Re: What Did You Watch? 2025-01-31 (Friday)

On 2/1/2025 11:06 AM, Ian J. Ball wrote:

Well, at least the first day of classes went relatively smoothly! So, I ended up tackling a couple of movies, after I got home and watched soaps:
 soaps: DOOL - Thur's ep. It was actually kind of funny how EJ "tortures" Rafe on his birthday - Rafe is all tied up (and gagged) in the DiMera underground dungeon/catacombs, but EJ brings tied-up Rafe a birthday party hat, and a muffin with a birthday candle in it, and sings Rafe Happy Birthday! (Ha!) Unfortunately for EJ, Rafe gets free, knocks EJ out, and looks to be racing to the "wedding". Meanwhile, Javi catches FauxRafe with the stripper/hooker, and gets FauxRafe to admit that they slept together, but FauxRafe coercers Javi to keep quiet. Jada expresses her concerns to Stephanie that "Rafe" has been acting "differently" lately. NuGabi tries to get JJ to be her "date" to the wedding, but JJ is called into work. Marlena and Leo Stark bond as "best buddies".
    GH - Fri's ep. A scattershot episode. Somehow, Cody knows that Brook Lynn was pregnant at a YOUT! and she basically swears him to secrecy. Then Cody goes running to the cop shop to find Mac, and instead finds Anna who gets out of Cody that Sasha is pregnant and that (Cody believes that) Jason is the father. Dante freaks out about being put on leave and banned from working on Sam's murder case, and pretty much cries on Brook Lynn's shoulder - of course, at the end, NuNuLulu catches them... Ric and Ava go to confront Sonny, NuNuNuKristina, and Diane Miller about their custody "offer", which of course is turned down, but Ric picks up that something is off with Sonny. Kristina tells Sonny that Sam was murdered with digitalis (let's see if Sonny is smart enough to put two- and-two together!). Ryan continues to act like an asshole, to Curtis, and this time Jordan sees it up close. Brad continues to press his luck with Portia.
 Then I watched a couple of movies off Hulu:
 Take Cover (Hulu) - A 2024 Scott Adkins... well, it's less an "actioner" and more of a "thriller" flick.

"Thriller?" No one wants to see Scott Adkins try to act.  Does he kick people in the face or not?

    As Scott Adkins flicks go, I would not put this one in the top echelon - it takes way too long to get going, and while the hand-to-hand combat scenes are actually pretty darn good and well choreographed (no quick cuts!!),

OK, so there is face kicking.  I'll add it to the watch list.
there aren't that many of them, and much of this film is

people hiding and talking.
    Gist: Adkins is a top-notch sniper for a (private?) contractor. Jack Parr (an actor I think I recognize, though not by name) plays his spotter. In the movie's open, a sniping "goes wrong". This makes Adkins' sniper want to quit, and so they agree to go on one last mission. Alice Eve (who doesn't appear onscreen much in this film, and seems to mostly do voice-over work) is their "supervisor".
    You should get suspicious for their "one last mission" when Eve's character starts giving them top-notch accommodations, like the hotel's penthouse suite, and a couple of masseuses(/hookers?) show up.
    It's not long before all 4 of them are trapped by *another* sniper team in a building across the way. From here on in, the 4 of them must avoid the sniper, or be killed by him.
    Part of the problem is that it takes way to long to get to this point. And the other problem is that it mostly isn't interesting enough once they do.
    I did like Romanian actress Madalina Bellariu as the main masseuse. And Parr was pretty good too.
    But, as I said - I would not rate this among the "best" of Adkins flicks (those probably being "Accident Man" and "One Shot").
 Acradian (Hulu) - I remember Arthur reviewing this months ago, and being cagey about it.

Not me.  I just double checked and I didn't review it.  I don't think I've ever even seen it before.  But it's definitely on my watch list now.  I may even get to this tonight!

    This 2024 (horror?) flick opens with Nick Cage running through a city that is under attack(?) or at war(?) somehow, though Nick is keeping right away from that action. This sequence ends when Nick gets to two infant/todder boys.
    The film then picks up 15 years later. Apparently, it's now "post- apocalypse". The boys are now teens, and Nick is a stern task master, making them do chores through the day. But, at night, they turn their (farm?) house into a fortress. As there are monsters about! - Real monsters! Trying to break in!!
    As an aside: At this point in the flick, I was hoping they were going to go with vampires of some sort. But no such luck.
    The older son (Maxwell Jenkins) keeps running off after chores, and we soon find out it's so he can go to a neighboring farm and hang out with the cute girl (British actress Sadie Soverall, from Netflix's "Fate: The Winx Saga", and the film "The Last Exit" (aka. "Little Bone Lodge"), whom they force to use an American accent) there.
    This is eventually heading towards a showdown with the monsters", as you'd expect.
    This was OK. But it's one of those films where they never bother to explain what the "apocalypse" that happened actually was. (I always take major points off for this!) Or where the "monsters" came from, or even really what they are.
    Presumably set somewhere in America, it's clearly not "filmed" in the U.S., and indeed the credits confirm that it was filmed in Ireland.
  What did you watch?
 

I'm continuing to binge my Babylon 5 blu-rays.  I watched:
"All Alone in the Night" - Season 2, episode 11.  Sheridan is kidnapped by mysterious aliens while Delen is kicked off the Grey Council.
"In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum" - Sheradin realizes Morden was on is wife's ship when it supposedly was destroyed and demands answers.  Meanwhile The Nightwatch comes to the station.  In a lighter note Vir tells Mr. Morden what he wants.  And the best part is, by the end of the series Vir is going to get what he wants.  "If you go to Z'ha'dum, you will die."
The next disc contained the final episodes of season 2, all written by JMS.  I just hit the play all button:
"Confessions and Lamentations" - Season 2, episode 18 - The doctor tries to stop a plague from wiping out an entire alien civilization. Meanwhile if I didn't know any better I'd swear Delen and Sheriden are developing feelings for each other.
"Divided Loyalties" - Season 2, episode 19 Lyta returns to B5 but is there enough room on the station for two telepaths?
"The Long, Twilight Struggle" - Season 2, episode 20 - The Centauri use mass drivers against the Narn homeworld.   Every civilized world has outlawed them, but these are uncivilized times.  This holds up as one of the best scenes ever: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3_9Xb3U1V4
"Comes the Inquisitor" Season 2, episode 21 Jack, I mean Sebastian from London pays Delen a visit.
"The Fall of Night" Season 2, episode 22.  The season 2 finale.  An Earth ambassador comes to B5 to ensure that there will be peace in our time.