Been toughing out THE MIST, a 10 part mini-series, fortunately only 2 more episodes to go, all these people are crackers and deserve what they're getting. Maybe last 2 will be super and change my view? Doubt it.

Well no such luck, got even dumber. A generous 1 on the Moizmeter.

BERLIN SYNDROME - Teresa Palmer, Max Riemelt, Emma Bading. Aussie Teresa on a work/vacation in Berlin meets Prince Charming Max. All is good until Teresa finds herself locked in Max's apt. which is in a wrecked part of the city with no access to the public. She's his prisoner, and looks like he's done this before. Apparently no knives in kitchen, but she does find a screwdriver but uses it on his hand where I would have applied it somewhere around his neck or temple. Will our girl find a way out? A 2 1/2 on the Moizmeter.

CURVE - Julianne Hough, Teddy Sears. Julianne reluctantly picks up a hitcher out in the middle of nowhere. Guess what? He's a psycho, no kidding! She tries a reckless curve and crashes down a hill trapped upside down, and Mr. Psycho is OK. He leaves her there. She spends several days trapped and even resorts to eating a rat! Psycho comes back now and then to torment her. Finally a storm washes the vehicle farther down but she escapes. Now time to get even? A 2 1/2 on the Moizmeter again.

PERSONAL SHOPPER - Kristen Stewart, does shopping for a rich bitch but also feels the presence of a ghost. Maybe her deceased bro who died young with a heart defect that she also has is trying to communicate with her. So of course she smokes, very smart Kristen. No doubt tobacco co.'s coughed up a bundle to have her puffing away. She spends oodles of time texting with an unknown entity but I'm thinking she's just talking to herself. So much for so little getting a 2 on the Moizmeter.

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS - Owen Wilson, Rachel (be still my heart) McAdams, Marion (be still my heart) Cotillard, Lea (be still my heart) Seydoux, Michael Sheen, Corey Stoll, Tom Hiddleston, Alison Pill, Kathy Bates, Adrian Brody.
Starts off with a fantastic visual tour of Paris leading to Owen, a writer, falling in love with the city. Rachel, his fiance is more interested in Michael Sheen. Owen goes out alone at midnight for a walk and magically ends up in 1920's Paree, and meets many famous artists, Scott Fitzgerald, Cole Porter, Hemmingway, Gertrude Stein, Picasso etc. He does these little walks every night much to the dissatisfaction of Rachel. On one trip he meets Marion and is smitten. Can this continue? Watch and enjoy, a 4 1/2 on the Moizmeter.

CHECK POINT - William Forsythe, Krista Grotte. Beyond stupid, got the kybosh after about 35 minutes, getting a Golden Goose-Egg on the Moizmeter.

DEAD AWAKE - Jocelin Donahue, Jesse Bradford, Lori Petty. Got off to a poor start, kept getting worse, had me reaching for the zapper but silly me kept watching in hopes it would get better. Notta. But I did finish it saving it from a goose-egg, so a 1/2 on the Moizmeter.

LIFE - Jake Gyllenhaal, Ryan Reynolds, Rebecca Ferguson, Hiroyuki Sanada, Ariyon Bakare, Olga Dykhov??? A Martian life form gets aboard the ISS and chaos ensues. Similar to ALIEN but nowhere near as good. They call the Martian “Calvin” ha ha, looks like the Alien face-hugger with the Predator's face, slowly picks off the crew leaving only Jake & Rebecca. But they have a plan, will it work? A 2 on the Moizmeter.

Season…7, I think..? Season 7 of The Walking Dead.

I was a bit lost at the beginning of the season: it's been so long since I saw the previous season.

There are online complaints about this show, that it's fallen apart and relies too much on gore and nothing ever happens. Maybe it's the way I watch, binging the whole season in a week or less, that changes things for me. I find it absolutely compelling, still, with characters that draw me in and writing that is almost always character-centric and shocking (in a dramatic, emotionally intense way, not a blood n' guts way.

