Post by Ian J. BallYesterday was Thanksgiving with some family - so no movies, no soaps,
just football, football, football!
I did the exact opposite! I avoided all family, stayed home and vegged out.
Post by Ian J. BallNFL football - First game was Detroit Lions vs the Bears. The halftime
show was Shaboozey!! (Huh?!...)
I think it's spelled Shipoopi.
The Lions should have blown the Bears
Post by Ian J. Ballout, and indeed in the first half it was a walk as the Bears offense
couldn't even stay on the field. But something weird happened in the
second half, and the Bears came back and almost made a game out of it.
But then the Bears flushed away their chance in the last 30 seconds with
terrible coaching - I would literally have fired the coach after this.
Second game was Cowboys vs. the Giants. Again, this really shouldn't
have been close, and mostly wasn't, but the Cowboys never really put the
Giants away like they should have. Still, they won.
The late game was the Packers vs the Dolphins, in Green Bay, in a
little bit of snow. This was the blowout you would have expected! For
the second year in a row, NBC refused to show even more than a few
seconds of the halftime show (am I supposed to know who Lindsey Stirling
is?!), instead wasting our time even more with a "human interest"
bullsh*t piece about one of the players - this is why people hate NBC
Sports and have ever since Dick Ebersol ruined sports (esp. the
Olympics) with "human interest" crap.
What did you watch?
I watched:
Hostel (blu-ray) Normally I don't like these types of movies but I was
able to pick up a blu-ray double feature for 99 cents several years
back. At that price for two movies... I'm pretty sure I saw this once
before and didn't care for it, but I was willing to give it a second
chance. Written and directed by Eli Roth, the plot involves a few
Americans lead by Jay Hernandez on a Eurotrip who head to an out of the
way hostel where they quickly learn it's a front for rich Europeans who
like to torture and murder tourists. I guess it was OK, especially if
you close your eyes during certain scenes, it wasn't as gross as I
feared it would be.
Hostel II (blu-ray) This was on the same disc as the first one. This
one I remember watching way back when and actually liking, although
going in I had no real memory of the plot. Picking up where the first
movie ends, they tie up some lose ends before transitioning to a new
group of tourists, this time all female. But in a bit of a twist one of
them turns the tables on the torturers. I remember that's what I liked
about it when I saw it way back when. The ending seemed to be very
abrupt, but it was otherwise OK.
Thanksgiving (Netflix) This is a new 2023 horror movie directed by Eli
Roth based on a fake trailer that was part of "Groundhouse." The plot
is basically Scream if you know what I did last Thanksgiving. A generic
killer in a Thanksgiving themed mask seeks revenge a year later for a
tragic event that happened on Thanksgiving. The script writes itself.
After the movie was over I tracked down the original fake trailer and it
was about 75% of what was in the fake trailer made its' way into the
real movie.
The Mask of Zorro (4K disc) 1998 movie starring Antonio Banderas as
Zorro, Catherine Zetra-Jones as his love interest and Anthony Hopkins as
the first Zorro who trains Banderas to be the new one. I think I saw
this once before and didn't care much for it, but was willing to give it
a second chance. It past the time I guess.
The Legend of Zorro (4K disc) 2005 sequel which has Antonio Banderas and
Catherine Zetra-Jones returning to argue while saving the day. I'm
pretty sure I never saw this one before now. It was a blind buy to go
with the first one. Meh. Mostly background noise.
The Lone Ranger (blu-ray) 2013 Western staring Johnny Depp as Tonto and
Armie Hammer as his trusty sidekick, the Lone Ranger. I saw this once
before and liked it. On second viewing, I still liked it. One of the
main things I like about the movie is the framing device. The movie
starts out in 1933 and has Tonto relaying his past adventures to a kid
dressed up like The Lone Ranger. Except there are various plot holes
and inconsistencies in his story, which the kid keeps point out as he
tells it. The movie is directed by Gore Verbinski who also directed
Depp in several Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and has a similar
sensibility.