What Have You Watched Recently?

[Ternaugh]

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: "Tragedy tomorrow, Comedy tonight!". Sondheim musical comedy that's a lot of fun. (Amazon Prime)

 

Agents of SHIELD (Season 7): The Marvel Television series wraps up with a 13 episode season. It was definitely an improvement on previous seasons, and a suitable end. (Hulu/ABC)

[Michael Hopcroft]

1 hour ago, Ternaugh said:

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: "Tragedy tomorrow, Comedy tonight!". Sondheim musical comedy that's a lot of fun. (Amazon Prime)

My college produced Forum my junior year. I played Hysterium (the Jack Gilford part) and it was a blast. I still think that in my younger days I would have made a great Pseudolus (the Zero Mostel part).

 

Here's a story I heard about the film: when Phil Silvers was on location to film the role of Lycus, he was a lot of trouble -- drinking in excess, showing up late and/or drunk to shoots, and in general being very unprofessional. To get through to him that he needed to shape up, the producers had Jon Pertwee flown in. Pertwee had played Lycus on the West End, and his presence was a clear threat -- Silvers would be replaced if he didn't straighten out. Silvers got the message and finished the film, even though he seemed to phone in most of it, and Pertwee was given a small part in the film for his trouble. If Pertwee had in fact taken over the part, it would have been a great boost to his career. As it was, I think we all know what eventually happened to Jon Pertwee..

[Spence]

12 hours ago, pbemguy said:

Cowboy Bebop is really good. For me, anime has always been hard to get into, but for some reason Cowboy Bebop was just amazing. I would argue that it's the most non-anime anime ever.

 

Well anime is a pretty wide field with all kinds of storylines and visual presentations.  There are a lot of them that I really enjoyed, but for everyone I did there are four or five I couldn't stand.

 

Most of the stuff yiu find readily available falls into what I call Pop Anime.  Like Pop music, it consists of the anime currently popular in anime mainstream.  Many of which i personally don't like. 

 

I really enjoyed Cowboy Bebop and now that you have reminded me I will watch it again.

 

You said you couldn't put a finger on exactly why you liked it, so I won't ask.  But if you like CB you may like Black Lagoon or MadLax. They are not sci-fi, more like 80s mercenary on an anime earth.  But good character development and action.  They are also not trendy pop anime.

 

 

Edited August 14, 2020 by Spence
I really hate posting from my phone

[L. Marcus]

Samurai Champloo!

[Starlord]

4 hours ago, L. Marcus said:

Samurai Champloo!

 

Is that baby Champloo or dandruff Champloo?

[mattingly]

I've been looking for it for years, and I finally found Boris & Natasha (1992, Dave Thomas and Sally Kellerman) streaming free on Tubi!

 

 

[pbemguy]

17 minutes ago, mattingly said:

I've been looking for it for years, and I finally found Boris & Natasha (1992, Dave Thomas and Sally Kellerman) streaming free on Tubi!

 

 

 

 

Tubi is awesome.

[Pariah]

Toy Story. I first saw it in the theater with a friend back in the day.

 

It's just as good today.

[Bazza]

The new Monkey series on Netflix. 

[death tribble]

Hurry Sundown

Jane Fonda and Michael Caine in a 1946 set film with John Philip Law as a farmer just returned from the war. Fonda and Caine want the land that Law and wife Faye Dunaway live on a well as that owned by Fonda's ex-nanny who is African American. There is a great deal of the n-word bleeped out with Burgess Meredith as the local judge being deeply racist. As a result you can see why the film does not get much showing today. That and the fact that it ain't much good.

 

Laboratory

Aliens kidnap several people to perform experiments on them. The aliens look like humans covered in a disco's glitterball. Martin Kove is the most well known member of the cast. It is ok

 

The Crater Lake Monster

A meteor causes an aquatic dinosaur to come to life and attack people in and around a lake. This is at best a C picture but it passes the time. Nobody well known in the cast.

 

Supernatural 

This is season 14. I have never seen anything of the series beforehand. Dean gets possessed by an alternate universe archangel Michael and most of the series springs from this. Lucifer's vessel tries to bring him back while Lucifer's son Jack regains his powers and becomes a threat when he starts burning his soul away. Entertaining even if I came late to the party.

 

Batwoman

Batman is missing and a private security outfit called the Crows are protecting Gotham's rich. Katy Kane the daughter of The Crows head is also Batman's cousin and comes to don the outfit when her long thought dead sister Alice returns to bring havoc to the city. It was not bad and had recurring villains but it was a tad dark.

 

The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler

Leslie Nielson and Bradford Dillman in a sc-fi film where certain people have a longer chance of life as medical surrogates have been created so that they can have organ transplants. Dillman is a senator injured in a car crash and Nielson is the journalist who identified the senator in the crash and then tries to follow what has happened to the senator when he i9s removed from the hospital. Should have been better even in the 70s but not bad.

[death tribble]

Half Human

This is the American version of a Japanese film about an abominable snowman. The American bit consists of scientist John Carradine providing some linking narration. The snowman kills two Japanese skiers and an expedition tracks it to a hidden valley with a village that worships it as a god. A circus finds out and tries to trap the snowman resulting in the death of the snowman's son. It then goes on a rampage leading to its death. 

