Miscellaneous Film/TV Discussion

[Disney's Divinity]

^ Thanks! I'll probably change the pictures every day or every other day. I have enough to go through November, probably.

I haven't seen Nomadland to compare, but I agree, PYW is a real masterpiece.

[Disney's Divinity]

I finally saw the Lucille Ball Mame. It's never aired before, they only ever air the non-musical version of Mame that I don't care about. Even though Lucille Ball is definitely no Lansbury, I thought she did alright considering she's not a singer. Thankfully they brought the chorus forward more often for most of the songs to disguise her. She's believable as a super-likable, optimistic and charismatic character like Mame anyway. It is a shame though to have most of the cast from the musical, but not Lansbury. Bea Arthur was great, of course. I liked the song they made for Beauregard that wasn't in the musical; at least I assumed it was new for the film since the OBC I've been listening to for years didn't have it? Too bad they didn't revive the deleted "Camoflauge" to give Arthur / Ball a number at the beginning of the film to compare to "Bosom Buddies" at the end. I enjoyed it. I'd like to own the film someday. I have it on DVR right now and don't plan to delete it unless I have to. I've read before that it was hated and I can understand it. That reminds me of the Streisand version of Hello, Dolly! that I read was disliked by critics back when, too, and yet I also enjoyed that one.

There's another free couple of days for several channels coming up and I looked forward to see what they would be airing. I'll finally be able to watch Rocketman and Judy!

[Disney Duster]

Oh yay you got to see Mame and enjoyed it, too! You know, Ioved Lucille. The only problem is her singing. And, well, one other thing. At the end, her nephew hates what she did to his fiance and her family, instead of like in the original, where he thanks her. And it seems to make no sense he hates what she did because then in the next scene he's with the Irish girl Mame wanted for him and he's happy.. I wish you liked Auntie Mame because I find that the superior film. I am really glad you will get to see Rocketman and Judy! I especially love Judy!

[Disney Duster]

I recently saw The Music Man (1962). It was really good. I didn't know how Harold Hill was gonna make it out of his situation! The actor who played Harold Hill was very cute. It was a very good film. And now I know where "Shipoopi" from Family Guy is from!

[Disney's Divinity]

I wish you liked Auntie Mame because I find that the superior film. I am really glad you will get to see Rocketman and Judy! I especially love Judy!

Auntie Mame is airing again soon. I might try to give it another go now I've seen the musical version. I haven't watched Judy or Rocketman although I could. I recorded and saved up a bunch of movies when there were free channels, and I've been watching whatever I felt like based on my mood. So I haven't got around to them yet. I've been consumed mostly with other things like Call the Midwife, Grantchester, and All Creatures Great and Small.

I was able to see the first two South Park films on Paramount's streaming service, although I don't think I will the future ones (at least not until they end up Comedy Central down the line). Personally, I found them a little disappointing. I'm not sure their heart was in it. It felt more like they only existed because they were pushed to create content to advertise the service more than anything.

[Disney Duster]

Oh, ok well then by all means watch what you in the mood for! There's only so much time we have and there are more movies in existence than we could ever all watch unless we had no work!

Oh, thanks for letting me know about South Park. I was thinking of getting Paramount + for one month just to watch those. I probably still will, but I dunno. Your input will help me decide.

[Disney's Divinity]

Yeah... Sometimes I just want to be fully "on" for certain movies, to catch all the details and savor it properly, you know? I try to give everything its best chance rather than forcing myself to watch something when I don't want to and then disliking it unfairly.

