A few films recently watched.

  On 2/12/2011 at 7:59 AM, lumpenprol said:

i respectfully think you're full of shit. The wire is greater that the sum of its parts, that's what made it so great. You don't see the show bending to popular opinion and flailing about as a result. What you said about Deadwood is very telling - you just liked the first season. I felt the same way, I thought the first season was good, but couldn't even make it through the start of the second season, where the sheriff dude and the saloon owner wrestle off of the balcony. Way too over the top and cartoonish.

 

In the first season of Deadwood, there was only one sequence I thought was exceptionally good, the part where the young grifter kids get killed. That was a brilliant episode, easily some of the best TV I've ever watched. But I think it's quite strange to compare one season to the Wire in its brilliant entirety.

i didn't say i just liked season one. i said i just rewatched season one. i'm rewatching season two now. and i like all three seasons. the only season of the wire that i found extremely effective was the third. and that's simply because it has one of the best story arcs i've ever seen on television.

like i said, watching the wire again, i'm finding a lot of the dialogue is extremely cheesy.

it would be a lie for me to say the show isn't good, but i find the weak points (bad dialogue, inconsistent acting, the second, fourth and fifth seasons are extremely weak), these things overwhelm the show. there are some brilliant characters. omar and marlo are both very original and subvert whatever archetype those characters usually play into. but the heavy handedness of the plots in season four and five and the overall feeling of "whatever" that i had after finishing the first and second seasons makes me think that what the show is contributing is really more of a philosophical and social statement than a great television show.

and i don't actually expect anyone to agree with me on that, since everyone who watches the wire basically thinks it's the greatest show ever. that's fine, i just don't agree.

  On 2/12/2011 at 4:18 PM, remy marathe said:

  On 2/12/2011 at 7:59 AM, lumpenprol said:

i respectfully think you're full of shit. The wire is greater that the sum of its parts, that's what made it so great. You don't see the show bending to popular opinion and flailing about as a result. What you said about Deadwood is very telling - you just liked the first season. I felt the same way, I thought the first season was good, but couldn't even make it through the start of the second season, where the sheriff dude and the saloon owner wrestle off of the balcony. Way too over the top and cartoonish.

 

In the first season of Deadwood, there was only one sequence I thought was exceptionally good, the part where the young grifter kids get killed. That was a brilliant episode, easily some of the best TV I've ever watched. But I think it's quite strange to compare one season to the Wire in its brilliant entirety.

 

i didn't say i just liked season one. i said i just rewatched season one. i'm rewatching season two now. and i like all three seasons. the only season of the wire that i found extremely effective was the third. and that's simply because it has one of the best story arcs i've ever seen on television.

like i said, watching the wire again, i'm finding a lot of the dialogue is extremely cheesy.

it would be a lie for me to say the show isn't good, but i find the weak points (bad dialogue, inconsistent acting, the second, fourth and fifth seasons are extremely weak), these things overwhelm the show. there are some brilliant characters. omar and marlo are both very original and subvert whatever archetype those characters usually play into. but the heavy handedness of the plots in season four and five and the overall feeling of "whatever" that i had after finishing the first and second seasons makes me think that what the show is contributing is really more of a philosophical and social statement than a great television show.

and i don't actually expect anyone to agree with me on that, since everyone who watches the wire basically thinks it's the greatest show ever. that's fine, i just don't agree.

i personally disagree. i found the 4th season to be the best one. IMHO its amazing watching how it all starts structurally right from the cradle to school....so much angst you can relate to in those kids...Snoop and Chris Partlow were a fantastic evil duo..and there are so many fantastic moments in the 4th & 5th season:

SPOILERS:

Omar's massive stickup

Marlo's meeting with Avon(just from that meeting you can tell the boss never gave up his position)

Chris Partlows showdown with Michael's dad...WOW...just...WOW

and especially the scene at the end of one of the episodes between Carver and Randy....ive never cried watching a TV show but I was damn close on that one...that was fantastic.

i could go on and on naming more, because thats the magic of that show...i still think its criminally underrated if anything, everyone i know around here refuses to watch it because its not "law and order", or some other similar bullshit excuse.

Season Three all the way. Bunny was probably my favorite character in the history of the show.

  On 2/12/2011 at 9:10 PM, Smettingham Rutherford IV said:

Chris Partlows showdown with Michael's dad...WOW...just...WOW

I was incredibly disappointed with that moment. I thought it was sensational, shock value, Menace II Society-derived dogshit.

Season Four had a few major letdowns and that was one of them IMO.

  On 2/12/2011 at 9:38 PM, The Overlook said:

Season Three all the way. Bunny was probably my favorite character in the history of the show.

 

  On 2/12/2011 at 9:10 PM, Smettingham Rutherford IV said:

Chris Partlows showdown with Michael's dad...WOW...just...WOW

I was incredibly disappointed with that moment. I thought it was sensational, shock value, Menace II Society-derived dogshit.

 

Season Four had a few major letdowns and that was one of them IMO.

but Bunny was in most of S4...

I liked S4 a lot, just not as much as S3.

