Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine So what are you WATCHING?

I haven't read any Agatha Christie but my wife told I would love her work.

I like the location info planted into the scene personally.

Agatha Christie rocks beyond all belief.

I liked Tuesday's Fringe pretty well, too.
I guess I'm in for the long run.

Mystery Theater has a lot of Christie's work, both Peroit and Marple.
Love them, but my favorite 'Orient Express' is Houstonof's. I just have a soft spot for him. (Yes, I know I probably spelled his name wrong!)

I'll buy the last Indiana movie as well, even though it was a bit of a letdown.

Shady, Ustinov is the one I think you are talking about. The Poirot with white hair? I actually own the dvd for Murder Under the Sun with him in it. Pretty good.

I just imagine David Suchet though when I think of Poirot.

Agreed about David Suchet.

Re: Fringe, I'm also kind of bugged by some of the goofy psuedo-science. It wouldn't bother me if it weren't such a central element of the show, but since it is, I'd prefer if it were a little more realistic.

With my latest library aquisition, I think I've watched every major 2008 Academy nominee except Môme, La.

Charlie Wilson's War was easily the most affecting for me. I can't say Hanks deserved a nomination and maybe that's what held it back. Amy Adams was excellent as was of course Hoffman who was nominated.

Hoffman might easily be the best male actor the US has going right now. Not many can pull off character leads with such diversity.

Still hoping the library gets Môme, La, the clips look great.

Blockade, I really enjoyed Charlie Wilson's War. Good story. As a fan of history there are a TON of stories out there they can easily adapt.

I mean there were like 400 Roman Emperors and about 75% had an amazing story! Or maybe the people they affected.

Trust me I'm all for fiction. But when i see bad fiction I just think...couldn't they just adapt some history? Charile Wilson's War was great.

Re: Fringe
- I wasn't really wowed by the first episode, but I'm liking it more after the second and third eps. It's still a little too "X-Files" but it's growing on me.

Some shows:
The Fringe – caught the first episode, but that’s it. I liked it, and I understand that they’re trying to make it viewer friendly with weekly episodes, but I love complicated long term plots. Still, Veronica Mars was able to do both, so maybe Fringe will? Either way, I’ve missed all the episodes since it debuted. I’m a poor weekly viewer and prefer DVD seasons.

Dexter – Jorge, you’ve got to check this out! Incredibly unique and well done. I bought season 2 but haven’t watched it yet.

Deadwood – I just bought Season 3. This show is superb, simply one of the most poignant, original and best things on TV.

Grey’s Anatomy – wait, Grey’s Anatomy? I don’t really like this show, but Lady Cobalt loves it, so I usually read comics while she watches and catch a few minutes. But I did see my boy from Rome on there (he’s that army surgeon guy). I wonder if he’s a new recurring character? I really like the actor because of his role on Rome. I also can’t stand Kathryn Heigl, so her leaving the show helps guys like me.

Sons of Anarchy – I’ve really enjoyed the episodes I’ve caught of this show. Typical of FX, its another show with great actors, most of whom I recognize as character actors I absolutely love from all over the map, and it has strong, powerful plots that pull absolutely no punches. FX always has the best edgy shows and this is no different. With the SHIELD ending and Rescue Me kind of becoming more ‘lovable’ and ‘friendly’, I’m glad to see another very tense show. Anyone else checking this out?

Some movies…
In Bruges – this looks good, glad you reminded me of it Jorge

Agathie Christie movies – never seen any of them, but I recently read “And then there were None” (finally!), and will post on the Reading thread about it. Her books are usually excellent and I can see how they’d make good films, they’d appear to be perfect for adaptation.

Charlie Wilson’s War – I also thought this was great. I agree Jorge, so many great and interesting people have lived throughout history, that there is fodder for tons of great movies.

