What Have You Watched Recently?

[Ternaugh]

2010: The Year We Make Contact: Sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Discovery's orbit around Jupiter is decaying unexpectedly, and the Americans hitch a ride with the Russians to investigate, while a crisis on Earth threatens nuclear annihilation. It's a movie that I first saw in the theaters with my Mom back in 1984, and one that I tend to watch with some regularity. That said, there are certain elements that haven't aged well. It's a nostalgic watch. (Netflix)

 

The Gauntlet: Clint Eastwood plays a Phoenix cop, who is sent to pick up a prisoner in Las Vegas, but there are forces that don't want them to arrive back in Phoenix. It's a good watch. (Blu-ray)

 

Predator: The original, with Arnold Schwarzenegger leading a group of mercenaries in Central America on a rescue mission, but they become the target of an alien hunter. It's a good watch. (4K UHD Blu-ray)

 

I recently bought the 2004 version of Battlestar Galactica series on Blu-ray, and I've rewatched the miniseries for perhaps the first time in a dozen years. It flows amazingly well. I had to turn on subtitles, however, as the first part has the dialogue recorded very low, mainly on only the center channel. The sound mixing improved greatly in the second half of the miniseries. 

[death tribble]

I'm back with another large update so grab yourself a drink and get ready for this.

 

Seminole Uprising

This film deals with the cavalry chasing the Seminoles in Texas but the Seminoles are from Florida so what is going on ? The Indians have escaped from the reservation and have fled into Texas. An officer who knows he chief is dispatched to bring them back. The problem is that the fort they are going to has his ex-girlfriend who is the daughter of the commander and she is now engaged to a captain. The captain has gambling debts which are cashed in when he leaves the Indian chief's wife and son to the mercy of settlers. It is not a bad film but the Indian dress may be suspect.

 

Presence of Mind

This is another adaptation of Henry James The Turning of the Screw. It is not as good as The Innocents but it is decidedly creepy. Harvey Keitel guests as the kids uncle but is only seen at the start. Lauren Bacall is the maid and Sadie Frost is the governess. The action is transposed to an island in the Mediterranean. They change the name of the male ghost but when both ghosts appear they are suitably creepy. And it is disquieting all the way through.

 

Champions

This is about the jockey Bob Champion here played by John Hurt and how he contracted testicular cancer and then had to go through treatment while the horse Aldiniti was being prepped for the Grand National until it sustained a leg injury which might have resulted in it being destroyed. You see more of Bob's recovery at his sister's house and in the hospital before he makes a comeback and takes on the Grand National riding Aldiniti and winning it. The Grand National is one of the premier Horse Races in the UK and is the one for jump jockeys. Also had Jan Francis in the cast so worth watching. It is a true story.

 

Disappearance

This is an odd TV movie set in the US but filmed in Australia with Harry Hamlin and Susan Dey taking the kids on a road trip but stopping off at a ghost town that the locals know nothing of. Quite creepy and you never quite know what is going on. Worth a look.

 

Maigret

Maigret's Childhood Friend. The detective meets a man who knew him as a child and leads him to the body of a dead woman so he needs to work out who killed her and why. It turns out she had four men in her life including the childhood friend and is the concierge helping or hindering the investigation ?

Maigret has Scruples. The detective is in Belgium receiving an honour when a man approaches him as he thinks his wife maybe trying to kill him. Later the wife sees him and says her husband is a fantasist and to ignore him. Maigret thinks there maybe more to it and so visits the house and finds the wife's sister lives with the pair. Maigret decides to stay as he thinks something may happen and it does.

 

Mountains of the Moon

A dramatization of the search for the source of the river Nile by John Hanning Speke and Richard Burton. The first try is thwarted by a native attack which leaves both men injured whilst a second has them reach Lake Tanganyika with Speke also discovering Lake Victoria but the findings are not conclusive as their measuring instruments are lost or stolen on the way. It also has Burton finding a wife. A debate between the two never comes about as Speke dies from a gunshot wound during a hunt. Whether this was an accident or suicide is unclear but it could be either. Speke was proved right years later that Lake Victoria was the source but Burton is the one that is remembered. The film makes you want to learn more about the two.

