You Have Been Watching

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  • #140883

    (Knowing that I’m at least a decade older than most of the other members here) The current generation of kids and generations to come will likely never know the joys and sorrows of Saturday Morning Cartoons. The joy of looking forward each week to a new episode of Wacky Races or the Herculoids or the Bugs Bunny/Roadrunner Hour; and the sorrows of discovering two beloved shows are airing at the same time on different channels. Sure, on-demand viewing is convenient, but something has been lost. Saturday is just another day now.

    It wasn’t just Saturday mornings.

    Weekday mornings before school and afternoons after school had syndicated cartoons and shows. Some were new (especially in the afternoons starting in the 1980s) but were mostly old shows. I remember watching Three Stooges in the mornings before going to elementary school and all kinds of Hanna-Barbera fare in the afternoons.

    That has all given way to court shows and talk shows nowadays.

    There are cable channels that show cartoons, even the old stuff, for a linear experience. But YouTube and streaming has truly replaced that for the younger generations.

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  • #140884

    The biggest loss there for me isn’t so much the joy of channel surfing or the comfort of Saturday morning cartoons, but the possibility of discovering something that you never would have ordinarily chosen for yourself. Loads of my favourite TV shows or movies were things that I initially stumbled across or checked out on a whim, rather than actively wanting to watch already.

    Yes, absolutely this. There’s various shows I enjoyed as a kid that I’m not sure I would have actively chosen to watch if given its premise.

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  • #140886

    The biggest loss there for me isn’t so much the joy of channel surfing or the comfort of Saturday morning cartoons, but the possibility of discovering something that you never would have ordinarily chosen for yourself. Loads of my favourite TV shows or movies were things that I initially stumbled across or checked out on a whim, rather than actively wanting to watch already.

    Yes, absolutely this. There’s various shows I enjoyed as a kid that I’m not sure I would have actively chosen to watch if given its premise.

    There may have been certain points on Saturday mornings where I was exactly excited for the shows in a given time slot, but I wanted to watch SOMETHING. I would pick the “lesser of the evils” option and watch. Needless to say, I was entertained until the next show came on.

  • #140906

    I mean on demand programming is great, but there is something to be said for just taking TV as it comes, channel surfing etc. The same way that radio still exists and does well in a world of personal music players, let alone streaming.

    Yeah, there definitely is something to that, but like Dave said, it’s something our generation will be the last to appreciate. This isn’t for the kids.

  • #140908

    The biggest loss there for me isn’t so much the joy of channel surfing or the comfort of Saturday morning cartoons, but the possibility of discovering something that you never would have ordinarily chosen for yourself. Loads of my favourite TV shows or movies were things that I initially stumbled across or checked out on a whim, rather than actively wanting to watch already.

    Yes, absolutely this. There’s various shows I enjoyed as a kid that I’m not sure I would have actively chosen to watch if given its premise.

    Isn’t that what Tiktok is for?

    I’m kinda serious, I think tiktok and instareels and whatever pick up a lot of moments from TV shows and movies and presumably some of that generates interest in the actual show or movie it’s taken from? I think the same is happening with the resurgence of some songs.

  • #140918

    Tiktok is also heavily algorithm-driven though, so although massively popular trends might cut through that and forcibly shove the latest meme in your face, you’re not going to stumble across anything niche that’s way outside your sphere of experience.

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  • #140926

    Spotify is similar; their algorithm creates playlists for you based on what you’ve already listened to on the app; so if I primarily listen to 70s rock music, it’s unlikely that I’ll get a recommendation for a new song by Pitbull or Toby Keith. That’s why I still listen to college radio, since they have range of deejays who play new and old music in a variety of genres; it’s the only way I know to discover new artists in different genres and styles.

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  • #140945

    I’ve been dipping into FreeVee a bit this week (which, incidentally, is closing down at the end of the month and just being folded into Prime Video). They’re showing the original He-Man series on a continual stream. It’s… er, not very good. But also there’s one showing In The Heat Of The Night. Not the movie, but a TV series that was based on it, starring the guy who played Archie Bunker as the racist police chief. Baffling. I watched a bit, figured it was made in the 70s, some time after the film was made. Nope. Started in 1988. The episode I watched was (somehow) made in 1991. Looked twenty years older. Just looked it up and this thing ran seven years. Seven! For a TV adaptation of a film that’s just about a racist white cop grudgingly accepting that a black guy can also be a cop.

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  • #140948

    Just looked it up and this thing ran seven years. Seven! For a TV adaptation of a film that’s just about a racist white cop grudgingly accepting that a black guy can also be a cop.

    To be fair, Alien Nation did the same thing and had surprisingly long legs after the show was cancelled.

  • #141062

    Didn’t know where to put this.
    Maybe we should have a ‘streaming’ thread?

    —————

    You Don’t Actually Own That Movie You Just “Bought.” A New Class Action Lawsuit Targets Amazon – Hollywood Reporter

    A suit challenges Prime Video telling people they can “buy” a movie when they’re purchasing a license to watch it for a period of time.

