SWEET VIRGINIA - Jon Bernthal, Christopher Abbott, Imogene Poots, Rosemarie DeWitt. 3 sudden murders in smalltown Alaska (actually Hope, BC not even close to Alaska) by sadistic hit-man Abbott, hired by wife Poots in hopes of collecting lots of insurance $$$. Turns out hubby had no insurance and was deeply in debt. Doesn't go over well with hit-man. Many scenes I couldn't understand, like this woman who had lots of $$$ in her wall safe, no idea what that was from and I think Poots told hit-man about it but not sure, but leads to violent show-down. A 1 1/2 on the Moizmeter.
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Comic Talk and General Discussion *
What are you watching right now?
COLLATERAL BEAUTY - Will Smith, Kate Winslet, Helen Mirren, Michael Pena, Keira Knightly, Ed Norton, Naomi Harris, Jacob Latimore. Will falls into depression after the death of his young daughter. His business partners think up a strange idea to bring him back to reality. They hire 3 actors to physically become these fantasy objects Will has written letters to and a private detective videos their meetings. Will also reluctantly attends a support group for others who have lost children. Will any of it work? and a surprise ending to boot. Good watch getting a 3 3/4 on the Moizmeter.
AMERICAN ULTRA - Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Topher Grace, Connie Britton, John Leguizamo, Bill Pullman. Stoner Jesse doesn't know he's a CIA experiment with lethal abilities. Kristen is his gf and she has a secret too. Bad guy Topher wants to terminate Jesse but that won't be easy, with battles galore. A 2 on the Moizmeter.
"What she said" A documentary about Pauline Kael, one of the most notorious film critics of her generation. A very well made movie using contemporary footage and interviews with film directors who were influenced (or pissed off) by her writings in New Yorker magazine
KINGS - Halle Berry, Daniel Craig. ????????????????????????????????????
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
??????????????? only Ms. Berry's beauty kept me watching and saved it from a Golden Goose-Egg, a 1/2 on the Moizmeter.
Another couple to avoid at all costs: BRAVEN & BODY OF DECEIT both getting Golden Goose-Eggs on the Moizmeter.
My god you guys are a good resource :D
We should get a weekly recording from moizmad for the Quackcast! ^_^
————–
While I'm convalescing I decided to try some new anime to pass the time…
Some caught my eye because they were all similar in theme:
They're all based on the idea of people in a historical fantasy setting, either they were transported there or they were born there.
The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar
Goblin Slayer
Ulysses: Jehanne Darc to Renkin no Kishi
That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime
The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar
This one is STUPID!!!!!!! Bad storytelling for a start. It drops you right into the middle of things with no setup. Sometimes that's ok but here it feels like you missed out on 13 previous episodes and you're watching the crappy sequel.
It's the WORST kind of harem anime: Girls look way too young and cute and they all call the guy "father" or "big brother". VOMIT!
The story is that this boy got sent back in time to some fictional mix of Scythia or Eutruscan Greece or the land of the Vandals or whatever, but he has a solar powered smartphone so he can set himself up as a great general based on his knowledge. But it's a way stupider show that it sounds.
During alliances with other clans their leaders swear fealty by becoming "family", hence the creepy father daughter, brother, sister crap.
Ulysses: Jehanne Darc to Renkin no Kishi
A boy in France during the hundred years war wants to defend the country and protect all the pretty girls… so he makes a deal with a fairy to master the philosophers stone and become the new "Ulysses" like Jesus, Alexander the Great, Charlemagne and all he other guys in the past…
This one is the typical BIZAREEEEEE mashup of European history that Japanese love to do. This isn't cool, the ignorance here borders on racism, it really does.
If you can ignore the dogshit they make of the premise and setting it comes off as a brutal, but forgettable fantasy.
That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime
A 37 year old Japanese sallaryman gets stabbed to death in the street while protecting his best friend and his GF. He gets reincarnated in a fantasy world as a lowly slime monster trapped in a cave. He finds a dragon and makes friends and learns to get new powers. Eventually he breaks out and becomes friends with some goblins and makes their lives better.
This one was original and great! Highly recommended!
Goblin Slayer
This one starts out with a nooby girl priestess joining the adventurer guild and joining a party of fellow noobs to go and hunt puny goblins…
Who are NOT so punny it turns out. This one is EFFING brutal and punches you in the guts. I seriously considered never watching this again after the first episode and I warn anyone before attempting it. Yes, that's right, a TRIGGER warning. Because it's that bad. I will give a spoiler bellow.
I gave this on a big rest before I could steel myself to watch more because even though it was FAR more brutal than I can normally tolerate, the premise was very unique and that's so rare in anime.
It's about a high level knight who only hunts goblins, who're meant to be the lowest monsters. He pathologically hates them, for good reason. SO he's the best of the best and has all sorts of tricks and strategies… everyone else despises him for his weird obsession but he doesn't care because he's obsessed.
—Spoiler–
The show starts with a plucky group of young adventurers going into a care to hunt goblins, one young guy and two girls, plus the young priestess. Things seem to go ok, but then the goblins ambush them and brutally slaughter most of the party, capturing and sexually assaulting one of the girls.
