What Are You Watching? New Season!

Topic

Time for a new ‘watching’ thread!

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Transformers: War For Cybertron: Earthrise (extraneous colons ahoy!)

Picking up an undetermined amount of time after Siege, things have, of course gotten worse. The Allspark’s removal from Cybertron has lead to a steady decline of the planet from its already war-torn state. Megatron is slowly cannibalising his territory in order to complete the mysterious project Nemesis (anyone who’s vaguely familiar with the Transformers or has seen the opening credits for the show will twig that it’s a spaceship from the first time it’s mentioned), only a handful of Autobots remain on the planet, and the Ark is missing in deep space, the crew in an inert state.

From this opening point it sorta becomes three two-episode stories – the first gets the Autobots on the Ark back in action while Megatron prepares to go after them; the second has the Autobots figure out a plan to regain the Allspark and encounter a couple of obstacles on the way; while the last one concludes the running storylines and sets up Kingdom, the final installment of the show.

And if you enjoyed Siege, you’ll probably like this. It’s very much more of the same – there’s like 5 new character models this year, and only one of them is seen transforming, so the animation is still clearly being done on a budget. Like Dirge, Thrust and Ramjet show up as part of Doubledealer’s mercenary crew, but rather than base them on their Earthrise toys, they’re just the Siege seekers with a new head. Exhaust doesn’t even get that – the toy is a variant on the recent Wheeljack, advertised as being just like the character in the show. But while the toy and older versions of Exhaust tend to have a different head than Wheeljack, the animation uses the same model but has red glowing parts instead of blue. Beyond that, when talking about Siege I mentioned that it felt like the backplot to Cyberverse, and this feels a lot like Cyberverse again, but with the sense of fun removed and replaced with a “They’re not dolls, they’re action figures, mum” vibe of seriousness. And the voice acting is still the biggest flaw, with Jake Foushee’s Optimus Prime suffering the most, as he’s got a lot more angry lines this year and between his attempts to do a Peter Cullen impression and the processing done on his voice it really doesn’t work.

All that said, I had a fairly good time with the show over the 3 hours or so runtime. It drags a bit at the end because again it’s blaringly obvious how the story is going to finish up and roll into kingdom, but the action sequences are fun, the nods back to other Transformers media are amusing, and there are some interesting things going on.

I still can’t get over the voice of Megatron and the not-CHOOM sound effect of his fusion cannon. But I will watch this as soon the opportunity arises.

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lorcan_nagle

Raised by Wolves is the truth.

 

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Dave

lorcan_nagle wrote:

extraneous colons ahoy!

You’ll have to see a doctor for that.

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lorcan_nagle

Dave wrote:

lorcan_nagle wrote:

extraneous colons ahoy!

You’ll have to see a doctor for that.

A colonist, preferrably.

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lorcan_nagle

The BBC’s Hogmany evening TV offering – The Big New Years In – was the perfect representation of 2020 in that it was total and utter dog shit.

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Chris-S, DavidM, Uncle Retrospective, lorcan_nagle, garjones, Todd, Dave

In preparation of the rest of 2021, I’m starting this year out watching Zombieland.

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Will_C, Todd, Christian, Uncle Retrospective, lorcan_nagle

Cobra Kai…

‘Nuff said

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Chris-S

Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves is on tv and we’re watching it for the first time in a long time.

So much of this is burned into my memory from repeated childhood viewings, so many quotable lines and memorable scenes. Costner has a true star quality in it. And of course Alan Rickman constantly steals the show.

It’s cheesy and old-fashioned but still a hugely fun movie. And that music!

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Andrew, Chris-S, Ben, Bruce, Todd, Will_C

Dave wrote:

Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves is on tv and we’re watching it for the first time in a long time.

So much of this is burned into my memory from repeated childhood viewings, so many quotable lines and memorable scenes. Costner has a true star quality in it. And of course Alan Rickman constantly steals the show.

It’s cheesy and old-fashioned but still a hugely fun movie. And that music!

I think I only have 3 fantasy movies from the 90’s in my collection: Robin Hood, The Mask of Zorro and The 13th Warrior… Truly all wonderful films, despite all their nineties-ness and their flaws =P

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DavidM

[Steve Sensible]

Just finished bingeing I’ll Be Gone In The Dark, an HBO series about the Golden State Killer (aka the East Area Rapist aka the Original Night Stalker.) It’s also part In Memoriam to Michelle Macnamara, the late wife of Patton Oswalt, who started investigating the case online, and ultimately ended up being instrumental in the GSK’s arrest, 40 years after he committed his crimes, and sadly also a year after she died.

It’s an extraordinary story, grippingly and movingly told – 4 1/2 hours well spent.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by Steve Sensible.

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lorcan_nagle, Todd

Dave wrote:

Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves is …cheesy and old-fashioned but still a hugely fun movie. And that music!

