Yeah, Toy Story was quite good!

I've been watching and enjoying Picard season 3, which is nice because I didn't like the previous seasons at all. It's very different in season 3!

I didn't find there was much to say about episodes 2 and 3, particularly - but with episode 4, it felt like a partial ending (or the end of Act One, in a way). The crisis they were facing was resolved, multiple character questions were answered, and now we're on to the next set of episodes.

The scenes of characters figuring out how to solve a problem together were so Star Trek - it was great. It's not just the old Next Gen crewmembers being back - it's the writing. Everything is better. The Picard character actually seems like Picard. Riker is actually excellent, with Mr. Frakes knocking it out of the park, both as an actor and a director.

Feels great to enjoy this franchise again!

My nitpicks are small…
-I don't like the swearing in Star Trek (but such is life I guess!)
-Don't care for how often the Next Gen characters are referred to as ‘legends’.
It bugs me, haha. Let the fans think it; you don't have to keep saying it in
the show!

But those are minor gripes. I'm digging this season greatly!

Ozoneocean wrote:
I've started watching the old series "Monk" again. I never really watched too much of it when it was first one, my impression back then was that it was a clever, quirky series with a great turnout by Tony Shaloub and David Levine, but I found it too slow.

Watching it now it feels weird: it seems like such a throwback to the 80s in style. It's really not very clever at all in any way. Even the Adrian Monk character is so broad and almost cartoonish in his depiction of a neurodiverse man XD
I'm going to stick with it anyway because I like to become familiar with characters and I love a show that falls into a nice cozy routine. I also suspect that it will get better in the later episodes when it must have found its feet and got a bit more secure in its premise and streamlined.
I don't know that it will but I'll find out.

I liked Monk, and I think it was surprisingly intelligent, creative in many episodes regarding the crimes. The ways you can portray neurodiverse people in movies or series really narrowed down lately in fear of any backlash (although no one image could accurately represent an entire group of people), but I found his character to be good entertainment and in some ways relatable. I like the newer theme song by Randy Newman and the first 4-5 seasons probably the most. But after a while it just gets more and more goofy without any notable progression for several side-characters and as usual with long-running episodic shows, most character progression for the main is saved for the very end.

The Tall Man - Jessica Biel, Stephen McHattie, and never mind, I got totally lost trying to figure out what happened, children murdered??? no bodies found though. Jessica charged with the crime but maybe there wasn't any crime?? If anyone understood it let me know. Filmed in BC's Kootenay region being passed off as northern Washington State. Gets a 1 on the Moizmeter.

I just watched an underground, independent film on YouTube called EXISTO. It was actually made by a number of the people who were involved in making the old Ernest P. Worrell movies and shows - Jim Varney himself even had a small role in it. What I found particularly fascinating is that a lot of the people involved in the Ernest productions, including Varney, were Christians, and yet this movie was not at all kind to the religious right whatsoever, in fact, it actually villified them as basically having our country in a fascist chokehold where everything that had to do with art, acting, performing, entertainment, and homosexuality were fundamentally outlawed, and people who were performers, entertainers, thespians, artists, drag queens, gay, liberal, et al. essentially had to live underground away from society, almost like the Jews in Europe who lived in hiding to avoid the Gestapo.

On top of all that, the movie is also actually a musical comedy, so the whole thing almost feels like if Woody Allen and Mel Brooks tried to make a movie together that had been inspired by a drug-induced Andy Warhol fever dream.

Interestingly, one time in high school, I had the misfortune of being an extra in a play that had a very similar plot, only the teams were reversed: it was the religious right who had to live in hiding while everyone else in society had the country in a fascist chokehold . . . I ended up playing a Christian who met up with other Christians in secrecy for a worship service, because public worship had been outlawed, and we ended up being raided, arrested, and hauled away.

“Stateless,” a series on Netflix. It's about a bunch of refugees living in an internment camp in an Australian desert. Apparently (loosely) based on various true stories gathered from the records of the Australian immigration department. It also focuses a bit on the lives of some of the guards who work there. In most prison dramas, the inmates want to go home. In this prison drama, if the inmates get sent back home, they face almost certain death. A harrowing watch.

fallopiancrusader wrote:
“Stateless,” a series on Netflix. It's about a bunch of refugees living in an internment camp in an Australian desert.

