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I didn't really care for the original, probably because I liked the original Clive Barker story... about an urban legend come alive through belief. The movies seemed to ditch that in favor of a story about a vengeful ghost.
Does this new one get at the urban legend/tulpa idea any at all?

uh...no. I'd say this one shifts further away from Clive Barker even than the original film
 
When season five of Lucifer came out, I mistakenly believed it was the final season. After seeing the last episode of season five, I thought to myself, "That was kind of a weird, unsatisfying ending." So I was excited when I heard they were making season six.

Now that I've seen season six, which is the actual final season, I'm ... less excited about it. I did like the storyline about
Lucifer's Daughter
, but overall, I found the final season a bit boring and also felt it didn't fit with the previously established tone of the show. I think the end of season four would have probably been the best endpoint.
I enjoyed the last season of Lucifer myself. I thought the direction they went in was interesting, given the events of previous seasons. It's definitely more of a soap opera than previous seasons, but I enjoyed it in spite of that.

Before that, I watched the French film "How I became a Superhero". It was ok, but nothing great. It shares a plot point with Power (the Jaimie Fox movie also on Netflix), but other than that, are different films.

I'm in the middle of watching Kate, which has been pretty good so far. Really violent fight scenes. Way better than Gunpowder Milkshake was
 
I've been watching 'The Invaders', the late 60s alien invasion show.
Better than I'd expected. It's old school episodic TV but has an overall story arc as the protagonist goes from lone witness to part of a larger resistance movement, though sometimes the extent of his resources is only vaguely implied... like being able to whip up fake identities.
Some good inspiration for low powered X-Files/Delta Green-ish scenarios... plus, like Star Trek of that era, it's full of classic character actors.
 
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I've been watching 'The Invaders', the late 60s alien invasion show.
Better than I'd expected. It's old school episodic TV but has an overall story arc as the protagonist goes from lone witness to part of a larger resistance movement, though sometimes the extent of his resources is only vaguely implied... like being able to whip up fake identities.
Some good inspiration for low powered X-Files/Delta Green-ish scenarios... plus, like Star Trek of that era, it's full of classic character actors.

Loved that show as a kid but haven't had the opportunity to revisit it yet.

It was created by the great B-movie director Larry Cohen (It's Alive! Black Caesar, etc.).
 
I started watching "Y: The Last Man." Three episodes in, I'm not very impressed with it, so I'm thinking about just waiting for the season to end and then binge-watching it at some point.

I'm halfway through "Brand New Cherry Flavor," and really enjoying all the Cronenberg-esque body horror and weirdness.
 
I watched Malignant yesterday. People are acting like it's the greatest prank movie, the next The Room or Troll 2, destined to be a cult classic, yada yada. I guess my threshold for absurdity is a bit higher. It's just kind of a bad B-movie that turns goofy as hell in the last half hour. Bad writing, boring characters, crappy CG, and generally ugly to look at. Its goofiness is the saving grace, but it's not really absurd enough to warrant the reaction its getting.
 
Its goofiness is the saving grace, but it's not really absurd enough to warrant the reaction its getting.
Well, I did think it was VERY absurd... and hilarious (intentionally?)... but it's not the second coming of sliced bread or anything.
I went in tempered by my dislike of most of Wan's other franchise stuff (Saw, The Conjuring)... but the brazen silliness of the idea in Malignant was hard to hate. Like has been said, it's pretty much a Troma/Frank Henenlotter movie with a much bigger (and unnecessary) budget.
 
We're two episodes in on Brand New Cherry Flavor on Netflix and I'm enjoying it a lot so far. I'm hoping it won't pull a Stephen King on me at the end...
43fac3b6da9278f46f2eb6f5d951ebf90dcaceb8.gifv
 
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Finished Kate; it was one of the better films Netflix has been involved with when it comes to action films. I also just finished The Rhythm Section, which also had a female lead. This one was more realistic, as the lead gets her ass kicked in fights, and a few times barely wins. That made the fights more brutal, which was a nice change of pace from Kate. I think I'm going to finish watch the last episode of the last season of Magnum PI, as it will come off P+ when the new season debuts.
 
I just watched season 1 of Designated Survivor and a few episodes of season 2. The first season was a decently taut thriller, although it felt a bit dragged out and the ending was a bit naff; maybe 10 or 13 episodes would have been a better format. However . . . boy howdy did the writing take a nosedive in season 2. I haven't seen a series go off the boil like that since Twin Peaks.
And then there's the cringe factor in the British spook's dialogue.
 
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Y'all there is a Russian rip-off of Commando. Must see this.

 
Another bit of sifting through the anime on Netflix: Puella Magi Madoka Magica. It's a sort of Evangelion treatment of magical girls, quite dark and surreal and I was pleasantly surprised - It's pretty good.
Oh no - please no, don’t do this.
In a previous post of mine, I wrote that Evangelion is the only anime which gets a 0/10 from me.
By comparison, out of the hundreds I’ve seen, Madoka is one of the six works to get a 10/10.

