What Have You Watched Recently?

[Bazza]

I can recommend The Captain's Paradise. Any film with Alec Guinness or Celia Johnson is not a brief encounter. 

[mattingly]

I rewatched the first two seasons of Sherlock, ending with Sherlock's suicide.

 

[Starlord]

5 hours ago, mattingly said:

I rewatched the first two seasons of Sherlock, ending with Sherlock's suicide.

 

 

That show is great fun.

[zslane]

22 hours ago, Pariah said:

That never really made sense to me, until I saw Quill react pretty much exactly the same way when he learned that Ego had killed his mother.

 

That's a pretty fair point. Unfortunately during Infinity War, Quill didn't have his demi-Celestial powers anymore, and he wasn't in a movie directed by a guy who saw every dramatic scene as an opportunity for comedy, so maybe it wasn't such a great idea to bring Quill along on that particular mission.

[zslane]

I finished watching Arcane: League of Legends yesterday. Now, I have never played the game, have never had any interest in the game (not a MOBA fan), and have no intentions of ever playing the game, but I must say that this series is phenomenal. The story is absolutely gripping, the characters are brilliantly realized and voice-acted, the soundtrack is stellar, and the animation is breathtaking. Everything about this series is of the highest caliber in my opinion. The events of the episodes stuck with me long after I watched it. Simply incredible. A second season has been ordered by Netflix, but since it took something like six years to get this first season completed (though at least one year of that was due to COVID-related delays, I believe), I expect to be waiting a good long while for the second season. But maybe that's okay: I wouldn't want them to cut any corners on this. It now has a reputation of the highest order to live up to, and I'd rather wait for as long as it takes for a second season that it just as good as the first, than get a rushed follow-up that is a pale shadow of its predecessor.

[Duke Bushido]

Lately?

 

 

This:

 

 

 

 

And I just can't stop....

 

 

[Hermit]

10 hours ago, zslane said:

I finished watching Arcane: League of Legends yesterday. Now, I have never played the game, have never had any interest in the game (not a MOBA fan), and have no intentions of ever playing the game, but I must say that this series is phenomenal. The story is absolutely gripping, the characters are brilliantly realized and voice-acted, the soundtrack is stellar, and the animation is breathtaking. Everything about this series is of the highest caliber in my opinion. The events of the episodes stuck with me long after I watched it. Simply incredible. A second season has been ordered by Netflix, but since it took something like six years to get this first season completed (though at least one year of that was due to COVID-related delays, I believe), I expect to be waiting a good long while for the second season. But maybe that's okay: I wouldn't want them to cut any corners on this. It now has a reputation of the highest order to live up to, and I'd rather wait for as long as it takes for a second season that it just as good as the first, than get a rushed follow-up that is a pale shadow of its predecessor.

 

I must second this. Never played the game it's based on, but it's still one of the best fantasy offerings currently on television in all respects. Story, animation, voice actors etc. I'm a soft touch sometimes, but I'd say not a single episode drops below a 9 on a scale of 1-10. Most are closer to 9.7 if not a flat out 10. 

[Hermit]

On 11/21/2021 at 3:56 PM, Pattern Ghost said:

 

 

We watched the first three Wheel of Time episodes on Amazon last night. Seems promising, but kind of a slow start. My main concern is that if they unfold the story at the current pace, it'll take about fifty seasons to get anywhere, and it will end up being mothballed long before that when Amazon realizes it's not the next Game of Thrones. They didn't spare the budget on effects, set design, costume design or any of the eye candy, and the actors are all decent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

First episode was the weakest of the first three, and only ONE change really ticked me off, but that aside; yeah, pretty good. I'd give the first episode a 6 on a 10 scale, but the two after were solid 7s. Turns out the showrunner wanted a two hour pilot for the first episode and was denied, which does explain why the first felt rushed to me I think. Some really good performances . I particularly like the ones for Nynaeve al'Meara and Morraine

[Martyn Webster]

Currently binging Vikings on Netflix - The Viking hero works out how to navigate to England and initiates "first contact" in a very un-vulcan like way! A great mix of history and low-magic adventure, with a bit of politics (GoT style, but with axes).

