Movies thread resurrected

**skateluvr** · 08-21-2012, 12:20 AM

Has anyone seen Hunger Games? What did you think? Yesterday I saw a C-Span author of a book on US plans to have 30,000 drones over America. A police state. Google that sentence if you want to be in the know how police will be armed to the teeth. Drones everywhere of all kinds like locusts. DC is shutting its collective mouth due to the "election". Like we have a big choice. The opening scenes show a large drone and I felt chills.

I thought the costuming was bizarre for something 75 years in the future at least, after the strucutres we know are all gone. Also, I thought it strange that Earth looked so healthy after what would have to be huge wars and climatic huge changes. What did y'all think of this movie? Not much to rent on my cable. I rec. the $1.50 version from Redbox if available and not 5.99 or whatever I paid. I know there was a book but not the sort I would read. Redbox BTW was 99cents, then 1.20 and just jumped to 1.50 plus tax. I really miss browsing in a store to read the jackets. Redbox(some are blue!?) are everywhere and little selection seems to be the MO. I envy people in large cities that still have choices or the affluent towns where retail still thrives I loved Blockbuster's huge section of foriegn movies, and do not want to rejoin Netflix but what choice is there? My the world changes at a speed that is making people dizzier but not happier.

I'd give it a 5 on a scale of 1to 10? ANy opinions?

**Olympia** · 08-21-2012, 12:46 AM

I haven't seen Hunger Games yet, or read the books. It looks exciting, and my friends who are fans like both the book and the movie.

**Dreaswi** · 08-21-2012, 02:37 AM

Honestly I enjoyed the movie. I found it refreshing there is a recent movie that has a positive female lead role. I liked the high intensity of the situations and rooting for you favorite character. The costuming was different, colorful, slightly clownish, unique, and bordered on sci/fi fantasy. Those are things I like. I have a teenage daughter and get sucked into things that target that demographic. 9 times out of 10 I enjoy them. I give it a thumbs up.

**dorispulaski** · 08-21-2012, 05:28 AM

On Netflix, in the line of obscure movies, two I really liked were

Saba
a Canadian film about a Muslim woman living in Canada who has devoted all her life basically to looking after her mom. She turns 40, and a present she receives sparks amazing changes in her lift. It's a charming and funny film.

Ramen Girl
A young American woman follows her boyfriend to Japan. When he basically just disappears on a job, she becomes involved with trying to become a ramen chef.

This is a real chick flick sort of movie, but again very funny.

On Amazon Prime, we have been rewatching all of West Wing (the TV show), without commercials, for free, and enjoying it too.

**Olympia** · 08-21-2012, 09:12 AM

Both of those movies sound wonderful, Doris. I'm always thrilled when new voices are heard in movies. For some reason Saba sounds to me like some of the writings by L.M. Montgomery, who wrote the Anne of Green Gables books. She was a wonderful observer of village life. She features a lot of women living selfless, rather put-upon lives. The older I got upon rereading her books, the more I realized that her subsidiary characters had great richness and importance. In one Anne book, Anne substitutes for a day as a caregiver of the mother of a woman aged 40 or 45, so that the latter can go to a wedding.

One movie I've heard about that sounds fabulous, both realistic and fantastic, is Beasts of the Southern Wild. Has anyone seen it?

I envy you the West Wing reruns. I have two of the seasons on DVD. What narrative, and what acting! One thing about those shows is that you would watch, fully absorbed, for what seemed like an hour, only to find that twenty minutes had passed: there were so many ideas woven into the narrative. Aaron Sorkin once said that his scripts were about twice as long as most hour-long series scripts, because there was so much dialogue. Some of the standout guest performances: Alan Alda as the Republican candidate, John Goodman as the Speaker of the House who briefly became President, Edward James Olmos as the Supreme Court Justice, Glenn Close as the eventual new Speaker, and Mark Harmon (great fave of mine under any circumstances!) as the agent who protected C.J.

This is sort of on the subject: I was toodling around with the channel changer, and I happened upon a rerun of that wonderful Bravo show, Inside the Actors' Studio. This one featured Jennifer Aniston. I understand why the show needs to feature a large quantity of people, because I think the course is over a dozen times a year. But Jennifer Aniston is considered a major star? She has made one forgettable picture after another, for what I'm sure is a substantial salary. I doubt there's a convincing emotion in too many of her scenes. I can be a sucker for a romantic comedy--for example, I watch Music and Lyrics or Runaway Bride when I want a lift. But when a small low-budget picture like Saba can connect you to your humanity better than a spare-no-expense Hollywood vehicle, you understand why newcomers to the industry, working way out on the margins, are so important.

**dorispulaski** · 08-21-2012, 09:24 AM

Mark Harmon was an agent on NCIS before & after his WW gig, and before that on JAG, AFAIR?

We used to watch West Wing on reruns on TNT when the nationals news shows were too depressing--which was most of the time.

Amazon Prime is a good deal for us. For about $70 a year you get 2 day free shipping (about 3-4$ one day shipping) on anything you buy, plus free watching of a lot of movies & TV show series. You get a free month of it when you purchase a Kindle Fire. My son got a 'Fire and became hooked on Prime. He ditched all his movie channels and everything but cable Basic, and is saving money that way, too.

It's the way we watch movies at home these days too, although we are combing Netflix to be sure that we have watched everything we want to watch there. We will probably drop Netflix again.

And the anything? We ordered an electrical generator and had it delivered in one day, just before Hurricane Irene hit us. Despite the weight of the generator, it was still like 3 or 4 dollars for the one day shipping. Plus you couldn't buy a generator anywhere in town at that point.

