Gentleman's Compendium Of The Visual Arts (AKA Television and Films)

JaseBelleVie

I'm not sure if there is a thread devoted to this or not already, but I think that this could be a good place for us to share, discuss and otherwise converse about Television and Films. In a sophisticated and gentlemanly manner only, of course.

Firstly, I think that no modern gentleman should go without watching HBO's The Sopranos. One of the truest definitions of brilliance ever to emerge from the small screen. The acting, the writing, the characters, the production values. Absolutely everything about this show is just from the very top drawer and it is for this very reason that it is so lauded and so brilliant. I recently invested in the Blu-Ray box set and it is worth every penny. If you haven't watched this already, watch it. It is a long haul (the episodes are all about 50 minutes long and there are 86 episodes spread over 6 seasons), but it is one of the most rewarding experiences you will ever have. Simply one of the best (if not the best) television shows of all time.

Currently, I am watching American Horror Story. I am just about halfway through the first season. Weird does not begin to describe at the start. But gradually the fog lifts and it becomes apparent what is going on and so on. It is not genuinely scary (at least not to me), but it is creepy and weird. I'm enjoying it. And I am just stunned that this show has run for 4 seasons so far. It does not seem like something that American audiences would go for and being so non-mainstream. I'm glad, though. Because it is a show that I'm enjoying and I've got a lot more of it to come.

So, gentlemen, what are your opinions, inputs and otherwise observations about television shows and/or films that you enjoy or would like to hear about?

Jimmy Iovine

Boardwalk Empire - just great.

Friday Night Lights - equally great.

Jimmy Iovine

Apologies for the brief post. I'm on my phone. I've written about both enough on this site before anyway

JaseBelleVie

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

Boardwalk Empire - just great.

Friday Night Lights - equally great.

Totally agreed on Boardwalk. Brilliant stuff so it is. Mind-blowingly epic.

I've never seen Friday Night Lights. Must add that to my "list". That's the American Football show, right?

MrStuffins

The Wire is, in my opinion, the best tv show ever made.

karaokeman

I've been trying to get into Game of Thrones, but working out time between watching (I'll read the books later ) and final year of my undergraduate is proving difficult.

Everyone (and I mean everyone, no exceptions) must watch the original Star Wars trilogy before they die. I mean, those three films are so ingrained in Hollywood history, not least for the magnificence of the practical effects Lucas pioneered but its just a fascinating tale of the struggle between good and evil that we must all contemplate at least once to fully comprehend our own morality. And unlike a lot of TV series you have to dedicate hours upon hours, or even days to witness, this is only 6 hours and 17 minutes you have to invest, which could be done in an afternoon/evening after work/college whatever.

Jawgap

The Wire, Sopranos, Boardwalk etc - all great shows.

I'd also recommend for your delectation....

• The West Wing (seasons 1 to 4, to my mind are some of the best TV writing (in terms of dialogue) I've seen, 5 & 6 were pretty average and it just heading back towards it's old self when it was cancelled)
  
• Suits
  
• Elementary (& Sherlock)
  
• Homeland - the first season only
  
• House of Cards (the anti-West Wing)
  
• Brotherhood (a series that deserved a much longer run)
  
• Rome
  
• Band of Brothers
  
• The Pacific (lacks the 'tightness' of BoB but still worth watching as long as you don't expect to see it as BoB in the Pacific)

I'd also suggest that Orange is the New Black and the Good Wife are pretty good TV drama.

Pawwed Rig

I still haven't gotten to the Sopranos!! It is nearly embarrassing at this point.

The Wire and Band of Brothers were my favourites. Not very often myself and the missus agree on a series but we both loved these two

Jimmy Iovine

JaseHeath wrote:

I've never seen Friday Night Lights. Must add that to my "list". That's the American Football show, right?

Yes. It's brilliant. You don't need to know anything much about football.

In terms of movies it has to be Goodfellas. The best Mafia movie for me and one of the best of all time.

mass_debater

Surprised nobody's mentioned Deadwood, was an amazing show with brilliant characters and superb acting. Pity it got cut short, but it's still up there.

