Watch, Watched Watching : 2023 is going to be unstable!

[Cas Stark]

2 hours ago, Zorral said:

Ya, the gravity of a 3+ hour film with pooping elephants and other excretory scenes kept the serious audience, who could pay up toward $20 to watch, away in droves.  

Of course, tripledemic on top of horrendous weather here, may have contributed to thin ticket buying too.  

I was really considering going to the theater to see Babylon   I should be their target audience, a movie nerd, I know the history of Clara Bow and John Gilbert   I already know that the silent era was freewheeling enough to give women some behind the screen power, etc. etc.  Once I read about the elephant scene+eating live rats+snake killing, not even counting the rest of the gross out stuff.  Just no.  I don't want that and I sure as hell don't want that on the big screen.  If they already lost me, they are doomed.  

[Tywin et al.]

15 hours ago, Cas Stark said:

I was really considering going to the theater to see Babylon   I should be their target audience, a movie nerd, I know the history of Clara Bow and John Gilbert   I already know that the silent era was freewheeling enough to give women some behind the screen power, etc. etc.  Once I read about the elephant scene+eating live rats+snake killing, not even counting the rest of the gross out stuff.  Just no.  I don't want that and I sure as hell don't want that on the big screen.  If they already lost me, they are doomed.  

Talk about a sad wiki page to read...

[BigFatCoward]

On 12/28/2022 at 6:59 PM, Ran said:

Watched Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical, directed by Matthew Warchus, the original director of the musical production. Not a musical theater person, my slight knowledge of it comes only from reading about it when Kerry Ingram was cast as Shireen Baratheon in Game of Thrones (she was one of the four original Matilda's in the first West End run, and shared an Olivier Award with them) and seeing a couple of clips. So, didn't quite know what to expect, other than that twisted Dahl flavor.

Have to say, I enjoyed it, had some cute stuff, some nice songs. Stephen Graham as Matilda's father was a pleasant surprise, he's such a versatile actor. Alisha Weir was appealing as Matilda, very sincere and determined with just the right notes of sadness at times. Emma Thompson's not really a singer but she was very game to do her best as the cruel Trunchbull, though I wonder if they couldn't have done with the Frankenstein's Monster-esque lifts. Lashana Lynch as the sweet and kindly Miss Honey is quite a different role than what she's been doing of late -- a 00 agent, Captain Marvel, etc. -- but she's quite believable as this wilting flower domineered by Trunchbull.

A spoiler for those unfamiliar with Matilda...

  Reveal hidden contents

Despite knowing Dahl's whimsical use of fantasy in other works, I really didn't expect "telekenipsis" was going to play such a role in the film. I guess this makes it eligible for the Hugo Awards...

 

Taking my daughter to see it today. Huge fan of the musical. Been to see it multiple times. Hopefully they haven't fucked around with it.

Looking forward to see what Thompson and Lynch do with the roles, neither would have been my first choice. 

And Graham may be my favourite actor working today. 

[Luzifer's right hand]

On 12/28/2022 at 7:47 PM, Mexal said:

Really enjoyed Alice in Borderlands. Not sure there is any room for a 3rd season but the season 1 and 2 were great entertainment. Episode 7 with the King of Spades was insane.

Spoiler

Afaik the source plot is finished with the end of season 2. If a 3rd season drops I will watch it but it could suck like many things that run out of source material.

 

[Veltigar]

After almost a month away, I'm finally back in a spot where I can post again  Belated Merry Christmas to all of you  

Let's see, over the past month, I watched Nope, The Dirty Dozen, Old Henry, Elf and Saloum. All in all, not a great month for movies for me as will be evident from the reviews. Luckily, over the last couple of days I was able to catch up with some great TV. The three episodes of Rick and Morty's sixth season I had not seen yet, an episode of Andor and the three seasons of HBO's Barry.

I was particularly happy with Barry. I gave it a chance based on the board's recommendations and I really enjoyed myself. It's been a while since I had a series that could hold my interest throughout a binge and I'm looking forward to season four.

