What're you watching?

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What movies and TV shows are you watching?

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Martin Smith wrote:

Did anyone else watch the annual BBC4 Christmas Eve ghost story by Mark Gatiss, Martin’s Close?

I ask because I’m wondering if anyone was as nonplussed by it as I was. Capaldi was good as the prosecutor and the guy playing Judge Jeffries was great, but it was a pretty limp story, not at all scary and I don’t quite get what the point of Simon Williams’ modern narrator character was.

Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve found any of Gatiss’s Xmas Eve ghost stories scary. But then I’m not all that fussed by horror. Did it work better for people who are?

Now I’ve watched it, I don’t get it either?

It’s not the strongest of M.R. James’s stories. It seems to have provided an opportunity for his cast to have fun, and there’s a bit of social commentary with the entitled jerk being a jerk.

But the appeal of a ghost story is the spookiness, for most of us, and there’s not enough of that.

UNCUT GEMS is an excellent driven film that is not exactly a comedy or a thriller, but certainly touches on elements of both. It is the basic definition of dramatic action. Give the characters something that is difficult to accomplish and at the same time is very important to the characters and strongly opposed by internal and external forces. There is no significant downtime in the progression of the story and, like a comedy, every time it appears that the protagonist is going to succeed, something unpredictable – but completely natural in the flow of the story – opposes his success.

It’s a tight and often uncomfortable movie that keeps your attention. Scorsese was a producer on it, but I’m not sure how much he influenced it. Still, it feels very much in line with his best movies.

Have you seen Good Time by the Safdie bros, Johnny? It’s excellent for the same reasons you describe. I haven’t seen Uncut Gems yet but it sounds a lot like Good Time so I think Scorsese just let the Safdies do their thing.

Oddly, an actor from the show GOOD TIMES has a cameo appearance as himself in the movie.

Jon wrote:

There were a couple of extremely questionable and unsatisfying things by the end, but overall the show kept the quality pretty strong all the way through. Another great show ending this year… but hey, it’s better this way, I’m not sure this would’ve given a lot more…

It was great. So carefully planned right from the beginning. Now I want to re-watch.

My only unresolved question is who would win in a run between Rami and Tom Cruise? And how many Kubrick and Scorsese and Wes Anderson influences have I missed? A hybrid; yet something new.

You should watch Homecoming if you haven’t already. Briarpatch looks intriguing too. The new Battlestar seems to be in safe hands.

Got around to watching Bridge of Spies.

Not the best movie going, but it’s solid enough work.  The two things it depicts extremely well are a US all too ready to throw out its principles and the portrait of East Berlin.

The Cold War ended just under 30 years ago but is the source of much of why the world is the way it is.  So films that feature it have become more important and, in that respect, this is an excellent contribution.

Except the Cold War never really ended, they just switched tactics to cyberspace.

Bridge of Spies is a warm film. Hanks is Woody-Toy Story-Jimmy Stewart decency. Rylance is all no worries. (He had a superb retort I can’t quite recall. Something like “I could worry if it would be helpful.”

It’s pure Coen brothers with their absurdly humane script touches. Ultimately Spielberg optimistic.

In ideological terms the Cold War of US capitalism versus USSR Communism ended, but that says nothing about China or Russia’s lack of democratic inclination in favour of authoritarian government.

In any case yeah, I agree Rylance was great with Hanks.

Last night I watched Holmes & Watson, the Ferrell/Reilly movie that was roundly panned when it came out a year ago. And rightly so as it’s pretty awful.

But it’s interesting in that it’s one of those movies that would have been saved with some decent gags. Because the concept and the tone is fine – a knockabout silly romp full of deliberate anachronisms and movie parodies, it brought to mind a style of films that has fallen out of favour but which I used to quite enjoy (stuff like Naked Gun and Hot Shots springs to mind).

But they just forgot to work on the jokes – as though they assumed the casting was enough to make it funny organically (as well as the leads, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon show up here, separately, and are wasted in their roles) no matter how weak the writing was.

Some of the scenes feel like improvisation that needed more work to deliver a decent laugh, while others just don’t work at all. Although I will admit to laughing at a couple of moments.

