THE BELKO EXPERIMENT - John Gallagher Jr., Tony Goldwyn, Adria Arjona, John C. McGinley, Sean Gunn, Gregg Henry, Michael Rooker. The experiment is an outrageous waste of time and money. Must have cost a fortune modifying that building, hiring and paying 80 person staff for a year, implanting device in back of their heads just to observe them killing each other after subjecting them to unimaginable horror and finally promising to free the person who kills the most, but did they need that ridiculous experiment to tell them that? I could have told them that for free. But that last person ends up killing the bad guy and all his guards anyway so what was learned? Ends with something about a stage 2 experiment to come, but right now I'm predicting whoever dreamed that up will end up dead too, so save your money and do something constructive. A 2 on the Moizmeter but just don't think about how stupid it is.

Brawl in cell block 99.
Vince Vaughn is a drug runner who ends up in prison. His failed run cost Mexicans millions so they want him to pay his debt by murdering someone in a high security prison they kidnap his pregnant wife and use her as leverage. So he beats up guards to get transferred and all manner of violence follows. Pretty enjoyable if you ignore the stupidity of elements of the plot.

I finally finished the whole series of Hinomaru Sumo.
It was an entertaining sports anime.
It's one of those that takes a weird, boring sport (sumo wrestling) and makes it interesting and entertaining.
Every little move and piece of footwork is a life or death struggle of gods against the demon hordes! People shout of their moves before they do them “HUNDRED THOUSAND DEMON DROP!” “GOD HAMMER” etc.

But it's good because you see the progression of the sumo club from zeros to heroes and the protagonist is an unlikely hero- NOT an unwilling one, which is a SHITTY TROPE (Shinji Ikari please die)-

Hinomaru is driven to win and succeed at sumo wrestling, but he's super short… which means he's massively disadvantaged in a sport with no weight classes which is dominated by huge, heavy men, so he needs to develop tricks and strategies around that.

Progression and an unlikely hero makes for a winning combo.

weeelll…. I saw Endgame.


I liked it. :3

I liked Endgame too - I don't feel the burning desire to see it again right away (with Infinity War I did) but I enjoyed it, and it did feel like an ending.

The characters who didn't seem to get their due as much, or who took somewhat jarring turns are continuing in other movies. Hopefully, at least.

Maybe in smaller movies that have more time to get into their characters' changes a little more.

Banes wrote:
I liked Endgame too - I don't feel the burning desire to see it again right away (with Infinity War I did) but I enjoyed it, and it did feel like an ending.

The characters who didn't seem to get their due as much, or who took somewhat jarring turns are continuing in other movies. Hopefully, at least.

Maybe in smaller movies that have more time to get into their characters' changes a little more.

I agree. I don't think it counts as a spoiler to say this: I like that this one brought a lot of focus back to the original 6. That really felt like it fit!

I saw the series "Yumeria“ the other day.
Stupid, stupid anime harem comedy. I kept thinking it would get better but it's the one of the worst, with SO many terrible cliches. A cheap piece of crap.
I just needed a show to be on in the background while a drew and failed hard with that one.

There was one character, a young girl with blue hair and all she ever said as ”Mo-mo“ in all sorts of tones and intonations. I thought they'd at least reveal the mystery behind why she talked that way… they never did.
She was just going ”Mo-mo! Mo-mo, mo-mo, mo-mo. MO-MO! Ho-mo?" over the course of the whole thing. It's insane.

BustyLaroo wrote:

Banes wrote:
I liked Endgame too - I don't feel the burning desire to see it again right away (with Infinity War I did) but I enjoyed it, and it did feel like an ending.

The characters who didn't seem to get their due as much, or who took somewhat jarring turns are continuing in other movies. Hopefully, at least.

Maybe in smaller movies that have more time to get into their characters' changes a little more.

I agree. I don't think it counts as a spoiler to say this: I like that this one brought a lot of focus back to the original 6. That really felt like it fit!

It did kind of, Hawkeye got a bit to do as did black widow. Cap and iron man obviously and Thor got his big lebowski treatment but hulk got shafted.

Genejoke wrote:

It did kind of, Hawkeye got a bit to do as did black widow. Cap and iron man obviously and Thor got his big lebowski treatment but hulk got shafted.

Ha! I was just thinking about this and started a thread, Endgame with a focus on Hulk, if you care to go into this. I agree, ol' Hulk got the short end again.

https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/178157/

I'm watching Seinfeld again after years and years. Great show :)
I forgot that they openly address the whole relationship with Jerry and Elaine in the very first episode! XD

—————–

I saw the whole of Megalo Box the other day

This series has a couple of things going for it: zero cutesy Lolita characters and a rougher, darker animation style. Cutesy Lolitas have their place in anime but it's super over done right now.

