What Have You Watched Recently?

[csyphrett]

Watched Bloodshot. Guy is given a false memory of his wife's murder and nano machines to keep him from dying and triggered to kill designated targets. And then he gets loose.

CES

[Michael Hopcroft]

On 5/16/2020 at 1:32 PM, Starlord said:

 

Four words.

 

Blue Falcon and Dynomutt

And, it seems, their new sidekick.

 

I might be interest in a Blue Falcon film where Dynomutt, while still wacky and accident-prone, is much more useful to his "master". His "powers" in the assistance of that universe's Batman would be quite interesting.

[death tribble]

Out This is a late 1970s ITV series about a recently released criminal. Frank Ross was a major criminal figure who was arrested along with his gang while attempting a robbery. On his release he is looking for information on who was an informer. It looked at the effects on him, his family, his colleagues, the police and his rivals. His wife is in a sanitarium, his son is being brought up by friends and the police want him back inside. His rivals want him quiet or dead. I remember seeing this when it came out and it is still effective today. Frank works his way gradually to find out who fed the police information and then why. If available on Netflix watch it. There are 6 episodes.

 

Danger UXB Another late 1970s ITV series. This was about bomb disposal in Britain. It starts with a new officer arriving at his posting where he will learn how to defuse and remove bombs dropped during the Blitz. It ran for only one series and mainly covered late 1940 when scientists were trying to work out how to safely defuse the bombs. It was the role that brought Anthony Andrews to mainstream attention. 13 episodes.

 

Van Der Valk season 1. This was a British made police story set in Amsterdam and running over 6 episodes in 1972. The theme went to No 1 in the charts. The Dutch liked it so much that they rigged traffic lights to help  production in later series. Barry Foster played the detective. You see some of his home life as he is married and has kids. Some actors who went on to be well known had roles in this.

 

 Van Der Valk This is a re-imagining of the series from the 70s. Van Der Valk is unmarried and lives on a boat.  Now played by Marc Warren. It has none of the charm of the original. This had three 90 minute episodes. Only the third story really had any traction with murder in fashion industry in the foreground while the son of an imprisoned corrupt police officer is out to get Van Der Valk and his boss.

 

Lambretta This is an Italian documentary with English subtitles about the motor scooter company and Milan where the company was based. It probably means more to a British audience as the scooters were bought and used by what were called Mods in Britain. See the film Quadrophenia for more details. This was fascinating.

 

Silver Bears This is a Michael Caine film about a mob accountant who wants to launder money using a bank. Louis Jourdan is an Italian prince who helps broker the deal and helps to set up a deal regarding Iranian silver. An American bank wanting to expand into Europe decides to buy the bank causing further problems. Not a great film but not a bad one. Made and set in pre-revolutionary Iran.

[death tribble]

A Field in England This is a black and white film made in 2013 set during the English Civil War. Several people escape a battle and try to make it to a pub but then get dragged into helping an alchemist. A trifle bizarre but I liked it.

 

Port of New York This is about US Customs going after narcotics trafficers in 1949. Yul Brynner is the villain. And you see Yul with hair. A period piece.

 

Cloak and Dagger This is a 1946 Gary Cooper film where he plays a scientist spirited into Europe to stop German work on a potential A-bomb. It is a little dated but works nonetheless.

 

The Enforcer 1951. This is a Bogart film in which he plays an Assistant DA who come across an organisation akin to Meyer Lansky's Murder Inc.

 

Scotland Yard Investigator The Mona Lisa has been stolen and Scotland Yard must find it before the French find out as it was hidden in Britain during the war.

 

Carve Her Name With Pride This is about the short wartime career of Violette Szabo who was executed by the Germans in February 1945. Released in the 50s it was one of a number of British films based on the war. 

[death tribble]

The Greasy Strangler This is a weird film that I am certain will divide opinion. It concerns a father and son who run disco tours in their town. However the Greasy Strangler goes out killing people. This is a figure covered in grease and they get clean in a car wash watched over at night by a blind man. A bizarre curio.

 

The Captain's Table A cruise ship get a new captain who previously worked on cargo ships. The captain thus has social obligations which are difficult to deal with. The Carry On team did this sort of thing better.

