Pamela McClintock wrote:In the spring of 2003, then-Paramount vice chairman John Goldwyn sat down at the Hotel Bel-Air with his boss, Sherry Lansing, Jim Carrey and Steven Spielberg to discuss Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. Spielberg was interested in directing Carrey in the film, but the conversation took a turn when Carrey brought up The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, a remake of the 1947 movie that John Goldwyn's grandfather, Samuel Goldwyn, had produced. Samuel Goldwyn Jr., John's father, recently had wrested the rights back from New Line and was looking for a new studio home. "Before I could answer," recalls Goldwyn, "Steven said that if Jim was starring, he'd direct."!
Tyrone_Shoelaces wrote:Cpt Kirks 2pay wrote:Tyrone_Shoelaces wrote:Louis C.K.'s "Horace and Pete" is on Hulu now. I'm only a couple episodes into it but it sure is something. If you get the chance I highly recommend listening to C.K.'s most recent appearance on the WTF Podcast where he talks about the process of creating the show.
Wait is it free on Hulu? Did I spent U.S. dollars on that crap when I coulda VPNd in for free a couple months later???
Uh, yes?
TheBaxter wrote:i preferred the Penthouse Channel version anyway: Fuck Dynasty
Ribbons wrote:I just watched the first couple episodes of The Good Place on Hulu, that's kind of fun. There are mini-ethics lessons in each episode (like legit philosophical tracts, not just "being bad is bad"), which is interesting. It's from the Parks & Rec. team, which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you felt about that show. But anything with Ted Danson AND Kristen Bell is at least watchable. And I already know that "bullshirt" is going to be one of those things that I start saying ironically but end up saying all the time.
Ribbons wrote:I don't know if anybody else here watches The Good Place, but the season finale aired last week and had a twist that genuinely shocked me, as much as it's possible for any twist to be shocking anymore. It literally changed the premise of the show.
Ribbons wrote:What happened was, the torture aspect of hell (or "The Bad Place") didn't work the way they thought it would. The characters who were meant to torture each other for thousands of years ended up bonding. So the architect of The Bad Place wiped their memory in order to start over and tweak some things that would hopefully prevent the bonding from happening again.
TheBaxter wrote:Ribbons wrote:What happened was, the torture aspect of hell (or "The Bad Place") didn't work the way they thought it would. The characters who were meant to torture each other for thousands of years ended up bonding. So the architect of The Bad Place wiped their memory in order to start over and tweak some things that would hopefully prevent the bonding from happening again.
OMG, i just realized something!
is the Zone the Bad Place?
Maui wrote:I am two episodes into Victoria on PBS. Not sure how I feel about this series yet. They have already made Lord Melbourne a dashing suitor, romantically linked to Victoria, which is historically incorrect. We shall see how the next few episodes play out.
Alastair Jamieson wrote:The monarch made her comments after special screening of the drama, whose producers include Martin Scorsese and the Duchess of York.
Her granddaughter, Princess Beatrice, has a cameo role in the film, which is currently No4 in the UK box office chart.
It tells the story of the young Queen Victoria and her romance with Prince Albert.
A source told the News of the World: "She thought the film had a lot of good points but she is a stickler for accuracy. She wasn't too impressed they had Albert diving in front of Victoria to take the bullet in an assassination attempt.
"It simply did not happen and Her Majesty questioned the need for such a dramatic inaccuracy. She also thought the uniforms worn by the British officers looked too Germanic."
The film stars Emily Blunt as Victoria, Rupert Friend as Albert and Paul Bettany as Lord Melbourne while the script was devised by Gosford Park screenwriter Julian Fellowes.
He has already talked candidly about other inaccuracies in the film, saying such "trivial" matters do not distract many viewers. I think it's a lovely film," Mr Fellowes told the Telegraph's Mandrake column. "What does it matter? The question people ask themselves is: 'Is the movie good or is it not good?' That's the point. This is not something that will concern ordinary people."
Peven wrote:this actually looks like it is fun........ light, insubstantial, fun
TheButcher wrote:Maui wrote:I am two episodes into Victoria on PBS. Not sure how I feel about this series yet. They have already made Lord Melbourne a dashing suitor, romantically linked to Victoria, which is historically incorrect. We shall see how the next few episodes play out.
I liked it, but it had too many rats.
Peven wrote:this actually looks like it is fun........ light, insubstantial, fun
so sorry wrote:
This looks kinda good actually.
Maui wrote:TheButcher wrote:Maui wrote:I watched the entire season of The Crown on Netflix. This is a top notch series with superb acting by Claire Foy, John Lithgow and Dr. Who (aka Matt Smith). The story line for Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend's ill-fated love affair is heartbreaking to watch. Can't wait for season 2.
Hans Zimmer - The Crown Main Title (2016)
Hans Zimmer brilliance.