I thought there was a topic here for Ron's Gone Wrong, but couldn't find one with the search. I liked this. Not enough to buy it or anything, but my expectations were low from the first fifteen minutes. Seems like a story mostly focused on criticizing social media, Facebook, cellphones--a message I very much support! The robot immediately felt like an imitation of other recent animated characters--Baymax being the main one, but also Minions to a degree as well as Olaf's deadpan delivery when learning about the world around him (and constant loss of body parts). The grandmother (Olivia Colman) was hilarious. I mean, so many things come to mind--her dancing on the table with the robot, not believing in allergies and thinking an uncle was possessed by a demon from a cashew, the flashback birthday scene where they threw knives at a picture of Hitler. I feel like there was a very blink-and-you'll-miss-it adult joke near the end of the film with her... I don't want to say what it was.

Besides that, probably the funniest scene was the one with the bullies and Ron (the robot) hit them back... The part where it's smashed into pieces, slowly reassembles itself, and then starts to chase them while repeating their own words "I will destroy you" back at them was actually kind of scary on top of being funny... Would he have removed their body parts since it was repeating what they had done to him? And the villain actually got off easy here the way they do in, say, Pinocchio. He should've gone to prison not just for invading privacy, but also for having seen that Barney was stranded in the woods and injured, and he didn't say anything hoping the problem would resolve itself with a 12-year-old boy dying.... He only lost his job at the end.

Some of this movie kind of reminded me of your debates of yore, Duster, when you argued with TMetatron (I forget his username exactly) about WALL E and how robots have no souls. It is sort of creepy to me for a person to have an emotional attachment to a robot when they're only hollow objects... I mean, at least in BH6, Baymax was just a fill-in for Hiro's emotions and grief towards Tadashi. Here, the protagonist feels that he is genuinely friends with the robot, like this is an E.T. type story. Only robots are not "alive." There is no there there. *shrug*

[Disney Duster]

I can usually watch a movie any time. That's just me. I wish you were able to, but you don't seem to have a problem waiting till the right time to watch a movie, which is cool.

I don't want to see a movie about a robot really. It has to be something really good like A.I.. Yes, people falling for robots still bothers me. I'm glad you get me about that (and that guy's name was TM2-Megatron by the way). However, I remember in religion class learning everything has a soul. Even rocks have souls. Well, at least in Catholicism. But only human souls go to Heaven. But, my religion teacher, who was a priest, acknowledged the theory that if we love our pets, their souls may go to Heaven, too. So maybe it could happen for robots. It's all a little murky. I'd probably have to ask the Pope about souls!

[Disney Duster]

Today me and the friends I live with realized we have Paramount + already because we got it through Amazon Prime when we signed up for Paramount + for a free trial to watch The Stand, and we never canceled the prescription! By the way I hated the new Stand. Alexander Skarsguard is hot, and that's it. But I had low expectations from what you said, Divinity, so I was pleasantly surprised and laughed all the way to the end! I find is as good as any of their recent stuff. Honestly, their best stuff was probably the mid to late 2000s and the early to mid 2010s. But I thought the two events were so funny and the ending was the clincher! Haha!

[Disney's Divinity]

^ Speaking of South Park, the show itself will be returning Feb. 2nd. I'm glad, it's been so long. I admit South Park and SNL helped me survive the Trump years (and may end up having to do it again looking at the state of the world, my God). Comedy is the only relief in the midst of all the darkness.

911 has started re-running finally, and now I can watch it from the beginning. I remember when it debuted, that it looked worth watching (and I love Angela Bassett), but it's always hard for me to keep up with shows week-to-week in the past unless I really, really loved them. I've finished the first season (only 10 episodes) and now the second season is starting. Ryan Murphy shows usually don't stay good for long, so I'm expecting it to crash soon... I've watched a couple of 911: Lone Star's new episodes and the gay couple on that show are great.

I've also been watching All Creatures Great and Small... A fun, little show that goes for that same quaint feeling Call the Midwife has, only with a different focus (veterinarians instead of midwifery). Only a shame that an actress from the show passed away after the first season (she played Olenna Tyrell on Game of Thrones among other things, she's awesome). I would've liked to see more appearances by her. Rest in peace.

[Disney Duster]

Yeah, comedy really helps me in my depression. Glad you are enjoying lots of shows, and thanks for reminding me when South Park returns!

