Re: What Did You Watch? 2025-02-06 (Thursday)

On 2/7/2025 5:32 AM, Ian J. Ball wrote:

On 2/7/25 1:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
 

What did you watch?

 I had to run errands all yesterday morning, and then much of the day was taken up with "busy work" for the job. So I only ended up getting through soaps:
 soaps: I'm caught up (except with Y&R), so both were Thur's ep's.
    DOOL - They literally had forgotten about Joy (I actually blame Abe more than Alex!), but Alex remembers that Joy is probably dead and he and Stephanie race over to save Joy. Which they do after taking her to the hospital. But, then at the end, Alex and Stephanie are having a "kissy" moment, and Joy spies them doing it and looks crushed. Meanwhile, Sarah yells at NuPhilip about the DiMera takeover scheme, and warns him that it better be above board "or else"! Kate complains to Philip about the dumpster fire that is the soap-within-a-soap.
    GH  - Ugh - Willow moves back in with Nina, and immediately invites Drew over, angering Nina (Willow is so pathetic!!)

Willow is a powerful witch. Leave her alone!  We are talking about Willow from Buffy right?  That's the *only* Willow I think of *every* time I see that name.
  - at the end, Nina

calls up Carly, saying that have a "mutual problem" that they need to eliminate. Josslyn secretly consults with NuJack Brennan (he's not Charles Mesure! so he's not Jack Brennan!!) about Cyrus, and NuBrennan sort of leads Joss to figuring out about Cyrus's hideout. Separately, Lucas warns Carly not to get involved with Brennan... Meanwhile, Alexis and the two daughters tell Danny that his mom, Sam, was murdered. Separately, Chase (unwisely) tells Dante that Cyrus is the prime suspect in Sam's murder, and Rocco overhears - later, Rocco tells Danny that Cyrus is the prime suspect... Finally, Lois goes to Martin Gray for "legal advice", and is caught there by Tracy, but they make up a story. At the end, Lois admits out load to Martin what we already knew/had figured out - that Gio is Brook Lynn's and Dante's long-lost son! (Wait until NuNuLulu finds out!!)
 That was it. Otherwise, I mostly left LMN on as background noise, and did work stuff.
 What did you watch?
 

I watched:
Babylon 5 (blu-ray) - "Rising Star" Season 4, penultimate episode.  With the liberation of Earth complete, Earth has to decide what to do about Sheridan.  Meanwhile back on B5 the aliens form a new alliance, and it's going to need a leader.  And Ivanova is clumsily written out of the show.  :-/
"The Deconstruction of Falling Stars" - The hastily shot replacement season 4 finale once season 5 was confirmed.  This episode reveals the future history of B5 and Earth up to a million years in the future.  A bit depressing at times, but OK.  I actually like this episode better than the real finale that was shot and won't be shown until the end of season 5.  Claudia Christian (Ivanova) was missed.
"No Compromises" Season 5, episode 1 - Sheridan tries to get sworn in as the president of the Interstellar Alliance while dodging an assassin. B5 also agrees to be a safe haven for telepaths. And B5 has a new captain from Earth.
"The Paragon of Animals" Season 5, episode 3 - The Interstellar Alliance goes to save a planet being bullied.  Meanwhile Garibaldi asks the telepaths to help out with spying.  As a side note I should mention this Byron guy is already rubbing me the wrong way.  On the surface he's preaching telepath liberation, but beneath it all I'm not buying it! His interactions with Lyta reminded me of the way Khan treated his soon to be wife in "Space Seed."  I don't remember what's going to happen to him, but I'm hoping it's slow and painful.  Please be slow and painful. LOL
Invincible (Amazon Prime) "You're Not Laughing Now" Season 3, episode 1.
SPOILERS! - I can't discuss episode 2, without discussing how episode 1 ends...
Picking up a few months after the last season, things on Earth are mostly back to normal.  Mark's half brother is aging fast and eager to become a hero.  Mark is continuing his training under Cecil's guidance, but the episode ends with Mark discovering that Cecil has been recruiting former bad guys and putting them to use in defense of Earth. Mark doesn't take it very well.
"A Deal with the Devil" Season 3, episode 2.
SPOILERS!
This episode starts off with a long flashback of how Cecil became the director and learned from the previous director how to rehabilitate bad guys.  Then picking up in present day Mark is forced to run to the Guardians for help from Cecil leading the Guardians to fracture with some siding with Mark and leaving, while the others remain loyal to Cecil.
Love Hurts (theatrical) New action comedy starring Ke Huy Quan as a former assassin who left the life to become a real estate agent.  But his world is turned upside down when a woman (Ariana DeBose) he was supposed to have killed for his boss/brother (Daniel Wu) before retiring, turns up alive and making her presence very known.  This is a movie I went to see 100% because of Ke Huy Quan.  And he really does carry this movie on his back.  I had a hard time enjoying it.  The main reasons were outside of Ke, none of the characters were particularly likable, and chief among the unlikable characters was Ariana Debose. She's the female lead/love interest and that was not a good sign for the movie.  She's also about 20 years younger than Ke, which made their so-called love story just not work.  I get older men in movies pair off with younger women, but there was *zero* chemistry between them!  And no backstory that ever showed them having an interest in each other. She shows up out of nowhere, destroys his life, treats him like dirt, then it's all OK because they love each other. But at no point did the movie ever establish they were in love.
The other problem I had was the tone was all over the place.  It was supposed to be a comedy, but it was rarely funny, especially in the first half of the movie.  And the first time director was way more interested in fancy camera work than holding a shot long enough to get a clear image of the fight scene.  This was one of those movies that *constantly* brought attention to the camera movement.  Ke Huy Quan is a legitimately martial artist.  I went to the movie because I *wanted* to see him fight, and the fool behind the camera kept doing weird things making it hard to watch the fight scenes.  It reminded me of the Jet Li movie "The One" where instead of letting Jet, be Jet, they kept using obvious wire work and CG effects.  That's what many of the scenes in this movie were like.  Not because they needed to be that way, but because the director chose to do it that way.
If your a fan of Ke Huy Quan or Ariana DeBose it may be worth watching just for them.  There is also a mini Goonies reunion in the movie.  But I didn't care for the movie overall.  Others with a different sense of humor may feel differently about it.  The movie does *not* take itself seriously and I know people like that sort of thing.  I do too, but not in this one.