TV/Movies Megathread

[Sheilbh]

Yeah, it was good. Perfect send off for this group of characters.

Agree - and reminded me of The Thick of It ending. Been thinking about it for a while but maybe similarly great for the characters, grim for the world.

[Savonarola]

Enter the Dragon (1973)

Bruce Lee's only Hollywood film; in some ways it feels like a step back from "Way of the Dragon," the fight scenes are well choreographed but not always well shot with hordes of minions simply running into frame.  Also there's no doubt that Bruce Lee is going to defeat Kien Shih; the hall of mirrors is cool, but nowhere near as iconic as the Bruce Lee - Chuck Norris fight at the end of "Way of the Dragon".

The acting is better; the director had the wisdom to use John Saxon abundantly and limit Bruce Lee and Jim Kelly's speaking parts.  The plot is better too, "Mysterious reclusive villain on his mysterious remote island does evil things for evil reasons and must be stopped" is at least an improvement over "Mafia is putting the screws down on mom-and-pop Chinese restaurant and will stop at nothing to achieve their goals."

Oh, and Bruce Lee, despite being dead for fifty years, could still totally kick Brad Pitt's ass.  "Once upon a time in Hollywood" is a lie. 

  

[The Brain]

Succession final episode. I think it was a decent ending.


SPOILER:


I was really hoping that Tom would win (as much as he can win), clearly the best character on the show (and there are some great characters). It would have sucked if Ken had won since he has consistently been shown as weak throughout the series. Rome would have worked, he has played the clown but has fairly good instincts. Shiv's broad spectrum stuff could have worked I think. Of course all the kids walk away with an even bigger pile of cash, but since they consider themselves to have lost they have.

[Duque de Bragança]

Enter the Dragon (1973)

Bruce Lee's only Hollywood film; in some ways it feels like a step back from "Way of the Dragon," the fight scenes are well choreographed but not always well shot with hordes of minions simply running into frame.  Also there's no doubt that Bruce Lee is going to defeat Kien Shih; the hall of mirrors is cool, but nowhere near as iconic as the Bruce Lee - Chuck Norris fight at the end of "Way of the Dragon".

The acting is better; the director had the wisdom to use John Saxon abundantly and limit Bruce Lee and Jim Kelly's speaking parts.  The plot is better too, "Mysterious reclusive villain on his mysterious remote island does evil things for evil reasons and must be stopped" is at least an improvement over "Mafia is putting the screws down on mom-and-pop Chinese restaurant and will stop at nothing to achieve their goals."

Oh, and Bruce Lee, despite being dead for fifty years, could still totally kick Brad Pitt's ass.  "Once upon a time in Hollywood" is a lie. 

  

Nice review.

Others would have added Enter the Dragon inspired one of the best Kentucky Fried Movie sketches.

Robert Clouse, the director of Enter the Dragon, would give us 10 years later or so the "cult" Gymkata. 

[viper37]

Robert Clouse, the director of Enter the Dragon, would give us 10 years later or so the "cult" Gymkata. 

Ah, I'm sure I saw that one as a teen on Super Écran.  God, there was so much crap I watched then.
For some reason, I thought it was a Van Damne movie.  I guess I was confused by the plot of this movie and Kickboxer, or another one of JCVD's movies.

[Duque de Bragança]

Robert Clouse, the director of Enter the Dragon, would give us 10 years later or so the "cult" Gymkata. 

Ah, I'm sure I saw that one as a teen on Super Écran.  God, there was so much crap I watched then.
For some reason, I thought it was a Van Damne movie.  I guess I was confused by the plot of this movie and Kickboxer, or another one of JCVD's movies.

I still have it on DVD. NTSC DVD but region 2-coded as well. Avec une VF bien kitsch ! Yakmala !

[celedhring]

Not terribly impressed by the Succession finale. It felt like a repetition of the same scenario that has been played out for the past years, except this time there won't be any more episodes.

[Josquius]

Watching Carnival Row series 2.

The first series seems a million years ago so I am struggling to remember much about what happened exactly though I do remember the world.
The stuff in the Burge and the friendly politician who I think used to be the goblin punch and Judy guy particularly confuses.

Unexpected turn with the beauty and the beast couple running into communists rather than going to a exotic foreign locale - I wonder if this is where the lowered budget forced changes.
I'm on episode 4 or so where it really loses track. At first the communist land seems cool. Nicely showing the pros and cons of such revolutionary movements in a balanced way. Perfectly setting things up for an inevitable power grab where everything goes to shit. It's not something you see much in media so it's enjoyable... But no. They have to double down on the in Soviet Russia tropes and have a woman disappeared and damnato memoraied. Which... Come on guys. Too soon and too low stakes for that. You're just making it silly.

Also if you're going to do a close up on a fauns feet... Don't make them obviously shit shoes.

[grumbler]

For B5 fans, here's a nice two-part retrospective on the series, put together a year ago.

I'm not as enthusiastic about the acting in some of these episodes as he is, but I think that he captures the strengths and weaknesses of the various franchise elements pretty well.

[Syt]

Saw them a while ago. Rowan's videos are generally pretty well put together IMHO.

[Habbaku]

Not terribly impressed by the Succession finale. It felt like a repetition of the same scenario that has been played out for the past years, except this time there won't be any more episodes.

https://youtu.be/bMSOaopcSmQ

[FunkMonk]

Not terribly impressed by the Succession finale. It felt like a repetition of the same scenario that has been played out for the past years, except this time there won't be any more episodes.

My favorite part was when Tom parachuted into the boardroom with sparklers and a British flag flapping behind him.

[The Brain]

It's a myth that he says "It's Morbin' time!".

[Savonarola]

Others would have added Enter the Dragon inspired one of the best Kentucky Fried Movie sketches.

I had completely forgot about "A Fistful of Yen" (you'd think I'd remember that: Take him to... Detroit .) I watched it again last night; (it's available on YouTube) that was a really good parody.

[viper37]

Robert Clouse, the director of Enter the Dragon, would give us 10 years later or so the "cult" Gymkata. 

Ah, I'm sure I saw that one as a teen on Super Écran.  God, there was so much crap I watched then.
For some reason, I thought it was a Van Damne movie.  I guess I was confused by the plot of this movie and Kickboxer, or another one of JCVD's movies.

I still have it on DVD. NTSC DVD but region 2-coded as well. Avec une VF bien kitsch ! Yakmala !

Je ne me souviens de rien d'autre que le titre...  Mais c'est certain que je l'ai vu en VF à l'époque, à la télé.