TODAY I WATCHED (Movies, TV Shows) 2016

The X-Files. Cool story worth the viewing just to see Mulder dance the Achy Breaky !

tohostudios wrote:

Yeah, it's definitely not fit for toddlers.  I'm not sure it's even fit for adults...It's not really extremely gory or sexual or anything, just....disturbing

Not gory?? Which version where YOU watching dude LOL? God that...that was just brutal. And to find out the special effects were all done by the director at his home...impressive. Very damn impressive.

Grue aside, the whole thing is an allegorical mind-F*ck. There's something wildly oedipal about all of this--reminds of me of a short story I once read (title and author escape me) about a boy who kills his dad and goes around wearing his face as a mask; all the while his mother looks on thinking it a silly game and that her husband is most likely absent. In the end, the mask becomes fused and he becomes his father (and of course it is implied that they sleep together). The disassociation of identity, the bonding of flesh, blurring of gender association, maternal attachment...it's all open to interpretation, but in the end I think it's one of those pieces meant to raise more questions than solidify answers. The roots alone make me think of something Cronenberg would have done.

Who knew 7 minutes could be so thought-provoking? Now I'm gonna watch the Dogfight sequence. You really got me interested in these.

Finally got through all 9 hours (or so it seemed) of 'The Hateful Eight'.

It's not bad and had a decent ending to it, but it just seemed like it took forever for it to build up to something. You're nearly an hour and a half in before the "8" finally get all shacked-up together in the cabin, where hilarity ensues. Copious use of the n-word gets a bit tiring too. Quentin needs to move on.

corplhicks wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

Yeah, it's definitely not fit for toddlers.  I'm not sure it's even fit for adults...It's not really extremely gory or sexual or anything, just....disturbing

Not gory?? Which version where YOU watching dude LOL? God that...that was just brutal. And to find out the special effects were all done by the director at his home...impressive. Very damn impressive.

Grue aside, the whole thing is an allegorical mind-F*ck. There's something wildly oedipal about all of this--reminds of me of a short story I once read (title and author escape me) about a boy who kills his dad and goes around wearing his face as a mask; all the while his mother looks on thinking it a silly game and that her husband is most likely absent. In the end, the mask becomes fused and he becomes his father (and of course it is implied that they sleep together). The disassociation of identity, the bonding of flesh, blurring of gender association, maternal attachment...it's all open to interpretation, but in the end I think it's one of those pieces meant to raise more questions than solidify answers. The roots alone make me think of something Cronenberg would have done.

Who knew 7 minutes could be so thought-provoking? Now I'm gonna watch the Dogfight sequence. You really got me interested in these.

I guess I should have said "not gory by Toho standards".  So what do you make of the ending?  That still bugs me.  Was the whole thing in her head?  Why does he look the same as he did when he left?  And you're right about the roots being "Cronenberg-esque"; I never made that connection before.

And "Dogfight" is still my favorite one of these.  I guess mainly because I'm such an animal lover and I love the ending to that one.

And don't forget "T Is For Toilet" if you haven't already seen that one. The best part of these films is that if you start a letter and you really think the short sucks, you don't have to worry because a new story will be coming along in about 5 minutes.

"W is for Wish" is another good one from ABCs 2. So is "K is for Knell" but that one really took several viewings to grow on me; I hated it at first but now I think it's just really, really creepy.

I watched an episode of Sledge Hammer! this evening.

Required Fields wrote:

I watched an episode of Sledge Hammer! this evening.

Ha! Hilarious show from way back.

Required Fields wrote:

I watched an episode of Sledge Hammer! this evening.

I used to watch that show back then!

I had meant to take a nap and ended up watching:

Interesting documentary of an event in 1985 Philadelphia that I do not remember at all.

Anyone remember this?

chewie wrote:

Required Fields wrote:

I watched an episode of Sledge Hammer! this evening.

I used to watch that show back then!

I had meant to take a nap and ended up watching:

Interesting documentary of an event in 1985 Philadelphia that I do not remember at all.

Anyone remember this?

Can you describe the incident? I was living in TN in 1985 but my parents were still living in a suburb of Allentown at that time so I might recognize the story.

Oh yea, I remember it all too well. My wife and I watched this doc a few weeks ago and it just brought back so many memories. I was about 13 or 14 at the time.

