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From: Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: What Did You Watch? 2025-06-29 (Sunday)
Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2025 08:10:25 -0700
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On 6/30/2025 6:32 AM, Ian J. Ball wrote:
> On 6/30/25 1:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
> 
>> What did you watch?
> 
> Yesterday, I was on areoplanes(!) for over 13 hours, and I didn't get 
> home to my place until 9pm(!), so nothing.
> 

Nothing at all?  Surely, you can't be serious.


> I will try to do a two-week(!) catch-up to discuss the stuff I saw on 
> German TV, or on the airplane rides, over the next couple of days - I 
> will probably do it as a separate thread.
> 
> 


Looks like I picked the wrong week to not post anything. I haven't 
posted much either.  This will be about a week catch up.

I watched:

The Bear (Hulu) - I suffered through a few episodes of season 4.  Of 
course they didn't bother to do any sort of recap.  As best I can tell 
there is no actual plot for the episodes this season. It just sort of 
is.  And I'm pretty sure they are jumping around in time with no rhyme 
or reason.  So for any given scene, I'm not always sure when it's taking 
place.


Enemy Mine (blu-ray) 1985 sci-fi movie starring Dennis Quaid as a human 
space fighter pilot who crash lands on an alien planet where he's forced 
to befriend an enemy alien soldier (Louis Gossett Jr.).  The movie holds 
up well enough, but I wish there was an audio commentary on the disc.


The Hidden (blu-ray) 1987 sci-fi movie starring Michael Nouri (I could 
have sworn that was Chris Sarandon!  Then I thought he was Steven Bauer. 
  Who is this Michael Nouri guy?) as a cop who partners with an FBI 
agent (Kyle MacLachlan) to track down seemingly normal people who 
suddenly start to go on wild murder/robbery sprees.  It turns out people 
are being taken over by an alien who likes fast cars and money.  The 
alien has the ability to enter different people's bodies, and once 
inside he's unkillable.  It must have been about 20 years since I last 
watched this.  I watched with a director commentary.  The director made 
a point to comment on two actors who played a doctor and a nurse in one 
scene and spoke at length about how bad their acting was.  Then topped 
it off with now he "would never accept actors of that quality."  Then 
later in the commentary he rags on Kyle MacLachlan.  I was wondering who 
is this director taking all of these pot shots at the cast, so I looked 
him up and saw he's the same guy who directed Elm Street 2.  I have 
heard actors say a few choice words about him.  And now that I think 
about it, if the actors playing the doctor and nurse weren't turning in 
a good performance, it's the director's job to get a good performance 
out of them or replace the actors.  There's another point where the 
director doesn't seem to understand what's happening and the moderator 
has to explain the scene to him.  This is actually a pretty good movie, 
but I'm thinking It's good in spite of the director.  The movie is also 
notable for featuring Claudia Christian.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8yurma6ToA


I Come in Peace (blu-ray) 1990 sci-fi movie starring Dolph Lundgren as a 
cop investigating a series of murders that turns out are being committed 
by an alien looking to use humans as an illegal drug supply.  Brian 
Benben co-stars as a shady FBI agent who partners with Lundgren.  The 
movie is OK sci-fi schlock.  I also haven't wanted this in forever, but 
have been wanting to pair it with "The Hidden" for a few years now.


The Arrival (blu-ray) 1996 sci-fi movie written and directed by David 
Twohy (The Pitch Black movies) and starring Charlie Sheen as a paranoid 
radio astronomer who stumbles upon an alien plot to terraform Earth. 
The movie holds up well enough.  I wanted to also watch the sequel, but 
I only have that on DVD, and when I put the disc in the movie was non 
anamorphic widescreen, and completely unwatchable.


Ender's Game (4K disc) 2013 movie based on the 1985 novel by Orson Scott 
card.  This is one of the few movies based on a book that I actually 
read.  Set 50 years after an alien attack on Earth, humanity has begun 
training child soldiers to fight the war in space.  Asa Butterfield 
stars as Ender, a young boy with a brilliant tactical mind who rises 
through the ranks at battle school to eventually lead his own forces 
against the enemy home world.  Harrison Ford stars as Ender's commanding 
officer who pushes "Ender" to win the war while Viola Davis costars as a 
military psychologist who questions the ethics of child soldiers, and in 
particular how hard Ford is pushing "Ender" to win at all costs.  Hailee 
Steinfeld also co-stars as Ender's classmate in Battle school.  While 
the movie does have space battles, the main focus is Ender and his 
psychology as he's trained to wage war against an enemy he's never met.


Airplane! (blu-ray) 1980 comedy from Jim Abrahams and the Zucker 
brothers.  Robert Hays must land an airplane after the pilot and 
copilots get sick from food poisoning.  Leslie Nielsen co-stars as a 
doctor trying to help.  The movie is still laugh out loud funny.

Airplane II: The Sequel (blu-ray) 1982 sequel which finds most of the 
cast from the first movie returning to try and fly a spaceship full of 
passengers to the moon.  Jim Abrahams and the Zucker brothers had 
nothing to do with this one.  Leslie Nielsen also doesn't return.  My 
guess is after the events of the first movie Nielsen's character gave up 
practicing medicine, changed his name, and went to the police academy 
for a career change.  Anyway, I don't care what anyone says, this movie 
is funny too!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9ilm8PEJlQ


The Naked Gun (4K disc) 1988 comedy from Jim Abrahams and the Zucker 
brothers.  Leslie Nielsen plays a bumbling cop who has to stop an 
assassination attempt against the Queen of England.


The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear (blu-ray) 1991 sequel from Jim 
Abrahams and the Zucker brothers. Nieslen returns to bumble his away 
through more police work.

The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The final Insult (blu-ray) 1994 sequel which has 
Nielsen going under cover to catch a terrorist.  It was OK I guess.


Top Secret! (blu-ray) 1984 comedy from Jim Abrahams and the Zucker 
brothers.  Val Kilmer stars as an American rock star who while on a good 
will tour to East Germany stumbles upon a plot to start WWIII.  Kilmer 
reluctantly teams up with the resistance movement to stop it.  The movie 
holds up great.