What Did You Watch? 2020-06-26 (Friday)

Post by Ubiquitous
What did you watch?

His Dark Materials (HBO Go) - "The Daemon-Cages" (ep. #1.6). This was a
good episode, in that it was consequential, and stuff actually happened.
Lyra is up s**t creek at Bolvangar, but she immediate begins setting
up a plan to escape Bolvangar, which she enlists Roger's help with.
However, crazy EVOL!!1! Mrs. Coulter shows up, and Lyra enlists the
help of the other captive girls to hide from Coulter. This doesn't last
long though as Lyra is then grabbed because the EVOL!!1! Dr. lady (Lia
Williams) intends to perform the daemon-separation procedure on Lyra as
a demonstration for Coulter. You predict how that goes - Lyra screams
to Coulter who recognizes Lyra just before the procedure is to begin,
and Coulter rescues Lyra. But Lyra immediately turns around and betrays
Coulter, trapping Coulter in her room, as Lyra implements her plan to
have all the children (including those that have previously had their
daemons removed) from Bolvangar. Of course, the Gyptians show up at
just the right time, as does the witch Serafina, and so all of the
children are rescued, nearly all of the staff at Bolvangar are now
dead, Lyra destroys the "daemon-separating machine", and Coulter slinks
off in escape.
With the primary mission now done, the Gyptians plan to head home,
but Lyra and Roger, with Lee Scroseby and Iorek the bear, travel on to
rescue Lyra's father. (In here, there's a conversation between Lee and
Serafina the witch, where it's made clear that Serafina somehow
convinced Lee to take on Lyra as his new "mission"...) Anyway, in Lee's
baloon, they are attacked, and Lyra falls from the balloon from some
height. The end.
Just two more episodes of this to go - I may binge them today, or
save them for later.

soaps: B&B - Ha ha ha ha! Well, now I guess I know why Liam and Steffy
aren't together anymore!! In this epie, Steffy is forced to admit to
Liam that she slept with *his father* on the day of their wedding!!
This is so bad, it's bascially a Brooke Logan-level move! Ha!!
DOOL - Ben Weston acts like a complete and total hypocrite and is
all suspicious of Crazy Claire, just because she's newly out of the
funny farm, despite his own sitch'! Gabi tries to convince a skeptical
and hostile Chad that "Jake" is really Stefan DiMera. Jake and Gwen
bicker, but then Gabi catches them together and declares, "GET YOUR
HANDS OFF MY HUSBAND!!" (Heh.) In what is the opposite of a surprise,
someone is surveilling Lani, but it's just Krazy Kristen (back in the
nun's habit as a "disguise"!!).

Batman Forever (HBO Max) - I hadn't seen this in years. Gone is the
gloomy weirdness of Tim Burton, replaced by the goofy, campy weirdness
of Joel Schumacher, and as I've never cared much for Burton, I strongly
prefer the latter.
I had forgotten that Drew Barrymore was in this (playing "Sugar",
along with Debi Mazar as "Spice"). What was more amazing to me is that
Rebecca Budig! (long-time soap actress) is also in this as the girl
that Chris O'Donnell rescues from the street gang! I barely recognized
Budig (for one thing, I guess she hasn't always been super-skinny!).
Also in this, in basically cameos, are Rene Auberjonois and Jessica
Tuck!
And I don't know why Fred hates this - they friggin' *kill* Ed Begley Jr.!!
Anyway, this is the flick in which Nicole Kidman plays one of those
shrinks/profilers who is clearly *several cards* short of a full deck!
what with her creepy porn star approach to pursuing Batman! (It always
annoyed me how her character is dispensed with in a throwaway like of
dialogue in "Batman & Robin"... :/ )
The villains are a completely over-the-top Jim Carrey as The Riddler
(this performance mostly kind of works, but might actually have gone
better if Carrey had reigned in his performance at least some in
parts). What doesn't work for me at all in this one is Tommy Lee Jones
as Harvey Two-Face - there is no doubt that the one thing that Nolan's
"The Dark Knight" definitely gets right is its much darker, more
serious takes on Joker and Harvey Dent. But Tommy Lee Jones' Two-Face
undermines the movie for me in pretty much every scene he's in.
This is also the flick that gives us the "origin story" of Chris
O'Donnell's Robin.
Val Kilmer is merely servicable in this - I remembered liking his
performance more, but this time I thought it was merely adequate. (I
remember liking George Clooney's performance in "Batman & Robin" quite
a lot, so I'll be curious to see if that still holds true - I'll
probably watch the later today.)
This flick is only 2 hours, but seems longer.

