Let's put up a movie post!
I recently watched a whole bunch of things, which I'll note at some point in the future. But specifically I wanted to share this little fun clip advertisement I saw for the movie Red Notice. Red Notice was apparently a big Netflix movie, and, like a lot of theirs, felt like it was rushed a bit, maybe needed another rewrite to tighten stuff up, etc. Kind of made up for the lack of writing by just having fun people doing fun things. And in the end it was good enough, because of that.
Anyway, what have y'all thought of Netflix movies (and similar?).
Aaaaaaand... also apparently I can't get the clip in this post. Half baked. I'll try the comments.
What are you watching?
Video goes here now?
Nope, guess not. Go see it here:
https://fb.watch/9iuFiLLwhD/
I watched Dream/Killer. Documentary on a person convicted of murder and the appeals. I thought it was really well done, although I'm sure it was very one-sided.
Hey, I was going to post one of these today (it's the appropriate day) and plumb forgot. Thanks.
Runner daughter and I are mid-series of Only Murders in the Building and my only real (minor) issue is Martin Short being overly Martin Short-y. We're entertained, and...Sting.
Season 2 of The Goes Wrong Show is just as stupidly entertaining as season 1 was. Someday this troop is going to run of of wrong ideas, but it hasn't happened yet.
Muppet Haunted House earned an extra star for my avatar with a speaking role.
I enjoyed Only Murders in the Building. My only complaint is that there's a little lull a little halfway through the season before it picks up again.
I enjoyed Only Murders in the Building and have no complaints.
It seems to me that, after so long in the business, Martin & Short know exactly what they're doing. The whole show was just so well-executed, in every facet. The music, acting, humor, drama, etc. One of the best things I've watched in a long time.
Anyone watching Invasion on Apple TV+? It's a slow burn and kind of heady, which is usually in my wheelhouse but it's almost too much slow and not enough burn. We are six episodes into a 10 show run and barely got to meet the invaders. I'm worried that we are being set up for a second season where all the action happens.
I may have mentioned this last month, but the Paul McCartney 4-part show on Hulu is excellent. Highly recommended whether you're a Beatles fan or not.
On a similar bent, I've been enjoying the Sparks documentary in Netflix.
Oh yeah, thanks. Same here. It was a great documentary.
I have the Velvet Underground documentary on Apple TV+ slated for the weekend. And Peter Jackson’s Get Back docu Thanksgiving weekend.
And this in the New Yorker on the writing of Eleanor Rigby.
I’ve continued my European streaming kick, finishing the first season of 1983 (Polish; excellent), both seasons of The Mire (Polish; pretty good), and both seasons of Trapped (Icelandic, solid). I’m currently watching Money Heist (Spanish, TBD). I see a third season of Trapped is airing in Iceland right now; not sure if I’ll re-up in that.
I also went beyond Europe and watched both seasons of Secret City (Australian, okay), and Delhi Crime (Indian, fantastic). I’m delighted that Delhi Crime was renewed for a second season; it’s one of the three best shows I’ve watched this year.
For domestic viewing, I finished The Chair, which was better than I expected, and am currently watching Foundation on Apple TV+.
I got to see Black Widow on the flight over. It was ok, but Nat deserved a better movie and one made earlier.
I thought it was more fun than you seem to be implying, but yes, she deserved one made earlier.
I mean, it was fine. I'm also glad I waiting to see it on the plane instead of shelling out for the Disney+ stream.
Saw the Bond movie, in theater. It was mostly good, had some good action sequences (especially the scenes with Ana de Armas in them -- she and Craig had great platonic chemistry), and was a satisfactory stopping point for Craig's run, but I really hope that they let the next Bond be a little less gritty and a little more....fun. These movies don't really work as "big idea" movies, and they don't need to be Bourne movies. I don't necessarily need Roger Moore levels of cheese, but I've had my fill of grim.
If this comes across as sounding like I didn't enjoy the Craig movies, that's not really it. He was good as Bond, and he had an acceptable hit/miss ratio, I'd just like them to move in a different direction with the next Bond.
Also? No more serializing Bond movies. Each movie should be its own thing, with absolute bare minimum continuity.
Pick your template. Who are you imagining?
Something somewhat like the Brosnan movies, with more emphasis on the Metal Gear-like supervillains they used to have. Less focus on geopolitical machinations and more "stopping the bad guy before he shoots his weird death ray at New York and turns it into a rainforest". Suave scenes at bars and casinos, explosions, and quippy one liners. I am a man of simple needs when it comes to Bond movies.
