Author Topic: Movies & Books Into Movies (Read 553930 times)

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #1360 on:** February 22, 2011, 12:54:58 PM »

So many movies – how do you choose what to watch?
Reviews? Recommendations? Actors? Availability?
Do you choose a movie the same way you choose a book?

And where do you like to watch most of your movies?
Do you stream movies from Netflix and other places?
Where’s the strangest place you’ve ever watched a film?

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Join us in an ongoing discussion of your favorite movies right now.
Pull up a chair, take off your shoes, pour yourself a cup of coffee or hot chocolate, and join in!

Your Discussion Leader: pedln

Pedln - the one they don't change is the amazing Simon Russell Beale, who plays Widmerpol throughout the whole series. He is a genius. I don't think you will have trouble recognising the others, although I do feel the last disc is not quite as good as the rest. See what you think.

R

MaryPage · « **Reply #1361 on:** February 22, 2011, 03:24:11 PM »

Jeriron, I actually enjoyed the fact that they changed some of the main actors. I believe the man who is telling the tale from public school days onwards, Nicholas Jenkins, is THREE different actors. It not only did not bother me, but the actor who plays him in his older age is one of my very favorite actors, John Standing.

Gumtree · « **Reply #1362 on:** February 23, 2011, 09:05:12 AM »

Somehow Dance to the Music of Time has slipped under my radar - haven't read the books and don't recall seeing the series. But my library has the books -published in four volumes with three books in each. Volume 1 is out on loan so have ordered it and will get it when it is returned. I spent a little time browsing through some of the others - it looks like an enjoyable read I've got coming up... thanks for talking about it. Will let you know how I find it.

Mippy · « **Reply #1363 on:** February 23, 2011, 10:12:32 AM »

Did anyone else see the news this morning in the financial pages? Amazon is now ready to go head-to-head with Netflix, streaming movies to your computer. Has anyone tried this?

Since I signed up for DirecTV, I have so many programs saved that I never watch movies.
However, I am saving all the episodes of EMMA on PBS to watch over the next few weeks.

jeriron · « **Reply #1364 on:** February 23, 2011, 10:24:00 AM »

I had never heard of A Dance to the Music of Time before either, until reading about it here. I've finished the second DVD and am enjoying it. Now we'll see if Netflix sends me the next 2. Or skips over them for awhile.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #1365 on:** February 23, 2011, 01:07:13 PM »

mippy, could you post just a teeny synopsis of this "Dance to the Music of Time"? Somehow I've never heard of it - - books or DVD. If this is so great, how have I missed it? What year was the movie (tv?)portion made? Was it a PBS Masterpiece series?

MaryPage · « **Reply #1366 on:** February 23, 2011, 02:29:16 PM »

A Dance to the Music of Time was a British television miniseries. It is based on a series of twelve novels written by Anthony Powell. It was first shown in the U.K. in 1997. It is 8 hours long. There are 4 DVDs in the boxed set.

Basically, it is a life lived out from the 1920s through the 1960s. Nicholas Jenkins goes from public school through middle age.

I do not remember it being on Masterpiece Theatre or Masterpiece Classic, but that does not mean it was not. I always watch Masterpiece, but then again, I have traveled and so forth.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give the story about a 5½. The acting at least a 9 in most cases. A couple of tens and a few less than others. Worth watching for the acting, costumes and some of the scenery; especially the works of art and the music. Oh, the music! It is a trip down Memory Path for me.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #1367 on:** February 23, 2011, 02:35:38 PM »

Oh MaryPage - I would give the story at least 9 out of 10, the books are wonderful!

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #1368 on:** February 23, 2011, 03:10:05 PM »

Okay ladies, you've done me in! I have put these in my Netflix queue, and will check my libraries' website to see if they are available here.

MP if there is wonderful music from the 20's to the 60's, I'm all for it. I watched a movie the other day that had some wonderful 40's music in it (can't remember the movie title, ha)

Was it someone here who recommended "Starting Out in the Evening" with Frank Langella? I watched it this past weekend. Wonderful acting, rather slow plot, no gratuitous sex, only one time a curse word heard. Guess I would give it 4 of 5 stars. (note I said "gratuitous" sex. There is some, but within the framework of the story)

jeriron · « **Reply #1369 on:** February 23, 2011, 03:16:54 PM »

Well I was wrong about Netflix. They are sending the last 2DVDs out today. So there won't be a big break in-between them. I have to agree with an 8or9 for the story. I always think it's funny that the rich never seem to work and spend most of their time drinking at parties or bars or some sort.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #1370 on:** February 23, 2011, 04:05:41 PM »

Yes, or else they have pretend jobs - my daughter and I were just saying that about Carrie in Sex & The City - she writes some pathetic column in the paper when she feels like it, and on the strength of that can apparently afford Jimmy Choos and a brownstone apartment in NYC

I suppose that is at least partly what hacks Widmerpol off about many of his contemporaries - Stringham, etc - in the Dance. He sets out to beat them at their own game, but from the end of the books (which I won't reveal) it is hard to fathom exactly what Anthony Powell's attitude to monied privilege is.