Carnivale is another, very much worth the watch. HBO dropped both to have the budget for Sopranos but they really should have continued them, Carnivale especially as it was only due another third season and was shaping up to be a serious showdown between good and evil

Dexter, the first four seasons are excellent, give up after that before it goes downhill.

KomradeBishop

The Shield was an excellent show, in my view it was up there with The Wire and other equally good shows, at points.

The Battlestar Galactica remake was also extremely well done - Ronald D. Moore is an excellent producer (was also involved in Carnivale).

The Black Oil

Friday Night Lights is great. Be warned that if you're intolerant of soap opera elements (marriage, high school, break ups) it may not be for you. It's as much about what happens off the field as it is tackles and game scores. I've heard it put this way, The Wire's about the death of an American city, FNL is about the death of a small American town.

House of Cards isn't as great as it's made out to be. It pursues plot at a rate of knots to the expense of everything else like character development. It fits the binge model perfectly, including that post-binge feeling of emptiness, which sums up the show as a whole.

West Wing - John Wells can take the blame for most of the mess in the later years, see for example, what they did with Toby. I've said this before, Wells essentially made it into a political ER. Issues were moved out of focus and the personalities started to take over. Extremely annoying characters were added. To be fair to Wells, there were attempts to whip the show back into the shape it and season 6 was the start of the recovery.

Band of Brothers, of course, is a must. The Pacific simply couldn't reach BoB's heights with the story or characters. Deadwood has dialogue that absolutely flies off the page and Carnivale (if you like slow burn) was cut short too soon. In Treatment, is a 30 minute drama wherein Gabriel Byrne plays a psychotherapist. Not everyone's cup of tea, I suspect. Six Feet Under, everyone should see this for its characters and unflinching look at death.

Freaks and Geeks - the Wonder Years of its generation, late 90s/early 2000s.

The Shield - I think this often draws unfavourable comparisons with The Wire. It's a much narrower, more focused show where The Wire has vast scope. If anything, its closest cousin is The Sopranos in the way they both focus on a morally abhorrent lead figure.

Sticking with cable, if you like spies and the 80s, you should check out The Americans from FX. Its second season went from strength to strength and was a really great blend of character development, plot momentum and the web of lies everyone is telling. I've recently gotten into Manhattan, which is about the Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb. Similar to other shows in its blend of personal lives and the core story. Mad Men is probably one of those wherein the key complaint is 'nothing happens', but I don't find that to be true and really like it.

Hannibal, this show is hard to not to like. It's sort of a hybrid of a police procedural grafted onto another show with cable sensibilities. It's akin to opera or ballet.

On the sci-fi end of things it's hard not to mention X Files, Star Trek, Stargate, and BSG. More recently, I've tried Orphan Black and though likeable enough, I wasn't hugely won over by it. Non sci-fi related is Sleepy Hollow which is fun and had a 13 episode first season, leaving little time for filler. Season 2 has a higher episode order from the network, remains to be seen whether this impacts its quality.

Everyone should check out some Scandinavian shows, too. The Killing, The Bridge and Borgen.

It may seem like I watch a lot of TV, but on weekly basis I only watch about 5-6 hours.

KomradeBishop

The original House of Cards, the UK version, was very good - I didn't get into the US remake, but the original is well worth watching.

Another smaller UK TV series, with a US remake, was Edge of Darkness - that was really good.

Other older small/one-off TV series that were really good, were Boys from the Blackstuff (first time watching that is great), and similarly (though not as good as many others mentioned) This is England - the movie and both TV series - I thought were very good.

EDIT: Oh also, Cracker was excellent as well, as were all the Sharpe tv films. The one-off Longitude tv movie, is also very good.


Damages actually, was another surprisingly good one, that I'd put close to The Shield/Wire and such.


Oh...and, surprised this wasn't mentioned, Spartacus - while not everyones cup of tea - was brilliant (make sure to watch 'Gods of the Arena' as the second season).
You have to give it a chance, to develop a tolerance to the over-the-top violence and sex scenes (it's pretty unapologetic in that regard, which puts some people off, but it's worth it despite that), because it's a very entertaining show.


