The Movie Thread Reloaded

[Omega]

Also found out that Disney picked up and rebooted/continues The Quest.

The Quest was a sort of D&D Reality TV show about a group of people brought to a fantasy world to compete in various challenges to become the one true hero and defeat an evil force.

The neat trick was that they played it as a LARP and got a castle and everyone of the NPCs in character and costume. There were also alot of practical effects and some not bad monsters when they showed up.
 
Disney seems to have bought it up and rebooted it with teens this time. But looks like a near one for one reboot or continuation from the original. Might as well be season 2.

[Omega]

Made it through all 10 episodes of ST: Strange New Worlds.
 
6 is... interesting. Confusing. But interesting.
7 is very well played and I like the guest character.
8 is just complete wack-o. The cast was having way too much fun with that.
9 was the episode I just did not like at all. This was just one WTF!?!?! after another. No no no fucking morons no!
10 was an interesting twist. Though the ending marred it a bit. Really? Starfleet? Really?
 
So aside from the all around fuck up of ep 9 and the end of 10. Overall I was pleasantly surprised to find myself liking it. Yeah sure theres bumps and stumbles. But overall it was fun.

Pet peeve! DAMN twirly-whirly spinny fucking starships! The Enterprise is shown maneuvering like a fighter jet and just lacks any sense of mass. I had the same problem with some new Yamato series where the battleships were being treated like fighter jets. argh!

[Lurkndog]

I'm into Season 2 of Yellowstone and souring on it rapidly. Won't be picking up Season 3, maybe it will hit Amazon Prime at some point.

The writing is just very arbitrary. Some characters have total plot armor, and they're the ones that lecture others about their choices.

In the end, while they have a good cast, and occasionally create some compelling drama, the whole thing fails to hold together for me. The Duttons are, by and large, the kind of people who fail in real life because everyone around them soon learns they can't be trusted, and the consequences of their actions inevitably catch up with them.

[Reckall]

I'm catching up with "Narcos".

The first season is almost perfect. It is not as good as "The Wire", but the exploration of both the lives of the narcos and of the people fighting them makes for an involving experience. You understand why Colombians looked more fondly at Pablo Escobar (the actor is really good BTW) that at the government. You also see how often becoming a criminal in 1980s Colombia was not a choice but a necessity.

It is very funny to see represented things that make you eyes roll - except that they happened for real! (like "The Cathedral"'s part)

I'm halfway the second season, and it is not as good as the first. The problem is that it drags. I suspect that the producers wanted to tell Pablo Escobar's tale in two seasons but Netflix said "We want three" - resulting in a lot of padding.

Anyway, you can see that serious money was invested in this series. The action scenes are up there with the ones you see in big budget movies. The casting is uniformly good, with people appearing for 10 minutes in a single episode who still make an impression. Yet, I binge-watched the first season but I'm trudging through the second one. I hope that the tale will pick up speed again.

[Ghostmaker]

I'm catching up with "Narcos".

The first season is almost perfect. It is not as good as "The Wire", but the exploration of both the lives of the narcos and of the people fighting them makes for an involving experience. You understand why Colombians looked more fondly at Pablo Escobar (the actor is really good BTW) that at the government. You also see how often becoming a criminal in 1980s Colombia was not a choice but a necessity.

It is very funny to see represented things that make you eyes roll - except that they happened for real! (like "The Cathedral"'s part)

I'm halfway the second season, and it is not as good as the first. The problem is that it drags. I suspect that the producers wanted to tell Pablo Escobar's tale in two seasons but Netflix said "We want three" - resulting in a lot of padding.

Anyway, you can see that serious money was invested in this series. The action scenes are up there with the ones you see in big budget movies. The casting is uniformly good, with people appearing for 10 minutes in a single episode who still make an impression. Yet, I binge-watched the first season but I'm trudging through the second one. I hope that the tale will pick up speed again.

I think Colombia could've done without the hippos, though.

[Reckall]

I'm catching up with "Narcos".