 

Goldeneye

This is a 1989 TV film about Ian Fleming and his war service and how he came to Jamaica and settled at the estate that came to e known as Goldeneye. Charles Dance plays Fleming. It is quite good.

 

Convict Stage

Two bandits hold up a stage and kill the driver, his mate and the passenger a woman who they shot in the back. Her brother is a gunslinger who goes after them but the sheriff gets them first and tries to bring them in. However the bandits are brothers and their mother sets about trying to free them, having already tried to kill the gunslinger. The outlaw gang try to ambush the stage in a ghost town having cut off other avenues. It is a no name cast but is not bad.

 

The Law vs Billy the Kid

This is the Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid story but with the actor playing Billy being too old for the part and too beefy. It is otherwise ok.

 

The Boy and the Pirates

This is a kids film. A boy finds a bottle on the beach and wishes to be back in pirate times. The genie grants his wish but there is a twist. If the boy does not return the bottle to where he finds it in three days he will become the new genie. So the kid has to try and beat the genie and Blackbeard in order to return to his original life. It is not a bad little film.

 

Ghostbusters Afterlife

The daughter of one of the original Ghostbusters brings her children to their grandfather's place after he dies and they are on the verge of being kicked out of the home in Chicago. It turns out that Zuul is back as the guy who built the building in the first film was mining in the town that the grandfather settled in. Instead of Slimer we have a ghost that eats metal. Olivia wilde plays Zuul and the remaining Ghostbusters return with Ramis represented as a ghost. This film as a lot of charm as well as having a nod top the past. well worth seeing.

 

Easy A

This film from 2010 based on the Scarlet Letter shows how a lie about losing your virginity gets right out of control. Emma Stone is a very appealing heroine battling the puritannical Christians and helping other kids become cool or at least avoid bullying by claiming they were intimate with her. It is a short delightful film and well worth rewatching.

[death tribble]

How remiss of me !

I missed one but maybe this one needs a bit more on its own although usually I would not do this.

Manhunt

This is a British TV series that ran for only one season as it could not really be drawn out any longer. It ran for 26 episodes filmed in colour in 1969. As far as I know It was not repeated as I only ever saw one episode which was reshown as it was special but more of that later. One reason for the non-repeats I believe was that it was rather bleak all the way through.

The kick off and main storyline is that a pilot is shot down in France and has to get away back to Britain. Also a French woman has escaped Paris after the Resistance meeting she was attending was ambushed by the Germans and all the other people present from the Resistance and the British agent in charge are all killed. The woman has the names of a lot of the Resistance people working in France so it is vital that she be taken to Britain or killed. The year is 1942 and France is split in two. The North is occupied by the Germans while Vichy runs the South. so if both people can be gotten into Vichy then life will be easier.

A continued theme is the death of Resistance figures who try to help the two escape. One of the leaders of the local circuit (as the networks were known) takes the two South trying to reach safety. The three bicker and the woman finds out that she could be killed if there is the slightest chance that she could fall into enemy hands.

The trio flee to the boundary with Vichy just as the Germans occupy all of France. The SS are pursuing them trying to work out where they are and then the Abwehr joins in as well. The trio work in an armaments factory and two of them manage to get out in boxes but the Germans capture the woman with the Abwehr Sgt being the one who interrogates her, rather than the SS. He releases her in an attempt to get her to lead him and the SS to the others. The trio end up in a nightclub run by a Resistance contact where the Abwehr Sgt runs into the woman and he takes off with her to Bordeaux while the other two find out an impending raid by the SS on the Resistance and try to warn them. This results in the Resistance leader being captured and shot by the pilot (who he did ask to shoot him if he was captured). The club is raided and the Resistance people there are killed. This takes us to half way through the series and then the narrative splits between the pilot, the woman and the Resistance leader who after recovering in Paris is interrogated by the SS. The Abwehr Sgt also becomes one of the cast you follow.