I remember enjoying this when it first came out; but was on one of the premium channels during this past December, and the cheesiness and ham acting by Rickman and Costner and many others was painful to watch this time around. As I recall, Costner agreed to star in it to support his good friend Kevin Reynolds, who directed the film, and to return the favor Reynolds paid in hiring him for his film Fandango back when Costner was an unknown actor. They also collaborated on Waterworld, which film I have enjoyed more upon rewatching; but I will avoid Prince of Thieves in the future.

In other news, I’m late to the game but between last night and today I’ve watched 5 episodes of Raised By Wolves, and I’m really loving this one. Good way to end 2020 and bring in 2021.

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Chris-S, Dave

Don’t wanna be a party pooper, but brace for a… hum, let’s call it “puzzling” season finale =P

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Sean Robinson

Taskmaster did a New Year’s special tonight, a one-off featuring five non-comedian contestants: John Hannah, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Nicola Coughlin, Rylan Clarke-Neal and Shirley Ballas. This is presumably the kind of opportunity for which the show moved to Channel 4, to get bigger name contestants. It also feels a bit like a testing the waters to diversify the contestant pool beyond just stand-ups and comic actors for future series.

And yeah, based on this, it’s a feasible idea. I mean, admittedly Coughlin and Rylan aren’t that far outside the show’s usual contestant criteria, but the line-up worked really well and could probably have sustained a series, I reckon.

Even if that’s not a consideration, this special was fun in and of itself, so hopefully they’ll do some more down the line with people who don’t have time for a full series.

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Bruce

Wife had already watched Umbrella Academy but loved it so much she was keen on a rewatch so we got through the first season over the past week or so.

I was sure I read the first series as floppies when it first came out but can’t find 4-6; in any case I don’t really remember much about the comic bar that it was good.

The show works well – the tone is good, the style and design is top notch, and most of the writing and performances are really great (the boy, number 5 especially). The actor playing Klaus channels a bit of Ledger’s Joker early on so I was often distracted throughout imagining him taking that role in future. I thought Mary J Blige was a weak point, but her partner was really endearing and though he sounded familiar I didn’t glom that he was also in Mindhunter (RIP). There are some huge nitpicks, but I let them go – it was worth a watch (and featured some great music).

We also got Disney+ on a whim (wife canceled her (overpriced) Audible sub to compensate) and have just been watching peak Simpsons when stumped (seasons 5 – 9).

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Christian

Martin Smith wrote:

John Hannah, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Nicola Coughlin, Rylan Clarke-Neal and Shirley Ballas … bigger name contestants.

 

DavidM wrote:

Martin Smith wrote:

John Hannah, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Nicola Coughlin, Rylan Clarke-Neal and Shirley Ballas … bigger name contestants.

 

Yes, in fairness John Hannah and Krishnan Guru-Murthy have only been acting and presenting prominently for around 30 years each, so hopefully they’ll choose less of a flash-in-the-pan next time.

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Martin Smith, Ben, DavidM, paul f, Steve Sensible

Important to remember Meadows still lives in the 1970s so was expecting Cliff Michelmore, Frank Muir, Kenneth Baker, Valerie Singleton and Cyril Fletcher as the A list talent.

Albeit most of them are dead.

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Andrew, Bruce, DavidM

I know Guru-Murthy. If the others are actors then I’ll probably know their faces without knowing their names.

For comparison, I know the vast majority of the people they usually have on Taskmaster. They’re basically household names, even to an out-of-touch fogey like me, some of them can headline arenas with a stand-up routine, so I’m not sure how this new cast is really a step up from that.

 

To be fair David I kind of agree. I tend to take more interest in UK comedy than most other areas so I would often know the standard Taskmaster cast as well if not better than this one.

That is really an encapsulation though of how this stuff is compartmentalised nowadays. We’re in a world where the hugely vaunted US late night talk show hosts get a quarter of the audience of Countryfile on BBC1. That is being pissed on by some guy Youtube or Twitch hitting 20 million.

Banshee, season 1, episode 3.

Holy.  Fuck.  That was quite the fight.

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Uncle Retrospective, Chris-S, Christian, Rocket

If you’ve just started on Banshee, you’re in for quite a few amazing fights. That show was something else.

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Rocket, Ben

Oh man I’m kinda jelly you’re watching Banshee for the first time… hope you enjoy it. Also, Job is the best =P

Anyways, so Vikings has endeth… not with a bang, but with a whimper, which is actually rather fitting considering the themes of this last season. It wasn’t the best season for sure, but I suppose that was to be expected once they started getting rid of all the great characters. Still, it was a good ride overall while it lasted. Skol!

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Ben

Anyone seen Warrior? Any good?

I might get into it after Cobra Kai…

[Martin Smith]

DavidM wrote:

I know Guru-Murthy. If the others are actors then I’ll probably know their faces without knowing their names.

For comparison, I know the vast majority of the people they usually have on Taskmaster. They’re basically household names, even to an out-of-touch fogey like me, some of them can headline arenas with a stand-up routine, so I’m not sure how this new cast is really a step up from that.

 

I can kind of see your point, but at the same time, it is a bit you being out of touch.