The “standalone” episodes, focusing on one or two characters, are almost always fantastic. Several episodes had me in tears by the end. One or two annoying episodes matter less when yer watching 2 or 3 a day, though.

Now that I'm done binging that sonovagun, I gotta get on these DD Awards presentations!

THE MASTER - Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Rami Malek, Jesse Plemons. (from 2012) Joaquin plays an alcoholic vet with a violent streak, encounters cult guru Hoffman (thinly disguised L. Ron Hubbard) who likes his moonshine drink. Drags on for over 2 hrs and goes absolutely nowhere. A generous 1 on the Moizmeter.

AFTERWARDS - John Malkovich, Romaine Duris, Evangeline Lily. From ‘08, Malkovich plays doctor who can see people who are about to die. And pretty well everyone does except him, too bad there. What a downer of a story getting a 1 1/2 on the Moizmeter.

THE UNBORN - Odette Annable, Gary Oldman, Idris Elba, Jane Alexander. Total stinkeroo about twins possessed by demons. Gary and Idris must have owed producer a favour I’m thinking. Somehow I toughed it out giving it 1 on the Moizmeter.

GERALD'S GAME - Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood, Henry Thomas, Chiara Aurelia, Carel Struycken. Kinky Bruce handcuffs wife Carla to bedposts then dies. Carla then spends most of boring hour talking to imaginary Bruce and herself. How long will she last? Stephen King's book must have been much better, I couldn't wait til the end. A 1 3/4 on the Moizmeter.

AFTERMATH - Arnold, Scoot McNairy, Maggie Grace, Judah Nelson. Inspired by true event where an Air Traffic Controller's mistake causes 2 planes to crash killing 271 people. Arnold's wife and daughter were on one of the planes and he is shattered as well as Scoot, who made the blunder. We see how they try and put their lives back together. I found it very good, getting a 3 1/2 on the Moizmeter.

moizmad wrote:
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS - Owen Wilson, Rachel (be still my heart) McAdams, Marion (be still my heart) Cotillard, Lea (be still my heart) Seydoux, Michael Sheen, Corey Stoll, Tom Hiddleston, Alison Pill, Kathy Bates, Adrian Brody.
Starts off with a fantastic visual tour of Paris leading to Owen, a writer, falling in love with the city. Rachel, his fiance is more interested in Michael Sheen. Owen goes out alone at midnight for a walk and magically ends up in 1920's Paree, and meets many famous artists, Scott Fitzgerald, Cole Porter, Hemmingway, Gertrude Stein, Picasso etc. He does these little walks every night much to the dissatisfaction of Rachel. On one trip he meets Marion and is smitten. Can this continue? Watch and enjoy, a 4 1/2 on the Moizmeter.

I liked that one. I'm a sucker for romantic films.

Last night I saw Before Sunrise, and then the sequel Before Sunset. And soon I'll watch the last film, Before Midnight.

The first film is about two travellers meeting on a train white travelling through Austria, a young American guy and a French girl. They start chatting and then decide to spend the day together. They both have to make connections and be in other places the next day but they decide to just stick together, chat and see things…
It's lovely, it's SO naturalistic, not stylised or contrived at all. So easy to relate to, you know you've been those people. It's beautiful.
The action all takes place over a single day.

The second film concerns their reunion in Paris several years later. The action takes place in real time: as long as it takes the film to end. It's just as beautiful.

I recommend them both.

PATRIOT'S DAY - Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Monaghan, J. K. Simmons, Kevin Bacon, John Goodman, Melissa Benoist, Themo Melikidze, Alex Wolff. April 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. Mark is working crowd control during race very near finish line when explosions go off. 3 killed there (1 cop later) and many seriously wounded with limbs lost. Doesn't take long for suspects to be ID'd and the chase is on. We all know what happened but the movie recreation is very well done. (Personal note: should have exterminated White Cap in the boat). A enjoyable watch getting 4 on the Moizmeter.

