Post Weekend Open Thread (04/02/12)…

Updated on April 2, 2012 By Ken Begg 15 Comments

Still catching up from the Texas trip, and had a birthday party to attend on Saturday night. Other than that, basically worked my way through *most* of the first season of Boardwalk Empire, so please, no spoilers in the comments. I should finish the last episode tonight.

BE isn’t quite as impactful as say, The Shield or Deadwood or John Adams way. However, that’s setting the bar awfully high, and partly it’s because those early shows augered a renaissance in television excellence that we are now deep in the middle of. BE is part of that, and it’s really very good stuff. And since so little American media covers anything historical, it’s good for that reason alone.

I particularly like seeing a starring role for Steve Buscemi. Much like Brad Dourif’s recurring part on Deadwood, it’s just heartwarming in a way to get to see these fine actors get showcase roles that they can really sink their teeth into. It’s also a nice change of pace to see Buscemi play a guy who’s comfortable in his own skin. He’s made a career of playing guys in over their heads, so his role as a corrupt town boss here is an extremely nice change of pace.

He even is starting to look better. Buscemi’s always had an old man’s face, with his protruding lips and eyes. Age is suiting him, though. He’ll never be handsome, but he looks less homely now, and actually has good angles from which he looks pretty decent. He’s aided as well from the suits and conservative haircut the part requires. So does everyone else. We gained a lot of comfort when we all stopped dressing in suits and dresses, but there’s little doubt we lost a lot of class and attractiveness as a society, too.

As usual with HBO stuff (the amount I’ve seen of it, anyway), the production is handsomely mounted. The pilot alone cost $18 million, running just over an hour and directed by co-producer Martin Scorsese. Of course, a lot of that no doubt went to sets and costumes that are used throughout the series.

Again, please, no spoilers on how season one ends, or on stuff that happens in season two, for that matter. Feel free to open a Forum thread should anyone wish to discuss the show at greater length.

So what did you guys do this weekend?

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  • Ericb

    “We gained a lot of comfort when we all stopped dressing in suits and dresses, but there’s little doubt we lost a lot of class and attractiveness as a society, too.”

    I’m sad that the hat stopped being part of formal dress.
    . 
    I watched “The Quatermass Xperiment” a couple of times.  It was actually better than I remembered it from my youth.  The early scenes with the shots of the crashed rocket (it looms over the landscape like an ominous cathedral) are particularly effective.

  • Gamera977

    Weeeelllllll, re-read ERB’s first three Mars novels then started on Jim Butcher’s first Harry Dresen novel. Watched Ringu 2 last night and played lots of Mass Effect 3. Not much else…

  • Monoceros4

    I’ve never liked wearing a suit and tie–being overweight doesn’t help there–but, on those few occasions when I’d been compelled to dress formally, I’ve always felt like a man of substance when wearing a tie.

    No interesting viewing this weekend just past, unless a couple episodes of the BBC “Sherlock” series count as interesting. (I’m not sure they do.)

  • Capt_Nemo

    When it comes to Boardwalk Empire, I keep going back to what our fearless leader said about “Public Enemies.” He said that it was a beautiful time. And I have to agree. The 20’s and 30’s were a beautiful time. Everything from billboards to ships to mansions to hotels to public lighting to guns to machine guns to hats to suits to shoes to bottles were great works of art.

    One criticism I agree with about the series is that it has WAY to many characters. I will give the series kudos for keeping on top of everyone’s story arc. But it just barely does so. And the fact they will be bringing in more characters as the series progressess will not help.

    Not a spoiler, but keep an eye out for William Forsythe. He’ll be joining the cast next season. And like Buscemi, he’s found a home. Great stuff!

  • Beckoning Chasm

    Watched “Jerry McGuire” which I’d not seen before, and I figured since I knew all the cliches, I might as well see it.  It was okay.  Felt kind of by-the-numbers. 

    Watched “Drive,” which was all style over substance.  I was really surprised how hollow it was, since I kept hearing it was one of the best films from last year. 

    Watched “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” which I didn’t like. 

    On a positive note, I showed “The Thing From Another World” to a friend, and he was really impressed.

  • Mostly, I concentrated on my graphic novel and wrapped up chapter 7 so I could start an AC assignment this week. Still found a little time to watch THE GREEN SLIME Sunday night, though. Boy, do I love seeing it in scope! (Nice print too, I don’t recall so many wires being visible in the TV print I’d grown up on.) One problem, though, is how the movie sticks right at the end. It’s like the clock hits the 90 minute mark and the movie just ends before the song can finish all the way (when this happens, it also hangs up for a minute or so, very weird). Ken, is your copy like this?

  • Finally got a new computer. It was payment from a friend for painting a mural in his daughter’s room. It is a tree that she attaches a leaf to for every book she reads. Also got MST3K volume 23, so I’ll be watching those over the next couple days.

  • Ken_Begg

    Rock–That’s because the definition is so much better now. Things there were hidden in the past now jump out because of digital clarity. Same things with newscaster zits, etc., on high-def sets.

  • Beckoning Chasm

     Rock, contact Warner Bros customer support.  My copy plays fine, but there are stories that the complete run of “The Flash” had the same issue with the pilot, right at the 90 minute mark.  I think WB has since done a re-pressing, since my own copy of that doesn’t stick.

  • Does it matter that I got my copy from a convention dealer, instead of buying it from WB directly?

  • Beckoning Chasm

     (Rubs chin, Peter Lorre-style)  I don’t know the answer to that…

  • Ken_Begg

     Rock — It could be that it’s getting hung up on the layer change; I have an old DVD player and it often pauses when it hits those. Still, it’s clearly defective. I agree with BC, contact the Warners Archive via their website. As to whether they cover third party sales…I have no idea. However, they might well do so, and it won’t take much time to find out.

    Do you have access to a PC with a DVD drive? Or maybe can check it on someone else’s DVD player? Just to zero in on what the issue is.

  • tim

    game of thrones has returned. I found it so much better than the hunger games.

  • Beckoning Chasm

     Ken, it’s important to note that WB specifically says that their made-to-order disks may not work in anything other than a DVD player.  So a PC with a DVD drive might not even recognize the disk.

  • Well, I started the film in my newer player, and I found it was pixilating at regular intervals. I plugged in my slightly older model and the disk played fine (up until that abrupt cut-off at the end). It seems there might well be something wrong with the disk. I’ll check with Warners, the worst they can do is say no. Thanks for the help, guys!

    On a side note, I’ve noticed over the last few years that my disk of HILLBILLYS IN A HAUNTED HOUSE seems to be degrading. I don’t see any laser-rot on the disk, but the picture seems to get worse each year. The colors seem to be minutely shifting and the frame ever so slightly jitters. Has this kind of thing happened to anyone else?