That’s not enough for a 90-minute comedy though. I was relieved when it ended.

At 8pm Saturday we had to choose between watching Brightburn on Epix and Detective Pikachu on HBO. We picked the former, but it was probably not much better than the latter. It starts off as a sort-of Superman homage, but ends up as a cheap horror movie. Since James Gunn produced it, I can’t help thinking that it had a lot of potential that, sadly, was never realized.

On the other hand, I also caught the second half of Casablanca (in black and white) on TCM the same day, so there was some redemption.

Here’s looking at you, kiddo.

I’m watching The Witcher.

Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?

I’m stupidly pleased that Geralt’s original voice actor is called Mr. Cockle. Mr. Moustache sounds like he’s been dubbed by Mr. Cockle.

Well, I finally did it, I finally got around to watching Dark Phoenix.  In main because my copy of Die Hard 2 wouldn’t play properly for some reason (made it as far as William Sadler doing his tai chi in the nip, curiously enough).  I am disappointed in how bad it is at being bad.  I was expecting something truly and deliciously atrocious.  Instead, this is just… dull.  It comes across like a particularly tedious season one episode of Agents of SHIELD.  There’s still about half an hour left to go later, if I’m in need of something to get me to sleep. Who knows, maybe something of interest will happen before it all wraps up.  Still hoping for John McClane instead, though.

njerry wrote:

At 8pm Saturday we had to choose between watching Brightburn on Epix and Detective Pikachu on HBO. We picked the former, but it was probably not much better than the latter. It starts off as a sort-of Superman homage, but ends up as a cheap horror movie.

I really wanted a little more from it too. I think it’s great that the superhero genre can do a lot of different things, but this wasn’t my preferred version.

Still watching The Witcher.

I’ve managed to get past thinking Mr. Moustache looks like Gaston.

Hrmmm (how does Supey-Geralt keep it up without wrecking his throat)

I’ve run out of Witcher.

Now what?

Midway through John Wick 3 and the dogs have stolen the film!

I’m glad I watched John Wick 3 on Netflix.

The high table rubbish has really wrecked the sequels.

 

I watched ‘Knives Out’. Loved it, great performances and wonderfully written by Johnson, both the dialogue and the really clever plot.

Daniel Craig’s accent was all over the shop, I don’t know what he was trying to do, but it doesn’t matter a jot.

garjones wrote:

Daniel Craig’s accent was all over the shop, I don’t know what he was trying to do, but it doesn’t matter a jot.

I feel like that was a deliberate red herring – especially as so many characters commented on it. In the end I felt it was a bit of a Poirot homage.

garjones wrote:

Daniel Craig’s accent was all over the shop, I don’t know what he was trying to do, but it doesn’t matter a jot.

This is the guy he based it off:

I think he was attempting that but his English vowels wandered back in every few sentences.

Saw Ready Player One. It was a fun little movie. Went on a bit too long, and it was weirdly old-fashioned in its Spielberg-kids-movie vibe. The Shining bits were awesome but didn’t really jive with the rest of the movie. And it went on a bit too long. But it was alright.

Final episode of Watchmen up next. Whoo!

Dracula, the new Moffat/Gatiss version. A very enjoyable first episode that lulls you into a sense of security and familiarity but then turns a lot of stuff on its head, without ever feeling like so much of a departure that it’s not Dracula any more.

I liked the mix of camp comedy and old-school horror, with some very inventive practical effects and some good performances, particular the title character (who initially seems like a hammy old cliché Dracula, only to become something quite different).

I also enjoyed the various twists – one of which I saw coming several minutes ahead of time (it’s very similar to something from an episode of Sherlock – who gets a fun reference here) but another of which surprised me, in a good way.

I’ll look forward to the next couple of episodes.

LITTLE WOMEN is very enjoyable. Also, pretty long, but I didn’t really mind.

I’ve been watching the elaborate prank show/reality TV spoof Nathan for You now that it’s all on Hulu. I think it might be the funniest show I’ve ever seen after Check It Out with Dr. Steve Brule and Peep Show. Nathan Fielder plays a fictionalized version of himself, a Canadian business major with average grades who helps struggling businesses by coming up with outlandish, doomed-to-fail business ideas. I feel a little bad for the business owners getting pranked but the pranks themselves are so ingenious, multi-layered, and laugh-out-loud funny that I just have to go along with it.

