What Have You Watched Recently?

[slikmar]

Saw John Wick: Chapter 4. Appears to be the conclusion of the series. Loved The Warriors reference in the last 3rd. Otherwise, pretty much more of the same.

[Old Man]

2 hours ago, Logan D. Hurricanes said:

I really want to see JW4, but I can't do three-hour sessions in a theater seat anymore.

 

Unfortunately, those are the only ones that even tempt me back to the theater these days. 

 

Same, although the theaters with the comfy leather recliners do help.  I wound up not seeing Wet Avatar specifically because of the runtime.  JW4 had me wondering whether I had time to run to the bathroom at the two hour mark.  I didn't, and I didn't.

 

 

32 minutes ago, slikmar said:

Saw John Wick: Chapter 4. Appears to be the conclusion of the series. Loved The Warriors reference in the last 3rd. Otherwise, pretty much more of the same.

 

It occurs to me that this film was probably setting up the "Continental" TV series they've been talking about doing.

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

I thought that was canned.

[Old Man]

36 minutes ago, Logan D. Hurricanes said:

I thought that was canned.

 

So did I.

[tkdguy]

I took my mom to a live concert last Wednesday. Some of the second-year Adler Fellows (think of the program as a PhD in music) were the performers. The theme was like the Days of Future Past by the Moody Blues, except the sequence went from dusk to morning. The performers were great. My mom and I both enjoyed ourselves.

[death tribble]

Crown Court

Case 9 This involves whether a local councillor molested his secretary. Did he do it, or is the young woman who made the claim a victim of her mother's and her friend's revenge who have a grudge against the councillor ?

Case 10. A senior civil servant is charged with passing secrets to a man from an Iron Curtain country. She had taken information from the office but was having an affair with the man. 

Case 11. An artist is charged with fraud having sold a canvas to a rich American while the 'real' version is said to be with an Italian nobleman. Art critics disagree about the original artist who is not well known. It turns out that the artist had created all the canvases by this unknown artist. Which was a nice twist.

Case 12. A tennis player is accused of libel. He tried to commit suicide and left a note in which he accused the father of his girlfriend of performing an abortion on his own daughter.

This is one which a jury might have decided differently today. As with cases 9 and 10.

 

What We Do In The Shadows series 1

I finally finished watching down this. This has all sorts of fun. From how to deal with a werewolf to surviving a trial by other vampires after the vampires have accidentally killed their master and having two energy vampires who can survive in sunlight duke it out.

 

Last of the Redmen

A retelling of Last of the Mohicans with Buster Crabbe playing the Iroquois Magua. This would not be allowed today or it would be criticised heavily. It is over pretty fast and cuts out Uncas's father.

Crabbe does get to show off his swimming skills.

 

Maigret

These are more of Bruno Cremer playing the titular detective. These are 90 minute features which allow more of the story to breathe.

Maigret at the Crossroads has the detective investigating the murder of a Belgian jeweller who it turns out was a fence. Did a German kill him or did someone else ? There are only two houses nearby and a garage.

Maigret and the Headless Corpse. After a diver finds pieces of a corpse, Maigret investigates and finds a missing cafe owner may be the victim. But why was he killed and who actually did it ?

Maigret and the Judge's House. Maigret has been exiled from Paris for reasons that are not made clear. He finds a judge trying to dispose of a body. But who is the victim and why was he killed if the judge did not do it ?

 

The Ultimate Solution of Grace Quigley

Katherine Hepburn's last feature has her teaming up with Nick Nolte's hitman to eliminate old people tired of living. Hepburn has tried to commit suicide herself twice and happens to witness Nolte kill her repellent landlord and so she dreams up the scheme to help other old people. It's fun but I can see why this has not been screened in a long time. The film is usually called Grace Quigly but the best cut is the one I have mentioned. This is a dark comedy.

 

The Devil Rides Out

I was surprised I had not mentioned this before. Christopher Lee as a goodie battles Charles Gray's baddie in a battle between Christianity and Devil Worship. This is a Hammer film from Dennis Wheatley's novel. I have seen this several times and it is well worth seeing.

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

F9

 

Just awful. 

[csyphrett]

Watched John Wick 4. Once again Wick shows he loves dogs more than people. Also the callback to the first meeting with the Marquis was unexpected but shows how WInston is one of the most conniving guys around.

CES 

[Lord Liaden]

On 3/27/2023 at 12:28 PM, Old Man said:

John Wick 4.  A solid final(?) installment to the series.  It does stray into comic book physics now and then, mainly having to do with the amount of damage people can withstand.  Clancy Brown has aged extremely well.  The film is over 2.5 hours long and there's a very-end-of-the-credits scene.

