What Have You Watched Recently?

[Spence]

15 hours ago, Scott Ruggels said:

. But yes, this is where the ridiculously Horny Bard became a trope, that and several others

It became a trope?  The trope existed long before the internet or even computers.  Not bard specific, but the horny adventurer escaping out the window has been around for literally hundreds of years.

 

And I actually didn't see the idiocy in Ep as anything but a really poor attempt to ride the coattails of older literature. 

 

I guess I should be used to some 20 something claiming that a concept is original and cool when we can literally see several previous versions.  Happens all the time in music, not the artist, but their fans.  

 

I may try to each ep3 tonight.  Maybe.

 

But you are 100% in RPGs being collateral damage from CCGs.  But when adventurer league went from free league adventures that were only available to the registered shops to just being the same adventures that anyone could buy, also had a negative effect on the B&M FLGS.

 

I do rememberthat they put out a setting book that someone told me was based on the CR setting.  But it was one of the books that sat on the shelf.  The Swordcoast book sold far more, at least in my area. The CR book was one of the few I never bought, mostly because no one that played in the shop seemed excited about it. 

 

Anyway, I think it is more twit hype than actual $ for product.

 

 

[Scott Ruggels]

Another exploration into Amazon, I found a Chinese Animated feature, "Jiang Ziya*"  What I have heard, is that the Director spent time at an American animation studio )Either Dreamworks, or Pixar, I am not sure), and the training shows.  Visually a very lush film, and quite stylish. Interesting character designs, but many of the shots are composed like paintings.  Because I have worked in animation I tend to search out animated films, as a form of professional courtesy, and I sometimes find gems like this one.  The story is quite Chinese, but it's very engaging to look at.

 

*Jiang Ziya was probably a real person, who served the last Shang Emperor, Zhou. The film pushes everything into mythical realms. 

[slikmar]

7 hours ago, zslane said:

If the whole point of the Celestials creating such a racially diverse group of Eternals was to assist in their being accepted into the societies they were expected to help, then it is curious that there was no Native American or Inuit Eternal. And since Eternals are androids, what is the purpose behind giving them any sort of human sexuality at all?

 

I think we are meant to disregard these deeper questions about the whole concept and just "go with it".

Part of the human/alien (since I assume the likeness would be whatever planet they were sent too) is that only the leader knew what they were really doing (She told Icarus), the rest were supposed to believe themselves to be immortal beings guiding the races of that planet forward.

[Lord Liaden]

9 hours ago, zslane said:

If the whole point of the Celestials creating such a racially diverse group of Eternals was to assist in their being accepted into the societies they were expected to help, then it is curious that there was no Native American or Inuit Eternal. And since Eternals are androids, what is the purpose behind giving them any sort of human sexuality at all?

 

I think we are meant to disregard these deeper questions about the whole concept and just "go with it".

 

Well, Salma Hayek is Mexican, and a large percentage of the Mexican population has Native American ancestry and identify as "Indian/indigenous" or "Mestizo." Looking at her features, I'd say she clearly "passes" for that ethnicity.

[Joe Walsh]

Meanwhile, on Boba Fett, the narrative wanders the Star Wars universe, slowly transforming itself into mush.

 

Is Episode 7 going to be a musical titled, "We don't talk about Boba"?

 

 

[Spence]

I haven't finished the movie yet. It is an slow slog of not interesting, but maybe it picks up later.

 

I really don't see any kind of issue with casting.  They were supposedly manufactured so they could interact with the native populations of earth.  So far all the scenes are either in modern Britain or what I believe is the Euphrates area, Babylon(?).  But the earth is and was more than just that area and I think they covered the bases OK. 

 

I question the purposeless injection of "look at how wonderful I am" idiocy of making one manufactured android deaf and one manufactured android in the form of a child.  There literally is no reason for it.  They could have injection a normal human aid/employee that was deaf or a child.  Or any of a laundry list of ways to inject their agenda into it.  But the super powered manufactured android who's purpose is to protect the planet until the Celestial hatches is going to be built at less than 100%!!!??? Yes the internet has already spoiled it.

 

Maybe she was damaged? But can't they self repair? Who knows, but the ham handed round peg in square hole was just more meh in the overall meh. 

 

I gotten used to the constant pointless and irrelevant insertion of romance/sex of all varieties, so beyond the fact that it served zero purpose beyond the producer/directs aforementioned "look at how wonderful I am" garbage. 

