So what are you watching?

[prinCZess]

Got together with some friends to...MSTK3000-watch Black Panther Wakanda Forever.
It...mostly deserved the treatment.

There's the bones of a good movie in it. They do some milquetoast but touching tribute stuff for Boseman, there's setup for three or four interesting plotlines all on the broad theme of leadership and dealing with grief, and even the main villain plotline kind've has an attempted mirror-image type of thing going on...But the movie fails to really deliver any conclusion to most of those plotlines it sets up and its attempt to wrap them all up isn't pulled off well at all--it's very much a 'Oh, and this is where the writers just ass-pulled a character doing something out of character to let the plot resolve itself' wrap-up of things*. I'd guesstimate that Boseman's death required a hast rewriting of things and to me it really seems obvious they hadn't run it through the editing process enough...Either that or one of the writers is decent to good, but the other is absolute shit and got to make most of the editing decisions.

*

Spoiler

And it goes full comic-book aggravating in the conclusion where the villain basically monologues about how this was ALL ACCORDING TO HIS DEVIOUS PLAN.

Everything about the villain is eyerolling nonesensery that balance-beams between boring and laugh-out-loud silly (so provided a lot of great, half-drunken mockery commentary). The main protagonist is remarkably unlikeable to the point I had thought they were legit setting things up for a 'villain origin' type of thing (which is the way the first 3/4 of the movie steers things because she's bitchy to everyone even when they're really opening themselves up to her or catering to her). And then there's relatively little things that come off as...weird, budget-saving measures? The Marvel-verse UN is shown, and it's...the US (as 'Le Etats Unis' on their placard for some inexplicable reason), France, and a dozen empty suits in the corners in a hotel conference center?

It does, however, introduce a character (Ironheart, I guess?) who is entertaining because her entire character and story role is to be the Chris Tucker in Rush Hour (or maybe more accurately Dave Chapelle-ian) black stereotype/exaggeration comedy relief saying 'black' things about the po-po and the Feds, and that wasn't a character I thought any modern film would actually have.

For about a third of it's run-time it's an average movie with potential...And that is sandwiched between the rest of the movie that's pretty shit. Fun to make fun of in a group, though.

 

[Argent]

I am not that surprised. I got worried when Boseman died and they said they where not recasting. Then once the ads hit I decided that it was not worth a theater trip.

When a movie ads focus less on the movie and more on black inpowerment you know something if going to fail.

I will likely watch it when it hit streaming.

 

[The Whispering Monk]

I will likely watch it when it hit streaming.

I'm probably not even gonna do that.

 

[bintananth]

*

Spoiler

And it goes full comic-book aggravating in the conclusion where the villain basically monologues about how this was ALL ACCORDING TO HIS DEVIOUS PLAN.

That can be done well ... if it's a Xanatos Gambit and not the ending.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/XanatosGambit

 

[Nemesis]

I don't think they have run out of plotlines yet. They still have the fight with the New York investment frim which seems like the focus of this season along with the fight with the Indian reservation which seem like it will take on greater role soon.

All that can be resolved this season and (maybe) a sixth season; the latter could have fewer, longer episodes with a blow out series finale.

Going into a seventh season and beyond would be superfluous; look at The Walking Dead. Plus, Taylor Sheridan is busy working on a thousand other projects, so how much more can he dedicate to Yellowstone?

 

[bintananth]

Tubi had a documentary on the Battle of Jutland I watched today going into why three British battlecruisers went "BOOM!" while none of the German battlecruisers did.

It's been clear for quite awhile that all three suffered magazine explosions. This one tries to answer "Was there a fatal design flaw?" if not, then "What went wrong?"

A scale model of HMS Queen Mary's hull was subjected to flooding comparable to what SMS Seydlitz* limped back to port with. The model didn't sink.

They did some explosives testing. The conclusion: to compensate for insufficient gunnery practice the battlecruiser squadron did dumb things to increase rate of fire. Those dumb things meant that a hit to a gunhouse could set of the magazine.

Left unsaid: British battleships used the same guns, turrets, hoists, &c (with a bit more armour) as the battlecruisers but didn't suddenly go "BOOM!" after hit to a gunhouse.

Watch Battle of Jutland on Tubi: https://link.tubi.tv/i3xH4HD00ub

* Her damage control logs were in the "non-negotiable" part of the Allied post-WWI demands.