[Disney's Divinity]

Have you ever seen Lili, Duster? It's a film with Leslie Caron--two years before The Glass Slipper, and three years after Walt's Cinderella. I have nothing in particular to say other than I love the love interest (Mel Ferrer) opposite her in that film. I only saw this movie because I'd seen Mel Ferrer as King Arthur in another movie and, wow... *swoons* What a handsome man he was. It was hard for me to understand why Guenevere would ever be interested in Lancelot there. Come to think of it, Nathan Page from Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries who plays Miss Fisher's love interest (and who I also love0 looks a great deal like him.

Interestingly, Lesile Caron's character in Lili has a dream sequence similar to the ones her character has in The Glass Slipper.

[Disney Duster]

I have never seen Lili, but since you recommend it I can try to rent it this weekend! Loves me a handsome man.

[Patricier21]

Kinda OT, but a slightly related note, does anyone know if the contents in philosophers/sorcerers Stone magical movie mode Contains the same Chris Columbus commentary etc. as what was on its picture in picture commentary on the ultimate edition Blu-ray?

[Disney's Divinity]

^ I remember seeing your post when you made it, but I didn't know the answer, I'm sorry.

I finished Elementary a while back. Not as good as BBC's Sherlock by far, but I never expected it would be that good. It was still worth watching though and a decent crime serial, since I like both Miller and Liu. I liked that the show stayed in NY its whole run. I didn't really like their Mycroft, but I thoughtmaking Moriarty female here (and combining the character with Irene Adler)was sort of genius. Such a shame neither of them could show up again for the final season. I was a little iffy about them introducing Sherlock's father, but John Noble did alright. I'm glad both he and Kitty's actress could make appearances in the final season, even if those two could not (naturally Shinwellcouldn't have appeared since the character had died, but maybe they could've been creative with a cameo in a flashback or something). Miller's mannerisms throughout were very well-done. At times when the character was more aggressive, he looked almost like Popeye. I wouldn't mind if this show revived for a couple of seasons on Netflix in the future or something. Either way, the finale hit me right in the feels when Sherlock finds out Joan has cancer, which she'd been hiding from him. Her reaction, the hug, him saying he's staying, it was such a sweet platonic love story to me. They totally sold them as friends that would stay together their whole lives sort of like the Golden Girls.

I'm watching Breaking Bad for the first time right now. It's another show like The Walking Dead that I wanted to check out because it was so popular--wanted to understand why. They're airing one whole season every Saturday, just finished season 3 this morning. So only two more Saturday's before they've gone through the whole series. I might check out Better Call Saul afterwards... I do like some of those characters (most notably the bald guy), just not sure if it could be as entertaining for me. The Jesse character is sort of what hooked me with Breaking Bad. He's too dumb to live. But somehow the character's cute to me, more as far as his personality than his looks.

[DVDBuff1]

Everything, Everywhere, All at Once is a MASTERPIECE of Cinema. Do you feel fatigued from less fresh takes of imagination that taste likes stale leftovers? Do you remember when you last digested something that it felt original just from being different compared to your other options? That sense of wonder is what I felt when watching this Beautiful, Weird, and Profound movie. The premise of a person facing conflict throughout multiple universes is already popular amongst the Sci-Fi/ Superhero genre, BUT how many of them focus on an Asian American Family with the mother as the lead? I told a dear friend of mine at some point, general audiences will get tired of seeing the SAME Cis-White person focused franchises, typically ones of nostalgia. I never imagined I would be treated to such a great movie like this. That same friend told me all the actors and directors of this movie were clearly having the time of their lives, and it truly is that sentiment. It's a Kung Fu movie, with a comic book premise, about values of living and family, all told in absurdist humor in a vein similar to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Please do yourself a favor, and see this MAGNIFICENT STORY.

