Our neighborhood Blockbuster is running a week long promotion. You fork over $15 and can rent unlimited DVDs, two checked out at a time, for one week.
This, then, is the perfect opportunity to settle in for a movie marathon. Or, better yet, to watch a good television series start to finish, one after the next. Have you ever done that? Just sat down and started watching from the very beginning and didn’t stop til it was over?
I watched The Wire in a marathon session last summer. Having never seen a single episode of the “highly acclaimed HBO drama”, I started with Season One, Episode One and was hooked. I had to join Netflix to ensure that I could get the discs in consecutive order and in a timely fashion. I was steeped in that program and deeply affected by it. 55 television hours later, it was over and I mourned its finale. I missed those characters for a good few weeks afterwards. The episodes were so compelling, the acting so good. Quality televsion drama is so hard to come by but this was good TV. Well, actually, it’s not TV, it’s HBO. (It’s TV, but anyway…)
I’m yearning for another viewing experience like that one.
Any suggestions for must-see films, or television episodes I should watch during my ‘free for all’ week which started today? I’m watching Weeds Season Four to start with. I’ll probably finish that tomorrow.
I just need to make sure I still have time to do some work, and read Infinite Jest.
So: I’d love some ideas! The Blockbuster girl recommended the series Dexter and another one, House.
I’m not interested in Lost or 24 or Heroes or True Blood. Sopranos I’ve done and loved it but I’ve already watched those episodes all more than once. Same with Sex and The City.
Maybe I should stick with films.
Or, I should just let the kids rent the movies and I’ll lay on the couch and read and read…
I've got "Mad Men" on my Netflix que.
There's two seasons of it.
"Set in 1960s New York, the sexy, stylized and provocative AMC drama Mad Men follows the lives of the ruthlessly competitive men and women of Madison Avenue advertising, an ego-driven world where key players make an art of the sell."
The costuming is supposed to be excellent.
Have you seen Calendar Girls (Helen Mirren)? Fun flick.
a movie marathon sounds like such fun…i watched the pride and prejudice series with collin firth and jennefer ehlie all in one day. it was so relaxing, but letting the kids watch spongebob and reading sounds pretty divine too…and that could last a month or more since there are so many episodes! xo, mickey
I like House, but honestly I am not sure that it would stand up to back-to-back viewing like that. I think the cases would seem annoyingly similar if you watched them all at once.
Did you watch "The West Wing" when it was on? Even if you don't agree with all the politics, it's incredibly well written and acted (especially the first four seasons) and something you could let the older kids watch if they wanted to. The first three or four season of ER are really good TV, too.
I'm thinking of a "Brothers and Sisters" marathon myself, but I haven't seen it yet so I can't say for sure if it is worthwhile.