Loads I've seen over the years, so more will probably come to me later

AndonHandon

Shocked and appalled that Breaking Bad has not yet been mentioned!

The Black Oil

The French series The Returned is one of the creepiest things I've watched in the past while.

Pawwed Rig

The Black Oil wrote: »

The French series The Returned is one of the creepiest things I've watched in the past while.

Finally one I haven't seen that is on Netflix. Starting it tonight

_Kaiser_

The Shield. Best cop show I've ever watched. Superior to The Wire IMO which I just couldn't get into.

Boardwalk Empire started well but peaked in season 3 IMO. After that it lost its way I thought

I gave The West Wing 4 seasons myself before giving up.. it just didn't go anywhere beyond the crisis-of-the-week formula. I know it predated the season/series long arc but still..

The Last Ship, The Flash and Scorpion are all well worth watching for a throwback to that 80s type of show that just set out to entertain rather than dwell on gritty realism

Looking forward to Suits and House of Cards coming back as well - the former for the banter between the leads and some strong support in Louis and Donna (who is just great ), and the latter because Spacey is excellent in the role and the brisk pace referred to above works well I think for the show that it is.


From a movie perspective, Goodfellas as mentioned above is a masterpiece. Wall Street the same. Lord of War is another of my favourites for its dark humour and Cage is great in it.
Can't go wrong with the 80s action classics like The Running Man, Predator etc either. Too many to list really..

JaseBelleVie

Wow. Some good suggestions so far! I'm blasting my way through American Horror Story at a good pace now, so I must check out some of these.

I haveDeadwood all ready to go too.

I never could warm to The Wire. I found it way too slow and very un-engaging. But I may give it another go, as I've yet to hear anyone say a bad word about it.

Another classic one that I love to bits (and that used to scare the living sh*t out of me as a kid) is The X-Files. Man, I love that show so much. "The Truth Is Out There" is also a great put-down line to mumble at anyone who loves conspiracy theories a little too much!

TimeToShine

The Sopranos - best TV show ever made. Ground breaking.

The Wire - Probably the only competition, also ground breaking in its own right. Season 3 and 4 are arguably the best stretch of TV in history.

The Shield - Similar to The Wire with less subtlety and more action.

Sons of Anarchy, Boardwalk, BrBa as well.

Liam McPoyle

One that does'nt appear to have been mentioned is HBO's "Oz", my favourite tv show of all time. Although not as technically impressive as the Sopranos or as convoluted as The Wire, its a fantastic series that doesn't stop to take a breath throughout.

eh i dunno

Not one mention of 24?? The best action show of the last 10 years

HalloweenJack

I've got into True Detective lately. It's absolutely engrossing, has me hanging on the edge of my seat and dying to know what's actually going on.

I think it moves fairly slowly but it does keep you guessing and the characters are fascinating. Well worth a watch.

tritium

Breaking bad, 24 as others have mentioned. An old one I loved was american gothic- ended far too soon as it didn't work for American audiences this side of the Atlantic doctor who, sapphire and steel for a creepy blast from the past.

Pat Mustard

Rome is great stuff. Kind of enjoying The Strain, even if the special effects are a bit schlock-horror.

ancapailldorcha

I'm amazed that noone has seen fit to mention Love/Hate yet. One of my all time favourites and undoubtedly the best programme ever to be made in Ireland.

Jawgap

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I'm amazed that noone has seen fit to mention Love/Hate yet. One of my all time favourites and undoubtedly the best programme ever to be made in Ireland.

[WHISPER] It's good, but it's not great........sorry to be the one to break that to you [/WHISPER]

TimeToShine

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I'm amazed that noone has seen fit to mention Love/Hate yet. One of my all time favourites and undoubtedly the best programme ever to be made in Ireland.

Love/Hate is relatively poor. It's fine to watch and enjoy it but it is not even in the same league as some of the other shows mentioned IMO.

ancapailldorcha

Jawgap wrote: »

[WHISPER] It's good, but it's not great........sorry to be the one to break that to you [/WHISPER]

TimeToShine wrote: »

Love/Hate is relatively poor. It's fine to watch and enjoy it but it is not even in the same league as some of the other shows mentioned IMO.

