TODAY I WATCHED (Movies, TV series) 2015

A couple of good action scenes, but not much else going for it.

Finished Jericho. Damn that was satisfying. Second "season," which was merely a short order of seven post-cancellation episodes to appease pissed off fans, gets a bit borderline convoluted and more plot-heavy than character-oriented, but still ends with a well-rounded resolution while being a bit open-ended for possible continuation. If you're a fan of anything nuclear-holocaust, this show should work.

Started watching Pscyh last night, just a little late to the party.

And i watched Psycho the other day, and I can see why it's got the classic status it has. I need to watch more Hitchcock stuff.

I watched the first episode of the new Starz series 'Blunt Talk' with Patrick Stewart.


I had high hopes for this, but I don't know. I'll give it another episode or 2. Seems like you can watch the series on YouTube if you don't have Starz...

I watched the first episode of the new Starz series 'Blunt Talk' with Patrick Stewart.


I had high hopes for this, but I don't know. I'll give it another episode or 2. Seems like you can watch the series (slightly edited for content) on YouTube if you don't have Starz...

I watched this fun mashup video:



It's very well done.

"The Last Shark" (aka "Great White," 1981)



A seaside resort town is menaced by a giant man-eating shark, so two square jawed tough guys (Vic Morrow and James Franciscus) head out to sea in a creaky boat to kill it.

...sound familiar?

When this Italian "Jaws" knock-off was released in the U.S. as "Great White" in early '82, Universal Studios quickly sued it out of existence, accusing it of being a carbon copy of their shark movie. Well, duh. They probably didn't need to go to all that trouble cuz this is a typical Z-grade Italian movie with bad dubbing, an awkward script and unconvincing FX that would've been quickly forgotten if it weren't for the controversy.

I watched the South Park episode Jared Has Aides last night.

Gotham

OK, my third time watching this series and I'm officially hooked.  It's so dark and twisted...

Finally something good came out of a Cardinal West Coast trip; that's the only reason I checked out this show several weeks ago.

Star Trek - TNG: season 2

A whole bunch of movies thus far on this holiday weekend:

"Olympus Has Fallen" (2013)

Generic "Die Hard" variant with Gerard Butler as a disgraced Secret Service agent who (of course) becomes the President's only hope when North Korean terrorists take over the White House. Empty headed shoot'em up, blow'em up fun.

"Trancers" (1985)

Charles Band's enjoyably silly cult classic mashes up "Blade Runner" and "The Terminator" on a six-pack budget, with Tim Thomerson as square jawed 23rd century cop Jack Deth, who gets sent back through time to 1985 L.A. to stop a bad guy from altering the future. Future Oscar and Emmy winner Helen Hunt (who looks like she was barely old enough to drink when she made this!) plays the sidekick/love interest/ damsel-in-distress role.

"We Bought A Zoo" (2011)

Cameron ("Almost Famous") Crowe directed this good natured dramedy about a recent widower (Matt Damon) who finds the path to heal his troubled family when they take over a run-down animal park in need of saving. Yes, it's sappy as hell but in all the right ways.

From the Horror Box Set :


The Vampire Bat (1933) - a small village is plagued by murders that appear to be the work of a vampire. The local police inspector (Melvyn Douglas) is skeptical. Pretty standard 30s horror flick with an above average cast (Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray and Dwight Frye).

The Ape (1940) - Boris Karloff as a mad scientist trying to cure polio using the spinal fluid of men. Meanwhile , a vicious circus gorilla escapes and terrorizes the community. How do these 2 plots intertwine ? Rather conveniently.

The Monster Maker (1944) - J. Carroll Naish as a mad scientist (and hypnotist !) who injects his enemies with acromegaly virus, causing them to become hideously deformed.

Wait, acromegaly is caused by a virus?

That's what they call it. "Science" and all that.

