If it makes you feel any better, I don't, Split.

But it probably doesn't.

I hear that 24 doesn't play well in Australia. The whole concept is lost on your public because there are only 22.5 hours in an Australian day.

quote:

It continues to boggle my mind that so many people here will watch 24.

I have to reply with a possible spoiler :

Because the Russian mobster will tie Jack to a pipe, and torture him by twisting his finger inside a stab-wound.
Then, the Russian guy will use battery clamps on Jack (one on his foot, the other on his chest).
Lo and behold : Jack (Übermensch that he is) grabs the top clamp, while simultaneously using his foot on the bad guy, shocking him into unconsciousness.
Then, Jack will manage to set himself free from the pipe, and finish the mobster off, just before he regained consciousness.

This is simply the most ludicrously over-the-top baddass thing available on TV.
It's as if James Bond was a TV series : nobody watches it for the story. It's all about making the lead character more ruthless and more awesome (in a rather barbaric way).

Which again begs the question: why is this abuse-of-power-and-authority fantasy so attractive to people who generally don't want power and authority abused?

It's simple really. Jack Bauer is a cyberpunk ninja. Who doesn't like watching shows about cyberpunk ninjas?

Can't stand it myself. I hate the silly plots and Sutherland's flat, threatening whisper/hoarse yell character just bugs the crap outta me.

I have had a blast recently with ABC's 'Modern Family' series.

http://abc.go.com/shows/modern-family

Three households from an extended family including grandpa, now married to a hot Colombian 30 years younger than him with a chunky son.

His daughter and her husband who had me rolling when they were trying to figure out which of their three kids was the dumbest.

And his gay son, who just adopted a Chinese baby with his partner and provides some of the sharpest sarcastic lines of the show.

That was not a response to your second question there Split. Lot of responding to this thread ATM.

Finished watching DOCTOR WHO Key of Time season. Woot!

quote:

Originally posted by Splitcoil:
It continues to boggle my mind that so many people here will watch 24.

I gave up on it a while ago. Too ridiculous, and after the major character deaths early in season... six? it just started feeling repetitive and boring to me. It's not necessarily the fantasy of power-embodied-in-Jack that eventually turned me off (I enjoyed how it played out in the limits the writers self-imposed in the first few season; he wasn't yet a ruthless unkillable superhero), but that so many of the characters are simply too stupid to live, even the supposedly competent ones.

quote:

Originally posted by Splitcoil:
Which again begs the question: why is this abuse-of-power-and-authority fantasy so attractive to people who generally don't want power and authority abused?

Split, we have that very same conversation every year.
You keep reading too much in that show.

Jack Bauer is a brute, with a heart hidden somewhere in there.
Like The Hulk.
Like He-Man.
Like Ken in fist of the North Star.
Like Mickey Rourke.
Like the T-800 in Terminator 2.
Like any leading character in any Western movie ever made.
Like any leading character in any Cop movie ever made.

I'm exaggerating, but I'm sure you see my point : it's just fun to watch.

No authority fantasy.
You're projecting your life in there.

The same way a computer programmer would react when watching a 'cyberpunk' movie :
"What's cool about this handsome hacker anyway? He's not even using a real operating system. His IPs have letters! Argh! This is shit!"

It's entertainment.
As much as I like smart movies, I also indulge in the simple pleasures of... entertainment for the sake of entertainment.
As long as it 'works' on me.

for instance, I can't stand reality-tv or wresting.
Both genres look as unappealing as possible to me, and are fake beyond understanding.
I am insulted by the possibility that someone made that kind of show, expecting me to think it has anything to do with reality.

But 24, for some reason, works.
It's definitely not as good as it used to be.
It has lost all its stylistic edge, or gimmicky originality, but it still works.
I just want to find out what is going to happen to Jack Bauer next.
It's a serial. Old school.
Actually, by now, it's closer to fan-fiction.
I'm still on board.

Of course, if I had to pay to watch it, or sit through commercial breaks, I would definitely find a better use of my time.

quote:

Originally posted by Splitcoil:
It continues to boggle my mind that so many people here will watch 24.

And I am still not one of them. Watched season 1 and the daughter flat ruined it for me forever.

