Thread "What are you watching right now?" in forum "Comic Talk and General Discussion *"

Posted at 8:12AM, Dec. 2, 2022

For me the 90s Wednesday is a valuable addition to the original series, perhaps the only one. She couldn't have existed when it was made. I'm really enjoying the Wednesday series at four episodes in. It's a mystery thing with some nice Tim Burton touches, decent writing, good acting and a sense of humour. Thing gets a starring role and Jenna Ortega settles into the lead nicely. You can't touch the original series and they make no attempt to do that, so it gets an 8 on the Scarfometer (sorry Mo!)

If I look past how neither the humor nor title character makes me want to watch further, there's still the mystery you mentioned or Enid that just happens to be INVIGORATING (not biased at all, that she's also a Sinclair). Anything it borrows that the Harry Potter series utilized nicely is also a good addition. I like the other side characters as well. Most ppl complain about Gomez, but I think Morticia is the one who needs to convince me a bit more. I guess we'll see if I grow to like it despite not being a fan of this Wednesday Addams or as the latin would say: quit, Poe-crow! :)

Posted at 10:12AM, Dec. 2, 2022

InkyMoondrop wrote:
Most ppl complain about Gomez, but I think Morticia is the one who needs to convince me a bit more.

Do they now! I thought he was a great choice and reminded me of the original Charles Addams drawings. Catherine Zeta Jones definitely has some catching up to do.

Posted at 11:12AM, Dec. 2, 2022

Do they now! I thought he was a great choice and reminded me of the original Charles Addams drawings. Catherine Zeta Jones definitely has some catching up to do.

Guzmán is one of those actors that I see in a shitload of movies and yet not one memorable role of his comes to mind. Well, that changed now.

Posted at 2:12PM, Dec. 2, 2022

I had high hopes for "Wednesday," but I felt it didn't quite live up to its potential. I mean, a Tim Burton take on Charles Addams? How can you go wrong with that? But instead, I felt that it veered too close to being a Harry Potter clone. I thought the film was well-made, and the casting was inspired. I just wish the humor could have been more subtle and quirky, like in Charles Addams' original cartoons, i.e. aimed at a grown-up audience rather than at a kids audience.

Posted at 5:12PM, Dec. 2, 2022

Wednesday

Almost forgot this existed! Had to start watching. Jenna Ortega has a great look for Wednesday. Watching the first episode now.

The lady dropping off the hitchhiking kid in the first episode looks so much like the original Morticia - I thought it must be her, but it turns out that Carolyn Jones passed away back in the 80's. This actress has such similar, distinctive eyes.

Edit: I'm six episodes in and invested enough to keep going. I saw a snippet of Fester in the season preview and have to at least keep going until he shows up.

It's for a younger audience, as others have said, but even as an adult I don't find it too alienating. A little bit here and there, but not enough to stop me wanting to finish the season and see the mystery solved. It's well done. Makes me want to revisit the original show and the 90's movies too.

Posted at 5:12PM, Dec. 3, 2022

THE VANISHING - Gerard Butler, Peter Mullan, Connor Swindells and a cast of vanishers. The 3 above are assigned a 6 week job of looking after a lighthouse off the coast of Scotland. Suggest using sub-titles as hard to hear much dialogue with the heavy accents. They find a row-boat with an almost dead man who attacks Connor suddenly so Connor kills him with a big rock. A large case was found and is opened revealing many gold bars, and soon enuf, 2 bad guys arrive looking for the case. What will transpire? Watch and see but not a happy ending or an uplifting movie getting a 2 on the Moizmeter.

Posted at 11:12PM, Dec. 3, 2022

I just started watching A Rainy Day in New York. Woody Allen film.
I don't know if I will make it all the way through… It's so pretentious in a thoughtless sort of way 😅
The writing has no self awareness.

So far the performances of the two main actors are just impressions of Woody Allen…

It's set in the present day but the dialogue and concepts are all from 60 years ago.

