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From: "Ian J. Ball" <ijball@mac.invalid>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: What Did You Watch? 2024-06-28 (Friday)
Date: Sat, 29 Jun 2024 09:08:07 -0700
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On 6/29/24 1:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:

> I watched:
> 
> Nothing.
> 
> What did you watch?

Back to Tubi movies, and soaps:

soaps: DOOL - As expected, the new Gabi (Cherie Jimenez) is a dud 
compared to Camila Banus (they really just should have written the 
character out - indeed, I am hoping they have this new replacement 
actress just so that they can write Gabi out more permanently...) - 
oddly, though, I could swear I've seen this actress in something 
before... I haven't gotten to "Banshee" yet, though she was in an ep of 
PLL (Bitches!)... no, it was "The Lost Girls", one of the most 
depressing Lifetime flicks I've ever seen. Anyway, I guess they cut a 
deal with Melinda Trask and get Gabi out of jail (for a crime she didn't 
commit!) at the end. Amusingly, Melinda Trask threatens to out EJ's 
non-paternity anyway (out of spite!!), when Nicole walks in. Chanel 
still wants nothing to do Paulina, and tells Johnny to go ahead to L.A. 
for his job anyway (it's unclear if he will do that).
    GH - Carly confronts Jason about knuckling under to the FBI to keep 
her out of jail - the confrontation ends inconclusively. NuKristina is 
clearly looking for reasons to file for custody of the fetus. More Sonny 
and Booby Vista nonsense. Chase and Brook Lynn try to figure out their 
way forward. Ava goes to Laura to ask Laura to be a character witness 
should Ava and Sonny go to court over custody of Avery.
    Y&R - I cannot figure out where they are going with the storyline 
with Faith (who is clearly damaged) and Daniel's daughter, Lucy (whose 
mother was a crazy person, don't forget!), nor where they are going with 
Sharon spacing out over long-dead Cassie. (P.S. Camryn Grimes has put on 
a lot of weight since I last saw her - like, too much.) Kyle throws in 
with Audra at Victor's insistence, despite them having a negative past 
history - and quits Jabot; seeing Kyle and Audra together makes Summer 
twitchy jealous. (She's a headcase!) Also, Summer agrees to let Chloe 
sub in for Chelsea in whatever company she has going with Sally 
(Courtney Hope).

Sorority Party Massacre (Tubi) - I only watched this 2012 "comedy 
horror" flick as background noise.
    This does have some amusing bits - I liked the newspaper headline 
about the film's main detective character: "Beyond Excessive Force"! Ha! 
And the bit where he rages out and runs over the kid's bicycle is primo! 
But many of the gags in this film don't land. (And it's always 
problematic if your film has Ron Jeremy in the cast...)
    Reviews were right - all of the sorority girls, save the "lead" 
(Marissa Skell), are unlikeable, which is a problem.
    And when Eve Mauro is playing one of the sorority girls (she was 
stunning looking back c.2010), it's no shock when she turns out to be 
the main villain. (I think the only time Mauro hasn't been the villain 
is in the awful low-budget 2007 flick "Wicked Lake" (which is so bad, 
not even the copious naked nudity can save it!).)
    Reviews are also right that this is too cute/clever by half, piling 
on twist after twist after twist at the end to the point where the movie 
kind of lost all of its meaning. That and the insufficient naked nudity 
and relative lack of gore EFX means this one ends up short of the goal.

Free Range (Tubi) - I suspect this 2023 torture porn film is trying to 
masquerade as some kind of "message film", but I will acknowledge that 
it does manage to elicit a provocative ending.
    But I think the message is muddled.
    Chubby, entitled young adult daughter of richie-rich parents is 
given a choice, after they endlessly lecture her about the world really 
being "dog-eat-dog" - she chooses "wrong".
    As a result, she's nabbed and put in a dungeon with other people, 
who are sequentially killed off, one-by-one, in various horrific ways, 
often involving a power saw.
    This is incredibly low-budget, and generally unpleasant, but is 
redeemed a little bit by the ending.

Puppy (Tubi) - I will admit - I generally "don't get" Aussie low-budget 
independent flicks. And I didn't get this 2005 flick either.
    Aussie actress Nadia Townsend (who does get nakedly nude in this - 
in fact both leads do - but... meh) plays Liz, a mess of a young adult. 
She lives with her sister and the sister's 
husband(?)/finance(?)/boyfriend(?) - the plot outline describes Liz as a 
"grifter", and I guess that's basically right. But she's a total mess of 
a person.
    After she crashes her car, she is kidnapped by a crazy man (Bernard 
Curry) - I liked that this film makes it clear that this dude is 
completely nuts. (Though he does get better after he goes back on his 
meds.) The crazy guy is convinced that Liz is the wife who left him (Liz 
isn't - he is crazy!!), and tries to get "domestic" with her... or at 
least as "domestic" as a crazy person can get.
    Eventually, Liz gets the upper hand, and this is where this film 
lost me - Liz decides to stick around, put the dude back on his meds, 
and make a "life" out of this situation. An actual reason for this is 
provided at the end, but I didn't buy it even then - Liz seemed far too 
selfish to ever "settle down" like this, even in a situation where her 
grifter ways put her in control.
    So, this was a misfire for me.


What did you watch?