It is a masterclass deconstruction of the mahou shoujo genre - and comes alongside the necessary reconstruction which Urobuchi includes right there in the work, unlike Moore did with Watchmen, assuming someone else would get the point and write the reconstruction bit, only to realize, to his horror, that no one actually got the point (or pretended not to) and all he did was spawn 10 years of horrid, greatly inferior copies.

Too bad Urobuchi himself has not managed to reach this level again (although the first season of Psycho-pass is not too far apart).
 
Finally got around to seeing The Suicide Squad and while I really appreciated the shout-outs to the comics and to the wider DC Universe, the caricatural violence does get old real quick.

That being said, a strong cast helps the movie. A lot. Script may be trite but miles ahead of the previous installment. It was a fun flick.
 
I just watched season 1 of Designated Survivor and a few episodes of season 2. The first season was a decently taut thriller, although it felt a bit dragged out and the ending was a bit naff; maybe 10 or 13 episodes would have been a better format. However . . . boy howdy did the writing take a nosedive in season 2. I haven't seen a series go off the boil like that since Twin Peaks.
And then there's the cringe factor in the British spook's dialogue.
Yeah, I was kind of into it at first... but it was another series where it felt like they really didn't know where to go after the initial set-up played out. Still, I watched all of it... mostly because I liked some of the side-stories and actors.
The thing that REALLY bugged me was all of the very 'dramatic' serious whispering, mostly by Sutherland, even when people were alone in a room together. I hope that trend in shows is dead or dying.
 
Finally pulled off my double feature: Masters of the Universe followed by Super Mario Bros.

Everyone left talking about other sword & sorcery gems of the 80s... I'm trying to find the right movie to pair with La Mujer Murcielago.
 
Yeah, I was kind of into it at first... but it was another series where it felt like they really didn't know where to go after the initial set-up played out. Still, I watched all of it... mostly because I liked some of the side-stories and actors.
The thing that REALLY bugged me was all of the very 'dramatic' serious whispering, mostly by Sutherland, even when people were alone in a room together. I hope that trend in shows is dead or dying.

I felt it went from a thriller to a soap opera in season 2 because they couldn't think of what to do after the conspiracy arc. As a thriller it worked well; as a soap opera, not so much.
 
It is 6am and the wife and I just finished Squid Game. I highly recommend it. We usually pass on live-action because 90% of it is filler but this had tight writing and excellent pacing.
 


20 or so years ago I probably would have been more excited for this than anything on earth. It's a shame the behind the scenes stuff has already put me off of this quite a bit, but plan to give it a shot regardless

Really annoys me about his eyes though
 


20 or so years ago I probably would have been more excited for this than anything on earth. It's a shame the behind the scenes stuff has already put me off of this quite a bit, but plan to give it a shot regardless

Really annoys me about his eyes though

Right with you. I've said before I'm not a comic book guy at all, but the Sandman is the one series that I've owned since I was a teen, kept through twenty-some moves all over the country, reread regularly, lent to anyone who expressed the slightest interest, rebought whenever issues weren't returned, and would've loved to see an adaption more than any Marvel or DC property.
But I'm pretty sure I'm not the target audience for this. It's too bad.
 
I binged Good Omens on Amazon Prime video and thought It was a lot of fun.

I watched the first episode and ten minutes of the second episode of Foundation on Apple TV and am giving up. It has a very attractive cast and gorgeous CGI, but it is much too dimly-lit and much too slow-moving. None of the CGI-sets looks like a real place because they are all too large and tidy. The actors' movement in the scenes is very stagey. None of the costumes look like real clothes. The dialogue is as flat as one of the square states in the middle. And having the middle-size emperor personally direct the brutal investigation of a high-profile terrorist attack is antithetical to the point of Foundation. If you are more than an episode into Foundation and you haven't yet established the premise that the law of mass action means that individual actions are trivial, then you are going too slowly. And if you aren't even trying then this is just another thriller bogged down in the anxieties of the present.

It's boring. Sorry.
 
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I found the Foundation series talky and boring so I can't say I'm surprised.

Asimov did much better work with his short stories and The End of Eternity, which I recently reread and stood up well.
 
I'm not sure really what they're trying to do with the Foundation series. I'd agree that it's slow.

I'm more interested in the clone emperors then I am with whatever's supposed to be happening with the foundation.

I find the main character disappointing. She is supposed to be an incredible mathematics savant but she's just far too normal and dull. I get that sometimes even savants might come across as normal in their everyday lives, but I feel this show would have definitely benefitted from a bit of weird there.
 
I'm considering embarking on one of these next on Netflix:

La Revolution


Thieves in the Wood


I don't know much about either of them, but the trailers spark my interest

They are both pretty good.

Thieves in the Wood is about a bandit leader who seems to have been a Dutch folk-hero.