The pilot hides out with the Resistance and then makes his way to Bordeaux. The Abwehr Sgt catches a British agent put ashore near Bordeaux and he tries to use the woman to break the agent. The pilot is picked up and sent to work in a metal works in Bordeaux which a new alloy is being tested which is for the V1 flying bomb but that is not mentioned although you get to see the shape. The pilot tries to get in with the Germans running security at the plant but ends up getting resistors in the plant killed by the Germans when they find them listening to the BBC. The woman goes to a church to meet members of the Resistance but ends up being captured and interrogated by the SS after the priest is gunned down. Except it is the Resistance trying to check her credentials and that of a nightclub singer who seems to be playing both sides against the middle. The Resistance leader is allowed to leave Paris as the SS want to discover the escape route South and close it down. He contacts the pilot and they arrange an ambush for the security head of the metal plant as London also wants to analyse the metal used in this new plane.

The Abwehr Sgt captures another British agent and her radio set and sets about trying to break her but not using the torture the SS would use. He gets her to get London to recognise her and pass information. The agent manages to escape and they manage to send a message to London which gets the Abwehr Sgt arrested and interrogated by his own side which is nasty as they break his hands.

Now we come to the special episode where there is hardly any sound or dialogue except at the very start. The Resistance with the leader and pilot break into the metal works as the RAF bomb it in order to steal some of the alloy from the new plane. Of all the episodes this is the one which you could watch again as it is very involving and there is a lot you can do and pick up on with gestures and glances. The alloy is stolen but at a great cost with a lo9t of Resistance fighters sacrificed in order to get the alloy out.

The woman and the Resistance leader try to flee to a pickup with the nightclub singer on a train but it ends up being sent back to Bordeaux but not before a German SS officer who has run into them before hand is killed with his death being attributed to the RAF strafing the train.

The Abwehr Sgt is released by the SS and he tries to see the trio by using one of the radio sets he bagged from British agents as bait. He is partly successful but it ends in a confrontation between him and the Resistance leader who he is forced to kill for his own survival.

The last episode concentrates on whether the pilot, the woman and the nightclub singer can make it to a rendezvous and finally escape or will the Germans capture them. The pilot and woman make it to a launch but the Germans manage to kill the Resistance people with them and the nightclub singer.

And here it continues to be bleak as the pilot although promoted will probably not fly again whilst the knowledge the woman has is out of date as other groups have sprung up in the mean time and the pair will not be together even in safety.

 

I apologise if this is convoluted but the show became quite complicated and could not be continued as a going concern. Robert Hardy played the Abwehr Sgt while Philip Madoc was the chief SS officer chasing the trio. While the latter was playing true to type, Hardy's performance was more nuanced as he was a coward and very bright. The other members of the cast would be unfamiliar to most unless you knew British actors of the 70s. I can honestly say I do not need to see this ever again as it does give you a deeply unsatisfied feeling but maybe that was the intention all along.

[csyphrett]

The last of Breaking Bad. I admit that if I was watching this on my own, I wouldn't have got through the first three episodes. I thought that if it had been centered on Hank, or Gus, the whole time, I would have liked it better. On the other hand, the ending was a wrapping of loose ends that was fairly well done.

CES

[mattingly]

Watched the pilot episode of The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. 

The missus had never heard of it. She enjoyed it, and looks forward to seeing more.

[Bazza]

Watched the Tomorrowverse, now waiting for Crisis 3. 

[Ternaugh]

I've finished season one of Fallout, and enjoyed it immensely. Looking forward to season 2.

 

Top Secret!: From the team behind Airplane!, this one's a spoof of Elvis movies, spy films, WW2 movies, and much more. It's a great watch. (Netflix)

[Grailknight]

52 minutes ago, Ternaugh said:

I've finished season one of Fallout, and enjoyed it immensely. Looking forward to season 2.

 

Top Secret!: From the team behind Airplane!, this one's a spoof of Elvis movies, spy films, WW2 movies, and much more. It's a great watch. (Netflix)

 

"Find them and Kill them!" on a stamp is just a classic

[BoloOfEarth]

8 hours ago, mattingly said:

Watched the pilot episode of The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. 

The missus had never heard of it. She enjoyed it, and looks forward to seeing more.

 

Great show.  I'm very happy to have picked up the series on DVD, and have watched it several times.

