What Are You Watching?

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Discuss your current viewing here.

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Martin Smith wrote:

Last Train To Christmas is another surprisingly interesting time-shenanigans related Christmas movie, although perhaps ultimately a little unsatisfying. It’s a Sky original, which I’ve seen them advertise as part of the general Christmas promotion but not on its own, which (if they haven’t actually done) is possibly because it’s noy really a Christmas film, it’s a low-key horror film. There’s a definitr Black Mirror vibe (in a good way).

Really enjoyed this, thanks for recommending it.

You’re right about the ending, it falls flat. But everything up till that was great.

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Martin Smith

paul f wrote:

I saw the new West Side Story yesterday. It obviously owes a lot to the 1961 version, but I think this is the better movie. I like the original, but never fully connected with it. The changes made to the story mostly worked for me, and the performances were mostly fantastic. Ariana DeBose as Anita and Mike Faist as Riff are the best performances, but the only real weak point is Elgort as Tony, and even he’s not that bad, just not as good as everyone else.

I felt pretty much the same, only I thought David Alvarez as Bernardo was just as excellent as Riff was.

The only thing I didn’t like, pretty much, was the character of Valentina. I get the idea of mirroring the current love story in the previous generation, and I also like the idea of paying homage to sixties version by having the actress who played Anita in this, but… the idea of a Puerto Rican woman being the mother figure to the Jets just doesn’t work for me. And giving her the final love song to sing alone was a travesty.

Uh, so, everything else non-Marvel in the last four months or so… well, I loved Dune, so I expect Jon hated it. Thought Locke and Key had a really good second season. I’m still watching Walking Dead, it’s still good. Watched Mindhunter, which really drew me in considering it’s a show in which nothing much happens. thought Mank was just okay. Currently watching Witcher, which is fun as always. Bond wasn’t great, though it had great moments – they really have to stop humanising him. Finally got to some of the later seasons of American Horror Story – Hotel was very good, Roanoke was okay. Liked Squid Game, though it’s not so brilliant that it’d justify it being a huge success, but hey, whatever, it’s a cool riff on the whole people-forced-into-battling-each-other genre.

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Martin Smith

Watched Last Night in Soho.

Incredibly disappointing. It looked great but it just fell apart at the end. I was wondering if the happy ending was added by the studio it was so ham fisted.

After having no interest in it at all, I was swayed by two of my regular podcasts to watch The Last Duel (since it’s on Disney+ anyway), which did turn out to be really good. The marketing was tonally off, with far too little made of it being Affleck and Damon on screen together again, in a film scripted by both of them.

I’ve seen complaints about it being too repetitive, but that’s like saying Memento is too back to front, or Pulp Fiction is too non-sequential – the repetition is the point, with the key events depicted three times from three different characters’ POV. It’s very effective and made for a captivating ride.

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Dave

I watched Toy Story 4 after realising I hadn’t actually seen it. It was really, really good. Much better than I anticipated! My expectations were a bit low after the third one, I think.

Forky was a very nice addition to the cast. It felt fresh somehow, and rather philosophical compared to the other movies.

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Andrew, Dave, Martin Smith

Christel and I watched Being the Ricardos.

It was not great. Kidman and Bardem were completely miscast as Lucy and Desi. It was like they based their performances on watching a couple of YouTube clips. Story wise, it just never really seemed to come together and there was no sense of urgency in regards to the stakes. Kidman and Bardem’s performances didn’t help either.

On the other hand, J. K. Simmons and Nina Arianda absolutely stole every scene they were in, whether separate or apart. Arianda even looked like Vivian Vance! They were the best part of the movie.

If you don’t see this movie, you won’t have missed anything.

I can highly recommend the Turner Classic Movies documentary Dean Martin: King of Cool. A great doc that is quite in-depth with fantastic interviews. The sections with Jerry Lewis’s son are incredible. Younger generations may not know cool he was considered, if they know him at all. Generation X probably knows him best in his post-“cool” era. He really was a fascinating man.

If you can, watch this doc.

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We watched Don’t Look Up tonight and enjoyed it.

It’s a fun, silly absurdist satire with some great performances and a decent point at the heart of it. And it works best when it concentrates on being funny rather than the points where it reaches for something more poignant (which sometimes work and sometimes don’t).

Even though it’s fairly long, it’s snappy and feels like it moves quick – like a lot of modern political comedies, it feels like it owes a lot to The Thick Of It and its successors, although it’s a bit more heavy handed than that. Still a good watch though.

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lorcan_nagle, Ben

I am catching season 4 of Cobra Kai over the weekend.

Double post can be a bitch.

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Al-x, Sean Robinson, Todd

JRCarter wrote:

Double post can be a bitch.

I know… I pressed Submit and it kept on spinning, so I clicked Submit again and still nothing. Later I came back and now this.

I must learn patience. New Year’s resolution 😂

Anyway.. Cobra Kai is so much fun. The nostalgia. I want them to bring back Hilary Swank, who played Julia, the last student of Miyagi, and really go full circle in that universe!

