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Have fallen in love with the Plex streaming App.

Thing is full of great 70's Westerns and various off the beaten path dramas and action that I dont have available on my Hulu, HBO, Netflix, Paramount+ Apps.

Latest I have watched were a couple Burt Lancaster Westerns and bingeing Carradine as Kane the badass Shaolin priest aka Kung Fu.

 

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Watched John Wick 4 this weekend and loved it. Thinking this is right behind the original for me. Loved the scenery in the movie. Yes they could have shown a little more restraint and cut some of the fight sequences shorter but I never felt like I was ready for the movie to be over. For me the only spot that felt long was 

Spoiler

The falling down the stairs fight. I mean, steal a motorcycle and go around for fuck sake. Then the fall down and then fall down again was  a bit much for me, but half the crowd was laughing and clapping so maybe it's just me.

Another thing that was fitting was 

Spoiler

The funeral for Charon was fitting since he just passed. That made the scene hit home a little more. Then later we lose Wick himself, it was telegraphed a bit but still wouldn't have been surprised if he had lived.

Definitely see it on a big screen so you can take it all in.

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Started watching Dexter New Blood on Showtime. Wasn't going to watch it but I saw Yellowjackets is doing a weekly release and I want to binge them.  Honestly I like Dexter more than I thought I would. I am about halfway through so it still has time to lose me. I'll probably finish tomorrow and will know better then if it was worth it. It feels new but also familiar. It's at a pivotal point where it can go right or off the rails.

Spoiler

Assuming the serial killer has made himself a little village of taxidermized(?) runaways and didn't want them getting discovered during the search for his son and that's why he faked that his son is still alive. Also pretty obvious one of his first victims will have been the cops childhood friend. I wonder if we will find out if Harrisons step mom really died of cancer or if he killed her. He said he found his dads letter after she died, but she died in Argentina and he said he found the letter while in the US in foster care so that doesn't make sense. I would assume he found the letter and that she had been lying to him the whole time and he killed her.

 

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20 hours ago, Argonath Diver said:

Yep upon reflection, my favorite fight sequence is in this fourth film. And a second one is right up there as well.

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The Arc de Triomphe fistfight in traffic was unbelievable. Just stunning. I also was clapping with delight at the stair climb (and fall, and fall, and fall). Here's a great interview of Reeves and Stahelski on the incredible stuntwork involved:

https://collider.com/keanu-reeves-chad-stahelski-john-wick-chapter-4-staircase-stunt-paris/

In that link, Stahelski says he submitted a 3h45m cut to the studio. 

 

Yeah, those were cool. The other one that really stood out for me was

Spoiler

the top-down oner with the fireball shotguns in the old house. That was a departure in style for John Wick, and while a different kind of work, not as crunchy with the action coz of the remove, it was great fun. 

 

On @dbunting's comment: 

Spoiler

I hope they leave him dead, tbh, I don't see where else he goes and they've opened space for at least three spinoffs- Tracker, Akira's revenge on Caine (who killed a man he refers to as brother- not subtle, but nice touch), and the Continental one already planned. So they don't actually need him to make more material. But they did leave it pretty ambiguous as to if he's actually dead, and Winston's 'who knows' could easily be read as 'heh heh he's neither yet'. 

 

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Watched We Are Still Here (2022) an anthology film featuring work from directors of Maori, Indigenous Australian or Samoan descent. As might be expected, it was quite mixed with some very assured and interesting work next to other material that seemed quite 'early career'. I liked the story of a Maori community deciding whether to take part in the Battle of Orakau best; the young Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne, who I didn't recognise from Hunt for the Wilderpeople, turned in a very charismatic performance. By rights, she'll be a big star. Te Wakaunua Te Kurapa as her father was also impressive.

My second favourite, Grog Shop, is set in present-day Australia and starring Clarence Ryan as an aboriginal man being victimised by the racist security man at the local booze store. Ryan gave a very warm performance which won me over. 

Bronze Men of Cameroon (2021, largely filmed in 2020 with the release delayed by Covid) is a wonderful documentary following the process used by traditional craftsmen in Foumbam in French-speaking Cameroon to create their bronzes. Without a narrator or audible interviewer, the craftsmen speak about what their work means to them. The red earth, the physicality of the process of preparing the clay and shaping the moulds, and the final dramatic sections where the kilns are stuffed with fuel by ungloved hands and one man echoes the drum beat of the soundtrack as he blows the bellows, make watching the film a sensuous experience as well as giving the mind plenty to work with. Catch it in a cinema if you can. I think it may also be available to watch free online on Vimeo.

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1 hour ago, polishgenius said:

 

Yeah, those were cool. The other one that really stood out for me was

  Hide contents

the top-down oner with the fireball shotguns in the old house. That was a departure in style for John Wick, and while a different kind of work, not as crunchy with the action coz of the remove, it was great fun. 

Yeah I had forgot about that one, it reminded me of a video game and was pretty mesmerizing.   I also know why a certain scene seemed so familiar...