**Olympia** · 08-21-2012, 09:35 AM

I haven't done any subscription service online. I should, because I like so many old and obscure movies. Thanks for the info!

I'm afraid that if I got involved with Amazon, I'd run out of space in my apt. I have so many books already, and there are many obscure ones that I covet. And then there are the movies and TV series.

No, I think Harmon did WW before NCIS. His JAG appearance was the sort of teaser that led to NCIS. He played Gibbs on the last season of JAG so that fans of JAG would be tempted to watch the new show. (Both were produced by Don Belisario.) I adore Harmon, whom I find better-looking now than he was as a young man, when he was rather generically handsome. He never did much in the way of successful movies, but Presidio is a very good action film. I love it that he truly came into his prime as a star in his fifties. (I know someone who is friends with David McCallum, and she reports that Harmon is as nice in real life as you'd wish.)

His earlier series, which I don't think is on DVD, is also wonderful: Reasonable Doubts, in which he learned to sign to play Marlee Matlin's police liaison. He has signed on a few NCIS episodes to Abby, who is supposedly the child of deaf parents.

**dorispulaski** · 08-21-2012, 09:53 AM

Storage is the reason we grudgingly got involved with Kindles-all those films and I don't have to store them at all!

I can't help it though-I like books better than ebooks. But if I'm going on a trip, I definitely load up the ereader with a lot of books, usually the free Classics that I'm embarrassed that I never got around to reading. I started out by going on a Jane Austen glom and moved over to Dickens. Then we bought the 'Fire and started with free movies.

**Tonichelle** · 08-21-2012, 12:22 PM

Originally Posted by dorispulaski

Mark Harmon was an agent on NCIS before & after his WW gig, and before that on JAG, AFAIR?

.

unless it was that last couple of seasons, i don't remember him on JAG (I still love David James Elliot!)

A good, economic dvd company (not to rent, but buy) is Feature Films for Families... some are made by teh company, others are films that are family friendly, or they clean them up (with permission) for families... we get a lot of our movies from there.

**heyang** · 08-21-2012, 12:35 PM

Originally Posted by dorispulaski

Storage is the reason we grudgingly got involved with Kindles-all those films and I don't have to store them at all!

I can't help it though-I like books better than ebooks. But if I'm going on a trip, I definitely load up the ereader with a lot of books, usually the free Classics that I'm embarrassed that I never got around to reading. I started out by going on a Jane Austen glom and moved over to Dickens. Then we bought the 'Fire and started with free movies.

I think Prime membership also allows you to borrow 1 e-book a month at no charge.

**Dreaswi** · 08-21-2012, 12:42 PM

I know this is way off topic!!!

@doris - I was at landfall point for both hurricane frances and Irene. 3weeks apart almost to the minute. I thanked god everyday my mother installed a whole house generator before she died. We became the neighborhood shower station, laundermat, and make shift child playground.

**heyang** · 08-21-2012, 01:05 PM

Originally Posted by skateluvr

Has anyone seen Hunger Games? What did you think? Yesterday I saw a C-Span author of a book on US plans to have 30,000 drones over America. A police state. Google that sentence if you want to be in the know how police will be armed to the teeth. Drones everywhere of all kinds like locusts. DC is shutting its collective mouth due to the "election". Like we have a big choice. The opening scenes show a large drone and I felt chills.

I thought the costuming was bizarre for something 75 years in the future at least, after the strucutres we know are all gone. Also, I thought it strange that Earth looked so healthy after what would have to be huge wars and climatic huge changes. What did y'all think of this movie?

The exact timeline is unknown. The apocalypse that created the districts happened long ago (in their time). There is no mention of when the original disasters occurred and when Panem became the capitol of the current US. There is no mention of how long Panem ruled before the districts rebelled and no mention of how long the rebellion lasted. The Hunger Games are a result of the uprising of the 13 districts against Panem 75 years prior - not the original disaster. So, there was a lot more than 75 years for the earth's recovery. Also, Mother Nature always triumphs - it really doesn't take long for greenery (aka weeds) to come back - just look at my yard (LOL).

As far as structures, District 13 seems to be in the Appalachians, which is still poverty stricken IRL - in the movie, we only see a bit of Panem and District 13 - so, there's no real indication of how major metropolitan areas are in their present.
I imagine that New England, NY , NJ, Ct are district 13 (assuming you haven't read Mockingjay). Districts 1 & 2 are mentioned as being significantly developed and I would imagine one of them include California's Silicone Valley due to the mention of technical expertise.

I read the books and prefer them over the movie. While Jennifer Lawrence et al did a good job, there was just something slightly missing chemistry-wise between the characters IMHO. It is a difficult story to capture on film because a lot of it is within the thoughts of Katniss. I'm undecided about buying the movie since I feel that I'd be more likely to read the books again vs watch the movie.

**Dee4707** · 08-21-2012, 01:40 PM

I haven't seen the Hunger Games but may rent it.

Ive seen:

The Help
The Descendants (Liked it but loved the Help more)
The Iron Lady ( Loved it!!!)
J. Edgar (uh...it was OK)
The Artist (truly can see why it won Best Picture)

**dorispulaski** · 08-21-2012, 01:52 PM

Dreaswi, That must have been a heck of a time. Just a little after Irene, CT was hit by the great October snowstorm of 2011 so we were thankful for that generator twice!

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...79U02Y20111031

Now I'm curious so I looked Mark up in Wikipedia

Harmon appeared in a guest starring role in two episodes of JAG in April 2003, which introduced the character of NCIS agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs

I was sure I remembered that.