Rylan does Strictly’s side show, Supermarket Sweep and is a Radio 2 DJ (at least occasionally). Shirley Ballas is the head judge on Strictly. John Hannah is a well known and busy actor in films and TV both sides of the Atlantic.  Krishnan is on Channel 4 News. Coughlin was in Derry Girls, Harlots and other stuff (and so frankly could have been on a regular series, so let’s gloss over her). They may not exactly be BIG STARS all of them, but they’re household names in their own right, to likely a different audience to Taskmaster’s usual one (which given the move to the more mainstream Channel 4 is an important element) and more so than the likes of Rose Matafeo, Mawaan Rizwan and (when she was on at least) Lolly Adefope. And, crucially, they’re less likely to have the amount of free time necessary to do a full series of Taskmaster (and probably have a higher fee), than the usual calibre of touring comedians/panel show regulars.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by Martin Smith.

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DavidM

Al-x wrote:

Anyone seen Warrior? Any good?

I might get into it after Cobra Kai…

Yes, it’s great and you’ll love it (I’m pretty sure I had already recomended it to you). Only bad thing is Cinemax cancelled all of their og programming, so Warrior got the axe after season 2… hopefully someone will rescue the show, because it is (or was) probably one of the best shows out there at the moment.

Jon wrote:

Warrior got the axe after season 2

Cliffhanger ending or did they get enough notice to avoid that perpetual TV plague?

I’d say more of a soft cliffhanger… as in laying out thew ground for the next chapter, but nothing was left in blatant suspense at the end (IIRC). Doesn’t seem like they got notice. At any rate, it’s still worth watching all things considered.

Thanks, sounds encouraging.

Whoops, seems the board didn’t like me copy/pasting stuff directly, it ate my post twice… so for the 3rd time =P

Well if you do end up liking banshee, you should for sure check Warrior out… it’s similar in that it’s an action oriented show, with some of the most amazing action scenes you’ll see on TV… very different setting though, as it’s a tale that happens post-civil war focused on the chinese immigration in the west coast. It’s more fantastical than historical of course, but the production values are through the roof.

Here’s some info I found:

Since Cinemax has ceased all production on original series, Warrior won’t be getting renewed for season 3 — at least not on Cinemax. Warrior was one of the premium channel’s biggest hits, and season 2 was ordered just 3 episodes into season 1; however, Cinemax — which is owned by Home Box Office, Inc. (HBO) and is thus a subsidiary of WarnerMedia — has since changed strategies, likely because of the competition of HBO Max.

Now that Warrior has completed its run, it is expected to drop on HBO Max, where it may find an even bigger audience. If this is the case, there’s potential for HBO Max to pick up the series and order season 3, much like how Netflix revived Cobra Kai when YouTube stopped producing original series.

Unfortunately, even if Warrior does get picked up by HBO Max, viewers will have to wait a while to see how the cliffhanger ending of season 2 pans out. Even though Warrior was renewed for season 2 in April 2019, the second season didn’t premiere until October 2020, suggesting an 18-month production time. As there are no current plans for another season, not only is production not underway, but the various parties involved in creating the show are likely pursuing other projects — meaning that even if the show gets picked up by HBO Max, there will likely be scheduling conflicts delaying production. Warrior season 3 is likely to be delayed to at least April 2022, if not October 2022 (if it happens at all).

 

So it seems not all hope is lost after all, but it’s gonna be tough… let’s hope it gets more popular with HBOmax, because that’s kind of the problem with these Cinmax shows… feels like no one watched them.

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Todd

ATTACK ON TITAN is entertaining enough, but it just can’t expect me to take it as seriously as it’s started to take itself.

Anonymous wrote:

ATTACK ON TITAN is entertaining enough, but it just can’t expect me to take it as seriously as it’s started to take itself.

My wife’s 18 year old nephew LOVES the series. He is excited about the upcoming final season.

I watched the first few episodes of the first season and while the animation is great, it just didn’t grab me.

Here are some interesting takes on the show:

And here’s a picture of the little known Sony Titan:

I can really tell the not eating candy has seen Sony Titan lose some weight!

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Todd

Jon wrote:

Job is the best

Al-x wrote:

Anyone seen Warrior? Any good?

Funny these two quotes are back to back. I just started Warrior. I remember when it came out and everyone was so hyped on it, especially O’hara. After watching the 1st ep of Warrior i thought “no wonder Jim liked it, it was a wild west wild version of Spartacus(lots of titties and sex and uber amounts of duels and violence)”
Speaking of Job, the actor who plays him is also in Warrior. He is the only one I recognized.

You can also tell that it is inspired by Bruce Lee(his daughter is a producer). While fighting you see some famous mannerisms of Lee displayed.

Finally got around to watching Heat on BR.  25 years on, how does it hold up? Pretty damn well.

Picture is spectacular on PS5, it’s never looked better.

Spotted details this time I didn’t pick up before – a glass wrapped in kitchen towel to avoid leaving fingerprints, a nightclub with metal detectors, the ease of ordering surveillance in the mid 90s.

That it takes its time to establish its characters and their relationships is what makes the film work.  If it did things faster, it wouldn’t be as effective.

