What Have You Watched Recently?

[csyphrett]

Watched the first disc for Have Gun, Will Travel as Paladin deals with reuniting a father and daughter, letting a wanted man see his son one time before he dies, scamming a rancher into buying poisonous land and a mogul into betting his water rights in a desert chase, getting a man to trial, helping a mail order bride meet her husband, and exposing a heist scheme.

CES  

[death tribble]

ok strap in and here we go for another long list.

 

Vuelta a Espana highlights

So after the problems earlier in the year with the highlights from the Giro I was expecting more of the same. Did not happen. Different presenting line up with no explanation until the second week of the race when the regular presenter was back. Oh well never mind. Could UAE make it three Tours in a row as Visma did last year ? No. But could Visma actually win one this year well they gave it a go with Wout Van Aert taking several stages and leading the sprint competition until he had to pull out. Primoz Roglic played a long game and won his 4th Vuelta equalling the record. But Ben O'Conner nearly won. But UAE without Pogacar could not mount the necessary attack to seize the win. I felt disappointed for O'Conner who had the lead for a long time and Van Aert who lost the chance to race anymore this year which included the World Championships.

 

Dixon of Dock Green

This was a staple of the BBC for years from the 50s to the mid 70s and focused on George Dixon first as a PC then a sergeant before the last series where he was a civilian comptroller. It shares something in common with Dr Who with missing episodes. Of 432 episodes only 33 remain, less than 10%. The whole last season (8 episodes is intact) but the rest are scattered and it is not just black and white episodes that are gone but colour ones as well. The series also had Dixon acquiring a son in law who was with the show from the beginning until the penultimate season. When a lot of the regular cast found out it was ending they went on to other jobs instead. Jack Warner who played Dixon was too old for the job and had played the role also in the film The Blue Lamp where as PC Dixon he was shot and killed by Dirk Bogarde's thug.

The series broke the fourth wall with Dixon introducing the story and maybe wrapping it up at the end. Unusually the episodes that remain had the actor Kenneth Cope turning up in a 60s episode as a deserting soldier and then in the last series as a toupee salesman who steals the proceeds of a robbery.

One of the episodes that remain had an ending that I recalled from the 70s when it was first screened with a woman falling down a slope to her death while the police inspector thought 'Oh No'.

It meant something for me to see the show but probably not an audience outside Britain. 

 

Crown Court

After a long lay off while it was repeated from the start and then switched to a single day to cover all three episodes of a single case, the series is back with new cases.

Case 29 The Long Haired Leftie. This covers a man who was a flying picket at a strike that was not backed by the Trade Union involved. The accused chose to have his case heard before a Crown Court instead of a Magistrate's Court. The judge had to play down any political links that the defence tried to bring in and this was part of the conflict in the story.

Case 30. There Was a Little Girl. The case here concerns a woman who set fire to her home while her children were still inside to get at her husband. The attitudes of the day are prevalent and this would have been dealt with differently today. There would have been doubts to the mental competence of the accused. And they might have not been found guilty.

 

 Out of Bounds

A guy goes to live with his brother but picks up the wrong bag at the airport. Unfortunately it belongs to a crook who kills the brother and brother's wife but fails to find the guy or the drugs in the bag. The police think the guy is responsible and look for him as does the the crook. The added complication is two bent DEA agents who are following the crook and are after the drugs. The guy gets involved with a girl and the crook almost kills her. During the film the guy and the girl are going into clubs and who is playing in person but Siouxsie and the Banshees. So I have to recommend the film.

 

The Last Leg

Special editions of this British comedy orientated programme on every night while the Paralympics was on. This was fun as Adam Hills, the host, had a bet with the two British comedians that Australia would win more medals than Britain would. Oh boy was he wrong ! The British team ended up with over 100 medals and were second overall. China were first. Australia ended up 9th. But the humour was fun as there were recaps of Britain's performances as well as other things that had happened.