Tonight, in the absence of New Year’s plans (not entirely Covid related frankly) I watched All My Friends Are Dead a Polish horror-comedy film on Netflix about a NYE party that goes wrong. Messy and a bit of a cop out in some regards, but entertaining. I could have lived without the pizza guy plot thread though, that was just a bit grim.

There’s only half an hour left in the year, so I’m probably not going to see any more movies, so here’s my Top 10 Films of the Year 2021:

1. The Power of the Dog
2. Memoria
3. The Last Duel
4. Petite Maman
5. Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar
6. Titane
7. Drive My Car
8. The Worst Person in the World
9. West Side Story
10. The Mitchells vs. The Machines

And my next 10, unranked:

• Annette
• Dune
• The Green Knight
• In the Heights
• The Lost Daughter
• The Matrix Resurrections
• Parallel Mothers
• Plan B
• Red Rocket
• Shiva Baby

Weird year for movies. Overall, I’d say the average quality of the movies I saw was below average (especially blockbusters), but there was a ridiculous number of movies I thought were great. Any of my Top 10 for this year, and a bunch of my next 10, would have been my #1 film in 2020.

Still a few I want to see, like Licorice Pizza, The Souvenir Part II, and The Tragedy of Macbeth, but I got in most of what I wanted to see.

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lorcan_nagle

Watching a Good Times marathon.

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Todd

So I got a free trial of Amazon Prime just before Christmas, and in looking for things to watch on there Laura and I stumbled upon Wild Mountain Thyme. Written and directed by John Patrick Shanley and based on a play he wrote in 2014, it was panned hilariously by Irish critics upon release and we decided to see what it was like, for the laugh.

And it’s fucking terrible. Like, not even in a so bad it’s good sort of way, it’s just woeful. It’s this meandering thing, allegedly a romance between Jamie Dornan and Emily Blunt’s characters, but it just lurches from scene to scene full of cod faux-Irish romanticism. Character motivation is almost nonsensical, Christopher Walken’s character just seems to oppose what other people want in any given scene (and sweet jesus, his accent)… We wound up stopping about halfway through and while Laura was half-joking about going back and watching the rest we’ve not actually tried yet.

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lorcan_nagle wrote:

Christopher Walken’s character just seems to oppose what other people want in any given scene (and sweet jesus, his accent)…

This part is actually so bad it’s good.

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lorcan_nagle

I picked up the blu-ray of Planes, Trains and Automobiles a month or so back and finally got around to watching it today. I haven’t seen it for a while. It’s not a top tier gut-busting comedy, but it’s very enjoyable.

I love the shot in the airport where Neal recognises Del as the guy who “stole” his cab and instead of a flashback shot,  they have John Candy in his costume from that earlier scene behind a car door.

Bizarre that Michael McKean gets such high billing (equal to Laila Robins as Neal’s wife) for just one scene.

I’m sure the post-credit scene was different last time I watched. Here it’s Neal’s client, dishevelled and tired, looking at the ad boards in increasing confusion/mania, but I could have sworn it was a longer distance shot of him leisurely looking between two boards, as he had been at the start.

Oh and right at the end, when they get home, Neal’s wife has such a weird demeanour to her when she says “hello, Mr Griffin,” and Del responds meekly “hello, Mrs Page”, I couldn’t help but get the feeling they knew each other already. There’s an odd vibe to that moment.

Martin Smith wrote:

I’m sure the post-credit scene was different last time I watched. Here it’s Neal’s client, dishevelled and tired, looking at the ad boards in increasing confusion/mania, but I could have sworn it was a longer distance shot of him leisurely looking between two boards, as he had been at the start.

Oh and right at the end, when they get home, Neal’s wife has such a weird demeanour to her when she says “hello, Mr Griffin,” and Del responds meekly “hello, Mrs Page”, I couldn’t help but get the feeling they knew each other already. There’s an odd vibe to that moment.

I don’t know about those ones, but this video from a year ago goes through the script to show some of the stuff that was cut, including McKean stuff.

Caught up on all the available episodes of STATION ELEVEN via HBO MAX yesterday. I cannot recommend this miniseries enough. The latest episode (#7) has one of the most inventive uses of flashbacks I ever recall seeing. I’ll be in agony waiting for the remaining eps to appear.

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Sean Robinson, Todd, Ben, lorcan_nagle

It’s on my to-watch list, the novel was one of my favourite reads in 2015

Dave wrote:

We watched Don’t Look Up tonight and enjoyed it.

It’s a fun, silly absurdist satire with some great performances and a decent point at the heart of it. And it works best when it concentrates on being funny rather than the points where it reaches for something more poignant (which sometimes work and sometimes don’t).

Even though it’s fairly long, it’s snappy and feels like it moves quick – like a lot of modern political comedies, it feels like it owes a lot to The Thick Of It and its successors, although it’s a bit more heavy handed than that. Still a good watch though.

Watched it last night, mainly to see what the fuss was about – a lot of heated opinions (for and against) about. It was… fine. 3/5 I guess. Well made, good performances, and obviously a good point made. It’s not particularly LOL, but the end is fairly emotional IMO.