 

Also got hooked by accident on a South Korean (subtitled) series called Hellbound. Getting some great ideas for a fantasy campaign from this modern/near future horror story. A trio of demons come to fetch sinners after giving them a few days (or longer) warning. The difference is that they are not lurking in the shadows but begin very public about it... and social media goes wild!!!  I am at the stage where it starts to look like it's not just sinners - and maybe it's not about being naughty at all and is just random - which really sucks for those chosen as the rest of society thinks they did something to deserve infernal damnation!

 

Finally, a pair of movies, Army of Thieves and the sequel Army of the Dead. Strangely the stories are hardly related at all, with the first being a clever heist movie with a zombie apocalypse "gag" in the background, and the latter being a violent raid into a zombie apocalypse hot zone movie (more action than crime). The connection is tentative at best - I mean there is an argument that most sequels are just a way to milk some more money out of a successful movie, but the idea is that they are meant to be sort of similar in style at least!

 

[Pattern Ghost]

14 hours ago, Hermit said:

. I particularly like the ones for Nynaeve al'Meara and Morraine

 

Seconded.

[slikmar]

Finally saw New Mutants. Not as bad as people made it out to be. Thought the team characters were pretty good, actually. The villain makes more sense when you realize is the same corporation that had been behind the bad guys in Deadpool 2 and the X-Movies. Kind of sorry we wouldn't see more with these actors/characters. Probably would have made a better series then movie, though, especially as, I believe, the biggest name in it was Maisie Williams.

[Pariah]

Football. Lots and lots of football.

 

(The American kind, not the other kind.) 

[Bazza]

Actual football or actual hand-egg ?

[Pariah]

The American kind.

[mattingly]

On 11/26/2021 at 11:13 PM, Duke Bushido said:

Lately?

 

 

This:

 

 

 

 

And I just can't stop....

 

 

 

Dang, I should watch that again. "That was down-right Archimedean."

 

[Scott Ruggels]

On 11/26/2021 at 9:16 PM, Hermit said:

 

I must second this. Never played the game it's based on, but it's still one of the best fantasy offerings currently on television in all respects. Story, animation, voice actors etc. I'm a soft touch sometimes, but I'd say not a single episode drops below a 9 on a scale of 1-10. Most are closer to 9.7 if not a flat out 10. 

 

 Thirded, here. THe show displays some of the best Non-Photorealistic=Renders (NPR), on their characters I have seen since Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse.  The locations are steampunk like, but probably more evocative of Ebberron. But the voice action and how they handle the characters make the tragedy of the story inevitable, an competely understandable. The following YouTUbe has some spoilders, but they are in the back, and there is a warning:

 

 

[csyphrett]

Watched Encanto with the boy. Family drama musical with unhappy family being pushed to use their gifts without being able to do what they want.

CES 

[Pariah]

I've finally watched the first three episodes of Hawkeye on Disney+. So far, I'm really enjoying it. Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld have great chemistry. The action is great, the humor nicely understated.

 

I've also watched the first two episodes of season four of Star Trek: Discovery. The President is right: Captain Burnham has a pathological need to be a savior. If she gets Tilly or Detmer killed, I'll never watch the series again. Probably. 

[drunkonduty]

Just watched Season 2 of The Great; a not even slightly historically accurate telling of the early years of Catherine the Great in Russia. Lots of silly fun and very pretty costumes.

 

 And Deep Space Nine. Never actually watched it before (bar the odd bit here and there.) It strikes me as a less good Babylon 5.

[death tribble]

Fringe (season 3)

This criss-crosses universes as Olivia goes to work for Fringe division while Fauxlivia keeps Peter occupied and the shapeshifters are eliminated, the machine is built and the Olivias return to their respective universes with Fauxlivia being pregnant by Peter. The Watchers manipulate things, Bell returns using Olivia's body and the machine activates. You have to have seen season 2 at least to get what is going on but enjoyable none the less.