American Gangster – so many people I talked to disliked this film, but I wasn’t convinced they were right (like all people who watch a lot of movies, I believe my opinion is usually more refined ). Anyway, Denzil and Russel Crowe in the same movie? Those are two of my favorite actors working today! And you know what? I pretty much loved it! I can see its not for everyone, and it’s a pretty brutal and honest look at the 1970’s New York drug/crime scene. The Viet Nam aspect of the drug ring (with the US Army), the corrupt cops, and the pretty horrible conditions of Harlem, NY then (which aren’t a main part but subtly always there) are brutal. The 1960’s and 1970’s were a damn bad time for cities in the USA. New York is so much more cleaned up now, and its amazing how Ridley Scott can reinvent those conditions back then. Thank God I didn’t live through the 1970’s.

I actually haven’t watched many new movies in awhile. Just been hella-busy.

In Bruges: had me laughing out loud, embarrassing but then... oh wait, you've not seen it. Get on that.

American Gangster: not a big Denzil fan since he always basically just plays, Denzil, but also loved just about everything in this movie. Everything (except the blatant street shooting) rang credibly to me.

Appaloosa: I don't normally spring for movies still at the theatre except big budget sci-fi, but this looks too good to wait.

Yes, Ustinov! And it was probably the Sun movie that I saw him in.

The british series actors are the ones I think of when I think of Christie's work, usually, but I can never remember their names.
I do the same thing with the PBS's Sherlocke Holmes series and all of their Jane Austin work, too, and many others.

I've been enjoying 3 of BBC's series this past year or two, Dr. Who, Torchwood (waiting for new stories on these 2)and Primeval.
These series both attract and repulse me for the same reasons, though.
While they're really Sci-Fi in their concepts, they don't really care about the science part of the stories very much.


American Sci-Fi is almost obsessed with trying to make things grounded in 'reality'.

Speaking of reality, Project Runway is nearing this years end!
I'm sure there's a thread here somewhere about that show but I just don't have time to find it!
Love Tim Gunn.

Just got back from seeing "Religulous" the BIll Maher quasi-documentary.

It was pretty much what I figured. There were some funny bits. How can you not have funny bits when you put the kooks on camrera?

But I am not a big fan of Bill Maher. I remember watching Politically Incorrect and several times, the guests would be having a great dialog, Bill would interrupt with a question that completely ended the conversation. A couple of times in the movie, I could see him ask a question and basically ignore the answer, almost interrupting with his next question.

The film does a good job of juxtaposing contradictory statements and images. But at times it seems a little heavy handed. And at the end Maher gets downright preachy about how dangerous religion is. In "Religulous" Maher is a second rate MIchael Moore and it shows.


One thing I did see that got me excited was in the Coming Attractions. It was for Gus Van Sant's biopic of Harvey Milk, titled "Milk". For those that don't know Harvey Milk was one of the first openly gay people elected to public office. He, along with the mayor of San Francisco, was shot to death by former city supervisor Dan White. White's lawyer(s) were the first to raise the Twinkie Defense.

Primeval was excellent with the sabertooth ~ evolved sharks next week!


Sanctuary was a disappointment, though.

I just watched the first season of Gavin and Stacey on BBC America (thank you Comcast On-Demand.) I really enjoyed it. It was funny without the kind of mean-spiritedness that seems prevalent in sitcoms today. Plus I was really intrigued by the way it played up the difference between the Welsh and English characters. I guess I never thought about it. I read there's a notion of remaking it for the US, but I don't think you could transpose that culture clash here in the same way. The regions here are so spread out - I couldn't hop in my car in the US South and drive to see a girlfriend in the North. Well, besides the fact my wife would probably kill me. Anyways, I will have to catch the second season as it airs which means I'll probably have to wait a while to catch the right order, after being spoiled getting the first 6 in a few days.

I caught the Season premiere of Life on Mars last night. Actually pretty well done and entertaining. A good mesh of drama, angst, humor, tension and pretty well paced. Plus, lots of great actors. I might try to keep up on this one.

Quis - 'Milk' also has James Franco in it as Harvey Milk's boyfriend (openly), correct? It looks very good from what I've read about so far.

Well, this sucks.

