Non Civil War Books and Movies

The Parasite
This movie from South Korea won the Oscar for Best Picture. A family of Seoul lowlifes worm their way into the lives of a complacent upper class family. Its starts as a clever con, then begins to descend, literally as well as figuratively, into a much darker place. Outstanding images, twisting plot and some great acting.

The Manchurian Candidate
Paranoid thriller about an unlikely Communist plot against America. Great performances by Lawrence Harvey, Frank Sinatra and especially Angela Lansbury as the creepiest mother of all time.

Helen of Troy: Princess, Goddess, Whore
Bettany Hughes, who has made a career as an archeological presenter on TV, puts her experience and training to trace the myth of Helen of Troy, what it tells us about Mycenaean culture, the Classical Greeks, Christianity and ourselves. Helen, the most beautiful women in the world, constantly desired, pursued, possessed, worshipped as a demigoddess by the militaristic Spartans, decried as a bringer of death and destruction by classical Greek theater.

An extremely interesting book, especially as Hughes builds a picture of Mycenaean and Minoan culture from the trove of artifacts from Schliemann to today.

Matt McKeon said:

The Manchurian Candidate
Paranoid thriller about an unlikely Communist plot against America. Great performances by Lawrence Harvey, Frank Sinatra and especially Angela Lansbury as the creepiest mother of all time.

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the real one!

Matt McKeon said:

Helen of Troy: Princess, Goddess, Whore
Bettany Hughes, who has made a career as an archeological presenter on TV, puts her experience and training to trace the myth of Helen of Troy, what it tells us about Mycenaean culture, the Classical Greeks, Christianity and ourselves. Helen, the most beautiful women in the world, constantly desired, pursued, possessed, worshipped as a demigoddess by the militaristic Spartans, decried as a bringer of death and destruction by classical Greek theater.

An extremely interesting book, especially as Hughes builds a picture of Mycenaean and Minoan culture from the trove of artifacts from Schliemann to today.

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This sounds interesting.

I just finished the first season of Slings and Arrows. The burned out artistic director of a Canadian Shakespeare theater festival, ( based on the Stratford, Ontario Shakespeare festival) is killed in a auto accident. The festival brings in a respected former actor, Goeffrey, who left under a cloud a few years earlier. He's insane and sees and talks to the ghost of the previous director.

This bizarre behavior is tolerated among the show offs, prima donnas and insecure souls that make up the acting company. Slowly Geoffrey begins to claw his way back to sanity.

Geoffrey actually does a excellent job explaining Shakespeare. To the nervous actor playing the melancholy Dane.
"Hamlet is basically six speeches. Nail those and you're done. The rest is filler."

To the actress starring with him: 'Ophelia is a child. She has been dominated by men her whole life. Now her brother is gone away, and her boyfriend has killed her father. And she thinks its her fault."

On Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. 'She has defined him. Without her, what is he? He is uncomfortable in his own skin. He has become a stranger, even to himself."

He terrifies a smug actor playing Macbeth by constantly blocking his entrances, forcing him to race backstage to unfamiliar access points. On stage, now the other actors approach him from unknown places. Finally near the end, the previously stagey Macbeth is nearly in tears. "They have tied me to a stake." He almost pleads with the audience. "They have tied me to a stake! I cannot fly!"

i need to see that - i'm a shakespeare buff

rittmeister said:

i need to see that - i'm a shakespeare buff

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Its a very funny series satirizing actors and theater companies. There is a notorious "edgy" director who sets every play in Nazi Germany, a wicked parody of a "Rent" like musical, a pr campaign trying to cause a "youthquake."

rittmeister said:

i need to see that - i'm a shakespeare buff

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My favorite film version of Hamlet: the one with David Tennant as Hamlet and Patrick Stewart as Claudius
Macbeth: Patrick Stewart as the dour lead, his thanes toting AK-47 in a Stalinist set play
Richard III, with Ian McKellan as the sociopathic king. It was set in an alternate Fascist Britain of the 1930s.
Richard II in the first part of the filmed cycle The Hollow Crown.

Matt McKeon said:

My favorite film version of Hamlet: the one with David Tennant as Hamlet and Patrick Stewart as Claudius
Macbeth: Patrick Stewart as the dour lead, his thanes toting AK-47 in a Stalinist set play
Richard III, with Ian McKellan as the sociopathic king. It was set in an alternate Fascist Britain of the 1930s.
Richard II in the first part of the filmed cycle The Hollow Crown.