R

pedln · « **Reply #1371 on:** February 23, 2011, 05:07:54 PM »

My Dance 4 disc came yesterday, but it will have to wait until I finish The Social Network – the Facebook movie, which I’m in the middle of watching for the second time.

Have any of you seen it? I watched it the other night, enjoyed it and found quite a bit of humor in it, but I had a bit of trouble at first, catching on to the flashbacks. And too, the captions, at first, seemed to move very quickly. So I read this really informative article, below, and then decided to watch again and pick up what I missed. Much easier, the second time around.

Mark Zukcerberg

I think it’s very well-done, and Jesse Eisenberg does a terrific job. He portrays the protagonist, a fictional Mark Zuckerberg, as an exceptionally bright, but very socially dysfunctional young man. (You don’t get this feeling in the article above. He’s more mature now and has abandoned his sophmore arrogance.) Justin Timberlake plays Napster founder Sean Parker, and Armie Hammer one of the Winklevoss twins. Yes, he’s a baking soda great-grandson.

I highly recommend it. But, if you haven’t felt like a dinosaur yet, you will.

BTW and off-topic – who is Lindsey Lohan? I know she’s on probation for double DUIs and may be headed to jail for stealing jewelry, but is there some reason we care?

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #1372 on:** February 23, 2011, 07:33:05 PM »

No, there's really no reason "we care". Her crap has been going on for about 2 years now, and she is a casualty of "celebrity". Google her, but there's been so much stuff going on with her, I wwouldn't attempt to post any of it.

MaryPage · « **Reply #1373 on:** February 24, 2011, 08:34:31 AM »

I do not have the yen for or habit of watching celebrities, and goodness knows these days I rarely even know who they are talking about, but I am a real news junkie, and watch Brian Williams, Katie Couric, Diane Sawyer, MSNBC and CNN and all of my local Washington, D.C. channels, and eventually something is said and shown of the latest disgraces of the pretty party people. When I hear mention of Lohan there is no personal interest for me, but my heart twists a little at the memory of the sweet little thing who played the twins in The Parent Trap, wasn't that the name of it? One hates to see anyone fall down the shute into a life of hell. Gosh, I am so old that movie was a remake of an earlier gem starring Hayley Mills as the twins!

Babi · « **Reply #1374 on:** February 24, 2011, 08:41:15 AM »

JERIRON, you do know, don't you, that you can go into Netflix, pull
up your queue, and move anything on it to the top if you wish.
Otherwise, Netflix just mails them in the order they were requested.
Amazon is never going to be a competitor to Netflix for me. I
don't want to watch movies on a computer screen! I want to sit in
my comfortable chair in front of a decent sized screen...with cc,
of course.

Oh, my, yes. The fascination with 'celebrity' escapes me entirely.
Apparently a great many do care; I just can't fathom why. Do we
have a social psychologist among us who can explain it?

jeriron · « **Reply #1375 on:** February 24, 2011, 09:39:54 AM »

Babi

Yes I do know that. Right now the top 8 on my list have a long wait on them.

I feel the same about watching a movie on my computer screen. I have a big screen but my TV in the living room is a 50" screen so why would I want to sit and watch it on a computer. I would like to figure out how to get them sent from Netflix to my tv but haven't done that yet.

Right now I'm in the middle of two series. The 3 and 4 disc comes today from Netflix "Dance to--". and I received from Amazon the "Downton Abby" DVD I ordered. I started that last night and am finished with the first one.

marjifay · « **Reply #1376 on:** February 24, 2011, 10:51:43 AM »

I just brought home from the library a set of five films by John Cassavetes, A Woman Under the Influence, Shadows, Killing of a Chinese Bookie and others. Can hardly wait to watch them.

I saw them all back in the 1970s for several Saturdays where they were playing in a small theater and where I was usually the only one watching them. Loved the various characters played by Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara, Peter Falk and others.

Marj

marjifay · « **Reply #1377 on:** February 24, 2011, 10:53:51 AM »

I saw The Fighter in a theater yesterday. Wasn't sure I'd like a film about fighters, but I loved it. Christian Bale was great and so was Melissa Leo who played the family's mother. I hope she wins the oscar for supporting actress. I'm going to look for more films with her in them.

Hope Colin Firth wins for The King's Speech.

Tomorrow we're going to see Biutiful with Javier Bardem. Has anyone seen that one?

We wanted to see Winter's Bone, but for some odd reason it doesn't seem to be playing anywhere in the Los Angeles-Southern California area.