Oh yeah, the bank robbery sequence is still stunning

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Sean Robinson

Ben wrote:

That it takes its time to establish its characters and their relationships is what makes the film work.

That, and the phenomenally realistic sound effects and gunplay.

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Ben

You ever hear the story of how that happened?

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Todd

No, I am only familiar with how Val Kilmer tactical reloads are the basis for police and military training videos.

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Todd

They shot it all, tried various combinations of sound effects and mixing but nothing came to close to the actual footage, with sound ricocheting off the skyscrapers.  So, that’s what they went with.

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Todd

Good story. Not great though. Could you spice it up a little? Some dramatic death, a couple of tits perhaps?

I’m watching Indiananapolis Jonestown: The Last Crusade and some of the soundtrack is eerily reminiscent of the soundtrack for the Star Wars sequel trilogy. John Williams seems to borrowing heavily from this… uhhh… John… Williams… guy.

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DavidM, Sean Robinson

Nope.

Changing tack, the warnings on Banshee are frequently hilarious, but even more so for ep 7.  After all, the previous ep had a guy get his nuts cut off with a razor, blinded, rendered inconscious and then killed.

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With Banshee, I always wondered if that elbow block would really fracture your forearm down to your elbow. Not that I would try it. I figured that it is just a TV trick.

As for Cobra Kai, Kreese is something else… I am trying to stay away from social media as best I can to avoid the spoilers. I still don’t get how some can watch a whole season (5-6 hours) in one sitting.

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Just watched Promising Young Woman. Carey Mulligan goes out hunting “nice guys” as a way of getting revenge for a friend who was raped in the past. It has a blackly comic tone similar to Killing Eve (not surprising since it’s by one of the show’s writers) which serves to keep the viewer at an emotional distance, which might be just as well considering it deals with some pretty grim stuff.

I had issues with how it ended, given the subject matter, but it was otherwise a very assured feature debut from writer/director Emerald Fennell.

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Will_C

[Sean Robinson]

Ben wrote:

Finally got around to watching Heat on BR.

Okay, a little embarrassed, but I recently found that still wrapped in plastic, with a few other movies I remember searching for over the last couple of years. I hoard over multiple media…

I enjoyed it, and wish I had seen it back in the day.
Actually wish it was done more recently because I was ready to accept a different ending, cheering for it almost.

Noticed the credits had Pacino first, then De Niro. I kind of figured other way around, but to people I brought it up with there was equally opposing views. Noticed Pacino lovers willing to stand their ground on the subject.
I don’t hate Pacino, just bugs me he gets me to like him, then he grates on me (gets loud to the point of yelling, and I’m thinking like that movie he was blind “I’m in the dark here!” and daring to say I didn’t enjoy it starts something…)
Anyways…

So, in that little pile (swear it was less than 10 movies guys, cause that would be bad to misplace a stack like that) was another wrapped in plastic movie (again, I swear, the less than 8 others were previously watched), Casino.
I guess you could say I enjoyed it, but I won’t go to bat for it. It’s okay.
Not crying for my lost time, but fair to say expected more.

Then I watched the Irishman (this was over 3 straight Saturday nights).
Found out there is a thing as too much De Niro and Pesci, and liked Pacino in this one more than those guys.
Unfair to say Casino the week before ruined this, but didn’t help. This movie had it’s own problems, among those is letting go of the past. And I kept thinking ‘Why?’
If you liked it, then good for you. Stay positive and fight the good fight.
But this is some lost time here.
It’s not wrong to expect more from my murderously violent joys.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by Sean Robinson.

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Nice – two of my all time favourite films, guys!

Heat might be my favourite – I came to it late, as I was only 13 when it was in wide release; I bought a VHS copy when I started work and was getting into movies a bit more, being a huge fan of both main actors. On show is both Pacino’s theatre-based acting (big movements, loud noises) and De niro’s understated but still intense film style. A long film, with a big cast, almost all the minor characters could have a spin-off mini-series of their own. The dialogue is a bit showy or clunky, particularly the women characters, but it’s a masculine film so to be expected.

So many beautiful shots; whenever I watch it I end up thinking about bits and pieces for days afterwards. If you’re keen there are two episodes of the Rewatchables podcast (on Spotify) dedicated to the movie. I got to see it on the big screen a few years back which was a real highlight.

Casino again I came to late (came out the same year as Heat; big year for De niro) – a while after seeing Goodfellas and being blown away by it. Casino initially is less impressive in comparison but over time I have grown to like it pretty much as much as Goodfellas; they’re certainly very similar projects, based on real-life, with past tense voice over, a forensic documentary-style examination of aspects of criminal life, and a great, timely soundtrack. The points in Casino’s favour are that the protagonist is more sympathetic IMO; he’s loyal and faithful as opposed to Goodfella’s philandering, snitching, drug-addled Henry Hill. I got to see both films on the big screen a few years back as part of a Scorsese retrospective at the Sydney Film Festival.