Allen should just be doing period 1960s movies where he stars. It'd be way less weird

Posted at 7:12AM, Dec. 4, 2022

I'm not a fan of Woody Allen, because it feels like he's this safe play kind of director that sits down with any movie star and they don't even have to read the script, they'll already know what kind of a role it will be, they already know it won't be a hit, that the character is unlikely to allow any great performances, that the movie itself is going to be a romantic lemonade about a certain class of people without much to say really, but it's a Woody Allen film, so it's not going to be terrible and it'll look good on a resumé.

Posted at 6:12PM, Dec. 4, 2022

InkyMoondrop wrote:
I'm not a fan of Woody Allen, because it feels like he's this safe play kind of director that sits down with any movie star and they don't even have to read the script, they'll already know what kind of a role it will be, they already know it won't be a hit, that the character is unlikely to allow any great performances, that the movie itself is going to be a romantic lemonade about a certain class of people without much to say really, but it's a Woody Allen film, so it's not going to be terrible and it'll look good on a resumé.

Pretty much XD

I made it through the whole thing. It did't really get less annoying. It still felt as if these were 1960s people with 1960s issues in 1960s New York that happened to be in the present.

Interesting titbit- The male lead and his GF break up. He gets together with a younger girl who was the kid-sister of an ex- she had a kid crush on him back in the day. Bit of a Soon Yi type thing? I don't know.
Also, the GF has a series of older powerful movie guys super interested in her and it bamboozles her pretty head.

There's nothing wrong with the movie, it wasn't bad. It was interesting to see that fantasy version of New York that's all sophisticated and classy and old fashioned because it lives in Woody's memory.
It's basically a little tour through Woody's mind, living his fantasy for a short while.

So if you can tolerate almost an entire cast speaking like Woody Allen (this is hard), and the unconscious anachronistic nature of the storytelling isn't an issue, then enjoy this "lemonade" of a frivolous romance that happens in a single day.

Posted at 2:12PM, Dec. 6, 2022

"3615 code Père Noël" or "Deadly Games" on AMC is a French Horror movie with a Christmas theme. This was the original Home Alone released a year earlier and there was a good case that Home Alone plagiarized it.

I found this to be legitimately scary because Father Christmas is not evil, but a homicidal vagrant that breaks the norms of what you expect from a Hollywood movie. He is nuts, and you don't know what he will do.

The kid also gives an incredible, sometimes tear-jerking performance. You see the horror through his eyes. The culture has a Santa each for good and bad kids, so he thinks this is the real Santa breaking into his home and trying to kill him.

Posted at 7:12PM, Dec. 8, 2022

sleeping_gorilla wrote:
"3615 code Père Noël" or "Deadly Games" on AMC is a French Horror movie with a Christmas theme.

Not my scene! I don't really like horror movies in general but setting in on Christmas is just mean XD

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I have been watching the old British 90s sitcom Men Behaving Badly.
This was a big breakout for Harry Enfield, Neil Morrisy, Martin Clunes and Caroline Quinton back in the day. (I hated it back in the 90s)

The premise is that the guys are immature and "laddish" to quite a degree, also pretty selfish and venal. The women are much less so… It suffered from this trait in comedy where men are allowed funny flaws and to be silly characters but women aren't. Mostly because they had too many male writers and they couldn't write women well.

The structure of the shows is very simple and that's appealing. It makes for a tight format. The characters are exaggerated and awful people mostly but still charming and realistic - when you account for the stylisation.

This was an influential comedy because of its success and a lot of other British shows imitated it, most notably Red Dwarf, to its detriment. The influence was obvious and crap, it was FARRRR better before they incorporated it.

Posted at 8:12PM, Dec. 8, 2022

Ozoneocean wrote:

I have been watching the old British 90s sitcom Men Behaving Badly.
This was a big breakout for Harry Enfield, Neil Morrisy, Martin Clunes and Caroline Quinton back in the day. (I hated it back in the 90s)

The premise is that the guys are immature and "laddish" to quite a degree, also pretty selfish and venal. The women are much less so… It suffered from this trait in comedy where men are allowed funny flaws and to be silly characters but women aren't. Mostly because they had too many male writers and they couldn't write women well.

