Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine So what are you WATCHING?

Bomb Girls:
Canadian thanks to Netflix. Engrossing soap operaish but moved faster and I like period series.


My big wait is June for the second season of Orange is the New Black.

Okey-doke, yet another round of 60's UK cinema (what... you were expecting something else?)


It's hard to talk about British movies in the 60's without, at some point, looping around to a parallel track discussion about the music of same period. Some of the earlier films I've talked about have featured cameos from 60's bands - like the Yardbirds (Blow Up), the Zombies (Bunny Lake is Missing), and the Mindbenders (To Sir with Love) - or been intrinsically linked to their arguably more famous theme songs (Georgy Girl, To Sir with Love). This go round, I've focused mostly on films where music is key.


First up was a 1963 Cliff Richard vehicle called "Summer Holiday". Wait... who's Cliff Richard? Well... if you're from the UK, he's one of the most widely known singers of all time, with 130 (!) Top 20 hits over six decades. If you're from the US, he's a nearly unknown guy who had a couple minor disco hits in the 70's. Seriously, reading up on Richard, I'd imagine there is no better case study for the, at times, vast gulf between UK and US musical tastes. The movie? Oh... yeah... it was OK. A completely inoffensive road trip movie with a light bubblegum soundtrack... sort of an English "Elvis" movie.


More familiar to those of us from "across the pond" are, of course, the Beatles. I think there's nothing I can add to the discussion of 1964's "A Hard Day's Night" and 1965's "Help!" that hasn't already been talked about a thousand times over. Both films are the work of the talented Richard Lester. They are both enjoyable to watch, and incredibly important from a historical perspective - the former for capturing the energy and spirit of the Fab Four and being the template off of which all modern music films were spawned... and the latter for coining the phrase, "fiendish thingy."


On the topic of Richard Lester and the Beatles - while not actually a musical film - I think I should note here that I also watched Lester's 1967 absurdist anti-war film, "How I Won the War" featuring John Lennon in a supporting role. This film might not be everyone's cup of tea, but - as a former soldier - I loved it (it's where my current sig line is pulled from). All at once completely zany, but incredibly poignant, it reminded me a bit of the Joseph Heller novel, "Catch 22" in the way it points out the vast absurdity inherent in both the military life and the concept of war. By way of trivia, it was - during the filming of this movie in Spain - that John Lennon, homesick for Liverpool, began penning "Strawberry Fields Forever".


Also from 1967, I watched a social commentary film called "Privilege" starring Paul Jones (the lead singer of Manfred Mann) as a corporately manufactured and controlled pop singer who is used as a mouthpiece to sell both products and ideals. Wow... prescient, or what? Not a bad flick, but - unfortunately - Jones makes a better singer than he does an actor, plodding his way through the film with exactly one facial expression to express every emotion.




By contrast, a better actor than he is singer... Terence Stamp features in the Ken Loach film, "Poor Cow," a sort of semi-kitchen sink drama that heavily features the music of Donovan, with one song, "Colours," notably sung by Stamp himself:



Too cool.


From 1968, I watched "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush", a sort of mild sex romp set to the music of two different Steve Winwood bands, "The Spencer Davis Group" and "Traffic". Presaging similar films like "Porkys" and "American Pie", it wasn't too bad... just eminently forgettable.


Also from 1968, was the oft-mentioned but seldom seen, "Wonderwall," a strange little film about an odd milquetoast-y scientist (Jack MacGowran) who falls in love with the beauty and free spirit of his young next door neighbor (Jane Birkin) by watching her through holes in their shared wall. I know that sounds very creepy but - somehow - it comes off more sweet than the description would suggest. Beautifully trippy late 60's visuals and phenomenal George Harrison soundtrack.


And, finally, from 1970 (filmed years earlier, but held in censorship limbo by the studio) was "Performance". Half a brutal crime drama about London mobsters, half a drug-induced exploration of the concept of identity, this film... wait... what? Seriously... given the contrasts in tone, there is no good reason this movie should work as well as it does (it reminds me slightly of a Guy Ritchie film from a few years back called "Revolver)... but it just drew me in, continually defying my expectations for the better. And the real surprise... Mick Jagger - when he wants to - has mad acting chops. Recommended.

Cliff Richard's Young Ones famously subverted for the Young Ones show in the 1980s.

I love "The Young Ones". Thanks for that, Thothkins.

As previously with Julie Christie and Albert Finney, the next run of 60's English movies I watched were again artist-specific. This time out, it was an actor whose name I'd heard from time to time but, somehow, I had never actually seen in a movie - Oliver Reed.


Reed was part of a loose knit group of actors sometimes referred to as the "Hellraisers" (including Richard Burton, Richard Harris and Peter O'Toole) whose off-screen drinking exploits were so notorious throughout the 60's that, at times, they threatened to outshine their actual careers:




After now having watched a few of Reed's films, I've come to the sad opinion that - of that group - he was, at once, the most talented among them ...and the one who wasted that talent to the greatest degree.