 

Red Sun

An unusual Western with an International Cast. Charles Bronson as a robber, Alain Delon as his treacherous partner, Toshiro Mifune as a samurai, bodyguard to the Japanese ambassador, Ursula Andress as Delon's girlfriend and Capucine as the owner of a brothel. Bronson and Delon rob a train and as a by product steal a sword meant for the American President from the Japanese ambassador. One of the ambassador's bodyguards is killed by Delon before he leaves. The other, Mifune, say he will hunt him down. Delon double crosses Bronson and almost kills him with dynamite. Delon rides off with the other robbers and after a small group of them hide the loot he kills all of them so that only he knows where it is. Bronson wants the loot while Mifune will recover the sword with a week or commit ritual suicide. He will however kill Bronson first. Bronson leads them to the brothel run by Capucine where Andress works. He knows that Delon will turn up so he kidnaps her and leaves one of the remaining bandits alive so that Delon will come to him. An added complication is Indians on the warpath. Well worth repeated viewing.

 

The Golden Hawk

Sterling Hayden plays a pirate who has an ongoing feud with a Spanish noble who killed his mother. Hayden sides with the French as the Spanish and English are at war with them. An English woman pirate gets involved as well as the Spanish noble's new wife whom Hayden kidnaps. A further complication is that the Spanish noble is actually Hayden's father and accidentally killed the mother. Fun but a bit convoluted.

 

Blumhouse's Fantasy Island

People visit the island to get their fantasy come true but something goes badly wrong in each case. It is based on the 70s series of the same name but the twist just left a bit of a sour taste in the mouth. For me at least.

 

Morbius

Jared Leto plays the Marvel vampire who is looking to cure his condition and that of his adopted brother. Sadly said brother is played by Matt Smith and when he turns into a vampire as well, I was just not that impressed. Otherwise it was ok. Whether anything happens re Michael Keaton's Vulture turning up at the end is anyone's guess.

 

Boss Level

Frank Grillo plays a special ops soldier who wakes up every day and dies in a variety of ways. He tries to work out what is going on and why a bunch of people are trying to kill him. His ex-wife put him into a machine that can repeat time but can destroy the world. Her boss played by Mel Gibson wants it to rule the world which is why she is trying to stop him. I liked it. For anyone who has played video games and puzzle games this film will ring a chord. Especially as it takes a long time for the hero to realise what is going on and how he can possibly stop it.

 

The Lost City

Sandra Bullock is a romance novelist who is kidnapped from her book tour by demented millionaire Daniel Radcliffe who is after treasure on a remote island threatened by a volcano. Her work may lead to the treasure which is based on her dead husband's work. The cover model of her books, Channing Tatum, tries to save her bringing in specialist Brad Pitt. Pitt is killed in getting Bullock free and Tatum and Bullock have to flee. The film is a bit of a treat with Tatum playing dumb and Radcliffe having a whale of a time playing the bad guy.

 

Under Siege 2: Dark Territory

Or Under Siege 2 this time we are on a train. Seagal proves once again he cannot act which is why they bring in professionals to do the heavy lifting like Kurtwood Smith. What surprised me is that Katherine Heigl was playing Seagal's niece. Eric Bogosian played the main villain who has to use his mind to work out a couple of things and this was plausible. There were well known faces in the mercenaries that Seagal polishes off as well. The film is not as good as Under Siege but it is not bad.

 

Prey

Or Predator vs the Comanches. I was looking forward to this having seen extracts on Youtube and it did not disappoint. Set in the 18th Century The Predator itself was a bit more primitive and did not have access to all the hardware of the other films. A young Comanche woman sees evidence of the Predator's arrival and then it starts killing off her tribe as well as the local wildlife and French trappers. It is left to her to fight and kill it. Really enjoyed this and would recommend it to others.

[mattingly]

12 hours ago, death tribble said:

Boss Level

 

This has been on my list for a while. Thanks for the positive recommendation.

 

  

12 hours ago, death tribble said:

Under Siege 2: Dark Territory

 

I did like the premise of the death-ray weapon. 

 

  

12 hours ago, death tribble said:

Prey

 

I appreciated that the Predator tech was also on the lower-end, as the species was presumably new to space, or else this particular Predator was roughing it.

 

[slikmar]

14 hours ago, death tribble said:

The Lost City

Sandra Bullock is a romance novelist who is kidnapped from her book tour by demented millionaire Daniel Radcliffe who is after treasure on a remote island threatened by a volcano. Her work may lead to the treasure which is based on her dead husband's work. The cover model of her books, Channing Tatum, tries to save her bringing in specialist Brad Pitt. Pitt is killed in getting Bullock free and Tatum and Bullock have to flee. The film is a bit of a treat with Tatum playing dumb and Radcliffe having a whale of a time playing the bad guy.

