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    Manhunter on Sky Atlantic tonight. A far, far better film than Silence of the Lambs could ever hope to be.

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      How many remakes are actually better than the original? I'd say Heat but that's a bit unfair as the original was a pilot edited into a TV movie. I saw a bit of it on BBC One a couple of years ago and was mightily confused.

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        Manhunter is a terrible title, as almost all involved in it admit. But they didn't want to call it Red Dragon in case people thought it was a kung fu film.

        Tom Noonan as Dollarhyde/The Tooth Fairy stayed in character on set and requested that he not meet any of the actors playing his pursuers, building up a real level of fear and an air of authenticity when William Petersen and the other cops finally find and confront him. I love this sort of on set shenanigans to build up tension among the actors - similar to when Spielberg spared Matt Damon the gruelling army training he put the rest of the cast through, so they came to actually resent him by the time they filmed their first scenes with Private Ryan.

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          Yeah, I suppose there are some non-Hollywood places with enough work to let professionals live there, but, again, I don't think I have any artistic aptitude - though I haven't really figured out a way to find out for sure. Oh well.


          The long hours might be a grind too, but it could also be exciting and, if you like the people you're working with, enjoyable. For established people in that kind of work, the trade off of the long hours is balanced by weeks or maybe months of not working much at all. But you'd have to make a lot of money in the jobs you do have - and be very confident that more work is coming - to just take a long break.

          At least that's how I think it works. Most of what I know about how movies work is based on interviews with established actors and directors and from watching Entourage.

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            The latest series of Mystery Road is testing my tolerance for lead characters so completely unlikable that you have little or no sympathy for them at all. Same for directores/writers who leave completely ludicrous holes in the plot that make the characters look so stupid they actually deserve to get kidnapped/beaten up/shot.

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              We’ve got that whole series banked up on the hard drive. We’ll get round to it at some point.

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                Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View Post
                The long hours might be a grind too, but it could also be exciting and, if you like the people you're working with, enjoyable. Entourage.
                I can only imagine how much fun it would be to work in a cool studio prop shop making wood and plaster stuff for Indiana Jones movies. I'd feel like I was robbing them if they paid me.

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                  In the Episode about the Narnia movie, they talk to the sword-maker guy. I think he’s from New Zealand. New Zealand is now the hub of a lot of this stuff. I suspect, however, that Hollywood doesn’t really need more than a few sword companies.


                  I finished the latest season of The Last Kingdom. It is compelling even though it bends history a bit. It’s shot in Hungary, apparently. Lots of these kinds of shows seem to shot there or nearby.

                  So Central Europe has lots of green areas that look like medieval Britain? Or is it just cheaper?

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                    Probably the latter, also it's difficult to find places in England without some modernity in view for panoramic shots. Ireland's a favourite location too. Game of Thrones and Vikings both shot there.

                    Medieval England was also way more forested than it has been for the past six or seven hundred years. All the oak forests were cut down to build the navy that ruled the world.

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                      We started watching (or in my case, re-watching) "Breaking Bad" last night. Even though I've seen it before I was surprised by how much black comedy and slapstick is in it, certainly the first two episodes that we watched.

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                        Yeah, the first season in particular, and much of season 2 as well, are outright comedy, albeit dark. It wasn't until season 3 that it went full drama (and even then there are some moments of silliness, like Gus's fate).

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                          Perhaps that's why I've never got past the first few episodes of Breaking Bad.

                          I'm enjoying Dave. First episode was dreadful, but each episode after has been belly laugh good.

                          I still like Ranganation, which is on before Dave on BBC2.

                          I like The Real Marigold Hotel too, great casting in this series.

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                            I'm a sucker for heist movies and a beaut by Steven Soderbergh snuck out on Netflix recently. Don't know if it ever appeared in theatres but Logan Lucky starring Daniel Craig as a West Virginian safecracker (!) certainly should have had more recognition.

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                              I saw Logan Lucky in a theater. No idea why it didn’t do better commercially.

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                                Emergence continues to be an interesting one. As you're watching you're wondering if it's actually any good or not, but it rollicks along nicely and I care what happens. So it's good.

