TV/Movies Megathread

[Sheilbh]

Stunned and delighted that The Naked Gun reboot got a positive review
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jul/30/the-naked-gun-review-liam-neeson-spoof-reboot

I thought it looked bad based on the trailer but maybe not...

[The Brain]

Liam Neeson has been wanting to get into comedy for a long time.

[celedhring]

78 on Metacritic so far 

I wasn't expecting this to be good.

[HVC]

I hope they worked in a very particular set of skills quote

[Neil]

Foundation Season 3 has started. As usual it features beautiful people and beautiful production design. Easily one of the best looking shows out there IMHO. The credits still say it's "based on" Asimov's books, but I feel "inspired by" would be a better description. I enjoy it, though first episode was VERY exposition heavy (due to time jump of 100+ years again and introducing a whole range of new characters).

I like seeing the ongoing decline of the genetic dynasty, with Brother Dusk in cognitive decline trying to eke out a few extra days, Brother Day (Lee Pace in loincloth) just giving up and enjoying himself, and Brother Dawn still trying to figure how to do things best - while Demerzel as usual does her own (or her programming's ) thing.

If you liked the first two seasons you'll probably enjoy it, if you didn't, you probably won't. Shocker, I know.

'Inspired by' is an overstatement too.  Salvor 'Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent' Hardin is running around with a gun. 

Hey, it has some interesting ideas, and it probably couldn't have been made without some kind of an IP sticker on it.  Foundation as written is more or less unfilmable, so I guess it was available to be used.  But it still annoys me. 

[Neil]

Just finished season 2 of the Sandman.  Didn't like it as much as season 1, maybe the novelty of the world wore off on me.  Also the storyline just wasn't as compelling as season 1 ( redemption arc from being captured ).

Orpheus was still the highlight of the season for me.

The second season basically jams the last 70% of the comics into a handful of episodes.  It was always going to be a challenge. 

[Savonarola]

Z (1969)

You know you're in for a treat when the opening title card reads:  Any similarity to real persons and events is not coincidental.  It is INTENTIONAL.

(Some spoilers ahead; but it's a 50 year old movie and almost entirely based on real historic events, so there really shouldn't be any surprises.)

This is a very thinly veiled account of the assassination Grigoris Lambrakis, the events fallout would ultimately lead to the Regime of the Colonels.  It seems a perfect movie for today, in a world that has gone conspiracy theory mad, but this conspiracy actually happened.  Oliver Stone was heavily influenced by it for JFK; but I think most political thrillers from the 70s owe some debt to it.  The cleverest part is at the end, when it looks like the military men who orchestrated the assassination have become caricatures of themselves and look as if they will be brought to justice; but at the epilogue it's revealed that the military seizes power and the officers receive procedural reprimands and the people who brought their crimes to light are the ones who are punished.  (Actually that might make the movie perfect for today, rather than the conspiracy theory angle.)

[Darth Wagtaros]

Just finished season 2 of the Sandman.  Didn't like it as much as season 1, maybe the novelty of the world wore off on me.  Also the storyline just wasn't as compelling as season 1 ( redemption arc from being captured ).

Orpheus was still the highlight of the season for me.

The second season basically jams the last 70% of the comics into a handful of episodes.  It was always going to be a challenge. 

Sounds like.  They missed an awful lot of story there.  

[Savonarola]

Fantastic 4: First Steps (2025)

When I was little we used to visit my grandparents in northern Michigan.  Their television market was small, so their Saturday morning cartoons were behind the times.  One that they used to show was The Fantastic Four cartoon from the mid-60s, which I remember liking.  When I saw that the new Fantastic 4 movie was going to be set in the 60s, I was cautiously optimistic; and, while it might not be great cinema, it was much better than the previous Fantastic 4 movies (okay, admittedly that's a really low bar) and an enjoyable big popcorn movie.

I liked it because, for once, the filmmakers grasped that the Fantastic 4 were more adventurers and explorers than super-heroes.  The comic book was always more Star Trek than Superman.  I also liked it because the present the Fantastic 4 earnestly; all the things that were the butt of jokes for The Tick or The Venture Brothers are put on the screen without apologies.  For example Galactus isn't an evil space-cloud like he was in "Rise of the Silver Surfer"; instead he's a gigantic man with a tuning fork hat and a skirt and he's here to eat us all (unfortunately he's not dressed in purple, that might have been too much.)  I also liked the retro-futurist design the film, recognizably 60s, but futuristic (for instance gigantic CRT TV screens in Times Square) as well as the early 60s optimism regarding both government and technology (things that our present world is sorely lacking in.)

The films biggest weakness, like most Marvel movies, is that the villain is sorely underdeveloped.  He's simply a cosmic force.

I thought it was funny that New York was entirely devoid of litter in the film; that does give the film a sort of fairy-tale quality, like Amelie's Paris or Disneyworld.

[HVC]

Watching Chief of War. Two episodes out so far. Seems good, and could be interesting. And while I have no problems with subtitles, I've watched several shows and movies with them*, the Hawaiian language is unfortunately grating to my ears. Hopefully I become more accustomed to it.