The story was not great in my opinion… spoilers bellow:



A down and out guy needs to box to make ends meet, he teams up with a crooked trainer and throws fights to get more money. All fighting is done wearing a “gear”, which is just a robot arm brace that helps you hit harder and faster.
He meets a guy he'd love to fight, but finds out he's a champ and they can't fight unless he enters the big legit competition that's held in “Megalonia”… which he can't do because he's not a legal citizen.
So the crooked trainer gets him a fake ID from the mob on the understanding that he'll let them fix one of the big matches.

Anyway, the problem with the show is that the stakes are ridiculous. The guy only wants to fight so he can have the chance to fight this other guy. There are NO other reasons for all the literal blood, sweat and tears it takes to get fight their way up to get to the champ. All the sacrifices they make are meaningless. The crooked trainer even comes good and gouges out his own eye as payment to the mob so “Jo” can have his little fight.

No one's life, reputation or fortune is on the line, they're zero reason people have to suffer. They can quit any time. No one even has any big dreams riding on the fight. Nothing is riding on it.
Even the subplot about the champ's sponsor using the boxing match to prove her cyborg boxing gear so she can sell it to the military becomes meaningless because they don't use them in the final fight…

The justification would be that it was always about the pure fighting spirit, the skill of one man against the other, an animal need to compete and see who's strongest, nothing else matters… And I totally get that, very Japanese thinking. It's not a bad story for doing that, it's just bad to me personally.

UNA - Rooney Mara, Ben Mendelsohn, Riz Ahmed, Ruby Stokes. When Rooney was only 13 yrs old (Ruby)she had a love affair with an older man Ben. Hot & steamy. Then he disappeared from her life. 15 yrs later, she finds him, he has a new name and happily married. We skip back and forth from the then to the now. He seems reluctant but she is determined to dig up the past, and of the two, she's a bit of a mess. Not sure what the ending meant, a very generous 2 on the Moizmeter.

I started watching Sienfeld and Miami Vice again thinking that they'd be all tacky and 80s… but I wanted that retro, nostalgia feel so I was looking for that.

WRONG!
They both DEFINITELY hold up today.

Seinfeld was from the end of the 80s. It looks good, Jerry looks WAY better and nicer than the cold, hard bastard he is now. The show is spot on and the humour makes you feel just as cringy and uncomfortable as anything Larry David does today.
The show holds up.

Miami Vice was early 80s. It looks great! It's hard hitting, good drama, nice characterisation, great acting, amazing pop hits from the day too.
The only sour note was the dodgy slow-mo effects they use which really just slows the frame rate down. It's a good looking show.

Watching Brooklyn 99 again. lol

BROOKLYN'S FINEST - Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke, Don Cheadle, Westley Snipes. For me a total waste of 2 hours, violence galore, almost everyone ends up dead and deserves it. A 1 on the Moizmeter.

Old horror sci-fi movies.

Frankenstein vs. Dracula (1971) Notable as J. Carroll Naish's last film. One of great character actors of all time. Long Chaney does a reprise of Lenny from Of Mice and Men and some guy does the Worst Dracula EVER! They even put an echo on his voice. They knew it was bad.

Kronos, The Giant Claw. Jeff Morrow is in both and almost manages to make the ridiculous technobabble credible. The effects in The Giant Claw are some of the worst ever. Looks like someone threw his Lindberg Sabre jet model at a buzzard puppet.

Mars needs Women (1967) The title is great, and some of the lines are good but outside of Yvonne Craig (TV Batman: Batgirl) just “meh” humanizing an alien who rediscovers twue luv. Good technobabble for 1967. Bit better than Star Trek with DNA and Y chromosomes.

Frankenstein vs. The Space Monster. Forget the awful title. Its actually a decent story about a cyborg. And the main alien sounds just like Jon Lovitz. So it's campy and half way decent at the same time. Always liked the premise of this one and I am tempted to steal it for a Belinda Brandon movie.

recorded “Upgrade” off Foxtel, last week and watched on the weekend. Great little near-future S.F. with a proper story and a neat ending . Nice, not over the top SFX, and no known (to me) actors, so you have no ‘tainting’ of, or distraction from the characters.

