The Sword and Laser discussion
TV, Movies and Games
>
What else are you watching?
I was a Trekker all my life, but foolishly wasn’t interested in another show about a space station until they brought Worf in season 3, then I watched it religiously.
Ian (RebelGeek) wrote: "I was a Trekker all my life, but foolishly wasn’t interested in another show about a space station until they brought Worf in season 3, then I watched it religiously."So twice a year on Easter and Christmas? :p
Mod
I watched the first episode which is an homage to Kurosawa. It was well done.
The whole series looks to be a very Japanese take on Star Wars. Which should be fun.
I just saw Malignant. It's pretty crazy and violent in parts, but there is a kind of logic to it. It's different all right.
I really enjoyed Malignant. I gave it 8/10 stars.I loved the use of Seattle in the movie.
I just watched Midnight Mass on Netflix. I thought it was a good, character-driven story very reminiscent of Stephen King.
I've seen one of those "ending explained" videos for it. Is the ending hard to understand?
Y: The Last Man is pretty good, but FX canceled it, so the 3 episodes I watched will be all I see. No point in continuing.
I rented Free Guy & wish I'd bought it, but Apple doesn't have an upgrade your rental to a purchase option. 8/10 starsThe whole family loved it!
Just watched Star Wars : Visions and didn't like it much at all. The first episode was probably my favorite if I had to pick one. I'm not an anime fan to begin with so I'm not really the right audience for this show. I found most of the episodes really boring and actually fell asleep during a couple even though they're quite short.
Phil wrote: "Just watched Star Wars : Visions and didn't like it much at all. The first episode was probably my favorite if I had to pick one. I'm not an anime fan to begin with so I'm not really the right audi..."I watched the first one and got a kick out of the obvious Kurosawa homage, but my daughter - who has never seen Seven Samurai or any other Kurosawa - hated it and said it was the weirdest thing she's ever seen.
I'm not an anime fan, but I enjoyed Star Wars: Visions. I hope they do more stuff like it. If they're not going to use the established characters, it could be live action. They could also use different types of animation like Love Death & Robots.
Critical Role starts it's third campaign tomorrow (Oct. 21) night at 7:00 pm Pacific Time. They've got a new game room setup which is supposed to be quite impressive.You can watch it "live" on Twitch or Youtube or VOD on Twitch after that and it will be posted on Youtube on Monday.
This is a good chance to get started with them with all new characters if you've been intimidated by all the backlog of past episodes.
RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "I started watching Locke and Key with my daughter yesterday. It's pretty good so far."New episodes just dropped. (Netflix, for those unaware.)
I watched Night Teeth and #Alive on Netflix last night, then Dune on HBO.Night Teeth is basically the Tom Cruise/Jamie Foxx movie Collateral with vampires. #Alive is a Korean zombie flick. If you liked Train to Busan, you’ll like #Alive, which feels like it’s taking place at the same time. I enjoyed both; solid small-scale Halloween flicks.
Dune… meh. Not very interesting aside from the design of the spaceships and ornithopters.
I saw the first Midnight Mass on Netflix, but it was quite the slow burn.
I watched the “Backstory!” Episode from season 2 of Mythic Quest on Apple TV+. The S&L group would enjoy all the literary references, even if they find the non-stop silliness of the entire series annoying. The silliness must be contagious though. I immediately started To Say Nothing of the Dog, from my TBR list.
Trike wrote: "RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "I started watching Locke and Key with my daughter yesterday. It's pretty good so far."New episodes just dropped. (Netflix, for those unaware.)"
Thank you for the heads up. I will be watching those soon. I actually have 1 more What If...? to watch (running behind, I know) and I'm also picking my way through the Daniel Craig James Bond films in preparation for the latest one. Now that the Dodgers have been knocked out of the playoffs I will hopefully have a little more time for non-sports TV.
I watching Primeval tv series on Hulu; its also on Tubi Tv and Pluto Tv.
Francis x wrote: "I watching Primeval tv series on Hulu; its also on Tubi Tv and Pluto Tv."I watched a season or 2 of that. Fun stuff!
Ian (RebelGeek) wrote: "Francis x wrote: "I watching Primeval tv series on Hulu; its also on Tubi Tv and Pluto Tv."I watched a season or 2 of that. Fun stuff!"
I really liked it, too. I also liked the fact that time travel had consequences. Changes made were kept, not reset. Which was ballsy, because some characters were just erased from existence.that was as shocking as character deaths in other shows,
Husband and I just started The Girl In The Woods on Peacock. The pitch I heard was that it was like a queer Buffy—yes, please! Only on episode 3 now, but enjoying it so far.
Molly wrote: "Husband and I just started The Girl In The Woods on Peacock. The pitch I heard was that it was like a queer Buffy—yes, please! Only on episode 3 now, but enjoying it so far."Our family is going to watch this now. Thanks, Molly!
