TODAY I WATCHED (Movies, TV series) 2015

chewie wrote:

Just saw a snippet of a review for it:

Quote :

Rarely has a remake felt more contractually obligated than the 2015 version of Poltergeist.
-Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert has been dead for 2 years, so that credit is inaccurate (unless it came via Ouija board).

S.D. wrote:

chewie wrote:

Just saw a snippet of a review for it:

Quote :

Rarely has a remake felt more contractually obligated than the 2015 version of Poltergeist.
-Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert has been dead for 2 years, so that credit is inaccurate (unless it came via Ouija board).

Well it is a review of "Poltergeist"...

S.D. wrote:

chewie wrote:

Just saw a snippet of a review for it:

Quote :

Rarely has a remake felt more contractually obligated than the 2015 version of Poltergeist.
-Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert has been dead for 2 years, so that credit is inaccurate (unless it came via Ouija board).

Whoops! Looks like part of it didn't copy and paste properly. It was Brian Tallerico from the Roger Ebert.com website that I snagged from a Google search.

The CW is running the Flash this summer starting from the pilot. I saw a few episodes and liked it so I decided to catch up on the series and get ready for season 2.

007 wrote:

The CW is running the Flash this summer starting from the pilot. I saw a few episodes and liked it so I decided to catch on the series and get ready for season 2.

It's an enjoyable series, it has that "70s Saturday Morning cartoon" kind of vibe to it which I think works for this particular show. I think it's more entertaining than Arrow. It's not nearly as good as the Netflix Daredevil series (which has a higher pedigree and probably twice the budget per episode) but it's almost apples/oranges in tone. I would rank The Flash as my second favorite superhero series right after Daredevil.

Being a fan of the original series, I've been told this newer Flash series would satisfy me. Like you said, 70s sat am vibe, which I always felt the older series had. I should check it out.

I also watched the leaked pilot of Supergirl which is from the same producer as Arrow & The Flash and will be on CBS this fall. The tone is pretty close to The Flash, but again the larger budget from CBS allows them to film the show in Los Angeles instead of trekking off to Canada like Arrow and The Flash have to do.

I never watched the original Flash series so I can't compare. I do know they did some cool stunt casting by having John Wesley Shipp (the Flash in the original series) play the Flash's dad in the new series.

I'm going to start a run of Fritz Lang movies.

"Neighbors" (2014)


A young couple's tranquil suburban existence is threatened when a fraternity moves into the house next door, leading to numerous increasingly-cartoonish attempts to drive the party animals out.
It's a one-joke premise, but the cast makes the most of it. Your mileage may vary depending on your tolerance for Seth Rogen.

Play Misty for Me

Monday Night Raw

"Wolf Creek 2" (2014)


I never saw the original "Wolf Creek" but it's a slasher movie, so it's not like there's a ton of back story you need to know beforehand. In a nutshell, backpackers and unlucky bystanders in the Australian outback fall victim to a psycho mountain man in this Aussie variation on the "Hills Have Eyes"/"Wrong Turn" formula. The violence is ultra brutal and the guy who plays the killer is a frickin' hoot, he's like Crocodile Dundee if he were wacked out of his skull on crystal meth. Claims to be "based on actual events," for whatever that's worth.

Fat Freddy wrote:

"Neighbors" (2014)


A young couple's tranquil suburban existence is threatened when a fraternity moves into the house next door, leading to numerous increasingly-cartoonish attempts to drive the party animals out.
It's a one-joke premise, but the cast makes the most of it. Your mileage may vary depending on your tolerance for Seth Rogen.

Rose Byrne steals the movie, she's great. It's one of those "dumb on purpose" movies and if you're not too demanding it's pretty funny.

Fat Freddy wrote:

"Wolf Creek 2" (2014)


I never saw the original "Wolf Creek" but it's a slasher movie, so it's not like there's a ton of back story you need to know beforehand. In a nutshell, backpackers and unlucky bystanders in the Australian outback fall victim to a psycho mountain man in this Aussie variation on the "Hills Have Eyes"/"Wrong Turn" formula. The violence is ultra brutal and the guy who plays the killer is a frickin' hoot, he's like Crocodile Dundee if he were wacked out of his skull on crystal meth. Claims to be "based on actual events," for whatever that's worth.

I was pretty disappointed with Wolf Creek 1.  Probably because when I watched it I had been on a run of great foreign horror movies like Haute Tension, Inside and Martyrs.  After a triple bill like that Wolf Creek never stood a chance.  It was like watching Sesame Street by comparison.

Blade Runner- Director's Cut

A few nights ago:

The Following: I guess they thought they were going to get another season as they left it wide open for one.

Last night and tonight:

Stargate Universe

DallasBlack wrote:

A few nights ago:

The Following: I guess they thought they were going to get another season as they left it wide open for one.

Don't you hate that?

One of my favorite Showtime series "Odyssey 5" did the same thing.  They had this season long story arc that ended with a cliffhanger then the show was canceled.  I bought the series on DVD anyway which just reinforced how frustrating the ending was.

tohostudios wrote:

DallasBlack wrote:

A few nights ago:

The Following: I guess they thought they were going to get another season as they left it wide open for one.

Don't you hate that?

One of my favorite Showtime series "Odyssey 5" did the same thing.  They had this season long story arc that ended with a cliffhanger then the show was canceled.  I bought the series on DVD anyway which just reinforced how frustrating the ending was.

The worst one for me was The 4400. I was so invested in that show and the cliffhanger was such a big one. I'm going to experience it again as Stargate Universe was cancelled before it's time and the movie plans went nowhere. Atlantis had the same problem, but they continued it with a book series.

That's why I stopped following shows like that.  It's too frustrating.

Shows thinking they will get renewed (more honestly hoping they get renewed) and then being cancelled really has more to do with the calendar than anything else. The cut-off for networks to decide which shows will be renewed and which shows are cancelled happens at the "Up Fronts" during the first week of May every year. However, that is usually a couple months after series have filmed their last episode for the season.

If a show is completely tanking at the beginning of the fall season then often the network will decide to cancel it early, months prior to the Up Fronts. If a show is a smash then they will often renew it early as well. The problem is the "bubble shows", series right on that dividing line between success/failure that are too close to call earlier in the year. Often the network decides to ride it out and see how the series finale does, plus they might try and re-negotiate the licensing fee from the production studio. If the show is barely profitable sometimes the production studio will agree to a smaller fee per episode in exchange for the network picking up the show for another season.

As for a series being able to conclude organically that's often not really a consideration, if a show is losing money then it's a waste to produce further episodes. Often fans will say "but...it ended at a cliffhanger!", but in reality these episodes can cost anywhere between $2 to $4 million to produce (per episode) and as TV is a business that's all the networks care about.

Idiot Test
Family Feud
Welcome Back,Kotter

Criminal Minds

Wheel of the Worst #8

Big Bang Theory