Blindspot (recorded) - "Awl In" (ep. #5.7). This episode sends Zapata
and Rich on a "field" mission together, but then blows it by separating
them after a mere scene together.
Anyway, in this one, the gang destroys Madeline's ZIP factory, but
then Jane and Weller and Zapata and Rich have to go on separate
missions to neutralize Madeline's remaining ZIP stocks and put trackers
on them. Of course, these missions don't go quite according to plan,
especially Zapata's as she gets stuck on a plane with Madeline's
clueless son, and has to convince him that Madeline (his mother!) is
the most EVOL!!1! person on the planet. Zapata basically succeeds, but
Madeline proves her pure EVOLness!!1! by ZIP'ping her own son, and
erasing his memories, once she realizes that he "knows too much".
No Weitz or Afreen in this one, though clearly Madeline was back
after an absence of several episodes.
Next episode: Oh NOES!! The Team's(tm) Bunker is discovered by
Madeline's evil goons!!

Ad Astra (HBO Go) - This is a mixed bag. The EFX are top notch,
especially the whole sequence where Brad Pitt's moon rover gets chased
on the moon by "pirates". (As an aside, I don't think I buy the whole
concept of "moon pirates" - I mean, where could they hide?! How would
they get supplies?! Why aren't they just blasted from orbit?! Etc.)
But the voice-over narration is pretty much a complete "fail" - the
movie would be a lot better if they just eliminated most or all of
Pitt's voice-over narration.
Anyway, in this one, in the time *before* "The Expanse"(!) [wink],
Pitt plays an astronaut who at the movie's beginning is working on a
communications tower that suffers a catasptrohic power surge which
nearly kills him. He is then "drafted" by SPACECOM to send a message to
his father (Tommy Lee Jones again!!) at the fringes of the solar system
when his father's space mission is identified as the cause of the power
surges on Earth.
I was a little disappointed that this story was played at face value
- I was expecting some sort of "twist" with the character of Pitt's
father, but there really isn't one.
Also, while some of the science is good, some of it is not - e.g.
they got "walking" on the moon (and to a lesser extent on Mars) all
wrong: the scene with Pitt and Donald Sutherland in the moon's
"spaceport"(?) was played like they were walking in Earth gravity which
is all wrong.
Anyway, I like the sci-fi "imagery" in this, and some of the
storyline is OK, and I liked that they at least tried to get the "space
travel" aspects of the flick right (though they ignored other things
that "The Expanse" is much better at getting right) but there are
definitely things like the V.O. narration, and the overall story, that
don't quite work in this.
Ultimately, this probably suffers in comparison to "The Expanse".
P.S. Pitt's is not looking so "gorgeous" anymore. :(

Ophelia (should have been Showtime Women, but as that's one of
Showtime's "SD" channels, I pulled it off Showtime Anytime instead!) -
A completely, some might say *ridiculously*, "revisonist" 2018 take on
"Hamlet", in this version told from the Point of View of the character
of Ophelia (played by Daisy Ridley).
The first thing I noted here is that Ridley is actually attractive
as a redhead. As Rey in "Star Wars", Ridney never came off as
"attractive" to me, but she's actually attractive in this.
The other thing to note is that she's actually pretty good in this,
so her "acting skills" (or lack thereof) can't be properly appraised by
"Star Wars"! (no surprise there!!).
Anyway, while I thought parts of this were interesting - for
example, I liked Naomi Watts in the dual role of Queen Gertrude and the
witch (though, as best I can remember, there's no "witch" character in
"Hamlet"!), and telling the tale from Ophelia's POV - the complete
revisionism, esp. re the fate of Ophelia's character, and what happens
in the last act of "Hamlet" (which is substantially changed here),
largely undermine my liking of this.
Still, some good performances from Ridley and Watts (and Daisy Head
has a decent scene playing a rival of Ophelia - another invention for
the film), and I also liked Tom Felton as Laertes in this.