NORMAN - Richard Gere, Lior Ashkenazi, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Michael Sheen, Steve Buscemi, Hank Azaria. Gere is some kind of “fixer”? whatever that is. He talks BS to important people, name drops people he doesn't know, and arranges meetings which rarely ever happen. One time he bought a pair of shoes for a guy who years later became the PM of Israel. Somehow that was a big no-no in foreign politics??? Mostly I couldn't make head nor tail of what Gere was doing but at least I got to enjoy Charlotte, who I find very attractive. A very confusing 2 on the Moizmeter.

MONEY - Jesse Williams, Kellan Lutz, Jamie Bamber, Jess Weixler, Lucia Guerrero. Kellan and Jesse work for a big company, and have sold secrets to the competition for $5 million cash. One night they're having a dinner with their girls and along comes Jamie, who seems to know all about their game. He wants the $$$, and has a gun. But soon enuf tables get turned, and then get turned again. Who will come out on top and alive? Good watch getting a 3 1/2 on the Moizmeter.

IT - (1990 version) - Tim Curry, John Ritter, Annette O'Toole, Emily Perkins, and a cast of thousands. Never saw this but toughed it out. What a total let-down 2nd half was, the final confront with “It” a total joke, Ritter punching IT? A sling shot?? They leave a dead body in hotel room and no police investigation?? Didn't realize it was filmed in my town Vancouver so at least I got to spot familiar locales. Mostly in Stanley Park where I've been so often, didn't seem very scary to me, Beaver Lake etc., usually filled with walkers and joggers where IT is supposed to be hiding underground. Emily Perkins just a little girl in this, and Tim Curry was great as Pennywise though. The new Pennywise would scare the blazes out of most children, IT should rethink that lure. A 1 1/2 on the Moizmeter.

SPACE: 1999. I admit it, I am a fan of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson productions. This one aired on US TV in the early to mid 1970s often in tandem with the preceding series UFO.

The first few episodes of Space 1999 were awful. We're talking new age British hard-sf that just didn't translate well to TV. However in the positive side there were great guest stars and Martin Landau's dynamic character. ( and aussie Nick Tate who would seemingly make a career out of guesting on later sci-fi TV series)

But halfway through first season it got better. And something that I liked that carried over from UFO, unfathomable aliens. They are just alien. Sure they look all too human but they're not Romans or Mongols in space. Landau' s Koenig often spouts Kirkesque speeches but he's a much better actor. A couple presage Kirk speeches from the movies which is kind of scary. Like who's cribbing who or is it some kind of circle jerk? By the way Space:1999 was produced in 1974-75 which coincides with an obscure anime series called Space Cruiser Yamato.

WHEELMAN - Frank Grillo. He's the get-a-way driver for crooks robbing banks. Almost entire movie is in his car while he talks to almost everyone on the planet. Seems he's expendable too. While bad guys are chasing and shooting at him, he still has time to talk to his teenage daughter about behaving herself. He manages to deliver the heist money and some big crook wipes his record clean??? I couldn't figure that part out, but I think he needs to find a less dangerous way of making a living. A generous 2 on the Moizmeter.

THE CRASH - Frank Grillo, Minnie Driver, John Leguizamo? Something about crooks hacking into the stock market to cause financial collapse? I understand about short selling but what a total bore, nodded off for a bit there getting this a 1/2 on the Moizmeter.

THE CRY OF THE OWL - Julia Stiles, Paddy Considine, James Gilbert, Nicholas Campbell. Paddy stalks Julia, then she stalks Paddy? Police think Paddy killed Julia's bf, but something's amiss. Julia becomes depressed and does the unthinkable. Paddy gets depressed and, oh well, everyone's depressed, even me, a depressing 2 on the Moizmeter. Does Julia look like MMA's Ronda Rousey or what?