    A little known fact about movie and TV show “purchases” online: What’s being bought isn’t actually ownership of the title but rather a limited-time license for viewing access. Consider the $4.99 director’s cut of Alien on Amazon Prime Video. Cheap, right? But if the tech giant loses the rights to that version, the movie can be replaced with a different cut, like the one for theaters. And if Amazon loses the rights to the film altogether, it’ll completely disappear from the viewer’s library.

    So should Amazon be able to say a consumer is “buying” that movie? Some people don’t think so, and they’ve turned to court.

    On Friday, a proposed class action was filed in Washington federal court against Amazon over a “bait and switch” in which the company allegedly misleads consumers into believing they’ve purchased content when they’re only getting a license to watch, which can be revoked at any time.

    The issue came to the forefront at the California legislature in 2023 when gamers discovered that their access to The Crew would be cut off once Ubisoft shut down servers for the game. After, the “Stop Killing Games” movement was born to stop publishers from destroying titles consumers had already bought.

    Lisa Reingold, who filed the lawsuit, says she bought Bella and the Bulldogs — Volume 4 on Amazon in May for $20.79 but soon lost access to the title. It’s not an uncommon occurrence, similarly affecting consumers across digital stores, like those hosted by Apple and Google. If you bought Downton Abbey through Amazon as the five seasons came out from 2010 to 2015, you’d no longer have them by 2024.

    The way in which digital transactions are structured, the lack of transparency around them and the streaming landscape is partly why physical media is kind-of-sort-of cool again. DVDs offer the ability, now and forever, to bypass the complicated web of licenses that leave fans unable to access their favorite titles.

    The lawsuit accuses Amazon, which didn’t respond to a request for comment, of misrepresenting the nature of movie and TV transactions during the purchase process. On its website and platform, the company tells consumers they can “buy” a movie. But hidden in a footnote on the confirmation page is fine print that says, “You receive a license to the video and you agree to our terms,” the complaint says.

    The issue is already before a court. In a 2020 lawsuit alleging unfair competition and false advertising over the practice, Amazon maintained that its use of the word “buy” for digital content isn’t deceptive because consumers understand their purchases are subject to licenses. Quoting Webster’s Dictionary, it said that the term means “rights to the use or services of payment” rather than perpetual ownership and that its disclosures properly warn people that they may lose access. The court ultimately rebuffed Amazon’s bid to dismiss the lawsuit outside of a claim alleging a violation of Washington’s unjust enrichment law.

    Recent legislative changes may make the lawsuit even more viable. Earlier this year, a California law went into effect barring the advertisement of a transaction as a “purchase” unless it offers unrestricted ownership of the product. Under the statute, sellers must obtain acknowledgement that buyers are aware they’re actually buying a limited license, in this case movies or TV shows, that can be revoked.

    Amazon “does not meet the standards set by the statute for a clear and conspicuous notice that the thing they are purchasing is a revocable license to access the digital good,” writes Wright Noel, a lawyer for consumers looking to sue the company, in the complaint. “The warning is buried at the very bottom of the screen, in font that is considerably smaller than the other text on the screen.”

    The lawsuit claims violations of California unfair competition, false advertising and consumer legal remedies laws. It seeks unspecified damages, including disgorgement of profits and punitive damages for allegedly intentionally malicious conduct.

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  • #141067

    Unless you can download a use anywhere, MP4 file, you own nothing.

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  • #141068

    Poker Face Series 1

    This was a great first series, with Charlie as a modern day Columbo, unravelling various oh-so-perfect nefarious plots.

    It would have been very easy for this to be a very cynical series, instead it goes for the far more interesting of everyone getting their due, one way or another.

    It also has a guest cast that other shows would kill for. Hopefully, S2 gets a disc release.

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  • #141075

    I love that first season of Poker Face, it’s a perfect show and Natasha Lyonne is just so effortlessly charming.

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    Ben
  • #141124

    We watched the Thursday Murder Club and it was cosy, gentle, fairly charming stuff with a pretty great cast. Nothing mindblowing but a nice Sunday-afternoon whodunit, a bit like Midsomer Murders but with A-listers.

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  • #141145

    Thursday Murder Club

    This is a fun way to spend a couple of hours with a killer cast.

    Seen some chatter around the adaptation but, independent of that, this works well.  Has just the right level of jeopardy without going too far.

    Karen Pirie

    If you’re not watching this, you should be.

    Really smart cold case murder mysteries set in Scotland.

    Sure, Pirie’s life isn’t the utter disaster zone that your standard detective tends to have, but she is absolutely married to the job, while driving her bosses nuts.

    For UK it is ITVX for both series, D+ for S1.

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  • #141153

    I’ll have to write a longer post about this at some point, but I absolutely fucking love Alien:Earth. Two things I want to mention now: Has anybody done the opening credits thing like this before? It’s genius, I think, and beautifully done.
    Also, and this is especially relevant to an Alien movie, nobody is doing dumb stuff. I mean, the kids are kids and they’re naive of course, but none of the adults are stupid. Nobody got dumbly facehugged yet. Morrow is doing the manipulation thing beautifully, but Kirsh has already caught it and is playing along for his own reasons. Dame Sylvia triggers the alarm at the first sign of danger from Nibs. Arthur actually makes sure nobody can hear his criticism of the Boy Cavalier. And so on. It’s always such a relief to watch a show that doesn’t rely on supposedly competent people doing dumb shit.