*shout out to Korean variety shows which I've somehow have become addicted to

[celedhring]

Fantastic 4: First Steps (2025)

When I was little we used to visit my grandparents in northern Michigan.  Their television market was small, so their Saturday morning cartoons were behind the times.  One that they used to show was The Fantastic Four cartoon from the mid-60s, which I remember liking.  When I saw that the new Fantastic 4 movie was going to be set in the 60s, I was cautiously optimistic; and, while it might not be great cinema, it was much better than the previous Fantastic 4 movies (okay, admittedly that's a really low bar) and an enjoyable big popcorn movie.

I liked it because, for once, the filmmakers grasped that the Fantastic 4 were more adventurers and explorers than super-heroes.  The comic book was always more Star Trek than Superman.  I also liked it because the present the Fantastic 4 earnestly; all the things that were the butt of jokes for The Tick or The Venture Brothers are put on the screen without apologies.  For example Galactus isn't an evil space-cloud like he was in "Rise of the Silver Surfer"; instead he's a gigantic man with a tuning fork hat and a skirt and he's here to eat us all (unfortunately he's not dressed in purple, that might have been too much.)  I also liked the retro-futurist design the film, recognizably 60s, but futuristic (for instance gigantic CRT TV screens in Times Square) as well as the early 60s optimism regarding both government and technology (things that our present world is sorely lacking in.)

The films biggest weakness, like most Marvel movies, is that the villain is sorely underdeveloped.  He's simply a cosmic force.

I thought it was funny that New York was entirely devoid of litter in the film; that does give the film a sort of fairy-tale quality, like Amelie's Paris or Disneyworld.

I gotta generally agree with the sentiment here. I liked the whole optimistic retrofuturist setting and certain naiveté from the characters. That's the kind of thing we'd have mocked 20 years ago in a movie but Christ, I feel we need more of this stuff right now. We've become way too cynical as a culture, I feel.

Back to the movie, gotta say I felt a lot of the script was rushed. For example, we're supposed to understand The Thing has a thing for Natasha Lyonne's character, but they share a grand total of 2 scenes together in the whole film. A lot of the more dramatic beats are zoomed through. And the battle with the big bad was rather bland and unimaginative - specially compared with the big setpiece in space earlier in the movie, loved that "Interstellar but silly" approach.

Still, this is the first Marvel movie I actually enjoyed in quite a while (although I've skipped a few)

Also, I know The Incredibles is inspired by the Fantastic 4, so duh, but I was actually a bit surprised by how much stuff in this made me think of the first Incredibles movie

[jimmy olsen]

Watching Chief of War. Two episodes out so far. Seems good, and could be interesting. And while I have no problems with subtitles, I've watched several shows and movies with them*, the Hawaiian language is unfortunately grating to my ears. Hopefully I become more accustomed to it.



*shout out to Korean variety shows which I've somehow have become addicted to

Which ones?

[HVC]

Started off with knowing brothers and then running man. Not the same without kwangsoo though. Sixth sense when it was still around. Tried infinity challenge but couldn't get into it.  Watched earth arcade when they went to portugal. Random YouTube things, which i guess is more interviews than variety shows.

It all started because of youtube actually, because I watched some news clip about a kpop suicide 6 or 7 years ago then got recommended a bunch of korean content. Went on from there

[Savonarola]

I gotta generally agree with the sentiment here. I liked the whole optimistic retrofuturist setting and certain naiveté from the characters. That's the kind of thing we'd have mocked 20 years ago in a movie but Christ, I feel we need more of this stuff right now. We've become way too cynical as a culture, I feel.

Back to the movie, gotta say I felt a lot of the script was rushed. For example, we're supposed to understand The Thing has a thing for Natasha Lyonne's character, but they share a grand total of 2 scenes together in the whole film. A lot of the more dramatic beats are zoomed through. And the battle with the big bad was rather bland and unimaginative - specially compared with the big setpiece in space earlier in the movie, loved that "Interstellar but silly" approach.

Still, this is the first Marvel movie I actually enjoyed in quite a while (although I've skipped a few)

Also, I know The Incredibles is inspired by the Fantastic 4, so duh, but I was actually a bit surprised by how much stuff in this made me think of the first Incredibles movie

 

Yeah, I agree it did feel rushed; it's short for a Marvel movie (under two hours) and each of the main characters had a subplot.  I assume Natasha Lyonne was a set up for a more in depth story in a future Fantastic Four movie.  Johnny Storm being able to decipher an entire alien language seemed a bit less forgivable (and quite different than other incarnations of Johnny Storm.)

[jimmy olsen]

Started off with knowing brothers and then running man. Not the same without kwangsoo though. Sixth sense when it was still around. Tried infinity challenge but couldn't get into it.  Watched earth arcade when they went to portugal. Random YouTube things, which i guess is more interviews than variety shows.

It all started because of youtube actually, because I watched some news clip about a kpop suicide 6 or 7 years ago then got recommended a bunch of korean content. Went on from there

Running Man is a classic