The first season is almost perfect. It is not as good as "The Wire", but the exploration of both the lives of the narcos and of the people fighting them makes for an involving experience. You understand why Colombians looked more fondly at Pablo Escobar (the actor is really good BTW) that at the government. You also see how often becoming a criminal in 1980s Colombia was not a choice but a necessity.

It is very funny to see represented things that make you eyes roll - except that they happened for real! (like "The Cathedral"'s part)

I'm halfway the second season, and it is not as good as the first. The problem is that it drags. I suspect that the producers wanted to tell Pablo Escobar's tale in two seasons but Netflix said "We want three" - resulting in a lot of padding.

Anyway, you can see that serious money was invested in this series. The action scenes are up there with the ones you see in big budget movies. The casting is uniformly good, with people appearing for 10 minutes in a single episode who still make an impression. Yet, I binge-watched the first season but I'm trudging through the second one. I hope that the tale will pick up speed again.

I think Colombia could've done without the hippos, though.

A fun choice was not to age the actors a day even if the story started in the late 1970s and now we are in 1992. I can understand how is is a cinematic way to simplify production (no need for make up or to change actors every X years). However, by now it is ten years that Escobar's kids are 5 and 10 years old

[zer0th]

Pablo Escobar (the actor is really good BTW)

If you liked Wagner Moura, the Brazilian who plays Pablo Escobar, check the movie that made him in Brazil: Elite Squad. (Warning: it is very violent, but you are watching Narcos, so I suppose you won't mind.) José Padilha is the director of the movie and one of the producers of Narcos.

There's some irony around this film: both the director and Moura are, pardon the politics, left-wing; and the movie was made with the intention of denouncing the brutality of the police special forces portrayed in it. But the Brazilian population was so tired of suffering under the violence of criminals that they transformed Nascimento (Moura's character) in a sort of right-wing hero. An extreme version of Dirty Harry.

Despite that, it is a good movie. Narcos has the same style as Elite Squad. I am not sure how a foreigner will take it though.

[Omega]

Pinned down a copy of 7th Voyage of Sinbad.

While not as compelling in some ways as Golden Voyage. The story and effects are surprisingly top notch for movie older than Golden Voyage.
 
The evil sorcerer was interesting as he really played up the sneaky conniving bastard angle start to finish. High charisma villain to keep fast talking everyone left and right.

Next up is Jack the Giant Killer, an even older Harryhausen movie. Also up free on Youtube for now.

[Reckall]

Pablo Escobar (the actor is really good BTW)

If you liked Wagner Moura, the Brazilian who plays Pablo Escobar, check the movie that made him in Brazil: Elite Squad. (Warning: it is very violent, but you are watching Narcos, so I suppose you won't mind.) José Padilha is the director of the movie and one of the producers of Narcos.

There's some irony around this film: both the director and Moura are, pardon the politics, left-wing; and the movie was made with the intention of denouncing the brutality of the police special forces portrayed in it. But the Brazilian population was so tired of suffering under the violence of criminals that they transformed Nascimento (Moura's character) in a sort of right-wing hero. An extreme version of Dirty Harry.

Despite that, it is a good movie. Narcos has the same style as Elite Squad. I am not sure how a foreigner will take it though.

I watched both the original and the sequel. A very raw account of the realities of crime and law enforcement in Brasil. It is easy to see how it led to Narcos, with the voice over that connects the points and a very similar style (if anything, they show a situation even worse than Narcos).

I liked both. Not on the level of "City of God" but very well done. I had no problems in understanding the storyline even if some things are a bit glossed over for a foreigner.

If you are interested in a good series about crime in Italy look for "Gomorrah", the series. It is based on a book by an Italian journalist who went undercover in the Southern Italian crime scene - and now lives under police protection.

[Omega]

Came across an unusual UK TV series from the early 80s called In the Labyrinth.
 
About 3 kids who end up in some caverns and free a wizard. From there they help him recover a magic artifact and deal with the machinations of an evil sorceress as they bounce through various historical period recreations within the cave maze. Really unusual take on things and had never heard of it till now.