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  • #141157

    Has anybody done the opening credits thing like this before? It’s genius,

    Yes sir! I think about posting that every time I see it, just would rather keep watching.

    Yeah, if we’re watching all we need is a reminder.
    “Previously on ‘We think the audience is stupid’…” is not for us.

    And of course this was the perfect testing ground for that.
    Noah Hawley and Alien had a built in ‘definitely going to try it out’.
    Well, it worked, and if anyone is like me we have sent word out to people ‘on the fence’.

    Not disappointed by this.

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  • #141165

    I’ll have to write a longer post about this at some point, but I absolutely fucking love Alien:Earth. Two things I want to mention now: Has anybody done the opening credits thing like this before? It’s genius, I think, and beautifully done.
    Also, and this is especially relevant to an Alien movie, nobody is doing dumb stuff. I mean, the kids are kids and they’re naive of course, but none of the adults are stupid. Nobody got dumbly facehugged yet. Morrow is doing the manipulation thing beautifully, but Kirsh has already caught it and is playing along for his own reasons. Dame Sylvia triggers the alarm at the first sign of danger from Nibs. Arthur actually makes sure nobody can hear his criticism of the Boy Cavalier. And so on. It’s always such a relief to watch a show that doesn’t rely on supposedly competent people doing dumb shit.

    Weeelll, keeping a bunch of dangerous alien species alive to study is not the brightest thing. But then, we wouldn’t have a show, right? ;)

    I do love this show.

    I also love the use of practical sets. It makes the show feel more real. It worked so well with Andor, and it really succeeds here as well.

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  • #141168

    I’ll have to write a longer post about this at some point, but I absolutely fucking love Alien:Earth. Two things I want to mention now: Has anybody done the opening credits thing like this before? It’s genius, I think, and beautifully done.
    Also, and this is especially relevant to an Alien movie, nobody is doing dumb stuff. I mean, the kids are kids and they’re naive of course, but none of the adults are stupid. Nobody got dumbly facehugged yet. Morrow is doing the manipulation thing beautifully, but Kirsh has already caught it and is playing along for his own reasons. Dame Sylvia triggers the alarm at the first sign of danger from Nibs. Arthur actually makes sure nobody can hear his criticism of the Boy Cavalier. And so on. It’s always such a relief to watch a show that doesn’t rely on supposedly competent people doing dumb shit.

    Yeah it’s pretty great.

    I also love that they’re laying on the Peter Pan parallels so thick to disguise the fact that this is really a Charlie And The Chocolate Factory story (five kids being tested by an eccentric childlike genius to potentially take over his company when he’s gone). He even had a line the other day about kids having access to a world of pure imagination.

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  • #141169

    Weeelll, keeping a bunch of dangerous alien species alive to study is not the brightest thing. But then, we wouldn’t have a show, right? ;)

    Oh, I don’t think that in itself has anything to do with being stupid, it’s just the logic of capitalism. The question is whether you go about doing this smartly or stupidly. In a lot of alien material, people made very dumb mistakes to get infected or for the alien to escape. Here, up to this point, nobody has been careless or stupid. Of course, the aliens will still escape :).

    I also love that they’re laying on the Peter Pan parallels so thick to disguise the fact that this is really a Charlie And The Chocolate Factory story (five kids being tested by an eccentric childlike genius to potentially take over his company when he’s gone). He even had a line the other day about kids having access to a world of pure imagination.

    Ohhhhhh that’s a nice catch! Awesome!

    Another thought: At first, it struck me as kind of weird that Hawley would be interested in doing an Alien show. But apart from the fact that he’s been widening the scope of what that can be about, I was also in some moments of this show weirdly reminded of Fargo. Because in the center of Fargo – at least the first two seasons – there is also something alien crashing into the world, and it’s about the people who encounter these predators trying to make sense of this sudden presence of something cold and alien and evil in their world.

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  • #141175

    Ohhhhhh that’s a nice catch! Awesome!

    Which, to extend the metaphor, makes Timothy Olyphant an Oompa Loompa.

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  • #141180

    Ohhhhhh that’s a nice catch! Awesome!

    Which, to extend the metaphor, makes Timothy Olyphant an Oompa Loompa.

    He does look like one.

  • #141240

    I might be getting a bit too carried away in my enjoyment of Alien: Earth – these arrived today.

    20250905_091519

    The last episode was great again and almost like an Alien mini-movie.

    Between this and Romulus it’s been a great couple of years for the franchise.

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  • #141265

    Very cool! I’ve got the Weyland-Yutani shirt, too (in a washed-out Quertee variant), and also this one:

    https://cdn.qwertee.com/images/designs/product-thumbs/1726083803-143683-mens-500×600.jpg

    The last episode was great again and almost like an Alien mini-movie.

    Yeah, that was exactly what I thought, this was an entire alien movie in one episode. Very cool. And it was a very nice move to wait this long until the showed it to us (with only those few flashes before).
    We hadn’t really seen the bug thingies yet, have we? I wonder if they’ll pop up again. Scary little motherfuckers.
    Standout moment of many in the episode was the eye octopus/xenomorph fight. I was really rooting for the little eye guy, that devious motherfucker.
    And of course I am now kind of on Morrow’s side of everything. Hope he gets to kill Willy Wonka.

