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

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

I watched a weird cross-section of things over the last week or so. First off, tis the season, and I think Die Hard is a top 5 all-time Christmas movie, so I decided to watch the two sequels since I haven't seen either in forever (I also own the more recent installments, but they can fuck right off). Couldn't recall what the two were about other then one takes place in an airport during winter and the other takes place in NYC. I've heard people say one is good and the other is shit, but I'm not sure which is which. Frankly I liked both of them, but you cannot enjoy these movies if your brain is turned on.

Only Murders in the Building was a fun watch, but I wonder if it would have been better served as a movie. Often times I see a two hour movie and think it would have been better off as a limited run series. This felt like the reverse. The beginning and ending of the show are really strong, but the middle feels bloated and a lot probably could have been cut. Still, I'd recommend watching this one as the whole show is more or less a 4 hour commitment. 

Lastly, I tried for the third and final time to watch The Green Knight. I wanted to like this, but good god was it boring. I fell asleep less than an hour in all three times and can't see myself giving it another try. Oh well.

[DMC]

4 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

I've heard people say one is good and the other is shit, but I'm not sure which is which.

I liked the third one much better than the second one.  I liked the heist premise and the connection to the first one.  And, of course, Sam Jackson.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

2 hours ago, DMC said:

I liked the third one much better than the second one.  I liked the heist premise and the connection to the first one.  And, of course, Sam Jackson.

The heist premises was a bit silly, but Irons was clearly having a lot of fun with it. His voice alone makes him an excellent villain. 

[DMC]

18 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

The heist premises was a bit silly

It's very silly, but still fun.  The idea of a bunch of mercs stealing enough money from the Federal Reserve to "buy" their own country is of course preposterous, but still a pretty cool idea.

[briantw]

8 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Lastly, I tried for the third and final time to watch The Green Knight. I wanted to like this, but good god was it boring. I fell asleep less than an hour in all three times and can't see myself giving it another try. Oh well.

It helps to get really high before watching it since it's such a visual experience.  Smoke a bowl, turn off the lights, and enjoy that movie the way it's meant to be seen.

[Larry of the Lawn]

8 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

 I think Die Hard is a Christmas movie,.

cannot believe this has gone unchallenged for 8 hours.  Not challenging it, but this some ripe board bait.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, DMC said:

It's very silly, but still fun.  The idea of a bunch of mercs stealing enough money from the Federal Reserve to "buy" their own country is of course preposterous, but still a pretty cool idea.

But you see, they're actually going to blow the gold up, only to double cross the double cross. So many moving targets on a plan that went perfectly until aspirin defeated Irons. 

44 minutes ago, briantw said:

It helps to get really high before watching it since it's such a visual experience.  Smoke a bowl, turn off the lights, and enjoy that movie the way it's meant to be seen.

Hence the falling asleep problem...

39 minutes ago, 1066 Larry said:

cannot believe this has gone unchallenged for 8 hours.  Not challenging it, but this some ripe board bait.

I'll die fighting on the hill that is Die Hard and Gremlins are two of the five best Christmas movies ever.

[DMC]

2 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

So many moving targets on a plan that went perfectly until aspirin defeated Irons. 

IIRC, the aspirin bottle just gave him Irons' location, he already figured out Irons kept the gold.

4 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

I'll die fighting on the hill that is Die Hard and Gremlins are two of the five best Christmas movies ever.

They got nothing on Prometheus.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

15 minutes ago, DMC said:

IIRC, the aspirin bottle just gave him Irons' location, he already figured out Irons kept the gold.

Yep, he figured out fairly quickly once the heist happened that Irons swapped the gold out. It's just kind of dumb that by seeing the name of a motel on the bottle he knew exactly where they were and somehow got the drop on them fairly quickly. Again, just another aspect of the film you need to somewhat suspend disbelief for.

Quote

They got nothing on Prometheus.

???

Go on.

[DMC]

6 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Again, just another aspect of the film you need to somewhat suspend disbelief for.

The bottle was from a truckstop right - then they found them in a warehouse around the truckstop?  Sounds like a pretty standard crime/action movie to me.

9 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Go on.

The statement speaks for itself.

[Argonath Diver]

1 hour ago, briantw said:

It helps to get really high before watching it since it's such a visual experience.  Smoke a bowl, turn off the lights, and enjoy that movie the way it's meant to be seen.