--
"Who would ever do this to him!?" - HottCiara on DOOL (04-27-2020), asking
who would stab Victor Kirakis... How about ANYONE WHO'S EVER MET HIM??!!

BTR1701

2020-06-27 18:49:56 UTC

Post by Ian J. Ball
Ad Astra (HBO Go) - This is a mixed bag. The EFX are top notch,
especially the whole sequence where Brad Pitt's moon rover gets chased
on the moon by "pirates". (As an aside, I don't think I buy the whole
concept of "moon pirates" - I mean, where could they hide?! How would
they get supplies?! Why aren't they just blasted from orbit?! Etc.)

I was annoyed by the variable gravity. Sometimes they bounced around in
the moon's low gravity and sometimes it was earth-normal.

Post by Ian J. Ball
But the voice-over narration is pretty much a complete "fail" - the
movie would be a lot better if they just eliminated most or all of
Pitt's voice-over narration.
Anyway, in this one, in the time *before* "The Expanse"(!) [wink],
Pitt plays an astronaut who at the movie's beginning is working on a
communications tower that suffers a catasptrohic power surge which
nearly kills him. He is then "drafted" by SPACECOM to send a message to
his father (Tommy Lee Jones again!!) at the fringes of the solar system
when his father's space mission is identified as the cause of the power
surges on Earth.
I was a little disappointed that this story was played at face value
- I was expecting some sort of "twist" with the character of Pitt's
father, but there really isn't one.
Also, while some of the science is good, some of it is not - e.g.
they got "walking" on the moon (and to a lesser extent on Mars) all
wrong: the scene with Pitt and Donald Sutherland in the moon's
"spaceport"(?) was played like they were walking in Earth gravity which
is all wrong.

Oh, I should read the whole post before commenting, I guess.

Post by Ian J. Ball
P.S. Pitt's is not looking so "gorgeous" anymore. :(

But is he still dreamy?

anim8rfsk

2020-06-27 19:58:21 UTC

Post by BTR1701

I was annoyed by the variable gravity. Sometimes they bounced around in
the moon's low gravity and sometimes it was earth-normal.

The movie rule is generally that the insides of habitats have gravity, but
the lunar surface doesn't.

Post by BTR1701

Oh, I should read the whole post before commenting, I guess.

Post by Ian J. Ball
P.S. Pitt's is not looking so "gorgeous" anymore. :(

But is he still dreamy?

--
Join your old RAT friends at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1688985234647266/

Arthur Lipscomb

2020-06-27 20:31:08 UTC

Post by Ubiquitous
What did you watch?

If I remember correctly, I compared this episode to the movie and felt
the movie did that exact same scene much better.

But Lyra immediately turns around and betrays

Post by Ian J. Ball
Coulter, trapping Coulter in her room, as Lyra implements her plan to
have all the children (including those that have previously had their
daemons removed) from Bolvangar. Of course, the Gyptians show up at just
the right time, as does the witch Serafina, and so all of the children
are rescued, nearly all of the staff at Bolvangar are now dead, Lyra
destroys the "daemon-separating machine", and Coulter slinks off in escape.
With the primary mission now done, the Gyptians plan to head home,
but Lyra and Roger, with Lee Scroseby and Iorek the bear, travel on to
rescue Lyra's father. (In here, there's a conversation between Lee and
Serafina the witch, where it's made clear that Serafina somehow
convinced Lee to take on Lyra as his new "mission"...) Anyway, in Lee's
baloon, they are attacked, and Lyra falls from the balloon from some
height. The end.

I did *not* like how that fall was resolved. You'll see what I mean
when you watch the next episode.

Post by Ian J. Ball
Just two more episodes of this to go - I may binge them today, or
save them for later.
soaps: B&B - Ha ha ha ha! Well, now I guess I know why Liam and Steffy
aren't together anymore!! In this epie, Steffy is forced to admit to
Liam that she slept with *his father* on the day of their wedding!! This
is so bad, it's bascially a Brooke Logan-level move! Ha!!
DOOL - Ben Weston acts like a complete and total hypocrite and is all
suspicious of Crazy Claire, just because she's newly out of the funny
farm, despite his own sitch'! Gabi tries to convince a skeptical and
hostile Chad that "Jake" is really Stefan DiMera. Jake and Gwen bicker,
but then Gabi catches them together and declares, "GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY
HUSBAND!!" (Heh.) In what is the opposite of a surprise, someone is
surveilling Lani, but it's just Krazy Kristen (back in the nun's habit
as a "disguise"!!).
Batman Forever (HBO Max) - I hadn't seen this in years. Gone is the
gloomy weirdness of Tim Burton, replaced by the goofy, campy weirdness
of Joel Schumacher, and as I've never cared much for Burton, I strongly
prefer the latter.

