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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2019 14:15:34 GMT -5
Law and Order SVU.
Im actually watching it now while I do some housework. It's one of those shows that's really dependent on the episode for how good or bad it is. Some are great detective stories, some are WAY too dark and disturbing for me.
One of the aspects of this show which really set it apart from regular Law and Order was how the Attorneys and Detectives would interact more often throughout the episode as opposed to switching off halfway through. And while nothing tops McCoy from regular L&O, you gotta love the chemistry between Olivia and Elliott in SVU. The actors had great chemistry, definitely an attraction but it was never over the top or acted upon.
As a fan of BD Wong, it's cool to see a younger version of him in this show (as the unit's psychologist.)
My favorite episode is Fallacy, from Season 4 Episode 21. A sympathetic depiction of transgender people in 2003, which is very commendable.
The reason I consider this a guilty pleasure is because it's not something I'd recommend watching with friends or strike up a conversation about it to strangers. Like I said before, some episodes are far better than others. And unfortunately the actor who plays Elloitt left the show and rather than end it gracefully they kept milking that cow another seven years, long past its prime. The post-Elliott episodes are embarassingly bad from what I've seen.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2019 15:39:10 GMT -5
As a fan of BD Wong, it's cool to see a younger version of him in this show (as the unit's psychologist.) Ah, I see he's in Mr Robot. What other roles of his stand out for you? It is. I found this excerpt:
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2019 15:54:55 GMT -5
As a fan of BD Wong, it's cool to see a younger version of him in this show (as the unit's psychologist.) Ah, I see he's in Mr Robot. What other roles of his stand out for you? He's in a lot of bit parts in all kinds of media, movies/TV/video game voice acting. So besides this and White Rose there's no real big role that stands out for me, but plenty of little ones all over the place. He was in Mulan for example.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2019 16:31:54 GMT -5
He's in a lot of bit parts in all kinds of media, movies/TV/video game voice acting. So besides this and White Rose there's no real big role that stands out for me, but plenty of little ones all over the place. He was in Mulan for example. OK, thanks. I've never seen Mulan--more to the point, I'd hadn't heard of it until now. Checking the OST, I noticed this great stonking song I remember from the late '90s. Wow. Stevie and 98 o nail it. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulan_(soundtrack)
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Post by sneakypete77 on Mar 6, 2019 9:29:55 GMT -5
I always loved a bit of prog back in the 70s, but when it was superseded by the likes of punk then it became terribly uncool to admit liking anything by this lot. But for me, this is four minutes of prog/pop perfection, a nifty deviation from their usual sprawling epics and a surprising 1974 hit single at a time when respected prog bands just didn't do that sort of thing. Phil Collins is all over this, from doubling Gabriel's vocals to giving a master class in percussion. Plus, it's got one of the greatest f**k off choruses you're ever likely to hear, a favourite with their vast arena singalong fans, and an opening line to a song that never fails to make me smile.
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Post by kds on Mar 6, 2019 9:32:43 GMT -5
I always loved a bit of prog back in the 70s, but when it was superseded by the likes of punk then it became terribly uncool to admit liking anything by this lot. But for me, this is four minutes of prog/pop perfection, a nifty deviation from their usual sprawing epics and a surprising 1974 hit single at a time when respected prog bands just didn't do that sort of thing. Phil Collins is all over this, from doubling Gabriel's vocals to giving a master class in percussion. Plus, it's got one of the greatest f**k off choruses you're ever likely to hear, a favourite with their vast arena singalong fans, and an opening line to a song that never fails to make me smile.
I'll never understand why music with so little musicality and melody (punk) was suddenly seemed "cool" while well written, well played works by the likes of Genesis wasn't. I guess I'm just not a cool person.
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Post by kds on Mar 6, 2019 9:33:19 GMT -5
I've learned from childhood the remedy for when I'm sick or having a really bad day - watch The Three Stooges, particularly the classic Curly, Larry and Moe ones. My favorite is Disorder in the Court, and I have it on my IPod, cued up to when Curly takes the stand to testify in a case. (It can be seen online - "Curly takes the stand .") Its so over the top silly but is done perfectly. I know a lot of people aren't into that stuff but for me it's the perfect pick me up. Slapstick comedy is really a lost art. Laurel and Hardy were great too.