Strangely some attendees didn’t know what they were in for; they must have had bulk/season passes for the Festival – they were audibly shocked and disgusted throughout Casino.

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Sean Robinson, Ben

Finished the Hunger Games movies yesterday, with Mockingjay Part 2. (My kid wanted to watch them with me.)

First one was the best one. Diminishing returns after that, with the last one probably the least exciting. Hell of a cast though.

Anonymous wrote:

Val Kilmer tactical reloads are the basis for police and military training videos

Is this true? :o

Anonymous wrote:

John Williams seems to borrowing heavily from this… uhhh… John… Williams… guy.

He’s borrowed from everybody else, so why not?

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Sean Robinson wrote:

Then I watched the Irishman (this was over 3 straight Saturday nights).

Thr canadian week has four weekdays and three saturdays? Thats it, I’m moving. Give me the GPS coordinates of your sofa!

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Sean Robinson, Andrew, Todd

We made a double feature yesterday of MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM and the new Pixar film SOUL.

The former was amazing for the performances of Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman; and the vintage photos over the closing credits are a treasure in themselves.

The latter was Disney/Pixar at its finest, with a wonderful voice cast and an animation style that incorporated photorealism (like the scene where 22 first experiences New York City sounds and sights). I kept telling my wife “This is not a kids’ movie”, even though there’s enough visual pranks to make kids laugh.

I anticipate lots of awards for MA RAINEY; but I suspect SOUL is going to get more than a few nods as well.

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Chris-S, Todd

DavidM wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Val Kilmer tactical reloads are the basis for police and military training videos

Is this true? :o

From IMDB:

“Val Kilmer was thrilled to learn that the moment in the gunbattle scene where he runs out of bullets, and rapidly changes his magazine, is regularly shown to Marine recruits as an example of how to perform the action properly.”

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Todd, Uncle Retrospective, DavidM

Watching Man Of Steel. The opening scenes on Krypton are some mind-bendingly cool shit.

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Sean Robinson

My favorite scene in the movie TOMBSTONE is when Val Kilmer (as Doc Holliday) walks up to Johnny Ringo and says “I’m your huckleberry” before proceeding to kill him in a showdown. So I was thrilled to learn that the title of Kilmer’s recent memoir is “I’m Your Huckleberry”.

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njerry wrote:

My favorite scene in the movie TOMBSTONE is when Val Kilmer (as Doc Holliday) walks up to Johnny Ringo and says “I’m your huckleberry” before proceeding to kill him in a showdown. So I was thrilled to learn that the title of Kilmer’s recent memoir is “I’m Your Huckleberry”.

That movie is so good, full with awesome scenes and wonderful quotes.

I don’t know if it’s been disputed in recent years but when I was working at a western themed amusement park the story going around was that no-one knows how Johnny Ringo died. Apparently he was just found in a tree, dead…

My boss at the time had a book with Doc Holliday stuff, and in there there was a picture of one of his commercial ads for his dentistry. “I RIP YOUR PROBLEMS OUT!” was the headline, underneath saying “Satisfaction guaranteed otherwise refunds will payed”

Underneath the image, the author had written “One wonders; Who would have the nerve to complain?”

Anonymous wrote:

Watching Man Of Steel. The opening scenes on Krypton are some mind-bendingly cool shit.

Is this your punishment for me not being able to recommend a good movie to you?

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Todd

Banshee eps 8-10 – well, this is a bit of a mess.

There’s a long, too long fight of Ana and Olek, which is coming after Hood, thinking with his nuts, just forgives Ana’s attempt to deliver him to Rabbit.  Later, there’s a big Proctor and Hood fight because, something something ohwhothefuckcares, this show likes its fights, ‘k?  And then there’s a big shootout at the end, along with Gordon, going uber-macho out of nowhere – oh and he has a stash of pot, everyone in the US always knows how to score illegal drugs.  Meanwhile half of Ana’s family plays the ‘you should have told your psychotic, wants to kill you father’ card and legs it at the end.

Yeah, it’s a mess.

Got to love those Banshee fights. I liked the Amish guy who became the main mobster and his niece Rebecca. Amazing how for a small town, there are so many badasses who can heal so fast too…

As for Cobra Kai… it is a little darker than previous seasons. I have a few more episodes to go… Kreese!!!

njerry wrote:

I kept telling my wife “This is not a kids’ movie”, even though there’s enough visual pranks to make kids laugh.

Yeah, we had the exact same dialogue.

I watched The Amazing Adventures of Doctor Robotnik Sonic the Hedgehog yesterday.

It was… alright. The animation still didn’t feel right, and half of the gags didn’t land at all. Also, I like Ben Schwartz in other stuff, but his voice acting here is not great. Marsden does his best to carry the movie though and he does quite well with it, even if he’s a weird choice to play a character who is clearly meant to be in his early thirties at the oldest. He looks good for his age, but not ageless.
As expected, the Robotnik scenes were the ones that were really fun.

Second series of Staged, still great.

The concept this time around is that the first series of Staged was a scripted show, and because of the success, they’re planning a US remake with a more famous cast, so Michael and David get involved in trying to find the actors who will play themselves.