In a nutshell, MOVE members, a cult/religion/political party?, set up shop in the middle of a block of row homes in West Philadelphia. Things came to a head with the police and the mayor of Philadelphia approved the use of an explosive devise to be dropped on the house. A fire ensued and 3 or 4 blocks of homes went up in flames, MOVE members died, including children. Noone was held accountable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOVE

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Oh yea, I remember it all too well. My wife and I watched this doc a few weeks ago and it just brought back so many memories. I was about 13 or 14 at the time.

In a nutshell, MOVE members, a cult/religion/political party?, set up shop in the middle of a block of row homes in West Philadelphia. Things came to a head with the police and the mayor of Philadelphia approved the use of an explosive devise to be dropped on the house. A fire ensued and 3 or 4 blocks of homes went up in flames, MOVE members died, including children. Noone was held accountable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOVE

What he said toho.

I remember that Philly incident too. Weird stuff.

Agent Carter

"Lightning Bolt" (1966, aka "Operazione Goldman")


Yet another low budget Italian-made James Bond knockoff starring an American actor (Anthony Eisley of the Sixties TV show "Hawaiian Eye") as a suave federal agent. Tough-guy playboy spy Harry Sennet is investigating the sabotage of several U.S. rocket launches at Cape Kennedy. He eventually discovers it's all part of a plot by a super-villain type who wants to control the world (of course) from a secret base at the bottom of the ocean.
I've been watching a lot of these "Eurospy" Bond wanna-be's lately and this one was the best so far. It's a total ripoff of "Dr. No" on a cheese-and-crackers budget but it's got plenty of action, tons of pretty girls and some cool set pieces. Lots of fun!!

The Middle
The Goldbergs
Supernatural

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia - this season has been very hit or miss. I am thinking they don't have much left in the tank, but I did enjoy last night's episode.

The Walking Dead.

"Dad...?"

FINALLY.

Best episode of the ENTIRE SERIES, this is how you get shit done. There was so much lifted straight from the comic, too, especially the montage toward the end. Now we just gotta hope that the most inconsistently written show I've seen has finally found its footing and some strong episodes will follow. And no more speeches.

tohostudios wrote:

So what do you make of the ending?  That still bugs me.  Was the whole thing in her head?  Why does he look the same as he did when he left?  And you're right about the roots being "Cronenberg-esque"; I never made that connection before.

I'd have to really take some time to think about it. Part of me wants to say it's just arbitrarily cryptic, something that has become more common these days as starting filmmakers are dropping allegory so they can just be weird to get attention. However, the other part of me recognized how careful this guy was with his short. It's not crafted to just freak anyone out, but also to stir up the mind. Kind of how critics looked at 2001 when it first came out, and how polarizing it was.

I don't think he was gone thirteen years, nor do I think the whole thing was in her head. It could simply be exaggerated symbolism of what childbirth entails. Perhaps the husband's absence is a remark on the absent father in society. Also the mother could only last as long as thirteen years before the loss of her medicine--thirteen being the average beginnings of adolescence. Maybe we're seeing the maternal attachment neutered, at that point, by the loss of innocence. Then she lets go, absorbs the presence of the child, and suddenly the husband reappears to appropriate his biological duties before possibly disappearing again. But this all just raises more questions, and I could be way off. Which is cool.

Join or Die

Better Call Saul. Another wonderful episode but I thought it interesting that the writers performed what seems to be course correction. What we thought for sure was going to happen after the S1 finale definitely did not. A curious move.

S.D. has gotten me hooked on The Shield. Boy oh boy what a ride.

Agent Carter
Modern Family
X- Files
The Walking Dead

Started watching House of Cards, and I began rewatching Twin Peaks.

"Killers are Challenged" (aka "Bob Fleming: Mission Casablanca," 1966)



More Eurospy fun with Richard Harrison reprising his role from "Secret Agent Fireball" as Agent Bob Fleming. This time he's impersonating a scientist who's been targeted by a trio of gorgeous femme-fatale assassins.
I liked this one better than the original film, due mainly to Harrison toning down his performance as Fleming - he was such a smirky, leering prick in the first movie that I was kinda rooting for the bad guys (haha) but here he sticks mainly to a man-of-few-words, two-fisted-tough-guy approach. Plus the action scenes are better and the female eye candy is outstanding!

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes - pretty nifty sequel with some nice motion capture visual effects

Gotham - "Tonight's The Night"

Rewatching the last few episodes from the end of the first half of this season before the second half of this season starts up in a little more than a week.

F Is For Family

Better Call Saul

Witchfinder wrote:

F Is For Family

Love that show! It's really good about straddling the line between being hilarious, depressing, and somehow wholesome, haha.