TV/Movies Megathread

[The Larch]

There's a massive 5 hour documentary on 80s Sci-fi films out, with tons of interviews to its protagonists. Here's a sort of trailer/promo, in case anyone wants to look for it:

[crazy canuck]

The first reviews point to "Thor: Love and Thunder" being a dissapointment. 

The review that probably sums up the problem best is that without a team of writers on this one, Thor is all juvenile sarcasm and irreverence all the time.   But perfect for their target audience.

[The Larch]

Trailer for Clerks 3. It is, of course, very meta.

[The Larch]

Tony Sirico, the actor that played Paulie Walnuts in The Sopranos, has passed away. He was 79.

[FunkMonk]

RIP Paulie 

[grumbler]

   I always loved the story David Chase told about how Sirico told him that Sirico wouldn't take the part unless Chase promised him that Walnuts would never betray Tony.

[Syt]

RIP Larry Storch, age 99.



People here may remember him from appearing in 60s and 70s shows like F Troop or Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

For me his name rang a different bell in my TV show memories:

https://marriedwithchildren.fandom.com/wiki/Something_Larry_This_Way_Comes

In this episode, Kelly gets a big break while attending the Larry Storch School of Acting when she and Larry Storch are to appear on stage in a part of the show "Phantom of the Opera." But when the shoe store owner, Gary, knocks out comedian/actor Larry Storch himself, whom she holds a personal grudge against, Al must leave the midnight madness sale at the shoe store, leaving Griff solo, to go to Kelly's rescue at the theater.

[Zoupa]

RIP Paulie 

[Syt]

If you're not familiar with the premise of Mr Ed, this might be a surprisingly frank episode description for the 1960s.

[Syt]

Finished Blood of Zeus on Netflix. I'd give it a 7/10.

It's certainly more in the vein of Tarsem Singh's Immortals, or Clash of the Titans (old and new) than Hesiod, so if you like your Greek mythology represented accurately, then stay away.

As it is, it's a fantasy action plot wrapped in Greek window dressing, but I enjoyed it overall.

The story isn't exactly overly new: Zeus fell in love with a mortal woman (who was married to a King). The woman gave birth to two sons: one of Zeus (Heron), one from her abusive husband (Seraphim). Zeus picks up and hides mother and Heron, leaving Seraphim in the palace, believing it's best for him. However, Seraphim's uncle abandons him in the wilderness.

Years later, Heron lives in a small polis with his mom. Seraphim, fleeing from his uncle's pursuers, ate the flesh of a fallen giant, turning him into a daemon, and "converting" others, creating an army of daemons that wages war on the humans. Things escalate when the two half brothers meet. Hera finds out about Heron, and in her jealousy plots revenge against unfaithful Zeus. She recruits the aid of Seraphim, and matters escalate until Hera leads Seraphim and the daemons, plus the Giants of the Deep, against Zeus and Olympus in a climactic battle.

The backstory of the characters is revealed in flashbacks in the first four episodes, while the final four episodes tick off plot points on the way to the final confrontation. The story's focus is clearly on Zeus and Hera, Heron and Seraphim. Other Gods and humans appear, but more as side and background characters. E.g. Alexia is an excellent warrior and leader, but that's the extent of her character. Similar with some of the Olympians. They're kind of "there", but 8 episodes aren't quite enough to flesh them out much.

The action is, for the most part, quite decent, with some interesting visuals. There's a surprising amount of gore, reminding me of 80s and 90s anime (minus the fountains of blood) - but there's plenty severed limbs, people being cut in half, etc., in graphic detail. The final battle was a bit messy and convoluted, I thought. While the show had some decent fights of human sized characters against large opponents or other monsters, the climax didn't really drive home the weight and power of those involved, and especially the kaiju-sized giants seemed oddly weightless.

I did enjoy the soundtrack immensely, though. It's (mostly) staying away from the usual modern action-style and instead harks back to old Hollywood epics or Milius's Conan the Barbarian - melancholy strings, epic brass/fanfares, and dramatic choirs.

For examples check out Call to Arms:

Or the more somber A King's Despair:

Always a bit disappointed when stories about the Olympians end up pitting them against the Titans or Giants, because they need "equal" opponents. I think a full "civil war" between the Gods would be interesting, but you would need to spend more time developing their motivations. You get some shades here (i.e. Ares joining Hera's fight), but it's more of a side note.

The plot also suffers from convenient coincidences, and taking shortcuts, but I also feel that's not completely out of character for mythological tales. "All was lost, but then X appeared and slew the beast with a might shot from his bow!" Or, "And on X's request Y traveled to A, to retrieve the B. It was guarded by a Z, but it was slain by A's cunning skills!"

I did love that they gave Hephaistos (who has created an army of automatons) a little mechanical owl sidekick, paying homage to original Clash of the Titan's Bubo. It has almost no story function, it's just there as fluff, and I'm totally fine with that.

[celedhring]

Finally caught up with Everything Everywhere All At Once. It's wonderful. The film's extremely bizarre (but in a very humorous-absurdist way, which helps digest it), so it certainly may not be everybody's cup of tea. Somehow it manages to spoof wuxia movies, Wong Kar Wai, Kubrick and Pixar movies under a single roof all with a dash of kitchen-sink existentialism. And it's by far the best multiverse movie you'll see this year.

It's one of those films that it's a bit of a miracle that it works as well as it does. There's a bunch of leftfield ideas and stylistic overreaching that you'd see on paper and think "now, this is stupid", but somehow it clicks.

[viper37]

Brought the nephews to see Thor: Love and Thunder.
They liked it, I didn't.

There are many comic elements to the movie.  Too many, to the point where you lose the story.  It feels more like What we do in the shadows, a collection of seperate sketches surrounding central theme than a movie.

It might be a more generalized problem with Marvel post-Thanos, they have no idea anymore where they are going with their franchise.

[Josquius]

Brought the nephews to see Thor: Love and Thunder.
They liked it, I didn't.

There are many comic elements to the movie.  Too many, to the point where you lose the story.  It feels more like What we do in the shadows, a collection of seperate sketches surrounding central theme than a movie.

It might be a more generalized problem with Marvel post-Thanos, they have no idea anymore where they are going with their franchise.

I would disagree they don't know where they're going but they're in a weird holding pattern at the moment and can't quite handle this current position.
They've burnt through everything worthwhile with generation 1 and are trying to fumble their way through the multiverse and play for time with D listers so that they can have a clean enough slate to effectively reboot in a phase or two.

Basically I think strategically they've a good plan worked out but are failing on a tactical level right now.

[Darth Wagtaros]

I liked Thor.  It wasn't the best, but it was a fun few hours. 

[viper37]

Red Sonja will get a 4k remaster.

Duke will be interested. And could tells us more of the movie.
Aside from involving a Conan look-alike and a sexy red head warrior, I can't remember anything of this movie.  Was it even good?