If you’re gonna give it a shot, I suggest the season 2 episode “Souvenir Shop” where he helps a struggling shop in Hollywood by pretending a Johnny Depp film is being shot there, then giving onlookers walk-on roles as customers buying souvenirs (with their own money). It’s utterly brilliant and quickly gets out of control when Nathan has to come up with a second, even more complex plan to evade being hit with a fraud suit.

I loved The Gentlemen. It is by default the best movie of the decade, and while that obviously won’t last, let’s see how long it remains at the top of my 2020 list for. Plenty of people are finding this movie offensive, but all I can say is that I laughed a lot. Hugh Grant was better here than he was in Paddington 2.

 

I haven’t seen the other cockney crime capers by Ritchie to compare this to, but I think it’s finally the push that I needed to watch them. Snatch is the best one, right?

KandorLives wrote:

Snatch is the best one, right?

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is very good too and I’d advise watching that first. It’s not for plot purposes but just I think it works better that way in terms of seeing the style develop.

Lock Stock was the original and I agree with Gar that it’s worth watching first (there was a short-lived TV series too), but I think Snatch is very nearly as good and very entertaining.

Dave wrote:

Dracula, the new Moffat/Gatiss version.

For those outside the UK this is a co-production with Netflix. The BBC will show the 3 episodes on consecutive nights and then the next day (4th January) it drops on Netflix globally. That’s apparently the main reason that BBC are not rationing it as Netflix wanted it as soon as they could but without drawing away their viewing figures for the first showing.

A rather new idea we may be seeing more of.

They did something similar with Watership Down last Christmas I think. This is a little more high-profile though.

I think it’s a pretty good model and preferable to something like Good Omens, which has gone in the other direction (premiering on Amazon Prime before being shown on the BBC) but several months apart.

garjones wrote:

A rather new idea we may be seeing more of.

They’ve screwed it up a bit in the past, where seasons of Peaky Blinders have gone up on Netflix internationally before the BBC has finished showing all of the episodes.

I’m assuming too it depends how much of the cash of the co-production comes from which party. That the BBC have had to wait months to air its own show with Good Omens suggests they were very much the junior partner.

I’m looking more with Netflix that they need ‘originals’ as everyone and his dog sets up streaming platforms. This kind of thing works where exclusive and fast rights outside the originating country fulfils that without full production costs. Similarly to how Star Trek Disco has worked outside North America.

 

 

 

Dave wrote:

Lock Stock was the original and I agree with Gar that it’s worth watching first (there was a short-lived TV series too), but I think Snatch is very nearly as good and very entertaining.

“So what happens now?”

“If we’re lucky, they kill us and then feed us to the pigs.”

Not to forget Dennis Farina’s Avi:

“Avi, Avi, Avi…”

“Shut up and sit down you bald fuck!”

Dracula episode 2 was fun again, although not quite as dazzling as the first. Great ending though – can’t wait to see how it all wraps up.

Watching Shaft (2000) on DVR. Not as good as the original but better than the recent Tim Story version (which I’ve only seen a few clips of but was enough to know it was garbage).

I didn’t watch the first Paddington movie. Paddington was such a huge, cherished part of my childhood that as soon as I saw a trailer I decided I wasn’t going to subject myself to two hours of seeing my childhood memories trampled all over in a ham-fisted money grab.

So at Christmas I “accidentally” saw Paddington 2 when it was on the TV.

I really, really, really, really, really, really, really,

really, really, really, really, really, really, really,

really loved it.

That is all.

Yes David, that was the correct answer. Welcome to the enlightened side.

Uncut Gems is an experience. Possibly the best movie of the year. Definitely Top 3.

Catching up on ‘Dracula’, It’s clearly a complicated remix of the book and a lot of the movies and TV shows. I’ll reserve judgement until I’ve watched all three episodes.

Dracula himself is very good, but, so far, Harker is the MVP.

MVP? Wow, agile terminology has really gotten everywhere, hasn’t it?