IT COMES AT NIGHT - Joel Edgerton, Christopher Abbott, Carmen Ejogo, Riley Keough, Kelvin Harrison Jr. Another massive contagion has killed or infected almost everyone that Joel and his family know about. He has secluded them in their rural house and they are prepared to fend off “it” whatever that is. They encounter another family and join forces but who do you trust? The dog gets infected and who's next. We never see who “it” is, and you know things aren't going to work out well. Another depressing one, gets a 2 1/2 on the Moizmeter.

I watched the entire first series of an anime called “The Seven Deadly Sins”.
Funnily enough I started watching it because it had a title similar to an echi anime I was also watching called “The Seven Mortal Sins”.
More on that later…

OK, “The Seven Deadly Sins” has some of THE worst story writing I've EVER seen in an anime. Complete effing crap! It's a masterclass for shitty story writing and I would recommend it on that basis. Terrible piece of crap.

I watched it because it's new, has nice looking animation, and some unusual characters: one who was a giant girl, which was cool, there was also a talking pig, and their base which was a tavern on top of a giant walking green pig who was the small pig's mum. I wont tell you what the story was about because it's too inane and banal to bother with, but I WILL say why it was bad.

The linear, real-time component of the story is achingly simple: hero meets princess who wants him to help her save the kingdom from evil, hero gathers together his old adventurer buddies and goes after the evil. Lots of one on one fighting matches happening along the way. The usual snoozville.
Where the writers invested 90% of their creative efforts was in flashbacks to back stories. Basically ALL the interest and all the story in the entire 24 episodes was provided ONLY by us working out WHY the characters are like they are now and why they're doing what they're doing.
Uncovering those moronic mysteries was the entirety of the interest.
And when those mysteries are banal and uninteresting anyway you have to wonder why they bothered.

A lot of fighting animes are like this: One Piece, Fairy Tail, Bleach etc

By contrast echi anime like Prison School or The Seven Mortal sins, that is a pretty extreme example of its kind (it features a character that wears nothing under her skirt but a band-aid over her vagina), is far, far more cleverly written with much more intricate stories.


Basically the point is that your main on-going linear story has to be interesting in its own right for us to care enough about back stories and why this character hates that character or why that character wears a leotard… if that extra knowledge ads almost NOTHING to the main story then you just wasted our time with your meaningless tangent. Like a Grandpa Simpson story about why he used to wear an onion on his belt.

@ozoneocean- I love your analysis on Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. Those are films I have been watching at different stages of my life and my perspective changes as I reach that part lf my life.

When I was nineteen, Sunrise was more relatable, when I turned thirty, Sunset was a lot more real.

==

Stranger Things Season 2 is Finally out!!!! I loved Season One SOOOO much and this one is off to a great start.

I'm watching Stranger Things but I have to do the first season, 4 down and 4 to go before moving on to season 2. I really like the girl who plays Eleven!
(edit) Millie Bobby Brown, and Mike (Finn Wolfhard) is from my town Vancouver!

Finished STRANGER THINGS 2 and really enjoyed it. Can't wait for 3 & 4. The kids were really great, especially Millie and Finn. Gets a 4 1/2 on the Moizmeter! (altho too much smoking from Winona and Harbour, so unnecessary)

A CURE FOR WELLNESS - Dane DeHaan, Jason Isaacs, Mia Goth. Dane is sent over to a spa in Switzerland to bring back a big shot for his NY co. merger. He finds many of the “patients” there to be very happy and at peace. His target doesn't want to leave though. The head doctor Isaacs has a sinister control over everyone and they all must drink the “water” to cleanse all the impurities they've acquired in life. Dane thinks something fishy going on and watch and see. DeHaan really reminds me of DiCaprio. A 3 on the Moizmeter.

LOW WINTER SUN - Mark Strong, Lennie James, Sprague Grayden, Athena Karkanis, James Ransone. Corrupt cops kill another corrupt cop in decaying Detroit. Most of the time I couldn't make head nor tail of the dialogue or what some of those cops and drug dealers were talking about. A 10 episode series I won't recommend getting 1 1/2 on the Moizmeter.

