Movies and TV Shows That are Great

[unclevlad]

Supernatural is easy to catch...TNT does multiple episodes every day in reruns.  TV Guide says...4, actually.  In order.  They're doing season 10 right now.

[Tjack]

   I’m currently watching The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the 8th Dimension.   
          ‘cause it takes the darkness away for a little while.

[Lord Liaden]

48 minutes ago, slikmar said:

Ok, only because it might fit into this thread due to how good its been, but would Supernatural have to qualify as the greatest surprisingly successful show ever on tv. And if it hadn't been on WB, probably would not have survived 1 season. 15 seasons and now a new Anime series. Makes me mad I never watched it. Maybe only thing close would have been Stargate.

 

"Greatest" and "surprising" are subjective, of course. (Personally I'd rank Dr. Who at the top of that field.) I watched the first five seasons of Supernatural pretty religiously (pun intended) because of how the meta-story gradually unfolded and built to an epic climax. After that, though, I felt the series lost its focus and started lurching in all different directions. Midway through Season 7 I lost interest, and while I've glanced in on it from time to time since it never grabbed me again.

[Ternaugh]

11 hours ago, Tjack said:

   I’m currently watching The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the 8th Dimension.   
          ‘cause it takes the darkness away for a little while.

 

My late wife could never get the name of that right. She always called it, "Buckarai Bonzoo", and I have to stop myself from calling it that when talking about it.

[Tjack]

2 hours ago, Ternaugh said:

 

My late wife could never get the name of that right. She always called it, "Buckarai Bonzoo", and I have to stop myself from calling it that when talking about it.

   Personally, as much as I love the movie I sometimes like to call it Buckaroo Bonsai. The mental image of a small tree with a big cowboy hat makes me smile.

[Dr. MID-Nite]

The movie Scanners from 1981. Yeah...there's some complaints that Stephen Lack underplays his role, but as he was supposed to be playing a character with zero social skills I'd say he's basically spot on. Most people remember this film for the exploding head and other jaw dropping effects, but it's really got a lot more to offer. It really is a "people with powers" story. These characters aren't superheroes and most of the time...their powers are a negative. Others try to use these "metas" in real world ways. Patrick McGoohan and Michael Ironside are also excellent in this. The presentation of these powers was also done in clever and inventive ways. This was Cronenberg's biggest hit at the time in the States and this is what got him the director's chair for The Fly(I still think this film is superior). This film also boasts a powerful score by pre LOTR fame Howard Shore. Can't say enough good things about it. A favorite of mine for sure.

[Lord Liaden]

Get Smart (1965-1970). Brilliant satire of the super-spy genre, with Don Adams playing somewhere between James Bond and Jacques Clouseau; and Barbara Feldon as many a young man's fantasy girl.   Fans always looked forward to the recurring practical gags: the multiple doors and 'phone-booth elevator in the credits, the shoe 'phone, the Cone of Silence, Agent 44 hiding inside some inanimate object. And absolutely everyone in the mid-Sixties was using the show's catch phrases:

"Sorry about that, Chief."

"Would you believe...?"

"Missed it by That. Much."

"And... loving it!"

"This is KAOS! We don't ____ here!"

 

IMO none of the movies based on that property, with or without Don Adams, recaptured that magic.

 

[Spence]

3 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

IMO none of the movies based on that property, with or without Don Adams, recaptured that magic.

 

Another property they should have just left alone....

[pbemguy]

14 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

Get Smart (1965-1970). Brilliant satire of the super-spy genre, with Don Adams playing somewhere between James Bond and Jacques Clouseau; and Barbara Feldon as many a young man's fantasy girl.   Fans always looked forward to the recurring practical gags: the multiple doors and 'phone-booth elevator in the credits, the shoe 'phone, the Cone of Silence, Agent 44 hiding inside some inanimate object. And absolutely everyone in the mid-Sixties was using the show's catch phrases:

"Would you believe...?"

"Missed it by That. Much."

"And... loving it!"

"This is KAOS! We don't ____ here!"

 

IMO none of the movies based on that property, with or without Don Adams, recaptured that magic.

 

 

One of my favorites. I'm currently running a Top Secret module with Hero rules--I'll have to throw in some Maxwell Smart-isms!

 

Barbara Feldon...amazing. She's half the reason I re-watch these. 

[sinanju]

On 4/13/2020 at 8:02 PM, slikmar said:

Ok, only because it might fit into this thread due to how good its been, but would Supernatural have to qualify as the greatest surprisingly successful show ever on tv. And if it hadn't been on WB, probably would not have survived 1 season. 15 seasons and now a new Anime series. Makes me mad I never watched it. Maybe only thing close would have been Stargate.