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  • #141277

    Ha, I have that Nostromo design on a black hoodie somewhere. I think it’s the first thing I ever bought from Last Exit.

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  • #141299

    Ballerina

    This was superb fun.

    For award consideration, Ballerina is submitted for the following categories:

    – Innovation in the use of hand grenades

    – Creativity with flamethrowers

    – Death by ice skate, not skating

    This does not include use of pistols, rifles, shotguns, knives, a katana, blunt melee weaponry. All helping the film rack up a triple digit body count.

    Along the way, from start to finish, the film upholds the style established for the series. The majority of the film is set at night, lots of smart use of light and neon, lots of neon.

    They do a number of smart moves with Eve as the lead. We see her training, her first mission and subsequent improvement in her skills.  Even in the engagement with Wick, the film has a fine sense of balance and doesn’t undermine one character for the other.

    The one weakness for me is everyone in Hallstadt being such a good, obedient drone. At least later one, one demonstrates a brain by quipping that it’s suicide going up against Wick. He’s right. It was.

    One unexpected weakness of the disc release is no subtitles for the three extras. Been a long time since that happened on a disc.

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  • #141491

    I just got back from seeing Spinal Tap II – having previously decided not to bother based on the trailers, the decent reviews lured me in after all.

    And it’s a bit better than I expected, while still not being up there with the first one. It leans a bit hard on some celebrity cameos and the supporting cast isn’t as strong this time around, but there are still lots of funny moments and lovely bits of improv, and there’s a warmth to seeing the band back together both fictionally and in reality that I didn’t expect to be there so strongly.

    If you’re a fan of the original this is a nice way to spend an hour and a half.

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  • #141494

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  • #141498

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  • #141577

    Watched the latest (and penultimate) Alien: Earth. I’m still really liking this show but there’s a definite sense here of needing to bring things together for the finale, and the fear/creep factor wasn’t quite as strong here. Although I quite like the idea of being able to call in a Xenomorph attack like you’re pressing the A button in Streets of Rage.

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  • #141578

    Peacemaker also remains solid, some great scenes in the latest episode and I like where things are going. Plus all the good guys are so likeable in this show, you just really want them to pull through.

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  • #141618

    Watched the latest (and penultimate) Alien: Earth. I’m still really liking this show but there’s a definite sense here of needing to bring things together for the finale, and the fear/creep factor wasn’t quite as strong here. Although I quite like the idea of being able to call in a Xenomorph attack like you’re pressing the A button in Streets of Rage.

    Yeah, things escalated rather quickly there… I would’ve liked this show to have more episodes, to be able to breathe a little more. But then again, I think I also just would like to spend more time with these characters and this story.

    My favourite moment this episode was Kirsh finally making his move and check-mating Morrow. We still don’t really know why he did it the way he did – did he just want to observe an alien gestating? Did he want another specimen for himself? Or does he have plans that go deeper, and that are in conflict with the Boy Cavalier?

    Looking forward to the finale.

    I’m also watching the new season of Generation V, but there’s still a Boys thread around, I think…

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  • #141632

    My favourite moment this episode was Kirsh finally making his move and check-mating Morrow. We still don’t really know why he did it the way he did – did he just want to observe an alien gestating? Did he want another specimen for himself? Or does he have plans that go deeper, and that are in conflict with the Boy Cavalier?

    I really like that you never quite know what Kirsh is thinking. I feel like there was a parallel drawn in that episode between him and The Eyeball, in terms of them both doing things that at first appear random and not necessarily logical but which will eventually play out to their benefit in a convoluted way. Both seem to be able to foresee the long-term consequences of their actions in a way that humans can’t.

    That scene where he directs the kids to the lift was great, because you genuinely didn’t know what his reasoning was, and he could have been doing one of two very different things.

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  • #141633

    I’m also watching the new season of Generation V, but there’s still a Boys thread around, I think…

    I’m two episodes into this. It’s OK but not hugely compelling yet this season.

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  • #141635

    Fuck, Clancy Brown is Salvatore Maroni!?

    Yep, just started on The Penguin.

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  • #141668

    I always love it when Clancy Brown appears. Like all of us, I’ve loved him since Highlander, but I became an actual fan watching Carnivale.

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  • #141675

    Alien: Earth maybe ended on its weakest episode. A bit of a shame – I had assumed this was going to be a self-contained story in a single season, but there’s a lot that’s left open and unresolved here.

  • #141680

    I liked the finale, but I was also surprised that so much was left open, given that they weren’t sure they were getting a second season, I think?

    Poor Arthur, the guy can’t even catch a break in death. Jesus. But hey, good reaction time there, Joe! I really liked how fast he was in getting into the class cage and out again. Great sequence.

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  • #141685

    Yeah, those sequences are the show’s best.

    I also liked Ade Edmonson getting in on the action. Presumably the frying pan was just out of shot.