Enjoyed this so much more then I thought I would. Tatum and Bullock are excellent. It cannot be understated that when Pitt was killed was one of the true shocking moments in a movie I have seen.

[csyphrett]

The second disc of Have Gun Will Travel has Paladin helping a scared highwire acrobat get his confidence back, stopping a land feud with ancient guns, investigating a legendary woman, protecting a woman and her baby from people who think they have typhoid, being held up by a rich man who killed his wife by accident and is waylaying travelers to try to find her lover to hang him, helping an Englishman settle in to ranch life.

CES     

[mattingly]

Watch Legally Blonde for the first time since it came out. It's still pretty good, and I'd forgotten how many stars were in it.

[Tech]

9 hours ago, csyphrett said:

The second disc of Have Gun Will Travel has Paladin helping a scared highwire acrobat get his confidence back, stopping a land feud with ancient guns, investigating a legendary woman, protecting a woman and her baby from people who think they have typhoid, being held up by a rich man who killed his wife by accident and is waylaying travelers to try to find her lover to hang him, helping an Englishman settle in to ranch life.

CES     

I have the entire series of HGWT.

Last thing I watched was "Frozen", followed by "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown".

[Old Man]

The Thing (1982 version with Kurt Russell).  I guess this did meh in the theater when it was released but that probably has to do with '82 being a competitive year for SF movies.  This classic always gets high marks for effects, back when CGI was not a thing, but I give it high marks for writing.  Specifically, the characters were written to be intelligent, which is rare in films like this. 

 

One parallel that I noticed that no one else seems to talk about is the murder-mystery aspect.  I mean there is more than one scene where everybody gets together in one room and they start trading accusations. 

 

If the movie has a low point, it's the editing.  It makes it hard to keep track of who's who, and who's where, which is absolutely critical to the premise of the film.  It's not a huge complaint, but it's a weak point.

 

I give this movie five fingers out of six.

[Starlord]

The Thing is a paranoia film masquerading as a horror film....For me it's a near masterpiece.

Edited October 12 by Starlord

[csyphrett]

13 hours ago, Tech said:

I have the entire series of HGWT.

 

We do too. We're watching a disc a week. There's 35 of them. We're seeing a lot of familiar faces like Uncle Jesse and Roscoe P Coltrane, and the general from the Time Tunnel.

CES

[Pariah]

Between doing other things yesterday, I saw large chunks of the original Star Wars trilogy: Star Wars (later restyled as A New Hope), The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. 

 

It's amazing to me that after 40 or more years, these movies still hold my attention. I know all the dialogue, and I know what's going to happen and when, and I still enjoy watching them. Maybe it's due to a heavy dose of nostalgia, but I still think these movies are  fantastic examples of cinematic storytelling. They resonate with me in a way that few other movies do.

 

I will admit, though, that sometime I would love to see the three movies in their original, unimproved form. Take out the digital hocus pocus and restore (among other things) the goofy Ewok celebration scene after the destruction of the Death Star. These films were groundbreaking. I'd like to be reminded what George Lucas and company did with what was available at the time. It's a minor nitpick, but I think it would be fun to look back and compare.

 

 

Edited October 12 by Pariah
Edited for clarity.

[Bazza]

The original theatrical versions are “available” on the internet. If you know where.  

[Ternaugh]

There were limited edition releases on DVD which contained the original versions of Star Wars, Empire, and RotJ on a bonus disc--in the worst possible way. It was taken from the Laserdisc source, which was originally widescreen letterboxed to fit analog 4:3 TVs. The DVD is encoded as anamorphic widescreen, but the image wasn't converted from the 4:3 source. Instead, pillar boxing is added to show the original LD image in a window box format. George's final "gift" was to include the original analog stereo sound from the LD source encoded in AC3, but also with no cleanup. It's officially the only time that the original Star Wars without the "Episode IV" label in the opening was released on a digital format.

 

I have those three DVDs, a slipcased set of the Special Edition movies on DVD, and "The Complete Saga" on Blu-ray (with Episodes 1 through 6, as it predates the "final" trilogy). I haven't had a desire to upgrade any of those to 4K, though I've bought 7, 8, and 9 in that format. The 4K versions they have on Disney+ are fine, even if Greedo now shouts "Maclunkey!" when Han shoots him.

