Path: ...!3.eu.feeder.erje.net!feeder.erje.net!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: shawn <nanoflower@notforg.m.a.i.l.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: What Did You Watch? 2024-04-19 (Friday)
Date: Sat, 20 Apr 2024 17:22:22 -0400
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
Lines: 139
Message-ID: <uob82jdg35vunr7u3sv958klbc475cqa6a@4ax.com>
References: <UBI20240420@dont-email.me> <v00pvu$3ojla$1@dont-email.me> <v00vjm$3prh1$1@dont-email.me>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Injection-Date: Sat, 20 Apr 2024 23:22:26 +0200 (CEST)
Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="84ba368761b448b1328fcddc1120ea01";
	logging-data="4074480"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org";	posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18W0pkg2p6vFL28tDCenSOteFbrZR+Bxw8="
User-Agent: ForteAgent/8.00.32.1272
Cancel-Lock: sha1:rywm68huKkiNtjQg3unyO4QkvOI=
Bytes: 7789

On Sat, 20 Apr 2024 10:55:53 -0700, Arthur Lipscomb
<arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

>On 4/20/2024 9:20 AM, Ian J. Ball wrote:
>> On 4/20/24 1:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
>> 
>>> What did you watch?
>> 
>> Yesterday, I just wanted to get home to watch TV and movies, so that's 
>> exactly what I did!:
>> 
>> Fallout (Prime) - First two episodes.
>>     I finally decided to pull the trigger on this. I dunno if I will be 
>> able to watch it straight through - I'm hoping I will have enough time 
>> to be able to finish it over this coming week.
>>     So far I like it, though I am not sure I am going to like the show's 
>> structure - e.g. how it seems to rely heavily on "guest stars" who show 
>> up for one, and only one, episode. It's just a good thing that Walton 
>> Goggins is main cast on this, or I fear we'd never see him! (e.g. Kyle 
>> McLaughlin).
>
>
>Goggins chewing the scenery is probably the best thing about the show.
>
>
>>     I do like Moises Arias as the brother, though it may be the worst 
>> casting ever, as Arias and Lucy Purcell couldn't look less biologically 
>> related if they tried! (Maybe Arias' brother character was "adopted"?!)

Doesn't seem likely given the limited supply of parents.

>>     Curious to see where they go with this - I have never played the 
>> video game, though I've heard about it over the years...

I've played all but the original RPG games for many hours. Good stuff.
This has all the elements of the games though it isn't sticking
strictly to the events of the game. 

>> I then watched two movies... strangely, these were both in 4k - I guess 
>> everything is in 4k now!:
>> 
>> Lisa Frankenstein (Peacock) - Well, this was... "quirky" (written by 
>> Diablo Cody!).
>>     For no reason at all, this is set in the (late) 1980s.
>>     Because of the film's premise, it kind of doesn't work - Kathryn 
>> Newton plays Lisa, a teen who is emotionally disturbed in the wake of 
>> witnessing her mother's axe-murder. (Who thought this was a good idea 
>> for establishing the character?!) Her father has since remarried (to 
>> Carla Gugino), and Lisa now has a well-meaning and supportive, but 
>> ditzy, stepsister, Taffy (Liza Soberano, who is apparently famous in the 
>> Philippines).

Her Wikipedia is strange. It suggests that at 12 years old she (with
her family) moved to the Philippines from California to pursue an
acting career. Even though she didn't speak Filipino. Though she has
made an apparently successful career there so I guess it worked out.
Easier to be a success in a smaller pond. Now that she's moved to the
USA it may prove quite difficult to match her success in the
Philippines. Though I'm sure she will get work as she's still young
and good looking.

>>     Anyway, Lisa is the school weirdo in her new school, and she likes 
>> to hang out in cemeteries, and is attracted to the headstone monument of 
>> one particular young man who died in 1837.
>>     Taffy drags Lisa to a party where Lisa is dosed (with a 
>> hallucinogen?), and then almost sexually assaulted. (Who thought this 
>> was a good idea?!) This happens during some sort of freak lightning 
>> storm (you can see where this is going).
>>     After, Lisa comes across the lad from the 1837 grave, now reanimated 
>> by the lightning. At first, Lisa is terrified by him, but then decides 
>> to clean him up. In return, the monster helps Lisa unleash her inner 
>> hott Goth chyck!
>>     Meanwhile, Lisa's stepmom (Gugino), who is a villain straight out of 
>> "Snow White", has had enough of Lisa, and intends to have her committed.
>>     Murderous wackiness ensues.
>>     I never thought this got the tone right. While Lisa's tragic 
>> background should make her sympathetic, the murdering quickly renders 
>> her (and the monster) very *un*sympathetic - why are we rooting for two 
>> killers to get together?! And they're going for "comedy-horror", which 
>> this doesn't get right tonally either.
>>     Thus, the ending is unearned, and the movie kind of never works as a 
>> result.
>> 
>
>Agreed.
>
>> I almost pulled the trigger on "Night Swin" (off Peacock) but didn't 
>> feel in the mood for it.
>> 
>> Bottoms (Prime) - 
>
>This is on my watch list.  I'll get to it eventually.
>
>Now, this was absurd, but several of the comedy bits
>> actually pay off. So I thought this was much better than "Lisa 
>> Frankenstein" (it's also 10 minutes shorter!).
>>     The gist? Two bottom-of-the-high-school-pecking-order lesbians 
>> (Rachel Sennott, who co-wrote it, and Ayo Edebiri from "The Bear") 
>> decide to put together a "fight club, for girls!" at the HS, with the 
>> help of their also weird and pathetic friend (Ruby Cruz). They bill it 
>> to the other girls as a "self-defense (and empowerment!)" club, but the 
>> real point is that Sennott's character wants to use the club to seduce 
>> their two cheerleader crushes (Kaia Gerber and Havana Rose Liu).
>>     Of course, the club takes off beyond their wildest expectations.
>>     Anyway, this was amusing. The only thing I didn't like was that the 
>> asshole male football players never suffered any consequences for their 
>> horrible behavior.
>> 
>> 
>> What did you watch?
>> 
>
>
>I watched:
>
>
>Law & Order: SVU - "Combat Fatigue" - In a bit of a change for SVU this 
>episode focuses on the trial of the kidnapper they've been following all 
>season.  The opening scene with in the jury room I could swear was 
>ripped off line for line from another show, but I don't remember which 
>(LA Law maybe?).
>
>
>Abigail (theatrical) New horror movie about a group of kidnappers 
>(including Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kevin Durand, and Katheryn 
>Newton) who are hired by Giancarlo Esposito to kidnap a little girl for 
>ransom.  But the little girl (Alisha Weir) turns out to be a blood 
>thirsty vampire who enjoys playing with her food before slaughtering 
>them.  This was surprisingly good.  I think mostly because I went in 
>expecting a paint by numbers PG-13 jump scare flick, and this turned out 
>to be a hard "R" gore fest.  And the characters were generally smart and 
>didn't do obviously dumb things.  It also borrowed heavily from "Fright 
>Night" but that is meant as a compliment.  This was probably a better 
>"Fright Night" remake than the actual "Fright Night" remake!  Although 
>it obvious has a different plot with the whole kidnapping thing, there 
>are some definitely and welcome similarities.
>
I still haven't gotten around to seeing the FRIGHT NIGHT remake.
Mostly because remakes never hold up to the original.