What are you watching tonight?

[Prufrock]

That Ides of March is shite.

Introduced Maud to Dead Poets' Society tonight.

How did she get on? High time I re-familiarised myself with it.

This Sky Atlantic, btw, Kinty, General et al. Does it show anything other than Italian mafia dramas?

She absolutely loved it. It definitely bears up to a second viewing after a while, too.

I was never actually that big a fan of all his 'silly' stuff but he is pitch perfect in DPS.

[General Mannerheim]

Found a stream of the first Gomorrah episode, pretty impressive. Looking forward to catching up with the rest!

Also got a brand new ep of Boardwalk Empire !!! Woohoo

[2399]

Been Watching Black Jesus and America's Next Top Model

[TANGODANCER]

For anybody who hasn't seen it, Richard Attenborough's classic creepy 10 Rillington Place
is on BBC4 (Freeview 9, HD106) at 10-15.

[Bruce Rioja]

For anybody who hasn't seen it, Richard Attenborough's classic creepy 10 Rillington Place
is on BBC4 (Freeview 9, HD106) at 10-15.

Cheers for the heads up, Tango. Have just set it to record. And now, for the next three hours - The Wolf of Wall Street.

[Bruce Rioja]

Watched the Wolf of Wall Street last night. Absolutely loved it. How's the man still alive?

Drugs, hookers, booze, debauchery and depravity or, as Lever End calls it, a Tuesday night in.

[General Mannerheim]

Watched the Wolf of Wall Street last night. Absolutely loved it. How's the man still alive?

Drugs, hookers, booze, debauchery and depravity or, as Lever End calls it, a Tuesday night in.

Yes! was awaiting your thoughts! glad you liked it. i love it too. balls to the naysayers!

you been thumnping your chest and humming like this dude ever since!?

[Bruce Rioja]

Oh yes

Actually, I thought that McConaughey's character would be one of the mainstays, rather than him just appearing in those two early scenes, but he set the tone superbly.

One of few three-hour films that I was that hooked to so much that I forgot all about the time.

[General Mannerheim]

me too. I sat through a cheeky copy no problem, then went and sat through it again at the cinema becasue i felt it deserved it. thinking back there probably are bits they could cut, but i didnt notice it dragging on either veiwing.

[LeverEnd]

I'll get curtains drawn then watch it on Tuesday with a nice hot cuppa.

[TANGODANCER]

Just shows, doesn't it? I have the DVD, Kingdom of Heaven which I've watched a couple of times back a while. It has a running time of 145 mins. Nothing else much on I decided to watch the T.V version last night. It lasted 210 mins. That's 65 mins less on the D.V.D than the actual film. The amount missing was amazing.

I like the film; It's very well made with great action credibility, and it lets you approach it as you will and take it whatever way you wish. It has the magnificent line : " I thought I was fighting for God, then I realised....."

[William the White]

Just shows, doesn't it? I have the DVD, Kingdom of Heaven which I've watched a couple of times back a while. It has a running time of 145 mins. Nothing else much on I decided to watch the T.V version last night. It lasted 210 mins. That's 65 mins less on the D.V.D than the actual film. The amount missing was amazing.

I like the film; It's very well made with great action credibility, and it lets you approach it as you will and take it whatever way you wish. It has the magnificent line : " I thought I was fighting for God, then I realised....."

Don't believe Tango on this one.

the film is dreadful - and a waste of 210 mins.

Obviously, if you must watch it, go for the DVD and do something pleasant in the hour you've saved!

[TANGODANCER]

Just shows, doesn't it? I have the DVD, Kingdom of Heaven which I've watched a couple of times back a while. It has a running time of 145 mins. Nothing else much on I decided to watch the T.V version last night. It lasted 210 mins. That's 65 mins less on the D.V.D than the actual film. The amount missing was amazing.

I like the film; It's very well made with great action credibility, and it lets you approach it as you will and take it whatever way you wish. It has the magnificent line : " I thought I was fighting for God, then I realised....."

Don't believe Tango on this one.
the film is dreadful - and a waste of 210 mins.
Obviously, if you must watch it, go for the DVD and do something pleasant in the hour you've saved!

What's dreadful about it Will? It doesn't take sides and fully shows the insanity of war and the sheer waste of all those lives lost for what exactly? I thought they handled that well enough.

[thebish]

I quite liked Desson Thompson's (Washington Post) review...

WE KNOW we're supposed to be watching "Kingdom of Heaven," Ridley Scott's epic about the battle of wills between Balian of Ibelin (Orlando Bloom), a 12th-century French crusader charged with protecting Jerusalem, and Saladin (Ghassan Massoud), the Muslim leader whose multitudinous army stands in force outside the holy city.

But as Balian and his people withstand the might of Saladin's fiery projectiles, siege towers and the usual computer-generated swarm of soldiers, it's hard not to think we're really watching "The Lord of the Rings IV: Legolas Defends Jerusalem."

Epics have rapidly become digitalized, live-action cartoons for the pre-parental, and there's little sign of abatement, so long as audiences remain resolutely young and determined to watch heroes their own age playing grown-up warriors. Heroes used to be greater and more imposing than the audience. Nowadays, they're slightly exaggerated versions of the dudes and dudettes watching in the audience. Even though director Scott and screenwriter William Monahan have assembled a thoughtful (if flawed) antiwar scenario about the religious divisions that pit one great people against another, they still have to reduce it to a mere backdrop for a boy toy with good hair and excellent backlighting.

or James Kendrick...

