What Did You Watch? 2020-11-01 (Sunday)

[Ubiquitous]

I watched:

PANDORA:
"Things Have Changed". I began to watch "on demand" but gave up because I
forgot pretty much everything about the first season (which doesn't matter
b/c they seem to have ditched it) and the audio was too low. So, I guess
Pandora and Alex and the alien guy no one liked work for the space cops now
and run their own starship?

HALLOWEEN:
This was the original movie, of course. I make a point of watching this every
year, but it's just not the same watching it on Oct 31 when they play it
every month of the year!

STAR TREK 4:
AKA "The one with the whales". Comet TV played 'Trek movies all day as a
promo for their new 'Trek lineup, but I gave up trying to watch but reception
was too poor. I tried to tune in later but it hadn't improved, plus, they
were playing Generations, which seemed worse than I remember it being. (I
actually cheered when Mr Data had a seizure and collapsed to the ground,
silent).

THE SIMPSONS:
"Tree-house of Terror 31". I had no interest in watching this after seeing
the online schedule's description, but I was bored as hell. They started with
some ridiculous (not in the funny way) pre-opening credits TDS about the 2020
election.
• A spoof of "Toy Story" (including the animation style) in which Bart's
abused toys get their predictable revenge, Freaks-style.
• A poorly-done rip-off of "Into The Spiderverse" that ended with several
versions of Homer fighting several versions of Mr Burns while several
versions of Smithers watched.
• A version of that recent horror movie that was like Groundhog Day; watching
Lisa die repeatedly wasn't as terrible as it should have been.

BLESS THE HARTS:
"Dead Mall". The Harts visit Greenpoint's abandoned mall, which brings back
fond memories from the 2000s, but their reminiscing is interrupted when a
mall rat named Stacey takes them hostage (hey, it's Kritsan Stahl!).

GOING VIRAL: FROM EBOLA TO COVID-19:
This NatGeo show followed a team of research scientists investigating how new
viruses start and are spread, in this case, people killing exotic wild
animals and then selling them as food at the local flea market. Anyone
hankering for smoked monkey? Sorry, I don't think I'd ever want to visit the
3rd world after seeing the open air food market in a tin shed filled with
tables piled high with dead critters.

FAMILY GUY:
"Cutawayland". Peter and Lois accidentally set up a cutaway gag together,
which somehow transports them into the cutaway itself. This was OK, but had
some fun callbacks to previous eps.

VIRUS HUNTERS:
In NatGeo's 2nd late entry in Halloween programming, this show followed
researchers studying pandemics. There seemed to be a lot of scary stuff about
the Wuhan Flu that I was incredulous about; maybe this was made six months
ago, before they knew better?

What did you watch?

--
Democrats and the liberal media hate President Trump more than they
love this country.

[Ian J. Ball]

Post by Ubiquitous
"Things Have Changed". I began to watch "on demand" but gave up because I
forgot pretty much everything about the first season (which doesn't matter
b/c they seem to have ditched it) and the audio was too low. So, I guess
Pandora and Alex and the alien guy no one liked work for the space cops now
and run their own starship?

Yes. They clearly decided to *explicitly* copy "Star Trek" in season
#2. So far, it has not worked out IMO...

Post by Ubiquitous
What did you watch?

After f***ing around all day Saturday, I actually had to get some work
done on Sunday, so I didn't watch much...:

Die Another Day (Showtime) - So how do you know it's an early 2000s
James Bond film?! - Because you can see *every penny* on screen!!!!
I'll bet this is one of the Bond films Adam really hates, but if all
you're looking for is an "action spectacle!!" with numerous explosions,
and such, this is your film!! There's no broody thinking involved with
this production!
I actually like the opening sequence where Brosnon-Bond seems to
pretty single-handedly destroy a sizeable corner of North Korea! (I
have no idea how much just *this* sequence cost to film, but it's
probably equal to the GDP of several small nations!)
Does this film sport the single most forgettable Bond theme song?!
Madonna pretty much lays an egg with this one - then, worse: we're
subjected to her actually appearing *in the film*, as a flirty
fencing(?) instructor.
This does sport a couple of pretty hott "Bond Girls" - Halle Berry,
of course, but also Rosamund Pike fills out a sports bra pretty well in
the final sequence!
I originally saw this one in the theater, and I do remember rolling
my eyes at the sequence where Brosnon-Bond drives his Aston-Martin
through the melting "ice palace" in order to save Jinx (Berry). The
final sequence in the disintegrating airplane is also over-the-top.
I had actually forgotten than Judy Dench played M in the
Brosnon-Bond films too - it would have been nice if they had snuck some
reference to that into the first Daniel Craig movie (if they did, I
missed it...) - and that John Cleese actually played Q for a while!
When Michael Madsen showed up, I thought for sure he'd turn out to
be the secret villain, so it was a pleasant surprise when they went
against expectations on that.

I rewatched "Who Wants Me Dead?" (aka. "Long Lost Sister") with Karynn
Moore and Jade Harlow on LMN because I couldn't remember exactly how it
ended.