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  • #141687

    I watched the season finale of Elsbeth s2 today and that is definitely one of the best shows going at the moment. It’s just Columbo for the 2020s – a quirky weirdo solving murders committed by celebrity guest stars – but there’s no shame in that, especially when it’s built such a lovely cast of characters (including Wendell Pierce as the police captain). The finale was especially fun because it sees Elsbeth detained in prison on charges of witness intimidation, amongst loads of the killers from previous episodes (whose inmate numbers are, handily, their episode numbers) and solving the further murder of one of them. And there’s a great musical sequence too.

    There’s a moment in it where it’s talking about making knives from uncooked ramen noodles and it does a little “this is real” graphic, which is the closest the show has ever felt to the Good Fight. It’s kinda weird to think really that they both came from the same root show, like both hard hitting drama Lou Grant and sitcom Rhoda both coming from The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

    Still, roll on s3 and more celebrity killers. And if they could work in a Good Wife cameo (Eli or Carey ideally, possibly Diane) that’d be nice.

  • #141688

    Still, roll on s3 and more celebrity killers. And if they could work in a Good Wife cameo (Eli or Carey ideally, possibly Diane) that’d be nice.

    Not Eli, but they just confirmed Marissa Gold will be showing up this season.

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  • #141691

    I also liked Ade Edmonson getting in on the action. Presumably the frying pan was just out of shot.

    Heh. Yeah, I also liked that we got his background as the first synth Boy Cavalier built to replace his dad.

    By the way, when Wendy told him “You’re not really Peter Pan”, I half expected her to actually say “You’re Willy Wonka” :)

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  • #141692

    By the way, when Wendy told him “You’re not really Peter Pan”, I half expected her to actually say “You’re Willy Wonka” :)

    And me! :rose:

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  • #141698

    By the way, when Wendy told him “You’re not really Peter Pan”, I half expected her to actually say “You’re Willy Wonka” :)

    Same! Totally thought of Dave’s quote.

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  • #141702

    Still, roll on s3 and more celebrity killers. And if they could work in a Good Wife cameo (Eli or Carey ideally, possibly Diane) that’d be nice.

    Not Eli, but they just confirmed Marissa Gold will be showing up this season.

    :O JUST AS GOOD!

  • #141718

    Peacemaker was good again this week. I feel like it’s taken a while to “reveal” something that we all knew was going on already, but now everything is set up for a great final couple of episodes. Especially with Lex in the mix too.

  • #141738

    Peacemaker was good again this week. I feel like it’s taken a while to “reveal” something that we all knew was going on already, but now everything is set up for a great final couple of episodes. Especially with Lex in the mix too.

    This season has been a complete disappointment for me. We’re finally getting to the “threat” of the season in Episode 6?!?! And there are only 8 episodes in the season?!?! It has just dragged so much for me.

    This story would have worked better as a two-hour movie. There is so much filler and fluff that could be cut out and other parts just condensed. The Michael Rooker vs Eagly sidequest could have been elimitated completely and it wouldn’t have impacted the story at all.

    If there is a Season 3, I hope it’s better than this snoozefest.

  • #141741

    Meg 2: The Trench

    This is a gloriously bonkers sequel, with some deliciously satisfying and perfectly timed villain fates. It’s also a film where, in a contest of man versus super-shark, man wins. It is also a film that upholds the ancient Hollywood proverb: Many people die, dog lives.

    Dumb fun? Yeah but very well-executed.

  • #141744

    Peacemaker was good again this week. I feel like it’s taken a while to “reveal” something that we all knew was going on already, but now everything is set up for a great final couple of episodes. Especially with Lex in the mix too.

    This season has been a complete disappointment for me. We’re finally getting to the “threat” of the season in Episode 6?!?! And there are only 8 episodes in the season?!?! It has just dragged so much for me.

    This story would have worked better as a two-hour movie. There is so much filler and fluff that could be cut out and other parts just condensed. The Michael Rooker vs Eagly sidequest could have been elimitated completely and it wouldn’t have impacted the story at all.

    If there is a Season 3, I hope it’s better than this snoozefest.

    I’ve really enjoyed it throughout, but I watch it as a comedy first and foremost and a superhero adventure second. And it’s been very funny this season.

  • #141759

    I watched famously unprofitable movie Men In Black last night. I’ve not seen it since about 1999 and I was surprised just how much of it I remembered quite clearly. And yet, I didn’t think it was amazing. It was fine, but the bits I mainly enjoyed were the bits I so clearly remembered (J’s interview process). Still, good on Columbia for rolling with the totally real loss it made and giving it three more tries in the vain hope one would make them some money.

    I’m probably not going to watch the second one (I remember it not being good and being disappointed at the time that it backtracked on Linda Fiorentino being J’s new partner) but maybe 3. And I might try the animated series too. Actually, I suppose that having K in it was the death knell for L being in the film sequel.

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  • #141767

    Peacemaker was good again this week. I feel like it’s taken a while to “reveal” something that we all knew was going on already, but now everything is set up for a great final couple of episodes. Especially with Lex in the mix too.

    This season has been a complete disappointment for me. We’re finally getting to the “threat” of the season in Episode 6?!?! And there are only 8 episodes in the season?!?! It has just dragged so much for me.

