Watch, Watched, Watching: The Movie and Television Thread

[The Anti-Targ]

Just watched Dredd (2012). It was good, it deserved better than the very meager box office gross it made. If it had been slightly less graphic with the violence and got a M rather than R rating it probably would have got a bigger audience. But then it wouldn't have been as good of a movie. So a no win situation.

A shame we won't be seeing a sequel.

[Sci-2]

Firefly from when they had the marathon on SCI channel.

This would have freaked me out if I'd been watching Firefly yesterday. :-)

Anyone have opinions on Wreck It Ralph?

[Mexal]

Just watched Dredd (2012). It was good, it deserved better than the very meager box office gross it made. If it had been slightly less graphic with the violence and got a M rather than R rating it probably would have got a bigger audience. But then it wouldn't have been as good of a movie. So a no win situation.

A shame we won't be seeing a sequel.

I just watched it again last night. I, like you, wish it did better as I want a sequel. I thought it was awesome.

[DivisionByZero]

This would have freaked me out if I'd been watching Firefly yesterday. :-)

Anyone have opinions on Wreck It Ralph?

My kids and I liked Wreck It Ralph. All the gaming references were neat, but weren't so integral to anything that you'd miss out if you didn't recognize them. The story and characters were all entertaining and/or cute.

[King Tyrion I]

"Ronin" starring Jean Reno, Robert DeNiro and - Sean Bean.

[Starkess]

Anyone have opinions on Wreck It Ralph?

Loved it! It was an adorable movie. The gaming references were great. I didn't even get close to all of them, but enough of them to make it really enjoyable. Really creative throughout.

[Teng Ai Hui]

This semester at school, I discovered that I could "watch" cooking-based reality shows while grading papers or planning lessons. In that time, I have watched Hell's Kitchen S10, Hotel Hell, MasterChef S3, Kitchen Nightmares S5, Top Chef: Texas, Top Chef Just Desserts S2, and Top Chef Masters S4.

Also over the last month or so I have been watching watching Doctor Who (2005). Currently I'm halfway through Matt Smith's first season.

Last weekend I finally got around to watching the newest Batman movie. It was descent but fell far below the hype around it. For me it was way too long and Bane was far less interesting than Joker and Ra's al Ghul.

[The Anti-Targ]

"Ronin" starring Jean Reno, Robert DeNiro and - Sean Bean.

Good Movie.

I watched Salmon Fishing in the Yemen recently. It was OK, but really just a rom-com with a slightly more intelligent conceit and somewhat more interesting characters than the usual rom-com. I'm also not a big fan of being expected to cheer for a relationship that is in anyway connected to infidelity. Yes they never actually do it or even kiss before Ewan's character walks out on the marriage, but the affair of the heart is the proximate cause of the ending the marriage at that particular time. I would have much preferred that there was a greater conflict or clearly irreconcilable differences in the marriage and that the split had been consciously set in motion BEFORE Ewan decided he wanted to hook up with Emily's character.

I've been watching Wallander (Kenneth Branagh version), quite enjoying it really.

[RedEyedGhost]

Good Movie.

I watched Salmon Fishing in the Yemen recently. It was OK, but really just a rom-com with a slightly more intelligent conceit and somewhat more interesting characters than the usual rom-com. I'm also not a big fan of being expected to cheer for a relationship that is in anyway connected to infidelity. Yes they never actually do it or even kiss before Ewan's character walks out on the marriage, but the affair of the heart is the proximate cause of the ending the marriage at that particular time. I would have much preferred that there was a greater conflict or clearly irreconcilable differences in the marriage and that the split had been consciously set in motion BEFORE Ewan decided he wanted to hook up with Emily's character.

I've been watching Wallander (Kenneth Branagh version), quite enjoying it really.

I felt that they set this up with their very first (second?) joint scene. The fact that she would take a six⁺ week job, in a different county, without even talking to him about it showed that there was something horribly wrong with their marriage.

Even if Ewan and Emily had not ended up together, I would have enjoyed watching the transformation in Ewan's character. He was absolutely miserable at work and at home, and by having this insane project forced upon him his life was completely turned around. The farmed raised fish were an excellent metaphor for his life - he just needed to be set free in order to do amazing and unexpected things.

He really should have broken things off with his wife earlier though.

[Roose Seal]

I just watched the Ace Attorney movie. It's surprisingly brilliant, hilarious and emotional at the same time.

By very far the best video-game adaptation movie ever.

[Datepalm]

I felt that they set this up with their very first (second?) joint scene. The fact that she would take a six⁺ week job, in a different county, without even talking to him about it showed that there was something horribly wrong with their marriage.

Even if Ewan and Emily had not ended up together, I would have enjoyed watching the transformation in Ewan's character. He was absolutely miserable at work and at home, and by having this insane project forced upon him his life was completely turned around. The farmed raised fish were an excellent metaphor for his life - he just needed to be set free in order to do amazing and unexpected things.

He really should have broken things off with his wife earlier though.

I thought Emily was actually in a squickier place, with infidelity and all that - granted, she was in an impossible and melodramatic situation, but it did make it hard for me to root for the romance. Ewans marriage I thought was fairly shown early on as being in a mutually really bad way and didn't bother me in that sense.