 

Stargate would get my vote as a great tv show. I liked its premise--contemporary Americans exploring the universe with contemporary weapons, equipment and tactics. The only maguffin they had at the beginning was the stargate itself. I also liked that, as time went by, they accumulated some sci-fi gadgets (zat guns, in particular). I liked that they were pretty good about consistency--facts established early on were kept in mind in later episodes. (For instance, that wormholes could only remain open for 38 minutes--usually--and that the dialing computer was slower than a DHD were plot points in a number of episodes.)

 

What I think made the show as inventive as it was, was the premise. They had no spaceships, so the writers couldn't fall back on fifty years Trek-based tropes. They had to write stories around the premise. This was, alas, also where they fell down in later seasons.

 

In the first season, it took the Goa'uld almost a year to reach earth by ship, just in time for the first season cliffhanger. By the end of the series, Earth had several warships traveling between the Milky Way and Atlantis in weeks or months. And once they had ships on the show, they fell victim to every single Trek-based cliche imaginable. Shields failing, structural integrity being whittled away, beaming up, beaming down, space battles at knife-fighting range, all of it. We saw less and less of the gate, too. Which took away everything that made Stargate unique and interesting.

 

But those early seasons (and some episodes of later seasons) were wonderful.

[sinanju]

On 4/13/2020 at 8:55 PM, Lord Liaden said:

 

"Greatest" and "surprising" are subjective, of course. (Personally I'd rank Dr. Who at the top of that field.) I watched the first five seasons of Supernatural pretty religiously (pun intended) because of how the meta-story gradually unfolded and built to an epic climax. After that, though, I felt the series lost its focus and started lurching in all different directions. Midway through Season 7 I lost interest, and while I've glanced in on it from time to time since it never grabbed me again.

 

That was almost exactly my experience as well. I loved the early seasons, but eventually lost interest.

[Lord Liaden]

4 hours ago, pbemguy said:

 

One of my favorites. I'm currently running a Top Secret module with Hero rules--I'll have to throw in some Maxwell Smart-isms!

 

Barbara Feldon...amazing. She's half the reason I re-watch these. 

 

 

[pbemguy]

Speaking of 60's bombshells, I also watch Gilligan's Island over and over. I used to be a Maryann fan but now I watch it for Ginger. The Eva Grubb episode...ah, don't get me started! 

[KA.]

On 11/8/2019 at 12:32 PM, GM Joe said:

Combat! is a great TV series.

 

It featured an American infantry squad making its way across Europe. Every hour-long episode features plenty of action and a guest-of-the-week, but the story is always focused on the squad members and their character development.

 

Truly great stuff.

 

I have only seen 10 or 12 episodes of Combat, but I liked what I saw, and have thought of buying some on DVD.

One thing I pointed out to my wife that was probably unique when the show originally aired, was the fact that there were basically two main stars that alternated back and forth seemingly at random. This helped solve one of the main problems with any dramatic series about war, which is, you always knew that the main character was never going to die in an episode, no matter what danger they seemed to be in, because they had to be back for the next episode.

However, with two main characters, you could never get that comfortable.

After all, they could decide to kill off one of them, go with the other guy for a while, and then rotate in someone else.

 

KA.

[Lord Liaden]

22 minutes ago, pbemguy said:

Speaking of 60's bombshells, I also watch Gilligan's Island over and over. I used to be a Maryann fan but now I watch it for Ginger. The Eva Grubb episode...ah, don't get me started! 

 

Depictions of women's sexuality nowadays tends to be so aggressive and in-your-face. We've forgotten the appeal of elegant, sophisticated, classy.

[Michael Hopcroft]

13 hours ago, KA. said:

 

I have only seen 10 or 12 episodes of Combat, but I liked what I saw, and have thought of buying some on DVD.

One thing I pointed out to my wife that was probably unique when the show originally aired, was the fact that there were basically two main stars that alternated back and forth seemingly at random. This helped solve one of the main problems with any dramatic series about war, which is, you always knew that the main character was never going to die in an episode, no matter what danger they seemed to be in, because they had to be back for the next episode.

However, with two main characters, you could never get that comfortable.

After all, they could decide to kill off one of them, go with the other guy for a while, and then rotate in someone else.

 

KA.

Gunsmoke lasted as long as it did on a variation of the formula. Matt Dillion was not a lead character in the conventional sense. In fact, in ost episodes he had limited screen time at best. Rather, he and Dodge City were vehicles to tell other stories of other characters who usually only appeared in that episode. When Matt did show up, he was almost a deus ex machina, using his combat skills and/or his power of arrest to resolve situations that had become untenable for the episode's protagonists.

