What Have You Watched Recently?

[Bazza]

Oh. *moans*

[Pariah]

No, not *moans*, it's *Moana*.

 

[Bazza]

[csyphrett]

16 hours ago, Spence said:

I always thought the old murder mystery shows were more interesting than the newer ones.  They spent more time on plot and deduction than gimic.  Now it is all DNA and electronic surveillance.

The thing about Columbo is that most of his murders are locked rooms. Death in Paradise and a couple of other shows do the same thing, it's just you know who the villain is, and so does the detective.

CES 

[Lord Liaden]

10 hours ago, tkdguy said:

 

That movie freaked me out so bad when I was a kid!  

 

Ditto. That's how I knew it's awesome.

 

10 hours ago, Ternaugh said:

 

I don't remember Bogart telling dad jokes.

 

It's definitely not anywhere near the quality of The African Queen.

 

I am shocked to hear that.

 

1 hour ago, csyphrett said:

The thing about Columbo is that most of his murders are locked rooms. Death in Paradise and a couple of other shows do the same thing, it's just you know who the villain is, and so does the detective.

CES 

 

Every episode, we would start out witnessing someone commit what looks like the perfect murder. Then Columbo appears, initially looking like a buffoon so the suspect doesn't take him seriously. The pleasure, besides Peter Falk's antics, did not come from discovering the murderer's identity as with standard mysteries. It came from watching Columbo methodically pick the perfect murder apart piece by piece, progressively growing more serious as his opponent becomes aware of how formidable Columbo really is.

[mattingly]

12 hours ago, Bazza said:

The Rock is no Bogie. Maybe Robert Mitchum. 

 

Maybe, but has he released a calypso album?

 

 

[Pariah]

11 hours ago, Bazza said:

 

[Starlord]

Jungle Cruise- this was more enjoyable than I thought it would be.  Also had an interesting twist.

[Hermit]

I recently watched Fisherman's Friends, a British Romantic Comedy based on a true story of a group of Cornish Fishermen who sing Sea shanties. A cynical studio exec gets pranked by his boss, and told to get them to sign up as a rather long in the tooth boy band. It's overall, sweet and wholesome, good music (Esp if you like Sea Shanties). I found myself enjoying it a great deal though the plot unwinds in ways with few surprises. Our romantic lead from London in this 'rom com'   is no underwear model, which is how you can tell this wasn't an American film  (Yes, a stereotype but as a rule, American Romance movies, even the ones with Comedy elements, are Beautiful people with everyone else acting like they're just average looking ;)) 

 

If you enjoy movies that highlight engaging townsfolk you grow fond of even if it's not a town you've been in, romantic comedies that show an average bloke becoming a better man, and some uplifting soup for the soul, I'd suggest it.  7.5 out of 10. Maybe an 8.

[csyphrett]

Watched the new Ghostbusters. it was pretty good. I only saw two things that were either glossed over, or not mentioned. The major thing was how did Egon get the money to move out of NY. It was just presented as something he did, but not how he did it.

 

It wasn't enough to spoil anything else but it would have been nice to have some kind of explanation like Louis was able to get him money through the government.

CES

[Pattern Ghost]

Re-watched Stargirl Season 1 with the wife, then watched Season 2 with her. DC live action needs more stuff like this. It started on the failed DC streaming service, and then was picked up for Season 2 by CW. So, the first season is up on HBO Max, and the second is on Netflix.

 

We've been watching Foundation on Apple TV. Good series. Not sure that it's sticking to the books other than in the barest of outlines. Worth watching though, on its own merit.

 

We watched the first three Wheel of Time episodes on Amazon last night. Seems promising, but kind of a slow start. My main concern is that if they unfold the story at the current pace, it'll take about fifty seasons to get anywhere, and it will end up being mothballed long before that when Amazon realizes it's not the next Game of Thrones. They didn't spare the budget on effects, set design, costume design or any of the eye candy, and the actors are all decent.

 

I watched the first couple of episodes of the new live action Cowboy Bebop. Great casting for Spike and Jet, great visuals, but no soul. They've managed to rip the Bebop right out of it. They paid a lot of lip service to respecting the original material in the press, but it seems to have been all talk.

 

We've been watching the American adaptation of Ghosts on Paramount Plus. It's funny in its own way. I like the husband character in the American show more, but the ghost characters are overall weaker to me. It's ongoing right now, and I think starting to settle into its groove. Enjoying it so far, though I also recommend the British original (on HBO Max). The initial few episodes pretty closely echo the original, but it's now diverged into developing its own storylines.

 

Watched Squid Game. Very well done, and some great performances. Worth a read.

