So what are you watching?

[Husky_Khan]

Showed the Anklebiters, at their request, the historical action-scifi films Predator, Predator 2 and Predators. Outside of the SEX SCENE in Predator 2 at the Colombian Drug Lords palace, all three movies are filled with wholesome entertainment. Well that and Walton Goggin's Convict character talking about rape time in Predators... but I digress.

None of the three movies are particularly dated at all thankfully, which is impressive since Predator actually came out in 1987 and the second in 1990. It did seem like they did a better job with the cloaking effect in the first movie as opposed to the second however, and while I've seen the movie plenty of times, as a first viewing its fun to see a new viewer ponder on if they can see the cloaked Predator in iconic shots.

One of the best parts of watching the films with new viewers is they slowly recognize more of the actors, and tropes. For example Predator 2 is rife with cop movie tropes and that was made doubly hilarious because we saw the excellent film, The Last Action Hero soonafter and we get the whole thing with the Screaming Police Captain, the maverick Cop ignoring higher authority, nameless other cops getting killed by the bad guys, random vehicles exploding, car chase scenes, no one can fire accurately except the named characters etc etc etc.

Also in regards to Predator 2 is how much fun I had repeatedly pointing out this movie was made in 1990 and is portraying the far dystopian future of 1997 Los Angeles.

Another positive of watching these films is that he is actually recognizing the actors more and more now. When watching Predators he was like, I've seen these actors in other films before and yeah, they did use a lot of distinctive character actors, so at least the films casting got that right.

All three of the Predator films mentioned are excellent films. The other three Predator films (AvP and the latest one, The Predator, which I didn't even bother looking at) are at best popcorn movies but even then... blegh. If we're going to invest in watching classic historical films, stick with the good classics.

 

[prinCZess]

Finished-out the Dirty Pair movies by watching 'Flight 005 Conspiracy'.
Where 'Project Eden' has an outright-silly Scooby-Doo vibe with musical interludes and 'Affair of Nolandia' is a bit of an oddly-serious thing, 'Flight 005 Conspiracy' is a more straight-up buddy-cop mystery. The pair get sent off on a case, follow leads to different planets, people, and places, get ambushed, stumble onto a conspiracy, then resolve the conspiracy with copious amounts of explosions and save some people in the process.

And for some, inexplicable, reason while watching, the buddy-cop movie it most made me think of while I was watching was...Rising Sun. I can't even properly explain why, because I've not watched Rising Sun in a decade or so--it might solely and simply be the Japanese used in both? I don't rightly know. It's not the characters. The plot a little bit maybe, but Rising Sun is much more corportate-focused while Flight 005 Conspiracy is much more about national-level intrigues with a Cold War-y vibe. I think it's mostly just that general pattern of 'go to location, interview/investigate [x], get new tidbit of information that leads to new location' that's present in both, even if that is a trait of basically any buddy-cop investigation flick.

Anyhow, the important thing that bears mention here is glorious 80s future-fashion portrayals in the show. Specifically shoulder-padded power-suits for women, though at least that one makes sense as the 80s just projecting their own stuff forward...more head-tilting is the coon-skin caps as ladies headwear:

Spoiler

Legit don't know what to think of that one. Could work? I'm kind've oddly curious but...coon-skin cap is one article of clothing I actually don't think I've ever owned. It'd certainly be a statement...I may have an oddball Christmas-present to give to myself now...

Only other thing that stood out to me and made me kind of chuckles on the 80s future-projection and 'Cold War-y' vibes of thing was the pair fooling a listening device by the time-tested method of turning up music really loud.
I don't know for sure, but I have suspicion that intel agencies have probably ironed-out that particular kink and digital analysis of recordings that can isolate particular audio bands and the like makes it basically useless. But...I dunnow, a cool time-capsule thing in the future? As I've mentioned before, I have a real soft-spot for all the 80s-future stuff (and the 50s-future stuff that it kind of leapfrogs off of a lot of times, it seems like).

 

[Captain X]

Maybe Yuri is a Davey Crocket fan.