This era marked the rise of the 'New Lad', a reaction to the 'New Man' of the late eighties. Women preffered their men to be beer swilling mysoginists, at least according to the tabloids, lad's mags and male writers of sitcoms like this. Dreadful stuff, but at least it's not as bad as Brush Strokes.

Posted at 11:12PM, Dec. 8, 2022

Ironscarf wrote:
but at least it's not as bad as Brush Strokes.

HAHAHA! Indeed!
That show was painful.

Posted at 2:12PM, Dec. 9, 2022

Ozoneocean wrote:
sleeping_gorilla wrote:
"3615 code Père Noël" or "Deadly Games" on AMC is a French Horror movie with a Christmas theme.
Not my scene! I don't really like horror movies in general but setting in on Christmas is just mean XD

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Indy Horror ala Blumhouse is the closest I can get to good Science Fiction these days. It's that or Nu-Star Wars which is either too stupid or stupid pretending to be smart. Have I mentioned how terrible Andor is?

I am not defending "3615 code Père Noël" or saying you must go see it. It is a solidly directed movie, with a story that makes you route for the hero to defeat a truly menacing villain. This kid actually made me cry a little bit.

That said, I've been going through Joe Bob's Christmas specials and the Into the Dark movies. So here is a list of what I would recommend, most of these are just fun.

Advent Calendar (Excellent movie)
Black Christmas 1974 (John Carpenter's Halloween was conceived as a sequel to this film.)
Christmas Evil (Taxi Driver / Joker with Santa Claus)
Christmas Horror Story (Knock down drag-out brawl between Santa and Krampus.)
Deadly Games (3615 code Père Noël)
Gremlins
Rare Exports (Finnish monster hunting)
Silent Night, Deadly Night 2 (Yes THAT movie, it is hilarious)
Santa's Sleigh (Goldberg as Santa!)
Troll Hunter (Norwegian monster hunting)

Posted at 7:12PM, Dec. 9, 2022

THE READER - (2008) Kate Winslet, (be still my heart), Ralph Fiennes, David Kross, Lena Olin, Bruno Ganz. Kate won the Oscar for her performance. Starts off in 1958 Germany with a scorching affair between a 36 yr old tram worker (Kate) and a sickly 15 yr old boy (David). Only lasts the summer and Kate gets promoted? as a Nazi guard. She is sentenced to life in prison for murdering 300 Jewish women prisoners when she wouldn't unlock door to the burning camp bldg. Years later Ralph is now the older version of David and connects with the much older Kate but they seem somehow distant. What will happen? Ending is very complex getting a 2 1/2 on the Moizmeter.

Posted at 5:12AM, Dec. 10, 2022

Amsterdam.
Christian Bale movie.

Bale is one of those actors who've gotten big enough so that when they do movies now they can just do what they want and be all actory… 😅
If you know what I mean?

This movie is all over the place. The dialogue is just so sloppy. It's not bad dialogue, it's just boring and dull. It's like the actors were allowed to improvise on all there lines and the way they did that was just running on with sentences.

Under that there's a neat structure to the movie but because of the way the actors are always BLah blahhhh blahing with such a GOD-AWFUL awkward rhythm it's all smothered and lost.
Annoying movie.

Posted at 6:12AM, Dec. 10, 2022

Oh Brother Where Art Thou

Cohen brothers classic. This is the first time I finally saw it.

The lovely old American folk songs are great and the singing is really good.
The story was fun and engaging. It's an interesting look at 1930s poor America in the South.

It was "loosely based on Homer's Odyssey"… Very loosely 😅
It had a few disjointed bits of the Odyssey in it, in very different forms and in a mixed up order. I really don't know why they bothered with the Odyssey stuff, I think they just thought it'd be cool to do some of the scenes (like the sirens) but then completely lost interest in the idea and just decided to go their own way.