 

The John Wick series has always been ludicrous in how much damage people can withstand. Since the first movie, Wick has gotten up and kept fighting after being pummelled, stabbed, shot, hit by cars, and falling ridiculous heights. Multiple times. But his opponents tend to stay down when physics and biology say they should.

Edited April 1, 2023 by Lord Liaden

[Old Man]

Rented The Whale, for which Brendan Fraser recently received an Academy Award.  Sometimes it's nice to step away from the MCU to see a film with a cast of six that takes place entirely in one apartment.  It was difficult for me to watch, because I have relatives with the obesity and mobility issues Fraser portrays, but it was still absolutely worth seeing.  I teared up, though not as badly as I did for Endgame.

[Starlord]

Dungeons & Dragons:  Honor Among Thieves  - Wow, this was a really fun and surprisingly good movie.  Some very funny scenes and great use of D&D-specific monsters and spells.  A dizzying shape-changing chase scene and great main characters (especially Rege-Jean Page's,  Xenk the Paladin).  Excellent Easter eggs - particularly the characters who appear during the arena scene near the end.

[Scott Ruggels]

I had fun watching this one last night.  Very convoluted plot, but fun.

 

[Grailknight]

Just saw Dungeons and Dragons and it was a fun ride from start to finish. They really went big on the SFX and you could tell they consulted with people who really play the game. It's filled with lore and the humor had me thinking of actual moments from my old gaming group. 

 

4.5 out of 5. I will go see a sequel if they make one.

[Bazza]

 

[Pattern Ghost]

If it only got 5 things wrong, that's pretty amazing, considering past attempts at live action movies in the franchise.

[Bazza]

Ed Greenwood could have gone on, but restricted himself to just five. He also gives the film a thumbs up and says that D&D players can be proud of the film and don’t have to wince about being a gamer. 

[Scott Ruggels]

D&D movie was not particularly woke in terms of the script, other than it was WOTC of a year or two ago. Casting however. .. (A Bit of BBC Stunt Casting) Script was extremely snappy. Made sense. VFX were adequate but uneven. Sets were very impressive. Lots of D&D Easter eggs. Displacer beasts moved like my cats when they fight.

[Pattern Ghost]

17 hours ago, Bazza said:

Ed Greenwood could have gone on, but restricted himself to just five. He also gives the film a thumbs up and says that D&D players can be proud of the film and don’t have to wince about being a gamer. 

 

Yeah, I watched the video this morning. I got the impression from the trailer that they were actually attempting to honor the material instead of just slap the name on something. Glad to see it passed muster with the man himself. Looking forward to seeing this one.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

2 hours ago, Scott Ruggels said:

Casting however. .. (A Bit of BBC Stunt Casting)

 

How so? I watch some BBC stuff, but not familiar with all of their shenanigans.

Edited April 8, 2023 by Pattern Ghost

[Grailknight]

Pretty much all English actors except for Pine and Rodriguez as the leads.

 

[Ternaugh]

Revenge of the Nerds: It's been several decades since I've watched this, and certain parts of the story are cringeworthy nowadays. That's a problem with many comedies from the same time period, though. It's a nostalgia watch, but not one I'll need to revisit again. (Hulu) 

 

Shrek: A re-watch of the first movie in the series. It holds up pretty well, and some of the in-jokes about Michael Eisner and Disney particularly resonate. (Blu-ray)

 

Kung Fu Panda: Jack Black voices Po, a panda who dreams of joining a group of elite kung fu masters. The story's solid, and the animation is good. (Blu-ray)

 

 

[csyphrett]

Watched disk one of Ed, Edd, and Eddy. Some of the antics were funny, but I had forgotten about how the boys were left as yard dogs by the Kanker sisters at the end of the hypnotist episode. There also seems to be a episode timing change as one of the episodes has the meeting of the Kankers after their first appearance.

CES 

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

9 hours ago, Ternaugh said:

Revenge of the Nerds: It's been several decades since I've watched this, and certain parts of the story are cringeworthy nowadays. That's a problem with many comedies from the same time period, though. It's a nostalgia watch, but not one I'll need to revisit again. (Hulu) 

 

I thought this had effectively been soft-banned because of that cringeworthy stuff. Very surprised to hear it's on Hulu. 

Edited April 10, 2023 by Logan D. Hurricanes

[Bazza]

Three times the charm…

[Ternaugh]

Maybe I should have watched Beetlejuice.

[BoloOfEarth]

Binge-watched season 1 of Extraordinary on Hulu.  A world where everybody (well, nearly everybody, except the main character) gets a super-power at / around age 18.  Not all powers are great - a guy working at a party store has the ability to exhale helium, and a woman seen at a bar can instantly change her hair color, style, and length.

 

Not a great show IMO, but entertaining enough for me to watch all 8 episodes.  I think it's been picked up for another season.