Avengers endgame.
No spoilers but I have to say that aside from and handful of great moments, some cool fan service and funny bits, the MCU just disappeared up its own arse.
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Genejoke wrote:All superheroes generally do in the end. Comic writers think they're all amazing philosophers.
Avengers endgame.
No spoilers but I have to say that aside from and handful of great moments, some cool fan service and funny bits, the MCU just disappeared up its own arse.
I'm re-watching Magical☆Shopping Arcade Abenobashi
The show is just as crazy and interesting as the title suggests. Based on the title lone I wanted to see it for years and was finally able to when streaming sites became a thing.
It holds up to a second watch-through!
It's a wacky comedy:
There's a small shopping district that's been a thing for the last 50 years since Osaka was being rebuilt in the 1950s. But now it's dying out and there are only two families that are really left there.
The kids of the two families, a boy and a girl, and pretty close. Her family are going to be moving soon because the place has no future and her dad wants to work as a chef Hokido.
So they're spending their last summer together…
By chance they happen to find out some weird things about the founding of the shopping district. There's are animal totems at the four corners. One of them is damaged… The next thing they know they're in an alternative version of the district, there are dragons, a big boobed lady with glasses, their family is all in costume, they meet a mysterious wizard guy who gives them a boob growing amulet, what's happening?
They slip through alternative world after alternative world, gradually learning the mystery of the founding of the arcade, the identity of the wizard guy and the booby glasses lady and who they're connected to all of it.
It's a fun and interesting story. They make good use of the alternative world conceit to lampoon a lot of popular anime styles too. I recommend this one!
Die Hard (1988)
I finally got around to seeing this "classic" that everyone raves about, and I don't feel dissapointed. It's one of "those" 1980s discharge as many automatic weapons as possible in 2 hours things, which is always good dumb fun.
I was more impressed by the picture on the front of the box, I have nostalgia for those old posters. You know the ones, close up of the actor looking around a corner with his gun at the ready, next to his face. All explody thrillers in the 80s of any merit had the close up face drawn gun thing with the explody background of a skyscraper and a montaged on helicopter/tank rattlin about.
Smashing fun, will get around to the sequel within the next 15 years all things being equal.
THE BELKO EXPERIMENT - John Gallagher Jr., Tony Goldwyn, Adria Arjona, John C. McGinley, Sean Gunn, Gregg Henry, Michael Rooker. The experiment is an outrageous waste of time and money. Must have cost a fortune modifying that building, hiring and paying 80 person staff for a year, implanting device in back of their heads just to observe them killing each other after subjecting them to unimaginable horror and finally promising to free the person who kills the most, but did they need that ridiculous experiment to tell them that? I could have told them that for free. But that last person ends up killing the bad guy and all his guards anyway so what was learned? Ends with something about a stage 2 experiment to come, but right now I'm predicting whoever dreamed that up will end up dead too, so save your money and do something constructive. A 2 on the Moizmeter but just don't think about how stupid it is.
Brawl in cell block 99.
Vince Vaughn is a drug runner who ends up in prison. His failed run cost Mexicans millions so they want him to pay his debt by murdering someone in a high security prison they kidnap his pregnant wife and use her as leverage. So he beats up guards to get transferred and all manner of violence follows. Pretty enjoyable if you ignore the stupidity of elements of the plot.
I finally finished the whole series of Hinomaru Sumo.
It was an entertaining sports anime.
It's one of those that takes a weird, boring sport (sumo wrestling) and makes it interesting and entertaining.
Every little move and piece of footwork is a life or death struggle of gods against the demon hordes! People shout of their moves before they do them "HUNDRED THOUSAND DEMON DROP!" "GOD HAMMER" etc.
But it's good because you see the progression of the sumo club from zeros to heroes and the protagonist is an unlikely hero- NOT an unwilling one, which is a SHITTY TROPE (Shinji Ikari please die)-
Hinomaru is driven to win and succeed at sumo wrestling, but he's super short… which means he's massively disadvantaged in a sport with no weight classes which is dominated by huge, heavy men, so he needs to develop tricks and strategies around that.
Progression and an unlikely hero makes for a winning combo.
I liked Endgame too - I don't feel the burning desire to see it again right away (with Infinity War I did) but I enjoyed it, and it did feel like an ending.
The characters who didn't seem to get their due as much, or who took somewhat jarring turns are continuing in other movies. Hopefully, at least.
Maybe in smaller movies that have more time to get into their characters' changes a little more.
Banes wrote:
I liked Endgame too - I don't feel the burning desire to see it again right away (with Infinity War I did) but I enjoyed it, and it did feel like an ending.
The characters who didn't seem to get their due as much, or who took somewhat jarring turns are continuing in other movies. Hopefully, at least.
Maybe in smaller movies that have more time to get into their characters' changes a little more.
I agree. I don't think it counts as a spoiler to say this: I like that this one brought a lot of focus back to the original 6. That really felt like it fit!
I saw the series "Yumeria" the other day.
Stupid, stupid anime harem comedy. I kept thinking it would get better but it's the one of the worst, with SO many terrible cliches. A cheap piece of crap.
