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Re: What are you lookin' at?! Right now...

Posted: August 27th, 2017, 12:03 pm
by Space Tycoon
Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo. Very well done, recommended.

Re: What are you lookin' at?! Right now...

Posted: September 3rd, 2017, 7:58 pm
by Mango
Went and saw "Annabelle: Creation" earlier. Surprisingly good, I was very entertained.

The final five minutes go a bit too far into connecting it into the overarching narrative, but other than that it was very solid.

Re: What are you lookin' at?! Right now...

Posted: September 6th, 2017, 7:15 pm
by omicron
Watched the first 4 or 5 episodes of Defenders. I really need to get back to it.

Re: What are you lookin' at?! Right now...

Posted: September 7th, 2017, 4:29 pm
by Scotia
"Enter The Dragon".

Re: What are you lookin' at?! Right now...

Posted: September 8th, 2017, 9:39 am
by Dalty
Classic!

Re: What are you lookin' at?! Right now...

Posted: September 8th, 2017, 10:34 pm
by neglet
Finally got started on "Luke Cage," now halfway through. I'm really digging it so far, because Colton is charismatic in the role and the villains are terrific. The storyline has been a bit repetitive, hoping the mid-point twist gets it unstuck. After this I'll skip Iron Fist and go straight to The Defenders.

Re: What are you lookin' at?! Right now...

Posted: September 9th, 2017, 5:42 am
by Dalty
I liked Iron Fist. Don't know what all the whinging was about.

Re: What are you lookin' at?! Right now...

Posted: September 9th, 2017, 4:52 pm
by neglet
The whole concept of a white guy as inheritor of Asian martial monks is a bit problematic for me, and besides that I don't like the look of the lead actor, with his 80s-style dude perm. Ew. If you want me to buy your hero, don't make him look like a douche-canoe. I also heard it wasn't as good as the other Marvel Netflix series, so I wasn't going to bother. If he knocks my socks off in Defenders maybe I'll change my mind.

Re: What are you lookin' at?! Right now...

Posted: September 10th, 2017, 2:57 am
by Dalty
Wasn't he always Danny Rand from NYC in the comics?

Re: What are you lookin' at?! Right now...

Posted: September 10th, 2017, 9:13 pm
by neglet
Yeah, but trained by monks a la Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins after a plane crash, I think. The comic came out of the 60s/70s craze for martial arts movies, but used a white MC because duh. I'm not excited.

Just watched Sicario, and while it was very well directed, shot, and acted, I did not like how they used Emily Blunt's character as a lens to view everything until the climax of the film, when she was nowhere close to the action (or even monitoring it by one remove). It's like, oh, it's really Benicio del Toro's film now. Psych! Sorry, that was a big minus for me.

Re: What are you lookin' at?! Right now...

Posted: September 13th, 2017, 10:55 am
by Dalty
Right now I am watching the AICN Talkback re: JJ Abrams returning to Star Wars. It's magical!!

Re: What are you lookin' at?! Right now...

Posted: September 24th, 2017, 8:03 am
by omicron
Just watched Hidden Figures. Pretty inspiring movie.

Re: What are you lookin' at?! Right now...

Posted: October 7th, 2017, 7:43 am
by Mal Shot First
We switched to Verizon FiOS internet recently, and it came with complimentary three-month access to HBO, so I've been watching The Defiant Ones, a documentary series about Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine.

Frankly, I was initially interested in it because of Dre (I knew next to nothing about Iovine beforehand), but both men have had interesting lives and fascinating careers. I've seen the first three parts and have one more to go.

The series opens with the two main subjects telling an anecdote about how Dre's deal with Apple went down. While it's an entertaining story, it didn't necessarily endear me to either of the men, even though I think that was the intention. However, that was just the opening bit.

Once the actual documentary began, I was immediately hooked. To my surprise, the first song that could be heard after the opening credits was Nirvana's "Stay Away." The opening shot starts out with a wide view of Dre's mansion, and then a series of cuts brings the viewer closer and closer into the more intimate space of his deck, where he is rocking out to the song. He then proceeds to explain how Nirvana is his favorite rock band.

It's not like I knew that much about him, so this gave me a completely different view of Dr. Dre as a musician. In the course of the series, you get more and more glimpses into his appreciation for music in general, and it becomes clear that he just understands what makes a song successful or popular. I guess I had him pegged as primarily a rap producer, but his musical tastes seem incredibly well-rounded. I suppose this shouldn't have really come as a surprise since you probably need this kind of understanding of music to make it in the industry in the long run.

Anyway, it's an entertaining series, and I recommend watching it if you have a chance.

I also just saw an ad for an HBO documentary on Spielberg. I'd like to see that at some point, too.

Re: What are you lookin' at?! Right now...

Posted: October 7th, 2017, 6:43 pm
by The Swollen Goiter of God
Before 2011, I really only knew Iovine as a name connected to several albums I like. Starting in 2011, he was on American Idol as a mentor, so I got to see a good bit of him. I had never actually watched the show before then. I was sort of forced to watch an episode or two back in 2002, since my girlfriend-at-the-time's roommates had it on some nights when I was visiting.

