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Watching a bunch of Pre-code films on TCM.

Rob

Absolutely love pre-code horror films!

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The Ghoul (1933)

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Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)
 
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We just watched Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Great fun. The soundtrack sucks balls, though.
I watched this last night and really enjoyed it. Hopefully we might get some more like this as a silver lining to the Sony / Disney bust up.
 
Which ones? Anything with Myrna Loy, Barbara Stanwyck, Jean Harlow or Mae West is a must watch.



Red Dust, Little Giant. Then I watched DeMille’s Sign of the Cross and Cleopatra.

I love Pre-code films, and I am happy that Warner’s has started to release a few on Blu-ray now.

Rob
 
Please do not let me stop Rob from posting pre-code stuff, which I am a big fan of, but I am almost done with season 1 of Vinland saga. It's making me want to do a viking thing (my favorite). Of course, there is the cyberpunk thing and the monster island thing too. I have vaguely toyed with the idea of a cyberpunk vikings, with a slightly in the future shipping conglomerates taking the role of big bad corps.

But, back to a different time!
 
I have vaguely toyed with the idea of a cyberpunk vikings, with a slightly in the future shipping conglomerates taking the role of big bad corps.
A voice boomed from the heavens. "Raleel Mythrasson, I Odin have placed thee in Midgard that you might grow mighty in Homebrew lore and fashion this work of inconceivable splender"
 
Watching a bunch of Pre-code films on TCM.
I've been digging those too... great stuff. They showed a string of Leila Hyams movies, someone I'd never heard of before but am glad to have had a chance to see her films.

My friends got me binge-watching Carnival Row over the weekend... one group praised it and started me on it... another group panned it and claimed it was 'propaganda' (I didn't agree). I thought it started out a bit obvious but got more interesting as it went on... definitely looking forward to seeing where it goes.

Now I'm on to Peaky Blinders... been waiting for more of that for ages.
 
Just finished watching the Steven Universe Movie, it was fine overall. The interesting bit (and why I'm writing this) was that the villain was done in the old "Rubber Hose" style of cartoon (ex. Steamboat Willie). So first Bendy and the Ink Machine game, then the Cuphead game, now the Steven Universe movie, anyone else think that rubber Hose animation is both undergoing a revival and becoming storytelling shorthand for being the villain?
 
Started watching Samurai Gourmet. Light-hearted fun and lots of delicious food.

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Finished Young Justice: Outsiders. Was kind of torn, as some things were good and other things made me ticked off. Also finished Love, Death & Robots. Liked that one. Currently flipping between Season 4 of NCIS LA (after watching a couple of episodes of NCIS) and Season 1 of SWAT.

Also watch a Korean action-comedy called The Huntresses. Set in the Joeson era, it features 3 female bounty hunters in a kind of Charlies Angels way. Not bad. Started watching Incarnate. It's ok so far.
 
Been sick for like two weeks so decided to watch a bunch of things. I watched Mean Streets Shutter Island, Dave Chappelle's Sticks and Stones, the boxing documentary CounterPunch, Airplane 1 and 2, Chaos on the Bridge, Star Trek the Motion Picture and Creed 2. I also binged Mindhunter (I never heard of the show and someone recommended it, so I watched seasons 1 and 2). I realized midway through that I had read the book it was based on when I was working on Terror Network.

I had not seen the airplane movies in ages and it was refreshing to watch them again. I feel like I don't see too many comedies like that these days (just that constant barrage of dopey jokes). Great casting. I think that is what really made Airplane work. Shutter Island I hadn't seen before, but I knew the twist. Enjoyed it. I kept thinking about it after which is a good sign. Not my favorite Scorsese movie but I think it was good. Meanstreets is just a classic. I like 70s movies and it is definitely worth seeing if you haven't seen it before. Star Trek the Motion Picture just seemed like a good movie to watch when you have a fever and that panned out. Creed 2 was awesome. Hadn't seen it. Was surprised they decided to return to the Rocky IV material. Love Rocky IV but the first Creed seemed to be going in a direction that wouldn't fit resuming the Ivan Drago storyline. I liked how they grounded Drago and made him a real person. I had rewatched all the Rocky movies the week before so it was interesting to go from the original material straight into Creed 2. Sticks and Stones was funny. Definitely worth checking out. Mindhunter I really liked. I felt some of the subplot stuff was intrusive (didn't need one of the characters getting pulled away from the main plot to deal with his son constantly in season 2, but I understood why they did it). They did a very good job casting and using makeup to have the serial killers match the historical personalities.
 
