What movies and TV shows are you watching?
What’re you watching now?
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It’s weird being a parent now and thinking back to what we got to watch as a kid. I can recall being 9 and watching a video of RoboCop at a friend’s house with nobody seeming to object.
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I know this has been debated endlessly but; the humans that get killed in the Matrix get killed.
All those cops and lobby guards, that Trinity and Neo shot in their rescue of Morpheus and collateral damage in their war against the machines. They died in their pods and got processed as nutrients to keep the other “pod people” alive.
It’s an action movie, not a horror film, so they don’t focus on it, but it’s all covered in the exposition scenes.
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And there are other movies with the same 15 rating as The Matrix that I obviously wouldn’t go near with them at the moment because the content and tone is so different. But this one was ok for them.
IIRC the Matrix got its rating jacked up in the UK on account of having a headbutt in it, which the BBFC are very reluctant about allowing in nominal kids’ entertainment.
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Has anyone watched the Snowpiercer series yet? I’m thinking of checking it out but want to know if I need to watch the movie first. Does it stand alone, or is it the kind of spinoff where it’s best to start with the original?
I’ve been watching it.
I didn’t find the first episode very enthralling as it falls into the usual routine of worldbuilding before it gets to do any narrative lifting.
The second episode is more interesting.
You don’t need to have seen the movie to go with it (although the movie is worth watching).
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Thanks, good to know.
What did Seven and Nine have to say about the second part of The Matrix?
My daughter watched the rest and enjoyed it (becoming increasingly gripped as it went on), although she admitted towards the end that for most of the movie she thought Keanu Reeves had been playing a character called Neil.
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In fairness it’s the usual one.
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I know this has been debated endlessly but; the humans that get killed in the Matrix get killed.
All those cops and lobby guards, that Trinity and Neo shot in their rescue of Morpheus and collateral damage in their war against the machines. They died in their pods and got processed as nutrients to keep the other “pod people” alive.
It’s an action movie, not a horror film, so they don’t focus on it, but it’s all covered in the exposition scenes.
I know humans killed in the matrix die in their pods but I thought the guards were programs?
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Has anyone watched the Snowpiercer series yet? I’m thinking of checking it out but want to know if I need to watch the movie first. Does it stand alone, or is it the kind of spinoff where it’s best to start with the original?
I haven’t watched it but the TV series is basically an “alternate reality” of the movie. They are two different things.
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@DaveWallace, I hope you’re not going to show her the sequels. It’s bordering on child abuse.
(I actually like the sequels, but they’re so up their own arse with how smart they want to be. I wouldn’t subject a child to its nonsense.)
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I’ve actually avoided that pitfall by watching some of The Animatrix with her instead.
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(I actually like the sequels, but they’re so up their own arse with how smart they want to be. I wouldn’t subject a child to its nonsense.)
You never recovered from the Architect scene, did you? It’s up there with SW’ sand monologue.
Changing tack, trio of Netflix views:
Running with the Devil
The cast suggests this might be good, but it isn’t. It bills itself as a crime story, but it’d be more accurate to class it as a modern noir.
Total Recall (2012)
Didn’t realise this was so old now. Found it to be a log of fun, with some really smart future designs – the chase sequence midway through really emphasises this. Casting was quite smart – the one flaw was that they lacked the nerve to kill off Lori.
Smokin’ Aces
Didn’t really know what to expect from this, but what I got was an utterly demented, insane and very crazy move that was also a whole lot of fun. It’s helped by a sharp script and smart casting.
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You never recovered from the Architect scene, did you? It’s up there with SW’ sand monologue.
Agreed, and well… in a sense I have recovered. When the movies first came out, I loathed them. Then, a few years on I watched all three in direct succession. Suddenly, the sequels weren’t so bad. The pacing issues were resolved by watching them back to back and cringey as some parts may be there’s a sort of redemption for the gibberish in the Architect scene in the scene with the program that want to save his program daughter. “Love is an emotion.” – “Love is a word” did stick a lot better than the other nonsense.
The sequels have bad bits, but they’re not complete garbage when watched as one.
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Smokin’ Aces
Didn’t really know what to expect from this, but what I got was an utterly demented, insane and very crazy move that was also a whole lot of fun. It’s helped by a sharp script and smart casting.