I'd disagree. While it's certainly not HBO/Breaking Bad-esque in terms of quality, it easily outranks Dexter and Hannibal IMO. Watching Hannibal actually felt like work most of the time. You usually only see storytelling that poor in videogames.

The Black Oil

Is Oz available anywhere at a reasonable price?

Re The Wire, its pre-cursor is Homicide: Life of the Streets, which everyone should check out. It's a good look at murder police in Baltimore PD. It declines in quality in later years, more attractive cast members are added and the network seemed to loathe it, but it's still a very fine show.

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I'd disagree. While it's certainly not HBO/Breaking Bad-esque in terms of quality, it easily outranks Dexter and Hannibal IMO. Watching Hannibal actually felt like work most of the time. You usually only see storytelling that poor in videogames.

What makes you say that?

JaseBelleVie

The Black Oil wrote: »

Is Oz available anywhere at a reasonable price?

Not sure if STG£70 is reasonable or not, but for all 6 seasons of it, I reckon it is:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oz-Complete-Season-1-6-DVD/dp/B002D3ZJCG/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1419955631&sr=1-1&keywords=oz


I've gone on a little binge of The X-Files now, seeing as I brought it up. And damn, it's still so good. The conspiracy episodes only, essentially a mini-series of only the stuff to do with Alien colonists, Black Oil, Bounty Hunters, etc. I love these episodes and it's been so long since I caught them. I'm tempted to watch other episodes, as there are some classics there, but I want to blaze through the Conspiracy Mytharc first.

TimeToShine

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I'd disagree. While it's certainly not HBO/Breaking Bad-esque in terms of quality, it easily outranks Dexter and Hannibal IMO. Watching Hannibal actually felt like work most of the time. You usually only see storytelling that poor in videogames.

I haven't seen Hannibal but the first 4 seasons of Dexter are miles ahead. What makes Love/Hate so good is that everyone you know is watching it; friends, work colleagues, parents, cousins, i.e. a large percentage of the people you come into contact with on a daily basis in Ireland. With the other shows, you have people watching them at different paces, some marathon them over a few weeks, others watch an episode a night and the result is that you generally only get to talk about the end product without the buildup between episodes. The last seasons of Breaking Bad was when it really started gaining traction here and it gave a decent idea of what kind of hype a show like that generates (and I think it's definitely a tier below The Wire/Sopranos). The cultural aspect of Love/Hate helps fuel the fondness, and don't get me wrong I do enjoy it, but objectively speaking by nearly every measurable benchmark of television show quality it falls short compared to the real top stuff.

ancapailldorcha

I'm living in the UK and I know only a few people who are even aware of it's existence and noone else who's watched it. The second and fourth seasons of Dexter were excellent, the first was inferior to the book and the third could have been 2 episodes once you remove the unnecessary padding.
The only programmes where I've been eagerly anticipating the next week's episodes were Dexter (at the start), Breaking Bad and Love/Hate. I agree when you say that Breaking Bad is below the Wire. I've not seen the Sopranos so I can't comment there.

KomradeBishop

The Black Oil wrote: »

Is Oz available anywhere at a reasonable price?

Re The Wire, its pre-cursor is Homicide: Life of the Streets, which everyone should check out. It's a good look at murder police in Baltimore PD. It declines in quality in later years, more attractive cast members are added and the network seemed to loathe it, but it's still a very fine show.



What makes you say that?

Ah, that reminds me: The Corner was a very good precursor to The Wire - a lot of the same cast and all, so a must-watch for any Wire fans.

[QUOTE=JaseHeath;93620151...
I've gone on a little binge of The X-Files now, seeing as I brought it up. And damn, it's still so good. The conspiracy episodes only, essentially a mini-series of only the stuff to do with Alien colonists, Black Oil, Bounty Hunters, etc. I love these episodes and it's been so long since I caught them. I'm tempted to watch other episodes, as there are some classics there, but I want to blaze through the Conspiracy Mytharc first.[/QUOTE]
The Lone Gunmen was good as well, it was an X-Files spinoff; there is one episode actually, which is eerily prescient of 9/11 (broadcast only a few months before it).