Mean Streets is my favourite Scorsese. Only Taxi Driver comes close to it for me.

Crazy thing about Mindhunter is they have the same actor playing Manson as played Manson in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
 
Neil Young solo, 1971, appears to be at the BBC:
 
Started Bosch Season 4 (while still alternating between NCIS New Orleans and SWAT). I always like the pacing on this show, as the season long main investigation is a slow burn. The side arcs get really interesting. This season really hit hard for the main character, so it will be interesting to see how that storyline plays out
 
Red Dust, Little Giant. Then I watched DeMille’s Sign of the Cross and Cleopatra.

I love Pre-code films, and I am happy that Warner’s has started to release a few on Blu-ray now.

Rob

TCM's Pre-Code films for September 19:

 
Saw The Fast & The Furious Presents Hobbs & Shaw yesterday. It was just as packed with fights, explosions, and crazy driving as the trailers made it appear. Much fun! However, the theme of protecting your siblings kind of took me out of the escapism-fest, since my sibling has currently put himself in a bad situation and won't accept help.

But! If you like non-stop action fests where the "plot" is just an excuse to string together a bunch of awesome set-pieces, then I recommend it.
 
Watched RAISING CAIN with my dad. DePalma from ‘92. HATED the first time i saw it in the theater. Don’t know what happened — kinda loved it now. Not as much as my opinion on DUNE ( the movie ) changed, but it was something...
 
Just finished watching Long Shot. It starts off kind of so-so, but ended up being a decent rom-com. It's no The American President, but it was pretty entertaining.
 
Did anyone else see Steven Universe: The Movie? It came out last week and I've been rewatching clips ever since. It's basically a musical when you consider the sheer number of songs in-character.

This show gets slept on for various reasons. You may have caught an episode and dismissed it due to an overtly kiddie style of animation or the seeming non-seriousness of the show (especially early on). I know it's definitely not for everyone, but a lot of folks didn't give it much of a chance.

Anyway, I'm including my favorite song of the movie. It's a huge dramatic moment that explains why a new character just showed up and started trying to kill everyone on Earth. I'll give it a little setup while trying to avoid (massive) spoilers of the entire run of SU:

The scene/song mostly takes place in a flashback sung by a new character named Spinel. She's a member of the race of Gems. The Gems are an alien race of beings that consist of super-high-tech gemstones which are able to project bodies of "solid light." They are essentially immortal unless their actual gems are shattered, which is extremely difficult. Gems do not reproduce naturally; instead, they are created by other gems using their advanced technology, somehow cultivated in the earth itself. Each is designed with a specific purpose and station in mind as they have an extremely ordered and rigid society.

At the top of the interstellar Gem empire are the four ruling diamonds (White, Yellow, Blue and Pink). Pink Diamond was the youngest, and her first assigned colony world (a mere several thousand years into her existence) was Earth. When Gems colonize a planet, they essentially tear it apart in the course of using its resources to make more Gems. A massive Gem rebellion that occurred about 6K years ago on Earth is the reason our planet still exists in SU.

But before Pink was given Earth, she had a friend/playmate/toy, and that is who Spinel was. And when Pink was finally given our planet, well...watch the video to see what happened to Spinel.

 
I followed up Long Shot with Crazy Rich Asians, which was actually really good.
 
Finished season one of Stargate Universe last night. Decent show but the additions in the last few episodes felt like it came out of nowhere. Felt like it was dropped there so there would be an arc for season two.
 
Did anyone else see Steven Universe: The Movie?
I haven't seen it yet. The show has amazing songs in general though like "Giant Woman", "It's Over, Isn't it?" and many others.
White Diamond was pretty cool when she appeared. Unfortunately I've only ever seen it in a disjointed way as I watched it with my son. I always wondered were the Gems built by another race. They seemed artificial.
 