At the time of its' release, I definitely preferred this one to the
first two.

Post by Ian J. Ball
I had forgotten that Drew Barrymore was in this (playing "Sugar",
along with Debi Mazar as "Spice"). What was more amazing to me is that
Rebecca Budig! (long-time soap actress) is also in this as the girl that
Chris O'Donnell rescues from the street gang! I barely recognized Budig
(for one thing, I guess she hasn't always been super-skinny!). Also in
this, in basically cameos, are Rene Auberjonois and Jessica Tuck!
And I don't know why Fred hates this - they friggin' *kill* Ed Begley
Jr.!!
Anyway, this is the flick in which Nicole Kidman plays one of those
shrinks/profilers who is clearly *several cards* short of a full deck!
what with her creepy porn star approach to pursuing Batman! (It always
annoyed me how her character is dispensed with in a throwaway like of
dialogue in "Batman & Robin"... :/ )
The villains are a completely over-the-top Jim Carrey as The Riddler
(this performance mostly kind of works, but might actually have gone
better if Carrey had reigned in his performance at least some in parts).
What doesn't work for me at all in this one is Tommy Lee Jones as Harvey
Two-Face - there is no doubt that the one thing that Nolan's "The Dark
Knight" definitely gets right is its much darker, more serious takes on
Joker and Harvey Dent. But Tommy Lee Jones' Two-Face undermines the
movie for me in pretty much every scene he's in.

He was probably hamming it up because of Carrey.

Post by Ian J. Ball
This is also the flick that gives us the "origin story" of Chris
O'Donnell's Robin.
Val Kilmer is merely serviceable in this - I remembered liking his
performance more, but this time I thought it was merely adequate. (I
remember liking George Clooney's performance in "Batman & Robin" quite a
lot, so I'll be curious to see if that still holds true - I'll probably
watch the later today.)
This flick is only 2 hours, but seems longer.
Blindspot (recorded) - "Awl In" (ep. #5.7). This episode sends Zapata
and Rich on a "field" mission together, but then blows it by separating
them after a mere scene together.
Anyway, in this one, the gang destroys Madeline's ZIP factory, but
then Jane and Weller and Zapata and Rich have to go on separate missions
to neutralize Madeline's remaining ZIP stocks and put trackers on them.
Of course, these missions don't go quite according to plan, especially
Zapata's as she gets stuck on a plane with Madeline's clueless son, and
has to convince him that Madeline (his mother!) is the most EVOL!!1!
person on the planet. Zapata basically succeeds, but Madeline proves her
pure EVOLness!!1! by ZIP'ping her own son, and erasing his memories,
once she realizes that he "knows too much".
No Weitz or Afreen in this one, though clearly Madeline was back
after an absence of several episodes.
Next episode: Oh NOES!! The Team's(tm) Bunker is discovered by
Madeline's evil goons!!
Ad Astra (HBO Go) - This is a mixed bag.

Agreed. I just picked it up on 4K, because the disc was pretty cheap.
So I'm going to give it another shot sooner or later.

I watched:

The Twilight Zone (CBS Streaming) - I binged on more episodes of the
second season.
"The Who of You" - A down on his luck actor ((Ethan Embry) tries to rob
a bank for some quick cash to pay the bills. His plan fails miserably
and just as the cops come in to arrest him, he finds that he has the
ability to jump into someone's body, causing that person to jump into
his. This was a pretty good one.

"Ovation" - a woman playing guitar on a street corner is handed a coin
by a famous pop start just before the pop star commits suicide by bus.
The street magician quickly learns that it is a magic coin that will
cause people to adore her, with the usual Twilight Zone consequences.
This was OK.

"Among the Untrodden" - A new girl shows up at a new school and
immediately gets on the wrong side of the mean girls. For a science
project the new girl is studying psychic phenomenon and as it turns out
the head mean girl has psychic abilities. Think of this as sort of a
reverse "Carrie" with a bit of "The Craft" mixed in. This was a very
good episode.