2002 was the year Ruben Studdard, a fellow Alabamian, won. I had heard his "Flying without Wings" on the radio before I'd seen the show, and I had wondered what the hell I was hearing. I was driving in the car with my girlfriend-at-the-time, who was flipping around on the radio. She stopped on the song, which was playing on a pretty popular pop station, and I said, "What the hell is this nasally, oversung, amateur-hour bullshit?!" I thought maybe they were playing it to make fun of some poor, unfortunate soul who had done some kind of vanity pressing with a small label. I was told who it was and why it was on the radio, and I said, "Maybe it's a good thing I've never watched the show." A week later, my cherry was popped.

It was pretty close to the end of the season, so I didn't get to see any of the auditions. I started getting interested in the idea of the audition process in 2006, and started watching audition clips on YouTube. In 2011, I actually started watching the show. It was on after some other show Jubbers and I were watching. Jubbers was the first person I'd hung out with for years who regularly watched broadcast TV. I'd sort of forgotten how much I liked it.

It looks like Iovine was only on the show from 2011 to 2013. That's surprising to me. I got the feeling while watching it that he'd been with the show from the start.

Re: What are you lookin' at?! Right now...

Posted: October 9th, 2017, 7:17 pm
by Space Tycoon
I watched American Hustle today. Cool-ass movie. If you're into politics and 70's culture, as I am, well worth your time.

Re: What are you lookin' at?! Right now...

Posted: October 9th, 2017, 8:17 pm
by neglet
Space Tycoon wrote: October 9th, 2017, 7:17 pm I watched American Hustle today. Cool-ass movie. If you're into politics and 70's culture, as I am, well worth your time.
Great flick. Plus I've had dinner with the costume designer, and he's a lovely person.

Re: What are you lookin' at?! Right now...

Posted: October 31st, 2017, 9:55 am
by Mango
So it's Halloween, I'm off work, and also alone.
I think it's time to watch scary movies all day. I have a stack of DVDs that have not been unopened (and in most cases I have not even seen the movie) and a few items on my Netflix list. Time to whittle that stuff down.

First up is going to be "Halloween III". I've seen it before, but just once and a long time ago. At the time I was annoyed that it seemingly deviated from the series proper. As years have gone by I've heard that it is pretty good by itself, and also the series itself is quite a mess.

Re: What are you lookin' at?! Right now...

Posted: October 31st, 2017, 12:19 pm
by Mango
So that was fun. Not really good, but an entertaining watch.
I like the double ambiguity of the ending. Plus it's good ambiguity, in that you can deduce what will happen either way it goes.
And now I have the urge to watch "Night of the Creeps" but I'm going to stick to the original plan.

But first, lunch.

Re: What are you lookin' at?! Right now...

Posted: October 31st, 2017, 2:44 pm
by Mango
And I've just finished "V/H/S".
Pretty good anthology film overall, assuming you don't hate found footage films. There is at least some interesting reasons why each protagonist keeps on filming. At least for most of them. A couple of the segments were a bit 'blah' and I think either the framing narrative or the first segment should have had more likable protagonists. But once you get into it, a fun watch if a bit too long.

Gonna move on to "Beyond the Gates" i think it's called.

Re: What are you lookin' at?! Right now...

Posted: October 31st, 2017, 4:59 pm
by Mango
"Beyond the Gates" was not bad. The blurb claimed it was about a role-playing game but it's actually about a VCR board game.
It was well shot and the premise is cool, but the pacing was off and it dragged a bit. I would have preferred a slower intro and some atmosphere and then a final dive into the supernatural. Instead it bounces back and forth a bit and not as wholly as desired.

Trick or Treating starts in a few minutes. I doubt I'll have any one drop by but just in case I think i'll put on a classic. In keeping with the theme though, it's going to be the 1931 "Dracula", the Spanish version.
I've heard good things.

Re: What are you lookin' at?! Right now...

Posted: October 31st, 2017, 7:10 pm
by Mango
Good lord, the Spanish version of "Dracula" is a full 30 minutes longer than the American version.
I did like the guy playing Dracula though, lots of emotion. When Lugosi smiles at Renfield it feels genial and welcoming. When this guy does it you can see the madness in his eyes.
I'm going to have to rewatch the American version to note all the differences but on the whole it didn't really grab me.

But then, neither did the American version.

Re: What are you lookin' at?! Right now...

Posted: November 5th, 2017, 5:40 am
by Dalty
Finally seen Spiderman Homecoming.

Dare I say it..... I was a little bit bored!

Re: What are you lookin' at?! Right now...

Posted: November 5th, 2017, 7:47 am
by The Swollen Goiter of God
It didn't feature any endless runways. That was its first mistake.

Re: What are you lookin' at?! Right now...

Posted: November 5th, 2017, 11:24 am
by Dalty
No, but it featured entirely too much Tony Stark.

Re: What are you lookin' at?! Right now...

Posted: December 16th, 2017, 4:58 pm
by Space Tycoon
I'm currently watching Inglourious Basterds for the first time.

I knew all those French classes would be useful eventually.