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I saw Richard III played by a woman, Seana McKenna at Stratford, Ontario a decade back. She was quite good. In the scene where one of her killers report the murder of the child princes in the Tower, she twists uneasily on her throne. She's aching to hear and gloat over every detail, but revealing this appetite to her underling is impolitic. Her barely suppressed sadism has stayed with me.

Matt McKeon said:

My favorite film version of Hamlet: the one with David Tennant as Hamlet and Patrick Stewart as Claudius
Macbeth: Patrick Stewart as the dour lead, his thanes toting AK-47 in a Stalinist set play
Richard III, with Ian McKellan as the sociopathic king. It was set in an alternate Fascist Britain of the 1930s.
Richard II in the first part of the filmed cycle The Hollow Crown.

Click to expand...

don't forget:

Betrayal by the Boston Globe Spotlight Team
I picked this up in a library used book sale and finally sat down to read it.

It concerns the clergy sex abuse scandal that broke in 2002. It is chilling in its portrayal of a Catholic hierarchy more concerned with covering up scandal then enforcing standards of behavior or protecting their parishioners. For someone living in Massachusetts, the lists of parishes and churches so familiar to me is particularly disturbing. The recent movie Spotlight about the Globe's investigation is outstanding as well.

Matt McKeon said:

Betrayal by the Boston Globe Spotlight Team
I picked this up in a library used book sale and finally sat down to read it.

It concerns the clergy sex abuse scandal that broke in 2002. It is chilling in its portrayal of a Catholic hierarchy more concerned with covering up scandal then enforcing standards of behavior or protecting their parishioners. For someone living in Massachusetts, the lists of parishes and churches so familiar to me is particularly disturbing. The recent movie Spotlight about the Globe's investigation is outstanding as well.

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like goverments try to cover up desasters instead of accepting the help the can get

As part of my comfort reading during the stay at home time, I've reread several of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels.

They are full of impenetrable naval jargon, storms to face, battles to win, along with a Jane Austen like social hierarchy to navigate. Full of interesting characters and witty dialog. Touches of black comedy and surrealistic scenes. Bluff Captain Jack Aubury asks Dr. Maturin about some technical point, then nearly continues with "You do ever feel that nothing has reality? Is it the first sign of going mad?" But stops himself.

Maturin, an intelligence agent, is sounding out Clarissa, a young woman who had been a prostitute in London before being transported to Australia for killing a Mr. Coley with a shotgun. In return for information she picked up in the brothel, Maturin offers her safe pass back to England.
"I would not be taken up and returned to Botany Bay?"
"No, my dear"
"Let us say I had committed an offence in Botany Bay. May I be seized in England and brought back? I could not stand it."
"No, I think not."
"For something like, for example, throwing a baby down a well."

Sounds like something for me to get, thanks.

jgoodguy said:

Sounds like something for me to get, thanks.

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not me - can't stand jane austen

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

The recent miniseries is not really the same, although it has its own merits.

Jackson's tale of a quartet of paranormal investigators living in a sentient, malign haunted houses is a classic of terror and psychological stress. The tense atmosphere is only briefly relieved by the occasional flash of black humor. Jackson brilliantly crafted this word, wasting not a word. Rewards rereading as well.

Matt McKeon said:

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

The recent miniseries is not really the same, although it has its own merits.

Jackson's tale of a quartet of paranormal investigators living in a sentient, malign haunted houses is a classic of terror and psychological stress. The tense atmosphere is only briefly relieved by the occasional flash of black humor. Jackson brilliantly crafted this word, wasting not a word. Rewards rereading as well.

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I'm about halfway through, reading it very slowly. Some gems:
"The person Eleanor hated the most, now that her mother was dead, was her sister."

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, of course!

All of John Ford's cavalry trilogy, in fact. Add to that Horse Soldiers.

Just as the some of the events in Horse Soldiers were inspired by the Grierson Raid, some of the events in Rio Grande were inspired by Ranald "Bad Hand" Mackenzie and the 4th U.S. Cavalry. Lots of artistic license, of course, but still fun old movies to watch.

Sgt. Tyree said:

Add to that Horse Soldiers.

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Imho ACW those grey uniforms aren't German, are they?