Most Recent Movie You Watched

Susan/DC · Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 1596

My most recent movie is actually a rerelease, "Orlando", based on the Virginia Woolf novel and starring Tilda Swinton. Orlando is a beautiful young man befriended by Queen Elizabeth in 1600. She gifts him with an estate and, even more important, the gift of never growing old. The story follows him for 400 years and is about politics, literature, gender, and identity. It's beautifully filmed, and even though I never for a moment thought of Swinton as a young man, she has the perfect enigmatic face for the role. In one of those odd coincidences of timing, the very day after seeing the movie I read a brief interview with the director of the Washington Ballet who cited "Orlando" as his favorite movie.

Tinabelle · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 853 Location: SE Wisconsin

I recently watched the "indie" film Bottle Shock based on the true story of the Montelena vineyards in CA. The film tells the story of this small wine producer in the mid-70's who rocked the French wine world by winning a blind taste test against France's finest. It put the CA vineyards on the map. Stars Bill Pullman and Alan Rickman. Great little movie.
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Trish B · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 1109 Location: Mid-Atlantic, USA

Susan/DC · Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 1596

On Saturday I saw a lovely film, "Cairo Time", starring Patricia Clarkson and Alexander Siddig. Clarkson plays Juliette, a Canadian woman who travels to Cairo to visit her husband, who works for the UN in Gaza. Work interferes and so he sends Tareq, a former colleague, to meet her at the airport. Juliette finds that Egypt is a difficult place for a woman alone, not just in the men-only cafes but in the consular world of her husband, and she calls on Tareq to help her navigate until Mark can join her. The movie is about her discovery of this fascinating new place and about the growing emotional connection between her and Tareq. Clarkson is a wonderful actress. She manages to convey everything -- from exhaustion and crankiness when she first arrives (I know exactly how she feels after a long plane ride) to playfulness and joy -- with subtlety and total believability. And Siddig is tall, reed thin, and very, very appealing. It's lovely to see him in a role where, as he says, he is a human being and not a symbol. This movie is quiet and interior but definitely worth seeing.

Niftybergin · Joined: 27 Mar 2007 Posts: 1066

I went to see The Expendables Friday. It was okay, for what it was. Lots of action and violence; very little cheese. (Other than the fact that so much of it was just OTT.) There was a moment when I was expecting a "kiss the girl" scene, but I was happy that they didn't go there, and instead settled for just a hug.

jebe · Joined: 24 Mar 2007 Posts: 820 Location: Jersey

Not a movie, but this summer I watched Doctor Who, Seasons 1-4 from the revived series. My son's been bugging me for years now to get on board the DW train, but I'm not a big sci-fi fan so I kept saying no. However, I was laid up this past summer recovering from surgery so I was a captive audience. I'm still not a sci-fi fan, but man was I glad I watched those!

Loved, loved, loved David Tennant. He's officially my doctor. For all you that are in England, I kinda get it now. I don't think I've cried that much, well, ever.

My son is just dying for Season 5 to come out on DVD so we can catch the new doctor, but I'm still heartbroken!
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Linda in sw va · Joined: 27 Mar 2007 Posts: 4707

ChrisReader · Joined: 05 Sep 2009 Posts: 685

Linda in sw va said

jebe · Joined: 24 Mar 2007 Posts: 820 Location: Jersey

Cora · Joined: 12 Mar 2008 Posts: 1088 Location: Bremen, Germany

MMcA · Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 623

jebe · Joined: 24 Mar 2007 Posts: 820 Location: Jersey

Thank you, Cora and MMcA, duly noted on the Torchwood heads up. And I'm sure Matt Smith is just fine, I know I'll love him, too!
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ChrisReader · Joined: 05 Sep 2009 Posts: 685

Cora said

Cora · Joined: 12 Mar 2008 Posts: 1088 Location: Bremen, Germany

I perhaps would have been able to continue watching Doctor Who, if the production team hadn't insisted on bringing Torchwood and the Jack character back again and again. Jack even appeared in Doctor Who, a family show, after he had helped to kill children in Torchwood. Though that's not my only quibble with the new Doctor Who, I also realized towards the end of Tennant's tenure that I no longer found the Doctor an admirably character, I no longer even liked him.

I never connected to any of the characters on Buffy and Angel, so I didn't particularly care about their deaths either, though I did like Tara and was sorry to see her go. But I liked all five Torchwood main characters a whole lot. Besides, up to the end of season 2, no main character who had died in Torchwood or Doctor Who had stayed dead. A recurring character - whom I dislike and who was narrative deadweight anyway - is killed on camera by the end of season 1 and resurrected immediately thereafter. So it was pretty safe to assume that no main characters (and this character wasn't a main character, just an annoying hanger-on) would die in Doctor Who, Torchwood and the Sarah Jane Adventures.

What is more, the deaths, both in season 2 and 3, were entirely needless and preventable. And one character, my favourite in fact, was put through a nasty wringer beforehand. The many deaths of people close to him also make Jack looks really bad, because not only is he unable or unwilling to protect his people. He didn't avenge them either.

Though I disliked season 2 even before characters started dying, because the characters I had enjoyed in season 1 had been changed, at least partly due to fan pressure. My deliciously snarky favourite character was first defanged and than killed off. And of the two romantic relationships inside the team, one was written out to the point that both writers and characters seemed to pretend it never happened (one character got together with someone else, the other died), because the moral sense of some fans was offended. And Captain Jack turns into a torturer, too.

As for season 3, I find the justification of the killing of children, killings in which Captain Jack is actively involved, a lot worse than the death of yet another main character (though I did like that character quite a bit, more than the two survivors). Yes, I know that character was many fans' favourite, but they killed my favourite character the year before and no one beat an eyelash.

As for the Americanized season 4, who will watch that? Most of the original Torchwood characters are dead and I for one don't care about replacement characters. Apparently, a lot of the original fans have already said they won't watch either. I don't think the show needs American agents either. TV is full of Americans and I for one enjoyed getting to see Welsh people once in a while.

Torchwood strikes me as another example of TV executives destroying a show watched and enjoyed by women to capture an imaginary demographic of twenty-something men. Besides, the British press had it in for Torchwood from day one and sometimes slammed the show before it had even aired.

jebe · Joined: 24 Mar 2007 Posts: 820 Location: Jersey

I started a new thread for Doctor Who/Torchwood/SJC!
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