 

Crossing Lines (season 1)

Police from all over Europe gather to solve crimes that cross borders like a kidnapper who leaves murdered women in another country from where they are from and a truck driver fight club. William Fichtner is an American police officer working as a janitor in a carnival when the French police co-opt to help in the first case which is that of a man using diplomatic plates to commit murder in different countries. Donald Sutherland is the International Criminal Court prosecutor who gives the team backing. Fichtner's character was wounded in the right hand and now cannot use it. He also has a drug problem. So when the guy he shot him comes after him it cause problems. Kim Coates play said criminal (I liked him in Sons of Anarchy). This was easy to watch and keep track of. The guy who played Jagan in Game of Thrones.

 

Vampire Circus

When a vampire is killed he curses the villagers responsible. This is a Hammer Horror with no-one who was well known in the cast although several lioke Lalla Ward, Robin Sachs and Dave Prowse went on to become famous in other work. It is an interesting vampire film with the twist being people are lured away to be killed.

 

The Blood on Satan's Claw

After a peasant unearths an odd skull while ploughing the children turn to a demon worship and kill others in the local village. Also the first time I have seen the torch wielding mob do the right thing as the local judge leads them into action to stop the cult. Patrick Wymark plays the judge. It is an odd horror set in the 178th century with people growing the skin of the demon on their bodies. Worth a look though. 

 

Inseminoid

An odd British made sci fi horror with an expedition suddenly having to fight for their lives after one of their number is killed in an explosion and his colleague is infected and goes mad. This leads to the accidental death of a third, the disembowelling of a fourth and the assault on a fifth who is made pregnant by an alien. She then goes mad and kills other members of the expedition and destroys the base. It takes the pregnancy and descent into madness of the woman seriously which otherwise could have undermined it.

 

The Last Hard Men

A group escape a chain gang and supposedly head for buried cash when in truth they are after an Arizona Ranger. This is one of the nasty Westerns of the 70s where bad things happen in this case the rape of the Ranger's daughter. James Coburn plays the head convict with Charlton Heston playing the Ranger. I had not heard of this film but it bears at least one look.

[Spence]

17 hours ago, drunkonduty said:

 

 And Deep Space Nine. Never actually watched it before (bar the odd bit here and there.) It strikes me as a less good Babylon 5.

I've watched both multiple times and tend to flip flop on which one I like better.

 

Both have outstanding cast and story and both have abysmal cast and story.  It depends on the episode I guess

[death tribble]

Secret Rites

This is a documentary looking at witchcraft and talking to the chief witch of Europe. Less about evil worship and more about what it actually meant to be a witch in Britain in the 60s and 70s

 

Dracula

This is the Jack Palance version from the 1970s and it is not that bad. Palance is the Count and makes a good job of it If you have not seen it, try and get a look.

 

Zoltan Hound of Dracula

This is really only for the horror completist. When Dracula is prevented from claiming a victim by a dog barking he bites said hound and also enslaves its master. When the Romanian Army uncover the crypt of the Draculas the dog revives as does his master who can operate in daylight. They travel to America to find the last of the Dracula line and turn him into a vampire. It is low on the death count even if you include the dogs that are turned into vampire hounds.

 

Farewell My Lovely

This is the Robert Mitchum version with Sylvester Stallone as a hood and Charlotte Rampling as the femme fatale. Jack O'Halloran plays the hood who hires Mitchum's Marlowe to find his Velma. Harry Dean Stanton and antony Zerbe are also in the cast. The 1944 version is better but this one goes along nicely.

 

Island of Terror

Peter Cushing and Edward Judd are the experts called in to a remote island when a body is found missing its bones. Researchers looking for a cure for cancer have instead created a bone eating monster. Cushing plays second fiddle to Judd with great ease. It's not a great film but Cushing makes this very watchable.