I haven't seen it yet.
If you decide to give it a chance, stick around in the first season at least until you get to the episode "Alone Together." The show feels extremely light before that, with little of the metaplot that now drives almost every episode. Steven comes off in the beginning as a very goofy kid, and I've heard that a lot of people initially find him to be annoying. I didn't, but I can understand why someone would feel that way.
The show has amazing songs in general though like "Giant Woman", "It's Over, Isn't it?" and many others.
Yes, the catalog is now extremely deep. I have the show soundtrack and now the movie soundtrack, and to date there are about 60 or 70 songs. And I really enjoy a lot of them. "Giant Woman" was an early sign of impending greatness and "It's Over, Isnt' It?" is one of my favorites. I'd post links, but I've done it here before, and where does one even start? Search for Steven Universe songs on youtube and you will have no shortage.

The song I posted above was written by the show's creator with the help of Aimee Mann, who voices one of the characters (in a completely different song, incidentally). Estelle plays one of the main characters, and the two of the three surviving Diamonds are voiced by Broadway legends (Patti Lupone and Christine Ebersol). My favorite episode of the entire run ("Last One Out of Beach City") included two songs by rocker Mike Krol, and I have subsequently become a big fan of his super-poppy punk. He contributed an original song in the movie as well. Everyone in the main cast has serious singing chops. There are some spectacular youtube videos of cast performances from Comicon three years ago. Et cetera!
I always wondered were the Gems built by another race. They seemed artificial.
I've always wondered that as well. There's another season coming up. I really thought the series had concluded, as the big massive conflict overhanging the whole series (i.e. the breach between the rebel Crystal Gems on Earth and the rest of the Gem Empire) was completely resolved at the end of last season. The movie basically begins with Steven celebrating his richly-deserved happily-ever-after.

So I wonder if we're going to get deeper in the origin of the Gems next season. Something White Diamond said in the last episode of last season struck me - she said "I'm supposed to make everything better!" If she didn't design the rest of the Gems, then who gave her this purpose? I would be completely fine if they never answered this question, but I certainly wouldn't mind a deeper delve.
 
Watched RAISING CAIN with my dad. DePalma from ‘92. HATED the first time i saw it in the theater. Don’t know what happened — kinda loved it now. Not as much as my opinion on DUNE ( the movie ) changed, but it was something...

I was pretty confused first time I saw it as I expected a sane film, now I'm a fan since I realized how bug crazy it is.
 
Rereading Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination. It's an odd Sci-Fi pulpish novel, I guess from the 60s or 70s that I discovered as a kid and for some reason glommed on to. Even though it's not fantastically written, and some of the future predictions come across a bit naive now (like thinking that the Sears-Roebucks retail dynasty would still be around millenia from now), it remains a pretty compelling story of revenge, sort of Count of Monte Cristo meets....I'm not sure, SciFi was never my genre so I don't have a lot of basis for comparison. It reminds me a bit of Ironwolf I guess, the Chaykin/Mignola comic.
I was pretty confused first time I saw it as I expected a sane film, now I'm a fan since I realized how bug crazy it is.

Couldn’t have said it better myself.
 
First two episodes of The Righteous Gemstones are excellent. Less of a goofy OTT comedy the trailer make it appear and closer to the character based black comedy/crime drama of Fargo.


I'm on episode 4 and I am digging it. "It's just some fellas I do car pranks with!"

 
Watched It: Chapter Two at a midnight opening.

If you liked the first film you should like this one fine. It doesn't have the emotional appeal of the younger cast but the horror sequences are more effective and the film overall relies less on cheap jump scares.

The horror sequences push the film more into R-rated territory whereas the first film felt too much like a PG-13 horror film. The book is so extreme it stands out as one of the nastiest books of King's career (one word: flyingleechmonsters). The film doesn't go that far but there are a few scenes of children being murdered that surprised me.

There is some odd humour in the film that undercuts the horror and emotional impact, I don't think it works and doesn't capture the grim tone of the book either.

Overall though if you're a fan of the book or horror in general it is worth a watch.

