What Have You Watched Recently?

[mattingly]

Watched Die Hard 2 with the boy, still my favorite of the bunch (but all four are great).

There are only four Die Hard movies!

 

That final scene of lighting the fuel is one of my favorite movie moments.

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

The traditional New Year's Twilight Zone Marathon is on!

 

 

[slikmar]

Watched The Watch on BBC, first 2 episodes. I honestly don't know if I am better off because I read the books or if it makes more sense if you didn't. They seemed to crowd about 3 storylines together. Add that to the other changes (they are starting with Carrot arriving in Ankh Moorpork on his first day), but Detritus and Cheery (a 6 foot tall, cross dressing Dwarf apparently) are already in the watch. The actress playing the Patrician is good, but I have always seen him as Basil Rathbone, Christopher Plummer or Christopher Lee. I thought the actress playing Lady Ramkin was good and although not how pictured in the book, kept the spirit of her very well. There are other things, like Slab being acceptable if made by the Alchemists, not something that happened in the books, but then again - 3 stories seemed to be combined: Feet of Clay (where you got Slab really mentioned, iirc, as a minor part of it), Night Watch (where we meet Carcers, the deadliest thug in the city and personal enemy of Vimes) and Guards! Guards! with the introduction of the Watch, though I believe in this case the reason behind summoning the dragon is different, and, though I haven't seen any but first 2 episodes, I suspect the Auditors will be behind it, which wasn't even a Watch thing but more a Death and Susan enemy.

My comment about having read books is that I kept expecting certain things and when didnt happen, threw me off, instead of just watching. Also, no Nobby or Colon.

[Spence]

I know there are a lot of people who love Pratchett's world and setting.  But they have always been meh to me.  I am a huge British humor fan so when I heard about them I tried to read the books.  They were so boring I never finished any of them. I have also tried to watch the videos to the same effect.

 

I watched the entire show last night. I could tell that the actors were invested in their characters. It had a good production value.  All in all what should have been a great show.  But it was just meh.  They might have made a weird drama, but I could tell they were trying to make it funny.  But Pratchett is just not funny.

 

From what I can tell, if you are a Pratchett fan the Watch will be another great show.  If not, well it kills some time in the evening.

[slikmar]

I am a Pratchett fan and am not sure it will be a great show. As I said in my description, as a Reader of Pratchett, I find the blending of 3+ stories confusing, because I keep expecting certain things, and truthfully, I don't believe these writers are capturing his humor at all in the first 2 episodes. I do agree that the actors all seemed good.

I am curious, Spence, did you find Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy, the book I mean, funny? I always thought of Pratchett as the same humor, but in the fantasy realm.

I will agree that some of the early Pratchett books, specifically the first 2, were not nearly as good, but I found the rest not only funny, but in many ways, strayed from the parody to actually some pretty good stories. This isnt to convince you to read them, more just me. I find a lot of current humor not funny at all, especially embarrassment humor like Ridiculousness or a lot of RomCom and stuff. I tend to find thinking of myself in those situations.

[death tribble]

I actually met Terry Pratchett and got his autograph. I saw an adaptation of The Watch as a play with Paul Darrow (Avon from Blake 7) as Vimes. That was good.

 

Dr Who: Revolution of the Daleks This follows on directly from last years New Year special (this was screened on 1st Jan 2021) with the destroyed Dalek being salvaged and turned into defence drones. However one of the people doing the salvaging found organic matter and started trying to grow it which meant the Dalek came back to life. The Dr was in prison but was busted out by Captain Jack. Cue awkward meeting with the assistants who were left behind. The Dalek meanwhile managed to regrow itself and put itself into the 'defence drones'. The Dr's solution was to contact Daleks in space who found that the ones in the Defence Drones were impure and thus should be exterminated. The Dr then uses a spare Tardis to lure those Daleks away and crush them into nothingness. Two of the companions decided to stay on Earth. The story felt rushed and there are logic holes. For example the population knows what a Dalek is as they attacked the Earth over 10 years before when Tennant was the Dr.

 

The Land the Time Forgot 2009 This time around you get to a dinosaur island curtesy of the Bermuda Triangle. This version lacks the charm of the 70s film. It keeps the U-Boat and people being stranded at the end. But ultimately it is uninvolving.

 

The Anniversary The family have to come together to celebrate Mother's anniversary. Father is dead. But Mum is Bette Davis. This is a Hammer film and Davis is supported by a British cast as she tries to keep her sons close by blocking the marriage of one and stopping another emigrating to Canada. Adapted from the play of the same name. Davis relishes being horrid. You should to.

 

Lake Placid This is a fun horror film about a crocodile in an American lake. The bodycount may be low but the film is fun. It is also short which helps.Brendon Gleason, Oliver Platt, Bridget Fonda, Betty White and Bill Pullman star. If you have not seen this, do so. It is a hoot.