[Disney Duster]

I recently watched Cyrano (2021), and I thought it was really beautiful and well done. Now, I have never seen or read any version of the Cyrano story before, and only knew a man with a long nose fed romantic words to a man to repeat to a woman he loved. I also don't think I have ever seen Dinklage act before. I was impressed with the story, with some quibbles, and was impressed with Dinklage's acting, along with the visuals. Actually everyone's acting was pretty good, but the music and the singing...ugh, only Roxanne's and Christian's voices were good! Dinklage should have been dubbed with some good match, I say. The music really wasn't memorable at all. Just poor melodies, except "Wherever I Fall", but that one should not have been the best song since it was song by side characters about their side lives! The quibbles I had with the story was I felt the characters were not quite as strong as they needed to be for people to all be in love with each other. I felt only Cyrano himself was really a good character. I kind of didn't get why he wanted Roxanne unless she had been, I dunno, a nicer or better person. Or we saw them sharing more laughs and joy together. Like if she made him laugh as much as he her.

But all in all, this really was a beautiful movie. I loved the costumes. I don't think I will buy it, but it's classic. I wonder if it will become a cult classic down the road. Maybe not because the music isn't quite strong enough. I guess it depends on if I ever want to watch the movie again.

[Disney's Divinity]

I want to see Cyrano. I don't know the story either; I really just want to see it because I like Dinklage as an actor.

I watched The Batman yesterday, and I'm very surprised to say it's become one of the few live-action Batman films I strongly like, behind The Dark Knight and Batman & Robin (I like that one in a campy sense thanks to Uma Thurman's Poison Ivy and the nipple suits ). Batman Begins is fine, I just don't ever find the urge to re-watch it since it's so much boilerplate, I usually just jump straight to TDK. I'd put Birds of Prey at #5 since it was sort of fun at times. I always hated the other '90s Batman films and The Dark Knight Returns isn't satisfying to me. Joker's last 15 minutes are incredible, but the rest of the film is a horrible slog I don't plan to endure again.

Anyway, I really didn't think I'd like The Batman because I've never really liked Pattinson... I actually think he may be my favorite Batman, actually, but there's no doubt at all that Zoe Kravitz is the best Catwoman. I didn't like Pfeiffer's, Hathaway's, or Berry's takes on the character. This is the first film version of her that I've enjoyed, and they actually made me feel the chemistry between her and Batman. I love that they finally did new versions of some of the villains not named Joker. I really wish they'd do Poison Ivy in a sequel, but I'd expect them to racebend her because redheads don't exist in American cinema anymore apparently. She would be really interesting in a serious adaptation, too, with climate change being a much more serious issue than it was in the '90s or decades prior. I was disappointed Joker was teased at the end since I'd rather focus on more of the villains that don't get as much attention.

What a moody film, overall. I loved the ending with Arkham being flooded and the Mayor-Elect being shot, that was scary as hell. Both this and Joker (a film I didn't like overall) feel too close to real life with people acting psychotic and wanting to cause mass harm, overthrow the government, etc. etc. The Riddler was very well-done. Penguin was fine, much better than the Danny Devito version I never liked, lol. I think my only criticism with this film is that it's too long. They could've cut 20-30 minutes out of this for sure. And I also wish Alfredwas in it a little more than he was. Very much looking forward to this iteration and hopefully it lasts longer than the Nolan one did.

EDIT: Reading now that they're only intending this to be a trilogy, unfortunately. :/ But they teased Mr. Freeze as one of the possibilities for the next film; I'd definitely like to see a new take there in a more realistic adaptation like this one.

[blackcauldron85]

I also saw The Batman a few weeks ago because my husband wanted to see it. I haven't seen most versions of Batman to compare it to. I wasn't looking forward to it at all, but it kept my attention. Robert Pattinson was great, and Zoe Kravitz was really great.

[Disney Duster]

Wow, glowing reviews about The Batman! My one in-person friend said it was good, too! I must see it!