Current Watching

[Slightly Brown]

Carrots and celery are just the base of a soup!

<PEDANT> She's not setting fire to the office in that scene, she's bawling someone out about missing ammunition.</PEDANT>

Ach, yes, that’s right. I think I left my brain in san-fran-cheesy on that recollection.

[Toby Gymshorts]

The office takedown scene is great. Splashing gasoline around with a cheroot on the go.

[Hot Pepsi]

The Last Movie Stars

Paul Newman and screenwriter Stewart Stern planned to do an autobiography about Newman and just wife Joanne Woodward so they went around and interviewed not only Newman and Woodward, but lots of people they knew.

Then, for unclear reasons, Newman burned all of the tapes.

However, the transcripts of the tapes survived. So Newman’s children asked Ethan Hawke to make a documentary.

So, during quarantine mostly, he made this six part doc, featuring lots of old movie footage and interviews as well as zoom interviews with people who knew them and actors who admires them. Then famous people play some of those people reading from the interview transcripts.

George Clooney plays Newman. Laura Linney Plays Woodward.

It’s an interesting collage as much as it is an interesting biography of a couple of famous actors.

[Jon]

Just finished Detectorists. What a lovely series.

For more macenzie crook in a pastoral setting, you now have to seek out his take on worzel gummidge.

My son is watching loads of horrible histories on the iPlayer at the moment. The bloke who played the art Garfunkel lookalike on the detectorists is on it a lot. He's a brilliant comic actor.

[Sits]

For more macenzie crook in a pastoral setting, you now have to seek out his take on worzel gummidge.

My son is watching loads of horrible histories on the iPlayer at the moment. The bloke who played the art Garfunkel lookalike on the detectorists is on it a lot. He's a brilliant comic actor.

He’s also one of the Ghosts.

[nmrfox]

For more macenzie crook in a pastoral setting, you now have to seek out his take on worzel gummidge.

My son is watching loads of horrible histories on the iPlayer at the moment. The bloke who played the art Garfunkel lookalike on the detectorists is on it a lot. He's a brilliant comic actor.

Simon Farnaby - he has quite the CV, with the Paddington films, the Mighty Boosh and he wrote the Phantom of the Open (recommended, even for non-golfers) amongst many things.

[Toby Gymshorts]

Horrible Histories is magnificent.

[Levin]

Karl Urban as McCoy might be the best thing in the Abrams Star Trek. Not that there is much competition there.

[Levin]

I mean, who does the scene with the fans (air moving) from Galaxy Quest, after people have seen Galaxy Quest?

[Sits]

Well, I know I’m not the only one as Various Artist mentioned it on another thread but did anyone else watch the final Neighbours? Apart from waiting for Kylie and Jason to rock up, it was a reminder why we’ve not watched it for about 25 years. They did well getting Guy Pearce back though. We mused on how someone like Stefan Dennis would have felt, being with the show almost solidly since 1985 and seeing those three come back from their greater and lesser achievements.

[Simon G]

I watched it and it was....underwhelming.

I'm not sure what I was expecting to be honest, and I really only barely remember watching it in the mid-late 90s. The Holly Valance-Natalie Imbruglia bit was tacky as all hell and the Kylie and Jason bit seemed a bit pointless. I did like Guy Pearce though, even though I don't remember him in Neighbours.

I learnt two things from it, Toadie's hairstyle used to look much, much better and Karl Kennedy looks very odd as a bald man.

[Sits]

Was that Natalie Imbruglia?

[San Bernardhinault]

I watched The Gray Man last night. It was rubbish. I mean, it was basically background wallpaper. I don’t understand how it was Netflix’s most expensive film ever made, because it didn’t feel expensive. It was written by children and the content was probably 80% chasing and fighting so required little actual input.

After seeing who was in it I was reminded that I get confused between Ryans (Reynolds and Goslins) and Chrises (Evans, Pratt, Pine, Hemsworth) who all seem to merge into a single actor. Which is fine in a movie like this where you basically just don’t care because you know the fights can kill everyone except the main protagonists until right near the end.

Also reminded me that I hate modern CGI fighty chasey stuff. There’s people jumping in ways that everyone knows can’t happen, and particular fast styles of camera moves that just scream that it’s all fake, and it just looks silly and fake and therefore makes me care even less. It’s even sillier in a film like this where they’re apparently spending hundreds of millions and they’re setting it in a real world where normal physics applies. Why have bad fake firework displays created using CGI when actual firework displays probably cost less and - inevitably - look more physically real.

Ana de Arnas was pretty good. That’s the best thing about it. Otherwise it’s something to put on when you don’t care, which seems to be the standard for Netflix produced content at the moment, but daft to spend a fortune on.

[Simon G]

Was that Natalie Imbruglia?

It was.

[Amor de Cosmos]

I watched The Gray Man last night. It was rubbish. I mean, it was basically background wallpaper. I don’t understand how it was Netflix’s most expensive film ever made, because it didn’t feel expensive. It was written by children and the content was probably 80% chasing and fighting so required little actual input.

After seeing who was in it I was reminded that I get confused between Ryans (Reynolds and Goslins) and Chrises (Evans, Pratt, Pine, Hemsworth) who all seem to merge into a single actor. Which is fine in a movie like this where you basically just don’t care because you know the fights can kill everyone except the main protagonists until right near the end.

