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    Current Watching

    In the show, they refer to The Disciples as bikers, but none of them look like bikers or seem to ride motorcycles. Perhaps they are single-speed hipsters?

    That's pretty accurate I believe. I think the Angels only wear their colours on rides and club functions, possibly some of them not even then. Most probably wear suits most of the time. I know for certain that several are practicing lawyers here in town.

    I've noticed that people on the show say "yeah?" at the end of sentences where we might say "right?" or "OK?"( or "ya dig?) That might be a BC thing.

    Yeah? Maybe it's the Brit influence.

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      Current Watching

      ************spoilers********************

      I got through the end last night.

      Good mouting tension up to the end, but I'm disappointing that it ended as it did. Maybe they can revive it someday.

      Several loose ends -
      a) Does Jimmy Reardon die? Probably. Not 100% certain.

      b) Then what? What would be the outcome of the gang war?

      c) How come there were no repercussions to Ted being involved with the whole cock-up in Seattle? He seems to have suddenly decided that he's on Mary's side and that's that. She never found out that he was trying to stab her in the back. And was that DEA guy who killed himself really DEA?

      d) And what happened to that guy that Ted was conspiring with but then had to resign after he helped the chinese guy get killed? He just disappears.

      e) What happened to the narc squad guy she was briefly "seeing socially?" He was a key source of info for her too.

      d) The Quebecois cop working for Reardon. Does he ever do any actual policework or does he just drive around looking a bit like Ethan Hawke and being cool? He doesn't seem to have a cop partner (or a life partner).

      e) Why do the Americans on the show also have Canadian accents?

      f) Who is the smoking hot woman who plays Mary's assistant/secretary and why isn't she on more shows?

      g) The weird Martin guy was fucking the Russian Madame, wasn't he? How was that not a problem?

      h) Does Jimmy's psycho ex-wife finally go to rehab or off herself?

      i) Does his daughter eventually take over the family business?

      j) What happened to Jimmy' brother Mike? He seems to just disappear from the show. Did he get killed and I forgot? He also seems to have lost about 50 lbs between season one and two?

      k) How is it that a bank with a name like The Irish Bank of Bermuda thinks they can fool anybody into thinking they're anything but a money laundering service? And if it's that obvious, in what sense is the money laundered? And why does Jimmy Reardon care so much about laundering his money if he knows that the Feds know all about it anyway? Taxes?

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        Current Watching

        Wow. Given it's three or four years since I saw Intelligence I can't answer too many of those with any confidence and, in fact, have only vague memories of some of the characters/incidents.

        However a good friend of mine had a small part in the show and is an associate of Chris Haddock (he was a regular in the DaVinci series and working on a book treatment based on the character). If you like I'll pass on your list and see if he has any answers. I do know:

        a) At least one other series was planned so Jimmy probably didn't die, and I imagine many of your other questions would be answered in due course.

        f) Name? She's probably local so I can maybe set you up with a date if you're in town.

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          Current Watching

          I would like to know. But don't put yourself out over it.

          I've started to watch a bit of Da Vinci's inquest on Netflix. It's hard to watch because I've become so spoiled by HD, but we'll see. The girl from Firefly/Serenity is on it.

          I don't know her name because I don't know the name of her character. She's never referred to by name, as far as I can tell. She just pops in and says "So and so from the so and so agency called" and then Mary says "thanks" and that's it.

          At one point, one of the characters says something to the effect of "Wow, the US is rough, with all those guns, yeah?" But there seem to be plenty of guns in Vancouver. Indeed, I would think it would be very easy to smuggle small arms into Canada. Just try to look as non-shady as possible, hide it in your car somewhere less obvious than the trunk, and when the border guy asks if you're carrying any weapons, just say "no."

          What's preventing gang violence, at least among the characters in the show, is not their lack of firepower or unwillingness to do the dirty business, but their collective recognition that it's not good for business and that they don't want to be that sort of operation. Whereas, with groups like MS-13, Latin Kings, and the Crips and Bloods, murder seems to be as much a part of their raison d'etre as whatever illicit trade they're in.

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            Current Watching

            Good point. Part of the subtext of the show is definitely that Canadian gangsters/cops are nicer — more honourable — than their US counterparts. Very much in keeping with the liberal social philosophy of the CBC, it's aging audience. And also the financially conservative attitude of Canadians in general.

            There's obviously less small-arms ownership here than in the States but, equally obviously, if you want them badly enough you can get them, the flurries of gangland executions testify to that.