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Uncle Retrospective, lorcan_nagle

Free Guy

This is superb fun.  Built around the principle of what a non-player character’s life would be like in a world of perpetual GTA-style player rampages, so in effect Grand Theft Auto Online, it’s the little details that make this fly.  Like Guy walking down a street while in the background a tank casually wrecks numerous cars, or a missile hits a first floor office, and a little further off, a helicopter crashes.

It then takes that idea and really runs with the idea of what an evolved AI would look like and what that does to the game, including other NPCs.

It manages to both be a very fun movie, but also thought provoking in what it asks of the viewer and it works regardless of how much someone might or might not know of games.

JoJo Rabbit

Much like Death Of Stalin, I’m not sure I’d class this as a comedy or satire.  Unlike that film, this one doesn’t use it’s strong cast as effectively and it rolls along OK, but it’s not quite there as a film.  Works fine as a cheap streaming watch and does have some neat sequences, but is also hit and miss.

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DavidM, Dave

I enjoyed Free Guy a lot. Smart, funny, does some interesting things with its concept and has a nice emotional core to it. It’s already had several plays in our house.

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Ben

Ben wrote:

Like Guy walking down a street while in the background a tank casually wrecks numerous cars, or a missile hits a first floor office, and a little further off, a helicopter crashes.

My favourite joke in the whole movie is when someone shoots someone in the background, then runs up and starts squatting in his face. It really shows the writers understand gamers/their audience.

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lorcan_nagle

I tried watching the new mini-series The Tourist with Jamie Dornan. I gave up after about two and a half episodes, it was just too slow and too boring. Characters felt flat and uninteresting, and I just couldn’t with it.

I’m getting some visitors today, and I’m planning to force them to watch Ghostbusters: Afterlife with me. I know the critical reception for it has been lukewarm, but my expectations are fairly low and I’m sure it’ll be entertaining at least.

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lorcan_nagle, Todd, Martin Smith, DavidM

Ghosbuster: Afterlife had its moments but I found the first half boring and I almost fell asleep. A lot of the jokes in that first half just didn’t connect with me, I guess.

The sequence with the tiny Marshmallow Men going mini-berserk in the mall really worked for me though. The utter glee with which they melted each other and commited some form of barbecue suicide had me transfixed.

I was right in my prediction: I felt entertained.

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Todd, DavidM

Anonymous wrote:

I tried watching the new mini-series The Tourist with Jamie Dornan. I gave up after about two and a half episodes, it was just too slow and too boring. Characters felt flat and uninteresting, and I just couldn’t with it.

Laura and I have watched the first two episodes and found it entertaining so far. I think the cliffhanger at the end of episode was well-timed to keep my attention for now, but apparently it’s 6 episodes? For some reason I thought it was 4 and they might not have enough meat on the bones for that runtime.

It is kinda distracting having the Play Jaja Dingdong guy as an American hitperson though. That and discovering that Hugo Weaving was originally going to play the major crimes guy, and imagining him doing all the asshole dialogue as Agent Smith.

lorcan_nagle wrote:

It is kinda distracting having the Play Jaja Dingdong guy as an American hitperson though.

I didn’t even realise it was him. Maybe that’s why I don’t find him in the least bit intimidating.

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lorcan_nagle

He looked familiar to me so I looked up the show’s wiki page.

paul f wrote:

Tragedy of Macbeth

Jesus, I hadn’t even realised Joel Coen’s Macbeth was out already. Man, I hope I can catch it while it’s still in theatres!

Christian wrote:

Man, I hope I can catch it while it’s still in theatres!

Now there’s a quote that won’t get put on a movie poster in the age of covid.

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Christian, njerry, Uncle Retrospective, DavidM

Cobra Kai came through…

Best season since the first one!

Sooo… I watched that new Ghostbusters movie… listen, I’m not a fan of the franchise, but that’s exactly what I’ve always thought the franchise should move into: a kid’s movie, reminscent of the goonies and ET and all that, and I thought it was pretty much in line. At any rate it was a ton better than that other abortion.

I’ve seen a lot of people complaining about it though, some saying it’s too full of references, which, again, not being a fan I probably missed a lot of them, so that didn’t bother me particularly… the other common complaint is that it’s just not as good as GB1, because the comedy and blah blah… which makes me think that I need to re-watch that one to see what the fuzz is about… it does seem like people put it on an impossible pedestal, so we’ll see.

But for what it is, I think it’s a smart choice to take the franchise into this particular direction. Obviously not for me, even less so now that it’s more kids oriented, but I do think it’s good for what it is… bummer that it came out this year, I think it would’ve done better with general audiences in a less shitty year, but hey, if they do move forward with the GB franchise, they need to continue in this direction… shit, goonies-fy it even more, without getting into strictly kid movie territory of course… but a solid adventure flick for younger folks is probably the best way to go.

Jon wrote:

it does seem like people put it on an impossible pedestal

You would know all about those.

Jon wrote:

At any rate it was a ton better than that other abortion.

C’mon, Ghostbusters II wasn’t that bad… 😜

Anonymous wrote:

You would know all about those.

holy fuck… it speaks…

Todd wrote:

C’mon, Ghostbusters II wasn’t that bad…

Don’t really remember much about it, but I do know it didn’t have Melissa MaCarthy in it, so yeah, probably not that bad

Serious question though, would it be worth also watching GB2, or not really? That’s the one with the Michelin mascot in it right? =P

Alright, so Ghostbusters 1… well shit, I hadn’t watched an 80’s movie in a looooooong time.