Killer Competition (LMN) - *Nailed* it.
If you've got Cristine Prosperi in the cast, and she's not the
"heroine" (here that's Jacqueline Scislowski...), it's pretty much
guaranteed that she's the villain! (They even sort of telegraphed it in
several places...)
Luckily, there was a "twist" so it wasn't quite that simple. But
this one suffered from a "Conservation of Characters" problem - there
weren't that many characters, so it was pretty clear who all were the
villain or villains.
Still, at least somebody let Prosperi play EVOL!!!1! for the first
time since "early" Imogen on "Degrassi:TNG"!! I'd like to see them put
her in a movie where she can be EVOL!!1! the whole time! - Afterall,
they've started to let Brittany Underwood do that quite a bit! (e.g.
see: this coming weekend!).

I then put "Christmas at Graceland: Home for the Holidays" on as
background noise before going to bed - it stars the improbable
combination of Kaitlin Doubleday and Adrian Grenier!


Recorded for later: Pandora, and Holly & Ivy (off Hallmark M&M, and
starring Mona Vanderwaal!!).

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by Ian J. Ball
After f***ing around all day Saturday, I actually had to get some work
Die Another Day (Showtime) - So how do you know it's an early 2000s
James Bond film?! - Because you can see *every penny* on screen!!!!
I'll bet this is one of the Bond films Adam really hates,

I've actually avoided seeing this one because of the annoying science
fiction elements that harm the last half of the movie. Some day I'll get
to it, I guess.

Post by Ian J. Ball
. . .

[Dimensional Traveler]

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Ian J. Ball
After f***ing around all day Saturday, I actually had to get some work
Die Another Day (Showtime) - So how do you know it's an early 2000s
James Bond film?! - Because you can see *every penny* on screen!!!!
I'll bet this is one of the Bond films Adam really hates,

I've actually avoided seeing this one because of the annoying science
fiction elements that harm the last half of the movie. Some day I'll get
to it, I guess.

So you've never seen a Bond film because of the science fiction elements
that are in all of them?

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Ian J. Ball
After f***ing around all day Saturday, I actually had to get some work
Die Another Day (Showtime) - So how do you know it's an early 2000s
James Bond film?! - Because you can see *every penny* on screen!!!!
I'll bet this is one of the Bond films Adam really hates,

I've actually avoided seeing this one because of the annoying science
fiction elements that harm the last half of the movie. Some day I'll get
to it, I guess.

So you've never seen a Bond film because of the science fiction elements
that are in all of them?

All of them? Hardly. I'll acknowledge that the villain's fantastic evil
plot has some science fiction elements, but then you have specific
movies like From Russia With Love and On Her Majesty's Secret Service
and For Your Eyes Only (ignoring the vile parrot) with no elements at
all.

My objection is to the CGI invisible car. Bond movies elements are
fantastic sets, improbable villainous plots, and excellent stunt work
and non-CGI movie magic.

[Ian J. Ball]

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Ian J. Ball
After f***ing around all day Saturday, I actually had to get some work
Die Another Day (Showtime) - So how do you know it's an early 2000s
James Bond film?! - Because you can see *every penny* on screen!!!!
I'll bet this is one of the Bond films Adam really hates,

I've actually avoided seeing this one because of the annoying science
fiction elements that harm the last half of the movie. Some day I'll get
to it, I guess.

So you've never seen a Bond film because of the science fiction elements
that are in all of them?

All of them? Hardly. I'll acknowledge that the villain's fantastic evil
plot has some science fiction elements, but then you have specific
movies like From Russia With Love and On Her Majesty's Secret Service
and For Your Eyes Only (ignoring the vile parrot) with no elements at
all.
My objection is to the CGI invisible car. Bond movies elements are
fantastic sets, improbable villainous plots, and excellent stunt work
and non-CGI movie magic.

But! He destroys half of North Korea without a CGI invisible car!!

[Dimensional Traveler]

Post by Ian J. Ball

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Ian J. Ball
After f***ing around all day Saturday, I actually had to get some work
Die Another Day (Showtime) - So how do you know it's an early 2000s
James Bond film?! - Because you can see *every penny* on screen!!!!
I'll bet this is one of the Bond films Adam really hates,

I've actually avoided seeing this one because of the annoying science
fiction elements that harm the last half of the movie. Some day I'll get
to it, I guess.

So you've never seen a Bond film because of the science fiction elements
that are in all of them?

All of them? Hardly. I'll acknowledge that the villain's fantastic evil
plot has some science fiction elements, but then you have specific
movies like From Russia With Love and On Her Majesty's Secret Service
and For Your Eyes Only (ignoring the vile parrot) with no elements at
all.
My objection is to the CGI invisible car. Bond movies elements are
fantastic sets, improbable villainous plots, and excellent stunt work
and non-CGI movie magic.

But! He destroys half of North Korea without a CGI invisible car!!