            I've started to watch a bit of Da Vinci's inquest on Netflix. It's hard to watch because I've become so spoiled by HD, but we'll see. The girl from Firefly/Serenity is on it.

            It took a season or so to find it's feet I seem to remember. If it appears a bit prosaic pick it up around season three.

            You'll see quite a few actors you recognise because so many US shows are shot here and use local talent.

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              Current Watching

              Yeah, I suspect Vancouver has the highest number of SAG members (or equivalent) per-capita outside of LA, or maybe including LA.

              The homicide investigator on Intelligence played Daniel Graystone's #2 guy on Caprica. There were some other BSG people around too, I think.

              I also imagine that they couldn't have too many murders on the show because it would screw up the plot. If Reardon's crew were routinely murdering people, than it would look really bad for Mary Spalding to be giving him a free pass. Indeed, she couldn't. It would be like the] situation with Whitey Bulger (loosely portrayed in The Departed).

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                Current Watching

                Is this the lady that's your heart's desire?

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                  Current Watching

                  No, that's not her.

                  Comment


                    Current Watching

                    OK, last try

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                      Current Watching

                      I think it's this girl. Hard to tell because her hair is so different.

                      http://m.imdb.com/name/nm0027047/

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                        Current Watching

                        Volver

                        I like Almadovar's films a lot. I like the way he takes the sort of melodrama, suspense and romance of 50's Hollywood films, and plays them against the background of modern Spain. Actually that's bullshit, I just really, really like them.

                        This is seriously brilliant. It's got a crime thriller plot. The sort of plot Wilkie Collins or Hitchcock would have loved, and some brilliant, top-drawer acting. Penelope Cruz is bleeding great in it.

                        Tales of Mystery asnd Imagination

                        A Thames Televison series from the late 60's, adapting loads of 19th Century ghost stories and gothic novels. Only watched an adaption of 'Uncle Silas' so far, but i'm completely hooked. 'Uncle Silas' is a novel that takes Victorian and gothic melodrama, and turns the heat up to from 10 to about ooh 10,000. It's a fucking demented novel that I love to bits and this production crams the whole thing into an hour and a half, as a series of manic, intense, deranged incidents, with some brilliant thespic fury from all the leads, and some great cameos.

                        "I do not recognise this writ, sir!" "Nethertheless, consider it served, sir!" "How DARE you sir!"

                        And so on. Total complete fucking class.

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                          Current Watching

                          Angry Boys

                          This has to be the worst thing I've seen on tv this year, probably longer. Not even to the standard of Mrs Browns Boys. Seriously unfunny and more than borderline racist in its portrayal of people from other countries. It doesn't help that the guy playign all the characters doesn't have very much range in his ability. When he blacks up or (whats the term for putting on makeup to appear asian?) plays a Japanese lady it is just painful.

                          The Shadowline

                          I really liked this, the slow pace, the generally low key acting to give counterpoint to the moments of rage and emotion, beautifully shot and very artifical but in a way that had purpose. Everything felt as if it was done on purpose. It reminded me of some of those great 80s spy/thriller programs where corruption is endemic and the system always wins.

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                            Current Watching

                            I'm working my way through Charlie Brooker's How TV Ruined Your Life on youtube. Some of his best work and some jawdropping footage of some unimaginably shit British TV that I'd never seen before.

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                              Current Watching

                              Has anyone here ever watched a film in the National Gallery's Sainsbury Wing Theatre? Is it, you know, a proper cinema, with reasonably comfortable seats?

                              I ask because they are screening Andrei Rublev there on Saturday (for a mere £6) which is one of the greatest films i've ever seen, but is also a good 3hrs long.

                              Comment


                                Current Watching

                                10^7 guests wrote:
                                Angry Boys
                                It doesn't help that the guy playign all the characters doesn't have very much range in his ability. When he blacks up or (whats the term for putting on makeup to appear asian?) plays a Japanese lady it is just painful.
                                I completely disagree with that - if Angry Boys has proved anything it's that Chris Lilley is a very fine actor - it's his comedy writing ability that is in question.

                                Angry Boys was massively hyped in Australia and, as the series has progressed, the ratings have collapsed. Now, I think the only people watching are teenage boys enjoying the endless swearing, shitting on cars, pissing on people from a great height, balls being shot off and dog wanking.

                                Comment


                                  Current Watching

                                  mafu wrote:
                                  Has anyone here ever watched a film in the National Gallery's Sainsbury Wing Theatre? Is it, you know, a proper cinema, with reasonably comfortable seats?

