The Movie (and TV show) Watching Thread

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I've watched Howl's Moving Castle (2004) and Spirited Away (2001) with my sibling this past weekend.

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I've watched Howl's Moving Castle (2004) and Spirited Away (2001) with my sibling this past weekend.

How'd you like them?

They were quite enjoyable, I'd say.

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Still shocked that Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) holds up.

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I don't know what I expected.

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Watched The Shadow (1994) because of April Daniels's scrapped adaptation of the character. All in all, it was actually pretty good, which makes me sad that Daniels won't be able to make her version until 2026 at the earliest (when The Shadow becomes public domain--thank you, Disney, for pissing off Republicans and ensuring that copyright law doesn't get extended).

EDIT: After watching it again, I've come to the conclusion that it has a lot in common with Doctor Who (1996). Both films were '90s attempts at rebooting an old IP (whether its last major attempt at relevance was 36 years ago [Invisible Avenger, 1958] or 7 [Survival, Season 26, 1989]) written by those with a history in the field (David Koepp grew up on the Shadow radio stories, while Matthew Jacobs was the son of Anthony, who portrayed Doc Holliday in season 3's The Gunfighters and allowed his son to visit the set). The titular characters of both films were played by one of four acting brothers (Alec Baldwin and Paul McGann, respectively), and a key item was made out of beryllium (whether it was a sphere or a clock). Both films underperformed expectations and plans to expand upon what we got were scrapped.

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Watched The Brave Little Toaster (1987, dir. Jerry Rees) for the first time in nearly a decade yesterday and it traumatized me more now than it did then (but not as much as it apparently did when I was a kid--I must have blocked out the fact that I'd cried at the film).

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Are any of you -particularly those who belong to the LGBTQ+ community- finding yourselves watching (or rewatching) the original 'X-Men' film from 2000?  I remember watching it when it first came out in movie theaters nationwide.  I highly recommend it.  If there is anyone in this movie series you find yourselves identifying with, I have to imagine it would be these mutants.  

I did watch it a while back, and I thought it was pretty good. I remember thinking that Magneto and Professor X's philosophies on the Straights non-mutants were similar to the two wolves inside me regarding the Cis.

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Oppenheimer was good, though I think I'll like Barbie better. I do not yet have plans to watch Barbie in theaters, but maybe I will.

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I should also note that my conflict with my own bladder was superior to Oppenheimer's conflict with Strauss.

Many such cases.

How do you deal with this during three-hour movie shows?

Usually, I just pause the movie and go pee, but that's because I don't usually go to movie theaters.

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I just saw that a new 'Expendables' movie is coming out soon.

I don't want to hear s*** about President Biden's age if you go out and see this.

I have no problem with our President's age and I'd need to watch the middle two before I were to go out and see this (which, honestly, I don't have that much interest in doing).

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I'm just making the point that people aren't complaining about "gerontocracy" in the movie industry. Do people really still want to see an elderly Stallone in action movies?

I figured as much, but still. IIRC, he's quitting the Expendables after this movie anyhow.

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Got a few thoughts on the new season of Quantum Leap. It's pretty good.

Spoiler alert: This Took Too Long! (Season 2, 2023)

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The rest of the cast (save Ian) make appearances only through flashback, and at the end of the episode, we find out why: Ben was missing, presumed dead, for three years, and the project has been shut down for one. This caught me off guard, but it makes sense and I'm here for it (after all, the original Quantum Leap took place not three, but six years in the future) Despite Ian being Ben's observer for this and the next episode, Mason Alexander Park is not moved ahead of Caitlin Bassett in the opening credits for these episodes.

Spoiler alert: Ben and Teller (Season 2, 2023)

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In this episode, we catch up on the rest of the gang, in particular, Addison. Addison is now in a relationship with Tom (new cast member Peter Gadiot), who, while I respect him for being able to pull Addison out from being suicidal, I'm not as big a fan as the rest of the gang (and seeing as Addison hasn't even kissed him on-screen, it's possible that, now that she's set to become the observer again, that she falls for Ben all over again). Which, this is honestly one love angle I can get behind. The guy who taught Addison to love vs. the guy who taught Addison to love after the other guy's presumed death, and they can't even see each other to directly compete. Plus, Quantum Leap has a rich history in cuckoldry (see: Sam, a married man for most of the series [though unconfirmed until the season 4 premiere] who has a friendship with Al that makes you wonder if they do more than put right what once went wrong together, sleeping with just about anyone who looks at him).

Ian serves as the observer for this leap again, because Addison and Tom don't make it to the project until about halfway through the episode, and Addison gets cold feet about seeing her ex-fiancé again. She eventually enters the imaging chamber at the end of the episode to give Ben the "Where Are They Now?", and next episode, she returns as observer full-time.

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Also Hunter Schafer is hot lol

Literally the only thing I've seen her in was the first episode of Euphoria (I didn't like it enough to justify my continued perusal), but I agree.

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Watched Morbius last night. It's obviously bad, but it's also not in the bottom ten superhero movies released in the past ten years.

There's a line in it that just made me laugh upon hearing it, he says "To bats this is deadly, but to humans...it's lethal!"

Those are synonyms. They mean the exact same thing.

I don't know the context, and I don't think I either need nor want to. As Dule himself would say, flawless writing. 5/7.

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Finally watched The Matrix (dirs. The Wachowski Sisters, 1999) over three separate sittings. I gotta admit, the parts I remember watching hit different now that I'm actually trans.

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Finally watched The Matrix (dirs. The Wachowski Sisters, 1999) over three separate sittings. I gotta admit, the parts I remember watching hit different now that I'm actually trans.

Watched sequels Reloaded and Revolutions (dirs. The Wachowski Sisters, 2003). I wasn't anywhere near as disappointed as I was expecting to be, honestly. Maybe it's because I'm easily impressed. Will probably watch Resurrections (dir. Lana Wachowski, 2021) next weekend, though they changed Morpheuses (Morphei?) so I'm a little nervous even though there's a lore reason for it.

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Will probably watch Resurrections (dir. Lana Wachowski, 2021) next weekend, though they changed Morpheuses (Morphei?) so I'm a little nervous even though there's a lore reason for it.

Watched it tonight and was pleasantly surprised; it was better than the sequels preceding it. I still won't trust Drew Goddard with the franchise until he has three psychiatrists telling him he can direct Matrix 5, though.

I can sort of see a parallel to the Rambo films, in a way--you have the first and best film, the lackluster second and third films that are good for what they are: mindless action flicks, then the fourth film that, while ultimately still not quite as good as the original, was better than the sequels before it. And of course, the fifth film, being directed by the ostensibly cisgender Goddard, will probably be worse than Reloaded and Revolutions (like how Last Blood was worse than Rambo II and III).