I also watched Hellboy again as they had it and #2 on a movie channel, probably ‘cause the new one’s out. Why they do “re-boots” so soon after originals, I have no idea-other than maybe they can't think up plots any more - so many things nowadays are a half-arsed plot with loads of SFX, to try to make us forget about lack of storyline. Ron Perlman is the perfect Hellboy. I'll watch #2 - Golden Army later in the week. I remember it being better than #1, but it's been some years since I saw them .

I agree about Miami Vice, btw. was a big fan, when it was new, and dressed in that “Duran Duran” light, thin clothing style here on the Gold Coast (Oz), in the same kind of heat and humidity, for work. Unlined or thinly lined jackets, over tees, or ‘grand-dad’ buttoned ones (buttons open), as I'd never worn ties much, even in Wales . But anyway, yeah, it stands up, and that music always made it unique, along with all the ‘MTV’ guest characters, like Phil Collins, etc. I watch very few American police dramas - or comedies - but it's still good and so is Seinfeld - although I haven't watched it in years, having seen it all multiple times.

BearinOz wrote:
recorded “Upgrade” off Foxtel

I didn't know you were in Australia too :D

I'm thinking like I should try dressing like the Miami Vice guys even now… but more like Tubs that Sunny I think. I just don't have the white suits XD

- Hellboy 1 with Ron Pearlman is my fave. There are just so many good things in that film.

ozoneocean wrote:

BearinOz wrote:
recorded “Upgrade” off Foxtel

I didn't know you were in Australia too :D

I'm thinking like I should try dressing like the Miami Vice guys even now… but more like Tubs that Sunny I think. I just don't have the white suits XD

- Hellboy 1 with Ron Pearlman is my fave. There are just so many good things in that film.

1: It got mentioned in the early days..I drifted away for years, just putting the comics up…so plenty of time for you to forget B-)

2: Had a white jacket, not suit. Had a pale green suit. Plus that silvery-grey patterned material that was popular for a while (jacket only), loose tie-up black pants - “incontinence pants” my mates called ‘em, and some super-thin linen pants in pale blue and cream (got both for price of one in a Myers’sale), so light you felt like you were only in jocks, on a 30C++ day in Brizzo B-) Tubbs wore ties - a nono for me strictly weddings and funerals !

BearinOz wrote:
Had a white jacket, not suit. Had a pale green suit. Plus that silvery-grey patterned material that was popular for a while (jacket only), loose tie-up black pants - “incontinence pants” my mates called ‘em, and some super-thin linen pants in pale blue and cream (got both for price of one in a Myers’sale), so light you felt like you were only in jocks, on a 30C++ day in Brizzo B-) Tubbs wore ties - a nono for me strictly weddings and funerals !

Sounds like a smart wardrobe! Still decently in style today.

I'm watching the first season at the moment. Tubs only wears a grey suit with a black shirt unbuttoned halfway down his chest, no tie. Sunny is always in pastel T-shirts and white suits or white jackets. Like you describe. Very “80s drug dealer” :D

Its a very smart show, great fashions. Although the suits can be a little shiny at times… (shiny suits as a fashion lasted till the early 1990s :( )

ozoneocean wrote:

BearinOz wrote:
Had a white jacket, not suit. Had a pale green suit. Plus that silvery-grey patterned material that was popular for a while (jacket only), loose tie-up black pants - “incontinence pants” my mates called ‘em, and some super-thin linen pants in pale blue and cream (got both for price of one in a Myers’sale), so light you felt like you were only in jocks, on a 30C++ day in Brizzo B-) Tubbs wore ties - a nono for me strictly weddings and funerals !

Sounds like a smart wardrobe! Still decently in style today.

I'm watching the first season at the moment. Tubs only wears a grey suit with a black shirt unbuttoned halfway down his chest, no tie. Sunny is always in pastel T-shirts and white suits or white jackets. Like you describe. Very “80s drug dealer” :D

Its a very smart show, great fashions. Although the suits can be a little shiny at times… (shiny suits as a fashion lasted till the early 1990s :( )

I like Jan Hammer's stuff, particularly “Crockett's Theme”, so I play his album or ‘best of’ sometimes, some of the tracks have vids or stills, showing C & T, and I think he maybe doesn't wear ties until later, when the mood and colouring change, a bit, away from the South Beach pastels to a little darker .

Do you remember the Ozzie attempt at something similar - “Sharks Paradise”, with David Reyne ? - a movie-length pilot, that never got off the blocks as a series. Quite amusing

BearinOz wrote:

Do you remember the Ozzie attempt at something similar - “Sharks Paradise”, with David Reyne ? - a movie-length pilot, that never got off the blocks as a series. Quite amusing

I vaguely recall it. I wish they'd gone through with it. Queensland IS our Florida afterall :D

(LOVE Jan Hammer's themes)

I can't understand how Crocket wears white all the time and doesn't look like a house painter or dairy worker. He always looks good.