 

The French Connection 2

Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman) has come to Marseilles to catch Frog 1 (Fernando Rey) from the first film. What he does not know is that he is being used as bait by his superiors in America and the French. Charnier (Rey) meanwhile is setting up new routes and methods to transport drugs. After causing the death of a French undercover, Doyle goes all around Marseilles looking for Charnier who eventually spots him before he himself is spotted. He gets his minions to grab Doyle and they drug him. After interrogating him and finding he knows nothing other than the fact he is the only one who saw Charnier up close, he is dumped outside police headquarters, The French ppolice who tried and failed to locate him now take him through cold turkey as they do not want him registered in a hospital. After recovering Doyle goes looking for the place he was drugged and sets fire to it. This allows the police to catch some of the gang and leads to a ship which is being used to transport the drugs by attaching it to the hull. After a French police inspector is killed in the resulting shoot out, Doyle is to be deported but as he saved the chief inspector's life, he stays on as they track the captain of the ship. This leads to Charnier and the gang and the police engage in a shoot out while Charnier flees. Doyle pursues him, even chasing a bus on foot. Charnier almost escapes but Popeye has run along the dock and shoots him. The first film is better but this one is good as well.

[tkdguy]

18 hours ago, drunkonduty said:

Just watched Season 2 of The Great; a not even slightly historically accurate telling of the early years of Catherine the Great in Russia. Lots of silly fun and very pretty costumes.

 

 And Deep Space Nine. Never actually watched it before (bar the odd bit here and there.) It strikes me as a less good Babylon 5.

 

While I enjoy DS9, I would agree that Babylon 5 was the better show. I enjoyed B5 more than any of the Star Trek series (with the possible exception of the original), and it was one of my top two shows, along with Highlander: The Series, in the 1990s.

[Ternaugh]

4 hours ago, tkdguy said:

 

While I enjoy DS9, I would agree that Babylon 5 was the better show. I enjoyed B5 more than any of the Star Trek series (with the possible exception of the original), and it was one of my top two shows, along with Highlander: The Series, in the 1990s.

 

I've recently tried watching some of the first episodes of Highlander: The Series, and the best that I can say is that it's a product of its time. I remember enjoying it when it first ran, but I can't say that it has aged particularly well.

 

Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: And early birthday present to myself was a copy of the four Indiana Jones movies in 4K, which Amazon had marked down for Cyber Monday. The picture for all three movies is very clear, and the HDR color works well for Raiders and Last Crusade. Temple of Doom's color palette was largely shades of brown, so the HDR grading on that movie is largely to avoid banding artifacts in the darker parts of some of the scenes. The Atmos mix works well for Raiders and Last Crusade, and not quite as good for Temple of Doom. The set doesn't come with standard Blu-ray copies, but does come with a 4K digital copy at either Apple or Vudu (Paramount doesn't support Movies Anywhere). (UltraHD 4K)

 

War of the Worlds: 1953 version produced by George Pal. The audio has been remixed as 5.1 at some point, which is used to good effect for the devastation caused by the Martian weapons. A good watch. (Hulu)

 

Frogger: A competition show reminiscent of Wipeout! but with a video game theme, the first season has completed on Peacock, and I hope it gets another season. Hosted by Kyle Brandt and Damon Wayans, Jr. (Peacock)

 

The Great British Baking Show: The current season has just finished on Netflix, and it's one of the cooking contest shows that I consistently enjoy. (Netflix)

 

Ongoing series:

 

Hawkeye: I've watched the first three episodes, and I am really enjoying the series so far. (Disney+)

 

The Wheel of Time: It's been a very long time since I read any of the books, and I realize that the show's diverging from the books in some key ways, but it hasn't failed to entertain me during the first five episodes that have been released. There should be three more episodes in this season, and it's already been renewed for a second season. (Amazon Prime Video)

[Asperion]

18 hours ago, Spence said:

I've watched both multiple times and tend to flip flop on which one I like better.

 

Both have outstanding cast and story and both have abysmal cast and story.  It depends on the episode I guess

 

I believe B5 is better.  DS9 attempted to do the same thing but had the restrictions of the ultra good Federation that restricted most of the things that they really should have done.  B5 however,  only had the restrictions of Starzenki (sp) and the budget.  As a result,  they were more free to do what was needed to get the job done. In DS9, everyone knows who is on what side, where the enemy is, and what they are up to.  In B5, while one can attempt to make this comment,  the enemy frequently appears from nowhere,  attacks suddenly,  disappeared before your readied fighters respond,  and can be the being right next to you.