It is absolutely horrible.
This weird knight comes along and saves the priestess and together they manage to turn the tide on the goblins… They rescue that poor woman and slaughter all the goblins including the frightened young babies.
Watch at your own risk.
Finally finished The Haunting Of Hill House series, wasn't the House but the whole family was crackers, best I can do is a 2 on the Moizmeter.
10X10 - Luke Evans, Kelly Reilly. Luke abducts Kelly in public parking lot? Wow, many things could have gone wrong there. Puts her in soundproof 10 X 10 room, why you ask? He has his reason and she knows what it is. We slowly start to see why. Luke is so good-looking, how could Kelly be afraid of him? No winners here but maybe he'll get off lightly? A 3 on the Luke-O-Meter.
SPINNING MAN - Guy Pearce, Pierce Brosnan, Minnie Driver. Professor Guy seems to charm young female students even tho he is happily married to Minnie (with 2 kids too). Then 1 young girl goes missing and some evidence seems to point to Guy's car, and steadfast detective Brosnan pecks away at his prime suspect. Things finally unwrap when girl's body is found. Ending a bit confusing for me, can't figure out what those matches were about. Kept me interested thru-out and a 3 on the Moizmeter.
CREEP 2 - Mark Duplass, Desiree Akhaven, Karan Soni. Desiree bombs making boring videos on line but gets an intriguing contact from Mark who claims to be a serial killer. Of course she can't resist but doesn't remotely believe this guy. She travels to his fancy house in the woods and he tells her his story, even shows her a video of a recent kill. Finally he explains his fantastic idea for his finale where he gets killed. Or maybe he kills her instead? Is the final scene the ending or beginning? Many different opinions on line. A 3 3/4 on the Moizmeter. (btw, in movies the bad guy gets hit once and it's assumed he's dead, but I'd never stop hitting him until his brains looked like ground beef all over the floor and I'd still hit him a few more times for good measure, then I'd run away)
Have I seen some bad ones lately, so bad they got the kybosh. But last nite:
WOLVES AT THE DOOR - Katie Cassidy, Elizabeth Henstridge, Adam Campbell, Miles Fisher. Another take on the Manson family murders of Sharon Tate in '69. Sharon, Abigail, Jay & Woyjack? plus a stereo salesman. Only see the 3 killers in distant shadows, a 4th was just a look-out. We all know what happened. The 3 plus another one from the next night plus leader Manson should have all been exterminated 48 years ago, 2 are dead now but 3 still live. Hard to believe the human piece of shit Tex hasn't been "done" in prison but I still have hope. A 2 1/2 on the Moizmeter.
MADTOWN - Milo Ventimiglia, Rachel Melvin, Amanda Aday, John Billingsley, Bonita Friedericy. Milo gets a job at a family owned restaurant where he slowly becomes friends with his co-workers. He also wants to be a stand-up comic along the lines of Lenny Bruce. He also has a sister doing 20 years for murdering their brutal parents (or was it him?). She finally gets paroled and he finally gets to do a stand-up routine (which wasn't even remotely funny) and things come to head with his sister. For me, almost 2 hrs of total boredom which came close to getting the kybosh, a 1 on the Moizmeter.
BIRD BOX - Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich, Jackie Weaver.
A world-wide epidemic causes mass suicides via eyesight? Sandra finds refuge in big house with other survivors but all light from outside must be blocked. 5 years passes and only ones left are Sandra and her 2 little kids. They must travel blind-folded down this river to some sanctuary but must navigate treacherous rapids (why didn't they just walk around them?) Oh well, soon the birds will be singing getting a generous 2 on the Moizmeter. Still waiting to see Emily Blunt's movie where it isn't seeing but hearing.
STAR BLAZERS: SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO 2202: Warriors of Love. Been a huge fan of the series since I saw the dubbed version in 1979. The second series does more updating of the alien races but something is missing and the characterization is getting lost in teary schmaltz and a parade of the same war movie tropes.
And didn't Macross do the whole love thing with aliens like a million years ago? (I actually have the dubbed version they did in Australia in the early 1980s and it's so fun catching the accents– but horrible what they did with butchering the story)
But then I'm only halfway through the Yamato series so I am optimistic that it could pull it out later.
ASH VS. EVIL DEAD: Oh how I do love thee. Fun, blood, gore and over the top. The other characters are great foils to Ash and I am disappointed there will be no fourth season. It would be nice for the duaghter and two sidekicks to go on because teen angst is kept to the minimum and they're funny unlike Buffy and Company from the series (Which I have to revisit) I like silly in my supernatural series and this has it in abundance.
LUPIN III: I downloaded all the iterations exceot the most recent with Fujiko Mine ( could only find it in Italian) So delightfully silly. Even watching the movies and it's cool to see so many different animators and directors take their turns at the material including Miyazaki. Lupin's Greatest Heists (IIRC done by Miyazaki under a pseudonym) has so many bits from his later movies it's almost like a little self tribute before the he did his original stories – or a little foretaste of what was to come.