MVP?     Mina’s Vampire Prevention. Harker does not do well at that job.

Heh, I had an entirely different version in mind!

The thing I’m trying to let go of is; that it’s Dracula.

It’s not.

It’s a fan fiction. It’s a spinoff. A tribute band even. a reboot, sequel, re-imagining. Something like that. Sort of.

But it’s not really Dracula, not the book or even a version of it.

On those terms though, does it work?

I’m thinking about it.

The final episode of Dracula was a bit of a disappointment for me. I didn’t connect with the new characters or setting, and I felt like a lot of interesting ideas were toyed with and then thrown away. And the ending didn’t really land for me either.

A shame, but it still doesn’t detract from the very good first two.

SteveUK wrote:

The thing I’m trying to let go of is; that it’s Dracula. It’s not. It’s a fan fiction. It’s a spinoff. A tribute band even. a reboot, sequel, re-imagining. Something like that. Sort of. But it’s not really Dracula, not the book or even a version of it.

As with all of these endlessly reinterpreted stories, it’s just another new take that faithfully includes some parts of the original, removes or reinvents others, and adds some new elements of its own. Just like any new adaptations of Sherlock Holmes or Frankenstein or A Christmas Carol or whatever.

Part of the fun is seeing what new ideas are brought to the table, and part of the enjoyment is seeing how well the old stuff still works.

SteveUK wrote:

The thing I’m trying to let go of is; that it’s Dracula. It’s not. It’s a fan fiction. It’s a spinoff. A tribute band even. a reboot, sequel, re-imagining. Something like that. Sort of. But it’s not really Dracula, not the book or even a version of it.

Of course. This is the only true version of Dracula:

 

Paddington is my role model. He’s who all the very good doggo pals I encounter think I am.

I’ve been watching Dracula this evening. So far, I like the nuns, and the Inside No. 9 episode. They’ve even chucked in some Clara Who and Sherlock.

But, “No good will come of a woman being on board.” (Uh oh).

Well… that was not a success. For me.

I can’t see myself re-visiting this. There was far more Moffat, and Gatiss, than Stoker.

Or Dracula for that matter.

And the ending didn’t work for me at all.

Oh well. We have the thousands of other versions.

Anonymous wrote:

They’ve even chucked in some Clara Who

Oh well, at least that’s made my mind up about whether I should watch this.

DavidM wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

They’ve even chucked in some Clara Who

Oh well, at least that’s made my mind up about whether I should watch this.

Yay! Another Clara Who fan.

5 marmalade sandwiches for David.

We finished S2 of Succession – it was great, but I wouldn’t say a huge jump over the already fantastic first season. This is one of the best drama shows I’ve ever seen (so far – maybe it’ll fall apart in Season 3). All the acting is great, the script is top notch, and there’s plenty of dark humour.

Wife has been looking forward to Little Women so we might see that tomorrow; ahead of it we planned to watch the 90s version but we couldn’t quite get it to work so her backup was Sense and Sensibility – I don’t think I’d seen it before, but it was enjoyable enough. Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman – all very good.

That came in return for her agreeing to watch Con Air the night before – it still rocks.

And then it was my turn to choose again the next night and I went with one of my faves Scorsese’s The King of Comedy – wife hadn’t seen it before, didn’t know anything about it – gladly she really liked it and found it really funny. It’s a sorely underappreciated film, which sees Deniro playing a very different character to his usual Scorsese roles, and the subject matter and themes are even more relevant today in our fame obsessed, reality TV world.

Anonymous wrote:

DavidM wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

They’ve even chucked in some Clara Who

Oh well, at least that’s made my mind up about whether I should watch this.

Yay! Another Clara Who fan.

5 marmalade sandwiches for David.

Erm… you may have taken my meaning to be very slightly the complete opposite of what it was

 

 

I know. I was right about Paddington.

You’re allowed to change your mind.

Knuckles McGinty is from my island, David…

 

 

 

Andrew wrote:

Wife has been looking forward to Little Women so we might see that tomorrow; ahead of it we planned to watch the 90s version but we couldn’t quite get it to work so her backup was Sense and Sensibility – I don’t think I’d seen it before, but it was enjoyable enough. Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman – all very good.