Just watched Finch on Apple TV. Very sad but hopeful. The dog doesn’t die. I cried anyway.🧔🏻♂️🐕🤖
https://youtu.be/-0bYWnP3jH4
The first episode of Star Trek: Prodigy is free on YouTube. I liked it. It’s aimed squarely at kids, but it’s really well done. My initial impression from the trailer was accurate: it’s Star Wars in the Trek universe.https://youtu.be/T4nTcYIEDL8
Trike wrote: "The first episode of Star Trek: Prodigy is free on YouTube. I liked it. It’s aimed squarely at kids, but it’s really well done. My initial impression from the trailer was accurate: it’s Star Wars i..."Yeah, I got a free week of Paramount+ while at home sick and watched this and some other Trek. I'm hoping Prodigy gets more Trek-like as it goes on, but it was an exciting beginning. It's recommended for kids 7+ and that's about right, my 5-year-old could follow it but the peril was just a little to perilous at some points for him. He's really worried about that cat-girl's fate.
2nd episode is out now on Paramount+, which incidentally I don't really like. Compared to other streaming services you seem to get more commercials even after paying a bit, and it doesn't stream as smoothly on my 2nd-rate internet as some others do either. Worth a free-trial week (which they expanded for me to a month when I went to cancel) to binge some Star Trek if you have to serve a quarantine, though.
Trike wrote: "Just watched Finch on Apple TV. Very sad but hopeful. The dog doesn’t die. I cried anyway.🧔🏻♂️🐕🤖
https://youtu.be/-0bYWnP3jH4"
Bambi & I watched this over the weekend. I gave it 9/10 stars! I very nearly cried too. It was beautiful. I want to see bts on how they did the robot.
Watched a few things yester/today:Arcane — Netflix: https://youtu.be/3Svs_hl897c, apparently based on the League of Legends game, which was hands down the most vile and toxic gaming community I’ve ever experienced, but this series is superb. No idea if it has much to do with the game aside from character design, but the story is engaging and the animation is tres cool. (I say “tres” because the animation company is Paris based, and “tres” is French for “beaucoup”.) 5/5
Jungle Cruise — Disney+: https://youtu.be/hJZ82pwwJqA, based on the Disney ride, this is basically “stereotypes take a boat ride”, and it’s fine. The gay guy, the action girl, and the Rock, who is his own stereotype. Also Nazis. It lies somewhere along the scale of The Mummy - Raiders of the Lost Ark - Pirates of the Caribbean. If you like those, you’ll probably enjoy this. 3/5
Red Notice — Netflix: https://youtu.be/Pj0wz7zu3Ms, more Rock hijinks, this time with Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot, the closest we’ll get to a Black Adam/Green Lantern/Wonder Woman team-up. It’s a self-aware wink-wink action flick, nice and lightweight. Also Nazis. 3/5
Also rewatched Shang-Chi, which is now free on Disney+, just as good the third time. 5/5 https://youtu.be/8YjFbMbfXaQ
I watched Jungle Cruise with my Mom and a friend in the kitchen. They mostly talked through it. Good thing I had the subtitles on as usual. I thought of it as witty action, and liked The Rock's corny jokes. The plot gets complicated after a while. Maybe I'll get a pet tiger.
Mod
I have a feeling there's a joke here that I'm missing 🤔
Dune. I loved every minute of it. I want to see it again as soon as possible. I still am in awe over how they actually made it work. It's such a complicated book and they did a fantastic job. There were flaws for sure but it was so good.
Trike wrote: "Watched a few things yester/today:."
Jungle Cruise is wonderfully daft. Perfect for a Saturday night when not feeling your best and want to relax. Great family movie..
Shang-Chi is glorious. Well worth the trip to the Cinema for a first watch. I want the sequel now!!!
Shang-Chi! This made up for the disappointment of the thing that was missing from Iron Fist. (view spoiler)
Ian (RebelGeek) wrote: "Shang-Chi! This made up for the disappointment of the thing that was missing from Iron Fist. [spoilers removed]"Also missing from Iron Fist: martial arts and interesting characters. :p
Over the weekend I watched 'Godzilla: King of Monsters'. A bit 'meh' overall, but a couple of Easter eggs for people who know the original movies.
Just got round to watching The Watch.As a TV show it is not at all bad, decent performances and an interesting story
As an adaptation of Terry Pratchett's work it is a travesty of a mockery of two farces that needs to be burnt in the fires of Hell
The writers seem to have gone out of their way to remove all of Pratchett's humour from the script.
They probably think that they are looking at the Dark Side of Pratchett's Discworld but I usually take that as an excuse by people who never got the jokes in the first place
I saw Last Night in Soho in the theater. Not many people were there. The movie was very weird. I appreciated the creativity, but a lot of the ride was unpleasant. I didn't realize Diana Rigg was in it. It was nice seeing the guy from Doctor Who and the woman from The Queen's Gambit. I thought the other woman was the girl from Little Miss Sunshine, but I was incorrect. We actually had a drunk older guy in the theater to add to the effect.
