The Medusa Fora

Rio Lobo 1970

This is the last in Howard Hawk's siege western trilogy and in my opinion the weakest, but it is still worth a watch. It's a wonder what possessed Hawk to essentially make the same film three times, but I suppose the biggest wonder is how they are all thoroughly enjoyable. John Wayne does what John Wayne does best but for me what makes this the weakest of the trilogy is the supporting cast. They dont gel well and theres a distinct lack of chemistry, which the previous movies have in abundance, particularly Rio Bravo (1958). As for the perfomances... Meh... to call Jorge Rivero wooden is an understatement.

6/10

The Departed

Jim Henson's The Storyteller, season 1 (1988).

A great production of 8 different folk tales (German, Celtic & Russian), a mix of live and puppet action, in classic Henson style (with a limited use of animation, usually with live silhouettes, mostly in transitions). There's a certain "wink at the camera" aspect, that fits the model of a storyteller plying his trade (the narrator, played by John Hurt). At times, i really had the feeling of being at a live puppet show, esp. with the devils in "Death & The Soldier"- where you willingly suspend disbelief to fall into the story, 'cause hey, they're puppets, not people or "believable" animation. And the stories have their incomprehensible and unexplained parts - just as those crazy folk takes do.

I call this some of Henson's best work. Like all his great stuff, it's enjoyable for all ages. Sadly, like a lot of his best work, it's largely unknown. At the time, I caught a couple re-broadcast as part of The Jim Henson Hour the following year, which was also short-lived. These I found on bit torrent a couple years ago. And I've never seen the 4 episodes of "season 2", which were Greek myths.

(Oh wait... looks like it all got a DVD release in 2006, badda-bing!)

All Dogs Go To Heaven 1989

A real guilty pleasure this one... Grew up with it as a kid and just rediscovered it recently. The voice acting and songs are great and the animation is superb but is very dark (used to scare the shit outta' me at stages).

Well worth a watch and the kids will love it!

7/10

"The History Of The Boston Bruins"... Being 23, and religiously following a team with 80+ years of bruising history, this documentary is great.

The Bridge


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwl-Pa_QT0M

I didn't really look at it that closely when picking it up at the library, thought it was a documentary of the Golden Gate over a year that recorded some suicides and attempts, but it has a far greater focus on those stories.

Makes Lord of the Flies seem a little less dire.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwKu8AD80H8

philipchevron wrote:Rescue Me (FX, July 2004 - September 2011)

It's been like a family member. Its capacity for spinning on a dime has been, by turns, infuriating and exhilarating. It almost never went down the obvious emotional route. Scratch that. It never took the obvious route. In terms of television vocabulary, in its own way, it tore up the rule book as much as The Wire did. The writing is often breathtaking, ranging from the screamingly funny to the gut-wrenchingly heartbreaking. It is the best work television has ever done on the subject of alcoholism. It took as long to get to like Tommy Gavin (Denis Leary) as it took Tommy Gavin to like Tommy Gavin, though we both got there in the end. Most important of all, perhaps, Rescue Me is the best possible memorial to the 343 firefighters who died at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 could ever have and Leary has done them proud by refusing ever to succumb to self-indulgent sentimentality or scoundrel-patriotism.

It made me laugh like a drain and, as "Dirty Old Town" played under the final credits of the very last show, the cameras fixed on the building site where the Towers used to be, it made me bawl my eyes out.

It had never occurred to me that a show - created by & starring Denis Leary - about the post-9/11 lives of NYC firefighters could be anything but terrible. But based on this review, we've just finished season 1, and are gobsmacked (as is my neighbour, who i'd mentioned this to - he was knocking on the door 48 hrs later looking for season 2).

Amazing. I find it hard to believe it will keep being this good for 6 more season, 'cause that never happens, but i'm excited that you think it made it.

