streitenfeld's original score... move on, people, there's nothing to see here. And I mean; literally, the film does not contain any score and Streitenfeld is credited for 'piano pieces and ambient sound', of which the first did find a way towards the soundtrack (the final track, 'The Feeling In My Nuts', is not featured in the film) and the latter must be the distorted sounds in the opening and the sound of a crowded street that plays over the second half of the end credits. Why they contracted Streitenfeld for this, instead of a sound designer? Good question. My guess is, Streitenfeld's compositions for piano were originally supposed to feature more prominently in the film but got cut in the process (it's very much a film that works fine with large moments of silence and just a few source tracks).

Either way, if anyone was interested in Streitenfeld's next assignment after Prometheus, this is not it.

Just saw the season finale of Dexter Season 6.

Holy fuuuuuck!

But a Holy Fuck is the Debra version.

I'm being introduced (submerged) into 'Homeland'.

Made me immediately remember how much I love Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin (who is ALWAYS great in supporting roles).

I'm halfway through the first season. Does anybody else have experience with this show?

E.