 

[bintananth]

Street Fighter

It is not a good movie by any stretch of the immagination until you realize that Raúl Juliá was terminally ill with cancer and went all out playing M. Bison in a film based on a game his kids enjoyed.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Street Fighter

It is not a good movie by any stretch of the immagination until you realize that Raúl Juliá was terminally ill with cancer and went all out playing M. Bison in a film based on a game his kids enjoyed.

I appreciate Street Fighter much more having seen it recently...

Street Fighter is on Tubi.

Yes, the 1994 or whatever film where Raul Julia gives it his all.

I watched the film and I forgot A LOT about this movie and what I forgot... makes sense. Like I forgot that Ming Na Wen dressed as an exotic belly dancer and in leotards for a prolonged scene in the film.

I forgot that EVERY scene that Raul Julia was in had him killing it, not just his infamous "Tuesday" speech.

I forgot that Colonel Guile's OTHER friend (that wasn't Kylie Minogue/Cammy) was that THawk guy whom I literally forgot existed in the movie.... or in the video game... or in general.

Also... Vega was in this movie. Huh...

Sixteen Street Fighter characters actually. Most movies, the magic number is seven "mainish" characters. Here they had sixteen. Oof...

Still despite how utterly hilarious, crazy and jumbled the Street Fighter film is, still entertaining to watch even now. It's immensely quotable. The action and fight choreography is serviceable and despite seeming low budget, it actually was pretty ambitious with what it wanted to do and somehow managed to pull it off pretty well. It's certainly better then a lot of contemporary bloated movies which might be more "gritty" but are ultimately far less entertaining.

Here's a news article about the films extremely hilariously troubled production.

'I punched him so hard he cried': inside the Street Fighter movie

In 1993, writer/director Steven de Souza battled a military coup, an ever-growing cast list and a self-destructing Jean-Claude Van Damme – and came out with a profitable picture

www.theguardian.com

 

[bintananth]

Fail Safe (1964) and The Merchant of Venice within the past few days.

The former is a Cold War film about a hypothetical "nuclear oopsie" where faulty procedures and a computer malfunction result in both Moscow and New York getting nuked by the USAF. NYC was the US telling the Soviets "we're the ones who goofed".

The latter is very good. Even people who think Shakespeare is difficult to understand would probably enjoy it if they're into period pieces.

NOTE: Shakespeare looks daunting when you read it. When well-performed you don't really notice that almost everyone is speaking in blank verse.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Watched Hard Times and The Pale Rider recently. Both were on Tubi.

Hard Times stars Charles Bronson as a drifter in Depression era America and was made way back in 1975. And looking it up on Wikipedia right now it was also apparently the directorial debut of one Walter Hill whose had a really prolific film career as a Producer and Director. Anyways it starred Bronson as Chaney, a drifter who happens to be a pretty good fighter and Lee Marvin as his eventual promoter, an indebted fast talker named "Speed."

It's a simple story but the characters are very endearing and the it builds up to a nice satisfying climax with plenty of twists and curveballs thrown into it as the two of them and a lot of side characters they encounter navigate the Louisiana underworld looking for underground fights and lots of money. It was a pretty good movie and despite what you might think, the fight choreography was actually pretty good. One of the neat things is that each of the fighters that Chaney threw down with had a different fighting style. Overall, I would recommend. It was really a trend setting film pairing two individuals, one talkative and extroverted with a more nuanced and taciturn in his mannerisms and eventually the two of them getting along.

It's a formula that Walter Hill would take into other movies and the story beats here are something you'd see in a lot of future films following a 'Ringer' type of fighter going through his adversaries such as Lionheart, Rigged/Fight Night and Every Which Way But Loose (which are all good movies actually).

The second movie I saw was the 1985 Western, The Pale Rider which follows a common Western film motif of the Stranger arriving to help townsfolk with some wealthy asshole, but this film like all of the good Westerns, manages to switch up the formula and tell a 'cliched' or formulaic story in a very engrossing manner. There's a strong Christian theme and symbolism in this film and it's hard to describe it. The film sounds so quint like an Old West tall tale but it still has its own strong charm. Clint Eastwood as 'Preacher' was wonderfully cast and he was surrounded with a lot of interesting other characters and adversaries, a surprising number of whom actually had some character revelations or even development arcs themselves.

By the time this film approaches its own climax, your almost reminded, hey... this film is actually approaching a climax. A very Western climax and you are almost pleasantly surprised by it. And it has some beautiful messages and morals to the story, not just feel good faith building stuff but about fellowship and change and even relationships lol. Some of the situations seem a bit dated for now, but the themes are still very strong and relevant to a filmgoer today.