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                                  A friend recommended Mindhunter to me some time ago, and finally I have got around to check it out. Given the true crime wave of the last few years, every single aspect imaginable, from police work procedures to the psychology of the psychopath murderer seems to have been done to death already and it was difficult for me to see how a series could bring anything new to the table but. This series, however, has been really good from the go. I like the way the 70s is portraied, and how the scientific approach to understanding the rationale behind serial murderers was very much in its infancy back then. It thus feels like we are being taken on a trip of scientific exploration by the main protagonist of the show.

                                  Four episodes in, and looking forward to the rest of it

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                                    Both seasons are excellent. They've got the 70s look (cars, furnishings, clothing) down really well.

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                                      Oh, The Program isn't a documentary.

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                                        I've just watched Ocean's Eleven for the first time.

                                        Don Cheadle's Cockney accent is really a thing of terrible beauty.

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                                          I watched The World is Yours last night. It's a french film in the same vein as Guy Ritchie's Lock Stock/Snatch. Not as witty but interesting twists along the way. (Netflix)

                                          And I started an Argentine TV show called Almost Happy that has a similar structure as Seinfeld in that the show often includes his job (radio DJ) at some point and most of the show revolves around a series of tiny things that sometimes relate to that job. (Although I guess that description basically fits many sitcom plotlines.) So far I'm enjoying it. There's also a touch of Feverpitch in that he's obsessed with Atlanta (an Buenos Aires club) and that filters through many of the shows.

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                                            I’ve still got Mindhunter on my to-do list, but others in the house aren’t so keen to dive in, so we keep putting it off.

                                            Watched the latest A Star Is Born remake (paid for via Amazon Prime) last night - the Bradley Cooper one with Lady Gaga. She’s not a favourite singer of mine: a bit too much bellowing in The Club Style, and the speedy bar-singer-to-Grammy-winning solo star route shown seemed unlikely, but it’s a well done film of a familiar story. I know the original 30s one was loosely based on early Hollywood couples whose trajectory/addictions were similar, but I can’t think of an obvious music industry couple that fit the storyline of the latest remake...Cobain and Love at a push, maybe.
                                            Last edited by slackster; 25-05-2020, 09:43.

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                                              We lost our way on Mindhunter somewhere in Series 2, can’t remember where. Just neither of us suggested watching another episode. I think it just got a bit remorseless.

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                                                Awww maaaan.
                                                Finished “Into The Night” a few days back on Netflix. End of world/plane hijack/ sun over heating lunacy. Loved it. Absolute madness. Who gives these shows the money to produce them? They want locking up.
                                                Started Snowpiercer tonight on Netflix. End of world/train journey/planet freezing over lunacy. Loving it. Absolute madness. Throw the backers of this in the next cell.
                                                Youve got to watch em.

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                                                  Originally posted by White No Sugar View Post
                                                  Awww maaaan.
                                                  Finished “Into The Night” a few days back on Netflix. End of world/plane hijack/ sun over heating lunacy. Loved it. Absolute madness. Who gives these shows the money to produce them? They want locking up.
                                                  Started Snowpiercer tonight on Netflix. End of world/train journey/planet freezing over lunacy. Loving it. Absolute madness. Throw the backers of this in the next cell.
                                                  Youve got to watch em.
                                                  Into the Night was great fun (I mentioned it upthread I think.) Belgium's turning some entertaining Netflix shows at the moment. I saw the movie of Snowpiercer a few years back, be interesting to see how the series stacks up.

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                                                    Originally posted by Amor de Cosmos View Post

                                                    Into the Night was great fun (I mentioned it upthread I think.) Belgium's turning some entertaining Netflix shows at the moment. I saw the movie of Snowpiercer a few years back, be interesting to see how the series stacks up.
                                                    Snowpiercer was a movie! Hmmm may just watch that as it’s only being released two episodes per week over here.....AND I CANT WAIT.

                                                    At first I thought Into The Night was gonna be a remake of the Goldblum, Pfeiffer, Bowie film from the 80s which is also a lot of fun.
                                                    Last edited by White No Sugar; 27-05-2020, 19:49.

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