Movies & Books Into Movies

[JoanK]

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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Internet Movie Data Base
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Movies Based on the Book

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

I'll wait for it. The Comedy of Errors is a nothing play to read, but I saw it performed once, and it was hilarious. What does our Shakespeare maven (JoanP) say?

[Frybabe]

I agreed, JoanK. The one I saw included Diana Rigg in the cast and it was all done on various level platforms. Funny, I don't remember whether or not they wore any costumes. It was indeed hilarious.

[JeanneP]

I finely watched "Hope Springs" the other night. Sort of like a few couples I have known over the years.  Never seem to talk to each other.
They both played their parts well. I don't think I could have stood him for a husband. Boring, boring.  She really looked that she had put on a lot of weight in it.

[MaryPage]

MPT, one of three PBS channels available to us here in Annapolis, will be showing two more of the SHAKESPEARE Uncovered tonight:  Henry IV & Henry V, and Richard II.
My very, very favorite Shakespeare play is Julias Caesar, but Henry V is my second favorite.  Took me years and years to work it all out, but that is the way it is.  So I am looking forward hugely to tonight's offerings.

[Babi]

  I greatly appreciated the alert on the "Shakespeare Uncovered" series.  I immediately located it on my TV
'search'  and  will be recording the next two shows.  I'm sorry to have missed the onewith Vanessa Redgrave, but hopefully they will air the program again eventually.   I am looking forward to seeing what the producers have done.  Thanks, MaryPage.

[marjifay]

Thanks MaryPage for the heads up on Shakespeare Uncovered.  I'll look for it.

I have intended to read Henry V ever since reading Bernard Cornwell's interesting book, Agincourt.  Right now I'm working on Hamlet with the help of Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare.

Marj

[maryz]

Shakespeare uncovered isn't on either one of the PBS stations we get (Chattanooga and Georgia Public TV).

[CallieOK]

Not on the OKC station, either. 

[Frybabe]

Bummer, Shakespeare Uncovered, the Richard II edition is on opposite another show I want to watch. Derek Jacobi is doing this one.

[CallieOK]

I stand corrected!   I checked the OKC PBS web site and discovered that "Shakespeare Uncovered" is broadcast at 2:00 and 5:00 a.m. on Friday night/Saturday morning.  There is NO mention of this in the monthly magazine the PBS station sends out.
Now that I've discovered the broadcasts, i will set my DVR.  (Just hope I can remember every week).

The show on the "King Henrys" will be on tonight/tomorrow.   
Which ones have I missed in the series?

[Babi]

 You can't record one of the shows, FRYBABE?  I don't know what Val and I would do without the capability
of recording four different shows at the same time.  She is a night owl and watches rafts of shows that don't
interest me.

[Frybabe]

I don't have a VCR hooked up to my TV now and I don't have a DVR. I generally catch up on the reruns.

[Dana]

Who's going to watch the House of Cards thing on netflicks?  There were 2 NPR programs on it this am which got me interested.  I wasn't that tempted, having enjoyed the Brit series with Ian Richardson but it sounds like its very similar (eg the asides to the audience)and seeing the American perspective should be interesting.   Got to finish Wallander first tho!

Saw the Henrys on Shakespeare Uncovered last night.  Hamlet was supposed to be following, but it didn't.  I haven't read the Henrys.  The program was so informative that I'm going to have to get to them.  At least the BBC did all of his plays and they are available on netflicks, so one can read and watch with ease, which is lovely.

