TODAY I WATCHED (Movies, TV series) 2014

UCLA lost 31-10 so now I've moved on to AZ St. vs AZ.  42-35 AZ at this point.  The winner of this game gets to lose to Oregon.

Smackdown

Planes,Trains & Automobiles (1987)

Excellent film with Steve Martin and the late great John Candy trying to get home for the Thanksgiving holiday and everything that can go wrong,does. I never saw this til many years after it was released and was not disappointed in it. I now try to catch it one way or another every year now.

^^A f*cking fantastic title! Will be catching that one again soon.

It was a rough couple of days time-wise so I didn't get any Xmas viewing in until last night with the kiddos. Some minor titles worth mentioning (since these are essentially critic-proof, I'll refrain from a letter grade):

The Christmas Toy (TV, Jim Henson special, 1988 or so) - it's always fascinating to go back and watch something I embraced as a child and now realize the plethora of obvious inconsistencies left uncorrected for the sake of the (intended) viewing demographic. In this very enjoyable Muppet spin off with catchy songs, toys are permanently frozen if caught outside the toy room. Didn't bother me at eight years old, but now my adult brain is getting in the way. Are the kids just that good at leaving their toys in the toy room? How do they not get frozen when they're taken out? Many other distracting questions come to mind. How I miss naviete. Anyway, this was certainly a massive inspiration for the Toy Story franchise, and could use a little more acknowledgement nowadays.

Rankin/Bass, Frosty the Snowman & Rudolph - Classics, especially the latter from which I glean something new with every viewing. It's a shame we don't see these forms of animation very much these days (and when we do it's a treat). Frosty once again presents logical problems (the North Pole accessible from the US by a short train ride; Frosty doesn't melt indoors except for the greenhouse) but I always enjoy the ensuing debate by my wife and I over Mr. Hinkle's entitlement to his hat. Rudolph is less tricky with all that beautiful Christmas magic. Burl Ives is perfect for the music and the songs are classic. These are by far our most frequent viewings during the holidays, and I always feel like a kid watching them.

The Kranks

"Class of 1999" (1990)


In this cyberpunk sequel to Mark Lester's cult classic "Class of 1984,"  two rival street gangs at an inner city high school must put aside their differences to battle three new "teachers" --  who are actually high tech military androids whose lesson plans include healthy doses of corporal punishment. This combo of "The Blackboard Jungle," "A Clockwork Orange" and "The Terminator" is tons of shoot'em up, blow'em up fun!

Fat Freddy wrote:

"Class of 1999" (1990)


In this cyberpunk sequel to Mark Lester's cult classic "Class of 1984,"  two rival street gangs at an inner city high school must put aside their differences to battle three new "teachers" --  who are actually high tech military androids whose lesson plans include healthy doses of corporal punishment. This combo of "The Blackboard Jungle," "A Clockwork Orange" and "The Terminator" is tons of shoot'em up, blow'em up fun!

I've never actually seen that one.  I have the 1984 one and saw that one in the theater when it came out.  This one sounds too stupid for me.  What I loved about the original was the complete feeling of dread you had for the teacher and his family.  This sounds like it wants you to feel sorry for the hoodlums which is just dumb IMO.  If they act anything like the hoodlums in the original, they deserve whatever they get.  But then that leaves me with no one to root for; unfeeling android "teachers" or hoodlum wannabes who get their comeuppance.  

Sounds like this "sequel" misses the point of what made the original a cult classic.  In the original, you really felt for the naïve teacher who moved his family to take the job in an "underserved" school district and who had all these grandiose ideas of how to improve things and "get through to the kids" only to have the hoods totally destroy his idealistic dreams and eventually bring him down to their level.

Yeah, the original was more of a dystopian drama. The sequel is just balls-out st00pid action, but it's still a sh*t load of fun IMO. You should see it just for Stacy Keach at his coked-out, bug-eyed best as the scientist in charge of the Robo-Teachers.

I guess I'll just take your word for it. I'm still trying to simultaneously watch the theatrical release of Clive Barker's Night Breed and the Director's Cut of the same film. So far, I'm not seeing a whole lot that clarifies the mess that was the theatrical release but I'm also much further into that one than the new Director's Cut version.

