I thought the whole sex scene in Season Two was really awkward and forced. Really the whole relationship between Sarah and John. It felt like it was just there to prove that the characters were heterosexual.

Indeed. Same.

During my over-long unfortunate absence from the internet I rewatched the TV series I, Claudius. It wears well. I liked it this time around possibly more than previous viewings, and I've always considered it a masterpiece. Great script and delivery. Acting top-notch. Makeup first-rate. And so on. Those wanting on-location and outdoor scenes might be disappointed, as the budget didn't allow for that. While I appreciate those things, I don't miss them here. In fact, their presence might have been a distraction.

For the last few weeks I have been going back through some of the classic films of the 80s and 90s that I never got around to seeing. And a few that I just have not seen since they first came out back in those days.

Honey I Shrunk The Kids and Gremlins were both delightful 80s movies that I rounded out my Spooky October with. I saw both back in the day, and still found them to be a lot of fun.

I also watched Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion with my neighbors. It was fun. I had such a crush on Mira Sorvino back in the day. This reminded me why. The movie was fun and enjoyable. I loved all the outifts they wore. Right from the start I was wondering why they weren't fashion designers. Which kind of ties up nicely with the ending.

I tried watching The Breakfast Club. But I gave up a little over a half hour in. I just found it utterly repulsive. Mainly Judd Nelson's character. He literally starts out with rape threats at Molly Ringwold's character, then moves on to fat-shaming, and slut-shaming. I did some reading afterward, and now I am glad I stopped watching before the physical sexual harassment like him trying to look up her skirt.

I just finished watching Philadelphia today. That was good, part courtroom drama, part human story. Tom Hanks really hit it out of the ballpark. But really, really downer ending.

I broke the mold a bit to watch The Interview. Like so many people say, it really is quite a bad movie. The only thing that really worked for me was the whole 'honeydick' running joke. However, I do have to give them some props for their portrayal of Kim Jung Un. They showed him as a real, three-dimensional person, rather than just a one-dimensional cardboard villain to poke fun at, like the rest of the Western media does. At least until the third act, when he does become a one-dimensional cardboard villain.

Finally, I am started a rewatch of The Clone Wars, starting at the beginning. This time I am watching them in the proper order, rather than the order they were released in. I found a list somewhere that put them in the proper order. The reason is that when they started the show, they just did a bunch of little stories that they thought were cool, without trying to tell a single, cohesive story from start to finish. Then one or two seasons later they would have ideas for prequels or sequels to episodes they had done earlier, and they would release them where ever they were at at the time.

Wow really? I somehow failed to notice this. Do you have a link to the list you have? My GF is currently watching the show and I think she would find this info useful.

There are a bunch of places that the list is out there. I think I am using the one on the official site? This one

Ah! Thank you!

A clip from the next Godzilla movie

I am almost finished with watching the entirety of the Clone Wars TV show. I just have one episode left of Season Seven. Wow! Just Wow! The final four episodes of the season - and show - have been just stunning. They went for a very cinematic feel to it all. From the visuals, to the music - which I can tell is a full orchestra. The whole thing feels so very big in scope and scale. Even the fight scenes between Ahsoka and Darth Maul were motion captured rather than computer animated, with Ray Park returning to do Maul.

I was expecting it to end right at the beginning of Revenge of the Sith. But instead it actually takes place at the same time as RotS. Order 66 just happened in the second to last episode. They even recreated a scene from it, and used the original audio from the movie in another sequence.

Of course, Ahsoka is just awesome. She was always my favorite character in the Clone Wars. She might even be my favorite of all, over Princess Leia. Which is saying a lot, since Leia was my favorite since I was a children. She is a whole barrel of whoop-ass, but someone who is still growing and evolving as a person even after 7 seasons of storytelling.

Edit: And finished the last episode. That was epic! It all wraps up well, and leads right into the Ahsoka novel by E.K. Johnston that came out a few years ago.

Have you seen any of Season 2 Mandalorian?

Not yet. Although I do know that Rosario Dawson plays Ahsoka in one episode.

YEAH she does! Lol

One of the better uses of modern film-manipulation I've seen:

(YouTube Video) Arnold Schwarzenegger & Sylvester Stallone DID Make Another Movie Together! (YouTube Video)

BWAAHAA!!! The smuggled "Nose Powder!"

