What are you watching?

[bSTAR_182]

Yeah but they also showed stuff like Marlene's relationship with Ellie's mother, whom was played quite well by Ashley Johnson. Not as much to my liking, but they also showed Bill's relationship with Frank, and I'm sure some appreciated that.

So overall I think they've thought about not just the game fans, but TV fans in general. I think their goal was similar to that of the Halo TV series, to not just bring the game to TV format, but adapt it to that format, and I think they've done well at that.

I find as far as appeasing game fans goes though, they have pretty much included all the emotionally driven scenes, especially with Joel and Ellie. In a few cases they don't do it verbatim and make minor changes, but the end result is very similar and good viewing IMO.

I really loved Ashley's performance as well, it was a nice touch to have her play Ellie's mom.

I go back and forth on how they handled Bill. I do love that they fleshed out Bill and Frank's relationship more but I wish that they would have shortened it more, and have it to where Bill lives to meet Ellie and Joel on their journey and to see the banter that takes place between them.

It's a respectful adaptation but there's things I wish would have been handled differently. But I'm not sure how they'll handle the bloated story of TLOU Part II, if they're cramming it into 9 episodes again.

Recently re-watched Alien: Covenant. I'm a real sucker for the Alien movies and I can't help but like them all. Still, Covenant is the one I like least. I think it suffers too much from identity crisis and wasted potential. An Engineer city could have been something really special, but there's little "biomechanical" visual spectacle on offer. The Neomorph could have been so much creepier. It baffles me that they cut those shots of it stalking Rosenthal with its uncanny human-like walk. I also hate what they did with Shaw and feel that it undermines the ending of Prometheus. Still, Michael Fassbender was really great as David (and Walter) once again. That guy can really act!

Alien (and Predator) is another fandom favorite for me!

I actually really like Alien Covenant but I agree that there were some missed opportunities with the story and setting. I was hoping that they could help, somewhat, correct some of it by having some flashbacks of David and Shaw on the Engineer planet in another sequel/prequel but that clearly wont be happening now...

I loved the Neomorphs and thought they were actually pretty creepy! The should have stuck with just the Neomorphs for the whole movie before introducing the Alien/chestburster at the end... Would have been a lot better.

 

[Frag Maniac]

Just watched the season 3 finale for The Mandalorian last night after watching Jerry & Marge Go Large. Both were pretty good and didn't disappoint, though I was hoping The Mandalorian final episode would be a bit longer.

I however found out Netflix will soon be dropping their disc service for good in favor of stream only, so it looks like I'm going to need an alternative affordable source for movies more current than streaming services offer.

 

[Frag Maniac]

I really loved Ashley's performance as well, it was a nice touch to have her play Ellie's mom.

I go back and forth on how they handled Bill. I do love that they fleshed out Bill and Frank's relationship more but I wish that they would have shortened it more, and have it to where Bill lives to meet Ellie and Joel on their journey and to see the banter that takes place between them.

It's a respectful adaptation but there's things I wish would have been handled differently. But I'm not sure how they'll handle the bloated story of TLOU Part II, if they're cramming it into 9 episodes again.

Yeah for sure although they DO add some nice extra content the game doesn't have, they also take away content, like Bill meeting up with Joel and Ellie. It was part of the game that was done well and I too was surprised not to see it in the show.

As for TLoU Part II, I've been watching a 4K playthrough on PS5 and was kind of shocked to see what happened within the first hr and a half. I kind of do like the added combat gear they've included and the crafting to go with, but I'm not a big fan of Dina.

So far I'm stuck between being curious as to the reasons the WLF had it out for Joel, and not wanting to spoil it any further. The way my memory is at 65 though, I'm not sure I'd even remember most of what is spoiled by the time they finally release Part II on PC.

 

[KManX89]

I've been doing an Evil Dead marathon this week in preparation for Evil Dead Rise on Saturday on my night off from work, which I've heard nothing but good things about. Currently watching Army of Darkness and will be watching Evil Dead 2013 remake tomorrow before going to see the new film. This one is... definitely more, I guess you can say, reigned-in from the first two Evil Deads. What I mean by that is it absolutely goes for more of a comedic route. The first 2 had comedic elements (Evil Dead II I'd say is the best horror-comedy ever made), but this one goes full-blown horror-comedy, I'm currently on the London bridge scene with the miniature Ashes. They definitely dialed-up the camp in this one while toning down the body horror quite a bit. It's still a solid, fun film all things considered (Bruce Campbell always brings his A game as Ash), but probably my least favorite of the original trilogy, which is still markedly better than most trilogy-closers (exceptions abound, dare I say Return of the King?). That speaks volumes as to the greatness of the whole series.

But yeah, I can't wait to see Evil Dead Rise in a couple days, the mommy character looks and sounds genuinely creepy.