Super Duper Alice Cooper
Episodes of Family Feud

Auburn vs Alabama.

I hate both teams but since Ole Miss already upset Mississippi State to knock them out of the "Final Four" I'd love to see Auburn do the same thing to Alabama and totally throw the selection committee into a panic.

tohostudios wrote:

Auburn vs Alabama.

I hate both teams but since Ole Miss already upset Mississippi State to knock them out of the "Final Four" I'd love to see Auburn do the same thing to Alabama and totally throw the selection committee into a panic.

Yes.




"Call me Deacon Blues...."

chewie wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

Auburn vs Alabama.

I hate both teams but since Ole Miss already upset Mississippi State to knock them out of the "Final Four" I'd love to see Auburn do the same thing to Alabama and totally throw the selection committee into a panic.

Yes.




"Call me Deacon Blues...."

Yes, I get the reference!

tohostudios wrote:

chewie wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

Auburn vs Alabama.

I hate both teams but since Ole Miss already upset Mississippi State to knock them out of the "Final Four" I'd love to see Auburn do the same thing to Alabama and totally throw the selection committee into a panic.

Yes.




"Call me Deacon Blues...."

Yes, I get the reference!

HAHA!!!

Auburn wasted a lot of time and could have run two plays into the end zone. Oh well, they got the field goal... up by 5. Let's see how the second half goes!

I want the final four to be Ohio State, Oregon, Florida State and TCU. Out of those I'd be pulling for TCU. They've passed the "eye test" everyone talks about, dominating teams down the stretch.

"Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever" (2014)

The sarcastic internet sensation gets her own TV movie (voiced by Aubrey Plaza of "Parks and Recreation") where she befriends a lonely 12 year old girl, foils a pair of Christmas Eve dognappers and saves her pet-shop home from financial ruin...while making snarky comments the entire time, of course. My kids loved it and I got a few chuckles out of it too.

HAHAHAHAHA!!!

I forgot all about that being on tonight; I got too caught up in Rivarly Week in NCAA Football. Guess I'll have to catch it on Hulu.

Ya know, that has me thinking. Maybe I've been approaching Tux's "unique abilities" all wrong. This cat opens cupboards, drawers and sliding doors for absolutely no reason other than to prove he can. And I yell at him. Maybe I should encourage this behavior and also film it. Who knows, I might have the next Internet meme on my hands....

My cat knows how to open every cabinet, door, drawer, glass doors on entertainment centers, whatever. She would make a great cat burglar.

tohostudios wrote:

HAHAHAHAHA!!!

I forgot all about that being on tonight; I got too caught up in Rivarly Week in NCAA Football.  Guess I'll have to catch it on Hulu.  

I'm pretty sure that Lifetime will be re-running the crap out of "Grumpy Cat" all thru the holiday season, so keep an eye on your local listings...

tohostudios wrote:

Ya know, that has me thinking. Maybe I've been approaching Tux's "unique abilities" all wrong. This cat opens cupboards, drawers and sliding doors for absolutely no reason other than to prove he can. And I yell at him. Maybe I should encourage this behavior and also film it. Who knows, I might have the next Internet meme on my hands....

I've tried to make this pic I "memed" of my late kitteh Shadow go "viral" for the past several Xmas seasons now. So far, no luck:

Fat Freddy wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

Ya know, that has me thinking. Maybe I've been approaching Tux's "unique abilities" all wrong. This cat opens cupboards, drawers and sliding doors for absolutely no reason other than to prove he can. And I yell at him. Maybe I should encourage this behavior and also film it. Who knows, I might have the next Internet meme on my hands....

I've tried to make this pic I "memed" of my late kitteh Shadow go "viral" for the past several Xmas seasons now. So far, no luck:

I love it!

Raiders vs Rams

Looks like STL finally found a team they could take out all their frustrations on. Inside 2 minutes and the Rams are up 52-0

Star Trek: Into the Darkness

and yesterday The Runaways

Palladia double feature:
Super Duper Alice Cooper - another great doc from the banger films boys.
Alice Cooper's Night of Fear - cool Alice concert, great too see some official footage with Orianthi.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 - another winner in The Hunger Games film series..... not quite as good as Catching Fire, but still very good. Jennifer Lawrence puts in another great performance.