TODAY I WATCHED (Movies, TV series) 2014

manny wrote:

Inside Llewyn Davis

Any good? I like the Cohen Brothers, but probably won't get to see this till it's released on demand.

Some recent movies:

My Favorite Year
Vaguley remembered this as a kid, so with the passing of Peter O'Toole, it seemed like as good as time as any for a re-airing. It's still pretty good, especially the senes with O'Toole in them. The secondary storyline with Cousin Larry is kinda dopey. It seemed a little more "slap-stick and corn-ball" than I remembered. The main plot was used almost exactly by The Simpsons a few seasons ago when Bart met an old tv cowboy actor, Buck, and convinces Krusty to put him on the show. Hilarity ensues. Anyone not familiar with the late Peter O'Toole and wants to see something he was in, get this. From what I understand, he pretty much plays himself.

We're The Millers
Decent comedy that both my wife & I could agree on, but I didn't think it was all that great. Some funny scenes, but not as hilarious as others made it out to be. And a pet-peeve of mine, actresses that play strippers, but never get topless. Even scenes shot in the strip club, none of the girls are topless. What kind of bulls**t is that? I hate that. Jennifer Aniston, while hot, has to be one of the most overrated actresses in Hollywood right now. She's terrible.

Dear Mr. Watterson
Cool documentary about Calvin & Hobbes and it's reclusive creator, Bill Watterson. Starts out kinda slow, watching all these nerds talking about their love of the comic strip, but gets better as it goes on. Rough estimates say that he walked away from a $300 million dollar empire because he refused to license the charaters for commercial use. Gotta respect an artist that has that kind of conviction. Of course, the greatest ending would have been for Bill himself to make an appearance in the doc, but staying true to form, he's nowhere to be seen.

Family Band: The Cowsills Story
Another doc about a family band that was the real life inspiriation for "The Partridge Family". Very interesting, if a bit uneven. For a documentary, they skipped over a large portion of the family history (from about 1975 to 1994) and had my wife and I asking more questions than they answered. Still worth watching though.

The 71st annual Golden Globes

The Rockford Files - 2-part pilot episode (1974). Used to watch this show as a kid but I've never seen it in order. The slower pacing is refreshing now, gives you time to really catch the vibe of the show. The pilot also featured Lindsay Wagner (2 years before The Bionic Woman).

MetalGuy71 wrote:

We're The Millers
Decent comedy that both my wife & I could agree on, but I didn't think it was all that great. Some funny scenes, but not as hilarious as others made it out to be. And a pet-peeve of mine, actresses that play strippers, but never get topless. Even scenes shot in the strip club, none of the girls are topless. What kind of bulls**t is that? I hate that. Jennifer Aniston, while hot, has to be one of the most overrated actresses in Hollywood right now. She's terrible.

I thought it was pretty good and actually a little above average for your typical "moron-comedy" film. Jennifer Aniston is a "personality", she's not an actress, that's why almost all of her film roles are comedies, nobody would hire her for a serious dramatic part. The main purpose she serves is getting a movie green-lit. As for the stripper thing, one of the benefits of being an A-list star is you can say no to nudity (and that gets written into the contract) so the filmmakers have no choice but put unrealistic situations on the screen to bend to the stars wishes. This has become an all too common occurrence but it's not going away anytime soon.

Quote :

As for the stripper thing, one of the benefits of being an A-list star is you can say no to nudity (and that gets written into the contract) so the filmmakers have no choice but put unrealistic situations on the screen to bend to the stars wishes.

Oh yea, I get why that happens. If she doesn't want to show the goods, she shouldn't have to. But then re-write the part so the charater is a cashier or something. Or find an actress that is willing to play the part of a stripper to the full effect. It's just a frustrating pet-peeve of mine. Especially in an R-rated adult comedy. Eh, whatever.

The movie itself was ok enough. Kind of felt like a Vince Vaughn type of movie. Like it was written for him, but they went with that Sedakis guy instead because Vince wasn't available.

That Watterson doc sounds interesting.

...reminds me of an "Onion" piece from a while back that sez Bill Watterson still creates a new "Calvin and Hobbes" strip every day, and then tears it up. ("Wow, the fans would really like this one, it changes everything about Spaceman Spiff. Oh well, f*ck 'em....")

MetalGuy71 wrote:

The movie itself was ok enough. Kind of felt like a Vince Vaughn type of movie. Like it was written for him, but they went with that Sedakis guy instead because Vince wasn't available.

They should be happy Vince wasn't involved, this film was about 500 times funnier than "The Internship". Both of the comedies Vince starred in this year flopped, I think his 15 minutes might be up on the big screen.