 

Dick Tracy Returns

Dick Tracy versus the Stark gang. After the Starks kill a rookie agent, Dick Tracy vows revenge and despite the kid sidekick getting in the way brings them all down although it could be argued that he was not following the letter or spirit of the law.

 

Stranger from Venus

An alien from Venus lands in Britain and tries to establish contact with all governments in a tight time schedule only to be betrayed by scheming politicians eager to seize the technology for themselves.

 

Chance of a Lifetime

British film about the workers taking over a factory and trying to make it work. Period piece set after WW2

 

Faces in the Dark

An inventor is blinded in an accident on the day that his wife was due to serve him divorce papers. As he recuperates in his Cornwall getaway he wonders if he is going mad as some things seem out of place.

 

Suddenly

Frank Sinatra tries to murder the President as he stops at a small town called Suddenly. The assassination plot has already been tumbled but not the where or the who of it. As the assassins hold a family hostage, how can they be stopped. Unshown for years after the Kennedy assassination at Sinatra's insistence, this is quite a gripping film and Sterling Hayden is head and shoulders taller than Sinatra.

[Pariah]

Game 4 of the Dallas Stars vs. Calgary Flames Stanley Cup playoff series. With about 12 minutes left in the second period, the score is tied 2-2.  There were three goals (two for the Flames, one for the Stars) in the first five minutes of the second period. Exciting game! 

[csyphrett]

Being going through uploaded episodes of Kekkashi and its okay.

CES

[csyphrett]

Watched IN/spectre where the heroes have to battle a ghost conjured from the imagination and internet

CES

[Dr. MID-Nite]

Currently watching Ultraman Ace and Neo Ultra Q. Mill Creek Entertainment's most recent deal means the vast majority of "Ultra" shows will finally reach the States.

[Matt the Bruins]

Hereditary, at a friend's after I was stewing over some dating app mindgames. It was excellent and a very enjoyable watch. It used enough genre tropes that I could spot several things happening on first watch that my friend thought were completely obscured clues/foreshadowing. He was also disappointed that the movie didn't ever freak me out, as he's apparently rewatched it multiple times with other friends to enjoy their reactions. (Son, my Dad let me watch Diabolique with him as a little kid and I was reading Lovecraft and Straub's Ghost Story before my age was in the double digits. It takes a LOT to scare me when it comes to entertainment.)

[Spence]

5 hours ago, Dr. MID-Nite said:

Currently watching Ultraman Ace and Neo Ultra Q. Mill Creek Entertainment's most recent deal means the vast majority of "Ultra" shows will finally reach the States.

 

Where do you watch?

[Pariah]

An Italian rugby match between Benetton and Zebre.

 

After 3 hours of Tree Fu Tom and 64 Zoo Lane, I needed something else. Anything else.

[Michael Hopcroft]

I just finished the to-date run of the Cartoon Network/HBO Max series Infinity Train. It's -- a roller-coaster, and surprisingly relevant. Not kid stuff, but superbly written and animated very cleverly and creatively. Each ten-episode season is a different story with different lead players and a different core theme.

 

I'd discuss it further if I knew how to insert spoiler tags into the current setup, because I'm pretty sure not very many of you have seen it.

[Dr. MID-Nite]

On 8/27/2020 at 8:55 PM, Spence said:

 

Where do you watch?

I bought the blu rays.

 

[Spence]

1 hour ago, Dr. MID-Nite said:

I bought the blu rays.

 

Aarrggghhhh.....the one place I cannot go. 

 

 

[Michael Hopcroft]

On 8/30/2020 at 11:45 AM, Pariah said:

An Italian rugby match between Benetton and Zebre.

 

After 3 hours of Tree Fu Tom and 64 Zoo Lane, I needed something else. Anything else.

My former employer is a major Rugby fan. He played in college and knew the game inside and out. We watched a replay of a World Cup final match, where the winning try was scored when a player kicked the ball forward and through the defense so he could then retrieve it with a clear path to the goal line. It was an exceptionally creative and exciting play.

 

Sadly there are not very many opportunities to legally watch high-caliber rugby in the US. Soccer is practically everywhere, rugby not so much,

[Dr. MID-Nite]

4 hours ago, Spence said:

Aarrggghhhh.....the one place I cannot go. 

 

 

 

I believe they're streaming on Movie Spree too.

[Old Man]

Cobra Kai recently appeared on Netflix. I’m only a few episodes in but I’m truly impressed by the writing. All the characters are entirely believable, and making Johnny into a (mostly) sympathetic character is no mean feat. 
 

Also on Netflix, Japan Sinks 2020.  It’s unnecessarily weird and doesn’t follow the laws of physics at all, but it strikes an oddly hopeful note given the premise. 

[Spence]

1 hour ago, Dr. MID-Nite said:

 

I believe they're streaming on Movie Spree too.

Thanks, but I'm not ready for another pay-stream site. 

I'll have to wait until I can find it either on media or one one of the sites I am already a member. 

4 hours ago, Michael Hopcroft said:

Sadly there are not very many opportunities to legally watch high-caliber rugby in the US. Soccer is practically everywhere, rugby not so much,

 

There is a ton of Rugby.  I just deleted over 40 matches because my DVR was overwhelmed.  Two Australian Leagues (Super League and Premiership) plus the UK league.  They were playing before soccer restarted.