 

[Ikawaru]

'Full Metal Jacket' and 'The Shining'. I'm not a Kubric fanboy or anything but when I do like his films, I really like them. 'The Shining' is a masterpiece in horror, hence my natural affinity towards it and 'Full Metal Jacket' is one of the most thought provoking films I've ever seen. On the surface it looks like just military jargon, but it's military jargon with much thought provoking characteristics. 'Saving Private Ryan' is also a great film and one of my favorites and Stephen Spielberg took much inspiration from 'Full Metal Jacket' for that film.

 

[leon_hellppp]

I loved the Neomorphs and thought they were actually pretty creepy! The should have stuck with just the Neomorphs for the whole movie before introducing the Alien/chestburster at the end... Would have been a lot better.

The Neomorph design is creepy for sure. I think they're the Alien version of that "blank canvas" Michael Myers kind of creepy, with their all-white skin and their vague, featureless faces. I wish we could have gotten to see some of the contortionism suggested in the Alien: Engineers script, since they were apparently based on one of the aliens out of that. What do you think to the news about the new upcoming film by Fede Álvarez?

 

[KManX89]

I saw Evil Dead Rise last night, movie was excellent. The high rise apartment was a great change of pace from the usual cabin (in the woods, lol) and it makes for some damn good set pieces and bloody good horror. Oh yes, it offers plenty of that, which is what you come to an Evil Dead movie to see. The kills are, dare I say, creatively brutal. I couldn't believe this was made for less than a quarter of Renfield's budget (it somehow only cost $15m) with all the effects used and it was real fake blood, too, which I also appreciated. Seriously, that's a lot of corn syrup.

But I really liked the family dynamic as well. The family was surprisingly well-written. I was surprised by how much I found myself actually caring about their safety when it gets to the shameless brutality and when it does, the mom (Ellie) is probably one of the creepiest horror movie villains I've seen in years. She steals the show when the whole demonic possession happens and blood hits the fan. She provides some nice (foul) comedic-relief as well.

It's a must-watch for Evil Dead fans and even for the average horror fan.

 

[bSTAR_182]

The Neomorph design is creepy for sure. I think they're the Alien version of that "blank canvas" Michael Myers kind of creepy, with their all-white skin and their vague, featureless faces. I wish we could have gotten to see some of the contortionism suggested in the Alien: Engineers script, since they were apparently based on one of the aliens out of that. What do you think to the news about the new upcoming film by Fede Álvarez?

I'm curious to see what he does, I really loved his Evil Dead 2013 and Don't Breathe was alright. The post he shared on Instagram for Alien Day was a nice touch. lol


This weekend has been full of really great shows and movies for me.

Pretty much binged the Obi-Wan Kenobi series between Friday and Saturday. I enjoyed this way more than I anticipated and regret putting it off as long as I did. Great fight scenes and I also enjoyed seeing Leia and Obi Wan together. Very sweet.

Finally watched Evil Dead Rise and oh boy this movie did not disappoint. I enjoyed it a bit more than Evil Dead 2013 as it felt like it stayed very true to the originals with the campy humor that was injected more this time around. Alyssa Sutherland did a fantastic job as Ellie. I also enjoyed the different setting from the typical cabin in the woods setting the series is known for. The fact that this movie focuses on an actual family made it all the more tense to sit through. It's a brilliant addition.

Also saw The Super Mario Bros Movie on Thursday. This is hands down the best video game-adapted movie. They knew the assignment and I can't wait for more sequels to spin from this.

 

[KManX89]

I saw Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, pretty solid final entry and one of the last MCU movies I was legitimately interested in. I love that we finally got to delve into Rocket's backstory, which was tragic stuff and Chris Pratt and Big Dave really bring their A game (then again, Big Dave always does, he's really blossomed into a hell of an actor), but that third act truly won me over. It was great stuff and one of the best endings to an MCU film we've seen in a while, certainly post-Endgame. I love how:

Spoiler

Rocket finally embraces his raccoon status and takes on the Rocket Raccoon name like a badge of honor at the end, perfect sendoff and growth for the character, especially with him now being the captain of the Guardians.

That said, there was a lot of "been there, done that" in this movie, stuff I've already seen dozens of times in the MCU at this point with the odd quirk being inserted in dramatic scenes to boot, which felt out of place (again, we've seen that). I'm starting to get burnt out on the MCU and with this likely being the last go-round for the original cast, I think I may (generally) call it quits with this movie. The odd movie like Fantastic Four, X-Men and Deadpool 3 and probably Blade as well, I'll still see, but for the most part, I think I'm done with seeing future Marvel movies in the theater, especially after how meh (at best) Ant-Man 3 was (I didn't even bother with L&T, which I've also heard some not great things about). No Way Home was the last truly great post-Endgame entry before this movie and I don't see that trend bucking anytime soon.