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Post by sneakypete77 on Mar 6, 2019 9:43:48 GMT -5
I've learned from childhood the remedy for when I'm sick or having a really bad day - watch The Three Stooges, particularly the classic Curly, Larry and Moe ones. My favorite is Disorder in the Court, and I have it on my IPod, cued up to when Curly takes the stand to testify in a case. (It can be seen online - "Curly takes the stand .") Its so over the top silly but is done perfectly. I know a lot of people aren't into that stuff but for me it's the perfect pick me up. Slapstick comedy is really a lost art. Laurel and Hardy were great too. Couldn't agree more kds. Laurel & Hardy feature at least once a week on a classic movies TV channel here in the UK and last night I treated myself to "Towed In a Hole" and my all time favourite "Hog Wild". Almost ninety years on and for me, nothing these days even comes close.
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Post by The Cap'n on Mar 6, 2019 9:57:28 GMT -5
Regarding slapstick, I agree entirely, and since we’re in the guilty pleasures thread, I’d suggest that the 80s sitcom Perfect Strangers occasionally had brilliant physical comedy along the lines of slapstick.
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Post by kds on Mar 6, 2019 10:52:49 GMT -5
Slapstick comedy is really a lost art. Laurel and Hardy were great too. Couldn't agree more kds. Laurel & Hardy feature at least once a week on a classic movies TV channel here in the UK and last night I treated myself to "Towed In a Hole" and my all time favourite "Hog Wild". Almost ninety years on and for me, nothing these days even comes close. I think County Hospital and Saps at Sea are my favorites. Great stuff. I really need to watch some of those again.
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Post by kds on Mar 6, 2019 10:53:28 GMT -5
Regarding slapstick, I agree entirely, and since we’re in the guilty pleasures thread, I’d suggest that the 80s sitcom Perfect Strangers occasionally had brilliant physical comedy along the lines of slapstick. In the late 80s / early 90s, I used to watch ABC's TGIF, and Perfect Strangers was probably my favorite show in the lineup.
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Post by lizzielooziani on Mar 6, 2019 12:14:09 GMT -5
Will check out County Hospital and Hog Wild . Hadn't seen those. My favorite L&H is Sons of the Desert. Oh, and how could I have forgotten Way Out West?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2019 11:58:33 GMT -5
Im not sure how I forgot to mention this up to now...Bye Bye Birdie. We had it on vhs and for some reason, the summer of 2003 I was briefly obsessed with that stupid movie. I watched it all the time, like every other day. I loved Dick Van Dyke, Paul Lynde and Ann Margaret especially. My favorite track was Put On A Happy Face--it was so sweet and genuine. Anyway, that was a great summer--lot of awesome memories with friends and we were having our house renovated so my mom would take me and my sister out every day to the park, library, movies, local pool etc to get out of the construction crew's way. Now whenever I see BBB, it reminds me of that happy time in my life. But of course, it's cheesy as hell and a lot of it just doesn't hold up for me as an adult. Getting a white woman to play Rosie's character is a big strike against it. It's a bastardization of the original broadway play. Whitewashing over Albert's mother (who was an open racist in the play) and Conrad (who was charged on statutory rape in the play) makes it a little too wholesome to hold an adult's interest. The dancing in some of the scenes is pretty cheesy, and it's hard to believe Ann Margaret's pink outfit was ever considered sexy. I'm also not a big fan of the weird Russian ballet subplot that's new to the movie, it felt like an unnecessary and dated Cold War attempt to make fun of them for no reason. I could go on. I do really like the opening and closing numbers sung by Ann Margaret, even if her singing itself is a little too whiny for my taste. They're undeniably sexy, and charming in a cheesy musical way. The story of their creation is very interesting as well--apparently the director (George Sidney) called Ann Margaret back six months after shooting had finished in order to film them. The studio refused to pay for these reshoots, so he funded them (60k) out of his own money. When it was done, the scenes were so popular that the studio reimbursed him for his efforts. I've heard he also tried to do a similar bookending musical number with Anne Margaret in Viva Las Vegas (which he also directed) but Elvis' management wouldn't allow it. Honestly, I think he must have had a crush on her.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2019 12:11:22 GMT -5