 

 

[Starlord]

1 hour ago, Pattern Ghost said:

We've been watching the American adaptation of Ghosts on Paramount Plus. It's funny in its own way. I like the husband character in the American show more, but the ghost characters are overall weaker to me. It's ongoing right now, and I think starting to settle into its groove. Enjoying it so far, though I also recommend the British original (on HBO Max). The initial few episodes pretty closely echo the original, but it's now diverged into developing its own storylines.

 

 

I echo this review exactly.  The British husband is just so useless it becomes annoying and detracts from the show.  I enjoy the American couple much more, but the American ghosts are somewhat bland in comparison to the British ghosts.

[Ninja-Bear]

I watched Red Notice with the wife the other day. It has Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Renoylds and Gal Gadot. It was a fun movie-I believe on Netflix. Then yesterday I watched the Tomorrow War with my older son, just him and me. That was a decent action flick. We both agree that we hate time travel -lol.

[Pariah]

I re-watched Infinity War and Endgame after having spent quarantine watching all the MCU movies I hadn't seen before. There's some neat subtext there that I missed the first time. 

[Bazza]

2 hours ago, Pariah said:

I re-watched Infinity War and Endgame after having spent quarantine watching all the MCU movies I hadn't seen before. There's some neat subtext there that I missed the first time. 

What subtext may i ask? 

[Greywind]

First 3 eps of The Wheel of Time.

 

Bleeding Steel

[csyphrett]

It's Columbo night and Columbo matches wits with an heiress who kills her brother with a fake burglary and a chemical genius who blows his uncle up while framing the people around him as scumbags to get them out of the way.

CES

[mattingly]

Marcel, the Shell with Shoes On

It's cute.

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF9-sEbqDvU

[Pariah]

10 hours ago, Bazza said:

What subtext may i ask? 

 

One example: Peter Quill going nuts on learning that Thanos had killed Gamora, to the point of preventing the rest of the assembled heroes from getting the gauntlet off Thanos' hand and ending the threat before he could get to Earth. That never really made sense to me, until I saw Quill react pretty much exactly the same way when he learned that Ego had killed his mother.

 

Little details like that.

[slikmar]

11 hours ago, csyphrett said:

a chemical genius who blows his uncle up while framing the people around him as scumbags to get them out of the way

If that is the one with Roddy McDowell, always liked it. and the way he gets him to break down at end is pure Colombo brutal genius.

 

[Bazza]

2 hours ago, Pariah said:

 

One example: Peter Quill going nuts on learning that Thanos had killed Gamora, to the point of preventing the rest of the assembled heroes from getting the gauntlet off Thanos' hand and ending the threat before he could get to Earth. That never really made sense to me, until I saw Quill react pretty much exactly the same way when he learned that Ego had killed his mother.

 

Little details like that.

 

Cheers. 

[csyphrett]

2 hours ago, slikmar said:

If that is the one with Roddy McDowell, always liked it. and the way he gets him to break down at end is pure Colombo brutal genius.

 

Yep. William Windom is like you can't have the cigars. Columbo is like okay

CES

[death tribble]

Departure

This is a six part TV series. After a new British jet disappears over the Atlantic, Transport and Safety staff are under pressure to find any survivors and the black box recorders. They are also under pressure to prove that there was no problem with the jet as it will affect sales. This is a Canadian production and was Christopher Plummer's last roles. Archie Panjabi is the lead investigator brought back after her husband was killed. There are a few familiar faces in the cast from Lost Girl and Grimm which I was pleased to see.

 

Fringe (season 2)

The Fringe division continues to look at all sorts of strange things. We get more Leonard Nimoy as Bell and the development of the parallel universe story with alternate versions of the cast. There are also shapeshifters and the rule that travelling rom one universe to the other has costs. If you liked season 1, then you should like season 2.

 

The French Connection

Based on the true story of one of the largest drug busts that the police carried out, this is the fictionalised version. Gene Hackman an Roy Scheider are narcotics cops who become suspicious of a guy who they see in a club. The film builds slowly as the French try to import drugs into America. Surveillance by watching the suspects and by wire tap and the fact that the criminals become aware of the watching police. The film is shot documentary style. And there is a chase with a car following the New York Metro. The film won the Best Picture Oscar and Best Actor for Hackman. If you have not seen it, I would recommend it. Also features the music group The Three Degrees who were big in Britain.

 

Armchair Theatre: Say Goodnight to Grandma

A couple visit their mothers in the North of England to show them their grandchild. And the women engage in Oneupmanship. The groom is played by Colin Welland who wrote the play. A bit dated. But how the wife turns the tables on her mother in law is fun after the latter has invited her son's friends to the house and laid on a keg of ale and food.