[rgalex]

Came across an unusual UK TV series from the early 80s called In the Labyrinth.
 
About 3 kids who end up in some caverns and free a wizard. From there they help him recover a magic artifact and deal with the machinations of an evil sorceress as they bounce through various historical period recreations within the cave maze. Really unusual take on things and had never heard of it till now.

I remember that one from when I was around 10 or so.  In the US it was part of a Nickelodeon series called The Third Eye.  There were 5 different shows under the overall title: Into the Labyrinth, The Haunting of Cassie Palmer, Under the Mountain, Children of the Stones and The Witches and the Grinnygog.

I think The Haunting of Cassie Palmer was the "rare" one to see aired as I recall seeing all the others multiple times back then, but that one only once.  I actually own Children of the Stones on DVD.  It is creepy as hell and mostly holds up to this day.  I haven't seen any of the others since so not sure how well they held up.

[Thornhammer]

Watching Renfield and enjoying it very much.

Gore is absolutely over the top and hilarious.

Starts out with Nic Cage doing Dracula from the old Universal movie. Black and white and everything.

[oggsmash]

 After watching "Willy's Wonderland" I found a deep and full respect for Nick Cage.   The guy was saying yes to everything for a good while to get out of dept...but he was still there to do his job to the best of his ability no matter how low budget or whacky the project.

[Thornhammer]

After watching "Willy's Wonderland" I found a deep and full respect for Nick Cage.   The guy was saying yes to everything for a good while to get out of dept...but he was still there to do his job to the best of his ability no matter how low budget or whacky the project.

He sure as hell puts in the effort. The only other person who could have made Willy's Wonderland work like that would have been Bruce Campbell back in the day.

Black Mirror 6 episodes:

Joan is Awful: entertaining. Annie Murphy's character reminds me of someone I know, in looks and personality. This makes me more positively inclined towards it than I might otherwise be.

Loch Henry: haven't watched yet. "A dive into true crime mania." My wife has true crime mania. I'm tired of true crime mania. I don't give her shit about it, but I'm skipping this one. I can be talked into it if anyone has a good report.

Beyond the Sea: AY YO. I can't see Aaron Paul in anything without thinking Breaking Bad. This one was FUCKING DARK and had tremendously huge plot holes but I liked it. At least this one is about technology, which cannot be said for...

Mazey Day: This one is the book you throw across the room after yelling profanities.

Demon 79: I liked this one. Heavy-handed on The Message, but fun. Anything using the song Rasputin gets a few extra points.

[Reckall]

I'm watching "The Days" on Netflix, the Japanese miniseries about the Fukushima crisis. One would think at once of "Chernobyl" but this series is very different - which is a good thing, because the chain of events was different. Chernobyl was about the price of lying. Fukushima is a bit like "Jurassic Park": the illusion of control.

It starts with the earthquake. It causes a scare but the nuclear power plant is anti-seismic. There are procedures to follow and the technicians act very professionally. The government suspends normal activities to monitor the crisis. The power plant is turned down and everything is under control. For most of the first episode almost nothing happens, which is the point. When the tsunami strikes it is a bolt from the blue (the scene is very well done BTW, with "transparent" special effects; I'm pretty sure that we see what the people who were there saw).

The astounding thing is that there was a tsunami warning, as the epicenter of the earthquake was under the sea, but no one connected the situation at Fukushima with the danger of salt water submerging the station - and killing in a single sweep all the backups that were guaranteeing its "stable" condition. To make things worse, the emergency control center is plunged in the dark too - so no one actually can check what is happening. The situation goes from zero to hell in five minutes. What follows are the efforts to avoid a "Japanese Chernobyl", with the people involved finding themselves always a step behind a devolving situation.

It is interesting to compare "Chernobyl"with "The Days". In the former, the Soviets think that they can avoid a nuclear catastrophe through lies and patriotism. The Japanese have protocols for any kind of contingency - except when they don't know that they haven't... Warmly suggested.