Author Topic: Movies & Books Into Movies (Read 591981 times)

marcie · « **Reply #2400 on:** March 08, 2012, 10:45:16 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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Your Discussion Leader: pedln

marcie · « **Reply #2401 on:** March 08, 2012, 10:45:50 AM »

Frybabe, I recently found Prophets of Science Fiction on my cable "on demand." The series is interesting and thought provoking. One that I watched recently on Isaac Asimov showed how he grew up reading about dangerous robot-like creatures taking over the world but they he reinterpreted robots benignly, helping mankind. The episode said that John Campbell, the editor of Astounding Science Fiction (the magazine to which Asimov submitted stories) was the person who recognized that Asimov had included in his early robot stories three laws of robotics which all robots must obey. John Campbell helped Asimov to make them explicit.

For those of you who are not science fiction fans,

the three laws are:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

JeanneP · « **Reply #2402 on:** March 08, 2012, 05:24:23 PM »

I found "Dear Frankie" at my library on DVD

roshanarose · « **Reply #2403 on:** March 08, 2012, 11:22:46 PM »

Was HAL a robot?

There is a movie out called "Trout Fishing in Yemen". Anyone seen it? Ewan McGregor. I am going to see "Coriolanus" on Monday, mainly because I can't resist Ralph Fiennes.

marcie · « **Reply #2404 on:** March 09, 2012, 02:17:58 AM »

While HAL wasn't technically a robot, I'd say that his artificial intelligence was closely aligned with the kind of potential intelligence in robots that many people fear.

Babi · « **Reply #2405 on:** March 09, 2012, 08:10:39 AM »

I would be paricularly inerested in 'Prophets of Science Fiction', FRYBABE. It is
fascinating how much of our present day science was foreseen by these men, long before
it's time. I have come to the conclusion that mankind can imagine a thing, he can
eventually bring it to pass.

pedln · « **Reply #2406 on:** March 09, 2012, 09:26:54 AM »

Quote

There is a movie out called "Trout Fishing in Yemen".

Hopefully not to be confused with Richard Brautigan's "Trout Fishing in America."

Just looked the film up on Netflix -- DVD not yet available. The title appears to be

Salmon Fishing in Yemen

They're members of the same family, aren't they? Trout and salmon?

With Ewen McGregor and directed by Lasse Halstrom (My Life as A Dog)

Should be a winner

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #2407 on:** March 09, 2012, 09:32:47 AM »

Yes I think so - but although I haven't read the book, I believe that this story actually has nothing to do with fishing.

Rosemary

Frybabe · « **Reply #2408 on:** March 09, 2012, 09:57:06 AM »

What a coincidence! I just ran across that title while looking for something else this morning, Pedln. I remember thinking there are salmon in Yemen?

JoanK · « **Reply #2409 on:** March 09, 2012, 02:56:44 PM »

I'll bet there aren't!

PatH · « **Reply #2410 on:** March 09, 2012, 04:03:31 PM »

It seems strange, but trout and salmon are indeed related. If you're lucky enough to live where you can get steelhead, it looks like salmon, but tastes like both trout and salmon combined.

roshanarose · « **Reply #2411 on:** March 09, 2012, 11:10:11 PM »

pedln and pat - Thanks for letting me off the hook (oooh awful pun). I just shouldn't rely on my memory.

If you want to see the best trout in the world go to New Zealand, North Island, around Lake Taupo and Rotorua. They are enormous!!

Babi · « **Reply #2412 on:** March 10, 2012, 08:48:44 AM »

Which reminds me I recently heard a twist on an old saying. "If you give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. If you teach him how to fish, he'll spend the rest of his life out on a boat drinking beer."

JeanneP · « **Reply #2413 on:** March 10, 2012, 04:06:25 PM »

Now they were showing the making of "Salmon fishing in Yemen" and I believe it is showing them fishing. Seems to be about a English men wanting to start in Yemen with the Prince (I believe the ruler is). Want's to show what the youth of the country could be doing instead of wanting to fight etc.
Could be I misunderstood the plot as I was away from the TV.

