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Thread: What Are You Watching

  1. #21
    Council Member bourbon's Avatar
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    ****Wrote the review before I logged on and saw ganulv's post****

    Sunday night on Showtime was the premier of 'Homeland' by the producers of '24' and adapted from the Israeli series 'Hatufim' (Prisoners). The first episode is also available free online.

    The series begins with a female CIA case officer receiving a death-bed tip from a source that an American POW has been turned as a double-agent by the terrorist mastermind Abu Nazir. Forward ten months later, a Marine Scout/Sniper – gone MIA eight years ago and presumed dead – is recovered after a raid on a terrorist safe house; now benched to an analysts desk at Langley, the CIA officer scrambles to reveal the double-agent and thwart Abu Nazir's plot.

    This show has potential. It is also deliberately unsettling and very unlike '24'.

    The CIA officer/analyst – played by Claire Danes – is a bipolar anti-heroine, consumed with Abu Nazir. She is manipulative, amoral, and generally unlikeable. The Marine – played by Damian Lewis – returns home to a world that has moved on without him and a wife that has been sleeping with his best friend. You feel sympathy for his situation, even though you know he has probably gone over to the other-side; like I said – unsettling.
    “[S]omething in his tone now reminded her of his explanations of asymmetric warfare, a topic in which he had a keen and abiding interest. She remembered him telling her how terrorism was almost exclusively about branding, but only slightly less so about the psychology of lotteries…” - Zero History, William Gibson

  2. #22
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    Well we're now three episodes in to season two of Boardwalk Empire which is fantastic. Thoroughly recommend to anyone who hasn't seen it.

  3. #23
    Council Member ganulv's Avatar
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    Default Three episodes into ‘Homeland’

    and each has been better than the last. Very good actors given the opportunity to act is a big part of why.

    After having watched the show the coverage of Gilad Shalit’s release makes me cringe just a bit. Am I wrong to think that the guy might appreciate some space right now?
    Last edited by ganulv; 10-18-2011 at 10:14 PM. Reason: typo fix
    If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed. – Mark Twain (attributed)

  4. #24
    Council Member The Cuyahoga Kid's Avatar
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    Default What are you currently watching?

    I think you all see where the template comes from

    Interested in seeing where this thread leads.

    Here's my line up from Friday.

    Armadillo
    The Battle of Algiers
    Full Metal Jacket

    In the queue

    N/A
    Last edited by The Cuyahoga Kid; 04-01-2012 at 09:55 PM.

  5. #25
    Council Member carl's Avatar
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    Wind That Shakes the Barley
    Behold A Pale Horse
    Go Tell The Spartans
    7 Samurai/Magnificent 7
    "We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again." Gen. Nathanael Greene

  6. #26
    Council Member slapout9's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Cuyahoga Kid View Post
    I think you all see where the template comes from

    Let me see did you get the idea from here?
    http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=8130

  7. #27
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Ah, I can feel a thread merger is coming......
    davidbfpo

  8. #28
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    Default Old School

    Last three:

    Fort Apache
    Kelly's Heros
    She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

    By the way, does anybody else see The Walking Dead as a metaphor for counterinsurgency?

  9. #29
    Council Member Ken White's Avatar
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    Default Didn't

    However, wish I had. It's a great metaphor...

  10. #30
    Council Member The Cuyahoga Kid's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by slapout9 View Post
    Let me see did you get the idea from here?
    http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=8130
    Uh, actually

    Didn't know we already had a thread for it.

    Quote Originally Posted by davidbfpo View Post
    Ah, I can feel a thread merger is coming......

  11. #31
    Council Member Stan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by davidbfpo View Post
    Ah, I can feel a thread merger is coming......
    Say, you're not going to do that again this month, are you

    BTW, we're still watching reruns of Baywatch and some Vampire Sierra here. By the time some fruit gets around to translating the show, it's 2 years old !
    If you want to blend in, take the bus

  12. #32
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    Default Not really much on worth watching apart from...

    Walking Dead (though this season was pretty tame, the last episode more than made up for it)
    &
    Game of Thrones
    &
    Storage Wars (think I have a thing for Brandi!)

  13. #33
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default Worth watching

    At the recommendation of a Muslim community worker I watched 'Five Minarets in New York' or 'The Terrorist', a 2010 film which moves between Turkey and New York, USA, with Danny Glover as the best known actor and it is well worth watching.

    It is fully available on:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrz3L...eature=related or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrz3L...427BE60D70A120

    One plot summary:
    Two Turkish anti-terrorist agents are sent to New York City on a mission to find and bring back the dangerous Islamic leader codenamed "Dajjal", believed to be hiding in there. Working with the FBI and NYPD, the agents orchestrate the arrest of Hadji Gumus, a well-respected Muslim scholar and family man who years before fled to the United States after being released from a Turkish prison, where he served time for murder. This tale love, friendship, peace and prejudices, takes us on a journey seeking to answer the question of whether innocence or guilt even matters to one who lusts for vengeance.
    One urban gun battle reminded me of 'Kingdom', some of the scenery is excellent, the NYC scenes did jar at bit, but the theme of the good Muslim -v- the evil Muslim is brilliant. Notably the very short scene in a Turkish cellblock.