Well I don’t even know what to say, I guess it was alright for an 80’s movie… but I just don’t see the brilliance everyone sees in it… sure it has some fun quips and you can tell they improvised a lot of the dialogue, well at least Bill Murray’s dialogue, but I mean, whatever… plus I gotta say, I’ve never really liked Bill Murray, and I was pretty much over his whole shtick 5 minutes in… doesn’t help that it hasn’t aged well because on top of being aggravating as fuck, he comes off as a creep, and not the funny type, plus you can tell he was ad libing, so it kinda takes you out of the movie a bit.

I was pretty impressed with some of the VFX in this, not gonna lie, some others look like shit obviously, but when they worked, they really worked, so that was nice… I was particularly impressed with the street opening up, that shit looked really good, it must’ve been an expensive set to build… the gag is a bit bleh, though.

I dunno, it’s just too cheesy, corny and a bit dated (again, Murray’s character mostly). So not for me, and I’m not surprised it never grabbed me all that much when I was younger. Oh by the way, this one had the Michelin creature, so I have no idea what the second one is about… but I’m not gonna watch that, this was more than enough.

Anyhow, point being, now I see why they thought GB2016 was a good idea, and hey, maybe it could’ve worked… if it actually had been charming and funny (and if hadn’t tried to turn everyone into Murray’s character). As it stands, I think Afterlife is a better direction for modern audiences. But yeah, I’m gonna put that into the “had to be there” category, I can see why people like it so much, but just not my jam.

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DavidM

Jon wrote:

Oh by the way, this one had the Michelin creature, so I have no idea what the second one is about… but I’m not gonna watch that

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JRCarter, Todd

That doesn’t ring any bells… I’m starting to think that I’ve actually never seen GB2… all my memories were apparently from the first one, so if I did, it wasn’t very memorable to say the least… 

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JRCarter, Todd, Dave

Ah yes, the statue of liberty coming alive does ring a bell… but it’s hard to tell if it’s because I watched the movie or because it’s just a popular thing I’ve seen somewhere else. Either way, one old GB was more than enough. I’ve got to say though, watching them back to back and with basically fresh eyes, not gonna lie, I liked the new one better in terms of tone and plot and all that… I think Bill Murray ruined the move for me… xD

Is this where we post Ghostbusters 2 GIFs?

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JRCarter, Todd, Dave

Jon wrote:

Well I don’t even know what to say, I guess it was alright for an 80’s movie… but I just don’t see the brilliance everyone sees in it… sure it has some fun quips and you can tell they improvised a lot of the dialogue, well at least Bill Murray’s dialogue, but I mean, whatever… plus I gotta say, I’ve never really liked Bill Murray, and I was pretty much over his whole shtick 5 minutes in… doesn’t help that it hasn’t aged well because on top of being aggravating as fuck, he comes off as a creep, and not the funny type, plus you can tell he was ad libing, so it kinda takes you out of the movie a bit.

I was pretty impressed with some of the VFX in this, not gonna lie, some others look like shit obviously, but when they worked, they really worked, so that was nice… I was particularly impressed with the street opening up, that shit looked really good, it must’ve been an expensive set to build… the gag is a bit bleh, though.

I dunno, it’s just too cheesy, corny and a bit dated (again, Murray’s character mostly). So not for me, and I’m not surprised it never grabbed me all that much when I was younger. Oh by the way, this one had the Michelin creature, so I have no idea what the second one is about… but I’m not gonna watch that, this was more than enough.

Yeah, I get all of that. But even though it maybe hasn’t aged well, watching it back then was something truly special, and in part that was because it wasn’t a Spielberg type kid’s movie, it wasn’t sanitised, it was pretty anarchic and crazy compared to what you were used to as a kid at the time. That’s what made it stick out, and I can see why people complain about the new one moving away from that kind of comedy.

I assume that you’re right about the new one though, that it works pretty well on its own and should be a good movie for kids. I still plan on seeing it, but probably at home when it’s streaming.

[DavidM]

Maybe I was a little too old when it hit, but I was never that into the original Ghostbusters. I didn’t hate it, it was fun, but it was pretty forgettable. I was mildly surprised when we entered the Internet age and found it was this big beloved thing that everybody remembered.

And it really hasn’t aged well. I mean the writing and characterisation, which is pretty cringe-worthy through 21st century eyes.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by DavidM.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by DavidM.

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Andrew, lorcan_nagle

I think a lot of it is kids for whom it was, as Christian said, slightly more daring than the sanitised family films they’d usually get to plus associated good vibes/indoctrination from the cartoon and its side stuff (comics, toys etc).

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Dave

saga wrote:

Is this where we post Ghostbusters 2 GIFs?

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JRCarter, Todd

saga wrote:

Is this where we post Ghostbusters 2 GIFs?

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JRCarter, Todd

saga wrote:

Is this where we post Ghostbusters 2 GIFs?

