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From: Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: What Did You Watch? 2024-06-23 (Sunday)
Date: Mon, 24 Jun 2024 13:16:04 -0700
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On 6/24/2024 10:30 AM, Ian J. Ball wrote:
> On 6/24/24 1:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
> 
>> What did you watch?
> 
> I mostly took it easy yesterday - I only got through one flick off Tubi, 
> and one Lifetime flick. However, I did go back to start up a series I 
> couldn't watch/finish before:
> 
> School Spirits (Pee+) - So a few days ago, I saw an article about the 
> filming of the second season of "School Spirits". And then yesterday I 
> was sitting around trying to figure out what streaming series I would 
> watch next (after having finished "Daisy Jones & The Six" in a single 
> day!!), and then I realized - "Hey! I have Pee+! - I can go back and 
> watch "School Spirits" now!!"
>     So, I rewatched the pilot, which I had seen before (they ran just 
> the pilot on Paramount Network once, and I DVR'ed it), and then later in 
> the day watched episode #1.2.
>     I feel like Arthur mentioned this, but their "rules for ghosts" are 
> all over the place! Where are they getting paper to write on?! Where did 
> the donuts come from?!!

I don't think I've ever watched this before.  You're probably thinking 
of "Dead Boy Detectives" on Netflix.  That was a pretty good show and it 
is in the same universe with "The Sandman" and even shared some 
characters/actors.

>     At the end of the pilot, Maddie's (Peyton List The Younger) bestie 
> Simon (Kristian Flores) is able to see her, despite no living person 
> ever seeing any of the other ghosts on campus.
>     Episode #2 picks up with Maddie and Simon rather arbitrarily 
> deciding that Maddie's boyfriend (Spencer MacPherson) is the one who 
> killed her, just because he's a cheater, and trying to gather evidence 
> to prove this, but we know in any mystery series that the first 
> "suspect" is always a red herring, so there's no way he did it.
>     Hopefully, they get to some other suspects in ep. #3.
> 
> golf - Whoa! The final hole of the Travellers was interrupted by some 
> "protesters" - of course they were eco-nutters! - who threw paint(?) on 
> the green, and then were promptly tackled by about a dozen cops! (See: 
> https://apnews.com/article/travelers-championship-intruders-18th-hole-police-bc3e9408e9417b8520fe866795761fe2 )
>     That final hole was consequential, as Day Three leader Tom Kim 
> birdied it to move back into a tie for the lead and force a playoff with 
> Scottie Scheffler.
>     But, of course, Kim choked on the first playoff hole, so Scheffler 
> ended up winning anyway.  :/
> 
> Devil's Prey (Tubi) - 2001 "horror" flick, starring Ashley Jones! and 
> Charlie O'Connell; also starring: Bryan Kirkwood, Jennifer Lyons (who I 
> was shocked to see was still working up to almost the present day!), 
> Elena Lyons and Patrick Bergen(!).
>     Basic premise: Some brain-dead (college-aged(?)) youts get chased 
> after a rave by Satanists who want to sacrifice them. [roll]
>     For supposedly a "slasher" flick, this wasn't very gory at all. It 
> did however have a bunch of gratuitous nudity, though not really the 
> "good kind"!
>     Jones really only did two "films" in her (early) career (and later 
> on mostly did just TV/Lifetime flicks) - "The King's Guard" in 2000 and 
> this in 2001, both presumably after she left Y&R. So this flick was 
> still "peak Ashley Jones" and she looks great here.
>     I am pretty sure I have seen this film before, though it likely was 
> literally 2 decades ago! - But I clearly knew going in that Elena Lyons 
> was going to turn out to be the lead villainess, and I don't think this 
> was just a lucky guess... Lyons actually does a pretty steamy sex scene 
> in this (with Patrick Bergen who even then was probably old enough to be 
> her father!!), though I rolled my eyes at the idea that two Satanists 
> would have sex with their clothes on!... Lyons kept working though 2012, 
> which is about 7-8 years longer than I thought she did.
>     This flick was just barely OK (I only stayed with it for Ashley 
> Jones and Elena Lyons, as we got no nudity out of Jennifer Lyons and she 
> plays a whiny bitch), and the ending was the cliched addlebrained 
> (though ambiguous) and completely unnecessary "twist". [roll]
> 
> Devil on Campus: The Larry Ray Story (Lifetime) - Directed by Elisabeth 
> Röhm! (who also co-stars as the main victim's mother).
>     Wow - this may be the absolute *least* sympathetic Lifetime "victim" 
> ever! I was actually rooting for Larry Ray to kill her by the end!
>     This is based on the true story of 50-year old conman/psycho Larry 
> Ray who in the early 2010s moved himself into his daughter's dorm at 
> Sarah Lawrence College, and quickly sets up a quasi-cult.
>     Based on this film, I would *never* send a kid to Sarah Lawrence 
> *ever*: The film portrays the main victim's parents as going to the 
> college administration about Larry Ray living on campus, and the admin 
> just shrugs - you can't tell me that colleges can't control who is 
> living in their on-campus housing!! (IOW, that they can't kick out 
> people not enrolled in the college!)

