Re: What Did You Watch? 2024-11-16 (Saturday)

On 11/17/2024 10:23 AM, Ian J. Ball wrote:

Yesterday, I finally did a high-powered movie day again, along with soaps:
 soaps: Thur's ep's.
    DOOL - JJ pitched a fit when he found out that 1) Cat was free from jail, 2) that Chad had made it happen, and 3) that Chad intends to use Cat as bait with Clyde Weston that could get her killed! Meanwhile, Rafe confides to Roman that he is mega-pissed that Paulina didn't restore Rafe's job as commissioner, and Roman tells Rafe to sue (and Rafe actually would seem to have a case here!!). And NuGabi gets out of Jada that she actually does want the permanent commissioner job.
    GH - Puke - Molly and Kristina have seemed to buried the hatchet, and I am now absolutely disgusted with this entire storyline (what a waste)... Meanwhile, Jason punches out Drew; Drew agrees with Ned about "no cops"! Michael and Willow start to have a "serious" conversation, but are interrupted so we're never going to know if Willow was actually going to confess or keep lying (I was betting on the latter!). Ric Lansing has an interesting trial prep session with Ava, and thinks he's found Ava's approach on the stand.
 Things I learned yesterday: Claire Coffee (Grimm) was in "Wild Things 3" (better known as "Wild Things: Diamonds in the Rough") early in her career! And so was Dina Meyer!!
 Movies:
 Twisters (Peacock) - Yeah, OK, I get it now.
    This may very well be the rare sequel that's better than the original. I know I didn't care much for the original,

I didn't care for the original either.  Actually, I'm not sure if I even ever bothered to watch the original. I had *zero* interest in it!  One day, I might get around to watching the original and the sequel, but more out of morbid curiosity than anything else.
despite starring

Bill Paxton - I recall mostly rolling my eyes through the film when I saw it in the theater (and have had no desire to revisit it!).
    This film is eye roll-worthy as well, but overall seems more enjoyable. I was more willing overlook this silliness here.
    Note: AFAICT, this film has absolutely *no ties* to the original film – I don't think the original characters even get referenced in this film, which seems like more of a "reboot" than a sequel.
    First off, this one trades Helen Hunt for the adorable and appealing Daisy Edgar-Jones, playing Kate the "weather whisperer", so already that's a massive upgrade.
    OMG! She killed Sally Draper! And her own fiance(?)! The bitch!!
    That makes Kate all twitchy, scared and mopey. But 5 years after murdering Sally Draper in cold, cold blood, her only remaining living (ex-)partner (Anthony Ramos - we'll just call him "In the Heights"!) shows up needing her help with his new tornado-radar tech in Oklahoma (and the film was actually filmed in Oklahoma!!). Somehow, Kate gets talked into it!!
    In Oklahoma, they immediately run across Tyler (Glen Powell - channeling his very best Bill Paxton!), who is an obnoxious asshole "tornado wrangling" YouTuber, and his crew.
    May the best tornado hunting crew win!!
    Along the way, there's lot more that happens here, including some obvious revelations, a budding romance (Tyler does an obnoxiousness-180 faster than a Hallmark Channel movie leading man!), and killer tornado dodging.
    This wasn't deep. But I think it somehow got this stuff right more than the original film did.
    My only issue here was the over-obvious Country Music soundtrack - as someone who is definitely not a fan of Country, this was the one definite minus.
    P.S. I agree with BTR - it makes me sad to see how old Maura Tierney looks in this film.  :(
 Trap (Max) - This film has almost as many false endings as "The Return of the King" film does!!
    I agree that this film is ridiculous (and it's another film partly ruined by the "twist" last scene).
    But it is variously entertaining along the way.

Yeah, just turn your brain off and enjoy it.

    Josh Hartnett (it seems like ages since he's headlined a film!) stars as Cooper, an apparently good dad, with a secret! A big secret!!
    Cooper takes his teen daughter to a concert - think Taylor Swift crossed with Alicia Keys.
    But the entire concert has got insane security/cop presence, and it turns out that's because they are all there to catch a serial killer! Who it turns out is Cooper!!
    With the entire place surrounded, will Cooper be able to figure out a way out of the concert with his daughter without getting caught?!
    If that had been the end of it, it would have been pretty good. But the film gets bogged down by several more "false endings" after this, that I don't think served the film well.
    (I was reading something on Reddit where people were talking about M. Night Shyamalan's problems with putting together good Third Acts, and this flick may be another example of Shyamalan's problems with them.)
    Anyway, I don't know who Ariel Donoghue is, but I thought she was very authentic as Cooper's somewhat awkward fan-obsessed teen daughter.
    I also was somewhat impressed with "Saleka Night Shyamalan" as the pop star putting on the concert - not musically (R&B generally bores me to tears, and she's just an OK performer), but more as an actress, where I thought she showed promise here. I know this film has gotten criticism for Shyamalan as basically just being an excuse to push daughter Saleka's music career, but I think they actually missed the mark on this - the film shows that she's probably better off focusing on acting.
    Anyway, this was decent, but I thought the first two acts were clearly stronger and more compelling than the third (and the third is really only compelling for Saleka Shyamalan's efforts).
    I did like the mid-credits scene here. Heh.
  What did you watch?

I watched:
Cross (Amazon Prime) - "Hero Complex" - Episode 1 of the new TV series (based on the novel series) starring Aldis Hodge as detective Alex Cross.  First up Cross is investigating a controversial death that his superiors want to sweep under the rug as a suicide, but he's convinced is the work of a serial killer.  Cross is also being taunted by a mysterious person who murdered his wife years earlier.  So far, the show is off to a good start.  The entire series is available to watch, so I'll try to make my way through it over the next week or so.
300 (4K disc) 2006 epic historical movie based on the Frank Miller graphic novel and directed by Zack Snyder.  Gerad Butler stars as King Leonidas who leads 300 Spartan soldiers again the overwhelming Persian army, but manages to hold them off.
300: Rise of an Empire (blu-ray) 2014 sequel which takes place both during the events of the first movie and after picking up with the ongoing war between Greece and Persia.  The movie focuses on Eva Green as Artemisia, who commanded the Persian navy and Sullivan Stapleton as Themistocles who fills in for Gerad Butler, but lacks his screen presence.