Yeah, Joe Carnahan really hit this one out of the park; it’s like a Guy Ritchie on steroids. Did you spot Chris Pine in it, playing totally against type? Great film, great cast.
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Yep, loved how his character exited the story too.
“Fuck this.” Blam, blam,blam.
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Years ago there were these Geordie edits
I think I remember the SW one. It was like a fifty minute film with a lot of farting? And handicam footage (old videotape style, not this digital modern stuff) of people running around doing stupid stuff. I don’t remember it particularly fondly.
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Smokin’ Aces
Didn’t really know what to expect from this, but what I got was an utterly demented, insane and very crazy move that was also a whole lot of fun. It’s helped by a sharp script and smart casting.
Yeah, Joe Carnahan really hit this one out of the park; it’s like a Guy Ritchie on steroids. Did you spot Chris Pine in it, playing totally against type? Great film, great cast.
Kinda surprised to see positive reactions to this… the movie usually gets trashed… and yes, I love Pine in this too… I really like when he does this type of smaller movies and goes crazy with his roles… he’s actually a great actor, very underrated.
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Watched The Dead Don’t Die yesterday.
Fantastic cast list. Driver, Murray, Swinton, Tom Waits (!), Sevigny and more.
But that’s the only thing about the movie that’s fantastic, or even good. All the actors are astonishingly underutilized. So is the story. There is nothing scary here. There are no jokes. There is no character development. There just is no fucking point.
Amazingly boring. Some of the cinematography is pretty but it’s still just… a boring, pointless waste of time.
I got the tip to see this movie from a friend. Need to avenge this, but I’m not sure what to recommend back at her. Suggestions welcome.
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Steve Jobs
“An Unconventional biopic” says Netflix. No shit. It’s certainly not fawning to its subject, but could be said to also go so far in the other direction that Steve Jobs, Asshole would have fit. The actual story? Probably elsewhere.
Script is the usual Sorkin style, casting is interesting but can’t comment on the accuracy. The scene towards the end where Wozniak has the line that you can be both gifted and not be an ass is the one that will likely stay with me.
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Can nothing defeat Pirates of Silicon Valley?
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I love Steve Jobs. Not as good as The Social Network, but almost nothing is. I love the three-act structure and how it feels like it was adapted from a play.
As I’ve mentioned before, my only big problem with it is that they use a Libertines song from 2003 for a montage of 1988-1998, which is madness.
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Steve Jobs, Asshole
I mean, that’s not inaccurate…
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The latest WWDITS. I was trying to pick a quote to signify my watchingness to certain forum members but …
It’s impossible. Too many good ones. Such a magical evening.
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That is still a great film.
It’s a film that is smartly breaking the fourth wall. Seeing this when I was still in school and by those days standard a computer geek was kinda mind-blowing. And it’s fun as hell too. Made these guys seem very human. “They’re all stuck together!!”
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It’s a film that is smartly breaking the fourth wall
The bit where Steve Ballmer turns to the audience and explains why the Microsoft/IBM deal was a major mistake on IBM’s part is masterful.
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The bit where Steve Ballmer turns to the audience and explains why the Microsoft/IBM deal was a major mistake on IBM’s part is masterful.
Agreed, and it’s a bit that would be hard to explain properly in a different way.
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Don’t forget Halt and Catch Fire, which poses the question “what if Steve Jobs was still an asshole but had way better eyebrows?”
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Peppa Pig is a more virulent menace than COVID-19; protect yourself, Will!!
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It has begun. My wife introduced Peppa Pig to our 16-month-old daughter, and she loves it.
Peppa Pig is a more virulent menace than COVID-19; protect yourself, Will!!
You’re wrong, fear the Paw Patrol!
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Almost finished Westworld S3. Like it.
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Almost finished Westworld S3. Like it.
If I was the kind of person to say I told you so
Oh no, now I am.
Glad you’re having fun with it.
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So I have slowly caught up from the beginning on The Orville, and am now at the point I watched my first episode (S02E08 “Identity part 1”)
Y’know, I actually like this and like it a lot.
For some reason I wanted Seth McFarlane to crash and burn but ended up liking the guy.
I don’t know why I had the apprehension but am glad I put it aside.Doesn’t hurt that lady friend just loves it, and way before me.