Season 4 was the education one right? I thought that was the most heart wrenching of them all, perhaps thats why it comes off as a little forced to some people. I dont know i liked it, maybe because i have a lot of white guilt, lol. i even found myself loving Season 5 which i wasn't too fond of originally the 2nd time i watched the whole series.

edit: Season 4 was definitely the darkest and most depressing, which i appreciated.

Being in China I watched the whole series on DVD after it had all aired, so I had read the collective watmm opinion that season 5 was the weakest, too rushed and crippled by the writer's strike. But I thought it was just fine. The newsroom parts were pretty weak, but I was surprised by how much I liked the Carcetti stuff, I think they did a really good job of dramatizing power politics and the way it erodes your idealism over time.

If you look at the show for any of its constituent parts you can find flaws - is the writing perfect? no, it's a bit unnatural sounding at times; is the acting perfect? no mcnulty and a few others are kind of weak, etc. The reason I think it was probably the best show I've watched on television was how bold and ambitious it was, and how it never wavered from its goal - to depict the criminal side of an entire city over 5 seasons, and then to carry it out, with blatant disregard for the conventional rhythms of TV shows, where you have to have cliffhangers and BIG DRAMATIC DENOUEMENTS to keep viewer interest. Yes each season did have a climax, but it felt much more organic and inevitable than in other shows. If I look at any other series I liked, I find it bends to convention much more - though Sopranos stayed good, it did become formulaic, where each season seemed to be "introduce previously unknown character, follow arc, then kill said character at end of season." Even Twin Peaks felt the need to have the "who shot Dale Cooper" cliffhanger, and they had no idea where to go with the second season. But somehow the Wire managed to hold it all together and build one coherent story over five seasons. It's much more a novel than a TV show.

Season 2 was fucking brilliant with the dock boys and the euros.

Loved that season.

me too! Funny thing is most people seemed to go "wtf" at that season, but I think after watching the entire show twice it may be my favorite.

  On 2/13/2011 at 1:31 AM, lumpenprol said:

me too! Funny thing is most people seemed to go "wtf" at that season, but I think after watching the entire show twice it may be my favorite.

S2 is definitely underrated, people just go apeshit because they wanted to see more Omar/Barksdale, which btw they DID, just not as much...but thats beyond the point. You can't explain how dealers work without explaining where they get their shipments from.

Frank Sobotka was a great character, you could tell he was willing to do any dirty shit necessary if it meant continued employment for his workers....classic antihero.

i couldn't get down with Ziggy though. Just annoyed me.

yeah ziggy was really annoying but the way he self destructs was very well done I thought. One of those idiots who even after he completely crashes and burns doesn't understand how he got there. I thought the resentment he had towards his older more competent brother was well drawn. Well done character even though he was colossally annoying...I liked the older brother and the female cop, really well drawn characters. And yeah Frank's walking down to meet with the Greeks and having his fate decided by a phone call was really powerful stuff.

7.5/10

  On 2/13/2011 at 2:07 AM, ieafs said:

 

 

never noticed anyone mention brother mouzane(?) as a kind of silly character..

you probably have not been reading Lumpenprols many *past posts about this matter

I have ranted on here about brother mouzone (?) before. The weakest part of the series imo.

edit: haha jinx

  On 2/12/2011 at 12:41 PM, Obel said:

I've not watched Deadwood, but I saw his name mentioned and just wanted to chime in with the following:

 

I don't know how Timothy Olyphant keeps getting work.

You know, I have to agree, but having just watched a couple episodes of Justified (very meh show btw), I can see why he gets work. He plays modest/stoic/unflappable like a statue, but that's more or less what's asked of him.

  On 2/13/2011 at 2:30 AM, lumpenprol said:

I have ranted on here about brother mouzone (?) before. The weakest part of the series imo.

edit: haha jinx

I think so, too, and in fact, his little "showdown" with Omar was fucking retarded and tried, with a single scene, to ruin the series. lol

Tangled - 7/10

It was pretty good. The singing came almost like a shock to me because it's been a while since I've last seen an animated movie where the characters break out into song. Actually, the horse saved the movie. I loved that fucking horse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZb11v1E4EY

Buried 7/10

a little disappointing but pretty good otherwise

Twin Peaks (all of it) 9.3/10

It had a few faults, but it so worth it. The last episode in particular was fucking fantastic.

just finishing rewatching the uk office. thats the best tv show ever. maybe.

favorite part: the part where gareth goes by the motorbike sidecar. had to rewind that bit it was perfect.

i did forget how happy the ending was. somehow i remembered it sadder

Is Deadwood any good? Started watching True Blood...

True Blood, just like Six Feet Under, is unwatchable dogshit.

I thoroughly enjoyed Six Feet Under. True Blood on the other hand...

  On 2/13/2011 at 7:29 PM, halisray said:

I thoroughly enjoyed Six Feet Under. True Blood on the other hand...

Okay, I was being unfair to SFU, but I still think it's majorly bleh once you get over its formula. The acting is uneven at best, too.

True Blood is definitely a much worse evil. Alan Ball = Shit.

Yeah I'm having to watch it though because I have nothing else to watch lol.

AFV might be on

or CFV