Because of the premise, there’s lots more cameos this time around, but it’s still very funny.

Watched Kingsman: The Secret Service again because the kid wanted to see it. Still holds up nicely. The action is so fantastically over the top, Samuel Jackson is great, the My Fair Lady bits are great fun, Colin Firth taking apart that church is still… something else. The “If you save the world, we can do it in the asshole” joke towards the end is still weird (especially when you’re watching it with a fifteen-year-old), but hey, whatever. The nice thing about Matt Vaughn’s movies is the individual pieces don’t have to be perfect because the movie races along with such a speed that hardly notice when something didn’t quite work because the next scene is already going and shit’s blowing up.

Christian wrote:

The nice thing about Matt Vaughn’s movies is the individual pieces don’t have to be perfect because the movie races along with such a speed that hardly notice when something didn’t quite work because the next scene is already going and shit’s blowing up.

Ah, the Donald Trump strategy.

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njerry

Finished up the final two episodes of RAISED BY WOLVES last night. Wow. One of the best new series of 2020. Can’t wait for the second season to air.

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Chris-S

Watching Batman Returns for the umpteenth time. Think it might have worked better if they’d kept the thread of Penguin and Max Schreck being brothers.

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Kingsman: The Golden Circle. Definitely diminishing returns. The plot is all over the place, and Eggsy’s home life with Tilde definitely isn’t as interesting as his private stuff was in the first one. Less fun villain, too. I liked that her plan actually wasn’t all that evil though but rather would just mean implementing a very sensible policy – and that the US President was the true villain simply for not doing what she said.
Oh, and the Elton John scenes were fun. I wonder if this was when Vaughn and Egerton first talked with Elton about Rocketman?

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Todd

Christian wrote:

I wonder if this was when Vaughn and Egerton first talked with Elton about Rocketman?

Egerton had sung I’m Still Standing in Sing before that, I think that’s where the idea first came up:

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Rocket, Christian, Todd

JRCarter wrote:

Watching Batman Returns for the umpteenth time. Think it might have worked better if they’d kept the thread of Penguin and Max Schreck being brothers.

That is one weird, weird movie. I wish they had managed to get the Michelle Pfeiffer Catwoman spin-off together with Burton as the director, to see how far they could push the weirdness without having to shoehorn Batman into the script.

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Will_C

JRCarter wrote:

Watching Batman Returns for the umpteenth time. Think it might have worked better if they’d kept the thread of Penguin and Max Schreck being brothers.

That which is perfect need not be corrected.

Yeah, I only saw Batman Returns for the first time a year or so ago, but I think it’s my favourite Batman movie. I won’t say it’s perfect, but less flawed than any of the others.

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Andrew, garjones, Will_C

Soul is an incredible movie. Requires decent speakers though……..it wouldn’t be the same experience without at least a sound bar.

Just finished Cobra Kai…

A little darker than previous seasons. Maybe a little too much for some of you guys.

Al-x wrote:

Maybe a little too much for some of you guys.

Really Al?? I mean, we all watched Game of Thrones… Cobra Kai is a young adult show at best =P

But on that subject, I didn’t really like S3 all that much, I think it was a mistake to make Kreese such a big character, because I don’t really care about Kreese (and no his flashback scenes didn’t help either, I still don’t care), and he takes time away from more John who is a much more interesting character. Kreese is just a bad guy and we all know his style is wrong, that was resolved in the first movie… the whole point was how John could take that and make it into something good… so it’s puzzling to waste so much time, plus it’s kinda lame because now we have a truly “evil” side when having two “grey” ones was more interesting… I dunno, it’s like getting back to the overly-simplistic story of the KK movies.

As for the whole teen drama side of it… bleh I kinda don’t care, it’s getting too WB-y for my taste. And the show in general is getting sillier, which it always has been, but they’re pushing it too much at this point.

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Todd

Al-x wrote:

A little darker than previous seasons. Maybe a little too much for some of you guys.

Does it have violence? Because that’s where I draw the line.

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Christian, lorcan_nagle, Todd, Will_C

Anonymous wrote:

Al-x wrote:

A little darker than previous seasons. Maybe a little too much for some of you guys.

Does it have violence? Because that’s where I draw the line.

For me it’s conflict. Don’t like shows where people disagree or have opposite goals.

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Sean Robinson, Christian, lorcan_nagle, Todd

Will_C wrote:

For me it’s conflict. Don’t like shows where people disagree or have opposite goals.

I am okay with conflict, but I have a big problem with emotion. It can turn quite dark, quite fast. I watch movies and series with sound off at all times so I don’t get overwhelmed without missing important story bits.

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njerry, Christian, lorcan_nagle, Todd, Will_C

Yes I do that too along with dimming the TV and watching from the adjoining room using a large mirror. I also keep a valium on hand for when I get too excited.

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njerry, Christian, Bruce, lorcan_nagle, Todd

Will_C wrote:

Yes I do that too along with dimming the TV and watching from the adjoining room using a large mirror. I also keep a valium on hand for when I get too excited.