Spoiler

When the woman was calling out to the groups on the radio, it was a nod to Warriors.

I read an article and there were a few things like this in the movie

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On 3/26/2023 at 3:03 AM, Heartofice said:

Plane, ok I mean it’s a diverting bit of action fluff, not terrible enough to turn it off, not good enough to remember it.  A couple of decent action scenes and competent performances stop it being one of those super low budget made for streaming jobbies. 
 

What was notable is that the movie is called plane, and the last shot is almost a worshipping celebration of the plane… but less than half of the movie is about the plane! If anything the plane is the villain, it’s such a worn out looking rustpot! The movie could have alternatively been called island or jungle. 

I hope you're already getting hyped for its sequel, Ship.

 

I watched House of Gucci over the weekend. Went in with low expectations and am surprised that I liked it. Some how the bad acting and even worse accents were charming. The characters sound like they learned the same second language in different parts of the world and then tried to pass them off as being family and/or from the exact same place. It's hilarious. 

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Watching S2 of Shadow & Bone. Really enjoying it. Though I see the writers, not content with a mere triangle, have successfully maneuvered Alina into a love pentagon, with Stormhound's brother now sniffing about. Yikes.

 

Edited by Spockydog
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I’ve hardly watched anything since early in February. The Night Agent (2023) Netflix Original is the first thing I’ve watched since Return. Quite preposterous, though not the part that is traitors in the White House, and other services.  So we’re trying throughout to figure who it is; the first, i.e. most obvious suspect, is murdered before the end of the second episode.  Since it is so ridiculous – o lordessa the dialogue! – its dumbness is equal to my jetlag dullness, thus it was good for priming watching again, and, watching, hopefully, better stuff.

The best thing, maybe the only good thing, about this series is the actor, D.B. Woodside, playing a Secret Service agent, who once took bullets meant for a POTUS, and who got hooked on painkillers via recovery. Most of us saw him first as Principal Wood in Buffy, and later, as the angel Amenadiel, the brother of the series's titulary Lucifer.  Here he’s Agent Monks, a joy as always to see on the screen, and as sexy-swoony as ever.

Edited by Zorral
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John Wick 4 continues to turn the franchise into a Fast & Furious type series but with large body counts instead of car stunts and ever increasing demand to switch off your brain when watching it. The movie often feels like a video game adaptation but without the game. This time an isometric video game feel was included, too, and it may have been my favorite sequence of the movie.

It's hilarious how few lines Keanu Reeves was given, with the heavy lifting being done by others. Even Scott Adkins may have had more lines, and he did it with a German accent. Honestly, he was one of the highlights for me. Donnie Yen felt underused, but at the same time the cliche that his character was threatened to choke the movie at times.

Spoiler

I was laughing a lot at the ridiculous bullet proof tailored suits that never looked damaged, but you can still stab through with a knife. And the extras ignoring the deadly fight sequences around them most of the time in the Berlin dance club and on the streets of Paris. Though in terms of the latter, maybe not that unrealistic

The stunt work and cinematography continue to be great.

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17 minutes ago, Zorral said:

I’ve hardly watched anything since early in February. The Night Agent (2023) Netflix Original is the first thing I’ve watched since Return. Quite preposterous, though not the part that is traitors in the White House, and other services.  So we’re trying throughout to figure who it is; the first, i.e. most obvious suspect, is murdered before the end of the second episode.  Since it is so ridiculous – o lordessa the dialogue! – its dumbness is equal to my jetlag dullness, thus it was good for priming watching again, and, watching, hopefully, better stuff.

The best thing, maybe the only good thing, about this series is the actor, D.B. Woodside, playing a Secret Service agent, who once took bullets meant for a POTUS, and who got hooked on painkillers via recovery. Most of us saw him first as Principal Wood in Buffy, and later, as the angel Amenadiel, the brother of the series's titulary Lucifer.  Here he’s Agent Monks, a joy as always to see on the screen, and as sexy-swoony as ever.

I watched the whole thing for my sins!:P

Dear God,but the main male lead is the worst young actor i have seen recently.:ack:

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1 hour ago, AncalagonTheBlack said:

I watched the whole thing for my sins!:P

I have high hopes for Perry Mason's second season, plus I have four episodes I can watch back-to-back. But I was too dull to give it the attention it probably should have -- am asleep soon after dinner, coz jetlag keeps waking me between 5 and 6 AM!  I should be back to the 'normal' schedule soon -- but not too normal, I hope!

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3 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

John Wick 4 continues to turn the franchise into a Fast & Furious type series but with large body counts instead of car stunts and ever increasing demand to switch off your brain when watching it. The movie often feels like a video game adaptation but without the game. This time an isometric video game feel was included, too, and it may have been my favorite sequence of the movie.

It's hilarious how few lines Keanu Reeves was given, with the heavy lifting being done by others. Even Scott Adkins may have had more lines, and he did it with a German accent. Honestly, he was one of the highlights for me. Donnie Yen felt underused, but at the same time the cliche that his character was threatened to choke the movie at times.