Just a battle hovercraft! :D

[Arthur Lipscomb]

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Ian J. Ball
After f***ing around all day Saturday, I actually had to get some work
Die Another Day (Showtime) - So how do you know it's an early 2000s
James Bond film?! - Because you can see *every penny* on screen!!!!
I'll bet this is one of the Bond films Adam really hates,

I've actually avoided seeing this one because of the annoying science
fiction elements that harm the last half of the movie. Some day I'll get
to it, I guess.

So you've never seen a Bond film because of the science fiction elements
that are in all of them?

All of them? Hardly. I'll acknowledge that the villain's fantastic evil
plot has some science fiction elements, but then you have specific
movies like From Russia With Love and On Her Majesty's Secret Service
and For Your Eyes Only (ignoring the vile parrot) with no elements at
all.

I just watched OHMSS a few weeks ago. I'd definitely classify it as
sci-fi. You don't need spaceships or laser guns to be sci-fi. I think
once you accept Bond takes place in a "sci-fi" universe, it matters less
and less how many specific sci-fi elements they stick in an individual
movie. Per Wiki, "In the film, Bond faces Blofeld (Telly Savalas), who
is planning to hold the world to ransom by a threat to render all food
plants and livestock infertile through the actions of a group of
brainwashed "angels of death"." That's a sci-fi plot IMO.

I'm drawing a blank on FYEO, but there's probably some "sci-fi" gadget
or two in it. I definitely count the gadgets as part of what makes Bond
sci-fi.

The whole point of the Craig reboot was to remove the "sci-fi" from the
series, but judging by the trailer of the latest movie, they just shoved
it right back in again. Not that I'm complaining.

Post by Adam H. Kerman
My objection is to the CGI invisible car. Bond movies elements are
fantastic sets, improbable villainous plots, and excellent stunt work
and non-CGI movie magic.

Well to be fair, the lack of CGI in 60s-80s Bond is hardly proof the
series was ever anti-CGI. That being said, I prefer practical effects
myself.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by Arthur Lipscomb

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Ian J. Ball
After f***ing around all day Saturday, I actually had to get some work
Die Another Day (Showtime) - So how do you know it's an early 2000s
James Bond film?! - Because you can see *every penny* on screen!!!!
I'll bet this is one of the Bond films Adam really hates,

I've actually avoided seeing this one because of the annoying science
fiction elements that harm the last half of the movie. Some day I'll get
to it, I guess.

So you've never seen a Bond film because of the science fiction elements
that are in all of them?

All of them? Hardly. I'll acknowledge that the villain's fantastic evil
plot has some science fiction elements, but then you have specific
movies like From Russia With Love and On Her Majesty's Secret Service
and For Your Eyes Only (ignoring the vile parrot) with no elements at
all.

I just watched OHMSS a few weeks ago. I'd definitely classify it as
sci-fi.

Blofeld's plot had a few elements of medical science. It's not possible
to believe that just one girl could be enough to target one type of
food, and choosing a girl to destroy the same food she was allergic to
seemed unrelated to the villain's evil plot.

Fair enough; that one's villainous plot has scifi elements.

Post by Arthur Lipscomb
You don't need spaceships or laser guns to be sci-fi. I think
once you accept Bond takes place in a "sci-fi" universe, it matters less
and less how many specific sci-fi elements they stick in an individual
movie. Per Wiki, "In the film, Bond faces Blofeld (Telly Savalas), who
is planning to hold the world to ransom by a threat to render all food
plants and livestock infertile through the actions of a group of
brainwashed "angels of death"." That's a sci-fi plot IMO.
I'm drawing a blank on FYEO, but there's probably some "sci-fi" gadget
or two in it. I definitely count the gadgets as part of what makes Bond
sci-fi.

It's kind of a sequel to From Russia With Love. In fact, I'll argue that
Bond is returning the very same Lektor! It's the WWII Enigma plot and
that's hardly scifi at that point.

Post by Arthur Lipscomb
The whole point of the Craig reboot was to remove the "sci-fi" from the
series, but judging by the trailer of the latest movie, they just shoved
it right back in again. Not that I'm complaining.

Eh. Columbia brought them the rights to Casino Royale, or rather, since
they were paying production pathetic MGM didn't have two nickels to rub
together, were promising not to sue as the rights to that novel are
confusing to say the least.

But they went "bigger" with subsequent movies.

Post by Arthur Lipscomb

Post by Adam H. Kerman
My objection is to the CGI invisible car. Bond movies elements are
fantastic sets, improbable villainous plots, and excellent stunt work
and non-CGI movie magic.

Well to be fair, the lack of CGI in 60s-80s Bond is hardly proof the
series was ever anti-CGI. That being said, I prefer practical effects
myself.

I just thought there was truly impressive creativity in movie effects in
the days before CGI.

[Ubiquitous]

Post by Ian J. Ball

Post by Ubiquitous
"Things Have Changed". I began to watch "on demand" but gave up because I
forgot pretty much everything about the first season (which doesn't matter
b/c they seem to have ditched it) and the audio was too low. So, I guess
Pandora and Alex and the alien guy no one liked work for the space cops
now and run their own starship?