Now on to the quick and dirty reviews. Nope was a disappointment. It's definitely better than Us, Jordan Peele's terrible second film, but it's still a long way from the brilliance of Get Out. I wasn't able to catch this in theatre, but I don't feel like I missed out (and this despite the fact that the visuals were probably the best part of the film).

On to The Dirty Dozen, which is probably the worst film I have seen in a while. Not only was it not engaging in the slightest to see a bunch of pensioners take a crack at some cartoonish Nazis, it was also morally reprehensible. I finished it because I was stuck on a flight and there wasn't anything else to do except for counting all the war crimes committed by the film's protagonists. I'll be the first to admit that the allies weren't white knights themselves (Looking at you Bomber Harris and Bombs Away LeMay), but the scale, glee and institutional support for all sorts of violations against the conventions of Geneva seen in this movie was just revolting.

Old Henry provided a welcome relief from the prior disappointments. It's a small western from 2021 that I had never heard about, but it's actually a really good film. There is nothing revolutionary about it, but it has a cast of ace actors who execute the script to perfection. The action is great and the whole film moves along very briskly. It was a real joy to see.

Elf is another movie that was better than anticipated. After first giving the Emilia Clarke's Last Christmas a go and having to shut it off after 10 minutes because it was just too terrible, I ended up watching Elf. Aside from Anchorman, I have never been big on Will Ferrell, so I was surprised that I liked it so much. On occasion, the LOTR references where a bit overbearing, but I get why this has become such a modern Christmas classic. I will probably watch this again in a couple of years.

Saloum is an African supernatural horror film that attracted some buzz last year. All in all it wasn't worth my time, although you could definitely see the potential. Visually it was quite capable and there were some intriguing characters. Too many of them remained ciphers however and their relationships were never adequately sketched out. The supernatural threat was also ill-defined and frankly quite tame. I think this film's script could have used a couple of additional rewrites before being turned into a film.

Out of the series, I think Rick and Morty had a decent ending to this latest season. There were good jokes and the characters progressed so if you are already on the hype train you'll like this as well. 

I'm still struggling to get through Andor. I can see that it's better than Disney's previous series, but for some reason it hasn't yet clicked for me after three episodes. I think on some level I would have liked it better if this wasn't connected to Star Wars at all, seeing how that is almost a law of diminishing returns at this point.

Barry then was really great. I love how absurd it is and how good this series is at helping me to suspend my disbelief. In real life, Barry would get caught by the police every single episode, but for some reason the convenient lack of camera's, witnesses and GPS tracking doesn't bother me. The show just sells you on the emotional journey and that's quite remarkable. 

[Derfel Cadarn]

Which Dirty Dozen? Sounds like you maybe watched one ofnthe made for TV sequels?

[Veltigar]

I also forgot I watched Minamata (2020) with Johnny Depp on the plane. I vaguely remembered reading about this story years ago and the movie made me look up the photographs of protagonist W. Eugene Smith, which are incredibly powerful.

Such a shame that this story had to become a Depp vanity project. it's a very muddled film, which is terrible at suggesting the passage of time and it is too focused on Depp's performance to really carry any weight. The people of Minamata really deserved better than this, as this was quite an important story that is still relevant to this day. 

23 minutes ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

Which Dirty Dozen? Sounds like you maybe watched one ofnthe made for TV sequels?

No, it was the original one with Charles Bronson, Kojak and Lee Marvin from 1967.

[Tywin et al.]

3 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

Taking my daughter to see it today. Huge fan of the musical. Been to see it multiple times. Hopefully they haven't fucked around with it.

Looking forward to see what Thompson and Lynch do with the roles, neither would have been my first choice. 

And Graham may be my favourite actor working today. 

I loved the 90's film as a kid. Saw it on a fieldtrip and everyone thought it was great. I also had a big crush on Miss Honey for a bit.

1 hour ago, Veltigar said:

It's definitely better than Us, Jordan Peele's terrible second film

I never get why people think this film was good. US was fun during the first act, but it fell apart quickly and the ending is truly awful. 