TheBaxter wrote:for anyone not watching 24: Legacy, i can sum it up for you in 5 words:
new lead, same ridiculous plotlines
so sorry wrote:TheBaxter wrote:for anyone not watching 24: Legacy, i can sum it up for you in 5 words:
new lead, same ridiculous plotlines
But does he have a Sack?????
Maui wrote:I'm two episodes into Big Little Lies on HBO. So far so good.
so sorry wrote:Maui wrote:I'm two episodes into Big Little Lies on HBO. So far so good.
Against my better judgement I watched most of the first episode and actually thought it was pretty good.
Maui wrote:I like all the flashbacks and flash-forwards. It makes things more interesting. I have a feeling we won't find out who was murdered until the very end. I do have some theories though.
Maui wrote:so sorry wrote:Maui wrote:I'm two episodes into Big Little Lies on HBO. So far so good.
Against my better judgement I watched most of the first episode and actually thought it was pretty good.
It is pretty good, isn't it?
I like all the flashbacks and flash-forwards. It makes things more interesting. I have a feeling we won't find out who was murdered until the very end. I do have some theories though.
so sorry wrote:Maui wrote:so sorry wrote:Maui wrote:I'm two episodes into Big Little Lies on HBO. So far so good.
Against my better judgement I watched most of the first episode and actually thought it was pretty good.
It is pretty good, isn't it?
I like all the flashbacks and flash-forwards. It makes things more interesting. I have a feeling we won't find out who was murdered until the very end. I do have some theories though.
Wait, it isn't know who was murdered? Again, I only watched 75% of the first episode, but I just assumed they were being coy about talking about the murder, which I assumed was Reese Witherspoon.
Maui wrote:Anyone watching this on FX?
I'm 5 episodes in and loving it. Mostly due to Tom Hardy. Ridley Scott is a producer if that gets you excited.
Maui wrote:so sorry wrote:Wait, it isn't know who was murdered? Again, I only watched 75% of the first episode, but I just assumed they were being coy about talking about the murder, which I assumed was Reese Witherspoon.
Me thinks that's too easy of an assumption to make but I've been known to be wrong before.
I need to watch more of this unfold but as of now I'm leaning towards the murdered victim being a male.
Fievel wrote:Maui wrote:Anyone watching this on FX?
I'm 5 episodes in and loving it. Mostly due to Tom Hardy. Ridley Scott is a producer if that gets you excited.
I was intrigued when it was initially teased a year ago, but haven't watched it yet. It quickly fell into the "I'm sure I'd like it but can't seem to start watching" category. I hate when that happens. The Night Manager was in this category as well... still need to watch that, too.
Ribbons wrote:Maui wrote:so sorry wrote:Wait, it isn't know who was murdered? Again, I only watched 75% of the first episode, but I just assumed they were being coy about talking about the murder, which I assumed was Reese Witherspoon.
Me thinks that's too easy of an assumption to make but I've been known to be wrong before.
I need to watch more of this unfold but as of now I'm leaning towards the murdered victim being a male.
I don't want to be a big old douche and give away too much, but I will confirm that it is NOT Reese Witherspoon who dies.
Ribbons wrote:I've heard Iron Fist is crap, but because I'm invested in this whole Defenders thing I'm going to start watching it this weekend. I'm not looking forward to it.
Fievel wrote:Ribbons wrote:I've heard Iron Fist is crap, but because I'm invested in this whole Defenders thing I'm going to start watching it this weekend. I'm not looking forward to it.
Same!![]()
I might start tomorrow, though. It's odd having this nagging feeling that I MUST watch something even though I know it will likely be shit.
Maui wrote:I watched the entire season of The Crown on Netflix. This is a top notch series with superb acting by Claire Foy, John Lithgow and Dr. Who (aka Matt Smith). The story line for Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend's ill-fated love affair is heartbreaking to watch. Can't wait for season 2.
REISS SMITH wrote:Did Churchill really burn the Sutherland painting?
In episode nine, the Houses of Parliament commission a portrait by British modernist Graham Sutherland to present to Churchill on as an 80th birthday gift.
The beleaguered Prime Minister sits for several sessions with the artist and implores Sutherland to paint a flattering portrait representative of “the Prime Minister and everything that great office represents”.
After the two men bond over the loss of their children, Churchill unveils the portrait at Westminster Abbey. He is shocked by the frail depiction of himself and sarcastically declares it “a remarkable example of modern art”.
The octogenarian tells Sutherland that he will not accept the unflattering painting, which he labels a “betrayal of friendship and an unpatriotic cowardly assault by the individualistic left”.
The episode is mostly based on real events. In 1954, Churchill unveiled the portrait in Westminster Abbey using the exact same words uttered in the show.
In The Crown, Churchill's wife Clementine burned the offending artwork in the couple's garden.
