Re: What Did You Watch? 2024-05-11 (Saturday)

On 5/12/2024 6:44 AM, anim8rfsk wrote:

Ubiquitous <weberm@polaris.net> wrote:

I watched:
>
MAGNUM PI:
This is a strange ep of Magnum PI! He's in the Philippines and bought
a painting of three burning witches, one of whom looks like his wife!
>

 One of the few Magnum PIs I saw in the theater.
 

What did you watch?

  UNDER SIEGE TWO DARK TERRITORY
I guess I sort of sleep watched this years ago. I took the suggestion to
watch it again because I know how much Ian likes Katherine Heigl who is a
very young cutie pie here and must’ve gotten a growth spurt later later.
By the numbers with lots of moments that make no sense at all, but an
enjoyable diversion on a Saturday afternoon.
  MOMENTUM (2015)
I slept watched this at some point as well. But, hey, it’s Olga Kurylenko!
She’s a retired thief pressed into doing one more job and they steal the
wrong thing from the wrong people and wackiness ensues.
 

This sounds vaguely familiar.

 THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE
I enjoyed this quite a bit. Probably my favorite Guy Ritchie film. A bunch
of rough and tumble soldiers in early World War II slow down the progress
of the axis and kill every damn Nazi in sight over and over and over again!
A good cast is headed by Henry Cavill, but the knockout here is Eiza
González in a roll more obviously intended for Ana de Armas.  Based on the
absolutely true adventures of absolutely real life people! Churchill is in
there and the credits say Ian Fleming was too although I didn’t notice him.
Wall-to-wall action.  This should’ve been a Nick fury and the howling
commandos adventure!
 

It's a prequel to Inglourious Basterds.  :-)
I just read yesterday they're going to make a movie about Christopher's Lee's life and in particular the time he spent in the special forces during WWII then as a Nazi Hunter after the war.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TQARRckm6U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oN0R6TxSOQ
Now that I think about it, Lee was related to Ian Fleming.  They could tie it to The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, by bringing back some of the same actors.

 GHOSTBUSTERS AFTERLIFE
I enjoyed this quite a bit as well. I avoided the previous offensively bad
entry in the series. (how do I know? It was offensively bad if I avoided
it? It had Melissa McCarthy in it.) but this came as a pleasant surprise.
Top billed (why?)
Carrie Coon brings nothing to the party and Paul Rudd is Paul Rudd but
McKenna Grace is a national treasure, and everybody still alive is back
from the original movies as well as some that aren’t. With the cutie pie
daughter of Donna Dixon, and Olivia Wilde as Gozer!  Stay for the mid and
post credits extra sequences.
  >

Melissa McCarthy wasn't in "Afterlife."  She was only in in the 2016 reboot simply called, "Ghostbusters" or "Ghostbusters: Answer the Call."
Now that you've seen "Afterlife" track down, "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7Di42uUaF0
I'm going to get to meet Fairuza Balk in person in a few weeks so I decided to revisit some of her movies.  I watched:
Return to Oz (blu-ray) - 1985 sequel to "The Wizard of Oz" which finds Dorothy returning to Oz to find the Emerald City in ruins and everyone turned to stone or missing. She then raises an army and sets out to handle business.  I love this movie.  "It sounds fair to me.  And what I think, is all that matters."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWxUi-54qsw&t=1s
The Craft (4K disc) 1996 movie starring Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell, and Rachel True and three would-be witches who come into real power when Robin Tunney moves into town and completes their coven.
"It isn't real."  "Then why are you still bleeding?"
Another Fairuza movie I love.  I listened with a horrible director's commentary.  But he did have the occasional bit of knowledge like, "Fairuza is quite knowledgeable about witchcraft. She's practicing Pagan and owns a witchcraft store in Hollywood."
The Craft Legacy (blu-ray) 2020 sequel which picks up with a new generation of young witches who come into power once a fourth moves into town.  I think this was my second or third time watching the movie, and I think I liked it a bit more on this viewing.  Sure it hits a lot of the same beats, but it's not a total rehash of the first movie there are a couple of twists and turns in it.  Although I would have like it more had the original cast returned in a prominent role.
As an aside, I caught "Funny Girl" on stage.  I couldn't help but constantly compare it to the movie.  There were obviously lots of similarities with scenes and bits of dialogue that were identical in both.  But to my surprise the stage version had Fanny's mother and Fanny's friend who helped her get her first job as major characters throughout.  While they were afterthoughts at best in the movie.  And the lady who played the role on stage knocked it out of the park.  She was better than Streisand in the movie IMO.