Watch, Watching, Watch -- Hold 'em, Fold 'em, When to Walk Away

[Corvinus85]

1 hour ago, ithanos said:

Next up is Arcane. Watched the opening episode and first impression is that this world feels like an adaptation of Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamorra. Of course its not but it gives me the same wonder. And the animation is gorgeous. Will continue.   

I had a similar feeling especially after episode 3.

[Isis]

Last night we watched Blitz (which I came across while trying to find Essex Boys) - I don't recall ever hearing about it before yesterday. Bit of a Friday Night Special. It's a 2011 (?) film about Jason Statham (99% phoning it in) playing the role of some kind of old school copper, while dealing with a cop-killing loon (played by Aiden Gillan). It has David Morissey, Paddy Considine, Luke Evans and Mark Rylance (!!!) in it. I was expecting it to either be 'intentionally terrible' or 'accidentally not that bad'. It wasn't really either one of those. It's more towards the averagely ok, with a few funny moments. If you enjoy those 'OI! GUV!!!' type faux old school bent copper action films then treat yourself next Friday night.

[Derfel Cadarn]

49 minutes ago, Isis said:

Last night we watched Blitz (which I came across while trying to find Essex Boys) - I don't recall ever hearing about it before yesterday. Bit of a Friday Night Special. It's a 2011 (?) film about Jason Statham (99% phoning it in) playing the role of some kind of old school copper, while dealing with a cop-killing loon (played by Aiden Gillan). It has David Morissey, Paddy Considine, Luke Evans and Mark Rylance (!!!) in it. I was expecting it to either be 'intentionally terrible' or 'accidentally not that bad'. It wasn't really either one of those. It's more towards the averagely ok, with a few funny moments. If you enjoy those 'OI! GUV!!!' type faux old school bent copper action films then treat yourself next Friday night.

I remember that film. Does Statham change his clothes at all during it? He even turna up at a funeral in his leather jacket.

He must have been stinking.

[Isis]

1 hour ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

I remember that film. Does Statham change his clothes at all during it? He even turna up at a funeral in his leather jacket.

He must have been stinking.

He wears an ill-advised grey chunky rib-knit cardigan in some scenes. But yeah, it's definitely grimy and grubby. 

The whole film is basically a lazy cliche, but there are parts where it veers into near-hilarity and we weren't sure whether it was meant to be ridiculous or dark and pithy. [spoiler]the bit where Paddy Considine is talking about punishing a paedophile via vigilante justice, which culminates in him feeling burnt out...it's played with a dead straight face but we were laughing our heads off. [/spoiler]

My spoiler tags aren't working but I guess it doesn't matter as it's ten years old.

 

[Ramsay B.]

Boogie Nights has been on a movie channel lately so I had to watch again it at least once. It’s pretty crazy it was only PTA’s second film ever. The attention to detail is amazing, and so many memorable scenes: 

Dirk’s crazy stare/drug deal, Little Bill’s swan song, pool party, dirk recording a song, and the roller-girl/Dirk jerk-off montage thing at the end. 
 

I love the small details of certain scenes too. Like after Dirk wins his first award: Buck is picking a chair up he knocked over because he’s a donut, and Dirk leaves Scotty J. hanging because he and everyone just see him as an annoyance.

Reed Rothchild jumping to every single firecracker during the drug scene cracks me up too. Good shit.

Anyone ever see PTA’s first film, Hard Eight?

[Veltigar]

Rewatched 22 Jump Street over the weekend. This film has aged incredibly well. I actually went back to give it a higher score than I did originally, because I really enjoyed it. I would definitely not mind seeing anymore of the ridiculous sequel proposals they do in the credits. If we ever feel the need to open a best sequel debate, this must be a contender because it takes everything that works about 21 Jump Streets and improves it further.

[Derfel Cadarn]

58 minutes ago, Veltigar said:

Rewatched 22 Jump Street over the weekend. This film has aged incredibly well. I actually went back to give it a higher score than I did originally, because I really enjoyed it. I would definitely not mind seeing anymore of the ridiculous sequel proposals they do in the credits. If we ever feel the need to open a best sequel debate, this must be a contender because it takes everything that works about 21 Jump Streets and improves it further.