Yes. They clearly decided to *explicitly* copy "Star Trek" in season
#2. So far, it has not worked out IMO...

Anim8trfsk sez:

I was both amazed and horrified when I saw they were making a second season
and then I remembered how much I hated the first and my hate has set me free.

[suzeeq]

Post by Ubiquitous

Post by Ian J. Ball

Post by Ubiquitous
"Things Have Changed". I began to watch "on demand" but gave up because I
forgot pretty much everything about the first season (which doesn't matter
b/c they seem to have ditched it) and the audio was too low. So, I guess
Pandora and Alex and the alien guy no one liked work for the space cops
now and run their own starship?

Yes. They clearly decided to *explicitly* copy "Star Trek" in season
#2. So far, it has not worked out IMO...

There's no T in Anim8rfsk, it's part of 8.

Post by Ubiquitous
I was both amazed and horrified when I saw they were making a second season
and then I remembered how much I hated the first and my hate has set me free.

[Ubiquitous]

Post by suzeeq

Post by Ian J. Ball

Post by Ubiquitous
"Things Have Changed". I began to watch "on demand" but gave up because
I forgot pretty much everything about the first season (which doesn't
matter b/c they seem to have ditched it) and the audio was too low. So,
I guess Pandora and Alex and the alien guy no one liked work for the
space cops now and run their own starship?

Yes. They clearly decided to *explicitly* copy "Star Trek" in season
#2. So far, it has not worked out IMO...

There's no T in Anim8rfsk, it's part of 8.

Dammit, I knew something looked wrong but couldn't figure out why!
Thanks!

[Arthur Lipscomb]

Post by Ubiquitous
"Things Have Changed". I began to watch "on demand" but gave up because I
forgot pretty much everything about the first season (which doesn't matter
b/c they seem to have ditched it) and the audio was too low. So, I guess
Pandora and Alex and the alien guy no one liked work for the space cops now
and run their own starship?

Yes. They clearly decided to *explicitly* copy "Star Trek" in season #2.
So far, it has not worked out IMO...

I *just* started watching Pandora again yesterday. It was between
Pandora or Charmed, and I went with Pandora. It's been over a year
since I last watched an episode. I picked up with season 1, episode 9
and made it about half way through. Even though a year went by, after
the recap I felt sufficiently brought up to speed to jump right in
again. I'll finish it off today.

Post by Ubiquitous
What did you watch?

After f***ing around all day Saturday, I actually had to get some work
Die Another Day (Showtime) - So how do you know it's an early 2000s
James Bond film?! - Because you can see *every penny* on screen!!!!
  I'll bet this is one of the Bond films Adam really hates, but if all
you're looking for is an "action spectacle!!" with numerous explosions,
and such, this is your film!! There's no broody thinking involved with
this production!
  I actually like the opening sequence where Brosnon-Bond seems to
pretty single-handedly destroy a sizeable corner of North Korea! (I have
no idea how much just *this* sequence cost to film, but it's probably
equal to the GDP of several small nations!)
  Does this film sport the single most forgettable Bond theme song?!

I wish it was forgettable. That so called song is like nails on a chalk
board. Once you hear it, you can't unhear it.

Madonna pretty much lays an egg with this one - then, worse: we're
subjected to her actually appearing *in the film*, as a flirty
fencing(?) instructor.
  This does sport a couple of pretty hott "Bond Girls" - Halle Berry,
of course, but also Rosamund Pike fills out a sports bra pretty well in
the final sequence!
  I originally saw this one in the theater, and I do remember rolling
my eyes at the sequence where Brosnon-Bond drives his Aston-Martin
through the melting "ice palace" in order to save Jinx (Berry). The
final sequence in the disintegrating airplane is also over-the-top.
  I had actually forgotten than Judy Dench played M in the Brosnon-Bond
films too - it would have been nice if they had snuck some reference to
that into the first Daniel Craig movie (if they did, I missed it...) -

As far as I recall, they never did. As much as I like Judi Dench in the
role, at the time I did *not* like the idea of rebooting the series but
keeping an actor in the same role. But she's so good it's hard to not
like her in spite of the awkward continuity issue it raises

and that John Cleese actually played Q for a while!

Yes. It was a sad coincidence that he was brought in to replace the
original Q, then the original Q died in a car accident and Cleese was
already in place.

  When Michael Madsen showed up, I thought for sure he'd turn out to be
the secret villain, so it was a pleasant surprise when they went against
expectations on that.

The role *should* have been played by Joe Don Baker.

