What Have You Watched Recently?

[Scott Ruggels]

New season (6th) of The Expanse dropped on Amazon Prime last week. No spoilers, but the good quality still holds 

[Michael Hopcroft]

The animated adaptation of Grant Morrison's graphic novel All-Star Superman. The film answers the question of what happens when Superman faces mortality and his time is running out. For an entry in the Superman series, there is quitea bit of nuance in basically al the main characters. Particularly noteworthy is the subplot where Lois has twenty-four hours worth of Superman's powers - and confusion on how she should react to t he fact that Superman had been lying to her all those years.

 

It further reinforces the notion that Clark Kent is as much a part of his identity as Superman is, if not more.

[Ockham's Spoon]

I realize this has been out a while, but I just finished watching the entire Good Place series with Kristen Bell and Ted Danson.  It is a witty, irreverent comedy about the afterlife that discusses morality and the philosophical implications of our actions and the motives behind them.  Lots of fun dialog, plot twists, and interesting character arcs.  That said, the last season was two episodes too long.  The penultimate episode felt tacked on and the final episode did a sharp turn to the melancholy and nihilistic.  It felt like the makers of the show got in a fight with some of the fans and decided to burn it all down in a big F-you in the final episode.  I really enjoyed the series except for the final two episodes and would say this was possibly the most unsatisfying and awful ending to any series I have ever seen.  So I would absolutely recommend watching it, just stop short of the last two episodes, which was a pretty natural stopping point anyway.

[Starlord]

2 hours ago, death tribble said:

The Death of Stalin This film is about the power struggle between Beria and Khrushchev following the unexpected death of Joseph Stalin. Round ups that were the order of the day which were mainly Beria's prerogative. But he seems to have underestimated Zhukov the Army Field Marshal who Khrushchev brings onside and they depose Beria and eliminate him. This is mostly a British film with Steve Buscemi playing Khrushchev. The film is banned in Russia. I wonder why ?

 

The wife and I loved this.

[Pariah]

BYU's 49-23 victory over Central Florida in the Boca Raton Bowl.

[mattingly]

I watched Pee-Wee's Big Adventure this weekend.

 

And yes, I meant to do that.

 

 

 

[MrAgdesh]

17 hours ago, death tribble said:

 

 

The Death of Stalin This film is about the power struggle between Beria and Khrushchev following the unexpected death of Joseph Stalin. Round ups that were the order of the day which were mainly Beria's prerogative. But he seems to have underestimated Zhukov the Army Field Marshal who Khrushchev brings onside and they depose Beria and eliminate him. This is mostly a British film with Steve Buscemi playing Khrushchev. The film is banned in Russia. I wonder why ?

 

Ah! Thank you for reminding me that I need to see this, along with the Lives of Others (2006) about the East German Stasi. I've been to the Stasi museum in former East Berlin and its a very interesting place. East Berlin is notably grey and concrete and very early 70's styled in terms of furniture and decor (rather like the Bar Bohemia in London's Shoreditch) The only outstanding feature was the telecom tower there which is in the style of a Red Square Minaret and was apparently built much taller than the West Berlin equivalent as part of a one-upmanship thing, comrade.

 

But I digress. 

 

I've quite enjoyed the Queen's Gambit series of late. The Mandalorian is great too. Its the best Star Wars in 40 years I think, with the sole exception of Rogue One.

 

[tkdguy]

I'm watching Season 7 of Spiral. Also, Drone Racing League.

[slikmar]

Putting this here, though hasn't (to my knowledge) aired yet. For fans of Terry Pratchett, BBC America, on Jan 3 at 5pm west coast time will be airing the first (and maybe 2nd) episode of The Watch, following the adventures of Samuel Vimes. Wanted to let folks know if they were interested.

[Ternaugh]

Back to the Future, from the new 4K set. It looks beautiful, and sounds awesome in Dolby Atmos (just be careful that you don't have the opening sequence too loud).

[Dr. MID-Nite]

Super Robot Red Baron- A Japanese superhero show from the 70's.

 

[mattingly]

When he gets up (he's a third shifter), the boy wants to watch Die Hard together and make it a tradition.

I'm so proud.

 

[JmOz]

Watching Santa Claus Conquers the Martians...

[Starlord]

Wonder Woman 1984

Definitely not as good as the first, but still watchable.  Seemed to struggle with tone and was kinda quirky at times.  Expanded her powers, occasionally breaking my suspension of disbelief - although casual fans probably won't care.  I give it a C+.

[zslane]

Yeah, I'm pretty "meh" on WW84 as well.

 

For me the first film was truly wonderful, while this one felt rushed (storywise) and lacked nuance. Moreover, the whole swapping of the Fish Out of Water trope with Steve being the fish this time just didn't resonate with me for some reason. And this rendition of Maxwell Lord, while very well acted by Pedro Pascal, was not very compelling for me, especially at the end. I felt like I was watching a movie version of CW's Supergirl (who solved a world-ending crisis in pretty much the exact same way in one of her seasons). Lastly, I think they could have done without Dr. Minerva in this movie; that whole sub-plotline felt so tangential--and largely inconsequential--that it caused the movie to feel unfocused to me.