"8" - This episode opens with a team of scientists at an antarctic
station. They find something under the ice. You know the rest. I
*immediately* thought of "The Thing" and that episode of "The X-Files"
which ripped off "The Thing." I didn't know this while watching but this
episode was written by Glen Morgan who wrote that episode of The
X-Files, so essentially Morgan is ripping off his own work. It was an
OK episode, but the end came out of nowhere. It was like they just ran
out of time.

Tigers Are Not Afraid (Netflix rental) Wikipedia says this is a "Mexican
crime fantasy," a genre I didn't know existed, but describes this movie
very well. The movie starts off with a young girl in school with the
teacher talking about fairy tales when suddenly the school goes into
lock down due to a school shooter. The teacher gives the girl 3 pieces
of chalk and says they are magic chalk that will grant 3 wishes. The
plot then weaves between the girl dealing with her mother who has gone
missing, probably kidnapped by a cartel, and a group of boys the girl
starts to hang out who have a cellphone with a murder recorded and the
cartel guy who wants the phone back. The girl uses the chalk wishes
which may or may not be magical to navigate all of this. It's an OK
movie. It generally held my attention and wasn't predictable, but I did
often find myself reading Wikipedia to follow the plot. I also wasn't
sure if the magic was *really* happening or just in the girl's head. I
watched the last few minutes again with the director's commentary and
the directer insisted that it was all really happening. I'm fine with
accepting it all really happened, but I think someone else could watch
the movie and conclude the magic was all in her head, and it wouldn't
really matter much.

Ian J. Ball

2020-06-27 21:18:56 UTC

Post by Ubiquitous
What did you watch?

If I remember correctly, I compared this episode to the movie and felt
the movie did that exact same scene much better.

I was toying with the idea of watching the film after finishing season
#1, but it's not currently on a streamer anywhere.

Post by Ian J. Ball
But Lyra immediately turns around and betrays
Coulter, trapping Coulter in her room, as Lyra implements her plan to
have all the children (including those that have previously had their
daemons removed) from Bolvangar. Of course, the Gyptians show up at
just the right time, as does the witch Serafina, and so all of the
children are rescued, nearly all of the staff at Bolvangar are now
dead, Lyra destroys the "daemon-separating machine", and Coulter slinks
off in escape.
With the primary mission now done, the Gyptians plan to head home,
but Lyra and Roger, with Lee Scroseby and Iorek the bear, travel on to
rescue Lyra's father. (In here, there's a conversation between Lee and
Serafina the witch, where it's made clear that Serafina somehow
convinced Lee to take on Lyra as his new "mission"...) Anyway, in Lee's
baloon, they are attacked, and Lyra falls from the balloon from some
height. The end.

I did *not* like how that fall was resolved. You'll see what I mean
when you watch the next episode.

Yeah, I figured... ;)

Post by Ian J. Ball
Just two more episodes of this to go - I may binge them today, or
save them for later.
Batman Forever (HBO Max) - I hadn't seen this in years. Gone is the
gloomy weirdness of Tim Burton, replaced by the goofy, campy weirdness
of Joel Schumacher, and as I've never cared much for Burton, I strongly
prefer the latter.

At the time of its' release, I definitely preferred this one to the first two.

Having rewatched both, while they don't hold up all that great, I still
prefer them to Burton's flicks, esp. the second one.

It turns out, she doesn't even get that! - "Batman & Robin" has to take
place more than a year after "Batman Forever", and they don't even
reference Kidman's character *at all*!

Post by Ian J. Ball
The villains are a completely over-the-top Jim Carrey as The Riddler
(this performance mostly kind of works, but might actually have gone
better if Carrey had reigned in his performance at least some in
parts). What doesn't work for me at all in this one is Tommy Lee Jones
as Harvey Two-Face - there is no doubt that the one thing that Nolan's
"The Dark Knight" definitely gets right is its much darker, more
serious takes on Joker and Harvey Dent. But Tommy Lee Jones' Two-Face
undermines the movie for me in pretty much every scene he's in.

He was probably hamming it up because of Carrey.