I watched Tenet today. It was meh. The plot is... murky and head-scratching at best. Most of the characters have absolutely no development, or background, or any sort of humanity to them all all. They may as well be cardboard cutouts moving around the screen. The main character does not even have a name. He is literally called the Protagonist. The only character who does have any sort of depth is the damsel in distress. Because of course, why else put a woman in a story if she is not there to be rescued by the big strong man.

OTOH, at least it was not as outright boring as Dunkirk was (they are made by the same person, I think Christopher Nolan?). And there is actual dialogue between characters in Tenet, unlike in Dunkirk.

I’ve never heard of this. What is it about?

Its a spy action thriller, with a loose excuse of time travel to provide an excuse for lots of gunfights. I am probably being too harsh. Basically someone in the future wants to destroy the past, and I think reverse the flow of time. They make a lot of objects and people inverted, traveling backward through time. So an inverted bullet is not fired from a gun. Instead it goes backward into the gun. Same with inverted people.

The Protagonist (that is his name, since, you know, coming up with a real name like Joe or Ed is too much work), becomes part of a super spy network fighting the future people. The spy network does not have a name. Because why would it? They just have a hand signal and a few phrases to show you are in the club, one of which is the word "Tenet". I am guessing they picked that because it is the same forward and backward.

It's ok if you just want to watch some gunfights and not think too much. Honestly, the more you think about it, the less it seems to make sense, especially the inverted stuff, the shtick does not work when you think about it too much. It also contradicts itself in places. A google search brings up plenty of examples.

That sounds confusing for the sake of being confusing lol

I just saw Wonder Woman 1984. It was good. Though not as astounding as the first WW movie. It is very much a character driven piece, with a lot of time and attention lavished on the main characters. We get to really see who they are, what they want, and what they are willing to do to get it. The whole movie is all about those things. In the end, the real villain in the story is greed. Not just for money, but for more, more of everything, no matter what it costs yourself and everyone else. Which is pretty topical, in pretty much any time really.

There were not really that much action at all. So if that is what you are looking for, it might disappoint. OTOH, it does have a lot to recommend it. They brought back the whole fish out of water idea, only with the roles reversed between Diana and Steve Trevor. Speaking of which, they brought him back too. It is part of the core of the story. What people want, and what they are willing to give up for it.

So it is a good movie.

I just recently heard about the new one. Thanks for the review. I quite enjoyed the first one and look forward to seeing this new one (though '1984' and 'new' don't really seem to go together).

I am enjoying the festive spirit by watching Batman Returns - the second Michael Keaton Batman movie from back in the early 90s. I never realized until now how little Batman is in the movie. I reached the half hour mark, and he was only in one scene in all that time, for about 2 or 3 minutes. It is really a movie about Penguin, Shreck, and Catwoman. Not that I am complaining, Michelle Pfieffer really hits it out of the ballpark as Catwoman.

It’s hands down my favorite Batman movie, but yeah, it has a villain heavy focus. I love how dark the film is.

At year's end (2020) I think it only fitting to report that the list of verifiable surviving actors who appeared in silent films (during the silent era) recently shrunk from five to four. Alas, I do not recall which actor passed to reach that measly sum. Of survivors, the one most people with even a hint of interest in silent films is apt to know is Silas Hathaway, age 101, not so much an actor as a prop in his one silent credit, portraying the 'kid' as a baby during the opening scenes of Charley Chaplin's movie "The Kid". The other survivor who might trigger a vague remembrance is Mildred Kornman, age 95, who played as an 'extra' in 18 Our Gang (later known as Little Rascals) comedies. Her sister, Mary, was one of the series' stars at the time. 2020's big silent film loss was the passing of Diana Sara Cary, 'Baby Peggy', this February. Immensely popular, her films were major money earners, though she saw little benefit from that, her salary going to her guardians rather than herself.

(video link) Here's an Our Gang 'short', which purportedly includes Mildred Kornman. (video link)

I did some research on Hawaii for the Stormcrow fic last week. So naturally I am now watching Magnum PI again. I started over from season one. Back when the theme was this 70s bass guitar and horns, rather than the iconic electric guitar version. Out of curiosity I looked up the RL location of the Robin Master's estate. Here it is, on the north eastern shore of the island. The grounds look a lot smaller than on the TV show, and a lot dumpier. So I wonder if the buildings were filmed somewhere else? Or if the land has been parceled up and redeveloped since the show.

But the tidal pool is definitely the same, as is the square rock in the water. Last night I compared some images from google taken from the beach, and the islands in the distance match perfectly with those in the TV show. So it is absolutely the same beach and tidal pool.

I think it was Olivia de Havilland that passed.