JeanneP · « **Reply #2414 on:** March 10, 2012, 04:26:22 PM »

Roseheanna

Now the Ralph Feinnes that you say you like. Is the the Feinnes that was so mean playing the Commandant of the Concentration Camp in "Schindler's List?" I hated him. Can't stand to watch him since then. There are 2 Feinnes Brothers I believe.

roshanarose · « **Reply #2415 on:** March 11, 2012, 01:40:35 AM »

JeanneP - Ralph Fiennes is an incredibly versatile actor. He can be so gentle (see "The English Patient" and "The Constant Gardener"), but so menacing as you say in the movie as a Nazi captain. But then there are not many men who have played Nazis on screen who are particularly likeable. Ralph also plays the part of Voldemort, the terrifying villain in the Harry Potter series. He doesn't look his best in that part. He has no nose! His brother is Joseph Fiennes who was in "Shakespeare in Love".

I feel the way you feel about Ralph, in regards to the actor (Benedict Cumberbatch)who plays Sherlock Holmes in the latest TV version. He was such a b.....d in Atonement that to see him makes me feel quite sick. Also Stanley Tucci who played the paedophile killer in "Lovely Bones". I reason that they must be great actors to play these villainous parts so well. I think they are brave too. Not worrying too much about turning off their fans in the audience. Another case in point is "Seven", a very dark movie indeed, with Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt as two cops and Kevin Spacey as the particularly frightening killer. I could name many more. However, I don't think John Wayne ever strayed far from his typecasting though

I think it is often, but not always the case, that seeing the actor for the first time as a villain can turn you off him/her. "Schindler's List" although the name of the film, is actually not the name of the book. The book is called "Schindler's Ark" by Thomas Keneally. I have met Tom Keneally and he is a lovely, very modest man. He is an ex-priest.

Babi: "If you give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. If you teach him how to fish, he'll spend the rest of his life out on a boat drinking beer." I like it!

Babi · « **Reply #2416 on:** March 11, 2012, 09:28:00 AM »

I laughed out loud when I first heard it, ROSE.

I find that I do not have the 'Science Channel', but I do have some channels that offer good
science-oriented shows. National Geographic is one. Yesterday I watched a documentary about
a young American man of Mongolian ancestry who came up with the idea of locating the
forbidden tomb of Genghis Khan. The Khan had the entire territory declared forbidden ground
for 800 years, and that command has been honored ever since.
By a happy circumstance, that 800 years was completed, and this young man persuaded an
impressive team of experts to go with him to locate that tomb. They would not be permitted
to dig, but with today's modern scientific equipment, they could locate and get a clear idea of
anything buried. It's amazing what they were able to do. I recommend the film highly.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #2417 on:** March 11, 2012, 12:59:32 PM »

I had gotten the film "Hugo" from Netflix. My dear good friend had not yet seen it (even though she reviews film for a local paper), so she said she would prepare lunch if I would bring the dvd. What a wonderful, decent movie. It is 2 hrs 7 minutes, but worth every one of them. Pause for a bathroom break, and you'll be fine! LOL.

I mentioned to her that "isn't it amazing that in a single year, we have three movies with Paris backgrounds: Hugo - set in Paris, pays homage to "film"; "the Artist, set in Paris, paying homage to silent film and "Midnight in Paris" set in, duh, Paris, and pays homage to literary figures (mostly). She hadn't thought about that. Quirky of me to catch it, and I havent' even seen Artist or Midnight.

roshanarose · « **Reply #2418 on:** March 11, 2012, 11:18:22 PM »

Babi - Thanks for the information about Genghis Khan and his 800 years. I have always wanted to go to Mongolia. Many of my refugee friends from Afghanistan can trace their ancestry back to GK and his garrison who stopped over around Bamiyan (I think) on their way to plundering Europe. GK had a maxim - he would warn the city that if all the inhabitants did not surrender that he would attack them and kill every last man, woman, child and animal. At least he gave them a chance which is more than one can say about a lot of modern marauders.