Pawwed Rig

JaseHeath wrote: »

Not sure if STG£70 is reasonable or not, but for all 6 seasons of it, I reckon it is:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oz-Complete-Season-1-6-DVD/dp/B002D3ZJCG/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1419955631&sr=1-1&keywords=oz

Worth every penny. A great show. There are alot of now familiar actors in it too which were unknown at the time

mass_debater

For anyone that liked The Shield or The Wire check out Southland, it's decent

KomradeBishop

Some niche ones that are worth a watch:
Jericho - post-nuclear apocalypse smalltown US (often weak acting, but was good - has one or two actors from The Walking Dead in it, which is a similar post-apocalyptic setting - also alright).
Dollhouse - one for fans of Whedon/Firefly (which is also a must-see, along with Serenity). This is actually a lot like Orphan Black, which was mentioned earlier (also good, but have to get used to some of the characters).

Oh yea, how has this not been mentioned The most inventive and well-executed swearing on TV:
The Thick of It (also In The Loop, and Veep)

I've got most of a decades worth of shows strewn across several hard drives from over the years, so I'll probably find yet more to add later.

ancapailldorcha

They actually had a "swearing consultant" for The Thick of It".

Liam McPoyle

The Black Oil wrote: »

Is Oz available anywhere at a reasonable price?

€53 from Wow HD.

Delivery can be slow with them sometimes but Ive used the site loads and never had an issue.

Another one I watched recently is the mind bending Utopia from Channel 4.

It was cancelled after 2 seasons but David Fincher recently bought the remake rights to it for the US market so hopefully Channel 4 will renew it. Fantastic and thrilling stuff.

The Black Oil

Business Cat wrote: »

€53 from Wow HD.

Delivery can be slow with them sometimes but Ive used the site loads and never had an issue.

Thanks, I've used that site before. I think it was formerly CDWOW. €45.04 this morning.

Aidric

JaseHeath wrote: »

Firstly, I think that no modern gentleman should go without watching HBO's The Sopranos. One of the truest definitions of brilliance ever to emerge from the small screen. The acting, the writing, the characters, the production values. Absolutely everything about this show is just from the very top drawer and it is for this very reason that it is so lauded and so brilliant. I recently invested in the Blu-Ray box set and it is worth every penny. If you haven't watched this already, watch it. It is a long haul (the episodes are all about 50 minutes long and there are 86 episodes spread over 6 seasons), but it is one of the most rewarding experiences you will ever have. Simply one of the best (if not the best) television shows of all time.

Agreed. Set the benchmark for excellence in TV drama that has yet to be surpassed. Recently bought the box set and started watching through again. Whilst some series may age badly, the strength of the writing and the layering of the characters was so strong on The Sopranos that it will stand the test of time.
I recently finished the first two series of House of Cards and whilst it's much too early to draw definitive comparisons the signs are good. In much the same way as James Gandolfini was the fulcrum that drove The Sopranos, Kevin Spacey is a strong central character driving House of Cards.

As for film, one of the benefits of living in continental Europe is a strong art movie scene. As Hollywood becomes more and more risk averse, it's the independent movie makers who are taking the plunge to deliver thoughtful and narrative driven cinema. That said this is the best time of the year for movies so enjoy!

JaseBelleVie

Aidric wrote: »

Agreed. Set the benchmark for excellence in TV drama that has yet to be surpassed. Recently bought the box set and started watching through again. Whilst some series may age badly, the strength of the writing and the layering of the characters was so strong on The Sopranos that it will stand the test of time.

Absolutely. Totally agree. Without The Sopranos, none (and I do mean "none") of all the brilliant TV series that have been released since the turn of the millenium would have been made. Every huge, sprawling and slow-burning epic TV series since 2000 owes something of a debt to The Sopranos.

My favourite character out of it is definitely Paulie Walnuts. The sickest f*ck to ever grace the screen and hilarious too.