As far as who should play him? Man, I dunno. Someone with charm and charisma who can convey a sense of dry humor without lapsing into that overly self-congratulatory self-awareness that everyone seems to employ poorly over the last few years?
You know they're just going to stick Pratt in the role.
It'sa me. James Bond.
He could do the theme song too.
Dr. No, Moonraker, here's the thing
License To Kill makes angels wings
And once we’ve all said Goldeneye
You take a running leap No Time to Die!
[Chorus]
Bye bye Li'l Spy-bastian
Miss you in the saddest fashion
Bye bye Li'l Spy-bastian
Oh-oh- seven candles in the wind
One of my best friends in junior high had a “head canon” theory that “James Bond” was just the cover identity assigned to whichever agent was actively licensed as 007, and that the various Bonds were discrete individuals who met various off-screen ends, thus opening the 007 billet for the next agent who qualified for 00 status. I didn’t like the idea at the time, but it’s grown on me as each actor gets their arc. Among them, my preferences are distinctly for Craig & Dalton’s Bonds, with Connery in the middle, and distinctly against Brosnan & later Moore. If gritty still sells, would might cool would be a Bond film with an elderly, retired ex-007 trying to keep ahead of a nemesis bent on settling an old score.
That said, I find that I’ve lost interest in the franchise for the most part. The spy/espionage films that I really enjoy are more often tense, realistic thrillers rather than spectacle-forward blockbusters like Bond/subsequent Bourne/anything Mission Impossible. Stuff like The Manchurian Candidate; The Conversation; Spy Game; Ronin; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (or really anything pulled from Le Carré or Len Deighton); and The Hunt for Red October.
So, basically, Bond as the Dread Pirate Roberts?
"No more rhymes now, I mean it!"
"Anybody want a martini-t?"
There was a teenage girl in my neighborhood with a really good Dread Pirate Roberts costume on Halloween, but she didn't acknowledge my question about whether she had ever visited her predecessor in Patagonia.
Kids these days. They don't study the classics.
Maybe not "elderly", but this is basically the plot of Skyfall.
saw Eternals last weekend. It was pretty. Salma Hayek was completely wasted, particularly compared to how the film was marketed. But I had fun anyway.
In addition to Only Murders In the Building (seriously, go watch it), and Red Notice (worth it, but not brilliant), there's been a bunch of other things:
Great Brittish Bake Off - Our favorite family fare. Still excellent.
Gotham Season 4 - I've been working through this one on my lunch breaks, after taking a good break from the show after Season 3. It's pretty solid, lots of twists and turns. As far as network superhero stuff goes, this is one of the more compelling worlds I've seen, and there are some pretty decent acting performances.
Somebody Feed Phil - It's No Reservations, but happy and jokey instead of brooding and ax-grindy. I liked Bourdain just fine, and he had some good stuff to say, but I'm definitely more keyed in to the vibe of this one. I am who I am, I guess.
Bodygaurd - Intense Brittish political drama/action. Was quite good, if a bit slow. A few small, maddening plot details that didn't quite fit the character, but everything was moving quick enough that you could get over them. This gets a definite recommendation.
Downton Abbey - Philosofette would have this one on a lot lately, and I caught a fair amount of the show. It was pretty good, if you could get over all of the "this drama is really about nothing, isn't it?" stuff. I'm a few years late on this, I know, but it's a show worth watching, I'd say, if you never took it up and are looking for something.
Ford vs. Ferrari - I was entertained, though I think I craved more direct conflict.
Rush - I gues I was into racing movies recently. This was alright, even with more direct conflict, but it felt like it was missing something. Might just be that the characters, being based on real people, were less compelling than truly fictionalized versions of them might have been?
My Big Fat Greek Wedding - Watched this one with the kids. They enjoyed it. It was a little less funny than I recalled, but still had some good moments.
Red Notice was objectively terrible. Don't get me wrong I enjoy terrible movies, but this was a flaming hot pile of wet garbage.
I mean, it clearly needed a rewrite or two, but for me Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds sitting around being themselves for 90 minutes is mostly enjoyable.
a flaming hot pile of wet garbage
Wait till you see Jungle Cruise.
What is with the weird cribbing of Bogart’s attire & boat from The African Queen? I’m not going to watch the new film, but I instantly recognized the get-up.
