Now Watching, Films/ movies discussion Options

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Khajiit just can not seem to get into all the Marvel stuff. Must be something wrong with him...

Same here. I guess it may be that I'm just not really a comic fan.

Me either. I didn't read comics when I was a kid. I played video games, lol

Now Watching: Project Runway! WOO HOO!

A similar show that I really like is Face Off from SyFy.

[mALX]

Khajiit just can not seem to get into all the Marvel stuff. Must be something wrong with him...

Same here. I guess it may be that I'm just not really a comic fan.

Me either. I didn't read comics when I was a kid. I played video games, lol

Now Watching: Project Runway! WOO HOO!

A similar show that I really like is Face Off from SyFy.

I used to love that show, but can't get it anymore!

[Dark Reaper]

I'm currently watching a LP of The Longest Journey by Dilandau3000. I love this guy's videos.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

The Man in the High Castle. Pretty good so far, on season 1 episode 8, I think. One of the most interesting things that has come up:
Should be interesting to see how he deals with it.

[SubRosa]

I finished Luke Cage today. It was good. A solid watch. Though I still thought the main character was too perfect. What really struck me over the last few days of watching was how good the villains were. Not just in this show, but in the other Marvel/Netflix tv shows as well. People rightfully criticize the Marvel films for having one-dimensional, uninspired villains. But the tv villains have all been really well done.

Daredevil gave us an excellent, multi-layered portrayal of Wilson Fisk, and as the series went on we saw him gradually become Kingpin. The Purple Man in Jessica Jones was pure awesome (in no small part due to the performance of David Tenant, but still, the part had to be well-written for him to be able to do anything with the role).

Luke Cage's baddies do not disappoint either. Cottonmouth (played by the fantastic Remy Danton - I can never remember the actor's name, but I always remember him as Remy Danton from House of Cards) and his cousin Mariah (played by Alfre Woodard) are second generation gangsters. The episode where we see their childhood was truly chilling, with an early teen Cottonmouth being forced to kill one of his friends, and later his uncle.

The big bad turns out to be Diamondback, Luke's half-brother, who is filled with jealousy and resentment over their father's refusal to acknowledge him. Thanks to some stolen Hammer weapons, and an excess of passion, he is a force to be reckoned with.

The bad guy who really stood out for me was Shades however. He is notable for being the token white character on the show (I think he is actually supposed to be Latino, but the actor is Italian). Unlike the other villains, he is not filled with ego or emotion. That makes him the most dangerous of all, IMHO, because he can think dispassionately. It is also the reason that he is only a second banana - a right hand man of one big bad after another. He doesn't have a giant ego that drives him to dominate everyone around him. We can clearly see that hubris in the three other villains - Cottonmouth, Mariah, and Diamondback. It is what propels them to the top, and also what causes their downfall. But in the case of Shades, his ambition never exceeds his reach. That is what makes him last.

If they can write such good villains in the Marvel tv shows, how come they cannot in the films? Maybe Netflix should start making all the MCU movies now?

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Oct 9 2016, 02:02 AM

[SubRosa]

Just finished watching the new Ghostbusters. It was a lot of fun. Very cool. I actually laughed, often. That is something I never do in comedies, because most are often just stupid instead of being funny. This was fun. It is kind of a reboot of the original, with some similar circumstances, and tons of very cool homages. All the main cast members of the original also had cameos (well, except Rick Moranis). But it is not a copy. It is an original story, and its own movie. They just acknowledge the old films.

It is one you have to sit through the credits for as well, so take note of that. Watch to the very end.


This post has been edited by SubRosa: Oct 12 2016, 12:10 AM

[Decrepit]

I've not watched a feature length film in ever so long. I did, however, recently discover a well done little YouTube video interweaving scenes from the 1980 movie "Airplane" with the 1957 film on which it is modeled.

Another recent watch, a too-brief Mount & Blade Warband LP by charming young lady. She's no expert at the game, but does well enough. It's her voice and often wryly humorous commentary I enjoy as much as anything else. Here's episode one.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Oct 15 2016, 11:03 PM

[mALX]

Today starts the:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkplPbd2f60


Rocky Horror Picture Show Week!


WOO HOO !!!

[SubRosa]

Today starts the:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkplPbd2f60


Rocky Horror Picture Show Week!


WOO HOO !!!

It's just a jump to the left!
And a step to the riiiiight!