LITTLE WOMEN reminded me of that version of SENSE AND SENSIBILITY as well, though Jane Austen is much funnier than Alcott. I never read the book or saw the previous versions of the film which is actually the primary reason I wanted to see Little Women. It would be completely new to me.

It turned out to be very entertaining. Generally very crowd pleasing in intent while playfully and knowingly challenging the conventions of the storytelling while slyly taking advantage of them as well.

Not that this has anything to do with Alcott or Austen, but the theatre critic Walter Kerr wrote a book back in the 60’s that challenged the thinking of dramatic forms at the time. Part of his premise was that modern audiences have a misconception about tragedy and comedy. Tragedies actually have happy endings as the downfall of the tragic hero lifts whatever ill fate befell the people (Oedipus’ downfall lifts the plague, Hamlet’s final and fatal act brings in the better ruler Fortinbras, Macbeth’s death lifts his tyranny, etc.) while comedy ends with unhappy marriages. The wedding is a celebration that hides the fact for most of the story, the characters that end up together have proven themselves ill-suited for happy futures. There are no real solutions to the characters’ flaws, just a dissipation of the contentious circumstances of the stories.

Which is probably why comedies always seem to have more resonance with people.

The writing quality of each episode of Dracula, in the form of a horse. pic.twitter.com/FWdrIWr28I

— gman (@gg41r) January 4, 2020

Huh. I accidently watched the second episode first. Preferred it to the 1st. Not watched the last yet. Some of the cast seem to think they’re in a pantomime. But maybe that’s the Hammer horror point. It is more than slightly silly and schlocky.

Dracula gave me the giggles at times. He’s very Sesame St. Count. I did like the grouchy chef and Grand Duchess Pineapple. But I wasn’t keen on the fingernails. Too many flies; not enough wolves of Willoughby.

Needs more Keanu or Tenet Bat-Drive-Patttississison. The castle exterior looked v. Nosferatu.

Yay for Episode 3 Dracul Who:

Tardastical Clara will swoop in to save the day Moriartedly with the aid of a Cumberwomblewong cloak and K-9!

 

Apparently the version shown on Bernadette’s telly is slightly different from the version everyone else saw. 

The Dracula series wasn’t what I was hoping for, but Gatiss has done an enjoyable documentary on the character.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000cs1t/in-search-of-dracula-with-mark-gatiss

I saw Safe, the 2012 action movie starring Jason Statham. I remember the trailer for it was either on a dvd that I watched fairly often or a lot of films that I saw once, but it was nice to finally see this one. Pretty good action, better than expected direction, one killer action movie line, and a plot that never fully lives up to its initial promises. I enjoyed this a lot (maybe more than I should have) and I think that I’m finally becoming a Statham fan. After so many years of not liking the guy, what highlights have I missed?

 

You’re all tuned to the wrong channel.

Some days lay heavy as the mountains, we’re all so far from hearth and home-spun tales, but my telly box will stay ever Clarence-Clara cool.

“Someone’s gotta be the lighthouse,

That someone’s got to be me.”

Anonymous wrote:

It turned out to be very entertaining. Generally very crowd pleasing in intent while playfully and knowingly challenging the conventions of the storytelling while slyly taking advantage of them as well.

Yeah, just back from it and it was very good. Great performances except from Watson but that’s to be expected. And Chalamet is too beautiful for words. I wish there were more scenes between him and Pugh’s Amy, and just more scenes of the girls hanging out and mucking about, but it packs a lot of story in, with a few laughs and tears along the way.

The way Gerwig played with timelines, while a bit confusing initially, does pay off and that alone probably earns her an Oscar for adapted screenplay.

Not sure why the right are up in arms about it being an SJW film.

Andrew wrote:

Not sure why the right are up in arms about it being an SJW film.

I am, it’s a full time job for many nowadays. Gotta get those outrage clicks and go searching for something to provide them.

Andrew wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It turned out to be very entertaining. Generally very crowd pleasing in intent while playfully and knowingly challenging the conventions of the storytelling while slyly taking advantage of them as well.