 

Edge of Darkness This is the 2010 Mel Gibson film a remake of the 80s British TV series. A Boston cop sees his daughter murdered and then discovers she is radioactive. What happened to her and who is behind it ? The TV series was better but this is not bad.

 

Doomwatch A scientist is dispatched to a Cornish island to monitor possible pollution levels. He finds the locals unfriendly and aggressive which he finds is linked to illegal dumping which has affected the fish in the vicinity.

 

The Four Feathers Considered the best version of the tale this comes from 1939 and has Ralph Richardson as one of the four people who hand a white feather to an officer who resigns her commission just before the Sudan campaign organised by Kitchener. The man travels to Egypt to redeem his life.

 

The Man who Fell to Earth David Bowie is an alien trying to make money so that he can save his own people. a one off.

[slikmar]

6 hours ago, death tribble said:

The Four Feathers Considered the best version of the tale this comes from 1939 and has Ralph Richardson as one of the four people who hand a white feather to an officer who resigns her commission just before the Sudan campaign organised by Kitchener. The man travels to Egypt to redeem his life.

It is the version, when it is on, I will flip on to watch.

[Spence]

I re-watched some of the WW2 Comedy Dramas.

The Wackiest Ship In The Army - 1961 Jack Lemon.  Great little gem taking place in the south pacific in WW2.

Operation Petticoat - 1959 Cary Grant and Tony Curtis.  A WW2 Submarine comedy

 

And some older WW2 Dramas.

Midway - 1976 A truly all star cast of the 70's.  Too many to list here.

In Harm's Way - 1965 Another show with a great cast that includes John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Patricia Neal, Tom Tryon, Paula Prentiss, Burgess Meredith and many many more.

 

Civil war movies based on the novels, even though Gettysburg was written and made first, Gods and Generals takes place before Gettysburg.

Gods and Generals (Extended Director's Cut) - 2003 based on the historical novel Gods and Generals by Jeffery Sharra

Gettysburg: Extended Edition -1993 based on the historical novel The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

 

The Last Starfighter - 1984.  Still one of my favorite scifi-lite movies.

 

The Titans Season 1 - the new DC network show on video.  I'm up to Episode 5 and as a stand-alone series it is not bad.  But they are only make very cursory nods to the actual characters.  The Teen Titans were one of the few DC titles I enjoyed back when they were still publishing comics, 80's/90's.  I havn't been able to take the new messes so I can't comment on them.  But all the characters except Robin have been seriously destroyed/nerfed. 

Beastboy is not a bad casting, but he has been turned into a one trick pony with only one animal form and a painfully slow transformation.

Ravin is also not a bad casting, but this version of the character has had none of the training or knowledge she had before coming to earth.  Instead she is a teen raised in Detroit with zero knowledge or training.

Starfire is played by a talented actress who is completely miscast. This Starfire has also been completely transformed from well trained Tamaranian warrior princess to a character with total amnesia that literally is dressed like the very bad stereotype of a 1970's street hooker. 

Now the show is well written and acted, but it is more like they completely wrote a new super's series and then the studio told them to go back and make the main characters the Teen Titans.  If you had never heard of the Teen Titans then you probably wouldn't notice.  But if you actually liked them, it makes the show difficult to watch.

[tkdguy]

Murder by the Lake, a German-Austrian series set around Lake Constance.

[Starlord]

Been bingewatching the show Community on Netflix and just finished season 2.  Wow, what a great comedy.  I can't believe I'd never even heard of it till 3 weeks ago.

[Jeffrywith1e]

3 hours ago, Starlord said:

Been bingewatching the show Community on Netflix and just finished season 2.  Wow, what a great comedy.  I can't believe I'd never even heard of it till 3 weeks ago.

 

We watched this and then something shifts for season 5 or after season 5, I can't remember when. The whole tone of the show changed not for the better and we had to stop. But up until then, absolutely. Fantastic show. Incidentally, it was the D&D episode that brought me on board to watch the rest (up until 5 or whatever).

[Scott Ruggels]

Upload (Amazon Prime). Software developer is fatally injured in a self driving car accident, and his consciousness is uploaded, by his girlfriend, into a “digital heaven”, that like any mmo, has glitches. Humorous, but deeper than the commercials portray. 
 

Waco (Netflix), a surprisingly even handed drama about the Branch Davidian stand-off. Based on two books by participants. 
 

