constarkel
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Posts posted by constarkel
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I noticed that you and mongo refer to a movie's star rating. Where do you find that? It does not appear to be on the daily, weekly or monthly schedules. Who determines this star rating?
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Mongo,
Which "newer" movies would you call duds?
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And I would bet that it is the same sad case for "The Blue Dahlia" (Paramount 1946). If Universal doesn't want to do anything with these movies, then they ought to sell them to someone who will. I just checked Universal's website and it appears that they have no plans of releasing "The Glass Key" or "The Blue Dahlia" in the near future. However, there is good news for fans of the "A-Teem" and "Charles In Charge" they will be releasing full seasons of those shows in the upcoming months. Have they no shame?
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Saturday, Feb. 18th (All times Eastern)
11:00am Rocky
1:30pm Hook
4:00pm Dick Tracy
6:00pm Back To The Future
8:00pm Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Saturday, Feb. 25th
8:00pm Awakenings
10:15pm Sleepless In Seattle
12:00am The Birdcage
2:15am Tootsie
Enjoy!!!!!!
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I can't argue with their selection. It is incredible. I would recommend that everyone sign up for their free trial, rent everything that you can and then dump them. That way you will have had nothing but the best of them. I generally don't condone doing these sorts of things, but these guy's are a special case.
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I used to have Netflix and it started off great. I could order three movies at a time and get them within two days. After about two months of flawless service, they "lost" my first disc. Which meant that they now could only send me two movies instead of the three that I subscribed to. After that, they always didn't receive one of my movies until they had shipped the first two. I later found out that this practice was called "Throttling" and it was done in order to allow them to charge me for a three-at-time plan while delivering a two-at-a-time plan. In this way, I was paying around $9.00 more than the service that they were actually providing me with. Once, I determined that this was happening to me, I cancelled. What was amazing is, even as they were giving me the throttle, they were sending me offers to "move up" to a four-at-a-time of even a seven-at-a-time plan! I would never trust those shysters now.
That being said, have you looked at what movies are offered on "Pay-Per-View"? I wouldn't watch those movies if they were free, let alone pay $5.00 to see them.
In my opinion, the best bet to have control over what you are viewing, is to get a DVD recorder and just record everything that looks even halfway interesting on TCM. What isn't available on TCM, buy on DVD. That way when and if they ever pull the plug, you will have something to fall back on. That's what I'm doing. If there were no TCM available, my cable provider would be getting their box back toot-sweet!
Johnnyweeks-
Do the movies that won't play on your DVD player, play on your recorder? I am assuming that you are finalizing the discs after recording. If they do, then the problem lies with the media that you are using with regards to your DVD player. It could be that your older player, simply will not play DVD R or DVD RW. If that is the case, switching to the DVD -R should solve your problem.
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Yes, I would try the DVD R- format. Also, unless you are iffy about whether or not you will be keeping the recording, I would just stick with the plain old DVD R-s and not mess with the DVD RWs. Since you already know about the AVS Forum, you should go there and do a search to find out which kind of media that your DVD Recorder "Likes" Some brands have trouble recording/playing different media. For instance, as good as the Taiyo Yudens are supposed to be, they have problems playing on Panasonics. If you find the right type of media for your recorder, your problems may just go away.
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My Pioneer is the one without the VCR. I just watched Play-Girl last night as a matter of fact. If you are going to buy Maxell's try to find the ones that are made in Japan. The made in Taiwan ones are not as good. I have heard that Walmart and some of the other big retailers could have them all mixed up on the shelves. I have never heard anything good about the Memorex's and much of my info comes from the AVS Forum. That is where I learned about the Taiyo Yuden's. I think my Pioneer only plays DVD-R/RW so I only record on that format. The DVD+ is more of a computer based format and has less compatibility with home players.
In regards to Allieharding's post: Those new Panasonics do indeed look good. Panasonic has an excellent reputation when it comes to DVD technology.
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Graankly, U sound a lot like Leo, sweetbabykmd.