Marj

PatH · « **Reply #1378 on:** February 24, 2011, 07:23:19 PM »

Final comments on Dance to the Music of Time: the mini series was never shown in the US, much to my frustration. I didn't see it until I got it from Netflix. I wonder what they think of this sudden demand? I bet we're tying up their whole stock.

Gumtree, the books of the series go through an arc of quality, starting out mid level or not quite, reaching a plateau, then, in the last few, a low point then picking up a little. I started reading them when only 5 were out, and Bob and I eagerly awaited each new one. There is a huge cast, and people can disappear for half the series, then pop up in some odd way. Many of the characters are recognizably based on real people. I don't know who Widmerpool is, though. Rosemarykaye, do you know? Probably someone I wouldn't recognize, since I'm not that good at minor British political figures.

Now I'll shut up about my enthusiasm.

Babi · « **Reply #1379 on:** February 25, 2011, 08:10:04 AM »

Valerie and I have been watching a series called "Lark Rise to Candleford" for some time now. I can't remember if I learned about
it here or elsewhere on SeniorLearn. Now we're worried because the
series isn't finished, but we're not sure Netflix has the next couple of
seasons. We are quite wrapped up with some of those wonderful characters.

MaryPage · « **Reply #1380 on:** February 25, 2011, 08:53:22 AM »

I own the DVD sets for the first three years of Lark Rise to Candleford, and have Season Four on my wish list at Barnes & Noble. Wonderful series. Great acting and yummy costumes and sets. Millie is my favorite character.

Linda Bassett, who plays Queenie, is outstanding.

Gumtree · « **Reply #1381 on:** February 25, 2011, 10:36:39 AM »

PatH : Love your enthusiasm - keep it up! My library is now holding the first volume of Dance for me ... will pick it up this weekend or maybe Monday.

It's as hot as Hades here and there is no respite in sight - typical Feb/March weather although this current hot spell has been very prolonged and without a break for a day to two to recover energy.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #1382 on:** February 25, 2011, 11:35:53 AM »

marjifay, you could probably skip Winter's Bone without thinking twice. Although the lead actress is excellent, the movie is depressing to the Nth degree. Once you've seen it, you will wonder why and most probably won't care to see it a second time. I wish I could think of whatever movie it is running around in my head that I could compare it to, but I'm not having any luck with that! Maybe someone who has seen it (Winter's Bone) can come up with the comparison I'm searching for.

maryz · « **Reply #1383 on:** February 25, 2011, 11:59:24 AM »

Tomereader, I don't know about the comparison, but I certainly agree with your assessment of Winter's Bone.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #1384 on:** February 25, 2011, 12:57:57 PM »

PatH - no, don't shut up! It's my enthusiasm as well - I love the books and the TV series.

I wish I could look up Widmerpol in the book I mentioned earlier - "Invitation to the Dance" by Hilary Spurling - but unfortunately it is packed up in storage at the moment. I do recommend this book - I referred to it constantly when I was reading the novels - she cross references everyone and tells you lots of little snippets - very helpful.

When I get my books back, I'll try to remember to look Widmerpol up.

Rosemary

PatH · « **Reply #1385 on:** February 25, 2011, 01:38:54 PM »

I own that book too, but my memory is that she doesn't identify Widmerpool.

Babi · « **Reply #1386 on:** February 26, 2011, 08:41:44 AM »

Millie is priceless, isn't she, MARYPAGE. And after all these
stories, I am still amused to hear of one more thing that is
Darcy's "only weakness".

marjifay · « **Reply #1387 on:** February 26, 2011, 09:23:07 AM »

I'm afraid I don't agree with Tomereader's and MaryZ's opinion of Winter's Bone. I liked the movie, not nearly as much tho' as The King's Speech, The Fighter and The Social Network. And I thought Dale Dickey, who played the scary old neighbor woman was terrific! It was just a small part, but I'd bet she'll be nominated for an oscar one of these days. She has done quite a bit of TV, including the My Name is Earl series. The only thing I noticed that didn't ring quite true about the film, was they did not have Missouri "twang" accents. I lived as a child in southern Iowa about 5 miles from the Missouri border, and even there they had that drawl. Anyway, I plan to read the novel from which the movie was made.

If you think Winter's Bone was depressing, don't see Biutiful with Javier Bardem. I really liked this film, but it made me feel almost guilty and certainly grateful for the way I am able to live. I thought Bardem and the woman who played his wife were excellent. I'd hate to have to choose between Bardem and Colin Firth for the best actor oscar.

Marj

marjifay · « **Reply #1388 on:** February 26, 2011, 09:39:27 AM »

Thanks PatH and Gumtree for the recommendation of the mini-series and books of Dance to the Music of Time. I put the first volume, A Question of Upbringing, on hold at the library and look forward to reading it..

