Now Watching, Films/ movies discussion Options

[Jacki Dice]

I'll disagree. It's an invention - the tool you use to make the discoveries. You can use mathematics to describe hypothetical situations that can't exist, e.g. hyperspaces with extra dimensions, or abstract concepts like Riemann surfaces that are hard to map to anything real.

Extra credit for proving me wrong.

Lol I can send a copy of my paper once I'm done

Though your opinion reminded me of a quote I really like from the episode:

What I think about mathematics is that it's an intricate combination of inventions and discoveries ... I think what happened was that people were looking at many things, for example, and seeing that there are two eyes, you know, two breasts, two hands, you know, and so on. And after some time, they abstracted from all that the number two... We invented the concept, but then discovered the relations among the different concepts.

Mario Livio, author of Is God a Mathematician

This post has been edited by Jacki Dice: Mar 26 2020, 02:05 AM

[SubRosa]

I have been having a sort of Morgan Freeman-athon. A few days ago I watched Kiss the Girls. I liked it, and Liked Ashley Judd in it.

In any case I next did Along Came A Spider. I liked most of it except for the two twists at the end. No spoilers, but one really made me incredulous, and the other I just did not like.

Today I watched Shawshank Redemption. That was a really good movie. But really sad.

I am not sure what is next. Maybe I will look to see what other Morgan Freeman movies are out there. I watched Glory relatively recently so that one is out.

[mALX]

I have been having a sort of Morgan Freeman-athon. A few days ago I watched Kiss the Girls. I liked it, and Liked Ashley Judd in it.

I always wondered why her career as an actress never really took off, as she was good. Now we know that she was blacklisted by Harvey Weinstein for refusing to have sex with him, along with Mira Sorvino, and other women.

In any case I next did Along Came A Spider. I liked most of it except for the two twists at the end. No spoilers, but one really made me incredulous, and the other I just did not like.

Today I watched Shawshank Redemption. That was a really good movie. But really sad.

I am not sure what is next. Maybe I will look to see what other Morgan Freeman movies are out there. I watched Glory relatively recently so that one is out.

Shawshank Redemption is one of my all time favorite movies; I watch it every time it is on. Morgan Freeman is one of those actors that becomes totally believable in every role he takes on; he was amazing in that one.

I didn't ever hear about the actresses that turned Harvey Weinstein down or lost future rolls because of it = I only ever heard about the ones that went the "Casting Couch" route and sued him a few years ago over it.

Truthfully = I always just assumed he used that pressure as a pseudo bribe to lure wanna-be actresses into his bed trying to get roles; I never realized he actually meted out punishments to any women who wouldn't jump into his bed.

It is hard to believe that could carry weight with other studios making movies that would have been technically his competitors for any actress that would have brought in money to them; though he could have not used her in any of his own studio's films.

Has there been any confirmation about that being more than just an accusation for these two women?

Thank you for that info; that is something I didn't know anything about. If there are any women who actually genuinely lost valid careers because they refused to bed someone for a role = I would most def make sure I supported what work they did have published so they could get the residuals for them.

I liked Ashley Judd in the "Divergent" series of movies; though her role in the two she was in was very small. She gave a good/acceptable performance as a support character; but I didn't see anything in those two films that would have lead me to believe she could have been a huge star if not for outside circumstances. I haven't seen the two movies she won awards for; but may try to find them on Netflix and watch them for a better look at her abilities.

Looking over her career; it looks like she has done pretty well despite any interference Weinstein may have given her; so I am glad she didn't suffer too much at his hands = and proud of her for standing up for herself when too many women didn't and regretted it later.







This post has been edited by mALX: Mar 27 2020, 07:44 AM

[treydog]

I have been having a sort of Morgan Freeman-athon. A few days ago I watched Kiss the Girls. I liked it, and Liked Ashley Judd in it.

In any case I next did Along Came A Spider. I liked most of it except for the two twists at the end. No spoilers, but one really made me incredulous, and the other I just did not like.

Today I watched Shawshank Redemption. That was a really good movie. But really sad.