    This story would have worked better as a two-hour movie. There is so much filler and fluff that could be cut out and other parts just condensed. The Michael Rooker vs Eagly sidequest could have been elimitated completely and it wouldn’t have impacted the story at all.

    If there is a Season 3, I hope it’s better than this snoozefest.

    I’ve really enjoyed it throughout, but I watch it as a comedy first and foremost and a superhero adventure second. And it’s been very funny this season.

    While it has had some amusing bits sprinkled throughout, I can’t say this season works well as a comedy either. Compared to Season One, this one is practically anemic on all counts.

  • #141774

    Peacemaker was good again this week. I feel like it’s taken a while to “reveal” something that we all knew was going on already, but now everything is set up for a great final couple of episodes. Especially with Lex in the mix too.

    This season has been a complete disappointment for me. We’re finally getting to the “threat” of the season in Episode 6?!?! And there are only 8 episodes in the season?!?! It has just dragged so much for me.

    This story would have worked better as a two-hour movie. There is so much filler and fluff that could be cut out and other parts just condensed. The Michael Rooker vs Eagly sidequest could have been elimitated completely and it wouldn’t have impacted the story at all.

    If there is a Season 3, I hope it’s better than this snoozefest.

    I’ve really enjoyed it throughout, but I watch it as a comedy first and foremost and a superhero adventure second. And it’s been very funny this season.

    While it has had some amusing bits sprinkled throughout, I can’t say this season works well as a comedy either. Compared to Season One, this one is practically anemic on all counts.

    The bird blindness gag has me in stitches every time. Comedy is highly subjective, I guess, but I think it’s been very funny.

  • #141775

    God, I want to weigh in on this so much! But it’ll be another two weeks for me or so before I can started on Peacemaker. Gotta wait for when the kid comes over the next time.

  • #141780

    Blue Beetle

    This was great.

    Smart use of the wider DC world but general enough for it to work anywhere. Gunn would be a fool to not fo a sequel.

    Jamie’s family was a set of great characters, the unexpected image of the film? Nana with a minigun!

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  • #141782

    Can confirm that (at least on streaming services) there is way, way less spectacular Cat Grant boob shake than in the theatres.

    The part at the end when they say hello and good-bye.

    The boobs, I mean.

  • #141783

    Can confirm that (at least on streaming services) there is way, way less spectacular Cat Grant boob shake than in the theatres.

    Have they genuinely edited it? What a travesty.

  • #141796

    Have they genuinely edited it? What a travesty.

    Hope for the 4K Blu-Ray Steelcase Box (giggle) Set

    Getting a bit silly, but in the theatre I was right beside my mom, who let out a “whoa”…

    Not like I was going to unzip, right then anyways.
    But was looking forward to…

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  • #141805

    Smart use of the wider DC world but general enough for it to work anywhere. Gunn would be a fool to not fo a sequel.

    He’s already confirmed that Blue Beetle is part of the new DCU movie universe, hasn’t he?

    Haven’t seen BB yet, but now I’m looking forward to it!

  • #141811

    I saw One Battle After Another tonight. I really enjoyed it – despite the early sections of the film being somewhat (and I think deliberately) scattershot and disjointed, it comes together nicely as the film goes on and I was really into it by the end. Di Caprio, Penn and Del Toro are all great in it and the score is very effective too. It’s a long film but kept my attention. Worth a watch.

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  • #141826

    I’m really looking forward to that one, after everything I’ve seen and heard. This might be a rare PTA movie that I like without reservation.

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  • #141829

    I’m really looking forward to that one, after everything I’ve seen and heard. This might be a rare PTA movie that I like without reservation.

    There are some really effective scenes in it, but I don’t want to give anything away because it’s the kind of film that’s best experienced when you don’t know what’s around the next corner.

  • #141831

    I was at the theatre last night to see Poor, currently having its world premiere as part of the Dublin theatre festival.  I’m on a list to get free preview tickets for everything at the Gate in Dublin, I rang up about 45 minutes after the notification mail went out and could only get one!

    Anyway, it’s based on a memoir by Katriona O’Sullivan, who grew up in Coventry and Birmingham to an Irish father and half-Irish mother, her parents were both junkies and she and her four siblings grew up in terrible deprivation.   The family moves to Dublin for a fresh start shortly after she has her first child at 15, and it’s here that she reaches her lowest point and begins to work to improve her life and break the cycle of poverty.

    The play is performed in a very loose and informal style.  The actress playing Katriona introduces the story as music plays over the PA, then the character of her young self who’s played by a child actor, her parents, and then the four members of the ensemble, who “play everyone else” – the ensemble then says hi to the audience.  She asks her younger version if she’s ready, then asks the audience if they’re ready, and the play begins.  As the play progresses Katriona is narrating and dipping in and out of her scenes, sometimes trading lines mid-sentence with her younger version.

    The story is very powerful overall, it does a very good job of balancing the good and bad, that life wasn’t a litany of misery but had highlights – even if one of them is when the kids are taken away from their parents and put into a home for a few months.  There’s a lot of very funny moments, as well as some very harrowing and well-realised depictions of sexual abuse and violence. The play is quite explicit about how the services there to help people in this kind of distress are inadequate to the task of actually improving people’s lives.  At the very end she outright says that if it wasn’t for the intervention of a handful of people at key moments in her life (all of which are portrayed in the play) she wouldn’t have been able to escape the cycle as she has.