It's certainly NOT a retelling of the Odyssey, the way some claim 😅
It's a really good film though.

Posted at 8:12AM, Dec. 12, 2022

moizmad wrote:
THE READER - (2008) Kate Winslet, (be still my heart), Ralph Fiennes, David Kross, Lena Olin, Bruno Ganz. Kate won the Oscar for her performance. Starts off in 1958 Germany with a scorching affair between a 36 yr old tram worker (Kate) and a sickly 15 yr old boy (David). Only lasts the summer and Kate gets promoted? as a Nazi guard. She is sentenced to life in prison for murdering 300 Jewish women prisoners when she wouldn't unlock door to the burning camp bldg. Years later Ralph is now the older version of David and connects with the much older Kate but they seem somehow distant. What will happen? Ending is very complex getting a 2 1/2 on the Moizmeter.

I love that movie and book. It's not the average coming of age story, but an attempt to understand how tender memories of the youth at the time and the shameful realities of the damage nazism caused are not inreconcilable. It asks the question what a nation can do to heal from a dark history the world will never forget and I think it answers it in a satisfactory manner while also showing that the fear of being seen inferior, inedaquate can make people compliant in things that amount to oppression and essentially even genocide. How the care to educate is crucial if we don't want to repeat the crimes and mistakes of thepast.

Posted at 6:12PM, Dec. 13, 2022

WILD MOUNTAIN THYME - Emily (be still my heart) Blunt, Jamie Dornan, Christopher Walken, Jon Hamm. In Ireland, Emily and Jamie live on farms separated by a fence and gates. They've known each other since childhood but never got involved. Later on after their parents die, Emily wants to get something going with Jamie but he's a bit of a goof. She meets Jon and has a brief fling on a day trip to New York but goes right back and will she finally get Jamie??? Watch and see and hear some fine Irish accents maybe? Only Emily's beauty kept me on board getting it a 2 on the Moizmeter.

Posted at 5:12AM, Dec. 22, 2022

Triangle of Sadness

I loved Östlund's Force Majeure and I think he had a good approach, keeping some distance from his subjects, like a good nature photographer would. Well, that goes out the window with Triangle of Sadness. About as repulsive, cynical and misanthropic as some characters and works of Peter Greenaway, but lacking the visual genius to accompany it and it manages to make you uncomfortable for its almost 2 and a half hour runtime, but nothing is really subtle here anymore, the captain's character perfectly reflects Östlund's approach: a drunk man in charge, judging and rambling to a sickened crowd who bought their tickets, but it's in vain, the message never makes it to the shore and it's far too shallow to meditate on, ultimately it's about class conflict and how the established hierarchy maintains itself, how money and power corrupts, it does have a very dark humor, but apart from it being mean-spirited and judgmental, it doesn't really strives to be anything.

Posted at 4:12PM, Dec. 26, 2022

"The Witcher, Blood Origin:" The set design was pretty good. The costume design was fantastic. The special effects were really good too. All the other stuff, like strength of characters, strength of narrative, skill of writing, intriguing concepts? Pretty forgettable.

Posted at 8:12PM, Dec. 26, 2022

Avatar 2 - Way of SPOILERS

So I never watched the sequel to Disney's Pocahontas, but apart from the sci-fi and fantasy aspects of it, just purely based on the script, this could still work as one. Watching it in 3D really pays off and I imagine IMAX 3D is the real thing, so no point going regular with this one. It doesn't build a lot on the first film, in fact it brings in more characters and provides some of these with a personal theme to explore, but both the level of destruction and the overall character progression are very limited here, obviously, because Cameron wants to build everything up in the five movies and possible additional sequels, it'd be pointless for him to go all out now and cripple himself with it for the rest. This means we get a plot barely more complex than Mad Max: Fury Road's, something that would've easily fit in a 2h movie and we get an additional hour worth of material that at some point will most likely produce a wave of disappointed marine biologists.

