Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion
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Movies, DVDs, and Theater
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What MOVIES or DVDs have you watched? (PART SIX - 2013) (ongoing thread)
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Jim
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Oct 22, 2013 09:27AM
I hate the unbalanced sound. One of the reasons we got a sound system for our TV was to even that out. The 'midnight' mode helps, but it doesn't work as well as we'd like & requires a 2d remote. Still, it's better than the stock speakers & similar audio software on the flat screen TV. Too often we couldn't understand dialog.
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Jackie, I guess the younger crowd is used to high volume, judging from some of their music. :)
Joy, are there any reviews of the book I mentioned, "Canada?"
Jim wrote: "I hate the unbalanced sound. One of the reasons we got a sound system for our TV was to even that out. The 'midnight' mode helps, but it doesn't work as well as we'd like & requires a 2d remote. ..."Jim, do you have cable TV? We have cable TV and the sound is fine.
Nina wrote: "Joy, are there any reviews of the book I mentioned, "Canada?""Nina, go to the following page and scroll down. There are loads of Goodreads reviews for the book, Canada by Richard Ford:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
Also, if you want a chuckle, check out all the shelves which the following review has:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Really funny! :)
Also, here's a link to a NY Times page with links to lots of articles about the book:
http://query.nytimes.com/search/sites...
Hope this helps.
Joy, we have satellite TV primarily, but I also play movies & shows through the computer. We've tried Hulu & HBO online, too. The source has nothing to do with it. It's the way the movies are made, as Jackie mentioned. Soundtracks & background sounds can be very loud while conversations are often soft. I think it's the type of show.
Took a trip down memory lane and watched some DVD episodes of THE TIME TUNNEL. Originally aired in 1966, the special effects are dated, of course.But the stories---while simplistic--are still watchable. Of the several I watched, "Rendezvous with Yesterday" "One way to the Moon" and "The Death Trap" were still interesting. Not going to win any awards from today's kids---used to high tech--but a pleasant re-viewing of a show I enjoyed as a teen.
I remember that show. It was on about the same time as "Lost In Space" & "Star Trek". My wonder years!!!
Jim wrote: "Joy, we have satellite TV primarily, but I also play movies & shows through the computer. We've tried Hulu & HBO online, too. The source has nothing to do with it. It's the way the movies are ma..."OIC. (I just learned that bit of shorthand.) :)
Mary JL wrote: "Took a trip down memory lane and watched some DVD episodes of THE TIME TUNNEL. Originally aired in 1966, the special effects are dated, of course. ..."Hi Mary JL. Speaking of memory lane, today TCM is airing some old musicals which I'm enjoying. I keep saying: "They don't write stuff like that anymore!" The good ole days. :)
OIC! I'll have to remember that one, I write that a lot, except in the long version, lol
Jackie wrote: "OIC! I'll have to remember that one, I write that a lot, except in the long version, lol"They probably use it a lot when texting. I don't text but I'm beginning to think I should start. The most texting I ever did was to write "OK" as a reply to my son. He was surprised I could do THAT! lol (We don't use our cell phone much. Just on special occasions.)
I don't have a cellphone but I can send texts to my son and husband's phones from my gmail. Eric doesn't listen to his messages so it's the only way for me to get an answer from him when he's not home. And it's convenient with Anthony as I rather not disturb him while working.
Jackie, I didn't know that texting could be done to cell phones via e-mail. I guess that's a special feature of gmail. I'll have to ask my sons about that!!! Thanks for telling me!
I don't know if all cellphone providers do that but Sprint does. I had Eric send a text to my email and then I had his text messaging 'address' which is his phone number with a sprint suffix. I changed Eric's numbers for Anthony's, kept the suffix and now I have his too. I have one that I use with a friend, that's a Verizon user.
Thanks for explaining about the text messaging address for email. I wondered about that.BTW, our cell phone is serviced by Virgin Mobile which uses Sprint cell towers. Sprint doesn't work up in Ticonderoga, but AT&T does. We would change but we have a very economical plan which suits our budget ($15.00 every 3 months). At least it works in Glens Falls. If we changed to AT&T it would be more expensive.
Pacific Rim http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1663662/?... Much better than I thought it would be. Lots of familiar faces, Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba. Good story, lots of action. I thought it would be ear-shattering since it had screaming aliens and gigantic robots but I was pleasantly surprised by the balance of sound, this is how a movie should sound. Another one that was better than I thought, The Conjuring http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1457767/?...