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If you liked the first film you should like this one fine.
It was OK for me. Definitely not scary and very abbreviated compared to the books. It would probably seem better to me if I didn't hold the book in such high esteem (it's my favorite of King's works). I got much more of an It feeling from Stranger Things since it more thoroughly immerses you in the world of the kids.
 
It was OK for me. Definitely not scary and very abbreviated compared to the books. It would probably seem better to me if I didn't hold the book in such high esteem (it's my favorite of King's works). I got much more of an It feeling from Stranger Things since it more thoroughly immerses you in the world of the kids.
That was something about the first movie that I was trying to convey to a friend who saw the movie that hadn't read the book. You really spend a whole summer with those kids in the book (and summer is long damn time when you are a kid). The movie does a decent job at representing the characters, but it feels like it takes place over a few days. That's without getting into how much the book immerses you in the town of Derry. I looked through the book again earlier this year, for the first time since I was a teenager, and the mental map of that town instantly rose to the surface in my head.

I don't really think they did a good job with moving it from the '50s to the '80s either. The book has such specificity of time time, even though it wasn't a time that I was alive, that it gives the book power. The movie really didn't have that. I was a teenager in the '80s, so moving it to that time should have drawn me in, but it really didn't seem that interested in evoking the time period in any way.

I'm mostly complaining, but I liked the first movie just fine. Revisiting the book since I saw it has just reminded me how much better the original is.
 
Whereas I feel that many of his other books could really benefit from tighter editing, I've always felt that It benefits from the massive tome treatment. I think this is a big reason why it's particularly hard to adapt. The best way to do it would probably be a Netflix/Prime two-season series. Two features just can't do it justice, unfortunately.

Or maybe just call Peter Jackson. He did a helluva job condensing Lord of the Rings, and he got his start in horror. Hey Netflix, here you go: Peter Jackson's It.
 
Whereas I feel that many of his other books could really benefit from tighter editing, I've always felt that It benefits from the massive tome treatment. I think this is a big reason why it's particularly hard to adapt. The best way to do it would probably be a Netflix/Prime two-season series. Two features just can't do it justice, unfortunately.

Or maybe just call Peter Jackson. He did a helluva job condensing Lord of the Rings, and he got his start in horror. Hey Netflix, here you go: Peter Jackson's It.

I agree, for the reasons that Baulderstone Baulderstone said but also I think the long historical flashbacks are very effective set-pieces that give the book texture and depth.
 
Finally got around to watching Rampant. It was made by the same people behind Train to Busan (which I plan on watching soon). If you've seen Netflix's Kingdom, the premise is similar (though Rampant came out first). You've got zombies in Joseon era Korea, a prince forced to step up and save his country, and an evil minister who uses the chaos for their own ends. The zombies can't stand daylight (which also happened in Kingdom).

The main difference for me was the prince in Rampant starts off as a self centered douche who gives in to responsibility, while in Kingdom the prince accepts early on he is the one to lead his country through the crisis at hand. There is more differences, but I appreciated both. I've really gotten into Korean films in the last decade or so, and I think Rampant is a really good mesh of "historical" fiction and horror.
 
Or maybe just call Peter Jackson. He did a helluva job condensing Lord of the Rings, and he got his start in horror. Hey Netflix, here you go: Peter Jackson's It.
Not only that, but he was also able to expand and improve The Hobbit and turn it into a horror.
 
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I'm currently re-watching Reign of Assassins on Amazon. Michelle Yeoh stars as a female assassin who steals part of the remains of Bodhi (the monk some credit with creating Kung Fu). Her character starts off played by a younger actress, but she gets surgery to change her face and becomes Yeoh (but the other actor's voice is dubbed in place of Yeoh's). Decent movie

I also watch Luch Besson's Anna and the remake of Superfly. Superfly was so-so, and I'm not going to recommend it. Anna kind of surprised me. It starts off much like La Femme Nikita, with a young woman working for a shadowy agency (in this case the KGB). While it follows the same path as LFN, it takes some interesting turns to make the story its own. Good performances by Helen Mirren, Cilian Murphy and Luke Evans helps. Good action scenes too. Not as good as Atomic Blonde and/or John Wick, but I'd put them on par or slightly above the original Transporter films (which I loved the first 2). So if you liked Nikita, you might like Anna as well
 
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