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Todd

While I was compiling some statistics from last year (mainly on my workout schedule and results from it) I realised I’ve made a list of all the movies I watched during the year. Not counting movies I rewatched, just the ones I saw for the first time. New or old.

I watched 96 movies for the first time last year. Out of those, only one was so bad I turned it off halfway through. So if you want to nitpick, I watched 95 movies for the first time last year.

(At least, I might have missed adding a few to the list.)

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Christian, DavidM, Todd

saga wrote:

Is this where we post Ghostbusters 2 GIFs?

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JRCarter

saga wrote:

Is this where we post Ghostbusters 2 GIFs?

The answer we were looking for was “Yes, have some.”

DavidM wrote:

Maybe I was a little too old when it hit, but I was never that into the original Ghostbusters. I didn’t hate it, it was fun, but it was pretty forgettable. I was mildly surprised when we entered the Internet age and found it was this big beloved thing that everybody remembered.

I was about the right age and it was a marketing work of genius. They did stuff nobody really had before. They trailed signs of the logo for months with nothing else (not even the movie name) to peak intrigue. It was the talk of the playground when 11 years old.

The theme tune single promoted the film in such a direct way (which to be fair Bond had been doing for 20 years but surprisingly nobody else copied, there wasn’t a Jaws or Raiders of the Lost Arc hit single repeating the movie name).

Does it stand up a great movie of the era with that removed? Probably not. It is a fun film without a huge amount of substance but I have to say ‘it is true, this man has no dick’ is one of the best timed comedic lines in cinema history. It is a lot better than another film boosted by nostalgia – Goonies, which really was never that good. I didn’t even think so at the time.

 

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Todd, Christian

garjones wrote:

It is a fun film without a huge amount of substance but I have to say ‘it is true, this man has no dick’ is one of the best timed comedic lines in cinema history.

Also, the line: “We better split up.” – “Yeah… We can do more damage that way.”

And the one: “That’s got to be a big cockroach.” – “Bite your head off, man.”

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Todd

The original movie is also in contention for the honour of”best blowjob gag in a family comedy”.

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Todd

I loved Ghostbusters Afterlife. There are some story niggles that didn’t quite work. But they are overshadowed by the good performances, well done nostalgia and the sweet heartfelt story at the centre of the whole thing.

As for the previous films, we’ll my thinking about those is similar to the Bill and Ted movies. Basically Ghostbusters 2 was always on the telly when I was growing up, and the first film never was. So when I’m thinking of Ghostbusters, it’s mostly stuff from the sequel. Not that Ghostbusters isn’t good or anything. It just kind of passed my by when I was growing up.

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Anonymous wrote:

garjones wrote:

It is a fun film without a huge amount of substance but I have to say ‘it is true, this man has no dick’ is one of the best timed comedic lines in cinema history.

Also, the line: “We better split up.” – “Yeah… We can do more damage that way.”

And the one: “That’s got to be a big cockroach.” – “Bite your head off, man.”

The flowers are still standing.

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Todd

Anonymous wrote:

garjones wrote:

It is a fun film without a huge amount of substance but I have to say ‘it is true, this man has no dick’ is one of the best timed comedic lines in cinema history.

Also, the line: “We better split up.” – “Yeah… We can do more damage that way.”

And the one: “That’s got to be a big cockroach.” – “Bite your head off, man.”

And let’s throw in the best line of Ghostbusters 2, which comes when Dana, whose infant child needs a rest, asks Venkman to put the baby down. He looks at the baby and says: “You’re short, your belly button sticks out too far and you’re a terrible burden on your poor mother!”

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Todd

I’m partial to the “Do… Re… Egon” bit, myself.

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Todd, Bruce, JRCarter, Dave

Has anyone else watched Toast of Tinseltown? Episode 1 was on this week (but I think the whole series is on iPlayer now). I really got into the original series when I belatedly watched it a few years ago, but this is rather disappointingly crap. Totally flat and didn’t get a single laugh out of me.

Watched a few episodes of Arcane, which is impressively well made.

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Ian Smith

Watched The Art Of Self Defense. I thought it was okay at first, but the movie really kicked in to high gear when Casey transitioned into a masculine nutjob and punched his boss at work, among other things.

It feels like some satire of Fight Club. Fight Club was made for disenfranchised Generation X nihilist edgelords, but this is like a satirical Fight Club made for introvert Millenial meme-lords. It’s great and I recommend it dearly. Funniest movie I’ve seen all year, and while that’s not a high bar to cross at this particular moment in time, I’m sure it’ll stay that way for a while.

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Martin Smith wrote:

Has anyone else watched Toast of Tinseltown? Episode 1 was on this week (but I think the whole series is on iPlayer now). I really got into the original series when I belatedly watched it a few years ago, but this is rather disappointingly crap. Totally flat and didn’t get a single laugh out of me.

Yeah I watched the first couple of episodes on iplayer. To be honest I thought it was much the same as the old series (albeit with the second episode moving location to the US, presumably for the rest of the series – still basically the same premise and the same silly humour though).

I guess it’s difficult with a revival like this. Make it too different and it doesn’t feel like the same show any more. But make it too similar and you wonder what the point is.