TRP wrote: "Just got round to watching The Watch.As a TV show it is not at all bad, decent performances and an interesting story
As an adaptation of Terry Pratchett's work it is a travesty of a mockery of two..."
Yes. Everything you said there. I had planned to boycott it on principle, but my wife thought the trailers were interesting so we ended up giving it a go. (She's never read the books.)
Richard wrote: "My wife and I are watching Upload on Amazon. If you liked the Good Place, this is done in a similar vein, except they can actually say the cuss words they couldn't, and its a younger cast. It can b..."Agree with your comments about Upload. I'm planning to watch the next season when it comes out.
A couple of weekends ago I binge-watched The Good Place. It was delightfully fresh and funny. I especially enjoyed the clever use of philosophical concepts throughout the series.
I watched Shang-Chi with my daughter. We were both underwhelmed. The acting was second rate, like a made for TV movie. The special effects were jammed with obvious CGI of the low budget variety, like the dragon that kept making me think of The Neverending Story, or the bad dragon who looked kinda like the "boss dragon" from How to Train Your Dragon. The arty martial arts sequences were done better by Ang Lee about 20 years ago. The hidden village where everyone speaks perfect English and primitive weapons are somehow more powerful that modern weaponry was ripped straight from Black Panther (and Wonder Woman too, I suppose). Every single plot nuance was predictable and obvious in advance, especially the romance with fanny pack girl (along with her sudden mastery of archery). I did enjoy the fight on the bus and to a lesser degree the fight on the scaffolding (although I think you can still get better fight scenes in most old Jackie Chan films, especially Drunken Master 2), and I thought Wong and Ben Kingsley and the post-credit scenes were the best parts.
I watched the first three episodes of The Wheel of Time on Amazon Prime Video. They were great and I am looking forward to watching the other five episodes as they are released every Friday. I also just finished reading A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan, the seventh book in the series, so I have many more books to read yet to finish the series. Hopefully, before the TV show concludes.I watched the Babylon 5 TV movie, The Legend of the Rangers on Amazon Prime Video that I bought to stream. Next, I plan to watch the Babylon 5 TV movie Lost Tales on Amazon Prime Video that I bought to stream. Then my total watch Babylon 5 project will be complete.
Then I plan to watch Westworld, Season three next. Season 4 is still filming for a release date in 2022.
Any one watching blade runner black lotus? We have caught up and enjoyed it. They are doing a Black Friday Blade Runner special, including Blackout 2022 (which is apparently canon). "Toonami is celebrating Black Friday with an all-night Blade Runner doorbuster! Kick off the night with the short Blade Runner Blackout 2022 at 11:00p. Then, grab some popcorn for the feature Blade Runner 2049 at 11:15p. Lastly, catch up on BLADE RUNNER: BLACK LOTUS with back-to-back episodes at 3:00a. Only on Toonami!"
Hawkeye on Disney+ is every bit as good as the trailers made it out to be. “Rogers: The Musical” is genuinely bonkers, and I’m hoping there’s a featurette at some point that just gives us that ridiculous song.It’s the perfect melding of the Matt Fraction comic and the MCU, giving us the best of both.
The first two episodes underscore what I was talking about in the Wheel of Time thread about confusion v. mystery: they explain just enough to hook you, then they dole out stuff in little tidbits in order to keep you on the hook. They’ve got us leaning in to try and figure out what’s going on, whereas WoT just puts it all out there in the first 4 minutes with expositional narration that undercuts the need to even watch the show.
Wait, did Hawkeye get released all at once? I haven't watched yet but assumed it was one episode a week.
John (Taloni) wrote: "Wait, did Hawkeye get released all at once? I haven't watched yet but assumed it was one episode a week."First 2 episodes released yesterday, then the next 4 are one per week.
Trike wrote: "Hawkeye on Disney+ is every bit as good as the trailers made it out to be. “Rogers: The Musical” is genuinely bonkers, and I’m hoping there’s a featurette at some point that just gives us that ridi..."It didn't really blow my mind but I enjoyed it and so did my teenage daughter.
I have just seen the first Hawkeye episode and......I WANT TO SEE ROGERS: THE MUSICAL NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW!!!!
The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (other topics)The Thursday Murder Club (other topics)
Ironheart, Vol. 1: Those With Courage (other topics)
For He Can Creep (other topics)
The Shadow Rising (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
George R.R. Martin (other topics)Robert Jordan (other topics)
George R.R. Martin (other topics)
Robert Jordan (other topics)
George R.R. Martin (other topics)
More...
It's worth it IMHO."
I second the DS9 vote. I was introduced to that and ST:VOY in the early 90s when they were released in the UK on VHS tapes - a pair of episodes were on each tape and then we had to wait for the next one to be released.
No bingeing back in the good 'ol days :-)