Weird (and where did that come from?), but there it is.So its been cancelled from Fox but moved to Hulu.
Chances are its previous way of airing in Canada will remain same as before (CityTV) so fingers crossed season 3 this July (I think).Edit: MacFarlane
Edit 2: season 3 delayed, no return announced3 users thanked author for this post.
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Saw Batman Begins yesterday, for the first time since its cinematic release. And I watched it because I was watching it with my kid, who was released in the same year as that movie. Weird.
It still holds up, certainly. I saw its flaws somewhat more this time around – originally, I was very happy indeed with the first 2/3rds of the movie, and only thought the Batman bits were too cliché, what with the plot to poison Gotham’s drinking water supply andn whatnot). This time, I thought the first parts also were a bit clunky at times.
But it all still works, anyway, and it looks great for a movie that’s fifteen years old. And it’s just a really good Batman movie; my kid’s more into the Marvel supes and this is really his first real Batman movie (I mean, apart from the Lego one), and as such it blew him away.
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Wish Vaughn could’ve continued on…
Yeah, so do I. Days of Future Past was fine, but ultimately Singer back at the helm has been such a disappointment for the franchise. And Vaughn had re-energised it so effortlessly.
Think it’s too late to get him back to do another?
(Just kidding, we all know they’re going to be rebooted and folded into the Marvel universe now.)
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I was watching it with my kid, who was released in the same year as that movie.
Excellent phrasing there!*
*(notice that I removed “Weird” from the quote)
Yeah, the Nolan Batman trilogy is well done, despite the third one going up its own ass for a bit; if you watch them all in quick succession, they hold together as a solid story as opposed to being just individual parts of a franchise (such as the Burton/Schumacher quartet).
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Last night I watched Apocalypse Now for the first time in almost decade. Still holds up as a mad, delirious masterpiece. You feel the senselessness of war in every frame, every noise, every close up of Sheen and Brando. Definitely my favorite Coppola, and a top ten all time favorite movie.
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Finally got around to watching Locke & Key. I love the comic, but the show was just okay. Considering how insistent the writers seemed to be about having the kids find as many keys as possible really quickly, there was a surprising lack of use of the keys. In fact, most everyone was pretty damn stupid with how they handled the keys. I would have liked to at least have the kids revel in the magic of the keys a little bit more. That aspect was really poorly utilized.
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This felt like the right time to watch Straight Outta Compton.
Some very smart casting for one hell of a story and yet all the stuff that it covered thirty years plus ago? Still going on now.
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Epstein was an intelligence operative
OMG now it makes sense why they had to kill Paul and then cover it up, he was probably getting too close to the truth
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This morning Alias popped on my Amazon Prime. Watched the 1st episode. The music is very dated but Jennifer Garner is compelling as the lead. Her retrieval of the gadget was very empowering. Felt good watching someone like that after dealing with sense of powerless caused by the events of this weekend. Not sure what the deal is with Cooper but I am sure his character develops as the series goes. Garber is his typical professional actor. Kept comparing him with Martin Stein from Arrowverse.
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Keep watching.
Every good girl deserves gadgets and non-convincing yet vibrant wigs and a Cooper and a Garber. I’d mention other characters and tools (in all sense of the word) except spoilers.
Alias set the stage for Lost and The Americans and Black Widow. Elektra movie coulda woulda ultimately led to Daredevil telly corridor cool.
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Alias has still maybe my favourite pilot ever.
Not sure what the deal is with Cooper but I am sure his character develops as the series goes
Sort of. He spends the entire first season investigating what’s going with Sydney, but once he finally figures it out he becomes a good part of the show, until they write him out (IIRC, he did not like being on the show).
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I just watched Marjorie Prime, a film that flew under my radar when it first came out a few years ago and which I only really found out about after seeing it on a list of top 21st century sci-fi movies recently.
While it’s definitely sci-fi – revolving around a future in which AI hologram recreations of the dead, “Primes”, comfort and support the living – details of this element are downplayed in favour of exploring ideas around memory, truth, family secrets, cycles of behaviour and how we deal with loss, with the Primes themselves more of an interesting story device than a real focus.