Hot tip: Set up two mirrors, so that the subtitles aren’t mirrored improperly. Also, kid-friendly subtitles only! Don’t want to get any of the BAD words in your periphery!

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lorcan_nagle, Todd, Will_C

Yes cursing is never warranted. Shows like The Sopranos and Deadwood could have easily excluded it had there been decent writers at the helm.

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Christian, lorcan_nagle, Todd

Will_C wrote:

Yes cursing is never warranted. Shows like The Sopranos and Deadwood could have easily excluded it had there been decent writers at the helm.

Now you’ve done it! That second “show” you mentioned had the D-word in it. I feel traumatized. Quick, I need to inject these marijuanas into my eyes or I’ll be flummoxed by the darkness for MONTHS!

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Christian, lorcan_nagle, Will_C

You people turn on your TVs?

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njerry, lorcan_nagle, Will_C

Todd wrote:

You people turn on your TVs?

Don’t you vilify me just because I just lost my depth perception! Vilify Alex, he’s the one watching those DREADFUL shows!

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lorcan_nagle, Todd

Anonymous wrote:

Todd wrote:

You people turn on your TVs?

Don’t you vilify me just because I just lost my depth perception! Vilify Alex, he’s the one watching those DREADFUL shows!

You use your eyes?

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lorcan_nagle

Where else would I inject my marijuanas?

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Todd, Christian, lorcan_nagle

Todd wrote:

You people turn on your TVs?

This is why I don’t have one.

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Todd

lorcan_nagle wrote:

Todd wrote:

You people turn on your TVs?

This is why I don’t have one.

Luxury!

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lorcan_nagle

Ok…

In movies and TV, there are disturbing scenes that are over the top and the viewer sees through it. Jacowboy mentioned GoT which had disturbing scenes like an innocent girl burned alive, a woman being raped while a friend was forced to watch, and so on. When I saw it, I knew it was gratuitous and, as I said before, a little over the top. With Cobra Kai however, some of the teens are getting to be like the boys in Lord of the Flies, very sadistic. Maybe it will take some time for me to integrate it all, but I am just saying that some of the scenes may be a little too much and there is nothing wrong if you can’t handle watching it. It is no longer about some high school teen learning karate to stand up to the local bully…

I don’t want to get into this much, like comparing the rape scene in Deliverance to the scene in Pulp Fiction. I just give fair warning.

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To be fair I get what you mean Al. What is shocking can often be within the context of the piece. If you start watching The Texas Chainsaw Massacre you are pretty prepared that it’s going to be nasty. Cobra Kai and you may expect something rather more wholesome.

I’ve watched stand up comedy with countless F and C bombs from comedians I fully expect to do that but have been taken aback by someone calling in a daytime live show and launch into a sweary rant they quickly cut off.

[Rocket]

nm, reading comprehension fail. I saw daytime show, swear and thought Bob Saget.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by Rocket.

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Todd

Al-x wrote:

With Cobra Kai however, some of the teens are getting to be like the boys in Lord of the Flies, very sadistic. Maybe it will take some time for me to integrate it all, but I am just saying that some of the scenes may be a little too much and there is nothing wrong if you can’t handle watching it. It is no longer about some high school teen learning karate to stand up to the local bully…

Sure, but you have kids pulling a batman every other episode. The show is very obviously unrealistic and exagerated, but that doesn’t mean it’s “dark” per-se, though sure, it’s a bit too violent for what the show really is, but you know… since they can’t do the sex thing, they go with the punchy thing.

We watched Soul last night – I wasn’t terribly interested but wife was (I knew nothing about the film, missed the hype/discourse). It was fine, I didn’t love it or hate it, but the biggest question I was left with when it was done was “How is this a kids’ movie?” – it’s quite deep in terms of dealing with death, and what drives people in life; lots of big ideas and little physical action. It looks good, and the music/score is great (imagine telling a NIN fan in the 90s that Trent Reznor would be scoring Disney animated film with a talking cat in a few decades’ time).

Having listened to The Rewatchables podcast Toy Story episode last week we gave that a rewatch tonight – I don’t think I’d seen it in full since in the cinema in 1995; it mostly holds up – a tight script, good voice acting, and the animation bar the humans/animals works well.

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Todd

Andrew wrote:

We watched Soul last night – I wasn’t terribly interested but wife was (I knew nothing about the film, missed the hype/discourse). It was fine, I didn’t love it or hate it, but the biggest question I was left with when it was done was “How is this a kids’ movie?” – it’s quite deep in terms of dealing with death, and what drives people in life; lots of big ideas and little physical action.

Kids can connect with that deeper stuff too (see also Inside Out for example), it’s all in how you present it. Soul has attractive designs and engaging ideas and lots of humour and great music and some relatable character relationships. It’s presented very well as something that’s accessible to kids, but also has that additional depth and meaning for adults.

After watching it on Christmas day my kids have already asked to see it again.