Ya I was on a flight and bored, but would not recommend this film to anyone,
When I saw the first trailer I thought for sure that it was a remake of African Queen. Was completely shocked when it wasn't.
I was more relieved than shocked. Hollywood is far too obsessed with remakes for its own good.
That's why I was shocked. I certainly wasn't disappointed.
Touché.
Watching Jungle Cruise in 30-minute increments with Niblet (everything good for bed? okay, we can keep working through this). I actually find it a fairly innocuous diversion, and he’s amused, so winning.
I've just been watching Dune over and over again.
ok, that's not completely true. I haven't watched much for movies but I did finally get caught up on What We Do in the Shadows, which is somehow funnier than the movie. Also, this morning one of my friends linked to a video of Mark Proksch pranking local news shows by pretending to be a yo-yo champion and he started down here in Madison which, after seeing the clip I remembered watching one of them live (this was about 2010) but had no idea he would go on to play the best damned energy vampire ever portrayed.
K-Strass is the OG energy vampire.
I don't remember specifically, but I'm pretty sure I watched one of them live. I definitely remember it happening, and it was fun as hell to watch the clips from the morning news shows I used to watch knowing who he would become. He was born in Onalaska, so he's a Wisco guy.
WWDitS is definitely a favorite of Runner daughter's and mine.
"Bat!"
Everything about Nandor the Relentless recently (the Jansport, BNL aerobics, etc.) has been comedy gold. I can't believe how much the show makes me laugh.
The rooftop duel with the werewolf was an all-time classic
"Bat!" kills me every time and was particularly well used in the season three finale.
We finally got around to the last half of the most recent season of Easy, we've got one episode left and it's been pretty enjoyable. We're two or three episodes into Maid and it's good, realistic drama but it's fairly depressing so far, although I expect that to change as the story progresses. We binged Wanderlust last weekend and really like it, Toni Collette is pretty fabulous as the therapist/wife. The story is nicely developed, they hook you with the naughty stuff in the beginning and then peel away the layers of the characters to let you inside their heads and empathize with them. I'm a big WWII movie fan so I watched The Liberator on my own and liked it. I'm not sure why they gave it the graphic novel animation treatment, but I liked the look and the story was interesting since it's based on a real soldier's memoir. If you were a fan of National Lampoon in your youth you should check out A Futile and Stupid Gesture, I enjoyed it immensely. The number one spot in my queue is taken by Five Came Back, which I'm really anxious to see. We've also been giving some network shows a chance. Ordinary Joe has an interesting plot device, but following three different storylines all involving the same characters gets a little confusing and I'm having a hard time really caring about the characters. And then there's La Brea. Even from the first promos it seemed to me like a bad reworking of Lost, but the production values turned out to be more along the lines of Land of the Lost, I keep expecting the Sleestaks to make an appearance in every episode. Either way, they lost me when my ability to suspend disbelief fell right down a big sinkhole. The acting is short of mediocre, character development is negligible, and the narrative is way too contrived and dependent on ridiculous plot tricks. Mrs. Twayn wants to keep watching to see if there's anything resembling a payoff down the road. but I'm not holding my breath.
I'm still waiting for Maid to not be depressing. Just finished episode 5.
Watched Luca last night with the Poissonnière. Granted, I haven’t seen them all, but I think this is one of Pixar’s more underrated films. I found it visually captivating — the synthesis of classic mid-century Italian cinema with more fantastic Miyazaki-style elements was well-executed — and the score was delightful.
The voice acting was also very well done.
Watched Tick, Tick... Boom tonight. Now I feel like I need to write a musical.
My SO is super excited to see this.
It wasn't quite what I was expecting - but I went into it with only the idea that this was a story about Jonathan Larson directed by Lin Manuel Miranda. I didn't know it was Larson's 1-man(+) show.
Still, it was quite enjoyable, and a few of the songs have been stuck in my head for a couple days, in a good way.
Watched the first 3 episodes of the Wheel of Time series last night. It was better than I feared, and not as good as I hoped. I knew going in that there was no way they would stick closely to the source material, and they didn't. Mixed feelings to see a story you have been reading (and re-reading) for 30+ years hit the screen.
Do NOT watch Home Sweet Home Alone - the Disney Plus Home Alone-iverse expansion/remake/whatever it is. Oof. So much worse than I could even have imagined. Just every problem. All of them. All the time. Wow.