They said that on average, we spend 9 years of our life watching TV. I must be taking someone else’s 9 years as I feel I spend a lot of time watching TV. Recently, I even took a liking on epic movies like Cleopatra, Ten Commandments, Gandhi, MacArthur, Patton etc. These movies are so long, there were intermissions when they were originally screened on the cinema.
When I bought an Alfred Hitchcock Collection, I became an instant fan of the man. I already watched those black-and-white TV Series he made on the 50s. Now, I decided to watch as many of his films without watching the recent movie made about him. Eventually, however, after attempting to watch really old films like “Lifeboat – 1944” and a silent movie called “The Lodger – A Story of the London Fog – 1927”, I thought, maybe I just better watch the movie Hitchcock (2012) and end my Hitchcock movie binge.
Having withdrawals on watching a great TV series called “Spartacus: War of the Damned” earlier this year, I googled “shows similar to Spartacus”. That is how I discovered the TV Series “Rome” made by HBO. I bought a copy of Season 1 on DVD and got hooked. Season 2 suddenly became a must have set. Still not satisfied, I also watched all 3 seasons of “The Borgias” made by Showtime. I am currently going through a similar European production called “Borgia: Faith and Fear” by Canal. Jeanne described watching the “Borgias” to that of discovering Santa Claus is not real. Her view of the sanctity of the papacy has but completely shattered. As for me, having inflamed my natural disdain of the church, I also watched the documentary called “Mea Maxima Culpa – Silence in the House of God”, a documentary on the paedophilia dogging the Vatican to date.
Surprisingly, the series “The Bible” has been advertised on free to air TV. Perhaps fitting to counter that recent negative image of the church. I watched the first 2 episodes but I felt that the flow of the show is jumpy, not smooth at all for such great stories to tell. I remember watching “The Ten Commandments” decades ago and felt that I enjoyed the presentation of story of Moses despite being such a very long movie. After watching it again, it inspired me to watch classic epic films. I started with Cleopatra, the 1963 version starring the young Elizabeth Taylor. I wanted to find out why it is one of the most expensive film created. The pageantry of her entry to Rome is perhaps more lavish that some Olympic Opening Ceremony. I also started watching “Ben Hur”, it’s very interesting but I haven’t completed watching it – I’m saving it for a rainy day when I can sit and watch it undisturbed for 3 hours.
Then I picked up a copy of “Gandhi” from a JB Hifi DVD sale. This is a movie that I have not watched because of my prejudice on movies that wins awards. Often times they are arty and boring, besides why would I watch a story about an old semi-naked man? But one Saturday morning, I put it on and I was mesmerised. The movie is long but every scene is important in telling the story. When it got to the Amritsar massacre , I stopped the DVD – something is happenning to me that I have not experienced in all my movie watching experience. I am actually very disturbed by the scene – so much that I got out of the family room, found a private spot and started to cry. I felt foolish doing it, but can’t help empathising with those poor souls who had to live through that.
Recently, I also got a bargain triple movie DVD set which contains : The “Battle of Midway”, “MacArthur” starring Gregory Peck, and “Raid on Rommel”. I bought it, of course, because of my curiosity about my namesake – Erwin Rommel. However, it was “MacArthur” and “The Battle of Midway” that I enjoyed and developed an appreciation on the great men and leaders. Father’s Day is just in a few weeks – I asked my daughters to get me the “Empires Collection” DVD set – a collection of documentaries from the Egyptian Empire to the the Japanese Empire. I’m particularly interested on the “Medici” which was featured lightly in the “Borgias” series. I have not heard of the Medici prior to watching the Borgia and very curious to find out why a section is devoted for it in this collection.
After watching Gandhi, I saw a copy of a History Channel series at the ABC Shop called “Assassinations that Changed the World” originally aired in 1996. This series must have been so unpopular, it is the first series I know that is not listed in thetvdb.com. This is the gold standard lists of TV info where software like Plex and XBMC draw their user interfaces from. As a registered user of this site – I put the series up in the database using information found from another TV database. The last segment of this documentary is the assassination of Benigno Aquino. When Jessica saw that segment, she asked me about our experience living at the time of the People’s Revolution in the Philippines.
Then there was Doctor Zhivago (2002) starring Keira Knightley as Lara and Sam Neill as the mogul. I must say that I prefer watching TV/Movies with subtitles as I want to understand the dialogue better. When this TV special was first published on DVD, it must have been as a 2-part mini series. However, the current version being sold now are in 3 parts without a subtitle. So I ripped the DVD into 3 parts – used a subtitle editor called “Sub Factory” and patiently synced the subtitles used for the 2-part version found on the Open Subtitle website. It took me all of one Saturday to complete syncing the subtitles but enjoyed every moment of it.
To illustrate the amount of time I have now spent on watching, here is a “partial” list of TV/Movies I’ve seen just this year (in no particular order)
Alfred Hitchcock Films
- Mr. and Mrs. Smith – 1941
- Notorious – 1946
- Rear Window – 1954
- Rebecca – 1940
- Rope – 1948
- Spellbound – 1945
- Stranger On A Train – 1951
- The 39 Steps – 1935
- The Man Who Knew Too Much – 1956
- The Trouble with Harry – 1955 (introducing a very young and beautiful Shirley MacLaine)
- To Catch A Thief – 1955
- Topaz – 1969
- Torn Curtain – 1966
- Psycho – 1960
- Marnie – 1964
- The Birds – 1963
- North By Northwest – 1959
- Vertigo – 1958
- Family Plot – 1976
- The Lady Vanishes – 1938
TV Series which I’ve seen every episode to date
- The Borgias – Season 1 to 3 (Showtime)
- Borgia – Faith and Fear – Season 1 (in progress)
- Prisoner of War – Season 1 (Hebrew with English Subtitles)
- Homeland
- Game of Thrones
- The Big Bang Theory
- Blue Bloods
- Downton Abbey
- Elementary
- Grimm
- Suits
- Spartacus
- Rome
- Call The Midwife
- Doctor Zhivago – 2002
- Great Expectations – 2011
- Hitler The Rise of Evil
Documentaries
- Assassinations That Changed The World
- Inventions That Changed The World
- Ancient Megastructures
- Mea Maxima Culpa – Silence in the House of God
- The Wildest Dream – 2010
Movies – other that Hitchcock’s
- Hitchcock – 2012
- Gandhi – 1982
- Cleopatra – 1963
- Great Expectations – 2012
- Operation Petticoat – 1959
- The Long Kiss Goodnight – 1996
- The Ten Commandments – 1956
- Life of Pi – 2012 (too bad seen it only on BD and not on cinema)
- Les Miserables – 2012 (Cinema and BD)
- Man of Steel – 2013 (Cinema)
- The Great Gatsby – 1974
- The Great Gatsby – 2013 (Cinema)
- The Bucket List 2007
- Samsara – 2011 (same maker of Baraka – 1992)
- Troy – 2004
- Dog Day Afternoon
- The Girl with A Dragon Tattoo – 2009 (Swedish)
- The Girl Who Played With Fire – 2009 (Swedish)
- The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest – 2009 (Swedish)
- The Girl with A Dragon Tattoo – 2011 (English)
- Avengers – 2012
- Iron Man 3 (Cinema – 2013)
- Side Effects – 2012
- Oz: The Great and Powerful – 2012
- MacArthur – 1977
- The Battle of Midway – 1976
- Raid On Rommel – 1971
- Battle of the Bulge – 1965
- Killing Fields – 1984
- The Longest Day – 1962
- Tora Tora Tora – 1970
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