Kingdom of Heaven is nothing short of brilliant in the way it dives into the middle of a political-religious morass and still manages to avoid any significant implications.

or Nev Pierce..

A crusades epic that's easy on the eye but hard on the backside, Kingdom Of Heaven is disappointing. Doing his best to sound all grown up, Orlando Bloom plays Balian, a French blacksmith who's reunited with his long-lost noble father (Liam Neeson) and journeys to Jerusalem for political intrigue, the odd battle and endless, endless talking. From Gladiator director Ridley Scott, it has little of that picture's passion or emotion. In fact it feels spectacularly empty.

Bloom is a talented actor too often dismissed as just a pretty face, but here he's lumbered with a drab, occasionally idiotic character and 'inspirational' speeches that make Clive Owen's leaden pep talks in King Arthur sound like Shakespeare. Follow him into battle? You wouldn't follow him into Woolworths.

[bobo the clown]

I quite liked it as a piece of entertainment. Maybe I went wrong in not analysing it to death.

Leprosy is always a winner I feel.

[thebish]

I like the film... it lets you approach it as you will and take it whatever way you wish.

how very generous of it! don't ALL films do this?? How could they do otherwise??

[TANGODANCER]

I like the film... it lets you approach it as you will and take it whatever way you wish.

how very generous of it! don't ALL films do this?? How could they do otherwise??

Why the sarcasm? No, all films don't do that. Some lead you where they want you to go. Some just go nowhere anyway. I'd be more interested in an opinion of your own than cut and pasting the views of others (which I don't agree with at all).

[thebish]

I like the film... it lets you approach it as you will and take it whatever way you wish.

how very generous of it! don't ALL films do this?? How could they do otherwise??

Why the sarcasm? No, all films don't do that. Some lead you where they want you to go. Some just go nowhere anyway. I'd be more interested in an opinion of your own than cut and pasting the views of others (which I don't agree with at all).

i agree with the reviewers that i quoted - which is why i quoted them.

still not sure how a film could stop you from taking it whatever way you wished or stop you approaching it as you willed...

the viewer is free to approach any art as s/he wishes, surely? I can't think of any film that can only be approached one way - can you give an example?

[TANGODANCER]

I like the film... it lets you approach it as you will and take it whatever way you wish.

how very generous of it! don't ALL films do this?? How could they do otherwise??

Why the sarcasm? No, all films don't do that. Some lead you where they want you to go. Some just go nowhere anyway. I'd be more interested in an opinion of your own than cut and pasting the views of others (which I don't agree with at all).

i agree with the reviewers that i quoted - which is why i quoted them.

still not sure how a film could stop you from taking it whatever way you wished or stop you approaching it as you willed...

the viewer is free to approach any art as s/he wishes, surely? I can't think of any film that can only be approached one way - can you give an example?

Very subtle to move off topic (yet again). I really don't care if you agree or disagree with my views, bish, that's immaterial .More importantly, discussing the merits of the film, you take the views of these film critics, none of whom have ever been anywhere near a battle as mattering. Not a one of them is worth a carrot. Even Rotten Tomatoes, that Bible of criticism states the film as lasting an hour less than it actually is. What sort of a review is that? Your Thomas chap says:

"Epics have rapidly become digitalized, live-action cartoons for the pre-parental, and there's little sign of abatement, so long as audiences remain resolutely young and determined to watch heroes their own age playing grown-up warriors. Heroes used to be greater and more imposing than the audience. Nowadays, they're slightly exaggerated versions of the dudes and dudettes watching in the audience. Even though director Scott and screenwriter William Monahan have assembled a thoughtful (if flawed) antiwar scenario about the religious divisions that pit one great people against another, they still have to reduce it to a mere backdrop for a boy toy with good hair and excellent backlighting."

Dear, dear.Heroes of their own age playing grown up warriors? Baldwin the Leper was just thirteen when he was crowned. He fought in several battles and died at twenty-four. Balian (yes, he was real) died just after turning fifty? as did Sala-ud-dinh. Outside of Templars and regular soldiers the armies were composed of young, old and even women, thousands who died on the road to Jerusalem without ever seeing a battle. Kids as young as Orlando Bloom's own probably joined in the crusades. Even in Nelson's times a powder monkey's average age was twelve. Do these critics take any notice of history? Do they even watch the films? Apart from Orlando Bloom and Eva Green (both around thirty or so when the film was made) the cast is hardly juvenile. This chap isn't agreeing with you that the film allows you to go anywhere you wish; he's saying it leads you to Disneyland and play school.

Kendrick: "Kingdom of Heaven is nothing short of brilliant in the way it dives into the middle of a political-religious morass and still manages to avoid any significant implications." What implications exactly can a film truthfully make about foggy events in the twelfth century? The film decidedly showed the futility of war, was it supposed to take sides? Like all movies that relate history, it's an adaptation (actually well away from the truth in many areas) and made to entertain (and make a lot of money). Could a significant implication be made that would be universally accepted? Really?

Nevill ho-ho Pierce. "You wouldn't follow him into Woolworths" is bumbling on about the bad role of Orlando Bloom and makes no significant comment about anything. You chortle away at that as if he's said something clever?

In my view it was a decent film. That's what I posted.

[Zulus Thousand of em]

Tango 1-0 Bish. They think it's all over...