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| bartist |
 Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 10:17 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
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grace wrote: The Hunger Games is based on a trilogy of books by Suzanne Collins, who lives in my hometown. Of course, it's quite possible she ripped off Battle Royale.
Battle Royale was published in 1999. THG was pubd. in 2008. Collins claims to have been inspired by channel surfing (reality shows, the invasion of Iraq, etc.). Possibly coincidental, but there are enough points in common that I'd bet the editor had to run it past legal.
I have some distrust of writers who are inspired by channel surfing (more trust for writers who tore out the cable and stuffed the tv in the closet for several years), but that's just an old school prejudice and, of course, not legit when the writer wants to attack/satirize/dystopianize media culture. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 10:20 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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Billy, I saw Jeff, Who Lives at Home at last year's Austin Film Festival. I loved it. I'm surprised the studio that released it didn't give it a bigger push. It's a real crowd pleaser.
The Duplass Brothers are from Austin and capture the slacker vibe from an experienced point of view. They're like characters from one of their own movies. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 10:25 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Marc wrote: Billy, I saw Jeff, Who Lives at Home at last year's Austin Film Festival. I loved it. I'm surprised the studio that released it didn't give it a bigger push. It's a real crowd pleaser.
The Duplass Brothers are from Austin and capture the slacker vibe from an experienced point of view. They're like characters from one of their own movies.
Didn't realize they were from Austin. Makes sense, though Portland would have made more sense.
Have you seen The Puffy Chair and Cyrus? They're wonderful too. I love the Duplass Brothers.
There are people who despise their slacker characters, however, and many seem particularly to hate the fact that the characters are heterosexual. What is up with that? |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 11:02 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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| I was going to skip Jeff........but if the same guys made Cyrus I'll be there. Loved Cyrus. |
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| shannon |
| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 9:49 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 1628
Location: NC
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bartist wrote: grace wrote: The Hunger Games is based on a trilogy of books by Suzanne Collins, who lives in my hometown. Of course, it's quite possible she ripped off Battle Royale.
Battle Royale was published in 1999. THG was pubd. in 2008. Collins claims to have been inspired by channel surfing (reality shows, the invasion of Iraq, etc.). Possibly coincidental, but there are enough points in common that I'd bet the editor had to run it past legal.
I have some distrust of writers who are inspired by channel surfing (more trust for writers who tore out the cable and stuffed the tv in the closet for several years), but that's just an old school prejudice and, of course, not legit when the writer wants to attack/satirize/dystopianize media culture.
I'm pretty sure the premise wasn't all that original when Battle Royale came out. Stephen King's The Running Man came out in '84, for instance. Battle Royale is basically that, only "let's make 'em high school kids!"
Also, Battle Royale isn't geared towards 14-year-olds. (It's NC-17 in the U.S., I believe.) Hunger Games is. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 10:53 am |
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| The original Star Trek had an episode about fighting to the death televised. |
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| knox |
| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 11:13 am |
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Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 1246
Location: St. Louis
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Two episodes, actually. In one, hidden aliens put Kirk and a lizard-head alien on a planet to have them fight to the death, beaming a tv signal to themselves, the lizards (the Sorn?) and the Enterprise. In the other (the one you probably meant), they discover a planet where the Roman Empire has lasted for millenia and gladiatorial games are broadcast on tv. One of the weaker episodes, IMO, but there was a campy fun to it.
Oh, and there is also the Gamesters of Triskelion, which has Kirk fighting to the death with pretty blonde aliens, for the amusement of giant brains that sit under belljars and pulsate all day. And there's also Amok Time, where Kirk and Spock are supposed to fight to the death and Bones has to inject Kirk with a compound that fakes death, in order to satisfy the Vulcan customs. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 11:29 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| And don't forget "Angel." I recall an arena surrounded by demons.... |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 11:54 am |
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Knox, yeah I thought of those too but the one I mentioned seemed closer to the TV audience being humans etc. so I used that one. It was less impressive than the others.  |
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 3:31 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
Posts: 1949
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Befade: OMG, I completely forgot about La Scott Thomas and ILYFSL, which I didn't see until about a year after it came out. Very intriguing, sometimes almost unbearably intimate movie, and Kristin and the actress who played the sister, whose name escapes me, were beyond remarkable. I must see it again.
billy: Thank you (and Marc) for reminding me that Jeff, Who Lives At Home, which sounds delicious, is on my agenda to actually catch in the theeyaytur while I still can. As for Manohla, well, it's been clearly established that she's gone over the bend some time ago. Sad, really; she was such a sane writer when she was merely the LA Weekly film critic.
marantzo: You're very kind, and am impressed that anyone plowed through that verbiage at all, lol. I don't know if they were actually the year's best, but they were the non-documentary/animated films that had the most immediate and lasting impact on my brainpan.
Marc: You're welcome, and thank you for the warning on Logan's Run Meets Death Race 2000. Had a sense that it might be a bust when I noted how much of the pre-ads and current marketing are focused on Jennifer Lawrence's bust.
The Separation Files:
whiskeypriest: Ah, well,that's very different, I see your point and it might well have ended a tad sooner for maximum enigmatic punch -- SPOILERINA maybe just with our divorcing couple returning to the camera-as-judge's POV, and hearing him ask for the daughter, and blacking out there, which in a way would be even more
gromit: Synoptic, exactly, I also think it's what he intended, and, given that, I don't know how it could be any better. In a word, it was
knox: Superb. That's the word. It still has colleagues going on about not just what the ending indicated, but what the plot complications indicate, both in contrast to and corresponding to, Western legalities/marital-familial dynamics/economic realities. In other words, it didn't just hold while watching, it lingered and stimulated conversation. There's a lesson in there, somewhere.
Anyhoo, I loved it, more than a lot, both leads are Blanche demi-locks on my Actor/Actress short list, and can hardly wait for the DiViD, so I can alternate it with Another Year .
My favorite Star Treks are still The Trouble with Tribbles, Who Mourns for Adonis? and The City on the Edge of Forever, but perhaps that belongs in the Television section. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 12:47 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
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The City on the Edge of Forever is generally seen as the ST:OS masterpiece. I think that's the one Harlan Ellison wrote, which certainly helped.
Spock's Brain was a guilty pleasure for me.
Disclaimer: I am not a geek! |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 3:10 pm |
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After reading people's Star Trek favourites I felt compelled to write about a big favourite of mine that no one seemed to mention. I had to look it up to get the title that I couldn't remember. To my surprise the title was The City on the Edge of Forever. I was under the impression that was the title of the one with the city floating in the sky.
It was a great episode, and probably the best performance Joan Collins ever had.
One of the funniest lines I remember from ST was when Kirk and Spock have just time travelled to another world (I don't think it was the TCotEoF episode) and they are confronted by some security guys who ask about Spocks ears. Kirk hesitates and then says, "He got his head caught in a rice picker." |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 3:56 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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| Befade |
| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 11:25 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: AZ
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| Inla..........I've seen 2 more of KS Thomas' French films this week: Last night it was Love Crime with Ludivine Sagnier who happens to be my favorite French actress and could not have played a more different character in this than the one she played in Swimming Pool. I mentioned Leaving as it relates to The Deep Blue Sea. And several years ago there was Tell No One based on a mystery by the American author Harlan Coben. I'd rank Love Crime at the top for KST French performances. Are there more? I'll have to check. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 7:51 am |
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| Didn't care for Swimming Pool at all, but really liked Tell No One. |
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