This definitely felt more like a retread than a significant change. That said, I enjoyed it, but I could watch Matt Berry in pretty much anything and enjoy his performance.

Dave wrote:

This definitely felt more like a retread than a significant change. That said, I enjoyed it, but I could watch Matt Berry in pretty much anything and enjoy his performance.

Yeah, I did get a vibe of it being a load of Americans taking the opportunity to get in that quaint British show they liked. Which, isn’t for me, but I wouldn’t hold against it. I agree about Berry usually, but in the first episode at least, there just wasn’t much there to enjoy.

[Ian Smith]

Christian wrote:

Watched a few episodes of Arcane, which is impressively well made.

Arcane was fantastic. Maybe some of the best animation I’ve ever seen.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by Ian Smith.

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Uncle Retrospective

Ian Smith wrote:

Arcane was fantastic. Maybe some of the best animation I’ve ever seen.

Yeah, it was crazy impressive. If this is what animation can be now, I can see it getting even bigger.
The story (as far as I’ve seen now) was also a lot of fun with its breakneck speed and sudden plot leaps.

Only Murders in the Building. Been watching with Audrey, yes I know a bit late but what an excellent show. It has more laughs than most sitcoms and the murder plot and character twists are intriguing as well. It’s quite unique and very good.

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Andrew, njerry, Dave, Martin Smith

Watching the Streamline dub of Vampire Hunter D on YouTube.

Anonymous wrote:

It feels like some satire of Fight Club. Fight Club was made for disenfranchised Generation X nihilist edgelords, but this is like a satirical Fight Club made for introvert Millenial meme-lords. It’s great and I recommend it dearly. Funniest movie I’ve seen all year, and while that’s not a high bar to cross at this particular moment in time, I’m sure it’ll stay that way for a while.

Yes, that was a good one. For some reason, it always reminded me of a completely different comedy SORRY TO BOTHER YOU. I felt they shared a lot of the same comic tone.

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I wouldn’t call it a satire of Fight Club – Fight Club was rather more satirical to my mind than Art of Self-Defence.
But I did like it a lot.

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Watched S4 of Cobra Kai, which was certainly the best the show has been since the very first season.  Not coincidentally, it cut way, way back on the teenage melodrama that had come to prominence over the last couple of seasons. This also coincided with two of the boys getting sensible haircuts, dammit. The villain from Karate Kid 3 being so hugely enjoyable was a welcome surprise. As ever, I remain rather fascinated with this strange little world in which a regional high school karate tournament is held with the same regard as the Super Bowl or the World Cup Final.

saga wrote:

As ever, I remain rather fascinated with this strange little world in which a regional high school karate tournament is held with the same regard as the Super Bowl or the World Cup Final.

As a point of reference, high school football is practically a religion in Texas, especially in small towns.

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Rocket

Yeah, but football has remained relevant to this day. Karate, not so much.

Sooo huh… the Peacemaker show started… wow they really did a shit job of advertising that one huh? Should we even start a thread for it?

Jon wrote:

Sooo huh… the Peacemaker show started… wow they really did a shit job of advertising that one huh? Should we even start a thread for it?

The mini-trailer has been popping up on my Instagram feed DAILY for a couple weeks already; annoying, but it definitely made me aware that the show was coming, so I guess it did its job.

I honestly think it’s hard to judge marketing of anything nowadays, so much advertising is personalised, every streaming landing page is too.

I’ve seen a fair bit about Peacemaker too but mostly in my social media, I don’t watch that much broadcast TV anymore, mostly sport and they seem to like advertising hair transplants, gambling and erectile dysfunction solutions.

 

The “No One Comes To Lupusville” episode of The Real Ghostbusters just premiered on the Ghostbusters YouTube page.

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Todd

njerry wrote:

The mini-trailer has been popping up on my Instagram feed DAILY for a couple weeks already; annoying, but it definitely made me aware that the show was coming, so I guess it did its job.

Yeah, he was a lot on my FB feed, as well.

Which is funny because I do not have any way at all to watch it. Why do those motherfuckers even advertise for the show in Germany when I can’t get HBO Max and no German streaming platform has picked it up yet? I’d get a fucking one-month subscription to whatever in order to watch Peacemaker, but I can’t. There is no way for me to legally watch this show (or Doom Patrol S3, as of yet).
Whatever the fuck happened to globalisation, I ask you?

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Ben

Christian wrote:

I do not have any way at all to watch it.

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DavidM, Christian, Todd, njerry, JRCarter, lorcan_nagle

Christian wrote:

Why do those motherfuckers even advertise for the show in Germany when I can’t get HBO Max and no German streaming platform has picked it up yet?

I still get an advert in German every time I listen to a Guardian podcast. Bear in mind this is a podcast, it doesn’t come with subtitles, if you can’t understand English then there is no purpose in listening to it. That’s before you get to the fact that I’m in Malaysia where fluency in German is below 0.001% (there are a few expats in the manufacturing sector).

So targeted advertising and the AI behind it has a long way to go. On Netflix, despite the fact that I watched all of Jupiter’s Legacy fairly recently, I could not find Supercrooks on my front page at all, eventually having to search via typing in the title. That same front page is promoting a dozen US live action sitcoms to me despite the fact that I don’t like that style of humour and never watch them.