It boasts a great cast. Lois Smith is amazing as Marjorie, a widow suffering with dementia and ill health, whose deterioration is accompanied by a Prime of her dead husband, Walter (played just the right side of unsettlingly by Jon Hamm), with Geena Davis and Tim Robbins in supporting roles.
And while it doesn’t ever quite escape its theatrical roots, it doesn’t need to. Because this is a film all about intimacy and our closest and most personal relationships – including internally with ourselves and our own memories and unique knowledge – and trying to broaden it out would only detract from that.
Without giving anything away, I enjoyed the way the film gradually iterated and became about more than just one central relationship, and I found some sections of it quite moving and affecting, especially towards the end.
It’s quiet and understated, and asks you to make of it what you will to some extent, but as a slower slice of thoughtful sci-fi I really enjoyed it.
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Lucy
It sells itself as a superhero movie but it really isn’t, I’d class it as far more hard SF, but it’s pretty stealthy about it.
As a SF film? Works OK but then goes super trippy at the end, to its detriment.
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We watched The Mandalorian over the last week. Pretty good. Nothing new or perpendicularly revolutionary but it did exactly what I wanted – the visuals and designs of Star Wars without getting bogged down by trying to play the “everything is connected” / “everything is important” game. I liked the fact it went a bit A-Team in the middle and let the main character show off his gunslinger skills without worrying too much about the over arching story. The episodes were nice and zippy too. More TV could learn from this. Too much TV overstays it’s welcome with 13 plus hour long episodes per season. It was refreshing to have something that could comfortably be watched in an evening. I loved how much it wore the “this is a space western” on it’s sleeve. The end of the end credits theme brought For A Few Dollars More to mind.
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It sells itself as a superhero movie but it really isn’t, I’d class it as far more hard SF, but it’s pretty stealthy about it.
I don’t remember a lot about Lucy, but I thought it was just a dumb action movie; I didn’t see the hard SF there at all.
I watched through Avenue 5 over the last few days. Enjoyed it a lot.
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I watched through Avenue 5 over the last few days. Enjoyed it a lot.
I bet the sense of escalating madness was even stronger watching it all in such a short span.
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It certainly was very strong indeed.
It was great to see Hugh Laurie doing comedy again. He seemed to be having a lot of fun with it, too.
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He’s very funny in Veep if you haven’t seen it.
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The “but” in that sentence should be an “and”. Or an “especially because”!
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WITCHES!!!
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Okay, so Fight Club is on. Bumped into it right exactly at the beginning and realized I really want to watch again.
So Marla Singer. She just walked out into traffic, and then back to the sidewalk.
I’ve always kinda wondered if that meant she wasn’t real.
Is there anything to that?
I have nothing more, but that scene just seems like its screaming something.Edit: Yeah, it would only be that scene as she’s important in the other scenes. Ah well. Thought i was onto something.
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I’ve always kinda wondered if that meant she wasn’t real. Is there anything to that?
Judging from the sequels, she’s real – Married to
SebastianThe Narrator with whom she has a kid.No idea what was in Finchers vision though.
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His name is Robert Paulson.
Fuck I love this movie.2 users thanked author for this post.
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Here’s a drinking game for your next viewing:
The Fight Club Drinking Game
1. Drink everytime someone talks about Fight Club.
The rules are pretty easy to remember. Don’t die.
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I watched Walkabout last night and loved it. Nicolas Roeg made movies like nobody else. There’s a lot going on in how the movie presents itself: not just Roeg’s signature cutting, his “rhyming” of related images, but also how the radio the two lost children carry with them plays snatches of programs pertaining to many aspects of modern life (political, philosophical, educational, economic, etc).
There are times in the movie when narrative gives way to montages of the Australian Outback set to radio distortion that contains even more of these snatches, not just contrasting modernity with nature but also, in my mind, suggesting that out in the wild, when people are pushed beyond the brink, it’s possible for the boundaries between the self and the rest of the world, including the people in it, to erode.
I told my dad that I loved it and he told me it’s in his top ten. I asked what else is in his top ten and he responded with a top 11:
2001, Walkabout, Mean Streets, The Conversation, The Servant, The Red Shoes, Andrei Rublev, Odd Man Out, No Country for Old Men, Topsy Turvy, Sweet Smell of Success
Now that’s a man of fine tastes! 2001 and Rublev are also in my top 10. Only one I haven’t seen is Topsy Turvy but he said he’ll let me borrow it.