 

I absolutely love Gal Gadot in the role, and I think Chris Pine is fine as Steve Trevor, but overall I just felt underwhelmed by this movie. I'll just go and watch my Blu-ray of the first movie again (and again) instead.

[Pattern Ghost]

I felt much the same about WW84. I think the movie had a pretty simple throughline, and all the broad beats of a heartfelt Wonder Woman story, including the resolution . . . but they had no real plan on how to get there. There was a lack of internal consistency that kicked in hard near the end that completely threw me out of the story. They set up expectations on how the world worked, rules for the McGuffin, and then said . . . it's magic! and just tossed out the established rules by the end. They also could have set up Diana and Barbara's friendship better, had them working more shoulder to shoulder in the investigatory scenes, etc.  I also thought Steve was used poorly. Not so much the concept, but the execution could have been better. I'll give it a C-.

[Spence]

So far I have only made it 1/3 of the way through and still need to finish it. 

 

Unlike the first Wonder Woman movie which is one of my favorite supers movie that has actual superHEROES.  The second movie seems to be a 1980's RomCom.  Or something to that effect.  

I keep expecting Reese Witherspoon to walk out in pink. 

 

I have been hyped every since I heard of WW2, but gods what a slog so far. 

Please tell me there is some actual Wonder Woman in this movie. 

[Bazza]

Like others, saw WW84, disappointed. 

Potential spoiler: 
 

Spoiler

 

As Marcia Lucas observed about the trench run in Star Wars (1977):  “If the audience doesn’t react when Han Solo flies the Millennium Falcon, this movie’s not going to work.” 

Similarly, the speech Hippolyta gave to Diana after she lost, should have been replicated in the  as she revokes her wish. The film doesn’t work without this.
 

Reason why is that the wish is like a short cut, and Hippolyta‘s speech is specifically the alternative needed to the wish-as-short-cut to do things in an honest truthful way. Without replicating this speech, the opening sequence has no correlation to events in 1984, and thus, no alternative to everyone who revoked their wish. This leaves the ending of the film in exactly the same position as before, except for Max Lord who finally acknowledges he is a loser. 

 

 

[Old Man]

Finished watching WW84 thirty minutes ago and came here to post.  You guys are a tough crowd!  It was longer than it needed to be, but it was refreshing to see a superhero use words instead of fists for once.  And it certainly wasn't grimdark.  It reminded me of the Reeve Superman films in tone, and that's not bad.

[Tjack]

    I just got around to seeing the second best Fantastic Four movie of all time....Incredibles 2. 
  The story had the characterization, humor and actual feeling of family that the last big budget travesty lacked. 
The people behind the MCU should give Brad Bird the job of screenwriting and directing the live action film in the works.  Also I think I’d be great for an Easter Egg seeing Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter and the voice actors who played the kids all sitting together somewhere in the movie.

[mattingly]

Rewatched The Adjustment Bureau. Hadn't seen it in five years or so. I think it still holds up well.

 

It starts out as a drama/romance about a rising politician who meets the girl of his dreams, then it crosses into the Twilight Zone.

 

[death tribble]

 

Carols from Kings A BBC staple this is something to see at Christmas and had social distancing in place. Silent Night in German and ends with Hark the Herald Angels sing.

 

Carols with Michael Horden A selection of carols and readings by MIchael Hordern from the late 70s or early 80s. Really good.

 

The Best of the Adventures This is a look at the British Adventures films from the early 70s. Once you see this you won't want to see the actual films themselves.

 

Gunfighters This is a Randolph Scott where he plays a gunfighter who gives up his guns after a friend tries to get him to draw to see who is faster. Going to see a another friend he finds him murdered and then people try to frame him for the murder. He gets away and investigates. And he wins. Why ? Because he is Randolph Scott.

 

Spiderman: Homecoming Finally saw this. Not bad. Not bad at all. Michael Keaton makes the Vulture very dangerous indeed. Not sure I like that Tony Stark gives Spidey one of Spidey's signature lines but they do a good job of showing hie inexperience.

 

Dunkirk (2017) This looks at Operation Dynamo from three perspectives. A soldier getting to Dunkirk to get evacuated, a small boat owner going to France to rescue the soldiers and a pilot trying to provide air cover over the area. It is small scale and good and really makes you dread divebombing by Stukas. If you have not seen it and are a war buff, check it out. 

[Bazza]

Marvel’s Phase Three films. Up to Thor. Also saw WW84, and Soul. 

[Ternaugh]

This Is Spinal Tap: Part of the fun is figuring out which classic rock band they're riffing on. (Blu-ray)

 

Soul: I really enjoyed this one, and the music is great. (Disney+)

 

Tangled: A regular re-watch for me. (Disney+)

[Matt the Bruins]

On 12/14/2020 at 3:24 AM, Pattern Ghost said:

Finished Hannibal the other day. A lot better than I'd expected. Made me hungry.

Not gonna lie, watching that last scene and how beautifully the entree was presented, one of my thoughts was "well, it's not as if they can reattach it now, so it shouldn't go to waste..."