We went and saw The Duchess the night before last and it was thoroughly disappointing. I'd really enjoyed the book the movie based on, Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman, and thought, with all the incredible events that this woman had witnessed and was a part of, it couldn't possibly be dull. Wrong. Instead, the screenwriter(s) chose to take the material and turn it into an extremely bland melodrama about the sacrifices women will make for their children.

Another major gripe I had was that, in the biography, Georgiana's personality pretty much jumps of the page and you realize what a charismatic and appealing human being she was (despite her flaws). Here was a woman who, not only, led the upper ranks of English society but was also able to go out, kick back, and have a few beers with the common folk from time to time. However, in the move version, Kiera Knightley conveys all the charm and appeal of one of Jane Austen' most tightly wound spinsters.

And to top everything else off, it seemed like the cinematographer went out of his or her way to make the colorful and splashy world of late eighteenth century England look as dull and lifeless as possible.

[/gripey movie post rant]

Update: I think I've officially decided that Fringe is my favorite new show of the season. It's not anywhere near Pushing Daisies or Lost awesome, but it's pretty damn good. Life on Mars has quite a bit of potential as well.

If the American version of Life on Mars is like the British, then it will be real good.

If you haven't seen The Times of Harvey Milk -a documentary that came out in the mid-eighties. It's definitely worth a look and it'll make you cry guaranteed. Can't wait for the feature though.

As for what I'm currently watching, Heroes (natch), Terminator the Sarah Connor chronicles -if you haven't checked out this show yet, do yourself a favor, it's possibly one of the best things on TV right now, I kid you not. I'm pretty sure you can hulu most of the episodes. Still into Prison Break but I'm a couple weeks behind. I just got done watching all 14 episodes of Firelfy (again) and am sifting through past seasons of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Watched Pushing Daisies last night. Still not sure what I think about this one but it is most definitely one of the most original shows out there right now. I'm thinking of talking the Shield next as I hear good things but I kinda hate cops shows. I also want to ge to the last few years of Dr. Who. PBS is playing it on Monday nights but either I miss it or catch the same few episodes I've already seen.

Seriously, hulu has totally changed my "TV" watching habits in a major way and I don't have to pay for cable TV or a DVR! If you are unfamiliar, check it out, the extent of the content is surprising. Of course they don't have everything but certainly enough to keep you entertained for a long time.

I've been enjoying Fringe as well.

Cobie, I have to watch Dexter and Deadwood! I saw a couple shows of Deadwood and was a bit lost but I liked what I saw. Must rent DVD for both.

Blockade Boy, I agree about Denzil. Most of the time he plays himself. Sure he's charasmatic and I enjoy lots of his films but he's not a big draw for me.

In Bruges was funny! Cobie, EDE, all of yous gotta check it out!

Bill Maher is the is the other extreme of someone like Bill Reilly. I guess I never watch Bill Reilly cause he just makes me angry but I gave Bill Maher more of a chance. I consider myself a moderate and can't stand the guy. Yes he's rude and full of himself. Best way I describe myself is "I love hippies but I hate commies". Bill Maher is a commie. Though I am glad he took a shot at religion personally. Sometimes I can't believe it's 2008. I read an article about how Europe is mostly agnostic and atheist now. We are always behind the curve aren't we when it comes to Europe?

I loathe Bill O'Reilly more than anything and it disgusts me that so many Americans, including well educated businessmen I know, actually listen to him.

At the same time, I absolutely can't stand Bill Maher. People like Bill Maher is the reason liberals get a bad name.

While Maher can be a totally smarmy asshole, at least he can back up his arguments and doesn't just start screaming "SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" at people who disagree with him. Of course, it is kind of comparing apples and oranges.

This is pretty funny Lil\' O\'Reily

I agree Cobie. I hate them both.

When will people wake up and notice the silent majority are all us in people in between? Moderates, either dems or reps. I guess we should open a political forum.

Not really an O'Reilly fan, but I actually find him far less annoying than Sean Hannity (or Alan Colmes, for the matter).

I met Sean Hannity in NYC once. He's as pompous in person as he is on TV. Even when only meeting him for literally 45 seconds.

He basically has no credibility anymore--he's a complete nut. He belongs in a Frank Miller comic book.