I am not sure what is next. Maybe I will look to see what other Morgan Freeman movies are out there. I watched Glory relatively recently so that one is out.

You might try "Lucky Slevin"....

[SubRosa]

Shawshank Redemption is one of my all time favorite movies; I watch it every time it is on. Morgan Freeman is one of those actors that becomes totally believable in every role he takes on; he was amazing in that one.

I didn't ever hear about the actresses that turned Harvey Weinstein down or lost future rolls because of it = I only ever heard about the ones that went the "Casting Couch" route and sued him a few years ago over it.

Truthfully = I always just assumed he used that pressure as a pseudo bribe to lure wanna-be actresses into his bed trying to get roles; I never realized he actually meted out punishments to any women who wouldn't jump into his bed.

It is hard to believe that could carry weight with other studios making movies that would have been technically his competitors for any actress that would have brought in money to them; though he could have not used her in any of his own studio's films.

Has there been any confirmation about that being more than just an accusation for these two women?

Thank you for that info; that is something I didn't know anything about. If there are any women who actually genuinely lost valid careers because they refused to bed someone for a role = I would most def make sure I supported what work they did have published so they could get the residuals for them.

I liked Ashley Judd in the "Divergent" series of movies; though her role in the two she was in was very small. She gave a good/acceptable performance as a support character; but I didn't see anything in those two films that would have lead me to believe she could have been a huge star if not for outside circumstances. I haven't seen the two movies she won awards for; but may try to find them on Netflix and watch them for a better look at her abilities.

Looking over her career; it looks like she has done pretty well despite any interference Weinstein may have given her; so I am glad she didn't suffer too much at his hands = and proud of her for standing up for herself when too many women didn't and regretted it later.

I actually edited that out of my original post, because I didn't want to get negative. But maybe I should have left it in there after all. Peter Jackson did admit to not even considering both Mira Sorvino and Ashley Judd for the Lord of the Rings because Weinstein told him they were trouble. The Weinstein's were producers on the LOTR movies, so what he said carried a lot of weight.

I did see that Ashley Judd was in other movies, and still is. So Weinstein did not completely shut her down. But he clearly did keep her from major roles, that probably would have catapulted her career into a much higher realm that it turned out to be. This is one of the reasons why so many people keep quiet about people like Weinstein and Les Moonves and all the other creeps. Not just their direct victims, but the other people who knew, like Ben Affleck or Quentin Tarantino. Their futures really were on the line too. It took a lot for someone like Brad Pitt to tell Weinstein that if he ever came near Gwyneth Paltrow again he'd kill him (Weinstein had been sexually harassing her too). I will always admire Brad Pitt for that.

You might try "Lucky Slevin"....

Thanks. I'll look for that on Netflix. I have Driving Miss Daisy lined up next, since I have somehow never seen it.

Morgan Freeman is one of my favorite actors. He brings both a gravitas to everything he does, but also a down-to-earth personability. He is like your favorite uncle, a guy you just like and trust. That is probably why he is usually cast as either God or the President. Sadly, he tends to only get supporting character roles. That is what I liked about Kiss the Girls and Spider. He got to be the protagonist in those. While technically he was not the protagonist in Shawshank, he was the pov character, who narrated the movie. So the was still central to it all.

[mALX]

Shawshank Redemption is one of my all time favorite movies; I watch it every time it is on. Morgan Freeman is one of those actors that becomes totally believable in every role he takes on; he was amazing in that one.

I didn't ever hear about the actresses that turned Harvey Weinstein down or lost future rolls because of it = I only ever heard about the ones that went the "Casting Couch" route and sued him a few years ago over it.

Truthfully = I always just assumed he used that pressure as a pseudo bribe to lure wanna-be actresses into his bed trying to get roles; I never realized he actually meted out punishments to any women who wouldn't jump into his bed.

It is hard to believe that could carry weight with other studios making movies that would have been technically his competitors for any actress that would have brought in money to them; though he could have not used her in any of his own studio's films.

Has there been any confirmation about that being more than just an accusation for these two women?