    I do have a couple of criticisms though – the play descends into mawkish sentimentality at the end, with heartfelt goodbyes to her parents as they die, and Katriona sings as a montage of photos and footage from the real Katriona’s appearance on the Late Late Show.  It’s a lot and probably goes a bit too far overall.  Also there’s an odd sense of classism in the story, there’s a point where Katriona mentions her brothers still occasionally say she thinks she’s better than them and she says “yeah, but we’re all better than what we had”, there’s a bit where her secondary school teacher tries to get her to go back and study for her GCSEs where it’s all about how she can do and be better.  Those moments and a couple of others feel like they’re passing judgement on poor people in general but it’s more of a failure to kill the cop in her brain, falling back on how society sees poor people as opposed to an active disdain.

    I’m not sure how far this will travel, it’s a co-production with the Belgrade in Coventry so I assume it’ll be on there, but it’s probably worth checking out if you can.

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  • #141834

    Thanks, Lorcan; I’ll keep an eye out to see if it shows up here in New York. Thankfully the title is easy to remember :-)

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  • #141836

    I’m jealous. I want to be at the Dublin Theatre Festival.

  • #141838

    Is this a bad time to mention how my theatres are in a practical walking range of my front door?

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  • #141840

    Is this a bad time to mention how my theatres are in a practical walking range of my front door?

    Not all at!

    That’s something to be proud of!

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  • #141843

    Right then, the big ones:

    The Abbey, about 40 minutes away

    The Gate, about a half an hour

    The Gaiety, about 40 minutes away

    The Bord Gais Energy theatre, about an hour away.  This one generally has the big touring productions like musicals, but I saw Armando Ianuuci’s adaptation of Dr. Strangelove starring Steve Coogan there earlier this year.

    The Olympia, about 35 minutes. This one is mostly a music venue, I’m going to see Gary Numan there in December, but they just had a run of The Weir with Brendan Gleeson starring, and they run a panto every Christmas.

    And then the smaller ones:

    Smock Alley, about a half an hour

    The New Theatre, about half an hour

    The Ambassador, about half an hour (it’s next door to the gate, it used to be a cinema)

    The Complex, about 25 minutes (this one’s an arts space that puts on plays as well as exhibitions, multimedia events and so on.  We once had a post-protest afterparty in their prior location)

    The Project, about half an hour (it’s next door to the New Theatre, it’s also an arts space but with a dedicated theate, does a lot of stuff around Dublin Fringe)

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  • #141852

    Soooooooooo jealous!

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  • #141905

    Play Dirty

    This is an OK way to spend a couple of hours.  The problem is this is based on the Parker books. I don’t know those but I did enjoy Darwyn Cooke’s graphic novel adaptations. And from those Wahlberg as Parker is akin to Cruise as Reacher.

    Sure, both make it work so long as you go with it, but are they really who they are supposed to be? Not really.

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  • #141915

    Heard a blurb about 12 Monkeys.
    Must be 30th anniversary?
    Anyways, still holds up. Not new, I’ve seen quite a few times, but it still works.

    So Monkeys? Why not follow up with Rise of the Planet of the Apes?
    Also, still very good, and still cheering on the apes.

    Honestly thought it was filmed in San Francisco, but then a few Canadian actors in the background (some with Battlestar Galactica credits), and then that fucking street, or those streets, and that’s the Streets of New Westminister, always used as San Francisco.

    “Rise of the Planet of the Apes was primarily filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with additional filming in O’ahu, Hawaii, for the African jungle scenes and some portions of the opening capture sequence. While the movie is set in and around San Francisco, California, it was shot almost entirely in Canada to keep costs down.”

    And as it’s on right now, I typed “Where” and first result is “Where was Rise of the Planet of the Apes filmed”

    Other whiny tidbit, “Order of Planet of the Apes movies” has AI explaining very well, but tells me I can skip the 2001 reboot.
    Excuse me? Of course I can, just have a bug in my brain that says to watch it because AI said not to.
    Don’t worry, I won’t.

  • #141920

    I’m caught up with Gen V, and I don’t know what it is with Hamish Linklater. Every time I see him, I love his performance but don’t recognise him. Took me ages to realise, hey, he’s that guy from Legion! But I’d forgotten again that the guy from Legion is also the guy from Midnight Mass.

    Anyway, he’s awesome as the new director of the school.

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  • #141936

    Dark Winds Series 1

    This has hit Netflix UK, but currently only the first series.

    It’s a good, smartly executed story, with some excellent writing. Cast is good, along with various twist and turns. It’s well-paced as well at six episodes. It never feels like its spinning wheels to fill out an episode or two.

    Best of all, the writers have enough confidence in their story to not fear how to end it. There is a flapping plot thread but it doesn’t feel forced in or artificial. Will be keeping an eye out for the next two series.