 

My wife is from Ann Arbor, Michigan and we currently live just outside Ann Arbor.  When Jim Harbaugh was still coach of the University of Michigan's football team, I put on the last episode of Brisco County Jr.  for my wife to watch a portion of it, then asked her if she recognized one of the bounty hunters chasing Brisco.  She was shocked when I pointed out it was Harbaugh.

[Pariah]

I watched a couple of episodes of X-Men '97 when I should have been grading papers this evening. Oops.

 

On the whole, I'm enjoying this series more than I enjoyed the original. 

 

I kind of wish Marvel Studios would put out something involving Alpha Flight. An animated series like this would be great,or a miniseries, or a feature film. Preferably with the lineup including Guardian, Shaman, Sasquatch, Puck, Marrina, Northstar, Aurora, and Snowbird. 

[Bazza]

An Alpha Flight animated series would be good, if they get comedian Brad Williams as Puck, as Brad can give a little perspective…

 

 

[Pariah]

I'm about halfway through the first season of Enterprise. It's not as bad as I remember, or as the pilot suggested it might be.

 

But there is one thing that bugs me: the way the Vulcans are portrayed. Generally they're shown as disinterested, arrogant, and/or overprotective of their human 'apprentices' (for lack of a better word). But that's not the worst of it. In the episode "The Andorian Incident", they're portrayed as scheming, underhanded, and outright duplicitous.  It really got under my skin.

 

But in the plus side, we got to meet Shran. 

[Lord Liaden]

There is an attempt during the final season of the series to explain where the Vulcans took a wrong turn, and to bring them back toward what we're all familiar with.

 

I liked the premise that the series started with: Humanity stepping out from under the aegis of "big brother" Vulcan, getting out into the galaxy on our own. Making mistakes, and learning from them. Building the contacts that would eventually gel into the UFP. If the series had explored that from the start instead of focusing on that lame "temporal cold war," IMHO it would have been better received. Enterprise did seem to start finding its groove in its last season, just in time to be cancelled.

[DShomshak]

Last week I finished Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season Two. Much of it is quite good. "Those Old Scientists," the crossover with Lower Decks, manages to be at once very good SNW, very good Lower Decks, and just plain very good Trek overall. It also gives "payoffs" for plot points in previous episodes, such as operating as a counterpoint to La'an's time travel adventure, and Number One learning that she goes from defending her place in Starfleet to becoming the literal poster girl (ahem, woman) for the organization. This would go on my list of Ten Best Trek Episodes Ever, if I ever complied such a list, which I won't.

 

"Subspace Rhapsody," the musical episode, was an engagingly wacky romp with a substrate of important character development. The only way it could have been better came in Spock's explanation of why they keep bursting into song (with music from nowhere): After the technobabble, he could have added, "Or some unknown but nigh-omnipotent entity is... messing with us." Kirk groans, "Again?" Spock" "Indeed. If so, we can only hope the situation -- absurd as it is -- operates according to internally consistent principles by which it may be resolved."

 

OTOH some episodes relied on Trek-tropes I find irritating, such as the hitherto-unknown form of radiation that has bizarrely specific effects. (And associated with unknown elements, to boot.) Or Dr. Mbenge telling Uhura she might be hallucinating from "deuterium poisoning." Deuterium is just a heavier isotope of hydrogen, and I'm pretty sure that a whiff of hydrogen won't sicken you in any way. I can acc ept some technobabble, but don't say things about real things that aren't true.

 

"Under the Cloak of War" was searing, but IMO fell down slightly at the end. I can't believe the Federation would let the death of an ambassador pass as lightly as it seemed.

 

"Changes" was the only episode I actively disliked, though.

 

As for new characters, Pellea the engineer is a delight. I am grateful for every episode in which she appears.

 

And while I am still not entirely happy at bringing in the Gorn, which I think undercuts the Original Series episode "Arena," I will admit they are impressively scary enemies.

 

Dean Shomshak

[Grailknight]

Just returned from Mobile Suit Gundam Seed: Freedom which is only playing today and tomorrow in the US.

 

This movie is more a love letter to series fans than many theatrical releases. If you aren't an anime fan you can skip this but if you are it's a visual treat and if you're a Gundam Seed fan you should see this. It its most of the highs and skips many of the lows of Seed and Seed Destiny.