 

And before I accused of being an incarnation of evil.  I have had the same opinion of irrelevant garbage in action flicks since the 70s.  If you want to make a romance movie.  Make one.  Just label it so I can avoid it just like I avoid musicals.  But quit destroying great stories by forcibly inserting irrelevant garbage in non-romantic stories.......

 

 

Grrrrr.....rant over I guess.

 

But ye gods is the movie BORING.. ..

[slikmar]

6 hours ago, Spence said:

And before I accused of being an incarnation of evil.

Wait, your accused of being an alternate incarnation of IUZ? Why doesn't someone tell me these things!!!

[Ternaugh]

8 hours ago, GM Joe said:

Meanwhile, on Boba Fett, the narrative wanders the Star Wars universe, slowly transforming itself into mush.

 

Is Episode 7 going to be a musical titled, "We don't talk about Boba"?

 

 

 

To be fair, Episode 6 did have 70 seconds of Boba, which is 70 seconds more than Episode 5.

[Pattern Ghost]

23 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

Well, Salma Hayek is Mexican, and a large percentage of the Mexican population has Native American ancestry and identify as "Indian/indigenous" or "Mestizo." Looking at her features, I'd say she clearly "passes" for that ethnicity.

 

Plus, she's Salma Hayek. I mean, plus, she's part Lebanese.

[Michael Hopcroft]

I could only watch about four minutes of Eternals the first time I tried.  The MCU was inevitable going to run out of creative steam from making the same movie over and over again with different actors, and without adding anything signficantly thematic. At its best, it could fit any type of story (Black Panther was a political drama that worked spectacularly well, and Guardians of the Galaxy remains the best Star Wars movie of the 21st century), but now the producers are fatigues and seem to be going through the motions on an endless stream of sequels and origin stories.

 

The problem is how easily they have pushed other genres and other fantasy films out of the spotlight and compelled other producers to emulate them.

[Starlord]

I'm honestly confused how you give up on any movie after 4 minutes.  I mean, I've seen some bad movies, even walked out of a theater twice, but unless you're already just channel flipping at home, how do you give up after 4 minutes?

[Michael Hopcroft]

15 hours ago, Starlord said:

I'm honestly confused how you give up on any movie after 4 minutes.  I mean, I've seen some bad movies, even walked out of a theater twice, but unless you're already just channel flipping at home, how do you give up after 4 minutes?

I woujld never do that in a theater -- it's been decades since I've actually walked out on a movie. I sat through all of Super Mario Brothers.  Home is different, and I get too easily distracted. I have yet to finish Soul because I was engrossed at the time in conversations with my mother. I saw both Godzilla King of the Monsters and Godzilla vs. Kong in theaters because I know I could never sit through them at home and wanted to lose myself in big goofy spectacle.

 

I might want to give Eternals another chance, just as I want to finish Soul which is a much better film (the parts I saw were really good). But I really need the distraction-free environment a theater provides.

[Scott Ruggels]

Watching the Reacher series on Amazon. Remarkably close to the books.  Also Alan Ritchson makes a much more book accurate Jack Reacher than Tom Cruise did.  As a Mystery, lots of twists and turns, but there is also the satisfaction of seeing a 6' 5" muscle dude beat the hell out of group of thugs.  I recommend.

[Starlord]

Just finished Reacher also..thought it was excellent.

[Pariah]

Curling. No sign yet of Petey, the Sone Cold Penguin. 

[Spence]

5 hours ago, Scott Ruggels said:

Watching the Reacher series on Amazon. Remarkably close to the books.  Also Alan Ritchson makes a much more book accurate Jack Reacher than Tom Cruise did.  As a Mystery, lots of twists and turns, but there is also the satisfaction of seeing a 6' 5" muscle dude beat the hell out of group of thugs.  I recommend.

 

4 hours ago, Starlord said:

Just finished Reacher also..thought it was excellent.

 

OK, maybe I'll give it a try.  I'll admit I was avoiding it.  I have read the books and didn't want them to get a half-a$$ed "in name only" treatment, which is the new norm for series. 

"Remarkably close to the books" is a plus.  I will probably start it tonight.

 

As for Eternals. I finally finished it and I have to say I was underwhelmed.