Paris Texas - Apparently I hadn't seen this one. A Wim Wenders film, which means it runs more than 2 hours and walks a fine line between dragging moving at a deliberate but still interesting pace. But the beautiful shots of desolate Texas, interesting music, good acting and a kick-ass story by Harry Dean Stanton near the end put it over the top.

Ry Cooder made that movie for me.

Edit, Sutherland's choice of voicing the character is annoying to me as well. I also hated his voice in Dark City

I was lucky in that the first episode of 24 I decided to watch in its entirety convinced me there was no reason to bother with any other, because it didn't succeed even on its own terms - specifically, the writers revealed themselves to be wimps.

Scenario: some ticking bomb thing, natch. In order to find out where or what it is, Bauer has to go undercover with some crime gang he's been undercover with before, but if he just turns up out of the blue after all this time they'll be suspicious, so he has to take a hella peace offering with him. He decides to - literally - bring them the head of an FBI snitch they want dead. Bauer summons the guy to an interview room to kill him but first - for the audience's benefit - there's a brief conversation in which we establish that the snitch is A. a child molester, B. a sneering dickwad. And then Bauer cuts his head off.

Which is so very fucking weak. Because if we were to accept the bullshit premise of Jack's ethical position here, that the butchering of an individual is justified to ensure the safety of thousands, then we should have the stones to recognise that said premise applies without regard to what kind of person gets butchered. You know, if we're serious about the whole notion that we're making a gritty, no-hold-barred, edge-of-the-seat action drama that refuses to shy away from the tough choices its characters make. What the writers should have done with that scene was to establish that the FBI snitch was an upstanding citizen, say, a legitimate accountant who'd been hired by the gang to look after their finances unknowing of their criminal activities, who discovers their law-breaking and uses his position to amass evidence against them at great personal risk before handing it over to the authorities, a gentle, compassionate man, who, when he returns to the suburban home the witness protection people found for him, from a hard day's work at the office or the homeless shelter where he volunteers on the weekend, is greeted by his wife and two small children and a brace of labrador puppies gambolling across the perfect lawn to welcome him. And then Jack should have cut his head off.

But they didn't. Instead they went Hollywood with it, like James Cameron making sure we know the asylum guard Sarah Connor beats insensible with a broom handle so she can escape and save the world isn't just some poor schmuck doing his job but a perverted thug who deserves it. They didn't want it to be a tough choice for the audience. Buncha chickenshits.

All television writers appear like wimps though, it's the nature of their industry. They have no obligation to provide YOU with anything but the simplest LCD version of the scenario, because ultimately they answer to the executives who answer to the advertisers who pay for the production of the shows. Not the audience. And there will always be a larger audience who will keep watching after he cuts the head off a child molester than if he decapitated an innocent as you suggest. You can't blame the writers for that. It has nothing to do with making compelling drama and everything to do with selling you a newer gas guzzler or an additional crop of anti-depressants.

quote:

Originally posted by shake:
Ry Cooder made that movie for me.

Yeah, the soundtrack really hammers it home, but without ever becoming overbearing. Between this and It Might Get Loud I think I am going to have to look up some old blues music soon!

At any rate, last night was The Air I Breathe. I am not quite sure what to take away from this except that I did enjoy the hell out of it. Particularly Brendon Fraser's character, but it was impressive to see him get a great performance out of Sarah Michelle Geller too.

Finally saw Moon and it lived up to the hype. Sam Rockwell is one of the greatest actors alive today. Also loved the Clint Mansell soundtrack.

Watched Bronson yesterday and enjoyed it. It was described as "the Fight Club of the new millenia" in it's trailer. It did not live up to that, but was still good. Not sure I understand that Bronson character, but that's probably a good thing. Tom Hardy did a great job of making him memorable.

On The Trail Of Ghengis Khan on arte.

It's online in french and german. Fascinating stuff.

quote:

It's online in french and german.

Not accessible from here

quote:

Originally posted by ArkanGL:

quote:

It's online in french and german.

Not accessible from here

Kinda expected that. Could have worked though.

Trailer I think the historical facts are a bit shaky but it's very interesting nevertheless.

Daybreakers - someone here had mentioned that it's quieter and slower, not the action extravaganza the trailer makes out, and that was good to know going in. The vibe was often quite Dark City, but with gore... A few really annoying and lame jump scares featuring bats, and kind of scientifically insulting, but over all not terrible...