Aidric

JaseHeath wrote: »

Absolutely. Totally agree. Without The Sopranos, none (and I do mean "none") of all the brilliant TV series that have been released since the turn of the millenium would have been made. Every huge, sprawling and slow-burning epic TV series since 2000 owes something of a debt to The Sopranos.

My favourite character out of it is definitely Paulie Walnuts. The sickest f*ck to ever grace the screen and hilarious too.

A lot of credit also has to go to David Chase for his vision, patience and precise pacing. He never sacrificed the greater vision for a cheap pay off.

mass_debater

Aidric wrote: »

A lot of credit also has to go to David Chase for his vision, patience and precise pacing. He never sacrificed the greater vision for a cheap pay off.

And he had the balls to finish it when he did

Aidric

mass_debater wrote: »

And he had the balls to finish it when he did

Indeed. Like this quote attributed to him about the final scene:

Of the controversial final scene of the series finale, Chase said, "I have no interest in explaining, defending, reinterpreting, or adding to what is there.

JaseBelleVie

That final scene gave me a mini-heart attack the first time I watched it. And anyone who has watched it already will know why!

THE F*CKING ELECTRICITY JUST WENT! NO! F*CKING NO! NO NO NO NO NO!

Kinet1c

In no particular order:

The Sopranos
The Wire
The Shield
Game of Thrones
It's Always in Sunny in Philadelphia
Parks and Recreation
House of Cards
Friday Night Lights
Eastbound and Down
True Detective
Sherlock
Breaking Bad
Oz
Moone Boy
The Big Bang Theory
Modern Family
Dexter
Entourage
The League

TimeToShine

The Big Bang Theory sticks out like a sore thumb in that list.

cson

Surprised it hasn't been mentioned in here but Mad Men is simply fantastic. From the period details to the depth of character development. Definitely a must watch.

You'd love to have been a male ad exec in the 60s anyway. :P

Jimmy Iovine

Aidric wrote: »

I recently finished the first two series of House of Cards and whilst it's much too early to draw definitive comparisons the signs are good. In much the same way as James Gandolfini was the fulcrum that drove The Sopranos, Kevin Spacey is a strong central character driving House of Cards.

The Sopranos benefitted from having one of the strongest casts ever. I could watch a whole season of Paulie and Christopher play hide and seek in the woods.

House of Cards doesn't have that same feel.

They killed off the two main supporting characters. I've only seen to the end of the first episode of season 2, but I'm not as hooked. Kevin Spacey is great in it. He has that same aura that Tony had, but there is Dr Melfi/Johnny Sack/Phil Leotardo/Uncle Junior for him to battle. Underwood is too strong for them.

I read a review where it was criticised that Underwood always gets his way. Tony got his way most of the time too but it never came as easily to him, and when he does it doesn't feel like it was part of a bigger plan, such as when he killed Ralphie.

And then there's Carmela - the best supporting female character in TV history for me. She stood up to Tony and tried to be more than the dirt swept under the carpet.

boobar

For those who like prison dramas Oz but be warned this is not for the faint hearted.

TV has really improved over the years with addictive viewing like Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Ray Donovan leaving us spoilt for choice.

One programme that I watched recently was Black Mirror ...with John Hamm...interesting take on where social media may take us in the future...worth a watch.

Blockbuster films ...everyone knows them so here's a movie I'll recommend....Stretch...about a down on his luck limo driver....very enjoyable....quite different.

Aidric

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

The Sopranos benefitted from having one of the strongest casts ever.

Completely agree but they all fed off the dynamism of Gandolfini. Subsequent interviews with cast members bear this out.

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

House of Cards doesn't have that same feel.

They killed off the two main supporting characters. I've only seen to the end of the first episode of season 2, but I'm not as hooked. Kevin Spacey is great in it. He has that same aura that Tony had, but there is Dr Melfi/Johnny Sack/Phil Leotardo/Uncle Junior for him to battle. Underwood is too strong for them.

Stick with it. It really picks up the pace in season 2 and reveals the ruthlessness of Underwood in pursuing his goal, ably supported by his wife. She is no Carmela but few actors are. With regards to

killing off leading supporting actors

it was a surprise at the time but it all plays in to Underwood's ruthlessness and so is imo crucial to his characters development.