I've learned from childhood the remedy for when I'm sick or having a really bad day - watch The Three Stooges, particularly the classic Curly, Larry and Moe ones. My favorite is Disorder in the Court, and I have it on my IPod, cued up to when Curly takes the stand to testify in a case. (It can be seen online - "Curly takes the stand .") Its so over the top silly but is done perfectly. I know a lot of people aren't into that stuff but for me it's the perfect pick me up. Yes...absolutely! The term "genius" is thrown around quite a bit, but it can't be used enough with The Three Stooges and Jerome Lester Horwitz AKA Curly Howard.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2019 12:55:38 GMT -5
Im not sure how I forgot to mention this up to now...Bye Bye Birdie. We had it on vhs and for some reason, the summer of 2003 I was briefly obsessed with that stupid movie. I watched it all the time, like every other day. I loved Dick Van Dyke, Paul Lynde and Ann Margaret especially. My favorite track was Put On A Happy Face--it was so sweet and genuine. Anyway, that was a great summer--lot of awesome memories with friends and we were having our house renovated so my mom would take me and my sister out every day to the park, library, movies, local pool etc to get out of the construction crew's way. Now whenever I see BBB, it reminds me of that happy time in my life. But of course, it's cheesy as hell and a lot of it just doesn't hold up for me as an adult. Getting a white woman to play Rosie's character is a big strike against it. It's a bastardization of the original broadway play. Whitewashing over Albert's mother (who was an open racist in the play) and Conrad (who was charged on statutory rape in the play) makes it a little too wholesome to hold an adult's interest. The dancing in some of the scenes is pretty cheesy, and it's hard to believe Ann Margaret's pink outfit was ever considered sexy. I'm also not a big fan of the weird Russian ballet subplot that's new to the movie, it felt like an unnecessary and dated Cold War attempt to make fun of them for no reason. I could go on. I do really like the opening and closing numbers sung by Ann Margaret, even if her singing itself is a little too whiny for my taste. They're undeniably sexy, and charming in a cheesy musical way. The story of their creation is very interesting as well--apparently the director (George Sidney) called Ann Margaret back six months after shooting had finished in order to film them. The studio refused to pay for these reshoots, so he funded them (60k) out of his own money. When it was done, the scenes were so popular that the studio reimbursed him for his efforts. I've heard he also tried to do a similar bookending musical number with Anne Margaret in Viva Las Vegas (which he also directed) but Elvis' management wouldn't allow it. Honestly, I think he must have had a crush on her. I don't mind watering down "Bye Bye Birdie" from a satire on Elvis going into the army (an event that spawned song parodies, novels and of course a stage play...hard to fathom now) to a wholesome family friendly film. I just wish it was a better movie. Something always seemed off about it to me, like maybe there's just not enough good songs, or the staging of some of the musical sequences is a bit pedestrian compared to similar fare. When the best part of your movie happens right at the very beginning and was shot almost as an afterthought that's a little troubling. That said, it's just a weak musical to me but has enough going for it to still be enjoyable. Ann-Margret was a force of nature, Bobby Rydell is a charming presence and I could watch Paul Lynde chew the scenery all day. According to many sources directly involved with both Bye and Viva, Director George Sydney was either in love with Ann-Margret or the idea of Ann-Margret or just infatuated with her. In any case, it did lead to problems on Viva Laa Vegas between he and Colonel Parker, exacerbated even more by her off-screen romance with Presley. Reportedly, Elvis even went to the Colonel and suggested he manage her too. The end result was that Ann-Margret saw her two solo numbers featured in the film go unreleased on record (despite she and Elvis being both signed to RCA), and the obviously expected soundtrack album scrapped in favor of a 4 track EP with only her duet with Elvis surviving. Can you imagine one of Presley's biggest and most popular musicals NOT having a soundtrack album? Eventually one was put together in the 1990's and that's what we have today, including this duet that didn't make the cut:
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2019 13:09:33 GMT -5
