Watch, Watched, Watching: Mr and Mrs Smith and Other Famous Hits

[Heartofice]

Paltrow's accent in Sliding Doors is actually very good, I still forget she isn't British.

It's almost enough to make me forget how bonkers she's gone on a lot of things outside of acting.

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

4 hours ago, dbunting said:

Must be nice. Mine talks too much and has bad breath

Tell me about it. There are times where mine is is simply unwilling to negotiate. 

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

Saw The Gilded Age recently,fantastic HBO show.  Reminded me a lot of Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence 

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

Speaking of assholes...

How? How is this possible? OK, it isn't "Tropic Thunder" but it's still funny as hell. I thoroughly enjoyed it. One star reviews?!?" Fucking Red Notice has a higher score than this!

I will never, ever trust the goddamn useless vegetable consensus. There are several one star reviews in there. At least The Mary Sue knows what they're about. We don't always get along, but when we do, it's magical. 

[Ran]

People think Adam Sandler Netflix trash films are funny. So with The Bubble, I gather.

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

I don't know what that means.

[Mindwalker]

So I checked out this pirate show, expecting a serious adventure/ drama, and instead it is this ridiculous, silly, campy spoof/ comedy. And I kinda dig it. Onto episode 5!

 

ETA Forgot: the title is Our flag means death.

[Zorral]

2 hours ago, Mindwalker said:

the title is Our flag means death.

https://www.tor.com/2022/04/06/the-queer-joy-of-our-flag-means-death/

The Joy found in the Flag!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Watched first ep of HBO's Tokyo Vice.  It's supposed to be 1999, and the US protag - pov is a real person and all this happened, at least sort of.  Yet it feels so 1980's -- which is clearly due to how the mise en scene, writing, etc. for the television adaptation from memoirs works.

The show's look and attitude recalls the mesmerized attitude of BG and the cyberpunks in the 1980's for the Yakuza and all things Japanese (and then in the 90's for all things Russian and klepto etc.). Still Jake Adelstein did it in real life as a journalist, not an sf/f writer.  While non of the cyberpunks could read or write or speak either Japanese or Russian. 

I'm also reminded of the Italian journalist, Robert Saviano and the success from his work with the Napolese gangs  the televised series Gomorrah has been.

[JGP]

About 5 minutes into E3 of Apple's Slow Horses, and felt I needed to pause and give it a shout out. 

[Heartofice]

Yeah I got 30 mins into The Bubble and realised it wasn't all that good. There was a flicker of humour when they made jokes about Covid.. but that isn't an endless well of fun and I gave up.

I did actually watch the first episode of The Dropout, and I think it's going to be quite an enjoyable watch. Amanda Seyfried, who I can't say I ever thought was anything more than a nice eye-catching bit of set scenery, gives a really mesmerising performance as an awkward, gawkish younger version of Elizabeth Holmes. So far we've seen her play Holmes at numerous different ages and she's utterly believable at all of them. Seyfried is 36, but was completely believable as a 16 year old, just by changing her hair and mannerisms. 

 

[Mindwalker]

Oh, I watched The Gilded Age, too. I think it's utter drivel, though well-produced and with a couple of good performances. And I didn't expect much from Fellowes after Downton Abbey.

[Zorral]

15 minutes ago, Mindwalker said:

The Gilded Age, too. I think it's utter drivel, though well-produced and with a couple of good performances. And I didn't expect much from Fellowes after Downton Abbey.