I rewatched "Who Wants Me Dead?" (aka. "Long Lost Sister") with Karynn
Moore and Jade Harlow on LMN because I couldn't remember exactly how it
ended.
Killer Competition (LMN) - *Nailed* it.
  If you've got Cristine Prosperi in the cast, and she's not the
"heroine" (here that's Jacqueline Scislowski...), it's pretty much
guaranteed that she's the villain! (They even sort of telegraphed it in
several places...)
  Luckily, there was a "twist" so it wasn't quite that simple. But this
one suffered from a "Conservation of Characters" problem - there weren't
that many characters, so it was pretty clear who all were the villain or
villains.
  Still, at least somebody let Prosperi play EVOL!!!1! for the first
time since "early" Imogen on "Degrassi:TNG"!! I'd like to see them put
her in a movie where she can be EVOL!!1! the whole time! - Afterall,
they've started to let Brittany Underwood do that quite a bit! (e.g.
see: this coming weekend!).
I then put "Christmas at Graceland: Home for the Holidays" on as
background noise before going to bed - it stars the improbable
combination of Kaitlin Doubleday and Adrian Grenier!
Recorded for later: Pandora, and Holly & Ivy (off Hallmark M&M, and
starring Mona Vanderwaal!!).

I watched:


The Undoing (HBO) - "The Missing" - Episode 2 of this David E. Kelley
miniseries switches gears and takes things up a notch. At the end of
last week it was revealed a woman was killed, probably murdered. This
week Nicole Kidman can't seem to find her husband (High Grant). He went
to a "conference" and left his phone at home. He mysteriously
disappears just as the police start to take a closer look at him as it
relates to the dead woman. This show has definitely caught my attention
now.


Blackout (TMC) 14 minute short film about two strangers who meet at the
last sunrise ever. It had an interesting sci-fi premise but turned out
to be a waste of time. Even at 14 minutes, it's not worth it.


L.A.'s Finest - "Déjà Vu" and "Farewell..." - I caught up on the last
two episodes. They were OK.


Family Guy - "Cutawayland" - Already covered.


The Last Starfighter (blu-ray) The classic 1984 sci fi movie about a
young man living in a trailer park who is recruited, after the getting
the high score on a video game, to save the galaxy. It got a new
blu-ray upgrade and I eagerly watched it. It holds up very well. And
another movie with a famous line, "What do we do now? We die."


Kin (4K Disc) 2018 sci fi movie about a young teen who finds an alien
gun that only he can use. His fresh out of jail older brother takes him
on the run after their father (Dennis Quaid) is murdered by a local thug
(James Franco). It holds up well enough. They definitely set up a
sequel that I hope gets made.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by Arthur Lipscomb

Post by Ian J. Ball
Die Another Day (Showtime) - So how do you know it's an early 2000s
James Bond film?! - Because you can see *every penny* on screen!!!!
  I'll bet this is one of the Bond films Adam really hates, but if all
you're looking for is an "action spectacle!!" with numerous explosions,
and such, this is your film!! There's no broody thinking involved with
this production!
  I actually like the opening sequence where Brosnon-Bond seems to
pretty single-handedly destroy a sizeable corner of North Korea! (I have
no idea how much just *this* sequence cost to film, but it's probably
equal to the GDP of several small nations!)
  Does this film sport the single most forgettable Bond theme song?!

I wish it was forgettable. That so called song is like nails on a chalk
board. Once you hear it, you can't unhear it.

Post by Ian J. Ball
Madonna pretty much lays an egg with this one - then, worse: we're
subjected to her actually appearing *in the film*, as a flirty
fencing(?) instructor.
  This does sport a couple of pretty hott "Bond Girls" - Halle Berry,
of course, but also Rosamund Pike fills out a sports bra pretty well in
the final sequence!
  I originally saw this one in the theater, and I do remember rolling
my eyes at the sequence where Brosnon-Bond drives his Aston-Martin
through the melting "ice palace" in order to save Jinx (Berry). The
final sequence in the disintegrating airplane is also over-the-top.
  I had actually forgotten than Judy Dench played M in the Brosnon-Bond
films too - it would have been nice if they had snuck some reference to
that into the first Daniel Craig movie (if they did, I missed it...) -

As far as I recall, they never did. As much as I like Judi Dench in the
role, at the time I did *not* like the idea of rebooting the series but
keeping an actor in the same role. But she's so good it's hard to not
like her in spite of the awkward continuity issue it raises

You are correct. Casino Royale (2006) breaks continuity, not that
there's very much in the movie series.

Post by Arthur Lipscomb

Post by Ian J. Ball
and that John Cleese actually played Q for a while!

Yes. It was a sad coincidence that he was brought in to replace the
original Q, then the original Q died in a car accident and Cleese was
already in place.

While Dennis Llewellyn played Q in 17 movies, he wasn't the original
Major Boothroyd (the armourer). That was Peter Burton, who has the key
scene in Dr. No in which he replaces Bond's Beretta M1934 (I had to look
it up) with the Walther PPK. It's a recasting.

Dr. No was one of the later novels. Ian Fleming had been criticized by
more knowledgeable readers for giving Bond an unsuitable weapon, so it
was changed in that novel. By coincindence, it was the first novel
adapted for the Saltzman-Broccoli film series and established the weapon
that Bond would typically carry.