I honestly don't think I've ever seen an actor give so many amazingly nuanced performances (completely naturalistic... while at the same time conveying this underlying intensity that's just mesmerizing) in so many absolutely mediocre movies!



From 1964 there was "The System" (alternately called "The Girl-Getters", so - right away - you know we're talking class) with Reed as the ringleader of a gang of seaside resort "players" out to score summer flings. Turn about is fair play when his own "system" is later turned back on him when he winds up falling for one of the girls.

Next was 1965's "The Party's Over," a lurid exploitation film which tells the story (Rashomon-style) of a girl who - while ostensibly passed out at a party - is stripped down, raped (or so it's heavily implied), and then disappears. Well... it turns out . Just lovely.

1967 brought the light comedy, "The Jokers," pairing Reed with Michael Crawford (from "The Knack" and "How I Won the War") in the story of two brothers and their scheme to steal the crown jewels (and return them) just to make a point.

And finally - also from '67 - I watched "I'll Never Forget What's'isname", with Reed as an advertising exec who's had enough of the rat race and corporate hypocrisy.



In any case, in my opinion, all of the above are completely forgettable movies. Literally minutes after finishing them, I was already freeing up that memory space. That being said, while I was watching them, I was completely transfixed. I had no illusions that any of them were good movies, mind you, it's just that Reed himself was so good in them. His movements... his subtle facial expressions... his vocal inflection and delivery... all of it... just wow.

He really just embodies everything that I enjoy in an actor but it seems that his modern legacy owes more to his boozing than his films. What a bummer.




(Images from the graphic novel "Hellraisers" by Robert Sellers and JAKe)

Been doing the netflix thang lately. Right now I'm stuck on Rockford files.

Netflix just got Season 1 of Young Justice, one of my favorite ever super-hero cartoons, so I just re-watched them all. Great stuff. It's amazing how everything ties together so well, compared to a comic run, which might have interruptions for various events, and different teams of creators with different favorite characters, or tonal shifts in mind.

In the top image of my previous post above, the four main "Hellraisers" (O'Toole, Reed, Burton, and Harris) are shown keeping company with a couple other hard-chargers (Michael Caine and Sean Connery) who I thought I'd group together as I tackled:



Exnihil's Increasingly Protracted Examination of 1960's English Cinema:

EuroSpy Edition



While the biggest thing to come out of England beginning with the letter "B" in the 1960's was the "Beatles," hot on their tail - by any estimation - had to be "Bond".

The impact that the Harry Saltzman/Albert Broccoli productions of Ian Fleming's spy novels had on 1960's cinema (and, indeed, probably the entire concept of "film franchise") can't possibly be overestimated. For the purpose of this post, I'm not going to retread the same ground that has already been well trod by the poster, profh0011, in his excellent reviews of the Bond films here:

http://www.legionworld.net/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=529999

... rather I'll just give a couple terse blurbs and my personal hierarchy of the films of the 60's:


(1962) "Dr. No" - Classic character introduction; Sean Connery at the baccarat table; "Bond, James Bond"; "A medium dry martini, lemon peel. Shaken, not stirred."; Enjoyable enough, but a bit of a low budget sci-fi feel to the final act. My rank - #5 of 6

(1963) "From Russia with Love" - Perhaps an odd assessment, but - to me - one of the more "serious" Bond films; the fantastic downplayed in favor of intrigue; Robert Shaw is intense; Intro of "Q" (not so-called in this film) but, again, his "gadgets" are more practical than fantastic. My rank - #2 of 6

(1964) "Goldfinger" - Fuhgeddaboudit... this is the one to have if you've only got time for one; Everything clicks: looney single-minded villain, tough yet absurdly named Bond Girl, gimmicky comic-book henchman, and - for me - probably the most iconic Bond image of all... peeling off a wetsuit to reveal an immaculately pressed tuxedo beneath. My rank - #1 of 6

(1965) "Thunderball" - Meh. Overly long underwater sequences in service of an overly complex plot. My rank - #6 of 6

(1967) "You Only Live Twice" - Hmm... divided here. One the one hand, my 2014 sensibilities have to work hard to overcome the very dated stereotypes... on the other, it has the best villain portrayal this side of Darth Vader (Donald Pleasence as "Ernst Stavro Blofeld") and helicopter fights up the wazoo. The 14 year-old in me wants to love it, the 40 year-old winces slightly. My rank - #4 of 6

(1969) "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" - Overall, the most "complete" feeling Bond movie for me plot-wise, and yet (as it stars new actors George Lazenby and Telly Savalas, respectively, as Bond and Blofeld) a little difficult for me to fully enjoy without the visual continuity of previous films. My rank - #3 of 6



Now... meanwhile... while all that above was going on, producer Harry Saltzman was also hedging his bets as the producer behind another series of spy movies that acted as a more gritty counterpoint to the fantastic world of Bond - those adapting several of novels of Len Deighton's, "Harry Palmer" series, starring Michael Caine in the lead.

