The Sword and Laser discussion
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Always look for credit scenes!
More Jon Pertwee Dr. Who. Two episodes to round out The Mind of Evil and then the first two of The Claws of Axos. More dark brooding menace from The Master, altho the setup for Axos seems a little weak as I doubt someone as capable as The Master would be caught by the Axons.I know UNIT is played straight, but I find them to be campy and a bit silly. Their scenes make me laugh. Jo Grant continues on doing whatever the heck she wants despite patronizing treatment from UNIT members. Hey, she's a full fledged agent and assigned to the Doctor, no point in leaving her out of things. My wife says she was hired for her screaming, but actually I find her a subversive agent in the tradition of Black Widow.
Finished Lisey's Story on Apple TV+ (10/10) Most Beautiful Stephen King adaptation. Prey on Hulu in Comanche (10/10). It's really as good as they say.
I don't give 10/10 very often. It's pretty rare.
A blast from the past - Dr Strangelove. I had forgotten how good that movie is. Peter Sellers is great playing three roles.
I love that movie. Dr. Strangelove is my MeWe avatar. Not enough people recognize it.Crossposting from Discord: (Re Sandman): Dream of a Thousand Cats? That would be worth tuning in for.
In non-Sandman watching :), saw the last two eps of the Axos series. Delgado is just incredible as The Master, chewing up the scenery.
Resident Alien Ep 10. Premise is getting old but it's still watchable. Hard to beat the first five eps of S1 tho, which is what I compare it to.
AndrewP wrote: "A blast from the past - Dr Strangelove. I had forgotten how good that movie is. Peter Sellers is great playing three roles."If you have not seen The Mouse That Roared, you are missing out. Maybe not up to the level of a masterpiece that is HILTSWALTB, but it is indeed a fun ride. In addition to Sellers playing multiple roles, it also has atomic weapons as a central plot element (although its humor is much less black).
Finally fought my way through Ms. Marvel. It felt like a Disney afternoon series, and I kept expecting Zack and Cody or Hannah Montana to show up and sing a song at the end of each episode. The special effects were SO network TV. The best part was honestly the historical flashbacks to the 1947 Partition. I lost track of how many cliches and tropes were jammed into the final episode. Just awful. Onto She Hulk. Already much better. Great sense of humor.
Aaron wrote: "If you have not seen The Mouse That Roared, you are missing out. Maybe not up to the level of a masterpiece that is HILTSWALTB, but it is indeed a fun ride."Yes, I have seen that one, great stuff. Also worth finding is Undercovers Hero where Sellars plays 4 or 5 roles.
Discord crosspost again...Saw Gaslight...is this channel only for geek movies? Was idly wondering that. Anyhoo, this is definitely a classic but also a tough watch. While the murderer is telegraphed early, the series of mindfucks Ingrid Bergman was subjected to felt painfully real. The video itself is only fair, often the blacks bled together, taking away detail. I had managed to not see this movie and am glad I finally did.
From there I wanted something light so turned to Disney for Encanto. Wasn't quite as light as I had hoped. Good story, great animation. My daughter says the "Bruno" song was a huge hit around her high school, but I don't recall it near as much as "Let It Go." Good expression of magical realism. I really don't think it was a ripoff of Elatsoe which some have suggested, just rather two examples of Latin American magical realism. And the grandma holding the family together reminded me of my own grandmother.
In an odd way this reminded me of Megan Lindholm and my favorite small-magic book, Wizard of the Pigeons. In one sense the magic is real as expressed in the movie. Seen in a different light, that is the inner world of people who are only marginally different - a slightly stronger woman, a good healer, someone good with plants. If they hang together as with a strong matriarch, then they can be rich in inner life even without outer trappings.
TV: More Pertwee Dr. Who with Colony in Space. Just kinda adequate. The writers needed a way to get the Doctor back in space without actually fixing his TARDIS, so they work up a mission from the Time Lords for him to foil The Master. Delgado is okay but not his usual menacing self. The costumes on the native life forms seem to be repaints of the costumes for the Axos series. Decent series, nothing particularly great. Amusing coda with the Brigadier.