Fat Freddy wrote:

That Watterson doc sounds interesting.

...reminds me of an "Onion" piece from a while back that sez Bill Watterson still creates a new "Calvin and Hobbes" strip every day, and then tears it up. ("Wow, the fans would really like this one, it changes everything about Spaceman Spiff. Oh well, f*ck 'em....")

Yea, it's good. I guess it's more of a tribute to the comic itself than a doc about the creator. But still offers some cool insight.

Quote :

They should be happy Vince wasn't involved, this film was about 500 times funnier than "The Internship". Both of the comedies Vince starred in this year flopped, I think his 15 minutes might be up on the big screen.

I'd heard that 'The Internship' was terrible. A 90 minute commercial for Google. I didn't have much interest in watching it anyway.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

manny wrote:

Inside Llewyn Davis

Any good? I like the Cohen Brothers, but probably won't get to see this till it's released on demand.

I actually liked it, but its more of a character sketch and not much happens in the movie. Its about a folk singer based loosely on Dave Van Rook. I really enjoyed the acting and the dialogue of the film. The ending of the film, sees a folk singer get up on stage, who's name I won't mention but clearly the implication is that days of a folk singer like Llewyn Davis are coming to an end, with the arrival of this new folk singer not mentioned by name in the film.

"Dead Snow" (2009) - This Norwegian horror hit is kinda like a wintry take on "Evil Dead," with bonus Nazism. When a gang of twenty somethings head to a remote mountain cabin for some snowy fun they inadvertently wake up a squadron of frosty Nazi zombies which also call the mountain home. Lots of extremely bloody mayhem follows, naturally.
This one took a while to get going but once it finally did, it was a stone cold hoot, and also one of the goriest flicks I've seen in quite some time.

S.D. wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

The movie itself was ok enough. Kind of felt like a Vince Vaughn type of movie. Like it was written for him, but they went with that Sedakis guy instead because Vince wasn't available.

They should be happy Vince wasn't involved, this film was about 500 times funnier than "The Internship".  Both of the comedies Vince starred in this year flopped, I think his 15 minutes might be up on the big screen.  

Shame. I always like d him but haven't seen anything of his recently.

Watched Sleepy Hollow last night.

watched "Broken City" late last night

Bandits

Stargate SG-1; Season 6 disc 2

The Blacklist
The Rockford Files

"Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn" (1983) - Charles "Puppet Master" Band directed this no budget sci-fi mess that mixes "Mad Max" with some mystical nonsense from "Star Wars." A futuristic law man enters "the forbidden lands" and battles it out with mutants (one of whom is played by a pre "Night Court" Richard Moll!) to save a girl (Kelly Preston, aka the future Mrs. John Travolta!) from the clutches of a Darth Vader style bad guy. Cheap sets, wooden performances, not-very special effects, and silly dialogue make this supremely cheesy flick a tough slog. Simply awful!

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D

The Lord of the Rings trilogy. A friend and I did the viewing marathon yesterday -another bucket list item done!

Fat Freddy wrote:

"Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn" (1983) - Charles "Puppet Master" Band directed this no budget sci-fi mess that mixes "Mad Max" with some mystical nonsense from "Star Wars." A futuristic law man enters "the forbidden lands" and battles it out with mutants (one of whom is played by a pre "Night Court" Richard Moll!) to save a girl (Kelly Preston, aka the future Mrs. John Travolta!) from the clutches of a Darth Vader style bad guy. Cheap sets, wooden performances, not-very special effects, and silly dialogue make this supremely cheesy flick a tough slog. Simply awful!

I saw that in the theater. It was a hastily assembled film with the sole purpose of cashing in on the 3-D craze that was already winding down by the time it was released.

S.D. wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

"Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn" (1983) - Charles "Puppet Master" Band directed this no budget sci-fi mess that mixes "Mad Max" with some mystical nonsense from "Star Wars." A futuristic law man enters "the forbidden lands" and battles it out with mutants (one of whom is played by a pre "Night Court" Richard Moll!) to save a girl (Kelly Preston, aka the future Mrs. John Travolta!) from the clutches of a Darth Vader style bad guy. Cheap sets, wooden performances, not-very special effects, and silly dialogue make this supremely cheesy flick a tough slog. Simply awful!

I saw that in the theater.

Shawn, either someone just hacked your account or you were a wildly different person back in 1983.

corplhicks wrote:

Shawn, either someone just hacked your account or you were a wildly different person back in 1983.

I was 13 years old in 1983, so yeah, I've changed a little bit over the years.   

manny wrote:

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D

Same here.

Sleepy Hollow
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The Originals
New Girl