(1965) "The IPCRESS File" - As I say, a more "realistic" approach to the spy genre, filled with bureaucratic red tape and internal politics. Suspension of disbelief required in the second half with the "mind control" plot, but - overall - a very good movie. Extra bonus points for jaunty Dutch camera angles.

(1966) "Funeral in Berlin" - Caine is back as Palmer, this time on the international stage, for what is at once both a slightly drier but - in my opinion - even more engaging installment than "IPCRESS". My favorite of the three.

(1967) "Billion Dollar Brain" - I found it very hard to follow this film. Too many characters of dubious loyalty and motivation. I'm still not 100 percent certain the movie makes any sense, but - eh - not worth another watch to find out. Ridiculously silly portrayal of computers.



A few other "spy-ish" films in the mix were:

(1963) "The Mind-Benders" - One of my favored English directors (Basil Dearden) directs one of my favored English actors (Dirk Bogarde) in a movie about a subject I find particularly interesting (the effects of sensory deprivation). Bogarde plays a scientist who willingly subjects himself to long-term sensory deprivation in the service of the government to determine whether it may be used as a means to brainwash international agents. While I don't believe, for a second, the conclusions of the movie, it was actually quite sad.

(1965) "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" - Superb movie. Seriously... if you are fan of cold war intrigue and espionage, you should search this out. An incredibly engaging film, it had me guessing (often incorrectly) throughout. Lead actor Richard Burton's performance knocks this adaptation of one of the peripheral John le Carré "George Smiley" series of novels right out of the park. Recommended.

(1968) "Sebastian" - Dirk Bogarde, again, as the head of code-breaking division staffed entirely by beautiful twenty-something women. Hmmm. An odd movie that can't quite decide whether it wants to be a light romantic comedy or a dramatic character study, this is definitely a film whose parts are, paradoxically, greater than their sum.

Think I'll give "The Spy who came in..." a try tonight.

Game of Thrones: Season 4 Episode 1. fun. No REAL surprises but lots of snappy dialogue.

Justified: end of season. Kind of died on the vine for me. Still good but nothing "oh wow."

I remember the thrill of tripping across Billion Dollar Brain. Ipcress and Funeral are excellent. I even watched them yet again before settling down for the third one. What a disappointment it was. It was trying to be James Bond with super computers and globe trotting.

There were a couple of other later Harry Palmer movies. I recall one with Sean Connery's son in it. Like so many movies trying to pass over a torch to a younger actor , it falls flat on it's face. I don;t think I managed to last to the end of one of them.

If you like the sound of any of that lot, and if you haven't already got them, you owe it to yourself, your loved ones and their future offspring to get the TV version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Smiley's People and the Sandbaggers.

I read some Bond books as a kid, and was surprised when Bond seemingly died at the end of From Russia With Love. Apparently, Ian Fleming (the Ian I was named after, coincidentally) was growing tired of the Bond character, and being considered unable to write anything else, that he considered killing him off!

Same sort of thing happened to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who killed off Sherlock Holmes in "The Final Problem" so that he could focus on other work (historical novels, in this case) and resisted badgering for eight years before finally giving in and writing more Sherlock Holmes tales.

I've been meaning to scratch an itch for film noir, and seeing if I can find Touch of Evil, Out of the Past, The Big Sleep or The Maltese Falcon, which I've heard are good examples of the genre.

This movie was very influential, visually at least, on one of my favorite TV shows, the original (accept no substitutes) "Mission: Impossible."

I didn't see Touch of Evil until much later than Maltese Falcon and the Big Sleep, but I'm very glad I did. A great cast and story.

Double Indemnity (read it again last week), The Third Man and Strangers on a Train are also favourites, and there are plenty of other good noir movies.

In other news, the cast for Star Wars Episode VII has been announced:

I haven't watched The Simpsons in ages, but last nights LEGOSimpsons episode was a hoot. And I'd put off watching the Star Wars-themed Big Bang Theory until the appropriate night... enjoyed it immensely. Sheldon slays me. ^_^ And it's always great to see Bob Newhart...

BB, I saw an ep of Bomb Girls. Not bad.

I am currently getting hooked on Grimm.

and am looking forward to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPE2oBnzROY

I'll admit the trailer looks better than I expected, but I'm still highly skeptical about Constantine.

(It also has me ready to dig up my back-issues of Swamp Thing where I'm 98% sure in the letter column they stated clearly it's pronounced "Tyne" like the times of a fork and not "Teen").