Well, Gaslight is where the term gaslighting came from so it is all about the mindfucks...Bruno was huge hit with lots of other media riffing on it. Probably not as big as Let It Go though.
I finished Resident Evil. I enjoyed this series and hope that we get a second season !
Watched Dr. Who S8 ender The Daemons. Interesting take on magic as science. One of the "supernatural" characters, Bok, looked like he wore the same outfit as the last two serials, again with a different dye. Well, why not save money.Delgado killed it as the daemon-summoning priest. "Magister," of course The Master.
It's very Chariots of the Gods which came out within a few years of this episode. And since the Doctor seemed to know what the menace was, I wonder why he didn't, yanno, do anything about it over the years.
Silliness abounds with UNIT, including a straight up slapstick bit with a machine blowing up and leaving soot on an engineer's face. And, when Jo needs to escape a second story room, there's a ladder conveniently placed for her to go down.
Also Resident Alien S2 Ep 10 and She-Hulk Ep 2. I'm not really impressed by either right now. The wife loves them tho.
Jennifer wrote: "I finished Resident Evil. I enjoyed this series and hope that we get a second season !"Um... Bad news...
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/...
Rick wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "I finished Resident Evil. I enjoyed this series and hope that we get a second season !"Um... Bad news...
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/......"
Man, we are just left hanging. I hate this. I thought it was good.
Watched For A Fistful of Dollars. That's another well known movie that I've had on the backburner for "watch eventually" for decades. Anyhoo, good film. Kind of silly in spots, there will be one shot at full night followed by another intended to be the same timeframe, but it's dusk. Or day for night. Hard to be sure.I'm tempted to call this a superhero film as Clint Eastwood does things that normal people would find very difficult. In particular there's the shooting of ropes. With a revolver. Oh....kay. Welp, good take on the warring crime families trope, and Clint does a creditable job in the role. TBH I think he would have made a good Wolverine if the MCU had been done earlier, with the cigar chomping and dramatic stare. Well, he's completely wrong physically but what the heck.
Will probably go on to the next two, but am dismayed at the length. Fistful came in at 100 minutes, about right. For A Few Dollars More is 2 hours 10 minutes, and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly is three hours! Peeps, they're spaghetti westerns, it's just not that important.
Was interesting to see an unromanticized West. The storylines of the Westerns may as well be fairy tales.
John (Taloni) wrote: "Watched For A Fistful of Dollars. That's another well known movie that I've had on the backburner for "watch eventually" for decades. Anyhoo, good film. Kind of silly in spots, there will be one sh..."Check out Yojimbo by Kurosawa. That’s the inspiration for Fistful.
^ Yes, I had read that somewhere. I can't recall if I've seen Yojimbo. I had a buddy who would put them on late at night after I got drowsy. I probably fell asleep to half a dozen Japanese films.Crossposting from Discord:
So, I did watch "For A Few Dollars More" yesterday. I didn't like the concept of Clint as the bounty killer, I kinda preferred him as the drifter doing good from Fistful of Dollars. And then we found out the reason. That has got to be near the top for plot twists.
Lee Van Cleef reminded me of a Western Solomon Kane. Similar look and intensity.
The skill in shooting took this movie to absurdity several times. Shooting apples out of a tree? With a revolver? Didn't miss a single shot? ....yeah.
Also, anyone want to tell me if I've got the plot twist right? Spoilers, obviously.(view spoiler)
Saw Transformers 4: Age of Extinction. We are into silly season here. It's Marky Mark with a new Funky Bunch. Movie starts off with his hot daughter and some uncomfortable near-romance settings. Fortunately the boyfriend steps in soon to lead off the romantic scenes.Blah blah Optimus Prime is back blah blah. John Goodman as an Autobot sergeant, a Samurai autobot (!) and of course Bumblebee is back. Both Marky Mark and his daughter are tech geniuses, but after the beginning that never seems to come up. It's all action all the time, explosions, chase scenes, all the stuff that sold lots of tickets the first three times.