Yeah, just back from it and it was very good. Great performances except from Watson but that’s to be expected. And Chalamet is too beautiful for words. I wish there were more scenes between him and Pugh’s Amy, and just more scenes of the girls hanging out and mucking about, but it packs a lot of story in, with a few laughs and tears along the way.

The way Gerwig played with timelines, while a bit confusing initially, does pay off and that alone probably earns her an Oscar for adapted screenplay.

Not sure why the right are up in arms about it being an SJW film.

It’s obviously because if we were living in an equal society they would have made a ‘Little Men’ film as well.

Well actually

garjones wrote:

Andrew wrote:

Not sure why the right are up in arms about it being an SJW film.

I am, it’s a full time job for many nowadays. Gotta get those outrage clicks and go searching for something to provide them.

This is literally the case.  The whole thing is manafactured to keep people clicking on angry YouTube videos and giving money to superchats, to patreon accounts and gofundme campaigns.  A few of the people who spent the last couple of years screaming about Captain Marvel and Last Jedi have outright admitted that they keep making those videos because they’re popular and profitable.

It’s part of why last year one of their things was to manufacture a competition between Captain Marvel and Alita:Battle Angel.  Of course, nobody in their right mind thought Alita was going to take more money than Captain Marvel, so it meant they could set themselves up to fail and generate more outrage videos when the inevitable happened.

I see.

So as it turns out, people are morons.

Been watching a few episodes of The Witcher. It really is rather better than I would’ve expected. Lots of neat fantasy fun, sometimes goofy, sometimes gory. Like, this is what Xena and Hercules should’ve been if they had actually been any good. (No, they were not. Shut up.)

Also, the world-building is pretty cool. I expect that this is mostly because it’s apparently based on novels and games and stuff, but the world gives the impression of being really well thought-out and, I like the mixture of high fantasy and fairytale elements.

I’ve seen other people refer to it as Hercules or Xena, only good, and I feel it’s a good touchpoint for it, and a far better niche to fill in genre TV than “the next Game of Thrones”

lorcan_nagle wrote:

I’ve seen other people refer to it as Hercules or Xena, only good, and I feel it’s a good touchpoint for it

Yep, it’s exactly how my wife described it when we started watching it.

(She liked Xena back in its day, but I’ve never watched any of it.)

The Witcher has left me most dissatisfied.

Whoever has my controller is rubbish with the buttons.

Where is my horsey and my unicorn bed? And a troubadour. I deserve an epic ballad.

I had a lot of fun with The Witcher. Also grear work with the costume designs.

 

Andrew wrote:

Not sure why the right are up in arms about it being an SJW film.

People go to a movie called Little Women.

And then complain loudly it’s all about the women characters.

… Yep, that’s where we are!

Just keep in mind the numbers to noise ratio. If you assume a $10 average ticket price then 5,700,000 people globally have been to see it. A dozen people, who most likely haven’t actually seen it, make a fuss on the internet which is then amplified by people like us reacting to their fuss.

Made it through X-Men Dark Phoenix.
What a slog that was.
I hated half the cast, and the good half was extremely wasted.
Even the guest star was made unrecognizable and unlikable.
It had a decent look to it, but I couldn’t gravitate towards any scene.
Bad story choice, bad script, bad director, bad everything.
.
They seriously followed up Apocalypse with something even worse to finish up.
Shame on everyone from beginning to end for letting this happen.

Sean Robinson wrote:

They seriously followed up Apocalypse with something even worse to finish up.

Nothing is worse than X-Men Apocalypse.

Dave wrote:

Sean Robinson wrote:

They seriously followed up Apocalypse with something even worse to finish up.

Nothing is worse than X-Men Apocalypse.

As has been said in the past, Fox fucked up the X-Men franchise after they pulled everything together with Days of Future Past. They had created a very soft reboot that could have been used to move everything forward in the present. They could have used Stewart, Jackman, et al as more mentors to a new group of X-Men that could have carried the franchise. Instead, we got the shitshow of Apocalypse which was set in the past AGAIN.

Something… something…your faces are bluer than Oscar Apocalypto! It’s not easy being blue (to be sung in your best Kermy-flail ;) but “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This.”