I found the Hobbit movies on 4k at my local Target. Sadly, I could not find LOTR anywhere. But I was able to order it from Barnes and Noble's website. I was talking to one of my neighbors about it, and he said he would like to watch it. So we started with the first movie in the Hobbit trilogy last night. He has never seen them, and only a little bit of the LOTR movies, so he is coming into it fresh.

While watching the movie, I came to realize that it probably would have been better to watch the trilogies in the other order - with LOTR first, and Hobbit second, even though that is the opposite in chronology. The Fellowship of the Ring explains the world and background events pretty clearly. While the Hobbit - being made later - was done expecting you to already know that stuff. So I found myself having to stop to explain thing like who the Istari are, or who Sauron was and why he matters, who the ringwraiths are, etc...

I found a relatively short Middle Earth history video on YouTube that I will show him next time, to help him get up to speed.

Weird. My GF and I just finished a marathon of the Extended Edition of LotR last weekend! It was just my reg’lar ol’ DVD box set from the 00s.

I watched Goodfellas last night with one of my neighbors. Still a good movie. What I really noticed this time watching it was how how Henry Hill (the protagonist) described the mafia was the same a cult. You only associated with other people in the mob. Your wife only associated with other mob wives. Everything he did, everything he was, was due to the mob. It was his sole way of measuring his accomplishments, his worth, his identity. That really put a much creepier spin on the whole thing.

I'm pretty sure I saw this in a cinema when it was new and shiny. I remember thinking it pretty good. Reminds me I really ought to watch Once Upon a Time in American again. Thankfully, I own it with scenes in their proper non-chronological order, not the chronological edition that first toured the US.

Goodfellas is definitely one of the best mob movies ever made. I never saw Once Upon a Time in America. Maybe I should check it out.

Guess what I'm streaming for the millionth time, bitch? Wait, I'll quote a few lines:

I AM the one who knocks!

Stay out of my territory!


Say my name!


WOO HOO !!!! I love this show! Lol.


But actually; I streamed "Shitz Creek" last week, it was my first time seeing it = Loved it!

Opinions vary of course, but I certainly recommend it. If you take the plunge, double-check and insure you are getting the non-chronological version, which is... Never mind, here's a Wikipedia entry about the film and its distribution history:

(link) Wikipedia - Once Upon A Time in America (link)

(Ignore the article's lengthy plot synopsis, lest you spoil things for yourself.)

I started watching it last night. Egads, is this a long movie! Just under 4 hours. And in that entire time I think there was about 10 lines of dialogue. I am not sure if I am going to watch any more of it. I have seen 40 minutes of it, and everything in there could have easily been done in 10 minutes. But it is not just the glacial pace. The movie seems to work hard at being confusing and inscrutable. It took 35 minutes or so for me to figure out that someone stole a million dollars from someone else, and that presumably that was the reason for all the murders in the beginning. Given that one guy was burned to a crisp, and the others not, I am guessing that he faked his death by substituting the burned corpse of someone else, and he took the money.

I am looking forward to watching the Live Action Wednesday series. Tim Burton is making it for Netflix, and it stars a late teenish Wednesday Addams as she goes to magic school (or something like that), develops psychic powers, fights crime, and solves a supernatural mystery. Sounds like a lot of fun!

That sounds neat! I didn’t even know this was going to be a thing!

RIP Yaphet Kotto. His most iconic role (for me, at least) was as Lt. Giardello ("G") in Homicide: Life on the Street. He had a long and varied career, showing off incredible range as an actor. Some notable movies are:

"Raid on Entebbe", "Brubaker", and "Alien".

But for me- he will always be "G". Gone now to that game of Hearts in the break room.

That is sad to hear. I will always remember him from Alien.

I watched Zack Snyder's new version of Justice League last night. I really had low expectations. I guess I can say because of that I was not disappointed?

First off, it is 4 hours long. So strap yourself in. Return of the King was that long, and it delivered for all four hours. ZSL does not really. In the first hour especially, it flails. Where the original theatrical version was a lot tighter, and much better focused on what was going on, especially at the start.

Second off, it is filmed in 4:3. Yes, the old TV screen size from 50 years ago. Why? I do not know. But it definitely hurt the movie in big eye-candy scenes.

Third off, the color is all desatured. It is not black and white. But there are no bright colors anywhere. Nothing that pops in your eye, and makes having a 4K television worth it. I expected this. Being darker is a Snyder trademark. Not just metaphorically, but literally.