 

Wonder Woman (2017) Finally got around to seeing this. It is really, really good. Setting the story in The Great War was an inspired choice as people can forget that it was a Global War. They came up with a villain who could be a credible threat in WW1 in Dr Poison and made you think that Ludendorf was Ares. But I don't like the whole 'make it about one god' trope that Hollywood stuffs down our throats. I do like the whole Wonder Woman is the Ultimate Nullifier though (I know that references Marvel but hey). Worth owning.

 

They have had several superhero films on over the holiday and one was Justice League. No sign whatsoever of Batman vs Superman so stuff that happened there is lost except when it isn't i.e. Superman is dead and Luthor is in jail. I like the whole Wonder Woman saving lives in London as it showed what the heroes are supposed to do. Marvel has been doing this for a while and it is about time that DC showed that its heroes could do the same. I did like the Parademons but wonder if Steppenwolf was the right villain. What the Amazons did to keep the Mother Box reminded me of Red Sonja but there was a way out for both the villain and any Amazons left in the chamber. I am not sold on their version of The Flash. Wonder Woman and Aqua Man are good. Not completely sold on Affleck as Batman either. Superman was ok but I still cannot and will not forgive Man of Steel. I believe the intended sequel was to have an Injustice League with Deathstroke which might be good if it ever happens. Just as long as it does not have Leto as The Joker. The film has its moments but the Wonder Woman and Aqua Man films are hard acts to follow.

[slikmar]

DT, was the series on BBC anything like the play you saw, if you know? and I am jealous of your meeting him.

[mattingly]

12 hours ago, death tribble said:

They have had several superhero films on over the holiday and one was Justice League. [...] The film has its moments but the Wonder Woman and Aqua Man films are hard acts to follow.

 

Technically, Aquaman followed Justice League.

 

I finally saw WW84. 

I don't see what the haters were on about. I found it delightful, and may have even enjoyed it more than the first.

 

[Tjack]

    “What is it?”

       “Evil, pure and simple, from the eighth dimension!”  “Grab ‘em!”

 

    The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimention.

  God, I needed this today. I’ve been up all night, watching the news.  Watching Good triumph over Evil is soothing my troubled soul.  And I still say that Rawhide coming back to life at the end of the movie means he’s a Highlander....probably a descendant of the Kurgan.

   I still hope to be a Blue Blaze Irregular when I grow up.

[Pariah]

The Season 3 finale of Star Trek: Discovery.

 

Yippie-ki-yay, Osyraa.

[Bazza]

Cobra Kai season 3

[Pattern Ghost]

Just finished the first two seasons of both Doom Patrol and Titans. Both were good. Whoever put together the Titans trailers didn't do the show any favors.

[death tribble]

The Mind of Mr J. G. Reeder

This is a British TV series that ran from 1969 to 1971. It was based on short stories by Edgar Wallace. Mr Reeder is in the Department of Public Prosecutions. He reports to his boss Sir Jason Toovey who is larger than life and bellows Reeder throughout the show. Only two episodes were in colour but it definitely benefitted from black and white. Reeder has a razor sharp mind and criminals tended to underestimate him. The show is set in the 20s after 1924. It is more of a cerebral thing as you see Hugh Burden who played Reeder work out how and whom.

 

The Way We Live

This is a documentary about the planned rebuilding of a city. In this case Plymouth. So this was of particular interest to my mother and I. She felt it was not that good but you could recognise part of the city that would evolve from the ashes of the Blitz.

 

Ten Little Indians

This is the second film adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel. But it follows the previous film in what it does to the plot. The cast includes Wilfrid Hyde White as the Judge, Shirley Eaton as Mr Owen's secretary, Stanley Holloway as the detective, Daliah Lavi as the actress, Fabian as the entertainer, Leo Genn as the general and Dennis Price as the doctor. It goes along at a nice rate. I like the 1974 film And Then There Were None the best.

 

Shadow of a Doubt

Surely Uncle Charles is not a bad person ? This is the Hitchcock film with Joseph Cotton as Uncle Charles whose sudden appearance brings two detectives trying to find The Merry Widower killer. I think the romantic angle between one of the detectives and the niece was forced but otherwise the film is really good.

 

This Gun for Hire

Alan Ladd is a hitman hired to kill a chemist and blackmailer. However his employer betrays him with marked bills so the hitman goes after him. Veronica Lake goes to work for the employer in his night club but the employer also sees her and the hitman on the train and tries to get the police onto him and then tries to bump her off when she lies to him about her train journey. Ladd was in the titles as Introducing but really he is the star of the film. If yopu have not see it, do so.

 

Double Indemnity

The first time I have seen the film completely and it is brilliant. Fred MacMurray is the insurance agent, Barbara Stanwyck the scheming wife and Edward G Robinson is MacMurray's boss. The dialogue crackles along and the film just crackles. Again if you have not seen it do so as it is simply brilliant.

[mattingly]

Rewatched my favorite series ever -- The Middleman.

 

 

 

 

[Spence]

25 minutes ago, mattingly said:

Rewatched my favorite series ever -- The Middleman.

 

 

 

 

That was an awesome series.  Never understood why they pulled it when so much garbage just kept lingering for years.