 

The bad: The villains are brand new to the series but have been supposedly ruling their little kingdom quietly off the world stage for decades. Of course, during this time they've developed bleeding edge technology ahead of even the world powers and a fanatical and genocidal political agenda.

 

 

The good: Everyone is and back and in character.

                  The art and sound are on point. They do have some CGI battles mixed in, but they don't distract or detract.

                  No more magic trick survival escapes. You can see how everyone escapes their potential deaths, and none require miraculous luck.

                  Lacus gets a mech! And a rather risqué spacesuit.

                  All the ships sail and reach port!

 

For the general anime fan this is about a 6.5 for those like me, who are SEED fans this is an 8.5.

 

 

 

                 

 

 

 

               

 

Edited May 8 by Grailknight

[csyphrett]

Watched the first ten episodes of Superman the Animated Series from the destruction of Krypton, the arrival of Clark to Metropolis and getting a job at the Planet, to the first meeting of adaptions of his rogues to teaming up with Lobo.

CES  

[mattingly]

18 hours ago, DShomshak said:

Last week I finished Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season Two. 

"Subspace Rhapsody," the musical episode, was an engagingly wacky romp...

 

Did you realize that the lead Klingon was played by Bruce Horak, who was Hemmer the blind engineer from season one?

 

 

[Old Man]

 

The Deer Hunter (1978).  Spoilers follow for anyone else who, like me, somehow managed to avoid this film for fifty years.

 

So like--I knew that this movie would have a Russian roulette scene in it. I did not know that the entire movie was about Russian roulette.  While the premise is a little ridiculous, it's extraordinarily powerful and made more so by the performances of everyone involved.  It's easy to see why the movie was showered with Oscars.  Like many films from that long lost era, it's entirely too long and slow by modern standards, but it's worth it.

 

No mid- or post-credits scenes.

[DShomshak]

4 hours ago, mattingly said:

 

Did you realize that the lead Klingon was played by Bruce Horak, who was Hemmer the blind engineer from season one?

 

No. Appearances too brief, small screen too low-res, and credits too small to be legible. And I don't look up whp played what.

 

Dean Shomshak

[Lord Liaden]

I didn't know that either. I still think killing Hemmer off was a mistake, but Bruce did say that his involvement with Star Trek wasn't over. I'm glad they're still using him in some capacity.

[Starlord]

2 hours ago, Old Man said:

 

The Deer Hunter (1978).  Spoilers follow for anyone else who, like me, somehow managed to avoid this film for fifty years.

 

So like--I knew that this movie would have a Russian roulette scene in it. I did not know that the entire movie was about Russian roulette.  While the premise is a little ridiculous, it's extraordinarily powerful and made more so by the performances of everyone involved.  It's easy to see why the movie was showered with Oscars.  Like many films from that long lost era, it's entirely too long and slow by modern standards, but it's worth it.

 

No mid- or post-credits scenes.

 

Are you sure?  I thought that was the start of the Deer Hunter Cinematic Universe.

[Old Man]

1 hour ago, Starlord said:

 

Are you sure?  I thought that was the start of the Deer Hunter Cinematic Universe.

 

Looking forward to the Tropic Thunder crossover

[Lord Liaden]

2 hours ago, Starlord said:

 

Are you sure?  I thought that was the start of the Deer Hunter Cinematic Universe.

 

41 minutes ago, Old Man said:

 

Looking forward to the Tropic Thunder crossover

 

"What do you think you are, God?"

 

"I'm a dude playing the dude, disguised as another dude!"

[Old Man]

Suddenly I want to do a superdraft...

[slikmar]

Saw The Fall Guy today. Stunt man is in love with camera operator, is the number one stunt guy for the hottest actor in hollywood action films, has a near fatal accident that breaks his back and due to depression drops off the grid for a year. Said camera operator is now directing a movie starring the same actor and he is asked to come in and do stunts. Will stop there as anything more would come under spoiler areas.

This is an action/comedy/romance and may have been one of the best and funnest movies I have watched in a long time. I am someone who has much lower standards then others, but I am aware of that and don't always recommend movies I enjoy that I know others won't. GO SEE THIS MOVIE, especially if you were a fan of the Lee Majors series. Emily and Ryan are fantastic.