 

That some episodes involved bringing a railway to Dodge, though, was a historical. Dodge City was very important because it was a railhead -- the destination of the great cattle drives, where cattle were sold, paid for, and then shipped to the East for slaughter and distribution. It was also where the cowboys got paid, with all  the troubles that ensued. Dodge was a very busy place, ripe for adventure and ripe with opportunity for those cunning or ruthless enough to take it.

[Spence]

I miss good stories and great writing.

It seems that every series has to be written as one long arc about yet another "deep dark conspiracy". With many episodes lacking any content beyond a minimal blek and deliberately stretched filler so they can make the episode count for the season.

 

 

[death tribble]

I have mentioned one in What Have You Watched Recently ? and that is Giri/Haji which means Duty/Shame.

 

It is an 8 part TV series from the BBC available on Netflix. A Japanese Police Officer has to go t London to find his brother thought dead for the last three years. Said brother is thought to have killed the nephew of a Yakuza chief. The cops and the Yakuza want him to find the brother and return him to Japan. Said brother is working for a London gangster. And from here it gets complicated and very, very good. It has subtitles for those who don't speak Japanese. You get a gunfight i London and the Yakuza go to war in Tokyo.

[slikmar]

When I am home, I tend to watch the encore western triumvirate of Tales of Death Valley, Maverick and Cheyenne. One thing that strikes me, Clint Walker was a VERY big man.

[Lord Liaden]

Clint Walker's nickname in Hollywood literally was, "the Big Man." When cast in Cheyenne he was reportedly 6'6", 235 pounds, with a 48" chest and 32" waist. And that was in 1955.

[Lord Liaden]

Them! (1954) was the first of the "giant mutant insect" sci-fi movies, and arguably still the best. With an intelligent script, talented principle cast, eerie and dramatic score and skillful direction, it's a quality movie irrespective of genre. The film unfolds as a tense mystery thriller, building to an intense action climax. The eponymous giant ants were practical, full-scale mobile puppets; while obviously not as fluid and energetic as modern effects, or even as stop-motion animation, this approach gives them a grotesque detailed tangibility that's imposing and frightening. And their iconic sounds make your neck hairs stand up.

 

This was Warner Brothers Studio's top-grossing film of 1954.

 

https://archive.org/details/THEM1952

 

 

[death tribble]

Some horror films lose their effectiveness. Them ! still gives me chills.

 

I will now select three films by one director which I would argue are among his best. The director in question is John Carpenter.

 

Assault of Precinct 13 1976

This has a no name cast with only perhaps a child who dies early on being recognised in other work. A gang swears revenge on the police and the people after a number of their group are killed by the cops. This leads to the gang laying siege to a police precinct that is being decommissioned and thus has only a few people in it plus three criminals who were being transported elsewhere but had to stop for medical assistance.  One of the criminals provides assistance as the gang outside are not going to spare anyone. It is taut and brilliant.

The remake is alright but the original is much better.

 

Escape from New York

Kurt Russell is Snake Plissken, a former Special Forces operative, who is sent into Manhattan which has been turned into a maximum security prison to rescue the President of the United States. Air Force One was hijacked and the President had to bail out ending up in Manhattan. Snake has a bomb in his neck and only 24 hours to get the President out alive. Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence and Harry Dean Stanton also appear.

Russell gives a wonderful turn as the taciturn, one-eyed Snake.

 

Big Trouble in Little China

This film stars Kurt Russell as a trucker who aids his friend in saving the friend's fiancee from bandits in San Francisco's Chinatown. This means fighting the evil David Lo Pan and his chief followers The Three Storms. Russell cheerfully plays the sidekick without realising it

 

 

[csyphrett]

Snake Plissken? I heard of you. I heard you were dead.

CES

[mattingly]

12 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

Them! (1954) ... This was Warner Brothers Studio's top-grossing film of 1954.

 

Wow, I didn't realize that.

 

It's definitely my favorite of the genre. And totally freaked me out as a kid.

 

 

5 hours ago, death tribble said:

Big Trouble in Little China

 

I may or may not have watch Big Trouble in Little China every month for the past 30 years...

 

[Lord Liaden]

39 minutes ago, mattingly said:

 

Wow, I didn't realize that.

 

It's definitely my favorite of the genre. And totally freaked me out as a kid.

 

 

Them! probably wouldn't have been made without the box-office success of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms the previous year. IMO they're by far the best "creature features" of the 1950s. But the giant ants brought in even more money than the giant dinosaur.

 

I've always wanted to pair Them's Dr. Harold Medford (Edmund Gwenn) with Beast's Dr. Thurgood Elson (Cecil Kellaway) in an RPG game. I think they'd have gotten along splendidly and been a hoot to roleplay.