They’ll get better eventually, and it’ll never be prefect unless they read your mind, but a lot of it is a bit dumb right now. A trailer for a movie actually in your local cinema right now is geoblocked for no logical reason while they are promoting a show you can’t legally see.

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Andrew, Christian

[Christian]

Anonymous wrote:

Christian wrote:

I do not have any way at all to watch it.

I’ve been on the straight and narrow for years now, I can’t get drawn back in.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by Christian.

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Todd, lorcan_nagle

I enjoyed the new Scream a lot. Not perfect, but it keeps up the series reputation as the most consistent horror series of all time.

The motivations for the killers being that they really hated a Rian Johnson movie is a very funny idea.

Also, it’s pure fan service, but I was very happy that they threw in an easter egg confirming that Hayden Panettiere survived the end of Scream 4, as fans have been speculating since it came out. Love that character, and would be cool with her actually coming back in any future sequels.

I enjoyed the new Scream a lot. Not perfect, but it keeps up the series reputation as the most consistent horror series of all time.

The motivations for the killers being that they really hated a Rian Johnson movie is a very funny idea.

Also, it’s pure fan service, but I was very happy that they threw in an easter egg confirming that Hayden Panettiere survived the end of Scream 4, as fans have been speculating since it came out. Love that character, and would be cool with her actually coming back in any future sequels.

Finally got around to Jojo Rabbit tonight and enjoyed it more than I expected. It takes a bit of time to settle in but once it does there’s more light and shade than the trailers let on, and some really good performances.

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Sean Robinson, Todd

I’ve started on Batman: The Animated Series complete series blu-ray set the past week or so. I picked it up for about £33 before Christmas, which is great value. The restoration on it is excellent. The extras seem to just be the same stuff that was on the old DVDs, but that’s fine.

It’s an interesting series to revisit. I only ever watched it sporadically when it was originally on (as part of What’s Up Doc on a Saturday morning, IIRC, but we were more likely to watch Live & Kicking in my house) and I only picked up the first of the four DVD boxsets back in the day, so the majority of this is going to be new to me. To be honest, I don’t think I’ve got past the contents of that first DVD set and I only recognise a handful of episodes. That’s pretty cool actually, as it means it’s mostly all new to me.

It’s been surprising actually. I tend to remember it as being great stories let down by questionable animation – which is the broad story of 90s US animation really – but that’s actually not the case. Some of the animation is pretty bad – the episodes done by Akom – some is mediocre but the majority of it is good if not great. And it’s not even limited to just a few studios. Spectrum, Sunrise and TMS all produce great work. Dong Yang are generally mediocre and yet the last episode I watched, See No Evil, had excellent animation and was by Dong Yang.

On the other hand, some of the stories aren’t great. I’m 17 episodes in, there have been three Joker stories and they’ve all been crap (both story and animation). I assume that’s going to change as the series progresses. It’s also not been great at keeping two parters consistent. The first part of Two-Face is pretty good with great animation. The second part skips ahead several months, isn’t as interesting and has mediocre animation. The first part of the Catwoman debut is pretty good and has nice animation. The second part is a bit limp with crap animation (and Kate Mulgrew’s performance as terrorist Red Claw changes wildly between the two, to the point I thought she’d been recast.)

The casting is the other really interesting element actually. It largely eschews traditional animation voice actors. Neil Ross and Frank Welker have cropped up a couple of times, but only in minor roles. Instead, it goes for people who are largely on-screen actors. Normally that’d be celebrity stunt casting, yet it rarely actually uses anyone with enough star power to qualify for that. It’s more people like the dad off Family Ties as a criminal father with an invisibility suit, Adrienne Barbeau as Catwoman, Paul Williams as Penguin, Marc Singer off Beastmaster as Man-Bat. They feel largely like someone making personal choices of screen actors they like and want to meet, which is kind of endearing really. And almost all of it works, crucially.

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The Suicide Squad

Yeah, it’s decent. I struggled to get into it initially. While the fake-out decoy team thing is a better tactic than the first film just having an obvious red shirt do a runner, I didn’t really enjoy that section much. Too self-consciously OTT and stylised. Admittedly, I did buy into Rooker being a main character and I was surprised they killed off Captain Boomerang, but I didn’t really need some slaughter of nobodies/celeb cameos to build the expendable cast premise again.

It does get pretty good after that though, thanks to a good cast. I would bet good money that Elba was originally meant to a recast Deadshot until someone got cold feet on it, because the two characters are far too similar. But Elba’s Bloodsport is great – really anchors the film – and better than Smith’s Deadshot was. The whole film is a big step up from the original.

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Sean Robinson, njerry, Dave

Martin Smith wrote:

The whole film is a big step up from the original.

To say the very least.

THE LAST DUEL is considerably better film than its trailers portrayed. It is considerably tightly written with each scene moving quickly and dialog to the point. I liked it considerably more than THE KING or THE OUTLAW KING on Netflix and those weren’t bad movies.