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  • #141985

    After three (four?) years, I’ve given up on More4 bringing over the final season of The Good Fight and decided to watch it through other means. I remember s5 getting a bit too weird for its own good (all the stuff with community courts) and so my expectations for s6 weren’t that high. But it’s great! Possibly the best the show has been? I don’t know, it’s so long since I’ve seen the earlier seasons.

    One of the problems the show’s had over the years is losing cast members between seasons and having to adjust. John Larroquette disappearing after season 4 was a notable one. And that’s true here. The end of s5 spend some time setting up Wanda Sykes as the new name partner in the law firm, only for her to be absent here, written out with a passing line. But! Instead of Wanda Sykes, they brought in Andre Braugher! He’s on top form here as Ri’chard, a bombastic, ostentatiously religious lawyer with an ulterior motive, installed as the new name partner of the firm by the other law firm that owns the main one on the show (it’s complicated).

    I’d forgotten over the past few years how much I liked just getting to see some of the other members of the cast, like Marissa and Jay. And Diane, of course. Return appearances for Elsbeth and Eli Gold – whose first shot is him in a lift, supposedly talking on the phone but clearly addressing the audience directly and berating use for our politics and “oh what, you’ve never heard me swear before?” – are fun too.

    The weird element of it though is that it’s very political and from 2022, so it’s in that strange zone of being out of date but not entirely dated, you know? It’s talking about things that are still issues, but with a foresight for what has really been inevitable. It’s like watching footage of someone who is approaching a very slow speed car crash and is entirely aware of it.

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  • #141987

    Last night, the wife I watched the documentary Ozzy: No Escape From Now on Paramount+ that dropped yesterday.

    It was excellent. It basically covers the last few years of his life. The way it was shot, it kind of felt like a coda to The Osbournes reality show. Have some tissues handy, because you will get teary-eyed. It is honest and raw and does not hold back.

    I highly recommend it.

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  • #142047

    The Bear season 4 – I have loved this show throughout but that was the patchiest season yet. Still good, and I still love the characters (pretty much all of them!) but maybe I’m wired differently in that the finale didn’t hit for me at all. My wife was reacting throughout and afterwards when we spoke about it it was clear that it really worked, really resonated with her (and the guys on The Watch podcast felt similarly) but I struggled to stay engaged. Season 2 and 3 are some of the best TV Iv’e seen over the past decade (noting that I don’t watch that much).

    English Teacher season 2 – I… didn’t think this was coming back since there was a MeToo style matter involving the star/co-creator after S1 came out, but it just appeared two weeks ago and we watched it and it was good. It’s pleasant and cosy with maybe a few laugh out loud (or sensible chuckle) moments per ep.

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  • #142055

    The Bear season 4 – I have loved this show throughout but that was the patchiest season yet. Still good, and I still love the characters (pretty much all of them!) but maybe I’m wired differently in that the finale didn’t hit for me at all. My wife was reacting throughout and afterwards when we spoke about it it was clear that it really worked, really resonated with her (and the guys on The Watch podcast felt similarly) but I struggled to stay engaged. Season 2 and 3 are some of the best TV Iv’e seen over the past decade (noting that I don’t watch that much).

    Interestingly I felt the opposite – for me, season four felt like a bit of a course-correction after season 2 started to become a bit self-indulgent and season 3 disappeared completely up its own arse. Season four seemed like a conscious attempt to get back to the heart of the characters and the group dynamic, and even if the storyline felt a little bit drawn-out I thought it was the best season since the first.

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  • #142083

    I finished the Peacemaker finale.

    This whole season has been total crap.

    Yeah, it had its moments, but they were few and far between. This season felt like they compressed a 24-episode season into eight episodes. And the finale was just terrible. I kept looking at my watch wondering how they were going to wrap everything up. As the minutes ticked by, I knew it would be unsatisfying and I was right.

    I loved the first season. It was fun and deep and told a complete story. Beginning, middle, and end. Season 2 felt unfocused and like Gunn was using it to set up more stuff in the DCU than to tell a good story here.

    Season 1 was A+, and Season 2 was F-.

  • #142101

    Oh, I watched Heretic. Really fun little horror movie. Grant really is wonderful.

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  • #142120

    I finished the Peacemaker finale.

    This whole season has been total crap.

    Yeah, it had its moments, but they were few and far between. This season felt like they compressed a 24-episode season into eight episodes. And the finale was just terrible. I kept looking at my watch wondering how they were going to wrap everything up. As the minutes ticked by, I knew it would be unsatisfying and I was right.

    I loved the first season. It was fun and deep and told a complete story. Beginning, middle, and end. Season 2 felt unfocused and like Gunn was using it to set up more stuff in the DCU than to tell a good story here.

    Season 1 was A+, and Season 2 was F-.

    I’ve really enjoyed this season but I thought it was a weak final episode that didn’t really work as a finale. A bit like Alien Earth it felt like the real climax was the penultimate episode and this was a coda/setup kind of deal.

    Also I thought the band stuff was overdone. Gunn sometimes feels like a music bore trying to show you his latest pseudo-ironic favourites and it gets old pretty fast. I would have rather had more story.

    The one standout in the whole thing is Adebayo, I love her more in every episode and I wish she got more focus. What she did get was great here.

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