Author Topic: Movies & Books Into Movies (Read 591937 times)

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #2160 on:** November 04, 2011, 10:38:21 AM »

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

Watched part of the "Bones" premier episode. It had the most awful, grisly corpse that they've had in seasons. I had to switch channels for a few minutes. I don't much care for the fact that Bones is pregnant with his baby, and I wish they'd both quit being such self-important babies and get on with this new life they are taking on. I think the show was much better when there was simply "chemistry" between the two of them. This may be a harbinger of the end of the show. That usually happens when the two leads "hook up".

I DVR'd Prime Suspect, and will be watching it today.

marjifay · « **Reply #2161 on:** November 04, 2011, 12:02:40 PM »

I saw the film ANONYMOUS yesterday in the theater, and I agree with Roger Ebert's review -- Even if you know little about Shakespeare or the controversy over who was the actual writer of the plays, you will enjoy this marvelous historical film. Wonderful acting, including Vanessa Redgrave as the elderly Queen Eiizabeth. And the actor who plays William Shakespeare is hilarious!

This film takes you back to the London of that time with the splendor of the court, a very realistic Globe Theater where the groundlings who watch the plays can almost reach out and touch the actors, and the appalling poverty of the city with the streets ankle deep in mud. Lust, jeolousy, intrigue... What more can you ask for? See it!

Marj

Frybabe · « **Reply #2162 on:** November 04, 2011, 12:28:40 PM »

Thanks for the revue Marj. I was wondering if it was going to be any good.

roshanarose · « **Reply #2163 on:** November 04, 2011, 11:46:36 PM »

Marj - It is on my list. There will be a movie soon about Edgar J. Hoover with Leonardo di Caprio as Hoover. Should be interesting. di Caprio is a fantastic actor imho.

Babi · « **Reply #2164 on:** November 05, 2011, 08:38:49 AM »

I'd like to see that one, MARJ. Of course if you just saw it in the theater, it
will probably be a while before Netflix picks it up.

I must have missed something last season, PEDLN. I don't remember our leads getting
together in their personal lives. A baby seems rather sudden. No doubt Valerie will
remember and can remind me. We have it on tape, but a lot of what we tape we save
and watch when my older daughter can join us.

I've seen the previews on Hoover, ROSE, and I didn't find them enticing. I agree DiCaprio is
a great actor, but Hoover grew to be such a horror I think I'd rather not watch it happen.

pedln · « **Reply #2165 on:** November 05, 2011, 10:36:19 AM »

Quote

I must have missed something last season, PEDLN. I don't remember our leads getting
together in their personal lives.

I think they were talking about Bones, Babi. Can't help you out there as I don't watch that one. Can't keep up with them all.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #2166 on:** November 05, 2011, 11:20:51 AM »

I was invited to a Film Critics screening of J. Edgar. It was a good film, and for someone who didn't know a lot about Hoover, I discovered he was a nasty man. Not only in his personal life, but with the programs he instituted. He seemed to thrive on celebrity's misbehavior. Clint Eastwood did a good job directing, as usual. DeCaprio was excellent. The film was a bit long, and utilized quick flashbacks a bit much. Edifying! I have requested a book on JEH from my library.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2167 on:** November 05, 2011, 11:52:51 AM »

Pedln, I too was surprised with the season opener of Bones. I thought I misses something from last year. In fact, I thought they must have cancelled it because it is so late for a season opener. It was just happenstance that I caught the trailer for it the other day.

JoanK · « **Reply #2168 on:** November 05, 2011, 03:38:25 PM »

Fry: you must have missed the last minute of the last episode last season, when Bones tells Booth she's pregnant and he's the father.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2169 on:** November 05, 2011, 06:13:48 PM »

Either that, JoanK, or I forgot (a big possibility).

marcie · « **Reply #2170 on:** November 05, 2011, 08:54:07 PM »

Here's some info from the Executive Producer of Bones about the baby storyline. His description of their plans for the story makes Bones and Booth having a baby a bit more "acceptable" for me

http://spoilerjunkie.wordpress.com/2011/05/20/bones-season-7-spoilers-brennan-booth-really-having-a-baby/

roshanarose · « **Reply #2171 on:** November 05, 2011, 11:10:41 PM »

I have a lasting image of J. Edgar Hoover from Vanity Fair. It was a caricature of him flouncing around in a tutu wearing black fishnet stockings sporting an after-five shadow. Amazing!