You just reminded me, I lived in a college dorm my first semester and I 
do recall one day seeing some, I guess, parents/relatives of a student 
hanging around for a weekend visit.

But as far as I know they didn't try to start a cult.  I'm pretty sure 
if they had, the RAs would have kicked them out!  LOL

>     Anyway, the film's "heroine" (she's clearly not IMO) is named 
> Claudia Drury (this is a real person, apparently), played by Tedra 
> Rogers, and she is initially skeptical of Larry (obvi!), but then soon 
> crumbles and becomes his willing... victim? dupe? Renfeld?
>     In general, I don't like Lifetime's "con/cult" movies because you 
> have to be a weak idiot to fall for any of this garbage. And this film's 
> "heroine"/victim was the weakest idiot of them all (at least, as 
> portrayed here).
>     So I didn't have a whole lot of sympathy.
>     One thing I did find interesting is how Larry Ray's daughter was a 
> willing participant/lieutenant in his crimes - though she only got 4 
> years in jail (it likely should have been more!).
> 
> 
> What did you watch?
> 


This is a multi-day catch up.  I watched:


Superman: Man of Tomorrow (blu-ray) 2020 DC animated movie. 17th movie 
in the DCAMU and the first movie in the "Tomorrowverse" after they 
rebooted the series following "Justice League Dark: Apokolips War." 
This reboot follows Clark Kent (Darren Criss) as he moves to Metropolis, 
meets Lois Lane (Aleaxndra Daddario) and eventually takes on the 
Superman persona.  During this time he battles Lobo and Parasite.  Lex 
Luthor (Zachary Quinto) also causes some trouble.  I guess it was OK. 
As I recall I hated the animated style the first time I saw this.  This 
time around I guess I just didn't like it.  I just don't get why they 
would do such a serious downgrade in the animation making it look so cheap.


Ghost in the Shell (4K disc) 1995 Japanese animated movie that has been 
heavily ripped off by many movies since, with "The Matrix" being exhibit 
A.  The plot involves a secret police force headed by a cyborg cop 
called "Major" going after a terrorist who as the Puppet Master who can 
hack into people.  Anyway, the movie continues to hold up very well.


Ghost in the Shell (3D blu-ray) 2017 live action remake of the classic 
Japanese film.  Scarlett Johansson stars as "Major," a cyborg cop who is 
after a terrorist hacker.  This movie has all the same major set pieces 
as the original Japanese version, but changes the plot.  It's weird 
watching it back to back with the animated version and seeing all the 
same stuff happen, but for slightly different reasons.  And for the 
first time, I think I might actually prefer the live action version. 
All the subtle changes used to annoy me, but I'm OK with them now.


The Lazarus Project - I think this was episode 3.  Episodes titles would 
help a lot!  I am becoming increasing annoyed with the main hero who is 
in a time travel show but complains about time travel and apparently was 
not familiar with the concept of a causal loop.


House of the Dragon - "Rhaenyra the Cruel" - Season 2, Episode 2. 
Trying to recap would be pointless.  But I guess it was OK.