Thank you for that info; that is something I didn't know anything about. If there are any women who actually genuinely lost valid careers because they refused to bed someone for a role = I would most def make sure I supported what work they did have published so they could get the residuals for them.

I liked Ashley Judd in the "Divergent" series of movies; though her role in the two she was in was very small. She gave a good/acceptable performance as a support character; but I didn't see anything in those two films that would have lead me to believe she could have been a huge star if not for outside circumstances. I haven't seen the two movies she won awards for; but may try to find them on Netflix and watch them for a better look at her abilities.

Looking over her career; it looks like she has done pretty well despite any interference Weinstein may have given her; so I am glad she didn't suffer too much at his hands = and proud of her for standing up for herself when too many women didn't and regretted it later.

I actually edited that out of my original post, because I didn't want to get negative. But maybe I should have left it in there after all. Peter Jackson did admit to not even considering both Mira Sorvino and Ashley Judd for the Lord of the Rings because Weinstein told him they were trouble. The Weinstein's were producers on the LOTR movies, so what he said carried a lot of weight.

I did see that Ashley Judd was in other movies, and still is. So Weinstein did not completely shut her down. But he clearly did keep her from major roles, that probably would have catapulted her career into a much higher realm that it turned out to be. This is one of the reasons why so many people keep quiet about people like Weinstein and Les Moonves and all the other creeps. Not just their direct victims, but the other people who knew, like Ben Affleck or Quentin Tarantino. Their futures really were on the line too. It took a lot for someone like Brad Pitt to tell Weinstein that if he ever came near Gwyneth Paltrow again he'd kill him (Weinstein had been sexually harassing her too). I will always admire Brad Pitt for that.

You might try "Lucky Slevin"....

Thanks. I'll look for that on Netflix. I have Driving Miss Daisy lined up next, since I have somehow never seen it.

Morgan Freeman is one of my favorite actors. He brings both a gravitas to everything he does, but also a down-to-earth personability. He is like your favorite uncle, a guy you just like and trust. That is probably why he is usually cast as either God or the President. Sadly, he tends to only get supporting character roles. That is what I liked about Kiss the Girls and Spider. He got to be the protagonist in those. While technically he was not the protagonist in Shawshank, he was the pov character, who narrated the movie. So the was still central to it all.

On Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino = anyone who took the hard road rather than give in to slime like Weinstein will always have my loyal patronage; so I'm really glad you told me about that = I didn't know about that happening to them. Also didn't know about Brad Pitt defending that sweet Gwyneth Paltrow!!!! That has me so tickled that I'm going to go watch "Legends of the Fall" for the hundreth time = this time to thank Brad Pitt for standing up for her!

I know there were a few child actor suicides based directly on what they suffered (sexually) at the hands of some of Hollywood's "finest."

[treydog]

Another possibility for your Freeman-a-thon is "10 Items or Less". Reviews are pretty mixed, but our memory was that it was light and... uplifting.

[SubRosa]

I watched Driving Miss Daisy yesterday. It was really good. It deserves all the praise it gets. Though again, rather bittersweet. But maybe I am just prone to seeing things that way given current circumstances.

I started watching 1917 last night. It is good, with solid characterizations of the two main characters. The way it is filmed to look like one continuous shot leaves me kind of ambivalent, and slightly weirded out. It kind of feels like a video game to me, and not real. I think it is safe to say it goes into the Uncanny Valley, which I don't think is really a plus.

I did some looking, and found it isn't really one continuous shot. They used little cheats to make it look that way. Though it was a lot of continuous shots put together. It makes me wonder why the director wanted it filmed that way? Is he just trying to show off? I don't know.

I am only about half way through. As I said, the characters are well done. The movie really does a great job of building tension in the beginning, going through no-man's land, then the abandoned German trench. The action is not glorified or made to look 'cool'. It all seems quite terrifying.