I don't mind watering down "Bye Bye Birdie" from a satire on Elvis going into the army (an event that spawned song parodies, novels and of course a stage play...hard to fathom now) to a wholesome family friendly film. I just wish it was a better movie. Something always seemed off about it to me, like maybe there's just not enough good songs, or the staging of some of the musical sequences is a bit pedestrian compared to similar fare. When the best part of your movie happens right at the very beginning and was shot almost as an afterthought that's a little troubling. That said, it's just a weak musical to me but has enough going for it to still be enjoyable. Ann-Margret was a force of nature, Bobby Rydell is a charming presence and I could watch Paul Lynde chew the scenery all day. According to many sources directly involved with both Bye and Viva, Director George Sydney was either in love with Ann-Margret or the idea of Ann-Margret or just infatuated with her. In any case, it did lead to problems on Viva Laa Vegas between he and Colonel Parker, exacerbated even more by her off-screen romance with Presley. Reportedly, Elvis even went to the Colonel and suggested he manage her too. The end result was that Ann-Margret saw her two solo numbers featured in the film go unreleased on record (despite she and Elvis being both signed to RCA), and the obviously expected soundtrack album scrapped in favor of a 4 track EP with only her duet with Elvis surviving. Can you imagine one of Presley's biggest and most popular musicals NOT having a soundtrack album? Eventually one was put together in the 1990's and that's what we have today, including this duet that didn't make the cut: I agree. Again, I have a soft-spot for it due to the association with a nice summer, and Im a sucker for any Dick Van Dyke film. But when you compare BBB to some of the other top-notch musicals that came out that decade: My Fair Lady, West Side Story, Sound of Music, Funny Girl, Oliver! it's absolutely nowhere in the same class. Not just in terms of dance choreography and song writing, but also just in the way it's filmed. It looks strangely cheap and dated where almost all of those other musicals still look fantastic. I totally got that impression about Sydney too, reading about the production of BBB and VLV. The entire plot of BBB was completely rewritten to make Kim a larger presence and her relationship to Hugo more important. I eventually saw the real musical when my high school did a production of it and was blown away by how different it was than the movie I'd grown up with. And now, rewatching as an adult, it strikes me as so weird some of the scenes between Kim/Hugo and Al/Rosie. Like when Rosie comes into Kim's room late at night to get dressed and vent about her problems with men, or Albert getting all emotionally invested in Hugo and Kim getting back together. They've all only known each other for like 2 days and shouldn't be anywhere near that comfortable with each other Thanks for sharing. Honestly, the Colonel completely mismanaged Elvis' career in my opinion, and this is one of many examples. As I recall, Barbara Streisand wanted Elvis to be in A Star is Born with her but the Colonel said no, or asked for too much money.
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Post by jk on Aug 21, 2020 5:06:16 GMT -5
This topic hasn't been posted in for almost 18 months! (The previous four posters have moved on in their various ways.) Trust me to come along and dredge it up. Fact is, my chief guilty pleasures these days are in the video department. A while back I used to watch Fergie's "A Little Party Never Killed Nobody" every day because of the Great Gatsby movie connection (the Leo version). Before that it was Macklemore & Ryan Lewis's "Thrift Shop" and Ylvis's "The Fox" -- crazy stuff! These days it's this Gatsby-style party video for John Newman's "Tiring Game", featuring the extraordinary vocal talents of Charlie Wilson, who pretty well steals the show.
Newman has always appealed to me. Perhaps it's the combination of tough and vulnerable that does it.
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Post by jk on Dec 1, 2020 14:53:59 GMT -5
I should not be liking this, really I shouldn't, but I think it's great! Johnny Mathis popped up in my youth from time to time, including his one stint on the panel of Juke Box Jury, where he didn't say one word -- he just pulled a face at the records they were reviewing. Clearly he didn't want to be there -- and who can blame him? This is "Hey, Look Me Over": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_It_Up!_(Johnny_Mathis_album)
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