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I have the "Walmart Special" Pioneer DVR 231. I have recorded about 300 movies so far with it and haven't had any problems yet. It is quite impressive when you consider that it was running pretty much continously during the Loretta Young/Kay Francis and Robert Montgomery days on TCM. The prices that I was quoting for the "Hard Drive" models were from Walmart online. I see that the price for the new model Pioneer without the hard drive is $198. It seems to me that I got mine on sale last year for $149 though. The problem may be with the media that you use. After much research, I determined that Taiyo Yuden (Japan) makes the best blank media. I can get them online for a little less than .40 per when purchased in bulk. The junk media that walmart/bestbye and staples sell is usually made in Taiwan crap that is less than reliable though every bit, if not more, expensive. I have never owned any "Lite-On" or "Cyberhome" products so I can't vouch for their quality personally, but my unit is the very bottom of Pioneer's line of DVRs. I should mention as well that I only record in "two-hour" mode. I play the resulting DVDs on a 108" screen via projector and the quality is very good. Not commercial DVD quality (due to the limited resolution of the broadcast source) but, every bit as good as that source. Were you recording in four or eight hour modes? If so, that would account for your low quality sound.
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Actually, you can get a "good quality" Pioneer/Panasonic/JVC DVD recorder with an 80mb hard drive for between $350 and $400. If you had Tivo, then you could get by with just a standard DVD recorder (without a hard drive) and those can be had in the low $100's range on sale or with rebate. The problem with Tivo (and I don't have it, so I could be wrong) but I read somewhere that it has the capability of not letting you record certain programs to DVD. I just have a standard DVD recorder and so am limited to recording only one movie at a time, but it does work flawlessly.
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I currently subscribe to Comcast cable. In order to receive TCM, I must subscribe to their obscenely overpriced and mostly worthless "Digital Silver" package. Any package lower than that and they remove TCM. So, I am basically paying $60.00 per month just to watch TCM as I don't watch anything else. Its hard to even watch a major sporting event with all of the commerical crap that they foist on you during the presentation and that is not including the commercials either. I did notice that there are 15 basic religious and home shopping channels that are included in every single package by every single provider. You can't get rid of them. I read last year where a congressman was trying to introduce a bill that would allow the "ala-carte" purchase of cable TV but I guess it was soundly beaten. The cable/satelite providers, it seems, have a very strong commercial interest in keeping our choices to a minimum and have the muscle in congress to make sure that it stays that way.
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For new movies you have Encore, Showtime, HBO, The Movie Channel, Cinemax, Flix, etc, etc. There is really only one place to watch the older classic movies and that is on TCM. Why would you want to see the newer movies on TCM too? Answer that one? Those newer movies that you defend so vociferously, can be seen on any of those other channels and there should also be no shortage of them at any video outlet. Plus, if you really liked those movies, you would have probably seen them a million times already. None of those modern movies on TCM this month is exactly scarce. If you loved them that much, why have you not recorded them already? Then you could watch them to your heart's content. We all have different tastes and I don't think that it is up to TCM to satisfy all of them. If I want to watch a modern movie, I can find it elsewhere. If I want to see anime, I can watch the cartoon network or Adult Swim. If I want to see reality shows, I can watch the networks. If I want to see classic movies, I'd like to be able to tune to TCM to see them.
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That is wonderful that you like your "Coldplay", "Alanis Morrisette" and "Madonna". I am sure that there are some Hip-Hoppers out there too. Maybe they would be impressed with your taste in movies over on the MTV or VH1 forums. I hope that you are not suggesting that Madonna can act though.
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A horse is a horse, of course, of course......period.
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Stoneyburke,
Yes there are a few of us. We few, we angry few, we band of brothers/sisters. I fear that we are in the minority here (on these boards, at least).
TCM is going to do whatever it wants to do. I don't think they care a hill of beans as to what we think. They are chasing that elusive butterfly of the 18-40 year old demographic that most of the other channels are. If that means dumbing the channel down to appeal to the lowest common denominator, then thats what they will probably do. I expect them to be just another movie channel along the lines of the Encore network within a few years. If thats what everyone here wants, then keep mindlessly applauding every single programming decision as you now are. Make sure that they say "Simon says" first though.
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It is interesting to note that the biggest supporters of the showing of these modern "klassix" are also fans of "American Idol" and Madonna. I am beginning to understand now. These films belong on the TCM schedule like Thomas Kinkade paintings belong festooning the walls of the Louvre.