I will most certainly keep my eyes open for that documentary.

Has anyone been watching "Homeland"? Raw but compelling.

Babi · « **Reply #2419 on:** March 12, 2012, 08:33:48 AM »

Know nothing about 'Homeland'. What is that about, ROSE? (It may have been mentioned
before, but if so it didn't 'stick'.)

pedln · « **Reply #2420 on:** March 12, 2012, 11:23:16 AM »

I've heard of Homeland, but don't know anything about it. Most of my TV shows have been coming from Netflix. A little older, but no commercials, and don't have try to keep up every week. But last night a friend emailed me and said Harry's Law was coming on NBC at 7 pm. We'd been talking about Kathy Bates earlier in the week, and if she hadn't emailed me I would have forgotten all about the show. I've always liked Kathy Bates, but think I'll have to watch a few more Harry episodes before I can say more about this show. She seems pretty glum.

JoanK · « **Reply #2421 on:** March 12, 2012, 03:10:40 PM »

Rose: I have a documentary movie about a blind American musician who went to mongolia to participate in a "throat-singing" compitition: a traditional Mongolian form of music where the throat becomes a musical instrument. It shows a lot of the country.

If you are a fan of the eccentric Nobel-Prize winning physicist, Richard Feynman, he went to Mongolia (don't know if he played his drums there) and the makers of this film found, in the Mongolian town where they were a sign "Feynman Lives".

marcie · « **Reply #2422 on:** March 12, 2012, 05:54:12 PM »

JoanK, I remember seeing a documentary about Richard Feynman's attempts before he died to get to Tuva to hear the Tuvan throat singing. I also have the book, "Tuva or Bust," that includes a recording of throat singing. There is a video of the throat singing at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY1pcEtHI_w (the throat singing comes a minute or two into the video).

Babi · « **Reply #2423 on:** March 13, 2012, 08:51:31 AM »

We usually watch "Harry's Law", PEDLN, though I do have mixed feelings about it. I usually
enjoy it once we get into it, but I'm never particularly eager to see them. Definitely
some ambiguity there.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2424 on:** March 13, 2012, 12:50:50 PM »

I adore Kathy Bates, so of course I wanted to watch Harry's Law. I tried it several times, but the fact is, I still Adore Kathy Bates, but I cannot stand that show and will no longer even attempt to watch it.

So sad.

maryz · « **Reply #2425 on:** March 13, 2012, 01:24:59 PM »

I'm kinda with you, MaryPage - but we've still watched it. It may go the way of whatever that lawyer one with Calista Flockhart in it was - got just too weird, so we quit. Of course, Harry's Law probably won't last that long, either.

JoanK · « **Reply #2426 on:** March 13, 2012, 03:15:54 PM »

Thank you for that recording of throat singing. Different, isn't it.

Babi · « **Reply #2427 on:** March 14, 2012, 08:06:03 AM »

Yes, I loved that Calista Flockheart series for so long. Then it started getting more and more
crude and distasteful. I wonder whose bright idea that was? I stopped watching, too.

pedln · « **Reply #2428 on:** March 15, 2012, 06:01:44 PM »

Calista Flockheart -- Ally McBeal?

I watched a film earlier this week, realized I had missed quite a bit or at least didn't catch on to some of the happenings until towards the end of the film. So I watched it again, entirely, and loved it. Fireflies in the Garden. The only actor I really knew was Julia Roberts, who played the mother. Wonderful acting on the part of all the cast. Lots of flashbacks, but second-time around everything just fell into place. A family story, father/son conflicts. Highly recommended.