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2001, Walkabout, Mean Streets, The Conversation, The Servant, The Red Shoes, Andrei Rublev, Odd Man Out, No Country for Old Men, Topsy Turvy, Sweet Smell of Success
Your dad has excellent and varied taste. I love my dad, but his Top Ten film list would like begin with THE QUIET MAN starring John Wayne (because it’s set in Ireland), followed by 9 generic John Wayne westerns.
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Oh my dad’s a huge Western fan, I’m surprised more didn’t break his top ten (aside from No Country). He sent me a Westerns list too that included the five Anthony Mann/Jimmy Stewart Westerns (my favorite of those has always been The Far Country), four Budd Boetticher/Randolph Scott ones, and The Wild Bunch. He’s not a big John Wayne fan but he loves The Searchers.
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John Lithgow is amazing. My favourite thing he ever did is his performance of Newt Gingrich’s crazy press release on the Colbert Report a few years ago.
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That’s fantastic. I’d never seen that before.
Yeah, Lithgow is just great and in Last Night he almost seems to be acting in a different film to everyone else – he gives this delicate, restrained emotional performance in a film that’s otherwise fairly light and frothy.
I also loved him in Dexter where he played that serial killer for a season and just seemed to act everybody else off the screen.
Even in something like the recent Planet of the Apes reboot he gives this beautiful, sympathetic performance that transcends the rest of the film.
There’s a theme here! He’s kind of like Ed Harris in that he just seems to elevate everything he’s in.
Weird to think that for so long he was known for goofy comedy in Third Rock From The Sun. It just shows what range he’s got.
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We watched the second Jurassic Park movie, The Lost World, last night. It’s a weird film in that it feels like a straight-to-video sequel in some ways – lazy plot, cutout characters and some fairly basic reprises of stuff from the first movie, without any of the depth and thoughtfulness – but it also has these occasionally great setpiece moments of tension and action (the trailer hanging off the cliff with the gradually-cracking windscreen chief among them). And the final sequence with the T-Rex in the city is fun but far too short. Definitely a lesser Spielberg, but with occasional flashes of greatness.
I went to see The Lost World in the cinema, and haven’t watched a Jurassic Park movie since! Good job, Spielbergo.
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Ha! It was Jurassic World that killed it for me, I saw all of them in the cinema except the most recent one (which I watched on a streaming service and switched off halfway through as it was so awful).
From memory, Jurassic Park III was actually pretty good and more fun than the second one. I guess we’ll see when we rewatch that one.
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Yeah, I remember hearing that III was better but if I want to see dinosaurs fucking stuff up there’s always Beast Wars.
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Lots of re-watching going on in this thread – I will take the chance to recommend The Rewatchables podcast. Some of my favourite eps have been for lesser films (to me) – Beverly Hills Cop, Total Recall, Godfather 3.
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I watched the first episode of Pandora earlier, which SyFy were pushing on the Sky EPG promo panels.
Oof, that is one of the worst pilots I’ve seen in years if not ever. Veers between not explaining enough (the main character’s parents are killed off within the first 40 seconds or so in the most perfunctory way) and dumping huge clods of exposition, especially when introducing the other students. And yet it then cuts to Jax in her dorm room talking to someone she’s very familiar with (despite this being her first day on the planet) who is given no introduction to the audience at all.
It does the hackneyed sci-fi thing of having an alien that talks in very stilted English, along with the other cliche of an android/cyborg type who talks in very stilted English, both of which are undermined by every character being lumbered with some of the least naturalistic dialogue I’ve ever encountered.
It’s terribly constructed too, just throwing so much plot into one episode giving nothing a chance to breath. Just horrendously awful and amateurish on every level.
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Just horrendously awful and amateurish on every level.
I thought the trailers looked good, so thanks for the warning before I wasted any time on it :)
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Got around to watching the final season of She-Ra on Netflix. It’s obviously a kids show and I’m totally not the target audience… But man, I loved this whole series. It’s just so bloody fun and charming. I got more laughs out of each episode of this, than most actual comedy shows.
Top animation and solid character development throughout the five seasons. And a finale that delivers action and a real emotional punch too……Great stuff!.