Avatar:The Last Airbender (Netflix). I did not see this show in first run. So on a friend’s recommendation, I have started watching it. Surprisingly dense, and balanced story for a supposed kids show. Good for ideas for FH. 

[Ternaugh]

Batman Begins: Excellent take on a familiar superhero, with an amazing supporting cast. (Hulu)

[Jeffrywith1e]

1 hour ago, Scott Ruggels said:

Avatar:The Last Airbender (Netflix). I did not see this show in first run. So on a friend’s recommendation, I have started watching it. Surprisingly dense, and balanced story for a supposed kids show. Good for ideas for FH. 

 

So good! Keep going after. Korra is almost almost just as good!

[csyphrett]

Watched Wise Man's Grandson. Shin Walford is brought up by an adopted grandfather Merlin Walford as a prodigy wizard. When he reaches his majority, it is decided that he should go through magic school since he hasn't dealt with other people as peers. Naturally trouble starts as Shin starts training his classmates to help defend the kingdom.

 

Favorite part is the entrance exam. The other potential trainees can barely light their target dummies. Shin blows his up and the wall behind it

CES  

[Pariah]

On 5/18/2020 at 11:53 AM, death tribble said:

Danger UXB Another late 1970s ITV series. This was about bomb disposal in Britain. It starts with a new officer arriving at his posting where he will learn how to defuse and remove bombs dropped during the Blitz. It ran for only one series and mainly covered late 1940 when scientists were trying to work out how to safely defuse the bombs. It was the role that brought Anthony Andrews to mainstream attention. 13 episodes.

 

I remember watching this on PBS with my parents back in the day. Great series.

[Lord Liaden]

On 5/15/2020 at 11:55 PM, Bazza said:

Watched the film Scoob, the first instalment of the Hanna-Barbera shared universe. Can’t help thinking when we are going to get a Enid Blyton shared universe.

 

On 5/16/2020 at 2:06 AM, Michael Hopcroft said:

Why? I don't understand the appeal of a H-B shared universe series of films, and this may not be the best of times to launch one. What would the next film be? A Flintstones-Jetsons crossover?

 

I could so get behind a shared universe of Hannah-Barbera's super series from the 1960s. Space Ghost. Birdman. The Herculoids. The Mighty Mightor. The Galaxy Trio. Samson and Goliath. Shazan! Space Ghost actually crossed over with several of those, so the precedent is there.

[Cancer]

Currently plugged into the livestream for the manned SpaceX launch nominally scheduled for 15 minutes from now, but they seem to be headed into a weather-induced launch scrub.

 

Yup, scrubbed at 1:17 PDT.

[L. Marcus]

... Nerts. Alright, who picked the weather portfolio?

[Cancer]

... it's Florida, man.

[Ternaugh]

Holey Moley season 2 premiere via Hulu. 

 

 

[slikmar]

7 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

 

I could so get behind a shared universe of Hannah-Barbera's super series from the 1960s. Space Ghost. Birdman. The Herculoids. The Mighty Mightor. The Galaxy Trio. Samson and Goliath. Shazan! Space Ghost actually crossed over with several of those, so the precedent is there.

I would highly recommend, if you didnt read it when it came out the Future Quest. It had all of them but Shazam, but added The Impossibles and Frankenstein JR. to your list.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Quest

[Scott Ruggels]

9 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

 

I could so get behind a shared universe of Hannah-Barbera's super series from the 1960s. Space Ghost. Birdman. The Herculoids. The Mighty Mightor. The Galaxy Trio. Samson and Goliath. Shazan! Space Ghost actually crossed over with several of those, so the precedent is there.

Agreed. There were a lot of short crossover episodes

in that 1966-68 time frame. 

[Scott Ruggels]

On 5/19/2020 at 9:47 PM, Jeffrywith1e said:

 

So good! Keep going after. Korra is almost almost just as good!

Oh man, yes that was good, and Aang found his Buddhist

solution to his end game dilemma, and I was supremely satisfied. Uncle Iroh is a treasure. Currently it’s

one of the top shows on Netflix. Korra will be next.  The creators are currently doing The Dragon Prince also on Netflix and there are a lot of tone similarities. 

[tkdguy]

Watching the LOTR reunion right now: 

 

[Cancer]

Something I missed when it happened in real time....