Strangely, I don’t think there is much of a demand for Medieval dramas or epics but it feels like I’ve seen more prestige and larger productions of them than I have for any current crop of Westerns. Maybe because of the Game of Thrones effect there has been some more interest in Feudal periods. Certainly, the genre in China and Korea is very big with a lot of big-budget historical series and movies released every year.

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Andrew

The finale of Yellowjackets rounded off a really solid first season. Lots of good set up for season two and a big death that was expected, but the way they handled it was unexpected and quite sad.

Christian wrote:

Martin Smith wrote:

The whole film is a big step up from the original.

To say the very least.

To be fair, I would be very interested in seeing what Suicide Squad was like before it got messily re-edited. I didn’t care for all those Snyder Cut zealots, but when they moved onto “Restore The Ayre Cut” I was kinda hoping they’d succeed on that count. Still not convinced it would have been particularly great.

I watched Primal Fear recently, and while it is definitely a decent movie with good performances I have a hard time getting through Hollywood courtroom dramas simply because of how American courts seem to function. (Although, I must admit “function” is a strong word here.)

If what goes in most movies like these is even remotely true, the justice system in america needs a complete fucking overhaul. I don’t mean to get overly political in a thread not fit for it but this is my main take-away from movies like these. I’m appalled at the theatrics, the jury system and the lone judge presiding and how that in no way is compatible with what I consider rule of law.

Anonymous wrote:

I watched Primal Fear recently, and while it is definitely a decent movie with good performances I have a hard time getting through Hollywood courtroom dramas simply because of how American courts seem to function. (Although, I must admit “function” is a strong word here.)

If what goes in most movies like these is even remotely true, the justice system in america needs a complete fucking overhaul. I don’t mean to get overly political in a thread not fit for it but this is my main take-away from movies like these. I’m appalled at the theatrics, the jury system and the lone judge presiding and how that in no way is compatible with what I consider rule of law.

Don’t judge the American legal system by Hollywood. They get so much incredibly wrong simply for dramatic effect. Are there actual things wrong with the American legal system? Definately yes, but I’m sure that could be said for every legal system in the world. But what Hollywood shows is very rarely anywhere close to reality.

I highly recommend watching the LegalEagle channel on YouTube. He dissects movies and TV shows in detail. He also covers current events and other topics and provides great commentary and analysis. Once you start looking at his videos, trial scenes and police procedurals truly become laughable. Actual court cases are very rarely theatrical.

And in reality, only 3-5% of cases (criminal and civil) ever go to trial in the US. The rest are settled in one form or another.

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DavidM, JRCarter

Yeah I don’t think movies and TV have a great record for accuracy in these things. I know in UK dramas it keeps getting pointed out that judges there don’t have gavels but they like to put them in anyway because they are a good dramatic device.

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Todd

Similar to the youtube lawyer who reviews courtroom dramas, I was watching a doctor who comments on accuracy in medical programmes. Remarkably, he found Scrubs to be one of the most authentic portrayals

 

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Rocket, Todd

DavidM wrote:

Similar to the youtube lawyer who reviews courtroom dramas, I was watching a doctor who comments on accuracy in medical programmes. Remarkably, he found Scrubs to be one of the most authentic portrayals

 

I recall Mike saying as much back in the day too.

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Todd

DavidM wrote:

Similar to the youtube lawyer who reviews courtroom dramas, I was watching a doctor who comments on accuracy in medical programmes. Remarkably, he found Scrubs to be one of the most authentic portrayals

 

Is it Doctor Mike?

Todd wrote:

DavidM wrote:

Similar to the youtube lawyer who reviews courtroom dramas, I was watching a doctor who comments on accuracy in medical programmes. Remarkably, he found Scrubs to be one of the most authentic portrayals

 

Is it Doctor Mike?

It probably was. It’s a while since I watched him, and these millennials all look the same to me

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Todd

I watched The New World (2005).

What an absolute masterpiece this is. It’s got all of Malicks signature moves in it, and it’s captivating and beautiful in a way I’m not at all used to seeing from movies with a historical background like this. It’s left me with feelings of grief, joy and anger that are as hard to reconcile as they are to process.

I wish I’d seen it in a cinema. Not at the time it was released though, I seriously doubt my ability to appreciate this wonderful work for what it is back then.

Watched Ghostbusters: Afterlife and really enjoyed it. Probably the best reboot-sequel of the current era.

Taking Ghostbusters and making it into an 80s kids adventure movie works somehow – even though it’s not quite in the same vein as the original movies, it evokes that era effectively and feels like it fits.

I thought the story was pretty good and the various callbacks and cameos worked without feeling too gratuitous. Some parts of it were even quite touching, which I didn’t expect.

Crucially though I felt like they built up the new characters and situation enough that it felt like they stood in their own right, before bringing in the connections to the original later on.

This is a franchise resurrection done right, and I’d be up for more.

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Todd, Martin Smith

I binged the first four episodes of Peacemaker.

So far, it has been just okay. This is the halfway mark for the series and it already feels long. I already get the feeling that this should have been six episodes, tops. The humor and tone of the series seem off. The costumed characters feel like they have been plucked from another project and shoved into this one.

Great soundtrack, though.

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