 

[KManX89]

I just got back from Oppenheimer and I'm more than happy to report: Christopher Nolan does it again, this movie is epic. Everything, top to bottom was amazing. Cillian Murphy kills it as Oppy, I'd say give the man his Oscar already, his performance was something else and everybody else nailed it as well (Emily Blunt, RDJ and Matt Damon are always great, so that kinda goes without saying). Every single character in this movie feels important with amazing performances, dialog and story beats that take some unexpected turns for good measure. Speaking of which, this movie's 3 hour runtime may be misleading (you read that right) because it sure doesn't feel like 3 hours. You'd think "a 3 hour drama, there's bound to be some scenes that drag, right?" Not Oppenheimer, every second of every scene held my attention and for a 3 hour drama, that really takes a special kind of writing and directing talent to pull off.

I don't give perfect 5/5 scores often (there's probably more movies that deserve 1s or lower than 5s tbh), but this movie deserves it. Go.See.It.Now.

 

[Frag Maniac]

I just got back from Oppenheimer and I'm more than happy to report: Christopher Nolan does it again, this movie is epic. Everything, top to bottom was amazing. Cillian Murphy kills it as Oppy, I'd say give the man his Oscar already, his performance was something else and everybody else nailed it as well (Emily Blunt, RDJ and Matt Damon are always great, so that kinda goes without saying). Every single character in this movie feels important with amazing performances, dialog and story beats that take some unexpected turns for good measure. Speaking of which, this movie's 3 hour runtime may be misleading because it sure doesn't feel like 3 hours. You'd think "a 3 hour drama, there's bound to be some scenes that drag, right?" Not Oppenheimer, every second of every scene held my attention and for a 3 hour drama, that really takes a special kind of writing and directing talent to pull off.

I don't give perfect 5/5 scores often (there's probably more movies that deserve 1s or lower than 5s tbh), but this movie deserves it. Go.See.It.Now.

Yeah I also have to wonder why the competition thought releasing the cheesy Barbie movie the same day was a good idea! LOL

Speaking of RDJ, I watched his Downey's Dream Cars series recently, which was petty good. Apparently he started getting a guilt conscience about raising kids while coveting a gas guzzling muscle car collection. I liked the first episode most, and it's probably the biggest transformation. I also like that he included his fam in some scenes, which were funny.

Shocker, Barbie ticket sales are nearly double that of Oppenheimer. Shows how twisted American audiences are.

 

[Ikawaru]

I dunno I'm a bit jaded on WW2 films (Especially from the American POV, what about the British and the Soviets??) and I doubt anything could top 'Saving Private Ryan' so I think I will pass. What I would like is more 'Civil War' films because 'Glory' and 'Gettysburg' are great films and think it's past time for another one with good sequences and writing.

 

[Ridley Lockhart]

Winnie The Pooh Blood And Honey

 

[KManX89]

I watched The Flash yesterday on Max (because I didn't want to support it in the theater with all the Ezra stuff, especially after reading this that made me throw up in my mouth just thinking about WB ditching Cavill while keeping Ezra, yes, AFTER The Flash). Simply put, the movie's just not that good. Nevermind the Ezra real life issues (more on that below), the movie's kinda a mess on its own merits and Ezra is a terrible Flash as well as a terrible person. He was f*cking annoying, surely not helped by him playing a second and even more annoying (younger) version of himself.

There's gaping plot holes (and threads that go nowhere), too, including one that made the ending completely nonsensical and contradicts the point it was trying to drive home about changing the past. Without going too deep into spoilers, it shows he didn't learn his lesson about messing with time. And of course, the CGI is terrible, yeah, we know.

Oh, and speaking of Ezra as Flash, there's also some really tone def ****e in there that I'm quite frankly still baffled they left in with the reshoots. This will be covered in spoilers:

Spoiler

Barry saying the Justice League isn’t very good at covering mental health issues ATM and stealing beers from their neighbor's apartment.

That's bound to rub some people the wrong way, especially women watching this. I can see why they boycotted it in droves (a meager 24% of the Thursday demo split was women, that should tell you everything you need to know).

The Keaton stuff is what ultimately saved it from being a complete dumpster fire for me. It's not a terrible movie, but not one I'd want to watch again and definitely not "one of the all time great" CBMs Gunn and Co. hyped it up as prior to release.

 

[Frag Maniac]

Just watched John Wick 4 last night, which was better than I expected. This is a very long movie that runs nearly 2 hrs 40 min, so I thought there might be a fair bit of padding considering the content of these movies and this being the 4th installment. Somehow they still manage to keep it fresh though. It has some good swordplay in it, some good num-chuk stuff, some good vehicular stuff, and great hand to hand. They also brought back a bit of JW3 with dog combat, though this time just one Belgian Malinois. They always seem to work in new set pieces in unique ways.