The entire Tiamut sequence just failed.  From the looks of how small they made the head and fingers, Tiamut was far smaller (tiny even) than the earlier imagery hinted at.  Overall not even "it's a comic book movie" could pull enough suspension of belief for this one. 

There has been a lot of comments out there about how this would have been better as multiple movies or a TV series and I can't say they are wrong.  It definitely failed pretty much across the board as a movie.

Especially in the character development part.  They had a lot of actors that I have really enjoyed in other shows, but even they couldn't pull this one out. 

 

I haven't seen actors talent wasted this much since Lucas turned everyone into cardboard cutouts in the prequel trilogy. 

 

[slikmar]

10 hours ago, Scott Ruggels said:

Watching the Reacher series on Amazon. Remarkably close to the books.  Also Alan Ritchson makes a much more book accurate Jack Reacher than Tom Cruise did.  As a Mystery, lots of twists and turns, but there is also the satisfaction of seeing a 6' 5" muscle dude beat the hell out of group of thugs.  I recommend.

 

9 hours ago, Starlord said:

Just finished Reacher also..thought it was excellent.

Glad to hear it. I enjoy the series and was hoping. all reviews had said was much closer to the reacher in the book and the first season follows The Killing Floor. looking forward to watching.

The actor playing Reacher is actually 6'2", but they went out of their way to film him from lower angles and stuff to make him look even bigger then he is, and anyone who saw Titans and his portrayal of Hawk know he is not a small man.

[Ternaugh]

I, Robot: "Inspired by the Isaac Asimov book". Ignore that, and it's a pretty good action/SF movie that has more to do with Caves of Steel than the titular book. (HBOmax)

 

Ghostbusters: Afterlife: I enjoyed it, and thought that the nostalgic touches were entertaining. I originally saw this one in the movie theater, the 4K presentation at home was better for the visuals and Atmos soundtrack. (UHD)

 

Dirty Harry: A serial killer stalks San Francisco, and Harry's all broken up about his rights. (HBOmax)

Magnum Force: Harry Callahan tracks down a squad of cops, who are killing criminals. (HBOmax)

The Enforcer: A terrorist group kidnaps the mayor and holds him for ransom. (HBOmax)

Sudden Impact: Harry stumbles on a series of revenge killings. (HBOmax)

The Dead Pool: A game where people list who they think will die within the year gets a boost when a killer decides to speed up the process. Has one of the best car chase scenes since Bullet (HBOmax)

[csyphrett]

It was Columbo night as the detective traps Jackie Cooper as a senator canidate that kills his campaign manager, and Robert Culp as a film creator who shoots one of his bosses and his blackmailer

CES

[Matt the Bruins]

On 2/5/2022 at 5:54 PM, Starlord said:

I'm honestly confused how you give up on any movie after 4 minutes.  I mean, I've seen some bad movies, even walked out of a theater twice, but unless you're already just channel flipping at home, how do you give up after 4 minutes?

I did that once, for the "comedy" Out Cold. The opening scenes were already eating away at my belief that humanity has any value as a species, and when the opening credits popped up I realized life is too short to waste precious hours of mine watching such dreck. I walked out to catch a repeat viewing of Not Another Teen Movie instead and have never regretted the decision.

[Spence]

On 2/6/2022 at 7:20 AM, Michael Hopcroft said:

I woujld never do that in a theater -- it's been decades since I've actually walked out on a movie.

 

I have a recent as '17.  Of course I haven't been to many movies in a theater since then either.  But I will walk out of cr*p.  Cr*p referring to a wide variety, but straight up bait and switch is what I hate most. 

 

I would probably have suffered through Eternals all in one go if it was in a theater. It was just badly made and BORING.  But not necessarily cr*p.

 

 

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Watched Cool Runnings last night. Never saw it before, and it's the right season, so... 

 

Cute movie. I can see why people liked it.  A bit heavy-handed on the ending, though. 

[Old Man]

No Time to Die: Had to get the blu-ray for this one.   One of the better Craig Bond films, but could have been shorter.  I have the sneaking suspicion that it was written in such a way as to support the recasting of Bond, but that didn't actually happen.

 

Boba Fett: Bold prediction--

Spoiler

Grogu chooses the lightsaber, steals the chainmail, then takes off with Ahsoka in time to save the day at the Alamo on Tatooine.

 

[Old Man]

Watched some speed skating.  Am now enraged.

[L. Marcus]

What, do you dislike ice?