At two hours forty five minutes it's about an hour too long. Chinese coproduction so there's a long China sequence and a Chinese actress shoehorned in. Not to worry tho, if it hadn't been this Michael Bay would have found another way to bloviate on film.
Best part was the last 20 minutes or so when some dinosaur bots come out of storage. It's essentially Kaiju. The T-Rex bot for Godzilla, a back-spiked alien that could be Anguirus. The Pterodactyl-bot isn't quite Mothra, altho it looks like that in spots. Apparently they're not quite intelligent, more like riding animals.
The usual all-fingers-on-the-piano crescendo notes. Sooo tiring after a while. I took several lengthy pause breaks while getting through this one. Probably as a completist I'll watch the fifth one because I want to see Bumblebee and it's best to see things in order. But the fifth one will be when I have a LOT of time to take breaks.
I have this sneaky desire to see a teen protagonist hitting the road with Bumblebee solving minor crimes on the road in America, kind of like the old Shazam TV show. We could even have the protagonist having a Bumblebee themed action suit that activates when he says "Bumblebee" instead of "Shazam." Then every episode or so would have people trying to get him to reveal his secret identity and him having to finesse not saying "Bumblebee" with people around.
Crosspost: Went ahead and watched The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Kinda puzzling. I'm not sure what the point of this movie is. Lee Van Cleef has turned evil for reasons unknown. I liked Clint better as the unknowable avenging angel of Fistful of Dollars and still liked him altho not as much as the somewhat amoral (but still chaotic good) of A Few Dollars More. I expected this to make a loose trilogy, but the characters were very different.Then there's the "movie in a movie" of the Civil War commentary. Okay, epic Western, but still way too long.
I liked the others better as they had actually good characters in them. Don't like entertainment where everyone is morally compromised. Clint was just barely on the side of good this movie and did plenty of bad things. Some literal gallows humor ("sorry, Shorty") but not enough to break the unrelenting downer that this film represents.
Just watched the first episode of the Lord of the Rings series on Amazon and was a little underwhelmed. They were just establishing the characters so hopefully it picks up a bit. It is (already does) going to bother some people that they are taking some liberties with Tolkien's lore but I can live with it and just take the story as it comes.
Man With No Name isnt a trilogy.Each movie gives Eastwood a different name. Several actors play multiple characters. Watch em as separate stories. They're no more related than Robotech parts are.
And not that it matters in the scheme of things, but Good, the Bad & the Ugly is chronologically the first of the trilogy, taking place during the Civil War, while the earlier two films are set some years later.
John (Taloni) wrote: "Crosspost: Went ahead and watched The Good, The Bad and The Ugly...."One of my favorite all time movie soundtracks. The main theme was my cell phone ringtone for a long time. Also, the list of Tuco's crimes that is announced as he is almost hanged near the beginning of the film features prominently in Big Audio Dynamite's classic song "Medicine Show," and you'll hear the GBU theme in there too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD2kW...
Chronology: Yeah, I picked up that it was essentially a prequel. Well, if the stories had anything to do with each other. And it's true that the American West and the Civil War periods overlapped, but it's more common in Westerns to be set post Civil War (and have the Confederacy portrayed in a positive light.) This one was straight up horrors of war.I had heard it was a loose trilogy so was expecting some continuity, like alternate universe versions of each other. Clint in For a Few Dollars More isn't quite the person from Fistful of Dollars, but the characters are close. I found it shocking to see the lawful-good Lee Van Cleef from the second movie slapping a woman around and then abusing prisoners. Had he done too many good guy parts and wanted to be the bad guy? I found it against type, not just intellectually but viscerally wrong.
Soundtrack: Agreed, it's great. Makes the movie really.
As for the ending, yes, great standoff. Clint's moral character is left open until the end of the final scene.
If anything Tuco had the best role. He does bad things, out of necessity. The scene with his brother is telling. He isn't naturally bad. But he is an opportunist.
Metallica starts every concert with "The Ecstasy of Gold" from The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.
I am loving LOTR, GOT & She-Hulk!