Low D wrote:

philipchevron wrote:Rescue Me (FX, July 2004 - September 2011)

It's been like a family member. Its capacity for spinning on a dime has been, by turns, infuriating and exhilarating. It almost never went down the obvious emotional route. Scratch that. It never took the obvious route. In terms of television vocabulary, in its own way, it tore up the rule book as much as The Wire did. The writing is often breathtaking, ranging from the screamingly funny to the gut-wrenchingly heartbreaking. It is the best work television has ever done on the subject of alcoholism. It took as long to get to like Tommy Gavin (Denis Leary) as it took Tommy Gavin to like Tommy Gavin, though we both got there in the end. Most important of all, perhaps, Rescue Me is the best possible memorial to the 343 firefighters who died at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 could ever have and Leary has done them proud by refusing ever to succumb to self-indulgent sentimentality or scoundrel-patriotism.

It made me laugh like a drain and, as "Dirty Old Town" played under the final credits of the very last show, the cameras fixed on the building site where the Towers used to be, it made me bawl my eyes out.

It had never occurred to me that a show - created by & starring Denis Leary - about the post-9/11 lives of NYC firefighters could be anything but terrible. But based on this review, we've just finished season 1, and are gobsmacked (as is my neighbour, who i'd mentioned this to - he was knocking on the door 48 hrs later looking for season 2).

Amazing. I find it hard to believe it will keep being this good for 6 more season, 'cause that never happens, but i'm excited that you think it made it.

Not a Leary fan? The show is excellent start to end - dramatic, comedic, emotional. I *almost* cried when Dirty Old Town started playing at the very end. It was the PERFECT song for the moment that ended this brilliant show.

PureIrishPunk wrote:Not a Leary fan? The show is excellent start to end - dramatic, comedic, emotional. I *almost* cried when Dirty Old Town started playing at the very end. It was the PERFECT song for the moment that ended this brilliant show.

I was a huge fan when he was a standup comedian, and i loved the "Asshole" song, but as an actor... i dunno, maybe it's not his acting, maybe it's just that he's always been in such crap. But i'm a fan now!

Deadline: The New York Times (2011).

Low D wrote:

PureIrishPunk wrote:Not a Leary fan? The show is excellent start to end - dramatic, comedic, emotional. I *almost* cried when Dirty Old Town started playing at the very end. It was the PERFECT song for the moment that ended this brilliant show.

I was a huge fan when he was a standup comedian, and i loved the "Asshole" song, but as an actor... i dunno, maybe it's not his acting, maybe it's just that he's always been in such crap. But i'm a fan now!

Much of his standup routines were ripped straight from the late great Bill Hick's sets. Oh and who can forget him in Demolition Man as the down and out protector of civil liberties. Smashing stuff indeed! hahaha

Fright Night 2011

This remake is effect... I suppose. Although it retains none of the campness and fun that made the original so good. Colin Farrell is solid and at times genuinely sinister and the supporting cast do an adequate job. However (and this may be a little unfair) I was a little disappointed with casting of Christopher Mintz-Plasse AKA Mc Lovin,' not that he was particularly bad, just that I cant see him as anyone other his Mc Lovin' role from Superbad, a role in which I feel he will struggle to shake as his career progresses.

Not as good as the original but worth a watch. Saturday night rental.

6/10

BelfastsLittlesHobo wrote:

Low D wrote:

PureIrishPunk wrote:Not a Leary fan? The show is excellent start to end - dramatic, comedic, emotional. I *almost* cried when Dirty Old Town started playing at the very end. It was the PERFECT song for the moment that ended this brilliant show.

I was a huge fan when he was a standup comedian, and i loved the "Asshole" song, but as an actor... i dunno, maybe it's not his acting, maybe it's just that he's always been in such crap. But i'm a fan now!

Much of his standup routines were ripped straight from the late great Bill Hick's sets. Oh and who can forget him in Demolition Man as the down and out protector of civil liberties. Smashing stuff indeed! hahaha

I'd forgotten Demolition Man. That was probably the best film of a rotten lot that he's starred in, incl. Judgement Night, The Ref, Operation Dumbo Drop (ok, i never saw that one...)