 

[The Whispering Monk]

Pale Rider is my favorite Clint Eastwood western.

 

[Sergeant Foley]

Right now I am watching Doom Partol. It is only on D.C streaming so it mainly got overlooked. But I borrowed a freind's account to watch some Young Justice and this caught my eye.

It is a misfit hero team with pretty poor powers overall. But the dark humor and the fact that Doom Partol doesn't take itself to seriously made it fun to watch. Overall I would recommend this show only if you have DC universe already. I wish that D.C. joined a larger streaming service if they off things like this. But as much as I like the show it is not worth the subscription alone.

I am also watching the new season of The Expanse on Prime. It remains one of the best Sci Fi shows on air. The drama, acting, and special effects are still at the same quality of season one. While the new plot twists have expanded the story and added some new layers. It is a must see for any Sci Fi fan.

So what are you watching and what you recommend for others?

During the Thanksgiving holiday break, I watched the four-day marathon of NBC's The West Wing on HLN

 

[f1onagher]

It took me a decade of intermittent watching but I finally finished Fairy Tail. I don't know why I did that, but credit to the show, I cared about the characters and got that pang of emptiness when it ended. I don't know why since it wasn't very good, but its done now and I can use it as an example to keep me from trying to restart Detective Conan or something crazy like that.

I also have to live with the frustration that Fairy Tail got 300+ episodes but Hunter's Guild never even got to finish its second manga arc.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Lesson Plan which is a Polish Martial Arts Action Movie on Netflix. It's about a police officer who becomes a History Teacher at a School as a cover for REVENGE against some criminal scum that partly operate out of said school. The story won't win any Oscars I think but it was entertaining and actually got more interesting for me to watch as the movie went on. Not really much... for me to say beyond it being a pleasantly put together Polish martial arts action movie, which isn't something I've seen much of to be honest so maybe I'm being forgiving on it.

Plus I saw the dubbed version instead of the subbed version I typically prefer for foreign language films because I didn't want to actually sit down and watch it. 😛

 

[bintananth]

Christmas at the Ranch

It's a western which Tubi has in their LGBTQ+ section that's actually really good.

That the two main characters are lesbians is just kinda-sorta there in a "you could replace one of them with a guy and not really notice the difference" manner because LGBT issues are not what it's about.

 

[The Whispering Monk]

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation!

Clark Griswald vs The Squirrel

 

[Husky_Khan]

Watched a cluster of movies over the past few days on Tubi.

I saw Terror Train which is a 2022 remake of the 1980 horror film of the same name. Never saw the original. The remake... was okay. I guess I liked the train setting, but the whole film was basically an underwhelming whodunnit with fairly uninteresting teenagers getting hunted and killed. Yeah... not much else to say.

A horror/thriller that was far superior was 2001's Joy Ride starring Paul Walker, Steve Zahn and Leelee Sobieski. It involves some young people going on a road trip across the Western United States when one of them has a CB radio installed in the car and they decide to do some naughty catfight themed pranking of the horny truckers. So it was kind of similar to films like Duel which was a great 'road horror' film and the first portions of this film are actually really good. Unfortunately it draws down in quality the longer the film carries on with the leaps of logic and plotholes growing larger and larger.

With that said as a horror movie and a thriller, it was still solidly entertaining and I loved all of the main characters. Occasionally they acted dumb or whatever, but they were all veryfun and likable and affable nonetheless. At the very least good background watching after you get through the solid first and second act I suppose.

And then most recently I saw the Russian Apocalyptic Science Fiction movie The Blackout. It was extremely... average. But entertaining enough that I watched it the whole way through. Like many apocalyptic films, it only barely touched on said apocalypse. And sadly the film literally explained away the entire plot midway through and the mysterious revelation kind of landed like a big turd in my humble mind. Like really? That's it? Still... solid dubbed Russian entertainment. Doubt we'll see a sequel anytime soon.

 

[Argent]

So I watched Bullet Train.

Overall a decent movie. It has some decent dialog, nicely choreographed fight scenes and the set peice of the train is well used.

If you like Heist movies or ones like Kill Bill I would give say give it a try.

I also watch Wednesday. I have to say that overall it is a good take on the Adams family. You have to go into knowing that it is a show targeted at teens with a focus towards girls. The mystery is somewhat decent and Jenna Ortega manages to pull off a strong Wednesday. Also the set and overall tone is really on point with the previous iterations.