 

[TheRejectionist]

So I have now 893 movies to watch.

• I watched Stage Fright (1987)

• and Dr Terror's House of Horrors

 

[SpaceOrbis]

I have been trying to work my way through The Expanse mostly because I'm told it has some good space battles which I'm always game to watch. I'm also slowly making my way through Stargate SG-1. I'm on season five of that one I think. So far I'm enjoying both.

 

[Bear Ribs]

Been watching The Dungeon Black Company. It's an Isekai story with rather a sharp twist. Rather than a loser student, the MC, Ninomiya, is a highly successful shitlord who's just reached the peak of his ambitions; through dedication and hard work he's built up a trust fund and real estate empire for himself so that he can slack off the rest of his life living off interest and rents. Needless to say, the very moment he finally feels financially secure he gets yoinked by a portal to another world where not only does he get no cheat power, he instantly is put millions in debt and forced into a hard-labor mining camp. I rather suspect the plot got started by some enterprising artist reading Luke 12:18-20.

The show's themes are interesting since it's all about capitalism, and more specifically about the villains short-term-profits-uber-alles capitalism vs. Ninomiya's smarter long-term thinking and modern business investment techniques. The antagonist company has basically taken over the dungeon crawl business and forces its employees to raid monsters for drops and mine demonite ore. I got a real chuckle when he discovered that the drop items (horns from horned wolves in this case) from the monsters will grow back in three days, so rather than risk his life killing the monsters for a few measly horns, he sets up a zoo inside the dungeon where the horned wolves can come in for a beauty spa treatment that includes petting, brushing, and having their horn trimmed, letting him gather far more horn at minimal risk. When murderous army ants threaten to overwhelm the surface, he polymorphs into an ant to communicate and then unionizes the worker ants against the queen before negotiating a cooperative agreement between all three parties, the queen, the worker ants, and his new Dungeon Black Company. Halfway through time travel gets involved and he discovers he has to ramp things up as the company's stupid policies will destroy the entire planet if he can't make enough money to sink them before they cause a total catastrophe from Belza going full Umbrella Corporation...

 

[TheRejectionist]

Been watching The Dungeon Black Company. It's an Isekai story with rather a sharp twist. Rather than a loser student, the MC, Ninomiya, is a highly successful shitlord who's just reached the peak of his ambitions; through dedication and hard work he's built up a trust fund and real estate empire for himself so that he can slack off the rest of his life living off interest and rents. Needless to say, the very moment he finally feels financially secure he gets yoinked by a portal to another world where not only does he get no cheat power, he instantly is put millions in debt and forced into a hard-labor mining camp. I rather suspect the plot got started by some enterprising artist reading Luke 12:18-20.

The show's themes are interesting since it's all about capitalism, and more specifically about the villains short-term-profits-uber-alles capitalism vs. Ninomiya's smarter long-term thinking and modern business investment techniques. The antagonist company has basically taken over the dungeon crawl business and forces its employees to raid monsters for drops and mine demonite ore. I got a real chuckle when he discovered that the drop items (horns from horned wolves in this case) from the monsters will grow back in three days, so rather than risk his life killing the monsters for a few measly horns, he sets up a zoo inside the dungeon where the horned wolves can come in for a beauty spa treatment that includes petting, brushing, and having their horn trimmed, letting him gather far more horn at minimal risk. When murderous army ants threaten to overwhelm the surface, he polymorphs into an ant to communicate and then unionizes the worker ants against the queen before negotiating a cooperative agreement between all three parties, the queen, the worker ants, and his new Dungeon Black Company. Halfway through time travel gets involved and he discovers he has to ramp things up as the company's stupid policies will destroy the entire planet if he can't make enough money to sink them before they cause a total catastrophe from Belza going full Umbrella Corporation...

So basically a critique of Japanese work culture and capitalism

 

[Bear Ribs]

So basically a critique of Japanese work culture and capitalism

Yes, it's accessible without knowing it but you gain a lot more understanding of some of the subtler aspects, like Shia being willing to literally work herself to death for the good of the company, if you are familiar with Japanese aspects like Karoshi culture.