 

A few years back, I decided that I'd never really rewatch the VHS copies I had, so those were donated to a thrift store in the neighborhood (the "one last time" original trilogy edition, and the Special Edition, and a Collector's edition of Episode 1 with a frame from the movie*). 

 

 

 

*Showing Jar-Jar, of course. More salt for the wounds.

 

[Bazza]

Ever hear about Project 774K? #YouHaveNow 

[DShomshak]

SpaceKiller Klowns from Outer Space. It sounds like a horror movie spoof, and it sort of is, but the spoofery generates a deeper level of horror. A brilliant shooting star over a small town heralds an invasion of clowns whose spaceship looks like a circus tent and who store their victims in cocoons of cotton candy. Of course, the cops believe the two young people who escape the clowns. Meanwhile, the clowns goofily kill or capture the populace in suitably circus-themed ways.

 

Thing is, despite the sci-fi trappings of ray guns and a tech interior for the tent/spaceship, the clowns' powers are genuinely inexplicable. The cotton-candy ray guns, balloon animal dogs that bark and track people, popcorn that grows into jack-in-the-box monsters? Mmmaybe advanced technology? But hand shadow puppets that eat people? The Killer Klowns are an irruption of chaos from Outside, mysterious in its methods, meaningless in its malignity.

 

I've wanted to see this movie ever since I read the review in Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction more than 40 years ago. It did not disappoint.

 

(Oh, and bonus points for not using CGI. It hadn't been invented yet.)

 

Dean Shomshak

[Ternaugh]

43 minutes ago, DShomshak said:

SpaceKiller Klowns from Outer Space. It sounds like a horror movie spoof, and it sort of is, but the spoofery generates a deeper level of horror. A brilliant shooting star over a small town heralds an invasion of clowns whose spaceship looks like a circus tent and who store their victims in cocoons of cotton candy. Of course, the cops believe the two young people who escape the clowns. Meanwhile, the clowns goofily kill or capture the populace in suitably circus-themed ways.

 

Thing is, despite the sci-fi trappings of ray guns and a tech interior for the tent/spaceship, the clowns' powers are genuinely inexplicable. The cotton-candy ray guns, balloon animal dogs that bark and track people, popcorn that grows into jack-in-the-box monsters? Mmmaybe advanced technology? But hand shadow puppets that eat people? The Killer Klowns are an irruption of chaos from Outside, mysterious in its methods, meaningless in its malignity.

 

I've wanted to see this movie ever since I read the review in Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction more than 40 years ago. It did not disappoint.

 

(Oh, and bonus points for not using CGI. It hadn't been invented yet.)

 

Dean Shomshak

 

Pretty sure that Killer Klowns from Outer Space was released in 1988--after both Tron and The Last Starfighter incorporated 3D CGI graphics, and way after the 2D graphics used in the title sequence of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958). 

 

[Old Man]

On 10/11/2024 at 11:27 PM, Pariah said:

I will admit, though, that sometime I would love to see the three movies in their original, unimproved form. Take out the digital hocus pocus and restore (among other things) the goofy Ewok celebration scene after the destruction of the Death Star. These films were groundbreaking. I'd like to be reminded what George Lucas and company did with what was available at the time. It's a minor nitpick, but I think it would be fun to look back and compare.

 

The retconned CGI is extremely distracting since, in most cases, the shot simply wasn't designed for the CGI.  So the CGI is blatantly overlaid.

 

As annoying as it is, though, it's far less annoying than material changes to the story, such as Han not shooting first.

[DShomshak]

11 hours ago, Ternaugh said:

 

Pretty sure that Killer Klowns from Outer Space was released in 1988--after both Tron and The Last Starfighter incorporated 3D CGI graphics, and way after the 2D graphics used in the title sequence of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo

 

I stand corrected. It was indeed post-Tron. (I don't think Vertigo should count as CGI, though. The graphics are abstract, rather than attempts to portray objects and creatures.)

 

Well, I'm no cinephile. I didn't think to check the release date -- I'd have sworn I read the review when I was younger than 24.

