Movie - Chinatown (it's basically music and sepia tones, but still awesome).
TV - Game of Thrones

I was sick for most of this week, so I took the time to re-watch a lot of TV. Mostly Scrubs, specifically the early seasons. This is the umpteenth time I've been watching them, and I'm finding some of the heart-warming moments a little strained this time.

I'm having a similar problem with Top of the Lake. Virtually every actor is Australian on that show, and the difference between an Australian and a New Zealand accent is fairly obvious (especially towards the south of NZ where the show is set).

Yep, the blackface number also involves Astaire dancing with the shadows.

On the movie front, I watched Swing Time, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Hoop Dreams.

The only film I watched this week was Birth of a Nation for my Film Movements (history with a fancier title) paper . The first half is actually a fairly good war melodrama, but the second the Klan appears it becomes impossible to take the film seriously. Of course it doesn't help that a whole bunch of hoary plot…

No, it was in Italian (it's just very poor ADR work).

I did, and we were really in with a shot until Day 5. The pitch was too flat, and we lack bowlers who can make something out of nothing. That said, Rutherford batted very well (as did Compton and Cook). I will probably be watching Days 2,3 and 4 of the Basin test at the ground - which I hope is as good as the SA test…

As I recall from when I read the series in my early teens, it got pretty over the top crazy (a few of them ended up in prison camps, a couple died and they started doing some fairly elaborate sabotage stuff).

Is that the PBS documentary about Glenn Gould?

To me, it felt like the same kind of script from every children's movie. Ralph is a very well-drawn character, but the plot didn't feel especially different to, say, Toy Story.

I was catching up to the AVClub reviews, so The Shelter, The Passerby and A Game of Pool, plus I threw in Eye of the Beholder for good measure.

Da-dum-da-dum-da….

Cherbourg is better than most sung-through musicals (and is one of only two sung-through film musicals that I know of) because it tells a simple story and tells it well. The only problem is the lack of motivic development, though the presence of memorable motifs puts it head and shoulders above the other example of…

This week, despite being the first week of the university year, was quite fruitful. On the movie front, I watched The Purple Rose of Cairo, Wreck-it Ralph and Deep Red.

This week on the movie front, I watched Cloud Atlas and Dead Ringers - as well as a trippy short film called Street of Crocodiles.

I second all the various pleas for more musical coverage in the comments section. I like discussing musicals with other members of the AVClub community, and would like to continue to do so.

The way I see it, Sweeney requires operatic voices to work. The score is too complex, and a non-trained singer could put the wrong emphases on notes. Listen to  the film version Les Miserables. I'd never heard the score before, and the singers kept on hitting vowels with the same accent, regardless of whether it was a…

I don't think the film version of "The Glamorous Life" is stronger on film or stage, but certainly sounds better in the recording.

Musicals
1. Sweeney Todd
2. Follies
3. Assassins - I'm in the process of buying the book, so this is just for the score.
4. Company
5. Pacific Overtures