One of the things I really liked was they worked in some great combat scenes with Donnie Yen's character Caine, who is blind. The ending at first had me worried this would be the last film in the franchise, but I was also doubting that as it's grown enough to warrant the spin off film Ballerina, and a TV series called The Continental. Sure enough a cliffhanger that comes at the very end of the credits shows hints of the saga continuing. Then I searched and found a John Wick 5 is not only greenlit, but already in development, so I was very happy to see that.

 

[KManX89]

I just saw The Exorcist: Believer last night. To no one's shock, it's a mess. It starts out promising enough for the first 40 minutes or so with decent build-up, then for the second half, it takes a complete nosedive with a bunch of wasted characters (and too many characters) that go nowhere and a totally wasted Chris McNeil as a legacy character, who could've literally been taken out and nothing would've changed in terms of plot. As a matter of fact, the movie started going downhill ever since she randomly appeared out of nowhere with dumb moments (I'm not joking when I say characters literally point out obvious sh!t and contradict themselves/plot points from moments/minutes ago, flip flop on beliefs, etc.), occasional cringy dialog (there's actually a patriarchy dig in the movie, I'm not joking about that, either) and sh!t we've already seen countless times in the dozens of exorcism movies we have already, including the original Exorcist with lazy callbacks or outright copypastas.

Jason Blum needs to stop giving this hack work, or at least stop giving him horror projects. He's batting 1 for 4 on horror films, and I really think Halloween 2018 was him catching lightning in a bottle. No sh!t he wasn't gonna be the one to finally capture the magic of the classic original (which is still one of the best horror films of all time IMHO) after all the terrible sequels/prequels. DGG should just stick to drama/comedy, his other genre stuff is actually pretty decent, Joe, Pineapple Express, Vice Principals, etc.

 

[Jonipoon]

Sad to hear that The Exorcist: Believer didn't deliver as many hoped it would. I thought the trailers looked pretty neat, and I was willing to give it a chance if the reviews turned out good, or even decent. But now that it's been heavily panned - I'm out. How sad indeed that this turned out be yet another mismatched dumpster fire that falls into every modern horror trap.

 

[Frag Maniac]

Sad to hear that The Exorcist: Believer didn't deliver as many hoped it would. I thought the trailers looked pretty neat, and I was willing to give it a chance if the reviews turned out good, or even decent. But now that it's been heavily panned - I'm out. How sad indeed that this turned out be yet another mismatched dumpster fire that falls into every modern horror trap.

I actually thought The Exorcist: Believer trailers kind of reeked of it trying to glom off the original too much, particularly the look of the possessed girl. So I'm not surprised to hear the negative comments, because I just had a feeling it would be a cheesy film that lacked originality and creativity.

 

[KManX89]

I actually thought The Exorcist: Believer trailers kind of reeked of it trying to glom off the original too much, particularly the look of the possessed girl. So I'm not surprised to hear the negative comments, because I just had a feeling it would be a cheesy film that lacked originality and creativity.

We all kinda knew it wouldn't be rich in originality, though. There's been a ton of exorcism movies and sequels since the original Exorcist and they all feel more-or-less the same since that concept doesn't exactly lend itself to creative flexibility.

To me The Exorcist is like TCM: that's the kind of story that can only really be told once. Anything after that is naturally gonna be copypasta since you can't really do the possessed demon girl or murderous hillbilly cannibal family on a plantation narrative in ways that feel fresh and new after that first movie, especially with all the exorcism movies we've gotten since then.

 

[Frag Maniac]

We all kinda knew it wouldn't be rich in originality, though. There's been a ton of exorcism movies and sequels since the original Exorcist and they all feel more-or-less the same since that concept doesn't exactly lend itself to creative flexibility.

To me The Exorcist is like TCM: that's the kind of story that can only really be told once. Anything after that is naturally gonna be copypasta since you can't really do the possessed demon girl or murderous hillbilly cannibal family on a plantation narrative in ways that feel fresh and new after that first movie, especially with all the exorcism movies we've gotten since then.

Well honestly, the only reasons writers fall into that trap is they aren't creative enough with the stories and backstories of those possessed.

I watched The Pope's Exorcist, the one Russel Crow was in. I wasn't expecting much from it, but it was better than I anticipated, mainly due to a well fleshed out story and backstory, and fairly good acting. It's not great, it's just that it's not the typical trash exorcist type movie.

I have The Flash movie btw, but have been putting off watching it, favoring The Covenant, Khandahar, and even Fast X over it, all of which were better than expected. I've also been keeping up on The Wheel of Time and Ahsoka TV series. TWOT is pretty good, but Disney still fails to give Jedi fights good choreography. Only a few moves by Christian Hayden, whom does a few cameo appearances of Anakin, are Jedi worthy.