Amazing the scientific advances that were made by 1955.  In "Tarantula", a scientist was looking for a cure for acromegaly by messing around with growth hormones which of course led to a giant spider.  Because  you know, when researching human disease there's no better experimental animal than a tarantula.

corplhicks wrote:

Finished Jericho. Damn that was satisfying. Second "season," which was merely a short order of seven post-cancellation episodes to appease pissed off fans, gets a bit borderline convoluted and more plot-heavy than character-oriented, but still ends with a well-rounded resolution while being a bit open-ended for possible continuation. If you're a fan of anything nuclear-holocaust, this show should work.

I loved Jericho and was gutted when they cancelled it 

Watched last night:

Mad Max: Fury Road

Talk about making up for the massive blunder called Beyond Thunderdome. What a way to revive a franchise!

"Sixpack Annie" (1975)

Vintage "hicksploitation" comedy about Annie, a well-endowed hillbilly gal whose Aunt is about to lose her small town diner to foreclosure. Annie and her pal Mary Lou head off to Miami on a mission to raise the money by finding a rich "sugar daddy."
Basically this is a slightly raunchier version of the "Lil' Abner" or "Beverly Hillbillies" formula (i.e. fish out of water country folk in the big city), with lots of silly slapstick humor and female eye candy. It was probably considered "dirty" for 1975 but it'll barely raise an eyebrow now.

Straight Outta Compton- Loved it

Boris2008 wrote:

corplhicks wrote:

Finished Jericho. Damn that was satisfying. Second "season," which was merely a short order of seven post-cancellation episodes to appease pissed off fans, gets a bit borderline convoluted and more plot-heavy than character-oriented, but still ends with a well-rounded resolution while being a bit open-ended for possible continuation. If you're a fan of anything nuclear-holocaust, this show should work.

I loved Jericho and was gutted when they cancelled it 

I would love to see it revived on Netflix or Amazon with grittier aesthetics and less score. There was no need for a plinking acoustic love theme every time two characters had a serious exchange.

The storylines, character arcs, and survival themes made for some extremely compelling drama though. I was also impressed with Skeet Ulrich's chops--in fact, most of the principle cast were in fine form. The guy who played Jake's dad should've snagged and Emmy.

Fear The Walking Dead - Episodes 1 &2

SideShowDisaSter wrote:

Watched last night:

Mad Max: Fury Road

Talk about making up for the massive blunder called Beyond Thunderdome.  What a way to revive a franchise!

Yeah, this one is on my must buy list. I haven't seen it yet but everyone I know loves it.

tohostudios wrote:

SideShowDisaSter wrote:

Watched last night:

Mad Max: Fury Road

Talk about making up for the massive blunder called Beyond Thunderdome.  What a way to revive a franchise!

Yeah, this one is on my must buy list. I haven't seen it yet but everyone I know loves it.

I've watched it twice since buying it. It takes from both of the first 2 movies without feeling like a rehash. Tom Hardy does very well as Max, Hugh Byrne (Toecutter from the first movie) plays a suitably nasty villain, and Charlize Theron is great in my opinion. Fury Road is 2 hours of car crashes, bullets, and insanity.

SideShowDisaSter wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

SideShowDisaSter wrote:

Watched last night:

Mad Max: Fury Road

Talk about making up for the massive blunder called Beyond Thunderdome.  What a way to revive a franchise!

Yeah, this one is on my must buy list. I haven't seen it yet but everyone I know loves it.

I've watched it twice since buying it.  It takes from both of the first 2 movies without feeling like a rehash.  Tom Hardy does very well as Max, Hugh Byrne (Toecutter from the first movie) plays a suitably nasty villain, and Charlize Theron is great in my opinion.  Fury Road is 2 hours of car crashes, bullets, and insanity.

Toecutter had THE classic line from the first Mad Max film.  "That there is Cundalini...and Cundalini wants his hand back."

John Dies at the End - A-. What a fun WTF movie, Don C's best (although I haven't seen Bubba Ho-Tep) since Phantasm. Lovecraft + Philip K. Dick + Burroughs + R-rated Supernatural + Cronenberg = kinda what it's like.