Re: What Did You Watch? 2025-07-19 (Saturday)

On 7/20/25 11:32 PM, anim8rfsk wrote:

Ian J. Ball <ijball@mac.invalid> wrote:

On 7/20/25 1:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
>

What did you watch?

>
Two-day catch-up.

 I hope this cuts the mustard.
 

FRI:
>
I think this may have been the day I watched ep. #7(?) of "Shifting
Gears" off Hulu - This is the epie that Nancy Travis guest-starred on.
Her guest stint immediately perked the show up - too bad it looks like
her stint was a one-off and it doesn't appear like she'll be back again.

 Agreed to all the above
 

SAT:

 

Witch Hunt (Prime) - Low-budget 2021 fantasy(?) alt-history(?) flick
starring Gideon Adlon, the lovely Abigail Cowen, and Elizabeth Mitchell.
    In this tale, witches are real!!
    So real in fact that there was an 11th Amendment to the Constitution
in 1789 about them that said "No witchcraft!"
    Thus, "now", in the present day, there is an entire government
enforcement agency - basically, the "FBI for witches"! - that exists,
populated by "witch hunters" who track down witches for some righteous
stake burning.
    The witches, of course, are all trying to escape down Mexico way,

 All they have to do is cross the gulf of America, but witches can’t cross
running water. The only bonus is that running. Water is always pure and
safe to drink.
 

where the government and population is apparently much more chill with
witches and witchcraftery.
    Mitchell and Adlon play mother and daughter living in So. Cal. - the
mother (Mitchell) is basically part of a "secret underground" for
witches, who try to smuggle witches into Mexico.

 What do we do with witches if we catch them? Exile them to Mexico?

Based on the movie's open (and with what happens later), we would stake burn them!

    Adlon just wants to be a regular teen, and not be part of this
dangerous witch smuggling business.
    The first charge of theirs that we see is a fleeing witch played by
Ashley Bell, and she's not so lucky as the witch hunters track her (and
her smuggler down) and torch them.
    Soon enough, the next charges appear - two sisters (the lovely
Cowen, and Echo Campbell who plays the younger sister) whose witch
mother we see get stake-burned in the film's open.
    The mother and daughter are forced to conceal the two sisters for
longer than usual with the witch hunters breathing down their neck. Of
course, Cowan ends up breaking down Adlon's character's defenses.
    Anyway, I don't know if the "twist" in this film was supposed to be
obvious from the get-go, or they just did a horrible job of hiding it,
but I knew where this was going from early on.
    Despite the obvious allegory they were trying to set up here, I
though this flick turned out better than I was expecting because, 1) the
allegory was very secondary, and 2) they did a lot of other atmospheric
or unexpected stuff to keep this engaging.

 So would I like this?

I don't know. I liked it more than I was expecting to, even with them putting zero makeup on Cowen  ;p
You might like it. Or you might hate it!

What did you watch?

 Mostly ELEMENTARY reruns on the prime as background noise.
 I did pay special attention to the episodes with Hooten’s lady.

I wish she had gotten more work.