DARK - Netflix series 10 episodes, made in Germany with dubbed English but I'm really enjoying it thru 7, 3 to go. Really has me wondering who or when or what. (edit) OK finish was a disappointment, so many threads to wrap up and none too successfully done. A 2 1/2 on the Moizmeter.

THE SURVIVALIST - Mia Goth, Martin McCann. Sometime in the future not much food to eat after some kind of apocalypse. Martin scrapes by in an old cabin in the woods when 2 women enter his guarded (don't trust anyone) life. Very tense, no laughs, and you've got to watch your back for sure. Some liked it more than me, a bit depressing all the way for a 2 1/2 on the Moizmeter.

Wow moizmad, you watch a lot!

————-

I recently finished season 2 of THE GATE.
This is an anime about a portal opening up between Japan and a world from fantasy.
The fantasy warriors invade Tokyo with swords and bows, killing innocent people and taking prisoners.
An of duty army officer is caught in the strife and takes control of the situation, leading a counter attack. The Japanese successfully repel all the forces with modern weaponry.

The Japanese self defence force go on to invade the other side of the gate and subdue the armies there.
The premise of real weapons and modern armies against fantasy warriors is interesting. Especially since they show them as actually being effective and superior for once! Imagine, bullets actually going through armour and missiles killing dragons! It never happens in fantasy.

The trouble is that the story is all over the place and never lives up to the huge potential. :(

Magic is the only factor where the fantasy forces have an edge and they never explored that angle.

Thing is it's pretty much how it would work. Magic without experience of modern technology in most systems would be powerless to stop it.

And I loved it. About time the JSDF kicked butt. Things of beauty.

bravo1102 wrote:
Thing is it's pretty much how it would work. Magic without experience of modern technology in most systems would be powerless to stop it.

And I loved it. About time the JSDF kicked butt. Things of beauty.

It was good, but had the potential to be better. The second season just could not get itself straight. The story created a million threads and just tied them off too early. I'm 100% positive that it was ended early because of external pressures. They meant to explore things more but instead just had to finish up half way through. There could be a 3rd season maybe, but that doesn't excuse the abruptness.

The magic would have definitely had an edge. The troops couldn't deal with Rory, the dragon (they needed magic), or the magic that the wizards used. But conveniently all supernatural forces sided with the Japanese. And they never tried to study the magic scientifically, they weren't even interested in it.

I LOVED that the modern military weapons won the day though! It gave the world a lovely logic that made it work so much better.

THE UNABOMBER - Sam Worthington, Paul Bettany, Chris Noth, Mark Duplass. 10 part series examining the capture of bomber Ted Kazcinsky (Bettany) by FBI profiler Worthington. Lots of sidetrack threads total fiction but mainly the famous manifesto wording which when published tipped off the bomber's identity to his brother and sister-in-law, who were well acquainted with Ted's rants and raves. A 3 on the Moizmeter.

.Hack//sign
This anime was SO bloody boring! Uuuuugghhh!
Most of the 28 episodes just had the 4 or 5 main characters meeting at places and standing around talking to each other…
The dialogue was SO stilted!
The voice acting was even more stilted!
And the incidental music and SFX was so badly done, played over the speaking so it made the voices hard to understand…
I have no idea why I watched the whole thing. I must have something wrong with my brain.

ozoneocean wrote:
.Hack//sign
This anime was SO bloody boring! Uuuuugghhh!
Most of the 28 episodes just had the 4 or 5 main characters meeting at places and standing around talking to each other…
The dialogue was SO stilted!
The voice acting was even more stilted!
And the incidental music and SFX was so badly done, played over the speaking so it made the voices hard to understand…
I have no idea why I watched the whole thing. I must have something wrong with my brain.

Fortunately I saw it in Japanese so I didn't have to endure what I knew was to be awful English voice acting. Seems like they had no budget but for the talking sequences. I kept going because I always thought something was finally going to happen. That and the dain bramage.