I've got my feet kicked up right now looking at a 116" projection screen. I watched that movie while really, really high and it indeed looked sublime. Unfortunately it's already a bit of a weird movie, and my level of "I have no idea what the fuck's going on" was through the roof. Watched it again while far, far less stoned and found it, well, lacking. I can re-watch Pan's Labyrinth every couple years and never tire of the visuals + the memorable characters. The Green Knight looked great, but other than Dev Patel being a great presence throughout, I am not sure if I'm interested in ever watching it again, really. Which is too bad because it certainly is a gorgeous movie. Pete's Dragon - now there's a David Lowery movie with a soul.

[Ramsay B.]

Stringer does set up a Christmas tree, and Prometheus is set in late December/2093. Also the creation/belief theme of the movie lines up. I’m in.

The Green Knight was kind of a letdown and dragged in a few spots. It wasn’t bad but I can see many people being bored with it. I’ll give it a rewatch sooner or later.

[Larry of the Lawn]

1 hour ago, DMC said:

IIRC, the aspirin bottle just gave him Irons' location, he already figured out Irons kept the gold.

They got nothing on Prometheus.

"Goodfellas is a Xmas movie"

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, DMC said:

The statement speaks for itself.

 

38 minutes ago, Ramsay B. said:

Stringer does set up a Christmas tree, and Prometheus is set in late December/2093. Also the creation/belief theme of the movie lines up. I’m in.

 

29 minutes ago, 1066 Larry said:

"Goodfellas is a Xmas movie"

The three of you are cra-cra. To the point that you need a Jew to explain to you that having some Christmas elements in the background does not a Christmas movie make. It needs to play an actual role in the plot, ffs.

And fyi Ramsay, Christmas trees predate Christianity, so suck on that egg! 

[DMC]

31 minutes ago, 1066 Larry said:

"Goodfellas is a Xmas movie"

I was basically trolling around, but as Ramsay mentioned, I really don't think Henry Hill's story compares to the underlying theme of faith that is central to Prometheus.

56 minutes ago, Argonath Diver said:

I can re-watch Pan's Labyrinth every couple years and never tire of the visuals

Pan's Labyrinth would still be a great movie without any visuals or effects.

2 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

And fyi Ramsay, Christmas trees predate Christianity, so suck on that egg! 

Elba's Christmas tree obviously is decorated as the contemporary Christian Christmas tree.

[Zorral]

Got to episode 5 of the first season of Discovery of Witches, adapted from Deborah Harkness's really good All Soul's Trilogy.  The first two eps are pretty slow, but we needed them.  There are a lot of changes too, from the novels, but again, after the third episode, it's all working well -- and speeding up what one can have in novels, but not on screen.

[Week]

2 hours ago, 1066 Larry said:

cannot believe this has gone unchallenged for 8 hours.  Not challenging it, but this some ripe board bait.

Didn't the bro-sphere already claim this like 10 years ago?

[DMC]

2 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

It needs to play an actual role in the plot, ffs.

Oh btw, Christmas plays a much deeper role in the plot of Prometheus than it does in Die Hard.  Shaw literally is following stars, based on ancient prophecy, to find what she believes to be her creator.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

22 minutes ago, DMC said:

Oh btw, Christmas plays a much deeper role in the plot of Prometheus than it does in Die Hard.  Shaw literally is following stars, based on ancient prophecy, to find what she believes to be her creator.

Not really. It's specifically stated IIRC that they're following patterns of numerous unconnected ancient cultures which all have similar origin stories to explain their creations and/or sun gods. Hence the rib about "Christmas trees" predating Christianity given there are more than just a few examples of this, just like so many sun gods from unconnected ancient cultures having somewhat similar origin stories, including the birth or reemergence sequences based around the Winter solstice. You could take Christianity out of it and the plot still stands. Die Hard, OTOH, actually does require the specific holiday of Christmas, as celebrated by Stringer Bell. 

[DMC]

3 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

It's specifically stated IIRC that they're following patterns of numerous unconnected ancient cultures which all have similar origin stories to explain their creations and/or sun gods.

So?  That doesn't change the fact the premise is very obviously inspired by the star of Bethlehem, otherwise known as the Christmas star, and consequently overtly mimics the nativity story found in the Gospels.