Babi · « **Reply #2172 on:** November 06, 2011, 07:50:34 AM »

Quote

Here's some info from the Executive Producer of Bones about the baby storyline

Marcie...

Uh, MARCIE, you forgot to include the 'info'. I can't help wondering if our lead is pregnant, so
they had to introduce this story line.

jeriron · « **Reply #2173 on:** November 06, 2011, 08:29:23 AM »

Yes she was pregnant. She's already had the baby over the summer break. But they are continuing the pregnancy for a while on the show.

marcie · « **Reply #2174 on:** November 06, 2011, 12:50:51 PM »

oops, sorry. Here is the site with the Q&A with the producer of Bones: http://spoilerjunkie.wordpress.com/2011/05/20/bones-season-7-spoilers-brennan-booth-really-having-a-baby/

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #2175 on:** November 07, 2011, 10:14:45 AM »

To anyone who has read the John Sandford "Lucas Davenport" books, I just want to say that if you were expecting last nights TV presentation of his "Certain Prey" with Mark Harmon to carry even a smidgen of the books, surprise. This show was, IMHO, awful. It was overly violent (but it was about a hit-woman), it was filled with obscenities, which I did not expect on the USA Network, and was so bad, after I watched the first 30-35 minutes of it, I switched back to the football game! Who knows how it ended, and as for me, who cares. Even Mark Harmon was not good in this role, the gal who played the "heavy" was over the top, but by George, I kinda liked the "hit woman". She didn't chew the scenery and went about her "work" in a determined manner, although 5 or 6 or 8 shots with a pistol, close-up, for me, that was overkill. As you can tell, I don't recommend this movie, and don't let it chase you away from the actual books if you haven't read 'em!

marjifay · « **Reply #2176 on:** November 08, 2011, 01:20:14 PM »

I also want to see the J.Edgar film directed by Clint Eastwood. Saw the preview and it looks good, even tho' I'm not a fan of DiCapprio (I liked a couple of his films, but he looks to me like a kid trying to play a grown man.)

I have a couple of books about Hoover on my TBR list: YOUNG J. EDGAR; HOOVER, THE RED SCARE AND THE ASSAULT ON CIVIL LIBERTIES by Kenneth D. Ackerman. Per Publishers Weekly review, "examines the "red scare" hysteria that swept the country in 1919, and the notorious Palmer Raids, a series of raids and arrests ostensibly designed to rid the country of anarchists and Communists. Tho' many at the time believed J. Edgar played only a small role in the raids, in fact they were organized by him, then only a 24-year-old Dept. of Justice agent with an uncanny ability to please his superiors, a preternatural ability to attend to detail and a dangerously distorted moral compass."

Also the bio of him by Curt Gentry, J. EDGAR HOOVER; THE MAN AND HIS SECRETS.

Marj

marjifay · « **Reply #2177 on:** November 08, 2011, 01:31:11 PM »

I was also disappointed, Tomereader, in the CERTAIN PREY TV movie with Mark Harmon. I really like him in the NCIS TV series and was looking forward to the movie. I watched less than an hour of it and turned off the TV. I haven't read any of the Lucas Davenport series by Sandford but will get the book, just to see if it's as dumb as the film. I've had Sandford's CHOSEN PREY on my bookshelf for ages, unread.