 

[TheRejectionist]

Yes, it's accessible without knowing it but you gain a lot more understanding of some of the subtler aspects, like Shia being willing to literally work herself to death for the good of the company, if you are familiar with Japanese aspects like Karoshi culture.

I am not familiar but I heard about it, it sounded a lot like a "Prussian" economy in a way.

 

[SpaceOrbis]

I am not familiar but I heard about it, it sounded a lot like a "Prussian" economy in a way.

I have been watching it and so far I'm up to episode four. It is clearly one of them shows that does some fan service but is ultimately a pretty good show once you get past the whole big boobs and cute girls being around the guy. I'm not overly crazy with the whole work till you drop and the idea that working for 16 hours per day without rest is a good thing that this world seems to have but luckily it doesn't seem to be the main focus so far.

Normally I'm not a big fan of dungeon crawling type anime but this seems alright...for the most part. I do like that dinosaur-looking guy. He seems like a cool dude.

 

[TheRejectionist]

I have been watching it and so far I'm up to episode four. It is clearly one of them shows that does some fan service but is ultimately a pretty good show once you get past the whole big boobs and cute girls being around the guy. I'm not overly crazy with the whole work till you drop and the idea that working for 16 hours per day without rest is a good thing that this world seems to have but luckily it doesn't seem to be the main focus so far.

Normally I'm not a big fan of dungeon crawling type anime but this seems alright...for the most part. I do like that dinosaur-looking guy. He seems like a cool dude.

So no Arx Fatalis ? lol

 

[TheRejectionist]

Watching High Rise Invasion. A bit flawed but an enjoyable popcorn series.

Finished Witcher Season 2. It's better than season 1 but the ending with this series original villain is a bit meh. Didn't dissapoint like GOT. Or Peter Dinklage.

 

[SpaceOrbis]

Watching High Rise Invasion. A bit flawed but an enjoyable popcorn series.

Finished Witcher Season 2. It's better than season 1 but the ending with this series original villain is a bit meh. Didn't disappoint like GOT. Or Peter Dinklage.

I don't think it likely that any show will fail nearly as badly as the last season of GOT. I enjoyed that show from start to end but we all know the show started to drop once they needed to do their own thing. Plus the episodes in that last season were so dark that it was damn near impossible to see what was even happening. I really do feel a few more episodes would have done a great job on at least making it not a total failure.

 

[TheRejectionist]

I don't think it likely that any show will fail nearly as badly as the last season of GOT. I enjoyed that show from start to end but we all know the show started to drop once they needed to do their own thing. Plus the episodes in that last season were so dark that it was damn near impossible to see what was even happening. I really do feel a few more episodes would have done a great job on at least making it not a total failure.

Lol. I laughed when Daenerys turned into a genocidal maniac for no other reason "she mad". Which is funny considering that both character and actress are somewhat "feministic".

 

[TheRejectionist]

I have been trying to work my way through The Expanse mostly because I'm told it has some good space battles which I'm always game to watch. I'm also slowly making my way through Stargate SG-1. I'm on season five of that one I think. So far I'm enjoying both.

I heard it's a good show but also heard that lately it's turning into crybaby shit ?

 

[Husky_Khan]

The timeless Arnold Schwarzenegger action film Commando is on Tubi (along with the entire Blade trilogy of films).

Watching Commando again for the first time in a looooong time, I forgot how many times Ahh-nuld actually quoted other films of his in this movie including a lot of original Terminator film references. And I still love seeing that final scene where John Matrix kills like a hundred mooks including blowing up numerous cardboard cutouts (quite literally). Also the female lead (portrayed by Rae Dawn Chong, a mixed race daughter of Tommy Chong) was surprisingly useful, which I did not recall from before.

 

[TheRejectionist]

I just added 28 film to watch to my watchlist. I just have over 900 movies to watch.

Starting with The Demolitionist , a gender-swapped lower budget Robocop knockoff.