[SubRosa]

I have been going through my backlog of Batwoman episodes this week. I just started one, and it has a flashback to when Kate and her sister turned 13, and Kate looks down at a card for their "Bat Mints-Vah"

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

While the subject of movies with Morgan Freeman in them is still fairly fresh, one of Khajiit’s favorites is a film called Lucky Number Slevin. It’s a quirky crime flik with many other big names in it like Bruce Willis, Ben Kingsley, Josh Hartnett, and Lucy Liu. This one thought it was fun!

[SubRosa]

I started watching Slevin last night. But it seems to be just a bunch of random stuff. First people being assassinated during the opening credits. Then some guy in an airport gets told a story by John McClain, who then kills him. Then Josh Hartnett has a broken nose. I gave up at that point. There does not seem to be any point to it.

So instead I am watching Skyscraper. Yes, I know, a masterpiece of storytelling. But so far it is exactly what I expected (which granted, is not much). The Rock is fun as always. I like that his character is disabled, it actually gives him some vulnerability. That is not something easily accomplished. Being the Rock and all.

And there is a Chinese (well Tiawanese) femme fatale in it who just melted my heart. Hannah Quinlivan. Rawr! She is going to end up on the Crow Fic for sure.

[SubRosa]

Tried Lucky Number Slevin again. It came together eventually. It was ok. But nothing really noteworthy to me. It felt like it was trying too hard.

[Decrepit]

Just watched a decent short feature at YouTube titled:

Civil War 1864: A Virtual Reality Experience

Found it interesting. Then I read its comment section. Turns that, instead of being a video of someone else's RV experience, we can left-click the view window and drag our mice to turn the camera any direction! Nifty feature for a YT vid! I wonder how many more videos of this type I've watched without realizing they offered 'pannable' cameras?

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Mar 31 2020, 12:53 AM

[SubRosa]

This is really cool. There is a chime that sounds and a white line showing you where a new thing of interest pops up if it is off the screen. So when you hear that chime, follow the line.

[SubRosa]

I am watching In The Mouth Of Madness once more. Since I have gone through all of HP Lovecraft's work now, I can see a lot more of his influence in it than before. I remember when I first saw it back in the 90s I was thinking that Sutter Cane was basically an evil version of Stephen King. Now I can see it as the (ordinary?) version of HPL.

At one point Sutter Cane says that for years he thought he was making it all up, but they were telling him what to write. There are some people in the real world who want to be believe the same about Lovecraft, that he is a prophet, and his Mythos stories are real. The movie takes it to eleven in a fun way, in how the fiction becomes reality.

[SubRosa]

Now that it is on disc, I just finished watching Rise of Skywalker again. I liked it much better this time around. I would say that as a trilogy ender, it was definitely better than Return of the Jedi. Even in the Endor system, there were no Ewoks. Well, except for a few seconds at the very end.

Since I can now pause, I noticed some things. The Ghost appears at the end. After the final battle when everyone is celebrating back at the Resistance Jungle base, there is a shot of lots of ships landing. You can see the Ghost's front end with its characteristic cockpit bubble settling down in the background.

Through the use of subtitles and sitting through the ends credits, I was able to figure out who all the Jedi who speak to Rey in the final fight were. Of course I recognized Qui-Gon, Mace, and Yoda, but there was the Ewan McGregor Obi-Wan, and the Alec Guiness Obi-Wan. The Hayden Anakin (I was kind of hoping for a Matt Lanter Anakin), Ahsoka, Luminara, Aayla Secura (Jennifer Hale), and even Adi Gallia and Kanan Jarrus.

I also spied me a Colonel Aftab Ackbar? I googled him, and he is the Admiral's son. He was a B-Wing pilot in the big final battle.

And I really did like seeing the gold lightsaber at the end.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Khajiit finished watching The Mandalorian last night. Fun show. Looking forward to more. Was surprised to see that Rise of Skywalker wasn’t available on Disney+ yet. Hopefully soon.

[SubRosa]

I watched Rogue One today. Damn that movie was piles of awesome. Best of the new crop of Star Wars movies without a doubt.