Have you seen films that you had trouble understanding? That you needed to watch more than once to know what was really happening?

JoanK · « **Reply #2429 on:** March 15, 2012, 06:08:17 PM »

Yes! What leaps to mind is a film a number of years ago "Gospard Park". I saw it three times before I got all the nuances of the plot.

Babi · « **Reply #2430 on:** March 16, 2012, 08:14:41 AM »

Julia Roberts is a favorite of mine, but I hadn't heard of that one, PEDLN. I'll definitely be looking
that one up. Thanks for mentioning it.

pedln · « **Reply #2431 on:** March 16, 2012, 11:20:46 AM »

JoanK, you know, I saw it (GP) once, but didn't really like it. And so many others did like it. Perhaps it was all a matter of not catching what went on. Maybe I'd better watch that one again.

Babi, apparently Fireflies came out in 2008 or 09, but either wasn't shown in theatres or it bombed in theatres. Not sure, but the DVD was just released this year.

JeanneP · « **Reply #2432 on:** March 16, 2012, 12:35:14 PM »

I now have Series 3 of the "In Treatment. "4 disc each running 4 hours. Just like the other 2 Series. Very good. I could watch Gabriel Bryne in anything. Like us, he is now getting to show his age more.

dbroomsc · « **Reply #2433 on:** March 17, 2012, 08:22:45 AM »

Never heard of Fireflies in the Garden until I read it here. However, our library does have it. I am in hold position #71.

While at the library, I picked up a 4-Disc copy of How the States Got their Shapes which apparently was shown on the History Channel. Have only watched 1 disc so far, but it tells of little known facts about each state both its geography and its history. Should be required watching for all of us who are fuzzy in geography.

maryz · « **Reply #2434 on:** March 17, 2012, 10:06:51 AM »

dean, we saw a few of those programs about the states - all very interesting. Guess I should put that in my queue.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #2435 on:** March 17, 2012, 10:57:14 AM »

Yes, i love the "States" series. It's both fun and educational. History Ch shows parts of it on a regular basis, thank goodness. Maybe it's entertaining enough that people will watch and learn - children and adults. I wonder is teachers are using it.

Jean

marjifay · « **Reply #2436 on:** March 17, 2012, 08:40:49 PM »

I bought that book, HOW THE STATES GOT THEIR SHAPES by Mark Stein. Shows the outline of each state in the section that tells about it, so you can see exactly what he is talking about. Very interesting.

Marj

roshanarose · « **Reply #2437 on:** March 17, 2012, 11:27:48 PM »

JoanK - What is the name of the documentary you mentioned, please?

JeanneP - Gabriel Byrne is one of my favourite actors too. That beautiful, craggy Irish face. Have you seen the Australian made movie "Jindabyne". It stars Laura Linney, Gabriel Byrne and Deborra-Lee Furness (Hugh Jackman's wife). Jindabyne is a town near the Snowy Mountains. If you have not seen it, please do. The theme song and the movie itself are evidently both based on a novel by Raymond Carver. I am feeling a bit maudlin, because the last time I discussed this movie was with my dear mate, Gumtree. It was one of best Australian movies on her list too. We put together a list of them. Love you, Gum.

Babi - As you probably know I have a taste for the meaty. Meaty is what "Homeland" is. I think the red-haired anti-hero is British, actually, although he plays an American in the series.

The best description I found of the series is on Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeland_(TV_series)

Babi · « **Reply #2438 on:** March 18, 2012, 08:32:52 AM »

Thanks for the link, ROSE. It sums up the program very nicely.

pedln · « **Reply #2439 on:** March 18, 2012, 05:28:26 PM »

roshanarose, I saw Jindabyne a few years back and really enjoyed it, one of my favorites. As for HOmeland, I guess I'll be waiting awhile as I don't get Showtime and Netflix does not have the DVD yet.

News:

Author Topic: Movies & Books Into Movies (Read 591981 times)