There was talk of them doing a Men In Black Jump Street, but it never cane to anything.

[Nictarion]

9 hours ago, Ramsay B. said:

Anyone ever see PTA’s first film, Hard Eight?

Yes, but I don’t really remember much about it to be honest. Not necessarily an indictment, as I’ve only seen it once, and it was a long time ago. 

Speaking of PTA, Licorice Pizza  is getting great reviews. Probably will be my next theater trip. 

[Corvinus85]

Final season of Lost in Space dropped today. Very excited for it.

[dog-days]

3 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

Final season of Lost in Space dropped today. Very excited for it.

Time to renew my Netflix sub!

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

Foundation. 

Pretty solid. High production values and good performances all around; especially Lee Pace. It was interesting to see that a few episodes were directed by Roxann Dawson, who played Tores on Star Trek Voyager. There are several memorable scenes, including one in the final episode that's pretty devastating.

It's not he best thing I've seen this year but better than most. I liked it more than recent Star Wars and Star Trek material, though it falls somewhat short of Dune and Arcane.

I'm not judging it based on fidelity to the source material.

[Veltigar]

Watched Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole (1951) the other day. It's a merciless and cynical film. I can see both why it bombed at the box office and why critics now hail it is a master piece. Kirk Douglas' lead performance is one of the most unrelenting I have ever seen. He's so unlikable and yet utterly magnetic in the role. Amazing that the man only died last year, because when you look at him here, it feels as if he's heart is ready to pounce out of his chest at any moment in the film. 

Couple that with Wilder's trademark witty and insightful writing and you can begin to understand why this is such a great film. It also has yet another brilliant ending scene, which is pretty much a Billy Wilder hallmark if you ask me. Between this, Some Like it Hot, Sunset Boulevard and The Appartment. I seriously need to watch Double Indemnity already.

He really is such a masterful director. Most definitely someone I'd be willing to nominate as greatest director of all time given the breadth and scope of his work. His films might be in black and white, but the writing has lost none of its luster. It's astounding.

I have also been hacking away at The Dragon Prince animated show. Netflix really is much better on this front than with its live action efforts. That being said, they are still lacking an absolute classic to solidify their current hold on the animation crown. The Dragon Prince is something I like and it appears to have many seasons left to grow, but right now I'd lump it in the same category as She-Ra, in the sense that it is very good but not great. Mainly because it's a little bit too dumbed down at times, which I always think is a bad idea as children are more capable than we know. 

On 11/29/2021 at 10:39 AM, Derfel Cadarn said:

There was talk of them doing a Men In Black Jump Street, but it never cane to anything.

 

As dumb as that sounds, I'd watch it XD They would have found a way to make it work.

[Veltigar]

I went to the theatre last night to see House of Gucci. I am not sure what Sir Ridley's doctors have prescribed, but it must be some seriously good drugs. For like 15 years barely a movie worth mentioning and now he comes out with two incredibly enjoyable films in one year? It's almost voodoo.

That being said, where The Last Duel was a legitimately great film, I'm not sure whether I'd say the same for House of Gucci. It was glorious in its own way and I had a great time, but I'm not sure whether this is a good film strangely enough. It all looks sumptious and Sir Ridley directs the hell out of it, but the performances in this are just so damn weird.

Everyone speaks with the stereotypical fake Italian accent people do if they want to make fun of Italians (My friend and I have a theory that Jared Leto in particular has never seen an Italian, nor an Italian-American with the sole exception of Super Mario) and they all commit.so.hard. It must be seen to be believed [so much hand talking," it is-a crazi" (exagerated hand gesture) is probably a line in the script].

A lot of people talk about Lady Gaga and she's pretty good, but the real standout for me was Jared Leto. If I was the El Presidente of the world, for his role as Paolo I'd give him both the oscar for best supporting actor and the equivalent razzie. He deserves both of them for this role. 

[Iskaral Pust]

I’ve started Arcane.  It’s ok so far but feels very YA after two eps.  The animation of the steampunk world is good but I hope it expands beyond the emo teenage characters.