Good story but I don't buy that it was a true story, sorry, I don't believe demons could be real so demonic possession not something I believe in either. Still a good story with some scary moments.
I've been meaning to watch that, Jackie. Glad it was good. We have so much on the DVR right now that we haven't even started watching Downton Abbey. I think the first 6 episodes are out now.
Yes, we have TOO MUCH to keep up with. An embarrassment of riches. :)https://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8...
Thanks for the links, Jackie!
This semester, I'm teaching (or "mentoring") a section of an experimental Bluefield College course called Invitation to Inquiry. As part of the course, various faculty give presentations to the whole class in a weekly general session; the lady presenting this coming Friday is doing hers on film criticism, so she had the idea of asking everybody connected with the class ("mentors" and students) to prepare for Friday by watching the film Everything Is Illuminated. (It's apparently streamable online, so she's using that technology to show it on a "smartboard" at certain times in one of the classrooms; so I went to the 3:15 showing this afternoon.) It's an adaptation of the American Jewish writer Jonathan Safran Foer's first novel, Everything Is Illuminated, apparently a more-or-less fictionalized account of the author's own quest for the Ukranian shtetl where his grandfather (who escaped from the Holocaust) grew up. Here's the imdb link: www.imdb.com/title/tt0404030 . It's rated PG-13.According to Wikipedia, the film actually lost money at the box office (that doesn't surprise me very much). Overall, I wasn't very impressed with it; it's extremely slow and draggy in most places, to stretch it out to two-hour feature film length, and has several parts that are in poor taste. (view spoiler) But on the plus side, it offers a very believable performance by Elijah Wood as Foer, and has a strong supporting cast; there are a few funny moments and one really powerful serious scene; and the ending message is good (if you stay awake long enough to see the ending :-) ).
Werner, below is link to my comments on Everything is Illuminated.https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I tried the book but couldn't get into it. I watched the movie and thought it was very strange and puzzling, a real challenge to follow. I remember some very touching scenes but most of the time I remember being puzzled. It's a very heavy movie with serious themes. The end leaves you thinking about the sadness brought on by war.
I'm sure your class discussion will be a very interesting one! Please let us know what the class thought of it. I gave the movie 2 Netflix stars out of 5. At least I didn't give it only one!
PS-Some other complaints by me about the book:
Sections of it are in caps. Hard to read. Other sections are in italics. Annoying to read. Parts of it are written in the fractured English of a non-English speaking person. Annoying after a while. (That was part of my review.)
Joy, unfortunately our discussions in that class are very desultory; the students don't get into it much, and I doubt that the discussion Monday will be any different. :-( (Actually, many of them probably won't watch the movie --the e-mail where the showings were announced didn't positively say they HAD to, and if they don't, a lot of them won't bestir themselves.) But if there is any strong reaction one way or the other, I'll post about it!Yes, I checked out the Wikipedia link for the book (which I don't have written down here at home, but the search function will bring it up quickly), and wasn't impressed by the description of its more bizarre qualities. (I can see how the movie would be an improvement, because the visual medium by its very nature requires a more linear progression, and doesn't reflect the weird textual qualities of the written narrative.) In most cases, seeing a movie based on a book whets my interest in reading the latter; but this was not one of those cases!
I saw the first Hobbit movie in theaters last year (An Unexpected Journey). Sometime in the Spring the DVD came out but I wanted to wait for the Extended Edition because I have the extended LOTR movies, each movie had about an hour added, so I figured it was worth the wait for the extra scenes. It came out yesterday and I practically ran to the store to get it! So you can imagine my shock at only 13 extra minutes on the extended version! Still an excellent movie but I must confess a slight disappointment in the 'extras'.
Werner, yes, "bizarre" is a good word for it! ("Everything is Illuminated")
Jackie, I rated "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" 4 stars at Netflix last May, 2013.
I loved it, easily 5 stars from me. It's not the movie that I'm disappointed in but rather the lack of extra scenes. Peter Jackson spoiled me the last time around with all the extra scenes in LOTR.
Werner wrote: "... I can see how the movie would be an improvement, because the visual medium by its very nature requires a more linear progression ..."PS-Werner, the movie, "Everything is Illuminated", wasn't really so linear. There were some strange flashbacks. Personally, I get the feeling that some of the film editors aren't very good at making time shifts clear. Ambiguity doesn't necessarily mean "sophistication", although some people think that the more vague something is, the more sophisticated it is. I don't think so!