 

[Seras]

I also watch Wednesday. I have to say that overall it is a good take on the Adams family. You have to go into knowing that it is a show targeted at teens with a focus towards girls. The mystery is somewhat decent and Jenna Ortega manages to pull off a strong Wednesday. Also the set and overall tone is really on point with the previous iterations.

I watched it as well. I'll give it this. Despite talking about the 'Patriarchy' or other nonsense, they only do it like once every episode it's offhand and they move on. None of the SJW nonsense actually impacts the plot. Despite being annoyed when it was brought up, the show was surprisingly watchable, even if I can't call it amazing.

(Unlike the Sabrina show which was so packed full of that shit, I couldn't make it through a single episode.)

It felt more like a weird mystery/detective story more than an Addams Family Story. But they did call it Wednesday and not Addams family, so I'll let that pass. Everyone was pretty good. Some of the actors were a little flat though.

The two male leads were both really bad. And it turns out one of them is gay IRL, so that may account for the complete lack of chemistry between the characters. They should have just removed the romance plot entirely, it would have been better without it.

Morticia was actually pretty flat for me in this one. And that is coming from someone that adores Morticia in almost every Addams Family setting. The movies Anjelica Huston was amazing in the movies. This Morticia just feels too emotional. She doesn't have that "I've see it all and I am 100% in control" tone that the Morticia usually has.

Gomez was solid. I'm not a huge fan of old comic look Gomez, Raul Julia will always be Gomez to me, but he did a great job here, and I didn't mind him at all.

Christina Ricci was good, but had a small roll for most of the episodes.

Surprisingly I didn't hate the other female lead. Although you can basically guess her plotline from her first few scenes, she did a good job, and the character wasn't annoying, at least to me.

Finally thoughts. They did one big mistake with the show. The Addams Family have always been uncaring unflinching of danger, and usually almost eager for it, but they had to tone that down so that the shows threats would actually land, and removing that sense of invincibility from Wednesday makes her character feel... Different.

I'll give it a solid 6-7/10. I did watch the whole thing, which is rare for me nowadays.

 

[Argent]

I watched it as well. I'll give it this. Despite talking about the 'Patriarchy' or other nonsense, they only do it like once every episode it's offhand and they move on. None of the SJW nonsense actually impacts the plot. Despite being annoyed when it was brought up, the show was surprisingly watchable, even if I can't call it amazing.

(Unlike the Sabrina show which was so packed full of that shit, I couldn't make it through a single episode.)

It felt more like a weird mystery/detective story more than an Addams Family Story. But they did call it Wednesday and not Addams family, so I'll let that pass. Everyone was pretty good. Some of the actors were a little flat though.

The two male leads were both really bad. And it turns out one of them is gay IRL, so that may account for the complete lack of chemistry between the characters. They should have just removed the romance plot entirely, it would have been better without it.

Morticia was actually pretty flat for me in this one. And that is coming from someone that adores Morticia in almost every Addams Family setting. The movies Anjelica Huston was amazing in the movies. This Morticia just feels too emotional. She doesn't have that "I've see it all and I am 100% in control" tone that the Morticia usually has.

Gomez was solid. I'm not a huge fan of old comic look Gomez, Raul Julia will always be Gomez to me, but he did a great job here, and I didn't mind him at all.

Christina Ricci was good, but had a small roll for most of the episodes.

Surprisingly I didn't hate the other female lead. Although you can basically guess her plotline from her first few scenes, she did a good job, and the character wasn't annoying, at least to me.

Finally thoughts. They did one big mistake with the show. The Addams Family have always been uncaring unflinching of danger, and usually almost eager for it, but they had to tone that down so that the shows threats would actually land, and removing that sense of invincibility from Wednesday makes her character feel... Different.

I'll give it a solid 6-7/10. I did watch the whole thing, which is rare for me nowadays.

The rest of the Family was such minor characters in the show that they bearly registered to me. I do admit that the new animated version and also Wednesday did change the look of Gomez but I do think that Luis Guzmán did a decent job. But I do like him as an actor even if he mainly plays a sidekick all the time.

I do agree that the chemistry for the romance was lacking. But I also felt that overall the romance plotline was a smaller part of the show. Which is a big plus since most of th3 fantasy teen shows have it as the cenetr plotline.

I do agree with your rating and give above average rating which is a surpise since most of Netflix stuff is trash.