[MaryPage]

No, Hamlet is to be on NEXT week.  That was an advertisement for next week that you glimpsed.
Well, I loved them.  Loved them both!
Of the FOUR (4) hour long shows I have seen thus far, the one with Vanessa Redgrave was far and away the best, but Sir Derek Jacobi and Jeremy Irons were great, fantastic, delicious last night.
Irons did the Henry IV parts I and II and Henry V, and he did them beautifully.  You get lots of shots of famous people doing the St. Crispin Day speech, too.  Laurence Olivier, Kenneth Branagh, and so on.
Jacobi did the Richard II, and it was above excellent.  It was mind blowing.  The very end, where you see a shot of an extremely young Sir Derek playing Richard while the present actor shakes his head and laments that he now understands Richard and could do it so much better is a moment in the history of acting.  Everyone should see that moment.  It is indelibly marvelous.
I did an awfully lot of Shakespeare in school, but it was when I was a young wife and mother that BOOK OF THE MONTH CLUB came out with a Yale set of all of his plays.  Small books bound in blue, one play per book, they nearly filled a whole shelf of a bookcase.  I bought them and read every single one.  Also have made it a point to see most of the movies.  I was fascinated last night to discover that Sir Derek and I belong to the same group who believe Shakespeare could not and did not write those plays.

[Babi]

 I've seen Richard II now, and the first half of the Henry IV & V. I'll finish that
one today. Henry V I remember liking very much.  Know nothing whatever about 'House
of Cards'.  Dispel my ignorance, please, DANA.

 That closing scene with Derek Jacob made me smile, MARYPAGE.  You could so plainly see
his yearning to play that role once more.  He is one of the best.

[marjifay]

I just read at Yahoo News that the bones and skull found beneath a parking lot were verified as being those of Richard III.

"The body of the lost and vilified English king Richard III has finally been found.

 Archaeologists announced today (Feb. 4) that bones excavated from underneath a parking lot in Leicester "beyond reasonable doubt," belong to the medieval king. Archaeologists announced the discovery of the skeleton in September. They suspected then they might have Richard III on their hands because the skeleton showed signs of the spinal disorder scoliosis, which Richard III likely had, and because battle wounds on the bones matched accounts of Richard III's death in the War of the Roses."

You can google it if you want to know more.

Marj

[marcie]

Wow, marj, what a find!!

[rosemarykaye]

It was all over our news last night. people are very excited.  Madeleine and I watched the 10pm news directly after an episode of Lewis that ended with the discovery of a skeleton in the roof of an Oxford College Chapel.  I must say it was a bit confusing!  (Maybe more so because we have a new puppy and he is driving me a little nuts at the moment - Carolyn & Steph, how did you manage when your dogs were puppies?  He is 9-10 weeks old and housetraining is not going well, but the owner of the mother dog says everything's perfectly normal and they get it in the end.  It's 20 years since I had a puppy (our last dog came to us at age 5, fully trained), and when I look at the internet there seems to be so much conflicting advice that it's like having a first baby!  The other problem I have with him is that I am confining him to the kitchen, utility room & conservatory until he is trained, and the minute I leave the room, even for 2 minutes, he starts to howl and bark.

Sorry, I know this is not exactly a book question!  I'm just a bit desperate for some 'hands-on' advice!

Thanks

Rosemary

[JeanneP]

Rosemary. On puppy training.  It has to be one person. Taking them every 30 min. Out were you want them to be going.  I never did the paper training thing.  It took about a month to really get them knowing. Even then still would have a accident. I didn't make a fuss but just took them out every 30 min. again. they caught on.
I sort of did the same things with both girls. (Not to the outdoors). To the loo every hour on the hour.  Both were out of nappies by a year.

Just can't get the daughters to follow that though.  Seems their Gkids are 3-4 years old when completed.

[jeriron]

And keep it confined to a small area. Don't let it roam all over or you won't know where it went until you step in it.

[JeanneP]

I never could understand people who let them go just anyplace in the yard or even when you take them a walk.  Pick a spot is easier.

[rosemarykaye]

Thanks all.  At the moment it is more a case of getting him out of the door as fast as possible!  However, he does seem to be getting some sort of idea, and he is a lot calmer at nights, thank goodness.  he gets his final vaccination next Monday, after which he can go out into the world, which will give him something to think about.