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Chris-S

I’m with Andrew though insofar as – as Jerry and I have already commented – I’d also see it as a grown-up movie that’s also enjoyable to kids, rather than the other way around. That’s not a bad thing though; I kinda see Soul as a new(ish) genre that I’d like to see more of.

I’m not sure “who is it primarily aimed at?” is a question you can ever really answer definitively, but certainly in lots of places it reminded me of Studio Ghibli movies in the sense of having quite a lot of adult-oriented ideas and material that’s combined with charming visuals and characters that draw the kids in. So for me it feels like it’s aimed at everyone.

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Christian, Todd, Chris-S

Kids these days are so soft. When I was in daycare I watched Terminator and tricked some of my fellow daycareees that I was a robot.

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DavidM, Todd

I’ve started rewatching The OC. I own it all on DVD, but I haven’t seen it since it was first on (and there’s a bunch of these very early episodes I’ve never seen before).

Dave wrote:

Andrew wrote:

We watched Soul last night – I wasn’t terribly interested but wife was (I knew nothing about the film, missed the hype/discourse). It was fine, I didn’t love it or hate it, but the biggest question I was left with when it was done was “How is this a kids’ movie?” – it’s quite deep in terms of dealing with death, and what drives people in life; lots of big ideas and little physical action.

Kids can connect with that deeper stuff too (see also Inside Out for example), it’s all in how you present it. Soul has attractive designs and engaging ideas and lots of humour and great music and some relatable character relationships. It’s presented very well as something that’s accessible to kids, but also has that additional depth and meaning for adults.

After watching it on Christmas day my kids have already asked to see it again.

Yeah. My 4 year old and 6 year old watched it with us and dealt with it no problem. I felt a bit awkward initially as I thought there would be some difficult conversations to be had, but not at all.

There’s some amount of fucking bedwetting going on these days from adults over family tv shows and movies (the Mandalorian backlash over the eggs is just fucking ridiculous)

People are are getting softer, there’s no doubt about it.

The shit we were exposed to in the 80s as kids was no different. There were adult themes, death to deal with and some bad language and light violence.

Soul for me was a 10/10 movie that managed to not only hold me interest the whole way though, but also that of my family. The visuals and sound were groundbreaking and felt like my kids were being given a memorable experience and witnessing something close to true art that will enrich their creative side and hopefully inform them as they get older.

It’s a wonderful movie.

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Steve Sensible

paul f wrote:

I’ve started rewatching The OC. I own it all on DVD, but I haven’t seen it since it was first on (and there’s a bunch of these very early episodes I’ve never seen before).

I never watched that at the time, but felt like I almost did by proxy with everyone talking about it. How well has it aged?

I’ve been watching the 80s Spider-Man cartoon on Disney+ lately. Not the one with his Awesome Pals that everyone remembers, but the adjectiveless solo one that was on around the same time.

It’s an odd show. Spidey is voiced by Ted Schwartz whose only other roles of note are Thrasher on GI Joe and almost Rodimus Prime on Transformers (he recorded a few episodes but was replaced, those episodes rerecorded but a few lines snuck through into the final edits). Schwartz isn’t bad – I quite like him in fact – but it’s not the sort of performance you’d expect on a Saturday morning cartoon. It’s a bit laid back and utterly lacking in bombast.

That isn’t helped by the rather languid pace the show has at times, and its confidence in not spelling everything out. It’ll go minutes without dialogue. Again, weird for its genre. For instance, in one episode, Betty and Aunt May are being faced down by a wild leopard. Spider-Man swings in and hoiks them out the way at the last moment with his webs. None of that has dialogue. No “we’re going to be mauled by that cat!” cries of panic, no “oh no, I’ve got to save Betty and Aunt May!”, no quip. Odd.

There are other oddities too. Spider-Man pronounces robot as “robut” (the same way Zoidberg does on Futurama). Doctor Doom sounds a lot like Darth Vader (which is intentional and brazen, especially as Marvel Productions swiped a load of sound effects from Star Wars too) and his first two episodes have the same plot of him using trickery to have the UN declare him ruler of the world. Weirdest of all, the red bits of Spidey’s costume are treated as separate from the blue bits; so he’s essentially wearing red socks as part of his costume. Oh and Jonah gains an incompetent, crawling nephew who keeps trying to upstage Peter, like a Hanna-Barbers prototype Eddie Brock.

It does some really interesting, less weird, stuff though. Its line-up of villains is pretty varied, from Doom and Doctor Octopus to the Circus of Crime and, only a couple of years after she debuted in comics, Black Cat (voiced by Morgan Lofting essentially doing the Baroness’s voice without the accent). And there’s a cool Superman cameo in one episode.

I can see why Amazing Friends is more well remembered than this show, but it’s worth checking out if you’re into 80s animation.

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Todd

Martin Smith wrote:

nd there’s a cool Superman cameo in one episode.

A what now?

Anonymous wrote:

Kids these days are so soft. When I was in daycare I watched Terminator and tricked some of my fellow daycareees that I was a robot.

On of my favorite movies when I was in elementary school was Phantom of the Paradise. I still have a soft spot for it.