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Failed to connect to MySQL: (1203) User howardkn already has more than 'max_user_connections' active connectionsPath: news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Dimensional Traveler Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv Subject: Re: What Did You Watch? 2025-05-28 (Wednesday) Date: Thu, 29 May 2025 17:47:28 -0700 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 96 Message-ID: <101av6t$4j1a$2@dont-email.me> References: <1019sb5$3tnve$1@dont-email.me> <101ahar$1635$1@dont-email.me> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Fri, 30 May 2025 02:47:26 +0200 (CEST) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="dd8f05da9e8bed22346461bfceb7fc61"; logging-data="150570"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1+acVdIHF4YvZAjPXzUi096" User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Cancel-Lock: sha1:3DKXQggH9F8lEU1T/LI7/zUUTUg= Content-Language: en-US In-Reply-To: <101ahar$1635$1@dont-email.me> On 5/29/2025 1:50 PM, Ian J. Ball wrote: > On 5/29/25 7:52 AM, Dimensional Traveler wrote: > >> What Did You Watch? > > After an unexpectedly long workday, I finally got to "John Wick 4". But > first: > > soaps: GH - I think this was Wed's(?) ep. Everybody - Brook Lynn & Dante > (the episode before), Ned and Olivia - dumps on Lois, and it still > wasn't enough for me! - Lois is clearly the villain in this piece!! > Brook Lynn and Dante try to explain Gio's background to him, but are > unable to prevent him leaving the Q estate with dumb Emma. They are > really making Sasha hateable with this NuMichael storyline. As expected, > Mac tells Willow and Drew that he can't do anything legally about > Michael repossessing his kids; later, Willow goes to NuMichael to plead > with him (I'm sure he will shut her down in the next episode). And, in > the best bit, Nina is consoled by Maxie at the dive bar, and during the > conversation she figures out that Michael is the father of Sasha's baby > - Nina then gets the bartender to basically confirm it, which should > give Willow a fighting chance in the custody hearing. > > John Wick 4 (Peacock) - The most ridiculous "John Wick" yet!! I don't > know if that's a good thing or a bad thing!! >    I don't think this was in glorious 4k on Peacock (I'll have to > double-check when I get home). >    Sidenote: The same visual artifacts I was occasionally seeing with > "Andor" were also popping up during this movie, especially during the > desert scene early in the movie. As "Andor" is Disney+ app, and this was > Peacock, it had to mean that the issue was the 4k TV. Sure enough, the > problem went away when I switched from "Cinema Home" visual mode (and I > was seeing the same artifacts in "Standard" mode as well) to "Filmmaker" > visual mode. I have no idea how they've screwed up "Cinema Home" visual > mode so badly - I've got to think that this problem has been introduced > with a recent update from LG, as the 4k TV was definitely not doing this > before. >    Anyway, this was a fun, but ridiculous! ride. >    SPOILERS >    Will >    Surely >    Follow >    I was disappointed that some previous characters, like the > "Adjudicator" from the previous film, didn't show up in this one. >    I also was annoyed that so many hatchets were buried from "John Wick > 3" - both Wick and the Bowery King should have wanted Winston dead, but > it's almost like the events of "3" didn't even happen on this front. (I > guess they felt like they couldn't throw Ian McShane overboard!) >    And, on this same front - Did they just get insanely lucky in > killing off Charon in this flick, just before Lance Reddick died IRL? Or > did they change the film somehow after Reddick died?! >    I was quite surprised when Shamier Anderson (of "Wynonna Earp", and > before that season #1 of "The Next Step"!!) popped up in this in a > pretty darn prominent role. >    Meanwhile, they have Donnie Yen playing the Asian Daredevil (how do > they get away with this!?!) as John Wick's main "rival" (though, unlike > in "3", this time the rival is actually an old buddy, and not a deranged > fanboy!!). Also popping up in this one was Hiroyuki Sanada (he's > everywhere these days), Japanese(?) pop star Rina Sawayama, and Clancy > Brown! (as "The Harbinger"!). >    Whatever else you want to say, the "John Wick" films *look* great on > screen, esp. "2" thru "4". This one has lots of great shots of backlit > thugs standing around palaces and opera houses and churches and the > like, for your visual eye candy! >    Hey - are those napalm(?) shotgun shots(?) a real thing, or not?! > That was another killer filmed sequence in this film - looking down on > John Wick as he wields the napalm(?) shotgun(?!) and exterminates loads > of thugs! >    In the ridiculous department, apparently John Wick (& co.!) have > "inter-dimensional travel" among their various superpowers, what with > the way John Wick (& co.!) hopped all around the globe in mere > miliseconds in this flick! >    I also am having a harder and harder time buying the "criminal > underworld world-building" they're doing in these films - this High > Table stuff and all it's accompanying pomp and circumstance is insane!! > The last several films (I think all the way back to "2") have definitely > suffered from the lack of an appearance of even a single cop or Fed in > the proceedings. >    I also didn't care for the obvious use of CGI (and/or greenscreen?) > in this film - especially the sequence in Paris with all of the cars was > most obviously CGI in large part. >    I guess this film wraps up the "High Table" storyarc. (Indeed, the > end of this one implies John Wick is dead!) But apparently a "John Wick > 5" is in the works - but it sounds like this film is going to be more > like a "Fugitive"/"Equalizer" type thing, without all the insane High > Table malarkey. > The next movie in the John Wick/Continental universe is 'From the World of John Wick: Ballerina' coming out on June 6. Reeves is in it but I believe it is set well before the events in Wick 4. A sixth movie called 'From the World of John Wick: Caine' is also in development but I don't think Reeves is in that. And yes Donnie Yen is returning as Caine for that one. -- I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky dirty old man.