Jeanne, my mother also apparently had me out of nappies when I was 9 months old.  I don't know how she did it - my son in particular was a huge challenge, the girls less so.  I recall that a friend with more experience told me that if she had my son over for the day, she would have him out of nappies by the evening.  When I went back she admitted defeat.  They all get there in the end of course, whereas dogs won't unless you train them.

Anyway, apologies - I appreciate that this is a book site and I will now stop talking about this unsavoury subject!

Rosemary

[Babi]

 I don't know about puppies, but there may be somethng genetic about the problem in people.  My son had problems with bedwetting long after he was potty-trained.  I then
learned from an uncle that he had the same problem.  He begged me not to be hard on the
boy, as he really could not help it.
  The puppies we did start in the laundry area, spread with newspapers.  As time went by,
we removed more and more of the spread of papers, until there was just one 'designated'
place, which they used faithfully when in the house.
  What was that movie about the totally unmanageable and untrainable dog that his owners
adored...and apparently the moviegoers, too?  Oh, my!

[JeanneP]

Rosemary.  No, we all want to know how you do with the puppy.  They are a challenge. Then are you going to take him to obedience classes also.  Nothing better than a well trained animal or worse than one that isn't.  I have never been without a pet of some kind. Mostly dogs. But and Parrots.

O.K I had better stop the dog talk also.   Maybe you will make a movie video of you dog once all trained. Or even write a book then it will be O.K.

[PatH]

Rosemary, this isn't the first discussion here about training puppies.  We're only mostly about books, not exclusively.

[rosemarykaye]

Thanks everyone for your support.  It is a real pleasure to come in here every morning and see familiar faces.  I am glad to say puppy has at least now settled at night, seems to accept that he stays in his bed in the kitchen (ie the place with washable floor!) and we go upstairs.  So now the housetraining is the thing.  I have found out about puppy classes in the next village, so only 5 mins drive away - they are planning to start the next course at the end of this month, which should fit in quite well. 

I am also reading Cesar Millan's Dog Whisperer book, which is very helpful - though some of his examples must be very American - eg one of his imaginary 'case studies' is of a family where one of the teens gets up at 6 every morning for swimming training, so merrily agrees to change that to 5am in order to take the dog on his first walk - the chances of that happening in this house are precisely NIL!  In the same 'family' the father serves the children their breakfast (thereby giving mother a lie-in as she works late, which I appreciate I don't) and comes home at 6pm to go cycling with the dog.  Again, pigs would fly before that happened here!!!

I am very fortunate in having a lovely friend a few miles away who is v experienced with dogs, especially spaniels, and is happy to puppy sit almost any time; she has given me a lot of great advice, and once he has had his final injection on Monday daughters (who will be on half term next week) and I will take him to visit her and her elderly female spaniel.  Her husband won't let her have another dog, so I think we may be sharing mine - which actually makes life a lot easier for me, so we're both happy.

My neighbour is getting a new kitten next week, as one of her two Orientals had to be put to sleep last year.  She works, so I have offered to pop in to feed it - am beginning to feel like a zoo keeper!

Keep reminding myself that even my babies got easier eventually!  A neighbour who has a bearded collie - but no children - said 'oh it's just like having a baby' - but actually I think babies are much harder work.

Beautiful morning here - it is now light when I go to the station with Madeleine, and today there was a wonderful sunrise over the village.  If winter comes, as they say, spring isn't far behind (we hope...)

Rosemary

[marjifay]

Saw LIFE OF PI in 3D yesterday.  Really liked it.  Fantastic scenes of Pi being stranded on the ocean in a lifeboat with Richard Parker, the Bengal tiger.  Also lovely scenes of India.  It should get an Oscar for the great cinematography. It was also nominated for best picture and director, but I suppose Lincoln will get top awards.   I'm re-reading the book, Life of Pi.  Has anyone read it or seen the movie?

Marj

[JeanneP]

 I read someplace a few months ago, but not read anything since, that "The Dog Whisperer" was found still alive but had tried committing Suicide.  Had suffered from depression for years.  I just love watching his shows. So hope it was just a rumor or he is getting help.