I don't recall the story of why Q wasn't in Live and Let Die. He was
sort of forced into Diamonds Are Forever and maybe they didn't want to
do that again.

Post by Arthur Lipscomb

Post by Ian J. Ball
  When Michael Madsen showed up, I thought for sure he'd turn out to be
the secret villain, so it was a pleasant surprise when they went against
expectations on that.

The role *should* have been played by Joe Don Baker.
The Last Starfighter (blu-ray) The classic 1984 sci fi movie about a
young man living in a trailer park who is recruited, after the getting
the high score on a video game, to save the galaxy. It got a new
blu-ray upgrade and I eagerly watched it. It holds up very well. And
another movie with a famous line, "What do we do now? We die."

Stars The Music Man!

Post by Arthur Lipscomb
Kin (4K Disc) 2018 sci fi movie about a young teen who finds an alien
gun that only he can use. His fresh out of jail older brother takes him
on the run after their father (Dennis Quaid) is murdered by a local thug
(James Franco). It holds up well enough. They definitely set up a
sequel that I hope gets made.

I need to see this.

[Dimensional Traveler]

Post by Arthur Lipscomb
Kin (4K Disc) 2018 sci fi movie about a young teen who finds an alien
gun that only he can use.  His fresh out of jail older brother takes him
on the run after their father (Dennis Quaid) is murdered by a local thug
(James Franco).  It holds up well enough.  They definitely set up a
sequel that I hope gets made.

I remember thinking "eh" when I saw the spots for its theatrical release
but based on your recommendation I've added it to my Netflix disc queue.

[Dimensional Traveler]

Post by Ubiquitous
"Things Have Changed". I began to watch "on demand" but gave up because I
forgot pretty much everything about the first season (which doesn't matter
b/c they seem to have ditched it) and the audio was too low. So, I guess
Pandora and Alex and the alien guy no one liked work for the space cops now
and run their own starship?

Yes. They clearly decided to *explicitly* copy "Star Trek" in season #2.
So far, it has not worked out IMO...

Post by Ubiquitous
What did you watch?

After f***ing around all day Saturday, I actually had to get some work
Die Another Day (Showtime) - So how do you know it's an early 2000s
James Bond film?! - Because you can see *every penny* on screen!!!!
  I'll bet this is one of the Bond films Adam really hates, but if all
you're looking for is an "action spectacle!!" with numerous explosions,
and such, this is your film!! There's no broody thinking involved with
this production!
  I actually like the opening sequence where Brosnon-Bond seems to
pretty single-handedly destroy a sizeable corner of North Korea! (I have
no idea how much just *this* sequence cost to film, but it's probably
equal to the GDP of several small nations!)

At least the GDP of North Korea! :P

[Ubiquitous]

Post by Ubiquitous
What did you watch?

Anim8trfsk sez:

I watched Stargate SG1 Frozen (the SG1F stands for: Star Gate 1 Frozen)
The SGC finds the frozen body of a hot babe under the ice on Earth who turns
out to be an Ancient and dies. The IMDb said she reprised the role on the
pilot of Stargate Atlantis SGA (the SGA stands for Stargate Atlantis) so I
flipped over to that on The Amazon Prime TAP.

I had forgotten what a bad show SGA was right from the outset. And it’s all
right there in the casting all but two of which they would have been better
without, the two doctors. You’ve got a bunch of unappealing characters played
by a bunch of unappealing actors. It’s inexplicable, except by malfeasance,
that they just threw away the rich variety of characters they had waiting in
the wings in exchange for replacement characters and actors that frankly
weren’t very good. Give me a Tokra, Sam’s dad or the hot babe from Weird
Science, give me an SGA officer we’ve seen before, like Adam, one of the
greater Baldwins. Give me the recently unsnaked Osiris who’s carrying the
knowledge of the Gould. Give me the real Weir, not this dreadful Weirwolf
that took over for her.

Oh, and the hot ancient babe I was therefore has literally a non-speaking
cameo in the first minute of the show.

Defeat, snatched from the salivating jaws of victory.

[Ubiquitous]

Post by Ubiquitous
AKA "The one with the whales". Comet TV played 'Trek movies all day as a
promo for their new 'Trek lineup, but I gave up trying to watch but reception
was too poor. I tried to tune in later but it hadn't improved, plus, they
were playing Generations, which seemed worse than I remember it being. (I
actually cheered when Mr Data had a seizure and collapsed to the ground,
silent).

Anim8trfsk sez:

The whale one is the only watchable of the set. I only made it less than a
minute into Generations. The back-to-back credits of Gates McMuffin and Marina
Dumbass were enough to make me bail. One of the worst treks ever written, by
Braga of course; it was such a failure on every level that they rewarded him
by letting him write first contact, which, while it’s still rancid garbage,
was the best of the Picard movies. So they never let him write one again. It’s
like they wanted Trek to fail. I saw a screener from Paramont with the
original end before it was released. It was horrible and then they spent
millions and kept making it worse.