Yes, Joy, I agree that ambiguity doesn't equal sophistication. Well said!I actually didn't mind the flashbacks as such in the movie, because there weren't too many of them and they weren't pointless (IMO), and I could tell they were flashbacks. What drove me up the wall was the glacial pace, like following a person walking. (And closeups of car wheels turning, and a hand on a doorknob...!)
Werner, I too find slow-paced movies annoying (e.g., a horse and carriage rolling down a country road; man walking through the woods). I feel like yelling into the screen: "OK, I get the point! Let's move on!" LOLThe scenes are time-fillers, similar to what the newspapers used to call "boiler-plate" stuff.
Below is from my GR review:Movie: Safe Haven (2013)(adapted from the book, Safe Haven (2010), by Nicholas Sparks)
I did not read the book but the movie was great! A moving story which thoroughly drew me in. I streamed it from Netflix. Netflix description:
======================================
"This adaptation of the novel by Nicholas Sparks centers on a mysterious woman who arrives in a small North Carolina town and begins a new life but remains haunted by the terrifying secret that prompted her to travel across the country."
FROM: NETFLIX: http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Saf...
======================================
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1702439/?...
Josh Duhamel played the male lead. Duhamel is incredibly attractive!
Julianne Hough played the female lead. She was excellent in the part.
Mimi Kirkland played the young daughter. She is absolutely adorable!
I borrowed the DVD of the film, "Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story" (2005) from our local library. Heart-warming story. I enjoyed it very much. Five Netflix stars out of 5!Thank you, Nina, for recommending it!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418647/?...
"Cale Crane catalyzes the rescue and rehabilitation of Sonador [Spanish for "Dreamer"], a race horse with a broken leg."
http://dvd.netflix.com/Search?v1=Drea...
"Down-and-out horse trainer Ben Crane rescues a once-great racehorse that's been severely injured. Buoyed by the unwavering faith of his daughter, he sets out to win the Breeders' Cup Classic."
Great cast: Kurt Russell, Dakota Fanning, Elisabeth Shue, Kris Kristofferson, Freddy Rodriguez, Luis Guzmán, Oded Fehr, David Morse ...
Both the scenery and the musical background were wonderful!
I enjoyed watching the horses. According the bonus material, five different race horses played the part of the one horse in the movie.
I didn't realize that horses were allowed to have sweets (frozen ice cream pops and chocolate cake!). BTW, none of the five race horses liked chocolate cake but the producers found another non-race horse who liked it.
I think Marg & Erin saw 'Dreamer' & really liked it since our horses are often off the track. It's a real gamble with a horse's leg, though. They don't get proper circulation in the leg unless they put weight on the hoof (the frog is a helper pump) & they're too big to do well 3 legged. Worse, they're usually fit racehorses which means they have lots of energy & no more sense than a retarded chicken if something sets them off.Horses are funny about treats. Chip doesn't like apples & Indy didn't like our horse cookies when we first got him, but he quickly got used to them. Then he liked them enough to trample Pixie so she wouldn't get one. We buy them in a 20 lb bag & I usually keep a bunch in my pocket. They're in 3 lobes, so can be broken up for smaller treats for the dogs & goats.
They don't taste bad, but aren't very sweet to me. Most race horses seem to get peppermints as treats. They love sugar & cubes are often used, too. They can get cavities just like people, though. When their teeth go, the horse usually dies soon. It was bad teeth that forced us to put Blue down. His was an infection at the roots, not cavities, but Speedy is looking worse because his teeth have stopped emerging & are no longer all in wear. He probably doesn't have long (a couple of years at most) although the vet is doing his best to keep them even & Marg feeds him special.
Blue LOVED chocolate chip cookies, not as much as beer, which he would savage a person for, but a lot. He ripped a beer can out of a friend's hand one time, guzzled it & tossed it aside like a recalcitrant drunk & came back for more. We never let anyone with beer near him after that.
Blue was Marg's favorite horse that we had for 20 years. He sold for the cost of a decent house as a yearling since his bloodlines on both sides were great. He was a grandson of Secretariat & was entered in the Breeder's Cup Juvenile for 2 year olds. (They often enter them way ahead of time to insure a spot & it's a lot cheaper.) He cracked his ankles in training & went back through the Keeneland sale, though. A friend of ours bought him for $5000 & hoped to rehab him so he would be a steeplechase horse.
His ankles didn't hold up, so he gave him to Marg when he was 5. She used him for pleasure, show, & hunt. The kids used him in Pony Club, both James & Erin took all 3 C ratings on him. That's pretty high level riding including eventing, show jumping, & dressage. He excelled at all of them, although he had issues with his ankles occasionally. He was a mud puppy & used to injure his ankles digging in the mud. He loved to roll in it & splash in it & ponds. He was a very playful horse & another rehab success story.