[Tomereader1]

A friend just loaned me her copy of "LIfe of PI" and she has seen movie.  Said to read book first, then see movie.  Said movie is very good too.

[MaryPage]

SHAKESPEARE is on PBS again tonight.  The last 2 shows.  Hamlet and The Tempest.

[salan]

I read Pi several years ago.  I loved the book and am anxious to see the movie.
Sally

[JeanneP]

I notice that Shakespeare on our PBS tonight also.  I know you ladies really like them.  Me. We got so much of it in our Schools growing up in the UK. that I just can't stand reading or watching Film on him.
With all that has been said over the last years about him not being the one who wrote a word. Makes me feel we read all that not knowing those facts.
Done a lot for the Tourist trade and other things over the years though.

[MaryPage]

I cannot reconcile the fact that his children were illiterate and there were no books in his house when he died.  Also, he never traveled abroad, yet wrote about foreign places as though he had been there.

[PatH]

In a way, it doesn't matter if Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare.  Somebody wrote the plays, and they stand on their own, whoever it was.

[Babi]

 I've got my vcr set up to record the Shakespeare show. Personally, the question
of who actually wrote them doesn't change the quality and power of the plays.
I am really enjoying this series, and just regret I missed the first one. I
will have to hope I get an opportunity to see it in a future showing.

 Ah, I see PatH and I are in agreement. (I think we usually are. )

[MaryPage]

I am just so intrigued by the fact that NO WRITER has ever existed in any language in all of our history who wrote with the pure genius that Shakespeare did.  No writer.  None.

We have had marvelous and brilliant and satisfying authors.  Gifted writers.  Wonderful people bringing us great information and pleasure.

But Shakespeare stands alone above them all.  Incomparable. 

Side by side, his life history does not equal the quality of his output.  But you are no doubt correct;  I should not yearn to know that which I cannot possibly be given to know.

Last night was wonderful.  Helen Mirren and The Tempest and David Tennant and Hamlet.  Adore them both.  I always think I will not learn another little bit, but then, I always do.  Last night was no exception.

[rosemarykaye]

Jeanne - I had a look on the internet and it seems that Cesar Milan did indeed try to commit suicide in 2010, as his wife told him she wanted a divorce and his favourite dog died.  However, he has since turned his life around and also met someone new, so it looks like he is OK now.

Rosemary

[Dana]

Oh dear, I missed the last Shakespeare--The Tempest and Hamlet.  Hope they are repeated, or netflicks gets them.  I do so agree MaryPage.  IMO Shakespeare was the greatest writer of all time.  "What oft was thought but ne'er so well expressed". ( Always thought that was Alexander Pope commenting on what makes brilliant writing in general, recently found out he was actually talking about Horace, who I don't think is that great, so far, but have not read much, too difficult.)  But I agree, it doesn't really matter who Shakespeare was, one or several, but if several, there had to be a master, like a painter and studio pupils, because he does seem to me to express a view of life peculiar to one man/woman.
The only writer who comes close I think is Homer.

Anyway, I really came in here to say how much I have become immersed in the Swedish Wallander series now, and it is GREAT.  You really are drawn in to the lives of the regular cast who I think are much more clearly developed than in the books.  The stories are typical Mankell, nasty but interesting.  And you learn some Swedish!  Who knew Wallander is really pronounced VallAnder and an A with a circle over it is pronounced O.
I will be lost when it comes to an end, there are 14 episodes, thank goodness I've only seen 4!! I'm pacing myself because I don't want to get to the end of them.

[rosemarykaye]

I agree Dana, there is no writer in the English language better than Shakespeare.  I can't speak for writers in other languages I'm afraid.

Rosemary

[pedln]

BAFTA this weekend awards Argo as best film

BAFTA

It will be interesting to compare these with the Oscars, which is when?  Two weeks?