 

Death Dream

This is the British title of the film. A soldier is shown being killed in Vietnam. But his mother refuses to believe when told of it. And so her son returns home but his behaviour is odd. And then people start turning up dead with blood missing. The son needs blood or he starts decaying. It is a quasi-vampire quasi-zombie film with the ending gory as the son goes full beat mode.

 

Night Visitor

This is a Swedish film with some British actors in the cast particularly Trevor Howard as a police inspector, Rupert Davies as a lawyer and Andrew Keir as the head of an asylum. A man escapes from the asylum and comes to a farm where a couple are arguing with the wife's sister. He sneaks in and out of the building before going to another home and seeing a woman there. The man called Salem is in the asylum for killing a farm hand by reason of insanity as he was often drunk. Salem is after revenge for the people who put him in the asylum. That is his family, his girlfriend who did not testify to clear him and his lawyer. He goes back into the asylum to show he has an alibi when bodies start turning up. Then you see how he is sneaking in and out. And hoe he is uncovered by the police is neat. Max Von Sydow is Salem and Liv Ullman plays one of his sisters.

[death tribble]

On 11/10/2021 at 11:51 AM, mattingly said:

My favorite is Quatermass and the Pit aka 5 Million Years to Earth.

I prefer the other two films which are in black and white and the fact that the BBC serials used Mars Bringer of War as the theme music. Much eerier.

 

Anyhow

 

Borley Rectory

This is a part animated film about one of the most haunted places in Britain, now demolished. It was a priest's house but various priests' families say they witness apparitions and a ghost investigator looked into it. Whether said investigator was wholly legitimate is open to question. This is from 2017.

 

The Creature from the Haunted Sea

A gangster who ran a casino assists some Cubans fleeing the immediate aftermath of the Cuban Revolution. Only he plans to double cross them. His gang has been infiltrated by an agent. And one of the gang keeps doing animal impressions. The gang propose to sink money held by the Cubans and come back for it later. They also propose to fake a monster attack. Trouble is that there is a real monster. and it gets in on the fun. This is a Roger Corman film and it makes the most of its cheapness. well worth a look but do not expect greatness.

 

Murder Inc

This film marked Peter Falk's first film role. He plays Abe 'Kid Twist' Reles the real life gangster whose testimony doomed many of his cohorts in Murder Inc particularly Lepke Buchalter to execution. Stuart Whitman also stars as a singer who is cowed by the gangsters. Reles is supposed to have tried escaping the police and fell from a hotel window. This is covered as assassination which is what most sources believe is the truth.

 

The Atomic Brain

An old woman wants to have her mind transferred into a younger body and has a scientist working on atomic experiments in her basement. She employs three young women in order to decide which one she will be transferred into. This is a curious film but worthy of being used in a pulp or Champions scenario.

 

The City that Never Sleeps 

This 1953 film is about a night in Chicago as a cop is deciding to pack it all in and leave town with his stripper girlfriend when he is given an assignment by a lawyer to get a hood a beating and then put him over State lines. Said hood is seeing the lawyer's wife and his accomplice is the cop's brother. The cop's father is a detective on the force as well. The cop is paired with a sergeant who he does not know as his partner is ill. And he is getting grief at home from wife and mother-in-law. This is what is making him think of leaving. The wife discovers a part written letter that implies he is going to quit the police force so she talks to his father. The new partner helps the cop put some things into perspective. The cop misses the hood who kills the lawyer and also kills the cop's father. So he chases after him which leads to the hood's death. He also covers up for his brother. Worth a look but dated.

 

The Captain's Paradise

Alec Guinness is the captain of a ferry which goes between Gibraltar and  Morocco. He has a wife in each port. A stay at home Englishwoman in Gib and an exotic beauty in Morocco. The new captain of the ferry who is the captain's old second relates what happened to an insurance investigator who is trying to find out what happened and why the captain ended up in front of a firing squad in Morocco. His separate lives almost collide when the wife visits Morocco having flown there and he manages to postpone discovery by making her pregnant when they return to Gib. After the children go to school in Britain his wife starts to want a life of excitement while his exotic beauty wants home comforts instead of champagne and nightlife. Engine trouble forces the ship to return to Morocco when the captain finds out his beauty is seeing someone else who she shoots in the middle of an argument. Returning to Gib, his wife leaves him to go off with someone else. So he returns to Morocco and says he killed the lover. He bribes the firing squad who shoot their officer and off he disappears. Yvonne de Carlo plays the beauty and Celia Johnson plays the Gib wife.

[Pattern Ghost]

Just stopping by to say that I really like your summaries, Death Tribble. They've led me to watch more than one thing that I wouldn't have otherwise discovered.