Marj

Babi · « **Reply #2178 on:** November 09, 2011, 08:24:32 AM »

MARJ, do you remember Audie Murphy? He always looked like a kid, and
shorter than all the other guys. But my Dad used to say he could always
believe Murphy in his 'hero' roles, because the man had proved what he
could do as a soldier. Congressional Medal of Honor, no less.

marjifay · « **Reply #2179 on:** November 09, 2011, 10:17:12 AM »

On second thought, I think I'll hold off on watching the J.Edgar movie. Just read the review in Salon Magazine where the reviewer said, "it’s a boring and silly movie, which features Leonardo DiCaprio bumbling around his dreary, post-Victorian suite of offices, looking worried under a mountain of latex and makeup (when he plays the 1970s-era Hoover) and talking in one of those unplaceable, old-timey Northeast Corridor accents."
I'll wait to see what Roger Ebert and others say about it.

Marj

marcie · « **Reply #2180 on:** November 09, 2011, 08:45:08 PM »

Roger Ebert seems to give the J. Edgar film, and Leonardo DiCaprio, more than passing marks. See http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111108/REVIEWS/111109973

The NYTIMES gives a positive review too. See http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/movies/j-edgar-starring-leonardo-dicaprio-review.html

marjifay · « **Reply #2181 on:** November 10, 2011, 11:08:10 AM »

Thanks, Marcie, for the reviews of J.Edgar. I'll probably end up seeing it. I've liked most of the films directed by Clint Eastwood.

Marj

MaryPage · « **Reply #2182 on:** November 14, 2011, 09:28:10 AM »

This coming Saturday night the LIFE channel is going to show a movie of a Jodie Picoult book called Salem Falls.

pedln · « **Reply #2183 on:** November 14, 2011, 10:14:59 AM »

I'll be waiting for the DVD of J. Edgar, but friends of mine saw it over the weekend and liked it. The only thing they didn't like were the many flashbacks. As my friend said, "he had hair, then not so much, then hair again."

I always get lost in lots of flashbacks, so a DVD will be good -- can watch more than once if needed.

MaryPage, thanks for the info about the Jodi Picoult. If I were going to be in town I'd watch it or tape it, but definitely will start checking Lifetime's programming a bit more often.

And thanks to those of you who brought up the American Prime Suspect. That's a good show.

marcie · « **Reply #2184 on:** November 14, 2011, 10:27:31 AM »

I think that some of you have been watching Whitechapel with Rupert Penry-Jones. He and the other cast members are great in the series about unusual crimes and the British detectives who investigate them. This first series was about a Jack-the-Ripper copycat. I can't wait for the second season. It's been on BBC America.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2185 on:** November 14, 2011, 12:06:56 PM »

You mean there is a second season of Whitchapel? I missed last week, fell asleep on it at the beginning.

marcie · « **Reply #2186 on:** November 14, 2011, 03:32:02 PM »

Yes, there is/ has been (?) a season 2 in England. See http://www.tv.com/shows/whitechapel/episodes/

Babi · « **Reply #2187 on:** November 15, 2011, 08:22:47 AM »

I have heard some find PIcoult's books depressing, despite being well written. I knew nothing
about Salem Falls, but found a couple of reviews.

Salem Falls tells the story of a man who is trying to outrun his past but
is caught up in a modern-day witch hunt spurred on by a group of teenage girls
with a secret.

Picoult's new novel [Salem Falls] is a story about rape and reputation,
loosely based on The Crucible.

Having already watched one story this week about a horrible teen and her brutal games, I don't think I have the stomach for another.

salan · « **Reply #2188 on:** November 15, 2011, 06:03:25 PM »

I quit reading Jodi Picoult because of that very reason, Babi. She is a good writer, but most of her books are depressing to me. I don't need that in my life! Her themes are usually "trendy".
Sally

pedln · « **Reply #2189 on:** November 16, 2011, 11:12:52 AM »

Speaking of horrible games, I've just started reading "The Hunger Games" because my f2f group is reading it for December. There was a bit of a trailer showing on TV yesterday, so I guess it's coming out soon. It's definitely a teen novel, and has received many accolades. I'm not sure it's quite my thing -- post Apocalypse books usually are not. It will be interesting to see what folks think of the film.

Babi · « **Reply #2190 on:** November 17, 2011, 08:15:25 AM »

(sigh) Neither teen novels nor post-apocalypse stories appeal to me at all. I think I'll just ignore
this one.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2191 on:** November 19, 2011, 10:21:28 AM »

Remember, Salem Falls on the Lifetime channel tonight.