The film is doing a good job introducing new characters but it does very little to explain the motivations of the villain, who seems to be hell-bent on taking out our protagonist and for some macho reason, they still didn't pull the money-plug on him, after he obviously failed to conquer this new world. From what I've heard, they're keeping him around for the entire series, which makes me wonder how much more of the same we'll see before they offer him some permanent death or redemption. The most complex character here is Spider (a name for some mysterious reason got translated to "Gecco" where I live) whose struggles to be consistently loyal allows a (very short) peek at humanity in our antagonists and some darkness in Mrs Sully, which would've make for a great awkward moment between the two.

Otherwise it's still very clear-cut black and white: colonizers are cruel greedy fucks, natives are beatiful and understanding dancing with nature, but you want to be entertained by the contrast and the lack of genitals flopping in the wind, not here to see bigger conflicts resolved, there will be plenty of time to meditate on that if you're willing to look at this movie with its otherwise mediocre plot as just part of a whole, that will hopefully be a worthy saga when its out.

7/10

Posted at 1:12AM, Dec. 29, 2022

Good avatar review ☺️

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I just started watching the 3rd lord of the rings movies and I'm already disappointed 😅
The second one was silly with its illogical departures from the actual story and the way the characters behaved and already in the very beginning of the 3rd movie there's the same thing!

Flashback with Gollum to when he was still a Hobbit. As soon as he sees the ring he goes batshit and tries to murder his friend… Sort of undermines the entire premise of all the entire story that Hobbits are the best people to give the ring to because it takes AGEs and ages to corrupt them so it's power is dampened. But a big fat NOPE in Peter Jackson's adaptation.

Posted at 8:12AM, Dec. 29, 2022

O saw it through to the end.
Overall, if you ignore a lot of details the feeling of the film is right.

It's got a lot of annoying bits in there, includes ng absolutely everything with Legolas and Gimili- just edit them both out completely and it'd improve things about 20%
And the battle wasn't well filmed, there's no logic to it, it's just people charging here and there right into certain death for no reason and Mount Doom is just 20 minutes ride away across a field 🤣 Jesus…

Even with all that it was the best epic fantasy film to date, they really put the effort in, Jackson loved the subject, and the sentiment was correct.

Posted at 12:12PM, Dec. 30, 2022

I don't like Wednesday, maybe I am the problem. I am a fan of the character, specifically the Barry Sonnefeld films and Christina Ricci's performance.

The two main issues I have are the casting and the story.

Jenna Ortega is not the problem, she is great and carries the show. She is so good that the other Nickelodeon-level actors look bad. It's like watching Alec Guinness in Star Wars or Merl Streep in a school play.

My other gripe is the story. The Addams Family and The Munsters were funny because they looked like monsters, but were really nice normal people. Wednesday is going to Hogwart's school for weirdos and we're supposed to believe she is the outcast there.

It would have worked better if she was at a boarding school full of spoiled normals who were used to solving all their problems by throwing money at it. They could have checked off the diversity quota and served the concept better.

Instead, Wednesday is among Vampires, Witches, and Werewolves, her social peers. Nothing she has done so far makes her stand out, it just makes the other characters look like dull idiots. Her funny, threatening quips are aimed at people who don't deserve them.

Two episodes in and I am confident I know how the first murder happened, where the plot is leading, and who the villain is.

Update: In completion, it's an OKAY show. The performance of its star upstages the lackluster plot. Basically, it relies too heavily on untrustworthy narration to tell its story. Wednesday herself is the only character that matters and you can't trust any of the information you are given until the last episode.

I thought the best episode was when the entire Addams Family was featured and they addressed the alleged murder committed by Gomez Addams, which was mentioned in the 1992 movie and one of the reasons Morticia was so attracted to him. Wednesday had some great moments with Pugsley, they should have him go to school with her in the next season.