Big ol' post on Discord, crossposted here. I'm still not sure if peeps go both places.Resident Alien S2 Ep 10, aka the 3rd Ep of the second half. Anyhoo, there's a long shaggy dog section to tie back to the other-alien storyline. Also a subplot featuring the effect a resort would have on a small town. Not really great any more but we're still watching.
"We" is the wife and I. She loves She-Hulk and I come along with the ride. The lengthy bit with the Abomination and cameo by Wong was pretty good. I didn't like the twerking bit but it would fit right in the She-Hulk comics, so *shrug* at least it's authentic. What's not authentic is (view spoiler) without breaking a sweat, by the power of Mary Sue.
And then...lots and lots of Dr. Who. Have seen all of Season 9 since last check-in.* Day of the Daleks: Adequate Dalek storyline with silly aliens, the "Ogrons" who look like, well, Ogres. But also Romulans. There's a whole lot of that this season. Jo Grant spends a lot of time running around in short skirts and screaming a lot. Which, well, is silly, but then the point of the companions has always been to ground the Doctor. She's good for that role in-story. (Out of story, the producers wanted someone cute but not overwhelming.)
* The Curse of Peladon: 2nd Doctor's son features as the young king of Peladon. The Time Lords let the Doctor think he's fixed the TARDIS but have really sent him on a mission. Features a big bad god/animal called Aggedor who looks like nothing more than a big Alf, 15 years before that show. It's all very British with the negotiation of mineral rights as part of Peladon's decision to join (or not) the Federation. We get "Alpha Centauri" for the first time with the hilarious high pitched voice. IIRC it showed up again in a Tennant episode. The guards in this serial show a distinct resemblance to, you guessed it, Romulans.
* The Sea Devils: An offshoot race of the Silurians who live in or near the ocean. They're attacking the surface, kind of like Namor did around this time in Marvel comics. The Master escapes prison to lead them. Threat of nuclear missile use by a pompous civilian. Lots of manly men and big military equipment go along with a thank-you to the British Navy. Think they must have loved the portrayal of the asinine civilian.
* The Mutants: Another surreptitious mission. The Doctor has to deliver a mysterious package. Eco-message as the planet has a hitherto-unknown (of course) Nitrogen molecule that causes set-blurring mist during the day (save that cash!) The mist makes the atmosphere unbreathable to humans altho the local humanoid life form is fine with it. There's a greedy fat person who seizes power and wants to keep the planet as a colony even tho Earth wants to grant them independence. See, we know he's bad because he's fat. (Lord save me from silly stereotypes.) Of course the colonial administration wants to kill off the local life form in order to assert their own power. Welp, that's a piece of British history, likely a lot more complex than the treatment in this serial. One of the major characters has straight eyebrows that look, you guessed it, Romulan.* The Time Monster: The Master is back, and man is he a great villain. This time he's trying to use time theory to summon Kronos, a kind of conceptual being of time. This being Doctor Who, it's shown as a blurry white avian with some kind of back-wardrobe Roman helmet for a head. The Master takes everyone back to Atlantis where Jo succeeds in getting kidnapped and screams a lot. At the end of course Atlantis sinks, caused by the Master. Or was it always going to happen and Time placed him as the necessary element? Some fun stuff suggested: Atlantis had to sink or Earth would be destroyed. A few throwaway lines for that but imagine if that was your choice? Also, the Master at one point says "E = M C cubed" and someone corrects him, to which he says you have to include the other dimension. Made me think, if you could work that into your energy extraction and get vast amounts more energy, it would start to explain where the power capacity of machines like the TARDIS comes from.
I enjoyed Rings of Power. I like the mystery, like the man from the sky ((view spoiler) joke). There's a lot of characters in the first episode, but that's fantasy for you, right? Sure, men suck and women have to kick ass for them, but what else is new? We'll see how it pans out. More people need to call for backup in these shows (like Hopper in Stranger Things).
Yesterday I watched the classic 'Laurence of Arabia'. It's a good film, if not quite great, but at 3 hours 46 minutes it takes some getting through. Interestingly the restored directors cut DVD I have includes the Intermission, something I haven't seen in movie theatres for years. Worth watching for sure but not high on my re-watch list.