I watched the new Harry Potter movie, the very last of the series, on DVD last night. I was extremely disappointed. For much of the time, the screen was so dark I could not see ANYTHING of what was supposedly going on. I do not like to strain my eyes on a dark screen with sometimes little pinpoints of light. The story line was fine, but both this movie and the Part I of the last book last year had ghastly cinemaphotography. Did anyone else hate it as much as I did? Mind, I am a Big Time Harry Potter fan.

marjifay · « **Reply #2192 on:** November 19, 2011, 10:45:45 AM »

If anyone likes Woody Allen films as much as I do, PBS TV is doing a two-part documentary on his films as part of their American Masters series, Sunday and Monday nights, Nov. 20 and 21, from 9 to 11 pm. Some of my favorites of his films: Crime and Misdemeanors, Love and Death, Bullets Over Broadway, and of course Annie Hall. Oh, and also his latest, Midnight in Paris.

Marj

marcie · « **Reply #2193 on:** November 19, 2011, 09:00:05 PM »

MaryPage, I haven't seen the last two Harry Potters yet so can't comment.

Thanks, Marj. I like Woody Allen films very much.

Babi · « **Reply #2194 on:** November 20, 2011, 09:40:52 AM »

I watched Part I last night, MARYPAGE, to remind myself of what had happened before we get Part II. I thought the cinematography was quite good, tho' of course there was much less color than usual. I felt that was in keeping with the 'dark' times
everyone was living through.
Without my glasses, tho', it would have been difficult to see detail. You would
want to be sure there was no glare on the screen, too. That always makes viewing
more difficult.

I do acknowledge Woody Allen's genius, MARJ, but he's simply not my cup of tea.

marjifay · « **Reply #2195 on:** November 20, 2011, 10:09:42 AM »

Babi wrote, "I do acknowledge Woody Allen's genius, MARJ, but he's simply not my cup of tea."

I understand, Babi. Lots of people are not fans.

I introduced him to my sons when they were young and they are now big fans. Interestingly, they are now also fans of 1940s music, which Allen uses in many of his films.
We all went to see him not long ago when he was in Southern California with his jazz band.

Marj

Frybabe · « **Reply #2196 on:** November 20, 2011, 10:32:03 AM »

I finally got to watch Nights in Rodanthe the whole way through. It was okay. I am not that fond of Richard Gere. Diane Lane sure has a large repertoire of facial expressions, doesn't she? I didn't mind it so much in Under the Tuscan Sun, but it was certainly overstated in Rodanthe to my mind.

marjifay · « **Reply #2197 on:** November 22, 2011, 09:11:01 AM »

I saw the new film, J EDGAR, yesterday. My advice: Don't waste your money to see it in the theater! We left before it ended. A dreadfully boring, boring film.
It started out with his early life as tho' it might become interesting, but after that it just dragged on and on.

Marj

pedln · « **Reply #2198 on:** November 22, 2011, 06:54:56 PM »

The reactions to J Edgar seem to be a mixed bag, Marjifay. I don't think I want to read about him, not sure about a film. He's certainly not at the top of my list for either.

I saw my first Woody Allen film the other night -- Vicky Cristina Barcelona. I don't know about "genius" but I did enjoy the film, especially the scenery.

marjifay · « **Reply #2199 on:** November 23, 2011, 12:58:26 PM »

I haven't seen that one, Pedln. After seeing the PBS documentary on Woody Allen's films, I want to see all those I've missed. Do see his Midnight in Paris--wonderful!

A bit off topic, but I was just reading about Allen's and Mia Farrow's son Ronan (who goes by the last name Farrow), age 23, who was just awarded a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford. He plans to get a doctorate in International Development. He was a child prodigy who graduated university at age 15 with a double major in philosophy and biology. Then went on to Yale and got his law degree. Has been working for the State Department as an advisor on global youth issues.

Marj

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Author Topic: Movies & Books Into Movies (Read 591937 times)