    A mixture of reviews on:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1686039/reviews
    davidbfpo

  14. #34
    Council Member slapout9's Avatar
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    Default Anything To Do With The King aka Elvis

    Today is the 35th anniversary of the King's Death. Cable is running 24 Elvis movies, good Elvis music all day on some radio stations. And now for your listening pleasure and cultural enhancement here is a link to Elvis singing his famous "American Trilogy" very good sound and video quality. Enjoy!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9saX9cF248

  15. #35
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    Default For Greater Glory

    For Greater Glory is a very good movie that is historically accurate. The Cristeros War in Mexico in 1926-29 is a great case study for Small Wars.

    I watched it on DVD, recommend you also watch the special features section.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnPi5cXlVHo

    http://www.thenewamerican.com/cultur...stian-campaign

    “¡Viva Cristo Rey!” (“Long Live Christ the King.”) That was the rallying cry for millions of Mexicans during the second and third decades of the 20th century, as revolutionary governments, modeled after the Bolshevik regime in Russia, unleashed round after round of persecution and terror throughout Mexico. For Greater Glory, the newly released epic film starring Andy Garcia and Eva Longoria, provides a stirring introduction to the “Cristero War,” or “Cristiada” (1926-1929), a heroic chapter of Mexico’s history that, until now, has been almost virtually unknown in the United States (as well as in Mexico, where the government has suppressed true reports of the persecutions and all favorable mention of the Cristeros, who finally rose up to fight for religious liberty).

    The wholesale raping, pillaging, destruction and desecration of churches, torture and murder of Catholic priests, closing of Catholic schools, the takeover of education by anti-Christian propagandists, and other outrages initiated by the regime of President Plutarco Elias Calles, ultimately drove the long-suffering Mexican people to take up arms against the dictatorial oppressor. Tens of thousands — mostly peasants — joined the Cristero army, led by Gen. Enrique Gorostieta (played by Andy Garcia in the movie). Although poorly armed and usually outnumbered, the Cristeros repeatedly inflicted decisive defeats upon Calles’ army. Unable to defeat the Cristeros militarily, Calles resorted to diplomatic treachery, suing for peace and promising to restore religious liberty. Hundreds of Cristero leaders who accepted his amnesty and laid down their arms were tortured and executed; thousands of Cristero supporters were hunted down and murdered.

  16. #36
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    Default Through Death Gate: Vietnam's Secret War

    http://www.bluebellproductions.co.uk...mentaries.html

    I recommend watching the trailer, it sounds interesting, but I can't find the actual documentary. Has anyone seen it? Was it worth watching? Do you know where I can find it?

    There was one crossing point from North Vietnam into Laos which truck drivers, carrying weapons to fight in the South, called Death Gate. This was part of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, North Vietnam’s logistical supply line. Each driver to enter the Gate expected to die trying to traverse the Desert of Fire. This Gate was critical for victory as whoever won the battle here would know the other’s main weakness.

    In this documentary we reveal previously classified information. We hear for the first time real life stories of covert operations by American Special Forces. We interview the North Vietnamese on how their clandestine tactics overcame intense bombing, which exceeded the equivalent of a dozen Hiroshima’s. We gain rare access to remote parts of Laos and discover secret roads, crashed American aircraft and hidden army camps. Along the way we interview Lao villagers about their war and hear their stories which have never been recorded.

    After 10 years of research we explode the myth that the Americans were fighting a peasant army - how can we learn for the future when we have denied the past?
    Here is a link to the book:

    http://www.amazon.com/History-Ho-Chi...oad+to+Freedom
    Last edited by Bill Moore; 03-11-2013 at 03:18 AM. Reason: add book link

  17. #37
    Council Member Backwards Observer's Avatar
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    Default eastern premises

    A couple of recent samurai films from Japan.

    13 Assassins - wikipedia

    13 Assassins Trailer - youtube

    ...

    Rurouni Kenshin - wikipedia

    Rurouni Kenshin Trailer - youtube

    Also worth checking out:

    A Battle of Wits - wikipedia

  18. #38
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    Default Timbuktu

    I watched this on a recent flight, and it was a truly beautiful and disturbing movie. Some in France criticized it because they claimed it humanized terrorists. First off terrorists do happen to be humans (the movie didn't do them any favors though), second and more important the movie demonstrated how absurd the views of the extremists actually are. It is in French and Arabic, with English subtitles. I think most readers of SWJ will enjoy it.

    http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cul...dists-timbuktu

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