Fred C. Dobbs is not a "dolt", he just has a mind of his own.
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There should also be a section for Constant TCM Shills, so that the "Thank-You Sir,-May-I-Have-Another" crowd can gather together and celebrate about whatever TCM decides to program. If you people like this modern programing so much, there are better outlets such as Encore, HBO, Showtime, AMC, TNT and Adult Swim. They show this junk all the time. If there is a public access channel in your area, you can load up on all of that Bollywood that you were crowing about last year. My point is with all of outlets for these modern "classics" why does TCM have to show them as well?
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I have to agree with Fred C. Dobbs. It looks like they horked those movies straight from the Encore channel. Do we tune into TCM to see "Back to the Future", "Hook", "Bridges of Madison County"????? Leave that garbage to Encore and HBO to show and show them they do...very regularly. Why does TCM have to show them too? How about those wonderful "Sister Act" movies, are they next? The Academy Awards has been around since 1929 as far as I know, and these are the best that they could come up with? The last thing that I want to see when I watch TCM is Michael J. Fox, Madonna, Stallone etc. Those hacks don't belong anywhere near TCM. And whats with "The Karate Kid" being shown twice in a month? I like some modern movies too, such as anything by Martin Scorsese, but I don't need to see them on TCM.
I am thoroughly enjoying tonight's silent film line-up, I will say.
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Did you know that "Rich and Famous" starring Jacqueline Bisset and Candice Bergen, won that very same award from the Writer's Guild of America in 1981? Perhaps we can look forward to an airing of that "classic" as well.
TCMprogrammer: Thanks for the prompt reply. For the most part, I think TCM is doing a great job and has no real competition. I watch no other channel.
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Please disregard the references to Oscar month. I overlooked the fact that these films are being shown in January. With all of the fine movies available in the TCM library, why would they waste a perfectly good 4 hour primetime slot showing this drek? Why not prempt this for a couple of Shelley Winter's movies instead of bumping the Robert Montgomery films?
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Why are these movies being shown on TCM? I know that February is Oscar Month but these two movies garnered zero awards from the Academy. One (The Karate Kid) was nominated for best supporting actor (Pat Morita) but lost. The Bad News Bears wasn't nominated for anything as far as I can tell. So, they don't really fit in the Oscars category, perhaps these are what passes for classics these days?
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Very well said Crispycomment! My sentiments exactly.
Decotodd, you are absolutely correct! If we lived in Hawaii, all of this wee hours programming would be in primetime. I bet that you will never see a Hawaiian complaining about the schedule. You need to refresh your material. Your knee-jerk "get a vcr" or it many exciting variations such as "learn to program a vcr" or "there's a marvelous new invention called the vcr" are getting old and tiresome. I can just see you scanning the boards for programming time schedule complaints now: "Weee, somebody is complaining that they missed a good movie because it was on at 3:00am!!! I'll just nail 'em with one of my canned vcr comments...won't they think I'm clever!" You should appreciate that if nobody ever complained about the scheduling, you shills would have absolutely nothing to post.
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Speaking of Bette Davis movies being on around 5-ish (in the am of course), I find that to be all too true. In fact, it seems that TCM runs their most interesting, if not their best faire, between midnight and 6:00 am. Too often, they run two of their best movies of the day during this time slot and as a result, I can only record one of them. Case in point: "Rage in Heaven" (1/02, 2:15am) Mr and Mrs Smith (1/02 3:45am) while they show drek like "Parenthood", "Sleepless in Seattle", "The Karate Kid", "The Bad News Bears" etc ONLY during prime time. Those movies can be seen almost anytime on several other channels. I would take the worst June Allyson movie over any of these "modern classics" I do not want to sound too negative about TCM as it is clearly the only broadcast source for the movies that most of us on this board want to see.
Who is the greatest Child Star of all time???
in General Discussions
Posted
Poor Bobs Watson....completely forsaken in this thread. TCM was running a little promotion about him just a couple of months ago.
My personal favorite my very well be the baby girl in 2001, A Space Odyssey. A close runner up is a baby that never even appears on the screen nor is it heard, but is spoken of in "The Show Off" from 1926.