Starring that Australian lady from Chuck. Hmm… there are no refugee dentition centers in the desert in Australia, so I wonder why they did that? To make it look like a camp in Jordon, or Oman or something maybe or just dramatic effect? (centers are in cities, or on green tropical Nauru and Manus Island).

J_Scarbrough wrote:
I just watched an underground, independent film on YouTube called EXISTO.

That really sounds fascinating! I might have to have a look.

———————–

I watched a film from 1932, “The Most Dangerous Game”
And what do you think the most dangerous game is? Why MAN of course… The “Russian” villian who lives on a tropical Island and lures his prey in by shifiting navigation buoys and wrecking them there explains it in a ridiculously vague way, all the while dressed impeccably in white tie and tails (of course), never actually mentions he hunts people till the reveal in the next scene.
This movie was super hammy but simple and fun. It was good to see how they approached schlock, effects with limited resources and all the stylistic flourishes of the day.

Saw X the unknown and it was great. Super creepy and definitely inspired many later movies. They just don't know what they're dealing with. Though of course solving the problems literally overnight when the scientist first says it could take ten years is a laughable cliche now. This was 1952, pulp fiction still depicted science doing overnight miracles and people expected it. I mean we have refrigerators and washing machines! Wonders of science.
X the unknown is similar to the Thing but it's not Antarctica, it's that gravel pit down the road…
Also caught Quatermass IV or the last hour episode of four parts. Wonky script where aliens target the young to get all hippy dippy to cause havoc on earth so the aliens can pass onto our planet. And the only way to stop them is the sixty and over crowd doing the science and putting together a nuclear bomb that Quatermass sets off personally to save his granddaughter. John Mills played Quatermass so that was a plus.

moizmad wrote:
The Tall Man - Jessica Biel, Stephen McHattie, and never mind, I got totally lost trying to figure out what happened, children murdered??? no bodies found though. Jessica charged with the crime but maybe there wasn't any crime?? If anyone understood it let me know. Filmed in BC's Kootenay region being passed off as northern Washington State. Gets a 1 on the Moizmeter.

Actually liked The Tall Man quite a bit, and even did a D&D game based on it.

Jessica Biel was a social worker, and part of a network that was stealing kids from abusive homes and getting them adopted by privileged families. She was helping a family and found out that the father was raping his own daughter and they had a child.

Biel kidnaps the child and keeps her hidden at home. The Mom sees Biel and the kid playing through the window and tries to kidnap her back. This leads to a long car chase scene that ends in a double switch. Biel is really the villain and is running away from the child's Mother (Grandmother).

Biel gets away with the kid, and she is given to a rich family. However, it is implied she is safe but neglected. Biel is caught and takes the blame for multiple crimes in order to keep the rescue network secret.

The Avengers
No not the MCU. John Steed and Emma Peel. Are there ever plot holes but the show is superb even after all these years. Season four from 1966. Love all the pop culture references and it seems a crew member built Airfix airplane models because wherever there's an opportunity there are some nicely built and painted Airfix kits in there. Along with Daleks and Fireball XL-5 characters.

Re The Tall Man, Sleeping Gorilla, so was Jessica Biel executed or life in prison, I didn't understand that part. thx

I SEE YOU - Helen Hunt, Owen Teague, Jon Tenney, Libe Barer, Judah Lewis. Film starts with scenes from one point of view, then we go back and see same scenes from another point of view. Turns out the good guy is actually the bad guy, and the bad guy is the good guy. Has Helen's mouth always been that bad?? A bit confusing at times but not a bad watch getting a 3 on the Moizmeter.

COME PLAY - Azhy Robertson, Gillian Jacobs, John Gallagher Jr. Young Azhy in virtually every scene which gets dumber as it goes and somehow I stuck it out hoping for better….notta. Has the skinniest monster in movie history. A generous 1 on the Moizmeter.

I started watching Ally McBeal.
I never, ever watched it in the 90s because I thought it was pretentious wish fulfilment, aspirational crap for 30 year olds.
I was quite correct in that it turns out but that doesn't mean it's bad or not worth a look.

It's OK, It's a dramatic comedy with some surreal moments and plenty of first person thought monologues. That style would become much more popular into the 2000s, especially now, but back in the 90s that wasn't done very much I think?
I remember some kid's shows doing that sort of clever wacky surreal humour and first person stuff but not many others.

