The Movie Thread Reloaded

[Lurkndog]

I watched the second episode of Justified: City Primeval last night.

I was genuinely afraid for Willa at the end of the episode. I wasn't sure if the showrunners were going to try and shock the audience.

I'm not liking Raylan hitting on Corrupt Attorney. He doesn't have great judgement when it comes to women, but she is clearly dirty. It is unlikely that he's trying to pull a Captain Kirk and charm her into switching sides. I think it is just what it appears to be.

Clement Mansell is turning out to be an interesting bad guy.

Just FYI, this is apparently loosely based on an Elmore Leonard book called City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit. The book is not a Raylan story. It apparently featured a homicide detective named Raymond Cruz, who gets namedropped in Episode 2 of the show.

Edit: It does not appear to be based on the book Raylan Goes To Detroit, written by Elmore Leonard's son Peter Leonard.

[Brand55]

I've only watched the first episode so far; I'm hoping to get to the second tonight. So far I'm liking it but the cast outside of Raylan is a huge downgrade from the original series. His daughter needs some sense knocked into her after that courtroom scene, and I was annoyed by a lot of the side characters, especially the judge and defense attorney. The thought of them trying to force a romance between Raylan and the female attorney kinda sucks, IMO. The villain may be no Boyd Crowder but I think his character could be really interesting by the end of the miniseries, so I'm holding out hope for him to impress me. Acting overall is really good so far, which I expected.

Other than that, I don't really have any expectations as I'm not familiar with the book that this miniseries is based on. 

[Omega]

Came across a series of movies from Japan in the 1930s into the 50s starring the actress Takako Irie in a series of movies usually titled Ghost Cat. In each she plays a woman who one way or another either draws the ire of spirits or uses them for revenge or other purposes.
 
The first came across was Kaibyō nazo no shamisen, AKA: The Ghost Cat and the Mysterious Shamisen from 1938. About an actress who's obsession with a Shamisen player leads to murder and the formation of a spirit monster.  Another was Kaibyo oumagatsuji Ghost Cat of Ouma Crossing from 1954 about a murdered woman's spirit possessing a cat and exacting revenge.
 
Great sources for adventures in D&D's Kara-Tur and Call of Cthulhu's Japan.
 
Apparently these movies go back to the silent era of Japanese film.

[DocJones]

LOL

[Rhymer88]

LOL

Snow White looks like she works at Taco Bell.

[Rhymer88]

Came across a series of movies from Japan in the 1930s into the 50s starring the actress Takako Irie in a series of movies usually titled Ghost Cat. In each she plays a woman who one way or another either draws the ire of spirits or uses them for revenge or other purposes.
 
The first came across was Kaibyō nazo no shamisen, AKA: The Ghost Cat and the Mysterious Shamisen from 1938. About an actress who's obsession with a Shamisen player leads to murder and the formation of a spirit monster.  Another was Kaibyo oumagatsuji Ghost Cat of Ouma Crossing from 1954 about a murdered woman's spirit possessing a cat and exacting revenge.
 
Great sources for adventures in D&D's Kara-Tur and Call of Cthulhu's Japan.
 
Apparently these movies go back to the silent era of Japanese film.

Old movies are often extremely informative for creating pulp-era settings. One example I found recently is the Chinese movie Street Angels from 1937. I was a bit surprised that it contains a reference to the Three Stooges. There's also a bouncing ball above the lyrics of the female lead's first song. Was the audience expected to sing along?

[Reckall]

LOL

Snow White looks like she works at Taco Bell.

I told it from the beginning. It is all a big misunderstanding. "Snow White" is Disney's verion of Narcos. "Sicario" by Denis Villeneuve only with a female baddie. "Snow White" is actually a DEA agent undercover, of course. The very best of them all. She literally infiltrated the top - something which miffes "The Evil Queen" cartel. The result is a war between drug dealers (part of "Snow White" plan, of course: having the drug lords - er, ladies - to fight between themselves).

I thinkl that we will be in for a pleasant surprise. I can't wait for the legendary "How dare you come into this castle and bark at me like some little junkyard dog? I am PRINCE CHARMING!" "How do YOU dare, Sir!" scene!

[Omega]

Another odd BBC series from the mid 70s called The Changes. This one has a pretty weird premise that out of the blue large swaths of the population spontaneously cannot stand the presence of technology and are compelled to destroy it. The series follows a girl who travels the weird new society that develops where anyone suspected of using or harboring tech is deemed a witch or demon and hunted and killed. Rather unexpected ending after 10 episodes.