 

Dean Shomshak

[Ternaugh]

Just now, DShomshak said:

I stand corrected. It was indeed post-Tron. (I don't think Vertigo should count as CGI, though. The graphics are abstract, rather than attempts to portray objects and creatures.)

 

Well, I'm no cinephile. I didn't think to check the release date -- I'd have sworn I read the review when I was younger than 24.

 

Dean Shomshak

 

From a historical standpoint it's usually counted. But we can jump to 1972 with a research project from Ed Catmull (later of Pixar) and Fred Parke:

 

For a feature film, there's also Westworld, from 1973, which used 2D CGI to represent the machine vision of the Gunslinger:

 

That's followed by Star Wars in 1977, which used limited CGI as described in this making of video: 

 

[DShomshak]

You've made your point. I'm actually most impressed by the Westworld clip. I don't know why, but to me it still feels futuristic. Maybe... It shows this is a robot's vision. It doesn't actually see you. It isn't actually thinking. It's just following a program, in a world of gridded pixels.

 

On reflection, I can't swear the balloon animal dog wasn't CGI. I assumed it was stop-motion animation, but I couldn't swear to it, and I'm not interested enough to try finding out.

 

Suffice to say, Killer Klowns is a surprisingly good movie despite (I am told) a low budget and no obvious technological gee-whizzery. I recommend it.

 

Dean Shomshak

Edited October 14 by DShomshak

[Dr. MID-Nite]

On 10/13/2024 at 12:48 PM, DShomshak said:

SpaceKiller Klowns from Outer Space. It sounds like a horror movie spoof, and it sort of is, but the spoofery generates a deeper level of horror. A brilliant shooting star over a small town heralds an invasion of clowns whose spaceship looks like a circus tent and who store their victims in cocoons of cotton candy. Of course, the cops believe the two young people who escape the clowns. Meanwhile, the clowns goofily kill or capture the populace in suitably circus-themed ways.

 

Thing is, despite the sci-fi trappings of ray guns and a tech interior for the tent/spaceship, the clowns' powers are genuinely inexplicable. The cotton-candy ray guns, balloon animal dogs that bark and track people, popcorn that grows into jack-in-the-box monsters? Mmmaybe advanced technology? But hand shadow puppets that eat people? The Killer Klowns are an irruption of chaos from Outside, mysterious in its methods, meaningless in its malignity.

 

I've wanted to see this movie ever since I read the review in Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction more than 40 years ago. It did not disappoint.

 

(Oh, and bonus points for not using CGI. It hadn't been invented yet.)

 

Dean Shomshak

 

 There are some surprisingly dark moments in this...like the clown using the dead body of the sheriff like a ventriloquist's dummy.

[csyphrett]

Third disc of Half Gun Will Travel as Paladin insures a marriage, foils a murder scheme and a mine theft, impersonates the doctor from My Fair Lady, helps a man make peace with a tribe of indians who may have bought his stolen son from another tribe, protect Indian gold from a greedy army officer, and clears his name of hurting some woman he just met on the stagecoach.

CES    

[Ternaugh]

Watched the pilot episode of The Flash, where Barry receives his powers, and then has to investigate attacks by a motorcycle gang. I had the series originally on DVD, this was from a recently-released Blu-ray set. Picture quality is greatly improved, and the colors really pop. Theme by Danny Elfman, with the rest of the music by Shirley Walker (who did the music for Batman: TAS as well). Best of all, it predates Flashpoint by 20 years.

[csyphrett]

4 hours ago, Ternaugh said:

Watched the pilot episode of The Flash, where Barry receives his powers, and then has to investigate attacks by a motorcycle gang. I had the series originally on DVD, this was from a recently-released Blu-ray set. Picture quality is greatly improved, and the colors really pop. Theme by Danny Elfman, with the rest of the music by Shirley Walker (who did the music for Batman: TAS as well). Best of all, it predates Flashpoint by 20 years.

John Wesley Ship was great. And then when the new Flash started, he was Barry's dad, and Jay Garrick.

CES 

[tkdguy]

I watched Tristan und Isolde last night at the opera. Great singing, but it's a demanding performance for the cast and crew, since it's 4 hours long. Typical Wagnerian offering. It's heavy. It's overwrought. And the star-crossed lovers die before ever reaching orgasm.