Fourth off, the music is bad. It is just... bad. I guess Hans Zimmer was busy. Because this version of the movie was really lacking his presence. (Unless that was him, and he did it in his sleep, or a heroin-induced stupor).

I expected Snyder to cut out the humorous scenes. Which he did almost entirely. That is his shtick. But I was surprised at some of the non-funny things he also took out. For example, the original starts (I think) with a scene in Gotham with Batman catching a thief, and using his fear to attract a parademon, which Batman then fights. He gets a tease of the mother boxes, and learns that the parademons really hate a certain high pitched frequency. This not only sets up the plot, but it also lays out a weapon Batman later uses against the parademons. This is now gone completely. Even the later sonic weapon. In fact, Batman is barely in the first hour.

Snyder also took out the scene where the team argues about the morality and ethics of resurrecting Superman. With Wonder Woman pointing out that necrmoancy is bad, and the Flash mentioning Pet Semetary. This is gone, and replaced by a scene where they all go "great, lets bring him back from the dead." Aquaman does have second thoughts right before they do it, but by then it does not matter.

There are some new scenes. Obviously since the movie is now twice the original length. Some of the original scenes are just lengthened out by a few minutes here and there. Some entirely new scenes are added whole cloth. Like with Diana retrieving the burning arrow that her mother shot into the ancient Greek temple to warn her after the first mother box was taken. That was interesting, but really redundant. As we later get the entire story anyway.

The main villain gets a big visual overhaul. Now Steppenwolf has a suit of weird armor, made up of hundreds of little spikes. They normally lay together flat to make a smooth surface. But when he gets his dander up they swing out, and form a prickly hide around him. I am not sure it was really better, or necessary, over the original look.

The biggest new thing is Darkseid. In the Snyder version he is very present. In the original it was just Steppenwolf. Here it is very plain that he is just the lackey of the much more powerful ruler of Apokolips. First through Desaad, then Darkseid himself. This was good, really, really good. Darksied never takes any direct action in the movie. Steppenwolf just reports to him. But it makes it plain that this is not just a standalone film, but rather the beginning of a long term project. It reminds me of how we glimpsed Thanos in the first Avengers movie in a similar way.

However, the whole Darkseid plot also introduces some confusion. His interest is in the secret of Anti-Life, which we learn is apparently on Earth. This only serves to muddy the water in a story that is already about mother boxes. That part of it winds up being distracting, and I think would have been better left to be introduced in a sequel.

Also, the Martian Manhunter is introduced! I loved this, as I am a big fan of how they have done his character in the Supergirl TV show. But he is only in some small scenes at the end. He does nothing to effect the plot. Basically they are setting him up for future movies.

This version also gives a lot more time to Cyborg and the Flash, which was definitely appreciated. However, it also removed some character building scenes. Like the one of Aquaman inadvertently sitting on the Lasso of Hestia and pouring his heart out in a soliloquy that was not only fun, but really honest and heartfelt (Lasso of Truth and all). It also removes a part of the team's first real fight, where the Flash is uncertain about what to do. He is just a regular guy, who moves fast, and occasionally pushes people after all. Batman tells him to save one person. Then after that, he would know what to do. Which he then did, and did. It was a great, simple way of showing the character grow into the role of being a superhero. But now gone. I wonder if Snyder did not like these scenes because they showed the heroes possessing vulnerabilities? Which IMHO is a good thing, not a bad one.

Gone too are scenes showing Batman and Wonder Woman bonding, and arguing with one another. Especially a scene where she helps him take off his tunic, revealing his body as one giant bruise underneath. I really liked that, because it showed that he was just a mortal man, seriously punching over his weight here. But also one determined to right his wrongs, and defend the world. You know, hero stuff.

Also included are more dreams/visions that Batman has of an apocalyptic future where the world is in ruins and Superman is a bad buy serving Darkseid. This hearkens back to a similar dream in Batman Vs Superman. Jared Leto playing the Joker makes a big appearance here. He even makes a remark about Batman destroying countless alternate universes because he could not save Lois Lane. So the implication is that at some point in the future she dies, and Superman becomes evil because of it. It also hints that Batman's dreams might not be dreams, but rather memories from alternate timelines.

So clearly there is an overall story arc that Snyder has in mind. I think I have seen it referred to as Knightmare. But could be wrong. It is hard to say where it would have went. It sounds like maybe trying to go back in time and alter a dystopian future. Gee, that sounds familiar... *cough* Avengers Endgame *cough*. Whether we will ever see any of it is up in the air. DC cancelled its multiverse plans years back, and instead decided to just concentrate on individual stories. But if the Snyder Cut does well, who knows? He might get the green light to do more Justice League movies following his plan.