Marj

pedln · « **Reply #1389 on:** February 26, 2011, 10:40:18 AM »

I'm glad you liked Winter's Bone, Marjifay. I really enjoyed it, although initially I didn't think I would. Jennifer Lawrence did a wonderful job, almost a one woman show, and I was happy to see her get a nomination as best actress, though it's probably doubtful that she'll get it.

I've seen only three of the best picture nominees -- WB, Social Network -- liked it very much, and The Kids are All Right, which, after looking forward to it, I found to be a disappointment and don't understand how it managed to garner so many nominations. From what's been said, it sounds like King's Speech and Colin Firth, and probably Geoffrey Rush are all headed for Oscars. Maybe the other awards will be spread around a bit more. Tomorrow night should prove interesting.

The King's Speech DVD is due to be released mid-April.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #1390 on:** February 26, 2011, 10:57:35 AM »

PatH - Wikipedia says Powell confirmed that Widmerpool was based on Col Denis Capel Dunn, under whom Powell had served at the Cabinet Office. Needless to say, I've never heard of him. I think Widmerpool is probably a lot more famous!

R

PatH · « **Reply #1391 on:** February 26, 2011, 03:57:31 PM »

I never heard of him either. What a way to live on for posterity!

roshanarose · « **Reply #1392 on:** February 26, 2011, 11:58:37 PM »

What about Colin Firth and Javier Bardem together in a movie? We would probably all faint. Tee Hee. There is something about Bardem's face that is almost reptilian, even primal. He transfixes me. In "No Country for Old Men" (which I have seen 4 times) he definitely "underacted" and therein lies his appeal, for me at least. It certainly helped that his costars were excellent. I can't bring myself to go see that movie he is in with Julia Roberts as I dislike her.

I haven't seen "The King's Speech" yet, but hope that our Geoffrey Rush wins an Oscar. Would it be his second or third? He got one for "Shine". Not bad for a boy from Brissie. My friend who I go to the movies with is on jury service all month so it is curtailing my movie viewing.

Gumtree · « **Reply #1393 on:** February 27, 2011, 12:14:59 AM »

Rush - a boy from Brissie?? He was born in Toowoomba wasn't he?

roshanarose · « **Reply #1394 on:** February 27, 2011, 12:20:57 AM »

I knew if anyone picked me up on that it would be you, sweet Gumtree.

He was born in Toowoomba but spent most of his life in Brisbane. He married Jane Menelaus (that name seems strangely familiar) who Mel Gibson had asked to be his bride. She is probably glad now.

Born on July 6, 1951, in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, but raised in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia after his parents (he an accountant, she a sales clerk) split up, actor Geoffrey Rush attended Everton Park State High School during his formative years. His early interest in the theatre led to his 1971 stage debut at age 20 in "Wrong Side of the Moon" with the Queensland Theatre Company

source: www.imdb.com
link: biography

Babi · « **Reply #1395 on:** February 27, 2011, 08:47:00 AM »

MARJ, they probably would have made a mess of trying to capture a
regional 'twang'. Most viewers probably won't be that familiar with
it anyway. Best to leave it alone than do a bad imitation.

I am eagerly awaiting the release of "The King's Speech" on DVD. It's
on my waiting list in Netflix. I'm glad to hear it should be available in
April.

jeriron · « **Reply #1396 on:** February 27, 2011, 09:28:16 AM »

OK I have to admit I started losing interest in "Dance to the Music.." by the middle of the third disc. I felt like strangling the Pamala character (Miranda Richarson). She annoyed me to not end. The last disc had me trying to figure out who was who and not caring much about any of them.
I know I'm in the minority and maybe it's just because I can't seem to concentrate on things yet. Maybe later on I'll try watching it again.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #1397 on:** February 27, 2011, 09:31:55 AM »

No Jeriron - it's not you - at least not IMO - I do think it goes off towards the end, although I still think the books are better. I need to watch it myself again, but I fear it is currently languishing in storage.

Rosemary

pedln · « **Reply #1398 on:** February 27, 2011, 10:47:19 AM »

jeriron, I have Disc 4 here, to watch when?? The first disc enchanted me, loved it, the 2nd -- not so much, then the third was fine, but still not as good as the first. We shall see.

A few months back, the first book A Question of Upbringing, was FREE for kindle, so I snapped it up. Just checked last night and it's back to its regular price.

I'm not sure about tonight -- that's a lot of sitting as well as a lot of peripheral stuff. Gets past my bedtime. I'll maybe watch parts and the rest of the time have a good book by me, or maybe work on my Latin.

jeriron · « **Reply #1399 on:** February 27, 2011, 11:18:08 AM »

Pedlin

I'm glad I didn't say what went on in the last disc being as you haven't seen it yet. Didn't you feel the way I did about the Pamela character. Somewhere along the way I must have missed what her problem was. To me she was what people refer to as a B---h.

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Author Topic: Movies & Books Into Movies (Read 553930 times)