Post by Ubiquitous
"Tree-house of Terror 31". I had no interest in watching this after seeing
the online schedule's description, but I was bored as hell. They started with
some ridiculous (not in the funny way) pre-opening credits TDS about the 2020
election.
• A spoof of "Toy Story" (including the animation style) in which Bart's
abused toys get their predictable revenge, Freaks-style.
• A poorly-done rip-off of "Into The Spiderverse" that ended with several
versions of Homer fighting several versions of Mr Burns while several
versions of Smithers watched.
• A version of that recent horror movie that was like Groundhog Day; watching
Lisa die repeatedly wasn't as terrible as it should have been.

Anim8trfsk sez:

I made it 30 seconds in. “Three kinds of ID for Republicans to vote, 12 for
Democrats”
Yeah, because that’s how that works.

Post by Ubiquitous
"Cutawayland". Peter and Lois accidentally set up a cutaway gag together,
which somehow transports them into the cutaway itself. This was OK, but had
some fun callbacks to previous eps.

Anim8trfsk sez:

Family Guy pulled similar crap as they did on The Simpsons and I erased it
only partly watched as well. They were watching Tom Brady soap his penis and
it was ruined because Lois spotted a Trump hat and then they went to Charlton
Heston’s funeral mocking gun owners and I said enough with this shit.

Post by Ubiquitous
What did you watch?

Anim8trfsk sez:

Alicia Witt is Tyler Perry’s a Madea Christmas

O
M
G

This is simply amazingly horrible.

People standing around with their backs to the wall supposedly talking to each
other but looking at the camera like an old burns and Allen skit if it wasn’t
funny.
22 minutes into it Alicia finally shows up in literally another (the Facebook
won’t let me say it) role.

I guess we’re not supposed to notice Madea is a guy in a dress. I guess we’re
supposed to find it endearing that he/she is rude, foul mouthed, and
incompetent. I guess we’re not supposed to figure out that the script doesn’t
make any sense - for instance with five days to go before Christmas the school
decides to stay open until Christmas Eve to make up for the days they lost
because of the storm in the middle of the summer.
Everyone talks in these atrocious southern accents and there hasn’t even been
a grin coming forth from it yet.

Alicia is unaware that her son gets straight A’s in school. How does that
happen? Alicia’s sons teacher is secretly married to a white man.

That takes me to the half hour mark and I can’t stand another minute of this
crap.

[tenworld]

Post by Ubiquitous

Post by Ubiquitous
AKA "The one with the whales". Comet TV played 'Trek movies all day as a
promo for their new 'Trek lineup, but I gave up trying to watch but reception
was too poor. I tried to tune in later but it hadn't improved, plus, they
were playing Generations, which seemed worse than I remember it being. (I
actually cheered when Mr Data had a seizure and collapsed to the ground,
silent).

The whale one is the only watchable of the set. I only made it less than a
minute into Generations. The back-to-back credits of Gates McMuffin and Marina
Dumbass were enough to make me bail. One of the worst treks ever written, by
Braga of course; it was such a failure on every level that they rewarded him
by letting him write first contact, which, while it’s still rancid garbage,
was the best of the Picard movies. So they never let him write one again. It’s
like they wanted Trek to fail. I saw a screener from Paramont with the
original end before it was released. It was horrible and then they spent
millions and kept making it worse.

The one with the colorful metaphors was mostly played tongue in cheek so it was fun
to watch but you cant take it too seriously. I think Nimoy especially enjoyed it.

The Wrath was the best IMO, especially after the botch job on ST I. It had real space battles, Trek
worthy science (fiction) and gave some depth to Kirk's character story.

[Arthur Lipscomb]

Post by tenworld

Post by Ubiquitous

Post by Ubiquitous
AKA "The one with the whales". Comet TV played 'Trek movies all day as a
promo for their new 'Trek lineup, but I gave up trying to watch but reception
was too poor. I tried to tune in later but it hadn't improved, plus, they
were playing Generations, which seemed worse than I remember it being. (I
actually cheered when Mr Data had a seizure and collapsed to the ground,
silent).

The whale one is the only watchable of the set. I only made it less than a
minute into Generations. The back-to-back credits of Gates McMuffin and Marina
Dumbass were enough to make me bail. One of the worst treks ever written, by
Braga of course; it was such a failure on every level that they rewarded him
by letting him write first contact, which, while it’s still rancid garbage,
was the best of the Picard movies. So they never let him write one again. It’s
like they wanted Trek to fail. I saw a screener from Paramont with the
original end before it was released. It was horrible and then they spent
millions and kept making it worse.

The one with the colorful metaphors was mostly played tongue in cheek so it was fun
to watch but you cant take it too seriously. I think Nimoy especially enjoyed it.
The Wrath was the best IMO, especially after the botch job on ST I. It had real space battles, Trek
worthy science (fiction) and gave some depth to Kirk's character story.