  Hide contents

I was laughing a lot at the ridiculous bullet proof tailored suits that never looked damaged, but you can still stab through with a knife. And the extras ignoring the deadly fight sequences around them most of the time in the Berlin dance club and on the streets of Paris. Though in terms of the latter, maybe not that unrealistic

The stunt work and cinematography continue to be great.

I had same thoughts about the bystanders. As to Keanu lines in the movie, I saw an article that said he cut a lot of his own lines from the script. Sounds like he was passing the torch maybe and letting the other actors get some spotlight? From everything I have ever heard about him sounds like something he would do. 

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Watched Woman Against the Bomb (2021), a documentary about the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camps. It consisted of archive footage, snatches of the protest songs of the time, and many present-day interviews with some of the women who'd taken part in the movement. I liked it, though it did seem to be targeting an audience of women who'd also been there, or who would have liked to have been there.

All the reminiscences were cheerful, even the ones that described getting stamped on by psycho American military enforcers or – from a woman who'd been a child in the camp – of having her teddy bear snatched away by a British policeman. Much was made of the sisterhood and sense of shared purpose and empowerment. Maybe the experience of collective action established a good basis  for the rest of the participants' lives, or maybe that kind of thing draws in optimistic, resilient people naturally. Or maybe time had smoothed out the wrinkles. I admit to feeling a little jealous. 

There were a few amusing clips showing the bile stoked up in the press against the protestors: boot-wearing, dungaree-clad lesbians destroying the values of the nation, bad women neglecting their children and husbands, etc. 

In the end, I didn't like it as much as I did Bronze Men of Cameroon last night, which was a work of art about art. I found the lack of really dissident or challenging voices amongst the talking heads limited my ability to enjoy it; instead it was like going out for a coffee with some rather nice middle-class people who'd been part of an unusual social club once upon a time and liked to talk about the scrapes they got into. 

Edited by dog-days
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3 hours ago, dbunting said:

I had same thoughts about the bystanders. As to Keanu lines in the movie, I saw an article that said he cut a lot of his own lines from the script. Sounds like he was passing the torch maybe and letting the other actors get some spotlight? From everything I have ever heard about him sounds like something he would do. 

Spoiler

You really think he's dead dead?  I can see Keanu being fine, maybe, to walk away and I know there is talk about a bunch of spin offs, but John Wick 5 with no John Wick?  It isn't like we haven 't seen the fake out death already 92,000 times in the last 20 years.

 

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40 minutes ago, Cas Stark said:
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You really think he's dead dead?  I can see Keanu being fine, maybe, to walk away and I know there is talk about a bunch of spin offs, but John Wick 5 with no John Wick?  It isn't like we haven 't seen the fake out death already 92,000 times in the last 20 years.

 

John Wick 4 discussion

Spoiler

I really hope so. This was a fitting send off and what is gained by faking his death? He has his freedom again, owes no one any blood debts. What's left to fight for or to hide from? I saw an article where the director left it ambiguous on purpose but man just let him die. 

 

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I finished Dexter New Blood today. Have to say I liked it more than I expected to. It had some spots where it wandered off too far but it's a show about a serial killer, killer, so that can be excused.

Spoiler

I like that he died in the end this time. No question about it dead.

All in all it was much closer to the first few seasons of Dexter than the last couple that were hot garbage. I wish this had been the final season instead of what we got.

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Darn online booking platforms charging half the ticket extra for 'convenience' while the nearest decent theatre is 20 klicks away from my dorms, fucking forest.

And it's not even April yet.

Got at least 15 on my big screen list o'er da next 9 months...:dunno:

Only so much one can squirrel away

Edited by TheLastWolf
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As to John Wick IV's ending

Spoiler

The director has stated he has no plan to immediately return. And yet there is a John Wick V listed. In my opinion, they'll probably take an extended break, but I wouldn't be surprised if they return in a few years.

Storywise it is not that hard, since the world John Wick inhibits isn't realistic. The story is an excuse for crazy fight scenes. Just off the top of my head, some of the things they could do:

  1. Prequel about Wick's first impossible task
  2. Another sequel against another threat emerging from the table
  3. Another sequel where the table is attacked by an outside force and they lenlist Wick to come back

I think for now they just need some time to recharge and explore other projects. Making these movies must be crazy difficult and exhausting. Not just physically, but also mentally. I guess that in a few years, when enough new ideas have tricked in we might see a return.

 

On 3/28/2023 at 1:00 AM, Tywin et al. said:

I watched House of Gucci over the weekend. Went in with low expectations and am surprised that I liked it. Some how the bad acting and even worse accents were charming. The characters sound like they learned the same second language in different parts of the world and then tried to pass them off as being family and/or from the exact same place. It's hilarious. 

Jared Leto in this film is amazing. I'd watch a spin-off of just that guy overacting and putting on his exaggerated fake accent. He just cracked me up.

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