In the end, I think I prefer the original version of Justice League however. It was tighter, had a more optimistic mood over all, and was just nicer to look at. The Snyder cut definitely has its good points however. The Darkseid stuff is just fantastic for the most part. If you are a Snyder-stan you will like it. If not, then maybe don't bother.

I can not imagine trying to sit through 4 hours of superhero movie. Ew.

Just finished watching "Searching for Sugar Man". Fascinating documentary about an obscure musician. Will not give away too much, as it is something of a mystery/detective story. Highly recommended.

I just watched the new Mortal Kombat movie. It was fun. It had some cool monsters, gruesome "Fatalaties!", neat character designs, and lots of martial arts. It was definitely better than the previous MK movies from the 90s. This is a movie about a video game, so it is obviously not cinema verite. But it does deliver what you expect.

I also saw Black Widow. It was good. I really liked how they went back in time to show her with her "family", and how that "family" dynamic carried through the movie. I am using air quotes because they are not her biological family of course, or even adopted ones. But you will see if you watch the movie. The characters were good. I liked how they did Taskmaster a lot. The story fills in the background that the Widow never had when her character was alive. So right on time there Marvel... Other than being 10 years too late, it was a fun superhero film.

I liked it too. And I say this as someone who has never watched an Avengers movie and has never read a comic book. So this is my first experience with Black Widow. Surprisingly (to me), I cared about the story and the characters and thought the two leads had good chemistry together. I thought the film had a good mix of serious moments, action and humor. I was very pleased with the film and plan to watch it again in the future.

I was extremely annoyed that they chose to kill Black Widow in the Avengers storyline to get the soul infinity stone.

The choice was between Hawkeye…whom I like a lot, and Black Widow, whom I like a lot. Either death was bad for me….and Why? Did the writer need to kill them off? No! It was all for shock value and emotional investment.

If we had to lose someone I would have rather it been the implausible Ant Man (who loses mass despite having the same number of atoms) or Anthony Mackie’s bird man thing or one of the other low level filler heroes.

What did the plot gain with BW’s death? Anyone? Bah!

If I get to write an epilogue I’ll do the convenient time machine thing and retcon BW into being saved!

A.

I felt the same way about them killing both Widow and Gamora in that movie. It was way too Women in Refrigerators for me.

With the TV show Loki they focus on alternate timelines, and the alternate versions of people in those other universes. So there is a lot of room there to still have Scarjo or even someone else playing the same character as a variant. There might even be an alligator Black Widow.

But I suspect that they were grooming Florence Pugh (her 'sister' Yelena in the movie) to carry on the role as a new Black Widow. Or any of the slew of other Widows in that film.

I watch movies so seldom these days that I forget to mention it here when I do. I recently watched "Life of Brian". I saw it once before, ages ago. Soon after its premiere, I suspect. I recall not being overly impressed at the time. This time round, I absolutely adored it, start to finish! Even more than Holy Grail. Never thought I'd say that.

I afterward watched a bunch of Life of Brian movie reactions on YouTube.

Has anyone watched any of the Epic NPC Man Adventures? This one I recently found is pretty good.

Baelin's Route - An Epic NPC Man Adventure - YouTube

For decades, I was sure I saw the original Night of the Living Dead back in the day. Not long ago I decided to see it again, in preparation for watching YouTube NotLD 'reaction' videos. To my great surprise, it was not at all familiar to me. I now suspect that what I saw those decades ago was a clone or sequel. As to the film itself, I was impressed, far more so than anticipated. It's a very good movie. Some reactors aren't thrilled by the acting, especially the main female protagonist, but I have no complaints in that regard whatsoever. I find it well done in all aspects, and better at treating its subject matter 'seriously' than most of its countless successors.

Yeah, the original NotLD is great! “They’re coming to get you, Barbara!”

Not watching, but there is news about a new The Crow movie. Apparently it’s staring Bill Skarsgård, recently of It fame. I would much rather see a new The Crow film with a female protagonist, but maybe he’ll do ok. His casting might suggest that they intend to go with a more creepy feel for the character rather than just edgy. I do like that he’s not a beef cake like Mamoa, who was rumored to be staring in a The Crow a while ago.

Here is a link to an article about it.

Vampire: The Masquerade pen and paper live play LA By Night. It’s kinda silly, but it’s fun!