I just needed a show to be on in the background while a drew and failed hard with that one.
There was one character, a young girl with blue hair and all she ever said as "Mo-mo" in all sorts of tones and intonations. I thought they'd at least reveal the mystery behind why she talked that way… they never did.
She was just going "Mo-mo! Mo-mo, mo-mo, mo-mo. MO-MO! Ho-mo?" over the course of the whole thing. It's insane.
BustyLaroo wrote:Banes wrote:
I liked Endgame too - I don't feel the burning desire to see it again right away (with Infinity War I did) but I enjoyed it, and it did feel like an ending.
The characters who didn't seem to get their due as much, or who took somewhat jarring turns are continuing in other movies. Hopefully, at least.
Maybe in smaller movies that have more time to get into their characters' changes a little more.
I agree. I don't think it counts as a spoiler to say this: I like that this one brought a lot of focus back to the original 6. That really felt like it fit!
It did kind of, Hawkeye got a bit to do as did black widow. Cap and iron man obviously and Thor got his big lebowski treatment but hulk got shafted.
Genejoke wrote:
It did kind of, Hawkeye got a bit to do as did black widow. Cap and iron man obviously and Thor got his big lebowski treatment but hulk got shafted.
Ha! I was just thinking about this and started a thread, Endgame with a focus on Hulk, if you care to go into this. I agree, ol' Hulk got the short end again.
https://next.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/178157/
I'm watching Seinfeld again after years and years. Great show :)
I forgot that they openly address the whole relationship with Jerry and Elaine in the very first episode! XD
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I saw the whole of Megalo Box the other day
This series has a couple of things going for it: zero cutesy Lolita characters and a rougher, darker animation style. Cutesy Lolitas have their place in anime but it's super over done right now.
The story was not great in my opinion… spoilers bellow:
A down and out guy needs to box to make ends meet, he teams up with a crooked trainer and throws fights to get more money. All fighting is done wearing a "gear", which is just a robot arm brace that helps you hit harder and faster.
He meets a guy he'd love to fight, but finds out he's a champ and they can't fight unless he enters the big legit competition that's held in "Megalonia"… which he can't do because he's not a legal citizen.
So the crooked trainer gets him a fake ID from the mob on the understanding that he'll let them fix one of the big matches.
Anyway, the problem with the show is that the stakes are ridiculous. The guy only wants to fight so he can have the chance to fight this other guy. There are NO other reasons for all the literal blood, sweat and tears it takes to get fight their way up to get to the champ. All the sacrifices they make are meaningless. The crooked trainer even comes good and gouges out his own eye as payment to the mob so "Jo" can have his little fight.
No one's life, reputation or fortune is on the line, they're zero reason people have to suffer. They can quit any time. No one even has any big dreams riding on the fight. Nothing is riding on it.
Even the subplot about the champ's sponsor using the boxing match to prove her cyborg boxing gear so she can sell it to the military becomes meaningless because they don't use them in the final fight…
The justification would be that it was always about the pure fighting spirit, the skill of one man against the other, an animal need to compete and see who's strongest, nothing else matters… And I totally get that, very Japanese thinking. It's not a bad story for doing that, it's just bad to me personally.
UNA - Rooney Mara, Ben Mendelsohn, Riz Ahmed, Ruby Stokes. When Rooney was only 13 yrs old (Ruby)she had a love affair with an older man Ben. Hot & steamy. Then he disappeared from her life. 15 yrs later, she finds him, he has a new name and happily married. We skip back and forth from the then to the now. He seems reluctant but she is determined to dig up the past, and of the two, she's a bit of a mess. Not sure what the ending meant, a very generous 2 on the Moizmeter.
I started watching Sienfeld and Miami Vice again thinking that they'd be all tacky and 80s… but I wanted that retro, nostalgia feel so I was looking for that.
WRONG!
They both DEFINITELY hold up today.
Seinfeld was from the end of the 80s. It looks good, Jerry looks WAY better and nicer than the cold, hard bastard he is now. The show is spot on and the humour makes you feel just as cringy and uncomfortable as anything Larry David does today.
The show holds up.
Miami Vice was early 80s. It looks great! It's hard hitting, good drama, nice characterisation, great acting, amazing pop hits from the day too.
The only sour note was the dodgy slow-mo effects they use which really just slows the frame rate down. It's a good looking show.
Old horror sci-fi movies.
Frankenstein vs. Dracula (1971) Notable as J. Carroll Naish's last film. One of great character actors of all time. Long Chaney does a reprise of Lenny from Of Mice and Men and some guy does the Worst Dracula EVER! They even put an echo on his voice. They knew it was bad.
Kronos, The Giant Claw. Jeff Morrow is in both and almost manages to make the ridiculous technobabble credible. The effects in The Giant Claw are some of the worst ever. Looks like someone threw his Lindberg Sabre jet model at a buzzard puppet.
Mars needs Women (1967) The title is great, and some of the lines are good but outside of Yvonne Craig (TV Batman: Batgirl) just "meh" humanizing an alien who rediscovers twue luv. Good technobabble for 1967. Bit better than Star Trek with DNA and Y chromosomes.
