Psamathe wrote:A couple of years ago a Freeview TV channel repeated loads of them and I recorded them and am gradually re-watching them and I really enjoy them.
Ian
Battlestar Galatica ( the 2dn version) is a better series
I enjoyed the more recent version (not the one from the 70s/80s - which I can't really remember). Not sure I say better or worse than Babylon 5 - different and both good in their own ways.
Ian
One thing I dont like about babylon 5 is you cant get it on Blu Ray, and the dvd quality is quite poor, whereas you can get BSG on blu ray and it is better. I picked up the BSG boxset for just £15 from Ebay, new still shink wrapped
Another scifi is the Star Trek Enterprise, which I think is the best of the lot, but which the "fans"/trekies dismisssed.
mercalia wrote: Battlestar Galatica ( the 2dn version) is a better series
I enjoyed the more recent version (not the one from the 70s/80s - which I can't really remember). Not sure I say better or worse than Babylon 5 - different and both good in their own ways.
Ian
One thing I dont like about babylon 5 is you cant get it on Blu Ray, and the dvd quality is quite poor, whereas you can get BSG on blu ray and it is better. I picked up the BSG boxset for just £15 from Ebay, new still shink wrapped .....
I suspect there might be nothing gained from getting it on Blu Ray as the original quality is not up to it.
e.g. Even the "new (from 2005) Dr Who only started being filmed in HD in 2009.
Just watching "Forbidden Planet 1956" I have on my media center. After all these years it is still a gripping film with a cute young Anne Fancis the love interest.
"The Krell forgot one thing, monsters from the ID"
mercalia wrote:Just watching "Forbidden Planet 1956" I have on my media center. After all these years it is still a gripping film with a cute young Anne Fancis the love interest.
"The Krell forgot one thing, monsters from the ID"
Still one of my favourites, although the outright sexism is pretty shocking to my "modern" eyes...
mercalia wrote:Just watching "Forbidden Planet 1956" I have on my media center. After all these years it is still a gripping film with a cute young Anne Fancis the love interest.
"The Krell forgot one thing, monsters from the ID"
Still one of my favourites, although the outright sexism is pretty shocking to my "modern" eyes...
what do you expect from a film nearly 60 years old? Anne Fancis innocent character was a good foil? I would have thought the tech would be more embarrasing - the dials and the pointless sparks and things going up and down in the air vent scenes?
mercalia wrote:what do you expect from a film nearly 60 years old? Anne Fancis innocent character was a good foil? I would have thought the tech would be more embarrasing - the dials and the pointless sparks and things going up and down in the air vent scenes?
I think what I meant was it was a lot more obvious than I expected rather than it exists.
As for the film and FX I thought it held up pretty well - looks like what it is though, a vision of the future that looks like the 50's.
(I do love it when something that was designed to look futuristic is viewed years later looks like it belongs to the era it was designed.)
'Psycho' (1960) starring Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles and Janet Leigh.
This popped up on TCM last night and because it's been a few years now (20+ I guess) since I last watched this classic film I was able to watch it with almost fresh eyes - indeed, all scenes before THAT shower had been forgotten. These are the scenes that draw you in to the story of the doomed Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) and her visit to the Bates Motel. No further explanation of the plot is necessary and whilst this film (thankfully) lacks the shock and gore of modern horror films it is truly superb and must have been ground-breaking in 1960. 9/10
Anyone (else) seen "Box of Moonlight"? John Turturro and a young Sam Rockwell, about a straightlaced manager learning to kick back from whatever the male equivalent of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl is? Excellent, and definitely worth a watch, if you haven't.
'Jackie Brown' (1997) starring Samuel L Jackson, Robert Forster and Pam Grier as Jackie Brown.
I'd not even heard of this Quentin Tarantino film but it popped up on the box last week so I gave it a go. Jackie Brown is an air stewardess on a low-rent Mexican airline who smuggles money into the USA on behalf of Ordell - a dangerous and unstable arms dealer (Samuel L Jackson) who has $500,000 still trapped in a Mexican bank account. When caught by the FBI with ten thousand dollars and cocaine in her purse they propose a deal to her. In exchange of her freedom the Fed's demand that she helps them to nail Ordell who has his own plan to eliminate her as a loose end. Jackie Brown then embarks upon a complicated and dangerous game of trying to stay out of jail, stay alive and make her own play for the money. Not as violent as some of Tarantino's films but it's always best to take the batteries out of Grannie's hearing aid. Very watchable. 8/10.
Double bill for that night when you have time for you .... Ghost in the Machine and Lucy ... top combo ... or George Clooney's Solaris ... amazing, thoughtful and a "rite good filum" with a re-watch of 2001... or even better The Keep ....
“Quiet, calm deliberation disentangles every knot.”
Be more Mike.
The road goes on forever.
'The Seventh Seal' (1957) starring Max Von Sydow and Bengt Ekerot.
Currently on BBC iPlayer for a short while this is (I think) the first film directed by Ingmar Bergman I've seen and I just want a quiet couple of hours on my own to sit down and watch it again. The Seventh Seal tells the story of a medievil Swedish Knight (Von Sydow) who returns home from the Crusades to a land ravaged by the plague. He encounters Death (Ekerot) who has come to finally claim him but the Knight challenges him to a game of chess declaring that as long as he survives in the chess game he must be allowed to live. Death agrees and the game begins. The game continues as the Knight makes his journey through his devastated homeland forcing him to seek answers about life, death and the existence of God. Brilliant cinematography and, for me at least, a compelling fantasy story peppered with striking imagery. I'd dearly love to see this on the big screen but it's not too bad on a fairly big TV screen in the dark. 8/10