Edit to Add; Just watched a Warren Ellis interview where he calls him "ConstanTYNE" too. Still looking for one where Alan Moore calls him by name.

Orphan Black, still fun. Grimm, still awesome. Hannibal, still a head trip / train wreck from which I cannot avert my eyes.

The first episode of Penny Dreadful was pretty intense. Eva Green has great crazyface. Timothy Dalton got old! Three out of four *of the protagonists* are wildly crazy. I can't wait to see the bad guys...

Warehouse 13. Oh, so, so terrible. And yet I still watch it. For this I have much shame. Eureka died with dignity, as did Alphas. Warehouse 13, not so much.

Thanks to the miracles of DVR and the excellent programming choices of the "Pivot" channel, I'm finally getting to binge-watch Veronica Mars, a series I've long wanted to see. I'm about 8 eps in, and--DAMN--it's soooo good! Can't wait to see how all of the great long game mysteries turn out. Each ep's contained mysteries are really fun and clever as well. Veronica's unstoppable!

So glad you're finally watching this! I was a fan from day 1, randomly catching the pilot (with my Mom) and loving it! I've watched the first and second season probably about 5 times total--the most I've ever rewatched a show besides Lost. I LOVE IT. It's a contender for my favorite show of all time.

It's funny too, because I just watched the V-Mars movie for the first time on Sunday! My wife and I couldn't wait to On-Demand it, and it was...as expected...nothing short of spectacular.

You, my friend, are in for some great television! And the Finale!!! Oh man, what a finale!

Season or series finale?

I noticed you didn't mention season 3. I've heard that season criticized for its subject matter (rape, from what I hear). Given that rape is part of the story from the very first episode, I don't see why it would be off-limits.

In any case I'm very fortunate to have a new cable provider that carries Pivot and has DVR. I've had watching VM on my mind for a loooong time but could never quite find the right way to do it. Couldn't remember if you were one of her fans, but I figured I'd find someone on LW to share it with!

I mean the finale to season 1, though the finale to season 2 is equally mind blowing. I don't want to risk even revealing one thing so I'll be quiet in terms of why.

I've seen season 3 twice, when it debuted and once after, and I liked it quite a lot. It is slightly weaker to me than the others but still in the "very good" category. It suffers from having 3 distinct arcs rather than one overarching mega arc like the first two seasons. That and a few characters are kind of left by the wayside I think, with less time in the spotlight (again I won't say who).

I disagree with the criticism of subject matter though. As you say, rape is a part of the series from the first ep. I thought they handled it quite well in season 3. The crime is treated as barbaric as it should be with no glorification. And the writers give many different points of view into rape, including having many peoples perspectives change along the way (without the obvious "rape is bad"). What really makes it work is how Veronica reacts to it given her past. I don't want to ruin anything so I'll remain vague but the finale to the seriel rapist arc is, once again, brilliant, and one of the most moving sequences ever in the show. Veronica is the perfect character to experience the entire thing, and when you get there you'll see why.

It's probably the best show ever in terms of every finale having a huge payoff.

I think I read somewhere that the third season had smaller arcs because the network demanded it in order to make the show "more accessible". So of course it gets cancelled afterward. TV history is littered with great shows that were altered by the network somehow in order to "improve" it. Sounds like they did the best with what they had, though your comparative lack of re-watch of that season speaks volumes.

I think the most captivating element so far, aside from the great ongoing mysteries, is the relationship between Veronica and her dad. It's beyond awesome! Though I felt bad for him, I loved how he broke off his relationship with her school guidance counselor when he saw how hard it was for Veronica to accept it as the scars from her mother leaving them were still too raw. He's a great character, and their scenes together are among my favorite.

It's also interesting how they've pulled the rug out on Logan being a full-on creep. He was love-to-hate from the get-go, but seeing his family situation changed things a bit.

(My latest ep was episode 10, "An Echolls Family Christmas", btw.)

Ooh! Also, I forgot to mention my one real criticism of the show's basic set-up: as rich as the rich kids are shown to be in the school, I find it hard to believe that they would be enrolled in a public school. So the inherent class division dynamics takes a bit more suspension of disbelief than I would like the show to ask of me. Maybe if the kids weren't quite so rich, it would have worked better. I'm positive that in RL, they would be in an exclusive private school.

It doesn't kill the show for me by any stretch, but it's a valid criticism.

I watched David Lynches "Inland Empire" on Friday night, a surreal dream-like film where show business is used as a metaphor while the main character becomes dislodged in time and identity.

On Saturday I switched gears to watch Charlie Kaufman's "Synecdoche NY", a surreal dream-like film where show business is used as a metaphor while the main character becomes dislodged in time and identity.



Of course the reality is the two films could not be more different but they were both extremely excellent.