Movie recommendations

[Minder]

The Wire started from scratch (series 1, episode 1) on FX last night, if that's any help.

Is it on weekly? I was gonna start buying the boxsets. Heard its the best TV ever made.

[Billys Boots]

Monday nights at 11 - it's the best tv I've ever seen, including the Sopranos.

[Minder]

I will maybe try and download last nights then get the rest on Sky + Series link.

[Billys Boots]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wire-Complete-HBO-Season-DVD/dp/B0007IK5Z0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1235483017&sr=8-2

The box sets aren't expensive either - you'd probably get them very cheap in HMV too.

[Fancy Dan]

Have seen both Australia and Benji Button recently and wasnt overly impressed by either. Oz is very long, cliched and cheesy while Benji seems like an attempt at Forrest Gump in reverse but falls short comprehensively. Both are to be avoided IMO

[pintsofguinness]

I downl Criminal Minds after Pints said he liked it.
It´s well done but they are dead keen to wrap up a crime of the century investigations in 20 or 30 minutes.

That's the way I like it, one of the criticisms I'd have of it though is they nearly always manage to get there in time to save another victim. 

It's a great show though.

I downloaded a couple of episodes of the wire last night so will try it over the weekend.

Watching Bones since I came home, have to say I'm loving it. 
Who knew they used flesh eating beetles to clean the bones of burn victims!!!  I didnt!


Newdevil - this is one I downloaded the wire from and it's playing fine
http://www.mininova.org/tor/622418

Cheers pints ive started to DL it....

Pints DL the wire but when i went to watch it,it says codec aquired...i typed codec into google and DL them but its still doing the same...its playing on windows media player ifs thats any help 

You mustnt have the right codecs, mine is playing on media player classic, VLC, Windows media player no problems.
Try downloading that VLC player.

[Bogball XV]

The Wire started from scratch (series 1, episode 1) on FX last night, if that's any help.

Is it on weekly? I was gonna start buying the boxsets. Heard its the best TV ever made.

It's good and I watch it, but I think a lot of the praise goes way over the top - why do people think it's so stunningly brilliant??

[new devil]

Yea VLC working great  thanks

[mountainboii]

The Wire started from scratch (series 1, episode 1) on FX last night, if that's any help.

Is it on weekly? I was gonna start buying the boxsets. Heard its the best TV ever made.

It's good and I watch it, but I think a lot of the praise goes way over the top - why do people think it's so stunningly brilliant??

For me its because I've never seen anything made as well as it before.

There are so many brilliant characters. There's so much grey, you're not told these are the bad guys and these are the good guys like in so many TV dramas - you're allowed to make up your own mind. The storylines are great and move along at a perfect pace. Its doesn't wrap things up in lovely little packages for you like most shows, there are loose ends, which is more realistic. Scene setting is perfect too, you really feel like you know Baltimore after watching enough episodes.

I suppose, in short - its a TV show made for smart people that doesn't dumb things down to make sure everyone gets it. The more you get into it, the more you get out of it.

[The Corporal]

I thought this was a movie recommendation thread

[nrico2006]

Where is the Forrest Gump comparisons coming from regarding Benjamin Button - so in the future if a period drama is made and the lead character(s) has a southern (American) accent then it is an attempt to replicate Forrest Gump?  Would the same be said of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe if it had been made after Gump?

Gran Torino - was expecting it to be better than it was although Eastwood was brilliant (Clint, not his son).

[Canalman]

Go to your local Council library ......some classic oldies there on DVD .....can get 3 for a week for free. Watched The Maltese Falcon, Hight of the Hunter and The Battle of Algiers  (all taken out and enjoyed) last week. Hope to get 3 more tonight.
Beats imo the current crop of junk in Chartbusters.

[longrunsthefox]

Where is the Forrest Gump comparisons coming from regarding Benjamin Button - so in the future if a period drama is made and the lead character(s) has a southern (American) accent then it is an attempt to replicate Forrest Gump?  Would the same be said of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe if it had been made after Gump?

Same as that Rico-could see no similarity to Forrest Gump at all.

[Billys Boots]

The Wire started from scratch (series 1, episode 1) on FX last night, if that's any help.

Is it on weekly? I was gonna start buying the boxsets. Heard its the best TV ever made.

It's good and I watch it, but I think a lot of the praise goes way over the top - why do people think it's so stunningly brilliant??

For me its because I've never seen anything made as well as it before.

There are so many brilliant characters. There's so much grey, you're not told these are the bad guys and these are the good guys like in so many TV dramas - you're allowed to make up your own mind. The storylines are great and move along at a perfect pace. Its doesn't wrap things up in lovely little packages for you like most shows, there are loose ends, which is more realistic. Scene setting is perfect too, you really feel like you know Baltimore after watching enough episodes.

I suppose, in short - its a TV show made for smart people that doesn't dumb things down to make sure everyone gets it. The more you get into it, the more you get out of it.

Yeah, I'd agree with AFS, it's not presented as good or bad, just what's there.  The cops and governors are not necessarily the ones serving the people, and the criminals are not necessarily doing their communities a wholly rotten disservice.  The characters are not wholly good or bad (on all sides), and it's often hard to predict what they'll do (though they rarely do things that are 'out of character', if you catch my drift).  It's believable, and both cynical and idealistic, and it presents situations that really make you think about life, the world and everything.

[Tony Baloney]

Where is the Forrest Gump comparisons coming from regarding Benjamin Button - so in the future if a period drama is made and the lead character(s) has a southern (American) accent then it is an attempt to replicate Forrest Gump?  Would the same be said of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe if it had been made after Gump?

Gran Torino - was expecting it to be better than it was although Eastwood was brilliant (Clint, not his son).

Really?

A white man is born fatherless in the south with birth defects that lead many to think he may never walk nor live a normal life. His saintly mother believes in his potential anyway. At a young age, the man learns to walk and sheds his exoskeleton of locomotive aids. Around this time, he also meets the love of his life, a vivacious girl who grows into a bold woman who parts ways with the man to have her own wild adventures. Meanwhile, the man reaches adulthood, and puts in a wartime stint in the U.S. military. During this stint, the man proves at first an indifferent asset, but during his one firefight, he turns out to be very valuable, saving the day singlehandedly, while also witnessing the death of one of his best friends. The man also spends much time on a small ocean vessel, serving alongside a rowdy, grizzled, hard-drinking man of the sea. This salty sailor serves as one of our man's two best male friends; the other is a black man who first teaches our man the lessons of friendship before departing forever.

Our man wanders all around the world, his life brushing up against key historical moments of the 20th century. At some point he returns to his childhood home, and his mother dies. The man comes into considerable wealth through blind luck. Around this time, his lifelong love returns from her adventures, ready to commit to him. During their brief time together, they conceive a child. The couple part ways, due to the woman's perceived inability to take care of the man. He does not raise the child through its early years but later makes an appearance in its life. The woman eventually dies in bed from illness. The man's later years are hardly touched on, even though the movie has lavished much attention on his early and middle years.

The entire story dwells repeatedly on the theme of life's uncertainty and, in contrast, on the notion of fate or coincidence. The film's symbol for these themes is a small object seen hovering improbably in the air. A narrative frame scene punctuates the story, as does the main character's drawling voice-over.

Nearly every respected film critic (and Jonathan Ross) has mentioned the parallels with Forrest Gump e.g. Benjamin Button is Forrest Gump with A-Levels, Benjamin Button is Forrest Gump without AIDS. Have you actually seen both films?!