For those that don't know it's about a young, skinny female lawyer joining a new firm of other young lawyers after leaving her first position at another firm over a sexual harassment issue. Her one true love ex-BF works at the new firm and that makes things quite awkward initially.
He's as BLAND as boiled rice though…
There's lots of gossip and non-work emotional relationship crap in the workplace that honestly actually makes the initial sexual harassment issue look entirely workplace appropriate by contrast- that isn't a joke

It's fairly fun but really makes me not like the legal profession in the USA- not because of the characters but because of the way it makes you realise the focus of the profession isn't the law, but parasitically making lots of money out of clients by doing almost nothing and not producing anything or creating anything.

“Single female lawyer” the most popular show on Omicron Persei 8

lothar wrote:
“Single female lawyer” the most popular show on Omicron Persei 8

Well played.

I re-watched Howl's Moving Castle just for the heck of it, a visual joy from beginning to end, thanks Netflix. Might re-watch Porco Russo next.

I had a class with Calista Flockhart in college. You just don't forget a name like that when hearing it read in a class roll. She's my age and lived her dream which was the same of many young girls in the 1980s. She married Harrison Ford.

Binge watched all of Cromartie high school anime this past weekend. Funnier the second time around. Also finally saw Top Gun Maverick Loved how they fit in the F-14 at the end. Talk about a derivative movie. Like using the very nearly the same mission as the spoof of Top Gun Hot shots? And some more coming from 633 Squadron . Wow. But the planes are cool. And Jennifer Connelly. Another woman my age and still stunning.

lothar wrote:
“Single female lawyer” the most popular show on Omicron Persei 8

Futurama! I only just got that LOL!
I was thinking it was a reference to the Lotharverse of Grind haha!

@Bravo- Wow man! That's pretty cool ^_^
That would be awesome at a reunion.

I can claim that Heath ledger and Hugh Jackman both studied at the same performing arts university as me, but neither at the same time as me… Jackman a bit earlier and Ledger a bit later. Though my sis did date Ledger briefly (a fact I bring up constantly haha).

———————

I watched Bangkok Dangerous a while ago. It's the story about an assassin who goes to Thailand to work a specific amount of jobs and then get out. He shuns all human connections as part of his work but that breaks down and he starts courting a deaf chemist and also takes on an apprentice.

This starred Nicholas Cage but it REALLY seemed like a Steven Segal film from just before he turned into a joke… like just around when he started straight to video stuff. The cast is almost all Thai except for Segal… I mean Cage. It's not a bad little action film but no where near as clever or dramatic as Cage obviously wanted it to be.

The whole thing seemed more of a vehicle for the apprentice, Cage's costar Chakrit Yamnam. He was very good, but didn't really look the part of a Thai street-rat… he's just too well-fed and beefy. He looks like a high class Thai guy. That role needed a smaller, skinnier, darker man.

I'm towards the end of Gundam Iron blood orphans
I'm liking it a lot and if the ending is good I might watch another Gundam show

moizmad wrote:
Re The Tall Man, Sleeping Gorilla, so was Jessica Biel executed or life in prison, I didn't understand that part. thx

I don't know if Beil was executed, but she accepted the blame for the disappearances of dozens of kids, claiming she had killed them so that the searches for them would be called off. Now she's in prison and believed to be a child killer. I would point out that 1% of the 1500 people executed in the US since the 1970s have been women, so it is unlikely.

Sleeping Gorilla, thanks.

Inside (2023) - There are two Ozones inside you, one would probably hate this movie, because it's a survivor film and the other would probably like it, because it's about artistic struggle and turmoil ‘n’ shit, (so prolly not AI). I can definitely see Willem Dafoe's average week going something like this, but it's not very entertaining and from about halfway through you sympathize with Nemo, just waiting for it to end, because you know the only question that even remotely matters is whether he gets out of there or not and you know you won't have the answer until the end. And to be honest, it's not that disturbing or memorable either, he likes roles where he can descend into madness of sorts and they suit him, but this is about enough of a concept for a short film, dragged out to full feature and it doesn't really say anything that you wouldn't think of yourself watching just the trailer. (Also, I would've tried something he never even considered).