Frankenstein vs. The Space Monster. Forget the awful title. Its actually a decent story about a cyborg. And the main alien sounds just like Jon Lovitz. So it's campy and half way decent at the same time. Always liked the premise of this one and I am tempted to steal it for a Belinda Brandon movie.
recorded "Upgrade" off Foxtel, last week and watched on the weekend. Great little near-future S.F. with a proper story and a neat ending . Nice, not over the top SFX, and no known (to me) actors, so you have no 'tainting' of, or distraction from the characters.
I also watched Hellboy again as they had it and #2 on a movie channel, probably 'cause the new one's out. Why they do "re-boots" so soon after originals, I have no idea-other than maybe they can't think up plots any more - so many things nowadays are a half-arsed plot with loads of SFX, to try to make us forget about lack of storyline. Ron Perlman is the perfect Hellboy. I'll watch #2 - Golden Army later in the week. I remember it being better than #1, but it's been some years since I saw them .
I agree about Miami Vice, btw. was a big fan, when it was new, and dressed in that "Duran Duran" light, thin clothing style here on the Gold Coast (Oz), in the same kind of heat and humidity, for work. Unlined or thinly lined jackets, over tees, or 'grand-dad' buttoned ones (buttons open), as I'd never worn ties much, even in Wales . But anyway, yeah, it stands up, and that music always made it unique, along with all the 'MTV' guest characters, like Phil Collins, etc. I watch very few American police dramas - or comedies - but it's still good and so is Seinfeld - although I haven't watched it in years, having seen it all multiple times.
BearinOz wrote:I didn't know you were in Australia too :D
recorded "Upgrade" off Foxtel
I'm thinking like I should try dressing like the Miami Vice guys even now… but more like Tubs that Sunny I think. I just don't have the white suits XD
- Hellboy 1 with Ron Pearlman is my fave. There are just so many good things in that film.
ozoneocean wrote:1: It got mentioned in the early days..I drifted away for years, just putting the comics up…so plenty of time for you to forget B-)BearinOz wrote:I didn't know you were in Australia too :D
recorded "Upgrade" off Foxtel
I'm thinking like I should try dressing like the Miami Vice guys even now… but more like Tubs that Sunny I think. I just don't have the white suits XD
- Hellboy 1 with Ron Pearlman is my fave. There are just so many good things in that film.
2: Had a white jacket, not suit. Had a pale green suit. Plus that silvery-grey patterned material that was popular for a while (jacket only), loose tie-up black pants - "incontinence pants" my mates called 'em, and some super-thin linen pants in pale blue and cream (got both for price of one in a Myers'sale), so light you felt like you were only in jocks, on a 30C++ day in Brizzo B-) Tubbs wore ties - a nono for me strictly weddings and funerals !
BearinOz wrote:Sounds like a smart wardrobe! Still decently in style today.
Had a white jacket, not suit. Had a pale green suit. Plus that silvery-grey patterned material that was popular for a while (jacket only), loose tie-up black pants - "incontinence pants" my mates called 'em, and some super-thin linen pants in pale blue and cream (got both for price of one in a Myers'sale), so light you felt like you were only in jocks, on a 30C++ day in Brizzo B-) Tubbs wore ties - a nono for me strictly weddings and funerals !
I'm watching the first season at the moment. Tubs only wears a grey suit with a black shirt unbuttoned halfway down his chest, no tie. Sunny is always in pastel T-shirts and white suits or white jackets. Like you describe. Very "80s drug dealer" :D
Its a very smart show, great fashions. Although the suits can be a little shiny at times… (shiny suits as a fashion lasted till the early 1990s :( )
ozoneocean wrote:BearinOz wrote:Sounds like a smart wardrobe! Still decently in style today.
Had a white jacket, not suit. Had a pale green suit. Plus that silvery-grey patterned material that was popular for a while (jacket only), loose tie-up black pants - "incontinence pants" my mates called 'em, and some super-thin linen pants in pale blue and cream (got both for price of one in a Myers'sale), so light you felt like you were only in jocks, on a 30C++ day in Brizzo B-) Tubbs wore ties - a nono for me strictly weddings and funerals !
I'm watching the first season at the moment. Tubs only wears a grey suit with a black shirt unbuttoned halfway down his chest, no tie. Sunny is always in pastel T-shirts and white suits or white jackets. Like you describe. Very "80s drug dealer" :D
Its a very smart show, great fashions. Although the suits can be a little shiny at times… (shiny suits as a fashion lasted till the early 1990s :( )
I like Jan Hammer's stuff, particularly "Crockett's Theme", so I play his album or 'best of' sometimes, some of the tracks have vids or stills, showing C & T, and I think he maybe doesn't wear ties until later, when the mood and colouring change, a bit, away from the South Beach pastels to a little darker .
Do you remember the Ozzie attempt at something similar - "Sharks Paradise", with David Reyne ? - a movie-length pilot, that never got off the blocks as a series. Quite amusing
[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark%27s_Paradise ]
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