Also reminded me that I hate modern CGI fighty chasey stuff. There’s people jumping in ways that everyone knows can’t happen, and particular fast styles of camera moves that just scream that it’s all fake, and it just looks silly and fake and therefore makes me care even less. It’s even sillier in a film like this where they’re apparently spending hundreds of millions and they’re setting it in a real world where normal physics applies. Why have bad fake firework displays created using CGI when actual firework displays probably cost less and - inevitably - look more physically real.

Ana de Arnas was pretty good. That’s the best thing about it. Otherwise it’s something to put on when you don’t care, which seems to be the standard for Netflix produced content at the moment, but daft to spend a fortune on.

I've canned Netflix, it may be the first move in the end of my infatuation with streaming.

[Jon]

I've canned Netflix, it may be the first move in the end of my infatuation with streaming.

Bang on trend, Amor. I read recently that the young folk are increasingly using All 4 and the iPlayer rather than the streaming services that you have to pay for.

[Hot Pepsi]

I watched The Gray Man last night. It was rubbish. I mean, it was basically background wallpaper. I don’t understand how it was Netflix’s most expensive film ever made, because it didn’t feel expensive. It was written by children and the content was probably 80% chasing and fighting so required little actual input.

After seeing who was in it I was reminded that I get confused between Ryans (Reynolds and Goslins) and Chrises (Evans, Pratt, Pine, Hemsworth) who all seem to merge into a single actor. Which is fine in a movie like this where you basically just don’t care because you know the fights can kill everyone except the main protagonists until right near the end.

Also reminded me that I hate modern CGI fighty chasey stuff. There’s people jumping in ways that everyone knows can’t happen, and particular fast styles of camera moves that just scream that it’s all fake, and it just looks silly and fake and therefore makes me care even less. It’s even sillier in a film like this where they’re apparently spending hundreds of millions and they’re setting it in a real world where normal physics applies. Why have bad fake firework displays created using CGI when actual firework displays probably cost less and - inevitably - look more physically real.

Ana de Arnas was pretty good. That’s the best thing about it. Otherwise it’s something to put on when you don’t care, which seems to be the standard for Netflix produced content at the moment, but daft to spend a fortune on.

I bailed on that early. It was just too dumb.

The Big Picture guys were underwhelmed too.

[Hot Pepsi]

Bang on trend, Amor. I read recently that the young folk are increasingly using All 4 and the iPlayer rather than the streaming services that you have to pay for.

You have to pay for anything worth watching. Or watch ads.

Netflix is definitely getting worse but I’m optimistic about Sandman and the Marilyn Monroe movie might be good.

HBO Max and Apple+ are the best services. AMC+, Disney+, and Paramount+ have some good things. Peacock doesn’t seem to be worth it.

[Amor de Cosmos]

You have to pay for anything worth watching. Or watch ads.

Netflix is definitely getting worse but I’m optimistic about Sandman and the Marilyn Monroe movie might be good.

Perhaps but I'm getting TV'd out. I've never watched much in the Summer anyway, especially lately when it's 30+ degrees. It's much nicer to read a book in the shade of a tree. I'll hang on to Prime and Apple for awhile, but it's been some time since a series came along that grabbed me by the thrusters from beginning to end.

[Lang Spoon]

Watched The Woman in the Fifth on the All4 app, cos I'm hep and young and down with it obs, watching ten year old Frenglish fillums.

was a very intriguing, tense uncomfortable and atmospheric film, Ethan Hawke and Scott Thomas were excellent, then the third act was just shit. I don't mind enigmatic endings, but this just unravelled. Maybe this is how the haters feel about Mulholland Drive.

[Lang Spoon]

We are halfway through a rental of McCabe and Mrs Miller from YouTube now, and it's just wonderful. The print is terrible though, sound and picture both very muddy, worse than I remember on the dvd I used to have, much worse than the sharp Harold and Maude we watched last week.

[Lang Spoon]

What a heartbreaking film. The fake painted snow the studio decided to stick over the climax though, fuck sake.

[Felicity, I guess so]

Watched The Woman in the Fifth on the All4 app, cos I'm hep and young and down with it obs, watching ten year old Frenglish fillums.

was a very intriguing, tense uncomfortable and atmospheric film, Ethan Hawke and Scott Thomas were excellent, then the third act was just shit. I don't mind enigmatic endings, but this just unravelled. Maybe this is how the haters feel about Mulholland Drive.

I stumbled across that recently, agree the first half is really interesting. I went and found the novel and it's...similar!

[Hot Pepsi]

Disney+ has a six part docuseries on the history of Industrial Light + Magic.

It started as a random assortment of movie nerds, hobbyists and engineers in Van Nuys who George Lucas assembled to make Star Wars and went on to do pretty much every movie with special effects one can think of. At least, most of the good ones.

Lucas also drove a lot of the evolution to digital editing, digital filming and digital projection.

The guys who started Pixar also started as part of Lucasfilm and John Knoll, who worked there, helped his brother invent PhotoShop.

It’s come full circle to the creation of The Volume and with the 3D printing etc, they’re starting to use more practical props and models.

[Hot Pepsi]

Watching Raiders of the Lost Ark again. What brilliantly made film.

I wonder if kids growing up these days will give a shit about movies.