Let's see what ideas can I steal– gender bender with Fujiko and Lupin with Belle as the master thief with her two lady sidekicks and the mysterious To Catch a Thief kind of guy Harrison Ford, Robert Mitchum or Clark Gable, or Sean Connery? Sean Bean? (Can't do Cary Grant) All of them vying for her hand in little cameos? Paul Newman even? A thief version of What a Way to Go?
WHAT STILL REMAINS - Lulu Antariksa, Colin O'Donoghue, Mimi Rogers, Dohn Norwood, Jeff Kober. After another, oh no, Pocky-Lips, Lulu is all alone until Colin drops by, she slowly accepts his friendship and he takes her to his compound where there is safety from the baddies. Turns out they're all a bunch of religious nutbars incl. Colin. The baddies get in and kill everyone and Lulu escapes to find the promised land. A 2 1/2 on the Moizmeter.
WILDLING - Bel Powley, Collin Kelly-Sordelet, Liv Tyler, Brad Dourif. Raised in a locked room since birth Bel is tended by daddy? Brad. After he tries to kill himself Bel is rescued by cop Liv and she has to learn to live on the outside world altho she feels kinda weird and starts growing lotsa hair. What the heck is a wildling she wonders and so do I. A generous 2 on the Moizmeter.
MS. J CONTEMPLATES - Kit Chan, Bobby Tonelli. Kit is a radio talk-line host and a crazy caller says he will kill either of 2 people but she must decide which one. Soon a body is discovered murdered. Then another call to Kit and another choice must be made. Another 2 bodies found. Finally Kit remembers an incident 20 years ago and she knows who caller is. Another choice, her kids or she must die. We see her kids get away but we see her washing her hair and then end credits??? WTF???? Then after credits roll we see a brief scene with a gloved hand, a black-leather studded watch and I haven't the foggiest what that meant. Anyone know? A 2 1/2 on the Moizmeter.
I AM VENGEANCE - Stu Bennett. Too stupid for words but desperate I toughed it out getting a 1- on the Moizmeter.
A QUIET PLACE - Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe.
Horrifying aliens have invaded entire planet, they can't see but kill anything that makes a sound. Emily and John live on a farm, one son was killed last year and of 2 remaining kids, Millie is totally deaf. Which is OK as all family communication is via sign language. John tries to make her a hearing aid but nothing works. Emily is preggers and only days from birthing. Whoa, that's gonna be tricky baby. Do these aliens have a weakness? Bullets just bounce off them. Millie might have the answer, watch and you'll find out, an Emily inspired 4 on the Moizmeter.
SHEPHERDS AND BUTCHERS - Steve Coogan, Andrea Riseborough, Garion Dowds, Robert Hobbs, Marcel van Heerden. Young prison guard (Garion) goes beserk and kills 7 strangers for no apparent reason in 1987 Pretoria, South Africa. Steve is assigned to defend him altho there doesn't seem to be any defense other than temporary insanity, maybe caused by him taking part in 164 executions by hanging in the last year. (ya think so maybe?) Some of the executions are shown in all their brutal detail. Andrea (be still my heart) is the prosecutor. Steve pleads for Garion's mental state while Andrea concentrates on the basic facts of the 7 murders. Who will win? Note: Capital punishment has since been abolished in SA. A 4 on the Moizmeter.
A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES - Liam Neeson, David Harbour, Adam David Thompson, Boyd Holbrook, Dan Stevens. Ex-cop Liam is hired by drug kingpin to find low-lifes who kidnapped his wife, took ransom, and still killed her.
Then they kidnap a young daughter of another drug lord and Liam negotiates her release whilst she's still living and Liam battles it out with bad guys. OK watch getting a 2 1/2 on the Moizmeter.
Hitchcock.
It was good. This is the third time I've seen a biographical take on a filmmaker. First was Ed Wood by Tim Burton, then The Disaster Artist by James Franco (only Hitchcock was more about an objectively good director). Yeah it was kinda routine, but having seen Psycho, it packed a unique punch with the pseudo inclusion of Ed Gein. Overall I found it to check out.
My Hero Academia, episode 11.
The first nine episodes were fairly standard Golden age of superhero stuff before it brings out its inner Naruto on us in episode 10.
Here it just finally made me stop frantically repeating "thisisn'tworsethanWatchmenthisisn'tworsethanWatchmenthisisn'tworsethanWatchmenthisisn'tworsethanWatchmenthisisn'tworsethanWatchmenthisisn'tworsethanWatchmen" to myself. XP
LOVING PABLO (also ESCOBAR) - Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, Peter Sarsgaard, Julieth Restrepo. We join the coke king (Javier) in 1981 where his cartel is just discovering the lucrative market in the USA. Altho he is married he begins torrid affair with Penelope, a TV reporter. For the next 10 years he becomes one of the richest men in the world, but not without making a lot of enemies. Sometimes hard to understand the muted conversations, in English but with Spanish accents. All that money but he is killed by police on a rooftop the day after his 44th birthday. A hard-to-hear 2 1/2 on the Moizmeter.
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