There’s a lot to love about Apocalypse. I loved its bright, shiny comic-booky Guardians aesthetic. Oirish-Angry-Fasskerrybender. Plus Cyclops had his tree. Not enough Little Women; needed less Katniss-Mystique; had the perfect set-up for Gambit.

Oh, that’s it! You’re all like me, apoplectic. I understand:

“WHERE IS MY F*@KING CHANNY-TAYTOS GAMBIT MOVIE ALREADY???

Dave wrote:

Sean Robinson wrote:

They seriously followed up Apocalypse with something even worse to finish up.

Nothing is worse than X-Men Apocalypse.

I still argue for X-Men Origins: Wolverine

I’ve never seen X-M O:W, but I watched The Last Stand and Dark Phoenix back-to-back, and Dark Phoenix, though awful, is the better of the two.

JRCarter wrote:

Dave wrote:

Sean Robinson wrote:

They seriously followed up Apocalypse with something even worse to finish up.

Nothing is worse than X-Men Apocalypse.

I still argue for X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Agree 100%.

Anonymous wrote:

Dracula gave me the giggles at times. He’s very Sesame St. Count. I did like the grouchy chef and Grand Duchess Pineapple. But I wasn’t keen on the fingernails. Too many flies; not enough wolves of Willoughby.

Saw the first episode. It’s interesting.

It almost feels like the backstory to Tom Ellis’ version of Lucifer in that show. Like Dracula eventually gets to Los Angeles and decides to mellow out.

I was under the impression that this would be a modern day retelling of the show along the same lines as Sherlock, so it was a surprise that the story follows the novel precisely for the first act. One thing they took from the book that none of the other adaptations have tried to use is the scientific nature of Dracula’s mind in the novel. The way he “experiments” with his vampirism is the most interesting aspect of the first episode.

The correct ranking of the xmen films.

(From best to worst).

1. The Brian Singer Films.

2. One of the Wolverine films.

3. The Mathew Vaughn Film.

4. One of the Wolverine films.

5. The Brian Singer Films.

6. The xmen films not by Singer or Vaughn.

7. One of the Wolverine films.

 

 

 

Amazing that they’ve been making X-Men movies for twenty years now and we still haven’t seen a decent version of Cyclops.

For all the hatred Apocalypse gets, DOFP was pretty good and I think we missed out on a genuinely good X-men film when Singer left the franchise and Rather took over.

Todd wrote:

JRCarter wrote:

Dave wrote:

Sean Robinson wrote:

They seriously followed up Apocalypse with something even worse to finish up.

Nothing is worse than X-Men Apocalypse.

I still argue for X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Agree 100%.

Fortunately, I was shot in the head with an adamantium bullet, so can’t remember how bad X-Men Origins: Wolverine was.

With the caveat that I haven’t seen Logan, Apocalypse or Dark Phoenix, but I find it hard to believe there’s ever been a good X-men movie.

The Phoenix storyline is best suited to a longer narrative than trying to cram it all into a couple of hours for one movie. They’ve tried twice and failed both times, even with the original cast that the audience cared about.

I’m still holding out hope that the future of the X-Men is as a TV show for Disney+ just so they can do justice to such things.

lorcan_nagle wrote:

With the caveat that I haven’t seen Logan, Apocalypse or Dark Phoenix, but I find it hard to believe there’s ever been a good X-men movie.

I really liked First Class, but then I like Vaughn’s stuff generally.

Logan has arrived on Netflix, so I suppose I’ll finally watch it.

Martin Smith wrote:

Todd wrote:

JRCarter wrote:

Dave wrote:

Sean Robinson wrote:

They seriously followed up Apocalypse with something even worse to finish up.

Nothing is worse than X-Men Apocalypse.

I still argue for X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Agree 100%.

Fortunately, I was shot in the head with an adamantium bullet, so can’t remember how bad X-Men Origins: Wolverine was.

I envy you.

lorcan_nagle wrote:

With the caveat that I haven’t seen Logan, Apocalypse or Dark Phoenix, but I find it hard to believe there’s ever been a good X-men movie.