It didn't work at all. They needed somebody to *underplay* the part
because of Carrey! Trying to "outham" Jim Carrey is a recipe for
disaster! and it doesn't work at all, IMO. (B&R seems to get the
"balance" of the two villains' personalities better...)

Agreed. I just picked it up on 4K, because the disc was pretty cheap.
So I'm going to give it another shot sooner or later.
Tigers Are Not Afraid (Netflix rental) Wikipedia says this is a
"Mexican crime fantasy," a genre I didn't know existed, but describes
this movie very well. The movie starts off with a young girl in school
with the teacher talking about fairy tales when suddenly the school
goes into lock down due to a school shooter. The teacher gives the
girl 3 pieces of chalk and says they are magic chalk that will grant 3
wishes. The plot then weaves between the girl dealing with her mother
who has gone missing, probably kidnapped by a cartel, and a group of
boys the girl starts to hang out who have a cellphone with a murder
recorded and the cartel guy who wants the phone back. The girl uses
the chalk wishes which may or may not be magical to navigate all of
this. It's an OK movie. It generally held my attention and wasn't
predictable, but I did often find myself reading Wikipedia to follow
the plot. I also wasn't sure if the magic was *really* happening or
just in the girl's head. I watched the last few minutes again with the
director's commentary and the directer insisted that it was all really
happening. I'm fine with accepting it all really happened, but I think
someone else could watch the movie and conclude the magic was all in
her head, and it wouldn't really matter much.

This sounds kind of interesting. It's too bad it's Spanish-language -
if it was English, I'd probably check it out.

--
"Who would ever do this to him!?" - HottCiara on DOOL (04-27-2020), asking
who would stab Victor Kirakis... How about ANYONE WHO'S EVER MET HIM??!!

Arthur Lipscomb

2020-06-27 21:27:16 UTC

snip

Post by Arthur Lipscomb
Tigers Are Not Afraid (Netflix rental) Wikipedia says this is a
"Mexican crime fantasy," a genre I didn't know existed, but describes
this movie very well. The movie starts off with a young girl in
school with the teacher talking about fairy tales when suddenly the
school goes into lock down due to a school shooter. The teacher gives
the girl 3 pieces of chalk and says they are magic chalk that will
grant 3 wishes. The plot then weaves between the girl dealing with
her mother who has gone missing, probably kidnapped by a cartel, and a
group of boys the girl starts to hang out who have a cellphone with a
murder recorded and the cartel guy who wants the phone back. The girl
uses the chalk wishes which may or may not be magical to navigate all
of this. It's an OK movie. It generally held my attention and wasn't
predictable, but I did often find myself reading Wikipedia to follow
the plot. I also wasn't sure if the magic was *really* happening or
just in the girl's head. I watched the last few minutes again with
the director's commentary and the directer insisted that it was all
really happening. I'm fine with accepting it all really happened, but
I think someone else could watch the movie and conclude the magic was
all in her head, and it wouldn't really matter much.

This sounds kind of interesting. It's too bad it's Spanish-language - if
it was English, I'd probably check it out.

The disc is dubbed. I generally prefer dubbed versions myself. But
"Pan's Labyrinth" is only available with subtitles. That's a great
movie that's worth reading the subtitles. Tigers Are Not Afraid isn't
as good as Pan's Labyrinth, but it is very similar as far as both movies
involve a young girl dealing with both fantasy and brutality at the same
time.

anim8rfsk

2020-06-27 22:41:15 UTC

Post by Ubiquitous
What did you watch?

If I remember correctly, I compared this episode to the movie and felt
the movie did that exact same scene much better.

I was toying with the idea of watching the film after finishing season
#1, but it's not currently on a streamer anywhere.

I did *not* like how that fall was resolved. You'll see what I mean
when you watch the next episode.

Yeah, I figured... ;)

At the time of its' release, I definitely preferred this one to the first two.

Having rewatched both, while they don't hold up all that great, I still
prefer them to Burton's flicks, esp. the second one.

It turns out, she doesn't even get that! - "Batman & Robin" has to take
place more than a year after "Batman Forever", and they don't even
reference Kidman's character *at all*!

He was probably hamming it up because of Carrey.

This sounds kind of interesting. It's too bad it's Spanish-language -
if it was English, I'd probably check it out.

Racist

--
Join your old RAT friends at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1688985234647266/

Jim G.

2020-07-04 22:34:12 UTC