La Revolution is more of a classic early French Revolution thing
with zombies
.
 
What have I watched recently:
The Vinland Saga: Animated manga Vikings, pretty good.
Clique: Teenager with a dark secret goes against oppressors, thoroughly enjoyable
Brand New Cherry Flavour: Completely bonkers urban horror but, again, thoroughly enjoyable
The One: SciFi(ish) drama that was interesting, not fantastic, but OK
Marianne: French horror series that I wasn't sure whether I liked, but warmed up to near the end
Post Mortem: Norwegian horror that had a few nice twists and turns
 
I'm finishing up the final season of Black Lightning, and am about 2/3 of the way through Infinite, which has been kind of so-so. Also checked out the first episode of NCIS Hawaii, and thought it was ok.
 
Catching up with Brooklyn Nine-Nine, season 7.

Overjoyed at the immense movie catalogue of HBO Max, but out of time to watch all the glorious movies I’ve been searching for years and found there.
 
Catching up with Brooklyn Nine-Nine, season 7.

Overjoyed at the immense movie catalogue of HBO Max, but out of time to watch all the glorious movies I’ve been searching for years and found there.
I signed up the free trial because their was one thing on there that I needed to watch, and I was amazed at how good the selection is. I've held onto that one.
 
I signed up the free trial because their was one thing on there that I needed to watch, and I was amazed at how good the selection is. I've held onto that one.
Right???

Still can’t find John Boorman’s Excalibur anywhere, though.

At least the local cable streaming service has Carlito’s Way.

Mrs. The Butcher’s not always into these, so I’m holding out for the hope that Baby Butcher will enjoy these oldies with dad one day.
 
TCM seems to have acquired a much improved print of Richard Fleischer's The Last Run starring George C. Scott.

I avoided it previously because their print was washed out and in the wrong aspect ratio but this print looks great if not completely pristine, but that just adds to the gritty feel it excels at.



Written by the underrated Alan Sharp, who also wrote classics like Rob Roy, Night Moves and The Hired Hand.

Originally to be shot by Boorman, then Huston, Huston was fired by Scott for trying to rewrite Sharp's script and I can see that as I think it is pitch perfect as is.

It is minimal, no-nonsense, stark character-piece meets crime-drama in a very 70s mode.

Scott is really good here as are the supporting cast including his then current wife and his future wife Colleen Dewhurst and Trish Van Devere respectively, both of whom are very good.
 
It's been a while since I've posted, but I've been pretty busy with work, so I've not actually seen much worth mentioning. A couple of weeks ago, though, I did watch Notorious (1946), an Alfred Hitchcock film in which Ingrid Bergman plays the daughter of a German-American fascist sympathizer. She (of course) is not pro-Nazi herself, though she blames the government for hounding her father, so she accepts an assignment offered by an American intelligence agent (Cary Grant) to go to Rio and smoke out ex-Nazis there. The man she is sent after--and marries--is played by Claude Rains. I enjoyed it, but the romance between Grant and Bergman only works because she is Ingrid Bergman (who wouldn't fall in love with her immediately?). Rains was great, though.

notorious-1946-014-cary-grant-ingrid-bergman-table-bottles-00n-zye.jpg

Last night, my wife and I watched Terry Gilliam's Jabberwocky (1977), which was one of his first post-Python projects. It does have a couple of other Python alumni in it: Michael Palin stars, as Dennis (the) Cooper, and Terry Jones makes a brief cameo at the beginning where he is consumed by the titular monster. I guess you could say that the movie is an adaptation of Lewis Carroll's poem, and one nice touch was having the verse used as the script of a Punch-and-Judy show which takes place in the movie. What it really reminded me of was Candide, though--the same basic structure of a naive young man who sets off to see the world and make his fortune but keeps encountering varying disasters, against a backdrop of comical horrors. But the film lacks a Pangloss, with his 'everything is for the best' philosopy, to satirize. I guess there might be some contemporary social criticism in it--the scene about the difficulties of getting work unless you are a member of the guild could be a reference to the power of British trade unions at the time. Or it might just be there for laughs. The film is set in a pseudo-medieval fairy-tale world, with the absurdity and grime turned up to 11, and some oddly anachronistic notes, like people eating potatoes. On the whole, I didn't find it as funny as the Python films or as good as Gilliam's later offerings, but it was still worth watching. Here's Max Wall as 'King Bruno the Questionable.'

Jabberwocky Bruno.jpeg
 
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We started watching Midnight Mass on Netflix. It's good, but the pace is very slow, almost too slow for my wife's taste.
 
Watched a couple of the Beeb's efforts on Netflix - Bodyguard and Giri/Haji. Both pretty decent thrillers. Will Sharpe's performance as Rodney was really standout in Giri/Haji and - according to the interwebs - picked up a BAFTA for best supporting actor.

This is the signature assassination scene from Bodyguard




And the Giri/Haji Netflix trailer.

 
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