[mattingly]

It was sheer elegance in its simplicity.

[Old Man]

21 Bridges. An outstanding crime thriller with a great performance by Chadwick Bozeman, who was so emaciated and weak it was distracting. 

[death tribble]

On 1/7/2021 at 4:00 AM, slikmar said:

DT, was the series on BBC anything like the play you saw, if you know? and I am jealous of your meeting him.

Did not see the series. Met him a couple of times. Last time I asked that he put in the autograph 'Oh No Not You Again !' To which he added 'go bother Douglas Addams instead'

 

Monster! 

This is about a small town menaced by a monster and only the town hero can save them. Only the town hero is getting on and would like his grandson to take over but the latter thinks grandad is a kook. M Emmet Walsh is the grandad. Plays with monster film tropes. The monster comes back every three years during a festival celebrating the town hero and the movies he was in defeating the monster. Which has to be killed a different way each time. It is worth a look and the monster is certainly unique. It is a TV movie.

 

The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James

This is an 80s film with Johnny Cash as Frank and Kris Kristofferson as Jesse James. It looks at the last year or so of Jesse's life and then what Frank did about the killing by Bob Ford. This again is like a TV movie. It is not spectacular but it has Johnny Cash.

 

Force Majeure

This was recently remade as Downfall with Will Ferrell. A Swedish family is on holiday in a luxurious French ski resort. The family are caught when it appears as if an avalanche will engulf the restaurant where they are eating and dad runs away. The fallout from this is what constitutes the rest of the film as both parents try to come to terms with it and the children fear the parents will divorce. I liked it. It is more of a comedy than a drama.

 

Skyscraper

The Rock vs the bad guys in a new building and his family are in danger ! I do not like heights so there are a couple of bits in the film that made me wince. The bad guy financier from the Dark Knight here is the guy who financed the building and now has terrorists out to get him. If you like films with The Rock then you should like this.

 

Enemy at the Gates

Finally saw this all the way through. A duel between two snipers in Stalingrad as the seige is well underway. Jude Law and Ed Harris play the snipers. Worth a look.

 

Midway

Arguably the most important American naval victory of WW2. After the US codebreakers get a hint that the Japanese are going to attack somewhere in the Pacific they bait the Japs with false information that reveals the target. The film could lose the romance subplot and have the Japanese speak Japanese as they did in Tora ! Tora ! Tora ! The film has a recognisable cast with major film actors like Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum and Charlton Heston alongside the likes of Kevin Dobson (of Kojak fame) and Erik Estrada (Chips). You could claim the Japanese suffered analysis paralysis and this helped lead to the US victory. I can watch the film quite happily if I skip over the omance angle which basically gets rid of Heston's character.

This is the 1976 film.

 

[slikmar]

3 hours ago, death tribble said:

Enemy at the Gates

Finally saw this all the way through. A duel between two snipers in Stalingrad as the seige is well underway. Jude Law and Ed Harris play the snipers. Worth a look.

If you've never seen it, you might look for The Duelists with Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel as 2 french officers during the Napoleonic wars. Excellent movie and the 2 leads are fantastic.

[Greywind]

Charlie Chan in London

[Michael Hopcroft]

1 minute ago, Greywind said:

Charlie Chan in London

Other than having a white American playing the lead (which is about as offensive as you can get), how was it? I have not seen a Charlie Chan film in decades.

[Pariah]

We watched the premiere of The Chase (American version) last night. The questions were markedly more challenging than an average episode of Jeopardy!, in my humble opinion.

 

And Ken Jennings as The Chaser . . . yes, he's super-knowledgeable, and a formidable opponent. But he's too goofy, too dry, and too gosh-darn nice to be taken seriously as a scary adversary. Certainly not like The Beast (Mark Labbett) from the UK version.

 

Maybe James Holzhauer or Brad Rutter will be scarier.

[Tjack]

On 1/13/2021 at 7:48 PM, death tribble said:

 

Midway

Arguably the most important American naval victory of WW2. After the US codebreakers get a hint that the Japanese are going to attack somewhere in the Pacific they bait the Japs with false information that reveals the target. The film could lose the romance subplot and have the Japanese speak Japanese as they did in Tora ! Tora ! Tora ! The film has a recognisable cast with major film actors like Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum and Charlton Heston alongside the likes of Kevin Dobson (of Kojak fame) and Erik Estrada (Chips). You could claim the Japanese suffered analysis paralysis and this helped lead to the US victory. I can watch the film quite happily if I skip over the omance angle which basically gets rid of Heston's character.

This is the 1976 film.

 

    There has to be some kind of a Charlton Heston/Planet of the Apes blew up New York/ Fighting the Japanese joke out there, but I can’t figure out one that’s not in HORRIBLY bad taste.   Good movie though.

[mattingly]

I keep wanting to design a shirt of Moses parting the Red Sea to reveal the Statue of Liberty...

[archer]

Finished Titans seasons 1 & 2. The last few minutes of season 2 was very disappointing: plot, writing, execution.

 

Just started Doom Patrol.