I really, really could have done without the scene where the wife desperately wants him back all of the sudden. It's both needlessly humiliating to her and kind of makes the main romance seem thinner - he's all cool now so all the ladiez want him, rather than this being a particular of Emily/Ewan (damn what was the characters name?)

Also, it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but all the sweater vests in the world aren't going to make McGregor into convincing nebbish-frumpy-guy.

Didn't like the Yemeni Sheikh's wooby philanthropic peace and love and blah schtick either. It felt really cheesy and heavy handed. Why couldn't he just have been a really eccentric rich guy with an obsession for salmon fishing? It would have made a much more interesting character, imo, then having to make him dissolve into milquetoast political correctness every few lines. You're not really going to be adressing politics and development economics and whatever in this movie anyway, so why not just let it go and let the character be in the story they're in?

[The Anti-Targ]

I felt that they set this up with their very first (second?) joint scene. The fact that she would take a six⁺ week job, in a different county, without even talking to him about it showed that there was something horribly wrong with their marriage.

Even if Ewan and Emily had not ended up together, I would have enjoyed watching the transformation in Ewan's character. He was absolutely miserable at work and at home, and by having this insane project forced upon him his life was completely turned around. The farmed raised fish were an excellent metaphor for his life - he just needed to be set free in order to do amazing and unexpected things.

He really should have broken things off with his wife earlier though.

Yes, the last sentence of your spoiler is exactly what I'm getting at.

[The Anti-Targ]

I thought Emily was actually in a squickier place, with infidelity and all that - granted, she was in an impossible and melodramatic situation, but it did make it hard for me to root for the romance. Ewans marriage I thought was fairly shown early on as being in a mutually really bad way and didn't bother me in that sense.

I really, really could have done without the scene where the wife desperately wants him back all of the sudden. It's both needlessly humiliating to her and kind of makes the main romance seem thinner - he's all cool now so all the ladiez want him, rather than this being a particular of Emily/Ewan (damn what was the characters name?)

Also, it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but all the sweater vests in the world aren't going to make McGregor into convincing nebbish-frumpy-guy.

Didn't like the Yemeni Sheikh's wooby philanthropic peace and love and blah schtick either. It felt really cheesy and heavy handed. Why couldn't he just have been a really eccentric rich guy with an obsession for salmon fishing? It would have made a much more interesting character, imo, then having to make him dissolve into milquetoast political correctness every few lines. You're not really going to be adressing politics and development economics and whatever in this movie anyway, so why not just let it go and let the character be in the story they're in?

I think the liberal, enlightened, benevolent, philosophical sheikh made the motivations behind the exciting bit at the end more believable. So trade a not very believable character so as to be able to set up a believable dramatic and dangerous conclusion.

[ztemhead]

Last night I started watching The League on Netflix. I like it because the humor is delightfully wrong, much like Happy Endings, and Don't Trust the B----, though a bit more guy-centric than either. It's rather like a Judd Apatow flick in that way.

Also it's a must see for anyone who has ever played Fantasy Football. :)

[Francis Buck]

I watched Killer Joe last night. It was very good, but very messed up. Probably Matthew McConaughey's best film to date. His acting was literally Oscar-worthy. It's too bad he doesn't do more stuff like this.

[polishgenius]

I watched Killer Joe last night. It was very good, but very messed up. Probably Matthew McConaughey's best film to date. His acting was literally Oscar-worthy. It's too bad he doesn't do more stuff like this.

It seems to me that McConaughey pretty much spent the entirety of the last two years kicking his 'American Hugh Grant' romantic lead image in the balls. This, The Lincoln Lawyer and Magic Mike are all films seemingly designed to scrub that time from the memory as thoroughly as possible.

[Roose Seal]

It seems to me that McConaughey pretty much spent the entirety of the last two years kicking his 'American Hugh Grant' romantic lead image in the balls. This, The Lincoln Lawyer and Magic Mike are all films seemingly designed to scrub that time from the memory as thoroughly as possible.

I thought he was kind of repugnant in Magic Mike. I realize he was sort of supposed to be but every time he was on screen, I cringed.

[Mexal]

It seems to me that McConaughey pretty much spent the entirety of the last two years kicking his 'American Hugh Grant' romantic lead image in the balls. This, The Lincoln Lawyer and Magic Mike are all films seemingly designed to scrub that time from the memory as thoroughly as possible.

Thing is, McConaughey can act. He just never chose to because it seemed like he didn't really care about acting. But when he tries, I'm generally impressed.

[polishgenius]

I thought he was kind of repugnant in Magic Mike. I realize he was sort of supposed to be but every time he was on screen, I cringed.

I haven't seen either film yet though both are on my list, but I am absolutely certain from what I know about it that he's also pretty repugnant in Killer Joe. It's part of why I suspect that this series of films has been a deliberate reaction to his image.

[Francis Buck]

I haven't seen Magic Mike or The Lincoln Lawyer, but his role in Killer Joe is probably one of the most disgusting human beings I've ever seen in a movie...all while still being incredibly charming and at times hilarious, which is part of what makes the character work so well. Honestly at this point the dude must be filthy fucking rich, so I wouldn't be surprised at all if he's purposely taking better roles now that he can "afford" it.