[Veltigar]

49 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

I never get why people think this film was good. US was fun during the first act, but it fell apart quickly and the ending is truly awful. 

There are people who think Us is good?  Wow, that surprises me.

[Mindwalker]

For the history drama nerds:

Ranking 2022 Historical Movies & Shows on Costume Accuracy

 

[Nictarion]

I’ve loved all 3 of Peele’s movies.

[BigFatCoward]

4 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

I loved the 90's film as a kid. Saw it on a fieldtrip and everyone thought it was great. I also had a big crush on Miss Honey for a bit.

 

I thought it was a universal truth that everybody, regardless of sexual orientation had a crush on Miss Honey? 

[Zorral]

3 hours ago, Mindwalker said:

Ranking 2022 Historical Movies & Shows on Costume Accuracy

I just love this -- have to do something else and thus able to finish it all right now.  But so far, only The Northman gets full credit for accuracy.  Maybe, so far, The Last Kingdom gets the worst! Love all them informing us that leather is just not it most of the time because it makes you sweat and way too horrible to wear, much less in the contexts in we see it in almost all these series.

@TheLastWolf -- Ponniyin Selvan I is included, as are other films from the sub-continent.

P.S. About 5 minutes into watching this of course I forwarded it to my dear amigo, professional fabricator-designer amiga.

[Tywin et al.]

Interesting to learn from Unspooled that in the book Die Hard is based off of, the main character is trying to save his daughter, not his wife, and spoiler alert, she goes flying with Gruber. Now that would have been a shocking ending in 1988.

[Jace, Extat]

5 hours ago, Nictarion said:

I’ve loved all 3 of Peele’s movies. /cdn-cgi/mirage/3147f740a2a3662aaaf85ff234cb03121a827026dfcb102b5b0e28261491ae61/1280/https://asoiaf.westeros.org/uploads/emoticons/default_dunno.gif

I haven't seen NOPE cause I live alone now so that means no scary movies for Jace, but I loved US 

It's for sure not as good as Get Out, but I thought it was waaaaaaaay scarier 

You know I'm scared at the movies because I can't like move or get up so I start talking.

[Corvinus85]

1 hour ago, Fire and Jace said:

I haven't seen NOPE cause I live alone now so that means no scary movies for Jace, but I loved US 

It's for sure not as good as Get Out, but I thought it was waaaaaaaay scarier 

You know I'm scared at the movies because I can't like move or get up so I start talking.

Nope will make you more afraid of the outdoors, so watch it under a blanket. You'll be good.

9 hours ago, Veltigar said:

I'm still struggling to get through Andor. I can see that it's better than Disney's previous series, but for some reason it hasn't yet clicked for me after three episodes. I think on some level I would have liked it better if this wasn't connected to Star Wars at all, seeing how that is almost a law of diminishing returns at this point.

Stick with it. And really I thought the first arc was solid but it does get even better.

[Werthead]

2 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Interesting to learn from Unspooled that in the book Die Hard is based off of, the main character is trying to save his daughter, not his wife, and spoiler alert, she goes flying with Gruber. Now that would have been a shocking ending in 1988.

The book was a fairly serious sequel to an earlier noir novel (adapted into a 1960s movie with Frank Sinatra, and they had to offer the sixty-something Sinatra the lead in Die Hard by contract!), so that's not entirely surprising.

[Zorral]

Don't know where the moody murderier mystery thread went, so I put the news here

Vera, season 7, goes up on US Britbox January 1.

 

[Tywin et al.]

12 minutes ago, Werthead said:

The book was a fairly serious sequel to an earlier noir novel (adapted into a 1960s movie with Frank Sinatra, and they had to offer the sixty-something Sinatra the lead in Die Hard by contract!), so that's not entirely surprising.

Yep. I've got The Detective and Mulholland Drive queued up as the movies I'm watching tonight or tomorrow.

[HexMachina]

7 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

I thought it was a universal truth that everybody, regardless of sexual orientation had a crush on Miss Honey? 

I also thought the 90's film was compulsory viewing in the UK or has that rule changed? I can still  recite that film line for line as I watch