Re: What Did You Watch? 2025-06-29 (Sunday)

On 6/30/2025 6:32 AM, Ian J. Ball wrote:

On 6/30/25 1:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
 

What did you watch?

 Yesterday, I was on areoplanes(!) for over 13 hours, and I didn't get home to my place until 9pm(!), so nothing.
 

Nothing at all?  Surely, you can't be serious.

I will try to do a two-week(!) catch-up to discuss the stuff I saw on German TV, or on the airplane rides, over the next couple of days - I will probably do it as a separate thread.
 

Looks like I picked the wrong week to not post anything. I haven't posted much either.  This will be about a week catch up.
I watched:
The Bear (Hulu) - I suffered through a few episodes of season 4.  Of course they didn't bother to do any sort of recap.  As best I can tell there is no actual plot for the episodes this season. It just sort of is.  And I'm pretty sure they are jumping around in time with no rhyme or reason.  So for any given scene, I'm not always sure when it's taking place.
Enemy Mine (blu-ray) 1985 sci-fi movie starring Dennis Quaid as a human space fighter pilot who crash lands on an alien planet where he's forced to befriend an enemy alien soldier (Louis Gossett Jr.).  The movie holds up well enough, but I wish there was an audio commentary on the disc.
The Hidden (blu-ray) 1987 sci-fi movie starring Michael Nouri (I could have sworn that was Chris Sarandon!  Then I thought he was Steven Bauer.   Who is this Michael Nouri guy?) as a cop who partners with an FBI agent (Kyle MacLachlan) to track down seemingly normal people who suddenly start to go on wild murder/robbery sprees.  It turns out people are being taken over by an alien who likes fast cars and money.  The alien has the ability to enter different people's bodies, and once inside he's unkillable.  It must have been about 20 years since I last watched this.  I watched with a director commentary.  The director made a point to comment on two actors who played a doctor and a nurse in one scene and spoke at length about how bad their acting was.  Then topped it off with now he "would never accept actors of that quality."  Then later in the commentary he rags on Kyle MacLachlan.  I was wondering who is this director taking all of these pot shots at the cast, so I looked him up and saw he's the same guy who directed Elm Street 2.  I have heard actors say a few choice words about him.  And now that I think about it, if the actors playing the doctor and nurse weren't turning in a good performance, it's the director's job to get a good performance out of them or replace the actors.  There's another point where the director doesn't seem to understand what's happening and the moderator has to explain the scene to him.  This is actually a pretty good movie, but I'm thinking It's good in spite of the director.  The movie is also notable for featuring Claudia Christian.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8yurma6ToA
I Come in Peace (blu-ray) 1990 sci-fi movie starring Dolph Lundgren as a cop investigating a series of murders that turns out are being committed by an alien looking to use humans as an illegal drug supply.  Brian Benben co-stars as a shady FBI agent who partners with Lundgren.  The movie is OK sci-fi schlock.  I also haven't wanted this in forever, but have been wanting to pair it with "The Hidden" for a few years now.
The Arrival (blu-ray) 1996 sci-fi movie written and directed by David Twohy (The Pitch Black movies) and starring Charlie Sheen as a paranoid radio astronomer who stumbles upon an alien plot to terraform Earth. The movie holds up well enough.  I wanted to also watch the sequel, but I only have that on DVD, and when I put the disc in the movie was non anamorphic widescreen, and completely unwatchable.
Ender's Game (4K disc) 2013 movie based on the 1985 novel by Orson Scott card.  This is one of the few movies based on a book that I actually read.  Set 50 years after an alien attack on Earth, humanity has begun training child soldiers to fight the war in space.  Asa Butterfield stars as Ender, a young boy with a brilliant tactical mind who rises through the ranks at battle school to eventually lead his own forces against the enemy home world.  Harrison Ford stars as Ender's commanding officer who pushes "Ender" to win the war while Viola Davis costars as a military psychologist who questions the ethics of child soldiers, and in particular how hard Ford is pushing "Ender" to win at all costs.  Hailee Steinfeld also co-stars as Ender's classmate in Battle school.  While the movie does have space battles, the main focus is Ender and his psychology as he's trained to wage war against an enemy he's never met.
Airplane! (blu-ray) 1980 comedy from Jim Abrahams and the Zucker brothers.  Robert Hays must land an airplane after the pilot and copilots get sick from food poisoning.  Leslie Nielsen co-stars as a doctor trying to help.  The movie is still laugh out loud funny.
Airplane II: The Sequel (blu-ray) 1982 sequel which finds most of the cast from the first movie returning to try and fly a spaceship full of passengers to the moon.  Jim Abrahams and the Zucker brothers had nothing to do with this one.  Leslie Nielsen also doesn't return.  My guess is after the events of the first movie Nielsen's character gave up practicing medicine, changed his name, and went to the police academy for a career change.  Anyway, I don't care what anyone says, this movie is funny too!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9ilm8PEJlQ
The Naked Gun (4K disc) 1988 comedy from Jim Abrahams and the Zucker brothers.  Leslie Nielsen plays a bumbling cop who has to stop an assassination attempt against the Queen of England.
The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear (blu-ray) 1991 sequel from Jim Abrahams and the Zucker brothers. Nieslen returns to bumble his away through more police work.
The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The final Insult (blu-ray) 1994 sequel which has Nielsen going under cover to catch a terrorist.  It was OK I guess.
Top Secret! (blu-ray) 1984 comedy from Jim Abrahams and the Zucker brothers.  Val Kilmer stars as an American rock star who while on a good will tour to East Germany stumbles upon a plot to start WWIII.  Kilmer reluctantly teams up with the resistance movement to stop it.  The movie holds up great.