In real life, Clementine originally claimed to have set fire to the massive painting herself. But while writing a biography of the Prime Minister’s wife, Sonia Purell discovered that she had asked secretary Grace Hamblin to do the dirty work for her.
Grace enlisted her “burly” brother to help her sneak the painting out of the Churchills' cellar in the dead of night and burned it on a bonfire several miles away.
The painting was supposed to hang in Westminster Abbey after Churchill’s death.
Sutherland called the Churchills’ actions “without question an act of vandalism” and the portrait has been described as a “lost masterpiece”.
Sketches from Sutherland’s sessions with Churchill are on display at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Gabriel Tate wrote:At first glance, the very notion of John Lithgow as Winston Churchill is absurd. The American’s slender 6’4” frame, ovoid features and gentle demeanour are the very opposite of the squat, rotund British bulldog of lore. It’s a tribute both to the two-time Oscar nominee and some heroic work from costume, make-up and hair departments that The Crown, Netflix’s latest blockbuster, isn’t derailed by the disparity.
For although the focus of Peter Morgan’s drama is on Elizabeth and Philip, without Churchill there would have been no series at all. “As I discovered while I was writing [2006 film] The Queen, the dynamic is so electric when you have the elected power and the inherited power,” explains Morgan, “Churchill was 73 when Elizabeth became Queen in her mid-twenties. I thought, ‘That’s a relationship I would like to explore,’ and out of that came the idea that there was more to this than a single film; this could actually work as a television show.”
Lithgow, speaking at a press event in Paris, was as surprised as anyone to be approached. “I thought they’d got the wrong guy. I was intimidated by the role, but I wasn’t about to say no to it. Other people have often had more faith in me than I had in myself – I never thought I could pull off Roberta Muldoon in The World According to Garp, or Of Mice and Men’s Lennie as one of my first acting jobs. Churchill is so particular. He’s as different from the rest of the population of Britain as he is from me. He’s such a wonderful tangle of idiosyncracies and contradictions that an extremely unlikely piece of casting like this is an ingenious idea.”
Nonetheless, Lithgow was up against the weight of history and acting tradition in a way his co-stars were not. While perhaps only Helen Mirren has stuck in the memory as a non-parodic Elizabeth and it’s almost impossible to recall a definitive Philip, Churchill has been represented on film, with varying degrees of success, by actors ranging from Albert Finney and Robert Hardy to Michael Gambon and Richard Burton. “Finney was wonderful,” concedes Lithgow, “but his performance was liberating for me. I thought, ‘Fine, it’s not essential to be him, I just have to tell his story, to embody what he meant to all these people and how he affected them.’ My greatest ambition was to just make people temporarily forget about the actual Winston Churchill and accept this.”
He achieves this up to a point, without ever quite disappearing into the role. Nonetheless, his scowling, growling, glowering performance is considered rather than hammy, transcending mere impersonation in spite of the prominence of all the traditional Churchillian motifs – cigars, V-signs, sermons from the bathtub. Only among his intimates, such as George V (a profoundly touching performance from Jared Harris) or Harriet Walter’s weary, wise Clemmie, does this Churchill allow himself to display discretion and sensitivity.
The first series spans 1947-57, a fascinating decade in Churchill’s life. Returning to Downing Street in 1951, powers demonstrably waning, he is still able to reassert his own authority when the occasion calls for it. “Churchill faced his own diminishing capabilities and increasing irrelevance by maintaining the sense that he was the only one who could solve whatever problem was before him,” says Lithgow. “He was very often wrong, of course, but then he had spent so much of his life overcoming appalling mistakes, disasters and rejections.”
In the first two episodes alone, he prevails through sheer defiance on two key occasions: first, by stage-managing his own entrance to Elizabeth and Philip’s wedding and then foiling Anthony Eden’s (a spry Jeremy Northam) brewing cabinet revolt with a barnstorming radio address following the king’s death. But one association above all underpins The Crown.
“Churchill’s relationship with the queen follows a beautiful trajectory,” says Lithgow, “all tracked in these wonderful audience scenes. She’s this completely untutored queen who, arguably because of his instructions, gradually realises her role and sense of her own power, eventually coming to overrule and discipline him. His last audience with her in 1955 is extremely moving, when age and infirmity force him to step down [after a stroke].”
Now 71, Lithgow admits that the role gave him pause to consider the possibility that his own abilities may soon be in decline, although this relentlessly cheerful man isn’t cowed by the prospect. “I’m getting older, but better too. And the roles are getting better. I played Lear [at New York’s Delcorte Theatre] when I was just about old enough, while still having the strength and brain power to take the role. I’ve entered that particular sweet spot. Not completely enviable, I grant you, but to have the opportunity to play parts like Churchill makes me very proud.”
The first series of The Crown is available now on Netflix
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