Yeah, Kahn is definitely one of the better ones. With a couple of
exceptions, I like most of them.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by Ubiquitous

Post by tenworld

Post by Ubiquitous

Post by Ubiquitous
AKA "The one with the whales". Comet TV played 'Trek movies all day as a
promo for their new 'Trek lineup, but I gave up trying to watch but

reception

Post by tenworld

Post by Ubiquitous

Post by Ubiquitous
was too poor. I tried to tune in later but it hadn't improved, plus, they
were playing Generations, which seemed worse than I remember it being. (I
actually cheered when Mr Data had a seizure and collapsed to the ground,
silent).

The whale one is the only watchable of the set. I only made it less than a
minute into Generations. The back-to-back credits of Gates McMuffin

and Marina

Post by tenworld

Post by Ubiquitous
Dumbass were enough to make me bail. One of the worst treks ever written, by
Braga of course; it was such a failure on every level that they rewarded him
by letting him write first contact, which, while it’s still rancid garbage,
was the best of the Picard movies. So they never let him write one

again. It’s

Post by tenworld

Post by Ubiquitous
like they wanted Trek to fail. I saw a screener from Paramont with the
original end before it was released. It was horrible and then they spent
millions and kept making it worse.

The one with the colorful metaphors was mostly played tongue in cheek

so it was fun

Post by tenworld
to watch but you cant take it too seriously. I think Nimoy especially

enjoyed it.

Post by tenworld
The Wrath was the best IMO, especially after the botch job on ST I. It

had real space battles, Trek

Post by tenworld
worthy science (fiction) and gave some depth to Kirk's character story.

Yeah, Kahn is definitely one of the better ones. With a couple of
exceptions, I like most of them.

Kahn is terrific. Told a good story, spent time developing its
characters, and had a relatively low budget but still worked well.

You start with a good script. I guess you start with a producer who
wants a good script.

And yes, I also like Star Trek Save the Whales.

[Ian J. Ball]

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Ubiquitous

Post by tenworld

Post by Ubiquitous

Post by Ubiquitous
AKA "The one with the whales". Comet TV played 'Trek movies all day as a
promo for their new 'Trek lineup, but I gave up trying to watch but

reception

Post by tenworld

Post by Ubiquitous

Post by Ubiquitous
was too poor. I tried to tune in later but it hadn't improved, plus, they
were playing Generations, which seemed worse than I remember it being. (I
actually cheered when Mr Data had a seizure and collapsed to the ground,
silent).

The whale one is the only watchable of the set. I only made it less than a
minute into Generations. The back-to-back credits of Gates McMuffin

and Marina

Post by tenworld

Post by Ubiquitous
Dumbass were enough to make me bail. One of the worst treks ever written, by
Braga of course; it was such a failure on every level that they rewarded him
by letting him write first contact, which, while it’s still rancid garbage,
was the best of the Picard movies. So they never let him write one

again. It’s

Post by tenworld

Post by Ubiquitous
like they wanted Trek to fail. I saw a screener from Paramont with the
original end before it was released. It was horrible and then they spent
millions and kept making it worse.

The one with the colorful metaphors was mostly played tongue in cheek

so it was fun

Post by tenworld
to watch but you cant take it too seriously. I think Nimoy especially

enjoyed it.

Post by tenworld
The Wrath was the best IMO, especially after the botch job on ST I. It

had real space battles, Trek

Post by tenworld
worthy science (fiction) and gave some depth to Kirk's character story.

Yeah, Kahn is definitely one of the better ones. With a couple of
exceptions, I like most of them.

Kahn is terrific. Told a good story, spent time developing its
characters, and had a relatively low budget but still worked well.
You start with a good script. I guess you start with a producer who
wants a good script.
And yes, I also like Star Trek Save the Whales.

I like all the "evens" - all 3 are good, enteraining films. I don't
mind "1", but it's basically all EFX and no plot. I dislike "3" quite a
bit, for a number of reasons. I'm sympathetic to "5", and it has some
scenes that are actually worthwhile, but I'm not sure I've seen it
since it was in the theaters, and I'm not sure how it holds up...

[BTR1701]

Post by Ian J. Ball
I like all the "evens" - all 3 are good, enteraining films. I don't
mind "1", but it's basically all EFX and no plot. I dislike "3" quite a
bit, for a number of reasons. I'm sympathetic to "5", and it has some
scenes that are actually worthwhile, but I'm not sure I've seen it
since it was in the theaters, and I'm not sure how it holds up...

Five was the one with the hot Romulan chick-- Cynthia Gouw.

[BTR1701]

Post by Ubiquitous

Post by Ubiquitous
AKA "The one with the whales". Comet TV played 'Trek movies all day as a
promo for their new 'Trek lineup, but I gave up trying to watch but reception
was too poor. I tried to tune in later but it hadn't improved, plus, they
were playing Generations, which seemed worse than I remember it being. (I
actually cheered when Mr Data had a seizure and collapsed to the ground,
silent).

The whale one is the only watchable of the set. I only made it less than a
minute into Generations.

FIRST CONTACT is great until they go back in time. Too bad that means
only the first 10 minutes of the movie is great.