                                  I ask because they are screening Andrei Rublev there on Saturday (for a mere £6) which is one of the greatest films i've ever seen, but is also a good 3hrs long.
                                  I have. It's much more like a lecture theatre than a cinema. Sit reasonably close to the screen, it's nowhere near big enough for the size of the audiotorium.

                                  Comment


                                    Current Watching

                                    True Grit

                                    The Coen Brothers' version which I found disappointing in that the way it was done - which many would have appreciated - also made for a languid, dry and detached experience. What I mean by that is that the need to avoid cliches - for example, the leader of the outlaws, although initially brutal, turned to conduct himself on an almost gentlemenly basis, and the man who killed the father of the justice-seeking girl turning out to be a mentally-retarded, childlike and sad object of pity rather than a beacon of evil - also robbed it, for me, of any involvement, and I was almost wishing for the pace and momentum of a traditional western at various points. It felt like I was observing a western rather than becoming engrossed – despite its many virtues and qualities. On the plus side, I can’t fault the detail of the direction and the way it was visually composed, and the performances were terrific, with a superb Jeff Bridges and a very agreeable Matt Damon turn – but Hailee Steinfeld deserved to be up there with Bridges in billing terms. An excellent performance from the youngster, full of confidence, sharpness and intelligence.

                                    I only wish I liked the film better.

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                                      Current Watching

                                      thanks et weet nie. think i'll pass

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                                        Current Watching

                                        The Rite

                                        Exorcism horror where Anthony Hopkins goes against type and plays Anthony Hopkins. But with a cross. Also, it's the kind of film where faith dare not be questioned by atheistic heathens, and where the lead character who has a crisis of faith at the beginning wears that dog collar at the end as if superglued to his throat.

                                        Comment


                                          Current Watching

                                          Re: The Seventh Seal mentioned on the previous page - brilliant film. Before I first saw it, I thought it would be a "difficult" watch, but in fact it's very watchable, full of great shots, and laced with a good deal of deadpan humour (especially via the squire) - a riposte to those who claim Bergman is po-faced and doesn't do humour.

                                          Comment


                                            Current Watching

                                            Hiya, J.

                                            Yeah, there's a lot of humour in it. Black humour though, innit. The bit with the bloke stuck in the tree as death is chopping the tree down, for instance.

                                            Comment


                                              Current Watching

                                              Anyway, some more stuff I have been watching.

                                              Panic In The Year Zero

                                              Ray Milland nuclear war epic from 1962. It has got Frankie Avalon in it. Odd mix of homely 1950's gee-shucks style conformity with dread, misanthropic paranoia. Done on an incredibly low budget. They couldn't even afford footage of a nuclear test an went with what is quite obviously a still photograph of an atomic blast. Fascinating period stuff though, and that title rocks like a daddy, doesn't it.

                                              Ill Met By Moonlight

                                              Powell and Pressburger war film set in Crete and based around the kidnapping of a German General by British Commando's. A minor effort, but really good. Lots of location filming. A good, oddly sympathetic villian, a real attempt to give a sense of period and place, and Dirk Bogarde playing a no-nonsense man of action with a foppish fringe. I liked it.

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                                                Current Watching

                                                Reed John wrote:
                                                I think it's this girl. Hard to tell because her hair is so different.

                                                http://m.imdb.com/name/nm0027047/
                                                Er, if it's someone who was in Firefly, this'll be your woman. Unless I've missed something.

                                                Comment


                                                  Current Watching

                                                  Bridesmaids is pitilessly funny, go and see it.

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                                                    Current Watching

                                                    Party Down

                                                    I caught this on the On Demand facility on me telly and pretty much enjoyed it all. Put simply, it's the trials and tribulations of a bunch of professional caterers (loose emphasis on 'professional'), all of whom are either ex-actors, budding stand-ups, failed hardcore-sci-fi writers, musicians looking for a break or just downright hopeless berks. Wonderfully acted, sharply written and just plain enjoyable, it also stars the very cute Lizzy Caplan who was last seen doing a John Hurt in Cloverfield. Sigh.

                                                    The Guardian guide mentioned this series and wondered why it only lasted two series. I'm wondering too, because while series one is - while funny and watchable (catch the Young Republicans party episode for cringe-inducing funniness worthy of Alan Partridge) - a little flaccid at times, series two is a belter, much more sharper, tighter and full of good stuff.

                                                    If you can catch it, give it a try.

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