[Mexal]

48 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

I’ve started Arcane.  It’s ok so far but feels very YA after two eps.  The animation of the steampunk world is good but I hope it expands beyond the emo teenage characters.

Umm... it does and very soon. My wife and I just finished this a few days ago and loved it.

[Nictarion]

Just finished The Power of the Dog on Netflix. Fantastic film. Probably will end up being my favorite of the year. Pretty much everything about it was top notch. Easily the best performance I’ve ever seen from Benedict Cumberbatch. It’s also absolutely gorgeous looking from the first frame on. And the score by Johnny Greenwood was amazing. I highly recommend it. 

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

Star Trek Discovery S4 E3.

Boring. Probably the least engaged I've been with an episode of this series. Too little energy dedicated to pushing the main plot in favor of some really uninteresting sub plots.

I really hope we don't go yet another season without seeing a single klingon. 

[Heartofice]

Latest season of Narcos Mexico is really gripping and enjoyable. It’s amazing this show has got such legs because it feels like the same story over and over with a new set of characters but still keeps me hooked

[Ran]

Binged through seasons 3-5 of The Expanse, after having stopped after season 2 when it changed from Netflix to Amazon here. I've not read past the very first novel of the series (stopped because I couldn't stand Holden's chapters, even though I adored the Miller chapters), so I don't know much beyond what's in the show.

Truly excellent show, anyways, and having someone of David Strathairn's caliber as a supporting character for a couple of seasons was terrific -- Klaes Ashford was wonderfully brought to life, that old pirate. Cara Gee as Drummer is also very appealing; love the brittleness and resoluteness of her character. 

I did have bits and pieces that were a little silly, though:

Spoiler

It seemed a bit absurd that Elvi did not immediately do a typical medical  assessment of Holden -- like asking him "Are you on any medications?" -- just to stretch out the blindness plot line. Fine, she's a scientist, not a doctor, but... I don't know, seemed pretty obvious!

While Klaes's sendoff was pitch perfect... I admit, I do not understand why he did not just shoot Marco, taking him down with him, or at least having a chance to do so. There's no way that he thought he was going to get out of there alive. I know, maybe it was the long game of hopefully managing to record their conversation, and hopefully Marco giving away some hint of his plans, and hopefully someone then finds that hidden communication log... but, again, just shooting him in the head would probably have done a world of good. Not for Earth, I guess, his attack would have gone unstopped, but after that I doubt Filip and co. are up to keeping the Free Navy going.

Speaking of casting, I do feel the later seasons are hamstrung by the very obvious absence of Jared Harris as Dawes. The OPA basically just vanishes in season 5 and we have a lot of talking around it. Shame, but that's the nature of adaptation. I'm not sure why they did not introduce some sort of second-in-command to him that they could build up who would be more available.

OTOH, Keon Alexander was terrific casting as Marco Inaros. He sold his charismatic terrorist leader role extremely well. Absurdly handsome fellow, too.

All in all, while it's not quite my favorite SF show ever, it's very much up there. And it certainly presents one of the most cohesive and impressive pictures of international interplanetary relations and politics that I've seen in a work of TV science fiction. The dilemma that Mars faces after the events of season 3 and the ripple effect it sends through the Martian society that had been on war-footing for many years was unexpected but a hundred percent understandable. (I will say I do find the Martian side of politics a bit underexplored in the show -- they did some wonderful touches showing propaganda scattered all over the place, but didn't get much of a sense of what Martians actually think about being bombarded with it 24-7.)

One thing the show sort of lacks is much sense of culture outside of some occasional Belter music. Would have been intriguing to see what sort of television was popular among the three factions.

Finally: 

Spoiler

Episode 7 of season 5, "Hard Vacuum", was one of the most intense hours of television I've seen. Dominique Tipper's performance was wrenching, and incredible.

 

[briantw]

3 hours ago, Ran said:

Truly excellent show, anyways, and having someone of David Strathairn's caliber as a supporting character for a couple of seasons was terrific -- Klaes Ashford was wonderfully brought to life, that old pirate.

They improved Ashford a great deal as a character on the show compared to the books.