Are there still people besides the super-speedy Snyder-squeezy crowd that get pumped seeing a 1-2-minute cameo of Batman, Superman or Wonder Woman in a DC film? Even if it would mean anything, because it'd be part of a greater cinematic universe, some of these characters are shoved in our faces for the past 6-10 years now at every turn. I'm not saying Marvel is on top of the game rn, obviously, they're struggling to deliver material that would stand in its own right, since Disney started streaming their shows, but at this point I don't even care if Gunn would change it for better or worse, I just want it to change.

InkyMoondrop wrote:
Inside (2023) - There are two Ozones inside you, one would probably hate this movie, because it's a survivor film and the other would probably like it, because it's about artistic struggle and turmoil ‘n’ shit, (so prolly not AI).

Hahaha! Remember though that I don't mind survival stuff LOL!

What I don't like is when the person is a “victim” type survivor. ;P

———————–

I've been watching a LOT of Monk and I enjoy the relationships between the characters.
What's weird though is that with the murders in the show, 95% of them ARE all about covering up something.
That's the motivation for almost every single murder in every episode: they don't actually want to kill a person, there's no hate or passion or revenge or a paid killing etc, no, they just need to disguise another crime.
(and when there IS a murder of passion there's likely to be an even more significant murder or murder attempt who's purpose is to cover that one up)

That can't have been a choice for the show? Sounds like just a weird writer bias. It's pretty strange when you notice it though.
It's like the way they think they should do clever twists- by making the motivation for a murder be secondary… which could be clever the first few times but when you do it every time it's just bizarre.

These show characters love to use murder as a distraction. It's a little extreme.

That film is about elevating Willem Dafoe's ability to break stuff and drink water from a fish tank to be “prime characters traits” in order to survive. It's basically Cast Away, but with a critique on art and modern life.

they don't actually want to kill a person, there's no hate or passion or revenge or a paid killing etc, no, they just need to disguise another crime.
(and when there IS a murder of passion there's likely to be an even more significant murder or murder attempt who's purpose is to cover that one up)

I suppose the writers thought that it'd be less convincing if they'd kill out of passion or hate (without any pre-meditation) and would still be able to cover up their tracks fairly well. Or they just wanted to make the motivations and characters interesting and thought that it'd help to put an emphasis on intelligence rather than emotions.

It's a good observation, but I don't think I mind, I remember watching Criminal Minds twelve years ago, how depressing it was, not because of the twisted and graphic ways the murders happened, but because almost every killer in the series was some dark urges kinda person who ultimately failed to get their actions under control. I remember reading in that year, about how critics thought the show is just being dragged out and should probably end. Now, it's still running, with 16 seasons done.

Ha! Personally I think it's better to have a mix of motivations :)

I've been watching a few things recently.

One of them was RED 2.
It was a good sequel to the original
Silly over-the-top action from older, very highly regarded actors. I like that. It's still always strange to see John Malkovitch in action roles, but he's pretty much always done them.

I like how the baby naive bimbo of the group is almost 50!
That's so cool.

I mean, it's not an original movie, and it not even that novel, but it's fun and the way they mix things up with older actors is appreciated.

Hollywood used to do that all the way up till the 1980s then after that it seemed that only a very few older actors were allowed to be in any big production.

I saw Meet Cute on Amazon prime.

I did not enjoy it at all.

It's Groundhog Day and Palm Springs but done in a really boring, frustratingly irritating way with a Horrible URGH of a protagonist played by Kaley Cuoco who goes from extreme manipulator to whiny blobmonster, and Pete Davidson costarring as basically just a drink coaster of a person, a walking excuse who's personality type is what you'd get if you said to chat GPT “create me a character who's personality type is generic”.

The writer was clearly someone who thinks mild recreational drug use gives them an interesting, quirky personality.

I am not sure what the appeal of Pete Davison is. He has been around for a long time and I have never found him to be funny. But I don't find him offensive like Adam Sandler, who I blame for the death of funny movies from back in the 90's.

There is a movie called “I am not okay.” about a young woman trying to be an influencer who pretends to have been present at a bombing overseas when she was actually faking the vacation and hanging around at home. The love interest is a funny take on Pete Davison, always moving in slow motion followed by a cloud of green smoke. I had the sense they were intentionally parodying him. Over a unique and interesting movie, with a refreshing ending, if not great.

Mr. Robot

I just watched the first episode and I'm hooker

You're a hooker?

That has to be the most epic typo since this. . . .