I too, liked the Rings of Power. It looked beautiful and the rollout of the character. Fridays will be my LOTR night.
I liked The Rings of Power. But I am so tired of the outrage over the diverse casting. I feel I can't really check stuff out about the show online because it all feels so toxic...
Jan, I bet it is the same people who blew up over diversity in Star Wars.
Jan wrote: "I liked The Rings of Power. But I am so tired of the outrage over the diverse casting. I feel I can't really check stuff out about the show online because it all feels so toxic..."I think the casting is great. People don't like the casting in House of the Dragon. Lets call them what they are racists.
I'm enjoying both House of the Dragon and Rings of Power.
How about dragons with rings on them?
Tamahome wrote: "How about dragons with rings on them?":) Sign me up!
I just watched the ring of power,2 episodes. waiting for another episode to drop this coming Friday. One episode per week to rule them all!!
I still subscribe to Netflix for DVD's as our tv service out here can be erratic. So, over the course of months, Fred and I ordered in and watched all the James Bond movies in the chronological order of their filming. It was fascinating to watch Bond change through the years. Even the opening credits evolved. Sean Connery remains a favorite actor with me, as he has been since Darby O'Gill and the Little People that I saw as a kid. And I like him as Bond. But I have to admit that Daniel Craig has won me as a fan for what I feel is the most in-depth Bond portrayal. And Moneypenny and Q in the most recent Bond movies were fantastic.
I actually just watched Tomorrow Never Dies the other night -- not the best film, but bonus points for Michelle Yeoh; and the motorcycle chase is top-notch.
I like Tomorrow Never Dies because part of it was shot in my hometown!
Stephen wrote: "Jan, I bet it is the same people who blew up over diversity in Star Wars."Yes... it's all so tiring! And predictable. Especially this "I am not racist! I just care about authenticity! The *show* is racist because it includes diverse characters!"
Robin wrote: "I still subscribe to Netflix for DVD's as our tv service out here can be erratic. So, over the course of months, Fred and I ordered in and watched all the James Bond movies in the chronological ord..."I started doing this a few years ago, when I was recovering from an accident. I was using a streaming service that had most of them. I didn’t end up making it all the way through, but got up to the Timothy Dalton years. I had over the decades seen them all, but it was interesting watching them so close together. While I really enjoyed the Connery Bond, I was put off by just how aggressive his attitude towards woman was. I knew things had changed, but until it is put square in your face, you forget how much.
I watched the movie Dayshift. It was a fun vampier flick. I liked how the vampiers were done. I am enjoying The Rings of power. People can F*off about the casting, and the casting in House of the Dragon. I am really looking for to see how they do The Broken Earth Trilogy. People will loose their minds.
Jan wrote: "Stephen wrote: "Jan, I bet it is the same people who blew up over diversity in Star Wars."Yes... it's all so tiring! And predictable. Especially this "I am not racist! I just care about authentic..."
I can't even read Twitter or any social media about upcoming releases anymore, whether it's TV, movies, games, books, whatever. It's so depressing to learn how many foul people live among us.
Crosspost from Discord: Having finished up the Third Doctor, decided to go "back in time" and watch the Second. His run starts with a lost serial, but it's been recreated in animation. Power of the Daleks. Pretty basic animation but you get the idea. Black and white like the original of course, which made it easier. Probably not a lot of revenue in the recreation but I'm glad they did it. Funny story: My wife actually saw this one in the theater when they did a limited release, along with my Dalek-loving daughter. So I'm the only one in the family that it's new for.
John (Taloni) wrote: "Crosspost from Discord: Having finished up the Third Doctor, decided to go "back in time" and watch the Second. His run starts with a lost serial, but it's been recreated in animation. Power of the..."I've watched a bunch of those animated recreations. The Power of the Daleks is my favorite so far!
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)
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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)
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Not sure what people are whining about regarding the SFX. in She-hulk form, she's fine. She's not canonically huge like Hulk is compared to Bruce Banner.
Maslany is incredibly appealing and good in this, too.