[Tod13]

Another odd BBC series from the mid 70s called The Changes. This one has a pretty weird premise that out of the blue large swaths of the population spontaneously cannot stand the presence of technology and are compelled to destroy it. The series follows a girl who travels the weird new society that develops where anyone suspected of using or harboring tech is deemed a witch or demon and hunted and killed. Rather unexpected ending after 10 episodes.

Interesting. I immediately thought of the food riots (which weren't about food, but boredom, ennui, etc) in An Enemy of the State by F Paul Wilson. I could see the constant pressures of available to work all the time, never-off, always-on causing people to turn on technology in general. It beats learning self control I guess. LOL 

[Lurkndog]

Third episode of Justified: City Primeval is kind of a letdown.

The storyline between Raylan and his daughter just dropped dead. He doesn't seem willing to punish his daughter when she's openly disobeying him, and being a menace to herself. And they make like it's his fault. At least he's doing the right thing and getting her to safety, assuming she doesn't ditch her mom and get on a bus back to Detroit. I want Raylan to say something like "I can't keep you safe when you disobey me, and you make stupid decisions that put you in danger." It is possible that Raylan just doesn't want to turn into his own father, unfortunately he doesn't have a supporting cast that he can talk to about his personal life.

As for Mansell, his scenes with the Albanian come across like the True Crime version of Dumb and Dumber.

I can only hope that things get back on track at some point and the show redeems itself.

[Brand55]

The whole thing with Willa just feels entirely unnecessary. I can't help but feel like the series would have been much better off if she'd just been left out or had a brief cameo in the first (or last) episode so we could get a glimpse of Raylan's private life. There's gotta be some way Willa comes back into the story, but for the life of me I have no idea how to work that in and have it feel natural and sensible.

I think the highlights of episode 3 for me were the interactions Raylan had with Maureen. Raylan has always struggled mightily with balancing a private life and work, so it was interesting to see her perspective. I still miss Tim and Rachel, but Maureen and Wendell are good replacements. Sadly, Norbert is a one-dimensional buffoon, but I guess you can't win 'em all.

[Omega]

Another odd BBC series from the mid 70s called The Changes. This one has a pretty weird premise that out of the blue large swaths of the population spontaneously cannot stand the presence of technology and are compelled to destroy it. The series follows a girl who travels the weird new society that develops where anyone suspected of using or harboring tech is deemed a witch or demon and hunted and killed. Rather unexpected ending after 10 episodes.

Interesting. I immediately thought of the food riots (which weren't about food, but boredom, ennui, etc) in An Enemy of the State by F Paul Wilson. I could see the constant pressures of available to work all the time, never-off, always-on causing people to turn on technology in general. It beats learning self control I guess. LOL 

There are a few of these YA shows from the BBC that touch on similar themes of societal collapse. One I recall from way back but can not remember the name, was about something causing every adult on Earth to just vanish one day and the kids coping with this disaster afterwards. Think it has been adapted at least twice.

And one about a space station that exiles some kids to a post apoc earth. Think thats been done at least twice too.

Then of course there is The Tripods. Which was rather nicely done.

[Omega]

Well... Hollywood lives down to my expectations yet again and ruins a glimmer of hope.

Saw season 2 of ST: Strange new Worlds and its just progressively unwatchable. For me the final breaking point was the crossover with Lower Decks which proves just how much contempt they have for the franchise.

[Ratman_tf]

Well... Hollywood lives down to my expectations yet again and ruins a glimmer of hope.

Saw season 2 of ST: Strange new Worlds and its just progressively unwatchable. For me the final breaking point was the crossover with Lower Decks which proves just how much contempt they have for the franchise.

After 14 years of terrible Trek, anyone still watching has no one to blame but themselves.

[Omega]

Well... Hollywood lives down to my expectations yet again and ruins a glimmer of hope.

Saw season 2 of ST: Strange new Worlds and its just progressively unwatchable. For me the final breaking point was the crossover with Lower Decks which proves just how much contempt they have for the franchise.

After 14 years of terrible Trek, anyone still watching has no one to blame but themselves.

Eh. The first season of Strange New Worlds was overall pretty good. Some low points like all the Gorn nonesense. But otherwise pretty watchable. Season 2. No.