I personally think DoFP was the best one. It bridged both film series well and a good bookend to them. It also set up a great point to move the franchise forward. Plus, it was a lot of fun.

Anonymous wrote:

I see.

So as it turns out, people are morons.

I have some surprising news for you about the properties of water, too…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masaru_Emoto ?

A few recent home watches:

Atlantics, Mati Diop – This is a gorgeous movie, and one of the best of 2019. The cinematography by Claire Mathon has some of the most striking uses of color I’ve ever seen, her images of waves at different times of day especially.

Set in Senegal near the ocean, Atlantics follows a young couple torn apart by tragedy. Early in the film, Souleiman leaves on a boat to seek work in Spain after working for months without wages on a local construction site. The boat sinks and all the young men aboard die, leaving Souleiman’s girlfriend Ada with little choice but to marry Omar, the rich man she’s been promised to. But strange events start to happen around town and Ada soon realizes that Suleiman and his friends have returned as spirits to extract revenge on the businessman who stole from them.

This is far from a conventional ghost story, though. It has a few eerie moments but the focus is more on Ada’s development as a young woman and her rebellion against repressive social mores (such as being forced to take a virginity test after her prior relationship with Souleiman is revealed). The ghost story mirrors her dilemma (mirrors themselves play an important functional and thematic role in the movie) and ultimately provides her with hope.

In Fabric, Peter Strickland – I was bored by this. It starts off quite good, with a newly single woman in her mid-fifties buying a red dress for a date, only to realize (much too late) that the dress is cursed. The film’s an homage to Hammer Horror and the lush color palettes and extravagant designs of Italian giallos, but imo it’s much too interested in paying respects than it is in telling a story. It’s achingly slow, overlong, not scary, not very funny when it tries to be, and is just plain dull. I was similarly bored by Berberian Sound Studio so I don’t think this director’s work is for me, even though on the surface we share a lot of the same interests. The movie looks great and has a great score but if I was bored for 3/4’s of its 2-hour runtime then I can’t really recommend it, can I?

Sweet Virginia, Jamie M. Dagg – This is a solid crime thriller starring Jon Bernthal as a motel owner with a tragic past and Christopher Abbott as a strange and off-putting hitman responsible for three local murders who’s staying at his motel. The dialogue’s a little wooden in places but otherwise I found it very satisfying. Bernthal and Abbott are great.

saga wrote:

Amazing that they’ve been making X-Men movies for twenty years now and we still haven’t seen a decent version of Cyclops.

not so amazing if you consider they’ve been making X-Men comics for 57 years and one, maybe two stories with a decent Cyclops.

Anonymous wrote:

“WHERE IS MY F*@KING CHANNY-TAYTOS GAMBIT MOVIE ALREADY???

ask Kevin Feige, I’d love to hear that answer. I’d expect a news report of Feige being taken to a hospital for a stroke after laughing too hard.

P.S. TAYTOS?? are you saying Magic Mike is a potato. it would explain A LOT!

 

I finally saw Captain Marvel. It’s not terrible but it isn’t very good either, a remarkably bland and charisma-free effort for the MCU movies (which, while formulaic, usually deliver more laughs and thrills than this).

Larson seems to be sleepwalking her way through the movie and I don’t blame her as there isn’t really very much here to hold your interest.

That said, Jude Law and Ben Mendelsohn are pretty good in their roles, and the de-aging of SLJ is utterly convincing.

Anonymous wrote:

WHERE IS MY F*@KING CHANNY-TAYTOS GAMBIT MOVIE ALREADY?

If Chalamet can pull off a cajun accent, he IS the Gambit we need.

Cheers Andrew.

Chanos Gambit could have been great. A Timothée Gambit, eh? Sounds familiar. I think you already have the Gambit you need.

Gambit is watchin de film wit de belle dat makes de ice and sings de song.
<p style=”text-align: left;”>Fat one. But not de second one the other one.</p>
 

Anonymous wrote:

Gambit is watchin de film wit de belle dat makes de ice and sings de song.
<p style=”text-align: left;”>Fat one. But not de second one the other one.</p>
 

Do you wanna build a snowflake?

A happy one through song, (sugah)