Jim, I enjoyed your comments about your individual horses. Interesting about the personalities of race horses. Loved the beer story! LOL Thanks for the pic of the horse cookies. As with dogs, treats are a way to a pet's heart. :)The rehab story about Blue is fascinating. To think that he was a grandson of Secretariat! (I wonder how many grandson's Secretariat had. LOL) Too bad about his ankles ruining his racing chances. Glad you all enjoyed him. What a shame his teeth went bad.
I always put a special dental liquid in Romeo's water and it's been helping to keep the tartar down. Our vet is impressed! Our jorji had to have teeth pulled when they went bad in the lower front jaw. So we learned the importance of good tooth care for dogs.
PS-About the movie, "Dreamer", I forgot to mention that in the bonus section, they showed how they used a mechanical horse to fill in the hard-to-get shots of certain scenes (e.g., during horse races).They also showed the special car with a camera on the roof which they used to film horse-races. The car speeds along parallel to the pack of horses as they run. It's intriguing the way they do it.
Joy, you always seem open to suggestion so here's one for you. One of my book club members mentioned she thought it would abe a good idea to have a list handy when we are ocming up with book suggestions for the coming year to have a list with "book" as part of the stories; like, "Mr. Penumbra's 24 hour bookstore" etc. Another one is, "Miss Buncle's Book." The word book doesn't have to be in the title. Can you or the other goodreaders come up with some books that would fit my description?
Nina, does your book club read nonfiction books, or just fiction? And do you all read just novels for fiction, or would you include short story collections, too? (I think there are probably a fair number of nonfiction books and short story anthologies with the word "book" in their titles.)
Joy, Mostly we read and critique novels; on rare occasions a non-fiction or short story selection. The reason for the novels is that the memembers are all writers and a few have more than one book published or a book of poems or essay selection. I think they mostly like the idea of a novel so they can learn something.
Thanks for the tips on the book, "Canada," as I look forward to reading them. Have you read that book? The first line will catch you. Look it up.
Thanks, Nina. The only novel with "book" in the title that I can think of offhand is The Book Thief, but perhaps I'll think of more later.
Here is a GR list with 275 books with the word 'book' in the title.https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
Thanks, that list will do it for the time being; some were so familiar and most not so they are there for me to check out.
Nina wrote: "Thanks for the tips on the book, "Canada," ... Have you read that book? The first line will catch you. Look it up."Nina, I looked it up by looking "inside the book" at the following Amazon page:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061...
The first line is about the robbery...
Seems to start off with a downer, IMO. I don't need downers. :)
Nina wrote: "... a list with "book" as part of the stories... Can you or the other goodreaders come up with some books that would fit my description? "Nina, I guess Jim answered your question. Wow! That's quite a list at Listopia. Thanks, Jim!
Me and Eric went to see Thor today, it was even better than the first one.
Jackie wrote: "Me and Eric went to see Thor today, it was even better than the first one."I went to IMDb and looked up "Thor". Here's the page of results:
http://www.imdb.com/find?q=Thor&s...
I guess this is the movie you saw:
Thor: The Dark World (2013)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1981115/?...
"Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all."
http://dvd.netflix.com/Search?oq=&...
"The God of Thunder strikes again as he fights to save the Nine Realms from mysterious villain Malekith, who plans to make the entire universe go dark. Meanwhile, Thor must find Jane Foster, who's been targeted by the evil denizens of Svartalfheim."
WIKI SAYS: "In Norse mythology, Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, and also hallowing, healing and fertility."
FROM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor
Jackie, you have expanded my horizons, once again. "Thor" was just a vague word to me until now. I knew he was a god and he was related to thunder but never pursued the idea further. Norse, eh?
Dictionary: NORSE - "Of or relating to medieval Scandinavia or its peoples, languages, or cultures."
I guess I knew that, but I never thought about putting it in those words exactly.
Yes, The Dark World. Norse and Icelandic mythology is very cool, of course Marvel's take on it is different but that's to be expected.
Jackie, I've never delved much into mythology of any kind. But, as you suggest, it's a fertile field for developing comic book stories... or ANY fantasy plots. In fact, I suppose we could say that mythology IS fantasy! That's where fantasy started, I guess.
Yes, mythology and then fairytales were our earliest instances of fantasy. Except what we now call mythologies were once religions.
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Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group
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