The GA is Full Fellows for certain!

~~~~~~~~~~

My goodness the rave reviews/recaps for HBO Tokyo Vice. 

Also mentions about unsavory, even creepy sexual behavior of the actor who is the gaijin protagonists.  I'd never heard of Ansel Elgort previously -- nothing unusual there as not many movies and tv appeal to me -- particularly 'comedy', 'reality', superhero, horror and franchises hold not appeal -- so have no idea what this is about.  But if this was known previously, how did he get cast in the very prestigious show?

OTOH, we've got the magnificent Ken Watanabe as the Japanese investigating officer -- ooo la la!

It seems April is making up for the sheer shyte show that was the Sex and the City sequel, hitting three home runs this month with Julia, Tokyo Vice and We Own This City, if that latter is as good as we are expecting.  I do keep in mind the latest Simon offerings which were, for me, for different reasons, unwatchable.

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

Midway

Blech! Terrible. This is Dunkirk if Dunkirk was made by idiots. An ensemble film that's told from multiple POV's only there were way too many, the portrayals were stereotypical and eye rolling in some cases, and the editing is way too scattershot. Ultimately I didn't care about any of it. 

There were several moments that were obviously supposed to be "cheer" moments that just fell utterly flat. In the climactic battle, we're supposed to be concerned about coordination and strategy (which is important) and I had no clue what was going on. Lots of 'splodey bits though. There are times when the uncanny valley is bigger than the Grand Canyon. 

I looked up the IMDB page for this film. It had thirty two producers. This is what happens when you have thirty two producers.

[RumHam]

12 hours ago, Heartofice said:

Yeah I got 30 mins into The Bubble and realised it wasn't all that good. There was a flicker of humour when they made jokes about Covid.. but that isn't an endless well of fun and I gave up.

I did actually watch the first episode of The Dropout, and I think it's going to be quite an enjoyable watch. Amanda Seyfried, who I can't say I ever thought was anything more than a nice eye-catching bit of set scenery, gives a really mesmerising performance as an awkward, gawkish younger version of Elizabeth Holmes. So far we've seen her play Holmes at numerous different ages and she's utterly believable at all of them. Seyfried is 36, but was completely believable as a 16 year old, just by changing her hair and mannerisms. 

 

I thought the bubble was funny. I'm also a huge Jurassic Park fan and was pretty stoned. It was interesting seeing Ducovny playing someone other than Mulder too. Never watched Californiacation. 

I would watch all those Cliff Beast movies if I could. Especially the one with the tagline "it's their moon now!" I doubt you made it that far but the scene where they inexplicably teach the baby dinosaur to dance had my dying. Cena's phoned in cameo was pretty funny too. 

I don't think they intentionally referenced the Rust set shooting, but its what I kept thinking about. 

Finished The Dropout this morning, not perfect but much better than the other recent miniseries about an attractive blonde scammer. Which is weird because Sorokin's story is the more interesting of the two, I thought. 

Also it's a little weird they made it so soon! She hasn't even been sentenced yet. 

[DMC]

6 minutes ago, RumHam said:

It was interesting seeing Ducovny playing someone other than Mulder too. Never watched Californiacation. 

But have you seen Zoolander?

[RumHam]

3 minutes ago, DMC said:

But have you seen Zoolander?

No! I've been yelled at before for that personal failing of mine. I always thought it looked really stupid. 

[DMC]

Just now, RumHam said:

No! I've been yelled at before for that personal failing of mine. I always thought it looked really stupid. 

It is, but it's still very funny, especially high.

[SpaceChampion]

Perhaps the Bubble would have been better if they were punching up on Hollywood Oscar bait, instead of punching down on the lowest tier of badly written CGI movies.

[RumHam]

4 minutes ago, SpaceChampion said:

Perhaps the Bubble would have been better if they were punching up on Hollywood Oscar bait, instead of punching down on the lowest tier of badly written CGI movies.

I assumed it was just based off of Jurassic World: Dominion, one of the first movies to resume shooting during the pandemic. I did wonder like if they'd heard stories from that production or just picked that movie. 

Anyway I wouldn't say that franchise is the lowest tier of badly written CGI movies. Sure only the first one is truly good but most of the others are very watchable nonsense. I hope the new one will be decent. 

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

2 hours ago, SpaceChampion said:

Perhaps the Bubble would have been better if they were punching up on Hollywood Oscar bait, instead of punching down on the lowest tier of badly written CGI movies.

How is that punching down? Trust me, effects driven franchise films that hoover up all the production moneys and dominate screens world wide can take a little punching. 

It was also ironic that the visual effects were actually better than many of the effects driven films it was satirizing. 

15 hours ago, Heartofice said:

Yeah I got 30 mins into The Bubble and realised it wasn't all that good. There was a flicker of humour when they made jokes about Covid.. but that isn't an endless well of fun and I gave up.
 

Yeah, well, like, you wouldn't know comedy if it bit you in the opinion, man. 

2 hours ago, RumHam said:

I thought the bubble was funny. I'm also a huge Jurassic Park fan and was pretty stoned. It was interesting seeing Ducovny playing someone other than Mulder too. Never watched Californiacation. 

I would watch all those Cliff Beast movies if I could. Especially the one with the tagline "it's their moon now!" I doubt you made it that far but the scene where they inexplicably teach the baby dinosaur to dance had my dying. Cena's phoned in cameo was pretty funny too. 

Also when whats-her-name pissed herself. Brilliant. Brilliant performance. Also the cameos. 

2 hours ago, RumHam said:

I assumed it was just based off of Jurassic World: Dominion, one of the first movies to resume shooting during the pandemic. I did wonder like if they'd heard stories from that production or just picked that movie. 

I think I watched half of the second one. There was an auction or something? It looked like boring, made-for-TV garbage. How the hell did that thing take $1.3 billion? The first one looks equally shit.

 I might just watch them to see.