Back when genderswap and knock managed to be ACTUALLY INTERESTING.

 

[TheRejectionist]

The timeless Arnold Schwarzenegger action film Commando is on Tubi (along with the entire Blade trilogy of films).

Watching Commando again for the first time in a looooong time, I forgot how many times Ahh-nuld actually quoted other films of his in this movie including a lot of original Terminator film references. And I still love seeing that final scene where John Matrix kills like a hundred mooks including blowing up numerous cardboard cutouts (quite literally). Also the female lead (portrayed by Rae Dawn Chong, a mixed race daughter of Tommy Chong) was surprisingly useful, which I did not recall from before.

When the Austrian Alps' boy wasn't a deficient moron.

 

[Husky_Khan]

I saw two terrible movies today.

Shark Exorcist and Bloodsport IV: The Dark Kumite.

The sole reason I saw either of the films was because of how bad I heard they both were. The former was a recommendation to me from a friend who then later revealed he'd never seen it and in fact only heard about it being discussed on Red Letter Media.

In case your wondering, Shark Exorcist is about the spirit of a Satanic Shark that possesses women and then spreads??? by either biting people or vomiting on them. It was a very amateur film to the point that not only is the acting and direction bad and nothing making sense (like why is there a Shark in a lake anyways) but also because I knew it was bad when I could see the Cameraman's reflection on the side of a black sedan the protaganist characters were driving in during a beginning scene. Anyways I don't even know where to begin with the badness of the film so here are some things I remember:

1. A Nun at the beginning stabs a woman and kicks her body in the lake water and states "LORD SATAN! ACCEPT MY SACRIFICE! SEND ME AN AVENGER!" That apparently sparks the entire story.
2. A year later some girl is bitten by a shark (offscreen) and is miraculously healed.
3. There's a ginger whose a psychic ghost hunter/paranormal investigator who tries to commune with the Shark whose apparently mauled other people and after a lot of writhing on the ground, she becomes possessed by the Satanic Shark Spirit and vomits on random ladies.
4. Three girls do a seance or something in a cemetary nearby and two of them suddenly become possessed by a Satanic Shark Spirit and become Satanic Shark Zombies or something... I actually don't know because this plot point is never visited again.
5. There's a scene where two Sorority Pledges have to "get wet" and are standing in ankle deep lake water and one of them is having a panic attack over having to stand in ankle deep water for several minutes, terrified she'll drown or be mauled by a shark or something.
6. Every shark attack is offscreen... usually just showing some ladies screaming.
7. There's a lot of vomiting in this movie, so if that's your kink... even a dude vomits... in prolonged fashion, when he finds a "body" in the water.
8. There's a scene where the main villain, a girl who was bitten by a shark in the first place, meets a thirty year old woman in the playground whose by herself, playing with toy sharks and acts like a child or that she's special needs. I'm not sure which but the ensuing seduction scene in a backyard pool is extremely uncomfortable regardless.
9. When doing an Exorcism, one of the people performing the Exorcism actually states "We need a bigger cross!"
10. There's a mid credits/post credits scene of another twenty something portraying a teenager visiting an aquarium and for several minutes she's crying/oogling over fish in an aquarium, or spending an inordinate amount of time fondling plush sharks (including a Hammerhead! ) and eventually a scene where she's leaning against the wall rubbing a plastic toy shark over her face and... other areas below the screen.

I saw the Red Letter Media review that this was basically a kink film and... I could very well state it was. Usually I can get behind films that try something "different" but not in this way. Never in this way. Despite only being seventy minutes long and watching it on background, it felt much, much, much longer.

By comparison Bloodsport IV: The Dark Kumite was just a terrible normally competent movie starring Daniel Bernhardt. It's actually extremely boring even in comparison to say... a random indie kink film about Sharks and Seizures and Vomiting, but despite being longer, it actually passed the time a lot quicker. I wasn't drawn into watching the screen and seeing... whatever it was I was seeing like with Shark Exorcist.

 

[The Whispering Monk]

@Husky Khan

Do you...not like yourself?