I can't understand how Crocket wears white all the time and doesn't look like a house painter or dairy worker. He always looks good.

…or a stupid AFL umpire/ref thing B-) I think the “cut” of the outfit determines the look. A silly hat is obligatory for AFL and those meat factory butcher types, and possibly the dairy worker ? The coats have more buttons(?) and have to be all done up - oh, and shirt and tie - not left open over a buttons-undone pink tee. B-)
A singlet with Winfield 25s shoved up the sleeve (any colour), under dungaree-style whites (at least on arrival, colour subject to change) for the house painter,at least the Oz version .
I DO like to think my jacket, pants and Sonny's were quite distinguishable from that !
I thought you were going to mention ‘pristine’- no finger marks, smudges or gunshot residue . That was more my problem (well not the residue) B-)

BearinOz wrote:
I thought you were going to mention ‘pristine’- no finger marks, smudges or gunshot residue . That was more my problem (well not the residue) B-)

True! With my white stuff the fabric around the pockets always gets dirty pretty quickly, especially when I wear it in hot, humid countries.

Literally rugby…
but a little while earlier I watched “Three Billboards Outside….” which I really enjoyed. There was no problem relating to a character…sometimes I cannot relate to either a protagonist, nor their nemeses, nor any of the ‘offsiders’ or ‘sidekicks’ and the movie often ends up dumped before getting too far in.
This was the opposite, I could relate to the mum, the son, the terminally ill cop, and even to the semi-repentant cop who chucked a guy from an upper window.
Trying to fast-track your daughter's rape and murder case to a conclusion by renting consecutive billboards to “criticise your local sheriff” is a novel idea, and being willing to piss everyone off around you is very relatable, at my age B-)

3 Goldilocks

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: FALLOUT - Tom Cruise and a cast of thousands. 2 1/2 hrs of my time wasted, strictly what I call a “Saturday Afternoon Matinee Cont'd Next Week Kids” fare and there wasn't even a cartoon later. A goose-egg on the Moizmeter.

moizmad wrote:
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: FALLOUT - Tom Cruise and a cast of thousands. 2 1/2 hrs of my time wasted, strictly what I call a “Saturday Afternoon Matinee Cont'd Next Week Kids” fare and there wasn't even a cartoon later. A goose-egg on the Moizmeter.

Don't hold back Mo' B-)

moizmad wrote:
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: FALLOUT - Tom Cruise and a cast of thousands. 2 1/2 hrs of my time wasted, strictly what I call a “Saturday Afternoon Matinee Cont'd Next Week Kids” fare and there wasn't even a cartoon later. A goose-egg on the Moizmeter.

Yep. Still wondering why it's gotten so much praise.

After having them recorded since February ! (I was amazed it was that long) I finally got around to watching “all 2” of Series 4 of “Sherlock” .
The guy ‘responsible’ for this BBC version we've had spread over recent years is Mark Gattis, who is a bloody genius, in my opinion. He plays Mycroft, but he is responsible for production and writing bits of these and has had his fingers in more ‘pies’ than a T.V. chef, from Doctor Who, League of Gentleman, and loads more. He makes a great ‘baddy’ or dubious character. He's done so much, he's worth a look on Wiki… he wrote the first of these 2 episodes.

For me the casting of Cumberbatch and Freeman as Holmes and Watson is perfect, and the rest of the cast is fine too.

These series are thinning out and getting fewer between, as both their acting careers blossom further, but I'm sure many of us hope for more…

Three Goldilocks

RELLIK - So confusing with all those “days, hours, minutes, years earlier” things, why did they even bother? Otherwise only thing made worthwhile was seeing actress Laerke Winther, wow, I'm in love again. She's Danish and reminded me of Charlize Theron at times. I give the series a 2 1/2 on the Moizmeter.

Not watching but listening, to “Dot”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08qlrk5

This is THE heir to Blackadder, but with women and set in the war office in London in WW2.
It's great, very funny and highly recommended… by me XD

Dot and her 2 chums are busy being office girls… Myrtle is their version of Baldric and the Scottish one is George, Dot is Blackadder. Her arch enemy is Millicent, who's basically captain Percy, and the air Marshal is field marshal Melchard. The dynamic is great. It's WAY better than that sad attempt at a Blackadder thing about Shakespere with David Mitchell.