[Callidus Thorn]

This afternoon I wandered into town, and ended up buying 6 dvds for less than £4(though since it was from Computer Exchange and I had a credit note there wasn't actually any cash involved )

Watched the first of them this evening: In the Name of the King

It's pretty much a standard sword-and-sorcery film, which actually started out solidly enough, with some good ideas scattered throughout. But then you get things like unexplained women in a forest controlling vines(Elves? Druids? Dryads?), ninjas that just turn up similarly without explanation, several criminally underused actors, mostly female, and battle scenes that include things like flaming arrows used against infantry in a monsoon before charging down the muddy slope they're at the top of(all take place in the big battle at the end that isn't really important). Oh, and goblin/orc things launching themselves at the enemy with catapults, occasionally setting themselves on fire first. That said I like the magic in the film, with a couple of Magus throwing magic around, including a very funky fight between the two of them.

Watching Jason Statham running around killing things with a sword was highly amusing(topped only by Ron Perlman killing orc/goblin-things with a hoe), Ray Liotta was a good laugh as the villain, and the one-on-one fights involving him were good. The battle scenes went downhill the moment the gratuitous ninjas turned up, which was a shame because they might actually have been fairly good otherwise. If they'd only stopped to tone things down for the battles and made the actress' roles matter, they'd have had a fairly solid film.

But, after all that, in the course of the two hours of film I'd say that I got more than my money's worth(75p) out of it, so I can't complain too much.

This post has been edited by Callidus Thorn: Oct 19 2016, 09:16 PM

[SubRosa]

Wow, I was never able to get through In the Name of the King. I gave up after Ray Liotta's first scene.

[Callidus Thorn]

Yeah, he starts out with a crappy scene, but improves from there.

I'm not gonna lie, there are too main reasons I bought it:

1. Not enough swords-and-sorcery films.

2. Jason Statham with a sword. That alone is worth watching a film for

[Callidus Thorn]

Tonight's movie: Welcome to the Punch

Garbage.

It started out well, threw in a few moments that were simply baffling, and once the plot reached critical mass it began unraveling as fast as they could reveal it(including this convoluted scheme tripping over itself for no reason at all), to finish up with a non-ending that not only fails to resolve anything that happened, but also gives the impression that they cut the last ten or twenty minutes off the film.

[SubRosa]

I am halfway through The Night Manager. It is based off a John Le Carre novel, so it is slow in developing. But not as glacial as Smiley's People. Things do happen in each episode. But it is definitely a drama, not an action series.

Tom Hiddleston is well, Tom Hiddleston. Awesome. It is great to see him in something new. The rest of the cast is solid. I think the guy from House is the bad guy. But I never watched that, so I am not sure. So far so good!

[Callidus Thorn]

Watched Need for Speed yesterday.

I thought it was pretty good, kind of like the early Fast and Furious films, back before they started letting them stop racing and get out of the cars.

[Kiln]

Wow, I was never able to get through In the Name of the King. I gave up after Ray Liotta's first scene.

It is by far one of the worst fantasy stories ever. The bad guy has thumbs that can snap necks. Ray Liotta hams it up the entire movie and Jason Statham is not at his best. It was watchable but only enjoyable after a large intake of hard liquor and a few buddies laughing at it with me.

The sequels are even worse, one of which features a time traveling Dolph Lundgren and a king who is definitely the worst actor I have ever seen since William Shatner in Star Trek.

They are made by Uwe Boll, credited with being among the worst directors in modern history. The older ones like Bloodrayne are so bad they are good, with swordsmen hacking a (still living) victim until he's pile of living guts.

I will say one thing though, Boll can box. He literally invited several of his most outspoken critics to come box him and then beat them senseless. Overall his movies are entertaining but not for the reasons they should be. Every movie he makes seems like it should have "Scifi Original" at the bottom of the screen.

[Callidus Thorn]

Reading this makes me laugh when I saw the back of the box has a claim that it's "Easily Boll's best movie yet"


But right now, I'm watching The Losers. I love this film. It's got the comic book style of over the top, but not a superhero in sight

[SubRosa]

I loved The Losers! I even bought it on blu-ray. It has the best use of Journey song ever. That scene where Chris Evans is cornered by the security guards, and says he has telekinetic powers is actually an easter egg. In Push he did play a telekenetic, and it was more superheroish, but still nary a real superhero in sight.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Nov 21 2016, 06:57 AM

[Callidus Thorn]

I love the film Push just as much as I love The Losers. For one thing, it has the best telekinetics in cinematic history. For another it's kind of like you'd think the X-Men universe would have played out, before people found out about mutants and started freaking out; governments and gangs exploiting them and all. And it's a great mix; superhumans, a heist of sorts, gangsters and government agents, it's brilliant.

I just wish they'd made the sequel to it

[Kiln]

I've been watching Dark Matter on Netflix. It reminds me a lot of Firefly, which is a glowing endorsement coming from me because I adore Firefly.

Give it two episodes and you'll be hooked. A rag tag bunch of criminals bound by a common goal living on the fringe. Best part? It is still running.