The Mandalorian was good. Very fun show. I actually love the one off "monster of the week" episodes in it. It even has Stormtroopers who can actually shoot straight. OTOH, the protagonist literally has plot armor that makes him invulnerable. So it does not matter how many times people shoot him. That really brings it down for me.

I also dusted off my Kolchak dvds. The Haiti season from the Revolutions podcast got me interested in the Zombie episode. It was a Haitian Zombie, not a Romero one. I have kept watching since. Kolchak is a fun character. But you can see why the show did not last. Like with the short-lived Lone Gunmen show, its protagonist is not a tough guy who beats people up and always gets the girl to show his virility. Instead he's a wise-cracking troublemaker, who speaks the unpleasant truths to power. He never gets the girl. He never beats anyone up. He never displays dominance over others. He could not look cool if his life depended on it. But he's the one guy who both recognizes the danger, and somehow figures out a way to defeat it, or at least survive it. Because while the police/military tough guys are being thrown around by the monster, and the authority figure is busy denying it all happened, he's actually gathering information, thinking, and planning.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

I watched Rogue One today. Damn that movie was piles of awesome. Best of the new crop of Star Wars movies without a doubt.

The Mandalorian was good. Very fun show. I actually love the one off "monster of the week" episodes in it. It even has Stormtroopers who can actually shoot straight. OTOH, the protagonist literally has plot armor that makes him invulnerable. So it does not matter how many times people shoot him. That really brings it down for me.

I also dusted off my Kolchak dvds. The Haiti season from the Revolutions podcast got me interested in the Zombie episode. It was a Haitian Zombie, not a Romero one. I have kept watching since. Kolchak is a fun character. But you can see why the show did not last. Like with the short-lived Lone Gunmen show, its protagonist is not a tough guy who beats people up and always gets the girl to show his virility. Instead he's a wise-cracking troublemaker, who speaks the unpleasant truths to power. He never gets the girl. He never beats anyone up. He never displays dominance over others. He could not look cool if his life depended on it. But he's the one guy who both recognizes the danger, and somehow figures out a way to defeat it, or at least survive it. Because while the police/military tough guys are being thrown around by the monster, and the authority figure is busy denying it all happened, he's actually gathering information, thinking, and planning.

Speaking of Haitian zombies, I’ve wanted to watch the Wes Craven film The Serpent and The Rainbow for a while now but it’s not on Netflix or free on Amazon Prime Video.

[SubRosa]

I watched Rogue One today. Damn that movie was piles of awesome. Best of the new crop of Star Wars movies without a doubt.

The Mandalorian was good. Very fun show. I actually love the one off "monster of the week" episodes in it. It even has Stormtroopers who can actually shoot straight. OTOH, the protagonist literally has plot armor that makes him invulnerable. So it does not matter how many times people shoot him. That really brings it down for me.

I also dusted off my Kolchak dvds. The Haiti season from the Revolutions podcast got me interested in the Zombie episode. It was a Haitian Zombie, not a Romero one. I have kept watching since. Kolchak is a fun character. But you can see why the show did not last. Like with the short-lived Lone Gunmen show, its protagonist is not a tough guy who beats people up and always gets the girl to show his virility. Instead he's a wise-cracking troublemaker, who speaks the unpleasant truths to power. He never gets the girl. He never beats anyone up. He never displays dominance over others. He could not look cool if his life depended on it. But he's the one guy who both recognizes the danger, and somehow figures out a way to defeat it, or at least survive it. Because while the police/military tough guys are being thrown around by the monster, and the authority figure is busy denying it all happened, he's actually gathering information, thinking, and planning.

Speaking of Haitian zombies, I’ve wanted to watch the Wes Craven film The Serpent and The Rainbow for a while now but it’s not on Netflix or free on Amazon Prime Video.

I bought Serpent and the Rainbow on blu ray a while ago, and watched it again a few weeks ago too. It was a good horror story. There are parts based on reality. Wade Davis really did go to Haiti and brought back some poisons. He believes that Haitian zombies are caused by a combination of pufferfish venom to originally simulate death. Then by repeated doses of Datura, which renders the victims essentially without a will of their own.